A single Praetor chain mind controlling a single soldier from the top floor of a battle ship all the way down to it's hanger is what caused me to install this. He was a Major with 99+ morale with 80 brv btw.

If anyone is interested in removing psionics completely, I found this steam thread where OP seems to confirm he removed them in the community edition

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/app/223830/discussions/0/154642447923017575/

Thank you for your reply and thank you for making this!

I actually made this while playing with Community Edition, so yes it will work :)

I recently swapped to the community edition and it's my first time I got further into the game where the psi stuff starts to get annoying and lame. Will this work with the community edition or would there be a problem?

These effect colors make much more sense than the default ones, makes me wonder why the devs did not go for them in the first place.

Psi was annoying in the old x-com games but at least there was Psi defense(in apocalypse anyway), having your 99+ morale captain get continuously hit with control and hallucinations is just really lame... I don't know what they were thinking really. Thanks for this mod!

I don't normally comment on these things, but in this case it feels warrented. The Devs took a weak mechanic, and implemented it in a semi-balanced way, but it still feels uninspired at best, and downright cheap at worst.

The colors part of this mod is awesome. The re-balancing of the Psi mechanic is up to each persons individual tastes, but I for one like my super secret team of professional soldiers to *not* fall apart the second someone thinks mean thoughts about them.

P.S.
Parts 1 & 2 refer to your 1st post. Didn't see 2nd one until right now. And yeah, I also detest char limit... sigh.

Yeah about screenshoots, the colors I added later in an update and I didn't thought to screen them. The original numerical changes didn't strike me as "photogenic" if you catch my meaning :)

You have some interesting thoughts about the whole mod thing in general but frankly I don't want to go into that in here. Not the time or the place and the best that can come out if it is just mutual satisfaction about sharing some common thoughts. Let's keep it at that :p

PART 2:
Xenonauts on the other hand has none any and not only that but the PSI sniping is all too common, too effective and doesn't make sense from lore perspective (e.g. no mention of Alien sensing through half a dozen walls, blindly). In fact the lore was enhanced by the community mod (among many other things) and was basically copy-pasted in the official version. Oozing vision :)

You'll find your definitive answer of just how much vision was involved in the creation of this game in Chris' development diary. It's a miracle the game managed to see the light of day, not to mention the creation of Community Edition mod which elevated vanilla to a playable level. You want vision - play Microprose's UFO/TFTD, with OpenXCom (tho I prefer Extenders because of vanilla AI).

As for Bravery the only subtle difference is the wording. End result is the same.

PART 1:
You got me, I didn't have vision when creating this (except colors, I'm proud of that!). It came out of necessity to improve on their regression of PSI mechanic from 20 year old EU/TFTD. 20 years they had and only managed to make PSI worse. Some vision. Mentioning this because those games were the guideline for this one, just in case you were not aware.

Before, even visual on your soldiers via proxy alien was enough for strong PSI aliens to score a mind control from across the map. This was strongly debated against (even if somewhat logical) over time so modders put options against it in UFOextender & OpenXCom. Vanilla games also have couple of mechanics to combat that.

I made a much longer answer, but noticed the 1000characters limit. Thanks STEAM!!!

Nice job with the colors. But I'm not sure it's that useful. I'm not much into cosmetics. I rather read or listen to sounds. You should add some screenshots in the mod's description by the way.

And yes, I'm a "purist". But I'm not a fan boy worshipping the game developers. I like mods when they stick to the spirit of the game.

Let me give you some ideas from the top of my head:
- Diplomacy screen with governments.
- Ability to attack governments dealing with the aliens. (shoot some humans)
- Weapon modding
- Training for soldiers (Xcom apocalypse)

The tatical part on the ground takes too much time and work. While the real pleasure of the game is the mix between tactical, operational and strategic events.

Modders need to have a lot of vision in their creations. You don't make a mod because you can. This is a poor reason to mod. You do it because you have a vision.

This is extremely important. Many good games are completely lost because of an active modding community with no vision.

I didn't follow the actions of the Devs, but looks like they took a different approach. If I understand correctly, they added to the leveling speed of the BRAVERY of the soldier. This way, they get more resistant to PSY attacks as they gain experience.

Do you see the subtle difference between the two tactics? Theirs seems to stick to the spirit of the game.
Human forces getting stronger as they are facing a terrifying and unknown and alien enemy.

The core of this game is to learn from the enemy. To adapt to its weapons to destroy it.

You just made the enemy more conventional or less unconventional. "stop these annoying psy attacks, and come and fight me with guns in the open!!!"

Aww, 25% is not that far and mostly applies to end-game aliens. Early ones are barely nerfed and have gained Fear buff. Weather annoying or not, it's a matter of individual choice. This is also a part of the vision or the devs wouldn't open the game to modding.

Btw, some time later after I created this mod the devs themselves released an official patch that effectively doubles soldier's Bravery gain. It appears vision is flexible :)

One more thing. Going on a hunch here but - what you think about the PSI color coding? Me thinks you likey but wish to keep 100% vanilla mechanic. Am I right?

This seems pretty far from the vision of the developers. You are just "nerfing" "annoying" capabilities in the skillset of the aliens.
This is a "bastard mod" for me. I really don't like the idea.

I always thought that they should only be able to use these abilities while in visual range of operatives, so this helps nerfing this map wide sniping ability.

ahahaha . sense of humour at its best

The alternative to longer delay is changing the Font and Size by a degree or two. It works wonters.

Okay.

Open MOD's "psionicpowers_gc.xml" with notepad and edit "messageDuration=" value(s).

The messages lasting only 0.75 second means that it's difficult for me to actually read them. I'm a fast reader, but 750 ms simply is too short. Of course, it helps a lot now that I've come here and seen the colour codes, but an increase to 1250 ms wouldn't be bad. There's a lower limit to how quickly even a seasoned reader can "scan" a sentence, and it's clearly higher than 750 ms. And no, it doesn't help that the sentence shows up multiple times, because it has to be scanned once first, before there *is* anything to recognize.

Those hallucination events. FOCKIN HELL

This mod fixed my X:CE freezing during an alien turn with ground combat, thank you SO MUCH. I think the freeze is related to mind control. During the turn it would freeze, someone was fear blasted instead of the freeze occuring. So it was probably mind control spam

Yes. I made it while using Community Edition.

Is this compatible with the Community Edition?
(Sorry if this has been answered already, I am very new to the game)

This mod saved my bacon. I was in an unwinable mission thanks to psi-rape, and now its actually DOABLE.

Although thematic, i prefer my soldiers not being dicked over by an all-powerful alien hidden in the top floor of a huge ship.

oh and btw insane vanilla PSI mechanic is putting it lightly

I do understand and thanks for the reply.It was simply a suggestion that I believe would have made the mod a bit more immersive. I am far worse than you since I also have no Idea how to do that or even how to mod at all. Keep it up and thank you for sharing ! Cheers!

@Dryyab, continuation:
Your suggestion in particular is a good idea. It would require creating new conditional events and altering research screen to inform players of acquiring additional resistances. And I don't even know if the game allows researching more PSI aliens after the first one (to gain resistance to particular PSI alien attacks each time new one is researched). And then there is the problem with existing mod users - how to take away their resistances without pissing them off :). Does the game recognizes existing researches immediately or it would require researching them again (but does the game even allow that?). All rhetorical questions as far I am concerned. Sorry to say none of that matters because it's way beyond I can tackle with.

Mod is basically a hotfix for the insane vanilla PSI mechanic which I made for myself, after discovering it can be done relatively easily, but then decided to publish it. Hope you understand :)

@Dryyab
Show me the wimps using this from the get go. I dare you!
No man, people get here after the game breaks their spirit, kills the will and shatters all hope. Sounds immersive enough to me! Haha

Seriously though, I get what you are asking. I myself thought about many things that could improve the game, not only PSI, but the reality is - I am a noob through and through when it comes to modding Xenonauts. Not to mention the time it would require. Editing existing content was hard enough (for me), but creating entirely new mechanic... I wouldn't know where to begin :p

Thanks for the hard work ! but could I add a little suggestion ? instead of having this from the get go couldn`t you put this as a research that unlocks with the autopsy of a psy alien? It would add a bit more depth to your mod. Cheers !

You are a godsend. The psy is absolutely intolerable in this game. ((Thank you)^3)x100

Just noticed that they're releasing new patch - 1.65:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/games/223830/announcements/detail/65667673968584886
and I wanted to tell you that this mod will continue to operate normally with it.

There is one change they're adding, which will complement this mod fantastically:
"Soldiers now gain Bravery from taking suppression damage, as it was virtually impossible to train up before."

Isn't that nice :)

Change notes sound great. Thanks for the efforts, Nilex. Looking forward to trying this out.

Updated to 2.0.

Details in "Change Notes" tab.

Updated to 1.5.

Preator issue I mention two posts back is resolved. My soldiers didn't have 99+ bravery but morale (ups). Their bravery actually ranged from 43 to 71. I sent an inexperienced crew from new base (to test mod with newbie crew in end-game mission) so they weren't prepared. I kept Preator's PSI attack the same after I realized this but I have some plans to help prepare your soldiers naturally (through gameplay) and sooner for this. Check TO-DO list in the description :)

So I don't leave you with nothing - why don't you try the community edition patch/overhaul in the meantime? I am using it since probably day 2. It should be compatible with existing saves and it makes the game better. It even includes it's own PSI re-balance afaik (this is the one I am trying to tone-down still, but are compatible).
The way to get it: simply right-click on the game in your library and go to properties. Then Betas tab, then select Community Edition branch and wait for it to update.
It's more than a mod, more like unofficial extension of the original, supported by the developer. You can go back at any time by selecting NONE in Beta tab and continue where you left off.

cheerio :)

Got back into updating this a week ago but I hit a snag during missions with Preator present. Even with minuscule chances that mofo keeps insta-mind controlling my 99+ bravery, guys with 100% efficiency.
Since official documentation regarding this is piss-poor (it simply doesn't do what it says) I am trying trial and error using existing examples I find online. Hope to get it released in about a week time, give or take.

No worries at all! Sounds really promising. Thanks for the update and the effort in improving one of my only bugbears with the game. :)

Yes, made the changes in my version soon after. However, I didn't have time to play after that except finishing one existing mission with PSI aliens. But in that short time the changes felt WAY better. It felt like old UFO:EU / XCOM.
The 80+ Bravery dudes reliably resisted (not 100% but close); 60-ish little less resistance but also more reliable. Only one of my dudes got successfully PSI attacked regularly but he had 40-ish bravery.
Attacks were more sparse as well.
Since then I played very shortly only once with no time for further tests. Existing mission I mentioned only provided data on me being inside the alien ship already (Landing class).

I haven’t forgotten and I do plan to finish, I just need some more time :)
Thanks for your intrest c0mc0.

Nilex - Your last thoughts on how to improve on this mod sounded promising. Any progress?

I need a dildo shooting mod. I NEED IT.

@Nilex Oh, no I was just wondering that because I got stuck with the double pack. Thanks for the insight though!

@A Winner is Jew!
Hehe :)

I have thought about changing stuff here and there because what happens now is aliens are spamming PSI as soon as you enter the ship. It becomes too sudden. And 25% feels like it's not enough to reduce its effectiveness all that much. So the original annoyance still exists but is concentrated inside the ship for the most part.

So I have an idea to increase certain PSI attack ranges by 50% and make PSI attacks 35-40% less effective. Making the challenge more gradual but less annoying.

I will need to test it first so I don't break the difficulty too much. It may be that you haven't still yet raised bravery of your soldiers enough for them to start resisting often. If that's the case try training soldiers on smaller mission with PSI aliens present. Besides earning medals, bravery can only be raised by them successfully surviving a PSI attack.

Could you double the effects ny making them watch Analyze That?

Psyched out for this mod

nice

fking psi.. thanks!!

Game needs this