Messages

466

Suggestions / Re: Crash site after retaliation attack?

« on: March 11, 2015, 12:19:42 am »

nope. no you don't. if your base defences destroy an attacking UFO, the UFO mysteriously disappears. no loot at all.

I like the idea of a crashsite mission for when your defences shoot down the attacking UFO. it would make the base defences truly useful. (and you can still opt to ignore that crashsite, or land-and-take-off)

I meant base defense aka aliens land.

467

Open Feedback / Re: BASE DEFENCES

« on: March 10, 2015, 09:49:45 pm »

All old known Bugs from which the Original Game suffered have been fixed as far as i now.

Good to know because it was a hell of an exploit. You could get several thousand elerium units. And it also happens in TFTD.

468

Suggestions / Re: Crash site after retaliation attack?

« on: March 10, 2015, 09:47:36 pm »

Long time since I played the game and so far in my current playthrough, I havent defended yet, but I think you get materials and elerium from a successfull defense.

469

Suggestions / Re: Weapons that break, prison riots in the alien base and money thefts.

« on: March 10, 2015, 09:40:43 pm »

It would make sense if the risk increased when an alien is researched. As for the coffins: Who knows how to safely keep a Chryssalid? Why would an alien containment build in January 1999 be able to? Even if they somehow knew how to, maybe they messed up giving it its sedative? (there are a whole bunch of errors in hospitals, where we actually know what we're doing) Maybe this sedative doesn't work on Chryssalids and that's how XCom finds out? Just as we can make stories of how something could never happen, we can make stories about how it can happen. If you don't believe the stories saying it can happen, you don't have to use the mod either

The battleship could not be called to rescue anyone. The aliens are trying to escape in order to call an attack on the base (escaped aliens obviously know where the base is) and because they care about their own life and they hope to be rescued. The retaliation mission could be sent strictly to take care of the XCom base. Maybe for the attacking aliens, recovering others is a very secondary objective.

Having the mechanic is the first step to getting the story going. Then everyone can make their own version of how it could happen, whereas now it can only not happen.

You missunderstood my post. I am not against the idea. I just say that it needs an ingame explanation thats not an excuse but something viable. If a stun rod (electocution) can stun said crysalid, chances are they know how to keep it down. Plus the entire facility is supposedly designed to safely keep them in. And thats why I cringed even durring the first time I played the game, that the facility was ready to be build from the get go (and i was 7 years old at the time). "Where the hell do they know what the aliens need to live?" was my thoughts. It should be a researchable after you dissect some corpses, but thats another matter.
I am not against the idea of an escape attempt, but just as I said I dont want to see it been implemented into a yolo style such as the base defense in 2012: "Here you passed the time frame required and completed x research, now eat an alien invasion to the face while your grunts are unequiped because reasons....oh and yolo swag."

If it has the appropriate lore, transparent mechanics to do something about it or prevent it, I am all for it.

All really good points, pilot00.  I like the idea of Mind Shield nixing the retaliation, unless you allow for the aliens breaking out sabotaging the Mind Shield.  Also, connecting the lore to the mechanics is important to help the theme to blend into the possibility.  Although, one could argue that the expendable aliens would not call for “rescue”, but just call the battleship because they said, “We’re at the human base. Here are the coordinates… come and get it!”

So, I’ll summarize some ideas as follows:

1. non-leader/non-psi captive aliens only means no breakout due to heavy sedation assuming we know enough about alien physiology to sedate them properly (proper research?)   (or expendable if this was rescue)
2. Psi-capable captive aliens (technically i think those are effectively all leaders) can cause a breakout due to MC - if rescue and not retaliation - these are valuable assets to the alien military effort
3. Probability of breakout adjusted based on alien psi strength in captivity
4. Higher number of psi-capable aliens bumps up the probability of happening
5. Probability of breakout gets higher based on alien/soldier ratio at the base.
6. Mind shield stops breakout attempts (unless allow sabotage and I’m okay not allowing it).
7. Mission starts with some weak psi soldiers on alien side
8. Mission starts with a number of civilians or scientists/engineers roaming around due to surprise attack from breakout

Discuss 

Yeah I was talking about something like that.

470

Open Feedback / Re: BASE DEFENCES

« on: March 10, 2015, 09:16:47 pm »

Is the bug where you got a boat load of elerium after a succsfull defense still firing? I would assume in the Open it doesnt.

471

Suggestions / Re: Soldiers to recruit.... elite....

« on: March 10, 2015, 08:58:59 pm »

The training facility could be the answer for this. I read somewhere that the game has code for it but its not complete me thinks? Could be wrong.

Another way to do it, is limit the number of recruits per month to a pool (say 20-30 soldiers) and make their stats viewable prior to hiring (apocalypse style). How could this be done is beyond me though.

472

Suggestions / Re: Flanking gameplay mechanic

« on: March 10, 2015, 08:53:17 pm »

What I dislike in modern games and their cover mechanics, is that their cover is statick and predetermined. You can blow up a whole building in the 2012 x-com and have a ton of debri in front of the soldier (such as plasma ridled walls) and the soldier wont take cover because its not programmed as cover. Likewise a hair thin pole can provide half cover. Call me nostalgic, but I prefer the calculations of the old game. No matter what it is, if the shot hits it, it counts as cover, and quite possibly gets destroyed.

And lets not get started with 2012 shot tragectories. You miss the alien, and there is a football team behind him and the shot just gets through without hitting anything.....grumble grumble.

473

Suggestions / Re: Weapons that break, prison riots in the alien base and money thefts.

« on: March 10, 2015, 08:42:40 pm »

The aliend containment according to the ufopedia article has the aliens in sealed self contained units. That in my book translates in: A solid cofin that keeps them all but alive (possibly permanently sedated with drugs). So I doubt an escape can be possible. The only exception I can think of, is with highly psionic aliens (Etherials sectoid leaders+). And that only durring the interogation. The scientists wake up the alien, and simply put psionics are a field nobody on earth knows how to protect himself (no tin foil hats dont count) and durring the interrogation one escapes, possibly then leading to him releasing the others (if they exist).

Another thing (lore wise) that I cant think why the aliens would mount a resque mission, is that according to what we get from their society is that most of their soldiers are clones and/or expendable. I cant think about mounting an expedition to save anyone except again high ranking aliens (and that due to self preservation-we dont want the humans to find out Cydonia). That said this scenario also requires knowledge about the base housing the leader.

Its a solid good idea, but it would require a couple mechanics that take into account the lore, and have prevension measures (for example the mind-shield should the base have been not detected prior to its completion, should stop this kind of activity) rather than a: LOL, your aliens escaped and heres a battle ship to help them escape

474

Offtopic / Dirty traitors.

« on: March 10, 2015, 01:05:37 am »

I really wanted to ask this question for more than 15 years, but sadly in real life I am the only X-Com nut I know (plus my friends are not video gamers, especially now that we grew up) .

So here it is:

Which one is your recurring dirty traitor country/ies that throw the towel and go kiss alien butt?

Mine seems to be constantly the USA. No matter what I do, they will always,always, always betray me at some point.

475

Offtopic / Re: Longest game ever?

« on: March 10, 2015, 12:23:25 am »

Oh wow, what happened in that game to make it so long? Lots of setbacks? I am curious to know since making games take longer is one of my aims.

My own games are pretty short, but I have OpenXCom ADHD. I keep changing the mods I use (it doesn't help that I am still developing my own too) and starting new games so I never really finish. I usually get flying suits + some plasma and think: "well, this is it", then start a new game..

2008. I wanted to research EVERYTHING, but I cant remember which entry I was missing. I also wanted to role play it, and I had accidentaly read 2008 instead of 2002 the connon ending in the TFTD files.

476

Offtopic / Re: How would YOU handle creating a X-COM where you are the aliens?(What if)

« on: March 10, 2015, 12:21:23 am »

i wouldn't set it in the Sol system for starters, we're not invading earth, we're fighting a galactic war for the survival of life as we know it, Earth is merely one campaign..

put yourself in the alien mindset.

who are we?
the way i see it, the aliens are an alliance of various galactic powers working together.

why are we allied with each other?
i suggest a common threat, something that affects everyone equally. look at mass effect for a clear cut example of this: once the galaxy accepts the existence of the Reapers, small conflicts cease. differences are set aside to focus on a common foe, one that threatens everyone equally.

what are we doing?
the aliens are here to conquer Earth, but to what end? Earth is merely one of many battles being fought for control of precious resources. resources the alien alliance NEEDS to fight the much larger war.

it could even be inferred that the aliens are here to save us from a danger beyond our comprehension, and communications broke down somewhere along the line.

I always Imagined that the aliens were subservient to the etherials, in some sort of either conquered/uplifted or genetically engineered (sectoids) fashion. That said the point seems to be supported in the later games(especially if you consider interseptor cannon) and UFO itself from the various unlockable ufopedia entries. The uplift/aid of the human race would be too a nono, as seen both in the end if you lose the war in UFO, TFTD and again the other games of the series.

I always viewd humanity in the x-com world as an alien experiment gonne beyond its intended purpose:

The alien brain tells you that humanity is a byproduct from a race of martians and could have been an evolutionary mistake, been born by the accident of T'leth leaving the earth for millions of years without alien 'attendance'. That said the first documented contact according to cannon was in 1940something. The invasion begins in 1998. To my mind the Etherials somehow subjucated or created the other alien species, particylary the sectoids*, to serve as their tools.
Humanity (or whatever they planed to do) was another of those tools. But something gonne awefully wrong (T'leth been one of those things that went wrong) and left the planet to evolve on its own. Given the fact that both the UFO and TFD aliens are launching research missions to find out about the planet itself, I believe the theory of: "What the hell happened to this planet" is on an accurate course.

Again if you take Apocalypse and interceptor as cannon, there is a feeling that the aliens controll almost everything (At least in the neighbouring to earth star systems) but their civilisation is somehow decaying... and alliance suggested that they indeed are at war.

*The sectoids to me are the most high in the hierarchy after the Etherials been an engineered race and absolutely loyal to them. It appears they were given their own leeway to pursue things according to the alien agenda (T'leth was filled with sectoids and whatever the heck was C'thulu). However they seem to have their own ulterior motives as well (cross breeding etc)

477

Offtopic / Re: Thoughts on Apocalypse, and one thing I noticed about the factions

« on: March 09, 2015, 11:54:32 pm »

Apocalypse is a massive example of "What could have been", according to one interview with Julian Gollop or something. I remember that he mentioned the game being bigger and more complex, with things like guns that shoot tracking devices, jail cells, and more. I'm honestly wishing for 2K/Firaxis to do another Enemy Unknown, except make it a remake of Apocalypse.

Having dug in to the files after reading Gollops interview on the matter several years ago, one thing becomes evident: The game was released half finished. There were mechanics upon mechanics that were never implemented and either remained as design concepts or half finished code.

That said even in its half finished state, if you played enough of it and learned how to balance out its oddities, it revealed itself the uncut diamond it was. There are several mechanics in that game, that were too damn awesome, and even new games of the genre ignore.

BTW Real time was not mandatory. Also it had the BEST arch-enemy alien, who at its time was something completely refreshing.

I really hope that one day someone will get arround and fix this damned game to the glory it was supposed to be made

2) (Right in the middle of a new game I just started)It seems every single faction is neutral to the aliens. You'd think that with aliens trying to invade Mega-Primus, their relations should be hostile.

When you start the game, only the Senate and Megapol (and perhaps the cult) officially know about the aliens existance (your allies and defacto hostile to alliens). If you read the manual that has  the briefing to the commander, where the senate is not exactly sure wheather the aliens are responsible for the degeneration of the scocial fabric of the city and they remain cautious because no hostile contact in the maner of the two previous wars was made.

I couldn't play Apocalypse because of micromanagement hell and learning curve, comparable to "Dwarf Fortress". It was just over my head to figure all these things. I wanted to learn things when they arise, but in Apoc they are simply swarmed, and 3 of my tries ended up with agent-craft re-management, and individual scientists. When I saw how OVERCOMPLICATED it is, I just realised that I can't deal with it. It's highly unfriendly for the newbies. Games shouldn't behave like that. Games shouldn't be overcomplicated that way. Personally I think Gollop was swimming in  his own pool for too long, and went into wrong direction. There are nice ideas and things, of course, but the way of introducing and managing them was...  poorly accomplished. All these nice things should be "optional" and introducing one in a time, not to scare people away.

Another aspecs I really disliked about Apoc are:
1. No darkness. No shading at all. No nights.
2. Awful aliens design. They are just some gross blobs of $hit.

I quite dissagree. The thing is, when you start yes everything IS a mess and a big one at that. When you figure out what to do though (and eventually you will), you will see that most things there are not as complex as they seem.

478

Offtopic / Re: WWII XCOM?

« on: March 09, 2015, 11:37:00 pm »

There's also a lot mythology tied into WWII; like the whole "foo fighters" phenomenon that could be exploited.

The biggest problem I can see is that even the slowest UFO's top speed of 2,200 km/h easily outpaces the fastest jet aircraft of WW2; the P-80 at 960~ km/h.

But there's something that could be used to shoot down UFOs -- rockets! But you'd have to redesign a lot of the intercept game to work around expendable surface to air missiles instead of manned reusable interceptors -- but that could also be carried over to "regular" XCOM -- imagine shooting down a battleship with a Patriot battery you placed near berlin

That is a thing in UFO AI, as I remember you could position SAM's for exactly this purpose.

479

Offtopic / Re: What slang do you use to refer to the aliens?

« on: March 09, 2015, 11:32:19 pm »

"Oh my GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Its a garbage truck with two legs and it comes at us, shooot shooot shooooooot". That was the first thing I thought when I saw the Ripper. And I was really dissapointed that something similar didnt happen in the sequels (TFTD dino doesnt count, its too unimaginative IMHO).

I keep saying Sectoids grays, the floaters floatys, the snakemen snakes (you couldnt find this one out I bet ), the muton alien grunt, and the rest just alien b$#@@s.

480

Offtopic / Re: Introduce yourself

« on: March 09, 2015, 11:26:10 pm »

Welcome to the OpenXcom community, pilot00!

Thanks friend! Glad to meet you nice gents and gals.