-Make a much wider array of skills to choose from for the Psi Operatives
By adding a lot more skills I attempted to increase versatility of the Psi class to bring them up to usefulness of other classes who have that same luxury. This includes a few things:
1) Initiate skills have been rebalanced, but you can now have only 2 out of 4 initiate skills which you choose yourself upon completing training
2) You can now only train an ability that is your level or 1 level above/below your level. You are also limited to training a maximum 2 out of 3 skills of the same level. This means that if you take any 2 skills of the same level, you can no longer take any skill of the Magus level. The training timers are 2, 6 and 18 days respectively.
3) All of this promotes thinking about which abilities you want comboed together on your operative, since you have a much bigger pool to choose from, but overall the same number of abilities you can ultimately take (Like all the other classes).
-Making better use of Psi Amps
To make room for more abilities and make Psi Amps more worth considering their cost, the following actions were taken:
1) All abilities that improve other abilities such as Schism have been removed from the tree
2) Psi Amps now improve ALL abilities in one way or another instead of just improving Psi Offense and a fixed damage boost to some skills (See detailed skill description below). To compensate, their Psi Offense bonus is now +15 and +25 respectively.
-Actually using Base Will Cost as a balancing tool, along with other skill attributes:
To further diversify skills:
1) Many were rebalanced with different Base Will Costs (as opposed to a fixed 50 for all skills they currently have)
2) Other skills attributes such as Action cost or whether they end the turn or not have also been changed.
3) I have not as of yet changed Psi Operative Psi Offense values per level or otherwise, nor any enemy will levels. I would like some discussion before going into it.
With that being said, below is the entire detailed skill tree with descriptions of skill effects and their Psi Amp bonuses. Keep in mind that this is the first iteration of it and I expect a lot of changes to be made based on your feedback. My goal is to improve this as much as possible, and see it in game one day, whether in Long War 2, or making a mod of it myself. Thank you for your time.
(For clarity, all bonuses provided by Advanced Psi Amp are also provided by the Alien Psi Amp even if not stated)
Initiate: ===Soulfire=== ===Fortress=== ===Insanity=== ===Mind Merge===
Acolyte: ===Amnesia=== ===Premonition=== ===Hallucinate===
Adept: ===Soul Bind=== ===Harbinger=== ===Solace===
Disciple: ===Weak Minds Break Alike=== ===Stasis=== ===Psi Mirror===
Mystic: ===Fuse=== ===Guided Focus=== ===Psionic Rift===
Warlock: ===Null Lance=== ===Heartstopper=== ===Force Field===
Magus: ===Void Rift=== ===Puppet Master=== ===Domination===
0) Initiate
Soulfire: Does guaranteed psionic damage to an organic enemy. Ignores cover and armor.
Psi Amp: 4-6 damage
Advanced Psi Amp: 6-8 damage, heals 50% of damage
Alien Psi Amp: Reduces CD by 2
Cooldown: 4
Action cost: 1
Ends Turn: Yes
Will Base Chance: N/A
Notes: The Soulsteal ability is now an Advanced Psi Amp improvement instead. The Alien Psi Amp no longer improves damage but instead halves the CD making it more useful late game for spammability.Fortress: The Psi Operative is immune to fire, poison, acid and explosive damage. Passive effect.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Extends the bonuses to allies within 1 tile
Alien Psi Amp: Extends the bonuses to allies within 3 tiles
Notes: Bastion is now an improvement of Psi Amps with smaller values to compensate (Since Bastion is extremely powerful)Insanity: A telepathic attack that can inflict disorientation, panic or mind control on the enemy.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Does guaranteed 2-4 damage
Alien Psi Amp: Does guaranteed 3-5 damage and applies rupture (3 bonus damage from all sources) for 1 turn
Cooldown: 3
Action cost: 1
Ends Turn: Yes
Will Base Chance: 60
Notes: Since you can only have 2 out of 4 Initiate skills now, and both Soulfire and Fortress are more favorable, Insanity got buffs to compensate, namely the Cooldown and base will chance buff (And is now indirectly caused by 2 more powerful abilities). The Rupture damage is also greater since it requires an Alien Psi Amp.Mind Merge: Grants bonus ablative hit points to an ally until the beginning of the players next turn
Psi Amp: 1 + 1 HP per 30 Psi Offense
Advanced Psi Amp: 1 + 1 HP per 20 Psi Offense
Alien Psi Amp: No longer costs an action
Cooldown: 3
Action cost: 1
Ends Turn: No
Will Base Chance: N/A
Notes: Mind Merge was buffed for the same reason as Insanity (And being underwhelming to begin with). The Cooldown was buffed and it no longer ends the turn (As most supportive abilities like Aid Protocol), but no longer grants bonus will. Is also indirectly used by Solace.
1) Acolyte:
Amnesia: Removes all of target unit’s abilities except Fire Weapon, Reload, Overwatch and Hunker Down.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Reduces CD by 1
Alien Psi Amp: No longer ends your turn
Cooldown: 3
Action Cost: 1
Ends Turn: Yes
Will Base Chance: 70
Notes: A supportish offensive ability to make that Elite Muton slightly less dangerous. He can probably still one shot you in half cover though. Scales with Late game by being an opening ability since you can use another one after.Premonition: The Psi Operative predicts the next attack against himself dodging it easily. Lasts 1 turn.
Psi Amp: Causes 1 attack to miss
Advanced Psi Amp: Causes 2 attacks to miss
Alien Psi Amp: Now lasts until the attacks are dodged instead of 1 turn.
Cooldown: 3
Action cost: 1
Ends Turn: No
Will Base Chance: N/A
Notes: A defensive ability allowing you to put the Psi Operative in more dangerous positions whether to position yourself better for another skill or to soak up some attacks. Remains useful late game by allowing you to use it two times in a row when necessary and dodge a whopping 4 attacks.Hallucination: Creates a hallucination of the solider one tile next to the target. The hallucination has all the properties of the mimic beacon image, but only the target can see/attack it. A single damage instance destroys it.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Reduces CD by 1
Alien Psi Amp: Creates 2 hallucinations
Cooldown: 4
Action Cost: 0
Ends Turn: No
Will Base Chance: 90
Notes: The hallucinations will flank the target making it change position. The AI will prioritize attacking the hallucination. Being rather weak is compensated by a 0 action cost.
2) Adept
Soul Bind: Binds the minds of all enemies within 4 tiles of a targeted enemy. (A test of will goes for every unit separately). 25% of the damage taken (rounded down, minimum damage 1) by any unit will also be taken by all the bonded units. Lasts 2 turns.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Increases shared damage to 35%
Alien Psi Amp: Bonded enemies also share negative status effects
Cooldown: 5
Action Cost: 1
Ends Turn: Yes
Will Base Chance: 75
Notes: Example, 3 out of 5 units hit fail the will test and are connected. Whenever any of the 3 units takes, say 10 damage, all other units take 2 damage. If any unit takes 1 damage, all other units will also take 1 damage. If any unit starts burning or is mind controlled (if you have Alien Psi Amp), they all are (until soul bind wears off).Harbinger: The Psi Operative’s presence weakens enemy unit’s resilience within 6 tiles prolonging any negative status by 1 turn. Passive effect.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Increases range to 9 tiles.
Alien Psi Amp: Increases duration by 1 turn.
Notes: The turn duration is added/subtracted whenever the unit enters/leaves the range of the Psi Operative. This can result in extinguishing the effect if the unit leaves with 1 turn remaining for example.Solace: The Psi Operative is immune to any mental effects (Disorientation, Panic, Mind Control, etc.). Passive effect.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Extends the bonuses to allies within 4 tiles
Alien Psi Amp: Automatically applies Mind Merge if learned to allies who stay in range for more than 2 turns (At the beginning of your 3rd turn).
Notes: Solace is less useful early on, but far more with Alien Psi Amp and mind merge combo.
3)Disciple
Weak Minds Break Alike: Successful psi attacks that overcome enemy will grant a permanent psi offense bonus against the same type of enemy. Psi attacks that don’t do a will test will not provide a bonus (such as Soulfire). Multi target abilities will provide the bonus only once. Passive effect.
Psi Amp: Grants 5 Psi Offense
Advanced Psi Amp: Grants 8 Psi Offense
Alien Psi Amp: Successful Psi Attacks extract 2 intel from enemy minds.
Notes: A passive to amp up the success chances for those high will targets. Example, every time you successfuly use Insanity or Hallucination on a Muton, you get permanent Psi Offense against all Mutons (But not Muton Centurions). Can be used to farm intel as an added bonus late game.Stasis: Shields a target enemy unit preventing them from taking damage or actions the following turn. Can be used on mechanical units.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Can be used on allies
Alien Psi Amp: Protects the Psi Operative upon taking lethal damage and puts him in stasis for 1 turn once per mission
Cooldown: 4
Action Cost: 1
Ends Turn: Yes
Will Base Chance: N/A
Notes: Although Sustain wasn’t a Stasis upgrade, it was not useful enough on its own as a skill, so I found it better off as an upgrade instead. An added bonus instead of a choice.Psi Mirror: Creates a Psionic mirror 5 tiles long (at a targeted point at a 90 degree angle from the Operative) for 1 turn. Enemy units who pass through the mirror create a duplicate of themselves. The duplicates do no damage, can’t use abilities, and take 3 bonus damage from all sources. Mind controlled units will still create duplicates. This effect can occur multiple times on the same unit.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Increases length to 9 tiles
Alien Psi Amp: Applies Insanity to targets if learned
Cooldown: 5
Action Cost: 1
Cast Range: 8
Ends Turn: No
Will Base Chance: N/A
Notes: The AI should avoid the mirror unless necessary to pass through it for safety or a flanking shot. Works great in combination with Puppetmaster.
4) Mystic:
Fuse: Detonates an enemy unit’s explosive if they are carrying any.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Increases explosion radius by 1 tile
Alien Psi Amp: Triggers a chain reaction (any damaged unit will also have their explosives detonated if they have any)
Cooldown: 0
Action cost: 1
Ends Turn: Yes
Will Base Change: N/A
Notes: The Psi Amp bonuses are slight since Fuse was really strong to begin with. The chain reaction is rare enough to remain balanced.Guided Focus: Refreshes all of targeted ally’s ability cooldowns (doesn’t change charge amounts). Cannot be used on self.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Now also grants 20 aim for 1 turn
Alien Psi Amp: Refunds 1 action to the target.
Cooldown: 5
Action Cost: 1
Ends Turn: Yes
Will Base Chance: N/A
Notes: A revival of the Inspire ability in a way, but a stronger version of it that comes later in the game.Psionic Rift: Opens a portal between the Psi Operative and a chosen allied soldier for 1 turn. Has no range restriction. The portal is 3x3 tiles (functions like the evac square). Units that go through suffer disorientation for the remainder of the turn.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Reduces Cooldown by 2
Alien Psi Amp: Reduces action cost to 1 and no longer ends your turn
Cooldown: 8
Action Cost: 2
Ends Turn: Yes
Will Base Chance: N/A
Notes: Do you hate the Network tower missions? Say no more! The Psi Operative cannot use the Rift himself without Alien Psi Amp since he uses both actions to open it.
5) Warlock
Null Lance: Unleashes a beam of terrible power wreaking havoc to anything in its path. Works on mechanical units.
Psi Amp: 6-9 damage
Advanced Psi Amp: 10-14 damage
Alien Psi Amp: Reduces Cooldown by 4 if only 1 unit was hit and killed by it.
Cooldown: 7
Action cost: 1
Ends Turn: Yes
Will Base Chance: N/A
Notes: Refactored the damage in favor of Alien Psi Amp utility of picking off far away units who are either out of reach or just can’t be taken out reliably by anything else.Heartstopper: Implants a subconscious command to shut down the enemy unit’s vital organ functions killing it in 3 turns (on the beginning of your turn).
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Now takes 2 turns to kill
Alien Psi Amp: If an enemy unit dies of this effect, it will attempt to infect the next nearest visible unit (Will test still applies).
Cooldown: 4
Action Cost: 1
Ends Turn: Yes
Will Base Chance: 75
Notes: A strong offensive ability, for which I was surprised Psi Operatives didn’t have. Or something similar at least. Heartstopper will be shared by Soul Bonded units, but if the bond expires before the kill effect is reached, only the original unit will keep it. Harbinger will PROLONG the time needed for the Heartstopper to kill.Force Field: Creates a force field protecting everything within 6 tiles of the Psi Operative for 2 turns (ends on the beginning of your turn). No attacks will do damage from outside to the inside of the field and vice versa (Overwatch will do no damage, and Suppression will be canceled). Units on the same side of the field can attack each other normally. This ability requires the Psi Operative to remain stationary. Damage, negative status effects (Disorientation, Fire, etc.), forceful movement, or any other action of the Psi Operative will cancel this ability.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Reduces Cooldown by 3
Alien Psi Amp: Grants 40 deffense to the Psi Operative
Cooldown: 8
Action Cost: 2
Ends Turn: Yes
Will Base Chance: N/A
Notes: No Psionic should go without a force field ability. XCOM 1 had a crude version of it. It’s balanced out by its huge radius with which you can easily catch opponents as well, since you can’t move before casting due to it costing 2 actions. Alien Psi Amp allows you to more reliably use it with less fear of being interrupted. AI should prioritize doing damage to the Psi Operative.
6) Magus
Void Rift: Generates an explosive field of psionic energy in a 5 tile radius damaging everything within. Works on mechanical units.
Psi Amp: 4-6 damage
Advanced Psi Amp: 5-8 damage, increases radius by 1 tile
Alien Psi Amp: 6-10 damage, inflicts insanity on targets if learned
Cooldown: 7
Action Cost: 1
Ends Turn: Yes
Will Base Chance: N/A
Notes: The damage on Void Rift steadily ramps up with Psi Amps because you already need Insanity learned for the added bonus, however it’s no longer a 50% chance.Puppetmaster: Mind controls every visible enemy whose will is overcome. This ability requires the Psi Operative to remain stationary. Damage, negative status effects (Disorientation, Fire, etc.), forceful movement, or any other action of the Psi Operative will cancel this ability. Lasts 2 turns (ends on the opponents turn)
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Increases duration by 1 turn
Alien Psi Amp: Will attempt to control enemies visible through squadsight
Cooldown: 8
Action cost: 2
Ends turn: Yes
Will Base Chance: 20
Notes: An alternative to Domination, Puppetmaster can turn an entire fight around with proper usage of Weak Minds Break Alike. With the low base will chance, chances are you will rarely mind control more than a third of your enemies on average. Like in Force Field, the AI should prioritize damaging the Psi Operative instead of attacking its own units.Domination: Takes permanent control of an enemy unit. Only 1 successful domination can be performed per mission.
Psi Amp: N/A
Advanced Psi Amp: Reduces Cooldown to 2 (Still limited to 1 domination)
Alien Psi Amp: A failed domination refunds your actions
Cooldown: 7
Action cost: 1
Ends Turn: Yes
Will Base Chance: 40
Notes: Quality of life improvements for Domination through Psi Amps, punishing a lot less for failed dominations so you can get it out of the way faster. Will base chance slightly down to compensate.
And that's it, thanks for your time!
P.S. If someone could help me put most of this into spoiler tags for better reading clarity or something that would be great, I have no idea how to do it on my own.
Changelog:
1.0:
- Release Version.