[Equipment] Pacifier (UPDATED, ver 98e)

[new_civilian]

Just an old mod that I updated for XPiratez.

This is a small addon-mod for Dioxine's XPiratez Total Conversion. It adds a device called Pacifier, it is meant to keep stunned units from waking up again. It needs 85% of the unit's Time-Units to be applied and can be used 2 times. It is a rework of my UFO and TFTD Tranquilizer versions. This one has been tested wit 0.98E

Technical stuff: This is basically a negative Stimulant. The receiving unit gets a -28 stun recovery dosage, which keeps it down and unconscious for a very long time. It can not be used against tanks, needs to  be applied directly (stand over or a stunned unit or next to a soon-to-be-stunned one) and needs a lot of TUs, all that to keep it balanced.

It can only be used in XPiratez as this version has certain features that do not work with the original OpenXcom exe.
Those features are:
-The annoying Medi-kit screen no longer shows up when you use it
-It makes a nice Bling sound.
-Changed the name to avoid confusion with the "basic tranquilizer" research and made the Pacifier now usable in Mansion Missions.

hf!

civilian 2016, feel free to use these files in any way you want.

Big thanks to Dioxine, Meridian and anyone else involved  in the XPiratez TC.


edit: Updated thanks to Dioxine's input
edit: Updated again to avoid collision with poison grenade sound
edit: Changed name and made it usable in Mansion Missions
edit: Slightly buffed the pacifier and increased weight.

[Dioxine]

You've just created an ultimate melee weapon which auto-stuns ANY unit that isn't immune to Fatal Wounds and has <101 HP. I was planning to add something exactly like that to the mod anyway, but 96%+ TU cost is a must, and 100 damage is way too much (32 would be more than enough to make this item very useful). Just my opinion though.

[new_civilian]

You've just created an ultimate melee weapon which auto-stuns ANY unit that isn't immune to Fatal Wounds and has <101 HP. I was planning to add something exactly like that to the mod anyway, but 96%+ TU cost is a must, and 100 damage is way too much (32 would be more than enough to make this item very useful). Just my opinion though.

Ok, I will adjust the rul file according to your input. Update will follow right away. Fwiw, I never relaized before that the gals can get >=100 TUs, I always thought 80 is the limit. 


-UPDATED FIRST POST-

done! And thanks for the help.

[Dioxine]

Umm... did you use flatrate: True? Use % TU cost for usage instead. Fixed costs don't work for such huge numbers. With the right armor, afaik a gal can get 150 TU. Otoh, a very slow gal in a power armor has only 30 TUs.

[new_civilian]

Umm... did you use flatrate: True? Use % TU cost for usage instead. Fixed costs don't work for such huge numbers. With the right armor, afaik a gal can get 150 TU. Otoh, a very slow gal in a power armor has only 30 TUs.

Yes, I did...  Just realized that after posting.... 

Updated again! thanks for the TU info, btw!

[new_civilian]

I just realized that a weaponized version for the VERY late-game could be doable, BUT it would need many more restrictions, maybe something like a Psi-Blast device, that requires psi-abilities and scales with the psi-skill/strength or something like that... Make it a one-shot weapon..... heavy and big (would leave space for a nice icon)...

[legionof1]

A psi powered stun faust. That would be a thing i would sooo want. Stargods are uber hard to stun with the tools presently in the mod.

[new_civilian]

A psi powered stun faust. That would be a thing i would sooo want. Stargods are uber hard to stun with the tools presently in the mod.

Yes, I want one, too....

Let's see what Dioxine has to say. I am so tempted to make one, but I want more input from him before I go ahead and make something very experimental like that.

[legionof1]

Hell i would settle for something very late game with more then 90 base stun. Stun bombs(strongest pure stun weapon in mod) doing at most 20 to upper tier stargods and 50% of the time zero, when you only get one shot per reload...... Meanwhile mister nice stargod 2 shots most gals regardless of gear. Unless the first volley stuns, Im forced to kill them. Every failed attempt is more hypno devices burned. Gals are dying more now trying get these captures then the rest of the now 6 year game combined. I can easily afford the loses, but ive gone from being elite pirate badass to the imperial guard throwing bodies and ineffective weapons at something until i win. I've ceased to care about attacks on my bases even the tiny tracking stations have more heavy weapons lying around then an artillery company. Oh look another assault launch a few blaster bombs from the bunk and go back to sleep. Even if some base goes down i have nearly a 100 mil in reserve with production output in the millions and tens of millions in protection.  Yet for all my success and struggle i am not getting any closer to the final hurrah.

Spleen venting complete.

[Dioxine]

There are some very powerful stun weapons already: Plate Armor's shield, and Saviour's medkit (which indeed scales with psi).

[legionof1]

Shield and the kit indeed have the necessary power but melee attacks only work in very specific circumstances of facing and still take several hits. Melee range with something that can 2 shot a gal when you cant kill it with anything but aoe.....god that feels bad, but what the hell ill try it for awhile, its cheaper then a dozen stunballs per dude. 

[ivandogovich]

Shield and the kit indeed have the necessary power but melee attacks only work in very specific circumstances of facing and still take several hits. Melee range with something that can 2 shot a gal when you cant kill it with anything but aoe.....god that feels bad, but what the hell ill try it for awhile, its cheaper then a dozen stunballs per dude.

Does the TU drain from Teargas canisters stack?  Can you make those deadly SGs inert for the time it takes to stun them?

[Dioxine]

Tear gas is no-no, Star Gods are immune to Smoke. You can try Seductress' beam to that effect (now it even adds some Stun) but you need a specific angle of attack (works only against White Ethereals, doesn't really work on Red ones).
Also, note that Saviour armor has high Plasma resistance. You will probably be able to tank several shots from their weapon. Without Saviour, it shouldn't be a problem either - yeah, you need to blanket them with Stun Bombs, but Shoulder Launcher easily shoots 2 per turn and is an arcing weapon. I don't think there should really be any more powerful AoE Stun that that.

[Arthanor]

It's been a fair few versions since I encountered star gods, but tesla coils man, they got the job done real well! You end up killing a fair few targets, but if you use it widely (and why wouldn't you? Great plasma damage, good stun potential and infinite ammo? that thing is awesome!) you'll hit enough stuff to bag a few per missions.

[legionof1]

The issue i find with coils vs stargods is 2 fold. Coils work very well against things like mercs and power armor foes because they do equal parts plasma and stun. The plasma reduces hp/armor and the stun puts them under afterwards. Stargods however come with 50% resist to plasma and stun. With that kinda resist a median roll barely exceeds armor. Successive shots will eventually get there but its a long road when you start out at 50/50 for one dmg. The other issue is that coils are shooting attacks which have the same requirements as melee to actually connect(from the back at one square range). IF you already there sheild and savior kit have more raw power. 

The plasma resist does help on savior takeing the average survivablity from 2 shots to about 6 but cumulative wounds add up fast. Hp lost(even after healing) still puts the gal in hospital for months after a battle. Simply haveing a roster of strong voodoo gals to cycle through the available outfits is a base to itself.  And precious few outfits because you need 2x of a gem from the mansions. Hypno devices for stun balls are much more available.