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[WOTC] Advent Hunter Restoration (Counter Op)

Updated in 2021 with a new model that has Advent Trooper belt and pouches.

Personal Lore:

When WOTC came out there were many new enemy units added to the game however there were two Advent units that weren't added into the game properly yet were very much finished apparently according to what was left over in not only the game files in the SDK but a lot of their left over data was in the ini files and the localizations.

The Advent Hunter and the Advent Hunter Captain (Called the CounterOp and CounterOpCommander in the files)

According to the files these Advent units would be similar to the Advent General in which they would only show up on a single mission type, in this case that was the Covert Escape missions.

In the end whether these units were unfinished, only temporary templates or cut out for being unnecessary I do not know without more information directly from the Dev's themselves.

Would of been sweet to have an official Advent sniper in the game though, would of sucked to only ever see them for one "uncommon" mission type on the other hand.


This mod originally started as a restoration project to restore the two Advent units and the Covert Escape mission to how it seemed to been intended, however the latter has proven to be outside of my expertise and I do not know if it's an impossible endeavor.

So instead this mod restores the Advent Hunter and expands the unit to be one encountered through out the whole game, to accomplish this I have done the following

1: Restored the model for the Advent Hunter and made a new model for the Advent Sniper rifle using the Chosen Hunter sniper rifle model with a new texture to bring it in line with standard Advent weapons, I also gave them a new firing FX effect based from the base game's Xcom mag sniper rifle.

2: Encounter lists and follower lists which are for the most part based on the Stunlancer's, for Covert Escape missions I have raised their spawn rate to be about the same as an Advent Troopers, considering they were intended for that mission I thought it was fair.

3: Gave them different stats based on game difficulty, again mostly based off the Stunlancer with deviations based on the Hunter's base stats

4: Edited their character unit script to be effected by Dark Events and gave them Squadsight and Longwatch since without them their a little meh, only slightly more threatening than unmodded Purifiers.

5: Made a new dialogue option from Bradford for your first encounter with them using unused dialogue for Advanced and Elite tiered Advent spliced together, video attached.

In combat the Advent Hunters have a preference for overwatch but can and will shoot normally, while overwatching might seem like a weird choice as a primary action this can prove to be a threat on timed missions and especially on Covert Escapes if you prefer to run over fighting especially since they have Squadsight and Longwatch as well as more dodge then most Advent, they require only 1 action to fire their rifles.


Their existing stats from the base files including their weapon have been left alone since I do not want to mess with their established stuff too much, this includes their AI which exists already in the AI ini file.


Just wanted to make some clarifications here since I feel this is important to talk about

Besides adding things that were missing that were needed to fit in with other base game Advent like difficulty stats or if they needed something to not be entirely stupid in combat like squadsight I do not plan to heavily change the stats or ai of the unit even if this makes them less threatening than enemies from other mods like CX stuff.

The Advent Hunter's are meant to feel as much like they belong in the base game's Advent roster as possible.

DerBK's A Better Advent and A Better Advent AI however do have "changes" for the Advent Hunter's AI specifically, and if you know what your doing anyone can make their own AI stuff for these units.

The texture will not change, of course I would of preferred a new model for them but this is what was in the game files like it or not.

I don't care for the arguments that green isn't an established color for Advent prior, considering that Firaxis introduced new colors whenever they want they are the ones who decide what Advent's aesthetic is, green is a color used by the main Advent Propaganda announcer though so take it as you will, I presume the green is because of the abandoned city environments in Covert Escape missions.

(Fun fact: the Priest is literally just a white and gold Stunlancer with a new helmet and a couple of armor pieces on top, the Purifier has more original pieces but it's mostly based off the Shieldbearer with a new texture, helmet, back tank, shoulder pads and crotch plate, so even in the base game Advent reuses armor.)

In general the only other major content change I would do with this mod is add an Autopsy and I don't mean like other mods, I mean more like what the Muton Elite from LW2 does where they made their own cutscene and Tygan dialogue, but that's a lot of work to make, and I don't want a crappy reward, as it is they drop Stunlancer corpses

This mod would be incompatible with any other mods that try to heavily mod the Advent Hunter but as of right now the total of mods that exist that do this is zero

I'm pretty sure that DerBK's ABA and ABAI are the only mods that even acknowledge their existence, I recommend either one of those mods if your going to use this.

This mod is compatible with the Advent Sniper mod although they fulfill the same role in slightly different ways.

I have added them as followers to base game units as well as many well known mods that I know of such as ABA, Bio Division and other Team CX mods, a few other standalone mods from other mod makers such as the Advent Sniper, Duelist, etc, so if you see a lot of these guys then it's because of that and not because I raised their spawn rates too much, the game will prioritize newly added mods though initially.

If anyone wants me to add these guy's as a follower to other enemy mods that aren't already covered then let me know and I might get to them.

If Bugs do arise related to them then let me know and I'll try to address them if possible

Thanks to everyone who had helped me with getting these guys out, I appreciate that help very much.

Mr.ShadowCX: For advice regarding this mod and for assistance with INI balancing and adjustments

Farkyrie: For giving me permission to use the Advent sniper character model.

Wilko: For new texture for shadowless shoulder pads

Robojumper and Iridar: For walking me through with creating the script for the new dialogue.

Ivankovic: For guiding me through in the creation of the new model.