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Simple UI suggestion for DEAD soldiers to really drive the point home with players.


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X-Com players have always been a bit immersive-driven and even masochistic, yes?

Why not drive home the point that "Dude, your guy who was alive last turn is now DEAD. You failed them. You failed humanity. They're DEAD. It says right there on the screen - DEAD. Where their health and TU's and morale was - it now says DEAD, and it's your fault."

Simple - replace the current gap or disappearance of the dead soldier's mini-information bar with their number on top of the "currently selected soldier information bar" - with the simple, capital letters word "DEAD".

That's it. Guilt trip the players. No further suggestions, Your Honour.

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Maybe instead of just the word DEAD it should be a scrolling message so the button doesn't need to be very big.

You could have it saying 'Oh my god, look what you did, you killed him. He used to be alive with hopes and dreams for the future. Now he is dead and it is all down to you. His family will never see him again, they will only get a sucky little flag to remember him by, why did you make him go into that ship alone you monster? Surely you knew that little Timmy was going to be 3 this weekend? Poor little Timmy.'

Or something like that.

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There is still a chance he/she is alive though! Maybe it should just grey their portrait out?

Also if you abandon a mission with dead/wounded troops still on the ground it should just say M.I.A on the end of mission screen (with a chance the soldier makes it back to HQ after a few weeks - if they were still alive that is).

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I would only make one little suggestion to your idea, Oathbreaker. As Belmakor says, all squaddies that go to 0 or less HP have one chance at the end of the mission to be revived. The greater the negative, the less the chance of survival (and it's possible to auto-fail). Therefore, instead of a DEAD, perhaps a CRITICAL? And also greyed out, as Belmakor suggests? And if the squaddie fails the survival roll, perhaps have the image in the after-combat solider development screen with the word DEAD stamped on it.

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Since Gauddlike already got in one about little orphan pictures and videos of the kids sobbing, what about.

When you have a certain high mortality rate, a little box appears saying "Your troops no longer respect you as a commander. They refuse to follow your orders. You have failed them, their loved ones, the military and all of Earth with your feeble tactics. The End."

You could do it per mission. "Your troops won't enter the warehouse, because last mission you ordered Gauddlike to destroy it while there were three men inside."

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When you have a certain high mortality rate, a little box appears saying "Your troops no longer respect you as a commander. They refuse to follow your orders. You have failed them, their loved ones, the military and all of Earth with your feeble tactics. The End."

I like that. I would also add a line in there like "Yes, you have proven such a godawful leader that your troops would rather let the aliens win than serve under you for even one more mission."

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I actually think something completely non-sentimental would have a larger impact.

Another soldier dead? Grab that blue standard issue ballpoint pen and cross out his portrait. Write standard letter of condolences to loved ones. Prepare for standard military memorial service.

Seriously, having hastily and crudely drawn pen crosses over the portraits of dead soldiers would fit the gritty nature of the game so well!

Maybe instead of just the word DEAD it should be a scrolling message so the button doesn't need to be very big.

You could have it saying 'Oh my god, look what you did, you killed him. He used to be alive with hopes and dreams for the future. Now he is dead and it is all down to you. His family will never see him again, they will only get a sucky little flag to remember him by, why did you make him go into that ship alone you monster? Surely you knew that little Timmy was going to be 3 this weekend? Poor little Timmy.'

Or something like that.

Wait, what about the aliens?
Edited by Safe-Keeper
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We couldn't put that in the combat UI because there's no space. The mission end screen though, yeah - I'd like to have a KIA stamp to go over the portrait.

Are you replying to the OP or something else? All I'm saying is use the space that's vacant in the UI when a soldier dies. Or have that soldier still be selectable with hotkeys or the little bar-thingies above the currently selected soldier - then have a 'KIA' stamp over the portrait to drive the point home.

...Drive it home, right in the feels.

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Are you replying to the OP or something else? All I'm saying is use the space that's vacant in the UI when a soldier dies. Or have that soldier still be selectable with hotkeys or the little bar-thingies above the currently selected soldier - then have a 'KIA' stamp over the portrait to drive the point home.

...Drive it home, right in the feels.

They might not be dead though thanks to the revive mechanic :)

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They might not be dead though thanks to the revive mechanic :)

The Dead Collector: Bring out yer dead.

Large Man with Dead Body: Here's one.

The Dead Collector: That'll be ninepence.

The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.

The Dead Collector: What?

Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There's your ninepence.

The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.

The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.

Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.

The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not.

The Dead Collector: He isn't.

Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.

The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm getting better.

Large Man with Dead Body: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.

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I like on the battle screen that there is no pop up or mark for the dead. There is just a hole in my roster. The hole itself is a reminder of my failure. The more holes that appear the more reminders I have. I always thought of the combat being hectic and no time to tell everyone that the scout is not coming home.

In the after mission breifing a KIA stamp would be a nice touch.

Besides all of my dead from xenonauts are shipped to my undead Blood Bowl team. Why waste parts?

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"Your troops won't enter the warehouse, because last mission you ordered Gauddlike to destroy it while there were three men inside."

thothkins, you do know how to make a 'coon fall of his chair laughing. And pray they're not in your Xenonauts crew...

On the whole, some kind of pointer that your guy caught a plasma bolt up his nostrils would be nice. Just now I had a guy getting shot dead by an alien I couldn't see, wasn't until I tried to select him I saw he was dead. I generally don't get which soldier belongs to which tab without mousing over it, so unless I see the trooper die I have a hard time figuring out if it was Pvt. Redshirt or Cpt. Oneshot-from-everywhere (actually, his name is Sasha Smirnov, but hey).

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Does anyone else like to know how many missions and kills the deceased has on those final missions, so they can be remembered properly? Is anyone else quite that sad :)

I think I do it through the equipment screen in Xenonauts at the moment.

The famous Memorial Screen. Still sad that Kickstarter didn't generate enough money for that...

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what about little bits of text appear above each corpse, rise and fade slowly away...

"Leaves a wife, 2 mistresses and a boyfriend."

"Soldier 4 will will uncover his p0rn stash."

"Leaves behind huge gambling debts."

"His orphaned children are taken into care."

"None of his squad liked him in the slightest."

You know, uplifting memories of the dead guy/gal.

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