Storyline Proposal: Alien Mothership

[Cthulhu]

Hey everyone,

first of all, I would like to thank you for this really enjoyable game, so far. Since I really liked playing 2.4 (and a bit of 2.5), I was looking through the "contribute" section of the wiki, and was thinking, where I could contribute.

And then I stumbled upon this page:
http://ufoai.org/wiki/index.php/Proposals/Late_Storyline_Ideas

When I read the "Alien Mothership" part, my first thought was: "Well, whenever the mothership (and by that the probable source of the alien invasion) is found, the UN (or even the nations) probably want to engage this thing themselves." My idea was that at this point, politicians would try to use the alien invasion for their benefit, by letting their own armies destroy the mothership. I would suspect that an organization like PHALANX would not fit into their plans. So the armies (or better, interstellar interceptors, build with the help of PHALANX/Alien technology) would be sent, and then fail because of the gravity shield around the mothership. In the meantime, PHALANX is still responsible for earth defence.

This would be (imho) a good explanation, why the players' soldiers are not used in a first assault on the aliens. After the failed attempt, the nations would come back and beg PHALANX for help (aka. research) to take down the mothership. It could maybe be presented by a first mail, something along the lines of:

"From: Colonel Navarre

Commander, you will not believe what was decided during the last meeting of the UN. After _we_ detected the aliens' mothership, the representatives of the world do not allow us to engage the invasion at its source. Instead, they are now sending the army of the UN to attack the mothership. I consider it a disgrace that we are not allowed to finish the aliens off. They still declare us responsible for defending earth in the mean time. It seems like we compete too much in the public opinion with the goverments. I can not believe that they put earths fate at risk for that.

However, if they succeed in taking the mothership down, earth is saved. Let us hope the best."

Sometime later (maybe a day, if such a concrete timer is implementable, I didn't dive into the source to check), another mail about the wipe out of the armies would arrive, along with a new research option for the gravity shield.

I don't know, if this subject is maybe too far in the future at the moment, but here it is
What do you think of it?

Sven

[geever]

My idea was that at this point, politicians would try to use the alien invasion for their benefit, by letting their own armies destroy the mothership. I would suspect that an organization like PHALANX would not fit into their plans. So the armies (or better, interstellar interceptors, build with the help of PHALANX/Alien technology) would be sent, and then fail because of the gravity shield around the mothership. In the meantime, PHALANX is still responsible for earth defence.

This would be (imho) a good explanation, why the players' soldiers are not used in a first assault on the aliens. After the failed attempt, the nations would come back and beg PHALANX for help (aka. research) to take down the mothership. It could maybe be presented by a first mail, something along the lines of:

No conspiracy theories, please...

-geever

[Cthulhu]

No conspiracy theories, please...

-geever

Well, it was not supposed to sound like one, but after reading my post once more, I see, that it could be read like one.
I meant it more as a kind of story-telling device, something like "FBI takes over from here on, thank you for your help sheriff". It was based on the assumption that, since phalanx is a newly founded organisation, its funding means cuts in funding for other government agencies, probably military services. And by this, some people are (even admitting the sucesses of phalanx) not too happy with the players actions.

I mean, if you are in the military, and some greenhorn organisation is getting your money and the best recruits, you have to show, that your agency is not superflous.

So, it was not meant to be "politicians exploit honest people", but more like "hurt emotions lead to stupid decisions".

greets,

Sven

[Nutter]

Alternatively; Everyone else's military tech is catching up a bit at this point and they have far greater resources available, making them consider (and attempt) a full frontal attack that gets plastered all over the thing's shield.

As a side effect, this would then allow for an increase in overall alien activity since a whole bunch of the global military force just got diverted (and butchered) on the offensive.

[Sandro]

No conspiracy theories, please...

I disagree; that seems quite a possibility to me: UN secretly funding some hidden organization (and Phalanx is) just to steal the fame when victory is at hand. That happened so many times in real human history (uncluding the recent times), so it cannot qualify as a "conspiracy theory", it is life.

[geever]

I don't want politics in the game.

-geever

[Nutter]

Which could turn out as a bit of a pity.

[bustead]

I guess the UN will decide to nuke the aliens. (after all we always think that humans can solve anything with nukes) As the FTL-craft reaches the mothership,
it's blown up into pieces by the shield. Then you have to research the shield and bring a huge nuke to the mothership when the research is completed.

[Nutter]

Would you really need a huge nuke, though?
Because even a relatively small device could probably at least gut the vessel, assuming it is placed inside. Assuming most of the explosion would be contained inside the pocket of atmosphere that is the alien mothership. But I'm not sure if it'd actually work that way in real life.

...after all we always think that humans can solve anything with nukes...

Well, there's a long list of things you actually can fix with nukes. Overwhelming enemy opposition is pretty much the top of said list. And I'm pretty sure an alien invasion counts as that.