Balancing Psionics ?

[Francois424]

Hello,

I've always found the the Psi-stuff was the only part of X-Com which was unbalanced...
Aliens mess with you and cripple your ability to do anything
Then when X-COM gets that, it's the other way around (I've heard that ppl where able to control 3 aliens per marine, which is insane)

So how do we balance that ?   Couple of Suggestions

#1- Simply make it harder to land a Psyonic attack.  Not impossible, but halving the chance for aliens would seem about right.
#2- Add ammo to the Psy-Amps; I'd say 3 shots and that's it.  Oh and the reload clip should be 3-by-2 (3 rows, 2 colums) 
#3- Reduce the amount of PPL / Aliens that can do psy-attacks
#4- Each time you ask something/someone to do something against usual (ie: shooting allies), give a chance to break to mind-control.

Just a few toughs
 -- Francois424

[Kyzrati]

I agree it's unbalanced--always one of the things I like to remove from the original completely using xcomutil.

It does still have its fun points and uses, so inclusion with proper limitations/tweaks make sense.

I really like your suggestion #4.

Reducing the chance of success (#1) by too much would make psionic attacks a lot less viable, though, so no one would even bother to use them.

[moriarty]

also, range-based difficulty for psionics was suggested and sounds logical

as for #2 : the "ammo" would be bigger than the Psi-Amp, then maybe we could re-design the Psi-Amp to be 2x3 and the ammo to be 2x2... but I guess that would only mean that the Psi-Soldier would simply stay in the transport craft, sitting on top of the ammo-pile

I like #4. maybe this "breaking the connection" would also damage the "psi-attacker"? like a mental backlash?

[Kyzrati]

also, range-based difficulty for psionics was suggested and sounds logical

Actually, the original success rate is already range-based. See psionic formulas here.

[Daiky]

openxcom uses the exact same formula's as the original, so also range based.

I once made the suggestion that using a psionic power uses 100% energy. This means you have to wait several turns while energy is replenishing, to use a psionic power again. If you start moving around it takes even longer to get back "in focus" for the next psionic attack.
The idea behind is 1) keep the battle fysical, but with a few tactically placed psionic attacks. 2) it's SUPER easy to implement (1 little line of code) :p

Especially that last one is important to me :p

it was mentioned in this thread: https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,225.0.html

[Kyzrati]

Yeah, stamina cost is how I'd do it, though 100% may be a bit harsh.

[Daiky]

I'm probably nitpicking here, but to avoid confusion:
Stamina is a "fixed" soldier stat seen only in the geoscape, that defines the maximum energy a soldier has during battle.

[Kyzrati]

Ah, true. I just refer to it as stamina in general, after the stat which defines it, but use the abbreviation "EN" in game to represent it since it is variable. Bad habit on my part, perhaps.

[Francois424]

That's a nice Idea.

I'll go with that