12 replies to this topic

[kashyyk]

Title says it all realy any way we got tanks so why cant the aliens?

Tell me wat you think

[gu35s]

I think that is what sectopod is. Although if they can upgrade the sectopod to hover tank that would be a sight to see Oh right, then it would be terror disk :\ Well, maybe something newer then

[Snakeman]

I think the aliens tanks should be in two or three variants of both Cyberdisks and Sectopods for the main part. Have them look slightly different from one another with a few quirks/abilities to distinguish them.

Sectopod #1 would be the traditional 2 legged variant, #2 could be one that has more legs and can climb on any surface like a spider or something, and the third generation of Sectopod could be either something alot more compact with a different propulsion method like hover or a mix of the other two plus a different movement option than its counterparts (maybe it hops but doesn't hover etc.).

Cyberdisks can be approached similarly - giving it different body styles but for the most part is still a hovering platform. The differences here could mostly be ordinace related or differentiated by tools it could have onboard if they can be custom made.

Reapers I never considered a tank, since its a creature even though its probably big enough to take up the same space as a tank would. Tanks I'm taking to mean mainly computer controlled robots

[Metalfrenchtoast]

I think the number of large units in general should be increased for V1+, and I'm sure that'll happen. I'd definately like to see new meaner things than the reaper or the cyberdisk. Maybe even smaller creatures like the cilanoid but with legs and what not. They would have less HP than most units, but would be used in overwhelming numbers to balance. Maybe the aliens could deliver these creatures with special ships? Maybe like a "Swarm" class or something.

Edit: Very evil in an urban situation.

Edited by Metalfrenchtoast, 28 August 2006 - 07:23 AM.

[GARAK]

I think there should be a kind of sectopod carried on terror missions that is 3 or 4 stories tall. (think tripod - war of the worlds). It wouldn't be on all the terror missions. Perhaps only the ones later on when xcorp becomes a real pain the donkey. It would be hard to take down and highly manueverable. No shields though.

[Snakeman]

That sounds like a good special occasion type of unit for sure Garak. Maybe some terror sites should be mixed up by importance too in terms of what might compliment the terrorizing force.

That War of the Worlds tripod thing is a cool idea. The one in the remake looked a lot more menacing, plus it had the cool remote search tentacle camera thingy. I didn't think of it until you brought this up, but I also liked the holding cages and such on those things. Might be a cool capability to throw in there for abduction only type missions.

Plus its nice there might be other methods of having a soldier incapacitated that didn't involve mind control, being unconcious or dead. i.e. you have X turns after an alien capture like this to use other units to free him or whoever else is with them. It could be another way to try and preserve score to your civ losses a little too rather than have them always be capable of being killed outright with gunfire.

[GARAK]

I didn't think of the holding cells but that is a good idea. Your rocket soldier has a clean shot... should he take it and risk killing John Carr and the civilians? That reminds me. Why weren't there any civilians or livestock in the ufos? It like xcom always got there before they captured anybody. Sometimes there would be jars with people and animals in them, but never any living prisoners.

[Snakeman]

I guess cause they got there too late. But that would be cool too if we didn't have the War of the Worlds cages and robot - occasionally have live prisoners you could do something about, and some with mixed results. By this I mean whether they'd already done something nasty to them like insert Chryssalid eggs in 'em without you knowing about it til later. So while your dealing with it on the Battlescape you won't know either way. They would appear ok.

Maybe its a circumstance like the medical stasis idea for the medkits if not another medical tool in the field (like a HWP attachement/function to add to the HWP tools pile - could be coffin shaped modules or something). i.e. Anyone rescued from a UFO environment is 50/50 whether anything was done to them, so X-COM guidelines in those cases could be never to bring back unless in a stasis environment. On the next base defense mission its also 50/50 whether they turn ugly and break the stasis environment and help their friends. If they are normal, they just stay inside where within a few extra days they fully recover.

This may need a little extra thought put into it though. What happens when its not a soldier but a civ in there? If a base defense never occured, and the person is still in stasis, the longer you go while he's still inside one you could guess he's already lost. An alternative could simply be either give the medkits an extra diagnostic function to make sure whether or not someone is infected (or apply it to a mind probe function) reserving the statsis pod idea to soldier units only.

For situations in those alien HWP holding cages though, I'd guess since they wouldn't be in an experimentation chamber on a UFO they would be alright unless they couldn't be freed.

[gu35s]

Well, if to combine the idea from Governmen Trading Thread, maybe instead of the alien have a better HWP, it was humans who combined the hover tech with a sectopod. Then when the alien raided the governmen lab, they started to use a hover sectopod instead of the two legged ones. I guess that can also go with cages/stasis. Maybe it was human who use the idea of statis to capture live alien and the tech was captured by the aliens. After a while playing X-com, I started to wonder why the aliens do not have their own research center to develop something better. I mean we took their guns and shoot them with it. Maybe they should be smart enough to research better armors or even shield systems.

A bit off topic: Maybe human should have a medic HWP. X-Ambulance Or maybe an intergrated medic pods in the craft, where the agents can rest and heal a considerable amount more than just the medikit.

[Snakeman]

I still like the abduction alien spider HWP with a cage attachement. Actually, the more variety in these you have, the only hard part is whether or not it becomes a good idea to play their side so its always fun to think about what they can use on you playing the other. Maybe this HWP research leads to another way to capture aliens too.

For example, a HWP platform with various stun weapons capabilities besides whatever primary weapon it'd have. If we can design our own chassis combinations as well, I think we could liven up the tactics a little more rather than have it all rest with the game's stock three or four.

As for propulsion methods, I think X-COM would probably hold the most variety. Wheeled, tracked, hovering and tanks with legs. The aliens I think would only stick to hovering and legs and the only reason they'd keep legs is for the intimidation factor (i.e. a two story spiderbot will do that to you), though maybe they'd adopt tracked types.

So if this was a component situation in the game, each side would only need for the main body of the tank - a small, medium and large main body. The propulsion method you chose for each would then dictate leftover storage capacity for other weapons or tool attachements. The artistic look for each variant would take a decent amount time to come up with though (what determine's its "look"? hull and propulsion for sure, but probably also any weapons and tool attachements that "protrude" at all from the body during animation sequences or objectives that require an action besides what it'd look like at rest etc.).

So something like that would be a bit of a challenge, but could liven up a post V1 release.

[sir_schwick]

I think the human advanced HWPs should include the robots from Deus Ex. The two legged security bot was quite intimidating unless you had a GEP gun. The massive Military bots were very bad to face without some large trick up your sleeve.

[Snakeman]

Early android concepts that are just two legs seems like it'd be more challenging than if it had multiple legs to stabalize itself. I think if they do appear (remember these would have to be predescessors if events in Apoc are taken into consideration), the leg parts would probably resemble the power/flying suit legs - i.e. how they have it where the legs get thicker starting just above the knee down to the foot where its widest.

Heck, they could just make it look like a power suited guy with a different head or something and it'd fit. Another variant could be an android top half and a spider leg bottom half. Give the torso a couple of extra arms and you have something pretty menacing.

[GARAK]

Xcorp 209: "alien lifeform. Put down your weapons now. You have 30 seconds to comply."
Muton: "rusdsusu sxcoeeo?"
Xcorp 209: "You have 10 seconds to comply. 6....5....4...3.....
Muton: "fires plasma in panicky bursts"
Xcorp 209: kills muton with cold merciless speed