The Technology Tree

[Pringle]

Or we could say that the aliens use a completely unique firing system, not just a simple trigger. Maybe it is a DNA scan, maybe it is telepathically commanded to fire or something completely ridiculous like that (Alien technology is not realisically be anything like ours), clips might not simply be slotted in, perhaps a certain DNA sequence is required to load them.

 

Until these weapons are taken back to base and researched correctly we would have no idea how they work, they may even need to be modified in order to be used by a human; also I still think you should have 'lab accidents' when researching

 

If you're researching alien entertainment and you have an accident you might lose 1 scientist (goes crazy from the telepathic bombardment of wierd colours and stuff), if you're researching Elerium and have an accident you may lose 20-30 scientists and a lab

[Fatal_Error]

just to add my 2 cents here too ...

 

the most realistic case imo:

why do we (people generally maybe) assume that alien technology (in this case weapons) look like anything we are used to use. maybe alien equipment should look like crap to humans and therefore it needs to be studied and based on those studies scienists could come up with new weapons. this also brings up the question: why the heck should humans be able to salvage usable equipment from aliens. power sources and tecnology generally is okay, but usable equipment?!? thats just wack!!!

 

wondering why i didnt come to these conclusions when i was playing the game???

 

anyways imo it should be like this:

1) salvage stuff from crash sites e.g.

2) do research on that stuff if needed

3) break apart everything and salvage any usable materials (elerium and alloys e.g.)

4) construct new weapons and equipment with those materials

5) beat the living crap outta aliens

 

... ummm went too far with the last one i think

 

well anyway this is the most realistic way of dealing with stuff imo unless were dealing with humanoids (only sectoids come a bit close to humanoids) and even then its a very extremely big IF

 

bah never mind what im saying ... just talking to myself )

[ShadowHawk]

Or we could say that the aliens use a completely unique firing system, not just a simple trigger.

Actually this is what I've been saying all along.

 

There are story mechanisms we can use to balance the game, folks.

 

Just remember: Fun First, roughly the original second, and then other stuff.

 

 

The game is a tactical and strategy game. This is what makes it fun. Stuff like lab accidents and hawkishly precise gun maintenece simulators...aren't.

[Fatal_Error]

just one mo thing about weapons:

imo humans are the only dumb enough organic creatures who make almost all weapons in 3 SIZES!!!

 

first ... small and elegant: for formal occasions and such

 

second ... medium and solid: to make a point to anyone who opposes one

 

and finally big and scary: to blow the living crap outta everything living or breathing on this f****** planet!!! :uzzi:

 

hope noone feels afflicted by my post. if so then i appologize. i just liked the melodramatic sound of this statement ::

[gangsta]

Well aliens that use the guns in x-com have hands like we do. Another thing is guns are supposed to be simple. There would be no reason to complicate the pull the trigger system. Now more complex weapons like blaster bombs might require research but imagine if you were like all the sudden dropped into like the star wars universe and saw a blaster.. You would be able to use it. And the same holds true to X-Com as long as the aliens have hands like we do. And lets not complicate things by changing that.

[Guest stewart]

Realistically it's all good, but from a game play point of view it's not. What we should do is come up with an explanation why they can't be used in the field until researched. Like research reveals how to change the palm print password or something like that.

 

On the other hand we can just say no, fvck the explanation, and say tough $hit to the whiners.

[Maverick]

can't we all just get along? (i tried to ask the aliens that once in the original and they proceeded to extract my DNA and destroy my planet....)

 

Anyway, yeah, sure I could pick up a plasma gun and regardless of its fingerprint mechanism or other safeguards I could still make it work (you want dna? remember the knife we added, well I cut off the aliens hand and carried it around with my gun...how about THAT?) but there are many creative things we can do to keep that from happening.

 

Remember the movie Blade....his sword....how would you like a plasmatic anti-matter explosion in your guy's face because he picked up a weapon and didn't know how to disarm it? Have you ever seen Die Hard 2...the radio's with 8 digit codes...how would you like your guy to sit and fiddle with 54646576541657 possible combinations to activate the gun? Or here's another possibility...it turns off if they drop it. (not the best idea) but that means it would take another couple minutes to charge up (and I quote from the original UFOpedia "within a minute" particle field)

 

OK, so there are a bunch of good reasons not to go around picking up random alien technology while they are firing 300 rounds a minute at your head. If these really aren't good reasons for you, i'll design a gun for you and let you take a look at it without pointing anything out, and you can tell me the sequence and order to turn it on, deactive the safety, and fire it. Yes, we can figure it out sitting out on a battlefield when our lives depend on it, but its just so much more fun to let the scientists take care of it. Otherwise they'll sit back at the base and play solitaire on their computer livin the high life.

 

Just out of curiosity, how dificult is it to include flash features (like a flash movie) into this code?

[ShadowHawk]

Ok, I'll give a quick hint about the reason I had in mind why the alien weapons needed to be researched first:

 

The alien targetting and firing system is linked with the implants within the alien mind, or in the case of the sectoids and etherials, controlled directly via psionics.

 

You can imagine how much more accurate such a system would be - no lag time between wanting to shoot and actually shooting, more easily able to fire from the gun's perspective, etc. Furthermore, it helps explain why the alien weapons can have better accuracy at the short range we're playing at than the human ones, amid other reasons.

 

The point is: it is better gameplay (and more fun) to require research, and there are ways to rationalize it with the story. With any luck, we'll have the skill to make a convincing and immersive story to boot

[Fatal_Error]

still i think that humans should not be able to use alien weapons at all meaning that all weapons used by x-com have to be manufactured by humans. and one should not be able to sell $hit load of alien weapons for a sky-high price. also note that aliens probably wouldnt use more than one size of the same type of a weapon. thats just plain BULLcrap!!!

 

sry about language :erm:

[red knight]

Just out of curiosity, how dificult is it to include flash features (like a flash movie) into this code?

 

Very hard, and legally troubling (if you manage to add it, not an easy task on its own)... Flash is a propietary technology, you shouldnt program flash players. But technically i think that it should be a waste of our time to try to make flash OpenGL Compatible (even if its posible), there are other ways to add a movie or an intro to the game. Like create an Avi with XDiv or another compression technology where the decoders are Open Source and free to be used. Or if you dont expect to change it a lot, just create the effects hardcoded in OpenGL (not recomended but posible).

 

Greetings

Red Knight

[Maverick]

i was actually asking that question in regards to a different implementation of flash, though I'm sure there is a better way to do it, for the actual UFOpedia entries....but I won't elaborate on that...it might be a little too difficult to start worrying about right now. The final editions of the movie will be in .avi format, or any other movie format you'd like for that matter. I can't program them into OpenGL myself because I've never even heard of such a thing, but I can get DreamWeaver and export the file in any other format you'd like. Basically, we don't have to worry about the intro movie's format because it is only being created in flash, and to my knowledge there is no legality issue with that. (it would be like having a legality issue with using notepad to make a website...)

[Devatar]

About the gun thing. I imagine all humanoid weapons would have the same configuration. (trigger, barrel, magazine, and some way of distributing the force from the blast.) So their weapons would look more like ours. Besides, it's not really in the spirit of X-com if we make aliens use little silver spheres that sparkle and magically produce tesla coils.

 

And hey, it is logical to make weapons of different sizes. (although not in human-human combat, since we pretty much die with a one shot. why waste resources?) But well, for example. Rifles will always be more accurate than pistols, because of the longer barrel, so they are much more tactical in sniping situations. Heavy armaments would be better in combat with tanks and such, while pistols would be useless, but then again when fighting soldiers the extra weight of a plasma cannon would just slow you down. I say there's a size for every occasion.

 

Still have no idea about why we can't use 'em immediately, though.

[gangsta]

Ok, I'll give a quick hint about the reason I had in mind why the alien weapons needed to be researched first:

 

The alien targetting and firing system is linked with the implants within the alien mind, or in the case of the sectoids and etherials, controlled directly via psionics.

 

You can imagine how much more accurate such a system would be - no lag time between wanting to shoot and actually shooting, more easily able to fire from the gun's perspective, etc.  Furthermore, it helps explain why the alien weapons can have better accuracy at the short range we're playing at than the human ones, amid other reasons.

 

The point is: it is better gameplay (and more fun) to require research, and there are ways to rationalize it with the story.  With any luck, we'll have the skill to make a convincing and immersive story to boot

Ah comeon that is a close minded answer about it being more fun. How would you know unless you tried it. Like most of the suggestions here to determine if it would work requires testing. Anything that has been suggested that drastically alters gameplay won't get added to the stable version untill it has been tested by the testing team. I'm guessing everyone is going to be part of that.

 

As for an item req. maint. that is a good thing to implement programming wise as a flag. Allows for future expension.

[Stnuke]

True story: Early in the "career" of international terrorist Carlos the Jackal, he was involved in seizing an embassy (the location escapes me). While searching the washrooms, he was jumped by a diplomat, who took away the terorists submachinegun. Unfortunately for the diplomat and the world in general, the man couldn't find the safety, so Carlos took out his pistol and shot him to death.

 

Now, had the diplomat been more familiar with firearms he may have had more luck, but who knows. Take an assault rifle.. on a C7 at least, if you don't strike the charging handle twice while preparing the weapon to fire, it may jam. Any firearm may jam if it's not kept clean, and if fired with an obstruction in the barrel may explode.

 

It's really not a matter of picking up a gun and pulling the trigger, much less when it's an alien deathray. I mean what lever on the plasma rifle do you have to push to keep the thing from exploding when you pull the trigger, and how do you clear a jam. For that matter how does the sighting work, and what does that flashing red light mean.

 

And ignorance is far from the greatest potential pitfall. Even today there are schemes available or being planned to make sure a weapon is only fired by it's rightfull owner. (using fingerprints, hand geometry, or magnetic rings). Even where a scheme can be bypassed, it will require research do figure out how.

 

If you simply must use weapons without research how about this

 

10% chance weapon fires as normal

25% weapon is usable at 1/2 accuracy, but can't be reloaded

25% weapons detects and electrocutes unauthorized user

10% weapon explodes due to user error

30% weapon breaks; inoperable until rebuilt by a trained engineer

 

On a more serious note, the research to use a weapon could be easier/separate from the know how to build (and repair?) it.

[CannonFodder]

or you could go:

 

25% chance to fire normally.

25% chance to fire at a reduced accuracy.

50% chance to shoot yourself in the foot.

 

and no reloading till the scientists figure out how to get the clip out.

[ShadowHawk]

Ah comeon that is a close minded answer about it being more fun.  How would you know unless you tried it.  Like most of the suggestions here to determine if it would work requires testing.  Anything that has been suggested that drastically alters gameplay won't get added to the stable version untill it has been tested by the testing team. I'm guessing everyone is going to be part of that.

 

As for an item req. maint. that is a good thing to implement programming wise as a flag.  Allows for future expension.

No, it sorta follows logically, for several reasons.

 

First of all, we can safely assume that the original designers of XCOM had this exact discussion come up, and ultimately decided that immediately jumping to alien technology after the first mission was a bad decision.

 

Furthermore, we know that slowing the weapons progress of the game down a bit will make it more enjoyable - speeding it up would have an opposite effect.

[Guest Guest]

True story: Early in the "career" of international terrorist Carlos the Jackal, he was involved in seizing an embassy (the location escapes me).  While searching the washrooms, he was jumped by a diplomat, who took away the terorists submachinegun.  Unfortunately for the diplomat and the world in general, the man couldn't find the safety, so Carlos took out his pistol and shot him to death.

 

Now, had the diplomat been more familiar with firearms he may have had more luck, but who knows.  Take an assault rifle.. on a C7 at least, if you don't strike the charging handle twice while preparing the weapon to fire, it may jam.  Any firearm may jam if it's not kept clean, and if fired with an obstruction in the barrel may explode. 

 

It's really not a matter of picking up a gun and pulling the trigger, much less when it's an alien deathray.  I mean what lever on the plasma rifle do you have to push to keep the thing from exploding when you pull the trigger, and how do you clear a jam.  For that matter how does the sighting work, and what does that flashing red light mean.

 

And ignorance is far from the greatest potential pitfall.  Even today there are schemes available or being planned to make sure a weapon is only fired by it's rightfull owner. (using fingerprints, hand geometry, or magnetic rings).  Even where a scheme can be bypassed, it will require research do figure out how.

 

If you simply must use weapons without research how about this

 

10% chance weapon fires as normal

25% weapon is usable at 1/2 accuracy, but can't be reloaded

25% weapons detects and electrocutes unauthorized user

10% weapon explodes due to user error

30% weapon breaks; inoperable until rebuilt by a trained engineer

 

On a more serious note, the research to use a weapon could be easier/separate from the know how to build (and repair?) it.

10% chance weapon explodes due to you pulling the trigger too hard?

[Guest Guest]

Ah comeon that is a close minded answer about it being more fun.  How would you know unless you tried it.  Like most of the suggestions here to determine if it would work requires testing.  Anything that has been suggested that drastically alters gameplay won't get added to the stable version untill it has been tested by the testing team. I'm guessing everyone is going to be part of that.

 

As for an item req. maint. that is a good thing to implement programming wise as a flag.  Allows for future expension.

No, it sorta follows logically, for several reasons.

 

First of all, we can safely assume that the original designers of XCOM had this exact discussion come up, and ultimately decided that immediately jumping to alien technology after the first mission was a bad decision.

 

Furthermore, we know that slowing the weapons progress of the game down a bit will make it more enjoyable - speeding it up would have an opposite effect.

no we can't safely assume that. was it decart(sp) or whoever who said "Assume nothing" First off what I proposed will only effect how a battle goes where you go and pick up alien an alien gun. Now having played X-Com alot I can tell you even if you could pickup a plasma rifle right away it will still be rare when a player picks up an alien weapon. Going to where an alien is and wasting TUs in both dropping your weapon and picking up another weapon can get you killed. I really don't think in the heat of a battle that will happen too often. Now if a non researched weapon becomes useless after a mission people would still want to research plasma. I think what I am suggesting just adds another element of stratagy to the game. trying to pickup an alien weapon can hurt you more than it can help you. Also I'm talking about the simple weapons like Plasma weapons. For a blaster launcher the player should still be able to fire I but there should be a like a 90% chance the player doesn't know how to work the guidance system and the blaster bomb usually ends up killing the player. For stun bombs we perhaps can make the stun bombs highly sensative and trying to reload one without research can cause a 40 % chance of the stun bomb going off while loading.

 

Anyway you can't just assume these things because the Original designers did make mistakes and you don't know what they talked about. What you really are doing here is poisoning the well of ideas before even seeing if they could work. I don't know if the above will work but I assure you I carefully thought it out how to implement the above to balance out any negative effects on gameplay it has. Might work, might not but it requires testing like any new idea here requires testing.

[Guest Guest]

or you could go:

 

25% chance to fire normally.

25% chance to fire at a reduced accuracy.

50% chance to shoot yourself in the foot.

 

and no reloading till the scientists figure out how to get the clip out.

well I don't know about the reduction on accuracy for plasma weapons. for other weapons sure. But the reloading thing is a good idea for plasma weapons.. you should be able to reload blaster launchers and stun bomb launchers. Using a blaster bomb without reaserch will probably kill you and trying to reload a stun bomb launcher can make it go off. In fact, maybe soldiers should have special training for both those skills?

[Guest Gangsta <-]

ah btw both those posted by gangsta just forgot to login

[Stnuke]

10% chance weapon explodes due to you pulling the trigger too hard?

forgetting to press the button that initiates magnetic containment in the secondary fusion reaction chamber.

[gangsta]

you mean even though us humans are smart enough to automate things like that the aliens aren't?

[CannonFodder]

Nah, the manufacturers were cutting down on expenses to make the weapons affordable, and so reclassed that bug as a security feature

 

"Someone steal your gun? don't worry! If they haven't read the manual they'll blow themselves to smitherens!"

[Guest Guest]

those aliens aren't worried because there is no elerium in our solar system.. They expected us to be pushovers

[Devatar]

Yeah, I agree that simple weapons should still be usable though unresearched, but with a degree of uncertainty as to the results. I'm sure that any creature who designs weapons would make it so that the weapon can be fired without much fuss, since fuss in the heat of battle is pretty much a death wish. :monster: :ninja:

 

So it's pretty safe to assume that aliens would put some features like energy controls and such, but these features wouldn't hinder the smooth usage of the weapon. And also, since the aliens were using the things and you just killed them, the settings were probably on shoot-away mode anyway.

 

(And it's also perfectly logical to assume that advanced alien races would put some form of user id system in their weapons.)

[Guest stewart]

I think from a gaming point of this is a really bad idea.

 

However, how about if we test it first before setting it in stone?

Then I might change my mind or . . . . .

[Alien's Nightmare]

Wow!I just saw this topic...nice toughts on particle phisix,but i don't understand a peep...(not show )Well,the ideas are good,i laughed a lot,but here is the deal:you have a choice to try to use the gun.Then it can:

do what it supposed to do-very little chance

malfunction-explode or just melt your head off

It is quite funny:how the heck can a soldier fire or use something that he/she didn't even smell...

[Maverick]

I can hear it now....

 

"Attention all X-com soldiers, listen up...When you're out there in the field, do not look directly down the barrel of an alien gun while trying to fire it..."

 

The only reason an alien weapon should be used, is that it can be used. If you're not gonna be able to use the weapon normally (or at least to the greater chance normally) than average players (not just avid fans who want to cheat) will not pick up the guns and use them. It will be a wasted feature. Not to mention it adds an entire new aspect to coding, because from a logic point of view, if Dave picks up a plasma rifle and fires it until the ammo is out, and then Dave picks up another plasma rifle, shouldn't that mean that Dave can now use plasma rifles forever? (smart Dave, he figured it out...) go Dave go! :uzzi:

 

it gets very complicated because now soldiers have even more individualized stats than they had before... i.e. who can and cannot use certain weapons. I think that there was a major trade off made in the development of the game that falls under the theory "it all balances out". It is true that you can't pick up and use alien technology as you find it in battle, but after you research it, you do not have to train each soldier in using that particular technology. (the only exception is psionics, and for good reason) lets say that you can start using weapons right when you find them, but they have all these potential problems...then you reasearch them and that allows you to take the weapons with you on missions, though they still have problems, then you train each soldier for two weeks before he can use that weapon flawlessly in battle. I'll tell you what, if it takes two weeks to train your soldiers to use plasma guns, I'm gonna have a constant stock of like 20 soldiers just sitting around my base training. the way I went through soldiers in X-com (only one soldier from my original team made it to Cydonia) I'd never be able to use plasma weapons with any frequency (which would be good for my elerium stockpiles). Basically I think that if we are going to take on this topic we need to do it from a more organized perspective than shouting across the room like children (nu-uh stupid head... )

 

I propose a list of pro's, con's, and solutions. If you have a liking to one or the other side of the debate, make a list and post it, when all is said and done we'll have enough input that we should be able to reach a reasonable consensus.

[ShadowHawk]

Anyway you can't just assume these things because the Original designers did make mistakes and you don't know what they talked about.  What you really are doing here is poisoning the well of ideas before even seeing if they could work.  I don't know if the above will work but I assure you I carefully thought it out how to implement the above to balance out any negative effects on gameplay it has.  Might work, might not but it requires testing like any new idea here requires testing.

Then we can agree on tabling the issue until much more of the game is implemented.

[gangsta]

Yeah, I agree that simple weapons should still be usable though unresearched, but with a degree of uncertainty as to the results. I'm sure that any creature who designs weapons would make it so that the weapon can be fired without much fuss, since fuss in the heat of battle is pretty much a death wish.  :monster:  :ninja:

 

So it's pretty safe to assume that aliens would put some features like energy controls and such, but these features wouldn't hinder the smooth usage of the weapon. And also, since the aliens were using the things and you just killed them, the settings were probably on shoot-away mode anyway.

 

(And it's also perfectly logical to assume that advanced alien races would put some form of user id system in their weapons.)

the small degree of inaccuracy might not even be needed. gotta test it out to see. but one thing is for sure we want to make the game harder than X-Com 1.

[Stnuke]

The only reason an alien weapon should be used, is that it can be used.  If you're not gonna be able to use the weapon normally (or at least to the greater chance normally) than average players (not just avid fans who want to cheat) will not pick up the guns and use them.  It will be a wasted feature.

It was never meant as a serious suggestion

[Guest stewart]

Okay then lets write the code so that it is easy to revert to the "normal" XCOM ruleset, in case, as I suspect, it will suck.

[gangsta]

well sure remeber I suggested we implement any changes that stray from the original rule set in diffrent modes or modules. There should be modes for the classic X-Com 1 style without anythign added to it.

[Guest stewart]

IVE GOT IT!!!!!

 

Pickupable weapons or not is a difficulty setting.

 

** Temendous Applause **

Stewart: Thank you! Thank you! Oh, you're too kind! I'm only interested in helping! Please send your check to. . .

 

I believe this issue is now closed or am i wrong folks.

[gangsta]

well like I said though ability to pick up weapons doesn't nessarily make the game easier and the heaver alien weapons are dangerous to use.

[gangsta]

Besides X-Com 1 is so damn easy I don't know if easy and superhuman are that much diffrent. I'd get rid of the difficult setting and just make the game difficult because all real fans of the series play the game as superhuman.

[Guest stewart]

So you want to make an effort specifically to deny people having to wait for research? Make it a setting and everys happy, sheesh!

[Fatal_Error]

Besides X-Com 1 is so damn easy I don't know if easy and superhuman are that much diffrent.  I'd get rid of the difficult setting and just make the game difficult because all real fans of the series play the game as superhuman.

e.g. i dont play it as superhuman ... so i am not a fan?? thou i think ive played apocalypse the most and therefore also with the superhuman level

[Stnuke]

Besides X-Com 1 is so damn easy I don't know if easy and superhuman are that much diffrent.  I'd get rid of the difficult setting and just make the game difficult because all real fans of the series play the game as superhuman.

Asfaik there was a bug in the original that always reset the difficulty to easy after the first mission. I don't know if or when it was fixed.

 

TFTD, while being IMO a lame rip off, was a lot harder.

 

I don't think it is a bug. I think you do get things more earlier in the game and slightly more often. but I don't think it greatly increases the difficulty. For awhile when I first played I played my way up through the dificulty level thinking that superhuman was like nightmare in doom. Was a big waste of my time I think since I would have been able to handle superhuman anyway after a few missions. I think most people become good after a couple of missions. To me the dificulty settings do nothing but confuse people and makes alot of people play on level they are way above of.

[gangsta]

So you want to make an effort specifically to deny people having to wait for research?  Make it a setting and everys happy, sheesh!

Well I don't think of it as something that makes the game any easier to play. Instead I think of it as something that changes the stratagy of the game. Plasma weapons still become useless if not researched. I think how it will change the game is people will think is it worth it to pick up that heavy plasma across the street and pick it up? Shoot even in a crash site mission the guy who picks up the weapon will be left behind by all the time it takes to pick it up. If it is in the UFO he is taking the chance of getting killed since an alien can pop open a door to take a shot. At least in my opinion it hasn't been proven yet that this makes the game easier. On the other hand it hasn't been proven to work yet either. I *Always* play the game as super human and I like the sound of this feature because I don't think it makes the game easier. Yet on the other hand I know this feature should be dissable in the Classic Mode and should be out of the main mode of gameplay of the default game until it has proven itself to work in say the feature test mode or whatever by the testing team. Now as for a user setable option outside the realm of difficulty levels I'm all for it being able to be turned on/off. I just think you should still be able to play it in 'superhuman' mode and am actually in favor of getting rid of the difficulty settings because In X-Com 1 they are somewhat meaningless IMHO and could be annoying to implement. I say just make the game hard enough with options that the user can change from the default including some difficulty settings if they're wimps For multiplayer the game needs to play at superhuman level though I think.

[gangsta]

Besides X-Com 1 is so damn easy I don't know if easy and superhuman are that much diffrent.  I'd get rid of the difficult setting and just make the game difficult because all real fans of the series play the game as superhuman.

e.g. i dont play it as superhuman ... so i am not a fan?? thou i think ive played apocalypse the most and therefore also with the superhuman level

Well you're a fan but not a *real* fan *G*.. Actually how come don't you play it on superhuman level? The main thing critics of X-Com 1 point out is that the game is way too easy even in superhuman mode. I'd have to agree even though it is my favorite X-Com. Note, I only think a self respecting fan would play the game in superhuman because it is *so* damn easy. TFTD is another story but much of the reason why TFTD is so hard is because of bugs in the design I think. Or that it was released before it was a finished product.

[Fatal_Error]

Besides X-Com 1 is so damn easy I don't know if easy and superhuman are that much diffrent.  I'd get rid of the difficult setting and just make the game difficult because all real fans of the series play the game as superhuman.

e.g. i dont play it as superhuman ... so i am not a fan?? thou i think ive played apocalypse the most and therefore also with the superhuman level

Well you're a fan but not a *real* fan *G*.. Actually how come don't you play it on superhuman level? The main thing critics of X-Com 1 point out is that the game is way too easy even in superhuman mode. I'd have to agree even though it is my favorite X-Com. Note, I only think a self respecting fan would play the game in superhuman because it is *so* damn easy. TFTD is another story but much of the reason why TFTD is so hard is because of bugs in the design I think. Or that it was released before it was a finished product.

actually i consider myself very much a real fan . it's just that i enjoy other things in a game rather than difficulty levels... i actually prefer games that have only one difficulty level no matter how difficult it then might be. imo superhuman level (or whatever its called in other games) is an overpush coz its just an lame attempt to include some unlogical features to make the game harder for mo experienced players.

 

but then again this is just my worthless opinion

[gangsta]

Besides X-Com 1 is so damn easy I don't know if easy and superhuman are that much diffrent.  I'd get rid of the difficult setting and just make the game difficult because all real fans of the series play the game as superhuman.

e.g. i dont play it as superhuman ... so i am not a fan?? thou i think ive played apocalypse the most and therefore also with the superhuman level

Well you're a fan but not a *real* fan *G*.. Actually how come don't you play it on superhuman level? The main thing critics of X-Com 1 point out is that the game is way too easy even in superhuman mode. I'd have to agree even though it is my favorite X-Com. Note, I only think a self respecting fan would play the game in superhuman because it is *so* damn easy. TFTD is another story but much of the reason why TFTD is so hard is because of bugs in the design I think. Or that it was released before it was a finished product.

actually i consider myself very much a real fan . it's just that i enjoy other things in a game rather than difficulty levels... i actually prefer games that have only one difficulty level no matter how difficult it then might be. imo superhuman level (or whatever its called in other games) is an overpush coz its just an lame attempt to include some unlogical features to make the game harder for mo experienced players.

 

but then again this is just my worthless opinion

no no no.. that's not just your opinion.. That's what I'm arguing to stewart too. I too am for just one dificulty level and believe instead that there should be an options menu to change the settings. I agree with the stupid rule to make things harder bit. My main thing is I don't believe you have to sacrafice realism to make a game harder. You know you could be right about X-Com 1 because I haven't notice what gets turned off between the modes. I just know they're all easy and the only thing I notice is that somethings happen earlier in superhuman. So I do think superhuman is slightly more difficult but it was closeminded of me not to think that maybe a cool feature gets turned off just for the name of dificulty when it doesn't make sense.

[Guest stewart]

Fine make it a "setting" then.

 

Xrist it's not like I'm saying you can't have what you want, go ahead! But in my case I'm gonna click the checkbox to say "must research first".

 

You're getting what you want, what's with all this effort to take away what the others like me want?

 

It's a good compromise.

[LordT]

Please... mommy... daddy... don't fight... not now... please?

 

Well anyway, i'd go for the classic x-com research first kind of way

[Devatar]

Cool it, guys. You're scaring the bunny.

 

Yes, definately make this a user setting.

 

Hey we should make a rule. Anything that gets more than 30 posts and still isn't resolved should be a setting.

 

(Yes, I am kidding.)

[gangsta]

bah I didn't know I was trying to take anything away from anybody. I just wanted to add an option and didn't believe it had anything to do with the difficulty in the game. Well anyways sure the original game rules will be implemented. I think those will be the default rules for the first release and then eventually will be moved to a classic mode after the game testers have figured out what works best for the default game. Really no big deal because these little things aren't that hard to implement.

[gangsta]

Cool it, guys. You're scaring the bunny.

BTW I used to eat bunnies for lunch. :devilsmile:

[Guest stewart]

Very well it was a virtual arguement over terminology.

 

This issue is settled!

 

Take the rest of the day off!

[gangsta]

well I think both of us favored making the game like the original first before adding any features anyway. That is everything except things considered to be bugs like the interfaces will probably be merged and the equiping of the crew will be less annoying and then eventually auto as an option.