Icing Mod for Ufo Enemy Unknown

[kyrub]

UPDATED to version 1.41 ( 25.05.2011)

 

 

Icing41.zip

 

Main purpose is

1) to make the original more challenging to play

2) to bring more tempo and more variety to the game

3) to improve the AI

 

- Icing mod, as far as I know, is fully compatible with Xcomutil and Ufo Extender. -

 

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clean Install

Unzip + overwrite Ufo defense.exe and OBDATA.dat

install Xcomutil / UFO Extender (optional, but recommended)

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Icing patch changes:

AI improvements

- Aliens use a lot more of autoshot and snapshots, aimed shots only on long distances

- Alien energy spending problem fixed

- Aliens more likely to use grenades with many targets

- melee aliens are no more shy of > 3 X-com soldiers

- melee aliens will be a lot more decisive

- AI psi targetting is more random

- AI may attempt to psi attack even a relatively psi strong unit

- non-aggressive Aliens will try to snipe you more often

- Aliens trying the base assault should be much more aggressive

- Aliens will pick up their rifles after panicking

- Aliens will not run out from UFO on turn 21

 

 

Game flaw / bug

- The retaliation mission is stopped when the battleship is shot down by the base defense

 

Alien Missions

- mixed crews will now appear in the later part of the game

- changed the order of Alien appearance to bring more variety and tempo

 

Geoscape

- increased AI activity comes now two months earlier

- Ufo crash site is available for about half the previous time only

- Alien scoring increased substantially

(signing pact (300), terror (50), Harvest (100), Abduction (250), Alien base 10/day, landed Ufo 5 / 30 minutes)

 

Terror missions (harder + the focus is on saving the civilians)

- visibility in night from any source - 1 square less (range 9 instead of 10)

- civis killed cost in terror missions -50 for alien victims, -100 for killed by X-COM

- a minimum of 12 civis on terror missions (was 8)

- Floaters are now accompanied with Reapers or Silacoids

- Sectoids ............................... with Cyberdiscs or Celatids

- Mutons ................................. with Chrysalids or Sectopods

 

Grenades (more realistic + more usable later in game)

- small change to the formula for throwing range to produce less superhuman results

- grenades priming = 15 Tus (is similar to vanilla 25%, but in the late game it can be better)

- starting grenades throwing accu 15-40 (more inaccurate throws)

- less problems with the 'Unable to throw there' (the program tries to throw with lesser strength)

- throwing now improves only when grenades explode (it still increases the accu rating as well)

- throwing experience lvls 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Psionics (not game-breaking + to panic is now an interesting option)

- Mind control constant + 25 (harder), Panic constant+5 (for full explanation see ufopaedia.org equation)

 

Alien changes

- repair aliens energy spending setting (UNITREF byte 45 was not set, it was a bug?), set to 1 for all

- every new Chryssalid now has superhuman stats

- Celatids are able to spit at any distance

- Celatids are able to reaction-spit

- Silacoids now explodes when falling dead (= is now slightly similar to Popper from X-com Apoc)

- all melee Aliens has seen their accuracy increased to 100% (but it can be decreased with wounds from reaction fire!)

- all commanders were replaced by Ethereals, either Leaders (for Floater, Sectoid, Snakemen) or Commanders

 

Soldier stat increases

- the reactions, easier to improve 1 / 2-3 / 4-7 / 8 +

- the firing accuracy, slightly harder to improve 1-3 / 4-6 /7-11 / 12

 

Icing41.zip

[Pete]

Sounds good - I'll have to try this at some point. Thanks for sharing!

[kyrub]

Version 1.1 uploaded.

 

See above for the list of changes.

[Civilian]

This sounds great! Do you have any documentation (hex-offsets e.g.) of the changes?

[kyrub]

Sorry, I have no documentation, I did it on the fly. All I have set-aside is the "no retaliation fix".

 

But about 90% of the changes are based on Seb76 hints at ufopaedia.org. Try to run through his contributions and you'll get it all. And if you have some special wish after that, I can probably look out for it.

[kyrub]

New version (1.2).

 

Chryssalid bug is fixed, aliens melee accuracy increased to 100% (125% on superhuman).

Dying silacoids now explode massively.

[kyrub]

New build (1.3)

 

You just unpack Icing36.zip into your UFO directory and overwrite all.

 

fixes

------

1) Fixes the (self-induced) bug that caused the game crash when firing with your tanks.

2) AI controlled Silacoids now really explode when dying (were only MCed Silacoids).

 

new features

------------------

3) AI should now use AUTO a lot more, AIMED fire on long distances. The improvement should be notable.

(usage of ranged-based accuracy feature from the Ufo Extender is recommended, otherwise I'd have to make AI use only auto, since it is mathematically most effective).

4) AI will pick up rifles after panicking (full kudos to Volutar for his great discovery!!!)

5) Program now tries to throw grenades with less strength (smaller arc), if "Unable to throw there" because of a low ceiling.

 

All features description + download can be found in the opening post.

[Wormburgerfish]

I've been play with your mod for a few days now and it is pretty awesome. Challenging! Fun though. To keep Xcom in the game I really have to take a much more proactive approach in the first few months than I ever did before. Terror missions are a nightmare and even when I slaughter the enemy I wind up with a negative score due to all the civvies that get butchered. Initially I was inclined to say that this was a little unfair, but by being diligent in my patrols I managed to avert two terror missions entirely.

 

It's more realistic this way. The best way to save civilians is not to allow them to become trapped in a combat zone in the first place.

 

I have noticed a few odd things, but I'm not certain if they are caused by your mod. For one, aliens seem to be panicking a bit more than usual. The other night I had four snakemen left in terror mission and they were all panicked. Also, sometimes when one of my troopers dies explosions seem to go off in other parts of the map. I didn't notice either of these things before and I'm not positive what is happening with the latter.

 

Still, I have definitely noticed the A.I. changes. The little bastards are tricky with those grenades and they love to snipe now or to pop out around a corner and spray me with auto-fire.

 

 

I'm curious, have you thought about examining the Alien Infiltration missions? Perhaps making it so the player can reliably stop them, but also enabling the aliens to win the game by infiltrating all the founding nations? Or something to that effect maybe?

 

I haven't got the chance to try it out yet, but I love that alien retaliation missions should now end if the battleship is destroyed. Defenses are actually worth the expense and space now.

[kyrub]

I've been play with your mod for a few days now and it is pretty awesome. Challenging! Fun though.

Thanks!

 

Terror missions are a nightmare and even when I slaughter the enemy I wind up with a negative score due to all the civvies that get butchered.

The idea was to force you to play more aggressively, to save more civies. I must say this does not quite work, since in UFO EU the maps are quite open and civies are slaughtered almost immediately. Current setting (-60) is probably too harsh, although not unrealistic. Terroristic attacks never increase the popularity. Also, terror missions in the game should be major threat to player's score. I may lower it to -50 later.

 

The other night I had four snakemen left in terror mission and they were all panicked. Also, sometimes when one of my troopers dies explosions seem to go off in other parts of the map.

Oh no, data corruption. The explosion part happened exclusively during terror missions? Were all the unwanted effects present on the mission with Snakes/Chrys, or even somewhere else?

 

I'm curious, have you thought about examining the Alien Infiltration missions? Perhaps making it so the player can reliably stop them, but also enabling the aliens to win the game by infiltrating all the founding nations?

Yep. I looked there, easy to find the problem, hard to repair. Making infiltration threatening is hard, because there are too many countries. TFTD seems cleverer, few donators = bigger danger in losing one.

 

I don't plan to make big changes to Icing (whence the name). There is one other part that is still in my plans: the economy layer.

1) Alien artifact, that was not researched, will cost only 10% of its price.

2) The prices will fall down while selling. For every unit sold, the price will decrease by 1% or 2% of current price, with a final minimum of 10% of original UFO price. This will make council funding more and more important in the game and your time will be running out.

[Wormburgerfish]

The idea was to force you to play more aggressively, to save more civies. I must say this does not quite work, since in UFO EU the maps are quite open and civies are slaughtered almost immediately. Current setting (-60) is probably too harsh, although not unrealistic. Terroristic attacks never increase the popularity. Also, terror missions in the game should be major threat to player's score. I may lower it to -50 later.

 

Not a bad idea, though to throw in my perspective on it the Terror Missions being a sort of defacto victory for the aliens makes sense. Xcom is supposed to make sure these kinds of incidents never happen in the first place.

 

As for the data corruption, it happens on every kind of map. Though I haven't been paying close enough attention to give you specifics. I know it isn't just grenades in my inventory going off because when the guy blows up his body and loot is still there. I've seen these explosions happen right on my guys. There is another odd thing though; I've been losing guys to random explosions since last night. It's only happened twice but I'm positive it wasn't something I did.

 

I had a guy walking down a corridor and then I heard the plasma shot sound and he blew up. There was an alien near-ish in the area (I was looking for the little bastard). I know aliens make that noise when they throw grenades. ...but it was just weird, whatever it was.

 

 

Furthermore, about your future plans, I think an emphasis on Council funding is fair but only if the player has a fair chance to prevent the alien infiltration missions. That coupled with a loss of profit selling artifacts (as the market is flooded with them) would create just enough of challenge to prevent the player/Xcom from becoming complacent. Proactive, right to the end.

 

It's your mod though, and I'm gonna play any future versions regardless. It's been... mmm... a little frustrating, but when I cool off I enjoy the challenge.

[kyrub]

Not a bad idea, though to throw in my perspective on it the Terror Missions being a sort of defacto victory for the aliens makes sense. Xcom is supposed to make sure these kinds of incidents never happen in the first place.

Hmm... It does not feel right. My intention was other than force you to avoid terror missions. They are the fun part of the game. So, on the second thought, I'd made the penalty increasing with time. Like this: penalty = (-30) - 5 * month_elapsed. First, the council nations are lenient with civilian victims, later on, after giving x-com a lot of money, they want results. In later month, you'll have good armour and more chance to save civis.

 

Plus, I have to look into the civilians code to let them hide more.

 

As for the data corruption, it happens on every kind of map.

What? Are you sure you don't play version 1.2? That was unstable in this way.

 

Furthermore, about your future plans, I think an emphasis on Council funding is fair but only if the player has a fair chance to prevent the alien infiltration missions.

Agreed. I forgot two more planned feature:

- making AI ships less easy to down. There's no need to get Alien crafts now. AI will have an increasing tendency to run away, you'll need speedy ships.

- tone down Hyperwave decoder 100% detection to something like 50% or even 33%. It never gives aliens the opportunity to complete a mission, if you detect them and shoot them down 100% of time.

 

It's your mod though, and I'm gonna play any future versions regardless.

Feel free to propose/discuss other things. Right now your person represents 100% of the feedback.

[Wormburgerfish]

Are you asking which version of Xcom I have or which version of your patch? I downloaded the one at the top of the page. I assumed you edited the latest version into that?

 

That could be the problem. Last night I noticed the silicoids were a bit inconsistent in whether or not they blew up. Some did, others didn't. I also had a terror mission with only 8 civvies. (I don't have psionics yet)

 

 

 

About your other proposals: I don't know, UFO's running away a bit more might make more sense. Of-course you could wind up over-doing it. As it stands the game is already a lot harder and I find I just barely have enough time to research the things I need to stay proactive and keep my score in the positives consistently. I also feel the hyper-wave decoder is a nice reward for managing to snag a navigator. It's nice being able to free up so much space in your base by not having to stack radars. Like catching a sectoid leader in the early months. (though with that said I'm using the line of sight mod for Xcom psionics)

 

Perhaps you could increase the maintenance cost of a hyper-wave decoder?

 

If in the future you plan to make money a little harder to earn then the player will be hard-pressed to place decoders everywhere. Even if they do they might not have the money to build interceptors at all their listening posts and/or build and fuel enough Firestorms/Avengers to intercept every UFO they detect.

 

Getting to the point where the player can detect and intercept every UFO on Earth takes a while as it is. Interceptors can only go so far and so fast. In my current game I've got a base in Taiwan, Ukraine, and Mexico. The Taiwan base however only just got partially operational and in the meantime the aliens have been running rampant all over southeast Asia because I just couldn't get my interceptors over there long enough before they ran out of fuel.

 

I think I'm in June or July and I just haven't had enough time to research UFO construction on my own, instead having felt pressured to research power suits and other weapons-tech so that I could take on the larger UFO's and the bases without suffering too many causalities.

 

That said, I'm not the best Xcom player out there either. Other people might have an easier time than I'm having. I'm just say that, it looks to me so far like you have already come pretty close to reaching the sweet spot for difficulty. It is challenging, but beatable if I play smart. It's keeping me on my toes.

 

I used to just sit in my base for the first few months and only intercept what came into range. This game though I can't afford to have the aliens doing missions successfully in another part of the globe. Now I have to actually check my graphs and keep my interceptors and skyranger in the hotspots to try and catch the aliens in the act.

[Wormburgerfish]

Okay, another update.

 

I think I've started encountering the mixed crews you talked about. I'm September now. The thing is, the mixed crews are celatids and silicoids. This doesn't really make sense since they're just animals and not sentient beings, and they are also relatively easy enemies. Were these aliens supposed to show up on their own like this?

 

Otherwise things seem to be going well. Very well, actually. While I had to struggle quite a bit for the first four or five months, I've passed the last few with flying colors.

 

I think that interception mod you talked about and the declining value of sold loot would be reasonable challenges to keep the late game more competitive. Same if you could get the odd ethereal to turn up on mixed crews. That would certainly make seemingly routine missions not so routine.

 

I haven't had any other problems. Your mod is a lot of fun, I like it.

[kyrub]

a) First, do you still have crashes?

b) Is there a type of mission when they occure often?

c) do you have a "crash save"?

 

THANKS a lot for you feedback. It's vital for the patch.

 

 

I think I've started encountering the mixed crews you talked about. I'm September now. The thing is, the mixed crews are celatids and silicoids. This doesn't really make sense since they're just animals and not sentient beings, and they are also relatively easy enemies. Were these aliens supposed to show up on their own like this?

No, that's a major surprise to me. UFOpaedia mentioned you'll get celatids + silacoids, but in my test I remember positively to encounter other aliens as well (a terror site, perhaps?). So I was convinced they were mixed. I will look into it, hopefully I can put there mixed crews a la Cydonia.

 

Otherwise things seem to be going well. Very well, actually. While I had to struggle quite a bit for the first four or five months, I've passed the last few with flying colors.

The AI patch (when I implement it) will keep you on your toes a bit longer. Autofire can be deadly even with a thick armor. I have already put it into DOS version, Icing patch is next.

 

I think that interception mod you talked about and the declining value of sold loot would be reasonable challenges to keep the late game more competitive.

I'll try to put it in the update as well.

BTW, aren't you bored with maps? This is my consistent problem with 1st title of X-COM. Farms x 80% of time. Should I change something here? To make forest and mountain appear more often, perhaps? What do you think?

 

I haven't had any other problems. Your mod is a lot of fun, I like it.

Great, let's make it better.

[Wormburgerfish]

a) First, do you still have crashes?

b) Is there a type of mission when they occure often?

c) do you have a "crash save"?

 

I have had crashes but I had those before I ever installed your mod. What exactly is a "crash save", you mean a save right before a crash? They don't happen consistently. It'll crash, I'll reload, and it will be fine.

 

I played for several hours yesterday and didn't have any of those weird explosion bugs.

 

 

UFOpaedia mentioned you'll get celatids + silacoids, but in my test I remember positively to encounter other aliens as well (a terror site, perhaps?). So I was convinced they were mixed. I will look into it, hopefully I can put there mixed crews a la Cydonia.

 

Hmm. I don't know a lot about the inner workings of this game, not being a serious modder myself. Though with Cydonia the only 'mixing' that occurs is terror units. Personally, as I said, if you were to add mixed crews I would think that adding the odd Ethereal into missions would be the best way to do it. That way it is much harder to avoid them. In my current game I captured one that landed in a small scout and otherwise I've avoided fighting them until I have psionic-stable soldiers.

 

However another thing to remember is the Hyper-Wave-Decoder. You don't want it to give away what the crew is. As it stands, the HWD is showing the Celatid/Silicoid crews as "Race... Celatid". It would keep me on my toes even more if I thought I was going to fight Mutons or Floaters or Snakemen and instead there was an Ethereal there harassing my troops. The psionic missions are always so tense.

 

 

BTW, aren't you bored with maps? This is my consistent problem with 1st title of X-COM. Farms x 80% of time. Should I change something here? To make forest and mountain appear more often, perhaps? What do you think?

 

I might be wrong, but the type of map is linked to the terrain texture on the geoscape, is it not? Those are linked to real-world geography. Perhaps adding a few more mountain maps would be nice. Those seem to be the rarest. Perhaps add the Alps and the Rockies? That's only if you can mod the geoscape though. Otherwise it would look a bit sloppy, in my opinion. I think the maps are diverse enough as it is. Though if you were to change them I'd try to mix-up some of the pre-set tiles. You know like the lay-out of the farmhouse/sheds or buildings in urban terror maps. Though that might be a huge task for all I know.

 

In either case I'm looking forward to the next patch. I have noticed the AI changes that are in there already. I've lost way more men to grenades than I ever did before. Night missions are a lot more dangerous too. I've watched them use some auto-fire as well.

[kyrub]

I played for several hours yesterday and didn't have any of those weird explosion bugs.

Perfect.

 

Personally, as I said, if you were to add mixed crews I would think that adding the odd Ethereal into missions would be the best way to do it. That way it is much harder to avoid them. In my current game I captured one that landed in a small scout and otherwise I've avoided fighting them until I have psionic-stable soldiers.

Interesting idea. The Ethereal leaders on board could occure more and more as the game progresses. It gives sense.

However another thing to remember is the Hyper-Wave-Decoder.

Good point! If Ethereal is silently added, it works. Another possibility: a special alien "ambush" mission. It looks like a small scout with 5 Snakemen (incl. Hyperwave analysis), but 8 Ethereals (or mixed) will spawn instead. The odds are increasing with month elapsed.

 

I think the maps are diverse enough as it is. Though if you were to change them I'd try to mix-up some of the pre-set tiles. You know like the lay-out of the farmhouse/sheds or buildings in urban terror maps. Though that might be a huge task for all I know.

Unfortunately, I am not gifted in this area. I thought about hard-coding in some of the Hobes's maps, but they are mostly intended as terror-site maps. No farm redemption. I don't know.

 

 

BTW, how is Mind controlling with new equation? Do you still find it too simple to let any alien dance how you wish? -- Thanks again for the feedback.

[Wormburgerfish]

Alright, an update.

 

The "mixed" Celatid missions are definitely bugged. I shot one down just now and the first two times I tried to land at the crash site the game crashed. It crashed again during the mission at one point.

 

I then had a Celatid ship spot my base (little bastard just HAD to be the ONE retaliation UFO I didn't shoot down). The mothership came and managed to land... and the game crashed again when I tried to start the mission.

 

I have a save just before the Celatid mission, another during, and another save just before the base assault.

 

As for Psi, I haven't had the opportunity to field any psi soldiers just yet.

[kyrub]

I have a save just before the Celatid mission, another during, and another save just before the base assault.

Great. I need the save just before any Celatid mission (before you landed). I think I know what is the problem, having looked in the code. The crew is not a Celatid, it's the mixed one (used for Cydonia). But the crew members are badly placed in the table. Celatid takes the place of alien Commander, probably that's why the Hyperwave decoder displays the mission crew as Celatid. I also think this creates the bug, the game may try to put a weapon in Celatid's or Chryssalid's "hands". Voila, crash (I guess).

 

With a bit of fiddling, we'll have a full blood mixed crew working (half ethereals, half terrorists of any kind). I'll probably mix in a few mutons as well.

[Wormburgerfish]

About that, I accidentally saved over that save. Would it help if I just shot down more "Celatid" ships and made a save or two before landing at those?

[kyrub]

About that, I accidentally saved over that save. Would it help if I just shot down more "Celatid" ships and made a save or two before landing at those?

 

I guess I'd need a battleship or a base attack save. Or alien base attack. Simply a map that would combine all ranks. This would allow a whole range of tests.

[Wormburgerfish]

Alright then, I'll play it some tonight and invite a base attack.

[Wormburgerfish]

Alright, I was a little busy but I have a save now that should suit your needs. It's a crashed terror ship with a skyranger in-root. Exactly how do I extract the savegame for you?

 

Do I just copy all the files in "Game 1" into a zip and then send them to you?

[kyrub]

Do I just copy all the files in "Game 1" into a zip and then send them to you?

Yes, please do, zip, send. I was out several days, sorry for the delay. Let's push this further.

[kyrub]

An important update to Icing project.

 

- all new AI changes implemented

- mixed crews are now fixed. Also, you will not recognize them easily with Hyperwave decoder.

- celatids are able to spit at a long distance AND they should be able to reaction-spit

- aliens will not run out on turn 21

 

- Based on feedback, I decided to replace all commanders with Ethereal race. The player now cannot avoid meeting Ethereals, notably in big battles: in Alien bases, in Battleships and in Base defense. Lower alien races have Eth Leaders, higher have Commanders. To get to the final stage, you now have to defeat a higher alien race and get a stunned commander.

- There are more changes in Terror crew composition for more variety:

a) Sectoids combine with Cyberdiscs or Celatids

b) Floaters combine with Reapers or Silacoids

c) Mutons combine with Chrysalids or Sectopods

(everything else stays as it was.)

 

Download: here or in the opening post.

[Wormburgerfish]

...but... I like avoiding Ethereals!

 

This sounds like it is going to be hard.