A tactical benefit to autopsy research

[Legendman3]

depending on whether or not the AI "cheats" and has access to your unit stats when determining its tactical actions

I think the AI already cheats like that because my troops can al be in the field and one may of still be wounded from the last battle i had and the AI usualy just tries to kill him first with their first few shots i think it cheats 

[MCR]

 
Maybe the aliens just see your soldier bleeding & not being really fit ? 

[Legendman3]

Ya that could be true

[homunculus]

Maybe the aliens just see your soldier bleeding & not being really fit ? 

they would need to research 'live human' for that.
how would they otherwise know that we are not supposed to bleed?
or even what this red thing is.

[Sgt. Hatter]

what i thought of as not so nice was to bring this 'supernatural perception' thing into the game.
i got the impression that this is not this type of game where such thing would sound good.

This is hardly "supernatural perception."  This is "learning about your enemy and applying what you know in combat."  The only time anything possibly-supernatural is involved is when a character has a Superhuman (90+) MIND stat (go check it out in game; stats over 90 are described as "superhuman" by the game itself.)

Let's look at it this way: You point a gun at a human, and you know that if you put a bullet in his head or the center of his chest, he's liable to be dead meat, because that's where the brain and heart is, respectively.  You also know that if a human is pale and covered in blood, he's liable to pass out or die from blood loss.  If a human is staggering around, clutching his head and doesn't respond coherently when you talk to him, he's likely stunned, in shock, seriously drunk.  If you look at a person, you can get a rough idea of how healthy or hurt they are.  Basic anatomy and the study of human nature, right?

Well, if you apply that to aliens, it's not gonna work so well.  What if that alien keeps his heart about where we keep our intestines?  Or if they've got a heavily-protected braincase, like the Shevaar?  What if they don't react to blood loss like humans do?  Or have significantly more blood in their bodies?  In any of these cases, if you try to make judgements based on what you know about human anatomy, you're going to be wrong.  Maybe not terribly wrong, but wrong all the same.

With this feature in place, your troops will be able to use the knowledge the R&D department has gained about alien physiologies to judge your foes accurately.  This gives them a tactical benefit in combat (knowledge about the enemy's condition) that does not affect damage or to-hit calculations in any way shape or form, which means that it doesn't affect game balance at all.

After all, you may have a soldier that's capable of telling you that one of those three Ortnoks are half-dead and another is about to pass out from stun damage, but it still doesn't matter if it's their turn and all three have particle beam cannons pointed your way; you're probably gonna get turned into chunky bits regardless.  Now, if it's your turn and you want to know which Ortnok to shoot first, that's a different story.

[Colamann]

Maybe a 'decrease until researched' would fit better? The point of the early game is to cope with superior alien technology, anyway. It would also fit in the storyline, the aliens slaughtering human armies at first, later losing to small spec-ops squads.

[Sgt. Hatter]

Advantages To This Idea: Requires no rebalancing; has no effect on battle beyond providing the player with information.

... something that improves quality of life and gives the player a tactical advantage, but requires some skill and planning to use and does not directly affect game balance.

IMHO, I'd rather deepen gameplay and provide a more subtle advantage than simply slap a few extra numbers onto that damage roll.

This gives them a tactical benefit in combat (knowledge about the enemy's condition) that does not affect damage or to-hit calculations in any way shape or form...

People keep coming into my thread and suggesting stuff that directly affects game balance; combat rolls, accuracy, damage calculations, statistics... it's starting to get to annoying.

I ask you all this: how many times, and how many ways do I have to say it before someone gets the hint?  Look, if you want to suggest your own idea of a benefit to autopsy research that affects game mechanics directly, go ahead.  However, please do it another thread.

My idea focuses around a tactical benefit to autopsy research.  Something that directly and meaningfully affects what tactics you use in the battlescape (how you pick and prioritize targets, and how you choose to deal with them), not something that changes which weapon is the latest FoTV (Flavor of The Version).  I'm trying to suggest something that encourages players to think in terms of variety and not simply spam whatever combination is most uber.  And unfortunately, when you just play with damage values, that's just what you do; you're simply changing the name and model and availability of the latest ubergun.

My side-goal is to introduce an idea that does not affect game balance, requires a minimum of testing, and hopefully takes a minimum of coding to pull off (preferably by leveraging existing functions whenever possible.)

I realize that simply slapping a modifier onto a damage roll under certain situations is easy to code.  But that's not the point of this thread.  Anybody could've suggested that.  In fact, it seems that since I brought up this topic, everyone and their mother has.  The point of this thread is to provide a benefit to autopsy that totally avoids that line of thinking.  On a personal standpoint, I'm very sick and very tired of "Nerf this!  Buff that!" thinking, especially in strategy games.

I'm not trying to say you can't suggest counter-ideas.  But I am saying they should at least accomplish all the same things as mine in a better way, if not more.  I'm tired of repeating myself.

[homunculus]

ok, no talking about how knowledge of vital organs might be useful for aimed shots and what its natural effect might be :X

i think the solution you propose is too abstract.
better understanding of alien health condition is nice, but stubbornly excluding damage bonus for aimed shots is unnatural.

i admit i am thinking from a research strategy and roleplay point of view rather than abstract chess-like tactical gameplay rules point of view.
i would call it 'trying to figure out how the game could become more consistent and immersive' rather than 'senselessly slamming damage bonuses and penalties here and there'.
maybe the reason you got so many "offending" posts was that other people had similar concerns, who knows, you might want to ask them.