[TFTD] USO mods and some Resources (Update September, 15th)

[new_civilian]

Here some more resources

- A handobject for the one-handed shok-launcher (bigobject found in posts above^)
-A silver plastic armor, along with inventories, big- and floor-objects and an ufopediascreen (even though i had to cheat there a bit, there's no silver/grey in the color palette for the ufopedia).


About the proposed mega-mod: I will NOT release one or compile one as I realized that my changes are not everyone's shoe and as I would not make compromises ... 

Anyway: feel free to use any of my files.

[niculinux]

[...]
About the proposed mega-mod: I will NOT release one or compile one as I realized that my changes are not everyone's shoe and as I would not make compromises ... 

Anyway: feel free to use any of my files.

this really saddens me...but whatever!!

[davide]

This creature could fit very well into TFTD :



https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2913.msg56319.html#msg56319

Also I remember a new alien named Crabman but I do not remember which mod  contain it

[XOps]

This creature could fit very well into TFTD :



https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,2913.msg56319.html#msg56319

I am going to make a TFTD version eventually (I've got it mostly done in fact). Actually, that was what this alien was intended for in the first place.

[new_civilian]

XOps, May I suggest to change the red/pink mouth on the actual spritesheet a bit? The creature is VERY nice, but in higher resolutions (and thus smaller unit)  it no longer looks threatening, but actually unintentionally cute due to the pink mouth (which then look like big lips with buckteeth) 

Anyway: Here a small mod I made as I grew tired of my whole base falling down in shambles after throwing a simple 50 damage grenade.

This MCD set makes the walls and doors in the TFTD bases as hard as the UFO:EU ones.

The original TFTD value for both was 45 armor.
UFO:EU had it at  45 (small doors), 75 (big doors) and 80 for the walls.

As the TFTD base set lacks big doors I changed the existing small door armor to 75 as those are used in the air-lock and should provide some resistance.

I made this changes as I grew tired of the paper thin walls that led to unnecessary huge losses in bases, facilities and soldiers. The TFTD bases are supposed to be below the water surface, giving them LESS strength than the UFO:EU ones was only a dirt-cheap and artificial change to raise the difficulty imho.

Using the "Aggressive Retaliation" option in OpenXcom made this even more visible to me. Losing several campaigns on game day 2 because my 8 lightly armed and unarmored rookies can't stop a battleship full of PSI-aliens really made me angry. This mod should help at least a TINY bit to give your troops more hiding chances. Don't get me wrong, I like a challenge but there is a certain limit to everything.

As a side-effect of the changes you can now use those proxy-grenade tactics again which gives your troops a standing chance against those overly early attacks.

civilian 2015. feel free to use this files in any way you see fit.

[new_civilian]

I realized that TFTD is much harder to mod than UFO:EU, not technically, but because the game is much more complete, every item has a VERY specific purpose, every alien has to appear at a certain time etc. There is not much space left (imo) for new units or weapons.

That does not mean that TFTD is without a dire need of fixes and mods. The research tree is a desaster area with essential researches being unavailable because you simply do not encounter a specific alien, the early tanks are COMPLETELY useless, the gas-cannon is absurdly overpowered, and that last statement was an understatement...

And don't get me started with the essentially useless Gauss infantry weapons, the ability to skip right down to PSI and thus the game becoming a farce....

One more thing: My 1x1 sized drones are useless in TFTD, i realized that after some campaigns. They are simply too fragile and their weapons too weak. Otoh making them sturdier and carry bigger weapons makes them overpowered right away. Better fix the tanks (make them cheaper, raise their accuracy) and hide your troops behind them.

About the sharkmen^: I really like them, no two ways about that, but it will be difficult to find a niché for them where they are not simply one additional race, but actually serve a real purpose. Maybe merging them with the Grunge ufo mod and give them some new weaponry? tldr: TFTD is hard to change, it feels much more "hardcoded" than UFO:EU. It feels like it (the game) has been given much more planning, though. The maps especially are awesome.

[XOps]

About the sharkmen^: I really like them, no two ways about that, but it will be difficult to find a niché for them where they are not simply one additional race, but actually serve a real purpose. Maybe merging them with the Grunge ufo mod and give them some new weaponry? tldr: TFTD is hard to change, it feels much more "hardcoded" than UFO:EU. It feels like it (the game) has been given much more planning, though. The maps especially are awesome.

In regards to the sharkmen, stats wise, they are tougher than Gillmen and Aquatoids, but weaker than Lobstermen and Tasoths. Interesting that UFO has 5 primary Alien races (that is, aliens who use weapons, not counting Terror units) where as TFTD only has 4.
Aquatoid ~ Sectoids
Gillmen ~ Floaters
? ~ Snakemen(this is where I am aiming to put the sharkmen)
Lobstermen ~ Mutons (Though far tougher than mutons since you can still easily put down mutons with heavy plasma)
Tasoths ~ Ethereals (Though Tasoths are far weaker than Ethereals since not all of them can use MC unlike the psi spamming Ethereals)
I was planning to have them show up before Lobstermen, but after Gillmen and Aquatoids. I think there is a bit of a gap in TFTD in terms of alien difficulty. You go from one shoting Gillmen to invincible Lobstermen way too quickly. In addition, the game throws Lobstermen at you too much (at least in my playthroughs). I think there is a little room left for one or two mid game aliens, though it still wouldn't fix the useless gauss/just go straight to sonic issue. What TFTD really needs is a pacing fix since it doesn't really have a mid game in terms of both aliens and weapons.

[davide]

I totaly agree with both previous posts 

[new_civilian]

I think there is a bit of a gap in TFTD in terms of alien difficulty. You go from one shoting Gillmen to invincible Lobstermen way too quickly. In addition, the game throws Lobstermen at you too much (at least in my playthroughs). I think there is a little room left for one or two mid game aliens, though it still wouldn't fix the useless gauss/just go straight to sonic issue. What TFTD really needs is a pacing fix since it doesn't really have a mid game in terms of both aliens and weapons.

I couldn't agree more, especially about the non-existence of a mid-game.   
In my (personal) TFTD mod I addressed the things you've mentioned, and TFTD really benefits from a more powerful Gauss, it makes the game feel more complete. Fwiw, I used similar stats for the Gauss like the Plasma weapons in EU have , in the ufopaedia it actually states that they are developments of those. (Heavy Plasma 115 damage -> my Heavy Gauss 110 damage etc). I did not touch the endgame alien's armor, though, so Sonic weapons are still the way to go.

[new_civilian]

Here some more small mods:

-A mod that adds 3 cruising ship variants
- One that adds mapblocks to the Port and Island maps
-a Hallucinoid that has the ranged weapon the ufopedia mentions (as well as its melee attack)

[new_civilian]

Here a psi-amp/MC_Disruptor-like icon with corresponding Ufopedia page, I use it as a heavy-no-LOS-version complementing the ingame LOS-version (that is in my personal mod) 

[new_civilian]

Here some more resources

-all TFTD melee weapons in 1x3 size (instead of the default 2x3)
-a green triscene
-a slightly recolored Aquatoid
-an orange Celatid for TFTD
-a PCK file that recolors the pyramids from green/blue to sand colored

[new_civilian]

here some small mods
 
This mod adds two tools to the purchasable items in TFTD.

1. The Breaching Charge. A one-tile ranged device to open USO hulls. It takes a lot of TU to fire it, so provide cover for the unit using it, as there's only enough time to step 1 tile aside aside after using it. It has a weight of 3 and is 1 width x2 height tiles big, perfect for the belt.

2. The Tranquilizer. A device that keeps stunned units unconscious for the rest of the mission (provided you do not play longer than 100 turns in a single mission, which never happened to me in 20+ years of XCom playing...) It has a weight of 2 and a size of 1x1, so you can put it everywhere in your inventory where you want. It can be used as a stun weapon, too, BUT it takes 30 TUs to use it, so you have to be VERY close to use it that way. Also: A standing unit, treated with one dose of tranquilizer, will not drop down right away as OpenXcom does not update the stun status of units too often. But as soon as you or the aliens use a weapon somewhere on the map, or if you end the turn, the unit will drop. Some (unstunned) rare units on highest difficulty levels might need two doses, but usually one dose is way more than enough. One more note: Enemy units under your mind-control can NOT be treated, you will have to wait for them to be uncontrolled again.

3. Both devices come with an Ufopaedia picture and a custom inventory icon. They can be bought right from the start and are not too expensive. They have been carefully balanced and play-tested for a VERY long time (in XCom EU actually) and then were converted to TFTD as I missed my 2 mods in that game.  :-)

Feel free to use those files in any way you see fit. 2016 new_civilian aka civilian



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and


This mod changes the look, the layout and the time unit usage of the TFTD inventory screen.
It is meant to streamline that interface enormously and make it easier and WAY more intuitive, no longer will you have to study any TimeUnit usage lists to avoid excessive wasting of precious TUs, no longer will you need ~20 TUs just to put something in your backpack. On top of that you get a better belt and a TAC slot, which simulates a (slung) quick-slot on your shoulder.
You will spend much less time (and TUs) in the inventory, making the game less boring and much more focused.

Changes:
-ALL actions into and from the backpack take 4 TUs.
-ALL actions into Shoulder, Legs and Hands take 2 TUs. There is also one action that takes 0 TUs: If you drop something from your hands to the ground. I mean, come on, you just open your hand, that hardly takes time at all.
-ALL actions from the BELT and TAC slot take 2 TUs as well, with the exceptions of dropping things to the ground and equipping them into and from your hands/belt. Both those actions take 0 TUs to give a a quick-slot ability.
-BELT layout slightly changed, has more capacity without going over-board. Nice to put your mind-probes in.
-TAC slot added which is great to e.g. shoulder your Thermal Tazer. It also works as a quick-slot, meaning it requires no TUs if you put items to/from your hands there or on the ground.
-Grid darkened

Feel free to use those files in any way you see fit. 2016 new_civilian aka civilian

credits for the dark grid idea goes to XOps, who made something similar for his XenoOperations mod.

[new_civilian]

Here some more seources and some screenshots of the mods above^

-a white Tentaculat (looks more brainy)

-a PCK file that changes the XCom base doors to yellow

[new_civilian]

More mods/options

First a new TFTD Island Terror terrain

This mods adds an abandoned research facility area to the Island Terror mission selection. I made this as I was tired of ALWAYS having the same 2 terrains to fight ground missions on... :-)

About the terrain:
It's basically the Underwater Research facility on land, that means minus the sand, the bubbles, and the water of course.
I also fixed the map files so that big terror units do not spawn inside the buildings, a bug that the default TFTD terrain still has btw.

Feel free to use this mod in any way you see fit. 2016 civilian