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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

Ufo Floorplan


Foozball

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Alright everyone, its floorplan time.

This is where we all start a discussion of what we want a UFOs floor plan during a battlescape mission to look like.

This thread is for the SMALL SCOUT.

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While we aren't pinned down to the exact dimensions of the original UFOs, I would say making the small scout a 2 story craft would make it appear a little too large. Seeing how the upper floor has just a nav console, IMO it makes sense to just have that towards the front with the power source to the rear, possibly splitting the craft into 2 rooms. Here the nav console is up front, with the power source in its own room.

1.jpg

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Good eye Cpl. F, I edited the titles of the small and medium to become medium and large. The page showing the original designs is at http://www.xcomufo.com/ufo/index.html
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LOL. you know, I just used the UFOpaedia entries as a reference. I don't think that in all my years of playing X-Com I EVER actually assaulted a crashed small scout. Durned things kept getting destroyed rather than crashing. :wacko:
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the very small ones didn't have a power source either :huh:
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Okay, this has been discussed in another thread but I'll mention it here too. Deimos said at the other thread that in every case, art comes first. So maybe we should wait until we see the exterior of the medium scout before planning the interior? That's pretty important IMO.

 

edit

Oh, and one thing that makes this interior planning harder than in original is that Xenocide won't be based on squares anymore if you know what I mean. If you don't, play silent storm 2 and you'll see how it will be in Xenocide.

Edited by Nyyperoid
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i don't expect the ufos to have windows (modern human aircraft don't need them), so the navigation doesn't have to be in the front. heres an examble (based on current model);

 

NA; navigation

BE; bench

CH; chair

P; powersource

smallscout.jpg

Edited by mikker
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Actually Nyyp, I could have sworn that people were told to not worry about the look of the UFOs because the tactical challenge was going to take first precedence. Thus we wanted to get this discussion moving again and decide on some good layouts, so we could start modeling the insides.

 

I think an important part of this process is to decide on some basic interior shells, we should forget about the outer shape-and-look for right now and say, "you enter this unknown space, what should it look like?" If we agree on the overall size and shape of the interior box, that box can be put inside the outside hulls that focus on the good looks of things.

 

For example, the medium scout we're discussing here, was 7 meters square in the original game. Let's start with about 50 square meters then, and discuss interior layouts that are close to that. So we have the original 7x7 square, a 5x10 rectangle or oval like the egg-shaped pic I put earlier, and maybe some other combinations that are within the 40-60m area range.

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I agree with Breunor.

Besides, everything has to start somewhere. Perhaps by having an acceptable series of floorplans to work with, the UFO design process will be easier for them. You never know.

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Well, I have to ask why would the aliens make the floorplan like that kelfka? It seems like a lot of hallway for no reason. Nothing personal, just seems too roundabout a way.

 

Here's another option, not very good scale in the pic, it's supposed to show the nav console at one sharp corner and the power source at the other, leaving the center for storage/cargo. This is such a small ufo, you could even leave off the inside doors, and just have the short hallway open to the center room, and have an alcove to either side. This would create a good crossfire spot for aliens to either side.

ufo.jpg

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Or even something as simple as this, where the blue arcs are chairs. The medium scout in the original X-Com wasn't big enough to warrent having seperate rooms; maybe this one shouldn't either?
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I like Foozball's corridor one. how about improving it with more doors and compartments to make it more relevant and also more of a tactical challange? (bitter close quarters fighting)

post-43-1076720992_thumb.jpg

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Well, I have to ask why would the aliens make the floorplan like that kelfka? It seems like a lot of hallway for no reason. Nothing personal, just seems too roundabout a way.

 

How should I know the aliens did it!! :wink:

 

I'l try to improve it! ^_^

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Perfect!

post-43-1076828315_thumb.jpg

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So you think there has to be a lot of places where you lose soldiers every time you open a door? :huh?: That's one of the things I disliked about the original. No matter how good player you were, there were always some places where you knew you would lose at least one soldier because of camping alien.
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Yeah, I remember they added that feature to TFTD and it made things sooo much better.

The other easy solution is to reduce the reaction fire rate of the aliens a little bit so that you have time to 'poke your head in'. With this method, there would also need to be a little caveat that if you see a new alien 'around the corner' and you wanna fire at it, there's a chance that it gets to fire first (this *only* occurs if you're gonna fire at it; if you want to run away then you can with no worry).

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I think the subtle tone of the joke was lost.

 

How many times did you burst into a small scout to find aliens standing around (and especially behind) the power source --> The reaction fire --> boom

 

Sure in the harder difficulty settings I would expect the aliens to try to ambush you, but even in the lower setting we can't have it too easy.

 

Anyway you've got two entry points to the engine room, what are you complaining about? :D

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i thought about the plasma cannons on the craft, so i added 2 cannons at the back of it, shooting at you. I acturly think it can rotate 360 degree arrounds it mid point and fly in each dirrection, so the possition of the cannons acturly doesnt matter at all :rolleyes:

medscout.jpg

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Personally I'd have the weapons enclosed out ofsight. Then you don't know how many or what type, and it's fewer polys to render as well.
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i agree, other wise you would have to explain to the player why he didn't get a plasma cannon every time he shot down a UFO.
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and when you reattach it to a new alien power supply?
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It's the KISS principle at work here: keep it simple. It's much better IMO to not show a model for exposed weaponry inside the craft, than it is to show the model and then figure out how to explain all the why and how comes that come with it. Plus, consider the wisdom of having your weapon systems totally exposed, one trip and the alien lands on the plasma heat transfer coils (or whatever), and it's back to the medic for a new arm. I think anything with a brain would put at least an access panel between occupants and critical ship systems, and therefore we wouldn't see it.
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I agree, lets keep the weapons out of sight, at least for V1
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