Musings

[Skiltpadde]

Hello. I'm new to this forum, but an XCOM vet. Please allow me to give a quick introduction, followed by my musings on how XCOM in its current form could be bettered.

 

MultiplayerNick (PS3): Skiltpadde

UFO Enemey Defense: Completed it. Top 3 game of mine, counting the reboot.

Terror From The Deep: I got defeated.

XCOM Apocolypse: Completed.

XCOM Enemy Unknown/Within: Completed, 100% achievements. Been playing since release, and still playing it daily. Completed Impossible with all 2nd wave settings, but I most enjoy XCOM on Classic Ironman, which I've beaten with marathon enabled. I've lost count of how many bases I've cultivated to the end, but it's between a dozen or two.

I/I: Without resorting to save scumming I don't think I'll be able to beat this (tried numerous times, not been able to develop lasers).

Long War: Started recently and thoroughly enjoying it.

 

I worked twelve years in the gaming industry as a level designer, world builder and game designer. I'm 43 years of age and hold a life long interest in pen & paper and strategical games. Here is my take on how XCOM Enemy Within would play better out of the box, focusing in particular on how to better the endgame (the early stages have certainly already been catered for by Long War). Where possible I self-impose these while playing the game. If any of them is possible to import it into your mod, I would feel deeply honored. I figured I'd give the devs these notes before playing through Long War, in case beta closes before I complete it. Sadly, I have only 1% programming skills, or I'd attempt an implementation myself.

 

2ND WAVE, ADDITIONAL:

 

 

Incompatible Tech. Lasers and plasma may not be equipped to the same soldier.

... interesting mechanic for the sniper class.

 

Dexterity. Medium and Heavy armors detract -5 and -10 from aim.

... powers up body armor. Alternatively, yield +10 aim to Body Armor.

 

Not So Fast. Alloy Cannon can only be equipped to soldiers without the Rapid Fire ability.

... for balance. You can already one-shot an Ethereal with that thing. Allows longevity for the usefulness of the Scatter Laser.

 

That's Heavy. Heavy Plasma may not be equipped by soldiers with Bullet Swarm.

... enhances longevity of other LMGs.

 

What A Blast. Blasterlauncher may only be equipped to soldiers capable of firing a single Blasterlauncher round.

... longevity of rocketlauncher enhanced.

 

Mortality. 1 hp is suffered for jumping off rooves, busting down doors and losing cover to explosives or fire.

... busting down doors should never kill a soldiers, but the other scenarios might.

 

 

Magnetic HEAT. HEAT ammo yields +10 aim against robots, titan armored soldiers and floaters.

...just a curioso, a nice-to-have.

 

Sparring Partner. Mech Soldiers may only improve their mellee skill after a second mech has been built.

...upping the cost of a strong ability.

 

Rad Conditioning I. Mech Soldiers can't equip the Railgun until they've run 30 missions.

...longevity for the oft disused minigun.

 

Rad Conditioning II. Mech Soldiers can't equip the Particle Cannon until they've run 60 missions.

...longevity for the awesome railgun.

 

Mind Your Step. Mech Soldiers can't get their movement upgrade until they've run 90 missions.

...currently OP, gained too quickly.

 

 

Big Guns I. Weapons double in monetary price for each one you purchase.

... keeps powerful weapons rare, and varies the equip across the team, for more arms-balance longevity.

 

Big Guns II. Weapons are permanently assigned to each soldier.

... any advanced arms are quipped permanently and "owned" by that soldier, though upwards upgrading (ballistics ->laser -> plasma) should optimally be possible. Heightens veteran worth and works well with the idea of personalised equipment (e.g. Aliens Vasquez "Adios" smartgun).

 

Big Guns III. Only a limited number of each gun may be purchased to a base. The bigger gun the rarer. E.g. 3 plasma rifles, 3 alloy cannons, 3 heavy plasma, 6 LPR, 6 of each laser.

... further heightens the base planning strategy game and is explainable through advanced hardware upkeep. Once a soldier gets KIA or is dismissed, the heavy arms slot is freed up for another soldier. Perhaps possible to tie to the number of workshops/repair bays the base has?

 

Muton Caveat. Plasma Rifles and Light Plasma Rifles are exempt from Big Guns restrictions.

... this allows the less extreme plasmas to become the mainstay weapon in the base. The toughest opponents are still beatable, but no longer a pushover.

 

 

Big Armor I. Armor double in monetary price for each one you purchase.

... keeps special armor rare for longer.

 

Big Armor II. Armor is permamently assigned to each soldier.

... personalised equipment, as per the Big Guns equivalent.

 

Big Armor III. Only a limited number of each armor may be purchased. The bigger armor, the rarer. E.g. 3 jetpacks, 3 PSI suits, 3 ghost, 1 titan armor, 3 skeleton suits, 3 carapace.

... ensures only specialists receive the armors suited to them, and avoids titan armor equipment spamming (which i find to flood hp ranges). Possible to tie to the number of available laboratories/repair bays?

 

Ninja Tank Caveat. Under Big Armor III, Skeleton Suit and Carapace Armor are limited to x12 rather than x3. Also, Skeleton Suit and Sprinter perk may not be combined and carapace may only be equipped to soldiers with Extra Conditioning, and/or Will to Survive.

... more medium powered soldiers to back up the big heroes. The non-combine also ensures better capability spread under randomised skill trees.

 

 

 

RULE CHANGES:

For the sake of variation, and balance. I've kept these worded as 2nd Wave options (because naming 2nd Wave Options is fun). They're thought of as desired non-optional changes to the game rules.

 

 

How You Doing? Stabilize has a 10% chance of acting as a revive, and vice versa.

... makes healing downed soldiers even more exciting.

 

Fin Propelled Grenade. Needle Grenade that may be thrown as far as a muton elite throws an alien grenade.

... low damage, doesn't break cover. Much fun.

 

Hack Grenade. New equipment using Ghost Grenade as base, allowing long range hacking of drones.

... very small grenade, extended range (muton elite style).

 

Use Your Gun! Mindfray is only available every third round, rather than every other.

... mindfray's one of the worst things about XCOM's endgame, when you train PSI soldiers. For a while there, its all they do.

 

Misfire. 2% chance of reload failing, 1% chance of gun not firing.

... reflects ballistic mechanics. I suppose this might be hard to shoehorn without new voiceovers?

 

Shell Shock. Being hit by a grenade, or losing cover to a grenade, might induce panic.

 

Mental Scars. Minor will loss, or even gain (+1 to -2 per event) may be suffered for panic, light wounds, being mind controlled and failing the psionic gift test.

... low will soldiers have more fun - particularily psionic ones.

 

Its Been A Month. Lost will recuperates one every month for affected soldiers.

... still, everyone needs a break.

 

Radiation Poisoning. The Cyberdisc's Death Blossom functions as a poison-inducer; if soldiers reach 0 hitpoints, they fall directly into the stabililzed state.

... poor old Cyberdisc could use an upgrade.

 

Barrel Of A Gun. Snipers can't fire their guns into an adjacent square.

...those barrels just seem too long for this. Apply pistols. They should have come with bayonettes!

 

Humanity Rocks. A long-term award system for soldiers that opt not to undergo physical modifications and don't succeed in psionic testing.

...20 missions. +1 def, +1 general aim, +2 aim with lasers, "On The Ready" ( = Platform Stability, or Advanced Fire Control)

...30 missions. +1 def, +1 hp, +1 general aim, +5 aim with ballistics, "Adjusted Sights" ( = Hyper Reactive Pupils)

...40 missions. +1 def, +1 general aim, +2 aim with lasers, "Natural Leader" ( = Inspiration)

...50 missions. +1 def, +1 hp, +1 general aim, +1 dmg with ballistics, "Battleground Overview" ( = Depth Perception)

...60 missions. +1 def, +1 general aim, +2 aim with lasers, "Rapid Reload" ( = the only new ability suggested in this chart, granting unlimited ammo)

...70 missions. +1 def, +1 hp, +1 general aim, +5 aim with ballistics, "Hard To Kill" ( = 5 round bleedout, as with Secondary Heart)

...80 missions. +1 def, +1 general aim, +2 aim with lasers, "Covered Vitals" ( = Absorption Field)

...90 missions. +1 def, +1 hp, +1 general aim, +1 dmg with ballistics, "Fool Me Once" ( = Neural Damping)

...100 missions. +1 def, +1 general aim, +2 aim & +1 dmg with lasers, "Hyper Senses" ( = Bioelectric Skin - optimally sans strangulation immunity)

 

 

So... is any of this even remotely possible, or am I daydreaming?

 

 

EDIT : Factoring in the feedback in this thread, and this post, the below shortlist is looking like a more feasible redux of my initial brainstorm. Please adopt any item you please:

 

2nd Wave options:
- Plasma Reshuffle (Not So Fast, That's Heavy, What A Blast & Muton Caveat)

- Mortality (excluding doorbusting)

 

New gear:
- Fin Propelled Grenade

Rule modifications:
- Dexterity
- Mind Your Step
- How You Doing
- Use Your Gun
- Mental Scars
- Its Been A Month
- Barrel Of A Gun
- Humanity Rocks

[Krazyguy75]

Questions:

1: Are you thinking of implementing this, asking for help implementing these, or just brainstorming?

2: Are these for long war?

3: How far are you in long war?

 

Reasons for questions are:

1: There are other forums for some of these.

2: If so, a lot of stuff has changed, and some of these would disrupt balance more than help it.

3: Some of these seem to be related to making the game harder, but none of these are really needed for long war late game.

 

Specific Critiques:

Incompatible Tech: Seems to only nerf pistol use and delay onset of new tech. People will still choose the guns the like, just not the pistols they like.

Dexterity: Nice, I like this.

Not So Fast, That's Heavy & What A Blast: I don't like the way this is implemented. I think it should be "Soldiers cannot use (perk) while wielding (weapon)." That way it is a choice you can change.

Mortality: Kicking down doors should not damage super soldiers in advanced combat armor, but otherwise I really like this one.

Magnetic HEAT: Simple and nice.

Mech Rebalances: Don't know enough about mechs to judge.

Big Guns I: Doesn't balance at all well with LW, but ok with base game.

Big Guns II: Virtually incompatible with I & III, as with I it makes equipping a 20 man XCOM base with plasma costs over a 100 million minimum, and with III it makes it so you can never have a B team, so if you lose your A team you might as well restart.

Big Guns III: Eh. I wouldn't use it, but I can see it being interesting.

Muton Caveat: Eh.

Big Armor I, II, & III: See above, but for Big Armor III, Ghost Armor is on par if not better than Titan armor, so limit it to 1 as well.

Ninja Tank Caveat: Eh.

How You Doing?: Really like this

Fin Propelled Grenade: Eh. Ok I guess.

Hack Grenade: Almost impossible to implement, but otherwise ok.

Use Your Gun!: Eh. I don't really care either way.

Misfire: I hate this idea. It's like the random tripping in SSBB. It sounds cool but is irritating to deal with tactically, and adds another chance of failing to a game about percentages.

Shell Shock: This doesn't already happen? If it doesn't, I concur with this.

Mental Scars: Is it random whether you gain or lose? If so, eeehhh.

Its Been A Month: Very much like.

Radiation Poisoning: In LW, cyberdiscs are already buffed enough. In the core game, I rarely see them use death blossom successfully enough for it to be much of a difference.

Barrel Of A Gun: I agree.

[Skiltpadde]

Thanks for responding. If I've posted in the wrong place please link me the correct forum or PM me the name of a moderator I can ask to move the thread.

 

Question 1 and 2: I'm just brainstorming, hoping some of it fits LW and that someone with the skills I lack may pick up on an idea or two and implement it. Been taking notes while playing and thought I'd share. Its possible to run a campaign where most snipers have only ballistic rifles, and a choice few have the beefier ones. I like to play limiting snapshot snipers to lasers, and only squadsight snipers with cover fire and/or sentinel being allowed lasers (randomised skill trees). One squadsight plasma ace with In The Zone to mop up terror missions, one PSI assassin style character also sporting plasma, etc. Glad you like some of my suggestions.

 

Question 3: I'm at the very start of Long War, waiting for lasers to tick in. Bagged a few small UFOs and flushed out a nest of Cryssalids from the holding bay of a Supply Barge before retreating - got chased back to Big Sky by a pack of Outsiders and loved it.

 

EDIT:

I don't like the way this is implemented. I think it should be "Soldiers cannot use (perk) while wielding (weapon)." That way it is a choice you can change.

 

Sounds like an improvement to me - the spirit of the modification is intact. All the better.

[Krazyguy75]

Ok, then, on question 3, let me just tell you something about Long War: Y'know how Enemy Unknown gets easier? Not so much with Long War. If you stall out the game too long you will lose, as aliens make improvements over time as well.

[Skiltpadde]

Ok, then, on question 3, let me just tell you something about Long War: Y'know how Enemy Unknown gets easier? Not so much with Long War. If you stall out the game too long you will lose, as aliens make improvements over time as well.

 

<gulp>

 

I figured my notes would change after the LW experience, but wasn't sure how close beta was to closing, so I figured I had better throw this post out there, in case it was closing time for suggestions.

 

Thanks for the advice. If I have anything to add after completing at least one campaign of LW, I'll report back with a trimmed down post.

[Krazyguy75]

Don't think it is really gonna close, think it is similar to Minecraft beta.

[johnnylump]

As it happens, Long War is feature-locked and just doing some final adjustments and bugfixing. Appreciate your thoughts though. Mod-modders are welcome to pick up the banner.