[HWP]Tanks, Drones, Sectopods? Oh my! Version 0.6

[XCOMFan419]

This will be my first mod that I'm releasing to the public!

Tanks, Drones, Sectopods? Oh my! (Work in progress title) is a mod compilation of several different mods that include Heavy Weapons Platforms. The goal of this mod is to incorporate most, if not all, HWP mods and make them compatible with each other. Not only this, but balancing and adding a few more vehicles to OpenXcom as well. This means I've collected most tank mods on these forums and I'm currently trying to balance out both Vanilla and the Modded tanks. This will make HWP more useful and more than vehicles wasting space and gathering dust in your stores waiting for a battleship to land nearby so they can swing into action in base defense. There are several plans for this mod, some of which are out of my league and I require assistance.

GAUSS MOD AND MINIGUN MOD ARE ALREADY IN THE PACK. UNINSTALL GAUSS MOD AND MINIGUN MOD IF YOU WISH TO USE TANKS, DRONES, SECTOPODS? OH MY!

Spoilerchecklist:

Conventional Tanks:

Tank/Cannon: Autoshot and Explosive Rounds ☑
Tank/Heavy Machine Gun: Increase Power (Credits to Aldorn) ☑
Tank/Minigun: Increase Accuracy and Power (Credits to SolariusScorch) ☑
Tank/Rocket Launcher: Autoshot and Increaced Ammuniton Capacity ☑
Tank/Artillery(Or Grenade Launcher): Autoshot and Increased Ammuniton Capacity (Credits to Civilian) ☑
Tank/Laser Cannon: Autoshot and more Accurate ☑
Tank/Gauss: No Changes, maybe a little more accurate if needed. (Credits to SolariusScorch) ☑
Tank/Plasma Cannon: Make, Autoshot, Accurate? (Semi-Credits to SolariusScorch for his own Tank/Plasma Cannon in FMP, which helped fix my own code) ☑
Tank/Snoop: Up armoured scout, maybe an LMG. (Credits to Civilian)
Scout/Drone: Small scout available from start (Credits to Arpia) ☑

HoverTanks

Hovertank/Rocket Launcher: A cheaper alternative to the Launcher (Credits to SolariusScorch) ☑
Hovertank/Artillery(Or Grenade Launcher): Hovering artillery? Yes please. ☑
Hovertank/Laser: No auto, a little less(?) accurate (Credits to Harry) ☑
Hovertank/Gauss: No changes, maybe a little more accurate if needed (Credit to SolariusScorch) ☑
Hovertank/Scatter Laser: Heavier, only autoshot, more shots, more power, less accurate, twist on the Minigun Mod tank. ☑
Hovertank/Plasma Cannon: More accurate? ☑
Hovertank/Launcher: No changes ☑

Repurposed Alien Tech:

Sectopod/Laser: More accurate, Less armor, more power, UFO power source? (Credits to Harry) ☑ [Semi]
Sectopod/Plasma: More accurate, Same armor, more power, UFO power source? (Credits to Harry) ☑ [Semi]
Sectopod/Launcher: Even more Accurate, even more armour, even more power, UFO Power source?
XCOM Cyberdisc/Laser: Less accurate, mid armor (Credits to Civilian for Sprites, Solarius Scorch for Ruleset, Aldorn for Assistance) ☑
XCOM Cyberdisc/Plasma: Less accurate, mid armor (Credits to Civilian for Sprites, Solarius Scorch for Ruleset, Aldorn for Assistance) ☑

Drones

Powersuit Drones: Remove Hammer HAD since it's not working (Credits to Svanh) ☑
XCOM Enforcer: Make compatible with Powersuit Drones (Credits to MickTheMage) ☑

Things Wanted:

Alloy Tank/Cannon
Alloy Tank/Heavy Machine Gun
Alloy Tank/Minigun
Alloy Tank/Rocket Launcher
Alloy Tank/Artillery(Or Grenade Launcher)
Alloy Tank/Laser Cannon
Alloy Tank/Gauss
Alloy Tank/Scatter Laser Cannon
Alloy Tank/Plasma Cannon
Alloy Tank/Launcher

For alloy tanks, I'd LOVE for someone to make sprites for me. I can't really do it. And since the current trend is to make anything with alien alloys blue, I'd like that as well. But no rush.    For now I was thinking of using the MiB Terrorist Tank chassis and getting someone to redesign the turrets. Of course this is all thought process and not ready for implementation. I'd have to ask Robin if I do decide to use the chassis.

If any mods were forgotten please state so. I will add it to the list, download it and modify it accordingly.

There are plans to work alongside with the new "XCOM Armoury Expanded".

CURRENT STATUS OF MOD:

0.6 is ready for download. 0.7 Experimental is ready for download via the forum. Troubles with the Tank/Cannon explosion.

Please report all bugs and issues into this thread please

Installation Instructions:

- Download the current TDS Build from the Modsite
- Extract Folder once downloaded
- Merge "Resources" and "Ruleset" into their respective folders in OpenXcom/data
- Enable from InGame Mod Menu

[guille1434]

Some very nice ideas here! Congratulations! By t he way, I was trying to add a Tank Autocannon (HE ammo same as the infantry Auto Cannon, auto fire) but could not figure how to it correctly... 

[XCOMFan419]

Sorry that there was no release at the expected time. There was a power outage and I lost some progress. It should be released in a few hours.

[guille1434]

Wouldn't be nice to add also the infamous Biodrone from TFTD for the Alien team? 

[moriarty]

A thought: would it make sense to make the chassis / turret combination more "modular"?

I'm not talking about interchangeable or "equippable" turrets, which is rather complicated at the moment, but if you change the research tree so that the weapon technology gives you "HWP XY TURRET" and other technologies give you "HWP XY CHASSIS", each combination could then unlock its own HWP - including combinations like "TRACKED HWP - BLASTER LAUNCHER" and "SECTOPOD - CANNON". those combinations might be silly, but there's really no reason they shouldn't be buildable.

If you're really ambitious, you could even create all the necessary "disassemble" workshop manufacturing jobs, turning the whole mod into a super-modular HWP mod

[XCOMFan419]

Wouldn't be nice to add also the infamous Biodrone from TFTD for the Alien team? 

This mod is for XCOM HWP. And plus, I think adding an AI would be out of my league 

A thought: would it make sense to make the chassis / turret combination more "modular"?

I'm not talking about interchangeable or "equippable" turrets, which is rather complicated at the moment, but if you change the research tree so that the weapon technology gives you "HWP XY TURRET" and other technologies give you "HWP XY CHASSIS", each combination could then unlock its own HWP - including combinations like "TRACKED HWP - BLASTER LAUNCHER" and "SECTOPOD - CANNON". those combinations might be silly, but there's really no reason they shouldn't be buildable.

If you're really ambitious, you could even create all the necessary "disassemble" workshop manufacturing jobs, turning the whole mod into a super-modular HWP mod

That's very advanced. I'm not sure if it's possible or not, and it's surely out of my league, but it sounds like a great idea. I'll copy it down in a notepad and save it for later.

Okay so the only problems I've encountered so far is that I can't get the XCOM Cyberdiscs or the Hover/Rocket Launcher to work. It's unknown if this is because of the Final Mod Pack code and my inability to see what's wrong or if I have a bit of code in there that the game doesn't read when you enter battle. You can activate these two mods without a "Mods Cannot Load" screen on startup, but when entering battle with these two crash the game. I will ask around for help later but I'm off to bed now. Tomorrow, soon after noon EST I will release the Alpha Test, which actually features more than I currently have in the original post (I will edit it after this post).

If anyone wants to grab up the XCOM Cyberdisc and Hover/Rocket Launcher code to see what's wrong with it, PM me. I'll send you a copy when I wake up.

[Arthanor]

The turret/chassis combo is actually quite approachable, beyond being tediously repetitive to code. I might look into that!

1- Change research so that a turret or chassis is unlocked, instead of a whole tank.

As it is, game would start with conventional chassis, unlocks overcraft chassis with UFO construction. Game start with a few "normal weapons" turrets, laser cannon unlocks laser turret, plasma cannon unlocks plasma turret and blaster craft weapon unlocks blaster turret.

2- Add in the manufacturing jobs for chassis/turrets
3- Add in another layer of manufacturing that takes 1 chassis and 1 turret to give you one HWP
4- Add the last part, taking an HWP and returning its turret and chassis

That sounds pretty cool. The unfortunate thing is: I don't know why one would bother.. Being short on storage? As it is, you can easily have a few HWPs hanging out in your base, ready for whichever one is most appropriate to be taken on a mission. As a bonus, they all help defend the base..

Hum.. I don't know what the incentive could be to keep things modular, except maybe making chassis/turrets much more expensive. (But that's not really a good one, since then you would just use soldiers, unless the HWP is overpowered)

[XCOMFan419]

Well it's a good thought nonetheless.

I'm still going to have to make the Sectopod/Launcher. Though I do believe that will be slightly easier than either the Hover/Rocket Launcher (Of which is still buggy) and the XCOM Cyberdiscs, as it's mostly just looking at Hovertank/Launcher's weapons, damage types, etc... and putting it on a Sectopod chassis from the HWP mod. However this means later I would probably need another Sectopod sprite, but this is for later.

[redv]

By t he way, I was trying to add a Tank Autocannon (HE ammo same as the infantry Auto Cannon, auto fire) but could not figure how to it correctly... 

Tanks will be easier to create after this commit https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/pull/895 because in this case you can easy to use any existing ammunitions.

[XCOMFan419]

Some very nice ideas here! Congratulations! By t he way, I was trying to add a Tank Autocannon (HE ammo same as the infantry Auto Cannon, auto fire) but could not figure how to it correctly... 

Try changing damageType to 3, instead of 1.

[moriarty]

The turret/chassis combo is actually quite approachable, beyond being tediously repetitive to code. I might look into that!
[...]
Hum.. I don't know what the incentive could be to keep things modular, except maybe making chassis/turrets much more expensive. (But that's not really a good one, since then you would just use soldiers, unless the HWP is overpowered)

I am actually hoping that one day the interface will change just a little bit to allow HWPs to "equip" a turret before battle... as easily as soldiers equip weapons and items.

oh, if somebody is going to go for the chassis+turret assemble/disassemble thing: please make sure that the chassis without turret isn't completely worthless. maybe the chassis automatically acts as a scout (perhaps including the smoke launcher option)?.
otherwise it would be extremely stupid if your base got attacked and you lose because your 20 HWP chassis and 35 plasma turrets are sitting in a corner unassembled... when you could at least use the chassis as a plasma sponge / mobile cover.

[XCOMFan419]

when you could at least use the chassis as a plasma sponge / mobile cover.

That-....That actually sounds like a good idea. Kneel some soldiers in the doorway of your chokehold, covered by some turretless tanks. Replace tanks as needed when the one beforehand is destroyed.

Not in base combat? Still mobile cover. Useful for assaulting large, claustrophobic UFO's where you usually get shot by an Alien after it opened a door. Of course, this is still of limited value. 

[moriarty]

Sectopods with or without weapons could also use a melee attack... kicking a sectoid sounds interesting. Stomping on a silacoid too.

[XCOMFan419]

Sectopods with or without weapons could also use a melee attack... kicking a sectoid sounds interesting. Stomping on a silacoid too.

Or XCOM's own mechs. That'd be cool. Not exactly a 1up from Sectopods, or maybe even less armoured/powerful than sectopods, but probably your best bet against them since in vanilla, there is no hover laser and the conventional laser cannon tank just gets one shotted by sectopods from all angles IIRC. Plus I believe there are only a handful of mods that add the hover laser, so this would be pretty cool.

[Falko]

I am actually hoping that one day the interface will change just a little bit to allow HWPs to "equip" a turret before battle... as easily as soldiers equip weapons and items.

changing turrets in inventory screen sound not very realistic i assume you need heavy machinery and specialist for that not bunch of soldiers and some screwdrivers in a skyranger
so making a mod that allow this
buying
- basic-tankchassis
- cannon turret
- rocket turret
manufactoring (3 engineer hours => 10 engineers=~20 minutes - is that realistic?)
assemble:
basic-tankchassis + cannon turret => cannon-tank
basic-tankchassis + rocket turret
 => rocket-tank
disassemble:
cannon-tank => basic-tankchassis + cannon turret
rocket-tank => basic-tankchassis + rocket turret

... add other chassis/turrets that come later in game

so you can do that already in some form (untested)