Campaign Multiplayer

[Lap]

I just started making a two player board game of X-Com. It's human vs aliens of course and I think the method I am using would work well for multiplayer if you ever get the geoscape and the strategy part done.

 

Two-Player Campaign

 

-Human function same as normal

 

Aliens-

The alien player functions as follows:

 

The goal is to totally destroy the X-Com force/or achieve a user defined terror point total.

 

Initally only has a few ships and can only send 1-3 at a time. Starting with the crappy scout/abduction saucer. The player can then send these on several different kinds of missons (terror, subvert government, scout for X-Com bases, attack base).

 

Terror points are gained for every completed terror mission and partial terror points are given depending on how much damage/civilian casualties are inflicted in the event that XCOM intervenes and succeeds or arrives late.

 

Terror points are used to acquire new ships and a base on earth. All ships are preloaded with random aliens and equipment by type. Bases on Earth generate constant terror points.

 

Aliens do not research, manufacture, etc, they can only buy more ships and bases. This is done to simplify the actual implementation of the alien side. Anything that they should be able to do should only be done if it is easy and for the purpose of giving the alien player more to do while the human player is doing stuff (maybe a terror minigame?)

 

The game functions as normal besides this with the alien player controlling aliens in all situations where aliens are present.

 

Time acceleration is controlled by both players or only the human player (it's a two player thing so if you're playing with someone who is a jerk and is screwing around with it all the time then they aren't worth playing with).

 

**This is probably the most fun we can get out of a two player campaign with the least amount of work**

[Brick-To-Face]

I just started making a two player board game of X-Com. It's human vs aliens of course and I think the method I am using would work well for multiplayer if you ever get the geoscape and the strategy part done.

Give me screenshots err... tableshots? If you have a few photos, or a link that describes the game in detail.

I thought about designing an X-Com board game once. Basically, it's hard to get the "feel" of the ame without massive amounts of calculations, and random nubers... Which is what computers are for.

[Lap]

Yea it's been a bitch to design so far. A lot of stuff had to get simplified. I'll post for when I get it to a more workable level. So far I've managed to deal with most of the hard stuff (like how to do hidden things and such) but I can't figure out how to do 2 floors well.

[Brick-To-Face]

Yea it's been a bitch to design so far. A lot of stuff had to get simplified. I'll post for when I get it to a more workable level. So far I've managed to deal with most of the hard stuff (like how to do hidden things and such) but I can't figure out how to do 2 floors well.

Err, how DO you do field of vision? And I would suggest keeping it a 1 floor game

[Longshot]

I have a reasonably functional version of an X-Com tabletop game that could encorporate various levels, etc...but would require the building of models, etc.

 

It in theory(I haven't built the models yet, but have planned them), uses 1 inch squares (2.5 cm) as base movement tiles and essentially copies most of the abilities of the original computer game. Problem is, as noted- it require the "GM" to compute some massive numbers. So, I have a quick reference sheet, ala- battletech, in mind to make it easier- but the GM must be intimately familiar with most rules, some of which are still in development. I have a copy of what I have so far on a word doc, that is about 70 some pages, but most of those are tables and charts, etc. It includes a players section and GM section.

 

The GM essentially "runs" the alien forces and missions are generated randomly according to some of the tables and charts developed in the GM section. Players play the Humans, or aid the GM with the aliens depending on how many want to play the game.

 

I also added a few new mission types intended for smaller forces as well as developed some intricate rules for alien subversion of Earth forces, etc.

 

I included some new ship schematics, though all the original ships are left intact.

 

New techs include temporal mechanics, force fields, various vibro-this and that, and many others. I divided tech into 7 levels that the human players advance into as the game progresses with rules for scientists and how quickly they may make discoveries based on the tech level of what they are trying to discover and how many of them are working on the project.

 

I've added real medics and doctors back at the bases, as well as many other features meant to "enhance" the old game but remain with the spirit of it.

 

I can go into a lot more detail here but if anyone is interested in seeing a rough draft of the document, let me know. You'll need wordperfect or at least a reader to view.

Edited August 8, 2006 by Longshot