time unit system

[marc]

In the old XCOM game, time units for firing weapons were set as a percentage instead of a fixed number, such that faster soldiers expended -more- TUs (but the same %age) as a slower soldier.  This makes sense as a faster soldier shouldn't be able to make his gun fire faster, and faster soldiers have more TUs b/c they move more quickly than a slower one in the same time, not b/c they have more time.  Jagged Alliance did a good job of describing this...not sure if I'm making sense with my explanation there.  In any case I think such a system makes a lot more sense, as a faster soldier shouldn't be able to fire more bullets from his full-auto machine gun than a slower one.  I suppose there is the issue of the speed with which a soldier can sight his weapon before pulling the trigger, but this would be a function of skill more than how fast the soldier can move I think.

Maybe all of this would make the time unit system too complicated, but at the very least the same percentage system as for XCOM and JA with respect to weapon firing time makes more sense to me.

[Kildor]

There was no such feature in X-Com series. Really.

[marc]

I'm virtually 100% sure that xcom had the percentage time unit system.  In fact I just checked using the web, and indeed I am recalling correctly (I am referring -only- to the percentage usage of TUs for weapons fire).

[TallTroll]

I probably prefer the UFO:AI system. Because the TUs to fire, move etc stay constant, and the actors TUs rise, they can do a little more per turn, over time, which seems entirely in line with real word experience.

One of the main advantages of elite soldiers is that their training allows them to execute missions quickly and efficiently, with a minimum of personnel. It's not necessarily that they do much differently to a regular soldier, but that they are capable of doing it faster, always being ready before the other guy.

So, as PHALANX troopers get used to fighting the aliens, and given the UFO spawn rates, that they see more action in a month than some SF troopers do in five years, the ones who survive would be getting very good.