The unused? PSI button

[Daiky]

Hi, I've added code for the PSI button:
https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=SPICONS.DAT

to show when you are under control of an alien that has psionic skill. You can click it to use it's "built-in" psionic attack, since aliens don't carry psi-amps. Only panic attack, since it doesn't  show an action menu to choose between mind control and panic. So I've chosen panic as it is probably the least powerful.

But while doing it, I was having questions. Why wasn't this in the original? Was it for balancing reasons? I think aliens were not able to use your psi amp when they mind control an xcom soldier, but that's a guess too... so for that reason they might have decided not letting you use alien psionic powers. Or was it technical, story-wise or perhaps just not enough time to fully implement and test it....


PS. it's also useful when playing as alien side on a hot-seat or multiplayer battle, but in that case the choice between panic and mind control is probably a must.

[moriarty]

that's kind of a philosophical problem, isn't it?

is a unit that is being mind-controlled actually capable of psi-attacking? I always assumed that the psi-control was more like a "puppeteer" function where the consciousness of the controlled being is pushed back to allow the attacker to control his/her/its body. pure motor control. the controlled being can see, hear and feel what he/she/it is doing, but has no influence over the actions of his/her/its body. imagine the terror!

psi-attacking, on the other hand, is a very advanced function of the consciousness, so the controlled being wouldn't be able to do this.

maybe the button was only meant for playing the alien side? which was never truly implemented?

[Daiky]

If there is a good reason, the same reason applies to openxcom too and then the button shouldn't be there after all.

[moriarty]

there are no definite reasons in philosophical questions

but if my explanation makes any sense to you and nobody else objects, I think it could become canon and the button should only be there in two-player hot-seat games for the aliens. which is something we definitely want, so it made perfect sense for you to implement it

[pmprog]

Or just add it as a game option so I can abuse the hell out of it in my OXC LP Assuming I make it that far that is!

[Hythlodaeus]

Psi in my psi? It's more likely than you think.

But seriously, now, I can see the use of it for multiplayer games, but I don't really think the player should have the power to make a psi-powered alien use his own psi-powers on other people. It sounds not only incredibly game breaking, but also theoretically absurd, even from a sci-fi point of view.

[moriarty]

actually, one could even argue that mind-controlling an alien should use a lot more time-units.

think about it like this:
if you want to make somebody do something, you have to act out all his actions in your mind and project them into his brain. simple commands like "run forward" would probably take next to no time.
but reacting on the environment? you'd have to be in the victim's mind in real-time, so you would need at least as much time for mind-controlling him as he would need for doing that stuff himself.

even if the mind-control is acting on a more abstract level (giving impulses like "run forward", "shoot at that moving unit", "activate and drop a grenade"), it should still cost time-units based on the victims actions.

this could also balance PSI more, because the old "PSI soldier with 100 TUs can make four aliens run amok across the entire playing field" would no longer work - the PSI soldier's TUs would only be enough for either making one unit do a lot of stuff, or for making several units do very basic stuff like killing themselves.

EDIT: very off-topic, isn't it? I think I'm going to re-post this in another "suggestions" thread... sorry   

[AndO3131]

think about it like this:
if you want to make somebody do something, you have to act out all his actions in your mind and project them into his brain. simple commands like "run forward" would probably take next to no time.
but reacting on the environment? you'd have to be in the victim's mind in real-time, so you would need at least as much time for mind-controlling him as he would need for doing that stuff himself.

@Moriarty has a point here. We could make it work like this - soldier A succesfully mind controlled alien B. Selecting alien B allows to issue commands to that alien. Until soldier A "turns off" mind control, selecting soldier A allows to issue commands to alien B (soldier A is unable to do anything else). PSI button could be used to cancel mind control.

[Warboy1982]

here's my philosophical 2 cents:
personally i'm an advocate of NOT having it available, my interpretation of "mind control" only allows for the manipulation of the motor control section of the brain and receiving data from the information processing center but disallows access to higher functions, like the personality and memory centers. for example, surely if we had access to the "memory" or "personality" centers of the brain, we'd be getting free research from mind control. i can't say FOR SURE which part of the brain would be "responsible" for psionic actions, but i have to imagine that with such low-level access to the brain, such manipulation would be out of the question.
the puppet master can make his toy dance, but he cannot make it think.
so for example, a mind controlled human may be screaming (or thinking, if he can't move his mouth) "oh god, help me! i can't stop it! look out! i'm so sorry! RUN!" while he methodically shoots each of his friends in the face. this is a much more horrifying scenario to my mind, and is accurately represented by the impact on the morale of the mind controlled unit. basically the mind controlled unit would be "trapped" in it's own body, unable to do anything but watch as it's own hands carry out the actions.