TF2/XCOM Special Weapons

As I developed the XCOM mercenaries, unique weapons began to crop up. The Soldier's Light Rocket Launcher, the Demoman's Grenade Launcher and Melee weapons, the Pyro's flamethrower. So here's a collection of some original TF2/XCOM weaponry.

Flamethrower
During the initial invasion, operatives with flamethrowers were often dispatched to clean up residue from dead hostiles and their liquified civilian victims. As the war effort ramped up, these operatives were frequently retasked, and their equipment modified for combat.

A standard-issue XCOM flamethrower shoots a cone of fire that ignites tiles in a 2x2 shape. Tiles and cover may catch fire, which slowly destroys destructible cover and may ignite enemies that come into contact with it.

Refracting Flamethrower
Prerequisite research: Thin Man Autopsy, Beam Weapons

Investigations into the Thin Man's poison delivery yielded a new mechanism for firing a stream of superheated gas. Upon contact with the target, it can be ignited via laser, vastly improving the damage and range of flamethrowers.

 Light Rocket Launcher
Unlike the standard rocket launchers carried by Heavies, the Light Rocket Launcher carries a small payload, which allows them to be rapidly deployed. They also carry shaped charges that direct explosions away from the user, preventing them from harming themselves during use.

"Direct Hit" Rocket Launcher
Prerequisite Research: Improved Rocketry

A new Foundry project allows light rocket launchers to carry a more deadly charge, increasing their damage to 5.

Sword and Shield
Although it may seem a strange choice alongside plasma rifles and laser shotguns, units trained to close on enemies and maneuver swords between armor or chitin plating have proven to be extremely effective against the aliens.

Laser Edge Sword
Prerequisite Research: Precision Lasers
A contained laser field on the edges of the sword greatly improves cutting power and damage.

Mind-Meld Shield
Prerequisite Research: Sectoid Commander autopsy

Advanced nuerosensors along the blade and the surface of the shield allow users to swing the sword more accurately, dealing more damage and responding to threats more quickly.

Sticky Bomb Launcher
Fires a low-damage triggerable grenade. Going on Overwatch will cause the Demoman to automatically proximity-trigger grenades.

Grenade Launcher
These low-impact grenades are always free-aimed. Although they do area of effect damage, they do not damage cover upon connecting.

Plasma Grenade Launcher
Required Research: any 3 autopsies and  3 interrogations

Research into alien physiology as allowed by the capture of numerous live specimens has allowed the development of grenades that can do much more damage to enemies without excessive concern to nearby structures. Greatly increases grenade damage.

XCOM Scout

Normally in this segment, I create an XCOM class based on a TF2 Mercenary, but today I don't have to, because Steam Forum user WarVeterinarian sat down and created the XCOM Demoman. Good show, WarVeterinarian! As usual, if you have any comments or ideas, feel free to let me know about it in the comments section.

The Scout
Scouts are very mobile and agile units that are great for flanking, harassing, distraction and hit-and-run tactics. Like the XCOM Assault class, they are also invaluable at the front lines.

Scouts can equip rifle and shotgun type weapons.

Squaddie Rank Ability: Super Jump
Allows the Scout to jump over small obstacles and small heights without climbing aids.

Corporal Rank Ability 1: Bunnyhop
Confers +20 Defense against all reaction fire.

Corporal Rank Ability 2: Taunt
The Scout delivers a taunt at the first enemy that shoots at him, lowering its Will and Aim by -15 for the next turn. Enemies lose a bonus -5 Will if the shot misses.

Sergeant Rank Ability 1: Tactical Approach
+1 movement for each enemy that the squad can see.

Sergeant Rank Ability 2: Mad Milk
The Scout throws a mysterious milk-like substance that splashes upon impact. Coated enemies suffer a -33% to movement and -20 to Will, and any teammates who damage coated enemies will be healed by a certain amount.

Lieutenant Rank Ability 1: Atomizer
Allows the Scout to jump even greater heights without the use of climbing aids, and further increases movement by 2 tiles.

Lieutenant Rank Ability 2: Mr. Sandman
The Scout throws a baseball that deals light damage and stuns an enemy for 1 turn. Robotic units are immune. 2 turn cooldown.

Captain Ability 1: Bonk! Atomic Punch
Consumable item, 2 uses per mission. Confers +80 Defense for the next 2 turns. 3 turn cooldown.

Captain Ability 2: Crit-A-Cola
Consumable item, 2 uses per mission. Confers +80% Critical Chance for the next 2 turns. 3 turn cooldown.

Major Rank Ability: Pattern Prediction
Confers +20 Defense against enemies that fired at the Scout in the last 2 turns.

Colonel Rank Ability 1: Hit And Run
While moving, the Scout gets a free shot at the first enemy that he sees, provided that there is enough ammo to do so. Shot has a -15 Aim penalty.

Colonel Rank Ability 2: Force-A-Nature
Firing at enemies within 4 tiles will push them towards the direction fired at. Shotgun weapons can push further than rifle weapons. 

XCOM Demoman

Normally in this segment, I create an XCOM class based on a TF2 Mercenary, but today I don't have to, because Steam Forum user WarVeterinarian sat down and created the XCOM Demoman. Good show, WarVeterinarian! As usual, if you have any comments or ideas, feel free to let me know about it in the comments section.
The Demoman

Demomen, like their TF2 counterpart, can specialize in 2 different types of combat - there's the "explosives specialist" Demoman for delivering explosive payload through indirect fire, and the "Demoknight", a melee combat specialist who prefers to deal with his foes up close. Each of the ability trees lets the Demoman specialize either in explosives or melee combat.

The Demoman uses a grenade launcher as his primary weapon, with each grenade dealing 3 damage (can be increased with appropriate Foundry upgrades). His secondary could either be a stickybomb launcher or a melee weapon, such as sword or battleaxe.

The stickybomb launcher fires two stickybombs per turn, which can be manually detonated for 4 damage each (can be increased with appropriate Foundry upgrades). Overwatch with the stickybomb launcher will have the the Demoman automatically detonate stickybombs if an enemy walks within 2 tiles of one.

The melee weapon is... well, you guessed it - a weapon used for hand-to-hand combat. It deals high damage up close, potentially OHKing some types of enemies, and can be used to destroy cover. Overwatch with the melee weapon will have the Demoman run up an enemy who goes within 2 tiles of him, attack with his melee weapon, then run back to his original location.

Squaddie Rank Ability: Loch-N-Load
Allows the Demoman to aim for a direct hit with the grenade launcher, which removes its AOE ability but makes it deal much higher damage.

Corporal Rank Ability 1: Bomb Jump
Allows the Demoman to use the blast of a grenade or stickybomb for propulsion towards higher ground or great distances, in exchange for some ammo and a portion of his health. Stickybombs can propel farther than grenades.

Corporal Rank Ability 2: Targe Charge
Sends the Demoman charging headlong to a designated location. Deals a melee strike with a +30% crit chance where the dash ends. Can be used as long as there is an action remaining.

Sergeant Rank Ability 1: Hurt Locher
Reduces all explosive damage taken by 67%.

Sergeant Rank Ability 2: Dark Age Defender
Damage taken from within 4 tiles is reduced by 33%. Stacks with other resistances.

Lieutenant Ability 1: Grenade Suppression
For a high ammo cost, allows the Demoman to rain down grenades over an area, suppressing all enemies inside it and dealing some damage if they try to move. Does not destroy cover.

Lieutenant Ability 2: Braveheart
Confers +20 Defense when out of cover, with an additional +5 for each enemy the Demoman can see.

Captain Rank Ability 1: Advanced Artillery
Further increases the range of projectile weapons by 50%.

Captain Rank Ability 2: Long Reach
Further increases the range of melee weapons by 1 tile, and allows for attacking diagonally.

Major Rank Ability: Sleight of Hand
Firing, reloading or swinging a weapon no longer ends the turn.

Colonel Rank Ability 1: Scottish Resistance
Allows 1 more stickybomb to be deployed per turn, and allows for selective detonation of stickybombs.

Colonel Rank Ability 2: Eyelander
Each kill with the melee weapon gives +1 to movement and maximum HP, and +5 to Will.

TF2 / XCOM Facilities

Hello, and welcome to the TF-COM sample facility, where we demonstrate the sort of top-shelf facilities and sharp, eager employees that will someday staff your secret bunker, hidden lair, or elaborately disguised industrial warehouse festooned with high explosives to eliminate evidence.

Laboratory
These are still laboratories, where research into new weapons technology is performed by the best and brightest we could afford. Word to the wise? Do not touch anything, because it turns out we spent most of our money on hats, so these guys were the best we could afford and they all seem pretty unstable. Holy--did you see that guy? He doesn't have a hand. There's just a horrifying metal claw. Hey, who wants to continue the tour elsewhere? Show of hands-I heard it as soon as I opened my mouth, so we're going to just leave.. No, no, it's cool, there, engineer. You guys are pretty busy.

Surgery
Do you ever look at one of your mercs and think "they could do with more high-end electronics needlessly stitched into their bodies"? Here, look at one. Notice how his torso isn't crisscrossed with terrifying scars? When I press this button, do you think his head will explode? No, it will not, and I think that is a shame. Really just... unpardonable. Build one of these facilities and start cramming all kinds of gadgets with blinking lights into these completely expendable, uninsured mercenaries like they're pinatas. War pinatas! Those are the best kind.
 

Crate Room
They say that if you leave enough money in one of these rooms, Old Nick will leave you crates full of guns, reindeer skeletons and orphan child laborers. Or it might be that Mann Co disposes of incriminating evidence through the convenient "incriminating evidence disposal chutes" we leave scattered around these compounds. Here comes one now! Haha, hide those war crimes in a place where Congress will never think to look for them: in the hands of your soldiers bravely fighting on a secret battlefield.

 Upgrade Station
You can upgrade things here. Can't you read? It says "upgrades" right there on the sign.


 


Intel Rooms
Intel rooms replace satellite uplinks. Hire an industrial agent to spy on your enemies, and use the intel room to sort all their findings into easily stealable briefcases. Do not hire spies to spy on your enemies. They are not actually very good at it. We haven't convinced them that "spying" doesn't mean "murdering everyone and stealing everything not booby-trapped with explosives." and we think they killed the last guy we sent to teach them.


Basic Intel Room
This is your standard "just leaving the valuable intelligence objective laying unguarded on a table" intel room. I see there's a camera over there but I'm not entirely sure that it goes anywhere so... really, guys? This is our floor model? Nobody thought to get, like, a wall safe, maybe hang an attractive painting over it, really class the whole operation up? No? We're just going.... just leave it out there. No, no, it's fine. Not my department.

Intel Stockpile 
For when your collection of intel has gotten genuinely unmanageable, build an Intel Stockpile! Staff it with some data analysts and they'll have all your enemy's secrets filed in unopenable airtight briefcases, piled haphazardly in the middle of a huge silo full of identical briefcases which bear no identifying marks of any kind and cannot be distinguished from one another in any way. To truly maximize their effectiveness, group storerooms together. I heard of one client who I cannot name, obviously, for the sake of professionalism, who grouped four of these babies together, and before he was murdered in cold blood by that suave secret agent his men were filling sealed briefcases with unreadable, possibly blank documents at an increase of 20% efficiency.

Turbine
It generates electricity, and it's important that you have your own, because have you seen the prices that those power companies charge? It's gravel-side robbery! Which, incidentally, is what we've been pouring into them for fuel. That's how they work, top Gravel Industry salesmen and business reps assure me. Great sense of humor on those guys. Always laughing and high-fiving each other.

Nucleus
Need some electricity? Tired of Gravel Industry salesman lording their high-five taunts and 100-carat gravel rings over you? Build a Nucleus! It generates up to three times more electricity than a turbine. Need a staging area for your exciting company-wide game of King of the Hill? Build a Nucleus and get the "Hill" Phase Reactor free of charge! Need a place to dump the bodies from your last company-wide game of King of the Hill? Build a Nucleus! We're not sure where the bottomless pit underneath the reactor goes, but we're reasonably confident that it's bottomless!

Front
Disguise your base with these handsome, hand-painted Fronts. Comes in Alpine Sawmill, Dustbowl Farm, and Innocent Hat Factory. Disguises can help reduce panic levels in your neighborhood and mitigate the threat of enemies trying to steal all your sweet, sweet intel. What, are we made of briefcases over here? Answer: no we are not.

 

That concludes our tour of the facilities here at TF-COM, a wholly owned subsidiary of TF International and definitely not a shell company used by incompetent plutocrats to wage a private war and blow the hell out of all of your monuments. Please, take a flier. Tell your friends!

XCOM Soldier

In this  segment, I aim to introduce each TF2 class as an XCOM soldier, complete with ranked abilities. Today, we're looking at the Heavy. Hey, XCOM players! If you have any opinions about the balance on these abilities, let me know in the comments section.

The Soldier is a mobile, jack-of-all-trades assault class. Armed with rifles and a light rocket launcher, he's a middle-of-the-road class for clearing enemies in style.

Special Secondary: Light Rocket Launcher
Light rockets deal 3 damage. Soldiers carry a default of 2.
Light rocket launchers carry a special Foundry project for superior damage after alien grenades are unlocked.

Squaddie Rank Ability: Rocket
The Soldier may fire from his remaining supply of rockets.


Corporal Rank Ability 1: Unauthorized Modifications
Primary weaponry deals extra damage


Corporal Rank Ability 2: Loyalty
This soldier will never attack allies when panicking.




Sergeant Rank Ability 1:  Buff Banner
Raises Will score of all allies in range
Increases likelihood of critical hits by +5% for every enemy in range 

Sergeant Rank Ability 2: Battalion's Backup
Raises Will score for all allies in range
Allies in range are immune from critical hits for 1 turn

Lieutenant Ability 1: Utility Belt
The Soldier may carry 2 additional rockets.


Lieutenant Ability 2: Rocket Man
 Flying adds 10% chance of critical hits

  

Captain Rank Ability 1:  Escape Plan
Adds one tile of move per 10% under 50% health


Captain Rank Ability 2: Equalizer
Increases Crit Chance As Health is Depleted

  
Major Rank Ability: Bunker Busters
Rockets can now penetrate thin walls at a -1 damage penalty


Colonel Rank Ability 1: Pocket Protector
Soldier puts friendly unit under "protection"

[Any enemy that attacks, suppresses, or moves within 3 tiles of a unit with Protection status is automatically attacked by the Soldier that issued it. Requires a full clip.]

Colonel Rank Ability 2: Grenade Return
A grenade thrown within range has a chance to be returned to its target.