Martian Assault Mod, Increases the number of enemies and more Options

[PetteriB]

Martian Assault Mod v1.2



This mod increases the number of enemies encountered in tactical missions and throws in some lower level units as well for cannon fodder. It is possible to customize this mod to suit better to your needs by editing the separate configuration file.

If you have any suggestions for the next version of the mod, feel free to express them in this thread.

Changes in v1.2:

Added: Alternative enemy power level calculation algorithm (turned off by default)

Downloads:

Martian Assault Mod v1.2

Also available at Strategycore.co.uk

Files affected:

game/scripts/tactical/init_functions.lua

Miscellaneous notes:

In the beginning of a tactical mission with large number of enemies you may experience slight lagging. I believe this is caused by enemies spawning in too tight mobs and bumping into each other as they are trying to move. The lagging will cease by itself as soon as the enemies get more spread out.

You can add, remove and update this mod at any point you want. It won't cause any ill-effects to the ongoing game.

[ShadoWarrior]

Not saying that this is a good or bad thing (probably a good thing), but any increase in the number of enemies, while presenting a greater challenge on a mission-by-mission basis, also will cause the player's troops to gain levels faster due to all the extra experience they'll be acquiring. This will have the effect that players will encounter difficulty escalations in the game sooner than they otherwise would, meaning that they'll be fighting tougher critters with lower-tech weaponry than they otherwise would be.

That makes the game more challenging (and IMO more fun), but I just thought players might want to have a fuller appreciation for the ramifications of what this mod does, besides the obvious one of making the tactical missions more ... exciting.

Oh, I almost forgot to say: thanks, Petteri! I'm going to enjoy this. Your mod will make a great complement to the TR mod.

[switch]

If possible, maybe expand the XP scale or reduce gained XP to cope with the additional enemies per mission.

[DARI]

YAY more enemies

does someone already have some experience with this mod combined with TR 1.09 ?
- is it playable on hard/impossible ?

XP - just dont play every attack mission asap -> delay it

[ShadoWarrior]

I'm playing a v1.10 (build alpha 2) game at hard with this assault mod, and I haven't (yet) seen a bunch of beasts that were beyond my ability to easily handle. OTOH, I haven't yet had the first escalation point (the one past which you fight all the fun beasts like Shamen, Alchemists, Captains, Chiefs, Worms, Rollers, and Spiders oh my).

Oh, and I mostly ignore missions where I'm not under attack, and delay the ones in which I am. I try to slow down my soldiers' level advancement as much as possible so that my scientists and techs can have plenty of time to develop nifty goodies to slaughter the beasties with. (My soldiers were roughly level 10 at the time of the Laputa contact.)

[PetteriB]

I noticed that too now that I started a new game myself. I tweaked the squad count calculation algorithm a little bit more and now there should be plenty of enemies in the early stages of game too.

[parachute]

IMO this whole difficulty-character level connection is a bit annoying: After reading about that the way I played the game changed. I try to avoid taking my best soldiers to the battle which feels quite wrong and destroys the atmosphere/tension of the game in the long run. Ute and Pauline get major leadership every game and these high lvl soldiers are supposed to be around when I take the rookies into battle IMO.

Progression by time only (maybe abundance of resources too) would add much more to the game I think. Could be after July (when they attack of the main base) for example, that the Matriarchs start to show up. Or rollers, as soon as you have >= 3 metal/chemicals...

[PetteriB]

It should be fairly trivial to tie the enemy power level calculation to the number of days passed instead of character levels. Would you like this to be implemented in the next version of this mod?

[Slaughter]

Added to StrategyCore.co.uk

[DARI]

It should be fairly trivial to tie the enemy power level calculation to the number of days passed instead of character levels. Would you like this to be implemented in the next version of this mod?

Now that would be more than nice !

how about following scheme (don't know if its possible):

enemy got more resources - > enemy has better equipment (that is weapons&ammo) or is generally tougher
enemy got more territories -> enemy has bigger squads and leaders available
active gates -> add some cannonfodder to squads per active gate
enemy got only a few territories left -> increase aggressiveness big time (to recap lost territories at all cost)

for the ironman-fans :
increase enemy level or add human anatomy at the same % of human soldier loss for enemy forces
(ie. you lost half of your soldiers - half of the enemy forces know how to kill the remaining 50% better

[PetteriB]

I'm afraid that there's no simple way to read that kind of data from strategic portion of the game within the tactical mission scripts.

[Flark]

It should be fairly trivial to tie the enemy power level calculation to the number of days passed instead of character levels. Would you like this to be implemented in the next version of this mod?

I like the way the enemy power level is calculated by character levels. It prevents us from wanting to cheat the system by gaining extra experience by unnecessary wounding and healing, or and base construction/destruction etc. Keep it as it is I say.

[ShadoWarrior]

Changing enemy power levels based on time rather than threat (aka player level) further penalizes cautious players (who already penalize themselves by having limited resources and experience) and further rewards highly aggressive ones (who already reap the benefit of more resources and greater experience). Not, IMO, a good idea.

[PetteriB]

Fair enough. I think I'll leave the power level calculation untouched at the moment.

[DARI]

Changing enemy power levels based on time rather than threat (aka player level) further penalizes cautious players (who already penalize themselves by having limited resources and experience) and further rewards highly aggressive ones (who already reap the benefit of more resources and greater experience). Not, IMO, a good idea.

then i would suggest threat is defined by number of player controlled territories - but since it seems that not all strategic variables can be used to determine enemy forces its just an idea for the bin

Another soldierlevel approach without using the best level but the average of the actual squad:

my example:
a 7member squad with an average lvl of 10 amounts to 70 levelpoints
(i just name a variable - its kind of a value for a force pool)
the enemy forces "costs" : BM private 1 BM captain 5 BM Matriarch 15 Roller 4 points (whatever you like)
allocation could be set like in this mod - or depending on mission type - or even random

.. but i almost doubt that this would be possible

---
cautious players - that are those who are stockpiling weapons and then going quick'n'dirty for a victory ?!


EDIT : after running past 20 drones at first stage (just to save ammo)- and emptying my last clips at the second stage - running back to the exit with an artifact - i have to say that i LOVE your mod !

[img=http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/1300/martianassault1os7.th.jpg]