Nightsisters 3rd Party Faction [WOTC]

REQUIREMENTS

REQUIRED DLC:
WOTC

REQUIRED MODS:
Community Highlander

Animation and Sockets Supplement

DESCRIPTION
This mod adds a third party faction very loosely inspired by the Nightsisters as seen in Empire at War, The Clone Wars and Star Wars Galaxies. For those unfamiliar, the Nightsisters are a faction of force sensitive witches who would sometimes attempt to intervene in galactic affairs to their own advantage or loan out their services as mercenaries.

By default, the Nightsisters are a hostile raider-style faction that will fight you, Advent, Lost and civilians during Nightsisters sitreps, which may generate beginning at force level 5. A significant amount of customization of this mod is possible via the config files, which include an option to turn this faction from hostile raiders to instead align to the faction of your choice (including Advent or the Resistance). See below under CONFIG SETTINGS.

This mod includes support for the Raider Faction Bases mod and the mission chain worked correctly during my tests.

While it is best practice to add new mods only when starting a new campaign, so far as I have tested, this mod does work with pre-existing saves. (Although the Raider Faction Base doesn’t seem to generate on a pre-existing save)

Soldier cosmetics from this mod can be found in the Nightsister Faction Cosmetics mod (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2858213930) and some of the weapons can be found in the Nightsister Faction Weapons mod (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2858248083).

CONFIG SETTINGS
A cautionary note in advance: any ini change you make will be reset if this mod is updated. I will try to limit the number of updates I make for that purpose.

Team Settings
The team the Nightsisters fight for can be changed using some simple config edits. You have to edit two ini files to accomplish this.

First, go to XComGameData, find the line that reads +NightsisterCovenFaction_Team =eTeam_Two and change eTeam_Two to the team of your choice. Options are below.

eTeam_Two (default)
eTeam_One
eTeam_Alien
eTeam_XCOM
eTeam_Resistance
eTeam_TheLost
eTeam_Neutral (Never tried this one myself)

Next, go to XComEncounters and change any occurrence of eTeam_Two to your selection.

Other Ini Files

XComEncounters
You can change the pod size of encounters and reinforcements in this file.

XComNightsisterCovenData
Controls many attributes for weapon and ability settings.

XComGameData_CharacterStats
Pretty self-explanatory, the character stats of units are set in this file.

SUGGESTED MODS

[WOTC] AI to AI Activations
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2157967646

[WOTC] Raiders and Resistance Strategic Spawning
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2139432337

Raider Faction Bases
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1601260788

More Mission SITREPs
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1365805339

Guarantee Third Parties
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1583980638
(I understand that NightNinja has made a newer mod able to accomplish more or less the same things as this mod and more, but I have not tried it out yet for myself so I cannot say more than that)

CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Code for this mod is largely based on Team CX’s Black Legion mod (credits to Shadow79, ObelixDk, DimDim, Paddy11B and RealityMachina and HulkCX for their work on this mod).
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1582632067

DISCLAIMER
This mod is for non-commercial purposes only. No payment or donations will be accepted.

Certain assets in this mod originated from The Old Republic and Empire at War.

UNIT DESCRIPTIONS
Nightsisters tend to eschew armor and heavy weapons, choosing instead to rely upon speed, evasion and meat shields. Many units in this faction also have the ability to force jump. Unlike my other faction mods, Nightsisters do not call for reinforcements but they have other means of shoring up their numbers. Read on for more details.

The Living
Nightsister: Use bowcasters and blinding grenades in combat. Higher tier sisters also have squadsight.

Nightsister Superior: More experienced Nightsisters coordinate the efforts of their other sisters. They also have some skill in close quarters combat and are armed with electroswords in addition to their bowcasters.

Nightbrother: Living shields of the Nightsisters. Nightbrothers are hardy warriors skilled in close combat.

Nightwitch: Witches have immersed themselves in the study of arcane mysteries, learning how to manipulate the minds and bodies of their foes and harness force energies to achieve semblances of life beyond death in willing or unwilling vessels. Can attempt mind control and raise the dead to fight for the Nightsisters. Higher tier Nightwitches can raise the dead en masse and restore lost health with their attacks.

Weirdsister: These tricksters will hide until opportunity presents itself then strike from the shadows with their warped blades. Be aware that should you fail to kill one with your first shot, your troubles may double.

Rancor Tamer: Sisters charged with handling the coven’s rancors. They are also competent with their bowcasters and swords. A tamer’s bond to a rancor provides great benefits to the beast, and will bring rage and sorrow if broken.

Rancor: Reflecting the natures of their mistresses, these rancors are ferocious beasts reveling in slaughter. The Nightsisters make use of juvenile rancors as well as adults.

The Not Quite Entirely Dead
For many Nightsisters and their servants, death is not the end of their service. Beginning with the second tier, these units may revive as undead, with the chance to do so increasing significantly for third tier units. Many attacks performed by the undead can bring additional restless dead into the service of the Nightsisters, should those attacks be fatal.

Nightwight: Risen from fallen Nightsisters and Nightsisters Superior. Death has given them renewed vigor.

Nightghoul: Risen from fallen Nightbrothers. Their ferocious zeal has followed them to unlife and can manifest in an arcane explosion, should the Nightghoul succumb to physical damage.

Nightgeist: Risen from fallen Nightwitches. The Nightgeist has shed its material being and in so doing rid itself of many vulnerabilities of the flesh. Meanwhile, their otherworldly screams can stun and terrify any who hear them.

The Bosses
Night Mother: The first among the Nightsister witches. Basically a more powerful than average Nightwitch.

Night-Touched Rancor: The Night Mother’s pet rancor courses with the unnatural energies wielded by the Nightsisters.

Boss enemies appear only in the Raider Faction Base Destroy HQ tactical mission but can be dropped into any tactical mission using the console commands below:
Dropunit Nightsister_Mother 1
Dropunit Nightsister_RancorNightTouched 1

ANTICIPATED QUESTIONS

Why did you make this mod?
I had already made third party factions for the Mandalorians and the Hutt Cartel. I wanted a third faction and, with Mandalorians and the Hutts already covered, I wanted it to be a mystical/force-focused group.

Why didn’t you use Fallen Order models?
It is true that there is a Nightsister model in Fallen Order. The problem is that there is only one Nightsister model in Fallen Order and there is only so much visual variety that can be squeezed out of one model. I also planned to have rancors in this mod and wanted to source them from the same game.

Why bowcasters instead of bows?
XCOM2 didn’t have archery animations at the time I made this mod. (Modded or otherwise)