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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

Mechanized Aliens


Moonsorrow

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what freaked me out about xcom apocolypse was that all the aliens equipment was organic, including the ufo, shooting living guns and all...why not try the oposite for xenocide? here comes somekind of strange alien atacking you, they cut of his arm, replaced half his face and build explosives into him to make sure you would go down if you took him down, i guess what im trying to say is it would be cool to see the exact oposite of an organic alien squad comming at you blasting away.
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I don't know, we already have floaters, and they are cyborgs. We have sectopods, and cyberdiscs too. Im not sure that combat robots would be good for the aliens. Maby we could have like a "floater mark II" ? That way, we can make a more cybernetic alien like you want, and make floaters more than pistol fodder.
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[quote name='Cpl. Facehugger' date='Sep 5 2003, 10:15 AM']I don't know, we already have floaters, and they are cyborgs. We have sectopods, and cyberdiscs too. Im not sure that combat robots would be good for the aliens. Maby we could have like a "floater mark II" ? That way, we can make a more cybernetic alien like you want, and make floaters more than pistol fodder.[/quote]
I like the flooter opgrade alot. It would come after Ethereal? Followed by Cyborg Reapers? :happybanana:
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I was thinking that floater II's would come after snakemen and before mutons. I mean, you can only improve a floater so much before players start asking why the other aliens can't be augmented.
They would be better than snakemen, but nowhere as powerful as mutons, which is as it should be.
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Why would they be faster? Maby they should have a few more tus, but I was thinking they would get more health and armor. And you are right, they would float like floaters, otherwise they wouldn't be floater mark II's!
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But the aliens already do have implants here and there. And since most aliens are genetically manipulated already, ther is minimal need for cybernetic implants, right?

Anyway one of the entries gave me a mean idea. How about an alien that was created specifically to find your men, approach and explode. There was like that in apocaplypse, remember? It might be a useful side alien to the mutons.

Really, there's a floating sack flesh and it's about to spit on me. I'm shaking the joints of my power suit now.
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An annoyance but u always had 2 be on the lookout for them, u never know when 1 might be hiding round a corner. However, unless we have have the CQB system of apoc going around small corridors ( which I personally didn't like ) u would see a popper comin from a mile off in turn based so they would be useless.
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Yeah, but chryssalids have a fair amount of health. Poppers have so little health that they die when hit with a rock. :D

Besides, chryssalids were effective because they could turn your men against you, poppers would not be effective because they can only explode. Granted that is a big explosion, but, there is nothing to worry about after you kill the popper. If the chryssalid molested anyone before you waxed him, then you have to worry. (why wouldn't the mutons toss a 'nade instead?) Anyway, I'm just biased against poppers, probably the pain of capturing one of the lil blue b^stards alive.
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I suppose that would work.
Actually, I did get a cyberdisk once, It took like 5 guys with stunrods and a couple of guys with small launchers, and even then, I had to shoot it a bit with a pistol, but I did get the lil bugger after 6 turns of constant attempt. :D
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[quote name='Cpl. Facehugger' date='Sep 10 2003, 02:03 AM']Yeah, but chryssalids have a fair amount of health. Poppers have so little health that they die when hit with a rock. :D

Besides, chryssalids were effective because they could turn your men against you, poppers would not be effective because they can only explode. Granted that is a big explosion, but, there is nothing to worry about after you kill the popper. If the chryssalid molested anyone before you waxed him, then you have to worry. (why wouldn't the mutons toss a 'nade instead?) Anyway, I'm just biased against poppers, probably the pain of capturing one of the lil blue b^stards alive.[/quote]
U mean u actually tried :o

Yeah, I don't think Poppers would fit in here they are just a walking suicide bomb who are far more effective in real time, turn based they are so easy 2 kill.
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How about suicidal living weapons? :D

At any rate, I must say that poppers were necesary in apoc, because, in the beginning of the game they were really the only guys who could hurt you. Until the anthropods get disruptor weapons that is.

Anyway, to get back on topic, I don't think there should be any new robotic aliens.
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[quote name='Moonsorrow' date='Sep 5 2003, 06:13 PM']Vaaish, how booring is that? the instant someone trys to mix a little metal with a little flesh you think borg.... do you altso think "take me to your leader" when you hear alien?[/quote]
Well the borg ARE the quintisential melding of random metal extrusions with humanoid races. I guess we could also remember Quake 2, or possibly even some arcane aspect of Star Wars and AVP...

Quite frankly I don't think hackjob combinations of clunky robotics and aliens very frightening. It seems to fall more in the pity category since the recipiants the modifications tend not to really fall in the category of true biological beings or automatons.

Much more frightening is the enemy who sends heartless, cold, metal creations that have no regard for either their own losses or the lives of noncoms. And then what brings about hte fear is the cold calculation and total inhumanity of the machines.
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The head and face are also the best way of displaying a frightening alien, along with speed and agility far beyond anything seen before. In films the two biggest, and scariest looking IMO, are Predator and Alien, simply because when you look at them you see no humanity in that.

The Terminator metallic skeleton has the same effect, so I'd say that a mix between looking totally inhuman and cold, hard metal have a good effect. Incidently, altho the Alien films creatures actually didn't have metal bodies their exoskeleton has that metallic effect so a lot can be said for the success of metal merging with skin.

Terminator 1 looked pretty damn scary for the time as well when he had all that metal protruding from under the broken skin, tho I was about 6 when I watched it so maybe it was just the times :)
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How excactly would you balance an invisible alien?

Hmm, It would have to have melee only, hmm, it still shows up on the screen, but there is no 1box like normal when an alien is sighted, it would be clear, to make it harder to see for the player... Hmm... Might be a good idea :D.

Also, Imo cyborg races are pathetic, Look at the floaters. Or even the borg, they aren't that tough. Cyborgs probably shouldn't be kept (except the floater, because hes classic... :) )
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[quote name='Cpl. Facehugger' date='Sep 11 2003, 08:02 PM']Also, Imo cyborg races are pathetic, Look at the floaters. Or even the borg, they aren't that tough. Cyborgs probably shouldn't be kept (except the floater, because hes classic... :) )[/quote]
Go tell that to Terminator :D
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In the movie Reese described him as a cybernetic organism. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I think that the machine underneathe the skin sustains the flesh outside of it. I doubt there is any sort of heart or lungs or a curculatory system or nervous system that would be required to grow the skin and sustain it... it that the skin itself has machine parts encorperated into it to keep it alive.

Either way it's a machine/organic interface, even if the primary component is the machine and not the flesh as is normally associated with cybernetic organisms. Is that enough to classify it as a cyborg? Was the kid in D.A.R.Y.L. a cyborg? It was a machine brain that controlled the flesh around it. They called those sorts of entities something different in that old game called Star Control... I think they were called something like Psytrons or something.
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It depends on the definition of Cyborg but AFAIK the Terminator was a cyborg, living tissue was sustained by blood as in the film there was blood when he sliced his eye out IIRC, which at the very least would indicate a metallic heart. The definition of Cyborg would have to be investigated to find that out. Robocop was a cyborg and I wouldn't want him kicking my arse much either :)
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Robocop had a human brain inside him. It was a cop's I believe.

In my mind, to be a cyborg, you have to have an organic brain, or be more than 70% organic.

Terminator had living tissue grafted onto his chassis. I would assume that his computer brain handled the tissue's maintence. :D
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Robocop was a cyborg as well, he was a man that had machine parts. That is what is being suggested AFAIK, metal flowing into flesh parts which if done right can look damn freaky. I think Fux's design is a start towards that end
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[quote name='Cpl. Facehugger' date='Sep 11 2003, 09:51 PM']I suppose you are right.

Anyway, I feel that combat robots would detract from the game. Now a muton in powered armor minus the helmet would look pretty damn good and make mutons even harder to kill ;)[/quote]
So maybe only armors than new alien races. Say, floater in armor which gives him more TUs, more health, and... Armor :P. Same thing could be used for sectoids, snakemans, mentioned earlier mutons...

If CYBORG=CYBernetic ORGanism then many aliens are CYBORGS already, tho.
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True, Most of our aliens already have cybernetic implants. Like reapers, celatids, sillicoids, mutons, etc.

I really like the idea of armoring aliens, it would make them harder to kill, and it would still stay realtively true to the original. I mean, xcom can make armor, why can't the aliens? Maby only ranked aliens should be able to use armor though.
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Why should they tho? Who's doing most fighting around? Slodiers or this one commander guy sitting in the base guarded by many of those soldiers. I guess high ranked aliens should have armor which unablies capturing 'em. Just like arsenic poison hidden in a tooth ;)
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Having armor upgrades through cyborg implants would be a good way to keep it tough in the later game. You could set a time frame when armor starts to be used, like 1 year. When it begins, 25% of aliens, minimum 1, have armor in sites, and increases by 15-25% each month until they all do. It would take the aliens time to convert it all after all. I would lean towards armored aliens or minor implants over a full robocop/terminator type chassis, and for units already robotic like the sectopod, you could have a more glorified version, a little extra flair to make it noticably different. Just imagine: "oh no! It's a sectoid! Bring up the heavy plasma, let's hope it can take out that Grey!"
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[quote name='Breunor' date='Sep 15 2003, 11:30 AM']Having armor upgrades through cyborg implants would be a good way to keep it tough in the later game. You could set a time frame when armor starts to be used, like 1 year. When it begins, 25% of aliens, minimum 1, have armor in sites, and increases by 15-25% each month until they all do. It would take the aliens time to convert it all after all. I would lean towards armored aliens or minor implants over a full robocop/terminator type chassis, and for units already robotic like the sectopod, you could have a more glorified version, a little extra flair to make it noticably different. Just imagine: "oh no! It's a sectoid! Bring up the heavy plasma, let's hope it can take out that Grey!"[/quote]
I guess that should depend on things like difficulty level and alien bases count (they can be factories too).
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Well, my vision would be a robocop chasis in a manner of speaking, but not in essence. What I'm going for with the heavily butchered races (such as the muton) is a fully fleshy individual with the relevent bits replaced with technology that is not flesh and is not machine but both at once. The relevent bits on the muton would be anything that helps it survive in hostile environments or combat situations, ie. Sensory organs, lungs, skin.

The best way I can describe the look of the parts on that concept that noone like as looking 'too robotic' would be a microscopic polimer mesh. It would give the appearance of a malible(sic) (ie. Bendy and elastic) plastic. After all that I would make something up about its properties like it reacts to jumps in kinetic energy by forming chemical matrices that harden the armor and absorb energy for as long as the energy spike is present. It would also function as a sensory organ and would communicate the the muton's CNS... blah blah blah.
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