I'm thinking that the perk system could make loosing dudes with really important perks super painful. Imagine that you have a soldier which has slowly gone through the perk tree to the top and gained a perk that changes the game plan and allows you to take the fight to the aliens and wreak terrible vengeance on their asses, only to have him permanently snuffed out by a stray plasma shot. Sounds xcom to me
Blah, I dislike the idea of equipment being perks, or zomgawzum perks for that matter but I still find that a pool is better if it has to go that way, though. Think Fallout. Fallout has stat requirements and such but no trees. Or building a player in Blood Bowl, you have a couple of different pools. I'd want something similar here, not a carbon copy of either of the examples but not some boring, restrictive tree.Originally Posted by OldManBrian
Really all we are talking about is restricting perks based on level, or restricting perks based on pre-requisite perks.
Which, if I think long and hard about it, yeah you're right, I'd rather just be able to pick whatever I want without needing to get the earlier perks that I dont.
Ok, I submit! You convinced me that a fallout type perk system would be better than a skyrim type system!
EDIT: Well wait, now that I think about it, another difference would be that with a fallout type perk system you flat out can't get certain perks before a certain level, whereas a skyrim system would allow a speciallized soldier to get certain advanced perks earlier by sticking within a class tree... Hmmm.. I'll need to think about this some more...
Eh, I don't know, it's not like I have a specific design in mind. And like I said, it wouldn't have to be a carbon copy of anything. The key thing I really want is a system that isn't too restrictive. My designated marksman shouldn't have to have camoflague (if I'm using your example) and likewise, if I wanted camoflague I might not want or have any need for a grappling hook. So I get to faff about with that until I actually get the one I want.
..again, not that I like the idea of equipment being perks though. Is that really the case?
I'd prefer if there were weight requirements and such instead to keep units from grappling around if they're not designated marksmen. I digress, but...wish list.
According to what we've heard so far from Game Informer, that is the case.
Maybe just have each soldier earn perk points each level, and then they can put those towards ANY perk? Better perks would just cost more points, that way you could get them sooner if you saved up for them.
I've just been playing the original Xcom game and there's one thing that really annoys me! Please, please, please, please Firaxis, make it so we don't have to arm each soldier individually! If I want the whole squad outfitted with the same weaponry, then that should be an option.
I went through the list, as well as the linked lists at (7) and (8). Some great ideas here and there. Someone mentioned (I think in list 7) that they want to be able to modify the characters. I would like to suggest something in line with that and number 37 (specialized scientist)
My Ideas/requests:
1 - Have specialist/named characters (soldiers/scientists) with specific bonusses or skills. These characters should not be editable at all.
2 - Have generic characters that are editable (names/looks)
Something relating to (42)
3 - So we can deploy multiple craft to the same mission. E.g deploy the quick craft to secure a foothold, with a large craft as backup that will only land a specified amount of turns later? So deploy Alpha wing takes "60 minutes", while Omega wing takes "90 minutes". Then 30 minutes = 10 turns or something like that.
Actually this was incorrect, apparently the grappling hook is an armor ability, not a class thing. The sniper in the example was equipped with an armor suit that has a grapple ability.According to what we've heard so far from Game Informer, that is the case.
Something else I'd like is the ability to box select troops, instead of moving them one at a time - which is incredibly annoying if you want more than one to go to the same place.
Amen! Also, set auto-deployment patterns so I can make my troops come out in a tactically useless but visually hilarious flying V.
I have like a trillion ideas but for now will stick with the (futile) insistence that you make hero classes for your other personnel. AKA in the course of buying Scientists, a proc happens:
"Japan has agreed to send its top scientist, ASH KETCHUM (or whatever) to help with your cause." He enhances research speed but is also a deployable character with terrible stats and hilarious animations.
-->Renames him STEPHEN HAWKING
-->Gives him PSIONIC POWERS
Oh wait. No PSIONIC POWERS are in this game. Okay, second wishlist: bring back the PSI Academy. Make it full of children like XCOM Hogwards and make it train your soldiers but occasionally pop out unique prodigies.
"Your PSI Academy has produced a prodigy! He has come of age and is ready for fieldwork."
-->Renames him DAVID BLAINE
-->Give him ONE FLASH GRENADE
Yep, auto formations would be good as well - things like point formations, line astern, line spread out and so on.
Based on the;
1. Small squad sizes
2. Move-Shoot or Move-Move mechanics.
3. Low HP / high dmg.
I think Firaxis is focusing on fast paced, single soldier controlled combat. I doubt we will move entire squads or command squads of up to 24 soldiers. This would also be more in-line with the "streamlineing" for consoles.
Or a "hasty 360" as we call it in the Marine Corps, something you can leave alone for a while but have all angles covered.
I doubt it too. I don't want to command 24 soldiers Company of Heroes style. But making one button for a small fire team to arrange themselves in a line, wedge, left or right echelon (could be mapped to D-pad) is even more in line with a console control scheme.Based on the;
1. Small squad sizes
2. Move-Shoot or Move-Move mechanics.
3. Low HP / high dmg.
I think Firaxis is focusing on fast paced, single soldier controlled combat. I doubt we will move entire squads or command squads of up to 24 soldiers. This would also be more in-line with the "streamlineing" for consoles.
Also, move-shoot/move-move mechanics are VERY amenable to squad based combat. Ask any Warhammer 40k player and he'll tell you this.
Hmmm. I've just played the demo of UFO Aftermath and that appears to concentrate on single soldier controlled combat. I'm not too sure if I liked it that much - although there were obvious faults with it that, if rectified, could make for an enjoyable game.
Ugh, don't even remind me about that crapper of a game. I wanted another XCOM so badly it had to do and I regret the day I spent twiddling with it.
Yeah, sorry about that. I've already uninstalled it. I'm trying out one of the open source thingies now - UFO Alien Invasion. It's got some potential, I think, but the actual combat is really nothing like the original Xcom.
S'ok haha. I think that's why we're all so ornery. As enchanted as we have been with one or two indie offerings, this may finally be the game we've wanted for the better part of a decade.
I want multiple bases! I liked building and managing bases (I had several production bases and some for science). It was nice about the original X-COM that is was also a management-game. You had two games in one and they completed each other.
Where does that one base gossip come from? Is there a reliable source? Is it already decided?
Oh - and I want the fog of war. Made the game feel more realistic and scary (remember the shadows of an alien you could barely see in the original? priceless).
It comes from the Game Informer article. So yeah. It's reliable.
It might be changed sometime between now and release, but I wouldn't bet on it. Frankly, I don't mind it so much. The main thing I used other bases for was airbases and rapid response bases (also a few lascannon sweatshops.) Since we can still make airbases, I'm not too concerned.
They've said that's in. We haven't seen it in any mission screenshots yet, but the game isn't anywhere near done.Oh - and I want the fog of war. Made the game feel more realistic and scary (remember the shadows of an alien you could barely see in the original? priceless).
Thanks for the answer. Unfortunately for me I cant find that article. Can you post a link please? (I read "First Screens And Details Of XCOM: Enemy Unknown" and "February Cover Revealed: XCOM: Enemy Unknown" but did not find it)
It's the actual article. No link.
However, the article writer did explain some key points over on... Neogaf, I believe. There's a link floating around these boards somewhere. Probably one of the two "new info" threads.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=458283
I just realized I want Kinect (TM) functionality in the X360 version. It should analyze my fear level and spawn a Chrysalid when I'm not scared enough. And when it attacks my guys I can wave my arms to make my grunt write uncomfortably before he dies a painful death.
Don't think that there are that many that have that clear memories of second edition, because that was the last time you could put guys into overwatch unless they changed it back in recent years
Oh god. Do you remember just declaring that you ended turns early turn after turn because Overwatching units were so good? I played Tau using 2nd ed. rules once and it was slaughter.
Wow - after reading that lot, I suddenly feel much, much better about the game!! (No sarcasm - that article has really upped the hype factor for me).
Any way - wish list stuff: Rookies are extremely good at shooting their friends in the back of the head. May I suggest that if there's a good chance of a shot hitting a friendly that the 'no line of fire' message comes up?
This quote especially makes me think there is a chance that the two versions are on separate development tracks. After all, the vast majority of gamers looking forwards to this one are going to be PC gamers who grew up with the game, so the PC version should be different.'The PC Difference - XCOM obviously has deep PC roots and a hardcore fanbase with strong feelings about strategy franchises moving to consoles. It's natural for them to worry about a game like XCOM being dumbed down during the transition from keyboard to gamepad. Everything that Firaxis has shown so far indicates that any 'dumbing down' is limited solely to removing over-designed rules. For example, the original's Time Units have been removed for a simple move+action (or double move) for each unit. The idea is to let players still make the same decisions - move here, shoot that - without having to precisely calculate steps taken and type of shots fired in order to optimize that final five percent of combat effciency. And fear not, PC players - Firaxis is planning to take advantage of the platform's unique capabilities to provide an enhanced interface. Lead designer Jake Solomon uses DA:O as an example of what he wants to happen with XCOM. He suggested a zoomed-out full-map view of the tactical map as the kind of feature that PC players can expect that might not make it into the console versions. Finally, if you're an XCOM devotee from the old days, take comfort in the fact that the hardest difficulty is simply called Classic Mode.'
I'm digging suppressive fire. That sounds like a very interesting mechanic. Thanks, Heniv, for the link!
I think some of the screenshots appearing now have been ripped from the GI digital issue. That info's been around for a bit, though - could have sworn I quoted it wholesale in one of these threads :P.
I agree on the supressive fire... that does sound like it could be useful.
Not sure about suppressing fire. In the real military, suppressing fire is the bread and butter of infantry combat. Before assaulting an objective, doctrine dictates that you have fire superiority before you physically take a location. This essentially means more rounds going downrange than coming back. It's also why the machine gunner, not firing at anything in particular, is the most important member of a fire team.
But to me this doesn't seem very compatible with the run and gun mechanics of XCOM. I don't know-personally, I never had any protracted firefights, which is where suppressing fire has its greatest utility. Usually, I see an ethereal, he sees me, he kills me, I kill him. Move on, same thing happens elsewhere.
Also, suppressing fire gains its utility from the ability to scare an enemy and keep their heads down, and I wouldn't really want the aliens to be scared.
So as much as suppressing fire would be awesome and I'd use it every time, I don't know how appropriate it is.
Maybe I'm blind, but I didn't see this in the list, so if it was, sorry.
But I've seen it mentioned here and there on the site already.
MOD TOOLS
You have to know that there's gonna be a ton of people who are going to try to make XCOM:EU closer to the classics. So you might as well just make it easier and have the game be moddable
Oh oh oh oh oh.
By the way....
In the first trailer....could you rip off Star Craft 2's teaser? I was so jelly of SC fans getting such an awesome teaser, and wished to some day experience something similar for X-Com
Scared aliens?
Well, it could vary from species to species, couldn't it? What I mean is some species could be more susceptible to emotions such as fear, whereas others could be almost like machines - a Sectoid as opposed to a Cyberdisc for example (which is actually a machine).
On the Xcom side of things - I'm not sure if this is in the original game, but if not it needs to be in the remake: If a squad of rookies is being led by an experienced veteran, maybe a warrior who had become something of a legend in his own lifetime, then they should have better morale and be less likely to panic - unless of course they're targeted by one of the aliens' insidious mind attack methods. In the Total War games, it's also dependent on how far the leader is from the rest of his men - maybe that could also come into it.
I'm pretty sure higher ranked soldiers lessen morale drops from losses as well as increase morale gains from kills as long as they're in play in a battle. Oh and losing a high ranked soldier will make everyone piss their pants, cry and blow each other up with rockets. Well, sometimes.
Range doesn't matter in the original, maybe it should in this game though.
Great Idea Limiate , Ill do a update later tonight with this format in mind and include the rest of the new suggestions.
Better yet - make pistols have functionally-unlimited ammunition. And only Pistols. That way, everyone will want to have one pistol as a backup weapon, incase their main weapon runs out of ammo ...
Take a look at the "Technology Forest" model used by Sword of the Stars. Not every tech is guaranteed to show up in every game (aside from a few Core techs everyone always has, and a few "X race always has Y tech" pure-flavor things).36. Less linear research to improve replayability
... muddy or snow-covered ground might show tracks. IOW, even if it's not snowing, if the landscape is snow-covered, maybe you'll see the alien's TRACKS, before you see the alien itself.40. Weather and other things that effect LOS and the fog of war and add to the tactical depth of the encounter. Elements would could have an impact on LOS, vision depth, how guns behave
^_^
Did UFO:ET do that? I seem to remember following tracks in that game (before discovering that if I set up a defensive position, the aliens would just zerg me anyways....)
A blast from the past. Some of those posts from 2008 are still relevant, I feel.
Super psyked that Firaxis is remaking this game =D I can't count how many hours was well invested, being totally mesmerized by the original.
anyways. Here's my wishlist, some of have partially been covered already, but throwing it in there all the same.
#1: PROPER AI. I recall Ufo:afterlight in particular suffered from the worst AI ever, every encounter was a zerg rush. I'd like to see opponets being smart enough to pull back regroup/fortify in a building if they get hammered the first encounter. or try to flank you if you are dug into well in cover.
Ufo:Enemy unknown challenged you cause it was hard, it like to also challenge because it's smart =)
#2: BETTER FIRST AID (I hate losing (wo)men, I build unhealthy attachment to my troops XD) It was uttely fustrating in earlier games, managing to save a trooper that's been gunned down and then he croaks cause it's a chore to first aid him.
I'd like some tech tree research in this. Like first aid kit/medkit --> Advanced Firstaid kit/Med kit --> Auto doctor. which gives you some options of saving a gunned down trooper.
this ofcause has to be balanced, so you don't loose the threat of loosing troops. you're guy takes a heavy plasma shoot to the face, the partys over.
But I'd like the option of being able to save troops, even if they're been shoot down. Some of the most intense experiences I had in the game was trying to save a wounded soldier. pouring on fire, while one or two went in to stabelize and pull out the WIA.
With the more advanced kits, you could even be able to revive the downed soldiers (within reason ofcause, you still gotta feel the preassure)
#3: BASE RECOVERY. Now, what I really missed in the base, was a freaking med ward, (again something that can be reserched and improved through the techtree) In ufo:enemy unknow, even if you managed to get a wounded trooper back from action, he'd pretty much be out of the game cause it'd take so long for him to recover. I'd like to some base improvements and upgrades that could speed up the healing progress (which could cross over and be useful in cybernetic improvements and psionic upgrades that other fans have brought up in this thread) also it'd be nifty visually. as you upgrade the Med bay, you get niftyer stuff, mechanical surgeon arms, scanning equipment, healing vats where troops can hang in while recovering.
again, needs to be balanced, a trooper that gets his chest cavity ventilated doesn't strut around the day after, But week with the right equipment would be nifty.
#4: TROOPER UPGRADES. it's already been covered by others, but thought I'd give my thoughts on it as well. with the right research, you can upgrade your troops with cybernetics and or psionics/nano machines. (I really like the idea of a diverse techtree, but more on that later) as for cybernetics, I don't just mean, cyborg legs, arms and eyes for seriously wounded troops, so you can get them back in action. I mean stuff like enhanced vision, faster reactions, higher damage threshold, weapon interface for better aim and so forth.
#5: DIVERSE TECHTREE: I would really like a diverse techtree, so that it'd be impossible to reserch EVERYTHING in the first play through, this would give the game great replay value. are you gonna focus on alien tech, try to crack the code on plasma weapons and their other secrets, use their tech against them. gonna go with earth tech and improve known weapons or branch into laser.
what kind of troop improvement are you gonna put your dollars into. Psionics, cybernetics, biomanipulation?
There's so many possibilities and handled correctly, this could effectively make a new playthrough utterly alien (pun intended) from the last.
#6: BASE IMPROVEMENTS. quick tie in to the techtree, I'd like to able to upgrade my base sektions. so they preform better/faster/stronger. you know. Workshop --> improved workshop -- advanced workshop. again requires resources and research. But especially with such a cool looking base UI upgrades visually would be awesome.
#7: WEAPONS. pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease make a minigun T_T I was so disappointed there was no proper minigun in Enemy unknown, That intro got me all hyped and it wasn't even there.
also a flamethrower would be nice =)
Also a sentry gun ala the Aliens movie. you could outfit it with the weapon of your choice and have it cover your ass, if you feel short on man power for a mission. incidently, it could also be a base upgrade, would be nice with some automated turrets during those pesky base raids.
And bobby traps and mines, both proximity and detonator trigger thankyou very much =)
so thats' my two cents. (for now)
ET go home!
I don't know about you guys, but there were times when it was possible to get complacent - for example, you land at a Terror site and see Snakemen. Automatically, you relax because Snakemen are just big stupid Aliens that can't do anything except shoot at you (unless of course you get too close to one of their pet Chrysalid things.
What if that wasn't the case? What if in that example, the majority of them are Snakemen, but along for the ride, just to mix things up a bit are a squad of Sectoids, or Ethereals? That would keep us on our toes more, no?
This where I like the idea of leadership and morale. Have an Ethereal be the leader of said Snakemen. If you sneak around back and you kill him then the Snakemen fighting efficiency is lowered drastically, making them even more useless meatsacks. Or has this been mentioned already under morale?I don't know about you guys, but there were times when it was possible to get complacent - for example, you land at a Terror site and see Snakemen. Automatically, you relax because Snakemen are just big stupid Aliens that can't do anything except shoot at you (unless of course you get too close to one of their pet Chrysalid things.
What if that wasn't the case? What if in that example, the majority of them are Snakemen, but along for the ride, just to mix things up a bit are a squad of Sectoids, or Ethereals? That would keep us on our toes more, no?
It's funny because this is a WH40k mechanic and the leaders of the Tau are actually called ethereals and if yours is killed your units take a massive hit in morale.
Exactly - that would be great.
One other thing Firaxis, you wanna streamline something? Streamline the inventory system!! I mean, 14 heavy plasma and 14 heavy plasma clips means I want each guy to load his weapon with the clip. Not put it in his sodding backpack, while several soldiers are left with no ammo at all, meaning I have to check that each one is locked and loaded! They're supposed to be Earth's elite... God help us.
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