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Paragon Class Rebalance

6/1/17
Update incoming with Assasinate fix, icon colour fix, and various typos.
Removed logging from assasinate to save your poor HDs
If there's anything else you think needs adding/fixing/modifying, speak shortly!
Don't want to update this mod too many times as it upsets ongoing campaigns.

This mod creates 8 new classes for XCOM to take the fight to the Alien threat.
Class names can be changed in XCOMGame.int, in the Localization folder. I've tried to keep the names relevant to what they do so it's easy for a new player to recognise straight away.
Icons can also be changed in the ClassData ini There are spare icons available for any custom classes you might be running with. Have a look at the comments in the ClassData ini for more info.

This was originally intended to be a beta version but after an initial few fixes, it seems to be in a good place. Rather than duplicate the mod, I'm just going to leave this up (retitled).

There are a lot of variables in the Soldier Skills ini allowing tweakbility of some of the new perks. See the discussion thread for more class info - although you can flick through the screenies to see the tl;dr version.

I dislike having a Sniper that I can skill as a Sniper or a Handgunner. It basically means I only have one set of skills to choose from. I also dislike level choices where there is 'no choice'. XCOM is about making tough decisions, and I set out to make the levelling up process a pause for thought rather than a click-and-done. There are still some cases where I feel there is no choice, but it's a lot better than it was, and it's limited by my ability to script.

These 8 classes actually boil down to 4 pairs, so you can still run a 4 man squad and have access to many of the talents. You're obviously going to be more limited though than running 8.

As a guide:
3 man team (3+ a Spark or Psi) : Bomber/Tank + Defender/Operator + Blaster/Scrapper/Stalker/Gunner
4 man team (4+ a Spark or Psi) : Bomber/Tank + Defender/Operator + Blaster/Gunner + Stalker/Scrapper

The LW perks are quite powerful. My final playtest on C/I with a 6-8 team, ABA & More Pods was a relative stomp fest. My L/I playthroughs with ABA & More Pods was what I'd call "difficult". I think these classes are less powerful than the LW classes but still overshadow vanilla classes.

Two important balance mods though are Grenade Damage Falloff and the SMG pack. Stalkers with Rifles are very powerful and the SMG mitigates that. And Bombers with vanilla Grenade damage are also extremely powerful. I would strongly recommend using these.

Your own difficulty settings are going to be important here, but if you want a "Big XCOM" experience, I've collated my thoughts into this collection here which you can read if you're interested.

Subscribe to the Long War Perk Pack - this mod won't work without it. The mod will work without the SMG pack, but the Stalker class will be OP.
Disable Long War Classes by going into \\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\268500\719109968\Config\XcomClassData.ini
and changing each of the LW classes to :-

NumInForcedDeck=0
NumInDeck=0

If the Long War Perk Pack is ever updated, these values could change to normal again and you'll start to see LW classes in your game again. So be wary of perk pack updates.

This is designed as a standalone class rebalance, so adding more classes may clash with Perk names.
Any mod that adds more perks may clash. Let me know if you experience any difficulty and I'll see what I can do.
Other than that, this should work fine with all other mods.


First up, I've flat out copied Grimy's Flush perk from his class overhaul.
A few perks from Richard's classes (Gunner & Spy).
Some GTS Skills from Advent Avenger's GTS skill pack.
Lyrae's Expanded Nicknames have been used for nicknames (as well as re-appropriating the LW Perk Pack ones)

A huge nod must go to the following too...
Raidey for his awesome class overhaul which inspired me to do this.
DerBK for A Better Advent. Without the additional difficulty in place with these collected mods, the game would be easy.
Xylthixlm's Shadow Ops class overhaul for some great ideas and very elegant (i.e. too hard for me to follow) scripting. Also his Reddit tutorial for Sprint.
The Long War team for the Perk Pack which has allowed a ton of flexibility in creating the classes.
And finally - Lantra's ability tutorial[imgur.com] which got me off the ground in the first place.