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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

Alternate Base Locations


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I did a search and didn't find a topic that addressed this, so...

Why do the X Com bases have to be on the ground? I think the bases were underground somewhat and I'm not sure how much this game was already going to take into consideration, but here's some thoughts...

Even further underground - the battle would start with the enemy at surface level and your soldiers random, as usual. Allows you to get your soldiers to decent combat positions before the enemy is in the base proper.

Mountain base - difficult to attack, but would need more weapons because of the limited coverage they would provide. May also be a problem for radars if they are not outside the base... could provide manufacturing benefits or allow mining of materials to sell or that are used for manufacturing...

Underwater base - Very difficult to attack if the aliens are not properly equipped and would need special weapons for defense. May provide research benefits... needed for recovery of downed craft in water

Space base - provide first line of defense against aliens. Could be subject to alien craft attacks meant to destroy the installation. Weapons would be used for defense as well as interception. Ballistic weapon platforms cannot be used. Combat inside the base is very risky due to problem of punching a hole in the wall and causing the atmosphere to be leaked, causing decompression to all unprotected individuals. Automatic sealing bulkheads would have to be built to keep the damage to one section of the ship. Damaged alien ships could either float aimlessly or crash to the planet, suffering from reentry and collision damage, either being totally destroyed or highly damaged. Weapons on this base could also be directed to targets on the ground such as bases or downed alien craft that one doesn't want to investigate. Possible use against alien craft already in Earth atmosphere but possible miss, hitting the planet and making the country unhappy... can be used on terror sites for those more sadistic individuals :devillaugh:
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[quote]Why do the X Com bases have to be on the ground? I think the bases were underground somewhat and I'm not sure how much this game was already going to take into consideration, but here's some thoughts...[/quote]

They were underground in the original, hence the access lift.

XCOM operates in secret, just like the aliens do. It's the UFO/craft activity that give both sides away and cause the main conflict. This is why there are no bases overground, and all the facilities cost so much.

The reason mountain bases and space bases don't work is because:

1) A space base is virtually undefencible, and in no way low-profile. Anything we can put up into space without alien technology would be easily noticable. Even WITH alien technology, strategically we are limited to craft manuevrable enough to avoid any possible engagement. It's expensive to cart fuel up and down to make it able to manuevre, and even if you did, such manuevrability as it had wouldn't do much for defence. Due to lack of friction in space, it'd be laughably easy to destroy as long as your could perform your calculations, and knew it wasn't going to change directions before your weapon got close enough to ENSURE a hit no matter what. (in space, due to lack of friction, the factor that facilitates evasion is acceleration, not speed- likewise in an environment that has "limitless" acceleration, second-level acceleration would be the limit on evasion)

2) A mountain base is badly defencible. Just exploding the top of the mountain in a way that buries the exits to the base would make it less worth reconstruction, the mountain would cause the available space for defences that wouldn't alert the public or the aliens to the base's existance to drop near to zero, and the base setup cost would be even MORE prohibitive.

As for underwater bases, they become practical but only with advances to pressure-resistant and water-resistant technology. These are not fundamental problems like with mountains and space, which is why TFTD was somewhat believable- just not set within a realistic timeframe :D
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