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[WOTC] Armour Upgrades

With the release of Community Highlander v1.22, it is now fairly straightforward to introduce upgrade slots for armors. This mod does exactly that while introducing 2 sets of armor upgrade modules.

• Vest Upgrade Modules: A set of armor upgrade modules which are converted from vests in your game. Depending on the mods you have, you will be able to obtain up to 33 upgrade modules based on vests. Vests should no longer appear in your game, as they are now converted to armor upgrades.
  
• Utility Upgrade Modules: A new set of armor upgrade modules e.g. Grapple, Shield Wall, Wraith. Currently there is only 7 (there is 10 now based on latest update) of them but that should be enough for now. The intent is to add more based on feedback or new ideas.

Please refer to discussion tab for the most recent list of upgrade modules.

Most armors will gain 2 upgrade slots. Vest Upgrades and Utility Upgrades are mutually exclusive i.e. you cannot equip more than one armor upgrade from the same type.

This mod will see updates in the future to implement changes that improves it based on feedback.

They do not drop as loot. Edit: I lied, some do depending on the mods you are running e.g. MTF raider faction sometimes drop Hazmat Vest which will instead drop Hazmat Vest Module that you can slot into your armor.

• Vest Upgrades: You obtain them similar to how you have previously obtained the vest it was converted from. For example: Hellweave Vest Armor Upgrade is buildable in engineering after Chryssalid Autopsy. Stasis Vest Armor Upgrade is obtained from Proving Ground.
  
• Utility Upgrades: Base game Experimental Armor proving ground project has been renamed to Experimental Armor Modules. The new utility upgrades are assigned to this project so you will obtain them from the project's random deck.

If you have RoboJumper Squad Select mod (you should, go grab it), go to its MCM Settings and uncheck 'Upgrade Icons Only for Primaries'. The slots will show on Squad Select screen. Alternatively, you can use Upgrade Equipment menu but that's 3 clicks extra.

Yes. Full stop.

• Grimy's Loot Mod WOTC - Incompatible. Use either one but not both at the same time.
  
• Vest Slot - No longer needed as all vests are armor upgrades now. If you still enable it, this mod will swiftly disable the slot and you will not see it. If another mod needs it like Iridar's Vest and Plating Overhaul, please enable it.
  
• Spark - Plating and Launcher Slots - Plating slot will be disabled.
  
• LW2 Platings - This mod will convert them to armor upgrades if you enable the mod. Also, all armors will get Ceramic Plating Upgrade by default.
  
• Ablative Vests - 100% compatible
  
• [WOTC] Locked and Loaded - Fine to use but one of the upgrades from this mod will be useless as the armor upgrade grants ammo slot
  
• [WOTC] Fire in the Hole - same as Locked and Loaded
  
• [WOTC] Dress for Success - same as Vest Slot
  
• [WOTC] Iridar's Vest and Plating Overhaul - 100% compatible
  
• [WOTC] Iridar's Armor Overhaul - 100% compatible
  
• [WOTC] Proving Ground Overhaul V2 - Utility Upgrades are now part of the Experimental Armor Module proving ground project (renamed from base game Experimental Armor). If you have PGOv2, the utility upgrades will be buildable in engineering once you get them via this project. In summary, PGOv2 configs are already included so no bridge is necessary.
  
• [WOTC] Reinforced Underlay Plus - The underlay bonus is granted if you have 'vest' upgrade slotted.
  
• Synthoids - Synthoid autopsy will now grant its bonus if you have 'vest' upgrade slotted.

You can do this via config in XComArmorUpgrades.ini (instructions included in the ini file). There is currently 2 ways to do it:

• Create an armor upgrade by converting existing vests in the game. I have done this for most vests that I know of, but if there are mod added vests that were missed out, you can easily add them.
  
• Create an armor upgrade by converting abilities from the game. Technically, you could create new abilities (as your own mod) and convert them to armor upgrades via configs. If you need to know more, please let me know.

The config arrays can be complicated so please ask if you are not sure.

They do gain upgrade slots but they can only slot in upgrades originating from [WOTC] LW2 Utility Plating. If you prefer to have an OP Spark, feel free to browse this mod's config to allow Spark to use whatever upgrade is available.

No, use this mod's XComGame.ini

To make the stats from the armor upgrades reflected on soldier header info, I had to make 1 mod class override that will conflict with (WOTC) UI Mod for Defense/Mobility/Psi. The MCO is disabled by default, but if you want to get that improved experience while using this mod, you can enable this line in XComEngine.ini. You must disable (WOTC) UI Mod for Defense/Mobility/Psi and the MCO from Amalgamation else you will run into issues. They include all enhancements made in the original mod by PZ and also from Amalgamation.


All required mods are required.
BETA Highlander is fine too.

Reward Decks Refresher is highly recommended considering this mod changes the reward decks and ensures that you are getting the intended items from Experimental Armor project.

• Iridar for trigerring this idea and for reviewing some of the codes.
  
• RustyDios for mod development support.
  
• BowChikaBowWow for helping with testing during development.
  
• HoneyTheYellowBear for giving the permission to use inventory image from Chosen Reward Variety.
  
• Upgrade Icons from Ketaros 2D Package and Chimera Squad Ability Icons.
  
• Folks over at MEME Discord who has always welcome my mod ideas!
  
• All modders from XCOM 2 Modding Discord!
  
• Buying me a cup of coffee keeps me going![www.buymeacoffee.com]

Let me know in the comments below if you have questions!
I hope you will have fun with this mod, I know I did. Thank you for reading!