Base defence without a dropship or hanger?

[Destructavator]

Not sure if this was already addressed, but is it possible to have soldiers with equipment defending a base without any aircraft or even hangers?  I remember in the original X-COM game I would sometimes have a dedicated research or manufacturing base with just a few soldiers and some small arms in storage in case the base was attacked, without any aircraft or hangers.  In the original game this worked, when the base was attacked the equipment screen would come up before combat.

[Mattn]

the current problem is, that you can only equip soldiers when you also assign them to a craft.

[Destructavator]

I see.  Perhaps this could be fixed at some point in development, otherwise it might force the player into a playing style they don't want (having dropships at every base).

I can think of these ideas off the top of my head for a fix:

1) If a base is attacked that has soldiers and gear but no ships, before going into the combat phase have the soldier equip screen come up automatically and then have combat (this would actually be like the original X-COM/UFO game).

2) Move the soldier equip button to the main base view menu, doing some re-vamping (I'm guessing this might take more coding work, and possibly create some tedious programming headaches).

3) Have all bases set up by default to have a "ship" that is really base defense stations (could also be called "base patrol" or "guard posts" or something else) that soldiers can be assigned to along with equipment for the purpose of defending a base.

Personally I don't favor the second idea, and although the first of these three would be the most like the original game, I think the third would be kinda cool given the freedom it would give to the player for their playing style, making it my personal favorite solution of these three.

Of course there are probably other possible fixes, these three are just the ones that popped into my head right away.

[TroubleMaker]

3) Have all bases set up by default to have a "ship" that is really base defense stations (could also be called "base patrol" or "guard posts" or something else) that soldiers can be assigned to along with equipment for the purpose of defending a base.

I love that idea!

These soldiers may be assigned to the base entrance or to command post or to both, because the entrance is present at all bases, and CP is very likely to have.

Or, regarding to defensive doctrines, soldiers may be assigned (and automatically placed after attack) to different facilities. For example, two per hangar, two at entrance, one at hospital, two at power plant and so on. To be more exact, soldiers should be assigned to the facilities that have surface doors. CP, barracks, storages does not have one, but radars, hangars, PP does have doors to be guarded in real world.

[Destructavator]

That, and also soldiers to guard alien containment if live aliens are in the base, as an alien attack might also be an attempted rescue mission for aliens to try to free any of their own kind that are being held for research.

This would also mean that capturing live aliens for research could have a risk - they could potentially break free and cause a combat mission to start.

Say, that gives me another idea - are there any rescue missions currently implemented?  I mean for humans, such as rescuing downed fighter pilots, extracting other soldiers or agents from enemy bases, etc.?

I know this is several ideas all at once, but just as TroubleMaker said, I think some kind of base patrol assingments would be a nice feature for the game.

[TroubleMaker]

Rescue of pilots and agents? Like in UFO:AM?

There is also another idea taken from UFO:Apocalypse (UFO-3, where we defended one large city, Megaprimus): security stations. They're the rooms equipped with self-guided small-rocket launchers. Usually placed in between of base entrance and other rooms to withhold attackers for a while.
In UFO:Apoc they assisted greatly during Cult's raids on my bases, because rockets are guided to ANY foe, regardless of his race: human or alien.

BTW, i think there should be NO UFO hangars at the beginning, because we know nothing about UFO sizes and capabilities. But after some research we're able to REBUILD/REEQUIP existing hangars to receive UFOs. Or we can make combined hangar, suitable as for our crafts, as for UFOs.

Hold captured aliens at bases is already risk: do you remember "strange behaviuor" page in UFOpedia?

[mad-biker]

guard posts :-) a new building for it.

i also like the idea of them shooting you down, and then they attack your crashed ship, so the survivers have to defend them selves. also some of the equipment can get lost, damaged in the crash ;-)

[addams013]

BTW, i think there should be NO UFO hangars at the beginning, because we know nothing about UFO sizes and capabilities.

Is that really true, though?  According to the in-game story, they've been attacking humans for a while.  And we can scope them on radar, which gives us information about their size, maneuvering capability, and (potentially) materials in their hulls.

[BTAxis]

The PHALANX project had UFO hangars to begin with, but with the arrival of the actual aliens they were redesigned. This happened between the first alien attack (March 3, 2084) and the start of the game (March 21, 2084).

[Surrealistik]

X-Com Apocalypse style security stations and an equip screen prior to the beginning of a base defense scenario would be ideal. As well, since you've advance warning, it should be possible to allocate the positions of your soldiers.

[mad-biker]

well the rules of combat, it should be easier to defend than attack...

[TroubleMaker]

Another thing I think as "musthave" is the clear equipment marking. For example, I've dropped combat knife in order to pick hand-grenade. Then I moved few steps away and then spent some time looking for my knife: it was not visible at all! Just by accasion I managed to return exactly to same position where I was dropping the knife. Well, I found my weapon, but...

I _think_ that the marks like were in UFO:AI (kinda flashing crosshair above object) will be very useful in order to locate objects on the ground. I was, for example, very confused when could not pick up a rifle from the weapon container in warehouse. Just because the rifle was just a part of box's texture. The proposed marks will assist avoid such confusion.

[Mattn]

those marks will come later - they are needed when we have doors and lift and such stuff, too

[nemchenk]

3) Have all bases set up by default to have a "ship" that is really base defense stations (could also be called "base patrol" or "guard posts" or something else) that soldiers can be assigned to along with equipment for the purpose of defending a base.

This is quite easy to do yourself by editing several files in base/ufos/ , and thus perhaps would be a good short-term solution for UFO:AI 2.2.x.

What happens right now if your base gets raided? Only soldiers assigned to a aircraft can participate in the defense?


nemchenk

[BTAxis]

Bases don't get raided right now.