WOTC Team Crafter
This mod allows you to build your starting barracks and squad from your Character Pool with control over class and rank if you so desire.
Using the config file, XComWOTCTeamCrafter.ini, you specify characters you wish to be in your barracks at the start of the game. You can have as many or as few as you would like. Hell you can start with just one soldier if you are looking for a real challenge.
Characters are created in the order you specify and will be automatically added to your starting squad until it is full (if the starting squad size is four then the first four characters you add to the config file will be be your starting squad and any additional characters you specify will be waiting for you in the Avenger upon completion of your first mission).
You define a character by adding a line to the file that follows this format:
Name is the first and last name of a character in your Character Pool or blank if you want a random pick from the pool instead.
Class is the class ID you wish to assign to this character. e.g. "Sharpshooter". Or leave it blank if you don’t care.
NOTE: To specify a class provided by a mod you will need to find the correct class name to use. You can find it by looking in the custom class mod’s Config folder for XComClassData.ini (or view it via the mod’s Config tab in Alternative Mod Launcher). This .ini will contain one or more lines in the following format, one for each class the mod provides, the name in quotes is the class ID you need:
Rank is a numerical value representing the character’s rank. 0 = Rookie, 1 = Squaddie, 2 = Corpral, 3 = Sergeant, 4 = Lieutenant, 5 = Captain, 6 = Major, 7 = Colonel.
Let’s say I want a total of 8 characters available in my barracks when I start a game. The first four are those depicted in this mod’s thumbnail:
- Élise Verhoeven, Templar, Squaddie
- Sophie Turner, Officer ([WOTC] – K’s Officer Class), Squaddie
- Britney Star, Rogue (WOTC Isms Rogue Soldier Class), Squaddie
- Richard Jones, Sharpshooter, Squaddie
Then I want three more characters to cover the remaining standard classes and one completely random rookie to complete the barracks. The game will attempt to pull the random characters from my Character Pool and if there are none left to use then it will fall back to its built in random character generator. The config file would look as follows:
See the config file itself for further examples and information.
NOTE: To use characters outside the basic English language, such as the "Élise Verhoeven" example above, you will need to edit your XComWOTCTeamCrafter.ini with a text editor capable of saving in UTF-16 encoding with BOM (Byte Order Mark), big or little endian, it doesn’t matter. This is a requirement of Unreal Engine 3 and there is nothing I can do about that.
- Does not support the game’s built-in tutorial mode
Known Incompatible:
- [WOTC] Starting Soldiers (WOTC Team Crafter provides all functionality of this mod)
- [WOTC] Jane Kelly Starting Soldier (See note below)
- [WOTC] Covert Infiltration
- Allies Unknown: War of the Chosen Edition
NOTE: To use Jane Kelly you need to get her into your Character Pool. You can do this manually using the character customization tool as she uses standard game parts. If you want to be absolutely sure you get her right you could disable WOTC Team Crafter, install [WotC] Jane Kelly Starting Soldier, start a new game and once on the Avenger go to Soldiers -> Jane Kelly -> Customize -> Save to Character Pool. Then exit the game, remove [WotC] Jane Kelly Starting Soldier and re-enable WOTC Team Crafter. From then on you can access Jane Kelly, give her a custom class, etc via WOTC Team Crafter just like any other character in your Pool.
I would like to acknowledge the work of GrimyBunyip and Jace the Ace whose prior work inspired this mod.
