Design: Aliens

[XCOMTurcocalypse]

Well they might live there because they are low IQ pets.

An entrance stage should be quite easy,maybe to accustom players to first blood and all

[XCOMTurcocalypse]

Another Proposal:

Vehicle Riding Antarean.The Vehicle could be a late game add-on,and something like a bike (since the Antarean Campaign is also based on a capitalistic system and Antarean warbands don't want to spend much)

When the Vehicle(rigged with a slightly more powerful Plasma rifle) is destroyed,an Antarean Soldier could pop up with a 40% chance.

How about that?

[XCOMTurcocalypse]

a HUGE creature ,like Overspawn,could be included in Terror missions,just to get shot or bust wrecking buildings

[BTAxis]

There will be no wrecking buildings. It's been covered extensively before, so please don't argue it.

[XCOMTurcocalypse]

And you don't get suddenly pissed off at a suggestion.Just say no.I'm trying to help here.

[BTAxis]

I'm not pissed, I was just trying to forestall a post like "well, then please add destructable buildings", which we have had too many of already.

[XCOMTurcocalypse]

My apologies.Then I propose yet another Alien species.

Brain-Drone(will write more about it)

I think a flying "Cyber Disc alike" drone with formidable psychic powers,low mobility,high piercing weapon resistance,High Tachyon resistance and low Laser resistance should cover enough space in psi war.

[PsyWarrior]

Are we likely to end up in a situation where, even after researching the Ultimate Weapon Technology (TM), we still have arm people with assault rifles, laser rifles etc. because certain aliens are highly resistant to certain projectiles?

-PsyW

[BTAxis]

I don't know, but that would be desirable, don't you think? Equipping everyone with The Best Weapon is kind of bland.

[PsyWarrior]

In a way, yes, everyone having exactly the same weapon is a bit dull...

However, having to mix all weapons is also tedious - you have to make sure every group of people you send out has at least one laser, one tachyon, one bullet-based, explosive, plasma... you can't split your 8-man team into two any more, because there's a good chance one of your teams will run into something it doesn't have the weapons to handle.

The alternative is to send all of your people around in one big group, so that the weapon you need to deal with a specific alien is never far away. Disadvantage: When the aliens land some high explosive in the middle of the group, it's not going to be good...

The game's pretty interesting in the beginning, anyway, even when everyone has basic weapons - you have a couple of assault rifles/pistols/SMGs, sniper, rocket launcher, shotgun and flamethrower - you don't have everyone carrying the assault rifle. Effectively, the troops could be armed with all one 'type' of weapon without everyone carrying around the exact same weapon.

There's also the issue of complexity - there is no chance I'm going to memorise which aliens are resistant to which technologies, and I don't want to be minimising the game and flicking through the manual to work out what to shoot the damned thing with...

I don't know... it seems sad to research a tachyon rifle, and then it's ineffective because the aliens on a certain mission are all resistant to it (but your old assault rifle you started off with would have worked perfectly).

Returning to an earlier point, two stage base assaults is a concept worth exploring - after all, it's likely the aliens wouldn't just allow you to walk into their base, and you'd have to land your Dropship outside and break in...
Maybe the development of stealth craft could skip the first stage...

-PsyW

[Malick]

It would be good that each alien race or type has a default. For example, Mutated Ortnok could be easier to kill with laser weapons than with plasma. But it would mean that coders input various armor values according to type of weapon (bullets/laser/fire/plasma for example).

Malick

[PsyWarrior]

But as stated above, how do you get over the tactical problems?

How do you explore an area, while always keeping at least one weapon from each type in range the whole time, in case you encounter an enemy? Very, very slowly...

Am I talking gibberish and it might work perfectly? Maybe. But there's also the possibility that I might make sense for once :roll:

Even in an average RTS, it's simple - You shoot flying things with missiles, infantry with machine guns, and tanks with cannons or missiles. If you have well armoured aliens, yes it makes sense that they would be resistant to bullets. But if individual aliens are just randomly vulnerable to only one weapon for no adequately explained reason, it makes no sense and is difficult to remember. Result: A dirt nap for you and your men because you can't remember that this alien is (for some reason) resistant to lasers.

-PsyW

[Malick]

On the other hand, I don't want to see aliens resist a specific kind of weapon, rather the opposite. All aliens should be "killable" with any kind of weapons, really. Rather, some should have particular deficiencies or weak spot if you prefer. Like I said, you can kill this enemy with your SMG if you like, but it goes real faster with a laser beam...

I agree with you, it's too frustating to land for a mission just to realise that all enemies are imune to your weapons. I think it's better to apply the field manual in every case: "If you can't do it with style, do it with firepower". Go blasters all the way baby, yeah !!!

Malick

[BTAxis]

Malick makes the point I was thinking of when I read "tactical problems". It isn't a matter of NEEDING the right weapon for the right alien. Some aliens are just vulnerable to some types while other types are not as effective. So you don't have to take one weapon of each type, you just fight with the weapons that best suit you.

[PsyWarrior]

Hmm, well we always have grenades :roll:

Okay, so I'm reasonably happy with no resistance. Weaknesses I can discover by playing the game and noting 'ooh, that laser blast did a lot of damage', without having my non-laser carrying troops annihilated. In short, I don't have to memorise a load of statistics to be successful, and if I don't happen to have the soldier with the correct weapon... I can just shoot the aliens anyway.

Note: I picked up the wrong end of the stun rod, it seems. Never a good thing...

-PsyW