XCOM 2
[WOTC] Rocket Launchers 2.0
 This topic has been pinned, so it's probably important
Iridar  [developer] 12 Jul, 2019 @ 2:52am
[GUIDE] Mechanics of Giving and Arming Rockets
GIVING ROCKETS

One of the core features of this mod is that any soldier can carry spare rockets, and Give them to other soldiers. So you can form rocket crews where only one soldier actually has the Rocket Launcher, while others simply carry the ammunition for it.

Giving a rocket takes one action and doesn't end turn.

The only restriction to Giving rockets is that the target soldier must have fewer than 3 rockets in total. If one rocket has several "shots", like when using Heavy Ordnance perk, each "shot" will count as a separate rocket for the purposes of this restriction.

Similarly, each "shot" of the rocket is Given separately.

ARMING ROCKETS

At the request of Beaglerush: https://www.twitch.tv/beagsandjam/

I have added an optional feature. In XComRockets.ini, each rocket can be configured to require to be Armed before it can be fired.
  • Arming takes one action and doesn't end turn.
  • Normally, only one rocket can be Armed at a time.
  • Arming another rocket will Disarm the previously Armed rocket.
  • Once Armed, the rocket will remain Armed until it is fired, Disarmed by Arming another rocket, or Given away.
This feature is intended to make Tactical Combat more challenging, as you have to prep the rocket for the shot in advance, and you have to predict what kind of rocket you will most likely need next.

GIVING ARMED ROCKETS

I have created some interesting interactions between these two mechanics.
  • If a rocket was Armed this turn, it will remain Armed when you Give it to another soldier, who can then fire it right away.

  • If that soldier already had an Armed rocket, then the Given rocket will remain Armed until the end of turn.

  • If you try to Give a third Armed rocket to that soldier, then the rocket that was added second will Disarm.

  • If that soldier has Salvo or a similar perk, they can fire both Armed rockets in one turn.

  • If a rocket was Armed this turn, it can be Given to a second soldier, who can then carry and Give it to a third soldier, and that rocket will still remain Armed and can be Given further or fired right away.

  • If an Armed rocket is Given to a soldier who didn't have any Armed rockets, and then that soldier tries to Arm another rocket, the Given Armed rocket will Disarm.

  • If a rocket was Armed on one of the previous turns, it will Disarm automatically before it is Given to another soldier.

    That is a necessary tactical limitation, otherwise you would be able to pull off a cheese strat of splitting all the rockets between different squad members, and then just Arming all of them at the start of the mission.

EXAMPLE INTERACTIONS

For complete clarity of the mechanic, here are a few examples.

The Rocketeer doesn't have any Armed rockets. Another soldier Arms a rocket and Gives it to the Rocketeer. Rocketeer Arms another rocket himself. The Given rocket will Disarm. The rocket Armed by Rocketeer will remain Armed indefinitely.

The Rocketeer has a rocket that was Armed during one of the previous turns. Another soldier Arms a rocket and Gives it to the Rocketeer. Now Rocketeer has two Armed rockets and several options on how to proceed. A) With enough Actions, Rocketeer can fire both of these rockets this turn. B) If Rocketeer Arms another rocket himself, both of the previously Armed rockets will Disarm. Newly Armed rocket will remain Armed indefinitely. C) If Rocketeer fires the rocket that was Armed during previous turns, then the rocket that was Given to him will remain Armed indefinitely. D) If Rocketeer fires the rocket that was Given to him this turn, then the rocket that was Armed during previous turns will remain Armed indefinitely. E) If another soldier Gives a third Armed rocket to the Rocketeer, then the Armed rocket that was Given to him previously will Disarm.

The Rocketeer holds a Rocket that was Armed this turn. It will remain Armed if Given away this turn. Now another soldier Arms a rocket and gives it to the Rocketeer. If Rocketeer will Give the rocket that he Armed this turn himself, it will not remain Armed. If Rocketeer will Give the rocket that he was Given to him in the Armed state, it will remain Armed.

A soldier Arms a rocket. That Rocket will remain Armed if Given to another soldier this turn. Then that soldier can carry and Give it to a third soldier, and it will still remain Armed. That process can be continued indefinitely, as long as it happens within the turn that rocket was Armed on. You can carry an Armed rocket through the whole map if you want to, eventually Giving it to a Rocketeer that can fire it.

TACTICAL ELERIUM NUKE

By default, the Nuke is the only Rocket that requires Arming. However, Arming works differently than for other rockets.

1. Once a Nuke is Armed, it cannot be Disarmed, and you cannot Arm any other rockets.
2. If a Soldier with an Armed Nuke is Given another Armed rocket, that rocket will be Disarmed automatically.
2. If a soldier holds any Armed rockets, all of them will be automatically Disarmed if the soldier is given an Armed Nuke.
4. Once Armed, a Nuke will automatically detonate on the third turn after it was Armed.
5. The overall intent is that once a Nuke is Armed, it will blow up, either because you fired it, or by itself.
6. (Currently) if a soldier with an Armed Nuke receives another Armed Nuke, the Nuke that was Armed first will Disarm. This is not the intended behavior, and I will be adjusting it in the future.

The Nuke also requires two actions to fire, so normally a soldier cannot Arm a Nuke and then Fire it on the same turn. However, another soldier can Arm a Nuke, then Give it to a soldier with an Elerium Rocket Launcher, who can then Fire it right away.
Last edited by Iridar; 2 Dec, 2019 @ 3:32pm
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Showing 1-15 of 21 comments
Black 22 Jul, 2019 @ 10:08pm 
Thanks for taking the time to write this up man, there's alot going on so i'm sure it being layed out so simply will help clarify the system.
MrMister 28 Feb, 2020 @ 2:05am 
Ever considered making it so on the first turn you can arm rockets as a free action, to simulate doing so pre-deployment on the skyranger or pre-deployment?
Iridar  [developer] 28 Feb, 2020 @ 7:21am 
Originally posted by MrMister:
Ever considered making it so on the first turn you can arm rockets as a free action, to simulate doing so pre-deployment on the skyranger or pre-deployment?
No.
dstaal 4 Mar, 2020 @ 3:43pm 
As a thought - how about as alternative to the 'arm/disarm' mechanic, have an armed rocket be dangerous? Say, any turn after the first when you take an action with an armed rocket (possibly with some limits) there's a small chance for it to explode - and if you take damage there's a large chance to explode.

So you *could* load your entire squad with rockets and arm them on the first turn - but it's likely to get your squad killed. Much safer to arm them when you're about to use them.
Iridar  [developer] 4 Mar, 2020 @ 5:59pm 
Originally posted by dstaal:
As a thought - how about as alternative to the 'arm/disarm' mechanic, have an armed rocket be dangerous? Say, any turn after the first when you take an action with an armed rocket (possibly with some limits) there's a small chance for it to explode - and if you take damage there's a large chance to explode.

So you *could* load your entire squad with rockets and arm them on the first turn - but it's likely to get your squad killed. Much safer to arm them when you're about to use them.
Somehow I think most players won't be happy with their soldiers randomly blowing up. I'm fine with the tactical nuke being the only dangerous rocket when armed.
dstaal 4 Mar, 2020 @ 6:29pm 
Fair enough. I just thought it would be a more organic/realistic way to handle the cheese strat - if they want to avoid getting randomly blown up, all they have to do is not carry around armed rockets. (Disarmed ones don't blow up when bumped wrong, after all.) Then instead of just disallowing it with complicated disarm rules, you make it a risk/reward calculation whether to arm them or not. Armed you get into battle quicker - but you're taking a risk to do so. Give them a turn or so while the soldier is still recently remembering that they've got the armed warhead while they're acting safely, and you can still arm and pass it around during a firefight without worrying - but you want to disable it if you're not using it immedately.
Iridar  [developer] 4 Mar, 2020 @ 7:06pm 
Originally posted by dstaal:
Fair enough. I just thought it would be a more organic/realistic way to handle the cheese strat - if they want to avoid getting randomly blown up, all they have to do is not carry around armed rockets. (Disarmed ones don't blow up when bumped wrong, after all.) Then instead of just disallowing it with complicated disarm rules, you make it a risk/reward calculation whether to arm them or not. Armed you get into battle quicker - but you're taking a risk to do so. Give them a turn or so while the soldier is still recently remembering that they've got the armed warhead while they're acting safely, and you can still arm and pass it around during a firefight without worrying - but you want to disable it if you're not using it immedately.
It's not a bad suggestion, I suppose, however setting up the Arm/Disarm mechanic in the way that they are took an incalculable amount of effort, and I don't want to dive into it again, and be forced to recall how it all works. And I got much, much more interesting things to do than fixing what isn't broken.
tha peng 7 Nov, 2021 @ 11:33am 
seeing the previous suggestion made me question if an armed rocket will explode on a soldier's death?
Iridar  [developer] 7 Nov, 2021 @ 11:44am 
Originally posted by tha peng:
seeing the previous suggestion made me question if an armed rocket will explode on a soldier's death?
Pretty sure it will explode once the timer ticks down, even if the soldier dies.
hamster 22 Mar, 2023 @ 4:11am 
Really like your mod, finished a campaign managing to nuke the last avatar on "Leviathan". You should make it so you can only make one nuke though. I saw that I could make more and didn't out of courtesy to the game.
Iridar  [developer] 22 Mar, 2023 @ 4:19am 
Originally posted by hamster:
Really like your mod, finished a campaign managing to nuke the last avatar on "Leviathan". You should make it so you can only make one nuke though. I saw that I could make more and didn't out of courtesy to the game.
You can have one nuke per faction.
CHESTER 4 Jun, 2023 @ 8:36am 
hello, how to remove / add the ability to give a rocket
Last edited by CHESTER; 4 Jun, 2023 @ 8:37am
Iridar  [developer] 4 Jun, 2023 @ 8:40am 
Originally posted by 123:
hello, how to remove / add the ability to give a rocket
Hi. In XComRockets.ini.
CHESTER 4 Jun, 2023 @ 8:44am 
Originally posted by Iridar:
Originally posted by 123:
hello, how to remove / add the ability to give a rocket
Hi. In XComRockets.ini.
+GIVE_ABILITIES=(TEMPLATE=IRI_X2Rocket_Standard, REMOVE_ABILITY=IRI_GiveRocket)
This ?
How it should look so that I can give rockets?
Iridar  [developer] 4 Jun, 2023 @ 8:51am 
You don't need to do anything to be able to give rockets, that's how it works by default.
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