alien concept: "The Growing Thing"

[eleazar]

I don't know what plans (if any) there are for additional alien types, but i assume the door isn't closed on more types.  Here's an odd alien concept that's been rolling around in my head.  It may not be the most powerful or sophisticated of the aliens, but i think it offers a significantly different kind of opponent: one without a face.

the Growing Thing. (provisional name)

Scientists will have difficulty classifying it as animal or plant.  Mostly it looks like a tangled mess of tentacles or roots, half protruding out of the ground.  In a few there are taller bulbous growths.  But if any earth life comes too close, the roots will rip out of the ground, and attempt to entangle the victim.  Microscopically thin hairs can pierce conventional armor, and inject a digestive agent.  A human (for instance) that does not manage to break away would be dead in a few minutes.

However the bulbous growths are more dangerous.  They can expel spore pod.  It can even aim this pod with some accuracy. The pod splatters on impact spreading a caustic goo filled with spores.  More of the root/tenticles may quickly grow on that spot.

If the organism gains sufficient nourishment, such as by killing a person it will grow another of the bulbous things to expand further.

Like a tree, the organism is not much effected by bullets, however flames and explosive do great damage too it.  It has not been known to attack aliens under any circumstances.


Game mechanic explanation:

There are basically  2 types of this organism (but we could include intermediate forms for slower growth)
A) a square of root-tenticles
B) a square of root-tenticles with a spore pod spitter.  Much higher hit points.

"A" cannot move.  It can only attack humans in adjacent squares (and/or in it's square if we can allow humans to walk on it)
If an "A" kills a human, a new "A" will be spawned in the humans square, and after 1 turn the new "A" will grow into a "B"

"B"s may take 1 of 3 options per turn,
1) if any humans are in range shoot a spore glob at them, else...
2) spawn a new "A" in an adjacent square (if any accessible square doesn't' already have a "A"), else
3) shoot a spore pod in a random direction

Spore pod if they:
1) kill a human will grow a new "B"
2) damage a human will grow a new "A"
3) land on open ground have a random chance of growing a new "A".


Don't know if it is possible to implement this (i'm sure it not without some tweaking).  But at the very least should provide some interesting food for thought.

See also the rough attached sketch.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[BTAxis]

As for the door being closed on new aliens... It's quite the opposite. We need every new alien we can get.

About this one specifically, I think it's an interesting idea, playing the parasitic card, but keep in mind that we already do that with XVI. Maybe this plant could act as an XVI propagator, in addition to the Breeder? It'd have to be significantly different from the Breeder, though. I'm not sure how well it would fit. Winter?

[Mattn]

at least those sketches are great for the modellers that do the models - BTAxis and Winter should give you more information about the aliens that they plan to introduce into the game and maybe you can make sketches of them like you did for this one?

[Winter]

I've given it some thought, and I can't see any reason why the aliens would field a unit like this. It doesn't propagate XVI, in fact it kind-of overlaps XVI in a bad way (these things are so dangerous and fast-growing that their expansion could be seen from the geoscape, where we want to concentrate on XVI), and seems to have little purpose other than being an admittedly cool gimmick.

I'd like it better if, say, the growth was an accidental side-effect of alien organisms settling in Earth's atmosphere and preyed on both humans and aliens -- but then that would unnecessarily complicate gameplay.

All in all, I'm sorry to say I'm not in favour of this one. It'd probably be better to discuss these kinds of ideas on IRC so that we can all have some input much earlier in the process.

Regards,
Winter

[Zorlen]

I think its not completely parasitic since it uses humans more like food, not hosts. And I like the idea of it being efficiently killable by fire of explosions only. Cleansing the area with a flamethrower should be fun!
And will all aliens be detected as such upon sight? Stage A would have troubles killing anyone, aside for occasional dumb civilian, if an alien marker pops up whenever anyone sees it. It may not necessary be invisible until it attacks, but rather be visible on the map, but not counted as alien ulsess it starts acting aggressively. It may be attacked however, if player recognizes the threat. The same mechanism could be used for XVI infested humans - they may be mimicing civilians for some time, then draw weapons and attack.

[eleazar]

My main point here it to think of something really alien, and different from the gun-toting aliens so far included.  I don't expect it to be swallowed whole, but to serve as a launching pad for a plant-like alien concept that would be tactically interesting, and fit the story.

About this one specifically, I think it's an interesting idea, playing the parasitic card, but keep in mind that we already do that with XVI. Maybe this plant could act as an XVI propagator, in addition to the Breeder? It'd have to be significantly different from the Breeder, though. I'm not sure how well it would fit. Winter?

As Zorien pointed out, the "growing thing" isn't really parasitic (as i've envisioned it).  It eats people, and thus multiplies, rather than turning people into zombies or mind-controlled slaves as XVI seems to do.

I don't have a clear idea of what the "Breeder" is other than a mechanical/organic XVI spreader.  A search on the wiki & forums didn't turn up much.

at least those sketches are great for the modellers that do the models - BTAxis and Winter should give you more information about the aliens that they plan to introduce into the game and maybe you can make sketches of them like you did for this one?

I like making sketches of aliens: the tangent of my hobbies of biology, drawing, and & sci-fi.  If there are other concepts out there, i'd like to hear them.

I've given it some thought, and I can't see any reason why the aliens would field a unit like this. It doesn't propagate XVI, in fact it kind-of overlaps XVI in a bad way (these things are so dangerous and fast-growing that their expansion could be seen from the geoscape, where we want to concentrate on XVI), and seems to have little purpose other than being an admittedly cool gimmick.

I'd like it better if, say, the growth was an accidental side-effect of alien organisms settling in Earth's atmosphere and preyed on both humans and aliens -- but then that would unnecessarily complicate gameplay.

If i understand, you are essentially asking how this would fit into the aliens plans for earth?  Here's what i came up with.  The "growing thing" has a very limited intelligence (thus it's ability to aim and hit targets), but is not very useful for boosting the XVI's brain capacity. However the XVI can control it in a limited way.

It's very good at growing, and converting an entire ecosystem (once any useful brains have been removed) into raw materials useful to the XVI.  However the growing speed described in the in the first post, is an unsustainable peak rate.  It's secondary use is to act as a cheap weapon in a pinch, thus preserving more valuable brains and equipment.  However it wouldn't be allowed to grow over a wide-scale, until the XVI has removed all the sentients it wants too keep.

The reason for it's presence on earth, is the fact that it needs to be genetically fine tuned for optimal effectiveness on each new planet.  Of course if you shoot down a UFO carrying it, or open the wrong lab door, you might unleash a small scale outbreak.

IIRC it late game the team visits dead planets totally ravaged by the XVI.  These might be covered in  the dead, dry husks of the "growing thing."

It'd probably be better to discuss these kinds of ideas on IRC so that we can all have some input much earlier in the process.

We don't seem to overlap on IRC.  I'm in the central USA.  What's your timezone?



Also, any comment on weather the game mechanics (particularly spawning new squares of it) are remotely possible?

[Zorlen]

I personally more like high-tech gun-wielding aliens concept, rather than zerg-like ones using biotechnology, with weapons resembling straight intestine and matching projectiles. But some bio-weaponry could be used, even by bioweaponry-infested aliens. So the Growing Thing itself may not be an XVI enslaved speciment, but rather bio-engineered weapon, so its DNA may have even more XVI component (to the point itself being a mutated XVI strain), thus amplifyng alien mind range. And since aliens do not take gardening tools to their missions, the thing could only appear near alien bases, acting both as alien mind projector and stationary defence.

[Serrax]

In my opinion, the type of weapons - or aliens - which are used by the invaders depend on the actual strategy.

As it was told in the intro of the game, the aliens aren't afraid of regular human military forces. But these forces didn't shoot down several UFOs and smashed alien ground forces.

The appearance of particle beam weapons seems to me, that the aliens see PHALANX as a military threat to their business.


So, they might change their strategy from 'just' spreading 'XVI' to additional military actions.

In that case, the invaders could use types of aliens/weapons, that are definitely for warefare - and not for getting bio-materials, like the Bloodspider.

- One effect might be, to make the aliens simply better armed and armored - i.e. 'bigger and stronger'

- Another way would be to make new types of aliens more stealthy - or smaller:

1. 'Stealth Alien'

Hard to see on the map, more like a chameleon. It is fast and don't have any weapons than natural (genetically upgraded) claws and teeth. Consider this alien more like an alien 'hound dog'

2. 'Regeneration Alien'

I'd suggest an alien similar to the Ortnok, but it regenerates damage better than any human medkit.

3. 'Bombspiders'

The little sisters of the Bloodspider with on special job: Hunt down the enemy and explode with him. Best use are swarms of them. They should be fast and easy to destroy - and less deathly than a PE-grenade.

Maybe, the Bombspider could also be a nice type of a 'smart' grenade used by the aliens.

cu

[Neko]

Hm, are psi-based attacks planned? I remember them in the old games, is that something that will occur in AI as well? That would lead to more aliens, and controlled players, or temporalily controlled aliens by players, etc. Probably a lot of coding though.

What about a "zergling" type of alien? Not necessarily visually, just swarms of close-combat aliens. I am not sure if the bloodspiders are meant to be this, in my game they never really did anything


Also, what are the feelings about a "brain-slug" type of thingy? Something that controls humans?

PROS:
* If encountered first, these would hide the real size of the alien threat, making the first "full" alien a suprise for the player.
* Re-use of existing models 
CONS:
Spoilers follow!
* From what I read of the story, this is similar to the effect of the virus in later stages, so it seems kind of redundant. This is kind of a big con.

[Panthera Leo]

Why not take a page from X-Com, Each alien race has a subset of 'terror' weapons. Not necessary mechanical or living, but things either adapted or created with for the sole use in specialized roles.

In X-Com outside bases or terror mission(or down craft on a terror mission), you'd have Sectoids, Snakemen, Etherials, Mutons, and Floaters. Where as in heavier missions (Base & Terror) see the Celatid, Silacoid, Chryssaild, Reaper, Sectopod, and Cyberdisc.

referance

Why not diverge from looking for another life form and focus more on what the aliens would use as the equivalent of small tanks or creatures targeted for the campaign here. Infected and alter forms of the bigger predatory fona: Bears, Hawks, Tigers. Reanimated human bodies masquerading as civilians. Large(edit:typo) mechs (like the Sectopod or Cyberdisc) deployed when the aliens are not interested the the common stuff, but are directly picking fights with PHALANX. Maybe drone like fliers ranging from small held held scouts to car sized search and destroy units.

Just, please, for the love of sanity, ignore the Chryssalids as a arch-type!

Please!

[Silveressa]

These things do sound pretty  neat, and another use the aliens could have for them is kind of a limited sentry weapon defense (for bases or towns they're planning on taking over) Since only the aliens could mentally control them they;d be  almost impossible for an attacker to bypass covertly.

[shevegen]

I think this sounds like a nice concept. I could also imagine a few missions more with "forest style" scenario (i.e. not always only buildings, but maybe a few trees too. Ok a tree does not give a lot of cover, but it looks nice!)

And plants eating humans sounds quite... reminds me of a certain movie I liked a lot.
So yay!