Hardmode Expansion Info

What is the Hardmode Expansion Mod?

My Personal (hellrazor) approach on creating a sort of Long War Mod for the Original UFO - Defense. I originally created it as a player torture device *evilgrin*, but it turned out to be a Mod people like to play because of the challenge it offers. When designing this Mod, I decided to stick on the core Vanilla Original Game Principles and create basically a Expansion Pack, which offers a much better Research Tree, a Economy were you need money desperately, where you will face difficult decisions and set backs during your campaign. All this has been enriched with a lot of additional Weapons and Tanks, which all have a unique use case. Enemies, which will give a Nightmare during your dreams (at least I hope so, *grin*). Its a LONG war to free earth (ingame time: 14-16 Months). So are you ready for the ride?

Hardmode is a mod for OpenXCOM that aims to make the gameplay more challenging and deals with most of vanilla version's flaws, such as overpowered Psi and early Plasma weapons. The mod tries to stick close to the vanilla core components of X-COM.

It is aimed at experienced X-Com players, who know the game well and are not afraid of a difficulty higher then Superhuman. The Aliens are more powerful, have more variants and your weapons will slowly become obsolete due to them. Research progress is a must, but comes at costs.

Exactly what new mechanics can I expect?

Some new concepts and mechanics you will see include

Aliens

Multiple new Alien species and terror forces (did anyone say long range Chrysalid Spitters?)
Mixed alien crews, and mixed terror forces
New UFOs to contend with, and with all pre-existing UFOs receiving dozens of new and unique interior redesigns
Alien Bases may deploy hostile missions that will force an X-COM response
Certain Aliens are harder to manipulate psionically, and the Ethereals are immune to Mind Control

Weapons/Equipment/Armour

New array of weapons for all tiers Grenade Launchers, Shotguns and Snipers for X-Com and the Aliens.
Dedicated melee weapons for X-COM and the Aliens
Special Alloy ammo that can be manufactured for early game ballistic weapons, which gives a 1,5 factor damage boost.
Alien Plasma weapons have secondary stronger Clip which confers more damage.
Large array of new armour for X-COM, from ceramic plated vests to reinforced power suits
New X-COM aircraft, Heavy Weapon Platforms and even unmanned Support Drones

Research

Research tree has been completely overhauled
Research times are significantly longer, most advance technology requires special alien artefacts and the interrogation of alien engineers/medics/leaders and sometimes specific aliens or their corpses
You can't research Laser weapons until you've stolen and researched an alien data slate, you can't research it until you've interrogated an alien, you can't interrogate an alien until you've researched a containment cell, you can't do that until you've raided an alien base

Tactical Combat

Aliens are aware of your presence earlier than normal (turn 14 from turn 20)
Larger maps for terror missions and certain alien UFOs, also a lot more civilians
Aliens will use explosive weapons from turn 1
Chronological alien race mixes, don't be surprised if some Sectoids tag along with Floaters, and they might bring their Cyberdiscs as well

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Please see here - CREDITS.TXT or Forum Link