XCOM EU/EW MOD: Soldier Ranks That Make Sense

Officers-only fireteams in the late-game really annoyed me. It didn't make one bit of sense, so something had to be done.

Since XCOM is a super-special, multi-national, secretive military organisation that operates very differently from ordinary military I changed the rank names to those based on the CIA ranking system. It now makes perfect sense because, I assume, it's reasonable to send four Chief Special Agents on a particularly difficult assignment, as opposed to four Master Sergeants.

(MOD by Alaknar from XCOM Nexus Mods)

CHANGES

Thanks to GabrielCoghlan for a great idea (how did I not think of that earlier?!) of basing the ranks on special forces instead of military. I present to you SRTMS, where the ranks are based on CIA ranking system.

I have also changed the PSI ranks to make more sense.

Soldier and Psi ranks:

Rank	New Rank		Psi	New Psi
Rookie	Junior Field Agent (JFA)		None	None (None)
Squaddie	Field Agent (FA)		Trainee	Volunteer (Vol.)
Corporal	Senior Field Agent (SFA)		Specialist	Trainee (Trne.)
Sergeant	Chief Field Agent (CFA)		Operative	Operative (Opr.)
Lieutenant	Junior Special Agent (JSA)		Volunteer	Specialist (Spc.)
Captain	Special Agent (SA)
Major	Senior Special Agent (SSA)
Colonel	Chief Special Agent (CSA)

If you have any ideas for changes or additions, feel free to share them.

INSTALLATION

XCOM Nexus Mod: Soldier Ranks That Make Sense[www.nexusmods.com]

For XCOM: EU (download v1.2) - edit or put edited "XComGame.int" into your XCOM_install_folder\XComGame\Localization\INT

For XCOM: EW (download v1.3) - edit or put edited "XComGame.int" into your XCOM_install_folder\XEW\XComGame\Localization\INT

Remember to back up the original file, just to be on the safe side.

Note - the "INT" is, I assume, for "International" or English version. If you're using a different language version edit the XComGame file for your appropriate language (so ITA folder and XComGame.ita for Italian, ESN folder and XComGame.esn for Spanish, etc.)

HOW TO DO IT YOURSELF

Step one - find the file (check the INSTALLATION section), make a backup.
Step two - open the original file with Notepad or Notepad++.
Step three - Find "sergeant" to get to that file section.
Step four - change long names and abbreviations, save file.
Step five - ...
Step six - profit!

[memoss]

What if I can't save my games

[Odin in Valhalla]

@Bub, I know about Long War mod, but I've never used it. As I see in their Wiki page http://ufopaedia.org/index.php/Soldiers_(Long_War) these are the ranks: Specialist, Lance Corporal, Corporal, Sergeant, Tech Sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant, Master Sergeant. So you'll only need to search for those names in the text file to be able to change them. Hope this help you to do it.

[Banana Slamma]

Pretty good, but can you make it Long War-able?

[Odin in Valhalla]

Es tut mir leid. Because it is the Fachwissen to put Soldaten Reihen even in Spanien if you want, or in Höllandisch. Guten tag.

[TofuDieb [profile in progress]]

Roses are red,
violets are blue,
the description says german,
Why aren´t you?

[Odin in Valhalla]

@LHookins: You're right! I like your idea too. Thanks for your comments.

[LHookins]

Conceptually, I consider these ranks to be specialist ranks, not in the chain of command. Back when the US Army had specialist 6 and 7 (and maybe 8, highest were only in the medical field), they ranked between PFC and Corporal. But when there aren't any chain of command ranks in the field, the highest rank would be the leader. They could also be considered similar to Warrant Officers, ranking above any enlisted rank but below any officers.

[LHookins]

I think this is a great idea!

First of all, if you're using the Long War mod, don't change the Psi ranks and abbreviations. LW seems to be using these slightly differently... there are 5 ranks but only 4 abbreviations, and they aren't abbreviations of the ranks.

For EW, I'd suggest the following Psi ranks:

None (None)
Sensitive (Sens.)
Adept (Adpt.)
Master (Mstr.)
Volunteer (Vol.)

As an alternative to the soldier ranks, I've removed the Junior and Chief ranks and added a couple of lower ranks:

Operative (OPR)
Senior Operative (SOPR)
Agent (AGT)
Senior Agent (SAGT)
Field Agent (FA)
Senior Field Agent (SFA)
Special Agent (SA)
Senior Special Agent (SSA)

It's not that I don't think your suggestions are good, just offering possible alternatives. Like you, I think it's odd to have a whole squad of Colonels (or Master Sergeants in LW).

Thanks for the idea and great guide!

[Odin in Valhalla]

Yea... you just to have to change it manually after installing LW

[KingOfStarrySkies]

But does it work with Long War?