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Author Topic: [SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?  (Read 6886 times)

Offline Edrick

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[SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« on: September 08, 2014, 12:16:42 pm »
I don’t know if anybody has suggested this before, but here I go.

My suggestion is to make an X-Com mod in which the events of the game take place in 1898, or sometime before the Great War, maybe with some (we’re not talking to stick gears and goggles to everything, we’re talking serious) Steampunk. 

Instead of boasting assault rifles and laser weaponry, the 1898 X-Com soldiers begin the game with single-action revolvers and lever-action rifles (think Colt 1851 Navy revolvers and Winchester rifles) and, as research progresses, they adopt double-barreled shotguns, double-action revolvers and semiautomatic pistols (Webley Mark IV or VI revolvers and Mauser C96, Steyr 1912 or Luger P08 pistols), bolt-action rifles and semiautomatic ones (Gewehr 98 and Fusil Automatique Modèle 1917 rifles), lever-action and bullpup shotguns (Winchester 1887 and the Winchester 1897 Trench Gun). For the strongest troopers, machine guns from the era (Maxim, Vickers, Lewis and Hotchkiss MGs. It is impossible for a single man to carry and fire those, but it’s either that or parapets acting as unmovable HWPs) and mortars (also weighing a ton).

HWPs are armoured cars or tanks of that era (something like a shortened Mark British tanks) flamethrowers and gas throwers (as HWPs, essentially wheeled, 2-ton canisters or even as “backpack” canisters for your heavies) or even howitzers from the time (significantly “snubbed” to fit the 2x2 tile space). For more advanced guns, Tesla-esque stuff or adapting the Heat-Ray from Wells’ Tripods or rayguns and whatnot.

Armor, in the form of your basic coveralls, full WWI soldier outfit, which provides very slight protection and, mainly, a bonus to Bravery, bullet-proof vests (I think they were developed in the 1920s, so they fit in context) and some kind of Steampunk or early Dieselpunk power armour.

As other equipment, possibly the very rifles I mentioned before, bayoneted (as in, they get a Snap Shot, an Aimed Shot and a “hit” command, but that limited and unlimited ammo thing sounds odd. Whatever.), cattle prods, to capture aliens (no idea if they were in use at that time), cavalry and officer swords (Drive me closer, I want to hit them with my sword!), and your standard daggers and grenades, in many fun shapes and sizes, baseball bats for the lulz, field medical kits, flares...

On the alien side, instead of our well-known Sectiods and Ethereals, the X-Com-nauts (or whatever) fight against the Hither and Thither people (from the Lieutenant Gullivar Jones book), the Barsoomians (the John Carter saga), be it on foot, mounted in their steeds or with their steeds doubling as Reapers, the Tripods from Wells’ War of the Worlds, the Selenites from The First Men on the Moon and/or from the early film A Trip to The Moon, and the Séronis from Out of the Silent Planet (and whose description mysteriously resembles the race the Tripods use as food... coincidence?). If I’m not mistaken, I recall the Séronis having some kind of “telekinetic powers”, so there you got your Psionics and your new Ethereals. I’m not an expert on science fiction of that time, so I’m sure many other alien races could be found. Pre-Soviet or early Soviet sci-fi come to mind. 

How would the interception and troop deployment mechanics? No idea. While airborne warfare began in WWI, paratroopers or airborne troop carriers were not used until WWII. Maybe the aliens arrive instead crashing in cylinders, like in the War of the Worlds. So, you only get Alien Bases (crash sites) and Terror Sites (crash site in a city). Just an (unlikely) option.

I haven’t the slightest idea about pixel art or programming or OXC’s engine, so effectively this is just a sterile idea. I’ll leave it here, waiting for a benevolent soul to come...
« Last Edit: September 08, 2014, 12:22:15 pm by Edrick »

Offline yrizoud

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Re: [SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2014, 12:59:10 pm »
The study of alien artifacts is a good reason to evolve any retro-futuristic technology (steampunk or any other)
But one thing that doesn't fit well for XCOM engine is the lack of aerial capability: At the time, the only reliable way to reach the skies was hot air balloons, so you can't really justify intercepting any UFO or sending a crew half across the earth. Even land transportation was by horse cabs.
The 1920s may be a easier time to choose, because of rising industrialization : propeller airplanes, mass-produced Ford Ts, "tommy guns"... Think "Alien prohibition agency", which fights off aliens using the same kind of organization as Elliott Ness' 'Untouchables'.
This era is already a nice setting for the tabletop RPG "Call of Cthulhu"

Offline moriarty

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Re: [SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2014, 01:50:16 pm »
You could always start the game with a special mission where you ambush a landed medium scout... and then you use that as a transporter :) or you ambush a small scout, and your steam engineers use that as a new propulsion for an airship.
The small scout would be the only viable option because it is constructed as a one-man (or rather, one-alien) craft, and is therefore probably very simple. Constructing additional airships could require capturing additional small scouts :)

Offline Edrick

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Re: [SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2014, 02:34:10 pm »
I must admit, the "Alien Prohibition Agency" sounds groovie. Of course, shady organizations dealing with aliens in the 20's will invariably steer to Cthulhu Mythos-esque aliens. But, hey, didn't the police carry out a raid in Innsmouth at the end of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"? Now imagine X-Com fighting against Deep One hordes and Shoggoths in urban terrain. Sounds good to me.

The "special mission" idea presents an immediate problem: what if my craft gets downed by enemy UFO fire? Game over? Only way I can think of this working would be if there were no UFOs, or they were inoffensive.

And how stupid not to think of that before. Zeppelins. The aerial capability problem is solved with zeppelins. Make the game happen in 1912. Certain German Zeppelins in 1916 could reach speeds up to 103 km/h. Boost that speed a bit and the problem is solved -only that the protected area by a X-Com base would be a lot less. That requires setting several bases across the world to offer decent coverage. And UFOs would have to adapt to these low speeds as well. And aerial combat with a Zeppelin would be impossible. So, either slow and inoffensive UFOs, no UFOs at all (they land as soon as they spawn, remain so for days and then disappear, simulating the landing of a Martian cylinder) or ditch realism altogether and get Skyranger-speeded, ironclad airships.
« Last Edit: September 08, 2014, 02:39:46 pm by Edrick »

Offline alienfood

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Re: [SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2014, 02:52:54 pm »
So long as I can build battleships I can fire broadsides with, I'm into this. And BTW, Queen Victoria's Navy had a worldwide presence and worldwide communications, and so a global network is not so far fetched.

My suggestion would be to slow down the timeline, make it 10 years instead of 1 year, and consider making it a naval emphasis. Back then, there is really no point in landing in the middle of Siberia, everything of importance was near a coast.

I would consider a "summoning"-style game. The aliens are setting up a portal, which could be anywhere. Once complete, they teleport their army in and the game is over. The race is to find the portal and destroy it and the alien vanguard before it is complete.

Maybe the aliens arrived in a few small ships and landed like in escape pods somewhere. Now they need to subvert governments to get access to resources to build up their presence.

Offline yrizoud

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Re: [SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2014, 03:07:48 pm »
To accomodate for the reduced transport speeds of the early 1900s, you can reduce the geographic 'scope' by having only the US as a playground (and the only target of the aliens). The individual states can act as funding countries, and I think it would fit very well for a federal agency.
Have a simple truck as the initial troop transport : the USA is rather convex (compared to Europe, for example), so in many cases you will be able to move from your base to the place of action without having to cross a body of water.  And in the rare cases where you do, you can assume that the truck was loaded on a boat during the crossing.

Offline Dioxine

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Re: [SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« Reply #6 on: September 11, 2014, 08:37:12 am »
1. Speeds. They're actually a boon, not a problem. Let's expand Moriarty's idea: His Majesty's forces (assuming year is 1908 - Tunguska!) have seized a landed Scout UFO. After a heated meeting in London, a new organization has been created, with that very UFO being the only asset that is practical at countering the alien menace. This is your starting point; it actually explains the exceptionality of XCom... It has always bothered me WHY Earth's military forces do not engage UFOs. Here it's simple: you're the only one with the capability... at least until some MiBs show up :) To get additional craft, you need to research and manufacture them out of UFO parts...

2. Radars. Everyone so far missed the fact that there were no radars before WWII. Let's start with your Command Centre having a global "radar" coverage (actually the centre of a telephone-based worldwide warning system), but with a low detection rate (like 5% or less for a 10 minute "pulse"). Of course with alien technology you'd be able to manufacture radar equivalents if needed...

In general this is really cool even if I don't like steampunk (diesel punk is way cooler, it has nazis and soviets and nuclear science) :)
« Last Edit: September 11, 2014, 08:40:21 am by Dioxine »

Offline Edrick

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Re: [SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« Reply #7 on: September 12, 2014, 04:57:45 pm »
Well, I'd love to see a Dieselpunk/Diesel Weird War mod from you, Dioxine ;)


Offline Dioxine

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Re: [SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« Reply #8 on: September 12, 2014, 09:15:07 pm »
Engaging UFOs with souped-up ME-262s... Mmm... Too bad I am already entangled in the Piratez mod. Not before Piratez 1.0 :3

Also this of course would need that SOMEONE FINALLY EXTERNALIZED THE BORDER DRAWING THING ;)

Offline Falko

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Re: [SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« Reply #9 on: September 12, 2014, 09:48:37 pm »
border drawing is externalized
the mouth in the image here https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=2835.0 is a border
at the moment new borders are added so you cant delete existing borders
i think thats the wrong approach in that case but i could not convince supsuper of that .. yet :)

Offline efrenespartano

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[SUGGESTION][MOD] X-Com 1898?
« Reply #10 on: September 04, 2018, 11:00:37 pm »
I know, I know. It is not good to reply to such an ancient post. It is impolite. But I like this idea very much and I this post contain very useful, yet probably forgotten, ideas.

Why has not anyone done something like that? It is a great idea.

Personally, I'm not so fan of streampunk, dieselpunk seems better. But recently I discovered a wargaming game called All Quiet on the Martian Front, located at the beginning of the 20th century, with armaments of the time, against Martians in Tripods.

I'm starting to gather resources to do (or at least try) the idea of this post. Will anyone be interested in developing it too? Teamwork is always great, good things come out of it. 
« Last Edit: September 05, 2018, 02:58:44 am by efrenespartano »