Psi-amp

[NinthRank]

Has this been tried?

- Backup your Modified.lua

- Unzip into extensions\weapons modified\

- Move psiclip.png into arts\

weapons_modified_psi_amp.zip

Comments?

[Kratos]

Why would we try that when Psi-Amp has no original functions? And it is not a gun, it is a psionic amplifier. I admire your interest in it though....

[NinthRank]

Uh... because it takes down morale without doing any damage whatsoever? That makes it a fundamentally different weapon from every other one in the set. I'll admit, though, that it's a quick fix (most likely taking advantage of a bug) and that someone was probably about to add psi code anyway, so I'll drop it.

[Kratos]

Anything takes down moral. It's no more different than a gun, except for not damaging anything. Now it's just a useless gun.

 

No, it's not a bug to bring down moral.

Edited September 16, 2007 by Kratos

[NinthRank]

I said I'd drop it. However, I think you misunderstand me. The fact that it does no damage means that the morale hit can be any value. For example, the weapon can fire ten shots with a blast radius of fifteen or something, resulting in instant panic. Although it won't kill or even stun, I'd be hesitant to call it useless. The (potential) "bug" to which I was referring was that morale is lowered not by taking damage, but simply by being in the explosion. If this is changed in a later version, then the whole concept is useless (unless one accepts some actual stun damage). Still, like I said, it's really a quick fix and, although I'm not a programmer, I can see that real psi code will not be difficult to write.

This was really supposed to be a weapon concept, not a shiny new gun ready for export.

[bamb]

It could be useful like the flamer in ufo2k set, panicking enemy units and lowering their morale so they can't shoot accurately. That's not useless, and is also significantly different from other more normal guns in application.

[Hobbes]

I like the idea of the psi-amp only being used to reduce morale. The decision so far on the psi-amp has been not to implement it because games would turn into spotting the first enemy unit, mind controlling it, using it to spot the other enemy units and eventually mind control them all without a shot being fired (this is the easiest way to defeat even the toughest aliens on the original game).

 

But a psi-amp that only has the panicking unit option sounds good (maybe perhaps add the probe option of the mind probe).

[John Faust]

nice discovery...

 

look forward to seeing it ingame.

or not.

[NinthRank]

Well feel free to mess around with the stats. I had a great time making it, but I really don't have the time to balance an entirely new weapon.

 

@Hobbes, I'm fairly sure that psi-amps would be simple to implement without mind control, as there are already attacks that reduce morale or do stun damage (cool psi attack... ). With mind control, it would definitely be harder to balance, but maybe it would help to use an Apoc-style system. To attack, your unit needs not only to have a line of sight, but actually to be near enough to see the target. UFO2k already keeps track of which units can see whom. The chance of success would also be affected by the distance between the target and the attacker (not hard to find), being much greater at short range. Finally, mind control might, for example, use 100% of your time units, so basically you give up control of one of your guys for one of his guys for a turn.

 

Once lua-defined units are implemented, each race could have a base psi strength (sectoids might be much better. Might even split them into leaders/commanders and soldiers).

[Hobbes]

Perhaps Apoc's system would work better for multiplayer but I still consider that UFO2000 has already a fair amount of psychological warfare, although at an indirect level. On UFO2000 you can play a lot of tricks to confuse your opponent and make him play as you want. Check this to have an idea of what I'm talking about. Edited September 17, 2007 by Hobbes

[Exo2000]

I agree that mindcontrol for psiamps would be bad for multiplayer, so my suggestions for the modes are;

 

Probe - Self explanatory.

Stun - Strikes one target for high (but not irresistable) stun damage.

Panic (Single) - Strikes one target for high morale damage.

Panic (Multiple) - Strikes an area for moderate morale damage.

 

All modes except Probe use a high TU percent (ideally above 50%, so they cannot be used twice in a turn) to prevent spamming on a single turn from a single psi user. Also making the probe high weight and high cost would hopefully cut down on 'exploitation' of it.

 

Nice to see someone actually finding something to do with it.

[Sporb]

it would be nice to have a fire mode that, Although not actively taking over an enemy unit, would flag that unit as an enemy to friendly units IE Warp opponent squads perception. Also, dont forget Beserk.

[NinthRank]

Ah, yes, beserk. That could be devastating if you get the guy holding the rocket launcher. As long as it doesn't fly in your direction. I'm a little unclear on that pseudo MC, though. So you wouldn't be able to control the unit, but your opponent wouldn't either?

How about a "backfire" system in which a failed attack causes heavy stun or morale damage to the attacker, the amount being dependent on the psi strength of the defender. It might be pretty shocking to probe the other guy's psi warrior accidentally and end up with an unconscious man! (And your whole squad panicking, too? Maybe... not.) Also, area attacks, while having a better success rate, could do less damage and backfire once for every failure in the area of effect.

[Exo2000]

I like the backfire idea, actually. That would add another element to the psionic warfare that wasn't in "Stock" X-COM. The calculation should be kept simple, though.

[Brick-To-Face]

Probe - Self explanatory.

Exo, you dirty dirty man...