Question about Character Pool

[Alucard †]

I have an ongoing campaign and i only made one custom character that did appear in the campaign.

My question is. If i create more custom characters in the character pool. Will i need to start new campaign for them to appear or is it retroactive will it work for my existing campaign?

[megansweden]

In an existing campaign it's better to customize some of the random generated soldiers you already have, and save them to Character Pool from your armory in game so that you will have them in your next campaign. If you create them in the Pool outside of the current game file, they might show up but there's no guarantee.

[Alucard †]

Originally posted by megansweden:

In an existing campaign it's better to customize some of the random generated soldiers you already have, and save them to Character Pool from your armory in game so that you will have them in your next campaign. If you create them in the Pool outside of the current game file, they might show up but there's no guarantee.

So i can make specific classes or Vip/Dark Vip in the char pool and they have a chance to show up in ongoing campaign without needing to start over?

[megansweden]

No. You can customize soldiers that you have and save them to use again. Specific classes from the character pool are only for display, they don't carry over to the game, though of course you CAN get the class you made in the pool, it's just RNG what class they roll. Unless you mean soldier types (like the Factions instead of a regular Soldier-type soldier). If you want to customize VIPs and such, you can only do that in the Pool. No idea if they will show up in a game that is already underway though.

[Amanoob105]

We had this question come up not long ago, so I'm just going to link to what I said then. I disagree with a few of things Mega is claiming.
Troops made in or added to the Pool can absolutely turn up in a campaign, it depends on what setting you pick.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/268500/discussions/0/598517962553541316/?tscn=1739178411

[Alucard †]

Originally posted by Amanoob105:

We had this question come up not long ago, so I'm just going to link to what I said then. I disagree with a few of things Mega is claiming.
Troops made in or added to the Pool can absolutely turn up in a campaign, it depends on what setting you pick.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/268500/discussions/0/598517962553541316/?tscn=1739178411

I saw this thread before i bought the game but i don't see anything in it that answererd my specific question.

About if modifying the character pool (creating new characters into it) while having already an ongoing campaign save. Can still spawn these new characters in the ongoing campaign save at some point. Or if it only works for new campaign started after the new characters in the pool were created.

So in general main confusion for me is if the Character pool is retroactive for existing ongoing campaign saves or not.

Which i don't think i gotten a clear answer regarding that here either, or if i did i misunderstood it. :(

[Amanoob105]

Originally posted by Alucard †:

I saw this thread before i bought the game but i don't see anything in it that answererd my specific question.

About if modifying the character pool (creating new characters into it) while having already an ongoing campaign save. Can still spawn these new characters in the ongoing campaign save at some point. Or if it only works for new campaign started after the new characters in the pool were created.

So in general main confusion for me is if the Character pool is retroactive for existing ongoing campaign saves or not.

Which i don't think i gotten a clear answer regarding that here either, or if i did i misunderstood it. :(

(Ok, now what Mega was saying makes sense.... Not sure how I missed that. My bad.)

I have never tested this and now have waaayyyyy too many people in my pool to be able to now try and see if it works.

As far as I'm aware I would guess that it was retroactive. Normally the game just keeps pulling new people from the pool to add to the game until it runs out of options, so I'd assume that if you add more people it will pull them in as well.

The downside is that 99% of these people will typically end up in your recruit list due to that being the single most common thing it pulls from the list to add to as and does it at a rate of 5 more people every month.
The easiest solution to that is the mod in the link.

Funnily enough that mod would also be the best way to test this. But you'd need to have a total number in the pool less than equal to how many people you start off with in the barracks plus the ten people that would (now) end up in the recruit list.
Then just make sure the game was set to "pool only" and buy a new soldier. If it is retroactive them the person you just added to the pool should be the new tenth option in the recruiting list.

[Alucard †]

I see.

Followup question regarding this. What about "Can appear as VIP/Dark VIP" option and soldier types that don't have a "Recruit" as rank. How does game treat these kind of characters made in the Char Pool and how do they appear in existing mid game?

[Amanoob105]

Originally posted by Alucard †:

I see.

Followup question regarding this. What about "Can appear as VIP/Dark VIP" option and soldier types that don't have a "Recruit" as rank. How does game treat these kind of characters made in the Char Pool and how do they appear in existing mid game?

Ok, this was covered in the link.

Simply put. No matter if they were given a class when made in the pool or already had a class when saved to it, this has no effect on when they show up in the game.
By default all new troops you find will be rookies with only a very few rare exceptions that come with a randomly selected class, typically from rewards, scan sites or the black market.

VIP means these people can turn up as engi's and scientists instead of troops.
Dark VIPs are the people you are sent to kill/capture on certain council missions.

[Alucard †]

Originally posted by Amanoob105:

Originally posted by Alucard †:

I see.

Followup question regarding this. What about "Can appear as VIP/Dark VIP" option and soldier types that don't have a "Recruit" as rank. How does game treat these kind of characters made in the Char Pool and how do they appear in existing mid game?

Ok, this was covered in the link.

Simply put. No matter if they were given a class when made in the pool or already had a class when saved to it, this has no effect on when they show up in the game.
By default all new troops you find will be rookies with only a very few rare exceptions that come with a randomly selected class, typically from rewards, scan sites or the black market.

VIP means these people can turn up as engi's and scientists instead of troops.
Dark VIPs are the people you are sent to kill/capture on certain council missions.

Two thing because i feel like i'm not communicating this clearly.

1. I'm STILL discussing about character pool newly created characters appearing in ongoing campaign that was started prior.

2. I'm also refering to characters that DON'T have a "Rookie" class. Eg: Templars , Skirmishers, Spark do they appear in mid game when created after that campaign is already in progress? (Cause the Character pool lets you create these beside regular soldiers.)

And if so how and when do they suppose to appear if they don't have a Rookie class and at start and then mostly you only get rookies.

[Amanoob105]

Originally posted by Alucard †:

Two thing because i feel like i'm not communicating this clearly.

1. I'm STILL discussing about character pool newly created characters appearing in ongoing campaign that was started prior.

2. I'm also refering to characters that DON'T have a "Rookie" class. Eg: Templars , Skirmishers, Spark do they appear in mid game when created after that campaign is already in progress? (Cause the Character pool lets you create these beside regular soldiers.)

And if so how and when do they suppose to appear if they don't have a Rookie class and at start and then mostly you only get rookies.

1) Fair. Assuming this is what you were asking regarding VIPs/dark VIPS, then the answer would likely be the same as for soldiers. If the game needs to generate more of them then it will either pull from the poll or generate them randomly depending on what options in the pool you picked. This will continue until it runs out, so it can be assumed to work the same way as far as you adding new options goes.

2) You can only have a set amount of hero characters in any one campaign. Technically this number is four. Two of your starting faction and one each of the other two.
(Technically this number can go up to five if you pull off a little trick when going after the second hero from the starting faction.)

As a result, having more of them in the pool just gives more chance of your ones turning up in a game.
It likely works the same way as all the other characters in the pool, but due to how few of them there can be is a bit of a moot point.

[Amanoob105]

Side thought.

I assume this all works the same with SPARKs, but as I have never saved any of them to the pool I really don't have a clue.

[Alucard †]

So when do these custom made heroes appear usually? In place of the existing story heroes like Mox, Dragunova, SPARK prototype? Or are obtained from other source?

[Amanoob105]

Originally posted by Alucard †:

So when do these custom made heroes appear usually? In place of the existing story heroes like Mox, Dragunova, SPARK prototype? Or are obtained from other source?

If you have Lost and Abandoned selected when starting a campaign then Mox and Dragunova are fixed characters and will turn up in place of any people you have in the pool, leaving the only ones that can turn up being the templar and the secondary reaper.

If you want (more of) your own to turn up then make sure that Lost and Abandoned is turned off. Added bonus for doing so, the Assassin will be far less of a pain in the backside.

As for when they turn up? Same as your normal troops, when you get ahold of them.
Not counting the Advanced options or if any die and you have to get a replacement, this is typically when you first make contact with the faction.

As I mentioned above, I haven't a clue if this would work the same with sparks. Despite how much I like using them, I've never saved any to the pool.

----

Fun side note.
You may or may not find it amusing that every single named character from the three resistance factions is voiced by an actor or actress from Star Trek TNG.

[Alucard †]

I made few characters of each type in the pool. And i guess i'll see how it goes in the ongoing campaign.

[Mousetick]

Originally posted by Alucard †:

So when do these custom made heroes appear usually? In place of the existing story heroes like Mox, Dragunova, SPARK prototype? Or are obtained from other source?

TLDR: Custom made heroes from your character pool appear with the 'Locate [Faction]' Covert Operation, and also in the first mission but only if you disable Lost and Abandoned. Custom made heroes from your character pool can never appear with the 'A Hero's Welcome' Covert Operation due to a bug.

If you enabled Lost and Abandoned:
1. Elena Dragunova (Reaper) and Pratal Mox (Skirmisher) always appear in that mission. They're fixed characters from the game. Any Reaper or Skirmisher you may have in your character pool are ignored.
2. You can then recruit one Templar by completing the 'Locate Templars' Covert Operation. If you have at least one Templar in your character pool, it will be picked from the pool.
3. You can later recruit one more Reaper by completing the 'A Hero's Welcome' Covert Operation for the Reaper Faction, if it is offered by the game and you satisfy the requirements to complete it. This character is always randomly generated by the game no matter what is available in your character pool - it's a bug.
4. If you have no more Hero of a given Faction in your armory, either because you dismissed him/her or he/she died, you can recruit a replacement by completing the 'A Hero's Welcome' Covert Operation for that faction, if it is offered by the game and you satisfy the requirements to complete it. Likewise the same bug always generates a new character no matter if one is available in your character pool.

If you disabled Lost and Abandoned:
1. One Hero character will be part of the team on the first (Gatecrasher) mission. The Hero's Faction will be random unless you selected a specific starting Faction in the Advanced Options when starting a new game. The character will be picked from the pool if it contains at least one of that Faction.
2. You can then recruit one Hero for each of the remaining 2 Factions by completing the 'Locate [Faction]' Covert Operation. The character received will be picked from the pool if it contains at least one of that Faction.
3. You can later recruit one more Hero of your starting Faction by completing the 'A Hero's Welcome' Covert Operation for that Faction, if it is offered by the game and you satisfy the requirements to complete it. This character is always randomly generated by the game no matter what is available in your character pool - it's a bug.
4. Exactly same as with Lost and Abandoned.

* Notes:
- I don't think SPARKs can be taken from the character pool even though they can be created/saved there, no matter how the SPARK is obtained in-game (i.e. by completing the Lost Towers mission or by making one from scratch in the Proving Grounds), without using specific mod(s).
- The bug with randomly generated Heroes from the 'A Hero's Welcome' Covert Action can't be fixed by any mod AFAIK, but can be worked around somewhat using mods by manually importing a character from the character pool overwriting the randomly generated one.