Spicing Up Base Missions

[OneTonBrute]

I'm not a coder so I have no clue if this is possible or not but I had some ideas to spice up missions when your base is attacked.  I liked tomvondeek's post about adding cameras and automated turrets to the base for defense (link).  I think I also read an idea to have bulkhead doors slam shut when under attack that only the player can open.  But I thought that might make base missions a little one sided and not really that exciting.  Kinda a "Oh, well, I know there's 4 guys around the corner.  I'll just have my soldier box them in till someone with a grenade launcher comes around.

Well then I thought, "Why couldn't the aliens just hack into your network and shut off protocols, disable devices, or even turn things against you?"  So what if each mission started with a random roll at the start of the mission that determines if the aliens have hacked into your network?  Turrets could be changed to target your soldier, shoot anything that moves, or just plain shut down. Same with security doors, cameras, etc.  Of course, aliens would have an upper hand at this at first since their technology is so much more advanced but as you research tech you could get more of a good fighting chance.  You could even give scientists stats to counter hack or bring systems back online during a mission.  Or they (aliens/scientists) roll their stats against each other each round to see if systems are brought back up/shut down or maintained at their current state.

Also, the severity of the cyber damage doesn't have to be hacked or not hacked.  You could have different levels of intrusion.  Some examples could be:

Secure
-Everything is working as normal

Threatened
-Cameras give ghost images or only some rooms are out
-Turrets shoot everything or nothing at all
-Door are stuck shut/open

Compromised
-Doors are all open or only aliens can open/shut them
-Cameras are off or aliens can see you
-Turrets target only humans

And the players could be given false reports about the damage too.  It isn't hacking if you get caught  .  They would have to find out themselves.

Tell me what you think.  Be gentle  

[Hertzila]

I don't know how hard this would be to implement but, if you ask me, good idea.

Though I don't think the aliens would immediatly have an upper hand. Unless they have infiltrated a PHALANX base before, they might not even think about hacking the place. After the first time witnessing PHALANX turrets turning them into a swiss cheese though...
Similarly, after getting their first hacking attempt by aliens (success or not), the scientists should come up with a way to bolster their security systems to counter the alien advancements. This would open a new electronic warfare front (as if ECM/ECCM warfare wasn't enough ).

Also₂, I think a system-by-system listing would be best. Like:

• Door controls (standard issue if CC present)
• Surveillance systems
• Turret control systems
• etc...

With the different states being something like:

• Green (no hacking attempt present)
• Secure (hacking attempt resisted)
• Partial (malfunctions present due to hacking)
• Off-line (turned off by hacking)
• Compromised (under alien control)