An OpenXcom mod that rebalances all original features of classic X-COM.
Every existing technology is situational, and gameplay is more varied.
Version 1.2 - Created by Coincident
A complete rebalance of all the features in the classic game to sharpen the gameplay experience variety. Designed for people who want to experience only the original content of the game, without the severe balance problems and with enhanced quality. This mod addresses the blatant balance problems of the original, for example: late-game psionics, the blaster launcher, and the plasma beam’s long range making every interception a cake-walk.
No new content is added, and no old content is removed. There are no new weapons*, alien races, crafts or UFOs. There’s some recoloring & new graphics for original content to increase the quality, and the LukesExtraUFOs + Terrain Pack for some more battlescape scenario variety.
The game is a lot harder - if you want to win the war, be prepared to lose a few battles. Each battle is much more important, and has a greater impact on the entire course of the game. Each choice you take is much more important, because there is much less margin for error. As a result, each victory is so much more satisfying - you won’t win just because you have 10 über-soldiers with flying armor and imba heavy plasmas (there is no such thing now).
Make the wrong decisions, and you will lose.
Make the right decisions, and you might win…
*There’s only one new weapon: the X-COM Launcher that replaces the Blaster Launcher; read more below.
Download the latest .zip from GitHub, and extract it to your mods folder. In windows 7, this should be: "C:\Users<username>\Documents\OpenXcom\mods", so after extracting there should exist a "...\Documents\OpenXcom\mods\XCOMClassicRemastered-master" folder.
Start OpenXcom, go to Options > Mods > And click on X-COM Classic Remastered to activate the mod.
Then, still in the Options menu, click on Advanced, and configure the following options:
Battlescape
- UFO Extender accuracy = YES (Required for proper weapon balance)
- Explosion Height = 2 (Recommended to make explosions more realistic)
- 1.2 - OXCE is now supported. Fixed references to non-existing research topics.
- 1.1 - Removed bigSprite property from Snakeman and Muton fixed melee weapons, which should not be seen. This fixes a problem when loading the mod with the latest nightly version of OpenXcom
- 1.0 - First official release
Regular field weapons consist of 3 classes weapons, with 3 types of weapon each.
Weapons Types:
Bullets - Cheap and lightweight. High rate of fire, but low damage and low accuracy.
Laser - Moderate price, medium weight. Medium rate of fire and damage, but high accuracy.
Plasma - Expensive and heavy. Low rate of fire, but very high damage, and medium accuracy.
Weapon Classes:
Pistol - Light, small and one-handed; can be quickly drawn from the belt for a last-resort snap-shot. Low damage, but fast-firing. Overall, it has the best snap-shot at close/medium range, but a weak and low accuracy aimed-shot.
Rifle - General purpose assault rifle. Medium damage; high ammo capacity. Auto-shot = highest damage per second of all weapon classes. Decent snap-shot, better than the Cannon, worse than the Pistol. Decent aimed-shot; better than the Pistol, worse than the Cannon.
Cannon - Heavy, slow, and low ammo. Very high damage. Snap-shot is slow and inaccurate, but has the best aimed-shot of all weapon classes. Because it is slow, it is best combined with a belt pistol: after a cannon aimed-shot, a fast soldier will have enough time units to draw a pistol and take a snap-shot.
Other weapons:
Auto-Cannon - No aimed-shot, but a better auto-shot than the rifle. It is slower than the rifle, but deals more damage per second overall. Another obvious advantage is loading it with explosive, or even incendiary ammunition, which is ideal to lighten night missions.
Rocket Launcher - No snap-shot: combine it with a pistol. The small rocket’s weight was reduced, and its explosion radius was also reduced. However, the power was increased; it deals almost the same damage as the large rocket. This makes the small rocket a good tactical choice for terror missions: large damage over a small radius means it can kill aliens and avoid collateral damage to civilians.
Blaster Launcher - Can be researched, but not used my X-Com. Only aliens have the psi powers to launch guided missiles.
X-COM Launcher - No snap-shot: combine it with a pistol. The X-COM equivalent to the Blaster Launcher, that works like an advanced rocket launcher, and fires in a straight line. It features small (tactical), large, and incendiary bombs, just like the Rocket Launcher, but deals much more damage over a larger radius. Cannot destroy UFO hulls.
High Explosive - Damage and weight increased. Deadly, but takes a strong soldier to throw.
Fusion Charge - Elerium version of the High Explosive. Even more deadly, and heavy. The only piece of equipment that can destroy UFO hulls.
Psi-Amp - Nerfed. More time-units are required to use any form of psi attack, so a soldier can only perform 1 attack per turn. Also, all attacks are much less likely to succeed, especially psi-control. Against psi-strong aliens, it is safer to attempt panic attacks and try to get a successful one, than to fail all psi-control attacks. Alien psionic attacks were not changed, and will still be a dangerous form of attack on your soldiers.
Summary:
Heavy Plasma is no longer overpowered. It is the best long-range sniping weapon, but has no auto-shot; so it is out-classed by the Plasma Rifle in short-range. It is also heavy and slow, and is out-classed by the Plasma Pistol for reaction fire. You can no longer equip a rookie with Power Armor and Plasma Cannon (X-COM armors now have a weight penalty too). Also, all plasma weapons have low ammo, so reloading in the middle of a fight is common.
Laser weapons have medium weight and power, but very high accuracy; making them excellent to train rookies, and still be able to deal with weaker aliens (sectoids, floaters, and cyberdisks + sectopods whose electronics are sensitive to laser fire).
Bullet weapons have high ammo, are cheap, very light and easy to use even by very weak rookies (20ish strength). The low damage also makes them a safe choice for psi-weak soldiers; even the Personal Armor can resist most bullet friendly-fire.
Regular tanks (Cannon, Rocket, and Laser) have the highest armor in the front and back of the vehicle. However, the right and left sides are the most vulnerable (exposed tracks).
Hovertanks (Plasma, Blaster) have high armor from all sides, except that the back is weaker (hover engine). Also, they are built like the alien’s Cyberdisk, so they are also vulnerable to laser fire. Be careful with friendly-fire and enemy Cyberdisks and Sectopods, which also fire powerful lasers. The Blaster Hovertank fires in a straight line.
Human-worn X-COM armors are all weaker on the back side, and have a weight penalty.
Personal Armor offers medium protection, but is lightweight and cheap to produce.
Power Armor offers maximum protection, but is quite heavy and expensive (elerium).
Flying Armor offers high protection (lower than the Power Armor), and is even more expensive, but allows your soldiers to fly across the battlescape.
Floaters were not changed, they are still the easiest race to fight against, although the Reaper terror unit is now faster and can travel greater distances without triggering reaction fire.
Sectoids were also not changed, they are relatively easy, although Sectoids from larger UFOs will have some psionic powers. Cyberdiscs fire the most powerful laser in the game, but are vulnerable to laser fire themselves.
Snakemen were improved to become medium-difficulty foes: they are now the fastest non-terror aliens, with very high TUs and reactions. They are still easy to kill even with lasers. Chrysalids were not changed, and remain the most frightening alien in the game.
Mutons were greatly improved: they have higher resist to bullets, lasers, explosions, and even plasma. They are now the hardest unit to kill after the Sectopod, to remind you of their TFTD counterpart: the Lobstermen! They can only be killed by high-damage weapons, such as plasma and fusions bombs, and it may require more than one Heavy Plasma shots to bring a Muton down. However, they are slower and have lower reactions, and are vulnerable to psionics, incendiary ammo and acid (mind-controlling a Celatid is a good way to kill them). Celatids were not changed, and still have the highest damage acid projectile in the game. Silacoids are now faster and can travel greater distances without triggering reaction fire.
Ethereals were not changed, they are still mid-range soldiers with high psionic powers. Sectopods’ armor was slightly reduced, but they are still the hardest unit to kill: use lasers.
As the game progresses, difficulty will increase. The alien UFOs will start having mixed crews with 2 alien races each. Several (but not all) of these crews have at least one race with psionic powers, which can result in very deadly combinations (i.e. Mutons+Ethereals). Also, the Hyperwave Decoder may not be able to detect which kind of “Mixed Crew” a UFO contains; you can only know for sure which races are involved on the battlefield...
Missile Defenses were greatly improved. They are the fastest defenses to build, and have a mediocre power for a low maintenance. Missile Defenses are the most cost-effective defenses, but their mediocre power makes them the least space-effective defenses. 14 Missile Defenses have a 90% chance of destroying a Battleship.
Laser Defenses deal medium damage, take a moderate amount of time to build, and have a medium maintenance cost. They are more powerful, but less cost-effective than the Missile Defenses. 11 Laser Defenses have a 90% chance of destroying a Battleship.
Plasma Defenses deal high damage, but take a long time to build, and have a high maintenance. They are more powerful, but less cost-effective than the Laser Defenses. 8 Plasma Defenses have a 90% chance of destroying a Battleship.
Fusion Defenses were nerfed. They are the most powerful defenses, but also the most expensive, and slower to build. They are more powerful, but less cost-effective than the Plasma Defenses. The Fusion Defenses are the least cost-effective defenses, but their very high power makes them the most space-effective defenses. 5 Fusion Defenses have a 90% chance of destroying a Battleship.
All facilities, especially high-tier facilities (Psi-Lab, Mind Shield, Grav Shield, etc.), have had their maintenance greatly increased. You will need a good source of income to have 8 fully-built X-COM bases, which are now more expensive to maintain.
The game economy is more tight, and making money is more difficult. Maintenance costs are higher, and recovered alien equipment sells for less money. Also, manufacturing items for profit is much less effective (see below for more info about profitability).
Alien materials and UFO components are no longer manufacturable. Not only Elerium, but Alien Alloys, UFO Power Sources and UFO Navigations can only be recovered from the aliens. Most manufacturing projects now cost more Alloys, Power Sources and Navigations, especially Hovertanks, which now cost 1 Power Source and 2 Navigations each.
The Mind Probe cannot be manufactured either, but sells for 400 000$ each, so they are a very good way of boosting your economy in the early-game. However, you will need 1 Mind Probe to manufacture 1 Psi-Amp, so you will need to keep some Mind Probes in stock until the late game. You have an 80% chance to recover 1 Mind Probe from a Small Scout, and a 20% chance to recover 1 Mind Probe from a Medium Scout; no other UFO will contain Mind Probes. You will need to use weak Craft Weapons, such as the Cannon or Laser, to safely take down smaller UFOs for a chance to farm Mind Probes.
The Medikit is very fast to research, but gives a low profit. The Motion Scanner is also fast to research, and gives some more profit. Laser Pistols and Rifles do not give any profit. The Heavy Laser gives the best profit with 1 or 2 Workshops at full capacity. The Laser Cannon (larger project) gives the best profit with 3 Workshops. The Tank/Laser Cannon (largest) gives the best profit with 4 or more Workshops.
If you have a lot of spare alien materials, there are some manufacture projects that are even more profitable than selling those materials. If you have lots of Alien Alloys, manufacture X-COM Launchers to get more profit per month than any of the Laser technologies (taking into account the alloys sell price). If you have lots of Elerium, manufacture Fusion Bombs for an even higher profitability. If you have lots of Alloys and Elerium, manufacture Fusion Charges if you only have 1 Workshop, or Flying Suits if you have 2 or more Workshops. If you also have lots of Navigations and Power Sources, nothing is profitable with only 1 Workshop (large projects only). But you can manufacture Hovertank/Launchers with 2 Workshops, Firestorms with 3 Workshops, or Avengers with 4 or more Workshops. Finally, if you have lots of Mind Probes, manufacture Psi-Amps - by far the most profitable item in the entire game, no matter how many Workshops you have.
All crafts have a maintenance cost; but the Interceptor and Skyranger are cheaper.
The Avenger was slightly nerfed. It is still the best troop transporter, but slower: it has the same top speed as the alien Battleship. When a Battleship is detected in a base retaliation run, only an Avenger at the base being attacked can catch up to the Battleship. Avengers from far away bases will be too slow.
The Firestorm was improved, it is now stronger and the fastest ship in your fleet; the only one faster than the alien Battleship (you still need 2 of them to survive the damage of a Battleship).
The Lightning was replaced by the Thunder: a hybrid-engine fighter-transport craft that consumes regular fuel. It can load 2 tanks, and carry more soldiers than the skyranger. It also has a large fuel deposit, so it is a good craft to patrol with. However, it only has 1 weapon and a medium-slow speed (but still faster than any small UFO).
Cannon - Cheap and easy to get. Best pick for safely taking down Small Scouts - power and range increased to avoid the chance of the Small Scout breaking-off. Very high ammo, and fastest weapon to rearm. However, it has the lowest DPS of all weapons - do not use it against Large Scout or bigger.
Stringray - The best general-purpose starting weapon, with the highest DPS from the starting arsenal. The best pick against Medium Scouts, that can be taken down from a safe range, and will seldom get destroyed. However, it will destroy most Small Scouts. It is loaded with 8 missiles, and can deal high total damage before running out of ammo. Therefore, equipping 2 interceptors with several stingrays is a good strategy to take on Abductors and Harvesters in the beginning of the game. However, the range is mediocre; Large Scouts or bigger will fire back.
Avalanche - Large, very long range cruise missile. The best pick against Large Scouts, that can be taken down from a safe range, but might sometimes get destroyed. The high-range makes this weapon the best choice to safely engage UFOs without risk of taking damage - it can out-range all UFOs except the Terrorship and Battleship. However, it only carries 2 missiles, and does not deal much total damage, so it has limited use against anything larger than an Abductor. It also has low accuracy, so if you’re unlucky, all the shots might miss.
Laser - A mix between the Cannon and the Stingray: higher DPS than the Stingray, but short range. The Cannon is still better against Small Scouts because it never destroys them. The Stingray is still better against Medium Scouts because it outranges them. However, the Laser’s very high DPS, ammo, and accuracy will quickly melt down any UFO that gets within range, which is an advantage for long-duration interceptions. So, equipping 2 interceptors with several lasers is a good strategy to take down Abductors, Harvesters, or even Supply Ships in the early game.
Plasma - Nerfed in comparison to vanilla - lower range and less ammo. It rearms slowly, and must be loaded with 20 Plasma Slugs, that cost Elerium to produce (1 Elerium = 8 Slugs). If you can afford the elerium, this is the best general-purpose weapon with a higher DPS and range than the Laser. It can outrange all scouts, but medium-size UFOs will fire back. It has a high ammo loadout; 1 Plasma Beam is enough to take down a Terror Ship or smaller; 2 Plasmas are enough for Supply Ships and Battleships.
Fusion - Very high power, accuracy, range, and price. Very low ammo - only 2 rounds. It will outrange every UFO except the Battleship. On average, 1 Fusion Launcher will be enough to safely take down Abductors and Harvesters. But you will need 3 Fusions to take down a Terror Ship, 4 Fusions to take down a Supply Ship, and 5 for a Battleship. Therefore, it is recommended that you combine the Fusion with other high-ammo weapons.
All UFOs had their range increased. Most interceptions will now result in your crafts taking some damage. If a weapon out-ranges an UFO, it will most likely destroy that UFO.
All Scouts can be destroyed if you use the wrong weapons. You need laser or weaker to safely recover Small Scouts. The Stingray can out-range the Medium Scout, but it has a small chance to destroy it. The Avalanche can out-range the Large Scout, but it has a small chance to destroy it. If you get within range of a Large Scout - it is a dangerous foe and has a chance to destroy your interceptor.
Abductors and Harvesters appear more frequently. They can only be taken down by 2 interceptors or more.
Supply Ships have high health, so the problem is how long it takes to bring them down. Only with Laser Cannons or better will you have enough DPS to bring down a Supply Ship fast enough for 2 interceptors to survive (3 is safer).
Terror Ship’s DPS is now much higher, it has a weak weapon, but it fires very fast, so it can deal unexpected high amounts of damage in a short time if the UFO scores several hits in a row.
Battleship’s weapon is much more powerful, but slower. It is able to take a big chunk of health from a Firestorm or Avenger, or instantly destroy an Interceptor.
Live alien interrogations are the basis for all research. Soldiers unlock Plasma Weapons. Engineers unlock crafts, craft weapons, some UFO components and alien explosives. Navigators unlock other UFO components, and alien communications. Multiple live psi-aliens are needed to completely unlock the psi-tree.
To start interrogating aliens, you need an Alien Containment facility. To research Alien Containment you must research Alien Habitat (recoverable from some Large Scout UFOs). To research the Alien Habitat you must research Alien Life Forms, which depends on any alien corpse research. So the order is:
- Any Alien Autopsy > Alien Life Forms > Alien Habitat > Alien Containment
No research is useless: the research topics that do not give new technologies, give a large amount of points (Martian Solution, Cydonia; and Examination Room + Alien Surgery that depend on live Alien Medics). All high-tier research takes longer to complete, leaving the player to struggle for longer with mid-range technologies (lasers + personal armors). Each time you finish a research you must choose wisely what alien to interrogate next.
SPOILER ALERT - The mod includes diagrams with the full tech trees, but for a more genuine game experience you should NOT check them; there are hints in the ufopaedia text… 😉
All ufopaedia text re-written to reflect the new game balance. Ufopaedia text is no longer useless: it now contains hints of what each alien interrogation might unlock, for you to decide what to research next. It also contains useful tactical information about what makes each item and unit unique; strengths and weaknesses. The new balance will force you to make difficult choices throughout the entire game. The more you learn from the ufopaedia, the better choices you will be able to make.
All scoring was rebalanced, and generally scaled down. Recovered UFO parts and alien corpses give much fewer points, so losing soldiers / tanks / crafts / civilian lives has a much greater negative impact on the battlescape score. Getting high scores in the geoscape is also more difficult.
XCR Readme (this document)
Weapons Research Tree
UFOs Research Tree
Aliens Research Tree
Battlescape (Coincident Balance Tool)
Facilities + Prices + Manufacture (Coincident Balance Tool)
Interception (Coincident Balance Tool)
Scoring + Research (Coincident Balance Tool)
X-COM Classic Remastered
Complete game rebalance, X-COM Launcher, and Fusion Charge - Coincident
Thanks to the authors of other mods, which content was included or inspired upon:
Alien_Research_Mod - cybragon
GenderDetailUp - cybragon
AlienInventoryMod - Cirix, Luke83
LukesextraUFOs - Luke83, TurkishSwede
Better UI - civilian
BREACHING CHARGE graphics - civilian
Extra Explosions - Arthanor
FirestormRestyle - Shadow
ImprovedHandObs - IvanDogovich
Mackus_mixed_crew - Mackus
THUNDER - hellrazor
MatchingWeaponColors - trollworkout
MoriartyArmor - Moriarty, BombBloke, Warboy1982
REPRODUCTION - Warboy1982
TERRAIN_PACK - Hobbes, Nachtwolf, Voller, civilian, Bagirov, Solarius Scorch, VS86x, Infini, XOps, Dioxine, Tentacular, MKSheppard, Volutar, Warboy1982, Supsuper
ITEMLEVELS - SolariusScorch
Advanced Launcher graphics - from Shadow Warrior, ripped by Dioxine