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« on: January 28, 2018, 08:19:24 pm »
I read through this topic here. Interesting both aspects. But game-lore-wise there are certain black-areas what puzzled me since I played Xcom the first time. Well, OXC and the tons of mods, while nice, just did not helped to clarify things absolutely. So please let me share a few of my thoughts...
Aliens MUST HAVE a superb medical- and health-care system. Yes, cloning and such, mentioned billion times and could be buy for the first few times... But! Aliens on Mars have very limited resources and thus they can not let themselves the luxury to waste - both items and personnels alike. Why I think this? If they have access such vast amount of resources where they may handle all low- and med-ranked aliens as utterly expendable and replacable there will be a proper invasion. You know: Thousands of ships deploy full armies. Not just send small raiding parties to harass locals and cobble resources. Their main forces clearly fight somewhere else, against another inter-stellar - or more than one simultanously - empire and since that (those?) are worthy and more serious foes they concentrate their resources there. Not here, as Earth is interesting them only because they may achieve another combat-thrall specie and that is all. So the best they have here is a small research-outpost with vastly limited resources. They need to recover as much of their soldiers as possible. Why vaste resources to train rookies - apart from clone, raise, alter and train them - when they may save veterans? Sectoids maybe not as precious. But I think they closely related genetically to the Ethereals so they send other troops to risk their lifes. So, Floaters are precious and not really expendable. Why? Clone a race, raise it then surgically alter it is far from cost-effective mass-production methods. Floaters and Mutons work that way, resource-costly troops designed to fullfill specific military roles. Snakemen could be expendable mass-assault troops but I doubt that a tid-bit...
It is mentioned that snakeys carry eggs. And? A fresh-borned female baby carry thousands of gametes but how many children a female may give birth during her life? 2-15? Just because Snakemen carry 50-50 eggs per members it not means they give birth 50 offsprings. And consider that offsprings could be harshly cannibalistic and not all offsprings may reach adulthood. So a snake-infestation is not as immenent as the pedia entry may implies. And is it sure they are asexual? Or only female specimens ever encountered? They called Snakeman because of Snake-Human - where human also mean both male and female sexes! Mayhaps aliens just keep females while rare male snakemen may kept only to up-keep the breeding-program. That is a good kind of controll their population. Or Snakemen may behave like Polistes-wasps: All member of a Polistes-hive is fertile (no female drones like in case of more developed wasps) but only one lay eggs and propagate her genetic heritage.
That much for now. Sorry for my hard and harsh english!
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