* Alien roster for XCOM HQ Assault will scale up in difficulty a little more slowly
* Not So Long War SW option now applies modifier to soldier timeout and interceptor repair time -- meaning they will both be out longer
* UFO upgrades to accuracy, damage and hit points now stop at 32 months (alien research 960) so interception game doesn't become truly impossible for persistent-game players
* Significant nerf to the power of large lab blocks to reduce research time
* Packmaster provides +1 Proximity Mine charge instead of +2
* Dramatic increase in Weapon Fragments required for various technologies
* Increased Neuroregulator psi bonus; wearing it 3 times will reduce missions to level up by 1. Adjusted PsiXP to normalize missions per level at 5 for all levels and 3 on current (.6) NSLW setting. NR grants +10 will.
* Armor Piercing Ammo item now nullifies 2 points of enemy DR. Armor Piercing Ammo item now available to MECs, SHIVs and Engineers, but won't help with shotguns or sidearms.
* HEAT Ammo and HEAT Warheads damage reduced to +50% from 75%. HEAT Ammo perk made available to engineer class at Gunnery Sergeant rank (in place of RFA). HEAT Ammo will not work if carrying a shotgun. Both HEAT Ammo and HEAT Warheads will provide a minimum of 2 bonus damage. Both HEAT Ammo and HEAT Warheads bonus exposed in separate ini variables, using up our last two spare floats for ini settings.
* Weapon-tech damage-bonus items (alloy jacketed rounds, enhanced beam optics, plasma stellerator) now usable by humans, SHIVs and MECs. Depleted Elerium Rounds, Laser Pumper, Zevatron Booster removed from game.
* Laser Sight and Hi Cap Mags now usable by humans, SHIVs and MECs. Weapon Gyros and Autoloader removed from game.
* Targeting Module now provides +8% crit and +1 base damage when critical hits occur (so 1.5 critical damage).
* Abductions will be spaced out over an entire month regardless of how many the aliens plan. Previously they were stacked in the early month. Reduced allowed Abduction response time.
* Reduced meld from dead aliens to make you go after cans more. Exposed a couple of alien meld variables to the ini.
* Ghost Grenades renamed "Shadow Device" and no longer gain additional charges from Packmaster or Smoke and Mirrors.
* Engineers may now use shredder ammo small item. Added engineer-specific item property for additional modding.
* Recovering from being strangled reduces your grenade throw range.
* Increased damage and reduced AOE of Proximity Mines. AOE and trigger range should now match.
* Increased AOE of grenade launcher grenades.
* Reaction Fire against Mecs, Mectoids, SHIVs and Sectopods (what we're calling large mechanized units) is more accurate unless the targeted unit has Lightning Reflexes, or attacker has Opportunist / Advanced Fire Control (which already provide this accuracy bonus). Specifically, added a variable to cancel the REACTION_PENALTY (which is 0.7) when firing at these units. Dashing bonus still in effect. This can be removed with an ini edit. Purpose is to reduce effectiveness of big tanky units as super-dodgy Reaction Fire busters (although their DR will still help), and enhance utility of Lightning Reflexes perk on scouts.
* Equipping multiple Kinetic Strike Modules now confers +3 damage for each extra module equipped. Stacks with Thumper and MEC Close Combat advances.
* Firing a rocket/shredder rocket now grants +1 mobility for the remainder of the mission (for each rocket fired)
* Major Rework of rocketeer tree, some changes all other trees
* Sightline HUD (red alien heads) will now display up to 20 aliens in view instead of 10
* Phoenix Cannon is back (replacing Phoenix Coilgun). It is available at Alien Materials and is probably a middling upgrade to the missiles -- it has base laser cannon armor piercing (enough to do full damage to Raiders) and slightly higher damage per second than Avalanche, and all the shots should mean it should provide more consistent results than the missiles.
* Added foundry project "Quenchguns" that triples the anti-DR capability of Gauss weapons (to 1) and is available after researching Advanced Gauss Weapons.
* Added foundry project "Phoenix Coilguns" that improves all existing Phoenix Cannon to Phoenix Coilgun stats and is available after researching Gauss Weapons.
* Foundry projects will be more moddable in the ini now.
* Strategy Game alien resource numbers moddable in the ini now.
* Improved impact of Snap Shot for rocketeers.
* Mimic Beacon item provides 1 base charge, not 2
* Increased "Reasonable Attack Range" for drones and flying units in hopes of reducing derpy behavior
* Aliens with Lightning Reflexes will now care much less about overwatchers when deciding what to do
* Offscreen kills on terror missions will be proportionally reduced with the number of aliens you can see. To compensate, aliens can rarely kill 3 civilians a turn if you have revealed few or no aliens.
* Master Sergeants will roll for a +1 bonus to a random stat (offense, defense, will, hit points) every 4th mission. 10% chance of hit point, 30% chance of one of the other three.
* Transports (UFOs) will tend to have more troops than previously.
* You will see more alien 'monsters' (level 9 leaders) by the by on alien base assaults, larger UFOs and late-game council missions.
* Resources reworked a bit. Reduced base alloys from each UFO class by about 30%. Increased average alloys and elerium recovered on UFO crash missions. Foundry alloy and elerium projects now provide 20% bonus to ALL alloys and elerium recovered from missions. UFO Analysis techs provide 20% bonus to alloys and elerium recovered from that specific class of UFO after mission win (crashed or landed). Slight increase in chances of UFO Power and Nav Computer surviving mission. Altered how EMP Cannon works (bonus to artifact survival instead of flat chance). Slight decrease in alloys recovered from certain alien species. The goal here is to steady out your resource income and force some investment to improve it, particularly in the early game (making bagging a big landed UFO a little less swingey in overall campaign progression), make an early alien materials tech path more enticing, and make crashes somewhat more rewarding.
* Reduced base flamethrower damage by 2. Jellied Elerium foundry project now provides only bonus panic chance on its own, but it also unlocks a small item, the Incinerator Module, that provides +3 flamethrower damage.
* Reduced Chryssalid will by 10 or 15 or so.
* MEC Railgun will now use Minigun model and effects. Laser/Pulse Lance will use Railgun model and effects.
* Arc Rifle now available to all squishy classes but gunner and rocketeer. You may now move and fire it without penalty. It still suffers close-range penalties like sniper rifles (This a technical limitation -- disabling shot can't be divorced from short-range penalty), but otherwise operates like a rifle. It no longer operates at beyond visual range. It confers +10 aim.
* Alloy Belt item removed from game. Alloy Carbide Plating provides Extra Conditioning bonus (2-4 HP) but no DR.
* All MEC units gain +4 hp upon conversion instead of +2. MEC Armors lowered by 2 hp.
* Reworked DR calculation formula so additive modifiers are calculated before multiplicative ones, with the exception of cover DR. This reduces the effect of Absorption Fields and Shock Absorbent Armor.
* MECs have slightly higher average timeout between missions
* New Item: Flak Ammo. Unlocked by Floater Autospy and MEC Warfare Systems. Can be equipped by anybody. Works like HEAT Ammo, granting greater of +2 or +20% base weapon damage against airborne units with primary weapon and rockets, and allows MECs with Collateral Damage to target airborne units with its AOE weapon attack (and gain the damage bonus).
* Reduced damage for MEC Minigun, Laser Lance, Railgun by 1, so it scales up by 1 at each tech level like every other weapon.
* Combined Arms perk now nullifies 1 point of all DR, not just cover-based DR. (Note all MECs have this perk innately).
* Attempted to make EXALT less suicidal in rushing transmitter volume with AI change to GetMaxDangerLevelForMovement
* Vital Point Targeting no longer applies to Collateral Damage ability (was never intended to). Ranger, and Shredded effects still do.
* HEAT now applies a flat +2 damage bonus when used with collateral damage against robotic enemies.
* Increased harder aliens' damage by 2 on Impossible, and easier aliens by 1. Increased alien research rate on Brutal from 105% to 110%, and 120 to 130% on Impossible.
* Mid-level Cyberdisc and Sectopod leaders will get HEAT ammo. A few alien leaders/navigators will get Combined Arms.
* Increased meld cost to convert a soldier to a MEC. Decreased meld cost of all suits.
* Converting to a MEC confers a loss of one level (rank) and a proportionate reduction in XP; that is, a Sergeant 50% of the way to TSGT converts and becomes a Corporal 50% of the way to Sergeant with XP. MSGTs reset to minimum XP to become GSGT.
* Gave SHIVs a little armor HP that won't need time in the shop if lost. Regular SHIV now has 15 defense (vice 10); Alloy SHIV has 10 defense (vice 15).
* Rework of equip UI so it alerts you when you are equipping an ammo type or other small item that isn't compatible with one of your primary weapons, and unequips the small item if you swap to an incompatible primary weapon. Damage enhancer ammos will no longer apply bonuses to sidearms. If I get another spare item, I"ll think about a pistol damage enhancer item as an option.
* Three special ammo items -- Flak, Shredder and AP -- cannot stack.
* Moderate rework of some aim and defense: Items will gain aim/crit/defense on a 4/6/8/12 scale rather than a 5/7/10/15. Perk gains unchanged. Soldier aim gains on level ups will range from 18 to 28, with 18 or 21 for most classes (Scout is 25, Sniper is 28 ). Soldier recruit aim range changed from 55 to 75 to 58 to 72. Wider range for MECs, with a peak at 28 again for the Jaeger. (Note MECs can use Scope now.) Adjusted rocketeer scatter so a point of aim is worth slightly more, as they have fewer perk-based options to increase aim. Aliens lose some defense on level-ups. This is intended to do several things: 1) increase value of aim and defense-related perks on the trees, most of which are conditionally activated, challenging you to employ them effectively. 2) Increase value of cover and flanking mid-to-late game by reducing impact of general purpose defense. 3) Make it harder to reach 100 to hit 4) Flatten aim differences between classes somewhat and help supports be somewhat useful riflemen.
* Three aim gainers -- Scope, Neural Gunlink and Illuminator Gunsight -- can no longer stack. Neural Gunlink and Illuminator Gunsight now provide +12 aim/crit. Scope provides +8.
* Platform Stability now available on Sniper, Gunner and Rocketeer trees. Platform Stability now helps reduce rocket scatter.
* Alloy Bipod is now a flat aim/crit gainer equippable only by snipers, providing +6 aim at zero weight.
* Slight bump in XP to reach high ranks. (Master Sergeant is 4200 instead of 4000).
* Squadsight shots now suffer only a -20% crit penalty
* LMG series no longer provides a 5% crit bonus
* In the Zone hits do one less damage with each ITZ kill in a round. ITZ crit per kill penalty reduced to -10% per kill from -25%. (And note Squadsight ITZ-related bugfix above).
* Titan armor is now .5 DR, 12 HP, and carries the Damage Control perk.
* Rework to simplify and bugfix explosives and perk interactions. Sapper now provides +1 damage to HE, AP, Alien, and Grenade Launcher grenades and Prox Mines. Mayhem applies +2 damage to all those weapons and +2 to rockets. Completing the alien grenade foundry project applies +2 damage to Needle and Grenade Launcher grenades and a 60% AOE bonus to HE grenades. So a maxed out Needle Grenade can get 9 damage, alien grenade 8 damage, HE Grenade 6 damage + large AOE, Grenade Launcher grenade 9 damage (with Ranger) and Proximity Mine (again with Ranger) 13 damage. Rockets go from 7, 9 and 12 to top out at 11, 13 and 17 with Mayhem, Ranger, and damage enhancers.
* Trying to train drones and Mechtoids not to double move when enemies are around.
* Trained drones to use their overload ability in certain special conditions (Without giving up the triggers, I'm showing some restraint here.) Debating whether to up the damage a bit.
* Trying to train aliens to set up overwatch walls when they are defending landed ships and their own bases.
* Removed Smartgun Kit item (Advanced Fire Control is now on Gunner tree). Replaced with Advanced Suppression Module for SHIVs, which grants Danger Zone perk.
* Memorial now displays soldier class of deceased soldiers
* Savior now also provides 2 item-free medikit charges and +4 healing bonus.
* The first soldier on your roster will always be from XCOM's home country.
* Taking Battlescanner perk now lets you throw scanners a distance equivalent to having Grenadier and Bombardier perks. Those perks will also increase BS throw distance, but it won't stack with perk bonus.
* Regen Biofield now has a 50/50 chance (in separate rolls) of curing poison and reducing panic duration of nearby soldiers, in addition to healing bonus. Adjusted psi perk tree so Regen Biofield is level 1, Psi Inspiration and Distortion Field are level 2, and Psi Panic and Mind Merge are level 3. (Changed requirements a bit too). Psi fatigue increased to 24 hours for first level, and then to 6 hours for 2nd and 3rd level to increase cost of spamming low-level psis just to get at the gear.
* Combat Stims grants adrenaline surge perk (+10 aim, +10 crit if you get wounded) for duration of mission, in addition to current use.
* Slowed down pace of country item requests slightly.
* Chameleon Suit now provides immunity to Opportunist crits
* Psi Shadow perk renamed "Concealment" and removed from Psi Tree. Now a MSGT perk on Scout tree. Hacking an Exalt array and capturing meld now reveals hidden soldiers.
* Slight reduction in flight fuel for flying armors and hover shiv
* Larger UFOs have more hit points and go slower on the strategic map, allowing for more interceptions while they are on missions.
* Dense Smoke perk no longer provides AOE bonus for smoke grenades.
* UFO initial base will not be on your starting continent.
* Doubled alien alloys and elerium income from UFOs, missions and aliens. Doubled alloys and elerium costs for techs and items. Reduced $$ cost for alloys and elerium. Increased usual amount for council item requests of alloys and elerium. This makes the repair system a little more granular -- the amount of alloys/elerium needed to repair early game items (0/1/2, etc) was making too big a difference in the utility of the item. Otherwise the overall economy should be the same.