I've read a few XCOM fanfics and since Xenonauts is similar enough, it got me wondering how things would be if Xenonauts was a book or series of books in the hard sci-fi genre.
For those who don't know it, "soft" sci-fi allows the existence of vaguely explained technobabble, sometimes bordering on magic. "Hard" sci-fi is stricter and demands a logical and consistent explanation for almost everything that happens, usually based on real physics. Most sci-fi stories are somewhere between those two extremes. Please refer to this article for a more thorough explanation.
Xenonauts, the game, is in a middling sort of setting. On the hard side, humans are individually weaker than combat-engineered aliens, humans don't have psionics, human tech can't go toe-to-toe with alien tech, and the main characters (your soldiers) die by the bucketload. On the soft side, a single global organization with barely two hundred members (depending on how many you hired) can stop an alien invasion, UFOs can be beaten by 1980s jet fighters in dogfights, and the existence of psionics in general.
What if we notch up the hardness a bit? I don't suggest going too far; I actually want to keep psionics, and a proper alien invasion force would roll us up in no time.
Keep in mind, this is all for lore; a "what if Xenonauts was a book instead of a game" thing. Pretend you don't have to worry about game balance and making it enjoyable to play, as opposed to enjoyable and realistic to read.
Things I'd consider changing or noting:
1. A truly global war. By mid-game, the aliens are attacking in three-four waves a month with maybe forty to sixty troops in each wave. If this was a book, I'm thinking something more like a dozen general attacks in population centers with hundreds of aliens, coinciding with strategic strikes at military centers. The Xenonauts would not be expected to handle every battle, but instead would be humanity's trump card, facing the aliens where the battles are most strategically important or high-profile. For example, regular USAF and National Guard would hold the line against the aliens in New York, but the Xenonauts would be tasked with rescuing VIPs, assassinating alien leaders, and of course, boarding alien ships.
2. The Xenonauts is a bigger, more public organization with global jurisdictional authority on everything extraterrestrial. This means a staff in the thousands, minimum, and the ability to commandeer or requisite local forces where necessary. A swarm of UFOs come over the horizon, Xenonauts have the authority to call up local air-forces to join the battle. An alien ground assault threatens to overrun Moscow, Xenonauts have the authority to call up Russian tanks (not that the Russians would need any encouragement in that scenario).
3. Xenonauts get a much bigger budget. Its kinda weird that interceptors based on multimillion dollar planes barely cost you half-a-million. Its even weirder that you get a global budget of a couple of million plus whatever you can sell off, when the USA alone has a current defense budget of over 600 billion. Remember, this is now a book instead of a game, so you don't have to worry about game balance. So let the Xenonauts have access to local radar instead of having to build their own every time. Let the interceptors cost what they should. Let the Xenonauts have a few thousand operators; the US Navy SEALs alone have around 2,700 members.
4. Much of the fighting would take place in and around military airports. The aliens would quickly discover that Xenonaut Interceptors and, to a lesser extent, other atmospheric fighters, would be the first and biggest hurdle in their invasion plans. Consequently, a lot of the aliens' efforts would be directed at destroying or neutralizing military airports or diversion tactics intended to draw out human forces guarding said airports. Say, a terror mission or twelve happening a few dozen miles from Andrews while a squadron of alien bombers and landing craft head try to take/destroy the airport directly.
That's it for now. And for the third time, this is all just headcanon/lorestuff so don't worry about breaking the game. Thoughts?
See this video for how I imagine the battles would feel like. Just pretend that the Novus (the silvery guys with blue lasers in the video) get replaced with Xenonaut operators and their respective warmachines.
EDIT: Almost forgot. Alien armor(tanks). Would they have any and what would they be like?
