[ALIENS] Mechtoids - armored and upgraded Sectoids

[warbear76]

Great mod. I wish it worked with nightlies.

[Harald_Gray]

Thanks.

And well, I should be having some free time soon, so I'll clean it up a little and upload a new version sometime this month.

[Harald_Gray]

Okay, version 0.6 is up here: https://www.openxcom.com/mod/mechtoids

No new content, I've just made it work with the new modsystem, tweaked a few values and corrected some graphics a bit.

[new_civilian]

Downloaded and eager to test (first thing I'll do when i am home!)

Btw, there's a broken 0.61 link on the downloadpage atm....

[Harald_Gray]

Btw, there's a broken 0.61 link on the downloadpage atm....

Thanks for the info. However, the server is not mine, so...

Anyway, I'm planning to tweak it a bit later today to make a subversion that'd be compatible with seven item levels so I'll try to reupload then. Meanwhile, the 0.6 version should be compatible with both vanilla game and all the four-item-levels mods out there as long as you load them *after* Mechtoids (because I've defined my own three-level table).

[hellrazor]

Your mechtoids are interesting to say at least, even thou, i will not include them into my mod.
Not that i do not like them but i do not wanna overburden it.

And believe me you will pray for some normal Sectoid mission when Waspites and Gazers do appear. :>

[Harald_Gray]

And believe me you will pray for some normal Sectoid mission when Waspites and Gazers to appear. :>

Well, I've met both already. They're tougher than Sectoids but not *that* tough. In fact Gazer armor is even a little weaker than Mechtoid battlesuits, althought not all Mechtoids wear those. Heavy lasers/auto work just fine against all of those guys.

The species I'm afraid of in Hardmode are those with psionics, which includes Sectoids. You see, I'm in a habit of not researching medics so I've only researched Psilab in December (let me say in my defence that this is my first time playing Hardmode). I'm sure you can imagine how... interesting... some missions are 

[hellrazor]

Well, I've met both already. They're tougher than Sectoids but not *that* tough. In fact Gazer armor is even a little weaker than Mechtoid battlesuits, althought not all Mechtoids wear those. Heavy lasers/auto work just fine against all of those guys.

The species I'm afraid of in Hardmode are those with psionics, which includes Sectoids. You see, I'm in a habit of not researching medics so I've only researched Psilab in December (let me say in my defence that this is my first time playing Hardmode). I'm sure you can imagine how... interesting... some missions are 

Well the next update should cover Waspites and Gazers being weak. I tweaked them a little so there fighting abilites are between Mutons and Muton Elites. They also have Sectopods with them (normal ones). I'm glad you like the mod.

And don't be afraid of the PSI Aliens to much, they do have more Psi Defense, but their capability to attack your Soldiers is the same as vanilla.

[Harald_Gray]

Okay, version 0.62 is finally available. Hardly anything new, but I've added a version that should be compatible with other mods that use 5 to 7 alien item levels; as always, such mods must be loaded *after* Mechtoids.

On a side note, I've had to reupload the latest files like three times and the only way I've been able to make the files actually downloadable was to replace spaces in filenames with underscores. I have no idea why, and maybe there was some other random influence, but I guess that the modsite code has changed in a way that makes this happen.

[SIMON BAILIE]

The mod site must still be suffering from problems as when I try to download the "sub version" of mechtoids v0.62 all I get is:

[new_civilian]

works now! 

And what hellrazor said about the too many new researches is true, if you already have other aliens mods installed this quickly turns into a research-screen list of epicness. 

I "solved" this by simply lowering all times needed for the alien researches, but it's only a work-around not a real solution.  However, maybe this idea of me can help:

https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2915.msg48248.html#msg48248

Simply add ONE masteritem called e.g. "MECHTOID MAIN RESEARCH" and make it unlock all additional mechtoid researches?

Actually I will do that to my mod soup when I am home 

[SIMON BAILIE]

Not for me it isn't. Still getting the same thing as my last message for "Mechtoids v0.62 7 item levels", the other v0.62 downloads fine though. Maybe it's just temporary, will try again later this evening.

[Harald_Gray]

And what hellrazor said about the too many new researches is true, if you already have other aliens mods installed this quickly turns into a research-screen list of epicness. 

I "solved" this by simply lowering all times needed for the alien researches, but it's only a work-around not a real solution.

The times for most Mechtoid autopsies/interrogations are already fairly low, at least compared to vanilla, unless that research also reveals something of value. A full lab can complete almost two mechtoid researches in just one day.

And the reason why I've added so many research topics is that unlike with most other races, there are significant differences between various Mechtoid ranks and individual ufopaedia entries are about the only in-game way of giving this info to a player. Spoiler alert, for example some of the drones can zombify; now imagine the face of a player who finds this out the hard way after already killing and capturing several of those. "What the fuck?!? How come my scientists never warned me some of these fuckers carry chrysalid eggs?!?" Another spoiler, Marines are more aggressive than any vanilla alien, making them more likely to go ahead and shoot you. One more spoiler, it takes about thirty plus stun bombs to take down a Mechtoid battlesuit. And I know of no better in-game method of giving the player at least some hints than individual ufopaedia articles.

[new_civilian]

The research texts are good and valuable indeed. Maybe I just was too surprised to see all those new researches pop up all at once after a raid on a landed mechtoid terror ship... 

[7Saturn]

I'm playing with the mod now, on a savedgame which previously wasn't played with it. The don't seem to accur at all. Do I have to start a new Campaing-game in Order to run into them?