General > Discussion
What Alien Invasion needs in order to replace XCOM1 as the best game
slothlord:
game could use:
1. Prone position (lying belly down on the ground) in addition to the kneel/stand. it would probably screw the TU costs to hell, but improve accuracy and cover. *much like Jagged Alliance 2
2. More aliens - perhaps extremely large aliens (think reapers from x-com but bigger) that the aliens use as "tank" or meatshield. fast, scary aliens like the chryssalid or aliens in some form of power armor.
3. Aliens that require different methods of killing - weapon types dont seem to make much difference when it come to killing aliens. aliens with a force field only penetrable by melee weapons or kinetic/energy resistant aliens/alien armor. that would make weapon loadouts more important and add another tactical element.
4. More bolt weapons - perhaps a "heavy" bolt rifle similar to the autocannon from x-com and a bolt pistol. it's an entire weapon tree with only 1 weapon. almost feels pointless to research it (i much prefer laser rifles/sniper rifles to the bolter).
5. Tweak the worldview UI - the 3 "hidden" buttons and screen take up a lot of space. shrink them and move the buttons to the top or side of the screen.
Overall the game is pretty damn solid. I know suggestions 2 & 3 will be pretty hard to implement as the bottleneck seems to be 3D modeling and stuff, not the coding.
hmm, forgot about the AI...
Alien AI should be based upon 3 things: race, weapon, rank/role. Heavy, durable aliens (ortnoks) should act more aggressively (constantly advancing forward, rapid-fire weapons, grenades, etc.). Weaker aliens (tamans) should move more cautiously (staying in cover most of the time and relying on reaction fire). Aliens equipped with sniper rifles should stay back, look for high ground. Assault aliens (rifles, heavy) should "leapfrog" from cover to cover providing covering fire for shocktroops/recon. Shocktroops (heavily armored, high damage weapons/melee) charge forward to soak up reaction fire. Recon (pistols, grenades)
aliens would scout ahead, locate enemies and try to lure them back to the rest of the troops or try to backstab lone phalanx soldiers (esp. snipers).
most of this seems to be true, so the alien AI is okay (although the taman have a bizarre fondness for the kerr blade...). however, alien AI (or tactics) should make more use of the different alien types. those little metal bugs should be used to scout the area and flush out hidden enemies, while the alien "handlers" would follow behind at a safe distance. commanders should stay back with several bodyguards, "forting up" in hopes of rescue.
that lead me to one last suggestion for more varied missions: enemy reinforcements/rescue. as it is, there is an unlimited number of turns for a mission. enemy reinforcements arriving after some time would make add a little pressure to the mission. alien commanders could get rescued before they get captured, making capture missions more difficult. however this could add another layer to strategy. waiting for alien reinforcements and try to ambush them in order to gain more alien tech or capture a ship (the reinforcements dont simply just appear from nowhere). of course this is pretty damn risky, but would be very cool.
sorry for the extremely long post. i think i'll put some of these in the requests section.
geever:
--- Quote from: slothlord on June 24, 2009, 09:30:59 pm ---5. Tweak the worldview UI - the 3 "hidden" buttons and screen take up a lot of space. shrink them and move the buttons to the top or side of the screen.
--- End quote ---
Are you speaking about 2.2.1? You should check the current one before suggestin' anything IMHO.
-geever
nerf5000:
From a different barrel, favorite XCom moment and somewhat unrelated to the original thread but I guess to put it out there
(BTW I hope this could be recreated, but I think its one of those things that you get to experience once and once only, because later you expect them to happen and are ready):
A bunch of rookies and a vet or two come out on the second skyranger and proceed to land at a terror site... first encounter with ethereals, everyone tries to disperse from the 'ranger and take up positions... spread out a bit and the troops come under heavy fire from a sectopod I think it was, and a bit of a firefight ensues. One fella bites the dust but so far they're holding.... then an ethereal comes into view... another soldier gets beserked/MCs... by now I'm like OH SH-... so he turns to the guy standing near the gas station and unloads whatever heavy weapon he was holding (I think HE-AC), my guy, the gas station, and some other things go up...
My turn begins and the other soldier that didn't make it as far as the gas station to shoot at the ethereal, but he can't see it in all the smoke... but wait, there it is, only a few squares away... lets check out what it was... oh it's still alive just passed out from the explosion and smoke!... last TUs are spend putting the guy in the backpack (I think that was a strategy for not having them wake up if I remember correctly)...
ok some more movement out, so far only 3 soldiers down, still 7 or so left... the MC guy is still around but I figure he'll be ok next turn (the thing that was trying to take him out is now in my backpack...)
next turn... two guys get PSId, one shoots a soldier, but he's not dead the other shoots into the sky... the guy that picked up the ethereal doubles back to the 'ranger, and shoots the rookie getting MCd... another guy runs out to the downed soldier and picks him up... they try to make it back as far as possible... the beserked soldier is the furthest out and he finally gets MCd... another guy gets panicked.. the rest scramble madly and get into the ranger....
damn... the MCd guy is back and he tries to make it to the ranger but he's still off the ramp... I hate to leave him out there but if we stay the guys inside will succumb and turn on each other...
I hit abort....
I think the guy that got left behind was Buchard...
Anyway, they make it back to base with I think 4 guys and the ethereal something Navigator? Medic?... lets me do my PSI research and build my PSI lab... for a while I send tanks to these terror missions and shoot down ethereal UFOs over water as much as I can... eventually I screen out enough soldiers to create an invincible PSI taskforce and rip into the ethereals with their own weapons like no-one's bussines... I was grinning like an idiot every time I would have them shoot each other...
The sacrifice of Buchard and his buddies on that fateful mission will always be remembered
Oh there might be some discrepancies in the above turn account wise as it was back when the game first came out, but when that gas station went up I was basically thinking "that's not good"... and when I got that ethereal I knew the guy holding him had to go back no matter the cost... not sure if I knew by then that I needed the guy to get PSI research but I had to find out what happened there I guess :)
Anyway, best moment in XCom I ever had hands down
Sirine:
--- Quote from: Ildamos on June 24, 2009, 06:57:41 pm ---.... It still doesn't give anyone the right to make lengthy posts about you "relaxing."
--- End quote ---
You are referring me... I'm sorry If I make you feeling mad, because I'm poking BTAxis?
@Ildamos: You have a gift to start a fire... You have a gift for making people angry... If you know your power, use it cautiously...
@nerf5000: Great story... I have something to share too... this is in the x-com1.
Square Alpha: Rockies of 4.
Mission: Alien crash site. (Night)
1st Turn:- Equip soldier with flare, throw out.
- Reaction fire from Little Grey, Soldier down. ==" <----Sweating
- See nothing in the dark still... I think I just move back abit inside the drop ship, for safe...
- End Turn.
Alien Turn:- Something drop inside the cabin, what is that round things? Kaboooomm......
Mission End :- ;)
Hope this situation WILL happend in UFO:AI. [Dark Night]...really means it... you can't see even few meters aways... but the alien does... clearly. Ambush around drop ship.... If I'm aliean, saw something drop by... I will do that too... drop ship "door" open? Just throw in few "corn". Say Hi later....
nerf5000:
LOL, yes!
Or moving through an alien base in twos, with decent soldiers, veterans of many a raid and ufo mission and all of a sudden something flies around a corner and BLAM! The squad leader is down, the guy next to him bleeding to death, help too far away...
The blaster bombs were kind of a cool curve ball halfway through... but I think the reason they were so cool is because they were innovative and the game set you up in the right way for them. You learned not to bunch up, but to have the squaddies cover each other and move up... you pretty much expected that you will see what will get you, and if you set yourself up down a corridor you can see, you would probably be ok... esp since even the first armor would give you ok chances against an alien round.... then you get the gift of a blaster in the face and nope you were wrong... back to the drawing board of strategies...
In my opinion this is where Aftershock failed... the missile launchers were spam weapons and not very cool... and no defence against them either
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