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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

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Well, my dear FaceHugger, we ARE discussing on topic, as to WHY aliens would turn to be terrorists... If the aliens won and enslaved the human race, theyd' portray XCOM as a fanatical organisation devoted to keeping the humans primitive, and the rest of the world would buy it... I'd like to see a losing endgame screen showing this for Xenocide :D

The fact the "History is written by the victors" ring more truth than you might think, so watch and learn...
Guess what the British called teh american patriots during their war for independance? C'mon, you can guess it... they were "terrorists" :P
Patriots are the nmartyrs of one side and the terrorists of the other... Who knows how the aliens must hate those pesky, primitive humans that kill so many "patriots" trying to make us understand we're no match for them :D

The world (be it Sci-Fi or real) is not written in white and black, where there are good guys and bad guys, it's all in shades of gray, and those all depends on teh lighting, and the eye of the beholder...
That's what Sci-fi is all about, at it's basic foundation, to show a society/ethical problem in a completely different light, to try to free us from our preconceptions by changing the context...
Try one of Isaac Assimov's books, for instance, one might think first-degree only and say "Wow, this is cool stuff, no wonder the movie got great special effects!!", but a wiser human being might see that the whole robot cycle can be a warning on our dependence on technology, that progress CAN and WILL turn against us, and that Robots are ananalogy for slaves and their necessayr emancipation...

I hope this "minute of philosophy" helped to broaden your minds... O:)
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Yeah, we're discussing the "Why the aliens are invading us", it only stands to reason that we'd discuss why the humans enslave each others even today, and that brings the notinon of slavery emancipation, which brings us to resistance, freedom fighters (aka "patriots" or "terrorists" depending on which side you're on), rebellions, revolutions, or their failures...

So, "Please get back on topic" is the least 'on topic' possible this thread got :D
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  • 2 weeks later...
some stuff:
Let's say the superbrains are a the dominant species of alien. They've attacked, conquered, genetically improved, and prevented the sexual reproduction (castration and such) of all the slave races. They decide they should plant life on a few planets to see if evolution can produce some better slaves, and whether the slaves can produce some interesting new technologies.
[Analogy]
Now each planet is like an apple. When do you get the apple and eat it? When it's ripe. If you wait to long it rots and may poison you if you try to eat it. If it's not fully ripe, it's not as good.
[\Analogy]
Now that explains why they don't attack earlier. You have 6 billion people on the planet. 200 years ago? What was it? 1 billion? Now heres some more. They're at war with a species they don't consider much of a threat. Until this species destroys their main cloning facilities. With those gone and no slaves with reproductive organs, they don't have enough soldiers. They decide it would be easier to harvest the only semi-ripe worlds the planeted ages ago for troops then to attack the enemy or wait to rebuild the cloning stations.
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Guest alex the greater
good idea but i dount think the supperbrains are anouther speices i think thay are more like bio coumputers built by the etheaials prehaps contaning the nurons of inportent learers (once thay die thay get thare brain matter put into
the supperbrains)
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Both ideas are real good IMHO ^_^
The apple analogy, the war against the other species, and I do agree that the brain would be created by the Ethereals... Perhaps it's (or "they" are :D) their "Collective memory", where each Ethereal stores their specie's knowledge and retrieve it at will...
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one of the things i liked about the original game was that you didn't know. Even in the end of the game you didn't actually know why these aliens did what they did.

And i don't think xenocide needs to explain the later games in the x-com series.
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Guest alex the greater
[quote name='Paladin' date='Oct 7 2004, 10:07 AM']Both ideas are real good IMHO ^_^
The apple analogy, the war against the other species, and I do agree that the brain would be created by the Ethereals... Perhaps it's (or "they" are :D) their "Collective memory", where each Ethereal stores their specie's knowledge and retrieve it at will...
[right][post="97232"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]

good idea but i dounty think thay would put thare main brain so colse to the fronteer

the master brain mainframe is problably a megacoumpeuter the size of a city
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Guest alex the greater
xenocide nead to include a updated (but still chessy) version of the intro but this one wouldnet end whith the aliens making a quick getaway it will end whith the ufo getting blasted to smithreens
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  • 2 months later...
I've something to add to this topic that occured to me while writing about it in another, and this subject stemmed from the one about possibly introducing defectors or allies and/or being able to control some as you do your own men.

Now that one started out as folks pondering the usefulness or not of doing this with Mutons, and as NKF pointed out and I tend to agree here, is that Mutons are strong but dumb, and on the other hand Sectoids are weak (but we don't believe this, we saw them hefting Heavy Plasmas after all :)), but smart.

In their Ufopedia description, it says nothing about them being controlled by anyone that I saw anyway, but does say a lot about their genetic make up and that they rely on cloning techniques to grow their ilk.

I'd suggest delving into their culture a bit more to explain some of this earlier exploration stuff for a couple of reasons. Perhaps it wasn't until later in their travels, before returning to Earth to harvest/abduct that they formed a bond with the Ethereals (and the big brain). I tend to start to think that the Sectoid Race and the Ethereals were equals in the Psi department but were separate groups if you will, though only the Ethereals were written of to be dependent on the Brain (and therefore anything that was dependent on the Ethereals in turn).

The other aspect is that they are the only alien race that even semi-resembles humans. Also another reason to probably investigate or flesh out this species with regard to early history is also partly due to how often they're referred to in Apocolypse. In that retro futuristic setting, your able to recruit sectoid-human hybrids. I think there's probably alot to be said for fleshing out a missing chapter in human/alien relations somewhere along the line (specifically with a Sectoid offshoot group or something) to help explain this progression.
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I agree with the idea that in the original X-COM they never explained what the aliens purpose was. THat is my intent with this explanation.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

From what I understand, the only alien ships that have FTL capability are massive. Also, it seems like the aliens(whoever they are) want human civilization to remain mostly in tact. In order to accomplish this, a few large motherships would have to be sent on missions that could take years to reach the Sol system. The Brain at Cydonia is some kind of construct(what it truly is should be left to players imaginations) put in charge of the Earth annexation. Since it takes years to resupply the Cydonia outpost, they are pretty much on their own in the scope of Xenocide. A good sequel or mod would be when an invasion fleet comes in to take out the impetuous x-com.
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  • 2 weeks later...
Given that the Labs are open too all, but the workshop is only visible toproject recruits and project members, some of the regular members discussing here wouldn't be able to see the workshop discussions...

Should I post my backstory here for feedback too?
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Sure, why not? :) Well, if you think it'd help you out. I thought that anything in workshops that had already been in the labs sorta meant ideas that were needed got plucked for more focus there.

Anyways, if anything's still in brainstormish mode its basically up to you I suppose. Depends on how much feedback you want (focused in the workshops, or open here in labs).
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At the most, the reason I'd have for posting that here is that the background covers not only the current Xenocide storyline, but also extends even to the next in series, not to mention holds the possiblity for a third original conflict.

Whilst the first is definately coverd by Xenocide V1, which is what the Workshop is all about, the other two are more like planned expansions of the storyline while we get V1 up and running, and thus, can be considered V2+...
Separating them into three separate posts, Origin of the Overmind to be posted here.
[attachment=5661:attachment]
"Come, children, come. Let me tell you a story long forgotten by many, a tale of terrible wars and brave deeds, of evil warlords and selfless heros. Come, let me tell you the story of the Xenocide Wars...

"Long ago, on the third watery moon Mik'rath of the planet Kres'nath, orbiting the binary star Te'lan, came the peaceful race of Mi'Kael. They were unlike any other beings, seeing that they were tiny tiny lifeforms, smaller than the head of a pin, that came together in great colonies under the surface of the oceans of Mik'rath. They did so because each of them by themselves had very little imagination, but together, they could dream Dreams of wonder, unlike any you and I have ever dreamth of, and sometimes these wondrous Dreams could be felt even by other races far far away... But sadly, the peaceful dreamers were wakened horribly when one day, a star fell from the skies into the seas of Mik'rath.

"For this star was no star, but a ship from far far away, carrying the Ammonites and thier genetic slaves, the Sagisati. The Ammonites were explorers from another world, seeking planets where they could build colonies, for thier homeworld was old and over-populated. They did not realize that the Mi'Kael were a thinking people, for they had never seen anything like it before, and thus, they starting killing off the Mi'Kael, to make a place for themselves on the beautiful water moon Mik'rath.

"Feeling the pain of thier brethren, seeing thier Dreams die, the Mi'Kael screamed thier Dreams at the strange beings that invaded thier world, the strange colonies that moved together, so mindless, so destructive, and as more and more Mi'Kael fell to the strangers, the darker the Dreams became, and the Mutterings began. Strange new thoughts came to the Mi'Kael, of forced termination, of removal of all that was not Mi'Kael, and eventually, the Dreams became so dark, the Mutterings so prevalent, that the Mi'Kael struck out at the strange colonies, entering them for force the termination of the mindless ones.

"To the surprise of the Mi'Kael, these mindless colonies obey the Dreams of certain colonies, and as they struck down several of the mindless ones, groups of Mi'Kael entered several of these master colonies and found, to thier delight, that here, they could scream loud enough that these thinking colonies could think of nothing but the dark Dreams of the Mi'Kael. It was then that the Mi'Kael learned the truth of the strange mindless ones, this Ammonites and their strange "bodies" and thier worlds.

"At once, the Mi'Kael gathered for a great meeting of Dreams, to find the Dream that could prevent the Ammonites, or any like them from ever distrubing the Dreams of the Mi'Kael. There were some that Dreamth of Peace and Understanding, and of Learning and Teaching, but sadly, too many were already Dreaming the dark Dreams of Death and Vengeance, and the Mutterings of Hate and Fear. The few that opposed the dark Dreams, were the first of the Mi'Kael to experience forced termination at the dreams of thier own.

"But the Mi'Kael knew that without these strange "bodies" of the Ammonites and the Sagisati, there was little they could do to achieve thier dark Dreams. And then the Mi'Kael dreamth of the wonderful irony, of forcing the Ammonites and the Sagisati to do to themselves what they would have done to the Mi'Kael. And thus, they forced the remaining Ammonites and Sagisati to the will of thier dreams, to bring the Mi'Kael to the Ammonite Homewords, where the Mi'Kael invaded as many of the thinking colonies as they could, learn what they could of the Ammonite's technology, and when the time was right, ended the lives of many Ammonites, leaving only enough, that they could built the ships and fight the wars that the Mi'Kaels Dreamth of, the dark Dream of the destruction and enslavement of those that would bring Death and Destruction to the seas of Mik'rath...

"And so the Mi'Kael went forth, and conquered many races, until they met the ones who Dreamth the same Dream, the Vaaish...

"Ah, but children, that is a tale for another night, for it grows late, and we have much to do tomorrow. What happened to Mik'rath, the third moon of Kres'nath? It is now a sad and lifeless place, where the dreams of the dead mourn the path of the living. Now, off to bed with you lot."

Basically, the Overmind, AKA Mi'Kael, can only exert control over beings that have a small colony of them in the brain. These colonies depend on the host for nutrients and when the host dies, the colony dies as well, due to the mental backlash. The Overminds that are the brains in a jar are HUGH colonies, and these are the ones that do the planning. Since the Mi'Kael are strongly psionicly linked to each other, if a large enough number of them die, it creates a psyhic backlash that causes nearby smaller colonies to die unless there's another colony of sufficient number to numb the effects of the backlash.
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Continued from above, Introduction of the Vaaish(No, not the Art Department modeller...)
[attachment=5662:attachment]

Vaaish and the Overmind
"Gather around, children. Let me tell you another story of the Xenocide wars, of the dreaded Vaaish, of their conflict with the Overminds.

"The Vaaish are a strange race. No one knows for sure where the Vaaish came from, only that they came from deep within the center off the galaxy, on a mission to wipe out any lifeforms that they encounter. Many a planet have seen the fleet of vicious living hive-ships sweep out of wormholes and launch thier missles, and then leave with the planet burning behind them. Often, this planets did not have lifeforms capable of defending themselves against such an attack, Even planets where races have achieved space travel found themselves incapable of stopping the jaugernaut of death that steamrolled over them. Few and far inbetween were the races that were even capable of slowing down the Vaaish. No one knows for sure why the Vaaish rampage across the galaxy in this Great Cleansing of thiers, but some have suggested that it is because they wish to prevent their species from being wiped out by others, simply by wiping out everyone else first.

"Not much is know about the Vaaish. What that is known is that the Vaaish are an insectlike race and that much of their race is nothing more than unthinking drones of various types, ranging from the smallest healer drones, to the heavily armed warrior drones, to the massive hive-ships. Each hive-ship has it's own queen, which commands the Hivelords, massive warrior drones, specially bred and trained leaders of the hive-ship's armies, intelligent tacticians capable of commanding armies on the field with absolute confidence that thier orders will be carried out at all costs. The Vaaish rampaged through the galaxy, seemingly unstoppable, until they encountered the Overminds and their vast army.

"The Overminds, in their bid to rid the galazy of any dangers to themselves, had by now conquered many races, and had built a massive army unlike anyother before it. They too have lead a rampage across the galaxy, unimpeded by any that stood before them, growing in strength with every new conquest. It was inevitable that these two races, one spreading itself rapidly across the galaxy, the other obsessed with anhililating any sort of life, would meet in battle, and when they did, both races, for the first time in known history, met their match. The Overminds were fustrated by the Vaaish's strange resistance to the plasma based weaponry that they used, but what they truly feared was the Vaaish queens' abilty to project psyhic screams that could kill the Overminds at close, and as a result, kill those under the control of the Overminds. The Vaaish were also fustrated by the fact that for the first time since they left thier homeworld, they have encountered a race that not only match the Vaaish numerically, but also outpaced the Vaaish in terms of technological advances. Then there was also the fact that the melange of races in the Overminds' armies made it difficult for the rigid mindset of the Vaaish to adapt to.

"Neither of the two races could gain dominance over the other, and for many many centuries, the two forces were deadlocked. The Overmind would loose several systems, but then bring down several hive-ships in return, A Vaaish battlefleet would gain control over a planet, only to be cut of from support by the Overmind fleets. Indeed, even as I speak, these two implacable foes continue to battle each other, lock in a neverending battle that was old before my grandfather's grandfather was born, and hopefully one that will only end long after the stars die.

"Why my child? For if either of them were to win this fight, the victor would then undoubtedly be even more determined to finish thier self-imposed holy war, something that every other race in this huge wide galaxy would no doubt regret, as we would then either be under the mental leash of the Overminds, or simply be killed at the hands of the Vaaish.

"Well, then, off to bed with you lots. Another story? No, no, it's too late. But I promise you, I will tell you all the story of Thanatos and Cthulu, and how they both came to be stranded at the birthplace of the Humans, the Overminds' Bane."
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[attachment=5663:attachment]
Thanatos and Cthulu

"Now, now... Where did I stop last time? Ah yes, Thanatos and Cthulu. Now then, let me tell you the tale of how Thanatos and Cthulu, twin motherships of the Overminds, came to be stranded in the home of the Humans, the Overminds' Bane.

"By this time, the Overminds have been warring with the Vaaish for centuries, and they had grown weary of a fight with no end in sight. Indeed, it grew worrisome, for the longer they were stalled by the Vaaish, the more likely it that the Vaaish were capable of wiping them out. Even worse was that if the Overminds were stalled too long, other races like the Vaaish might spring up. And thus, it was deemed that the Overminds needed to find a way to break the stalemate in thier favor.

"Suiting thought to action, the two most imaginative colonies were tasked with the mission of setting up a research base in a remote, out of the way solar system along one of the arms of the galaxy. And thus, the two colonies, aboard thier great motherships and respective fleets, the Thanatos and the Cthulu, set off for what that would become the cradle of Humanity.

"Upon arriving insystem, Thanatos set off for the fourth planet of the system with the objective of setting up a repair and refit base whilst Cthulu, the more inventive of the two, entered the seas of the third planet to enslave the intelligent races that had evolved beneath the surface of the waters. Once that was accomplished, Cthulu then began bizarre experiments on the new captives, working on new ways of controlling the conquered races. Indeed, many of the experiments changed creatures under Cthulu's command into things out of your worst nightmares. Eventually, Cthulu was able to invent a artificial colony, an implant capable of recieving commands from an Overmind and controlling the host. Cthulu immediately begin the implantation of all the races under it's control, as well begining research into new types of weaponry capable of effectively penetrating the Vaaish's defences. Indeed, Cthulu had just finish developement of a new untested weapons system when a Vaaish hive-ship exited a wormhole near the fourth planet.

"To this day, no-one knows for sure why the Vaaish turned up when they did, whether was it just a fluke or had the Vaaish learned of what was happening within that solar system. But in anycase, the Vaaish immediately launched an attack on Thanatos, crippling the mothership beyond repair and destroying the base on the planet. The Vaaish hive-ship then made a beeline for the third planet, intent on exterminating life there. But even as the hive-ship entered orbit, Cthulu began it's counterattack. It was then obvious that Cthulu's efforts had paid off as the new weapons carved great strips from the hive-ship's hull. The queen aboard the hive-ship launched a psyhic attack in desperation, hoping to atleast kill off the crews of the attacking ships, as Cthulu was still hiding beneath the surface of the oceans. Indeed, the queen's gambit worked, but not in the way that it had intended. For whilst the psyhic attack had no effect on the crews, Cthulu was close enough that it was stunned into a coma by the attack, and the great mothership sank into the depths of the oceans, beyond the reach of any of the smaller crafts. Nevertheless, the crews of Cthulu's battlefleet had enough time before the implant's failsafe kicked in and killed them all todamaged the hive-ship that enough that it crashed into the planet's sea causing the extinction of almost all liveforms on that planet.

"Thanatos, stranded on the fourth planet with no way of repairing the mothership's drives, observed this all, ordered all of it's remaining troops to enter suspended animation, awaiting either the the arrival of reinforcements, or for Cthulu to reawakened and to resurface from the depths.

"Off course, imagine Thanatos' surprise when it woke up to discovered that several million years had passed with no sign of reinforcements, nor had Cthulu reawakened. Imagine it's surprise that new intelligent lifeforms had evolved on the third planet, and it was those that had disturbed it's long hibernation. It was then, of course, that Thanatos was forced to make new plans, plans to conquer the new race, and to make them re-awaken Cthulu. Little did Thanatos know what was in store for it.

"But that is a story for the Humans to tell. Anyway, it's getting late. Go on, off to bed you go."
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Okay, just a couple of brief observations having gone through it once so far. Granted, I realize that the last couple would help to expand the tale a bit more, however I wonder if some information should be uncovered more piecemeal over the course of an adventure.

Just an example here from your second post, you start with "Not much is known about the Vaaish," but then proceed to tell a good chunk about what is known about them (they have a hive mind thing going too right?)...I think this should be something not yet revealed if no one could get close to them to find out. That is to say, I'm not sure what more about this race is unrevealed beyond what's told in this storyteller approach (with the tale in quotes that is). I can sort of understand this block of dialogue though if the storyteller is in fact Vaaish.

But then again, perhaps I'm unclear on the perspective the story is being told in. Is this tale being told by another alien culture to its children? I sort of assumed this with the closing line in the third bit..."But that is a story for the Humans to tell. Anyway, it's getting late. Go on, off to bed you go." :)

I get the hint here that it seems this is opening things up in the future for an allegiance of some kind with another alien society, given that same line that those kids need to find a human to tell their perspective on things. Edited by Snakeman
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Sounds like these folks that are telling the story have been watching the thing the whole time. Hmmm...... Maybe some kind of aliens with sophisticated stealth/cloaking devices and a hidden base on that moon of Jupiter that has the water (Io? don't remember).
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  • 2 months later...
OK, I've thought of some storyline stuff that might be interesting. See, the Vaaish were trying to figure out a way to break the stalemate. So they created nanites designed to destroy their opponents. These nanites act like a large neural net. Individually, the nanites are only smart enough to create more so that they'll be smarter. To do this they feed on everything around them to build more of themselves. Many nanites can form themselves into large visible objects. Enough nanites can form almost any kind of machine imaginable. They attack by propelling a group of themselves at their target and then they destroy the target, each nanite destroying one cell after another. Assuming that it has enough raw materials, 1 nanite can produce another in about 30 seconds. When they attack they first disassemble any threats before creating nanites from their target because they can destroy things at a much faster rate. Bullets, plasma, and lasers, are not very effective against these nanites because unlike conventional opponents, each individual nanite can function on it's own, therefore, the undamaged nanites can easily repair the damaged ones. The only truly effective weapon against them would be one that deactivates all of the nanites simultainiously(sp?), such as EMP (which neither the Superbrains nor the Vaaish have thought of using.). The fact that we have EMP is why we are the ones who will tip the balance in some direction. Since the stalemate was broken between the Vaaish and the Superbrains, the nanites have slowly taken over the galaxy. The Vaaish and the Superbrains (still at war) now only control the outer parts of the galaxy, and the nanites are slowly spreading like a disease. Most of the neighboring star systems next to the sun are controlled by the nanites (they're more concerned with destroying their current enemies than dealing with some small planet filled with 'backwards natives', and they don't know about the Superbrain here, and the Superbrain doesn't know about them). When you start kicking the Superbrain's donkey, he sends a distress call/warning to former Superbrain planets (now belonging to nanites). This awakens the nanites to his presence, so they'll show up with 2-3 years after Cydonia.
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hmm thats interesting... nanites... hmm... though i would think that thats some sort of an ancient race sort of the "care takers" of the galaxy who have colonzed many diffrent galaxys and they are just waching beacuse they are not allowed to interfeer? until they are discovered?
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I like that the nanite thing being introduced progresses towards a way to fight them...with EMP weaponry. I think to introduce any potential enemy, one has to ponder the evolution of warfare against them, its only natural.

But at the same time it opens up other things to discuss, such as if this were a 3-way war of sorts, you then start talking hybrid weaponry capabilities across all three. Something that works on one group may not work on another and so forth. Even though this isn't exactly a new idea (these things remind me of not just Borg, but the Replicators from SG-1), it is interesting.
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[quote name='Snakeman' date='Mar 12 2005, 04:38 AM']But at the same time it opens up other things to discuss, such as if this were a 3-way war of sorts, you then start talking hybrid weaponry capabilities across all three.  Something that works on one group may not work on another and so forth.  Even though this isn't exactly a new idea (these things remind me of not just Borg, but the Replicators from SG-1), it is interesting.
[right][post="113780"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]

It really isn't a 3-way battle. The Vaaich and the Mi'kaiel are stuck in a deadlock that brings huge losses to both sides (thiink ww1 trech-wars). Humanity is just a race that could prove usefull for the mi'kaiel for, ultimately, win the war.
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and apperantly a 3d race is just sitting back and waching... or its in tha far future and the mikael became friends with humans? :huh?:
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I was just thinking of how "But that is a story for the Humans to tell" could apply. It seems I've been subconsciously influenced by the recent episodes of Stargate SG-1 too much.

Hmmm.. How about a race that's developed shields that block Vaaish and Mi'kael weapons but the shields can be disabled with EMP? The reason I think they don't know about EMP is because the aliens never use it in TFTD or UFO. Some people say "repeated blackouts would be kind of obvious". They're much less obvious then terror missions IMHO.
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[quote name='Shinzon' date='Mar 12 2005, 04:05 PM']and apperantly a 3d race is just sitting back and waching... or its in tha far future and the mikael became friends with humans?  :huh?:
[right][post="113815"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]

It's a big universe. Our area is not for their interest.
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Just some random speculation:
Perhaps the humans manage to fend off the survivors of Thanatos and Cthulu, but only because a sizable Vaiash force arrive. The Mi'Kael survivors were forced to expand a huge chunk of their resources not to finish off the Vaiash, but just to them from calling reinforcements . . . . I need sleep.

Anyway, it's your story, tzuchan, and good work! ^_^ Can't wait to read more from you.
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  • 5 weeks later...

First of all i would like to excuse me if anything I said was already posted in this topic, I did not have the time to read it all trough.I'm also writing this not taking in account Apocalypse and Terror.

 

It would be rather interesting to assume that the force in cydonia is a expeditionary one, or to put it more clearly a forerunner for the main fleet. Its mission is to scout ahead and report what it finds. Lets say that they found earth and received the order to plant the seed for a full invasion. They set up a base close enough for them to attack and too far from us to manage a counter attack. Even if they knew about humans before that could be explained. They were waiting for the human race to become more combat efficient (this could be used to explain the Cydonia base... they had set it up as an outpost but later had to move away, or the base was incapacitated by some natural or artificial cause).

 

The alien race is a conquering one, in command of it is a "prime" race, a ruling caste that controls all the others, their armies consists of other races, races they consider as combat effective (the "prime" race has given up fighting long ago, it uses the assimilated races for that purpose). They come to a planet, invade it and assimilate the strongest race on the given planet. The forerunner fleet does not have the means to start a full invasion nor does it wish to. Trough examination it has decided that humans are capable for fighting and have also found out that Earths flora and fauna can be quite useful in genetic experiments and for nutrition purposes. Earth could also represent a strategic position in the universe, a jumpoint for further conquests.

 

Anyway you destroy the base on mars and then for the sequel you have to figth the main fleet... Now the base could aslo serve as a construction site, for a stargate, to bring the fleet in...

 

Also a few thoughts on why there are no black outs. For all I care it would be strategically dumb to destroy the infrastructure of your next base, you just need to incorporate your technology into the existing one, also the computer and wireless network is excellent for spying, if the X-Com can use the Hyperwave decoder to determinate the mission and size of an UFOs why couldn't they use the same technology to monitor our communications?

 

Then again there would come the question as to why are they conquering, is it just a thirst for power or an all out war against someone other?

 

And also I would like to ask why the earth governments never respond to terror sites or attack flying UFOs...

 

Now again I am sorry if anything that I posted was already said but I did not have the time to read more than the first page.

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  • 3 months later...

First, this message is not about WHY aliens are attacking us, it is why they are attacking us with so small efforts.

Second, sorry for possible mistakes, as English is not my native language.

It seems that all of you are missing at least 2 other hypotheses about why aliens are attacking us with so small efforts.

Aliens are more advanced that we are (they come to us from other stars, right? And interstellar travel means a huge distance in scientific comparison). So why they aren't using all their sophisticated equipment to completely crush us in a single blow?

Two reasons spring to mind:

First. Warrior ethics (or codex, or such else). Imagine you are a Special Force full trained guy who knows that he can fight easily with 10-20 untrained man by using firearms, tanks, etc. This is not fun, and no honor to win in such a way. So you step out of you tank, throw away you machinegun, wear only light kevlar suit (not the advanced one!), restrict yourself to only using a knife and a pistol and so on. :)

This is downright evil, but it can be true, right?

Another reason. Quick science boost to become another interstellar race. Just sharing a tech would easily lead to shock (why research anything that is already known to Elders? Hands up, quick collapse). But war trophies can lead to much quicker adaptation (we paid for this knowledge by blood of our soldiers, and such else...) and after a "defeat" of aliens we, using captured tech, can easily expand in other science areas. Viola, another race capable of interstellar travel. As for the fact that we would be angry for them, consider using biorobots that are in no way match alien appearance.

This is much more evil that first hypothesis, but it also can be true.

Edited by AVE
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Could be just a rough underestimation, afterall any invasion force would likely have been gathered hundreds or thousands of years ago on equally old intel data. Maybe they didn't foresee our technological advancement and originally sent a too small force.
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I posted this in a different thread a while ago, but it seems pertinent to the discussion here. It's just another possible explanation for the Aliens' behavior.

 

I was just thinking about a reason to address why the Aliens haven't attacked humanity full-bore. Maybe after its long hibernation, the Overmind's cells were largely dormant- there weren't enough resources to rouse the entire Overmind colony at once. This severely restricts its mental capacity; affecting its decisions and limiting the number of minions it could control at a time. The research missions helped it assess humanity's capabilities, and the biological harvest missions were to "rebuild/reawaken" the remaining Overmind cells and construct an adequate military fleet.

 

Fast forward to the beginning of the game- the Overmind's partially rejuvenated colony/self possesses sufficient psionic ability to control several UFO's simultaneously, though rest is required between each sortie. As the game progresses, the Overmind becomes increasingly intelligent and capable, which explains the appearance of new, more difficult to control Alien races (Ethereals, Mutons), larger, heavily-crewed UFOs (battleships and dreadnaughts), and bolder, more tactically complicated missions (base attack).

 

However, in order to rebuild itself, the Overmind had to use precious resources that would otherwise have been used for fleet construction or accelerating the growth of its minion ranks. Additionally, as many resources were squandered in early missions by the unexpected effectiveness of the X-Corps organization as through strategically suspect decisions of a partially incoherent Overmind.

 

As the Overmind gets closer to regaining its original capabilities, it runs into increasing resource shortfalls (due to the larger army it must control and maintain), and the lack of resources is a large reason for the bolder strikes, but also explains their limited scope (not blasting us using nukes).

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well, its not just one race, but a bunch of them. Its quiet possible its not a race on race war and something along the lines of a bounty hunt. "First group to kill the humans get :this:"

 

It explains the lack of coordination, the variety of aliens, terror mission, the whole deal

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  • 4 months later...

Personally I like the idea of the alien forces being large, but limited, and cut off from any help - an isolated colonial spore of a long-dead empire, awoken by a chance transmission from humanity. The aliens would have a powerful incentive to damage Earth as little as possible because their survival is at stake (the facilities on Mars being meant only to temporarially sustain system colonisation). They would have limited resources that would depend on their success in taking what they need from earth. Perhaps some kind of timetable could be drawn up - two years' supply left on Mars, after which their success or failure is contingent on harvesting resources from Earth. If X-com is thoroughly successful but doesn't get to Cydonia soon enough, they start fusion-balling cities in desperation; if the aliens are thoroughly successful their numbers increase geometrically and humanity is overwhelmed.

 

All this would explain why infiltration, terror missons, abductions ect. are preferred to an all-out H.G. Wells-style assault - they don't just want to get Earth on the cheap, they need it this way.

 

The aliens would have the power to annihilate humanity, but in doing so they would severely damage their own chances for long-term survival. Conversely X-com could have the power to stop the invasion in its tracks, but in doing so they would risk incurring annihilation (unlike Apoc, where you could basically defeat the aliens without winning the game).

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I agree that the aliens probably need the Earth in-tact to preserve its resources. Also, it would be exponentially easier to upgrade the current Terran resource extraction and support infrastructure rather than create a new one out of the ashes of the old. Also I would think that the aliens simply do not have the resources to do more than infiltrate at first. After they establish a presence on Earth they can operate more strongly and boldly, thus the emphasis on friendly fly zones(friendly nations) and Earth based outposts.
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Taking this idea further into left field, maybe the supply of elerium could be inherently limited, and at a certain point aliens begin economising on the stuff by supplementing their efforts with inferior technology (around now X-com would start to run out too, keeping game balance). In general I'm just enamoured to the thought of the aliens being immensely powerful but also in a desperate position - the SETI transmission (or whatever) that woke them up had the worst possible timing, since they have no choice between battling humanity and dying out. (Some conciet about them not being able to go back into stasis could be provided.)

 

Another interesting aspect of this is that it makes playing as the aliens plausible.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am aware I'm bumping here, but a conclusion should be reached regarding the backstory.

 

I must say I don't really like the entire "micro-organism-Vaaish" idea, as it seems too complex to be discovered during interogation. Here's what I think you should do(these are just suggestions, you can choose to ignore them):

 

1.Go for a 'classical' approach

2.Make the Overmind unique (not a member of a species); there are several ways you can do this.I saw a version somewhere where the Overguy was a sort of psionic amplifier built by the grays/ammonites (the latters are more credible, as they seem to be the most advanced) which turns on it's creators, enslaves them and starts conquering stuff. Something like that would be credible.

3.Get rid of the whole war/reinforcements issue. I like think of the Overmind as a mad planet-conquering machine, bent on universal domination.It should't have weaknesses such at the other end of the Galaxy. It would also be good, as I'm not certain wether you are going to re-make the other games as well.

4.(You may not like this, but it's only a suggestion)Modify the whole "aliens have been here for millenia" issue. I don't know if it would make the story better. The latest WOTW movie had such an issue inside it, and everyone deemed it asunrealistic.

 

I expect your answers, gentlemen.

Edited by Preda
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