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

[misha_cilantro]

Hey Solarius, just started playing two weeks ago and this is the most fun I've had with an X-Com-like in forever. Maybe more than War of the Chosen?! Maybe! It's just so fun, and I love how it veers towards some ridiculous stuff--it really does feel like the X-Files. (And/or someone's homebrew Delta Green campaign where they added rats. I just built a rat farm!)

Anyway, here's my unasked for suggestion: megaphones! Sometimes I can't get close to a cultist to stun them without heavy losses, but after taking out enough people I've had them panic and surrender, and that's really satisfying. What if you could use a megaphone to do morale damage (after some requirements are met??) -- the old "we have you surrounded, come out with your hands up, you have no chance!" etc.

Also, question, do you have a donation thing that isn't Patreon? I don't use it, but would still like to donate!

[misha_cilantro]

Whoops, nevermind, found the donation page!

[Xenotrenium]

The thing is, how you deal with the ambush is part of the game.

Yep, I agree - choosing the humvee over the heli because of that big gun could be one way you would deal with the (potential) ambush, not to mention the cool factor. It's not like you deal with ambushes without preparing for them anyway, smokes and pre-primed grenades are just another tool akin to the gunnery of the humvee imho. I am not advocating for this feature because I think landings are hard, but because it sounds cool and adds some extra considerations to which craft you want to pick. It coincidentally mitigates the disadvantage for bad landings, allowing you to consider staying in missions you'd normally take off instantly - and might serve as a natural power-stop to essentially always win against super-low-tier stuff. Making the humvee stand out from other crafts, such as the van (ok I know the van gets -1 guy) and rover (ok the rover gets +1 guy and is covert) would be cool too. I personally think it fits the entire "war" feel and sounds awesome.

There are further considerations such as anti-creature operations, special missions in which the difficulty must be maintained (alien hunt, military downed alien etc), what happens when the vehicle is in smoke (what is the no LOS penalty?), can the vehicle\weapon be targeted\damaged\destroyed? Is the weapon free of use or does it come with some cost associated with it?

I don't know how it works in 40k - If there is an obvious reason as to why it should not be implemented then I probably don't know enough to know about it yet

[Solarius Scorch]

How about either of the following?

-New transormation that is unlocked earlier than XCOM one, cheaper in cost (require Storm instead) and less powerful. Also fewer stat requirements. Increase research requirement for regular XCOM-transformation?

While I understand your point, I would have to de facto separate the bio-enhancement procedure into two phases, each of them having like half the value or so. This would not only feel like a filler, but also increase the micromanagement aspect for no gain. Also, it sort of conflicts with the lore that Storm is dangerous and unreliable.

-Make XCOM enhancement need Storm (automatic\abstracted refinement\modification for safe utilization by XCOM agents), but make Storm like Durathread and\or Alloys. You can reproduce it AFTER you understand how to USE it, so that in time you will be able to not worry too much about having it, but still go through the early phase of wanting Storm for transformations for your top guys.

This sounds better. The proposed model would be:
- Find and research Storm;
- Research X-Com Bio-Enhancement (same prerequisites as now),
- Make the bio-enhancement procedure require some chemical which is essentially perfected Storm,
- Add a new manufacturing project to purify Storm into perfected Storm,
- Add some other research project to create perfected Storm from scratch (what would be the prerequisites?),
- Add another manufacturing project to create perfected Storm from scratch (any ingredients necessary?)

Honestly it feels rather convoluted just to give Storm some usage, but I'm not saying no - ideas welcome.

Not to spam suggestions, but I've always thought the guns on the APCs from 40k (the actual XCOM crafts) would be a PERFECT fit for either the mudranger or the humvee. Thoughts on implementing such a functionality? Having a heavy gun like that would go a long way towards making some landing sites more manageable, and perhaps even sensible considering every xcom craft mission landing is borderline suicidal

It's a possibility, but there are three problems to consider:
1) Such vehicles would require Promo 3, as it's clearly very military tech. Even Machine Guns License would be insufficient IMO.
2) It would open a Pandora's box of "which other crafts should have turrets", and it's not a direction I like.
3) Turrets would probably steal the thunder too much. If they were actually operated by an agent, it would be different...

Hey Solarius, just started playing two weeks ago and this is the most fun I've had with an X-Com-like in forever. Maybe more than War of the Chosen?! Maybe! It's just so fun, and I love how it veers towards some ridiculous stuff--it really does feel like the X-Files. (And/or someone's homebrew Delta Green campaign where they added rats. I just built a rat farm!)

Hello, and thank you!
A fellow Cthulhu player, huh? It was my first RPG system!

Anyway, here's my unasked for suggestion: megaphones! Sometimes I can't get close to a cultist to stun them without heavy losses, but after taking out enough people I've had them panic and surrender, and that's really satisfying. What if you could use a megaphone to do morale damage (after some requirements are met??) -- the old "we have you surrounded, come out with your hands up, you have no chance!" etc.

The idea actually has surfaced a few times, but the technicalities are pretty difficult here - basically we can't make it a directional "cone" attack, and I don't know how to make your own people immune to this effect... Not to mention it should only work on enemies who have the concept of language or at least really hate loud megaphone noises.

[Empiro]

Hopefully you'll be able to convince Meridian to add a cone effect to the game! It seems like it wouldn't be a bad thing to have in addition to the circle effect. Maybe a line effect and wall effect too, if we're going to go full DnD.

[misha_cilantro]

I'm not surprised it's difficult. I was hopped up on excitement for the game, though, and had to make a suggestion A single-target or grenade attack with long range would work, though that's highly abstracted. But the dog's bark works like that, so it's not sound attacks aren't abstracted similarly elsewhere. Limit just to human targets?

A cone attack would be a cool addition, though I'm sure there's a huge list of wants for OXC just as there is for this mod, haha!

Re: Cthulhu RPG -- heck yeah, it's my favorite! I love what they've done with the latest version, too. And the new Delta Green is a different, also-fantastic take! Now I'm imagining a full reskin of X-Com taking place in the 20s, running around the world fighting cultists and monsters and researching creepy artifacts. Cast magic, lose sanity!

[Mathel]

Regarding cones, could it be approximated with a shotgun mechanic with many pellets and very low accuracy?

[Empiro]

Re: Cthulhu RPG -- heck yeah, it's my favorite! I love what they've done with the latest version, too. And the new Delta Green is a different, also-fantastic take! Now I'm imagining a full reskin of X-Com taking place in the 20s, running around the world fighting cultists and monsters and researching creepy artifacts. Cast magic, lose sanity!

That would be an awesome mod. To be totally honest, I actually enjoy X-Com Files most in the early game, before 1999. There's something fascinating about kind of working in the shadows and it'd be neat to build a whole game around it. Maybe one day we'll get full scripting support in the battle-scape, and we'll be able to generate all sorts of missions besides basically "neutralize/capture all targets".

[Solarius Scorch]

Late game is still mostly a placeholder. Working on it!

As for the bark, it's effectively just a  single shot weapon. Which is fine, as the dog generally barks at one person at a time.

[Bonakva]

I love storming the Red Dawn base...

Is it possible to speed up the game? Even stronger than the settings.
I changed the ammo hitAnimation: -1. This significantly accelerated my and the enemy's moves. But there is a slight delay in displaying panic from enemies. You can skip the notification by pressing LMB. Is it possible to remove all notification delays?

[Mrvex]

After one deployment i realized that plasma sword is a two handed weapon... is this intended ?

[MasterYoghourt]

I think it would be good idea to add COVID-19 event to the game. Of course not literally.

Let the Cult of Apocalypse spread virus cousing people to change into zombies (game missions). Motivation for Cult to do this would be invocation of false first horseman, false prophet - plague. False becouse first horseman should be the conqueror, according to st.John's Revelation. As investigation proceed player get information that virus is called RIDER-19. Next, there would be a clue that Syndicate could make this virus for Cult of Apocalypse. Final stage could be destroying Syndicate Lab that produces virus. Last message for this mision would be that there is vaccacine for this virus produced and delivered to countries all over the world

[Mrvex]

I think it would be good idea to add COVID-19 event to the game. Of course not literally.

Let the Cult of Apocalypse spread virus cousing people to change into zombies (game missions). Motivation for Cult to do this would be invocation of false first horseman, false prophet - plague. False becouse first horseman should be the conqueror, according to st.John's Revelation. As investigation proceed player get information that virus is called RIDER-19. Next, there would be a clue that Syndicate could make this virus for Cult of Apocalypse. Final stage could be destroying Syndicate Lab that produces virus. Last message for this mision would be that there is vaccacine for this virus produced and delivered to countries all over the world

You know, this kinda actually made me wonder why no faction tried to wipe out humanity with any kind of bioweapon, zombies are there but they are quite laughable since they can only reproduce via infestors so their numbers couldnt ever skyrocket too much to be a world wide threat.

Though it makes sense on other hand that Aliens dont want to just eradicate life on Earth, they want to play with us, experiment on us. And this could have backfired since the entire world would go full alert, XCOM funding and support would skyrocket and tons of XCOM like organisations would start popping up around the world.

In UFO Aftermath, after some point, Earth is infected by a growth of alien origin and it spreads across the entire planet, destroying life and your bases... but in Aftermath the aliens really want to just kill us, no infiltration, no colab with Earth factions (Up to a point).

[Solarius Scorch]

I think it would be good idea to add COVID-19 event to the game. Of course not literally.

Let the Cult of Apocalypse spread virus cousing people to change into zombies (game missions). Motivation for Cult to do this would be invocation of false first horseman, false prophet - plague. False becouse first horseman should be the conqueror, according to st.John's Revelation. As investigation proceed player get information that virus is called RIDER-19. Next, there would be a clue that Syndicate could make this virus for Cult of Apocalypse. Final stage could be destroying Syndicate Lab that produces virus. Last message for this mision would be that there is vaccacine for this virus produced and delivered to countries all over the world

CoA would possibly be up for something like this, yeah...

You know, this kinda actually made me wonder why no faction tried to wipe out humanity with any kind of bioweapon

Because they're not silly?

Why would they want to do such a thing? How would it benefit them?

zombies are there but they are quite laughable since they can only reproduce via infestors so their numbers couldnt ever skyrocket too much to be a world wide threat.

Zombies aren't even a faction before they develop human-like intelligence. And then they stop breeding uncontrollably.

In UFO Aftermath, after some point, Earth is infected by a growth of alien origin and it spreads across the entire planet, destroying life and your bases... but in Aftermath the aliens really want to just kill us, no infiltration, no colab with Earth factions (Up to a point).

In the UFO series, the aliens had completely different goals, so it's hard to compare.

[EmoNewtype]

Just my two cents, but I don't feel like having a reference to COVID in the mod would be a good idea. It seems a bit tasteless to parody/poke fun at a pandemic that is still actively killing people as we speak. I feel like a "four horsemen" sub-arc with Apoc would be cool, and I don't have any issues with a bioweapon plot line in general, but tying it to COVID directly or indirectly through a parody name like RIDER-19 feels disrespectful to people who've been affected by the virus.