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The X-Com Files / Cult Apprehension missions
« on: October 28, 2017, 01:44:08 pm »
"Cult apprehension" missions come out of the blue. It's obvious why we would go after strange animals, UFOs, places where UFOs have landed, people selling alien tech and such. But "members of an illegal organization" doesn't seem to warrant attention of paranormal investigators.
I suggest some kind of preliminary missions that give leads to the four cults. There's already a homicidal maniac mission, but that's not enough.
There can be some unusual items in storage right from the start, that lead to people involved in those organizations:
Church of Dagon: Gilldog corpse, Deep One corpse, Deep One hatchet, Deep One spear, Staff of Dagon, Staff of Heart Grip.
Red Dawn: Durathread, Storm.
Black Lotus: Flame Glove.
Exalt: Psiclone.
All 4: Alien Communicator.
Or better yet, there can be missions to capture a single man (or woman, or beast) displaying some oddities. They may unlock the "Cult Apprehension" missions or replace them entirely.
Red Dawn:
1. "A petty criminal is reported to have grown muscular and acquired super strength in a matter of days. Capture the suspect for questioning." The suspect may be a Stormy or a Red Dawn Ganger. I like the Stormy better, but guess changes to descriptions and tech tree would require more work.
2. A "Storm Seizure" mission, possibly scaled down to be beatable by 2 rookies. The description should be written with no previous knowledge of Red Dawn or Storm. Something like "Rumours abound of a wonderful drug called 'Storm' that helps grow muscular tissue. The reported effects far surpass anything known to Earth science. We have located a group of Storm users. Capture them for questioning and secure their stash."
Black Lotus:
1. "A man is reported to be able to shoot fire just with the power of his mind. Capture the suspect for questioning." A Black Lotus Follower armed with a Flame Glove.
2. "A man is reported to be able to become invisible. Capture the suspect for questioning." A Black Lotus Assassin. I haven't thought this out completely. The enemy should be: beatable by 2 rookies, challenging, able to display invisibility. Can Black Lotus Warriors become invisible? Would an assassin be a challenge if armed only with a shiv?
3. Is it possible for an enemy to disappear from the field entirely? There could be a mission where an Avatar visits a lowest follower, then the avatar leaves and the follower is captured.
Church of Dagon:
1. Starts like a regular "Strange Life Form" mission in a city, the enemy is a Gilldog. But investigating the animal or its corpse leads to people who use them as guard animals — Church of Dagon. Is it possible to give this mission higher probability than any other monster hunt?
2. "A green humanoid has been spotted. Capture him for questioning." A Deep One armed with melee weapons. Investigating his corpse or weapons unlocks Church of Dagon.
EXALT:
1. "Rumours abound of a wonderful drug called 'Psiclone' that gets you high without consequences. What sets it apart is the police inability to approach the traders — officers experience panic attacks and occasionally report an outside force seizing control of their limbs. We have located a Psiclone addict. Capture him for questioning."
2. Something similar to "Storm Seizure" mission, but with Psiclone. "Rumours abound of a wonderful drug called 'Psiclone' that gets you high without consequences. What sets it apart is the police inability to approach the traders — officers experience panic attacks and occasionally report an outside force seizing control of their limbs. We have located a group of Psiclone users. Capture them for questioning and secure their stash."
3. Does EXALT deal in alien weapons or is this business exclusive to Osiron?
Yet another idea is that UFOs captured in January 1997 have devices to contact Alien Communicators on Earth, and it's possible to study them and track down people using Alien Communicators. I like this idea best, but if it's the only lead, failure to capture any UFOs would block the rest of the game.
UFO Communicator
The device is a short-range transceiver made of strange materials and utilizing unknown principles. So far we have only figured how to switch it on and determine coordinates of the interlocutor.
There seem to be at least 4 different groups of humans in contact with aliens: "Black Lotus", "Dagon", "Red Dawn" and "Exalt". Unfortunately, our blundering attempts to use the transceiver to locate them forced them to lay low. When we find any more leads, you will be informed.
(Misspelling is intentional.)
And the mission descriptions like: "We have located members of an organization working for aliens, the <INSERT NAME>, operating in this area. We must apprehend the suspects and capture them for questioning."
I suggest some kind of preliminary missions that give leads to the four cults. There's already a homicidal maniac mission, but that's not enough.
There can be some unusual items in storage right from the start, that lead to people involved in those organizations:
Church of Dagon: Gilldog corpse, Deep One corpse, Deep One hatchet, Deep One spear, Staff of Dagon, Staff of Heart Grip.
Red Dawn: Durathread, Storm.
Black Lotus: Flame Glove.
Exalt: Psiclone.
All 4: Alien Communicator.
Or better yet, there can be missions to capture a single man (or woman, or beast) displaying some oddities. They may unlock the "Cult Apprehension" missions or replace them entirely.
Red Dawn:
1. "A petty criminal is reported to have grown muscular and acquired super strength in a matter of days. Capture the suspect for questioning." The suspect may be a Stormy or a Red Dawn Ganger. I like the Stormy better, but guess changes to descriptions and tech tree would require more work.
2. A "Storm Seizure" mission, possibly scaled down to be beatable by 2 rookies. The description should be written with no previous knowledge of Red Dawn or Storm. Something like "Rumours abound of a wonderful drug called 'Storm' that helps grow muscular tissue. The reported effects far surpass anything known to Earth science. We have located a group of Storm users. Capture them for questioning and secure their stash."
Black Lotus:
1. "A man is reported to be able to shoot fire just with the power of his mind. Capture the suspect for questioning." A Black Lotus Follower armed with a Flame Glove.
2. "A man is reported to be able to become invisible. Capture the suspect for questioning." A Black Lotus Assassin. I haven't thought this out completely. The enemy should be: beatable by 2 rookies, challenging, able to display invisibility. Can Black Lotus Warriors become invisible? Would an assassin be a challenge if armed only with a shiv?
3. Is it possible for an enemy to disappear from the field entirely? There could be a mission where an Avatar visits a lowest follower, then the avatar leaves and the follower is captured.
Church of Dagon:
1. Starts like a regular "Strange Life Form" mission in a city, the enemy is a Gilldog. But investigating the animal or its corpse leads to people who use them as guard animals — Church of Dagon. Is it possible to give this mission higher probability than any other monster hunt?
2. "A green humanoid has been spotted. Capture him for questioning." A Deep One armed with melee weapons. Investigating his corpse or weapons unlocks Church of Dagon.
EXALT:
1. "Rumours abound of a wonderful drug called 'Psiclone' that gets you high without consequences. What sets it apart is the police inability to approach the traders — officers experience panic attacks and occasionally report an outside force seizing control of their limbs. We have located a Psiclone addict. Capture him for questioning."
2. Something similar to "Storm Seizure" mission, but with Psiclone. "Rumours abound of a wonderful drug called 'Psiclone' that gets you high without consequences. What sets it apart is the police inability to approach the traders — officers experience panic attacks and occasionally report an outside force seizing control of their limbs. We have located a group of Psiclone users. Capture them for questioning and secure their stash."
3. Does EXALT deal in alien weapons or is this business exclusive to Osiron?
Yet another idea is that UFOs captured in January 1997 have devices to contact Alien Communicators on Earth, and it's possible to study them and track down people using Alien Communicators. I like this idea best, but if it's the only lead, failure to capture any UFOs would block the rest of the game.
UFO Communicator
The device is a short-range transceiver made of strange materials and utilizing unknown principles. So far we have only figured how to switch it on and determine coordinates of the interlocutor.
There seem to be at least 4 different groups of humans in contact with aliens: "Black Lotus", "Dagon", "Red Dawn" and "Exalt". Unfortunately, our blundering attempts to use the transceiver to locate them forced them to lay low. When we find any more leads, you will be informed.
(Misspelling is intentional.)
And the mission descriptions like: "We have located members of an organization working for aliens, the <INSERT NAME>, operating in this area. We must apprehend the suspects and capture them for questioning."
) How to fix this?