[UNIT] Phaser Race - WIP

[kikimoristan]

Working on a new stealth race immune to targeting  that can only be hurt by explosives, stun and incendiary . This is gonna be the official thread for it.

I'm in preliminary stages just finished stalker but still working out the details. Sneak peek


Both don't have an LOF meaning you never get notifications . And both unit types can only be affected by area damage weapons like incendiary, stun, high explosives. All other weapons go trough them. Just did a test for stalker and it works. So small launcher, autocannon, heavy cannon, rocket launcher, alien launcher, proximity mine, explosive packs is pretty much all there is for vanilla weapons.

I'll keep you guys notified of updates as I work out the details.

BTW the name comes from Arthanor on my Stealth Suit thread page 2 top.  He mentioned phase-shifting as a race. SO this one is for him and Ivan. Read further down why.

Originally I wanted to do Stalker from Fallout nv but I didn't know how until I got the idea for changing LOF on units. I tested it out as an armor first see my Stealth Armor mod. Works better than I thought. So I could implement my stalker. But on page 1  Ivan Dogovich mentioned it would be cool if they were not targetable at all. And I said is possible. Arthanor suggested the same thing (pg 2 top) and the idea of phase-shifting. Of course units cannot phase shift cause you can't change armors in game. But I will make them so they are present only halfway in this dimension ie permanently phased units. So I thought of Phasers.  But credit for the name goes to Arthanor.

These units thanks to Arthanor /Ivan Dogovich are gonna be the toughest enemies in the game cause you can only kill them with grenades and not only that they are practically invisible in the game. All you can see is their eyes. Not only that they don't show up as enemy markings and pathfinding in the game will go trough them thinking is nothing there. Melee also doesn't work on them. Also last thing is both Stalker Terrorist and Phaser have 100 PSI Strength so yea, nice try but no. You can tell them apart based on eye color. Also phasers gonna have an aggro sound.

[Yankes]

Invisible monster... I probably see one sometime ago:
https://fanmovie.cz/wp-content/uploads/forbiddenplanet11650.jpg


Another thing is that motion scanners will be very helpful for detecting and kill them.

[kikimoristan]

you can still see them the game engine will show them moving in visible /explored squares or when shooting is just you get no notification on your turn. they don't even have a walking animation cause you technically never see them so they just teleport from square to square making phaser term even more relevant.

also i couldn't hide the weapons for Phasers so they are red eyeballs with weapons floating so is not TOO hard to spot them. Stalkers are harder their yellow eyes kinda blend in.

yes motion scanners detect them if they move.

i don't know how this is gonna play out grenades and explosives and stun only.

i love forbidden planet btw
+1 (y)

[ivandogovich]

   The Ultimate Horror!

Hmm.... as much as I think this idea is pretty awesome, I think you need to give the player a better clue than just glowing eyes.  If it does show on the enemy tracker, too many players will miss it and rage quit.  I think that maybe a blurry dark sooty grey cloud might be a better representation.  (With the glowing eyes in it?)

Also, It feels like they should be slow enough that the player has a chance to react.  They shouldn't be able to zoom in from beyond LOS and oneshot a soldier. 
Two ways to handle this:  Make them slow like a silacoid.  Or make their melee fairly weak.  Weak enough that it should breach personal armor, but only wound soldiers.  Hm... I guess it should be able to breach power armor but only wound.  Personal armor or Jumpsuits should be at risk of insta death.   

And no.  They shouldn't be able to fly!    Lorewise, maybe they need a physical surface for their teleportation to work.

But yeah, awesome and completely scary enemy!  Nice work! 

[SIMON BAILIE]

Looking forward to this mod, neat pic from Forbidden Planet, one of the best sci fi movies ever made especially since it was long b4 cgi.

[DoxaLogos (JG)]

Very cool, stuff!  Everytime I read up on this, I can't help but think of "Predator" movies.  I think this alien helps round out the pantheon of aliens found in pop culture these days.   Well, no one has done ET yet  

[kikimoristan]

thanks guys. ok so i can't hide the weapons for Phaser unit which is better a bit easier to spot but not enough. they are still DAMN HARD to spot . i am working on a solution. i might make a fuzzy outline few pixels here and there like forbidden planet.

and is too easy to lose track of dead/stunned bodies so im gonna make the bodies have an outline kinda like in you remember where thy are.

and NO they don't fly. the terror unit is just decent low threat. just a high health high tu melee unit but damage wise is OK and only 55 health. Phasers are difficult enough. luckily phasers have 20-50 hp . i might bump them up a bit more still balancing them out.

the biggest problem is you can't use like 80% of all your weapon arsenal against them.

here are  few more screenshots of progress.





you can kinda see how the look like. the stalker is a 4 legged dog type of thing and the phaser is this really tall skinny alien.  unfortuntely phaser doesn't look like predator as predator is like a cloaked tough guy but my dude is a skinny weak alien which is only half present in our dimension.

please let me know what you think.

[kikimoristan]

Looking forward to this mod, neat pic from Forbidden Planet, one of the best sci fi movies ever made especially since it was long b4 cgi.

was all hand drawn animated on film.

[kikimoristan]

BTW the lore is why you can't hit them .....and why explosives do hit them

in ufopaedia autopsy their whole bodies as phased out but they have one piece left which is near the skull but is cloaked. is very tiny thing and is hard to hit but explosives can damage it.

[Mono]

Great stuff! Super like it.
What about giving them fixed weapons (no floating weapons) and the unit special ability of "burning floor" (specab: 2)? This way they still are non targettable but a little more easily seen.
Or maybe incomplete sprites with lots of holes, as they move the visible/invisible pixels will change (this will require a lot of work, I know, and when standing they will not look too good). Just a thought, I have not tried it 

[kikimoristan]

 i made incomplete sprite outline like forbidden planet cause i like that movie..top part is outline-ish . check it out. is this better?

[SIMON BAILIE]

Looks a wee bit like the sprites for the Mechtoid commando unit but with it u cud get a "target lock". When's a workable version gonna be ready?

[kikimoristan]

well i have phasers all ranks and stalker made..sprites and flooob made...bigobs made...i just need to make ufopaedia /autopsy and add them to monthly missions.

you can't target these guys is kinda weird. dunno how this is gonna play up. you shoot right trough them. even if you aim at the ground behind them or anywhere having no hitbox/lof template they never ever get it. ever. not by conventional weapons. only explosives. is so odd. all i been using is chemical thrower is the only weapon that deals area damage as ammo all other vanilla stuff requires priming and reloading etc. vanilla play against these guys is kinda hard. if you got no explosives or run out GG. just abort.

[Hobbes]

Suggestion: remove the eyes and use a completely blank sprite. Not being able to see anything might actually 'look' better than having a few pixels.

[kikimoristan]

here is another better color better outline. i kinda like this one.




also i'm gonna have them use weapons cause weapons don't phase out. only their bodies do. so you still can't hit them only hit their weapons kinda. but that's not implemented in the game to shoot their weapons out of their hands. they are aliens like all other aliens using same weapons given in missionDeployment.

Suggestion: remove the eyes and use a completely blank sprite. Not being able to see anything might actually 'look' better than having a few pixels.

i didn't think of removing outline completely. eyes kinda give them personality and make them look like living things. i'm gonna try though.

i kinda want it to be harder to see them in the game that's why i m using dashed  outline  and i chose most common colors to blend in. i don't want them to not be spotted at all just harder to spot them initially.