Messages

106

Discussion / Re: New soldier stat increase system

« on: July 08, 2009, 10:46:33 pm »

One possibility to offsetting the loss of a quality player would be to make new recruits start with higher stats as the game progresses, maybe an average of your best 10 guys or something.  Even tie it to the difficulty level, with easier modes using few people while harder modes would use more people to keep values lower.  Example:

Hard  - averages 50 best players.  The recruit pool is watered down by lower stat base-watchers.
Medium - averages 20 best players.  New recruits would be based mostly on your best two teams.
Easy - averages 10 best players.  New recruits would be based mostly on your best team.

Or something to that effect.  This mainly kicks in in end game and offsets the penalty you encounter when you lose a high quality player and sets it up to bring a new recruit up to speed faster.  Having terrible soldiers to recruit from only tends to encourage save/reload.  I've always felt this was appropriate in a game like this because those soldiers in the recruit pool represent the troops, which will also get better as the war progresses and everyone learns how to battle the enemy, not just the few elite teams going into direct conflict.  The ground troops will also learn more about them as our knowledge filters down to them.  At least by my theory.

I also don't mean exactly the same as the team members you've lost; there should be some penalty for losing a member and that adds to the challenge.  Some percentage would be required of the average.  Doesn't have to be complicated, just balanced enough so that the new recruits are not as good as your best.

And sorry if this sidetracks the thread.  Just an idea that's indirectly related to the stat system in general.

107

Discussion / Re: What Alien Invasion needs in order to replace XCOM1 as the best game

« on: July 05, 2009, 12:19:29 am »

Just want to add a positive note to the thread since it seemed to self destruct.  I played XCOM, JA, most of them all.  Loved them all.  Don't like these polls and hate to see the dev's put on the defense for just trying to do something that very few are capable of and willing to do.  XCOM was great.  Does UFO:AI need to be XCOM to succeed?  Hell no.  I don't want a remake, I want a new game.  If I want to play XCOM I can load it up in a copy of DosBox and play to my hearts content.

For those that may not remember, XCOM was not the first computer game.  It was just the first that really captured a number of elements together in one package, and delivered.  It blended tactical strategy with larger strategic, and threw in the RPG elements as an added bonus.  It was those RPG elements that set it apart and made us care a bit about those squadies we threw into battle.  

But even it's own successors couldn't capture what the original did.  Comparing UFO:AI to it is pointless.  Let it stand on it's own merits, and the question should be what does it need to be a better game?  I think UFO:AI is a fantastic game, and I've been following it's development for a long time.  What UFO:AI needed to really capture our attention again was something that it can never capture again... surprise.  XCOM surprised the game world when it came out and that contributed to its lore.  UFO:AI is an open source project, and could never do that.  We've been exposed to all it's bugs and miscommings for a long time now.  I do not play the beta releases for that reason.  This way I'm surprised when the new features come out in the stable releases (and I'm very anxiously awaiting he next release)  

From playing UFO:AI, what I think it needs is a more engaging story, something to give us reason to plod through map after map.  More missions that expose mystery and longer term questions that take multiple missions to work out.  So I guess the closest thing to what I would like is option 1, better AI, on the battlefield and as played out in the larger strategic game.

So keep it up guys.  I really appreciate all the hard work you guys have put into this.  I wish more people could be exposed to this type of gaming, but the twitchy finger console crowd is dominating the market, probably forever this time.  To me though, this is gaming at it's best, and you guys are doing a great job at helping to keep the genre going.  Thank you.