94 replies to this topic

[GreatGold]

And perhaps Base Raids could be a thing that doesn't happen until your doing quite good, and at least not the first few moths or something like that.

Hey -

I'm pretty sure this will be dicated by the level you are playing on. For example, on Begineer you could expect half a year or more. On Superhuman, perhaps only to the end of the first month.

Gold

[warhamster]

Oh, I never knew that in TFTD. And to think I finished the game without ever discovering that. Silly rodent me.

As for blaster bombs, I'm sure that we don't have the blaster bombs, but the aliens might have that.

Also, i'm sure the aliens know that money is one way to cripple xcom. i'm sure when one raids a base we're not just thinking to kill the people in the place but to do as much property damage. Maybe we can adjust our AI to this end.

[j'ordos]

Who needs auto-shot with Blaster Bomb Launchers??? OK, if they all could be aimed at a different spot...

[miceless]

Who needs auto-shot with Blaster Bomb Launchers??? OK, if they all could be aimed at a different spot...

Plaster the whole area in one turn....

[Trevelyan]

I was thinking (which is sometimes dangerous), and i thought "why dont they have any buildings for your base that actually helps during the battlescape?"

Something like this:

Security Station:

$100,000 8 days to build

What it does- This does Nothing during the Battleship's landing phase... It only helps when the attack itself has begun. Your 5 highest ranking officers (In the base of course) start here with all of the weapondry you find on the floor (i always wanted a central place to put all gear not used during a base attack). The area around this is always displayed as though a soldier was standing there. Possibly has turrets (upgraded through research??? :o )

Just a thought

[Cpl. Facehugger]

Like Apoc's security stations, except that the turrets need to be manned? I like that idea.

[Trevelyan]

Sure, i never played Apoc or Xcom 2 so i wouldnt know what your talking about. A mount feature? that kinda relates to having a Machine Gun and being able to emplace it. i remember seeing some idea like that before here... it was good to.

[Breunor]

Merged these topics, I'm sure there are a couple more discussing the same thing.

[Gradea]

Hey -

We've explaned this phenomenom in the CTD boards.  The basic idea is this: when the base was designed, it was in fact as high tech as possible.  All the designers and programs were top notch, the best the world had to offer.  From artificial sentinent software and automated weapons posts to seismic sensors.  So, they said, feel safe. 

Then the aliens attack, and somehow, they have shutdown these systems.  You get an addendum added to the facilities X-Net entries, sopmething to the tune of "Wooooops, we don't know what went wrong, we are looking into it!  Sorry...."

So, the game balance is kept, and no one has to wonder why you didnt have all these fancy smancy base defense systems.

Gold

thats called a cop out. no way to do antying about it, basicly you just said you had a feature, and didnt put it in, so you included a bad story line reason not to have it.

also, i've been wondering, why do base assults have to only be ground attacks? why not bombardments too? a battleship or two (three, four, five...) hovers over the base and blasts away. your defences fire back untill they land for an assult, you drive them off or destroy them, or they reduce your base to x-kibble.


also, moving bases, i always hated how once the enemy found your base they attacked it once every ten seconds. i had a gravity shield and four fusion bomb defences once, or what ever they were, so they never actually landed, so instead i spent half an hour doing nothing but click on the buttons in the "your base is under attack" prompt. then i quit. personaly i think you should just be able to move the personel and equipment to a new site, just like building a new base, only it wouldnt cost as much to rebuild all the rooms.


as for civilians and base damage, you have to figure they have a place to put all this stuff during an attack, or will we have a ufopedia entry called "you guys are really dense and dont realise you have to get valuable equipment and personel out of plasma range"? you can have it so aliens can hit the bunkers/vaults that hold the people/items though, and THAT could cause the need for major repairs, as could blowing a room into the surrounding earth.

and, again on defence systems, id say you have to pay for each room individualy to put in diffrent security packages, and they all have a maintence cost. security could be divided by both level of security and tech level. you could also pay for the bunker/vault, and pay for harder to destroy/easier to repair rooms, just in case...

Edited by Gradea, 04 December 2003 - 05:54 AM.

[Breunor]

Since this is in the laboratory forum, the quick response of "it wasn't in the original so we won't have it here either" doesn't apply, so let's see...

For alien ship assaults, they would have to shoot through a lot of earth and reinforced concrete to damage the base from the air. Besides the access lift, the hangars are the only facilities exposed to the surface. If the retractable hangar doors are made from say 2-3 feet of hardened whatever, that would hold "in theory". I know we can agree that alien weapons would work their way through something like that eventually (can we say beginning of Star Wars Episode I?). But the aliens don't know if we have an escape route somewhere, and they want to kill off all the people resisting them. So their best option is to land ASAP and breach the base.

I agree that researchers and engineers ( and the scattered civs that maintain stuff in the background) should be present for a certain amount of time at a base. If you see a battleship coming, you should be able to select a base and choose "evacuate", which gets all non-combatants out of the base within a certain time frame, say 1 hour. If they're out before the ship attacks, you're fine. If not, then you have to keep them out of the way, or they could be killed just like a terror site. And those losses are reflected in your personnel list, and would be purchased again to fill the ranks.

I also agree that area effect weapons like prox grenades (my favorite base defense) should cause damage to facilities. You'd pay to fix them up, and if severely damaged the facility would not function as promised. A blaster bomb in the general storage would be very bad...

All of these options can be considered for future versions of the game, and will be very cool. But for version 1, can we come up with explanations for a base assault that doesn't require us to adjust gameplay or balance(meaning, no new facility or defensive weapons that are used in the battlescape)?

[Gradea]

how about instead the aliens can siege a base, cutting off its accees to outside materials? this last untill you send a ship to blow the aliens out of the sky (mabye a later research option can be a special, long ranged defence that can hit sieging aliens) in the mean time, no materials can be brought in for production, and, say, signal jammers and assults on any connecting cables cuts off normal comunications (no research).

And while i find the base damage realistic...5 sectoids with blaster bomb launchers= 10 million in damages...if you do in any verson impliment that, be generous with how much stuff survives. (PS i think evacuations should be automatic, but you can rule that only a % of the staff is in the "safe area" which itself is breachable, the rest will be running for it, or locking themselves in rooms waiting for a soldier escourt).

Edited by Gradea, 04 December 2003 - 01:53 PM.

[Breunor]

My reasoning on making the escape a manual choice is because you're no longer teching/building stuff. You might be 2 hours from finishing a power armor, and the BS is 2.3 hours away. So you decide to go for it, etc.

I don't think that a single UFO could siege an underground base in hostile territory in a traditional sense. It would need to be close enough to detect the FedEx/pizza guy deliveries, yet far enough away that cruise missiles couldn't hit? An unlikely combo IMO.

[Gradea]

well not neccisarily, how close to a target does a b-2 have to be?

[Breunor]

Close enough to know when it's hitting something. It's not a constant saturation bombing that's happening, it's a "you either come out and fight me, or starve to death" issue. Anything a bomber/battlehip can fire can be fired back at them. From the alien perspective, they're sitting a powerful weapon out in hostile territory, where it might be shot down. IMO they would use it most effectively by blasting the base fast and returning the ship to a protected location.

[Oscar]

Maybe there could be crackers as a unit to train? Havin' one to tag along into an ufo/base and crack the systems, enablin' your guys an advantage, but bein' an cracker also comes whit that the dude can't carry any equipment due to the backpack o tec stuff. And for the aliens they'll have somekind of cracker as well, but instead of usin' an console to crack it it would trust a claw into the thing and send over electric pulses to crack it that way.

hmm, maybe i should play somethin' else than uplink for a while...

[Sabin]

I support base defenses. They don't have to be particularly strong, they just have to slow down my enemies long enough for me to get organized. This can be done by giving each square of the base a number of basic turret initially.

Later, players can invest money to upgrade the squares to improve the defensive qualitys of the base. Here are some ideas as to how to do so:



Command Center: Replaces the "lift", with a command center from where the defense of the base can be organized. These functions are added through a square-upgrade system.(Perhaps the center can be taken over by the aliens, thus making it a critical square to protect? Imagine if a Sectoid Commander set all of the squares to explode...)


Command Center Upgrades:

Defense Operation System(DOS): This upgrade enables the command center to be able to engage/disengage locks for doors in the base. Also allows direct control of the turrets.

Costs 100,000 credits?


Seppaku Initiation System(SIS): Initiates the complete self-destruct sequence(5 turns to complete?), or the destruct sequence for a particular square.(1 or 2 turns? and limited to a single use per square?) Also, the explosion doesn't neccersarily have to be particurly powerful. Just enough for it to be considered a dangerous scenario.(Perhaps different types of explosions, like the kind meant to knock-out combatants-good for saving aliens or troops?)


Costs 25,000 credits?


Automated Computer Itelligence Director(ACID): Gives your HWPs extra ability for aiming and the like.

75,000 credits?





TURRETS: These are basic base installations that are meant to slow down the enemy while causing damage to such foes. Most squares may have only up to 4 turrets per room.(More for hangers, like 8(for appearance, so they should be in turn weakened, or cost extra.)


Ballistic Turrets: The basic turret shoots bullets that do little damage, and have a slow reload rate.

Cost: Free, Default defense for each square.

Laser Turrets: These turrets use laser weaponry for the defense, and provide a somewhat effective defense.

Cost: 20,000 credits per square upgraded.(Permement, unless the base is destroyed.)


Plasma Turrets: This turret shoots plasma, which has above-average effectivneness against targets.

Cost: 30,000 credits per square upgraded.(Permement, unless the base is destroyed.)

Edited by Sabin, 13 December 2003 - 11:54 PM.

[Cpl. Facehugger]

I like it.

[dipstick]

How 'bout combining several aspects. You have your base, which at present is closed to all alien visitors. So your 'guests' blast away until they cause sufficient damage before they enter. They only have X amount of time - fluff text needed - before they either have to chance it, or leave. If they cause Y amount of damage ALL security cameras etc are disabled, and Z% of your money is required for repairs. Now, if only some damage is done, and the aliens STILL attack (although it will be less likely; depends on species temperment eg mutons will go for it) then the aliens will cause less damage, and will also be at a slight disadvantage. This leaves for easier CTD writing and comprehension, as well as variability and also a sliding scale for difficulty. The only problem is programming the AI and stats in *waves at Red Knight*

[Cpl. Facehugger]

Remember that the battleships can't stay in the air hovering near your base forever. They use up elerium just like everyone else.

[Robo Dojo 58]

Remember that the battleships can't stay in the air hovering near your base forever. They use up elerium just like everyone else.

Yep, battleships use Elerium, all right. They use it to drop blaster bombs on your base.
I doubt the aliens would do that, though. IMO, they never seemed interested in a war in X-COM1.

[Cpl. Facehugger]

I was talking about fuel in addition to those blaster bombs!

[DendromutantX]

Which gives me an idea:
why should elerium be the only fuel in the game?
On its base we could synthesize our own, more efficient fuel.
As for escaping bases--it should be done in ten minutes or so
and then CAPOOM--a present a la Chernobyl to our alien friends and a big reputation hit.Which brings me to the the next idea: using nuclears to whipe out alien bases. Then we could dump glowing radioactive ashes on mars as a reminder to all space races, that noone can destroy our planet but us!!!

Back to bases. Why should they stay there when discovered by aliens and wait their doom. For sufficient amount of elerium (or gasoline) it could slowly float away
to a new location--Hawaii perhaps? It's a matter of choice.

About UFO's sieging bases. they dont usually stand on flat ground open to assaults. I mean there must be some hills, lakes, pizza places. Behind all those obstackles sneaky aliens could park their saucers and then attack us as filthy cowards they are.

[Robo Dojo 58]

why should elerium be the only fuel in the game?

It's not just a fuel, it's a whole new element. Making more types of fuel would make the game too complicated and confusing, IMO.

On its base we could synthesize our own, more efficient fuel.

The process for turning Elerium into energy was 98% efficient. You can't do much better than that, without at least a hundred years to catch up with the aliens, and another hundred to find something better.

Back to bases. Why should they stay there when discovered by aliens and wait their doom. For sufficient amount of elerium (or gasoline) it could slowly float away to a new location

It seems to me that X-COM is trying to keep the whole alien thing under wraps. Floating three mile large bases hundreds of miles sorta defeats that purpose, doesn't it? I think the funding countries would get concerned, too.

About UFO's sieging bases. they dont usually stand on flat ground open to assaults. I mean there must be some hills, lakes, pizza places. Behind all those obstackles sneaky aliens could park their saucers and then attack us as filthy cowards they are.

We can attack them, too. Release the cruise missiles!

Maybe this has been pointed out before, but aliens have spaceships. Why don't they just drop blaster bombs from orbit, out of range of all our weaponry? Why don't they just drop nukes on every capital in the world, and become our new lord and masters? Because the overmind is sneaky, and it wants us to ally with them. Those terror sites are not its fault. Its just trying to shut down X-COM, so it can proceed with the assimilation. :wink:

[DendromutantX]

Why don't they just drop blaster bombs from orbit, out of range of all our weaponry?

You can't just drop smthg from orbit unless it's a laser beam or comet-size object--it'll just burn off in the atmosphere. As for giant blaster bombs--aliens don't need a smoking dead planet--they need a colony(IMHO). As for floating bases, slow objects near ground cannot be detected by any kind of radar. And being able to see harvesting sausers on the ground in x-com always puzzled me.

[Robo Dojo 58]

You can't just drop smthg from orbit unless it's a laser beam or comet-size object--it'll just burn off in the atmosphere.

Who said the aliens were going to drop just any old bombs? We already can make suborbital missiles that can survive re-entry. (ICBMs, I believe) The aliens could easily make something better. You only need to strap some super-advanced alien ceramics to protect it from heat, use a power source to control its decent, and use the incredible properties of alien alloys to hold it together. Don't worry, a good blaster bomb could make it, and you only need one to get rid of an X-COM base.

As for floating bases, slow objects near ground cannot be detected by any kind of radar.

Yeah, but it becomes very difficult to hide a base that's flying over half of Europe. What if the weatherman finds a huge floating island? Don't forget that our radar and sattelite capabilities are still growing. In 10 years, we'll have better detection coverage and sattelite systems. A floating base moving hundreds of miles wouldn't be something that you could hide from the world, never mind the aliens. Once the funding countries catch you, you can kiss your stripes goodbye. It'd be better to hide a base by putting a "Welcome to X-COM!" sign outside, IMO.

But, this is a game, and I'd love be able to send a mountain straight into Cydonia. Why bother with the Avenger? I have Mt. Everest right here.

Edited by Robo Dojo 58, 15 December 2003 - 05:08 PM.

[DendromutantX]

Then the base could at least swim. Or in case of flying, shaped like, and when anyone sees it we'll pretend to destroy it and will get more respect and money for downing such behemoth.

[Cpl. Facehugger]

Well, I imagine that some sort of mega aircraft carrier would be feasable.

[DendromutantX]

Or in case of flying, shaped like, and when anyone sees it

I meant to say "shaped like ufo", sorry for mistake

[Whitewashed]

I think there are some great ideas in this thread. At the end they got a little ridiculous though... turrets in all rooms, moving bases and seiging Battleships, hello!

It's true that the aliens are not interested in destroying earth or killing all the inhabitants.

I liked the idea of the tech personell being in the base defense mission. It would be a lot easier to implement than in Apocalypse too since the workers don't have individual names and skills. The evacuate ability was good as well. The damage effects to the base is also a good idea. I don't think it's a devastating one. It's simply a matter of balancing the funding and cost system

All in all I think the aliens were a little too weak in UFO 1, they didn't have enough means to damage you. I kinda like the feel in Terror from the Deep. There you surely notice that you're outnumbered, outarmed and outfunded and shouldn't realisticly stand a chance against the aliens. The missions were a little too difficult in TFD yeah, but the feel of terror was so much deeper than in UFO. In UFO it was fun fighting the aliens, in TFD you were constantly afraid of going on the missions and worried about how to get enough funds.

[Puasonen]

liked the idea of the tech personell being in the base defense mission. It would be a lot easier to implement than in Apocalypse too since the workers don't have individual names and skills.

Only problem is, you can have 200 engineers and 150 scientists at one base. That would be a pain in the donkey to move them all every turn

The damage effects to the base is also a good idea.

I seem to be the only person in the world who have had this "problem" in original bought floppy version of x-com enemy unknown. I lost facilities in that game if they used blaster launcher in some facilities. AND, they always went to small or large radar facility and shot those plates with heavy plasma, after the base defense mission I had lost them! But there were positive things about base attack missions too, I always got thousands of elerium-115. I don't know why. Neither of these things happen on my CE version anymore..

All in all I think the aliens were a little too weak in UFO 1, they didn't have enough means to damage you. I kinda like the feel in Terror from the Deep. There you surely notice that you're outnumbered, outarmed and outfunded and shouldn't realisticly stand a chance against the aliens. The missions were a little too difficult in TFD yeah, but the feel of terror was so much deeper than in UFO. In UFO it was fun fighting the aliens, in TFD you were constantly afraid of going on the missions and worried about how to get enough funds.

I completely agree with every single word of this text.

[Whitewashed]

I completely agree with every single word of this text.

Glad I'm not the only one

Yeah, Terror from the Deep was a pain to complete but it sure was worth it in the end. I think you should try to hit somewhere between the 2 first games with Xenocide. Spice it up a little but leave the extremes such as missions with 4 separate parts and no re-equiping inbetween.

Only problem is, you can have 200 engineers and 150 scientists at one base. That would be a pain in the donkey to move them all every turn

Yeah, obviously you couldn't have all of them running around in your base during battle

Edited by Whitewashed, 18 December 2003 - 06:10 PM.

[Whitewashed]

The problem I would worry about is that you never have to defend your base when you've built a grav shield and 3 fusion defenses in it. I kinda liked it Apocalypse when the aliens could infiltrate your base without you having any external defense systems. Then again, if you'd change this, it wouldn't be the same game anymore. Just something to think about...

[Cpl. Facehugger]

But Apoc had internal security systems (like say... Turrets)

Edited by Cpl. Facehugger, 21 December 2003 - 08:23 AM.

[Whitewashed]

But Apoc had internal security systems (like say... Turrets)

Yes, and they were quite well balanced. They didn't eliminate the attackers but rather kept them at bay while you rushed there with your forces. If we're going to use in-base turrets they should be structures just like the rest and not be separately deployed into the other structures

[ChonkE]

Yeah, the idea of strategically placed choke points and security areas to contain the aliens seems a much more balanced idea than automated turrets everywhere. It automated turrets were implemented perhaps they could be overridden/hacked and used against you forcing you to damage your own base. There should be dire consequences if you dont defend/hide your base well enough imo.
As far as scientists go, there should definentally be a % number of specially trained responders who could enter the fray but wouldnt be very effective and could only be equipped with basic equipment (no armor, ballistic/laser rifles ect). As to having like 200 dudes running around, it would be like the Jagged alliance 2 militia defense missions, which aint too cool =(
Manned turrets would be neat till you ate that blaster master and then... well you know

[Cpl. Facehugger]

But the manned turrets would be bliss until that big green monster and his blaster bomb got there.

[noabbitnofun]

I really liked the final message from... err, sorry, I don't remember who.

Well anyway.
Base damage would be great. Collapse the buildings when their pillars are blasted, please! please! And let it take some time to dig back entries to the collapsed buildings & repair - it makes you feel how your base is.
Can we also keep some markings of the previous fights in the base? (Or is there someone cleaning up the blood and replacing the furniture?)

Regarding the feeling, I also think the gloomy part is great - play with lights coming from the soldiers. (They can guide the aliens too...) So if the electricity is down, can we get to see the soldiers open the doors manually (like force a bar in the middle and slide it apart)?
Could the "non evacuated personnel" be hiding in some of the furniture of the base as well, which you don't get to know until you open it... or blast it?

Please do make it so that, on a base attack, the extra equipment is not just "lying on the floor" but is indeed in a locker at the armory or something. (Time to prevent aliens from blasting that room out!)

Regarding the attack from ships, I think the amount of time the ships have is limited because they don't want to be public to the country where the base is. Except that country could be alien friendly. In which case I would like to see the starving effect, yes I would! (Forcing you out in the open if you cannot send a rescue form another base...)

Regarding the security cams, I still think you should have more advantage than you do today in XCOM's, in terms of seeing the invador. What about "most cameras are out but sometimes you get to see 1-2 spots here and there"? (It could require manual operatio, which indeed will let you feel as in Duke Nukem - you could be shot while watching the screen.

Yan

[dipstick]

I have an idea. How about you choosing where to place your soldiers in the base, but the aliens get the first turn? That would balance out.

Also I agree that there should be security stations, (and adv sec stations) that you can build. As in apoc they should be able to cover the adjacent squares. Just give them a decent number of TUs - say 80 or so, and have 4 turrets. Then you can control them like soldiers. Easy.

I think there should be three types - bullets (which use ammo) laser and plasma (which use ammo) and you should start with a bullets one next to access lift.

[Robo Dojo 58]

Just give them a decent number of TUs - say 80 or so, and have 4 turrets.

Turrets turn really slowly, IMO. They'd probably have more like 5-15 TUs. But, since shooting takes a percentage of TUs, it wouldn't really matter. With 80 TUs, they could probably turn around 10 times in one turn. Unless they take alot of TUs to turn around...

[grunty]

Hi there I'm new and blah blah blah...

Down to bisness...
I recently - after reading a little on these wery boards - started to wonder why are the X-Com bases so poorly designed... Survailence at all, think about it, what kind of a military facility is has no security cameras or movement sensors? In gameplay terms these could be accessible from securityconsoles, from some special equipment or from a specified security station. These could be easily balanced and would also bring a bundle of intresting features with them...
-Aosar

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How about for base security it depends on difficulty level - there should be a security room which the aliens can shut down if they can get to it. So in the harder difficulty levels (more aliens) = more chance of the security office being compromised and the security being destroyed or shut down. Perhaps the aliens can destroy the security cameras (although hard to destroy).

[Snakeman]

Security cameras I'd think are easily destroyable if spotted. Depending on what kind of make they are. If they are the bulky protruding-from-the-wall types than yes. If they are the recessed variety, i.e. flush with the walls surfaces, than a wee bit harder (have to know what your looking for).

In any case, I like the notion of adding some functionality to base defense missions. That security console is a good idea. You could space those out across the entire base (rather than like having a central location to monitor alien activity in the following case), and if they use motion/heat/other sensor tracking, I think that maybe it ought to work slightly different than the hand held devices used by your troops. For example, if a console is located outside a room, that sensor(s) only monitors what's going on inside that room. Because these would work autonomously separate from any central security network though, I'd limit the placement of these (maybe just like, access lift, radar rooms)

The rest would be the central stuff, located in any radar rooms you've got and work like one big motion scanner/sensor suite (and camera monitoring room) and could be the main objective of the aliens. If there are automated weapons involved, make this also the place you'd have to fire them from. As long as you have one trooper in that room, you could utilize the features within it, otherwise you'd be blind apart from what you carry with you, and whichever facility has an exterior monitoring station by its door.

I was just thinking that with alien base assaults, they've got the upperhand by virtue of it being their turf. Why not twist that around ever so slightly for your bases? Anyway, like the concept very much, though not sure how come play time, you balance things.

[sir_schwick]

This is long so be prepared to read a while.

Philosophy on Aliens Attacking Your Base:

The Aliens will storm your base with more than just one Battleship of troopers, it will be at least two or three. Late in the game, after you starting whooping their donkey, expect five or six. When they attack they land a breaching team who blows a breaching hole into the hangar doors and access lift. Then dozens upon dozens of shock troops enter the building. If they have captured any of the X-COM personell in the past, they will have some idea where to strike at power and surveillance lines. In general, based on previous attacks and technology, you will alreayd have protocols in place to prevent them from easily turning the base against you. Also, if they capture a craft, they might replicate the IFF transponder, gaining hangar access without breaching.

Philosophy on Attacking Alien Bases:

Alien Base Security is light until you wipe out or significantly breach an alien base. They are arrogant and assume that humans cannot face their technology. Researching captured Engineers might reveal important information. Each attack raises their base security till its pretty harsh. Capturing the IFF transponder from a Supply Ship will usually allow you a one-time shot into an alien bases hangar.


FLOOR TURRETS

All floor turrets are researched and manufactured by X-COM scientists and engineers. They are in mounts buried under the floor. The floor panels they are under can only be released by a skilled Alien Engineer or one of your own. All control is local. All models can be manually operated and some only feature manual operation for security reasons. Some models feature a 'remote-controller' that must be taken from the turret. Most feature a blast shield and can be recessed back into the floor. You manufacture them as 'room sets' and choose the room whose hallway they will be installed on.

CEILING TURRETS

Ceiling turrets are researched and manufactured by X-COM scientists and enginners. They retract from sliding ceiling panels. In base defense they must be interfaced with from a local console. They are manufactured and installed like floor turrets.

GAS/LIQUID DISPENSERS

These are installed into a room and are researched and manufactured by X-COM scientists and engineers. They are filled with a variety of substances including modified napalm, alien nerve gas, stun gas, corrosive liquid, etc. They must be armed with a detonator by an engineer and be manually detonated by that engineer or anyone who gets the detonator.

WALL ROCKET/BLASTER LAUNCHERS

These are installed into sliding panels in the walls of a hallway and are researched and manufactured by X-COM scientists and engineers. Early models usually can only shoot straight and are rockets. Eventually blaster bombs are equipped into the units. These units can only be controlled locally using a console during base defence.

POWER

Knowledgable aliens will knwo where to hit power manes throughout the base. tHese manes provide power to turrets, doors, and surveillance equipment. Engineers can reroute or access power points, usually panels in a wall or upstairs.

SURVEILLANCE

Bases are well equipped with surveillance equipment. This equipment can be accessed and utilized through consoles spread throughout the facility. Engineers who have the hacking skills or clearance can un-route other consoles from the network. Fast aliens will try to at least protect their consoles until they can cut off X-COM consoles.

ENGINEERS

Engineers are the men who allow you to operate all the fancy base defences and electronics. Both sides use them in base defence and attack. They cannot carry anything heavier then a pistol, but can use their unique items for interaction. Before the base defence or attack, you choose how many Engineers you want to come along and help. The rest have been ferreted to a safe vault with alternate exists hundreds of meters away and behind tons of blast doors.

RESEARCH SUBJECTS

Both alien and X-COM bases with have their respective 'research subjects'. These are still in containment, but can be freed if reached and disengaged from thier 'captivity setting'. Some alien attacks might be just to recover a commander, and you can save future ex-leaders.

ALIEN BASES

Alien bases will slowly start to add these improvements as your base attacks are more successful. Engineers will become very necessary for fighting your way through turrets and gas chambers.

[Snakeman]

Interesting. I know some of us have wondered why not have a few extra civ types roaming around our bases, but to give them a particular use/expertise at something makes it a little more attractive. If given a modest or rookie-ish fighting ability with a pistol or something (for x-com anyway) could liven things up a bit.

I wonder if the Chryssalis equivalent though shouldn't be used more commonly for base assaults, no matter whichever main breed is attacking you. I guess I just like the thought that things would be more fearful in atmposphere if zombifications could happen more frequently

[T-1]

Simple balance stuff for turrets:
Give the aliens turrets in their bases
Give the aliens more troops when attacking

[sir_schwick]

Simple balance stuff for turrets:
Give the aliens turrets in their bases
Give the aliens more troops when attacking

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly, thank you T-1. I was suprised that aliens only sent ten or twenty dudes time after time. Maybe the first attack should only be a single battleship(these dudes are arrogant). After that fails they send 2-3. When that fail they send 4-5. Eventually, when you have mostly alien hybrid techs, they send 10-12 battleships, but your defenses can take them.

Also, you should be able to land multiple Avengers or other landing craft at Missions and Operations.