Jump to content
XCOMUFO & Xenocide

Recommended Posts

I've edited my first post, and replaced the "dash" option with a new set of movement option suggestions. These movement methods are really part and parcel of a real infantryman's field movement skills, and as an ex-soldier, I really wish to see these ideas make it into the XCOM remake.

 

Here they are, ranked from the fastest moving to the slowest.

 

1.) Dash

 

Description: This is a movement where the soldier sprints straight for one destination with the sole objective of getting there fast. The rifle is swung with the natural movement of the arms as the soldier sprints, and firing quickly from this movement is impossible.

 

Usage: Great for sniper/machine-gun armed troops with penalty-for-standing-shot to get from position to position with minimum exposure time.

 

Advantages: Fastest movement (distance per MP spent). Accuracy penalty to anyone shooting at the soldier.

Disadvantages: Cannot return fire in mid-dash if fired upon by alien reaction fire. Cannot spot enemy shooter unless short-distance away. Ends in a crouch (in real-life, it's a dive behind cover) with enough MP to turn, but not enough to move.

 

2.) Normal jog

 

Description: This is the normal xcom movement as seen in xcom1 and 2. The soldier moves at a brisk jog/run and can stop to crouch or shoot. The rifle is held in both hands but "approximate aim" is not maintained.

 

Usage: Used when no enemy is in sight, this movement allows soldiers to move fast, but not lose awareness of their surroundings.

 

Advantages: Fast movement (not as fast as dash). Ability to return-fire mid-movement if fired upon by alien reaction fire.

Disadvantages: As easy to hit as a typical moving soldier in XCOM1 and 2.

 

3.) Alert jog

 

Description: Soldiers move this way during combat scenarios when enemy contact is very likely/present. "Approximate aim" (Rifle held at shoulder at approximately 45 degrees angle, barrel following line-of-sight of soldier's eyes.) is maintained and the head (together with rifle & aim) constantly scans it's surroundings. Movement is hunched over and the body is tense and wary.

 

Usage: In the middle of battle for typical soldiers. This movement is noticeably slower than the normal XCOM jog, but gives a soldier better reactions and accuracy if he encounters an enemy. If it does not unbalance the game, additional penalty to alien accuracy and bonus to soldier's sight range can be added.

 

Advantages: Better reactions/accuracy/sight range to soldier. Penalty to alien accuracy.

Disadvantages: Noticeably slower than normal jog.

 

4.) Crawl

 

Description: The good old dirt-eating crawl favoured by grunts when under heavy fire. Real-life usage is divided into high, low and leopard crawls, but we can have them combined in a single crawl for XCOM.

 

Usage: When there's lots of nasty stuff flying overhead and you don't need to get anywhere fast.

 

Advantages: When you are low to the ground, you are hard to hit.

Disadvantages: Lousy sight range. Slow movement.

 

What do you guys think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

great idea! it would also be kinda cool to have overwatch, you know where one team stay put while the other team leapfrog ahead. also suppresive fire mode. also a standard loadout button where you could equip 1 soldier and use his load as a default for all other troopers, may save on time between missions. whaddaya think??
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I think it's good...

 

It remembers me a "frustration" :D of past games, 'cause no one does the movement that I was remembering.

 

In spanish is "disparar en abanico"... I think that the best correct traslation I can do is "Spreading fire"...

 

I'll try to explain me better : :D

 

Imagine this situation. You have a machine gun, and have 3 enemies in front of you :

 

1 2 3

 

you

 

You aim to the first, and then open fire. While you're firing, you move the machine gun to the right, aiming to the second enemy, and later to the third enemy. Between number one, and number three, you're launching bullets... This movement or maniobre it's very common with machine guns, uzis or similar...

 

I hope that I'm explaining well what i mean :D

 

See you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Suppressive fire?

 

How about:

 

Suppressive fire

If your agents (or aliens) shoot enough lead over the heads of an enemy, why not give the targeted agents/aliens a penalty to visual range / accuracy / movement points dependent on bravery (A lot of incoming fire+low bravery+friendly casualties= first suppression, then panic, berserk, etc)?

This would give nice scenarios where a agent with a machine-gun throws out a huge amount of fire at suspected enemy positions and suppresses them for other agents to crawl in and grenade the enemy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Another soldier action that currently has no xcom counterpart is:

 

SET SIGHTS:

The combatant trains his gunsights onto a square (front of the UFO doors most likely) in anticipation of an enemy moving there.

Because he is set on that one possibility, he has an initiative bonus (ie- he is likely to go first)

 

GAME TRANSLATION:

* Costs 20% of total time units

* The condition and targeted square remain in effect until the combatant spends TU's on anything other than reaction fire into that square.

* The combatant's reaction trait is at 120% for purposes of reaction firing into that square.

 

 

Optionally, the targeted square could be redefined as a 3X3 square area.

The way I have defined the action, it offers no advantage that turn, its gonna be next turn before he gets a initiative edge.

I think thats fair and workable.

 

Currently, soldiers with less that about 50 reactions often NEVER get a reaction shot off.

In UFO (unless you've got to the point of MC-ing mutons and giving them pistols for reaction training, which is cheesy),

a man NEEDS reactions to GET reactions.

It's rather nasty, lets give everyone a chance to get reactions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Setting sights is a great idea. Naturally, it should have a commensurate disadvantage: your reactions are reduced if an enemy appears at any location other than the tile(s) you are sighting. (Unless you intended for it to have *no* reactions for other tiles...)

 

Perhaps:

 

5x5 sighting: +20% reactions, -15% reactions for other tiles

3x3 sighting: +50% reactions, -37.5% reactions for other tiles

1x1 sighting: +100% reactions, -75% reactions for other tiles

 

E.g., a soldier with a reaction score of 45 sights a barn door, having seen a gray dash in there a moment earlier. He places the centre of the 5x5 sighting area on the centre of the door's opening. The gray appears at one side of the barn door. Since this is within the soldier's 5x5 sighting grid, he gains an additional 20% to his reactions score: he is treated as having a reactions score of 54.

 

E.g., a soldier with a reaction score of 30 takes 1x1 aim at a window where a gray has been periodically ducking up, taking a shot at an X-Corps trooper in the nearby field, and then ducking back down. While aiming at this window, the gray pops up again, getting ready to take another shot. The soldier's effective reactions score for aiming at a 1x1 tile is +100%, so he is treated as having a reactions score of 60. He succeeds, and plants a bullet in the gray's big forehead.

 

E.g., a soldier whose reaction score is 65 takes 1x1 aim at a doorway during a city terror mission. An alien bioterrorist suddenly pops up right in the soldier's line of fire... but the bioterrorist is right in front of his face, nowhere near the door. The soldier barely has time to gasp in shock as something pops out of nowhere: his reactions score is effectively -75%, so his decent score of 65 is treated as a paltry 16. The bioterrorist tears him limb from limb, growling in masochistic delight.

 

 

In spanish is "disparar en abanico"... I think that the best correct traslation I can do is "Spreading fire"...

 

In English, the jargon term is "walking fire". With a sufficiently slow machine gun, each bullet impact will lend an effect like something invisible running across the battlefield, killing everyone it passes.

 

I've also wanted a way of walking fire: you specify one target, and then a second target, and it will intelligently try to fire the first bullet at the first target, the intermediate bullets at points calculated in between, and the last bullet at the last target. With a rapid-fire weapon like a minigun, it's more effective to aim your first bullet to the left of your first target and your last bullet to the right of your last target (assuming you're walking fire left-to-right).

 

However, most of the X-COM weapons only fire bursts... there are no fully automatic weapons in the original Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense game. This makes walking fire meaningless, since burst-fire weapons are designed to aim at a single target. Perhaps Xenocide will be different...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

However I would imagine a Muton using a Plasma Repeater would not mind walking fire. They must have as many squad support weapons as us terrans do. There should have been a laser full-auto as well.

 

Cover Fire

 

Someone may figure out a more efficient way to do this, but....first you select a soldier you want to do the covering and push the Cover Fire button. First you select up to two adjacent sighting areas which they exclusively focus on with the bonuses. Then the cursor turns an alternate color and you select the soldier to cover. You can add multiple covering soldiers for the same soldier who is moving. When that soldier moves, he has blinking indicators that show how many coverers he has. If you want them to cover, click ont he symbol so it then has a block around it. As the soldier moves, the soldiers watch and react to any alien heads popping out.

 

In addition you could also assign Suppressive fire the same way. However suppressive fire does not wait for the enemy, but rather pours fire so they never try to come out and take shots. Covering fire can be blanketly cancelled with another button that comes up when someone is covering.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

<TERROR ZONE>

 

Soldier 1 (Rookie): South point reporting... No alien in saaiiigghhtt .. ARRGH! I'VE BEEN BITTEN BY SPAWN! BUARRH!

Soldier 2 (Captain): Are you alright?? *DASH*

 

*Soldier 2 reach South Point and saw Soldier 1 Zombie crawling*

 

Soldier 2: Ah dude... And I just started to like you. *CROUCH > Accuracy UP*

Solider 2: Let me put you out of your missery *Laser Rifle>Aim Shot>HEAD SHOT*

 

*Soldier 2 turn around and saw Spawn DASHing closer.*

 

Soldier 2: Damn! *CRAWL under boxes out of reach of Spawn and shoot the bastard to pulp*

Soldier 2: Lucky that I have enough TU for Auto shoot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...
1.) Dash

Description: This is a movement where the soldier sprints straight for one destination with the sole objective of getting there fast.

[...]

Advantages: Fastest movement (distance per MP spent). Accuracy penalty to anyone shooting at the soldier.

Disadvantages: Cannot return fire in mid-dash if fired upon by alien reaction fire. Cannot spot enemy shooter unless short-distance away. Ends in a crouch (in real-life, it's a dive behind cover) with enough MP to turn, but not enough to move.

Just generic Sprint (without target) + generic Jump, though "Sprint - jump to cover" as an option for automated movement makes sense.
2.) Normal jog

 

3.) Alert jog

 

Advantages: Better reactions/accuracy/sight range to soldier. Penalty to alien accuracy.

"Alert" or "Cautious" mode can be applied to Crouch and Crawl movement as well (and cancelled or ignored when Sprint). Though Alert+Crawl would have rare use in X-Com because there's no landmines or tracks (but it's good for tactical engine anyway). :)

Can have defensive effect only via preventing surprise attacks and winning initiative. Unless Hit-the-Deck will be standard reaction...

it would also be kinda cool to have overwatch, you know where one team stay put while the other team leapfrog ahead.
Pre-aim (at dangerous passages) action + alert/sentry mode (i.e. TU reserved for reaction-fire + raised reaction) for covering team ?
also a standard loadout button where you could equip 1 soldier and use his load as a default for all other troopers, may save on time between missions.
Then complete equipment templates - sets of armor, weapons, ammo and all.
Another soldier action that currently has no xcom counterpart is:

SET SIGHTS:

The combatant trains his gunsights onto a square (front of the UFO doors most likely) in anticipation of an enemy moving there.

Because he is set on that one possibility, he has an initiative bonus (ie- he is likely to go first)

Then again, separate action "Aim", more or less the same as a part of normal shot.

If target appears right in pre-aim crosshair: roll reaction check (+ alert/sentry bonus + readiness adjustment), shoot.

If target appears just somewhere in FoV: roll reaction check (+ alert/sentry bonus + readiness adjustment), aim (snapshot threshold), shoot.

If target appears in FoV without pre-aim: roll reaction check (+ alert/sentry bonus), aim (snapshot threshold), shoot.

Here re-aim impairs actual shot initiative even if initial reaction is good. Value depends of gun's aim rate (to redirect pistol or MG).

Where readiness adjustment is function of angle and distance: maximum on aiming direction, quickly drops to negative on each side, slowly drops along line of fire (sharper with scope).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...