<snip> how about we brainstorm the individual bits seperately. <snip>
Cool.
Below is a summary of what has been posted in the last few days. I cut and pasted the relevant parts together... Let's see if we can work out a core plain storyline.
What the engine supportsBasicsWhat we have
-a message system that reports nearly everything that happens to Phalanx&the world. These things currently are mostly static (see below for the future plans)
-A research system that you all know from the original games (not quite finished, but it'll get better)
Planned
-The Ufopedia currently contains information about 'items' such as weapons/aliens/technologies but it will be extended to display "plot-points" and certain news.
-a pre-defined event-system where you can define certain plot-devices at a certain time with dependencies on prior encountered/researched/etc.. things or events.
-'news' reports. you (Commander of the Elite Force assigned to defend earth) would have an intel officer to inform you of the latest alien related events around the world
-background events shown, just in small dialogues, that the player doesn't directly experience
Mechanismssystem to feed-in new enemy squadsUfo Interceptions + aliens building bases + human enemies(natural or as result of infiltration)
create/result in...
1) tactical missions in buildings, neighborhoods, alien bases, own base
2) tactical missions in alienships that we succeeded to shoot down
3) Infiltration that causes human organizations to attack us
What does a tactical combat mission produce?:
Dead human and alien bodies - anatomy, inner organs etc
Injured people and aliens - healing processes
Live humans and aliens - research behavior PLUS all the above
Broken Equippment -research material they are made of
Equippment - research design, functions, mechanism, PLUS the above
Soldier statsan editable log for each soldier
Objects etcweapon or any object stat be changed during the game by a specific event (like a technology) without using a new model ? This could prove useful, like for the medikits
The functions of the world and its regions 1) All regions have to offer a certain goods and service that are valuable to us. infiltration results in denial of these goods and service.
2) Rival organizations or human enemies attacking us from time to time.
3) Damage in these regions or civilian losses cause our budget to decrease or sympathy towards aliens to increase (making infiltration easier)
support of a nations currently the following things will vanish/change as well:
* monthly money (minor factor in the later game)
* monthly new scientists
* monthly new soldiers
* (planned) number of buyable items from the free market.
* (planned) Additional alien bases will pop up in this nation.
* (maybe) We'll even lose the control of bases located in this nation. (or at least the location is revealed to the aliens and attacks will follow)
* (maybe) This nation even tries to attack us.
nations turning against Phalanx resulting in items disappearing from the free market, and a decreased supply of personnel
bases ways of building facilities
Tech-Tree-puzzle type research
-research iterations that gradually increase the number of revealed paragraphs in the ufopedia + unlock new research topics
AIaliens prefering death over death through torture
-difficulty levels which are "sensitive" to players skills
--Make the difficulty go up if the player turns out to be overwhelmingly good.
General Story StructureReason for InvasionAnnexation (as sugested earlier)
Warmongering (taking other people's stuff by force)
Searching for some artifact (There's something on earth that they want)
Hunting someone (there's an alien on earth that these aliens want)
to "stage" a climatic change
Phalanx BirthUN planned for it, and finally needs it.
Private Organisation that goes paramilitary
Secret Organisation that comes out of the closet
UN agency that gets 'rennovated' once the threat becomes realIntroduction (assuming the story begins with the player assuming supreme command of Phalanx)
The military would protect major cities, key strategic points, but you'd still need a highly mobile reactionary force to defend everyone else. Thus, Phalanx.
the U.N. had passed the "Phalanx Protocols" decades ago but they were never implemented (like so many UN resolutions).
After 9/11, the worlds secret services, led by the USA, decided to fight Terrorrism on a global scale and established a Global Intelligence Service, also knows as "Sector 911". Sector 911 was an umbrella organization that combined the databases and resources of almost all the secret services of the world in order to maintain global intelligence and to conduct counter-strike activities against enemies. In 2027 a report titled "The Possibility of Extra-Terrestial Terror" resulted in fear and paranoia amongst the leaders of "Sector 911". They decided to set up a unit that would prepare for a fight against such Extra-Terrestrial Terror. As a solution, they came up with the idea to integrate Phalanx into "Sector 911" and give a Elite Force into its command.
Phalanx DutiesStop the alien invasion
Save civilians
Protect the earth
Carnage and mayhem.
Develop tech.
Research the enemy
As for Phalanx itself, if it was up against such an overwhelming enemy, it seems like its goal wouldn't be so much as to defeat the enemy, but to find out how to beat the enemy (different focus).
This does include protecting innocents from terror attacks and preventing governments from being infiltrated (in classic X-Com style) but each action is taken with the intent of determining enemy weaknesses, not so much killing the enemies.
Indeed, I would expect that as soon as Phalanx discovers new technology that that information would be passed along to the military and that it would see all sorts of field action.
-Nature of Alien Threat (what are their short term goals)
-Source of Alien Threat (where, generally, are the aliens coming from: Earth, Near Earth, Solar System, Extra-Solar, Interstellar, etc)
--Given that the aliens appear to use tachyon technology, it can be assumed that they are capable of very limited FTL travel
-Specific Source of Alien Threat (where specifically in the solar system, so an attack could be launched)
-Preparations (discovering the tech necessary to reach the alien source)
-Specific assault plan developed (basically, when the attack is possible, you'd still need a plan of what you're doing when you get there)
researching your KIA soldiers
Live aliens experiments
Active interrogation methods
--needing a high-ranking alien commander to research
or needing to complete certain missions first in order to start certain research
Complications - the various conflict the player encounters.Rival organisations
Peacemongering (somebody wants to do it diplomatically)
Outlawed Activities.
Funding cuts.
Biohazards.the Phalanx [is a] private committee formed by an Anonymous Benefactor. The player is the committee's leader. You're given goals by the benefactor, and get bonuses for completing them. Evenutally you be come a UN sanctioned organisation. Before that, you have [to] convince countries to privately fund you.
the first goal of the phalanx [is] to PROVE the existance of aliens & UFO by capturing one. Having the UN explode in you face after finding out what you'd be doing,
discoveries of what, exactly, the aliens want from earth, and the relation between the different sorts of foes that the player faces.
Perhaps private states formed similar units to specifically protect their territory. These organizations might occasionally help Phalanx, but they could also be infiltrated (it might be interesting to have missions where the enemies are actually human turncoats).
organisation is outlawed by the UN, and you're operating in secret
aliens trying to make themselves appear more powerful than they actually are
ENDGAME - how we stopped the invasion.Deus Ex (we get a more powerful alien race to help us)
Negotiation ( we talk our way out of it)
Heroics (nuke 'em)
Cunning (biological warfare)good old Millennium-Falcon-Blows-Up-The-Death-Star-In-The-Nick-Of-Time last gambit
The anonymous benefactor is some intelligent alien that the Antareans are after and had us set up to protect him (unbeknownst to us).
aliens {were] seeding earth and the SETI project let them know that the planet was ready for colonisation
How to reveal storybare bones story progression in the message windows, with greater detail presented in the Ufopedia.
ModulesGeneral mechanism and structure of modulesModules: They COULD have
-their own stories, which add something to the plain story and gives it depth... like revealing something about the backstory of the aliens interest in our planet (but still without any modules, the plain story should makes sens)
-branches unlocked in the tech-tree, that reveal unique research items and eventually introduce this items for use... these would add depth to the tech-tree and the different arrays (weapons, vehicles etc) we have already at hand... but even without the unique items, basic array is sufficient to maintain the plain story.
-New unique units dicovered(?)... new types of aliens, some of them even just one-shot types, that dissappear after the particular module is played to end
-new types of base facilities in order to hunt down the mystery of that particular module... say the Egypt module would start with a mission where you discover something about language, but the follow up would require a linguistics lab, from here you would be able to research a parser or whatever...
-module related events
players decisions during the plain story, would determine which modules are activated into the game resulting in different game story depending on content of triggered modules.
suggestions for modules to implementChariots of the Gods mythos and include “archeological†missions were Phalanx has to find and retrieve certain alien storage devices hidden in the Sphinx, Pyramids, the Mediterranean, Atlantis, Lemuria, Mu, Aztec temples, Templar Churches, etc. That is, the aliens were here, but they also left information storage devices (as well as other devices of power) that humans can use to further their understanding of the aliens.
Sort of like the artifact missions in TFTD, but focusing on search and retrieval rather than search and destroy.
Such mission might even open up research avenues, and it might also diversity the sort of people working in Phalanx to include more than just “scientists†and “engineers.â€Â
You might need “Historians/Archeologists†to point you in the right direction for finding these artifacts and “Linguists/mathematicians†to crack the alien language and to encrypt your own messages in greater complex
"Mariana Rift"
"Egyptian Connection"
"Ice Age Devices"
EventsBasic Events
Module Specific Events
"The Gloves Are Off" + built up + separate facility to study aliens in secret
-performing live research it provokes the aliens and leads to the next level of alien attacks