Ask your questions for podcasts here!

[DP1982SK]

One more:

When you were doing the combat design, what was your approach to different modes of fire vs. number of actions?

I'm interested what options were considered.

Additionally, what's your opinon, on a system, where after researching anatomy/live alien combo you could add additional mode for scoped weapons/close range situations, where you could aim in specific parts of an alien, aka Fallout Tactics for example.

I'd certainly see such tactical options a vast improvement over original game. If I'd see a fast moving unit, I sure as hell would like to cripple its ability to move, or if I'd see a heavily armored and armed unit, I'd try to eliminate its ability to deal damage first, etc.

[Oathbreaker]

We know this is a reimagining of the original, but is it a complete reboot, or is it a continuation of the events from the original?

Allow me to explain my question a bit. We see the return of Sectoids and Mutons in the demos, but we also see they're arriving via "pods" (at least before you shoot down your first ship). Have the aliens returned with new tactics, units and technology? Also, the original invasion began in 1999, and the X Com organization tossed rookies into the meatgrinder by the dozen. The new invasion appears to begin in 2015, and our organization uses small teams of specialists. Does this represent our preparedness against another impending alien invasion, or is this all just a sign of the times? Finally, if this is all part of the same timeline, does that mean we have to go back to Mars again, or do we have a different End Game this time?

I'm fairly sure (based on watching all the interviews and official youtube videos I could get my grubby little hands on) that it's just a complete re-imagination or update of the game. The actual "lore" hasn't changed beyond cosmetics or a few numbers, like the 1999 attack of the original becoming a 2015 attack now. It's basically a new game that acts as if the events of the first game never happened.

If this bothers you I don't know what to say. Maybe write your own backstory and play pretend. It'd be impossible to have a gradual research progression from current-day weapons and flight technology to alien stuff if you started off with the assumption that we already had a bunch of stuff from back in 1999. Games have to be successful to make money, first.

[Being]

It'd be impossible to have a gradual research progression from current-day weapons and flight technology to alien stuff if you started off with the assumption that we already had a bunch of stuff from back in 1999. Games have to be successful to make money, first.

I don't know.. we could start with blaster launchers and end up with MIRV-quantum-blasterlauncher-launchers.

[IrishSamurai]

If this bothers you I don't know what to say. Maybe write your own backstory and play pretend. It'd be impossible to have a gradual research progression from current-day weapons and flight technology to alien stuff if you started off with the assumption that we already had a bunch of stuff from back in 1999. Games have to be successful to make money, first.

Where do you get this bothers me? I simply asked if it was part of the same timeline, which would help explain why we have elite squads of soldiers unafraid of groups of aliens, or if it's simply a reflection of today's Call of Duty/Mass Effect/Rainbow Six/etc mindset? I was merely inquiring into their design philosophy and how it interacts with existing lore.

As for the "games have to be successful to make money first"....what does that have to do with anything i asked? Are you trying to suggest the game wouldn't be successful if it was a continuation of the original? That it would mean our soldiers would start out overpowered and/or have nothing new to research during a new alien invasion using different tech and tactics? Maybe all the existing alien tech that was salvaged deteriorated after the final battle on Mars, and now we have to start over. Don't forget, Terror From the Deep was a direct sequel to the original, and we had to start from scratch anyway.

Finally, i've also watched the videos and interviews, and they never came out and said "the first game never happened". Just looking for clarity, that's all.

[Akinaba]

One more question that just emerged:

What are they ways to stun an alien?

Particulary will the player will be able to use old-reliable stun rods, or one should rely on some distant means of incapacitating?

However, it seems to be a little bit late to ask...

[heniv]

Did Gred die in a plane crash or something? =(

Has anyone heard were and when the pod cast will be?

[Spleenslitta]

Please don't say stuff like that Heniv. Not even as a joke.

But when will the podcast be ready? Maybe they need to do a lot of editing...oh well. It will show up sooner or later.

[psychoo]

amazing how dead these forums are

but no wonder since it`s here for no use.

[Zweistein000]

I know it's a bit late, but maybe this will make it to some other podcast. My question is when you guys were reviewing the old X-Com, did you just look at enemy unknown or did you also look at TFTD and Apoc. Because the later games have several improvements over the original, specially X-Com apocalypse (things like not-so-op psionics, dependency on other organizations/nations for non military activity, in some cases even RTS mode).

[Akinaba]

Did Gred die in a plane crash or something?

Never ever say things like this. Ever.

Now about a podcasts. I've been looking a Civ V forum simultaneously and I'm shure I saw a note that 2k Greg had recorded the podcasts and had returned. But mind you, he supposingly do podcasts not for single XCOM, and he needs time to cut scenes and in fact create the podcasts itselves.
So lets give it a time and be patient. I'd wait roughly till the end of this week at least to podcasts to be released.

Excuse me for having no links here, but I just tried to found posts on which I rely on and failed in it for some reason...

[SectoidSquisher]

So far, we've seen aliens appearing in groups. At the start of a battle, that's fair enough - but what about later on? Do the alien formations get broken up, by one member panicking for example, and running off somewhere? Speaking of which, is panicking still in the game - on both sides?

[Gen_Pho]

Did Gred die in a plane crash or something? =(

Has anyone heard were and when the pod cast will be?

You received quite the scolding from the PC crowd for that one. He obviously has died from rabid monkey attack....jeez.

[samsmithnz]

I hope this is not too late, but I'd like you to ask the developers:

What do think it was that made the original UFO: Enemy Unknown so compelling? What features are you specifically using in the new game to make it a similar success?

thanks!

Sam

[katscan]

Greg, any updates on if this podcast is something that will be released in a matter of a week or so or if we are going to need to wait a couple months?

[Chaos Marine]

Why not give players the options to play the game you want to make it into as well as giving the player the option to play the game like it was when it first came out with sending as many operatives as you wanted, fitting them with whatever armour and weapons you wanted, TU etc? It would make everyone happier!

[Inkidu]

Why not give players the options to play the game you want to make it into as well as giving the player the option to play the game like it was when it first came out with sending as many operatives as you wanted, fitting them with whatever armour and weapons you wanted, TU etc? It would make everyone happier!

Can't make everyone happy.

[Chaos Marine]

How about allowing the game to be modded so people can do that themselves?

[Inkidu]

How about allowing the game to be modded so people can do that themselves?

[insert Condescending Wonka Meme here]

No seriously, they're allowing mod support. It's just a little out of the realm of reasonable to expect them to ship two whole version of the game.

[b15h09]

You received quite the scolding from the PC crowd for that one. He obviously has died from rabid monkey attack....jeez.

More people die in rabid monkey attacks in one year alone than in plane crashes over a ten year period. Rabid monkeys are no joking matter.

[SectoidSquisher]

How about allowing the game to be modded so people can do that themselves?

I would be amazed if this game can't be modded. The devs. have as good as said that they won't go out of their way to make it difficult.

[Inkidu]

I've actually got another question: Are genders locked into certain classes or can you have male and female troops for every class? I always wanted an all-female team, but you got women like one for every seven males.

Never let it be said I'm not a gender equal individual.

[Gen_Pho]

More people die in rabid monkey attacks in one year alone than in plane crashes over a ten year period. Rabid monkeys are no joking matter.

Ah sorry I offended you

[katscan]

I've actually got another question: Are genders locked into certain classes or can you have male and female troops for every class? I always wanted an all-female team, but you got women like one for every seven males.

Never let it be said I'm not a gender equal individual.

+1 !! If Im going to be staring at something, it might as well be a group of hot chicks.

[b15h09]

Nude mods, here we come.

[Inkidu]

+1 !! If Im going to be staring at something, it might as well be a group of hot chicks.

Besides, it's not like there are any chicks on this forum anyway (sans Elizabeth, of course). Just kidding. No seriously though the original could be a total dude-fest. I have yet to get a single female in all my troops through this playthrough.

[Spleenslitta]

I clearly remember seeing a female wearing what looked like a heavy armor in one of their concept drawings.
It had some kind of transparent/bulletproof shield mounted on the chest so that the wearer could work on something explosive without worrying too much about shrapnel to the face.

It looked like the kind of armor you would expect a member of the bombsquad to wear. But where exactly did i see it? where?

[Inkidu]

I'm seeking some clarification on the move action system. I get that you can't shoot and then move, but is it possible that you can move, do an action, and then use up the rest of your move? Like for example. You move a soldier, an alien appears, in the old game your guy would stop. Could you say use your move to either shoot at him or finish moving to cover and using hunker down (if the move is not a double, obviously.)

[katscan]

I'm seeking some clarification on the move action system. I get that you can't shoot and then move, but is it possible that you can move, do an action, and then use up the rest of your move? Like for example. You move a soldier, an alien appears, in the old game your guy would stop. Could you say use your move to either shoot at him or finish moving to cover and using hunker down (if the move is not a double, obviously.)

Are you copy/pasting my posts to increase your post count?
That's exactly what I asked in the other thread. Should we make a dedicated thread for this discussion for clarification sake?

[b15h09]

I'm seeking some clarification on the move action system. I get that you can't shoot and then move, but is it possible that you can move, do an action, and then use up the rest of your move? Like for example. You move a soldier, an alien appears, in the old game your guy would stop. Could you say use your move to either shoot at him or finish moving to cover and using hunker down (if the move is not a double, obviously.)

This is one of the main reasons people argue for TUs. Granularity of control.

[Inkidu]

This is one of the main reasons people argue for TUs. Granularity of control.

Yeah, but I think TUs are just too random, too wasteful. You often lose some of your soldier's ability to move. I think if we could do the above it would be a good median, but even if you can't I'd take it over TUs. If I need to think a little more about where I move then so be it.

[b15h09]

Yeah, but I think TUs are just too random, too wasteful. You often lose some of your soldier's ability to move. I think if we could do the above it would be a good median, but even if you can't I'd take it over TUs. If I need to think a little more about where I move then so be it.

Nothing random about them, you just had to think a little more about where you move. Metered movement would definitely be a decent median without a battlescape inventory.

[Inkidu]

Nothing random about them, you just had to think a little more about where you move. Metered movement would definitely be a decent median without a battlescape inventory.

No I mean in the individual unit. Some guy had forty some guy had seventy, I would find myself having to wait turn after turn for this guy's backup to just arrive. It's a lot of head-space and it does put the focus more on the individual. Those two should have been moving in sync.

[b15h09]

They would have moved in sync had you had you allowed the slower fellow to set the pace. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. More realistic that way, rather than some farcical idea that everyone is equal.

[Inkidu]

They would have moved in sync had you had you allowed the slower fellow to set the pace. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. More realistic that way, rather than some farcical idea that everyone is equal.

Yeah if I didn't have a guy bleeding out, one alien to find, and not much time left. Had to make the guy break protocol and he ended up killing the last alien saving the last guy.

[b15h09]

lol, thank god you had an exceptional individual on the team, eh?

[Inkidu]

lol, thank god you had an exceptional individual on the team, eh?

Tell me about it. Medkits next right after the sectoid leader. There's rarely a use for them until personal armor if not power armor.

[Being]

If you can move 20m in one move and choose to move 2m instead (with one click of mouse/controller), the remaining 18m is wasted and you can never have it back. You could use a second move (and forfeit another type of action for that turn) to move a further 20m, totaling 22m in that case.

This is based on what can be seen on the demo footage, as I've explained in another thread.

I am not quite clear yet if you can take some other action before moving. I suspect not as it has never been mentioned by devs or shown on video afaik.
---

And metered movement would absolutely be a huge improvement.
I've also mentioned before that the differences between move-action, action points and time units is merely one of granularity.

move-action could be considered a TU system with maximum time units of 2. Moving, up to a threshold, takes 1 time unit. If you cross that threshold, it takes 2 TU. Shooting takes 1 TU, except with some weapons where it takes 2 TU.

Action point systems might be a 10 TU system. Shooting might take 5 TU, moving would take 1 TU, but you could move 1-10 times in a turn. 5 TU worth of movement would equal the movement threshold of 1 TU in move-action system.

Having TUs doesn't have to mean you have to have 15 different TU costs for handling inventory or for various terrain types. The amount of TUs you're going to spend on any move can be visually represented very clearly as well. There could be movement threshold drawn on the map that show the limit of where you can move and still be able to shoot a gun (or use any other action). Nothing would prevent having a 20% TU cost for shooting a gun while also limiting shots per turn to 1 or 2 either (fast to aim+fire but then you have to wait for plasma chamber to cool down or whatever or the gun would explode... but you don't have to wait standing still!).

Anything but the "if you move 2m, then you spent your 20m movement allowance", please. I don't require a TU stat, I merely want the functionality it provided.

---
Another question springs to mind:

Does moving around lots reduce your chances to hit? I've heard you will become harder to hit when dashing, but would you have lower chance to hit when using the perk Run&Gun? Would moving 2m instead of 20m and then shooting be more accurate?

[Usul]

I've also mentioned before that the differences between move-action, action points and time units is merely one of granularity.

move-action could be considered a TU system with maximum time units of 2. Moving, up to a threshold, takes 1 time unit. If you cross that threshold, it takes 2 TU. Shooting takes 1 TU, except with some weapons where it takes 2 TU.

And I think I already mentioned that this is not true. Because if it was, you could shoot first, then move. But the new X-COM is "move first, then action" (with a few exceptions, but this is the general rule).

[Freeman.Alex]

A. Can we build our own maps?
B. What tools are available to modders? XML as in CIV 4?

[DP1982SK]

Any news on this one?