I have an idea to improve the geoscape combat, making it more interesting and engaging. Recently, I’ve been playing FTL: Faster Than Light, and it uses a similar system with two static craft sprites, but the combat feels much more addictive and dynamic. I think a similar system could be implemented in XCOM’s craft combat.
In FTL, players have the option to target specific systems on enemy ships. When a hit is scored, a penalty is applied to the enemy craft. I believe this concept could work well in XCOM’s static craft combat as well. Essentially, each enemy craft would have four systems that can each take damage up to five times:
Piloting: When it takes 100 damage, the enemy craft suffers a -10 to evasion or +10 to your weapons' accuracy.
Weapons: When it takes 100 damage, the enemy craft suffers a -10% reload time penalty to its weapons.
Hull: When it takes 100 damage, the enemy craft’s damage output increases by +5%.
Engines: When it takes 100 damage, the enemy craft suffers a -5 to evasion and +10 to your weapons’ effectiveness, while enemy weapons are also weakened.
The player’s craft would have a similar system. I hope the UI sprites I made help clarify this idea.
Passive repairs could also be introduced for each system, providing the player with more strategic options, though this wouldn't be necessary in the initial version of the idea.
I understand that adding additional screens could be challenging, but I believe making geoscape combat more interactive and dynamic would be a great improvement to the game.
For the AI in FTL, the enemy typically targets systems randomly on normal difficulty, and on hard mode, it targets the player's most vulnerable systems. In this case, a random targeting approach would work well for the enemy AI in XCOM as well.
Even if this idea is not for Extender can be for other modder that want a new mechanic
