There are some really great ideas here guys the problem is they are removing things instead of adding them! I hope they are reading this forum for addons and patches,
Starting with real world weapons and working toward future weapons
Customizable Weapons
Armor
Nukes
Other AI armies helping/hindering
Off map support
Real world physics, death animations and rag-dolling.
All sound great... hint hint devs
Xenonauts actually originally used some real-world contempory names, but had to change those names due to trademark issues. It makes sense to use art and names that are evocative of specific modern technology, but not necessarily exactly the same thing.Originally Posted by SectoidSquisher
Good stuff, Whitefang.
I dunno about you guys, but I want to see real stuff in the game - I want to move from F16s, F18s and Raptors on to more advanced Earth based tech (maybe some stuff straight out of Area 51 - why not stick that in the game), before finally taking a page out of the Aliens' book and making our own spacecraft. Also - real tanks, real guns - what do you say? Surely that's not going to step on any licensing toes?
Edit: I just had a peep at Xenonauts, and that has real military hardware in the game - or almost real, like F17s which as far as I know aren't actually real planes - unlike F117s.Actually, some of them are real but sort of updated versions. It looks pretty damn good!
I don't think you can do this in the original game, but as well as naming soldiers, it would be good if we can name craft as well?
Going back to the 'randomly generated battlefields' - I hope they're not completely random. In TFTD yesterday, I quit out of a mission because I'd forgotten to bring certain equipment and when I returned, the landscape (seascape?) was entirely different. If you're returning to exactly the same spot, the battlefield should be the same.
They should just use Total War's system - it's not random, but it's based on a complex strategy map full of all sorts of different contours, terrains, etc.
Last edited by SectoidSquisher; 01-23-2012 at 09:41 AM.
I don't think you put on that list:
1. A competitive AI! One that "learns" and react to player's action, both in combat and in the strategical map.
2. The X-COM base can be attacked by aliens, and like in X-COM Apocalypse, we must save the workers and scientists.
3. An inventory management and the possibility to see on the ground the weapons and the death-unconscious aliens. Because if the mission is too difficult for you at that time, to be able to "steal" a valuable unconscious alien for study and interrogation.
4. The PSI-attack can be made even if the alien is not in line of sight of the PSI-guy (like in the first 2 X-com games) and he can control only one alien at a time (like in X-COM Apocalypse).
5. The save and load in X-Com Apocalypse had a "remember" function attached, that was a good thing. So if you reload the same save, your shot result will be the same. Not like in the first 2 X-Com, where you could abuse of "loading until you hit function".
Last edited by Arhaeus; 01-25-2012 at 04:24 AM.
What - you used to reload until a shot hit?
Edit: One other neat touch would be if Firaxis included all of the soldier's names from the original games - that would be a bit of nostalgia for us old-timers.
Towards the end game, I found that unless it was a Terror Mission, or other large UFO, there wasn't much need to actually go out and intercept them, unless it's to get more Elerium. The new game should feature new mission types to combat this - things like mini Terror Missions, where a scout or two has just landed in a city and are causing havoc. Also, don't you guys think it would be cool if we actually saw more Alien missions in action? So if it's an abduction mission, you actually see people being taken - and your mission score depends on how many you save? That sort of thing.
Here is my list.
The cartoon look.
Since this game is meant to be scary(sort of) the style you have chosen does make it feel less real. There is a reason we laugh when a cartoon gets a piano on it's head. So I hope you make the characters come alive and have a personality so one do gets invested in what happens to them. Not just customization of the character's look but a persona that you can pick for them.
When a soldier dies I hope its more then "a heavy that I gave a name and face".
The Aliens.
Most of the variations of UFO and XCOM I have played the aliens on the map are more or less on patrol and you have to find them. It gets boring real quick ( i loved when the aliens attacked your base). Sure you give them different styles but the usually don't have a goal other then to wait for you to find them.
I am hoping that the aliens have a mission they want to complete and if they have achieved their goals they will go "home", and that goal will hopefully be something more then wrecking havoc.
Examples would be preventing aliens getting hold of genetic information from a blood bank or hospital. Stopping them from poisoning a water-reservoir.
Aliens high-jacking the nukes and so on.
Damage to soldiers.
I a soldiers get injured and need to heal up and when the come back the have prosthetics or implants that shows that the have been injured. Even have a research tree that provides better types of healing, replacement limbs that can be bio or cybernetic with different attributes.
Soldiers become buddies.
That your teammates becomes more attached to one another the more they work together and get bonuses for it but if your team loses Butch moral hit rock bottom.
some good suggestions here already ;o)
One i would like to see would be an armor dye system (Fable2. Guild wars 2 style) so we can truely make X-Com our own unit
reminders of Injuries on soldiers (scars etc)
Interception pilots that get better with use etc
reserch of dual weapon technology - M-16 & UGL (Underslung Grenade Launcher)/M16 & Shotgun type thing)
Sights and lights - Scopes, Laser dot, Torchlights etc
Soldier-usable psionics.
Oh, I know the mere mention of the P-word will send some of you off at an angle, assuming that it must be overpowered in a game-destroying way.
Breathe.
Psi powers can be as creative as your imagination allows for. In X-Com they just took the easy way out, doing the ones that were easy to implement.
Things I'm thinking off:
Awareness
The soldier can sense that there is something out there. Some kind of markers are placed in the FOW for... life forms.
Advanced awareness can differentiate between aliens and terrestrial life forms.
This marker's position can be off by as much as 1/2 the distance between psionic and life form.
One marker automatically covers every additional life form within 1/3 the distance so you cannot see how many there are.
You only get a rough guess about where something is.
May not show "machines" at all so it would be dangerous to rely too much on it.
Distract
The alien thinks it saw something out of the corner of it's uhh... eyestalk, very briefly reducing the chance of getting hit while someone crosses the alien's line of fire.
Only works once on any one alien.
Decoy
Alien sees / hears something and goes to investigate. Obviously doesn't work very well after they have found your soldiers.
Could even expend reaction fire on such a decoy if it's convincing (high level) enough.
Weight of fire
An affected alien feels "more suppressed than usual" by your covering fire.
I' thinking more along the lines of mind tricks and enhancing illusions rather than the brute force magic mutant powerz used in X-Com.
As a result, their use can be limited far more easily.
Aliens "figure it out", maybe even "notify their buddies", making those special moves only useful while surprise lasts.
There could be a resource used. Not another fiddly TU system but rather 1-3 "points", which can be gained through perks / training.
The Boots of Re may only by used by the pure of heart lest they destroy the user!
New features i would like to see introduced:
sentry guns - i.e aliens style - great for covering certain areas and would help pleasing some folks on the lower cap of 6 to a squad.
once set up cant be moved until end of the that combat sceniro.
the ability to call in a airstike on one specfic target - i.e building or damaged ufo this can only be acheived by building a specific room to do the job - once room has been built a launchpad can be built (this has 2 purposes) firstly to launch a sdi type goldeneye weapon that orbits the earth for the actual air strikes - would have a charge bar so the strike weapon can only be used once say every 5 or 6 days but great for clearing out heaviley fortified aliens.
second reason for launch pad - building and launching satalites - the more you have the more cover you have over the earth for protecting and intercepting ufos.
of course the alien threat can shoot them down so maybe a defensive device to protect them and the sdi - more strategy and research great :-)
in later games a moonbase you can build to set up against enemy attacks and quicker interception of ufos - this will envolve many launches and much of your income - so many great tactics can come from doing this it boggles the mind
light and darkness and sense of smell
i would have a bias where the aliens prefer to attack in dark and have better abiltys in the dark - xcom to combat this early in game would use torches and flares as the game progresses night vision and infa red would become available.
aliens would actually shoot lighting to improve there chances in combat situations
these night missions would create a fantastic thrilling and tense atmosphere as long as the music can match it.
i would love to see dogs as part of xcom units the primary role is sniffing out aliens - maybe showing alien footprints when you are in control of dog- ie dog will start barking when a alien is near and as a last resort a lamb to the slaughter to clear difficult rooms.
aliens
the more varied the better fighters - psionic fighters - suicide fighters - metamorphazing aliens - terror aliens - fast aliens slow aliens tough aliens i could go on and on the more varied the aliens with different abiltys the more the tactics for the game and strategy to beat them multiplys - the more and varied the better - the gameplay will be fantastic for it and also unpredicatable - thats a great hallmark of a xcom game.
to be honest i could sit here for hours writing this stuff lol - my imagination for this game is set to skys the limit
You know what I want? I want the ability to name your craft.
Nothing says awesome when your team rolls up in the, "Lady of Fortune".
Couldn't you always name your craft?
Base defence in Apocalypse had sentry guns, btw. I managed successful defences with nothing but non-combatants and security emplacements on my side a couple of times.
How about adding a graphic to your craft? Why just name is if you can't have picture of a pinup riding a blaster bomb?
Being able to change look of soldier is OK, but how about tattoos and piercings? let's get with the times. : )
also, in defense of bringing back TUs and inventory grids, how about we add to the level of control with:
after mission debriefings, counseling sessions with the soldiers to help with the stress, alcohol and drug testing?
You mean like what they did with B17s during WWII? Yep, good idea!
I'm sure I tried, but I don't remember ever actually doing it. It would be good to rename our craft as well as our soldiers.Couldn't you always name your craft?
I would like to see medic in action.
I would like to have ambush and get ambushed missons
If aliens invade USA, Israel or Finland, there are likely to be armed civilians. Those three countries have the most weapons per citizen.
Hi!
I just want to ad my biggest concern about previous X-com games
The line of sight.
The troops are supposed to be the Elite troops from different areas in the military and when they go out on a mission the are expecting to see aliens, so there of they should see aliens from a far distance (of cause in their line of site). Not as it been in the previous games that aliens been "popping" up 6 meters in front of you, or you Hear/PSI-see them but cant "really" see them till they shoot at you.
But note that we Humans do have a harder time seeing something moving in a strait line towards you, than something moving across your line of sight.
I really hope they improve on that, other than that I just sit back and wait till it comes... cause its going to be so much fun to get back on bace and woop some alien buttox
I notice in the ant farm base they have people working out and hanging out in a bar type area... that brings a thought...
what if we could encourage skilled soldiers to mate and breed better soldiers?
Junior could get a bonus skill even before he levels up, just for having super parents
The first game was set in the time frame of about a year, not generations. I would prefer not to change the base view into Sims as much as possible.
1. I'd like to see time units be used for ducking and jumping away from incoming danger. For example grenades/missles or maybe even supressive fires. Both man and aliens.
2. I don't know if close combat/melee would be a great gaming expreience. Maybe its worth a try..
There are no TUs in this game - uh oh, here we go again...
If i remember correctly there was something that looked like a grenade launcher in one of the videos. There will probably be a bunch of different weapons you can mount on the SHIV.
How about a light mortar to give it indirect firepower? Or maybe two small vertical launch rockets to limit it's available indirect ammo?
Or you could give said light mortar to a heavy as an alternative to the rocket launcher.
Sure an ordinary mortar is maybe a bit longranged when you look at the mapsize, but if it is built for shorter ranges appropriate to map size instead it could be smaller and lighter.
Just looked through the video were i believed the grenade launcher to be. It was just something i dreamed up i guess.
A four/six shoot grenade launcher would be a great weapon to add to the arsenal. It would be something to give the support/assault classes some more punch at middle ranges.
Different weapons to mount on the SHIV is an interesting conversation. In general I would want to balance any indirect fire weapons with being really inaccurate, otherwise we have the blaster bomber problem again.
I think it would be cool to mount some psi scrambling device on the SHIV to protect nearby troops from psychic attacks. It would be cool to arm the SHIVs like the interceptors. Put on a flame thrower for close range and a rocket launcher for long range. Here cool downs on rockets could actually make sense too since you shouldn't worry about carrying a large number of rockets like you do with soldiers.
Yeah. Inaccuracy is a good way to balance it. Think about the way you could apply such a weapon when you throw in different types of mortar shells.
-smoke, std. grenade, stun, flashbang, incendary
-timed shrapnel shell that explodes before it hits the ground for larger damage spread (less damage and almost useless against heavily armored aliens) which is ideal for getting them out of cover.
I like the sound of a psy disrupter device and flamethrower. Of course the psy disrupter should have a short range radius to balance things out.
How about a 37-50mm cannon or a 20mm chaingun- Low caliber for a cannon because the SHIV isn't a fullsized tank.
True on the small radius. I would like to see more defensive than offensive perks for the SHIV for some reason.
Chaingun would be sweet. Ideal for suppressing fire.
How about a super heavy cannon (when you take the size of the SHIV into perspective). When you want to fire it you need to deploy hydraulic legs on the SHIV to handle the recoil.
Doing this takes 1-2 rounds and in addition you can't mount much else on that SHIV.
In addition the turret isn't capable of firing backwards or to the flanks of the SHIV (think of it as an old WW2 tank hunter).
It might have a low firerate or you need a soldier to load the shells in by hand at the back of the SHIV.
In return for all these handicaps you get firepower that is truly without equal among the human tech weapons.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to mount an extra heavy armor plate on the front of the SHIV because of the firing delays.
Oh yeah how about making the SHIV into a mobile battering ram? Drive it through the walls and let the flamethrower clear out the room and then follow in with a soldier or two.
It would be great or am i getting too excited now?
Some of these suggestions are WAY out in left field. Jumping out of the way? Is this a circus or FPS? I'd like to see someone jump away from a laser attack. Nukes? Sense of smell ?? Wha??? People realize this adds nothing to the game, I hope. Anyway..
#1 - Most important in many ppls view - Semi-random maps -OR- map creator released to community after game release (aka Skyrim Creation Kit and mods via SteamWorkshop)
There needs to be a mechanism to have many many maps out there. I don't believe in the developer supplying so many maps you will never play the same one twice. Maybe. But when you do, it can be boring. You know exactly where all the corners. You know there is an explosive tile behind this wall. You know that the AI never guards this particular entry to the building. You are taking shelter behind the same stupid cab, again (gas station map from demo). Etc.
#2 - Inventory management, not simply limiting us to using class-locked weapons. What if I want my medic to carry a grenade or two? Classes not being SO restrictive that this turns into some Diablo clone or something.
#3 - How are night battles managed? ie- incendiary rounds, smoke, flares?
Last edited by katscan; 03-16-2012 at 12:33 PM.
Oh yes, and from another thread:
#5 - Different distances one can move based upon the weight of the equipment they are carrying. My heavy carrying a pistol should be able to move further than if he was carrying a rocket launcher.
Actually, I'm fairly certain grenades are one of things that are cross-class, like medikits. I hope grenade types aren't Support class perks, though.
I reckon this is going to be roughly simulated at a class level, with Assault guys getting all the "move further" perks. I, too, would prefer a weight-based distance, but since troops don't seem to have a strength stat, I doubt we'll get it.
The big squad size and geoscape of ufo enemy unknown and tftd.
The size of the tactical maps of X-com apocalypse or UFO Enemy unknown.(having to search out not knowing where they are on the big map is spooky)
The Soldier inventory of xcom apocalypse or ufo afterlight
A combination of the training from xcom-apocalypse and x-com aftershock. ability to train people up in level and ability to train them in spezilisations on level ups.
The ability to start modding weapons in early mid game with additional modding of weapons getting available later (scopes, stabilisers,silencers,motion accelerators).
The possibility to build and equip or buy and equip fighters or xcom attack crafts like in x-com apocalypse.
Kinda nice thing would be to have some moronic alien worshipping cult to raid the amount of time spent in those temples in x-com apocalypse killing those green clad alien worshippers
What i dont hope: the extreme close quarters of Ufo: aftermaths ufos (it was a seperate map after entering the ufo and if you where extremely unlucky you would get pinned down in that small entry area with no hope of getting out because the way forward twisted and turned and you couldn't stay because you would get naded to death).
Dont mind if you only get interceptor bases but still could be fun to get alien attacks on your bases, maybe some kind of attack on your interceptor bases that can knock them out forcing you to build new if you dont respond in time, or attacks where the aliens try downloading the memory core of from the bases to gater intelligence and maybe find your main base.
lol..PSI powers. IMHO too much irritation for the consumer player base who are required for commercial success for this upcoming game..( You knwo, those teenagers with attention difficulties and who cannot deal with difficulty and variance in games). Just create a sort of Magneto Helmet for soldiers which blocks PSI Attacks, I say.
I'd also relish the oppotunity to play as the Aliens.
+1
Even if Psi was roughly the same as the original it would still work with some minor tweaks. It's already subject to less abuse than the original due to the smaller squad sizes. Just change it so that fully controlling an alien renders your soldier unable to perform ANY other action as he is in "concentration mode." This would be a huge tactical choice because it would leave that soldier vulnerable and with only 6 squaddies odds are you're going to be down a combat role from using mind control. Cap the number of turns you can mind control and have roll checks at each turn for the alien to break control, with increasing chance to break each turn. After a break leave both units depleted of "psi energy" and perhaps with diminished combat faculties for a turn or three as well.
Now these are very good ideas indeed and i also simply love the ideas put forward by Gazz. All that remains is putting these fantastic ideas into the game.
Unless the dev's have something even better...but that would be half a miracle.
my wishlist:
- more maps with minimal lighting. and also rooms and/or hallways inside UFOs that have been cutoff from the power source that are pitch dark especially in crashed UFOs. wouldnt it be fun to enter the navigation room of a UFO only to find that it's pitch dark knowing that it's a chryssalid ship and you just ran out of flares?
- alien weak points. not all but some species like the cyberdisk. after completing the cyberdisk autopsy, players find out their strengths and weaknesses which include a weak point that is revealed once it opens up. http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featur...ostPageIndex=2
players can then choose to aim at this weak point for a guaranteed critical hit but with reduced accuracy. if it dies after being hit in its weak point then there's a chance that it would explode damaging anything nearby(and causing chain explosions! those were hella fun in the original).
- different types of ammo(incendiary, acid) and weapon mods(laser sights, additional ammo)
- status effects other than panicked like paralyzed, blinded
- a vital signs monitor on the UI instead of having the health and will expressed in whole numbers in iron man mode. it would be a different feeling to see your favorite soldier flat line than seeing the hp meter turn to zero.
it would have several levels:
flat line - dead
low heart rate - unconscious, can still be revived
normal - normal
elevated heart rate - adrenaline is pumping, senses are heightened, slight bonuses to accuracy, movement speed etc
heart rate going nuts - state before panicking. will shoot anything that moves abruptly when put on overwatch including civilians in terror missions. penalty to accuracy
Last edited by bcgamer; 03-18-2012 at 09:25 PM.
Zoom controls.
Now that separate Console and PC UIs are confirmed, I couldn't help but thinking about how they would work... and how to get the best out of both. =)
For consoles you most certainly have 2 zoom levels, toggled by a controler button.
However - will there be a a way to select the magnitude of in/out zoom in a gameplay menu?
If you could assign your preferred zoom levels to those two states, you'd have damn near the same freedom of zoom control as PC users using the mouse wheel.
And I'd go one step further.
If the code already exists, include these zoom level settings in the PC UI gameplay menu, along with a checkbox for "use console zoom".
The mousewheel would still zoom but it would instantly switch between the two predefined settings.
In most games where I can zoom, I don't use that many different zoom levels.
One "comfort level" where I can easily control the single soldier, and one zoomed-out state where things get too fiddly to play but I get an overview.
Being able to lock down those two states might actually be an improvement over total freedom.
Oh, and as an added bonus PC users might have to suffer the indecency of liking a console feature.
A melee class for the soldiers or atlest melee-weapons.
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