Hey, CptFoot! Glad to see you're still around.
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Still loving your mod of a mod, Ram but I agree with the previous sentiment that the Aliens aren't really fitting the bill of "We are here to crush you and there's nothing you can do to stop us."
I've been trying to beef up the Aliens ever since I started editing Acake's version of the mod, though I'm not trying to make them steamrollers. While they are far more advanced than the other two factions, they aren't here to just squash everything in their path; if they wanted to do that, they'd just glass the battlefield from orbit. Here are my balance attempts:
-Tier 2 Alien Units appear far more often than the other two factions'.
-Alien reinforcement calls are the cheapest, and offer better unit choice than the other factions'.
-Alien guns are accurate and very deadly, almost guaranteed to kill anything they hit.
-Alien armor isn't as good as XCOM's, but is more evenly distributed. Almost half of the Alien unit roster is guaranteed to have armor of some kind.
I want to make them a powerful foe, but not necessarily a Hell March faction, if you get what I mean.
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XCOM should be using reverse engineered technology (though with their own flair to maintain their presence as a separate faction,) while Exalt are more like the growing threat and/or a nuisance to the other two. Less direct combat and more subvert stuff.
XCOM does use reverse-engineered alien tech, their whole Tier 2 weapons list is based on salvaged alien gear (notice how the XCOM Rail Weapons and Alien Plasma weapons behave similarly?) XCOM is really meant to be a defensive, beefy, and versatile faction.
EXALT has, by far, the best stealth options of all the factions. The Pacifier and TMP really help in this area. In general, EXALT is meant to be Alpha Strike incarnate: get in, fuck shit up, get out. Their defensive game isn't as good as XCOM's, save for certain bases (such as bases in Old Fort Creek.)
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well, them and any psi capable enemies.
XCOM 2 Sectoids are planned. Thinking of giving them some kind of freaky PSI bomb power.
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It might be a little early, what with XCOM 2 being delayed til next year, but how would you feel about adding original weapons to your mod? With Advent being included you could probably toss in a few new guns that only they have access to. Perhaps an Advent mini-boss above the captains with some kind of unique weapon? You could borrow from the portable minigun in vanilla RWR and give them an energy variant that is just as lethal.
One of the big things I go for in this mod is authenticity. I try to leave out OC, save for filling in some gaps (Outsider Elites, EXALT Team Leaders, etc.) I'm definitely not against the idea, though, I just try to limit it to where necessary.
As for ADVENT, I'm adding to them as more info is released. I'll go ahead and spoil something now: one of the new alien units is the ADVENT Stun Lancer, revealed in the Firaxis mega-panel at PAX. They are similar to Berzerkers, but they wear Covert Ops vests and retain their rifles. In-game, this translates to a fast executioner unit that will charge at you while you're pinned down, or finishing you off while stunned. I've been playtesting them for a while now, and they've definitely added some muscle to the Alien unit roster. Don't let them catch you reloading.
Thanks for your input!