Mod for XCOM: UFO Defense with character dialogue text and tutorial

[KiethSomataw99]

I was thinking an another mod for XCOM: UFO Defense, which adds things to the game, including:

 

Soldier's country on his/her stats, derived from his/her name. A soldier is slightly less likely to panic when involved in a mission in his/her own country.

 

Mindfray attack: a psionic power used by soldiers and aliens that use psionics. Mindfray attacks the target's mind, causing him/her/it to lost grip on reality, causing penalties to the target's stats for one turn and dealing health damage ignoring armor. Although it does not cause any fatal wounds, Mindfray can kill the target is blasted enough times. Soldiers and Aliens are more susceptible to Mindfray as with all psionic powers, but lower psionic strength means more health damage if successful. Unit that pass the psionic test take no damage and no penalty. Mindfray penalties stack for the turn but go away altogether after that turn. Aliens remember soldier positions and mindblasting them with mindfray would kill them, eliminating psionically weak.

 

Ethereal Leader and Commander mind weapon: Psi Lance: Ethereal Leaders and Commanders forego weapons for a psionic power that translates to a ranged attack: Psi Lance. This power is counted as a heavy plasma in statistics, but soldiers hit by Psi Lance must pass a psionic test. If they pass, they take the damage as normal and armor can protect from it. If they fail, they take the normal damage, plus additional damage to health, ignoring armor for the bonus damage.

 

New base structure: Warehouse: a warehouse is a large storage facility, requiring 4 tiles instead of one, but can store up to 225 space worth of objects at the cost of less than 4 general stores.

 

New Base structure: foundry: the foundry is the most expensive in terms of maintenance, but lower initial cost than Hyper Wave Decoder. The foundry is used to develop global upgrades for various weapons and objects. It requires both scientists and enginneers working simultaneously, for every one scientist working, an engineer must work too and vise versa. Foundry upgrades are global and permanent. Some of them improve weapons and equipment, while others focus on craft and bases. Example: Weapon: Laser Pistol Auto Charge - Laser Pistols no longer need to be recharged, they have unlimited shots; Electro Flare Heat Scanning: Electro Flares can detect aliens and civilians at a very short distance. behind walls; Alien Craft Hybrid Fueling: The Firestorm, Lightning, and Avenger use less Elerium for refueling; Pistol Tranquilizer Rounds: the pistol, using the same ammunition, fires rounds that have additional stun damage; and Base Turrets: Each base slot will have a AI Controlled Turret that will automatically fire at attacking aliens. Starts at Base Turrets - Laser Turrets - and Plasma Turrets.

 

Heavy Plasma change: the heavy plasma is a lot heavier now, slightly heavier than the heavy laser. Sectoids, Floaters, and Snakemen will no longer rely on heavy plasma late in the game, and still use plasma pistol and rifle. The heavy plasma has no autofire capability initially. However, a certain upgrade at the foundry will grant it autofire for your soldiers. Mutons will switch to heavy plasma from plasma rifles and pistols late in the game and Ethereals, with the exception of leaders and commanders that use psi lane, will never use pistols or rifles, just heavy plasma, small launchers, and blaster launchers.

 

Laser weapons ammo: Laser weapons now have semi-limited ammo (limited ammo in clip, unlimited reloads). Laser Pistol has 12 ammo, Laser Rifle has 15 ammo, Heavy Laser has 9 ammo. To reload, simply have the weapon unload, which counts as a reload and uses same tus. Requires nothing else you can reload at your discretion. In other words, laser weapons hold limited charge but require no additional support.

 

Damage numbers above soldiers and aliens: If a soldier receives health damage, a number will appear over his/her head. If the soldier is hit but suffers no health damage, a "Resist" appears over his/her head. If a soldier or alien receives a hit that instantly kills him/her/it from full health, a "One-Shot Kill" appears of the head. If a hit kills a wounded soldier, an exclamation point will appears next to the number above head. Alien damage numbers will only appear after they are scanned at least once by a mind probe.

 

Additional penalty for leaving corpses behind when aborting mission: this penalty occurs for every soldier killed with his/her corpse not on board the craft during dustoff (completed missions don't count). This is levied on top of the score loss for soldiers killed, listed as (soldier corpses not recovered), encouraging the player to carry corpses on board the craft when leaving if possible (ie. countries appreciate it when soldiers are given a proper burial and honor).

 

Country funding suspensions: if the alien activity in a country is high inside a nation's borders for several consecutive months and the country decreases funding for enough consecutive months, depending on how poorly you did for those months, they may decide to suspend funding (funding reduced to 0) the XCOM project until performance in that country improves enough. During the time the country suspends funding, Aliens will focus their infiltration attempt on that country more than other countries to make the 0 funding permanent. The text will display ([Country Names] is angry with your innability to deal with the alien threat within their borders and has regrettably decided to cease funding XCOM until performance improves significantly. They may have interest with diplomacy with the aliens.)

 

New way to lose: Allow 8 or more countries to sign pacts with the aliens to cease funding at the monthly report. The lose message for that report is: (A majority of the sponsor nations have signed pacts with the aliens and unfortunately, they have pressured the Council of Funding Nations into terminating the Xcom Project. They have convinced the remaining countries to deal with the alien threat as they have. We can only hope we can come to some accommodation with these apparently hostile forces, and that the general population will come to terms with the alien visitors.)

 

Ending Score Screen both win and lose: the score is totalled for the entire game, along with it is days until victory/defeat and difficulty.

Lose: A new screen of various aliens among the wreckage of civilization in which the score is displayed on top.

Win: A screen of a great carefree party for XCOM, including soldiers wearing coveralls and personal armor as well as engineers and scientists doing a variety of party things, including a feast and piano in background. Score is displayed on top.

 

Unique psionic powers usable by sectoids: Mind Merge: non-leader sectoids can use mind merge on a single other sectoid, while sectoid leaders and commanders can use mind merge in an area around the target. There is no psionic test, a percentage of the sectoid's stats are added to the targeted sectoid, using 50% of sectoid tu's. However, if the sectoid using the mind merge is killed, all sectoids under the merge effect instantly die as well. Does not work both ways, killing the sectoid under the effect of mind merge does not kill the sectoid using it.

 

Melee attacks with guns: Soldiers holding a firearm can attack a target in melee, but the type of weapon determines the type of attack:

Pistol: Whip: uses the least tu's and energy but does the least damage and stun

Rifle: Smack: uses middle tu's and energy and does middle damage and stun

Heavy weapon: Slam: uses a lot of tu's and energy but deal great damage and excellent stun

Strength determines the damage and stun from a melee attack.

Melee accuracy determines chance to hit in melee.

Characters attacked in melee that pass a reaction test will do a reaction melee, provided with enough tu's.

 

Units killed while unconscious: if a shot hits the tile a unit is on while it's unconsious, it deals damage and is likely to kill the unit. Some aliens have a tendency to fire on the unconscious person if they can. If a soldier is killed like that, the message appears: "(soldier's name) was put down."

 

Chryssalids become more dangerous: they can now scale walls at a significant time unit and energy cost. They cannot attack while scaling the wall but they would climb up to the roofs of buildings to attack anyone up there. They can even climb through holes in the walls but in order for them to start scaling, they have to be starting at the base of the wall. The chryssalid is still unable to attack flying characters unless they are standing next to them.

 

New mission type: council missions: from time to time, the council will offer various missions such as escorting a vip to the transport, clearing a urban area or building that has no civilians, or deactivating a plasma bomb in a city (no time limit, bomb is deactivated by having a soldier spend one turn standing next to the bomb with out moving but can turn and shoot, bomb is detonated if it takes too much damage and destroys your craft and wipes out your soldiers). All missions you have to kill all aliens present though they have terror units present, but not as much as in a terror mission. All council missions generate a significant score penalty if ignored, the bomb missions the most, but if completed, you receive an immediate reward, such as money or free high level soldiers, as well as a good score. They appear as terror missions in image with the text, "VIP AWAITS ESCORT IN (CITY NAME)" "THE COUNCIL REQUESTS (CITY NAME) TO BE SECURED" "THE COUNCIL DETECTS A BOMB IN (CITY NAME)"

 

Item requests: from time to time, countries will place requests for manufactured products or alien corpses/artifacts. They appear on the transfer menu and are listed in yellow if sufficient items are available. If fulfilled, you receive points and the country rewards you with either a skilled soldier from their country or money, which is always more than the total selling price of the items needed. Expiration means small loss of points and potentially a decrease in funding.

 

Alien Commanders have a color change: Sectoids have red markings on their skin, Floaters wear a red cape, Snakemen have a red chest, Mutons wear red armor, and Ethereals have red markings on their robes.

 

Tanks now require repairs if their health is damaged. The less health the tank had before the mission, the more time the tank will be unavailable until repairs are completed.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

What?

[luke83]

Well some of your ideas sound interesting , the Warehouse block sounds good also, i am unsure of your experience modding/creating maps for xcom but if you need any help there's plenty of information on the "Openxcom Mods" site, also i am "usually around" for any advice needed. If you plan to work towards those goals doing the art assets for the game would be a nice place to start, ( plus coders are more willing to help IF you have done a fair share of the work before you ask them ) also Openxcom may be easier to mod than the original ( once again, depending on your skills).

 

https://openxcom.org/ Official OpenXcom Site

https://openxcommods.weebly.com/ "Fan-made" OpenXcom Mod site

[KiethSomataw99]

Soldiers have dialogue which appears over their head as text, depending on the situation (Here is basic text):

 

Floater spotted: "Floater! Watch for attacks from above!"

Reaper spotted: "Reaper sighted! Concentrate fire but keep your distance!"

Sectoid spotted: "I've got a sectoid! Watch out for psionics!"

Cyberdisc spotted:"Cyberdisc! Anti-Armor tactics now!"

Snakeman spotted: "Snakeman detected! Engage with weapons!"

Chryssalid spotted: "Chyssalid! Kill them before they can zombify anyone!!"

Zombie spotted: "Zombified human! Use incendiaries if you've got them!"

Ethereal spotted: "Visual on Ethereal! Beware their psychic attacks!"

Sectopod Spotted: "Sectopod detected! Focus Fire!"

Muton spotted: "Muton in sight! Concentrate fire and psionics if you got them!"

Silacoid spotted: "I've got a Silacoid! Get back!"

Celatid spotted: "Celatid spotted! Watch out for its acid!"

Alien Brain spotted: "It's the alien brain! Destroy it to end the alien war!!"

 

Enemy killed: "See you in hell!", "Enemy neutralized!", "He's down!", "Got him!", "I was about to start keeping score!"

Enemy stunned: "Lights out!", "Enemy disabled!", "Alien incapacitated and ready for capture!", "Not so tough now!"

Alien Brain Destroyed: "It's over at last! Victory to XCOM!!!"

Alien recovers: "Watch out! He's getting back up!", "Aliens is recovering!"

 

Soldier killed: "Aaargh...!", "Aiieeee!", "Oooooooo!" "Ohhhhh...!"

Soldier killed near other soldier: "Man down!", "We're taking losses!", "We're losing soldiers!", "God help this person!"

Soldier wounded: "Ow!", "Ack!", "Ugh!", "I'm hit!"

Soldier resists attack: "Is that all you got!", "I'm under attack!", "That didn't hurt!", "I'm okay!", "That was close!"

Soldier unconsious: "Help me...!", "I don't want to die!", "Urrrgh!", "Owwwww...!"

Soldier recovers: "I'm not done fighting yet!", "Takes more to kill me!", "I'm back into it!", "Time for Payback!"

Soldier controlled: "Ohhhh... my head!", "I'm being controlled...!"

Soldier resists psionic attack: "Get out of my head!", "I don't break easy!", "My brain is tougher then you psi!"

Soldier panics still: "No! This isn't right!", "Help! Somebody Help!", "This is getting out of hand!"

Soldier panics run: "We need to extract now!", "I got to get out of here!", "I got to get to a safe place!"

Soldier beserk: "Oh man, I need to shoot!", "This is getting out of hand!", "This got a lot worse!"

Soldier uses psionic: "Voices in your head!", "No one can hear your scream!", "My mind is my weapon!"

Soldier's weapon empty: "Need a reload here!", "Weapon's empty, can't engage!", "I'm out of ammo!"

 

Of course, aliens would get their dialogue, but in different alienish languages. Aliens that can speak:

Sectoid

Floater

Snakeman

Chryssalid (Only terror unit that can speak)

Ethereal (Speaks occassional english)

Muton

[luke83]

if you didn't want the text option , Voice acting was discussed on the openxcom forum , some people like the idea others thinks its just annoying, i guess everyone has there own tastes. you would only need 100 people to record there voice to have a nice collection for soilders , plus if every guy could talk his girlfriend/wife into it we should have enough for them also

 

https://openxcom.org/...14.html#msg6514

[KiethSomataw99]

Voice acting takes too long, people could agree with that. We start with text over their heads.

[KiethSomataw99]

I was thinking that this mod could be applied to TFTD as well with most of the elements in that mod, with a few changed, such as new upgrades such as rocket-torpedos (the small torpedoes have been configured to work on land as well as water). What stays the same is the way to lose the game by allowing 8 or more countries to sign pacts with the aliens, with a slightly different dialogue.

 

For tutorial, the game starts as a land mission of 8 soldiers all armed with rifles and grenades landing in a city with no civilians. You will be facing floaters and reapers in the tutorial. The game explains many of the features of the battlescape, including movement, attacking, aliens, the stats, etc. It has spots where you have to move to in order to proceed. At one point, one of your soldiers gets blasted by a stun bomb and falls unconsious, and the game explains death and unconsciousness. After that, you really encounter floaters that fire at you but miss. The game then explains attacking, you have one of your soldiers crouch and fire an aimed shot at the floater that hits and kills it instantly. You have another soldier advance and fire a snap shot on another alien that wounds it. The alien react and shoots, missing the soldier barely. You then position two soldiers to overwatch the side of the buildings. Next turn, a floater appears and one of your soldiers shoots and kills it. The other side, a reaper walks through and the soldier hits it but doesn't kill it obviously. The reaper falls short of the soldier and the game explains reaction shots, ranged and melee attack differences, and terror units. You then have the soldier fire a few auto shot bursts at the reaper until it dies, then you have a soldier kill the floater that held the small launcher. At the end of the tutorial, you drop all of the aliens and no soldier dies.

 

As the game goes on, tips popup from time to time, and at the end of month reports, first time tutorial messages may appear. One appears when the first country signs a pact with the aliens (Once a country signs a pact with the infiltrating aliens, they will permanently cease funding toward the project and apply pressure to the council. If too many countries sign pacts with the aliens, then the pressure could result in termination.) Another is the first time you end up in debt, no matter how deep or shallow (The council notes you are in debt. It would be a good idea to sell items, sack personnel, and dismantle unnecessary facilities to lower your maintenance and salary. Be careful, if you are too deep in debt for too long, the project may get terminated out of your mismanagement.) The other occurs when your score ends anywhere in the negative (Your sponsors aren't too happy with your performance dealing with the alien menace. You should stop alien terror missions and raid alien bases if at all possible. If your overall score is too low for two consecutive months, depending on the difficulty setting, the project may get terminated out of your incompetence.)