First of all, thank you very much for your kind words. Especially since I have a soft spot for fanfics.
(Though I'm definitely not a perfectionist, else I would never finish anything... )
To address your questions:
- I want to make multiple endings, but I'm not sure I can commit this much time. For now, I don't have even one satisfying ending, so I am focused on this. In the future, if possible, I'd like to add alternate endings where you basically switch sides and ally with some other Great Faction, which will affect the ending and also some parts of gameplay (like new/different equipment). For now it's a pipe dream though.
- Dimension X is done and I don't plan to expand it any further. We are not at war with the Micronoids right now, so the Council doesn't want to stir up shit on a new front.
- Related to the above, there is no need to add more Dimension X aliens. I mean sure, if it was very low effort, I could add more races, but it wouldn't have much impact on the game. I don't plan any adding new Dimension X missions, unless maybe some "side quests".
- There is no as fouth promotion as such, but there are some other similar thresholds later. (And I think that basic BlackOps stuff is not really that great.)
- I plan to make some more Moon and orbital missions. We'll see. As for Cydonia - not planned right now.
- I don't have a good concept for Cydonia. Suggestions would make sense.
- Multiple sides are not possible, in X-Com, sorry... (Unless you use one of them as civilians, then... sort of)
Thank you very much for the answers!
If one day I have success with my novels and can translate them into English, I will not hesitate to let you know here.
Regarding your answers, on the one hand I would have liked to see more about dimension x (I consider that x com apolypse always had the potential to have been the best of the saga, maybe one day the "openapoc" project will go ahead). And on the other hand, it's also good that not everything is as you imagine it in your head, so there is more room for surprise... (I never would have imagined seeing the demons of doom in a xcom mod).
I also don't want to "abuse" with all the suggestions I might have, I just wanted to tell you what I would do for the moon and Cydonia missions.
For the moon missions, perhaps one could "choose paths" through research. For example, you complete the first mission and then you can investigate either the chrysalis lair, or the control room. If you investigate the cocoon lair, you would no longer be able to investigate the control room (so you choose which mission you want to do). Each of these missions would have their own objectives and enemies, giving them more replayability and variety.
As the essence of this mod, in my opinion, seems to be very focused on the idea of conspiracies (and more so now with the introduction of Majestic 12, illuminati, etc), I think that maybe cydonia should not be the last mission of the game . What if these aliens are the creation of, say, the syndicate? I thought of this as an option because at the end of the syndicate narrative arc, it hints that there is an even more "deeper" and influential syndicate somewhere in space (or who knows where). Even, and I know this is stretching my imagination, the "primal" syndicate could be the remains of the Nephilin or something. I don't know, maybe it's too much to curl the loop, but Cydonia as a final mission I don't finish fitting it completely into the atmosphere of this mod. What do you think? (regardless of all the amount of work that may entail).
Postscript: I hope one day we can see those multiple endings (it would be something really amazing)
I have responded fully with my first post.