In answer to my own question, yes, yes it does. At least the Theta Strike option does.

Does this allow for Soldiers to get Gravely Wounded? I play with Augmentations, so I'd like that to happen to force augmenting, but with Beta Strike in the game, it never happens.

The second wave option just toggles enemies, XCOM's armor is done through config (it has to do with how rookies are generated for gatecrasher). There is a config option to change how that compatibility works with armor overhaul.

Attention!

This mod conflicts with "[WOTC] Iridar's Armor Overhaul 2.0" and swaps Ablative Plating with Armor.

And this conflict happens even when you don't select/activate the second wave option.

maybe add a note saying it's not a thing then?

sad :(

Ah, I didn't remember it said that. That's the description from the original version of delta strike, I rewrote it to make it more configurable but that wasn't a part of it.

so what about this: "or load a midcampaign save into the strategy layer - a prompt should come up that will allow you to enable Delta Strike midcampaign!"?

To the best of my knowledge no second wave option is togglable mid-campaign. I guess it could have been set up to be enabled through config, but that would be a different implementation.

it does but isn't togglable mid-campaign

It should show up in the second wave options list

the prompt to enable delta strike isn't appearing, do i need to do something in the config to enable it?

I believe there is an error in the armor stat patching code, was using LWOTC with Delta Strike and noticed Armors were giving double the stats

I checked the source code and the PatchStat function seems to be the cause
The function works fine when theres only one AbilityTargetEffect, but when there is multiple it will patch the stats to all AbilityTargetEffect, meaning the stats will end up being multiplied by the number of AbilityTargetEffects you have

a for loop on i2 is checking for I2, meaning the condition is never fulfilled and the function doesnt return on modifying the first AbilityTargetEffect

It works fine on vanilla since the ArmorStat abilities have only one AbilityTargetEffect, but with mods (ex: LWOTC that makes Armor give both HP and armor as separate AbilityTargetEffect) this can be problematic

I'm not sure, but it seems to me that my sparks have too much armor, It's just that I've been using the mod to get a spark from the very beginning https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1132346898
the screenshot shows that the spark armor has 3 armor, it is still unknown where 2 armor units come from
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3151213884
for this reason, it is not interesting to play at all, since no one can break through the spark armor

Not sure. Diagnosing a third party problem without access to tools. Likely something is causing destructible actors to have increased 'life' or causing this to pick them up as character templates. Please remind us to DM you when we work out what the interaction is that's causing the unexpected results.

@LeyShade As far as I know it's not considered a character. It likely qualifies as a destructible actor but I think only beta strike affects those. Configurable Objective Health can modify those, do you have that?

Quick question on behalf of another: does anyone have the Chosen Sarcophagus units template name to hand, because it's getting picked up by this and becoming nearly impossible to deal with for our packs testers.

I believe they get bonus armor because they get categorized as melee enemies, like berserkers. You can modify the appropriate config file if you want to change that.

Ok, no worries. I just found it funny they got armor. I'll have to check thru my mods as well if I bother with it. One armor for a Faceless isn't anything crazy.

I'd have to look it up but I don't really think I added bonuses from the original, though I did reduce some that were a bit OT.

Its been a while since I played my custom Xcom game, but I was wondering how much did you change the Delta Strike mod from the original. I am not sure if its this mod or some other mod, but somehow units like the Faceless now have armor pips. I recall the original giving them and Berserkers only regen abilities, but I know if didn't have armor. Was this something you implemented? I am just curious btw.

Thanks Losty. I'm doing an audit on the 700+ mods I'm running to find the one that is a total showstopper, and noting the little ones like this where I find 'em.
At least it's more fun doing it on XCOM mods than on my work code. :D

I thought I'd fixed all the ini issues. I'll get that uploaded shortly.

I got redscreen errors complaining about these until I made the fixes noted:

In Config\XComSecondWaveDeltaStrike.ini line 33 (under DeltaStrikeAlienMelee) reads "Excemptions" when it should read "Exemptions" (no "c").

In Config\XComSecondWaveThetaStrike.ini line 13 (under ThetaStrikeAlien) throws a "Missing Opening Parentheses" error in redscreen and fails the text import for bonuses, as does line 19 (under ThetaStrikeRuler). Adding another pair of parentheses in both of these (so the lines both read " Bonuses=(()))", 2 open-parentheses and 3 close-parentheses) makes it match the number of parentheses in entries that DO have data, and fixes the redscreen. Apparently these values MUST have parentheses, regardless of if they have data.

@Lost - Thank you for the thorough explanation!!

Asked because fiddling with the variables for Delta and Beta could make for an interesting way of creating scaling for difficulty levels :)

Delta and Theta don't work together, Delta will take priority. If you have beta+ you'll end up with whatever bonuses Delta/Theta provided as well as the double HP. I included the beta+ stats in the stat changes thread, though it's a bit hard to read.

@Lost - Does one take precedence in the other for that calculation? Is there a sequence to what is processed if someone goes Reshi-Stukov style, and activates... Beta, Delta and Theta... together? >.>

@LeyShade Honestly, it'll just do both, making encounters even longer. I play with both beta and delta on because I enjoy everyone being generally more resilient.

@Lost - We've got only one question, because doing things we shouldn't is a vibe: what 'does' happen if you force both Theta and Beta strike options to be active at the same time?

This is a rewrite of the original so you'd only need this.

I saw this supported raider factions and instantly subbed.

Question though: Is this a one or the other kind of thing? Use 'this' or the original? Or do you need both?

The original author tried to have it also triggered by second wave options but it wouldn't change the armor on the gatecrasher mission due to the order the game does things.

Oh, yeah that would make sense. I didn't realize that's how it was implemented. Thanks. I'll keep the mod off while I'm doing my beta strike run.

Is it the armor changes? Those aren't toggled by the second wave option but by the config file.

Delta Strike seems to be turning on automatically even though I haven't enabled them in the second wave options. I do not have Iridar's Armor or Vest and Plating Overhauls turned on.

Fighting them without any tier 2 gear is basically just death, as to shred one's armor you need the full squads grenades except more than one spawn per mission

Mech armor can be a bit much, yes. I've lowered their bonus and gave soldiers a bonus to crit if their armor gets stripped.

Holy, this mod makes mechs absolute ***powerhouses***. Like to the degree they are unfun to play against

Oh, and basic vipers right now get an HP boost and a dodge boost. Aliens get an optional dodge boost if they don't have any native armor points.

Trying to make it consistent with mod added enemies is part of the challenge. I could give vipers, specifically, a dodge bonus but that wouldn't get picked up by flame vipers, etc. The config does allow specific rules by template or group name and those overrule the others, so if I give Viper a dodge bonus they would lose the HP bonus they get from the alien category. I updated it to be versatile but finding a good balance without having to enter specific rules for every enemy in the workshop can be a bit trial and error.

Appreciate your willingness to iterate and improve/change stuff man. I like the flat ratios as a technique but theming it out by aliens, a little more granular, could be good? Should Sectoids even get Armor? Or just -functionally- high shields? Vipers probably should get defense and Dodge. Hard to hit and if you hit, good chance of graze depending. Advent should get the bulk of the armor bonuses as infantry ( mutons, andros, etc). So, switching Defense to Dodge, I think is good but that could also vary by alien type.

damn it auto update and my edit change, i should have make a back up

The next update will have the max bonus be 0.33 instead of 0.5. I'm also looking at the abilities.

Advent gets an ability that gives 10 defense when their hp is below a specific value. I'm thinking of changing that to a dodge bonus.

Psionic units get an ability that gives 10 defense if they have any shield points left. I'm considering making that proportional to the percentage of shield points left.

Part of the balancing challenge is that it largely categorizes enemies. Any enemy marked as psionic will get the shield bonus and any enemy marked as alien (who isn't melee) will get the hp bonus. I could lower the values for those but priests and vipers and such will also get affected.
I could, however, special case sectoids.

Probably should. 2nd mission of this campaign (I'm using Diverse Aliens by Force and ABA btw): 3 sectoids spawn, all with 16-19 Health, 5 shields and 7-10 Defense. They spawn alongside Advent Psi Troopers, Pyros and Mecs ( all Spectrum). Everyone of these aliens were reasonable for the 2nd mission ( low health, armor, some defense which is still more than vanilla) EXCEPT the Sectoid in my humble opinion. I would half the defense and lower the health for early game spawning.

As a port of an older mod I haven't done a whole lot of extra balancing unless someone specifically draws my attention to a problem. In Delta Strike sectoids get the psionic bonus (shields) + the alien bonus (hp) as well as an ability which gives them 10 defense if they have any shields left. Theta Strike would give them only a slightly smaller psionic bonus as aliens don't have one listed and they don't have an ability. The config values are multiples of hp, so if a sectoid has 8 hp delta strike will add 8 * 0.5 shields while theta strike will add 8 * 0.33 shields. If 0.5 is too high I can consider lowering delta to 0.33 too.

Oh and 10 defense for the Sectoid, to boot!

So, I just re-did my Legendary campaign intending to give this a full shot. Gatecrasher spawned a Sectoid with 16 Health and 5 shield points. Come on! Advent officers were reasonable, troopers (1) armor, Officer 2. My limited stock grenades work. I did win it but right of the bat? Silly. I wasn't going to do any ini edits but I see I'm going to have to... I've also been running your Spectrum mod for the last year and it seems perfectly tuned man. However, it may get out of hand with Delta. If the first Retaliation is an absurdity ( I'm running Reshi's Chosen Pack for the 1st time too so I'm anticipating craziness), I'm going to consider Theta strike.

Delta and Theta both add bonus hp, shields, or armor to enemies depending on the type of enemy.
There are armor modes that will add bonuses to XCOM armor: Theta switches armor bonuses from health to shields and delta does that plus bonus armor. Armor modes have to be set in the config file.

Does Theta Strike add bonus hp only to all enemies, not xcom agent ?

And Delta Strike add bonus armor to all ?

Mod is sick ! i love it btw