Do we need variability in ininital soldier stats?

[stevenjackson]

I sometimes find the initial stats for soldiers is abit useless.  So that the team i start with isn't quite what i wanted.

Do we need to have variability in soldiers initial stats? maybe they could all start with the same basic stats and we could mould them through combat as we wished.

My reasoning is that since this is a elite alien fighting organisation we would be given people with all round skills sent by other nations.

Steve

[BTAxis]

Did you read this post? I'm not going to make any big changes to it unless there's a very good reason.

[TrashMan]

If you want to get down to it, if you're an elite organization, would you only get the best of hte best? (think Delta Force, Rangers, Seals, Spetnatz, etc..)

Having you soldiers start with practicely every skill mediocre or average doe sound a bit daft, but it's fun.
It's fun to MOLD and IMPROVE soldiers. If they already are kick-ass super awesome...well, then there's no need for that, is there?

Speaking of which, it might be nice to get a few regular recruits and 1-2 really good ones (with better stats). that, or the abiltiy to create your own agent/avatar (ala JA2..IMP) OR redistribute the points.

[stevenjackson]

The suggested system seems fine to me.  I'm just talking about what stats your soldiers initially get.  Generally they are mediocre which is fine.

I'm just sugesting say each soldier starts with all round mediocre skills and you use the above system you mentioned to improve him.

So for instance say you gen a randomly generaed soldier with:

str: 18 sp: 23 acc: 20 mind: 30 close: 21 hw: 15 ass-weap: 23 sniper: 15 expl: 19

so all those skills added up is 184

So you just divide that eveny instead and thats what each soldier gets for instance :

str: 20 sp: 20 acc: 20 mind: 20 close: 20 hw: 20 ass-weap: 20 sniper: 20 expl: 20

So you end up with this for all soldiers that start out.

Obviously my calcs above are simplistic and wouldn't exactly reflect the reality.  More likely you just give each stat the same experience in the new system.

The improvement system stays the same its just the initial stats.

Steve

 

[TrashMan]

some variation is goos, since you can create focused specialist from the begnining.
that guys has the highest STR and heavy skills? Oh, he gets the flamethrower!

that chick got the best sniper rating? You'll be my long-range support then.

Oh, we got a smart one here. Good, he'll make a good leader!

[stevenjackson]

I understand that, i just dont agree with it

Steve

[TrashMan]

Hm..It isn't really realistic for all soldiers to behave like clones.
Some people are just better or more gifted in some things than others.

[DanielOR]

I think the current system works fine- some randomness is good, and even the total sum need not be *exactly* the same.  If there are two good snipers, does it matter that one of them is 14 in Heavey Weapons and another is 17, with all else being equal?  So, one of the snipers has a good singing voice to compensate for the lack of skill with a machine gun he will never use anyway...

[BTAxis]

Hm..It isn't really realistic for all soldiers to behave like clones.
Some people are just better or more gifted in some things than others.

That's currently how it works. Many soldiers will be average at everything, but sometimes a soldier will show up who is especially good at one field in particular. And very rarely you'll get a soldier who's good at everything.

Plus, the stat increase system makes sure the soldiers will only grow in the area you actually use them for. Bottom line, you're asking for something you already have.

[TrashMan]

I think you misunderstood me.

I wasn't asking for something like that in UFO:AI - I was stating that it already is there

[BTAxis]

Ah. I took your previous post to mean that currently the soldiers DO behave like clones.

[Doctor J]

So, one of the snipers has a good singing voice to compensate for the lack of skill with a machine gun he will never use anyway...

Ooh!  So we can lullaby them to sleep/submission?     Thanks, Daniel, i got a good laugh from that one.

[DanielOR]

Hey, my singing voice is my best personal defense weapon.  I sing, they pass out from bloodloss out of the ears.