Weird idea : breed alien terrorists ?

[LeBashar]

I wonder if is it possible to make for exemple a reaper controled by XCom, like a kind of HWP, buildable with an live reaper previoulsy captured ? 

[Falko]

its possible

[LeBashar]

Nice, i will try to make somes. maybe it can be a new "cheap" scout with no worrie if it be killed because it's just a living weapon you send back to the sender

[Arthanor]

That would be a really cool use of alien capture and live alien research! As a cheap manufacture to rewire the brain, it could be interesting.

Is it possible to capture sectopods and cyberdiscs? I'd find hacking/rewiring more believable than XCom outright building their own.

[Dioxine]

I wonder if is it possible to make for exemple a reaper controled by XCom, like a kind of HWP, buildable with an live reaper previoulsy captured ? 

Done that over a month ago in Piratez, that and Muton It's funny how all these scary alien things suddenly seem weak and useless when they're fighting on your side. The grass is greener and all that...

[Solarius Scorch]

Done that over a month ago in Piratez, that and Muton It's funny how all these scary alien things suddenly seem weak and useless when they're fighting on your side. The grass is greener and all that...

Yeah, the FMP players are complaining that Cyberdiscs are too weak and explode instantly, killing their operatives.

[LeBashar]

It's logical, with the same stats and weapons, something in the player team can't be the same than in UFOs. What make cyberdisc fearsome it is not their stats, but the fact the player haven't weaponry usefull against them when it encounter them first (and they can be 4x numerous than his HWP). Same for HWP, which are feel weaks, even if they have far better stats than cyberdics...

For me there is no point to "revive" mechanicals terrorists. It seem better to learn how to build your own. But for real living weapon, mind controled, it seem an interesting way to make :
- some new step in research to explain why XCom become so easily able to build futuristics armors and weapons.
- a good alternative to costly scouts.
- a better use of some useless aliens.
- some funny mind control wars, if we try to use living weapon against psy-powered aliens 

[Arthanor]

There is a lot of potential in this idea indeed. Seeing for yourself the power of alien weaponry is one of them. As for this:

For me there is no point to "revive" mechanicals terrorists. It seem better to learn how to build your own.

It is hard for me to believe that 50-150 XCom scientists can, over a year or two, manage to fully understand alien technology (to the point of being able to improve upon it) and then produce it. A much more tame approach of "hacking" hi-tech stuff fits my view better (much the same for UFO components, being able to salvage them, but not producing them). But that's the beauty of modding: We can all make our versions of OpenXCom.

I am looking forward to yours, and might well build upon it once I have the time.

[LeBashar]

I made my choice trying to be in the spirit of the original game, so, if xcom scientists can, really, learn to build a totally new spaceship able to go to mars in few day, only be studiyng some UFOs wreckage... well, there are damn good scientists ! (and what to say about engineers who built the spaceship in less than a month ! ) Surely it can't be a problem for them to builds new robots, like the vanilla's hoovertanks. Why try to repare cyberdiscs if you can built new tank improved with the better of olds tank and the better of aliens cyberdiscs ? And in programming term, I know it is far less difficult to writte a new programm than try to modify one you don't really know (and especially if it was coded in an alien language, with unknows computers, and if you only save broken ones for starting point).

Anyway, you can't capture cyberdiscs nor sectopods, and because they have 4 squares, they often be destructed and you don't even save the corpse 

But I agree with you about the beauty of modding

[Dioxine]

There is a lot of potential in this idea indeed. Seeing for yourself the power of alien weaponry is one of them. As for this:It is hard for me to believe that 50-150 XCom scientists can, over a year or two, manage to fully understand alien technology (...)

OT: It's much harder to believe 150 or even 20 scientists can work together on a single project

[LeBashar]

lol

Thank dioxine I have sucess to make what I wanted, but I think only with the help of the tamed reaper you have made in piratez

[Sturm]

I modded most of research times in my game to be 10x longer. In my current game I finally got personal armour ready to produce on 1st May.

OT: It's much harder to believe 150 or even 20 scientists can work together on a single project

How much scientists would normally work on such projects and how much time they would take in real life?

[Dioxine]

1-2 (in extreme cases up to 4-5, if they really think alike) scientists are the brain behind a project, they'd have a small group of  aides/lab technicians to help with the dirty work (but NOT thinking or taking credit), in some cases gruelling and less important work gets outsourced, or, if a project is very big and important, it's split into parts for several groups like that to work simultaneously (ex. Manhattan Project), but in such a case, a lot of diplomacy is needed to appease scientists' egos and curb the competition between groups (no such big projects in XCom it seems).

But it's always the quality, not quantity of that small group that matters, groups more numerous than 2 scientists are prone to intense bickering and inefficiency, still, giving them more lab technicians and money would help ofc.

[Falko]

... lab technicians to help with the dirty work (but NOT thinking ..

If your lab technicians do not think you the scientists make something wrong in hiring them
10 "not thinking" assistants create more work for you 3 thinking ones reduces workload for you

what was the topic again?

[Sturm]

1-2 (in extreme cases up to 4-5, if they really think alike) scientists are the brain behind a project, they'd have a small group of  aides/lab technicians to help with the dirty work (but NOT thinking or taking credit), in some cases gruelling and less important work gets outsourced, or, if a project is very big and important, it's split into parts for several groups like that to work simultaneously (ex. Manhattan Project), but in such a case, a lot of diplomacy is needed to appease scientists' egos and curb the competition between groups (no such big projects in XCom it seems).

But it's always the quality, not quantity of that small group that matters, groups more numerous than 2 scientists are prone to intense bickering and inefficiency, still, giving them more lab technicians and money would help ofc.

So, we could assume that "scientists" hired are averaged between brains, lab technicians, aides, diplomats, etc?