Could also be nasa hiding extremely huge lies : Nasa, never a straight answer.What kind of lies?
For the mission, I could see perhaps a mission with later level MIB troops with tapes which give some late research for free, essentially catapulting the player forward tech wise.
a huge risk reward assessment for a player in promotion 2 / early 3 to take on, when MIB is still growing.I thought of the opposite. Early mission with two agents on a car and too many cartridges/reels/whatever to carry at once — they can grab a couple and run, but leaving this treasure trove seems wasteful, and they end up trying to neutralize every Man in Black within view.
Could be something like "strange coordinates" with a background of a random email from a stranger about something "big", requesting you to "bring firepower"Yes, something like that. Strange activity of plainclothed people in a sleepy suburb and a tip telling where is the thing they're after. May be a better way to introduce Men in Black than crop circles mission.
I'd rather not go off topic too much with conspiracies and big questions : figure it could roll down hill into a ban pretty fast.What I like about this mod, is that it takes crackpot theories and states they all are true. With a straight face :) Like the original UFO, only more so. When I started this thread, I hoped to discuss wild conspiracy theories. With people who don't really believe in them.
Thanks for opening this thread, I'll certainly keep an eye on it and fish for ideas. Keep them coming!It's a game where all the text is mission briefings and Ufopaedia articles :) I keep that in mind.
Also if I may suggest, please keep them as simple as possible. This isn't an RPG, it's a tactical game - not much text content is possible, or indeed necessary.
I can make more missions, but we also need to think where it leads to. You recover this tape, or computer, examine it, and then what? Does it give you some article, or unlocks something, or does it do something else?I've written my suggestions above after the word "Update" :)
Or maybe it should just be unspecified data which gives you points? That last option would be easiest, but feels kind of dull - after such a climatic entrance it should be something more satisfying.I fully agree that research just for points is boring. That also applies to dossiers, unless you want to do something interesting with them. Will you turn each of them into a mission like "Meridian hunt"? :) I'll write several anyway.
Perhaps we could have a new category of dossiers, something like here (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,5236.0.html) or the first entry here (https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,5228.msg80102.html#msg80102). But it'd require many new articles and someone would have to write them. ;)
I've written my suggestions above after the word "Update" :)
"Anomalous acceleration" followed by "Gravitic propulsion" can be either an extra requirement to get UFO propulsion and hyperwave decoder, or an alternative route to get them earlier.
"Old mainframe", "Data cartridge" and "Mouldy data cartridge" give points and explain what's up.
"What astronauts talk about" is for points and quick laugh. Not funny enough, I'm afraid.
"Black asteroid" can uncover an alien staging area. Which would explain how UFOs react to player's actions quicker than distance to Mars would imply. The asteroid should be Earth's auasi-sattelite then.
I fully agree that research just for points is boring. That also applies to dossiers, unless you want to do something interesting with them. Will you turn each of them into a mission like "Meridian hunt"? :) I'll write several anyway.
What are your plans about Underdark, zombie caves and Reptoids? Some tapes can contain the data from orbital radar scanning that reveals caves of potential interest.
Probably. I'd like to start working on that, but the amount of work needed is staggering - it's like another T'Leth arc, but without all the resources already existing in TFTD.My suggestions so far try to rely on the existing sprites. Of course, Ufopeadia articles need some graphics, but that's not a priority.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/conspiracy/walmartclosures.aspThanks. I found one theory I liked. Especially the name.
The Illuminati were in physic communication with the Greys who crashed landed in 1908 Siberia awaking the long slumbering Yeti who found the Spear of Destiny hidden by Hitler in Antarctica; then traded it to the Monks of Shamballa who were captured by black helicopters then interred in secret FEMA internment camps but escaped by hiding in the tunnels under Walmart where molemen are extracting the Codex Alimentarius from NASA's missing tapes and posting it on the Internet.:) Mind if I copy it with slight corrections? To bring it closer to established canon and avoid anachronisms.
:) Mind if I copy it with slight corrections? To bring it closer to established canon and avoid anachronisms.
Those vapor trails caused by aircraft? Chemtrails! They can put any additive they want in jet fuel and no one would be the wiser. It is the spraying of the atmosphere with chemicals by corporate and governmental interests no doubt pressured by outer-worldly powers to make this planet more habitable for the eventual alien presence on earth ... MuhHAha.Actually, chemtrails are already part of Hybrids' arc :) They add chemicals to airplane fuel to make people more "numb and docile".
Actually, chemtrails are already part of Hybrids' arc :) They add chemicals to airplane fuel to make people more "numb and docile".
That would kind of be the point solair : a mission specifically involving careful tactics and restraint. For an investigation beuru, xcom seems too damn trigger happy. it would be a necessary change of pace IMO
That would kind of be the point solair : a mission specifically involving careful tactics and restraint. For an investigation beuru, xcom seems too damn trigger happy. it would be a necessary change of pace IMOSeconding that. More missions where non-lethal weapons are required will bring more variety.
Seconding that. More missions where non-lethal weapons are required will bring more variety.
More missions where non-lethal weapons are required will bring more variety.Exactly. And again, xcom starts as an INVESTIGATIVE BEURU, yet they very much perform like a hit squad for swat or something. Even with farmers, you can light up every person with a hail of lead, and face minimal consequences. A small town situation with xcom, saving hostile civilians from the aliens, and themselves, with JUST enough news coverage to look VERY nasty for xcom if they killed everyone, but not enough to put xcom under would be interesting, not to mention the pressure between not having your squad wiped from not shooting a young woman for stabbing your troop in the throat with a combat knife nor being shot with a plasma pistol totting sectoid, and trying not to gun down civilians on presumably live news coverage.
Exactly. And again, xcom starts as an INVESTIGATIVE BUREAU, yet they very much perform like a hit squad for swat or something. Even with farmers, you can light up every person with a hail of lead, and face minimal consequences.....snip .....and if this is xcom killing off everyone, this will look very bad.
Doomsday Prophecy
On the 28th of November 1996, on the day of the Holy Martyr Steven, the world will crash into a heavenly axis.
This sounds familiar, but I can't pin it down... Anyway, we can rest assured this one was false.
Actually steam, I was thinking just a copy of how piratez did it, with different types of enemies armed or unarmed, with some giving positive points for killing (alliens) and some giving a NEGATIVE point value for killing (little kids charging you with knives, or mothers with shotguns). It actually works pretty well, you need to carefully plan out reaction fire, and calculate who to shoot, who to hesitate on, and when to risk non fatal take downs.
Any chance we could get a VIP rescue sort of thing like one of the missions in xcom enemy unknown? Perhaps a spawn point for xcom, spawn point for cultists, and spawn point for VIP's and security, and trying to rescue the VIP before hes killed.
Also, What if zombie parasites were connected with a drug outbreak? Like zombies outbreak in the slums because a dirt cheap "drug" is being sold and converting drug addicts into literal zombies... Would be interesting to see, particularly if it involved gangers and ghetto people fighting zombies in the streets in a police no go zone. It would also better explain the large zombie presence in the world.
Not sure... You need at least partially grown parasite to overtake a human. But maybe something can be arranged. :)What about energy? A zombie gets a limited doze of plasma and the only way to get more is to eat other zombies. If an infected only gets a drop of contaminated blood, the doze would probably be too small for anything and the zombie would die from starvation before X-COM arrives.
What about energy? A zombie gets a limited doze of plasma and the only way to get more is to eat other zombies. If an infected only gets a drop of contaminated blood, the doze would probably be too small for anything and the zombie would die from starvation before X-COM arrives.
Now, if someone distributes this stuff disguised as cheap drugs, there's enough energy and you get a zombie outbreak in a big city. The question is: who would do it? Hybrids are obvious culprits, but that may get boring.
Can it be the Syndicate? What for? How about getting more zombies for their experiments?
Can any of the 4 starting "cults" do it?
How about cultists of Apocalypse? Would Luchadors try to make more food for themselves?
Maybe people are injecting pure zombie blood / eating zombie flesh in ghettos for an insane high / performance enhancement, which expedites the zombification process?...
Element-115 Synthesis.
Earth nuclear physics has already come as far as synthesizing element 112. After seeing our data on ellerium and knowing that the isotope 299 is long-lived enough, our partners in JINR, GSI and RIKEN came up with several synthetic pathways and tried them all in a matter of weeks. This part was a success.
Unfortunately, the obtained isotope possesses none of the useful properties of ellerium. Even the atomic mass is slightly lower. Looks like we need a different isomer, and are still clueless about how to make it.
Still, this was a big achievement for Earth science. I heard they were going to name the element Moscovium.
How about synthetic ellerium? It even fits the canon. Of course, it's a dead end. (Or is it?)
How about roadside ambushes and highway robbery? X-COM agents travel far and wide. Surely, a group of rich foreigners in a good car would grab attention of wrong kinds of people. What if somebody decides to rob them?
How about not double-posting :PTwo my posts in the same thread? I didn't realize it was a problem. I'll stop.
But to the point: E-115 is in fact artificial (at least in the canon XCF shares with Piratez),I haven't reached that point yet :) By canon I meant the TFTD manual, where artificial element 115 was created around 2004, but proved useless.
but it is generally easier to develop other energy sources (like fusion) than to make Elerium from scratch.That's the idea. But somebody has to try to know that.
I suggested that it only happens for early missions — before flight training — and for undercover missions.
It's a fun concept. :) But what if X-Com travels in a helicopter? Or an Avenger? So not really practical, unless you have an idea how to solve it.
By the way, if somebody starts answering my post and I change it, does the forum engine display a warning?
I haven't reached that point yet :) By canon I meant the TFTD manual, where artificial element 115 was created around 2004, but proved useless.
That's the idea. But somebody has to try to know that.
I suggested that it only happens for early missions — before flight training — and for undercover missions.
Flight training requires only 1st promotion and military envoy, therefore flying craft can be used in any mission except cult apprehension. Is it possible to check the craft upon arrival? Or does the type of mission have to be generated when the marker appears?
If the latter, then only undercover missions remain. And I don't think that such things should happen on the way to mountain or seaside resort. What does this leave? Osiron and Syndicate?
P.S. I checked the *.rul files. There are "STAKEOUT" and "INFILTRATION". What is the difference? Other that allowing Hummer, helicopters and Dragonfly for infiltration.
Yeah, likely too expensive to make.No, that wasn't the problem. The synthesized element didn't have the properties of the one aliens used. Thus the need to dive for UFO remains, which transformed X-COM to an underwater salvaging company, and later the formation of mining colonies on Mars and beyond.
No, that wasn't the problem. The synthesized element didn't have the properties of the one aliens used. Thus the need to dive for UFO remains, which transformed X-COM to an underwater salvaging company, and later the formation of mining colonies on Mars and beyond.
I went with the idea that humans synthesized the most stable isomer of the required isotope, but alien technologies use some excited metastable isomer. It may be created by some other process and may even form naturally somehow, but the transition between the two isomers is "forbidden", i.e. highly improbable to near-impossible.
Speaking of scientific theories, has anybody mentioned (about Cyberweb arc) that lone red dwarfs don't normally go nova? If their universe is old enough, and the dwarf is big enough, it may expand to a red giant, but that isn't a nova according to Wikipedia.
Just add a reference to some sort of 'red matter' and you'll be fine. ;D
Actually I have just changed it to "dying". And then I thought: there is not way in hell a red dwarf would have the time to grow so old in our Universe, because it would take much more than 13 billion years. But instead of rejecting this idea I've decided to actually mention it in the text. Figure out some headcanon. :PI vaguely recall that Apocalypse mentioned something being wrong with the alien star. Which forced them to invade. Probably becoming a red giant and engulfing the planet. I searched https://ufopaedia.org, but didn't find it.
Speaking about the alien dimension. How did the X-COM survey team launch a satellite? Does the planet have such a weak gravity? Did they pull something like Firestorm through the gate? Did they have some outside assistance with the survey?
They used a rocket.:) Well, this is 1990s. Repurposing a Topol won't be a problem. As long as the vehicle fits the gate.
Yes, they actually dragged a space rocket through the portal. The Council would make it possible quite easily.
It's a fun concept. :) But what if X-Com travels in a helicopter? Or an Avenger? So not really practical, unless you have an idea how to solve it.
we can't check the craft upon arrival. And the mission is determined at the start of month, with location, faction and everything.
If you like the idea of a rare 2-part mission, here's one possible answer. Is it possible to create a map that has no flat areas without forest? The mission description is normal, but the briefing after landing states that the area of interest is inaccessible to ground vehicles and has no flat clear areas to land a helicopter.
I don't think we really need to represent aircraft inaccessibility directly by removing all non-hillsThere can be flat areas completely covered by forest.
:) Well, this is 1990s. Repurposing a Topol won't be a problem. As long as the vehicle fits the gate.Just saw a driving test on a 3-stage ICBM launcher, decided to share. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojhnSrrbu9c
Are there any mods that have an abandoned mine map? Or a working mine? I saw a video of an abandoned uranium mine, looks fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oBJUQubKYs (Unless it requires drawing the whole new terrain, of course.)