Ideas of Psionic concept and other things

[brainy19]

In the original XCOM, there was a training facility for soldiers to practice their psionics ability but they needed a separate tool to use their newfound talent. What about using implants instead of a separate tool this time? This implant would be a small computer chip and some wiring to amplify the section of the human brain associated with psionic powers. The soldier would be able to induce panic or fear within the enemy and if their psionic rating is high enough, even control their minds.

Also for the XVI concept, if the player comes across human enemy soldiers, how about having a feature in which if you capture them (instead of killing them), they get cured and healed back at base, increasing your standing amongst the world's nations?

One last thing: since a transport is able to have a mounted weapon, how about using the transport to provide air support during the battle? Or a feature in which the transport bombards the area before sending the troops in? If the bombard feature is used, then buildings and some civilians will be killed as a consequence but aliens will lose soldiers also.

What do you guys think of these ideas?

[SpaceWombat]

I like the implant triggered psi power idea although i'm not sure about the takeover ability. It mostly just annoyed me in other games. But that's a matter of personal taste I guess. The implants will also provide an explanation why psi might come in middle- to lategame only (strong implants will appear later on stronger/better equipped enemies).

Rehabilitation (maybe already in field) of infested terrans should be possible if you have some kind of vaccine/antidote.

I do not like the idea of bombardment/air support neither do I think its is possible to implement it in a cool way. It would just be an animation with some random generator. I think it is somehow against the role of PHALANX. They should gather information and defend civilians, not destroy any of these.
The air support is going to be implemented through unmanned vehicles as I guess? Not necessarily with fire power but at least surveilance. Some armed roboters should be enough support.

My thoughts about this so far 

[brainy19]

I agree with you about your impression sir support idea.  It's too much firepower for such a small map, but we could implement some human-based UAV on the field.  How about robots that fly and do surveillance from the sky and some hovering gun platforms (similar to real-world technology, but adapted for UFO:AI).

Also for the psionic-implant idea, there should be a training facility dedicated to training soldiers their psionic abilities after receiving the implant.  That way not only can they gain new abilities, but also perform them better as well and better resist the enemy's attempts on the PHALANX soldiers.

But why not have other implants as well?  Like one for stronger muscles so the soldier can wear heavier armor and hold more and bigger weapons, one for better coordination for accuracy, one for a stronger heart for faster speed time (meaning more TU).  But the limit would be that each soldier can only have a certain max on how many they can handle (what that max is depends on the soldier).

[simulatoralive]

Why not a compromise on the air support idea?

The current drop ship has a weapon mount in it's nose.  Why couldn't that be used on the map if loaded with an appropriate weapon?  In fact, I can't see why this wouldn't be done, unless the weapon is in a fixed mount where it only points ahead.

I could see the Shiva cannon being used this way, where as the missiles would be unsafe at such short ranges (they'd damage the drop ship itself).

I'd love to see a couple of aliens shot by anti-aircraft weapons.   

[Serrax]

@simulatoralive:

If I understood BTaxis (a comment in another thread) correctly, there won't be anything like fire support in the game.


btw:

  I'd love to see a couple of aliens shot by anti-aircraft weapons. 

I don't want to see my PHALANX squad beeing toasted by the particle beams of an UFO. 

cu

[brainy19]

What's the current development on the psionics concept?

[Sophisanmus]

I'll just barrel through this.

I love the psi-implant idea, though the idea that the first one would allow mind-control does unsettle me a little.  I liked the element from X-COM: Apocalypse; while the psi-weapon was available right off the bat, psi-capable troopers still needed considerable training (stat increase) to use even the basic powers with any reliability.  With the implants, there may even be multiple levels as the technology improves, and also different implant types for different purposes (i.e. a psi-dampener for solders wanting protection instead).  Effects could include Fear/Morale break, stunning effects, disarming (affecting nervous impulses enough to inhibit enemy accuracy or cause them to drop their weapon), illusion (enemy sees/fires at soldiers that aren't there) and, of course, mind control.  If there are three or more abilities, different implants could exist which allow for certain bonuses (or restrictions in usage) of these abilities.

Okay, I'm getting a little carried away here...

Air support, if still under any consideration, could possibly be handled with the implementation of random-generated map elements/cells/sectors.  When a ship is shot down, it's "damage level" is set to some value (say somewhere between 1 and 5, with 5 being cracked with some smoke, and 1 being nearly destroyed).  When the player transport approaches the crash, they are given an "overview" of the crash status (a bit of text describing the crashed ship's damage level, possibly plus or minus one level) and the player is given the option to begin mission or fire on the ship first.  Based upon the weapon mounted on the Transport, and the size/durability of the ship, some of the aliens may be killed, and the damage level may degrade one or more levels (the latter being more likely).  Of course, a ripped-open ship provides the aliens less cover and more environmental hazards (fire, smoke), but greatly diminishes the recovered resources and technology for the player. 

Just a thought, if the creation of multiple damage-level ship-crash map sectors is planned/isn't too big of a price for this functionality.

Whew, that wasn't so bad...

[BTAxis]

About multiple damage levels, it's not as easy as it sounds. Even making a destroyed version of a map tile for a largish UFO is a lot of work - adding cracks and mangled sections actually ADDS to the map. Case in point: we still have to do this to the Bomber UFO, but it's such a big project that nobody has attempted it yet. Add to this the plans for more UFO types in the future, and we've got our mapping work cut out for us as it is.

That said, the current situation is that making multiple destroyed versions of the same UFO is unlikely to happen. The work involved is not worth whatever result it would bring.

Then again, provide us with a modest army of fulltime mappers, and we'll talk again.

[brainy19]

I like Sophisanmus' idea for the psionic transplants.  Once the technology becomes available, each soldier could receive the basic implant which would give them minimal protection against the alien's mind attacks.  But from there, the soldier can receive implants that are specific to certain psionic tasks (one for control or tampering of enemy's emotions, another for the more physical abilities such as affecting the accuracy of the shoter, etc.).  And as technology evolves, the soldier can receive upgrades on their implants, making the attacks more effective.  However, I do not know how to write code for games, so someone else will have to take the initiative on that.

And if it is decided to use air support, what could be done is one soldier carries a pair of binoculars with a laser mounted on it.  This would be used to paint the target with the laser, which would give the transport pilot the coordinates needed to fire it's mounted weapon.

[Kildor]

brainy, can you draw this "binoculars"? Or, even better, model it in any 3d-editors?
Or write correct algoritms of implant`s using, correct scripts of this, etc.
There are more than enougth of ideas and proposals, that looks like ideas, but not so match of peoples, who can implement its in game.

Try to learn how, if you really want to help :-)

[Pretend]

My thoughts on everything related to psionic abilities: Gay.
PSI stuff was the only thing I did not like in the original X-Com and for some reason every X-Com style game has always brought in the same idea of psionic aliens. Mind control, panic and mysterious brain damage. Boring.

More interesting would be an alien launcher weapon, which would shoot a lifeform to the ground. That would jump on your soldiers face and take control. It could be removed with a knife or something by a team mate.

[Sophisanmus]

Pretend, you might want to try X-COM: Apocalypse.  The aliens in that game had a weapon much like what you describe, the Brainsucker Launcher which launched grenade-like eggs which would then hatch into a Brainsucker alien which would attempt to "facehug" an X-COM agent, permanently converting him/her to an alien servant unless the Brainsucker were shot off the victim's face.  Of course, Psi in that game was also not an end-all/be-all of late game combat, considering psionics would quickly become exhausted from the strain, resulting in only being able to control one or two enemies for any length of time and requiring a long cooldown time between mind control sessions.  You might want to try that game out a little bit to see a more "fair and balanced" mind control mechanism in action. 

Now, the Teleporter in that game was the end-all of the late game, but that is another story entirely...

[Pretend]

Sophisanmus, true. I didn't remember the brainsuckers until you mentioned it. They were quite a pain in the spacesuit if it got close to you and you were low on time. I'd like to see something similiar implented.

But I still think PSI is just not fun and it's really a cliche. I like physical battles.

[BTAxis]

Sophisanmus, true. I didn't remember the brainsuckers until you mentioned it. They were quite a pain in the spacesuit if it got close to you and you were low on time. I'd like to see something similiar implented.

The Bloodspider is supposed to be pretty much up there.

[brainy19]

Pretend, simply because you don't like the Psi abilities does not mean it's not gonna be implemented in the game.  If the public wants this feature in general, then something's gonna be done for the psionic abilities.  It's only a matter of time before someone provides the necessary coding needed.