A Cornucopia of Ideas for LW2!
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:14 am
Hello there, Commanders! Bill "Clutch" Rizer here from YouTuber Mal's XCOM Long War Let's Play and its many sequel seasons, lookin' for members of this blessed community with moddin' experience who're in need or want of work to help us produce some material for future installments of our Long War 2 Let's Play!
I actually submitted a very similar post last year, but it didn't generate the response that I was expectin' it to. And that's fine. I get that people here have better things to do than to gawk at the audacity of some newbie askin' them to perform a minor miracle of computer programming for little more than a grandiose "thank you" from the XCOM community. But now that Long War 2 is now live, I think there'd be renewed interest in what I'm pitching. So without further adieu, I give you my (very unorganized) list of most wanted Long War 2 mods!
Celestials (New Enemy!)
Last year I made a thread where I talked about how much I'd love to see proper Ethereals tossed into the mix. At the time I was unaware of the truth behind the Avatar Project, and that its whole reason for being made it impossible for Ethereals to exist as a unit. Well, that's where the Celestials -- who would like this -- come into the picture. *ahem* Celestials would be portrayed as a sort of technorganic construct through which the Elders / Etherials operate, in a sense acting as a hyper-advanced equivalent to the modern day drone. These bodies, however, are almost as every bit as fragile as their real ones, which means that they must to rely on their minions to soak most of the damage while they focus on bolstering their ground forces from a safe distance away. (...) A Celestial will have the same health bar as one of the "boss aliens" from the Alien Hunters DLC, and appear on the battlefield through the same type of portal that said bosses are known to generate upon arrival and exit. Unlike the traditional boss aliens, a Celestial wouldn't incapable of moving after every action taken by the player, nor would they be in the habit of generating a portal through which they could retreat. This is purely for the sake of helping keep things balanced.
When it comes to battlefield tactics, the Celestial relies on one of two sources...
1.) It's own abilities, which include Teleport, Mind Control, Dimensional Rift, Null Lance and Psi Fortress.
and...
2.) It's two Avatar bodyguards.
In the case of the latter, it's worth noting that the Avatars do not possess the same psionic abilities as their Celestial master. In fact they would function very differently from the Avatars that you're all familiar with. Y'see, unlike the vanilla Avatars, these units would essentially operate like high-functioning Psi Zombies. They would come out of the portal already Mind Controlled by the Celestial, and after bein' put down have a chance of being revived with full health, cognition, and motor function as a single action on the Celestial's part. So, in short? You kill the Celestial, you kill the Avatars -- permanently!
Avatars versus The Commander's Avatar
I for one think that these two units should be separated as much as possible in terms of design. In the vanilla game we see in cutscenes that the Commander's Avatar has a distinctly different color palette than those who're under the thrall of the Elders. I think that this should remain exclusive to the unique in question beyond the game's in-engine cinematics, right down to the hair. The Avatars that I talked about before? They would have to be a stark contrasts; showing not an ounce of humanity. Their heads would have to be completely encapsulated by a helmet of some sort, which doesn't allow a single inch of skin to show.
Completely Unique ADVENT Weaponry
A minor gripe, really, but I would really like to see a completely new tier of weaponry designed specifically for the ADVENT. I find their pension for using the same grenade launchers and mag cannons that the XCOM operatives do to be something that's capable of shattering the fragile sense of verisimilitude that the game provides. Given what people can do with armor, and what Pavonis managed to do with SMGs and laser weaponry, I find it difficult to believe that it'd be impossible to make this happen.
P.S. I already know that this has been done in the Total ADVENT Weaponry and A Better ADVENT mods. I just think it'd be nice to see them effortlessly incorporated into the mix without the need of having to worry about mod overlap.
A Different Plasma SMG
I mean absolutely no offense to the Long War devs when I say this, but... I hate how the plasma SMG looks. It feels so out of place when compared to the other weapons of its kind. The same could even be said for the conventional SMG, but at least that looks like a gun. Would it be possible for someone to create a new plasma SMG model based off the THOR A1 concept? Or at the very least modify the existing SMG model so that it looks closer to it? There's just somethin' about that thoroughly unnecessary hole that serves as the weapon's stock that bugs me to no end! (And before you tell me it can't be done? Just remember that one of the first mods ever produced for XCOM 2 was a Corgi Gun.)
P.S. I would honestly love to see different models for two of the other SMGs present in the game, preferably something like this for the base version and something like this for the mag version. I'm not expectin' anyone to go out of there way to make this happen, mind you. I just wanted to put that out there.
"Traitor!"
ADVENT spies have been present since vanilla XCOM 2, but it wasn't until the release of Long War 2 did they actually become a tangible threat. But I believe that the mod would benefit even farther if this ability to interact with them on the battlefield were taken to a whole new level. What if it were possible for one or more of the haven-based resistance fighters that you've assigned to recruit people to either...
A.) Be bribed by ADVENT to become a double agent?
or...
B.) Be killed off-screen and surreptitiously replaced with a Faceless?
Whatever the case, this mole would have a 5% chance of activating during a battle and turning against the player. However! However... in the case of the Faceless, they wouldn't simply reveal their true nature right away. These Faceless would be unique, and have a "respawn" mechanic that's very similar to the one utilized by the Andromedon. Faceless Moles will make a point of maintaining their cover for as long as possible, which means that they will be as threatening as the average ADVENT Trooper. But once they've had their four bars of health depleted, they will transform and enter the fray again!
Unpredictable Andromedon
I for one think that the Andromedon would be a far more interesting enemy if the player didn't know whether or not its suit's built-in A.I. was going to activate, and thus signal a restart on their fight against it. What if there were only a 25% chance of such a thing happening?
Heroic Moment (New Officer Ability!)
This ability would come as a bonus to officers who've survived long enough to make it all the way to the "bottom" of their build tree. It triggers when the officer is dealt either a mortal or lethal blow. In many ways it serves as a variation of the vanilla Faceoff ability that becomes available to Sharpshooters once they reach the rank of Captain, although unlike Faceoff this ability is passive in nature. In short, just before the officer collapses to the ground, they will receive a 25% bonus to hit, a 75% bonus to crit, and then proceed to open fire on every enemy within their visual range. It's meant to give squads who're in dire straits a chance to even the odds, and to guarantee that your veteran soldiers never go out with a whimper.
...And that's all that I have for now! If I come up with any more ideas, then there's an awfully good chance that I'll submit them in the form of a reply! But until then, keep on fightin' the good fight, my friends! (^-^)ゝ
I actually submitted a very similar post last year, but it didn't generate the response that I was expectin' it to. And that's fine. I get that people here have better things to do than to gawk at the audacity of some newbie askin' them to perform a minor miracle of computer programming for little more than a grandiose "thank you" from the XCOM community. But now that Long War 2 is now live, I think there'd be renewed interest in what I'm pitching. So without further adieu, I give you my (very unorganized) list of most wanted Long War 2 mods!
Celestials (New Enemy!)
Last year I made a thread where I talked about how much I'd love to see proper Ethereals tossed into the mix. At the time I was unaware of the truth behind the Avatar Project, and that its whole reason for being made it impossible for Ethereals to exist as a unit. Well, that's where the Celestials -- who would like this -- come into the picture. *ahem* Celestials would be portrayed as a sort of technorganic construct through which the Elders / Etherials operate, in a sense acting as a hyper-advanced equivalent to the modern day drone. These bodies, however, are almost as every bit as fragile as their real ones, which means that they must to rely on their minions to soak most of the damage while they focus on bolstering their ground forces from a safe distance away. (...) A Celestial will have the same health bar as one of the "boss aliens" from the Alien Hunters DLC, and appear on the battlefield through the same type of portal that said bosses are known to generate upon arrival and exit. Unlike the traditional boss aliens, a Celestial wouldn't incapable of moving after every action taken by the player, nor would they be in the habit of generating a portal through which they could retreat. This is purely for the sake of helping keep things balanced.
When it comes to battlefield tactics, the Celestial relies on one of two sources...
1.) It's own abilities, which include Teleport, Mind Control, Dimensional Rift, Null Lance and Psi Fortress.
and...
2.) It's two Avatar bodyguards.
In the case of the latter, it's worth noting that the Avatars do not possess the same psionic abilities as their Celestial master. In fact they would function very differently from the Avatars that you're all familiar with. Y'see, unlike the vanilla Avatars, these units would essentially operate like high-functioning Psi Zombies. They would come out of the portal already Mind Controlled by the Celestial, and after bein' put down have a chance of being revived with full health, cognition, and motor function as a single action on the Celestial's part. So, in short? You kill the Celestial, you kill the Avatars -- permanently!
Avatars versus The Commander's Avatar
I for one think that these two units should be separated as much as possible in terms of design. In the vanilla game we see in cutscenes that the Commander's Avatar has a distinctly different color palette than those who're under the thrall of the Elders. I think that this should remain exclusive to the unique in question beyond the game's in-engine cinematics, right down to the hair. The Avatars that I talked about before? They would have to be a stark contrasts; showing not an ounce of humanity. Their heads would have to be completely encapsulated by a helmet of some sort, which doesn't allow a single inch of skin to show.
Completely Unique ADVENT Weaponry
A minor gripe, really, but I would really like to see a completely new tier of weaponry designed specifically for the ADVENT. I find their pension for using the same grenade launchers and mag cannons that the XCOM operatives do to be something that's capable of shattering the fragile sense of verisimilitude that the game provides. Given what people can do with armor, and what Pavonis managed to do with SMGs and laser weaponry, I find it difficult to believe that it'd be impossible to make this happen.
P.S. I already know that this has been done in the Total ADVENT Weaponry and A Better ADVENT mods. I just think it'd be nice to see them effortlessly incorporated into the mix without the need of having to worry about mod overlap.
A Different Plasma SMG
I mean absolutely no offense to the Long War devs when I say this, but... I hate how the plasma SMG looks. It feels so out of place when compared to the other weapons of its kind. The same could even be said for the conventional SMG, but at least that looks like a gun. Would it be possible for someone to create a new plasma SMG model based off the THOR A1 concept? Or at the very least modify the existing SMG model so that it looks closer to it? There's just somethin' about that thoroughly unnecessary hole that serves as the weapon's stock that bugs me to no end! (And before you tell me it can't be done? Just remember that one of the first mods ever produced for XCOM 2 was a Corgi Gun.)
P.S. I would honestly love to see different models for two of the other SMGs present in the game, preferably something like this for the base version and something like this for the mag version. I'm not expectin' anyone to go out of there way to make this happen, mind you. I just wanted to put that out there.
"Traitor!"
ADVENT spies have been present since vanilla XCOM 2, but it wasn't until the release of Long War 2 did they actually become a tangible threat. But I believe that the mod would benefit even farther if this ability to interact with them on the battlefield were taken to a whole new level. What if it were possible for one or more of the haven-based resistance fighters that you've assigned to recruit people to either...
A.) Be bribed by ADVENT to become a double agent?
or...
B.) Be killed off-screen and surreptitiously replaced with a Faceless?
Whatever the case, this mole would have a 5% chance of activating during a battle and turning against the player. However! However... in the case of the Faceless, they wouldn't simply reveal their true nature right away. These Faceless would be unique, and have a "respawn" mechanic that's very similar to the one utilized by the Andromedon. Faceless Moles will make a point of maintaining their cover for as long as possible, which means that they will be as threatening as the average ADVENT Trooper. But once they've had their four bars of health depleted, they will transform and enter the fray again!
Unpredictable Andromedon
I for one think that the Andromedon would be a far more interesting enemy if the player didn't know whether or not its suit's built-in A.I. was going to activate, and thus signal a restart on their fight against it. What if there were only a 25% chance of such a thing happening?
Heroic Moment (New Officer Ability!)
This ability would come as a bonus to officers who've survived long enough to make it all the way to the "bottom" of their build tree. It triggers when the officer is dealt either a mortal or lethal blow. In many ways it serves as a variation of the vanilla Faceoff ability that becomes available to Sharpshooters once they reach the rank of Captain, although unlike Faceoff this ability is passive in nature. In short, just before the officer collapses to the ground, they will receive a 25% bonus to hit, a 75% bonus to crit, and then proceed to open fire on every enemy within their visual range. It's meant to give squads who're in dire straits a chance to even the odds, and to guarantee that your veteran soldiers never go out with a whimper.
...And that's all that I have for now! If I come up with any more ideas, then there's an awfully good chance that I'll submit them in the form of a reply! But until then, keep on fightin' the good fight, my friends! (^-^)ゝ