[EXPANSION]Hardmode Expansion -- General Feedback Thread

[DaEMon]

I think there might be a bug in the research tree. I researched Improved skyranger and I don't have available Alloy HWPs for research. I'm using last version of the mod

[DaEMon]

Here is the save

[hellrazor]

I think there might be a bug in the research tree. I researched Improved skyranger and I don't have available Alloy HWPs for research. I'm using last version of the mod

Here is the save

Hello, yes there was a slight oversight, somehow the Alloy Tank Armor had "Improved Skyranger" as dependency instead of "Improved Interceptor" on the Research tree.

After reasearching the improved Interceptor the Alloy Tank Armor will appear.

Attached here the corrected Research tree graphic.

[DaEMon]

Hello,

I just got a map where the UFO can't be reached. Maybe the map generator should not produce such maps.

Anyway, I will just reload the map so I can actually play it.

I attach the save.

[hellrazor]

Hello,

I just got a map where the UFO can't be reached. Maybe the map generator should not produce such maps.

Anyway, I will just reload the map so I can actually play it.

I attach the save.

The problem is not with the map generator, its with the map tiles and how they can be combined.
All maps which have as basis the normal vanilla polar terrain, suffer from a combination of the maptiles were such unaccessible situations may happen. So everything which is listed as swamp for example.

In my testings with the mapscript, i was able to reduce such cases, but it is not possible to prevent them for 100%, without redesigning any polar based terrains totally.

It also may happen in vanilla sometimes, so

[DaEMon]

Thank you for your quick reply.

I agree that is almost impossible to generate flawless maps when you have a random map generator and map blocks with unpassable terrain.

I'm really enjoying this mod. It takes Xcom to a whole new (and insane ) level.

I will keep reporting any minor stuff that might not be working right as I play the campaign.

I noticed another difference between the game's tech tree and the tech tree's chart. I have available for research "alien launcher weapons" before researching "Elerium Rocket". I do have Alien Data Slate.

-- posts merged. Please don't double-post ---

I forgot the save

[hellrazor]

Thank you for your quick reply.

I agree that is almost impossible to generate flawless maps when you have a random map generator and map blocks with unpassable terrain.

Well i always see it as a pilot error or a miscalcuation from the officer in charge, to attack from this specific angle

I'm really enjoying this mod. It takes Xcom to a whole new (and insane ) level.

Thanks, I hope you enjoy (i know you will ) the progressing ingame months, when things get crazier and crazier.

I will keep reporting any minor stuff that might not be working right as I play the campaign.

I noticed another difference between the game's tech tree and the tech tree's chart. I have available for research "alien launcher weapons" before researching "Elerium Rocket". I do have Alien Data Slate.

-- posts merged. Please don't double-post ---

I forgot the save

This stupid research graphic will be my doom....
Yes it actually shows it as a dependency. Let me recheck that later this day.

[DaEMon]

Hello,

I have a couple of things to report:

Some drone upgrades are not working as supposed.
Drone Scanner -> Alloy Drone Taser requires Drone Scout
Drone Taser -> Alloy Drone Medikit requires Drone Scanner
Drone Taser -> Alloy Drone Taser requires Drone Scout

Drone  Scout -> Alloy Drone Scout crashes the game when you try to produce it. I'm using v0.99.3 of the mod and git 2018-05-10.

On the tech tree, "Elerium bomb launcher" doesn't become available for research after Alien Launcher and its bombs.

[DaEMon]

Hi,

I'm now in October first year, so I haven't yet faced several of the new aliens featuring in this mod.
But I think I advanced enought to get some feeling on the mod balance and mechanics.

1) Economic system. It's brilliant. You are always struggling for money, you are required to capture almost every UFO that lands.
I'm currently running 10+ millions in deficit, and the amount UFOs arriving on earth are just enough to provide loot money for that plus production costs for amors, weapons, personnel, etc.
Producing laser cannons makes some profit, but most of the time your engineers are busy with other projects, like amors (and armor repairs), weapons, crafts or equipment.

2) Shouting down UFOs. No point. Most UFOs can outrange even avalanches, making short work of your interceptors. I think it is nice that you can't now avoid terror sites without a heavy commitment.

3) Research tree. It's really good and most features of it makes a lot of sense.
I could point out that the Alien Data Slate shouldn't be in an Alien Base, because you are basically getting it for free, since you are already raiding a base early on for the alien containment.
Btw, I Love the world news updates. It's always great to have more background story.

4) Heavy Auto Laser. I have no idea what it's good for.
For long/mid range fight Laser Sniper is way better. Better accuracy and damage.
For close fight Scatter Laser outclasses it completely. The auto laser is heavier, requires a lot more of TUs to fire, and scatter laser fire 10 beams with autoshot.
Maybe it is good for aliens I haven't met yet? like Armored Sectopods?

Same issues with the Heavy Plasma. Formerly, the best gun in the game is now beaten by the new plasma guns.
Although it has Aimed Shot available, the Plasma Sniper Rifle is better for long range fight with better accuracy and damage (Elerium clips).
And for close range the Plasma Shotguns are hands down better.
Maybe Heavy Plasma damage output should be buffed? Or an Elerium clip variant available for it?


Congratulations for this mod which both great and challenging. Keep up the good work.

I couldn't make too much progress in last few weeks, because the World Cup took away lots of playing time (three games per day take away lots of time). Anyway, tomorrow my team plays against Portugal, so I think I will have plenty of time starting on sunday to advance in the campaign and hopefully save the planet.

[hellrazor]

Hello,

I have a couple of things to report:

Some drone upgrades are not working as supposed.
Drone Scanner -> Alloy Drone Taser requires Drone Scout
Drone Taser -> Alloy Drone Medikit requires Drone Scanner
Drone Taser -> Alloy Drone Taser requires Drone Scout

Drone  Scout -> Alloy Drone Scout crashes the game when you try to produce it. I'm using v0.99.3 of the mod and git 2018-05-10.

On the tech tree, "Elerium bomb launcher" doesn't become available for research after Alien Launcher and its bombs.

I will have a look at this, sorry for the delay. Normal life was a little bit demanding the last months.
Probabely a typo or so.

--- posts merged ---

Hello,

I have a couple of things to report:

Some drone upgrades are not working as supposed.
Drone Scanner -> Alloy Drone Taser requires Drone Scout
Drone Taser -> Alloy Drone Medikit requires Drone Scanner
Drone Taser -> Alloy Drone Taser requires Drone Scout

Drone  Scout -> Alloy Drone Scout crashes the game when you try to produce it. I'm using v0.99.3 of the mod and git 2018-05-10.

On the tech tree, "Elerium bomb launcher" doesn't become available for research after Alien Launcher and its bombs.

For the Drone Upgrades, check out the attached manufacture.rul.
Just replace the file manufacture.rul in the Ruleset directory with the attached one.

It corrects the wrong assignment and the crash issue with the drones upgrades.

The Elerium Bomb Launcher is a tank weapon. You also need to have researched Hover HWP Topic to make this weapon available.
Maybe thats not clearly or wrongly shown on the Research Tree Graphic. I check.

Sorry for delay in my answer.

[hellrazor]

Madness has strucken me playing around with something new.

[The Reaver of Darkness]

That looks really tedious but potentially very rewarding.

4) Heavy Auto Laser. I have no idea what it's good for.
For long/mid range fight Laser Sniper is way better. Better accuracy and damage.
For close fight Scatter Laser outclasses it completely. The auto laser is heavier, requires a lot more of TUs to fire, and scatter laser fire 10 beams with autoshot.

I haven't played the mod yet, but glancing into the code it looks to me like the Heavy Laser Auto is fine, and the Scatter Laser is the one that should be nerfed.

[hellrazor]

That looks really tedious but potentially very rewarding.

I haven't played the mod yet, but glancing into the code it looks to me like the Heavy Laser Auto is fine, and the Scatter Laser is the one that should be nerfed.

Really? Its a shotgun class weapon. After 4-6 tiles range its not really hitting shit because of the random bullet spread.
Its supposed to be your way out in close quarters against Chryssalids, Berserkers, Mutons and other Hitpoint strong enemies.
And they can also carry a Plasma Shotgun, which seals the deal.

If you haven't played then you probabely do not know, give it a try, then you will see. Even thou i changed it up slightly recently.

[hellrazor]

That looks really tedious but potentially very rewarding.

They are way to quickly to panic: https://youtu.be/20NFZK8NZjI
But it feels somewhat rewarding to slaugther them, once you reached the moral tipping point.
A aggressive aproach seems best.

[hellrazor]

Hi,

I'm now in October first year, so I haven't yet faced several of the new aliens featuring in this mod.
But I think I advanced enought to get some feeling on the mod balance and mechanics.

1) Economic system. It's brilliant. You are always struggling for money, you are required to capture almost every UFO that lands.
I'm currently running 10+ millions in deficit, and the amount UFOs arriving on earth are just enough to provide loot money for that plus production costs for amors, weapons, personnel, etc.
Producing laser cannons makes some profit, but most of the time your engineers are busy with other projects, like amors (and armor repairs), weapons, crafts or equipment.

In October you should have encountered at least some of the new terror units, like the Muton Berserkers and Waspites and Gazers.
Get ready for some serious fights, if you have psi weak troops once Sectoids Elites appear.

10 Million deficit? Thats small i had a deficit of up to 40 Million, running on 8 bases and 6 combat teams.
I also added a dedicated base for production in my testrun, so i manage to go by with producing Laser Cannons if i need to.
I added upgrade ability for tanks and soldier armor recently, allows more flexibility and saves some engineer time.

2) Shouting down UFOs. No point. Most UFOs can outrange even avalanches, making short work of your interceptors. I think it is nice that you can't now avoid terror sites without a heavy commitment.

Try Retaliators, they are able to take down Alien Terrorships with good chance of none being blown out of the sky.
I usually run them on Laser Cannon/Avalanche Missle combo. Do not be afraid of getting shot, the repair times have been reduced slightly.
Due to the early game research changes i made they are now avaible without alive interrogations.

3) Research tree. It's really good and most features of it makes a lot of sense.
I could point out that the Alien Data Slate shouldn't be in an Alien Base, because you are basically getting it for free, since you are already raiding a base early on for the alien containment.
Btw, I Love the world news updates. It's always great to have more background story.

The research tree took a long time to design and test, even the OpenXcom research code had to be overworked to make it function properly.
But everything turned out fine. Yes the Alien Data Slate is still currently in the Alien Base and you are basically getting it for free.
I had a special mission in mind to recover it, but so far i was more occupied to balance the long game factors like economics, alien weapon resistance etc..

4) Heavy Auto Laser. I have no idea what it's good for.
For long/mid range fight Laser Sniper is way better. Better accuracy and damage.
For close fight Scatter Laser outclasses it completely. The auto laser is heavier, requires a lot more of TUs to fire, and scatter laser fire 10 beams with autoshot.
Maybe it is good for aliens I haven't met yet? like Armored Sectopods?

Same issues with the Heavy Plasma. Formerly, the best gun in the game is now beaten by the new plasma guns.
Although it has Aimed Shot available, the Plasma Sniper Rifle is better for long range fight with better accuracy and damage (Elerium clips).
And for close range the Plasma Shotguns are hands down better.
Maybe Heavy Plasma damage output should be buffed? Or an Elerium clip variant available for it?

The Heavy Laser/Auto starts making a lot of sense once you turn on UFO Extender accuracy. No aimed shot, but the Snaps Shot dropoff start at 24 tiles or so.
So optimal for midrange scout and snipe tactics. I buffed its autoshot from 3 to 4 instead so you actually take out some harder enemies.

I will add Elerium Clips for Plasma Pistol, Plasma Rifle and the Heavy Plasma. Had to make some sprites first, which i finally did a few days ago.

Btw Armored Sectopods laugh at Laser Weaponry, literally. Try taking them out from behind or stun them. Stunning is actually the way you wanna go,
since you need Alive Armored Sectopods to produce Walkertank/Plasma and you wanna have those!

Congratulations for this mod which both great and challenging. Keep up the good work.

I couldn't make too much progress in last few weeks, because the World Cup took away lots of playing time (three games per day take away lots of time). Anyway, tomorrow my team plays against Portugal, so I think I will have plenty of time starting on sunday to advance in the campaign and hopefully save the planet.

Thanks looking forward to more feedback and i apologize for me taking such a long time to answer towards your feedback.