The fifth iteration of the Elite Force mod for SWAT 4 is available now!

Posted by eezstreet on Apr 1st, 2017

I'd like to preface this by thanking everyone for the positive feedback on our little community (on our Discord especially: Discord.gg) that we've fostered in developing this mod. Your guys's enthusiasm has been very appreciated, and I enjoy replying to the comments and questions that have come up. Thank you, and thanks to those on Patreon as well who have supported me, and the other developers on this project who have helped make Elite Force from something simple to something spectacular.

Version 5!

Coming from v4, the first thing we wanted to look at was equipment. We contacted the developers of the SAS Mod, and got their blessing to use some of the SAS Mod's weapons in our mod. These weapons fit right into the game we felt. Of course, that required totally new changes to the unlocks system, and so we developed a system of two unlocks for missions.

Up to two pieces of equipment can now be unlocked per mission.

The Protection panel now lists advanced information about your headgear and body armor.

There are all kinds of new weapons and ammo types, and the menus have been changed to use dropdown boxes to fit all of your shiny new gear!



In V4, one of the major things we wanted to do was a rewrite of the entire weapons system, so that people could add new weapons to the game without having to edit the code. This failed, largely because of some unforeseen issues deep in the engine. In V5, the focus was put towards making weapons that were easy to create, but still needed code to back them up. Thankfully, we've made it so that only a single line of code is needed to add a new weapon into the game. Since the source code is freely available online, there's plenty of examples for people to draw upon.

The animations that officers use for their weapons is now defined in external files. The P90 had broken animations in the Stetchkov Syndicate - these are now fixed!

Any non-beanbag shotgun can blast through door locks. Just be careful of ricochet.



After focusing on equipment, our attention was on new ways to play. Permadeath and All Missions were among the first things to be implemented in v5 (our efforts towards equipment in v5 actually started in v4 production). Later, DOA conversions would make this interesting. Campaign CO-OP and multiplayer were totally nightmarish and the majority of the bugs that had to be fixed stemmed from Campaign CO-OP. But overall I think it adds a lot of value for people.

There's lots of new ways to enjoy the singleplayer campaign - like with custom maps, Permadeath, or even enlisting the help of your friends to complete it. Your stats are tracked, either way.

After completing a mission in Career CO-OP, you can pick an entry and difficulty for the next mission.



The AI also received a substantial upgrade. They can now take cover, including behind low objects, or leaning around corners during firefights. The enemy AI is also more responsive, and will swear when you shoot their friends (or apologize when they hurt their own...)

The AI can now be ordered to pick a specific breaching method.

The SWAT and Suspect AI can use cover to their advantage when faced by a foe.

However dumb the AI may have seemed, it was actually quite intelligent; just hampered by bugs.



Major Changes

Campaign CO-OP! Now you can enlist the help of your friends in completing your singleplayer campaign. You will have to unlock new equipment and meet the score requirement, just like in singleplayer, but there are no friendly AI. Simply press the CAREER CO-OP button in the Campaign screen to get started.

Permadeath! You now have the option to create a Permadeath campaign, with two different options: AI permadeath, where your fallen AI SWAT officers won't return Player Permadeath, where your campaign is ended once you die. Note that you can't play a permadeath campaign in Campaign CO-OP.

You now have the option to create a Permadeath campaign, with two different options: Equipment Overhaul! There is a glut of new weapons and equipment from the SAS Mod, including the ARWEN 37 Grenade Launcher, P226 and Browning Hi-Power pistols, and the M870 Shotgun (including a less lethal version). There are two new rifle ammo types: Armor-Piercing and Jacketed Soft Point, and three new shotgun ammo types: 0 buck, 1 buck, and 4 buck. You can now unlock two weapons per mission, but some un-SWAT-like weapons, including the AKM, the Uzi, and the new M16 Assault Rifle are now Multiplayer-only weapons.

All Missions! You now have a new career path: All Missions. This will allow you to play custom missions with your AI controlled officers in a campaign with no progression or unlocks. Note that you can't play an All Missions campaign in Campaign CO-OP.

Breaching Changes! The breaching commands have been separated into C2 AND... and SHOTGUN AND... to allow you to specify which style of breaching you would like. Any shotgun has a chance to break a lock on a door. The Breaching Shotgun always breaches in one shot, and the chance is determined by the material of the door, and the ammo you pack. Broken doors can be closed and wedged, but not re-locked. C2 can break alarm traps on doors (but not bomb traps)

AI Changes! SWAT officers can take cover by crouching behind low objects and leaning around corners to engage suspects. On some maps, suspects and civilians can wander around randomly instead of taking preset patrols. Restored a lot of cut speech from suspects and SWAT officers.

DOA Conversions! Civilians who start out incapacitated may turn into a DOA after 10-15 minutes. Reporting incapacitated civilians to TOC will stop the timer. "No Civilians Injured" was changed into "All Civilians Unharmed" and awards up to 10 points for no civilians being hurt and no civilians converting into DOAs. By rescuing the wounded quickly, you are awarded more points.



A full list of the changes provided in V5 is available here: Markdownshare.com