Gazz

The "story" of all X-COM games has always fit on a napkin and even the flimsiest excuse will do as long as it justifies a "back to square one" for the start of the next game. =) If it plays well and I get to shoot sectoids in the head, I'm happy. A deep strategic part would clash pretty badly with the action/FPS gameplay so I didn't expect much management there.

Trying to add realism in a game where you have all kind of weirdness like an assault rifle with an effective range of maybe 50m (just one example), adding realism by translating RL stats into the game can only result in mirth. =) If you can balance the role of a weapon to be useful in "realistic" situations then you're doing good. Sure, if you create your own game and put everything on the correct scale, maybe with tactical combat maps of at least 1 km², then you can use realistic sight (borderline) and weapon ranges, projectile properties... and all the gun porn you want. =)

It is more XCOM. That's all I need to know. =)

I gotta agree. An M60 with a raygun would be more historically accurate.

Hmm. Looks better than Enforcer. =)

Brothers in Arms was 100% linear like that. You could move your flankers into the position that was designed for them to be flanking the next-up enemy position from... or you could choose to lose. Basically a puzzle game where you had to move your pieces in exactly the predetermined order. Dishonored is also 100% scripted and static but at least you really have multiple approaches to get through those tubular levels. It's anything but open world but there is some tactical diversity.

I may well end up buying it but I'm not convinced enough to do so at full price. Looks like an XCOM-ified Brothers in Arms with a bit more emphasis on individual skills like in XCOM:EU. Interesting mix. Some say it cannot be "true" X-COM if it isn't placed in a future setting. I say that's BS. =)

Yeh. A kickstarter for an essentially turn based game? In 2013? Ridiculous!

The first rotation by up to 90°... after every move... should be free. After that, rotation costs normally so you can't do 360° sweeps for free.

Dead Island (modded quite a bit) Diablo 2 Jagged Alliance 2 Master of Magic Overlord 2 Silent Storm 1 (Sentinels is just fewer missions... but more micromanagement) XCOM:EU Games come and go but I always seem to return to these.

Well, that's your opportunity to break through the clutter and brand sustainable ranking economy, leading to a value-added framework! (aka drop a few if you like)

Rookie Forward Tactics Specialist (red shirt) Response Assistant General Discharge Architect Senior Group Coordinator Human Assurance Liaison Security Coordinator Division Administrator Regional Solutions Manager Global Operations Strategist You then get to use higher-order thinking to streamline the survival strategy and reach technology milestones while you reach out to off-shore locations to maximise global visibility.

Yes! Tell us how you really feel! =)

These are only a few text entries. I don't see why You can't type in whatever ranks you prefer. You can make it a civilian organisation with Harmful Devices Technicians and Alien Expellment Supervisors...

That's what Ol' Stinky's XP Mod does. Basically automatic skill increases per mission. In Contribution-Based Stat Increases and Promotions (yet another attempt) I set up a system that would reward a soldier's "mission contribution" instead of giving automatic skill-ups advance soldiers depending on what role they are playing in a mission. A sniper gets more accuracy training than a machine gunner or grenadier but doing situps in the Chinook does absolutely nothing.

When they are your Tamagochis or Sims, they must be perfected. There is no alternative.

The purpose of the system is simple. Soldier improvements are a function of mission-relevant actions. Doing 600 sit-ups in the Skyranger does absolutely nothing to get the mission accomplished so there is zero "training reward". Kill / capture the aliens, don't get your soldier hurt. (like by shooting them yourself to train hit points!) That is what the system should reward! That would be only a small change. Instead of the above "XP generation" method, the base chance to hit is calculated. (not dependent on soldier skill) A low probability shot adds a low XP percentage. The weapon's average damage (minus target's mitigation) multiplies that. End of change. Take high probability shots (no matter if the soldier has high or low accuracy) and a lot of XP is generated. (because that's a dangerous affair) As described above, lower ranks get an XP bonus so they advance faster. "Stat grinding" has never been fun. It's an evil that should be hanged, shot, quartered, and burned. Then burned again.

Less flare would be appreciated. A lot less flare. =P

And I hope they say "Selected!" less often. =)

When awarding such fixed bonuses, how do you handle soldiers who use two or three different weapons in a mission? If one uses a grenade, pistol, and sniper rifle, does he get all 3 bonus sets?

I think there is a way to avoid "calisthenics". And they should be avoided. Shooting at walls or doing ridiculous things like "spend 600 AP when loaded to 80%+ weight" should not generate XP/training. No more Bethesda-style Master of Running! I had posted something like that before but it was only a tweak to another system. This here is a complete concept so I put it in a new thread. Any and all XP gains are tied to "hurting an alien". You can't cheese the system and train indefinitely because you run out of aliens. The XP that an alien "contains" is limited and independent from the alien's hit points! This XP pool can be used up before the alien is dead. You can suppress an alien all day long but that's not going to result in training all day long. XP is absolutely limited to the amount of aliens in the area. No alien? Go home. You're done here. More dangerous aliens have a larger XP pool. = another useful balancing tool because you have a way to balance total XP gain! The total amount of "training" that a soldier receives from an action is directly proportional to the percentage of the target's max hit points that the attack subtracts. Hitting an alien tank for 20% of it's damage would be worth 20% of the alien's XP pool. With a very dangerous alien you get more XP for the same action because it has a bigger XP pool. Suppression or stun damage could also generate XP. This XP is all taken from the same pool. If a "heavy" does nothing but suppress lots of aliens without ever damaging one, he has still contributed. He gets XP for that. If you shoot a rocket at a wall, that's the same thing as doing it on a shooting range. No alien hurt. No mission XP. You can also de-couple the XP reward from success at an action. This way a raw recruit shooting at an alien 3 times can get the same result as the veteran hitting the alien 3 times. Instead of the above "XP generation" method, the base chance to hit is calculated. (not dependent on soldier skill!) A low probability shot is worth low XP percentage. The weapon's average damage (minus target's mitigation) multiplies that. The soldier gets rewarded with XP equivalent to the damage that he will probably do. Since these "average XP" can mean that the alien is killed before all it's XP have been "used up", the killing / stunning shot always awards any remaining XP that the alien may have. As described above, lower ranks get an XP bonus so they advance faster. On average you get the exact same result as with 4. The difference is that it is only required to perform the action - not to actually be successful at it. Weapons have an XP modifier. A weapon with a higher modifier "generates" more XP per damage done. With a sniper rifle you are going to cause damage directly. Modifier = 1. With a machine gun you are more likely to lay down suppressive fire, hitting less often. Modifier = 2 If a lucky 21% hit from a MG eats up 42% of the alien's XP pool, the sniper can only "gain" XP equivalent to the remaining 58% XP, even if the alien has 79% of it's hit points left. This models the fact that a 100% suppressed alien is not very dangerous. Your sniper has an easy and safe job - more like on the firing range. This (5.) is just an option. It could be dropped completely if suppression/stun damage also count as XP-worthy events. [*] What kind of stats are being trained depends on the weapon used. Some examples... Grenade XP Modifier = 1 (but can hurt multiple targets...) 35% Strength 20% hidden stat for extra throwing range / accuracy 20% HP 25% AP [*] Sniper Rifle XP Modifier = 1 50% Accuracy 20% Reflexes 30% AP [*] Shotgun XP Modifier = 1.5 30% AP 25% Reflexes 25% Accuracy 20% HP [*] Machine Gun XP Modifier = 1.8 40% Strength 20% Accuracy 20% AP 20% Reflexes Every weapon would train all stats to differing degrees. I only listed some key points to illustrate the concept. Stat training is job specific and scales with how much a soldier contributes. Getting shot in the head does not make you tougher! One spin-off of this would be to assign a different training distribution to different fire modes of a weapon. An assault rifle using aimed shots would shift the points a bit from strength towards accuracy. [*] New recruits. The FNG could not contribute a lot - especially in an advanced game with much more dangerous aliens. Since he can't hurt them a lot, he would not gain a lot of XP. Ranks would have XP modifiers. A recruit gains a "training effect bonus" after the XP has been deducted from the alien's XP pool. In the early game this is balanced by "easy aliens" having a small XP pool. Progression is normal. In the later game, a recruit doing some damage to a high-XP target will get a disproportionally large training effect and so be able to somewhat catch up to the rest of the team. [*] Calculation of post-mission stat increases. Every soldier has now received 6 (more in case of hidden stats?) different kinds of "training points", relating to the different character stats. For each stat there are two successive random rolls against this stat's training points to determine how many actual stat points you get out of this. After the first roll, 100 are deducted from this stat's training points. A weapon's "minor stats" have basically no chance to gain 2 points - no matter how much you reload. You can still weigh these rolls with the stat number if you want. That's just math. The rank-based XP bonus / reduction (7.) would already take care of most of that. [*] Promotions Promotions are based entirely on the total stat points of a soldier. Stat increases are contribution-based so promotions are in turn contribution-based. The distribution of initial stat points is random. If you can hire "experienced" recruits later in the game, these will have the rank that corresponds to their stat point total. (basically like it works now) Promotions have a negative effect on "skill training" (no bonus, see 7.)... but a positive effect on morale. The aliens will make sure you're going to fight more dangerous aliens so the malus to skill training will be taken care of. You want promotions for the morale increase. [*] The actual calculations are all simple and occur at exactly one point in the code - when damage of any kind is done. Well, and obviously with the mission debriefing.

Nah, FOs don't sound quite right - but I could see having UFOs and IFOs!

Basically, yes. It doesn't completely fix the problem of cost scaling between planes, mini-tanks, and infantry equipment but it's a solid first step.

The overlay images are PNG with an alpha level. You can set them to semi-transparent, you can make anything beyond a small "hidden movement" tag fully transparent...