[WIP]X-Mars

[Nord]

There is a large gap in X-Com storyline. It lies between the end of second invasion and beginning of X-Com interceptor. There must be one more game -  X-Com Alliance. But something went wrong and it was cancelled.
This total conversion pointed to fill this gap.
Story: The year is 2060. The Earth lies in ruins after T'leth explosion, moon base producing invaluable He3 for Earth energetic. No Elerium-115 left. First asteroid belt automatic mines are constructed, and new stage of colonization has begun: wealthiest corporations build 15 colonies on Mars, mining minerals and searching for Elerium deposits. Soon these colonies become target for pirate incursions.
X-com deploys to Mars and here the game begins.
 
Main features:
 - new planet: Mars, with unfriendly environment and dead landscapes;
 - futuristic techs;
 - new enemies (including those from X-com Alliance concepts) with their own agenda and mysteries;
 - oxygen system;
 - new robots mechanics;
 - lore-friendly.

Mod progress: 1,5 of 5 storylines completed.

When will be release: not in this year.

Help needeed:
 - Spellcheck (as allways);
 - Mod name ideas;

[Nord]

Downloads and more screenshots.

[Meridian]

awesome!

[Solarius Scorch]

Great idea and nice concept art. I'm expecting a lot!

[efrenespartano]

FUCK YEAH, MAN!

I love how there is a surge of Martian projects on going! I'll totally play it once it's done and knowing your previous work, I'm sure it will be the highest quality possible!

Btw, feel free to grab any Martian stuff from my own Mars mod, UNEXCOM: War on Mars. I collected terrains made by liberator, cevaralien and our own.

[Vakrug]

I hope this mod will be playable at least on beginner difficulty...   

[Ethereal]

There is a large gap in X-Com storyline. It lies between the end of second invasion and beginning of X-Com interceptor. There must be one more game -  X-Com Alliance. But something went wrong and it was cancelled.
This total conversion pointed to fill this gap.
Story: The year is 2060. The Earth lies in ruins after T'leth explosion, moon base producing invaluable He3 for Earth energetic. No Elerium-115 left. First asteroid belt automatic mines are constructed, and new stage of colonization has begun: wealthiest corporations build 15 colonies on Mars, mining minerals and searching for Elerium deposits. Soon these colonies become target for pirate incursions.
X-com deploys to Mars and here the game begins.

Is it really impossible to make a more positive plot? For example, this one - Earth is in perfect order, but in order to combat overpopulation, new planets need to be captured. Mars, where the Super-Brain was destroyed is the closest, but the old enemy returned there and destroyed the first extraterrestrial colony. To finally crush the enemy, a military expedition X-COM is sent to Mars.

So X-COM is the first private, interplanetary, military company in Earth's history. That would be a great preview of Star Craft's plot.

What a plot! And why are you constantly drawn to some Fallout? And why do you dislike our planet so much? XD

[Nord]

Btw, feel free to grab any Martian stuff from my own Mars mod...

Thanks, i have seen your mod. But decide to make my own assets as much as i can.

I hope this mod will be playable at least on beginner difficulty...   

It will be. My goal at this time vas not to make game harder.

Is it really impossible to make a more positive plot?

It is because of existing X-com timeline. I try to remain lore-friendly. Check ufopedia.org.

[Ethereal]

I try to remain lore-friendly.

Well, I have known problems with the lore. And the Soviets win in the first Red Alert... and in the second one too. And the Brotherhood of Steel in alliance with the Russian Expeditionary Force in Fallout Tactics fights robots... The lore is such a thing that it is not too lazy to rewrite it. That's why we are modders.

[efrenespartano]

Thanks, i have seen your mod. But decide to make my own assets as much as i can.

If you try it, hope you like it! Apes Mars mods strong together.

Some feedback:

I liked a lot the textures you used on your Arescape. I also enjoyed the new spin you gave on the vanilla lasers. The Pirates are fun to engage. And the quite extensive tech tree is definitely a pleasant surprise. The EXO feature is a good implemention of the mana. Doesn't feels oppressive so far, haven't ran out of Oxygen yet. Taking into account the weight of the equipment is very important for rocket launching and your take on that is cool. I loved your base sprites, they are so cool! I hope you add the Patton-class ship soon.

Cannot wait to engage the new aliens in the campaign, I've had some skirmishes against them on the Battle Generator. Their "organically infested" aesthetic is creepy, I like it. Perhaps you could go for something like the Infested Terran style too?

[robin]

Looks great.
Nord you are unstoppable!

[Nord]

If I hope you add the Patton-class ship soon.

Patton is a size of all X-com base. Maybe slightly bigger. So no x-com dreadnoughts, sorry.

Perhaps you could go for something like the Infested Terran style too?

Allied Ascidian-human hybrids are planned.

[efrenespartano]

Patton is a size of all X-com base. Maybe slightly bigger. So no x-com dreadnoughts, sorry.

Hahaha that actually makes sense, I've always pictured the Patton-class starships as slightly larger than Avengers... Until I searched a picture of them on Google. Tbh I didn't finished X-Com Interceptor, so I didn't considered the size hah.

Allied Ascidian-human hybrids are planned.

[/quote]

So nice! Cannot wait to see them.

The only point I'd suggest to improve it's the proofreading and formatting of the texts. Some sentences aren't correctly capitalized and some others could be restructured to be cleaner. But bah, it's just a minor nitpicking on my side. I'm enjoying a lot this mod!

How did you made the globe, btw? The northern lowlands seem larger than I recalled!

[Nord]

The only point I'd suggest to improve it's the proofreading and formatting of the texts. Some sentences aren't correctly capitalized and some others could be restructured to be cleaner. But bah, it's just a minor nitpicking on my side. I'm enjoying a lot this mod!

It is always a problem. English is not my native language, so if someone wants to help with formatting...

How did you made the globe, btw? The northern lowlands seem larger than I recalled!

Using GlobeEditor and a lot of Mars maps. This is a third version, first two was... unpleasant to see at.

[efrenespartano]

It is always a problem. English is not my native language, so if someone wants to help with formatting...

Oh, I totally understand you! English isn't my mother tongue neither, so there are bad typos on my older texts.
Recently, the corpo leadership where I work instructed us to use Grammarly, an AI tool to... well, improve grammar haha. I've seriously considered to use it on my mods as well, it's really useful! If you don't mind, I could give it a try to clean and improve your English texts. And, if you are interested, perhaps a Spanish translation too! I'm in a crusade to translate all the mods I use, so I can share them with my local pals as well.

Using GlobeEditor and a lot of Mars maps. This is a third version, first two was... unpleasant to see at.

My hats off for you, good sire. You made such a great job! Specially on my favorite Martian region, Tharsis Montes.