The Thing arc

[Solarius Scorch]

Not necessary. Initially, the monster is only one on the map. An example of an infected civilian I cited above. The whole joke is that he is NOT displayed as an enemy, but turns into him only after death. Thus, if you set a condition for loss of health in the settings of your armor, then this will start as a timer. For example, a civilian 10 health, each turn, he loses 2 health. Thus, in five moves, he will turn into a monster. Visually, the loss of health is not displayed, it is difficult to understand who is infected and who is not.

OK, I get it now!
Not sure if it can be done, though... I need to consult the elders.


EDIT:
Sorry, what place does IFESTEDGIRL.png occupy in the life cycle? What does it transform into?

EDIT 2:
In fact I'd appreciate more info on what each unit should be doing, especially how it attacks... I can try to design it myself, but it's a tricky business, so I'll probably do it all wrong.
On the positive side, I'm finally working on this seriously. Just be patient.

[legionof1]

Okay so as recall the movie, now many years later, the plan is:

Start with one isolated monster(probably the dog), and some "infected" civilians that degen and die to be replaced with infested copies, only distinguishable by the enemy in sight warning.

At least one of those infected then becomes the "head" critter on death, another infected become the amalgamate thing. the rest become normal infested the same as anything killed by an infested.

The ideal outcome is that it takes awhile to find the dog and in the mean time some of the civilians start turning, hopefully out of immediate LOS. Then the mission goes the way of a chrysilid terror mission, except your previously cleared areas are not clear at all.

And if your really willing to go the extra mile, figure out some way to have units in areas "outside"(and made so by blowing stuff up) take cold damage every turn, with the baddies taking extra.

[Solarius Scorch]

Thanks Legion, I have it planned out in a similar way. My concern is more about physical attacks - what exactly should they do?

Also, out of curiosity: how do you propose to distinguish between outside and inside? I have nothing.

[Toothless Shark]

For the attacks maybe the one 'the void' uses. It already has a similar effect on the target (makes a copy of itself). The thing would be doing the same thing.

[Solarius Scorch]

Should all units cause "zombification"? Or only some?

[legionof1]

Yeah the outside/inside thing is probably unworkable. The closest execution i can think of is to sink the main level of the map under ground by one Z level and have "bombs" of cold damage go off every round ala pink dessert at surface. The roofs of the underground part keep surface level explosions out but if the roofs start getting broken it would reach inside.

Mechanically the "bombs" are low damage(so it wont damage terrain on it own) but largely ignore armor and have a significant "to stun"alter. The foes are extra vulnerable to whatever damage time these bombs are assigned. Would also need to be large aoe so it will propagate through any gaps made in the base roofs for some distance.


If we are being true to the source everything should spread the infection. But that might not be balanced depending other factors. Mostly how durable you make the infected. In the movie the monster was mostly immune to physical force due to its fluid/malleable form. So chrysilid++ in a fashion and the "hidden" infected make normal clearing strats ineffective. Probably have to stop the spread at some stage. Maybe the dog and the head cant spread?


 

[Solarius Scorch]

Good concept with the "cold bombs", but I would have to do it on all cold maps, and that would be excessive. Besides, it's pretty hackish; the explosions would be visible to the player.

The infected units don't have that many HPs, but they are highly resistant to most forms of damage. Fire, acid and plasma are the way to go.

EDIT: THE MISSION IS READY!

[Toothless Shark]

Wow, this WILL be scary.   

[Wolfstarr]

Scorch have you seen the game audio files for “The Thing” Pc game? - think I saw them on the sounds resource website.

Interestingly I saw the game for the original Xbox for a £1 recently so picked it up to enjoy some point ... when I’m not modding OXC 

[Solarius Scorch]

Scorch have you seen the game audio files for “The Thing” Pc game? - think I saw them on the sounds resource website.

Interestingly I saw the game for the original Xbox for a £1 recently so picked it up to enjoy some point ... when I’m not modding OXC 

Haven't looked for anything like that, vanilla sounds seem fine. But if you have a better alternative, I am always open for suggestions.

[Valken]

Wow... cannot wait to see this added to the X-Com Files mod in the future!

[SolRSolid]

I just had to search for this thread after finding a creepy antartic mission, with a certain Thing. And holy crap was I scared! I figured out immediately they were tough when it took a lot to bring one down, so my 2nd turn instinct was to stun civillians.

Surprise! First civillian was a Thing in disguise, and that right there scared me more than any other mission in my entire time playing X-COM. Needless to say, I had brought only 7 soldiers (although well equipped with .308 and black ops assault rifles and flame gloves, and flares and lights as it was winter in the antartic!) After that nasty surprise, I wasted no time in flame gloving every civilian I saw to death, unsure if they were human or not.

At first I felt a tiny bit betrayed, but given I survived the ordeal with no casualties (thanks to psionics and sheer brutality towards every living thing there) it was a thrill of a mission!

edit: also good work on ufopedia entry
also, civillian death score should possibly be turned off/down/something for that mission? It seemed like the disguised Things counted as dead civilian score, maybe at least when I disintegrated them in one shot

[Solarius Scorch]

Glad this mission worked for you so well! It's thrilling to read.

Regarding the points, I don't think it can be done (or I don't know how), but also I think it works as it should; killing civilians looks bad on paper, even if they're suspected of being an alien menace. But you get the points prize for doing the summary research, which more than outweighs the loss.

[pipanni]

Hi guys. I played this mission recently and loved it! So awesome, plus "The Thing" is one of my favourite movies. I do have one suggestion though: the monsters should be affected primarily by fire and / or explosives, and not by gunfire, just like in the movie! In fact, if it is possible, gunfire should do almost no damage. Can this be done? Even if it's not possible it's still awesome. Thanks for such lovely content 

[anothrgamer1234]

Hi guys. I played this mission recently and loved it! So awesome, plus "The Thing" is one of my favourite movies. I do have one suggestion though: the monsters should be affected primarily by fire and / or explosives, and not by gunfire, just like in the movie! In fact, if it is possible, gunfire should do almost no damage. Can this be done? Even if it's not possible it's still awesome. Thanks for such lovely content 

That's already the case!