XCOM EU Idea for Military Rank overhaul - better immersion

[blacklimoband]

WARNING: Wall of text ensues.....


Not sure if any of this is even possible, but I had a crazy idea for more realistic immersion, as it seems a bit of a stretch that you can have up to 99 Colonels in your barracks (yes it would take forever, but it is possible, especially if you hold off building the Hyperwave Decoder).

It is pretty involved and some of it may not make sense until you've seen the whole picture.

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Firstly the perk tree ranks would be separated from the Military ranks (reason why will become apparent shortly). Instead of Military ranks the perk tree would still be tied to experience points earned through missions, but arranged by "Specialist" ranks (as in soldier class levels)... haven't thought of any ideas for rank names at this stage, but the idea is basically each class would have 7 (or more perhaps) "levels" that allow for perk selections. Instead of earning a "promotion" at each level, they would earn "specialist training".

Alternatively, instead of specialist ranks these could be service commendations...

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Secondly the Military ranks would be more of a flavor thing, but also determine who will be assigned as squad leader, keeping the existing squad penalty upon their death, buit also provide some bonuses. Numbers are arbitrary at this point (as this is just an idea).

Military Ranks would be:

Enlisted and NCO:
- Recruit
- Private (Pvt.)
- Lance Corporal (LCpl.)
- Corporal (Cpl.)
- Sergeant (Sgt.)
- Sergeant Major (SgtMaj.)

Company Grade Officer:
- Lieutenant (Lt.)
- Captain (Capt.)

Field Officer:
- Major (Maj.)
- Lieutenant Colonel (LtCol.)
- Colonel (Col.)

Squad leader would be determined first by rank, then by experience, then by random selection (e.g. if the 2 highest ranking soldiers in the squad are of equal rank and experience then one of them will be selected at random).

All squad leaders would get the following 2 abilities:
- Rally Troops: Effects all squad members within visual range, bestows +20 Will and immunity to panic for 2 turns, removes panic status from effected troops.
- Supporting Fire: Target Self or squad member within visual range, grants +20 to aim if firing upon an enemy that is suppressing another squad member.

In addition to this Officer rank soldiers would also provide the following passive bonuses to all soldiers in that squad (this is to encourage promotion to officer ranks):

Company Grade Officers (Lieutenant and Captain):
- Leadership: All squad members receive a passive bonus to Defense and Will.

Field Officers (Major, Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel):
- Inspired Leadership: Same bonuses as "Leadership" but also provides a bonus to Aim and Critical Hit Chance.

In order to give a more realistic feel to the military ranking system it would be necessary to limit the total number of promotion slots for each rank, and have slots unlock based on total number of troops. Obviously promotion to a higher rank would free up the previously occupied promotion slot.

For example the following promotion slots would unlock when total troops reached the following numbers (note: number of Pvt. rank soldiers is unlimited):

8 soldiers:
- LCpl: 2
- Cpl: 2
- Sgt: 1

16 soldiers:
- LCpl: 4
- Cpl: 4
- Sgt: 2
- SgtMaj: 1

32 soldiers:
- LCpl: 4
- Cpl: 4
- Sgt: 2
- SgtMaj: 1
- Lt: 4
- Capt: 2
- Maj: 2
- LtCol: 1
- Col: 1

64 soldiers:
- LCpl: 8
- Cpl: 8
- Sgt: 4
- SgtMaj: 2
- Lt: 8
- Capt: 4
- Maj: 4
- LtCol: 2
- Col: 2

99 soldiers:
- LCpl: 16
- Cpl: 16
- Sgt: 8
- SgtMaj: 4
- Lt: 12
- Capt: 6
- Maj: 6
- LtCol: 3
- Col: 3

Again numbers are arbitrary, but I feel well balanced.

Promotions:
Soldiers would become elligible for promotion if there is a slot available for the next rank and if they meet the pre-requisites. Additionally soldiers can only progress 1 rank per promotion, and only be elligible for promotion at the completion of a mission (same as with the Specialist Ranks). When a soldier becomes elligble for promotion they will display the promotion icon, same as with the existing rank system and PSI rank system.

Promotion Pre-Requisites:
All officer ranks require OTS before they become available - Destruction of OTS will result in no more officer promotions being available until it is rebuilt, but will not demote existing officers. To progress from SgtMaj. to Lt. a candidate must meet the pre-requisites for Lt. and pass the officer entrance exam (3 days). This is accessed through the OTS menu (similar to the PSI lab through the Barracks menu), and the chances of success would be increased by the candidates stats, maybe 5% per mission or even per kill (so minimum 50% or 60%) and no limit on number of attempts at sitting the exam.

Enlisted and NCO Ranks:
- Pvt: missions 1, kills 1
- LCpl: missions 2, kills 2
- Cpl: missions 4, kills 6
- Sgt: missions 6, kills 8
- SgtMaj: missions 8, kills 10

Company Grade Officer Ranks:
- Lt: missions 10, kills 12
- Capt: missions 12, kills 14

Field Officer Ranks:
- Maj: missions 14
- LtCol: missions 16
- Col: missions 20

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Thirdly (and last) Increase maximum squad size to 8, keeping the default as 4, and either:

- Add Squad Size III and IV upgrades to the OTS menu (7 and 8 soldiers per squad respectively)

or

- Change Squad Size I Upgrade to 6 soldiers and Squad Size II upgrade to 8 soldiers

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Thanks for reading :)

It would be awesome if this idea could be implemented, but since I have no skillz with this level of modding I have no idea if any of it is even possible... still, one can dream ;)

[DersitePhantom]

While this is an interesting idea, what you're asking for is practically impossible.

With the way XCOM is coded, modding anything serious is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, and making entirely new, complicated systems is definitely not going to happen any time soon.

Also, in regards to the recommendation of increased squad size; it has been tried extensively before, but it could not be done.

You can browse the mod talk sub forum if you want to look at was has been accomplished so far, and what can be done currently.

[blacklimoband]

Yeh, figured that'd be the case. Maybe I should send the idea to Firaxis, might get implemented in the next game :) lol

[Zybertryx]

Personally I've just renamed all the ranks as conventional military titles just weren't doing it for me.

 

XCOM is a black project covert op outfit made up of the most highly trained and experienced conventional military personel from around the world in an 'invite only' manner, right?

 

So I have no loyalty to any real-world rank hirearchy. So now their ranks reflect that. You can change all instances of the ranks in the UI via the .int files in your my documents\my games\xcom\xcomgame\localisation\int folder.

 

(I think that if you don't have the DLC, then those files (the .ints) mirrored in the install directory might take precedence and so would need to be edited there instead)

Edited June 28, 2013 by Zybertryx