Cured from XVI alines to join PHALANX

[anatoliy]

Dear developers,

First, thanks a lot for the game! It gave me a lot of good time to remember.

After finishing the campaign a thought struck me. What PHALANX is fighting is a micro organism - the logical response would be a cure and a vaccine. And indeed such thing is already proposed: http://ufoai.org/wiki/Proposals/Behind_the_Facade . But what if we go further - allow the cured aliens to join (after a lengthy recovery) PHALANX in a war of liberation?

That would be consistent with the story. Say, you are a cured Taman. And you learn that you, and your fellow Tamans have been used by some hive mind as cannon fodder. And now you are with the people who are fighting the exactly same fate and might be able to help your brethren. What's the logical thing to do?

That would enhance player experience. Adding aliens would add to the game depth by allowing for even more variety in tactics. Think of Shevaars for close-quarters fighting and a Taman spotter for night-time sniping. Think of  an Ortok being not entirely happy to shoot at other Ortkos - forcing the player to choose between a morale drop and having to stun all the enemy (or own?) Ortoks.

That should be easy to implement. At least, no new artwork is needed.

[ShipIt]

"The (healed) subject exhibits infantile behaviour -- it has little control over motor functions, struggling to walk, and acts frightened of everything that moves." - Not exactly the help Phalanx needs imo. And, almost all subjects died when Dr. Connor tried to cure them.

But, somehow, someday we might have civilian teams fighting along (or against) your troops at the battlescape.

[Visitor]

"The (healed) subject exhibits infantile behaviour -- it has little control over motor functions, struggling to walk, and acts frightened of everything that moves." - Not exactly the help Phalanx needs imo.

If one would like to be bratty, they could claim that performance of some of the fresh, low-stat recruits suggests standards low enough that above behavior fits right in .

More seriously, yes, fluff-wise the aliens aren't salvageable even if cured (or at least aren't without lengthy, probably years long rehabilitation). Though frankly, just as a nice gimmick, I don't think it'd be bad if there'd be slight chance to get a bit more resilient alien individuals - potentially single among hundreds - as an anomaly that retains some limited sapience and can be included as a regular trooper. It wouldn't disturb the balance much or require new assets but provide some novelty at the cost of some small addition to the code.

[Noordung]

Interesting idea. But yes those saved alien are like new born children. But ultimately having additional back story about helping those aliens and to reclaim their worlds from hive mind...

[anatoliy]

Thanks for the discussion! Story-wise

"The (healed) subject exhibits infantile behaviour -- it has little control over motor functions, struggling to walk, and acts frightened of everything that moves."

can be resolved. For example, elaborating on the Visitor's suggestion:

Surprising things are happening to the cured subjects in our containment. Only a week ago they were no more than children, but now some have fully resumed control of the locomotion functions and exhibit intelligence similar to those of Earth's chimpanzees. It's only a wild speculation, but we suspect they have been genetically modified by XVI to have an accelerated growth cycle. Of course that would mean faster ageing as well - but what a hive mind would care about its perfectly expendable soldiers?

[ShipIt]

BTAxis, who wrote the tech report you mentioned in the first place, is one of the main story developers for this game. We usually do not "elaborate" his work. Because most articles are based on another one, while others again are based on this one. So changing one ...

However, sending a patch might change things.

[anatoliy]

BTAxis, who wrote the tech report you mentioned in the first place, is one of the main story developers for this game. We usually do not "elaborate" his work. Because most articles are based on another one, while others again are based on this one. So changing one ...

Sorry for misunderstanding. "Elaborate" relates to Reply#2 in this thread. I don't suggest to change the BTAxis's report. I humbly proposed a possible way to continue his story.

However, sending a patch might change things.

I understand the importance of contributions for open source projects. I wish it could go this way. But I'm not very good in programming - I can't imagine having written the patch in foreseeable future.

[ShipIt]

The problem with continuing the story is, there will not be much in-game time left at that point.

[DarkRain]

Well I actually always thought that if an alien was to be cured from XVI they would be completely vegetative, as their mind was never able to develop, what with being no doubt infected since they were cloned (so no not even newborn-like mentality for them, at least in my head canon)

[Visitor]

Well I actually always thought that if an alien was to be cured from XVI they would be completely vegetative, as their mind was never able to develop, what with being no doubt infected since they were cloned (so no not even newborn-like mentality for them, at least in my head canon)

Actually, if I think logically I don't see why it'd be so. Aliens do not develop personality or have a wealth of their own experiences, but such is the case of a newborn baby - and in fact, if hypothetically it'd be possible for such alien to be cured and rehabilitated, I would find it quite believable they'd be able to access memories and experiences from when XVI was in command. Their bodies are being used, after all, including their brain - by said XVI, granted, but they seem to perform many of the same functions an uninfected individual's brain would. They're infected and through that infection psionically united collective, not a bunch of meat puppets possessed by some demons working efficiently no matter the damage to their internal organs.