Re: The X-Com Files - 3.5: Whispers In The Dark

[Solarius Scorch]

The new update is great but I think  we need more equipment for breacing walls: like Breacing charge or some kind of hammer. Holigan tools might do the trick maybe with the size of the fire extinguisher. I'am telling you this because in some maps (i.e. sewer) it is really unpleasent to waste ammo on a wall.

I will think about it, though in most cases you are best off using explosives.

Do you think that would be too much difficult or unbalenced to have some Night Vision googles (or even Thermal or Both ) for our troops?Yes I know we have NV in Bio armor but it will be good to have the option to  be more versatile with other armor suit.

Sorry, this is an armour feature, not an item feature. So vision can only be set per armour.
(Well there are scripts, but I don't think they're robust enough yet.)

Thanks for the time you are spendig with this mod. I' am loving it.

Thank you, and please keep playing!

[deltatree4]

Hi me again, I've got some mission idea:

1)Hostage rescue: The cult of apocalypse took some hostages  inside a building to sacrifice in front of people( i.e Tv station map)
Note: hostage should be stunned (to be easy to carry out for extraction) and easy to recognise (yellow suits, eyes bandage and hands tied).
the mission must have a timer of 20-25 turns.

2)Bomb defuse mission: You have limited time for defuse (i.e. like unprime a granade)  a bomb located in a specific and easy to recognise place. The bomb must be a unique sprite.

3) Oil platform (offshore) siege and more boat assault. ( They do that just for terrorism and procure founds for the cult).

4)A combination of previous mission.

If this is undoable I apologise for my incompetence on this field.
 

[Solarius Scorch]

Yay, timed missions! Who doesn't love them!

Hostage rescue is possible, in fact it's fairly typical - there are some hostage rescue missions, like the beach sacrifices.
Bomb defuse is already in the game, albeit pretty late (the silo attack).
Oil platform? Sure, but who makes the maps? Maybe at some point, it's a cool location, especially in TFTD mods. More cruise liner missions are also possible.

[Barth Gimble]

I find the special "undercover" missions like beach and ski resorts to be some of the most entertaining scenarios in the game. More of these would be fun, both in variety and frequency.

I don't know much about the underlying mechanics of modding the game either, but given that proviso one idea that seems like it might be relatively simple  to make would be some undercover missions infiltrating theaters and entertainment venues. There could be several related sorts of adventures.

1) We get a tip something bad is going to happen at a movie theater. Investigating agents arrive to find that subliminal visual or audio in the movie has turned everyone in the audience into homocidal maniacs rampaging through the place. Or maybe it's something simpler, like a mutagenic chemical has been slipped into the popcorn that everyone ate, or bad guys dispersed some weird mutagenic fungus into the ventilation system.

2) We get a tip that a radio station is broadcasting hidden audio under their normal programming. These frequencies turn listeners into homocidal maniacs, into some kind of were-creatures, or maybe just there's reportedly a shockingly high incidence of suicide amongst listeners of the station. We investigate to shut the station down. Also, if you haven't seen the older movie "Pontypool," that would be good inspiration for storylines along this general direction.

3) We get a tip that a theater is staging a performance of a forbidden occult play, sort of like "The King in Yellow." Investigating agents find the actors are cultists, and the audience has either been driven insane or turned into some kind of monsters. Could be either occult or psi-related mechanisms involved.

4) Some kind of "phantom of the opera" is terrorizing theater-goers. Investigations reveal either that he is a cultist performing sacrifices, or some kind of were-creature, or some kind of psi-related fiend.

5) We get reports of a major disturbance at a dance hall or concert. Investigating agents arrive to find some strange frequency in the music has turned the audience members into some rioting monsters, or perhaps they've just been hypnotized in preparation for abduction for some nefarious experiment and must be rescued before some cult members load them onto buses.

6) We get reports that a movie director is planning to make an underground snuff film. It's a zombie movie-- using real zombies devouring unsuspecting actors! Agents need to infiltrate the movie set, arrest the director, save the actors, and eliminate the zombies. Maybe we also need to investigate just how the director acquired the zombies.

There could also be an undercover mission at a hostpital or clinic. Investigations reveal that patients check in, but they never check out. Maybe unsuspecting victims are being abducted for some kind of research, maybe they're being turned into

Spoiler:

jarheads, or those creepy pink blob thingies I can't recall the name of

or who knows what else. This mission could unlock after discovering that the clinic was an advertiser on the radio station mentioned in #2 above, for example, or maybe the radio station is discovered after investigating the clinic and the fact it bought advertising time there.

These missions could all be in civilian clothes, with concealable equipment only.

Another thing that could be creepy would be if at some point in the game, a lower-level agent is randomly eliminated. We get a message telling us the unfortunate person committed suicide and was found in the barracks. It would have to be a random lower level person to avoid making the player rage-quit in case their favorite veteran got eliminated. Anyway, we find out the dead agent went insane after handling some occult artifact (again, maybe reading a "King in Yellow" script), or maybe they just couldn't handle the stress of comprehending aliens and eldritch beings. Some minor investigations (research and item acquisition) could be required to prevent this from happening again, or else occasionally another agent is found dead in the barracks.

Maybe these ideas aren't practical, or range too far outside the themes you want to explore, or there just isn't time to work on them. On the other hand I haven't actually finished a playthrough yet. The mod is already very good, and already filled with loads of content for players to explore  , so for all I know you already have something like these things in there somewhere. Anyway, keep up the good work.

[Solarius Scorch]

I find the special "undercover" missions like beach and ski resorts to be some of the most entertaining scenarios in the game. More of these would be fun, both in variety and frequency.

Good! One new was added in 0.9.5, more will probably appear later.

I don't know much about the underlying mechanics of modding the game either, but given that proviso one idea that seems like it might be relatively simple  to make would be some undercover missions infiltrating theaters and entertainment venues. There could be several related sorts of adventures.

Hmm, you mean the movie teatre from the "Commercial" urban terrain? Hmmm...

1) We get a tip something bad is going to happen at a movie theater. Investigating agents arrive to find that subliminal visual or audio in the movie has turned everyone in the audience into homocidal maniacs rampaging through the place. Or maybe it's something simpler, like a mutagenic chemical has been slipped into the popcorn that everyone ate, or bad guys dispersed some weird mutagenic fungus into the ventilation system.

I like the subliminal part
But what would be the goal? To incapacitate all the moviegoers without killing them? Sounds rather tedious.

2) We get a tip that a radio station is broadcasting hidden audio under their normal programming. These frequencies turn listeners into homocidal maniacs, into some kind of were-creatures, or maybe just there's reportedly a shockingly high incidence of suicide amongst listeners of the station. We investigate to shut the station down. Also, if you haven't seen the older movie "Pontypool," that would be good inspiration for storylines along this general direction.

Hmm, not a bad idea. What would your cover be here?
As for the terrain, maybe I could use the office building, just make it much shorter... It would look like a radio building.

3) We get a tip that a theater is staging a performance of a forbidden occult play, sort of like "The King in Yellow." Investigating agents find the actors are cultists, and the audience has either been driven insane or turned into some kind of monsters. Could be either occult or psi-related mechanisms involved.

These are cool concepts story-wise, but again, what would be mission objective? What is the player supposed to be doing? It's not clear to me.

4) Some kind of "phantom of the opera" is terrorizing theater-goers. Investigations reveal either that he is a cultist performing sacrifices, or some kind of were-creature, or some kind of psi-related fiend.

a bit specific. But... how about tying it to the future ghostbusting arc?

5) We get reports of a major disturbance at a dance hall or concert. Investigating agents arrive to find some strange frequency in the music has turned the audience members into some rioting monsters, or perhaps they've just been hypnotized in preparation for abduction for some nefarious experiment and must be rescued before some cult members load them onto buses.

I can see a pattern here...
Would be good for a timed mission maybe? But still no idea what the objective is.

6) We get reports that a movie director is planning to make an underground snuff film. It's a zombie movie-- using real zombies devouring unsuspecting actors!

I'm sorry... But after reading this I had to take a break, I was just ROFTLing so much.

Agents need to infiltrate the movie set, arrest the director, save the actors, and eliminate the zombies. Maybe we also need to investigate just how the director acquired the zombies.

Probably a Vampire agent?

There could also be an undercover mission at a hostpital or clinic. Investigations reveal that patients check in, but they never check out. Maybe unsuspecting victims are being abducted for some kind of research, maybe they're being turned into

Spoiler:

jarheads, or those creepy pink blob thingies I can't recall the name of

or who knows what else. This mission could unlock after discovering that the clinic was an advertiser on the radio station mentioned in #2 above, for example, or maybe the radio station is discovered after investigating the clinic and the fact it bought advertising time there.

Nice.

Another thing that could be creepy would be if at some point in the game, a lower-level agent is randomly eliminated. We get a message telling us the unfortunate person committed suicide and was found in the barracks. It would have to be a random lower level person to avoid making the player rage-quit in case their favorite veteran got eliminated. Anyway, we find out the dead agent went insane after handling some occult artifact (again, maybe reading a "King in Yellow" script), or maybe they just couldn't handle the stress of comprehending aliens and eldritch beings. Some minor investigations (research and item acquisition) could be required to prevent this from happening again, or else occasionally another agent is found dead in the barracks.

I'm afraid this exceeds our available code by far.

Maybe these ideas aren't practical, or range too far outside the themes you want to explore, or there just isn't time to work on them. On the other hand I haven't actually finished a playthrough yet. The mod is already very good, and already filled with loads of content for players to explore  , so for all I know you already have something like these things in there somewhere. Anyway, keep up the good work.

Thanks! And I'd appreciate if you could touch upon my questions above.

[tkzv]

    1) We get a tip something bad is going to happen at a movie theater. Investigating agents arrive to find that subliminal visual or audio in the movie has turned everyone in the audience into homocidal maniacs rampaging through the place. Or maybe it's something simpler, like a mutagenic chemical has been slipped into the popcorn that everyone ate, or bad guys dispersed some weird mutagenic fungus into the ventilation system.

I like the subliminal part
But what would be the goal? To incapacitate all the moviegoers without killing them? Sounds rather tedious.

Simplest: the moviegoers are unconscious and the goal is to capture the cameraman before his partners in crime arrive, with as little collateral damage as possible.

May I suggest the mission name "Captive Audience"?

[Barth Gimble]

I came up with these ideas after thinking for a moment about tilesets and map types I've already seen in the game, and different kinds of scenarios that could plausibly be set in these existing maps. There's already a clinic/hospital map, and that movie theater map could easily pass as a concert hall or place for stage performances. A movie set could just be any outdoor terrain map or urban neighborhood where filming is taking place.

These kinds of scenarios broadly fall under three themes:

1) One or more of the game's existing alien-allied factions are searching for ways to facilitate the alien invasion. They hope that if they come up with a way to make the population more docile, or perhaps even inspire significant portions of the population to commit suicide or literally become catatonic, the aliens can more easily subjugate humanity without firing a shot and their faction will be rewarded by the aliens. In other words, it's the same motivation as "The Syndicate" from the "X-Files" series. This faction is experimenting with deployment of mind or consciousness altering technology through mass media, which is the most efficient way to easily influence millions or billions of people. Use of audio or visual media for nefarious mind-control is a pretty well-explored theme in sci-fi and horror fiction, so there are all kinds of scenarios that could take place under this aegis.

2) The game already has several nihilistic, apocalpytic cults either eagerly anticipating or actively working toward the end of the human race. Again, deployment of mind and consciousness altering weaponry through mass media is an efficient way get the most bang for one's buck. These groups have goals such as demoralizing people, encouraging people to see life, hope, and progress as futile, promoting ideas that humanity is some sort of blight or disease that should be eliminated, and encouraging people to either commit suicide or dupe them into becoming docile sacrifices for culling by the cults. Both a movie theater scenario and a music concert scenario could consist of faction members conducting a test of such technology on the audience, to find out whether the techniques are ready for mass deployment via television and internet.

3) Clearly, several of the scenarios are well-suited to "ghost-busting" missions-- for example, performance of  stage plays which are actually public rituals for summoning ghosts, wherein the audience is intended to serve as a readily available offering for the malicious spirits. Cult members (those staging the performance) believe this offering will make the entities more hospitable to persuasion or control.

For the most part, these kinds of adventures either fall into a simple "save the hostages and kill the enemy" category, or can be thought of as requiring low-profile infiltration either because evidence needs to be gathered to prove the foes are doing something wrong, or can be categorized as instances where infiltration is recommended because a more heavy-handed response (squads of armored trooops showing up in helicopters and tanks) is likely to cause too much collateral damage as well as bring unwanted media attention to XCOM. In the latter two cases, there are already many similar kinds of missions-- get the bad guys, leave the civilians unharmed-- so it's a script that's easily adapted.

The "underground movie" may be a bit much, but a related idea could be even more entertaining. Let's say there's a major movie studio making a big budget horror film. They've somehow gotten their hands on real zombies (or some other kind of monster), and a nitwitted but otherwise good-natured director wants to use these creatures as characters in the film. However, unintended chaos quickly ensues as the creatures begin rampaging through the movie set. The immediate objective is to save the imperilled cast and crew as well as contain the monster menace. A related objective is to quickly hush up the matter, as authorities don't want word to get out that monsters are real much less have real monsters appearing on the big screen.  Again, a related investigation could tie into an existing game faction who provided the monsters to the movie studio.

For a radio station infiltration, the cover could just be the regular "suit and tie" outfit because agents are posing as either advertising or equipment salesmen in order to gain access to the facility. A hospital infiltration is easy is well, as there are already "doctor/labcoat" outfits. Regular suit and tie outfits would also be fine for blending in with the public on most of the other kinds of infiltrations.

[Solarius Scorch]

Yes, I agree with the fluff/story/lore you presented, it is sensible and it fits.
But I would like to know more about the gameplay ideas for these missions: what is your goal and how are you supposed to achieve it. For example, "Kill all enemies" is such a goal and it can be achieved by attacking the enemies until they die - simple enough. But here we have several elements and goals which come into play: there are alien agents (you must stop them), frienzied civilians (you must stop them without harming them? Or can you just ignore them?), probably something more...
What Tkzv mentioned is a possible interpretation, even if a simple one.

[Barth Gimble]

We may be talking at different angles, as I don't know what kind of victory conditions the game mechanics allow. It was many years ago (probably ten) since I played XCOM or TFTD and I'm sketchy on the details, so it's apt to say all I know about how the game works is based on deductions from recently playing XCOM Files. In general, these would fit the gameplay template of existing missions types I've seen such as "Deep Ones Rituals," "Cult Riot," and "Monsters vs Military." I didn't have any sort of innovation in mind, just more variety. However while playing yesterday I got both a ski resort mission and one of the new industrial missions, and I noticed no civilians were present on either map, so maybe there's some challenge implementing these kinds of things from a technical standpoint?

Maybe tying some of these things together into a little story arc would be a better model for implementation. Any of the existing corporate factions or gangs could be the nemesis here, so let's just call them "X Inc." Most of these missions are even repeatable.

1) Strange Frequencies
Government officials have asked us to investigate a sudden suicide epidemic at a vital military base. They believe the phenomenon may be related to paranormal activity, with the hostile intent of disrupting military readiness. Our preliminary investigation revealed that all of the soldiers who killed themselves listened to the same local radio station. Your mission is to infiltrate the station while posing as advertising salespeople, and look for evidence of anything unusual.

Setting: Radio Station (a map with an office building)
Objective:  Kill all enemies
Allowed equipment: Suit, concealable weapons.

Gameplay: We are surprised to see an armed security detail from X Inc stationed here. Eliminate them.

Debriefing/Further Research: Either by finding a secret files to research or just setting a variable (whatever is allowed and is easier), our subsequent investigation of recovered evidence reveals the radio station broadcasts contained hidden (psionic?) frequencies designed to stimulate feelings of depression and encourage suicidal tendencies. The radio station was owned by Acme Media Conglomerate, and we also uncovered evidence to suggest this company has been infiltrated by X Inc. X Inc is using Acme Media both to spread propoganda favorable to their cause, as well as for more malevolent purposes of weaponizing mass media technology.

2) Death Clinic
Our investigation of Acme Media revealed that a chain of exclusive clinics serving wealthy clients around the world is a major advertiser on its networks. We suspect these clinics are being used for criminal purposes of kidnapping and extortion, as well as to conduct illegal research into alien medical technologies, alien-human hybrids, and weaponizing mutagenic pathogens. Your mission is to infiltrate the clinic, posing as doctors, and look for evidence of anything unusual.

Setting: Hospital map
Objective: Kill all enemies, penalty for civilian deaths.
Allowed equipment: Doctor outfits, concealable weapons.

Gameplay: We fight both some security elements from X Inc as well as some monster of choice. The enemy is hostile to both XCOM and civilians, and we get a point penalty for civilian deaths. Maybe some of those pink blob thingies are hunting the civilians, turning them into more blobs.

Debriefing/Further Research: This investigation confirms the ties between Acme Media and X Inc. The clinics are being used for multiple purposes. First, wealthy clients pay a premium to receive advanced treatments based on alien technology. Second, for purposes of collecting ransom some clients are kidnapped or actually infected with novel diseases which can only be cured with exclusive, expensive therapies. Third, clients who can't or won't pay the ransom are used as fodder in biological research or even turned into monsters of choice, and are never seen again.

3) Monster Movie Madness
We received a tip that a big budget horror movie being produced by Acme Media will feature (real monsters of choice) as props and/or cast members. Posing as investors in the movie, infiltrate the set and investigate these rumors.

Setting: Almost any kind of outdoor terrain or urban setting map
Objective: Kill all enemies, penalty for civilian deaths
Allowed equipment: Suit, concealable weapons

Gameplay: We arrive to find the set in chaos. The monsters have run amok, and are terrorizing the film crew. Maybe there's a security element from X Inc as well.

Debriefing/Further Research: The incorporation of monsters into the film project confirms beyond any doubt the subversion of Acme Media by X Inc.

4) Youth Gone Wild
We received a tip that X Inc is planning a public test of (psionic, sonic) weaponry at a rock n roll concert by a band under contract with Acme Media. Attend the concert, and investigate any signs of suspicious activity.

Setting: Movie theater urban map
Objective: Kill/subdue all enemies
Allowed Equipment: Suit, concealable weapons.

Gameplay: We arrive to find the scene in chaos. The weaponry has already been deployed, and the crowd has been turned into hysterical, homocidal maniacs. Enemies are therefore a mix of both lightly armed civilians as well as some security forces from X Inc. The challenge of the mission is to overcome the mob of enemies.

Debriefing/Further Research: Realizing their massive liability that is likely to put them out of business from lawsuits, and with executives facing jail time for illegal activities, after a little persuasion from us Acme Media now understands that it is not in their best interest to continue working with X Inc. Acme Media has provided us with information about all the work they'd been doing for X Inc. X Inc has now sworn to destroy Acme Media for this betrayal.

5) Beach Bunny Blues
A major recording starlet under contract to Acme Inc is shooting a music video for her latest hit song at a beach resort. We've received reports that X Inc may try to disrupt this event and possibly assasinate the beloved starlet and her band, in order to cause financial hardship to Acme Media. Posing as guests at the resort, investigate for any signs of X Inc presence.

Setting: Beach map
Objective: Kill all enemies, penalty for civilian deaths
Allowed equipment: Swimwear, surf board

Gameplay: Resembles a "Deep Ones Ritual." Enemies are hostile to both civilians and XCOM. Enemies are security forces from X Inc.

Debriefing/Further Research: Big point bonus if no civilians are killed. Acme Media now agrees to begin producing propoganda favorable to our cause.

I could go on, but I think this is a clearer picture of what I had in mind. Are these the kinds of details you are looking for?

[Solarius Scorch]

Most of this isn't really possible, but I admit it's Inspiring! Thanks.

[Barth Gimble]

Just a few ideas I thought I'd put out there. As I said, the mod already offers lots of great content and many hours of fun.

[Thunderwing280]

I've eliminated the Red Dawn HQ and researched the memory card? Does that mean i've terminated a cult? Don't I get promo 3?

[Niewiem]

Yes this means you eliminated cult. As far as I remeber you need to eliminate 4 basic cults for promotion 3 (exalt, dagon, red dawn, black lotus)

[ohartenstein23]

You only need to terminate one of the starting four for Promotion III, but there are more requirements than just elimination of a cult.

[Thunderwing280]

You only need to terminate one of the starting four for Promotion III, but there are more requirements than just elimination of a cult.

Yeah I just checked, the only feasable way to get it in my eyes  is to interrogate a deep one, or does the cyberweb portal come with capturing the scientist?