Wish it dropped Viper Corpses :(

Thanks for mixing up my early game with this character, it makes sense to use it in base game!
And thanks EvilBob for basically improving on it in a sensible way

Very true, I wanted to reach out as a courtesy, not just spring it on you later. I'll probably upload it later today. Have a good one!

Sure, feel free to take any mod and change it or upgrade as you like. Modders work for free, so there's nothing we lose and the community can only gain.

@Alex Nares Since you aren't planning on updating these mods, would you be okay if I added a config mod for the .ini changes? I've been messing around with replacing the Neonate's rifle with a (cosmetic only) bullpup and thought I could release it with the config changes together. That would make it easier on people who aren't very comfortable doing .ini edits.

So, the new mod would be the optional bullpup cosmetic for Neonates and the .ini changes for both, with a requirement for one (or both) of the enemy variety mods.

Okay that explains it

While digging through the mod files, I found some developer comments that referenced "the old leader/follower system" which appeared to have been replaced with weighted EncounterLists in some kind of overhaul update. So I thought it wasn't necessary, but I guess it was. It's an easy fix, just copy and paste the follower list from a similar enemy in the mod INI. This mod won't be updated, so you don't have to worry about your mod file getting overwritten.

How is someone gonna make an enemy mod with no follower lists
I feel like that's extremely important

The fix for Neonate Vipers only showing in pods of one suggested earlier in the comments did not work. I did manage to get it working (and Derelict MECs) with some .ini changes though. It is too much to go into in a comment, but I'll post a discussion with the full version. The short version is that there is a list of what enemy types are allowed to group together in pods in the file XComGameData_CharacterStats.ini and the original version didn't have it set.

I haven't actually tried it yet, but I know how to "translate" what Alex Nares and Deadput said. :) I did run both mods in the past and ran into the pod with just one unit trouble too. I plan on trying again with the fix in place soon.

For folks having trouble doing the fix, these are the detailed steps:

1. Go to [YOURSTEAMDIRECTORY]\steamapps\workshop\content\268500\2082709124\Config. If you are using the alternate mod launcher, you can right-click the mod and select "Show in Explorer", then go into the Config folder.

2. Edit the file XComEncounterLists.ini (any editor will do, notepad is fine)

The file has a header line and then groups of 3 lines. Each group of 3 lines is a single command to the game; for example the first command is:
* +SpawnDistributionLists=(ListID="DefaultLeaders", \\
* SpawnDistribution[0]=(Template="ViperNeonate", {...etc...}
* )

3. Delete all 3 lines of any command with ListID="[SOMETHING]Leaders"


Note: you can do the same fix for the derelict mecs mod by doing basically the same steps. The file location for that one is ...\268500\2078690962\Config.

PCGamer wrote an article on how to tweak the files here: https://www.pcgamer.com/how-to-tweak-xcom-2-ini-files-for-fun-and-danger/

You will need to enter THIS mod's folder though (not your default files). Sorry but I don't have the SDK or XCOM 2 installed anymore, nor the drive space or willpower to reinstall and update it. Alternatively you could unsubcribe to the mod to remove it from your game. (Changes won't take effect until your next mission)

i was unable to find the lines you referenced. Is there any way you can update the mod with the pod fix?

Sorry, Deadput is correct, I gave the wrong path (it's been a while and just going off of memory).

No you should look at the encounter list stuff in this mod's folder and it edit it there.

\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\268500\2082709124

I've pulled up the ini, but I don't see any "NeonateViper"s is any of the lists. I run XCOM 2 with the AML. Is there any way I can do something over there instead?

It is quick and easy for a beginner to do.

Go to C:Users\[YOURNAME]\Documents\My Games\XCOM 2 WOTC\268500\2082709124\Config and open EncounterLists.INI

Find the lists labeled "DefaultLeaders" and anything similar with "Leaders" in the name, "AdventLeaders", "PsionicLeaders" etc. Every line that has "NeonateViper" in the leader list, delete only that line containing NeonateViper (leave the other enemies intact). And that should solve the problem.

Sorry but I haven't done any modding myself. That was just a hunch really, so can you please tell me how to do the fix?

Good catch. Unfortunately I don't have the means to mod XCOM right now so I can't fix it. But it can easily be fixed on the client side by deleting the Neonate Vipers from the leader lists in EncounterLists.INI

Yup it's because they do not have any assigned Followers in their CharacterStat.ini and the same goes for the Derelict Mec's, they need assigned followers or they will spawn alone if they are the leader of their own pods.

I would recommend making your own character template that shares the same abilities and all rather then using the DLC's character templates, this way you could give them more fitting stats.

I'm reporting only having pods of single neonate vipers too. I think it may be because they haven't been assigned any followers or anyone to be able to follow.

Thanks for letting me know. I am not sure why you are experiencing that. This is a simple INI edit mod that adds the pre-existing Neonate Viper as a selectable enemy from the random enemy pool.

I came here to report the 'pod of one neonate' issue that silverleaf is mentioning. I've seen it twice replacing the 'Sectoid and Trooper' pod on Legendary gatecrasher, without any mods that otherwise change enemy pods active.

Thanks, I will check that out.

@Alex Nares The raider factions by Puma the Great drop some interesting loot.

Yes definitely!

@Alex Nares I know that feeling. I have over 200 mods in my latest campaign. After playing mods it is impossible to go to the game without them. The increase in strategic and tactical choices is just impossible to resist. I also like the raider factions which add yet another element.

I have too many added to count.

@Alex Nares I just have not run into pods with one unit except rulers and Chosen in the past which is why I asked. It was an early game mission, the second. Which mods make your favorites list? I like Proficiency Classes, Bio Division 2.0, More Robots and The Hive. I also like mods that add new missions.

OK I think I understand. You said there is only 1 group of enemies (not a group of enemies containing 1 unit). It should be noted that early-game missions (especially on lower difficulties) have less enemies (ranging from 4-6). Other users have reported that everything is working fine for them, so I don't think this mod is causing it (and it shouldn't, because it doesn't change the way the game selects enemies, it just allows the game to pick a new enemy as a possible enemy).

@Alex Nares It was a pod of one for sure. In order to finish out I ran into an obsolete mec pod of one and a pod of two with a trooper and a sectoid.

@Alex Nares I have a pod of one (4 enemies total) on a mission to hack an enemy computer.

that is add....

@Alex Nares I will ad them to a campaign I am starting today and if it happens again I can give more details. I have not seen single enemy pods except rulers or Chosen in any other missions. It is always possible that one got blown up in some way since vehicles seem to blow up a lot in XCOM 2. I have Additional Missions Redux, More Missions, and the missions associated with Creative Xenos.

That's the first I've heard of that. But some missions only have single-enemy pods. Maybe that could be it? or a mod that changes battle mechanics.

@Alex Nares I have a mod that shows how many enemy units are active and when I shot the viper it did not show any other units active.

@Alex Nares It has been a while so I am not sure of the mission. What I mean by no enemies activated is that if the viper was in a pod it did not seem so. I shot the viper and nothing seemed to be with it. It seemed like the viper was in a pod of one.

That's odd. Can you tell me what type of mission this happened on? Also you said no other enemies activated... are you talking about enemies that are in the sight radius or in the fog of war?

@Alex Nares I had these appearing in pods of one. It was hard to be absolutely sure but when shot no other enemies activated.

fair enough

As an early-game enemy, I don't want them to be that hard. Also I am not sure how to do that, so it may be a while before I can figure that out. I could replace their weapons with the XCOM Bolt Caster, but then of course, they could easily deal one-shot kills.

Just want to toss out an idea but why not give them a one action point stun at say 10-15% chance? Xcom Bolt casters do have that stun chance so why not try something similar. Not as powerful as stun lancers but gives them some lockdown potential

Viper Bolt Caster damage increased from 2 to a range of 3-5.
Viper Bind damage increased from 1-2 to 1-3.

Thanks, I was kind of thinking the same thing. I will probably increase their damage to make them a little more of a threat for the early-game.

So Ive been playing with the neonate for a bit and and as much as its cool to see them slithering about, they dont add much to the overall game. The old mec has its SD forcing a scatter,but the neonate is just there. Theres no danger to them a. Theyre accurate with the bolt caster but they are easy to ignore because of the casters limitaions. I think there needs to be more of them in a pod instead of one because theyre so easy to put down and aren't a threat. Its a great mod that does what it says on the tin but neonates dont add much beyond fodder and fodder is only good if theres a lot of it. Thinking back to the nest mission, there were a lot of neos that slowly chipped at health while you had to deal with the bigger vipers, the main threats and the neos got in the way. Im not saying dont work on the mod but neonates as they are now dont give off as much of an impact in comparison to troopers in the same force level. I hope this feedback helps

Correct, the devs did not set these enemies to drop anything because they were only supposed to be a "temporary" enemy for you to fight during 1 mission. I am still fairly new to modding, and don't quite know how to enable enemies to drop items. If I spend some time looking at code from other mod-enemies that drop loot, I may be able to emulate that. It's on my wish list, so we'll see if I can do it some time.

Just took a look inside the mod and it is indeed just an ini mod adding the existing units from the dlc into other encounter lists rather then separate duplicates which is of course a valid way to make this mod and it works no problem, it just simply has the downside of having no loot or being able to make individual changes to the units that don't effect the DLC mission ones.

The base game versions of these units from the missions I'm pretty sure do not have loot drops so if this mod just does ini editing and placing the existing units in more encounters then their not going to drop stuff.

Alex would have to create "duplicates" of the units that do drop loot since loot drops are dependent on a character's SRC .UC script file rather then anything ini related.

So I started a fresh game after deleted configs and whatnot and Im getting a sense that if these are meant to have dropable loot, theyre not spawning with loot. It was during gatecrasher that I ran into a neonate and non of the other pods had loot on them so thats what gave me the impression

Good idea. I'm not sure how to do that, but maybe I can figure it out. I'll add that to my list.