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Research - What have the aliens ever done for us?


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I was always keen to see that each of the alien races would have something meaningful to contribute to the R&D of the game.

This is partly to eliminate any superfluous research, but also to show that humanity was using the alien biology and culture.

Looking at the autopies/ vivisections in assets (and please correct anything that now appears automatically out with researches, so this is a bit off the cuff) there' seem to be a few that don't really add that much.

SPOILER SPACE FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE RACE NAMES/ RESEARCH TOPICS

Caesian

Their autopsy leads into Alien Biology and hence stun weapons. Their vivisection simply gives a bonus against them. So both counter measures.Having the Caesian Psion lead into some human psionics, if only defensive measures.

Sebillian

As per Caesian, they lead into Stun Weapons, but their vivisection will also provide you with the updated Medikit, so this is a good example of what would be nice to see elsewhere.

Andron

In 19.4 this doesn't seem to go anywhere? I would have thought it would lead into flexible armours (Wolf) or into Alien Electronics (which I see it did back in v18)

Harridan

A clear link into the Buzzard suit is there. I'd have thought that this would have been a prerequisite, rather than just an option along with any of the drones. Some sort of sniper rifle accuracy bonus may be a nice addition.

Wraith - feeds back into the alien biology you'll probably already have by the time you meet them. I suppose a teleportation unit is out of the question. Ummmmm... some sort of 1 turn camouflage? A stasis grenade that blocks teleportation in it's range?

Praetor - Something psionics related, if only defensively would seem to be in order.

Reaper - In the spirit of invulnerable aircraft, research here could create greyed out zombie soldiers of your favourite Xenonauts. They would have a HP allocation much like an assault shield. Failing that, some sort of Medikit enhancement.

Drones - Drones seem to lead into the buzzard. I'd have thought one at least (Medium or Heavy) into a hovertank. An Xenonaut drone was always on the wish list though.

So a few thoughts, although the aliens , for me, should always have the edge.

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Well granted there is that... but apart from the aqueduct, medicine, plasma weapons, powered armor, advanced aircraft, depeleted alenium grenades, flying suits, plasma reactors, LIDAR arrays, better sanitation and kinetic shields ... what have the Caesians ever done for us?

in all seriousness though I have a couple of suggestions for Andron tech, because I'd love to see a mini tech tree spring from autopsies' too

1) Artificial limbs

Could eventually be manufactured and used to upgrade your soldiers or heal them instantly by replacing body parts with bionics, very expensive and cost prohibitive, each upgrade could govern a particular stat and boost it by x points.

2) we can rebuild him...

Research could culminate in a neural network and artificial brain, allowing you to go full on robocop and 'rebuild' a dead soldier, technically turning them into a vehicle complete with the deceased soldier's stats. There would have to be disadvantages, i.e. counts as a vehicle - prohibitive maintenance costs, expensive replacements/repairs in the event of damage and the fact that it is merely a machine with the imprint of a dead soldiers abilities, it cant learn or improve its stats normally - maybe needing to fall back on the upgrade mechanic to improve skills. Finally, a full cyborg would be immune to Psionics, but vulnerable to electroshock and hacking by Androns.

I appreciate the second is probably too complex to implement at this stage but maybe one day a Modder will read this and cmdr. stark will once again slaughter aliens by the score in the form of a cold sleek murder machine.

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