[ENEMIES] Men in Black 4.5 | Cover 2.3.2 | Gazer 1.9.1 | Anthropod 1.5.2

[hellrazor]

I'll go back on MiB once FromApoc is done.. far far far future. So don't worry about that.
Of course you can use my aliens too. Especially I have a feeling that no one uses/likes Gazers (never seen them in any let's play), while I think they're quite cool.

I like their looks, and the armor values they have. I actually out them into my mod together with the Waspites, they act as intermediate Aliens between Mutons and Muton Elites/Ethereals. They have at least 4 Months of time ingame so they probably will appear and hopefully do some damage :>

I'd be careful about adding too many alien races though, because it may prevents having meaningfully lengthy confrontation with them, during the campaign. You may encounter a particular race only once, or not at all -this happens with vanilla races already, so the more you add the worse- which is imho disappointing. Having mixed crews should mitigate the issue.

[Hobbes]

How about using the orange version, from Dioxine's Piratez? It looks completely different and is only vaguely similar to the original Anthropod at best. Or you could convert it to, I dunno, green.

It is such a pretty unit, it would be a shame to skip it.

But the terror unit of the Anthropod is the Spitter, which is also from Apocalypse. And my approach is opposite than yours on the FMP, to choose from what is available rather than trying to get everything into the mod.

I'll go back on MiB once FromApoc is done.. far far far future. So don't worry about that.
Of course you can use my aliens too. Especially I have a feeling that no one uses/likes Gazers (never seen them in any let's play), while I think they're quite cool.

I'd be careful about adding too many alien races though, because it may prevents having meaningfully lengthy confrontation with them, during the campaign. You may encounter a particular race only once, or not at all -this happens with vanilla races already, so the more you add the worse- which is imho disappointing. Having mixed crews should mitigate the issue.

Yeah, I've already added the Waspites/Gazers into the mixed alien crews of Redux, so those aliens should appear.

[Solarius Scorch]

I'll go back on MiB once FromApoc is done.. far far far future. So don't worry about that.
Of course you can use my aliens too. Especially I have a feeling that no one uses/likes Gazers (never seen them in any let's play), while I think they're quite cool.

Hey, I like them! They're the ogre-like enemies of X-Com - tough, strong, stupid. It really can be felt when fighting them; you know they won't go down fast, but you can also pull off stunts that would get you killed if it was a more combat competent race. I like that, it adds a lot to the game richness.

I'd be careful about adding too many alien races though, because it may prevents having meaningfully lengthy confrontation with them, during the campaign. You may encounter a particular race only once, or not at all -this happens with vanilla races already, so the more you add the worse- which is imho disappointing. Having mixed crews should mitigate the issue.

Isn't this a mark of replayability? Even if you miss something, you can always get it next time. For example, Piratez seems to be taking this principle and running with it, as it's unreasonable to expect to research everything on one playthrough (well, you can, but it'll be a monstrous campaign).

Besides, alien missions come in waves, so you always fight the same race for some time in the region. I'm not against mixed races though.

But the terror unit of the Anthropod is the Spitter, which is also from Apocalypse.

And looks very little the part. I would never have guessed it is from Apocalypse if I didn't know beforehand.

And my approach is opposite than yours on the FMP, to choose from what is available rather than trying to get everything into the mod.

You know, I am getting tired of explaining I don't take everything there is out there. If I did, the FMP would be at least twice as big, and half as fun. There is a net barrier between what goes in and what doesn't, and I think it's pretty strict, as I only add stuff at a certain quality and which plays nice with the rest of the mod, i.e. isn't superfluous and adds something to the game.

Could the mod be cut down and still function more or less the same way? Sure. But why remove pieces that are still a bit unique meaningful? I know some people, mostly from the West, disagree with this approach to game design, saying that "perfection is simplicity", but that's certainly not the approach I like as a player.

Sorry about this off-topic, but I felt the need to explain it again... No homo

[robin]

Isn't this a mark of replayability? Even if you miss something, you can always get it next time. For example, Piratez seems to be taking this principle and running with it, as it's unreasonable to expect to research everything on one playthrough (well, you can, but it'll be a monstrous campaign).

Besides, alien missions come in waves, so you always fight the same race for some time in the region. I'm not against mixed races though.

Piratez is conceptually a little different AFAIK. I haven't played it but IIRC Dioxine himself said there's almost no progression, so running with that principle makes much more sense: since there's little progression, all the content is potentially always appearing at any time.

[Solarius Scorch]

Piratez is conceptually a little different AFAIK. I haven't played it but IIRC Dioxine himself said there's almost no progression, so running with that principle makes much more sense: since there's little progression, all the content is potentially always appearing at any time.

You mean enemy progression? Well, there is progression in the sense of some races appearing only after a number of months passed (Mercenaries, for instance). But I'm not sure how it relates to the problem; all I meant to say that there is no problem with some elements of the game not appearing. That's the beauty of it, each campaign is different and the game itself feels rich.

[pilot00]

Especially I have a feeling that no one uses/likes Gazers (never seen them in any let's play), while I think they're quite cool.

You have the wrong feeling about this one, they are awesome I hate them when they appear early but they are awesome.

Isn't this a mark of replayability? Even if you miss something, you can always get it next time. For example, Piratez seems to be taking this principle and running with it, as it's unreasonable to expect to research everything on one playthrough (well, you can, but it'll be a monstrous campaign).

He has a point though, for me who I am trying to be a perfectionist its more frustating rather than making me replay the game. It gets boring and tiresome to wait for a couple years (in game) just for x faction to spawn y UFO to get z crew member just because you want the entry. It spoils your fun.

[Hobbes]

You know, I am getting tired of explaining I don't take everything there is out there. If I did, the FMP would be at least twice as big, and half as fun. There is a net barrier between what goes in and what doesn't, and I think it's pretty strict, as I only add stuff at a certain quality and which plays nice with the rest of the mod, i.e. isn't superfluous and adds something to the game.

Could the mod be cut down and still function more or less the same way? Sure. But why remove pieces that are still a bit unique meaningful? I know some people, mostly from the West, disagree with this approach to game design, saying that "perfection is simplicity", but that's certainly not the approach I like as a player.

Sorry about this off-topic, but I felt the need to explain it again... No homo

Apologies if my comment offended you, I didn't meant it as a criticism, and you're right that you haven't included everything on the FMP. The FMP has a merit of it own for two resons: since includes the majority of the mods that are available, and it is popular for players who like to try everything, and it is a fine resource for other modders, like a library of mods.

[Solarius Scorch]

He has a point though, for me who I am trying to be a perfectionist its more frustating rather than making me replay the game. It gets boring and tiresome to wait for a couple years (in game) just for x faction to spawn y UFO to get z crew member just because you want the entry. It spoils your fun.

Yeah, it can also be viewed in this way. Still, I think it's not that likely to miss content during a campaign. Well, in the vanilla maybe, because you can get final tech very early. So... yeah.

Apologies if my comment offended you, I didn't meant it as a criticism, and you're right that you haven't included everything on the FMP. The FMP has a merit of it own for two resons: since includes the majority of the mods that are available, and it is popular for players who like to try everything, and it is a fine resource for other modders, like a library of mods.

Thanks, certainly no offence was taken.

[robin]

You mean enemy progression? Well, there is progression in the sense of some races appearing only after a number of months passed (Mercenaries, for instance). But I'm not sure how it relates to the problem; all I meant to say that there is no problem with some elements of the game not appearing. That's the beauty of it, each campaign is different and the game itself feels rich.

No, there is no problem obviously. But as a player I prefer replayability built upon content appearing in different configurations-circumstances, rather than content appearing/not appearing. So my advice was just to be careful not having too much of the latter, for people like me

[Dioxine]

Answering these questions would require defining what do we exactly mean by "content" or "progression", to know if we're not creating false dichotomies.

Take my mod: yes there is little progression in how the world works - the enemy missions range from "easily winnable with the starting equipment" to "challenging even with end-game equipment", with a good deal of "challenging if unprepared" in between, and any of these missions can appear anytime, anywhere. On the other hand it can be argued the vanilla had less progression since the enemy always had basically the same few weapons, and the new races (except Ethereals and Sectopods) were of little consequence as you were able to get the best tech fairly quickly.

Same with content. It was perfectly fine to finish the Baldur's Gate and miss half of the content, if not more. It was basically the default mode. All depends on what kind of content does one have in mind. If someone insists on playing to get every secret on a single playthrough - and finds this tedious - it was his own wish. On my part I'm trying to make sure that the *crucial* content will always appear, so as the size of content increases, I'm also adding new ways of getting that crucial content.

Also, all depends on what the creator wants to achieve. If the goal is a tightly-packed emotional experience, the game can't be long or complex (that's why I've found it unappealing to play Diablo 3 after finishing the campaign once). Have Portal as a good example. On the other hand, if the goal is a game about expanding and exploring, the game can't be short or simple. The latter type of a game can be driven by emotion, as well, but then we have some sort of Farmville instead of a proper game. So instead of giving emotions, such a game should challenge player's mind with tasks and give him multiple ways of overcoming these chalenges. Howgh

[Taberone]

Will MIB Alien Retaliation ever be added back in? It wasn't the MIB Retaliation craft landing at my base that crashed OpenXCOM, it was the scoutdrone mod.

(There was a post I made a year or so back about the MIB mod crashing OpenXCOM, but at the time I didn't know it was the Scout Drone mod)

[Malekron]

Are they're any plans to add more enemies?

[robin]

Men in Black development/update is discontinued for now, since I'm working on another mod.

[kikimoristan]

he's gonna update all once a new milestone comes along. im kinda waiting 4 the same thing.

[robin]

he's gonna update all once a new milestone comes along. im kinda waiting 4 the same thing.

Wait: Cover, Gazer and Anthropod mods, should all work without issue. Only Men in Black needs updating.