found some issues while i'm translating: Rip and Tear seems affecting Heatsink bonus damage twice on organics (ex: +4 to MEC and +8 to Gatekeeper), Rip and Tear and Superheated Blades doesn't show shredding and piercing armor on health bar UI (they works properly on actual impact, and i used Extended Information and Additional icons)

Thanks, I fixed a number of similar effects that were duplicating the damage bonuses on Rip and Tear's rupture bonus (which is applied as basically a separate attack damage effect), but missed the main one! Oops, I'll get that corrected shortly.

I noticed the issue with the UI as well on shred/pierce and did a LOT of testing to make sure it was working properly (at first I thought it was completely bugged). I didn't mention it in the description as I was unsure whether it was limited to Additional Icons or not, which I also use.

As much as I'd love to keep abusing this, it should probably be reported. Justice seems to trigger CCS so you can just get a free shot + a ripjack strike AND still have another action to shoot them again. I haven't tested it with Retribution, not sure if that has the same issue. I know you've been nerfing burst damage/alpha striking in your mods so I doubt you intended this.

That doesn't sound intended, true, but it sounds like how the abilities would work. You are pulling an enemy into the range for those abilities to trigger

I checked today and Retribution does NOT fire when using Justice/Wrath, so I'll work on changing CCS to not trigger either. Thanks for the report!

A thought I had today that I'll probably add to my own copy, but figured I'd mention:
What if Skirmishers had a solid hack progression?

1: They're ex-ADVENT hybrids, so they have substantial familiarity with ADVENT systems
2: Skirmishers being good with the Skulljack is hugely thematic

It wouldn't hurt - so few classes have any real hack progression and with their mobility, Skirmishers are good candidates to jump forward and complete objective hacks at the last moment. Could do some skulljack-specific stuff as a training center ability too that could boost Hack from decent/good to really good for objective hack specialists.

This is also a good time to cover some other upcoming changes to the Skirmisher; I tried to keep the focus mechanics simple and clean like the Reaper, but it just doesn't play out the way I want it to. So in the next update, the way Heat dissipates for the Skirmisher will change; it will no longer be a clean -1 Heat per turn, but it will be chance-based: 20% per stored Heat.

I think this trade-off for slightly more complex and chance-based mechanics will be worth it for better gameplay, and will hopefully feel pretty natural in-practice. Too often currently, Heat buildup ends up being either all or nothing (and way too often, nothing). The new method will weight it a little more toward the mid-line.

For example, with 2 Heat, there is only a 40% chance for Heat to dissipate, making it a lot easier to keep some Heat built-up going to work with - too many mission play out with the Heat mechanic being a complete non-factor. The other side of the coin is that with... say 7 Heat, you now have 140% chance for Heat to dissipate, which means 1 Heat loss is guaranteed and there is a 40% chance to lose an additional unit of Heat, pulling you back down from those max bonuses a little quicker (which usually come from Lost missions).



A few other balance changes are coming as well, allowing Skirmishers to use their bonus movement actions from Reflex and Hit and Run a little better, as well as reducing the cooldown on Explosive Action.

I have no idea how feasible it might be, but maybe the mentioned Hack progression could also tie in with Ripjacks being able to Skulljack without the Skulljack? We see Mox doing a similar animation to the Skulljack animation in his introduction in Lost and Abandoned after all.

Also that seems like a good rework to the Heat mechanic. Good way to balance out maintaining an average level of Heat

Is there any way to add a free move action like sprint to a perk or even a GTS upgrade? I really like this version of the skirmisher but the constant need to reposition feels really bad without a free move

I ve been playing qiite a few campaigns with this mod and realy like it overall. However ithink leutenant rank perks arent balanced between each other. Explosive action does have uses in melee builds. But i find remote start weak compared to heavy hardpoints, maybe its just me. I tried to use remote start , i guess it good in city mapps, but extra grenade and controlled rocket (you usually need 1 anyway and you can slot other heavy weapons) feel better to me.

I think heavy hardpoints should be higher in the tree.

The other abilities I could swap around (Combat Presence or Untouchable) would also be pretty strong compared to Remote Start or Explosive Action. I think cooldown reductions for both could be in order, especially Remote Start.

Wouldn't make it any less situational, but makes it easier to use it when the opportunities do arise.

Maybe restoring remote start damage can help or set it to 1,5. Remote start in vanilla was so powerful because it had allmost no cooldown and that it was attached to basicly invisible unit, which could wipe entire pods because they arent activated and bunched together. With skirmisher, unless its start of the mission aliens are activated, hence they spread out.