I've got two primary mods to showcase here plus two more I'll throw in at the end. These mods support Spanish, French, and Japanese localizations.
edit 18-Jun-2017: these mods are old and buggy. Search similar terms to find my newer and much better mods. I only support English localizations currently, but I would be happy to have translators help me add more.Firestorm and Lightning mod (I need a good name for this one!)https://www.dropbox.com/s/mv95deijvc14rh8/ReaversXcom_Firestorm_Lightning.rul?dl=0https://www.dropbox.com/s/g23j8dtjlycxnw0/LIGHTNIN.MAP?dl=0https://www.dropbox.com/s/15ahli4t8yzsvv9/LIGHFIRE.MAP?dl=0
With this mod, once you complete research in UFO Construction, you may begin research on either the Firestorm -or- the Lightning (New Transport Craft). You must research both to unlock the Avenger, but either one of them can satisfy your needs for a long time. Both ships are capable as both a fighter and a transport, but the Firestorm's transport capabilities are limited to taking on small crash sites, while the Lightning's one weapon slot and lower speed make it less effective at air combat.
I've altered the Lightning's map to be a far more effective troop transport. Changes include:
1.) it can now hold up to 16 soldiers or 4 tanks
2.) four 2x2 exit compartments for rapid deployment, all units ground level and facing outward
3.) takes up a 20x20 map section and gives your squad plenty of room for deployment
In addition to this, I built a map for the Firestorm:
1.) holds 4 soldiers or 1 tank (tank buff in mod below makes 1 tank more viable)
2.) 10x10 map section with a pretty open starting point
Guardian and Assault Tankshttps://www.dropbox.com/s/4n5yinkkc6yodod/ReaversXcom_Guardian%2BAssault_Tanks.rul?dl=0This mod adds variation among existing tanks:
Cannon Tank: now a guardian tank, it keeps its already weak weapon and has reduced time units along with stronger armor and far more health.
Rocket Tank: now an assault tank, the rockets have been buffed a bit, along with the shot time unit costs reduced slightly. The tank has improved time units, accuracy and reactions, with armor reduced. Health increased a bit. Aimed shot is highly accurate.
Laser Tank: "battle tank" keeps old armor, time unit and accuracy values. Weapon adjusted a bit, power increased greatly. Tank health also increased a lot. Reactions increased slightly.
Plasma Hovertank: assault tank, reduced armor but still higher than cannon tank, with same health as rocket tank. Weapon power greatly increased, can now penetrate UFO walls. Highly accurate aimed shots, snap shots left the same as before (better naturally because of the tank's improved accuracy).
Launcher Hovertank: guardian tank, increased armor and health, extremely durable. Fusion missile damage left the same (it wasn't very high) with explosion radius reduced to minimize collateral damage. Now holds 12 missiles, missile manufacture costs greatly reduced. Can fire 2 missiles per turn.
edit: I just got through playing a game of X-Com with all of my mods installed (I tweaked them as I went). I completed the lower portion of Cydonia with nothing but two launcher hovertanks and a laser cannon tank. While the launcher tanks were capable of taking out multiple weak aliens per hit, even chryssalids (which are weak to HE) often survived a direct hit. In the end, their saving grace was their armor more than anything else, and I probably got lucky because twice aliens killed themselves trying to use blasters on my tanks.Guardian tanks: I improved the health of all of the tanks, but especially the guardian tanks. They are extremely effective in drawing enemy fire and protecting your troops from harm. With their low reactions, aliens are much more likely to fire at them. They also make a great place to hide behind for cover. These advantages are balanced out by the slower movement speed and weak weapon. Early on, you can complete missions with just a cannon tank as it is virtually immune to plasma pistols, but it can take too long to finish off enemies to do well without support once aliens start using larger weaponry. The fusion hovertank can do alright solo in the late game, but may destroy all of the stuff you wanted to take home. Also, even heavy plasmas will wear it out over time even though they can't take it out in a single shot.
Assault tanks: these are not designed to sustain heavy fire. Rather than protect your troops, these tanks are built for destruction. The rocket tank has its best armor by far in the front, so one way to keep it alive is always face the direction of incoming fire. It is highly vulnerable from the rear.
I plan to add a few more tanks to the lineup, as soon as someone can show me how to edit the art files:Alloy Tank/Cannon - after research Alien Alloys - more armor+slightly faster rate of fire
Alloy Tank/Rocket Launcher - after research Alien Alloys - more armor+slightly faster rate of fire (can fire 3 rockets per turn)
Alloy Tank/Laser Cannon - after research in Alien Alloys and Laser Cannon - more armor+slightly faster rate of fire
Alloy Tank/Plasma Cannon - after research in Alien Alloys and Plasma Cannon - stats like Alloy Tank/Rocket Launcher but with plasma cannon
Alloy Tank/Fusion Launcher - after research in Alien Alloys and Fusion Launcher - stats like Alloy Tank/Cannon but with fusion missiles
Hovertank/Cannon - after research in UFO Construction - stats like Hovertank/Fusion Launcher but with improved cannon
Hovertank/Rocket Launcher - after research in UFO Construction - stats like Hovertank/Plasma but with improved rockets
Hovertank/Laser Cannon - stats midway between Hovertank/Plasma and Hovertank/Launcher and uses improved laser
Small Launcher Bombshttps://www.dropbox.com/s/6gbn3sg7u5kdtd8/ReaversXcom_Small_Launcher_Bombs.rul?dl=0edit: I made an edit to the file, allowing the bombs to show up in the ufopaedia. Please re-download if you have an older version.This mod improves small launchers by adding three new types of bombs. The aliens will never use the new bomb types against you, rather, you have the option to manufacture them as soon as you complete research on the stun bomb. They're slightly cheaper but still require 1 Elerium. Unfortunately, they do not as yet look any different from the stun bombs.
1.) new bombs: explosive, smoke, and incendiary
2.) bomb power reduced from 90 to 80
3.) bomb weight reduced from 3 to 2
4.) small launcher snap shot time units greatly reduced; a soldier with at least 60 time units can fire and reload twice in one turn
Pic showing usage:
Reaver's Minor Tweakshttps://www.dropbox.com/s/5aook7ff5nouezo/ReaversXcom_Minor_Tweaks.rul?dl=0A mod that adjusts a few imbalances in the game:
1.) General Stores storage increased from 50 to 100
2.) Stingray missile accuracy increased from 70% to 90% (higher than Avalanche)
3.) Laser Cannon range increased to 36km (a bit higher than Stingray, outranges large scout)
4.) Plasma Beam ammo reduced from 100 to 25 - more reason to use other weapon types but still the best end-game weapon
5.) Laser Rifle weight increased from 8 to 10, still lighter than other rifles after you consider ammo
6.) Heavy Laser damage increased to 100 and aimed shot accuracy to 95 - weaker buff than the XcomUtil Improved Heavy Laser mod
7.) Grenade power increased from 50 to 70 (matches proximity grenade)
8.) Alien Grenade weight reduced from 3 to 2 - it's less of an explosive upgrade but lighter instead so you can throw it further
9.) High Explosive power increased from 110 to 210 - slightly higher than XcomUtil High Explosive Damage mod and high enough to make a hole in UFO armor big enough for a tank to pass through
10.) Heavy Plasma nerfed: size increased to 0.3 and weight to 14 (like a Heavy Cannon), less accurate and with longer time unit costs. Auto shot costs 55% time units. Power increased from 115 to 125, and ammo reduced from 35 to 18. Clip weight increased to 5.
11.) Sectopods now shoot plasma (originally their weapon counted as laser, and Open Xcom preserves this)
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Here's an additional tank tweak I just made:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/76fpmeqjlq5gror/ReaversXcom_Guardian%2BAssault_Tanks_2.rul?dl=0This one is basically the same as the above Guardian/Assault tank mod, but cuts all damage received in half and then lowers armor values by more than half. Health is lowered by half or less. The end result is that shots are more likely to get through a tank's armor yet less likely to deal severe damage to them. This makes their survival depend less on what weapon is being used against them and more on how many times they get hit. Plasma Pistols still won't hurt tanks significantly.
If you use this mod, make sure you have the first tank mod disabled.
