cultist_destroyer: A new type of Cultist

At some point in development of JA, there was to be an NPC known as the Cultist Destroyer. It would instantly go into a rage mode and try to suicide bomb next to the player. While I haven't talked to Raven about why this NPC was removed, I can only speculate that it had something to do with cultural reasons (suicide bombing was oft-reported in the news during 2003's Iraq War)

However, the .npc file and code is still intact, meaning this NPC was cut very late into development. There is also a cultist_commando npc which never appeared, and fully works (it has dual wielding blasters! awesome!)

 

Anyway, enough talk. You can spawn this NPC using an npc_spawner entity with npc_type "cultist_destroyer". The NPC will go into a rage, disappear and you will die instantaneously. But there's no effect? Easy fix. The effects for the NPC didn't ship with the game but we can add them back in.

For this you'll want to create a new PK3. In this, add an effects folder. Inside of that, a folder called force. Inside of this folder you will need an EFX named destruction_exp.efx. If you have no experience in creating an EFX file, that's okay, you can reuse an existing EFX like the rocket launcher explosion effect or one of the env/explosion ones.

 

I don't know the splash radius on their explosion as it isn't explicitly stated in the code. Your mileage may vary.

Thank You for this info.. i managed to fix the Cultist Destroyer explosion.. and WOW...   what an explosion!! More than 700 DAMAGE ! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdWMzGIq_9k

Pretty cool

Problem is, whenever I tried spawning this particular cultist (without modding him in any way, mind you), the game'd always crash once he exploaded. I don't know why, and the game version was like the latest. Really strange.

I wonder, are there any 'canon' spawn-points for this type of cultist in the game files? What about the commando? It'd be cool if someone could restore those and bring the cultists seemlessly back into the game.

Also, why did, you reckon, the commando got cut?

Also, a little fun fact: If you select a weapon other than a saber and use the /saber command, it will change the model of the weapon temporarily. E.g: saber single_1

If you have a pistol out, and you use /saber single_1 single_1, it will put another saber in your left hand and it'll change your animations to look like the cultist commando

I made a saber with the pistol model, sadly it only shoots from one pistol - the other one's just for show. Maybe there's a way to fix this?

It seems that it is very similar to infested terran in starcraft 1.

https://youtu.be/zJ6uxWxICpQ

Anyway, there are few ways to survive against him.

1. Kill him before he recognizes you. Unless he sense and begin to gaze you, he never activate his suicide bombing ability. Use force sense(level 3 required) and aim for his head with your blaster rifle(altfire is recommended).

2. If he sense you, perhaps he will follow you. First, approach him closely, and then dodge(force jump level 2~3 required) backward as soon as possible. The longer distance between you and him, the more safer you are.