WIP: Colonial Guard - Race

[Liberty_Valance]

All updates will be edited in this post

Steam version available, will still need to try and sort those below issue.
Colonial Guard on Steam
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1860534806

The current version, is mostly, complete ongoing monitoring of bugs and additional content will be added.

This mod adds a brand new race, with all the benefits, updated post Tyrannosaurus patch, bugs may arise but this may not be directly mod related! Please if come across one please give as much detail as you can thanks!

Cheers!

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[Liberty_Valance]

This text may be updated with future content
This is a mod adds a new race to the game, the Colonial Guard.
This mod does not modify any existing content at all, with every .rpk file freshly created, so unless another mod really messes with the internal structure of the game this should be compatible with all mods including visuals.

ABOUT
Initially mercenaries bands hired to protect neutral space planets from pirates and xenos, and since and has grown to occupy whole sectors. The species themselves are mix of races from purchased (or escaped) syndicate slaves, discharged vanguard soldiers, renegade Amazons and even its fair share of Spacers!

The Guard are primarily a defensive race, with equipment mods for infantry to place sandbags, drop ships to place medical tents to heal random units as well as pillbox's on the field to repel invaders.

The race has had a cosmetic overhaul with added models, re-texture, re-shaded with some army green and added particles to give them their own flavor.

New abilities/operations the colonial guard will be using modified and completely overhauled abilities, here a Colonial Guard officer has 'Called in the cavalry!'

 

[Liberty_Valance]

This post will be updated with additional content

Here will be the design and intentions of the units

Colonial Marines

To get started here is the standard colonial guard infantry, they have been optimized for the AI to be more straight forward, no grenades for this unit to run in in and suicide in to combat, staying back a healthy distance and utilizing their over-watch.

Colonial Medic

The medic is a non combatant unit (that's right no attacks what so ever!) their whole job is keeping friendlies alive! The AI will buff allies with the spacer modified chems and heal the wounded, when theirs nothing for her to do she will move back to a safe distance until needed! - Requires Tech unlock

Colonial Recon Team

Unlike other explorers the colonial guard use caution and stealth to investigate nearby areas. While their powerful sniper rifles can be decimating at long range if set upon in melee they are sitting ducks!
Reduced health to 25hp

Colonial Bush Pig

The early vehicle unlock for the colonials is used for moving and attacking targets across rough terrain with a variety of overlay reductions including heavy reduction to wetland, hills, shrub-lands and slight decrease to mountains and rivers. - Requires Barracks

Colonial RPG Trooper

A fairly straight forward unit for damage targeting radial and obstacle targets - this unit has piercing and demolisher modification for devastating damage, the impact of the rockets also have a chance to displace the enemy, disrupting enemy formations. Also the standard rocket launcher animation is bugged so for now are using the Dvar RPG animation. Require early tech unlock and Barracks


Colonial Riot Guard

This unit is fairly unique, the riot guard does very low damage, however it has a moderate chance to stun. In addition the unit can 'psych up' with a mighty roar giving it +3 armor for 3 turns, making it an excellent protector unit.

Colonial Attack Chopper

For now, outside of cosmetics this works exactly the same as the Vanguard gunship, it looks and feels right so have had no reason to update it yet. - requires mid tech unlock

Submarine
Description to be added.

Colonial Officer

His abilities are still a work in progress, but his main role is to support the infantry being able to radial buff and provide support.
Reduced health to 36hp

Tactical Specialist

Description to be added.

Light Artillery

Description to be added.

Stub Tank

Description to be added.

Ogre Mech

All mechs are fairly boring until you add the upcoming mods, all mechs will be able to use mods but the ogre will be limited to simpler versions such as thruster boosts, and a flame thrower!

Mech Giant


There are 3 variations of Giant Mechs, they will be more in the genre of RPG, especially with the upgrades, the idea is to make them weaker than other tier4 but given them more versatility and opportunity with upgrades to overcome thier opponent's. To start off the Gladiator is a close combat specialist, with the AI all mechs love to punch but the gladiator does it best, the Hurricane acts as a support mech, with bombardment abilities and a handy laser cannon but is a bit weaker than its siblings, lastly the Raijū is acts almost like a very heavy infantry unit, a heavy cannon with the handy ability of overwatch. Some of the mods may include a system reboot, where it shuts down while it heals, or a shield being activated on low health

Submarine

Description to be added.


There are other units available in operations/limited supply
Infantry

Although not as tough as marines, infantry can still dish the damage and get a cover bonus, making them excellent defenders.
Available only through operations, infantry can be para-dropped onto the strategic map, quickly filling your fallen roster, they are also available through the operation 'Colonial Army Reserves being called in to help defend your colonies.

Commandos

Available through a tactical operation

Arch Angel

Not available for now

 

[Liberty_Valance]

Commander Skills

The load-out is straight forward, the melee weapon is a Chainsword with no pistol (essentially dindin). The Assault vehicle is the Bush Pig , the Support Vehicle will change to be the Colonial Dropship, being able to transport units within your party quickly around the battlefield.

Its currently not possible (or i haven't figured it out) to create additional backgrounds, there was the option to be a defense specialist as a background and acquiring a colonial mercenary contract in colonial supplies, allowing all races to recruit Colonial Infantry, but this since has been canned. You cannot have unique racial backgrounds, the above worked for the guard but not the other races.

Operations

This will be ongoing for some time, although there's a lot done, theirs is a tonne more to do, with also increasing the complexity of the tree. They currently have no mods, but some will be added soon.

One of the earliest operations is dropping in a medical tent into tactical combat. The tent acts similar to Nanite support however the medical tent will target 1 random biological unit each round instead of a radial heal. It may have some kind of cool down reset for the medics at a later stage.

(For fellow modders Its surprisingly complicated to have a structure stay still, how i got around it eventually was create an invisible unit in the content editor, then set the null object up like a unit, then in the ALIVE state in the units FMD have the structure as a particle.)

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[wingren013]

The rocket dudes should probably have a pistol to make them consistent with the other units that have a 3 AP cost attack.

Also what is their T4 and second T3 going to be?

 

[Liberty_Valance]

A pistol is a good idea, Ive added the Armour shred and demolisher to that unit, keeping it at a medium data tier2 cost and see how they feel for testing. Will upload tier 3 and 4's now and will update them when their abilities have been tweaked.

 

[Lashan]

This is awesome stuff! and very exciting!

I hope more mod support continues so that you're creation can be complete. I for one am very excited for this mod.

Thank you for adding your time and imagination to this game - it's mods like this that really makes this kind of game last.

 

[Liberty_Valance]

Thanks mate! The devs have been very helpful with everything on their plate! Hopefully once things are settled down there will be a guide and all the modders will pull their resources to contribute!

 

[Draxynnic]

On a casual inspection, it feels like the race is very spread around when it comes to weapons groups. There's mostly Firearms, and there's precedent for a race to have the odd attack that's outside their weapon group (particularly Explosives when the explosive weapon isn't the only weapon), but looking at it I'm not sure if Lasers or Arc is supposed to be the second weapons group. My gut feeling would be Arc, but that would be leaving the Bush Pig and the Infantry out.

Given that some of your background is escaped Syndicate slaves, possibly push them fully into Firearms/Arc, and make the Bush Pig and infantry use Arc weapons?

 

[Liberty_Valance]

@Draxynnic
I did struggle with this, an alt idea was give them a limited access in 2 other doctrines maybe so full access to firearms, mid tier access to explosives and initial tiers on to arc and laser.

The other idea that im thinking i might do, was including some basic weapon group mods in the racial load out, when researching the races 'combined arms' their could be two branches for arc and/or laser and the player has to chose which one.

 

[Liberty_Valance]

15/09/2019 Notes: Upcoming content

Had another good crack at trying to get mods up and running but had no luck, all of these bugs do have something in common which is player properties, so will hold off on any further attempts until the dev side is looked into and then i can clean up anything broken on my side, will need to be patient with this as im sure they have plenty on their plate already.

But that doesn't stop progress, some of the upcoming content is still on operations, particularly around colonial guard doctrines, and also further developing operations

Firstly il say that these are just concepts, theory crafting can sometimes not always lead to exact results on whats possible.

The main focus is Doctrines at the moment, its mostly looking at existing doctrines and seeing what can be used and modified for the guard



Ive started putting it together and screen captured plenty of secret tech and other race doctrines for ideas, for example bounty board will
be using hearts and mines reducing the influence gained by half but giving the player some energy.

Garrison Furlough will reduce biological colonial guard in cities by 10%



On to operations.

Drax made a good point on the guard having spread out tech, so they will have access to early mods of laser and arc, this seemed fairly balanced, researching these mods early slows down your advancement and players will need to gauge the pros and cons for these niche channels


later operations are still being worked on but Naval Command and Robotics are the next to change.

For naval
A green textured vanguard ship and submarines would go great with the colonial guard, having submarines be stealthed in water prowling the seas but exposed to air attack.


Robotics will completely change to something else, something like rear echelon. kind of resupply support opp-orations, still not sure exactly but toying with a few ideas of a station that resets a random cooldown of a nearbye unit every 2 turns, or another that station that builds a random defense every few turns. Eg like a low health turret or some sandbags. And potentially some kind of colonial engineer unit that helps support this station, hes weak and a light combatant mostly focusing on thing like upgrading bunkers, and medical tents. But if they do go in they are getting a doyboy helmet!

When we can add mods, the colonial commander starting load out will need to be edited, it will pretty much be the same as the vanguards but will just be camo versions of each weapon.

 

[Liberty_Valance]

28/09/2019 Notes: Upcoming content

Note these are just concepts and may differ from results or completely change. These concepts below aren't anything like whats available so likely may not work.

For the next few weeks il be testing and working on 'consumable objects' and also objects in general. This means il be trying to add in things like a mine strike
basically it will be an offensive operation in tactical combat where you can target a large area around the enemy, the mines will drop spreading around the area there will be a red light signalling this is the location of the mines before becoming invisible to both sides. The AI will be configured to ignore this so they should accidentally stumble onto your mine and causing damage.

If this works consumables may be popping up in other areas, for example dropping in supplies on the map for your team to run onto to consume, eg medical supplies or extra armour. Its all theory so this all could be scrapped.


Other things are looking at more advance abilities for some of the existing units -

On terrain objects, the Stubby Tank will be hopefully able to create a pile of rubble for friendlies to hide behind as a free action.

Tactical Specialist (minigun guys) will be getting a major overhaul, to will need a bit of time to be worked on, these will be changed to enhance soldiers, and will lose the mini gun for smgs and some other goodies, once they reach gold rank they will be able to specialize, into a few key areas for more role play, one will be of course the heavy weapons specialist (gaining the mini-gun), or a demolition specialist, close combat spec, support ordinance spec, you get the drift.

Some other units like the rpg trooper are also getting reworked.

Outside of that i will also keep getting the mod ready for when the patch drops, Unit Mods will need to take high priority after the initial fix, which will make these guys more interesting as well as there's some of the more powerful features (centered around player properties) currently not available that im keen to test, things like the dvars prospect unit operation and modifying it for the guard to use.

 

[Liberty_Valance]

13/10/2019 Notes:
The Enchanced
There hasn't been an update for a a while but just wanted to keep people in the loop on oncoming content.

All my recent attention has been on one upcoming unit - The Enchanced Trooper
These guys are based on the movie Soldier with Kurt Russell, but plenty other big hit scifis like universal soldier also feature these guys.
Thee enhanced are super soldiers, but unlike amazonian DNA manipulation or Cyborg parts
They have been enhanced with chemical drugs with steroidal applications (these will come in more detail when unit mods are available) basically any unit will be able to take the enhance drug but will be prone to a large morale penalty where the enhanced do not suffer from these effects. The enchance are being designed and heavily tested to feel right, these units are designed to fill the roleplay of a few against many but to get there these guys and gals need experience!

On reaching a Prime rank the enhance will randomly specialize into a variety of fields changing their equipment and also their cosmetic look, with unique abilities to help combat against a variety of opponents. The tactical support specialist will be able to build a radio tower -the tower will have a variety of unique features like being able to call in a one time airstrike. The explosive specialist can place a timed mortar, attacking a variety of targets before it destroys itself

 

[Liberty_Valance]

27/10/2019 Notes:
The Enchanced are finished

Colonial Enhance have been heavily tested and are working flawlessly, the are designed to be produced and gain experience fast and on reaching prime rank will specialize into 1 of 7 random classes.
Each class will bring a lot of enjoyment with 'close combat specialist' being able to jetpack into enemies wielding a saw blade, the explosive specialist being able to setup mortar that bombards enemy's every turn. But lets talk about my personal favorite the 'Tactical Support Specialist'. The support specialist can setup their very own sleek black auto turret that will fire at any enemy within range. Additionally they can also place a radio tower. The radio tower has a few versatile features one is being able to call in a strafe on an enemy, a drop ship will fire onto enemy positions. The tower can also call in an evac drop ship onto a friendly unit anywhere on the battlefield. And finally the radio tower - radar sweep increasing accuracy of all allies for two turns.

The Stubby tank has also finally gained its 'Pushed Rubble Cover' ability as a free action once per battle, allowing to further take control of the battlefield by building choke points and further heavily defending positions.

Upcoming unit make overs will be the RPG trooper, currently this unit is performing poorly in battle often just running to his death after one shot, he is currently being looked into and potentially be completely being overhauled. Looking into turning him into a battery trooper, essentially he gains bonuses in cover causing large damage. But more info on that later.

 

[Nejrael]

Just airing my 2 cents here.

About the mech design, would the Bushwacker from Mechwarrior be more in line with their style?

About operations:
Since they are defensive oriented how about drop down cover.
Doctrines:
Extra unit(s) when defending maybe.
Gain a small amount of reputation when successfully defending against natives (if this is possible and not game breaking).

 

[Liberty_Valance]

@Nejrael, thanks mate for the ideas, the bushwhackers an excellent design i did get some inspiration from mech warriors and battle tech in particular, and will continue to expand on them. I pick the current design as i was heavily inspired by robojox,one of my favorite childhood movies, the emchs have been given more grit, and will have a major update in the near future, will access to variety of mod features such as enabling jetpacks, flame throwers etc,

The doctrines are also great! its pretty limited to what can be done (some features don't have alot of freedom in what can be done so base alot of designs on that) but will certainly look into it!

 

[AstralLein]

AI support is not worth waiting for?

 

[Liberty_Valance]

@AstralLein Not too sure what you mean?

 

[Liberty_Valance]

05/03/2020 Notes:
Backlog of updates
Its been a while since an update, but had to wait until the Tyrannosaurus update which has fixed i believe all issues stopping progress.

There were however some substantial changes which effected the mod, so for the most part its mostly being going through and hunting down these issues as well as checking content that was added previously and testing it. This will be ongoing.

Whats added and fixed so far:

NEW: Racial starting bonus gain a unique captain unit, their are 10 randomized captains with only cosmetic and name changes. They are a decent starting unit being able to rally your troops to help in the ight.

In addition now mounts are working, the Stubby Tank and light artillery are ready to be piloted by your heroes.

Fixes so far, added colonial secret tech units to spawn at the start, added the xenoplaugue trooper as recruitable unit for that secret tech, added vehicle stats, other smaller changes and fixes.


Coming up: Going to be looking at some of the reported bugs in comments on steam, but new content wise will be focusing on unit mods, mods for vehicles and units, such as the enhanced chemicals increasing strength and healing but but effecting units mental state

And powerful mech mods. Allowing for flame throwers, rocket boosters, and other add ons to make your mech much more customizable.
Their will be more units and vehicles and new content at a later date but mods take priority.

 

[Liberty_Valance]

05/03/2020 Notes:
Going forward

Now that a lot of the Tyrannosaurus patch bugs have been crushed its onto testing mods the current added mods such as the new added mech arsenal and future content!


One of the many upcoming additions is players of any race being able to hire a mercenary companies during leader load-out, the perks will cost a whopping 5 points.

The introduction of the first upcoming mercenary company are the Imperial Reich, Empire extremist bent on making the paragons the master race.
They are slow but are hard to kill, the scientist can revive fallen troopers and heal, while the officer can global buff and call in reinforcements, they also have access to the APC and tank. This also uses the unused empire drop ship located in the game files. These may take a bit of time to set up and test, but will update once done, the next will be the Spacer Mercenaries!

In addition to the above more mods and abilities will be added to already available units, one will be for the officer, a sector strategic operation (similar to the prospector but this is on hold due to figuring out how it works, more complex than initially expected!)