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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

What Value Do You Put On A Soldier's Life?


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Hmmm...

 

I was just wondering, in Xenocide when the end results of the battle are posted, will you be penalized more points for losing one of your soldiers compared to losing a HWP? If not, you really should be...

 

Looking through the original games and it just didn't seem right that X-com Command would place so little value on someone's life compared to the survival of a heap of plastic and metal! (-10 points for a dead troop and -20 for a destroyed HWP, I'm pretty sure it was)

 

"Sir! The aliens are mounting a counter-attack!"

"Right, get the HWP on board and then let's push off."

"But sir! We have a rookie still on the field! He'll be cut down in seconds! Why don't we get him on board first?"

"Because a rookie doesn't cost half a million bucks a piece!"

 

Not very humane, is it?

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You're saying there's such a thing as a humane war? Why do you think a pilot is regarded as expendable compared to a plane? Because you can always get pilots cheaper than a multi-million dollar aircraft. Sucks, huh?

 

But, I do think that a soldier should be considered more valuable than a remote-controlled tank. I often used the tanks as moving shields for my troops until I found out they drained points for being wiped out. Wonderful.

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Guest alex the greater

no tanks count as equipment if thay make you louse points it should be beacuse you run out of monney rebuilding them

 

solders cost points cause the funding nations dount want thare men dieing thay dount care about hwps, thay are bought via 3rd party countractor who likes the idea of you going thro 5 of them a mounth (thay get more monney)

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Guest alex the greater

but not an greedy weppons dealler

 

yess i can cut corners hear, hear, and hear

so what if it gets blown up thay whill just buy anouther one and ile get evean more monney :devillaugh:

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I feel the same way, if we lose our own weapons in the field (through explosive *cough* mishaps *cough*) we don't lose points for that, we simply have to spend dough to replace them. It just extends to the HWP is all.

 

I'd rather it just cost money also, however perhaps losing one in battle could affect morale (if it doesn't already, I think that's just high ranking soldiers loss only though). To bring up another Aliens analogy, think of Hudson's cowardly attitude when their dropship crashed...

 

"We're in some freaky **** now man! What are we gonna do?"

 

Just seemed logical to me some troops could wig out at the loss of a tank, or even their own Skyranger ;)

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Yup, Imagine how the T-shirt troops are going to feel, knowing their armored tank got busted... THEY'RE NOT ARMORED!! :o

 

Hehe... Teh insurance cost... :idea: or perhaps... the price to hire new soldiers could go higher, depending on the loss rate (which we'd need to keep track of), and if countries are defecting, we could'nt get any soldiers from them... ^_^

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Guest alex the greater
think of Hudson's cowardly attitude when their dropship crashed...

 

"We're in some freaky **** now man!  What are we gonna do?"

 

Just seemed logical to me some troops could wig out at the loss of a tank, or even their own Skyranger ;)

 

it wouldent have matterd except that droopship was thare only way of the planet

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Oh, I was just thinking that unarmored soldiers should freak out (panick) when their tank is busted...

Then again, not every soldier should start with 100% morale IMHO, maybe 75-90% randomised... Not everyone is at their 100% best each and every friggin' day...

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Guest alex the greater
how bout the first time thay sea a busted hwp thay freeak out and then after thay learn its main perpose is to scout ahead and get blasted insted of them it louses its efect
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Just make the soldiers loose morale a little when they explode. And make that quite a bit more for rokiees. They should overcome their fear when they learn that even if they can destroy tanks as if they were jelly, they themselves can be shot into jelly as well. By turning into squaddies.

 

If there is no tanks on the battlefield, their morale should go down to 50-65. That wouldn't affect everyone else.

Edited by mikker
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In the original soldier panicking was mostly related to MC-panic and deaths of fellows. IMO many other things should have significant effect on morale. Wounds, heavy incoming fire, darkness, being far from others and inexperience should have some noticeable effect. Bravery should also increase with experience, and in first few missions the effect be quite large.

 

Not many soldiers would take lightly if a fatally wounded, screaming comrade lies beside them, dark jungle blasting with plasma bolts. Those with 10 bravery should sometimes panick without first casualty.

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Guest alex the greater
actly i dount think solders hould louse morale from hwp destruction thay are battle hardend comandos and used to seaing things get blown up but thay sould freak out the first time thay see and alien
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The valu of a humen/soldier, is decreased allot in a war.

 

and the x-com soldiers are allerady comandos, manny of them are allredy veterans when they join x-com(thats how i se it). so they shuldt panic easely, just couse their new to the batlefild, it shuld be becouse of the freaky aliens. and as they get used to fighting aliens, they get used to it.

Edited by Qonfused
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You're right about that, but still, they should not increase so dramatically in firing accuracy, and be better from the start...

 

Tehn again, I guess it makes sense, since the aliens probably don't react the same way as humans do, so it might be a challenge to shoot them...

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A very nervous highly trained soldier would likely shoot anything surprising, moving or threathening into pieces by pure reaction before actually realizing what it was...

 

Training makes perfect though, and complex reactions can be trained. Ask any skeet-shooter.

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how about a sub stat to reaction, that deals with wrong rections.

elite soldiers who are putt in a situasion outside of their traning(as x-com rookies) might react worng by impulse(due to traning) a few times before they get the hang of it.

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...  worth exploring the idea...

but I'm not that convinced, since "Friendly Fire" already takes care of that...

 

the "friendly fire" could be a effect of wrong impuls. yet it could explain other things to.

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Since they r in not for money, there will be most anything, from a houswife to general, so the point is that there will be 1 in 5 lets say an commando gi-joe ^_^

with good skills... From the start there will not be to much suckers die for free :LOL: if u see my point!

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