Praise and Possibilities

[Surrealistik]

First off, I would like to congratulate the development team on a job well done. UFO AI looks better than ever, and I am glad to see that it has progressed so dramatically since my departure from the community (some of you may have known me as Emperor Clobbersaurus).

That said, I've some suggestions (of course) pertaining to gameplay features and controls alike. They are as follows:

#1: T-1000 alien.

I was killing aliens on the Estate01 map in Berlin, wallowing in equal parts frustration and rage at their inexplicable ability to absorb a full-auto discharge from my assault rifles at point blank range (hardest difficulty setting). After hastening my liason with baldness by tearing out tufts of my hair for what must have been the 3rd time that night (damned plasma blasters) I yelled "Who do these *ucking aliens think they are? Robert Patrick?" Then the idea hit me! A T-1000 construct for UFO-AI!

Like the T-1000, this machine would be comprised of countless molecular computers which are directed by a distributed artifical intelligence. These manage to communicate and interact via an extensive LAN, enabling these nano-machines to effectively act as an ultrapowerful aggregate supercomputer. In addition to serving as the sensory input and processing centres of this machine, they are also able to alter and maintain its shape and appearance, through the generation and manipulation of electromagnetic fields. It would further be able to rapidly regenerate any damage it receives, through the consumption and reprocessing of viable nearby materials, or damaged nanocells.

A favourite tactic of this construct might be to disguise as civilians or objects in order to ambush and surprise PHALANX troops. Though certainly capable of wielding firearms, their preferred method of attack would involve use of the monomolecular blades they are capable of forming with their constituent nanomachines.

Due to their absence of vitals, its fluidic properties, and the non-centralized nature of their AI, as well its ability to quickly regenerate any damage it receives, it would be practically impervious to armor piercing rounds and lasers. Electrical blasts would prove the most effective method of dispatching it, disrupting and destroying its nanoprocessors and field generators wholescale. Extreme, distributed heat such as that from a flamethrower or plasma weapon, would also be useful countermeasures in that it can overheat  its nanomachinery, and damage it on a molecular level. Explosions may also damage this construct, albeit inefficiently; only the extreme heat generated by them would have any notable impact, with the concussive force having little to no effect. This machine is not susceptable to non-electrical stunning or psionics whatosever. Finally, no matter what method is employed to destroy it, it is worth noting that it can quickly regenerate any amount or type of non-lethal damage within a few turns (obviously this would not make an appearance until later in the game. This is also primarily a "terrorist" race reserved for attacks on civilian targets).

#2: Chryssalid (or something like it)

I know you've probably received countless recommendations for a Chryssalid style race, but I feel compelled to reitterate them, given that it was by far the most compelling and atmospheric of the X-Com aliens. If you want to introduce horror and apprehension to UFO-AI, a zombifying race in this vein is your ticket.

#3: Hover Drones/Hunter Seekers

Ala the HL2 scanner bots. These would be equipped with light plasma weaponry, and due to their armored shells, would prove highly resistant to explosive, incendiary and armor piercing damages. Very fast moving and flight capable. May be deployable in combat by aliens, rather than innately activated.

#4: Deployable Sentry Guns/Gun Emplacements

Useful for covering flanks and fortifying/securing positions. The sentry gun/gun emplacement weaponry may be modular, allowing the player to substitute its default armament for others. I do not feel this overtly encourages camping and diminishes the pace of the game, given the utility of grenades and explosives to deal with entrenched targets. Further, these both could be made to explode on their destruction, rendering turtling with the aid of such devices an even worse idea.

#5: Cloaking Device

Ala X-Com 3/X-Com Apocalyse. These would only be able to remain active for only a very short duration (a couple of turns) before needing to recharge. When in use, the device's beneficiary is extremely difficult to spot, and cannot be detected unless an enemy is close by. Attacks made against a cloaked creature will suffer an abnormally high miss probability.

#6: Personal Shield Generator

Also inspired by X-Com 3. Absorbs all damage from all non-melee weapons until it runs out of power. Should be reasonably large so that players cannot stack these, and carry potent non-melee armaments.

#7: Personal Teleportation Device.

Allows for short range teleportation (half a screen possibly being the maximum travel distance). The further the user is teleported, the more turns this device requires to recharge. Excellent for flanking and bypassing bottlenecks. Counterable in turn by sentry guns, and proximity mines. Probably should be reasonably large so that multiples of these cannot be expediently equipped (or introduce a hard restriction, citing some technical limitation such as that these interfere with each other, become unstable when in close contact with another, etc..).

#8: Throwable Items.

Very useful in desperate situations (such as X or Y trooper needs ammo to dispatch an alien, and Z soldier with the needed supplies hasn't the TU to walk there). Makes "ammo mule" tactical roles more viable.

#9: Universal Reaction Shot Settings:

To save time, there should be a checkbox in the HUD that when selected, applies the reaction shot reservation setting for one soldier to all others.

#10: Better Grenade Trajectory Projections:

I would love to see projections that show you where the grenade is likely go/bank to, assuming it hits the intended target

#11: A Soldier Quality Summary:

An at a glance quantitative and qualitative summary should be provided for each soldier that details their overall quality. For example if X soldier had 10 proficiency in nosepicking, 5 in headscratching and 10 in wasting space, and the max proficiency for these scores was 20, he'd have an aggregate score of 25 out of 60, and would likely be described as average/mediocre.

[Voller]

#1: Why not, could be fun
#2: Definitely
#3: Like the bio drones in TFTD? I found those highly annoying, but that's probably because they were dangerous!
#4: Could be a nice piece of equipment. I like the exploding bit, so you don't go putting them everywhere
#5 #6 #7: Hmm, not sure if I approve. This is getting a bit too sci-fi in my humble opinion. Especially the teleporter and cloaking device might make life too easy in difficult situations.
#8: Jupp, agreed.
#9: Could be useful. Personally I have a variety of different types of armament with me, though. They have different fire modes.
#10: Very true. I'm not sure if I even understand the current version. Sometimes the trajectory line goes red in the middle, but when I through it it seems fine. Or sometimes the grenade shoots way over the point which I specified as a target.

[blondandy]

#1
Might be cool, depends exactly how it was implemented.

#2
I heartily concur.

#3
Some fast evil robots would be good. Though, I think hovering things are deprecated within the ufo:ai world.

#4
Robotic gun emplacements are a very good idea. (I'm thinking of the directors cut of Aliens). If I was building a base from which to defend the earth from alien hordes, they would be on my shopping list.

#5 #6
portable cloaking and shields: not sure I approve either.

#7
teleporting: I really think this would just be the wrong style.

#8
No argument

#9
I don't think I would use it. I usually have a grenade or rocket launcher about, and these are a bit hazardous on reaction fire.

#10
The current one is hard to understand. It seems to be that if the trajectory trace goes red before it hits the ground, then the target is out range. but i don't really rate this.

#11
this might add a bit beyond the current rank system.

there's my tuppence.

[Surrealistik]

#3: Like the bio drones in TFTD? I found those highly annoying, but that's probably because they were dangerous!

Yes, very similar to those, though these would be more akin to scouts than specialized combatants like the Bio-Drones were (their weaponry should be about plasma pistol calibre in terms of power). Also like Bio-Drones, these robots may be usable as kamikazi self-delivering smart bombs, seeking out the nearest cluster of civilians or PHALANX soldiers to detonate on when badly damaged.

#5 #6 #7: Hmm, not sure if I approve. This is getting a bit too sci-fi in my humble opinion. Especially the teleporter and cloaking device might make life too easy in difficult situations.

#5 #6
portable cloaking and shields: not sure I approve either.

#7
teleporting: I really think this would just be the wrong style.

I can somewhat understand the argument that teleportation seems inappropriate or contrary to the style of the game. Energy shielding definitely appears to have a place though, as it is viable and in keeping with alien technological motifs; a plasma sheath (advanced plasma manipulation being a flagship technology of the aliens) can theoretically be shaped and maintained through the generation of powerful electromagnetic fields (this is precisely the mechanism used to control and store it in modern laboratories). The plasma would vaporize any solid projectiles, while the electromagnetics would serve to deflect most energy based weapons.

As for cloaking, it doesn't seem quite so esterotic, given that the Pentagon is currently in the process of developing invisiblity cloaks (kind of makes you wonder if it did retrieve alien tech at some point after all) out of advanced metamaterials which are capable of bending electromagnetic radiation. (such as light and radio waves) It is readily conceivable that energy fields might eventually be produced which feature similar radiation bending effects needed to achieve virtual invisibility. Lastly, cloaking seems to compliment the atmosphere of the game very well, making it far more tense and apprehensive as you are left to wonder if you really did secure that area after all, or if you are secretly being pursued by an unseen assailent. To me it seems a perfect fit for these reasons.

That said we are perhaps furthest from the completion of teleportation, though we are able to do it presently on a very small scale (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0818_040818_teleportation.html).

Now, as for the game balance implications of each. Energy shields do not offer invulnerability. They do not block melee/close combat weapons (i.e. knives, Kerrblades, flamethrowers), as the device doesn't remain continuously active; it energizes only when it detects incoming energy/projectiles above a certain velocity in order to economize on power consumption. Further, it can only absorb a very limited amount of damage before needing to recharge for  several turns (with a chance of overloading and being destroyed if the shield suffers too much "overkill"). It allows you to make perhaps one or two errors before suffering definitive consequences, if that. This all has the sum effect of increasing the importance of melee weapons, currently perhaps the most underpowered type, by increasing the survivability of its users and the viability of their use therefore, and giving them the exclusive and considerable advantage of being able to penetrate shielding (in a way it thus acts as its own counter). Further, shielding works against you as well, as the aliens should be using these devices in abundance lategame.

Cloaking is another double edged sword. Yes, you will benefit from stealth, but so will your opponents on the other end of the conflict. The threat (not to mention apprehension and fear) generated by a largely invisible, difficult to hit alien with a plasma sword or Kerrblade is obviously immense. Also like shielding, the cloaking device is a good thing in that it also helps increase the viability and usefulness of melee weaponry, making them competitive with their ranged counterparts. Lastly, the cloaking device isn't without its shortcomings; its effect lasts only for a few turns before the device requires recharging, thus encouraging intelligent tactical use, and presenting the player with interesting choices. Further, cloaked units may still be detected and attacked by enemies close enough to it, and though melee attacks made against a cloaked target still suffer from an increased miss chance, they are much more likely to hit than ranged attacks made against one. Proximity mines detect and are triggered by cloaked units as usual.

In each case, the cloaking device and shield generator alike take up lots of inventory space (6-8x2, making them impossible to stack with a two handed weapon). Overall, I think these are both suggestions that fit, benefit the theme and atmosphere of UFO: AI, and have desirable effects on the gameplay.

#9: Could be useful. Personally I have a variety of different types of armament with me, though. They have different fire modes.

#9
I don't think I would use it. I usually have a grenade or rocket launcher about, and these are a bit hazardous on reaction fire.

Grenade and rocket launcher reaction fire are bugs as far as I'm aware and are being removed in the next update.

As for the differing firemodes, the setting would only apply to other weapons of the same type should it feature aspects specific to one.

#10: Very true. I'm not sure if I even understand the current version. Sometimes the trajectory line goes red in the middle, but when I through it it seems fine. Or sometimes the grenade shoots way over the point which I specified as a target.

#10
The current one is hard to understand. It seems to be that if the trajectory trace goes red before it hits the ground, then the target is out range. but i don't really rate this.

The green represents the distance that the soldier's muscle power will propel it before other forces assume total control of its trajectory (gravity, inertia, etc... at least I think). As it seems there is confusion over this, perhaps more documentation in the form of tooltips, or an improved description is called for. Personally I'd like to have the game project where the grenade will bounce or bank to assuming it lands where intended, which would help players use them with more finesse and skill.

#11
this might add a bit beyond the current rank system.

I like it primarily as a convienence feature, allowing you to at a glance (likely) determine the best and most capable soldiers.

[PhilRoi]

Cloaking shield?  MAke it a one shot "disposable" item.  ends up being a high tech "smoke grenade."  Something you can use to run accross that open area and not get shot.  but useless for long term cloaking.


sentry turrets?  not a bad idea.  Might be difficult to implement.  I figure you just give them a single clip of ammo, and 1 fire mode.(full auto) and they will run dry real fast.  that would limit there effectiveness.  esspecially if they are crummy shots.  in fact they would end up being more of a warning sensor then a serious tactical threat.

[Gedaliah]

If you want to barrow the idea of a cloak and shield from Apoc keep in mind the disruptor shield didn't really block all that much,  but it kept out all the alien weapons though.(very high energy 'stuff', though not quite on par with anti-matter, even the aliens in Apoc knew to stay away from that:P),The personal cloak was not much more then portable smoke grenade. It just made you harder to hit, and invisible at long range.

Careful with the plasma shield idea, and bringing real life science to it, yes there are some very cool looking stuff being done with it but it has to be surrounded by some very hard to make magnetic fields for containment. To make a bubble you'd need more power then can safely be carried, if you could do it at all, by the unit to keep from getting burned, and something outside to keep the plasma from dispersing. To say nothing of the heat, or possible blinding glow from said heat.

Btw, one of the aliens is very near to a T-1000, and the others are at least partly cybernetic, the hunter killer/scout drones sound like a big cost with little return; However, sweeping though the map in short order does sound interesting. Also keep in mind Anti-Mater and plasma are a lot more energetic and a great deal more dangerous then the game gives them credit.

BIG Edit: Speaking of magnets, that would theoretically be all you need for a shield vs the alien's weapons. Evey thing is magnetic, it's just a question of how powerful a field you need before it responds. I suppose you could defect plasma rounds easy enough. If I remember correctly that's all fires the plasma weapons, it would just be a question would you something that's always on to repel, or a fast acting system that detect the bolt at a range and moves to repel it when it gets close enough.

Close combat weapons would be a great deal easier to deflect as they are big enough to apply more force over a larger area, and don't have a projectiles velocity. The plasma from a grenade is little more then ambient super heated gas so that would be even easier to deflect. I would say partial weapons would be imposable to deflect as anything moving near light speed would have near indefinite mass, but seeing it doesn't shatter the partial weapons when the trigger is pulled there must be a way somehow.

The only real problem would be getting something to control the field so it wasn't always attracting fire. Unless it was a deploy able designed to act like a black hole for incoming fire...

[Surrealistik]

If you want to barrow the idea of a cloak and shield from Apoc keep in mind the disruptor shield didn't really block all that much, but it kept out all the alien weapons though.(very high energy 'stuff', though not quite on par with anti-matter, even the aliens in Apoc knew to stay away from that:P),The personal cloak was not much more then portable smoke grenade. It just made you harder to hit, and invisible at long range.

The behaviour and limitations of the Apoc counterparts to these ideas is more or less what I intended the UFO:AI versions to employ. Low velocity weapons such as flamethrowers, thrown projectiles and melee attacks would penetrate the shield without issue.

As for the Apoc aliens not employing anti-matter, the active destructive mechanism employed by dimension missiles and vortex grenades orientated about siphoning in small amounts of the substance from other dimensions.

Close combat weapons would be a great deal easier to deflect as they are big enough to apply more force over a larger area, and don't have a projectiles velocity. The plasma from a grenade is little more then ambient super heated gas so that would be even easier to deflect. I would say partial weapons would be imposable to deflect as anything moving near light speed would have near indefinite mass, but seeing it doesn't shatter the partial weapons when the trigger is pulled there must be a way somehow.

Only if the field is continuous. As well, weapons that aren't magnetically reactive whatsoever (e.g. Kerrblade made out of polymers) would not be affected regardless. The plasma emitted from a grenade would probably be deflected as it'd likely meet the velocity threshold, but not the grenade itself.

The only real problem would be getting something to control the field so it wasn't always attracting fire. Unless it was a deploy able designed to act like a black hole for incoming fire...

A magnetically based field wouldn't necessarily attract fire; if anything it'd repel it.

Careful with the plasma shield idea, and bringing real life science to it, yes there are some very cool looking stuff being done with it but it has to be surrounded by some very hard to make magnetic fields for containment. To make a bubble you'd need more power then can safely be carried, if you could do it at all, by the unit to keep from getting burned, and something outside to keep the plasma from dispersing. To say nothing of the heat, or possible blinding glow from said heat.

Aliens have access to ultra-high density power sources.  That said, even if the magnetic shell is possible to create, the heat is still admittedly problematic. This is why I revised the shield concept to replace the plasma suppliment with simple ionized gas (to diffuse lasers). However, it seems almost implausible to

A: Control the magnetic fields to such precision as to serve in this capacity without exerting unwanted magnetism or induction on weaponry/gear/other nearby metallic objects.

and

B: Design a sensor array sensitive enough to detect high speed incoming projectiles prior to impact.

Even assuming we had a power source able to sustain the shield for the entirety of combat, A would still be a consideration.

Btw, one of the aliens is very near to a T-1000, and the others are at least partly cybernetic, the hunter killer/scout drones sound like a big cost with little return; However, sweeping though the map in short order does sound interesting. Also keep in mind Anti-Mater and plasma are a lot more energetic and a great deal more dangerous then the game gives them credit.

Do you mean there is an existing alien similiar to the T-1000, or do you mean the one I proposed is? If the latter, that is clearly intentional.

Hunter-killer drones are already being implimented in the form of the Hovernet. That said I would contest your point that the cost/benefit of such automatons is unfavourable; they're likely cheap to mass produce, and the reconnaissence they would provide with their unsurpassed mobility is invaluable.

In all, further discussion of a cloaking device or personal shielding in any form is needless; Winter has already decided he doesn't want these things included regardless of their desirable impact on gameplay.

[Gedaliah]

Do you mean there is an existing alien similiar to the T-1000, or do you mean the one I proposed is? If the latter, that is clearly intentional.

The green one that looks like a mutoid? Muton? I'm too lazy to install find, install, and play X-Com to the point they show up(or trust a website to get the spelling correct). If I remember the autopsy report it's not a robot, but it's heavily armored and cybernetic.

Ok, I'll skip the shield and cloak:P, and apologizes for bring it back up. Still I guess I'm not with the whole sci-fi thing when it comes down to earth.

Edit: Sorry, forgot, I move part of the post to a new thread(how trollish of me) Yes, even something as not-metallic as plastic is magnetic, it's not a question of if, but how much of a field is needed before it responds.

As far as detection goes? It's again a question of volume vs how sensitive you can become. Wile it's easily drown out in the earth's magnetic field, solar radiation, or standard radio waves, I assure you that even the keyboard you've been typing on, being run by electricity, is putting out a EM pulse. The alien, using both prodigies amounts of power, and having non-'local' power generation should stick out like a star going supernova.

(edited again,err) For that matter the EM field put out my a anti-matter reaction should blanket out any other signal, radar, radio, TV:P, etc. I guess detection would just be a matter of havening enough listening posts in the right places to track the source.

[val]

Got a sentry turret design that's balanced enough to not be god.
So:

1.The turret is a gun mounted on a tripod with a laser ranger finder.

2.When set up, the turret "scans" an area in front of it with it's rangefinder.This takes a turn.(Should be adjustable on the go for the turret's "area of responsibility."

3.Afterward, the gun transverses back and forth during the enemy's turn.(rangefinder still on.) Every x TUs taken by any enemy makes the gun turn y degrees.

4.If the gun finds a range difference with the original scan and the current range reading, the gun stops traversing and starts firing.  When x TUs is taken by any enemy, the gun fires with a certain firing mode.(Again, adjustable on the fly.)

5.Once the range returns to it's original value, go back to step 3.