"Community Expansion"

[SuperBizarro]

G'day gang I want to put forward the idea of combining our efforts to make the game we used to all know and love Especially those Die-Hard fans who play Meat-Grinder Mode.

 

I am still enjoying the Original more I however have seen great strides in the community namely the RD threads Especially the squad limit increase thus this proposition nay plea exists in the first place to perfect the game.

 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen in our last Episode we where just about to perfect the game.

Developer map improvements

HTTP://www.strategycore.co.uk/files/combo-x-com-game-folder-patch/

 

 

Xcomutil
HTTP://www.bladefirelight.com/

 

UFOextender
HTTP://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=UFOextender


Here are some of my gripes with the game

Interception Game mode : A good 30-45% of the game is missing.....................

Alien Bases : Lets not get me started on this one specifically not to mention the amount of meta-game removed.

Base Invasion : wtf new base styles that do NOTHING

Alien/Human Inventories : ugh

Time Units this is probably the most frustrating some people are slower than others maybe if we had attributes..

True Accidental Friendly Fire just missed into your friends face.... due to bad positioning.. you can literally just
throw people at aliens and win

Attributes FIXED well even in the game properly Removal of Classes : I suggest an open talent tree system Bravery: Reinstated to what it used to be : Nothing like Having Jimmy see his friend get ripped apart panic shoot his other buddy then drop his weapons including a primed grenade at his feet.

Multiple Bases: Personnel transfers are "Fun!" especially when they are capable of altering your meta-game

Alien Mind Control buff is stupid if the math was good it shouldn't exist on many levels...

You have to activate alien packs to fight them, are you not meant to be going to a place where there is a disturbance?

Terror Missions : Aliens killing Civilians !

Shooting Down a UFO : majority of Aliens on the map hiding!

Forcing a UFO to land : you get more Elirium and Gadgets and loots but no you have to shoot it down apparently?

Tailing a UFO to find out where its base is would be its own game with fuel consumption and what race the aliens are Different Aircraft having different number of seats for crew & Tanks not just pussy little robots..

Multiple crews to reinforce missions

The list goes on and on and on and on to prove it another one being sectoid commanders taking over civilians to fight your xcom units
And if your totally pro you use the Stun baton to not lose points for a civilian casualty

I am sure you guys can think of even tonnes more that is missing.

The reason the original was so popular was because IT GAVE US THE OPTIONS TO HAVE FUN AND MAKE OUR OWN STORIES..

LAUNCH ALL INTERCEPTORS birds in formation hammering that battleship all crewed with 4-6 man squads of Elite commandos geared out in Ghost buster Jumpsuits armed with Rockets high explosives Laser Rifles (that I imagine would have some kind of scope on them granted the wielder had high accuracy etc or even just a laser sniper rifle etc ) taking them aimed shots running then snap shotting then taking cover because of their training But these are only my vanguard against the Torrent of Alien Battleships around about 8 are visible at this present time with 2 terror missions I am moving to take care of and some Abduction reports But my Skyranger backed up by my Firestorm is going to take care of that and Besides my Main Army is aboard my Lightning's followed by my Avengers carrying the Artillery and Cleanup squads.

Sure might not be Ideal but I had the options to do this and that’s why I went back to the Original.

Brothers and sisters I say no more let us rise up against this tide of evil and fix it ourselves.
Thus is my desperate Gambit.

[dfsalmeida]

I second that motion!

[Amineri]

Thought I'd chime in on the concept.

 

I think many of your points are valid, but unfortunately we have to live within the realm of the possible. I try and push the boundaries of what is possible in the new XCOM though modding, but there are definite limits that would be very challenging to overcome. Plus, the game is still actively being developed -- it's likely that much work will be rendered moot when the next major DLC / Expansion is released.

 

A final factor is that there aren't that many people actively making the sort of mods that you are proposing. Currently I think it's pretty much just johnnylump and myself. The lack of any sort of modding support from Firaxis amongst other things means that there aren't many people to share the load. Would love it if more people were to get involved and start creating mods, though!

 

A lot of what you are describing is making the game very similar to the OG X-Com, which is not bad thing, but is already being done with the game Xenonauts (which I believe is in beta currently). It's not a big budget game with fancy graphics (is made by an indie), but it has Time Units and more complex inventories and multiple bases and base attacks and all of the things you are asking for.

 

So, let me address each of the points you raised, and I'll give my opinion as to the difficulty of implementing it. Nothing concrete, just my estimate as to how hard I personally would find it :

 

Interception Game mode : A good 30-45% of the game is missing.....................
LAUNCH ALL INTERCEPTORS birds in formation hammering that battleship all crewed with 4-6 man squads of Elite commandos geared out in Ghost buster Jumpsuits armed with Rockets high explosives Laser Rifles (that I imagine would have some kind of scope on them granted the wielder had high accuracy etc or even just a laser sniper rifle etc ) taking them aimed shots running then snap shotting then taking cover because of their training But these are only my vanguard against the Torrent of Alien Battleships around about 8 are visible at this present time with 2 terror missions I am moving to take care of and some Abduction reports But my Skyranger backed up by my Firestorm is going to take care of that and Besides my Main Army is aboard my Lightning's followed by my Avengers carrying the Artillery and Cleanup squads.
Alien Bases : Lets not get me started on this one specifically not to mention the amount of meta-game removed.

 

Significant changes in the interception game (e.g. mutiple craft per side, real decisions to be made, etc) would mean essentially rewriting an entire piece of code -- the quasi-minigame that is currently in vanilla. Might be possible, but would be a huge amount of work -- probably not worth it as long as the game is being developed.

 

 

Base Invasion : wtf new base styles that do NOTHING

 

Multiple alien base attacks are fairly doable. They are currently on the list of future additions for Long War.

 

 

 

Multiple Bases: Personnel transfers are "Fun!" especially when they are capable of altering your meta-game

 

Multiple bases would mean entirely new systems added to the game. It might be possible to create sub-barracks for the four interceptor bases, but it would be a lot of work, and I'm not sure how they'd be used.

 

 

 

Alien/Human Inventories : ugh

 

So far I've been able to squeeze in a third small item slot for soldiers, and have added loadouts of Weapon and small items to soldiers. I full square-based inventory like the OG is beyond me at this point.

 

 

Time Units this is probably the most frustrating some people are slower than others maybe if we had attributes..

 

 

 

To a certain degree this can be handled through gear and level up attributes. Long War currently gives a -1 move to Gunners/Rocketeers at Squaddie, which they get back later. Supports get extra move as well. Switching over to an actual TU-based system would mean a complete change of the underlying mechanics. Not something I'd try with an in-development game.

 

 

 

True Accidental Friendly Fire just missed into your friends face.... due to bad positioning.. you can literally just
throw people at aliens and win

 

 

The current game mechanics are based on dice rolls and not ray tracing of bullets. Would mean a dramatic change to low-level Unreal Code, I think. I'm not really sure if this is possible or not. I was able to make Rockets scatter in a manner similar to what you are proposing.

 

 

Attributes FIXED well even in the game properly Removal of Classes : I suggest an open talent tree system Bravery: Reinstated to what it used to be : Nothing like Having Jimmy see his friend get ripped apart panic shoot his other buddy then drop his weapons including a primed grenade at his feet.

 

 

Not sure about the attributes. Strength, Psi and Psi Defense stats are still in the game but are unused. (I took over 2 of them to use for damage reduction and regeneration). Dropping weapons is pretty much out since there's no UI for picking up items during a mission.

 

Alien Mind Control buff is stupid if the math was good it shouldn't exist on many levels...

 

 

I'm not sure what this is referring to. Mind Control can be adjusted in some ways (the -30 Will penalty to try and mind control can be adjusted, for example).

 

 

You have to activate alien packs to fight them, are you not meant to be going to a place where there is a disturbance?

 

 

Aliens could probably be made to be active at the start of the mission. However, the current AI doesn't know what to do with active troops when no enemy XCOM units can be seen, so they typically just keep overwatching, making advancing a very slow and tedious affair. Would basically mean adding to the AI so that it can patrol or something with active troops. Activated pods can "call for help" if things start turning against them, and nearby but unactivated pods will move toward them. Pods can be made to patrol (100% of them if so desired) while unactivated.

 

Terror Missions : Aliens killing Civilians !

 

 

Is this bad? Terror missions are all about civilians, so shouldn't the aliens be killing them?

The AI has code to prioritize whether to shoot civilians or XCOM soldiers. It's slanted toward shooting at XCOM, but will shoot at civilians if they are flanked, exposed or the to-hit chance is much better.

 

Shooting Down a UFO : majority of Aliens on the map hiding!

 

Not sure what the difficulty is here? Is it a narrative or a gameplay issue? What else should aliens be doing if their UFO is shot down? I figure they are trying to hold out and defend the UFO until reinforcement come pick them up.

 

 

 

Forcing a UFO to land : you get more Elirium and Gadgets and loots but no you have to shoot it down apparently?

 

 

This is accomplished via the EMP Cannon, effectively.

 

 

Tailing a UFO to find out where its base is would be its own game with fuel consumption and what race the aliens are Different Aircraft having different number of seats for crew & Tanks not just pussy little robots..

 

 

Way outside of what I know how to add. New art assets and game systems are a bit beyond my modding capability for XCOM. SHIVs however have been substantially upgraded via some of my mods. They can be given direct damage reduction and perks via equipped items.

 

 

Multiple crews to reinforce missions

 

 

Not sure if you mean multiple XCOM crews here?

 

--------------------------

 

Cheers!

 

[Bertilsson]

 

Significant changes in the interception game (e.g. mutiple craft per side, real decisions to be made, etc) would mean essentially rewriting an entire piece of code -- the quasi-minigame that is currently in vanilla. Might be possible, but would be a huge amount of work -- probably not worth it as long as the game is being developed.

Do you have any theory regarding if it is possible to allow sending more than 1 interceptor?

I don't mind so much that they attack one by one, it is kind of retarded strategy to allow the UFO to escape while I have to wait for the first interceptor not only to attack but also return before I can send another one :)

[Amineri]

 

Do you have any theory regarding if it is possible to allow sending more than 1 interceptor?

I don't mind so much that they attack one by one, it is kind of retarded strategy to allow the UFO to escape while I have to wait for the first interceptor not only to attack but also return before I can send another one :smile:

 

 

Hmm, this would be handled in the Geoscape code. The engine can apparently handle having more than one craft in the air at once, as evidenced that the Skyranger can be going out at the same time that an interceptor is returning from shooting down a UFO.

 

Not sure if others have experienced this, but if you back out of the geoscape view while a craft is still travelling you aren't allowed to save the game.

 

The issue may be as simple as finding a way to keep the "UFO" button on the screen after an interceptor has been launched so that another interceptor can be launched while the first is en route.

 

I haven't poked around at this at all, however.

[dfsalmeida]

Just to clarify I support the idea of developing a mod integrating and balancing what we know to be possible and not looking to develop (all of) the ideas put forth in the original post itself.