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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

Suggestions/comments/improvements for future XCOM like games


oldfan

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I used to play the XCOM series (Enemy Unknown, Terror From The Deep, XCOM Apocalypse) years ago when I was a teenager. I recently came across X-Com Collector's Edition and that brought back a lot of memories - so I purchased it. I put lots of enjoyable hours since into game (Enemy Unknown). The game is old and doesn't have impressive graphics by today's standards and has more than a few bugs. However, it is still an excellent game and I haven't seen nor heard of anything (remakes, XCOM wannabes, imitations, games influenced by) that come even close to it. Browsing the internet I found lots of posts of people stating how nothing compares with the old original game and wish that somebody would come up with a new game that has the original game feel to it.

 

I also looked at (not played) the UFO AfterXXX series (Aftermath, Aftershock, Afterlight). Semi real-time is an interesting approach, as it does allow the player to think (the game pauses when a new threat is revealed) and plan ahead. I haven't really tried playing that so I cannot comment from experience. However, I seem to better enjoy a chess like turn based game.

 

I recently learned that 2K Games are making a remake of XCOM, though it seems to be an FPS (First Person Shooter). If that is indeed the case, I can't see how it can relate to turn based strategy game and base/resource management. It may very well prove to have very little with the original series. I also came to learn that Chaos Concept is working on UFO 2 Extraterrestrial. I read mixed reviews about their first game, though I'm under the impression that the second game (prequel) is going to be very good and have the classic XCOM feel.

 

Anyways, I have formulated a list of game changes/improvements/suggestions/enhancements that I personally would like to see. I hope that other fans contribute to this thread so it can provide ideas/feedback to game developers (current and future), thus enhance future game experience. Note that my observations are based on the three XCOM original games only (Enemy Unknown, Terror From The Deep, XCOM Apocalypse). I would also like to note that I'm a computer programmer myself (though not a game developer) which makes me fully aware of generic development limitations (time, budget, complexity, proper quality assurance, resources (amount of programmers), endless improvement list). Earlier in my life I was also a soldier in a combat field unit, so I can point to a few things which are weapons related.

 

I have grouped my suggestions/comments below. Note that the list is quite extensive (time to grab some snacks and lean back in your chair).

 

Storyline/Plot

  1. Why are the aliens here? In most games of humans versus aliens it is to take over planet Earth or to annihilate the human race. How about something like the following: in a galaxy far, far away, an alien federation (composed of various races) realize that a star in their solar system is going to go super-nova in a few millenniums. They dispatch large scouting fleets (tens and hundreds of fleets) to far galaxies in a search for a new home. The aliens that found Earth, are actually one of these fleets. While they do have hundreds of ships, weapons, repair/manufacturing facilities, they were designed to be a scouting fleet and not an invasion/battle fleet. As such, they are probing planet Earth (strengths, weaknesses). Also, even though they have superior technology, they don't intend on simply obliterating Earth (they want to live there) and they are aware that a show of mighty force (the fleet is composed of a FEW battleships) may prompt nations to use nuclear arsenal which will make certain places on Earth uninhabitable. Also, nukes are not being used as no country want to nuke a ship over their territory and other countries will not respond nicely if they have a UFO nuked over their territory. The fleet journey was a long one and the fleet is lacking some resources (minerals/metals) which are needed for repairs/maintenance. This explains why they raid mines, factories, and other resource rich places. They also pick up some "live samples" of animals and people for study. Initially you start WITHOUT any bases and personnel. Your first mission is in a small town somewhere, and your "troops" are a few police officers which respond to a panicking call made by a few civilians in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Upon arriving to the scene, you are confronted with aliens and you play that mission and FAIL (overwhelming odds and inadequate weaponry). This prompts the government to realize that the threat is serious. Military means are ruled out as this has to be remain top secret and sending military special ops to other countries is not acceptable from a diplomatic standpoint. Therefore, a group of nations (few nations, initially) decide to form a limited "international" alliance/partnership that will have personnel (soldiers) from each country (more nations mean a greater recruitment pool), thus feeling safer that they have a few of their own in the XCOM agency to maintain their interests and observe neutrality. To limit public awareness and possible world scale panic, usage of heavy weapon platforms (really heavy, I mean) like tanks, mobile artillery, gunships, and jet fighters is restricted (nobody will be able to keep a secret if a tank rolls down the street somewhere and start shooting at aliens). Furthermore, as head of the XCOM organization, you do have a large amount of autonomy - the funding nations do not want to give you too much of it: small commando like units is one thing but having gunships/tanks crossing borders is different. Also, governments can't simply spend millions/billions into the project - somebody will notice. This explains the relatively small funding of just a few millions. At this point, while still a potential threat, public unawareness is more important. Your heavy hardware is limited to troop transport (helicopters, planes), interceptors to shoot down UFOs ONLY, ships (they are relatively isolated from the "people"), and some other support crafts for non combat missions such as scouting and UFO extraction/transport. Detection systems are allowed to be built on a funding country soil only (the more nations you can get to fund you the greater your detection coverage) or ships (in international waters).
  2. Even though alien races possess superior technology, when it comes to tactical combat, they are not skilled as humans. The reason being is that their overall initial mission is not invasion (large scouting mission) and they don't have internal conflicts/wars/crime like humans do, so they never developed the know how skills. However, in large numbers and powerful weaponry they can be lethal. Also, certain races are better suited for combat: better skills, they form squads, seek cover, etc.
  3. There is some sort of alien hierarchy within their ranks. Some are more technological, some are warriors, etc. This should affect the types of equipment/UFOs/weapons/artifacts each race has.

I just made this up and it could be something else, though this sort of storyline explains why the aliens don't just bomb everything from orbit and move on. Also, "Alien Origins" should be a researchable "technology" (like in Enemy Unknown), but it would come as a possible THEORY, one out of many, why the aliens are here. This, in response, will allow various actions to be taken like contacting other groups/nations/organizations and getting their co-operation. Let's do without the "aliens are pure evil who want to destroy/enslave us all" story. As the game progresses, you develop better understanding of why the aliens are here (or improve upon your theories).

 

Realism

  1. No mind control PERIOD (too sci-fi). However, as the aliens are quite technologically advanced, they have a better understanding of the manner in which the human brain functions. They might be able to come up with a device which is able to transmit certain waves (pointed to someone) or broadcast waves (radius based) which affects the human brain and triggers symptoms like:
    • confusion
    • nausea
    • fear: running away (panicking), freezing, berserking
    • fatigue
    • other

HOWEVER, this device affects ONLY the human brain and does not affect aliens (only aliens possess this capability). Some humans are affected less by such a device and some more (brain differences/anomalies/immunity). If such a device is captured, it can be researched and used to evaluate a person's weaknesses. Perhaps a device which disrupts/weakens these waves can be constructed. Such a device can be small and carried by a person (very expensive) or a larger deployable device which can cover a certain radius (jam/disrupt harmful waves).

[*]No mind probes. For alien statistics, see below autopsy research under technology/research.

[*]Ranged based accuracy: when firing at a remote target, the chances of snap shots or automatic fire to hit the target are VERY low. A soldier has to take his time in order to perform an aimed shot. A weapon's class also plays a critical role in establishing the likelihood of hitting the target: hand guns, for example, have very limited range as opposed to assault rifles. However, hand guns are quite useful at close ranges and can be carried as a supplementary weapon which has a very light weight. Also, if the target is very close, there should be a near zero chance of missing it.

[*]Costs:

  • personnel: soldiers/scientists/engineers/ground crews/maintenance/trainers/medics/doctors/pilots
  • weapons: an air to air missile does NOT cost $9,000 (Avalanche)

[*]Maintenance/repairs:

  • reasonable craft arming/refueling/repair time
  • When sending a troop transport or interceptor up in the air, it consumes fuel which costs money.

[*]Aliens cannot beam themselves from/to their UFO or teleport themselves (Star Trek style). Their craft must land and they have to go back to it on foot when leaving the area (tactical mission). A UFO may also dispatch ground units and leave, coming back for extraction later.

[*]You can't fight underwater and walk like that (Terror From The Deep).

[*]Biological alien units should not possess "supernatural" powers:

  • Aliens can't turn you into a zombie (Chryssalid from Enemy Unknown) and control you.
  • Aliens can't mind control you either telepathically (Psi) or biologically (like those annoying brainsucker from XCOM Apocalypse).
  • They can't fly, especially if they don't have any flying suit gadget (Floater from Enemy Unknown).
  • Some aliens may have very thick skin though they can't take a rocket hit and have it affect them like a mosquito bite (Lobsterman from Terror From The Deep).

[*]Don't make the game too "futuristic" or "sci-fi". Make it more "real".

[*]Even if you capture a completely intact UFO, you cannot fly it. It is like having the guy who "drives" horse carriages from a few centuries ago step into the driver seat of a modern car (with manual gears) and expect him to drive it. The computers/engine-start/navigations are in a different language and are way too advanced for human kind at this point of time. You have to transport the UFO (somehow) to your base.

[*]No force shields of any sorts. Maybe, and it is a BIG maybe, on an alien battle ship.

[*]No flying armor - too futuristic/sci-fi. Perhaps some alien HWPs have this capability which can be adopted to earthly HWPs. However, it is quite expensive to do all the customization and you have to be careful not to destroy or severely damage the alien HWP in order to research its parts. The anti-gravity engine is too bulky to be carried by a human soldier - only an HWP.

[*]If your soldier gets hit in the face by a missile and it explodes, he dies, regardless of what armor he is wearing.

[*]Unconscious units don't always die or have their corpses disappear if a grenade explodes nearby (especially if they are wearing armor).

[*]Do you have to put hundreds of research hours in order to learn how to pull a trigger of an alien energy weapon? But then again, having access so early in the game to such powerful weaponry is an overpower problem. A reasonable explanation should be found or some constraints developed. The only ones I can think of are:

  • Initially you can't use alien weaponry for unknown reasons (similar to the "District 9" movie).
  • Anticipating that their energy weapons (personal "firearms") might fall into human hands, the aliens removed the "clip" (power cell) capability and they have a special device on some of their ships which can recharge the power cell. This means that you have a limited amount of shots (at least in the initially phases of the game).

[*]UFOs try to avoid detection - they don't travel half way around the world to land somewhere. Instead, the enter the atmosphere close by and land. Also, I have seen (Enemy Unknown) weird UFO behavior: when it slows down, the UFO sometimes flies quite a distance to one direction, only to completely reverse its course (while speeding up a little) and going back to where it was 3-4 hours ago and landing there. Duh?!

[*]XCOM agency cannot manufacture items, research technology and alien artifacts, or perform autopsies. However, various countries have powerful corporations which would be more than happy to examine and conduct research on alien artifacts (this is a golden opportunity for them). These corporations are scattered around the globe and headquarted in different countries. They have specific areas of expertise (this aspect of corporations exists in a very limited way in XCOM Apocalypse):

  • weaponry: need I say more
  • power/fuel: engines/propulsion/power source
  • navigation/guidance: advanced craft weaponry
  • bio-research/technology: biological weapons and alien autopsies
  • metallurgy: produce various alien alloys (or new earthly ones) and advanced forms of armor (personal and for an HWP)
  • communications: advanced UFO detection systems, motion scanners, HWP communication
  • computers: advanced targeting systems for HWPs and interceptors.
  • other

You can direct/influence what is researched but the corporation has to headquartered within a funding nation. This is mostly due to politics as no funding nation will allow a nation which isn't contributing funds to rip rewards of potential advanced technologies.

 

New items/weapons/upgrades are researched and produced at a corporation's laboratory and manufacturing plant. These corporations are happy to research technologies for free. However, in order to actually produce weapons/equipment/other, they require cash or certain amount of alien artifacts as a form of payment (the latter one raises the importance of not damaging UFOs and alien artifacts too much).

 

Technology/Research

  1. The aliens are technologically superior to the human race at least by a few thousands, ten thousands, or hundred thousands of years if not more. Reverse engineering of alien artifacts and technologies, would prove to be nearly impossible. Manufacturing most (if not all) alien artifacts is impossible. However, a general understanding of an alien artifact and its purpose can be researched and at times adopted for your use. For example, a UFO power source ("engine") can be understood to be the power source and propulsion system of the UFO. It might be adopted to an earthly made craft but it CANNOT be manufactured from scratch. This affects your game play since:
    • It is now important to go on lots of tactical missions in order to salvage UFOs and alien artifacts.
    • Too powerful craft weapons may severely damage a UFO and your chances of salvaging valuables.
    • If and when to shoot down a UFO is more important.

[*]Preliminary research - this is related to alien technology/artifacts/autopsies only. Prior of doing the "main" research, a preliminary research should be done (a few days/weeks) in order to give the player a clue as to what the artifact is and what are the potential benefits and other research directions it might lead to. Otherwise, this presents a problem to the player. An example to this lack of "preliminary research" can be found in Terror From The Deep - how is the player supposed to know that researching a live "Deep One" (alien race) will enable research of Ion-Armor?

[*]Alien autopsy will generally provide the following:

  • average statistics (strength, energy, movement, etc.)
  • weakness/strengths (mostly to weapon types)
  • possible biological weapons (toxin guns, gas weapons)
  • new directions for research, some are weapon specific in order to counter this threat.

Note that "live" aliens autopsies/research is performed by biological corporations while alien mechanical units (HWPs) research is performed by other technology corporations. The more alien autopsies (corpses gathered) you perform, the more accurate the statistics/weaknesses/strengths are (it averages out) and possible biological weapons are improved to a certain degree (not by too much).

[*]Concept of "generation/upgrades": various items/weapons, have varying level of sophistication/improvements which can be developed over time. For example, a first generation motion scanner has limited range and cannot "see" through rocks, metal doors, and UFOs. After researching "alien alloys" you learn about the characteristic of the metal and able to find a frequency that can "see" better through it. This allows you to improve the motion scanner and it is now able to "see" (to an extent) through UFO's hull. Upgrades, of course, cost more money and take longer to manufacture.

[*]Introduce the concept of "assistive technologies". For example, some engines/weapons/computers overheat which causes issues:

  • craft/HWP cannot move until engine cools down or it forces it to slow down significantly.
  • energy weapons (personal or craft based) may overheat and require a cool down period, thus they initially have a low fire rate.
  • certain computers do not operate optimally as they are restricted by CPU overheating (restriction of sophisticated navigation/targeting computers).

After preliminary research of "UFO power source" you discover a few directions of research:

  • elerium 115 (the fuel)
  • coolant mechanism/fluid
  • side effects: radiation and electromagnetic waves which might be researched further and allow better detection facilities to detect UFOs (improved "radar").

You decide to concentrate on coolant mechanism/fluid as you would like your HWP to have a more powerful engine (allowing it to carry more ammunition and armor) without overheating often (slowing it down or remaining motionless for a few turns until it cools down). This is considered an assistive technology.

 

Game mechanics

  1. Alien technology and artifacts cannot be sold on the "open market". The funding nations expect a "return on investment". Some artifacts may be sold for cash or substituted for manufacturing/research but only with funding nations or the corporations under their umbrella. In any event, you should not be able to make ridiculous amounts of money by selling it like the heavy plasma in Enemy Unknown.
  2. The XCOM agency is funded by various nations. These nations are genuinely worried about the UFOs and alien threat. However, they do want to see a "return on investment" by obtaining technologies (not necessarily weapons). Countries may choose to join or leave, depending on whether they see "results" and whether they are compensated (getting alien artifacts/technology).
  3. Alien races have some identical technology artifacts and some are very similar. Some should be unique per alien race. Large differences can be found at:
    • UFOs (looks and types)
    • personal/craft weapons (not all weapons)
    • "HWPs" (various mechanical assault units)
    • biology
    • unit statistics
    • Other

[*]After successfully assaulting a UFO on the ground (tactical mission of crashed/landed UFO), how exactly do you take it with you (especially large vessels)? There should be some sort of transport cost/issues. Perhaps the country in which the UFO was shot down affects whether this is possible at all. Having more countries among the funding nations is important. It also takes time to arrive to base or a corporation which can research it.

[*]Is base attack possible? How were the aliens able to locate it? Why don't they just vaporize it from the air? In any event, if it is possible, aliens will not suffer from amnesia (forget where your base is like in Enemy Unknown) and they have to land their troops first and wait for their return (UFO is on the ground). I'm thinking in favor of not having base attacks by aliens (perhaps it is deep underground and they can't find it). Though aliens may choose to attack various installations such as radar detection facilities. Having some advanced anti UFO batteries can be helpful to protect such installations.

 

Miscellaneous

  1. Do not have completely useless/unnecessary weapons (at least in the beginning). Examples from Enemy Unknown:
    • auto cannon and stingray missiles aircraft weapons - no need to use them when you have Avalanche missiles which are more accurate, have a much longer range, and cause more damage.
    • hand guns: I myself find it useless (experience training is an exploit).
    • laser cannon (for craft): too short of a range to be useful.

Completely useless weapons should be removed or improved in such a way that'll make them useful, under certain circumstances.

[*]Have a fairly large amount of alien races.

[*]UFO detection - hyper wave decoder (Enemy Unknown) is too advanced for humans. No way our scientists can decrypt a foreign signal of a civilization far more advanced technologically than ours, while we cannot break many encryption algorithm of our own. However, researching UFOs, power sources, and alien alloy/metal may reveal other ways to detect UFOs. Also, large UFOs are always easier to detect.

[*]Where do shot down UFOs go to after a few days when not assaulting them (performing tactical mission)? They just disappear (go to UFO heaven)? A reasonable explanation should be provided. A few examples:

  • nearby government forces (military) were able to capture the UFO.
  • powerful corporation or crime syndicate (or local warlord) which is aware of the situation was able to raid the crash site.
  • unknown XCOM like agencies (you're not the only one) were able to get to it.
  • UFO was slightly damaged and its crew was able to repair it.
  • Extraction UFO was sent to help the downed UFO (duh...).

This should potentially affect the game in some manner (don't let others have technology fall into their hands). It may make some funding governments upset resulting in funding reduction or less demand for certain alien artifacts as form of payment (they got it from others).

[*]Morale: "Bravery" should be substituted with "Confidence". Each soldier has a basic confidence level. However, it works differently than in Enemy Unknown. As soldiers become more experienced, their confidence grows. Confidence "points" should be awarded by:

  • surviving a TOUGH battle
  • gradually over time (slower than others)
  • confronting threats from up close (tile wise)
  • killing an unusual high amount of aliens during a mission (soldier becomes very confident/proud at himself).

[*]Assaulting a landed (intact) UFO:

  • Aliens may choose to retreat, possibly leaving their comrades in the field, if the battle goes badly.
  • Should you be able to attack a landed UFO from your interceptor craft?
  • Do aliens just allow anybody on the outside to open the doors? Are they that friendly? Hmmmmmm..... most likely you have to blow the doors with special explosive charges or try some sophisticated "open sesame" slogans.

[*]RPG elements (I think AfterXXX series has this but am not sure):

  • Soldier level: raising in levels allows to improve stats/skills.
  • Experience points (generic and skill specific) which are granted depending on soldier's actions.
  • Proficiency with weapon types: a solider has a base accuracy. However, the more he uses a certain type of weapon, the more proficient he/she becomes with it. Somebody who is great with M-16 may not be so great with a rocket launcher or a hand gun.

[*]Training - in order to maintain certain skills and/or slightly increase them over the course of time (while remaining in the base), you should have various training facilities. However, weapon training costs money (ammunition).

[*]Items can get damaged (or destroyed) and may need repairs. This typically happens from explosions.

[*]Personnel (soldiers/technicians/scientists/pilots) pay is calculated per day. Even though the paycheck is at the end of the month, if you fire personnel or a soldier is KIA, funds are still deducted (at the end of the month) for the time served/worked during that month (in the case of soldiers KIA, the money goes to their "beneficiaries").

[*]Injuries/healing:

  • Certain injuries are permanent. While you saved your soldier's life, he or she cannot function as a combat field soldier anymore (perhaps they can work at the base's training facility).
  • More intelligent injury and recovery mechanics.
  • Aliens can be injured too and bleed.
  • Intelligent injury treatment on the field. You can use a med kit to treat yourself AND others.
  • Perhaps there should be a "medic" skill for soldiers. Some soldiers are better than others at treating wounds/injuries on the battlefield.
  • HWPs (and similar alien units) may be damaged and loose certain capabilities (mobility, firing accuracy, ammunition reloading, etc.)

[*]A wider array of alien missions:

  • Scouting: usually prior to a raid though not necessarily
  • strategic:
    • Destroying a detection facility (radar)
    • Obtaining minerals: raiding mines, factories, etc.

    [*]Abduction (obtaining biological "samples" - and no, they do not land in the middle of the desert to pick up some rattle snakes):

    • Humans (usually from small remote towns)
    • Various live stock (farms)

    [*]Unsure about the following:

    • Retaliation - against what if no base attacks?
    • Terror - do aliens wait for hours until you get there?

    [*]Other

[*]Allow soldiers to pick/hand/change items with other soldiers. No need to throw items to the ground and have the other soldier pick it up if standing very close to one another.

 

Crafts and Other Geoscape Vessels

  1. Every time you send a craft out, it consumes fuel which costs money.
  2. Increasing the weight of a craft (weapons, equipment, HWP, soldiers) will increase its fuel consumption and limit its operating radius. Decreasing it will increase its operating radius. HWPs weigh quite a bit. However, advances in research would allow more powerful engines which would be able to increase the amount of weight the transport can carry. Also, certain transport crafts will be able to carry more than others (but also cost more money to buy/maintain). For example, CFTs (Conformal Fuel Tanks) will extend an aircraft range.
  3. You should have a more extensive craft selection options and customizations/upgrades (XCOM Apocalypse has this to an extent). Crafts will differ in range, weight/volume payload (HWP/soldier capacity/equipment) that they can carry, armaments, etc.:
    • Troop transports: various helicopters, planes (vertical landing)
    • Interception: speed, radar, landing capability (vertical landing will allow it to land in ships), weapon slots
    • Scouts: planes, helicopters
    • Ships: attack ships (missiles), detection ships
    • Other

[*]Craft damage may have different effects, from completely grounding the craft until it is repaired to inability to carry certain armaments, and other. Of course, the aircraft can still be destroyed.

[*]Troop transport craft can take damage while on the ground (while dispatching the troops). For this reason, you may decide to land the craft far away from the hot zone. However, doing so will also leave a lot of equipment far behind. Whether the craft stays or leaves is up to you. Of course, if you need equipment which is on the craft or to retreat, it may take a few turns before it gets back.

[*]Crafts should have pilots. Perhaps pilots gain experience points also which may affect:

  • weapon firing rate: able to acquire a weapon lock faster
  • accuracy: if auto cannon is still a viable option
  • confidence: a "green" troop transport pilot would be very worried about landing near the hot zone while an experience pilot will not.

 

HWP (Heavy Weapon Platform)

  1. HWPs rarely just "die". Depending on the damage, it may be temporarily/partially disabled. There might be different types of damage:
    • mobility: the tracks are damaged. The HWP cannot move but it can still observe and fire.
    • accuracy (usually damage from a blast): the targeting computer is no longer in sync.
    • communications: the signal receiver is hit and the unit cannot get anymore radio instructions.
    • night vision: due to damage to external optics
    • armor was penetrated:
      • engine was damaged - HWP cannot move
      • ammunition was hit - this may cause an internal explosion, depending on ammunition type.
      • internal night vision components

It should be very hard to completely destroy an HWP. However, repairs take time and cost money. Also, even if it is "mostly" destroyed, you might be able to salvage some parts and send the armor back to the melting pot, thus saving some money if you decide to purchase another HWP.

[*]HWPs have various limitations that "live" units don't have:

  • areas with interferences (electrical, antenna array, closed rooms with thick/metal walls) affect radio signal - the HWP won't be able to receive signals/instructions. Perhaps the HWP unit should be restricted from going there on the tactical combat screen.
  • alien jamming
  • malfunction in loading ammunition may require human intervention on the battlefield
  • in certain terrain the HWP may get stuck: mud pools, sand dunes, swamps. If getting "stuck" is no fun, certain areas should just be impassable to HWPs.
  • though hard to destroy, it does require continuous maintenance and repairs
  • noisy (alerts enemies of its presence)
  • requires fuel/power (extra money)

[*]HWP can be customized:

  • engine: stronger/faster engine (torque). Allows more weight (armor/ammo) or speed. Research can come up with new engine types.
  • ammunition type:
    • shaped charge
    • explosive charge
    • anti personnel
    • flame thrower
    • energy weapons
    • small cannon or heavy machine gun
    • other

    [*]precision: targeting computer

    [*]night vision: various "gadgets"

    [*]communications (receiver): allows to operate better under bad weather or be able to receive weaker signals (allowing it to venture a little further into caves/buildings/tunnels/metal rooms or other areas with interference (antenna arrays, electric plant, etc.).

    [*]tracks: offer better mobility. Perhaps tracks can be customized for different terrain types.

    [*]modular armor: you can choose where to put more armor (sides/front) and armor type (to counter specific threats). Also, as technology progresses, you can put different types of armor modules. Of course, the more armor, the heavier (slower) the HWP is.

[*]HWPs are operated by SOMEONE (maybe this someone sits at the base in a nice room drinking coffee). Certain environments (canyons, rooms deep inside buildings, UFO's hull) may affect radio signal reception so HWP won't be able to operate there. Soldiers can deploy amplifier devices on the battle field to solve this situation. Depending on technology, you might be able to either operate the HWP from within the landing craft (requires someone to be there) or by satellite (weather may also have an effect).

 

Armor

In early stages of the game you just have "basic" armor. Mostly effective against kinetic projectiles and small shrapnel. However, armor does limit you as it can weigh quite a bit. Different type of armors are available:

  1. standard: relatively cheap but very heavy
  2. improved: made out of special metal alloy, it is lighter (to an extent) than the standard armor but much more expensive.
  3. advanced: very light armor. Offers slightly less protection than prior ones though it is VERY expensive.

Heavy armor will slow you down (weighs a lot) and limit the amount of gear you can carry. Also, on certain terrain it can become quite a problem (marsh/swamp/sand-dunes) and will slow your pace down. As the game progresses, various alien alloy/metals you research will allow various types of body armor. Also, standard earthly armor is effective against kinetic projectiles though not so much so against energy weapons. You may need to research some alien artifacts in order to come up with something to counter that threat. Armor should also be modular and not a single suit (like XCOM Apocalypse): helmet, torso, arms, and legs. Certain weapons can damage armor. While armor may successfully protect the soldier, you may need to repair/replace the damaged armor. Also, HWPs will also have modular armor allowing you to customize it to counter specific threats.

 

Weapons/Ammunition

  1. Deployable devices which are either static or can only be operated once deployed on the ground:
    • Heavy machine guns
    • Rocket launchers
    • Radio signal amplifiers (for HWPs)
    • Various anti-X technologies that can counter certain "waves".
    • Night vision (thermal sighting devices)

[*]More variety of weapon classes and make:

  • Assault rifles: M-16, AK-47, etc.
  • Handguns: Colt-45, Desert Eagle, Magnum, Etc.
  • Sniper: M-24, other
  • Shotguns
  • Machine guns and/or heavy machine guns (deployable weapons)
  • Melee (cold weapons): knife/dagger, stunner (electric), etc.
  • Illumination weapons (not really weapons, but "non" lethal ammunition type).
  • Mortar (mini/personal mortar 52mm) which has ballistic capability. Ammunition types will include explosive and illumination.
  • Grenade launchers:
    • fragmentation
    • smoke
    • illumination

    [*]Rocket launchers should differ by personal (launched from the shoulder) or deployed type. Deployed type are much more powerful but require 2-3 soldiers to carry the equipment/ammunition and to set it up. Also, some rocket launchers should have restrictions:

    • Nobody should stand behind the rocket launcher (can be quite lethal).
    • Due to the above restriction, firing rockets from confined spaces (rooms) can be quite lethal as it may start a serious fire.

    Rocket ammunition types:

    • shaped charges: high penetration with little shrapnel
    • explosive: limited penetration but more shrapnel and blast/shock wave
    • anti personnel: doesn't affect well armored units/vehicles but much more lethal against unarmored opponents and has a large radius
    • other

[*]More variety of gun ammunition (different guns may have more/less ammunition types available):

  • explosive
  • incendiary
  • armor piercing
  • hollow head
  • other (experts need apply)

[*]Grenades:

  • fragmentation
  • phosphors
  • smoke
  • proximity? (maybe proximity is best suited under explosives)
  • other (if there are any other types)

[*]Explosive charge should be made customizable:

  • size: affects the blast radius
  • types:
    • blast/shock wave
    • fragmentation (anti personnel)
    • special charges intended to blast doorways (minimal radius)

    [*]detonation type:

    • remote
    • timer
    • proximity

[*]Some weapons are more accurate than others while lying on the ground but less accurate when standing (usually, this is due to weight).

[*]Explosive charges used in confined spaces (caves, UFO interior, basement/shelter) should have a much more lethal effect. One should really stay away when they go off to avoid "accidents".

[*]Every type of weapon requires ammunition. Conventional weapons require bullets and energy weapons require a power source ("battery") of some sort. Energy weapons should be quite "thirsty", thereby you need large amounts of elerium-115 (or "equivalent") which is not easy to come by.

[*]Gun powder based weapons ("Earth" weapons) and energy weapons (alien) have pros and cons:

  • There is small chance that a gun powder based weapon will misfire and require a certain amount of time units to fix it. Energy weapons do not have that as they don't have any moving parts (or hardly any).
  • Gun powder weapons are combustible and thus are dangerous if the solder catches fire or left on the ground that catches fire. Energy weapons are not combustible.
  • Generally speaking, gun powder weapons have a higher firing rate than energy weapons as they don't need to cool down as fast. Energy weapons can get overheated.
  • Energy weapons can be adjusted (to an extent) to do more/less damage. This would also affect the amount of power depleted in their power source and cooling down period.
  • You always know exactly how many shots you have with gun powder weapons as opposed to energy weapons which is more of an estimate (fairly good one, though) as you may adjust the "power" of the shot which may consume more/less power from the weapon's power source.
  • Energy weapons do not have automatic mode, thus are not as useful in close ranges as conventional weapons.
  • Energy weapons generate much more heat thus are more easily visible at night to thermal sighting devices.
  • Energy weapons weigh more.

 

Tactical Missions

  1. Briefing/overview:
    • ETA to tactical mission site (is it going to be day/night/dawn/dusk)?
    • Type of terrain (rocky desert, sand desert, forest, jungle, factory, residential, etc.)
    • Expected weather conditions
    • Satellite view of the area - either static (existing maps) or dynamic. Dynamic should only be available if you are in good relations with a nation (or corporation) which has such satellite capability. This will also allow you to plan where to land your troops and know possible weather conditions. Satellite gives you real time data.

[*]Replay alien moves or show an "events" tab so you can see where (and what) happened during alien turn.

[*]Soldiers should be able to walk/run/crawl. Of course, time units are different for each type of movement and energy expenditure (endurance) is different. This will affect accuracy as well by varying degrees depending on the weapon.

[*]Reactions (similar to XCOM Apocalypse):

  • aggressive: always hold your ground and try to take a shot
  • safe: try to run/crouch for cover and run away when grenades are thrown
  • other

[*]Toggle buttons for viewing:

  • movement cost: you'll see up to which tile you can go and how many time units will remain
  • line of sight: what can you take a shot at?
  • throwing "line of sight": you should be able to see where you can throw a specific item, prior of spending time units and putting it in your hand (or priming it) only to realize you can't throw it where you want to.

[*]You should not be able to hear a door opening inside a UFO/building unless you're standing close to it. However, explosions and screaming civilians can be heard from quite a distance.

[*]Regardless of a soldier's strength, the more he carries, the faster the soldier gets fatigued and the longer the recovery time (energy). These will affect the accuracy and walking speed.

[*]Soldier should never be too tired to walk (when energy drops to zero). He may move slower but not become immobilized.

[*]You are able to choose where to land your troop transport craft. No more landing right in front of UFO doors and in the middle of a building complex. Landing too close to the hot zone is more risky, but can save you time. Landing too far is safer, though you'll have to do some walking and troops will be a little tired (plus some equipment might be left behind).

[*]Terrain should have much more impact on the mission and the gear that should be used. For example:

  • Desert: open terrain relatively, good for long range sniping. However, desert ground can be rocky or just sand. This may make walking/running harder and affect HWP mobility.
  • Jungle: lots of thick bush and dead ends. Encounters at close range (sniping severely crippled). HWPs are very limited.
  • Urban: cities/buildings/factories: lots of civilians running around, lots of doors/windows.
  • Marsh/swamp: lots of impassible terrain and heavily armored troops have tough time walking about. HWPs have mobility issues (stuck in the mud).
  • Other

[*]In order to perform optimally, various terrain and weather conditions will require quite a different array of equipment and skills. This can add a lot of depth to the game. You should have the ability to have "custom gear save" option. You can customize your soldiers gear and layout on the landing craft and save it. Depending on the mission (and terrain), you'll be able to load the gear configuration and your troops will be auto-equipped.

[*]Deployable devices (as mentioned above):

  • Heavy machine guns
  • Rocket launchers
  • Radio signal amplifiers (for HWPs)
  • Various anti-X technologies that can counter certain "waves".
  • Night vision (thermal sighting devices)

[*]Throwing items, and especially grenades, should be severely restricted in range. Heavy items can be thrown a few tiles away but no more than that.

[*]Peeking behind corners/windows (significantly less chance of getting shot at):

  • Quick peek (with your head but without exposing your body).
  • Mirror (not as effective - may not reveal anything), but very safe.
  • Special equipment (mostly for urban areas) to peek under doors (fiber optic cable)

[*]Similar to the above, when standing adjacent to a door/window (behind a wall), you should be able to throw a grenade inside without exposing yourself.

[*]Ability to roll grenade on the floor rather than throw it in the air (can be useful in some circumstances).

[*]Some doors should be locked and you can't shoot them down - you need either special equipment (again, S.W.A.T. like) or special explosive charges. Some windows are open while others aren't (can't throw a grenade into any window).

[*]Aliens aren't stupid. If their craft is intact, they may choose to retreat if the battle goes badly for them. Whether to leave their comrades behind depends on the situation - some alien races are more prone to "sacrificing" others.

[*]Smoke is a great cover. However, it should significantly hinder your ability to fire through it (line of sight). If they can't see you, usually you can't see them.

[*]Aliens should not popup of the UFO after turn 21 (Enemy Unknown) - no "UFO camping".

[*]XCOM Apocalypse had an aspect which its two predecessors didn't: hostile organizations will have their security forces deployed on the tactical mission so you'll have to fight them and the aliens. I like this idea. Perhaps this can be adopted to certain scenarios as well - arriving quite late to a UFO crash site may cause the mission to become more difficult as others (XCOM like agencies, crime syndicates, local military forces) are already there and they also want to gain alien artifacts.

[*]When firing, you can aim towards a particular body part which may increase/decrease accuracy:

  • head: less accuracy (smaller target) but if hit is more lethal and usually there is no armor on that part.
  • torso: large mass (best accuracy) though less lethal than the head
  • legs: easier to hit than the head but harder than torso. Also, the best option of capturing a live alien as it won't easily bleed to death or run away (assuming their biology is similar to us and they don't walk on their brains).

[*]Night missions:

  • Illumination weapons/ammunition:
    • incendiary: starting a "natural" fire
    • illumination mortar shell: can be configured to either open in midair (small parachute) and burn in the air or burn on impact on the ground (the latter one is great for lighting a particular area and seeing silhouettes).
    • illumination gun: similar to the mortar shell above, but fired from a gun and has a much smaller effect and range.

    [*]flares should have less of an effect (smaller radius) and should die after a few turns (though you can carry quite a lot of these).

    [*]If the soldier doesn't have proper night vision equipment (or primitive equipment), he cannot attack targets which are not very close or in a well lit area, even if he has the line of sight to the target.

    [*]Aliens are also severely limited by night. However, they do have night vision technologies too and some of them may have better/worse night vision than humans.

    [*]night vision gadgets:

    • SLS (Star Light Scope): can be mounted on helmet
    • binoculars: powerful light enhancers (used to scan an area) though cannot be mounted on helmet
    • thermal sighting: there is no such thing as thermal sighting goggles (forget about sci-fi movies). Real ones are quite heavy and big. They are EXPENSIVE. Perhaps a sniper tripod with a thermal vision is applicable though it costs quite a bit. Also, picture is in shades of green/red/white/black, forget about nice colors like in the Predator movie.

    [*]soldiers have flashlights, though it can expose them (small/large flashlights).

    [*]noises are very important at night and can tip you (and aliens) about movements and hostiles.

    [*]HWPs can be equipped with powerful night vision technology (thermal sighting), though it is quite expensive.

    [*]importance of arriving to a crash/landing site as others (TBD) may get there first. This may force you to have night missions or refrain from shooting down a UFO in a specific location if you can't get there on time.

[*]On missions where civilians/structures are found, there is a negative penalty to collateral damage though it does have to be pretty high before governments get upset. They understand you have to blow a few holes here and there but if you end up leveling the entire city/factory they will not be so understanding. This may limit your weapon depending on the mission - governments won't mind you opening a few holes in the middle of the desert but if you end up flattening the entire town they will be displeased.

[*]Aliens should be smarter:

  • be able to spot charges/proximity grenades at times (not always)
  • operate in groups/squads
  • seek cover (if possible)

[*]Ability to send more than one troop transport craft to a mission (having more troops and/or HWPs).

[*]Motion scanners work best in the open (nothing to block the signal). Certain areas restrict its capability (thick rocks, UFO hull, metal). Various research directions will lead to more advanced motion scanners which will have greater range and be able to "see" better through certain materials.

[*]Tactical map bookmarks. Examples:

  • list of weapons/ammo left on the ground
  • location of a proximity charge
  • location of explosives and detonation type (remote/proximity/timer)
  • aliens/civilians were last seen behind this corner
  • explosive charge countdown (turns to explode)

[*]Weather: rain, sand storms, wind, etc. should have various effects on the tactical missions:

  • Noisy weather makes hearing sounds much harder.
  • Very windy weather decreases accuracy over large distances in open spaces
  • Increased chance of weapon malfunction (especially in swamps, sand storms) for gun powder based weapons.
  • Wet terrain leaves foot prints

[*]Grenades:

  • Should they explode immediately when thrown (not at end of turn)? This will allow a nice throw-grenade-in-room-prior-to-storming-it tactics. However, if you have to wait until the end of turn, the alien may come out - you might as well skip the grenade thing and just enter the room and shoot the bad guys. This is quite a change in game mechanics. Perhaps, due to very limited range of throwing as suggested above, this may be acceptable as grenades will be used almost exclusively for urban warfare (door to door) or within UFOs (when opening doors).
  • Grenades are meant to have a constant delay of a few seconds. They shouldn't have more than immediate or end of turn explosion.
  • Decrease the throwing range of a grenade significantly - in Enemy Unknown you can throw it over quite a distance.
  • If grenades can explode immediately (though very limited throwing range, as mentioned above), consider lowering the time units for priming them. Perhaps just enough to throw it into a room and take a peek inside followed by an automatic burst.
  • You should be able to throw grenades behind corners. This will allow you to throw a grenade inside a room without exposing you. However, it won't always land exactly where you want it to.

[*]Running/hiding: there should be the notion of sprinting short distances (avoiding potential hostile fire) or crouching when going near windows. While minimizing the chance of hostiles to shoot and their accuracy, it should also somehow affect you in a negative manner. Perhaps negative side effects will be:

  • lower probability of spotting hostiles not directly in front of you.
  • increased time for shots if you happen to spot a hostile.
  • Drain energy faster
  • other

[*]No grenade rely technique (unless a very "limited" version of it is thought of). However, just passing items and grenades which are NOT primed is okay.

 

UFO Interception

When shooting down a UFO, there are some factors which affect how damaged it'll be when it crashes:

  1. altitude
  2. speed
  3. weapons used to shoot it down (to an extent)
  4. surface of the crash (crashing into sand dunes is much less harmful than crashing against rocks or concrete)

A tough crash will cause the UFO to be severely damaged (loss of alien artifacts) and many (if not all) of its crew to be killed. Severely damaged UFO is easier to assault on tactical missions but there are less rewards in the form of alien artifacts (research and trade).

 

Graphics and Sound Effects

  1. Aliens of the same race should differ slightly in appearance (height/skin/head), just like humans do. Mechanical units (HWPs), however, should be identical.
  2. If aliens have ranks/hierarchy, they should differ (if they have clothes) from one another.
  3. The unit should show the motions when:
    • Reloading/unloading a weapon
    • Kneeling/crawling
    • Throwing a grenade/item

[*]Ability to switch music off and remain with sound effects only.

[*]Units leave footprints mud/sand/snow or if their boots are wet (coming out from a river or water foundtain). The same applies for HWPs.

[*]Terrain (tactical missions):

  • More random.
  • More detailed.
  • Many more terrain types.

[*]Units' uniform/armor should be camouflaged depending on the environment/terrain/time (night/day).

[*]When a soldier gets hit (either by firearms or explosions), he should fall or thrown back, depending on the type of attack and damage.

[*]Bleeding units (or leaking HWPs) should leave some blood/oil on the ground.

 

Overpowered Game Elements (from Enemy Unknown)

  1. Avenger craft - way too fast and powerful. Did it really take your scientists/engineers to research/build a superior craft to the aliens in such a short time?
  2. Infinite ammunition:
    • plasma cannon (craft): it should be very thirsty for elerium
    • laser weapons: where is the battery or the power cell?

[*]Blaster launcher - way too powerful and "sci-fi".

[*]Psi-attack - way too powerful and "sci-fi".

[*]Hyper wave decoder - too advanced technology for humans.

[*]Proximity grenades - perhaps they should weigh/cost much more thus throwing them over larges distance is tougher. There should be explosive charges (much larger) which can be configured to explode on proximity. These should be used more to secure your back, to make sure nobody creeps from behind.

[*]Shoulder rocket launchers with such great destruction capability (Enemy Unknown). Such rocket launchers should be deployable (less mobile) and cannot be fired from within confined spaces (unless you want to burn up).

[*]Selling certain alien artifacts at ridiculously high prices - having world coverage with hyper wave decoders by the end of the third month is not realistic/fair (selling heavy plasmas and mind probes).

[*]Grenades can be thrown over quite a distance. This makes them quite an overpowering game element. Their range should be restricted significantly.

 

Questions

The following are a list of questions that should have good answers in order to maintain a good storyline throughout the game:

  1. Why don't UFOs have small anti personnel weapon on their landed UFO (on the exterior, next to the doors) at least for battle ships.
  2. Why aren't they bringing their heavy duty gear on day one?
  3. Why are governments ineffective in combating the alien threat individually?
  4. Should aliens be able to construct bases on Earth? How exactly do they avoid detection? Also, they shouldn't be able to construct a base right next to a major city. They construct bases (if they do) in remote isolated areas. Maybe they build it underground (somehow) or in the sea, thus they are able to avoid detection. If you saw the movie "Alien vs. Predator", they had a ship which released an energy beam which made a nice hole in the ground in just a few seconds. Perhaps aliens in XCOM can do the same and then just land in the hole and have a nice base. This is relatively quick and they can avoid detection. But why exactly do they build a base on Earth to begin with? Why not stay in orbit beyond reach?
  5. Terror missions - the aliens just wait for hours until your craft appears before they start killing civilians? An intelligent solution needs to be found (perhaps an advanced warning of some sort).
  6. Countries just allow your aircraft to violate their air space? Perhaps you should be able to fly only above countries which are on the funding nations list.

 

Weird and Wacky Ideas

These ideas are far from being polished and may not fit into existing game mechanics. However, maybe they can be altered or give somebody a better idea to something:

  1. Dogs (K-9 soldiers) useful to sniff certain aliens.
  2. Soldiers recruited from different regions may know different languages. They may be able to interact (to an extent) with local population on tactical missions (the soldier ask in Chinese a civilian in a terror mission: "where did the aliens go?")
  3. You are NOT the only XCOM-like agency. There are similar agencies operating around the world with the same goal. Due to international politics, not all countries agree on the terms of the agreement (funding, technology sharing) and some nations do not like each other and will not agree to sit at the same table. If you take too long to reach a crash/landing site, other agencies might beat you to it or you might arrive at the same time.
  4. Right/left handed soldiers - this will affect the soldier's accuracy and time units when shooting around corners if you want the soldier to remain relatively in cover and not fully expose himself.
  5. Soldier's gender/build: generally, men are much stronger than women:
    • carrying heavier equipment
    • melee attack
    • endurance
    • height/size/weight: bigger people are usually stronger but also easier to take a shot at.
    • women (more complex thought process and brain ^_^ ) will be more naturally immune to alien "fear" weapons/waves.

[*]Injured/unconscious soldiers can be pulled on the ground or picked up for safety.

[*]Gas based weapons (grenades and grenade/rocket launchers). Though the gas is slow to spread and protective gear (gas mask) can be easily applied to counter it. Might be useful in some situations.

[*]Gas masks to thwart gas related weapons. However, it does affect your accuracy. Also, special injections to counter alien bio weapons, though they may have some side effects.

[*]Do aliens have morale? Can they surrender? Can they panic?

[*]Do aliens breathe air like we do? Can they be "outside" without special equipment only for a short period of time (do you require alien containment facility)? If they can't breathe our air (or for too long), it must mean that eventually they plan on re-engineering the climate if they plan on taking Earth.

[*]Air assaults/raids on tactical missions (could be overpowering). Perhaps an official reason why this CANNOT be is that it'll draw too much attention from the public (maybe only in remote areas) and/or governments don't want to allow you too much of an autonomy and power.

[*]Concept of time. If a tactical mission takes really long time, night may become dawn and day might become night.

[*]Communications between squad members:

  • Affect's a soldier ability to fire at far away targets
  • Other.

[*]Black market: you can sell alien artifacts on the black market. However, funding nations may become upset.

[*]World events (random) which happen every now and then may affect your game. Some happen in a specific region or government type, and others can happen worldwide. Here are a few examples:

  • disasters:
    • flood: the Chinese government is in need of more funds. Corporations would prefer cash payments over alien artifacts for a short period of time.
    • industrial: major pollution or oil spill. Country directs its corporation(s) to concentrate more on power source research in order to hopefully provide an environment clean form of energy.
    • earthquake: production/manufacturing (weapons, armor, etc.) halt until power is restored and some scientists heal/recruited as they were injured/lost.

    [*]elections: some leaders view the XCOM agency more favorably while others will want more money and alien artifacts in return to research and manufacturing. Some leaders won't mind having research focused at weapons while others prefer to concentrate on power source (clean environment). Some may wish to limit the amount of soldiers that can volunteer or be recruited. Leaders have different traits which will influence their preferred research direction. It usually won't completely limit you on how you conduct research/manufacturing, but it may cost you more or be cheaper, depending on the leader.

    [*]coups/assassinations: certain countries are less stable than others. The new leader may wish to receive "compensation" in the form of alien artifacts or cash in order to remain on the funding nation board, thereby allowing you to keep your detection facilities and recruitment pool from that country. Mostly in very unstable regimes and dictatorships.

    [*]relations: some countries may like/dislike each other. If both of them are on the funding nations list, they may not like you performing deals (research/manufacturing) for the other.

    [*]pirates: the funding nation needs to divert its destroyer which carries your UFO detection facility for a week or two to chase some pirates.

    [*]strike: plant/corporation workers go on strike. Production is halted due to power outage, technicians on strike, etc.

    [*]metal/mineral prices: if the price of a certain mineral/metal drops/raises, it may affect production cost.

 

Summary

The above is a long list. Some suggestions make more sense than others and some require more polish. However, I do think I raised some nice ideas which can make the overall game experience more interesting/enjoyable. There are definitely things that need refining or certain things taken out completely as they would affect game mechanics too much (or make the game too complicated). For summary, I would like to highlight my main concerns:

  1. Realism - things should make more sense without being too futuristic/sci-fi and have a good storyline.
  2. A greater array of weapons and proper strategies when fighting tactical missions depending on terrain, weather, and opponents.
  3. More micro-management (it won't be a new Civilization game though).
  4. More geoscape strategy in the form of politics/events/research/manufacturing/UFO-interception.
  5. Technology: sensible technology/research tree with many more options. Not all researched technologies need to be alien technology/artifacts. Have the preliminary research discussed above as part of technology/research.
  6. Continued need to perform tactical missions to gather enough alien artifacts in order to increase funding/research and manufacturing. In many cases (XCOM game series), I crossed a certain threshold which beyond it I was too powerful and tactical missions become easy, unnecessary, and boring.
  7. Remove a lot of overpowered game elements.
  8. Make tactical missions something you look forward to and not something that may become a chore.

 

I appreciate feedback and comments.

Edited by oldfan
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[*]Do not have completely useless/unnecessary weapons (at least in the beginning). Examples from Enemy Unknown:

[*]auto cannon and stingray missiles aircraft weapons - no need to use them when you have Avalanche missiles which are more accurate, have a much longer range, and cause more damage.

I disagree, Auto Cannons can be very useful as it has an Auto Shot option. When used with HE or IN, havoc is guaranteed.

Stingrays are used when you don't want to blow that medium scout to bits, possibly for some recovered equipment to sell and experience for troops.

Edited by MiniMacker
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[*]Do not have completely useless/unnecessary weapons (at least in the beginning). Examples from Enemy Unknown:

[*]auto cannon and stingray missiles aircraft weapons - no need to use them when you have Avalanche missiles which are more accurate, have a much longer range, and cause more damage.

I disagree, Auto Cannons can be very useful as it has an Auto Shot option. When used with HE or IN, havoc is guaranteed.

Stingrays are used when you don't want to blow that medium scout to bits, possibly for some recovered equipment to sell and experience for troops.

By auto cannon I meant the craft's (interceptor) automatic cannon (air to air weapon). Also, as far as I know, aside from destroying a UFO, the damage on crash site is completely random. I was only able to destroy a small scout with two Stingray missiles or a single Avalanche missile. I was never able to destroy any other UFO.

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The aircraft cannon and Stingray have always been available for the quantity rather than their effectiveness. Great for air skirmishes where your interceptor has to attack a few UFOs in the same flight. Not something you can do easily with dual Avalanches. They are riskier, I'll grant you that. Then the plasma cannon appears and completely makes everything but the fusion ball launchers obsolete.

 

- NKF

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The aircraft cannon and Stingray have always been available for the quantity rather than their effectiveness. Great for air skirmishes where your interceptor has to attack a few UFOs in the same flight. Not something you can do easily with dual Avalanches. They are riskier, I'll grant you that. Then the plasma cannon appears and completely makes everything but the fusion ball launchers obsolete.

 

- NKF

Mmmmm...... I never use Stingray missile as small/medium scouts tend to "run away".

Fusion ball launchers I never used either - I keep to the plasma cannons - great range and ample ammunition.

 

Aside from that, that's all the feedback I got from my long list? C'mon guys..... share some constructive/destructive criticism and comments. ^_^

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There's a lot to read and comment on. ;) Give it a bit of time.

 

Smaller UFOs do tend to run away faster. Larger UFOs less so. Even so, I find I can make do with all of the starting weapons for a good amount of time prior to the advent of the plasma beam.

 

Now, the Fusion ball - that's generally quite a waste on your elerium resources considering the plasma beam will do the job most of the time, but I was taught one thing about it recently that does put it in good favour. It never misses, as long as its within range. With the high damage delivery of each missile, it's an excellent anti-battleship weapon, and you do recover enough elerium from a shot down battleship to make up for the spent fusion missiles.

 

It's always best combined with a high quantity weapon like the plasma beam than to go with dual a fusion ball launchers so that it has something to finish the job. Nothing puts an interceptor out of the battle quicker than empty weapons - well, short of annihilation. ;)

 

- NKF

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I'll only cover a few things that caught my interset. First of all: The balance of realism and sci fi is not an easy one to make and what ever final result is reached, it is not going to please everyone. Going too far either way can ruin an otherwise good game. The best course of action for designing any sort of game is to first make it fun, then use elements of realism and fantasy to bolster it, not hamper it.

 

Mind Control: One of the brainstorming discussions for a X-COM fan projects I had participated in was about coming up with new ideas of how psi/morale was to be handled. One of the ideas I had put forward was to split morale into two parts, morale (controls involuntary reactions, or think of it as paranoia - which I suppose is close to your aforementioned confidence stat). Then there was mental state. The calmness (and psychosis level) of the soldier that control how level the soldier will react during the low/high morale states and has involuntary outbursts. Psi could be used in subtle ways to influence these states of the soldier rather than direct mind control.

 

Psi is a very strong science fiction element, so anything's possible with it. It could even have supporting roles rather than offensive ones. Either to assist nearby comrades or even in a healing capacity by way of a placebo effect or hypnosis to make the alien soldier think that it is perfectly fine and hasn't had its arm blown off for example. If used by X-COM it can get can be used to help support a very badly injured soldier survive until a medic team can arrive.

 

Mind probes: as it is, it's just another piece of surveillance equipment for gathering intelligence. Like binoculars - only it does a physical diagnostic of the alien. I suppose a 'look' command for each unit would be more than sufficient. I mean, your own soldier should be able to visually see and assess if the alien looks tired or has damage. Perhaps the soldier's level of intelligence/experience could influence the accuracy of the report you get back.

 

Supernatural powers and abilities are what make the aliens alien. If they didn't have their gimmicks, they'd just be funky looking terrorists.

 

Force fields - I agree to an extent. They do take away a lot of the danger. Or at least don't make them as powerful as they are currently in Apocalypse. Some limitations that keep them useful but not make them all-powerful. I'd actually prefer a physical riot shield type thing, with the aliens using a lightweight energy variant. Protects well against most projectile in the direction that it is facing (the side, then back when carried on the back, or in front when deployed). All disposable. With varying weights that get heavier but last longer.

 

Flying Armour - rather than flying armour, how about jump jets on some of the advanced or heavier power suits? Basically something to provide a momentary increase in jumping distance or height, but not allow continuous flight. Could even be utilized for 'ramming' through doors or enemies. Each use would be very short, and you have to wait a while before you can do it again.

 

Handguns - Experience training is not really an exploit. You are still practicing your marksmanship whether or not you are killing the alien or otherwise. Using mind control to let you score point-blank hits, now that is an exploit. Perhaps one suggestion would be to have experienced earned influenced by the difficulty of the attack.

 

I do highly enjoy using the pistols at the start of the game for actual combat - they're good against sectoids, floaters and snakemen, even on Superhuman. You just have to be sensible to not use them against tough enemies with high levels of armour ala Cyberdiscs, Reapers and Chryssalids, and take advantage of their one-handed grip. They, like the rifles, really just play the role as the 'basic starting weapons' that barely manage against the unknown alien menace, which in a way is a part of the way how the story sets it up for you to go and learn more about your enemy and find new ways to fight them.

 

- NKF

Edited by NKF
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I'll only cover a few things that caught my interset. First of all: The balance of realism and sci fi is not an easy one to make and what ever final result is reached, it is not going to please everyone. Going too far either way can ruin an otherwise good game. The best course of action for designing any sort of game is to first make it fun, then use elements of realism and fantasy to bolster it, not hamper it.

 

Mind Control: One of the brainstorming discussions for a X-COM fan projects I had participated in was about coming up with new ideas of how psi/morale was to be handled. One of the ideas I had put forward was to split morale into two parts, morale (controls involuntary reactions, or think of it as paranoia - which I suppose is close to your aforementioned confidence stat). Then there was mental state. The calmness (and psychosis level) of the soldier that control how level the soldier will react during the low/high morale states and has involuntary outbursts. Psi could be used in subtle ways to influence these states of the soldier rather than direct mind control.

 

Psi is a very strong science fiction element, so anything's possible with it. It could even have supporting roles rather than offensive ones. Either to assist nearby comrades or even in a healing capacity by way of a placebo effect or hypnosis to make the alien soldier think that it is perfectly fine and hasn't had its arm blown off for example. If used by X-COM it can get can be used to help support a very badly injured soldier survive until a medic team can arrive.

 

Mind probes: as it is, it's just another piece of surveillance equipment for gathering intelligence. Like binoculars - only it does a physical diagnostic of the alien. I suppose a 'look' command for each unit would be more than sufficient. I mean, your own soldier should be able to visually see and assess if the alien looks tired or has damage. Perhaps the soldier's level of intelligence/experience could influence the accuracy of the report you get back.

 

Supernatural powers and abilities are what make the aliens alien. If they didn't have their gimmicks, they'd just be funky looking terrorists.

 

Force fields - I agree to an extent. They do take away a lot of the danger. Or at least don't make them as powerful as they are currently in Apocalypse. Some limitations that keep them useful but not make them all-powerful. I'd actually prefer a physical riot shield type thing, with the aliens using a lightweight energy variant. Protects well against most projectile in the direction that it is facing (the side, then back when carried on the back, or in front when deployed). All disposable. With varying weights that get heavier but last longer.

 

Flying Armour - rather than flying armour, how about jump jets on some of the advanced or heavier power suits? Basically something to provide a momentary increase in jumping distance or height, but not allow continuous flight. Could even be utilized for 'ramming' through doors or enemies. Each use would be very short, and you have to wait a while before you can do it again.

 

Handguns - Experience training is not really an exploit. You are still practicing your marksmanship whether or not you are killing the alien or otherwise. Using mind control to let you score point-blank hits, now that is an exploit. Perhaps one suggestion would be to have experienced earned influenced by the difficulty of the attack.

 

I do highly enjoy using the pistols at the start of the game for actual combat - they're good against sectoids, floaters and snakemen, even on Superhuman. You just have to be sensible to not use them against tough enemies with high levels of armour ala Cyberdiscs, Reapers and Chryssalids, and take advantage of their one-handed grip. They, like the rifles, really just play the role as the 'basic starting weapons' that barely manage against the unknown alien menace, which in a way is a part of the way how the story sets it up for you to go and learn more about your enemy and find new ways to fight them.

 

- NKF

Hmmmmmm..... I tend to agree that one needs to find the correct balance between realism and fantasy. Though I guess my main concern is not to make the game/plot too fantasy like while still making it enjoyable.

 

I tend to agree about the Psi type attack and if I understood you correctly you also rule out mind control. However, I disagree about the wounded soldier part. If a soldier wants to "remain" calm, he should inject himself some morphine (assuming he still has his arms).

 

"Supernatural powers and abilities are what make the aliens alien" - I disagree on that. Superior technology is what makes them alien (and the fact that they are "green").

 

I like the idea of your personal limited force shield. I agree - in Apocalypse it is quite overpowering.

 

As for armor (flying/jumping), I think armor should just be armor. "Anti-gravity" technology should only be available for HWPs and large mechanical units.

 

As for hand guns.... well.... I play with based ranged accuracy and hitting with a sniper rifle is hard enough. Sectoids on average take 1-2 hits while floaters take 2-3. Snakemen take me 2-3 shots with a laser rifle by average. However, they can be quite useful in close encounters (structures/UFO corridors).

 

Obviously people have different expectations/needs. This is why I decided to start the thread. Though I would like to know your opinions about grenades and possibly changing some of their game mechanics as highlighted in my post.

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Your post is huge, I did not finish it with one approach!? :)

 

I have some comments on what I have read.

 

Realism

 

they don't have any flying suit gadget (Floater from Enemy Unknown)
Wait, Floaters have such gadget! Consult the XCOM Wiki article or ingame specimen research report.

 

Item

9. Don't make the game too "futuristic" or "sci-fi". Make it more "real".
would look more logic at the first place in the list, since it is the most general. Why make game more realistic? You want to see what if humans fight Aliens with real weapons? But Aliens existence is questionable and therefore the game is sci-fi from the start.

 

Armor

 

I did not see power armor. Are you against it?

 

Weapons

 

More variety of weapon classes
What about submachineguns and mines? Edited by Fomka
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If there is ever a remake, it can easily be assumed that a lot of what we see as bugs, exploitable glitches or just plain annoying inconstancies would be fixed. Like the death by HE when unconscious, loss of troopers when mind controlled a the end of the turn, proper physics, etc. That's all a given, I'm sure.

 

"Supernatural powers and abilities are what make the aliens alien" - I disagree on that. Superior technology is what makes them alien (and the fact that they are "green").

 

Technically, bio-engineering these creatures that are really weird and unfathomable (to humans) for combat purposes is an application of their superior technology. Our sectoid friends have always had this 50's b-movie mad scientist thing going about them. ;)

 

 

Decrease the throwing range of a grenade significantly - in Enemy Unknown you can throw it over quite a distance

 

A lot of your starting troops can't really throw that great a distance. It's once you hit 40 strength and above that your throwing skills start to seem superhuman at best.

 

It does seem to be the case that your troops can eventually throw very far, but do consider that in X-COM Enemy Unknown and TFTD that the maps are quite small. They just seem large because you're viewpoint puts you much closer to the ground, and there's the limited 16 or 20 tile visual range.

 

Anyway, now, grenades.

 

As they are, they definitely cost too much to prime. One excuse for this is the 'sophisticated timer' that all of them come equipped with. It's not as easy as pulling a pin and tossing it. Probably involves a lot of button pushing or dial turning. Even reloading a weapon takes a lot less time, and that would probably realistically be more time consuming. It's because of this hefty cost that the grenade relay is useful. It's definitely impractical in real life, but could possibly work for a two-man relay. Or it would require a grenade with a longer fuse than usual.

 

I would propose that a grenade have three options. Contact, timed and the basic throw/pass command. Oh and yes - the grenades should be allowed to bounce off surfaces such as when you deliberately targeting a spot behind a wall so that the grenade bounces off it.

 

Throw/pass would just be the same old throw command, but if the target is a friendly unit, and has the TUs to 'catch' it, they turn and catch it. Otherwise it just drops on the ground. Actually giving some aliens the option to catch a grenade and react by throwing it back would be a nice touch. Here in New Zealand a soldier was recently welcomed back and honoured for saving his squad by picking up a grenade and tossing it back.

 

Contact would be the default command. Similar to the right-click blast-on-impact setting in Apocalypse. This would be simply pulling the pin, tossing it, and it explodes where-ever it lands. Click-throw-boom! Should cost a minimal amount of TUs. In fact, the throwing would probably take more time than releasing the pin.

 

Now, timed is just the same old thing, but with a twist. For anything above turn 0, it would behave similar to how it has behaved for ages. For the favourite 0-turn setting (aka explode at the end of this turn), the grenade should be given its own Time Units. The cost for this action should be slightly greater than setting it to contact, but certainly lower than 50%.

 

The grenade Time Units woudl have a default set value that could be shortened to mimic cooking the grenade.

 

The timer doesn't officially start ticking until the grenade leaves your soldier's hand, and then cannot be stopped - much like how it happens in Apocalypse's real-time mode.

 

The time units will be spent as the grenade moves through the air at a 'walking TU' rate. Strength and grenade throwing skill will reduce this amount slightly to mimic how forceful or how efficiently the grenade is thrown. For example, if the normal move rates is 4 TUs, you could drop it by 1 TUs when you reach the max level for either Strength or Throwing skill.

 

In addition to the distance traveled, when the grenade has landed and is inert, the TUs will get exhausted for any action the owner does. If the grenades time units run out because of this, it explodes. The reason for this is that the grenade is still in the owner's sphere of time expenditure, so when the owner uses up time, so does the grenade. Not anyone else - until they pick it up, in which case it starts counting down on their time.

 

If there are any remaining time units by the time you end the turn, the grenade's time units are zeroed and it explodes. If there are any time units left over once the grenade reaches its target, it could bounce to give it a little more range beyond the maximum.

 

See, as they are at the moment, there is no concept of 'time' for grenades during the turn, while that is ever present for your soldiers and everything that they do. This is why the grenade relay is so powerful. Time is borrowed off each person that the grenade should not have had.

 

Of course, this doesn't stop the hot potato relay, but it adds a disincentive to prime it too early, which would be more in line with adding a bit more realism to it. It would also have the unique advantage of being able to create a mid-air explosion by cooking the grenade and carefully timing the throw.

 

That's just one idea. I'm sure there are better ways of implementing it while keeping it simple.

 

- NKF

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If there is ever a remake, it can easily be assumed that a lot of what we see as bugs, exploitable glitches or just plain annoying inconstancies would be fixed. Like the death by HE when unconscious, loss of troopers when mind controlled a the end of the turn, proper physics, etc. That's all a given, I'm sure.

 

"Supernatural powers and abilities are what make the aliens alien" - I disagree on that. Superior technology is what makes them alien (and the fact that they are "green").

 

Technically, bio-engineering these creatures that are really weird and unfathomable (to humans) for combat purposes is an application of their superior technology. Our sectoid friends have always had this 50's b-movie mad scientist thing going about them. ;)

 

 

Decrease the throwing range of a grenade significantly - in Enemy Unknown you can throw it over quite a distance

 

A lot of your starting troops can't really throw that great a distance. It's once you hit 40 strength and above that your throwing skills start to seem superhuman at best.

 

It does seem to be the case that your troops can eventually throw very far, but do consider that in X-COM Enemy Unknown and TFTD that the maps are quite small. They just seem large because you're viewpoint puts you much closer to the ground, and there's the limited 16 or 20 tile visual range.

 

Anyway, now, grenades.

 

As they are, they definitely cost too much to prime. One excuse for this is the 'sophisticated timer' that all of them come equipped with. It's not as easy as pulling a pin and tossing it. Probably involves a lot of button pushing or dial turning. Even reloading a weapon takes a lot less time, and that would probably realistically be more time consuming. It's because of this hefty cost that the grenade relay is useful. It's definitely impractical in real life, but could possibly work for a two-man relay. Or it would require a grenade with a longer fuse than usual.

 

I would propose that a grenade have three options. Contact, timed and the basic throw/pass command. Oh and yes - the grenades should be allowed to bounce off surfaces such as when you deliberately targeting a spot behind a wall so that the grenade bounces off it.

 

Throw/pass would just be the same old throw command, but if the target is a friendly unit, and has the TUs to 'catch' it, they turn and catch it. Otherwise it just drops on the ground. Actually giving some aliens the option to catch a grenade and react by throwing it back would be a nice touch. Here in New Zealand a soldier was recently welcomed back and honoured for saving his squad by picking up a grenade and tossing it back.

 

Contact would be the default command. Similar to the right-click blast-on-impact setting in Apocalypse. This would be simply pulling the pin, tossing it, and it explodes where-ever it lands. Click-throw-boom! Should cost a minimal amount of TUs. In fact, the throwing would probably take more time than releasing the pin.

 

Now, timed is just the same old thing, but with a twist. For anything above turn 0, it would behave similar to how it has behaved for ages. For the favourite 0-turn setting (aka explode at the end of this turn), the grenade should be given its own Time Units. The cost for this action should be slightly greater than setting it to contact, but certainly lower than 50%.

 

The grenade Time Units woudl have a default set value that could be shortened to mimic cooking the grenade.

 

The timer doesn't officially start ticking until the grenade leaves your soldier's hand, and then cannot be stopped - much like how it happens in Apocalypse's real-time mode.

 

The time units will be spent as the grenade moves through the air at a 'walking TU' rate. Strength and grenade throwing skill will reduce this amount slightly to mimic how forceful or how efficiently the grenade is thrown. For example, if the normal move rates is 4 TUs, you could drop it by 1 TUs when you reach the max level for either Strength or Throwing skill.

 

In addition to the distance traveled, when the grenade has landed and is inert, the TUs will get exhausted for any action the owner does. If the grenades time units run out because of this, it explodes. The reason for this is that the grenade is still in the owner's sphere of time expenditure, so when the owner uses up time, so does the grenade. Not anyone else - until they pick it up, in which case it starts counting down on their time.

 

If there are any remaining time units by the time you end the turn, the grenade's time units are zeroed and it explodes. If there are any time units left over once the grenade reaches its target, it could bounce to give it a little more range beyond the maximum.

 

See, as they are at the moment, there is no concept of 'time' for grenades during the turn, while that is ever present for your soldiers and everything that they do. This is why the grenade relay is so powerful. Time is borrowed off each person that the grenade should not have had.

 

Of course, this doesn't stop the hot potato relay, but it adds a disincentive to prime it too early, which would be more in line with adding a bit more realism to it. It would also have the unique advantage of being able to create a mid-air explosion by cooking the grenade and carefully timing the throw.

 

That's just one idea. I'm sure there are better ways of implementing it while keeping it simple.

 

- NKF

I agree about the grenade rely to one person only (and a close one too). Good idea about exploding grenades after X amount of TU which can also happen in midair, depending on throwing/strength.

 

As for "catching" grenades, that New Zealand was indeed lucky (also like in Private Ryan). Though I think this is a one in a thousand chance of happening (exact polls cannot be made as the people who failed to catch it are dead).

 

However, thrower's time expenditure after the throw affecting the grenade is too tricky in my opinion, unless after throwing the grenade the only unit that can move is that soldier.

 

Speaking of which, if you primed the grenade and haven't thrown it yet, you should be able to return the pin back (as long as you didn't release the lever which happens when the grenade is thrown).

 

Bouncing of walls is also a good idea and is very useful when fighting door-to-door so you won't have to come into the room or stand at the doorway.

 

As far as distance, I would try to pick up a grenade sized stone and try to throw it. I assure you it is harder than you think to toss it to a distance even without body armor, gear, and rifle on you (from personal experience).

 

But overall, I think grenade game mechanics should be altered.

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Personally, I have thought that an X-com-like game with a simplified map and whole squads/fireteams represented by counters could be interesting.

I'm thinking mainly about cutting-down micromanagement so that the player wouldn't have so much influence on ach individual's action.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I would like larger maps, but playing XCOM Terror From the Deep, we know they can take just TOO LONG to play.

 

Thus, how to have larger more realistic maps without spending so much time in a single mission?

 

1 - one of the reasons missions take too long is because you must move each soldier at a time. I think that it would be interesting to GROUP them and having them acting like a single tactical unit. They will have the time units of the soldier with less time units. Grouped units would be capable of things like setting one soldier to walk backward, covering the rear while moving. Also, they would be able to open a door while the other unit IMMEDIATELY throws a grenade inside or shoots inside.

 

2 - larger maps, you need more realistic viewing distance. Double or triple the viewing distance. Aliens should rely on tactics and cover, not on hiding simply by being far away (30 meters away!)

 

3 - if the game was remade 3D, I would like shadows to play an important role. How about giving away your position to aliens because you got careless and your shadow is showing from behind the wall you are using as cover?

 

 

 

 

Also, I would like if units could have more moves. How about opening doors without having to ENTER THEM?? In fact, opening the doors standing on the side. Shooting from behind cover (kind like Gears of War) would also be interesting. Maybe rolling soldiers on the ground and other "cover to cover" moves. That would lead to very quick runs (in other words, use very few time units to cover a long distance) but using quite some energy and also, after reaching target area, spends all time units (recover time from rolling on the ground).

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