Please Note: Detailed Feedback Ahead


Nice job, the mod was done exactly this verily well. (And that exact situation happened, from digging to getting one-man Armageddons, on the fly, repeated)
And I've the most aerial battles and diversion tactics used ever in CC with this mod.


However I'm spent playing this past campaign. There are some gaps where its tripping over itself, and that comes down to two key areas. Something I'll like to call "Field of Superiority" and how much Lua controls affect vanilla items.

-{And also as a disclaimer, until the overall AI gets expanded (or just improved scripts) the opposition will continue their straight line attack tactics, which only diversify when a) actor are on a elevated area in the moment or b) you are flanked - neither of which happen by a thought process. I state this as the mod brought it out en masse}-

Now to the points:

Field of superiority, in this case, is when a player/system has the right amount of actors, items, and resources to either counter a situation and/or carry out its goal with more success than friction. This superiority also pertains to how the game is flowing, determining of your play experience is fun or fowl. There has been an increase in oppressive weaponry and armor that its narrowing options on superiority (i.e. more "by the millisecond" tactics than staged tactics - more one hit wonders than good placement of firepower)
Simply, the cause and effect parts like movements, attack, and timing are being affected while the more supportive items (indirect weapons, static crowd control, countermeasure options) are lagging behind. Solutions are scant as they would alter the very thing I commended you and your aids for setting up. And guess this is an aspect that is better kept or else minor mods to the vanilla style of play would suffice. But, it all does boil down to breathing room and that is where the Lua comes in.

For as much as it controls, the amount of Lua also removes a strong part of ubiquity. That timely state where you could use only what your actor had on you long enough to chain into another advantageous moment. In fact this is a lot similar to B25 (if not B24) wherein the new physics levels and jetpack nerf strained what a player could do strategic and in desperation moments. (You too have seen the remnant of this issue n the Coalition Heavy, yes its stuck in the mud heaviness is legendary here) The AI suffered too as it made them even more predictable. The desperation moments are also a strong part of CC gameplay.

The "listening" ability of my actors was a tug of war ( oh dear the puns, the fight is out there, OUT THERE). Ahem. Really they couldn't listen to my sentry and AI command. Go to AI actually KO'd a brain in wall mount, via collision and lost me a site. My brain actually wants to fight too, when there's 2 AI + 7 heavy units at its front(smh). Makes for a good universe story, but a horror on the field (plus that kills immersion a bit). Lua is interrupting if not overriding native commands,( and I have yet to find how to programs switches for AI or know if CC is that exposed to Lua to allow for such complexes). And if I can't control my units there is no situation control.

This mod is a love song to both the quick, dimensional firefights of elder days and a nod to having effective consistency to achieve the battlefield/metagame games. Knowing where to give and let go control with Lua is more crucial than the modified devices and actors. Really its the time interval of actions, imho, is what your after and that, too, need but so much control. I would say play in vanilla for some more time to nail what should be nailed down ( like a control experiment). As CC is a physics and emergent style game format, that ubiquity must be handled with care.
I wouldn't want you to have a rut because you just changed scenarios that both lead to the very concern you are modding out of.

Again your aids and you are getting somewhere, you don't need as much control as previous thought. Like anything, a gentle push in the right direction can have the most effect.

I think I can make it possible to take control over whether your troops are on Sentry or whatnot manually again, without destroying the current code, which is designed to get rid of most of the drudgery of CC's gameplay.

I certainly can see the point to letting players change their soldiers' modes; the problem here is mainly figuring out a way for the code to know when a player has changed the state. I'll look at that issue.

Bear in mind, though, that any of the soldiers with "sniper" in their name are on Sentry by default, so if you're just looking for troops you can manually place, order some Snipers and give them custom guns.

As for stationary Brains attempting to do things they shouldn't, like move, that's just a bug and it needs to be fixed. I'll add it to my list of things to look at for 1.07

Well, I didn't know Data actually added the awesome campaign mode in B27. I figured it would not be out until B28, and oh man is it fun. Been playing it a lot lately. The IA could be a lot better, and I understand you try to fix this, but I'm still manually guiding my rockets. I honestly don't see what the hassle is. It takes a couple of seconds of my time, and lets me do what I want with them. I also appreciate the vanilla movements more then ever, since being able to put my troops behind cover, or making them crawl through holes in bunkers very valuable. Sure, it is easy to beat the AI if you just rush their brain right away, and it's dead easy to defend against them if you have a unit with a rocket launcher next to the spot they land their brain in EVERY TIME, but if you give them a chance to build a base it can be fun.

Like I said before, make a version of this mod that does not smother all the player and shuttle movements in Lua, and maybe more people like me will enjoy it. I know I'd love dreadnought's with jetpacks, and enemy AI that is not so predictable, but I'm not willing to sacrifice proper unit movement and flying rockets for that. Options, man.

You do know there will not be a B28 and what is IA? You said pretty much everything I was thinking, though. This mod sounded so promising... but I kinda like the default CC movement more and the jetpacks on the other actors didn't fit very well with them, in my opinion. Sorry.

Sorry guys, it's just not the mod for you, then Have fun playing something else, k?

Anyhow, I got the Imperatus's sniper rifle built and I've done the preliminary coding on soldiers to allow them to be set to new orders, yet have the stock orders when they're created. This will probably cause some havoc in the scripted missions, so I probably need to deal with that.

Version 1.07 released.

Actors have default orders, according to type, but aren't forced to obey them always. So, for example, a Coalition Heavy is set on Brainhunt when it's created, but can be put on Sentry manually (or via Lua). Stationary Brains will not attempt to do anything at all. Brains will go on Gold Dig, Snipers on Sentry, Engineers on Gold Dig. I still haven't found a single good reason to put the AI on Patrol, but that's just me.

So, want to arm an Engineer and give it Brain Hunt orders? Now you can.

Want to mod up your version to make, say, the Coalition Heavy go to Sentry when built? Change AddToGroup = Assault to AddToGroup = Guards. Simple as that.

I also got the AI state machine fully operational again. I thought it was working on 1.06, but no. Seems that require simply isn't working correctly over here; must be related to the other Lua stuff that's still borked. Haven't the slightest clue why it's not working, either; Lua's path searches all seem to be operational and require's just an include?

Anyhow, long story short, we're back to fully-working AI again.

These two things make Dummy Assault rather... challenging. I'm pretty sure that's a feature.

Also added the Imperatus's sniper rifle, but its costs etc. should all be regarded as temporary.

Ok no.
♥♥♥♥.
No.
You don't just not take criticism. If you're making this mod, constantly updating it, and keeping touch with the community, it's obvious that you're making this mod for more than just yourself. Despite this, however, you aren't listening to what people want.

The movement scripts and rocket AI literally ruin the game. It disallows you to TAKE COVER AND CRAWL appropriately. It's buggy and uncomfortable to play with, the soldiers bounce around like basketballs, and the AI is less artificial intelligence and more artificial stupidity, even more so than vanilla. CC was not made for this kind of playstyle. You've broken the game to get it like this and it isn't even fun anymore. I'm sure all the weapon balancing and w/e is great, but the core game isn't even solid anymore, it's like melted jello. CC was BUILT to be slow-paced and tactical, not RUN'N'GUN PEWPEW RUN IN WITH WILD ABANDON.

If you want people to like your mod, listen to what the have to say about it.

You can hit down and crouch, just like normal. So long as you hold down, you stay crouched.

As for true prone, I don't have a nice solution, due to the anomalous control state; a controller state of forward + down results in prone, but I'm not sure about how to do a workaround yet. I'll look into a solution to that when I'm done doing more important things.

My point is:
Make a version of the mod without the dumb craft AI and weird movement. It seriously wouldn't be that hard and it could be completely separate from the normal mod.

I will try out this mod more if this happens.

It's not a problem and I understand how you feel, but we really won't ever agree about these things.

I guess full-conversion stuff like this is... uncommon, lol. I really hit a nerve here, messing with the core gameplay, didn't I?

Anyhow, please move on and enjoy all of the other wonderful mods here, there's nothing you want here and I'm cool with that

Ok, I deiced to play, some feedback.

First problem, you put the settings file in the folder, that made the game break and I had to manually go in the settings.ini and fix it. Secondly, no main menu music, not sure how that got messed up. Third: dropship movement sucks. fourth, ARGGGH AUTO SHOTTY!!111!, jetpacks too powerful, can't prone, die to easily for how the combat is supposed to be, campaign sucks with jetpacking people all over the place, crabs move to fast, I HATE that the person I AM CONTROLLING auto jetpacks close to the ground, if I want to fall I WANT TO FALL! I quit after that, could not take it.

EDIT: Sorry if this sounds rag-y, I just got mad...

Whoops, must have left settings.ini in again. I'll have to write a batch script that takes care of that problem in the future, sorry about that

The rest of it is more or less how it's supposed to be, subject to further tuning to get rid of the stuff that I don't like; again, sorry you don't like it, please uninstall it and play something you do

We have no problems with people trying to fiddle with the core gameplay by the way, but you're trying to "nanny" every single actor into staying alive, and are effectively restricting the control of the player which makes it less of a game and more of an extended cutscene.

No, what I'm trying to do is a little more fundamental; I'm trying to keep the AI alive and functional so that it gives a good game without cheating.

That humans, especially newbies, get a benefit is kind of a bonus.

Anyhow, I'll make the power-dive work again, if people hold the down key, that's doable. Still puzzling over prone and checking that all the AI stuff is re-integrated.