42 replies to this topic

[Blehm 98]

I've been thinking.... What if chrysallids and zombies could access part of a humans mind and stun him, making him an easy target. They could have a relatively large psi strength and skill, but they only can use panic. That way, chrysallids can panic all your guys, then kill them all

[Paladin]

That's plain evil...
I don't think chrysalids needs to be more dangerous...
::

[PopeBij]

...Thats just evil. No one wants even more letahl chrysalids. We should actually pretend like there not there and just fly away...quietly...

Bij

[Deathskull]

how about flying chryssalids? it would be just like the tftd tenteculants

[Cpl. Facehugger]

No. Flying chryssalids would take away from the feel, IMO. Now jumping chryssalids that could hit your guys in flight armor on the other hand...

[Blehm 98]

yes, they stun your guys on level 2, then rush in for the kill

[Cpl. Facehugger]

Oh come on!, chryssalis even more dangerous?, they do not need to be more dangerous :whatwhat: ... do you have anything against us players or what?

Az

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No. It's just that once you get flight suits, Chryssalids get pretty impotent, no?

I mean, Chryssalids should be as scary late in the game as Mutons and Etherials.

[T-1]

Give them some kind of natural EMP to take out flight suit's power?

[Kamikazee]

I think chrysallids are fine as they are.... Although I think that it would be a good idea to allow them to jump... Seemin as the model we are using for Xenocide does look like a jumping sort of creature.

They should be able to jump up one square and one square across at most... otherwise it would look stupid...

[Cpl. Facehugger]

They should be able to jump up one square and one square across at most... otherwise it would look stupid...

They could jump farther. It's up to the animators to make it look believable though.

[Paladin]

Oh yeah, Jumping Chrysalids would be plain Evil, but still be balanced enough, just to make them still dangerous later in the game... ::

BTW, why can't OUR guys climb on top of a 2m tall UFO? They should have a (even slow) possibility to "climb" over something, such as a DUMB FENCE!!
"Well, no Sgt, I CAN'T POSSIBLY cross that low wall (that I can even shoot over while standing straight), I might get dirt on my shiny armor you see..."

[Blehm 98]

Well i think that chrysallid mind powers would be good. Then 1 would blast your guys' mind to insanity, then the other moves in for the kill. like 2 chrysallid hunting teams.

[Paladin]

Well i think that chrysallid mind powers would be good.  Then 1 would blast your guys' mind to insanity, then the other moves in for the kill.  like 2 chrysallid hunting teams.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nah, IMO, Evil insects of doom should definitely NOT have mind powers... They might be resistant to it since they don't have that much of a mind to start with, but it would be completely ridiculous to have them psychically panic our guys... I mean, even the Tentaculats had a reason to be almost impervious to MC, they are basically a big floating brain...
Chrysalids are more akin to the Scorpion: No brain whatsoever, but a pure instinctual killing machine that could still kill you with it's head cut of...
Cockroaches can actually survive for a week without their heads, before they starve to death... Insects just don't have brains, they have a few linear areas of neural tissues, each dedicated to a few basic functions such as sensory input, bioregulation, walking (near the legs), etc.
In a short, Chrysalids already excel at panicking our guys, by killing them one by one and swelling their ranks in the process... :crying:

If you find them too easy once you get Flying armors, just give the damn Chrysalids a jumping ability to get to low flying guys and a smarter AI to ambush inside buildings & UFOs if they spot flying ennemies... that sort of "Legal" things would only increase the dread we suffer everytime we see one of the bastards instead of simply boosting the stats in a horrible and uselessly cheap way...
Chrysalids should make us feel like a rookie uselessly facing a Lobsterman with a harpoon gun...
:o

Edited by Paladin, 16 August 2004 - 12:21 PM.

[Blehm 98]

cockroaches have brains. They just have sort of a back-up brain to control the advanced stuff they have in the middle of their bodies, like those little hairs on their stomaches(or was it backs)

[Blehm 98]

oh sorry, maybe if they see a guy in the flying suit, they go inside buildings so you have to come lower to see them

[centurion]

If the chrysallids have a tendency to go into buildings and UFOs, your flying armor is not gonna save you

[Paladin]

If the chrysallids have a tendency to go into buildings and UFOs, your flying armor is not gonna save you 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's exactly my point, a bit more AI could make them far more dangerous, but in that case, the key to get to them would be to blast each and every building...
Oh, wait, that's what I do anyway...

[sir_schwick]

Insects can jump really high. I think Chrysallids should be able to jump three or four levels up and a few squares away, more depending on trajectory. Think grasshopper zomby of death. Then you would feel more inclined to use blaster-bombs or guided munitions.

[Tsereve]

Flying armor doesn't help you in bases and on Cydonia.

[Snakeman]

On Chryssalid Jumping. Perhaps it should be incremental by difficulty. On Easy I'd change it though to where the Chryssalids can affect its zombie magic one square away from it in any direction from the ground including one square above in the sky. Here maybe I'd play with letting them leap one square in any direction as well.

On superhuman, maybe that one or some offshoot could fly. Better yet, make only "new" Chryzzies able to fly, the ones that hatch from zombies made during a mission, not the ones that start out as Chryzzies

[Torgen]

On Chryssalid Jumping.  Perhaps it should be incremental by difficulty.  On Easy I'd change it though to where the Chryssalids can affect its zombie magic one square away from it in any direction from the ground including one square above in the sky.  Here maybe I'd play with letting them leap one square in any direction as well.

On superhuman, maybe that one or some offshoot could fly.  Better yet, make only "new" Chryzzies able to fly, the ones that hatch from zombies made during a mission, not the ones that start out as Chryzzies

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Make the ones that come out of zombies look different- like a "juvenile,"which would explain its flying ability. Also, when it "hatches" give it some TUs to fly away in reaction time before someone can shoot it!

[Arjuna]

I don't think Chryssalids should have psionics, even though the original game's UFOPaedia said they have well developed brain structure. However, jumping sounds good. It would give it that "dammit no matter what I do I can't outmaneuver this thing" feel.

Which is why you try to snipe them

[Ari Rahikkala]

maby change thare apperince to make them look like gint grasshoppers and give them wings

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nah. If the chrysallid-equivalents of the project can jump but not fly, draw their feet as sufficiently strong-looking but don't give the jumping ability away directly. The reason is simple: Visualise this old X-com veteran playing Xenocide and getting flying armour for the first time: "Ah... finally, now that my scouts are in flight no chrysallid can touch them...
...
? NO! THAT'S UNFAIR! NOOOOOO!"

[sir_schwick]

I like that, give the X-COM veteran heart attacks. On that note, Sectopods should have a couple 'Alternate Power Route'(ala Terminator 2) that come on two to three turns after being killed once.

[Blehm 98]

hmm, i don't know about doing that to sectopods. i think they are powerful enough already, even though i have had my own visions of sectopods with a small grenade or weaker version of a blaster launcher on the bottom with blades mounted onto the plasma cannons.

[sir_schwick]

Good point, they need more firepower. they are aliens. Do not want the aliens to get made fun of for having less firepower then humans.

[Airsean]

Well, Anyone here played hl2 yet?


Jumping Zombie anyone? That would kinda fit the profile of the kind of chrysallids you are looking for no?

[Blehm 98]

BUMP
I must say that some people like this idea, some don't, so maybe this is an option you can put it(to make the game harder)

[Moriarty]

another idea: the "zombified" civilian could look almost like the normal civilian... perhaps the only difference being totally black eyes, which you cannot always see. and the hatching only occurs when the [chryssallid] attacks or is shot at/damaged.

this way, at some stage during a terror mission, a civilian might walk up to one of your soldiers and suddenly erupt into a [chryssallid]. and you would walk around in constant fear of civilians whose eyes you cannot see (because they are facing away from you).

or sometimes, a civilian would be caught at the border of the blast radius of an explosion, only to cause the skin to fall off... and there you see the chryssallid hiding within.

and I would definitely vote for jumping [chryssallids]. they really look like they were built for that.

[crazy_higer]

How about making the Chrysalids more powerful and all that, but to ballance it up a bit, giving the X-Com guys a bit of a pay-back chance?

I mean, some crab-like monstrosity coves over, stabs you with something, injecting stuff into you, and you're just standing there, smiling like an idiot and zombify gradually? Why not blast it with a face-full of plasma in that exact moment?

IMO, the "zombification" should take more than one turn. Make it three turns, with gradual drop in the soldier's performance.

Plus, the idea of Chrysalids being able to penatrate ANY armor is just laughable, IMHO.

[Blehm 98]

well, teh point of the zombification is it is a very fast acting poison, and the person who got attacked is in so much pain that they just fall under the effects. Also, the soldier isn't exactly zombified, but is put into a crazed and murderous state by massive brain problems caused by the poison influencing your brain

[jtgibson]

That's a mixed issue. If it takes several turns to change, a clever X-Corps soldier would pluck the grenade off his belt, prime it, kneel, and drop it, then murmur whatever prayers he had. If you change immediately, on the other hand, it seems physically impossible.

[Blehm 98]

well, lets see, i don't remember the CTD, but it isn't as much a poison as a fluid that causes severe Rabies-like tendancies, increasing the subjects strength, reactions, speed, and resistance by a gigantic amount... It wouldn't take very long for it to take over since it just runs to the brain and thats it

I figure that it woudln't take long since it doesn't actually change anything, just stimulates what is already there to the point of insanity

[crazy_higer]

That still doesn't explain why the soldier turn into a fresh Chrysalid when you kill the zombie (unless I'm mixing it up with Tentaculats )

I see the entire Chrysalid attack cycle as this:
- Soldier attacks, an embryo (or something) is injected.
- Soldier is in a lot of pain, but has some 1 or 2 more turns to do something, with reduced stats.
- Soldier turns into a chrysaliss for a couple of turns.
- If the chrysaliss is destroyed, it dies.
- If enough turns pass, the chrysaliss opens and a new Chrysalid emerges.

[Shinzon]

I was thinking something along the lines of the "Alien" Movies except with the exepsion that the host is mind controlled or his higher intelegence is destroyed reducing the host body to a druling flesh pile operating on instinct (And also driven by the Urges of the forming chryssalid)

If you kill a host then the chrysslaid disconnects and hatches... technicly it should be weaker then the one that was given the full gestating sycle

[Blehm 98]

you mean like every turn the chrysallid become a higher percentage of what a full grown one would be until a certain number a turns... say 20% stats every turn

[Sectopod]

Looking at what's been said, here's a compromise of what's been said of all ideas.. how about the Chrysillid comes along, emplants the embryo into the soldier, and the embryo inside takes control of the nervous system of the soldier, basically the Chrysillid embryo inside is controlling the body but needs time to grow. The soldier is aware but can't move due to him being taken over (he could possibly speak (i.e. "Help Me!!!" to inspire fear and warn his fellow comrades.) This will prevent the player from using the grenade on himself and thus defeating the objective of a Chrysillid embryo. After 2 turns or so, the new Chrysillid comes out of his human shell. Going back to the point of an embryo inside of a soldier, a medi-kit could be used to remove the embryo or reduce the growth of the embryo rate and giving control back to the soldier (which could possibly be researched first becuase of the unknown knowledge at this time). As the Chrysillid is something which devours the human body, the soldier cannot be saved once been touched, but if he's been impregnated and completes his mission, he will be permanently out of service on Anti-Chrysillid Embryo drugs all his life (until Embryo surgery has been researched). I'm also up for the Chrysillid jumping idea/assulting within buildings.

[Blehm 98]

Actually, the venom severely damages the victims nervous system, and they enter a crazed state where they will kill anything in site. Perhaps some moderation done by the chrysallid embryo might make it so it doesn't go after the wrong thing, but it is primarily the crazed state caused by the embryo

[Brick-To-Face]

IMHO this would be better:
They can't superjump, but they can attack the square above them, since that's really close. This makes sense becaus it's about 2 inches away, I think the chryssalid can raise it's head, THAT's realistic, not jumping 30 feet.
When a soldier sees them, he/she should lose morele a little bit (depending on bravery), makes a lot of sense, I'd be scared shitless when I saw a chryssalid.
When a soldier gets eaten, everyone gets a big morale loss, hearing implantations and screams over the headset would be like the WWII fighters, "AAAAH! DIESEL FIRE! DIESEL FIRE!" Just makes you wanna run the heck away!
Armor gives you a cance ta survival, increasing probabilities of survival with increasing armor strength.
BEST IDEA EVER ==> When someone gets zombified they are themselves for a while, your soldiers are still yours, and if they are wearing armor, you have absolutely no clue when they are going to hatch, if ever. That would be reaaly good, since it reaaly confuses the player. Same goes for civies, but they never survive. Wether or not you're zombified, you lose some health, accuracy and TUs just like usual. How long before the Crys hatches? Simple, take the max (lets say 6) take a random # between 1 and MAX then take a random # between 1 and that #. This gives you a nice slope that makes each consecutive # of turns before hatching more and more rare, 1/36 chance of 6 turns.
I don't know if this happened in UFO or not, but since losing squadmates killed the alien team's morale, gaining mates (via chryssalids) should increase it.