thothkins
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Posts posted by thothkins
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Thanks for that Sheepy, it was an interesting read.
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I enjoyed the original and gold versions quite a bit. So, it's not going to take too much for me to pick this up whenever it comes out.
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May 20th 2020 is the latest release date for this according to a recent e-mail.
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Very decent start
Not having the £75/£100 looks a little unusual. But there's no point adding needless fluffery, if it's more trouble than its worth.
Need to sign into a google account to vote? hmmm.
The numbers have gone up rapidly even as I've typed this.
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Major event that happens in your home town? with some input on the type of event you'd like within the parameters of the game missions.
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Lots of interesting, positive mechanic changes in there.
In particular I like the world becoming far more integral to the game, the creeping infiltration and the involvement of varied neutral missions.
Some random thoughts...
While having an alien boss can be used in all sorts of varied mission types and be fine, it would be nice to keep the option for multiple aliens for key missions/ random missions to keep the player on their toes and for increased difficulty levels. Having an injured squad limping to what you think is victory only to then spot another alien would add tension. It doesn't have to be hordes of them.
Also keeping players on their toes would be to have some random factors in Threat. It would mean that you were never *exactly* sure when the aliens would launch an attack against you. You'd know it was close/ likely but they're ..well ... alien and a bit unpredictable. Various events could alter that Threat factor just a little, pulling it back or pushing it over that edge into an assault.
Combining soldiers and staff looks really promising, resulting in a really specialised unit. In addition to the military aspects of it, it reminds me of all those pulp heroes who were as good at research as they were with a gun. Will the limit be affected if loads of people would like to name a staff member through a Kickstarter option? Players will regret putting Prof Quatermass out on a combat mission, just because they needed the warm bodies, only to see him shot though
I used to avoid night missions like the plague! I really should have got some practice in
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Typical. You spend ages responding to the request for thoughts on threads of the 27th only for the actualplan to appear on the 30th anyway.
No objections to the objectives. All things that needed improvement on the original.
I’m having a bit of a problem with the 10 regions. Will those be drilled down any further? The goal of the aliens is to pit the USA against the USSR because they want to change the Earth’s environment to the one on their home planet or whatever. Fine. But unless that map is more detailed than regions, the aliens are going to miss out on all the best opportunities to further their plans. Germany, Iran/Iraq, Poland, Afghanistan, Cuba etc.
Having the old board game Defcons works fine for a game overview, but is a summary of the interesting conflicts within it at country level.
Good to see events getting linked with missions. That was something I remember wanting from my very first look at Xenonauts. Disappointed is too strong a word for not seeing them in the original, but it would have been nice.
Not sure I get the interceptions after the event. Is this a bit of a knee jerk after the first game went too far the other way? Practically, how are the escaping UFOs detected? Do they become less stealthy after their mission for some reason? Do the humans turn their radar on and off constantly and the aliens take advantage of it? Why would they be detected one way, but not the other?
I’d have thought a combination would have been the best approach.
1) The aliens have been here for a while, so there will already be lots of things that have happened before the Xenonauts were formed.
2) Those early UFOs that Xenonauts can only handle some of while they get their resources ramped up in the early game.
3) Lost interceptions/ landed craft as usual.
This doesn’t need an interception component any more complicated than the original game. Nor does it interfere with local forces being able to deal with certain UFO types/ events as the game progresses.
Always happy to see more mission types (hopefully there would be inclusions of primary and secondary mission objectives to allow even more variety in there)
On the bases being replaced by installations, where are the Xenonauts being deployed from? They were provided in the list. Will they also have tactical bases or will they magically appear across the world as the missions demand it?
The Infiltration score reads as pretty much the same as the normal X-Com like score when countries/regions fall into alien hands. Will this infiltration score also reflect the work of any of the Superpowers? As I’m not seeing anything proactive from the powers other than having a defcon wallchart, never mind using the “rich and interesting” backdrop.
Good to see the R&D still getting changed. Having each game be different in achieving that critical research path will make it much more replayable.
Oh, more air combat stuff at the bottom. They are too fast to get stopped by air forces. But don’t they slow down to find a landing site then land? If they are too fast coming in, then they’re going to be just as fast taking off surely? They don’t even have that landing site slow down after the event. They can just take off and zoom into orbit. This bit looks pretty shaky, as I get the feeling there’s a reaction to detection and air combat from the first game.
What is good is not only a return to a simpler interception (and I liked the Xenonauts one) but mainly that technologies can be added to the aircraft. Hopefully something similar in principle to Apocalypse – combination of new airframes and customising existing ones. Pleased to see a sort of experience in there too. That’s pretty much all you’d want. Squadron X has survived 10 missions against the UFOs and so their knowledge of dealing with them should be reflected in the game.
I take it you can adjust orders during the interception, for example if things aren’t going well. An autoresolve after you’ve overcommitted would be painful if all your aircraft get destroyed. No wait, you explained that. It’s just a single run. Fair enough.
Lt. Jean-Luc: Well, we're prepared for the final mission. We have Blaster Bombs, Psi-Amps, Flying Suits and there's a rumour that Pancakes has modded in some stuff from Aliens.
Sgt thothkins: Great! Let's go...um, we don't seem to be doing much.
Lt. Jean-Luc: Yeah, we've researched all this great tech. But we've never been able to build anything that can detect them when they come into the atmosphere. Only when they're on the way out. So we've really no idea what they get up to really.
Sgt thothkins: We're sneaking on board their ship and hitching back to their base aren't we?
Lt Jean-Lun: On the bright side we didn't have to spend months building an Avenger. We wouldn't have known where to send it since we can't detect them.
Xenonauts 2!
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Picking up things from my post over in Harnessing the cold war…
By splitting regions up into countries you get a decent point between the small squadrons/ squads and having everyone in the region turn up. Each country will have resources to deploy, with Xenonauts piggy backing on top depending on where the Commander has allocated his resources.
For example, let’s take a look at Iceland - close to the hearts of Xenonauts.
The four radar stations of 932nd Air Control Squadron at Keflavík would not have normally been able to detect the UFO. But the US Xenonaut Commander, seeing it as a strategic base against the Soviet Union (and the UK), has upgraded the facility. There was also a discount to upgrade since Keflavik is operated by the US.
A flight of 7 F-4E Phantom IIs are launched to intercept. The Xenonaut Commander knows that the aircraft are outmatched by the UFO, as they have not yet received any upgrades. They are to intercept and prevent the escape of the UFO until a modified F-17 Condor and its F-15 escort can reach them from Lakenheath in the UK.
By the time the UFO crashes into the Scottish highlands, Keflavik has lost 50% of its air capability and Lakenheath has lost a F-15.
As a staunch ally of the US (and therefore more likely to stay clear of the influence of another faction in the early Thatcher years), a Xenonauts Tactical Strike Base is operational in the UK, for use across Europe. Again, piggybacking onto existing forces (and making use of the extended backgrounds in the game) the Xenonauts operate from the 22 Special Air Service Regiment and are deployed from Hereford.
The mission is hard fought, but successful. The Xenonaut Commander is relieved. He had been building up tactical resources in Berlin ahead of ensuring that the Soviet’s weren’t the only ones with access to the alien mind control devices. He had only the local army forces to call upon in the UK, and they hadn’t been allocated even basic laser rifle upgrades yet. At least it was a remote location and he hadn’t had to call in an airstrike, like the Amsterdam debacle.
Once the mission is complete, the recovery teams are sent in. With the UK being such a strong ally, nearly all of this is shared with the US. The basic secure research laboratories in allied nations are available including those that have been upgraded by the Xenonaut Commander to unlock any alien secrets.
Discoveries will be disseminated Work on the discoveries will be used on various research projects to mature existing technology (that Heavy Laser is looking possible and the improved Physics Lab in the UK can do it ), reverse engineer (that Caesan seemed to have some sort of energy generating implant – The Biochemistry Lab in Switzerland is perfect) and launch new technology (the UFO drive opens up the possibility of FTL drives more advanced than the aliens are using. Off to MIT for a closer look.)
The mission debriefing indicates that the UFO was probably the one lost over Bonn the day before. It’s flight path suggests it may have gone over Sweden, before changing direction towards Iceland having completed it’s mission. With the one of the biggest air forces, the Xenonaut Commander has been worried about certain changes from Stockholm. Perhaps diplomacy will work, although this will be harder as Sweden are not part of NATO (another cause for concern as the US Xenonaut commander sees it). Perhaps allocating resources to the country although that won't please neutrals or the Soviets. Failing that, there are always the intelligence missions to find out if there’s any foundation to the suspicions. They might find alien infiltration in parliament to be terminated, alien technology to be stopped, resources to be safeguarded or even the signs of an alien base. If it's that serious, a joint mission with the Soviets could be launched to protect those vital air resources.
Hopefully that gives just one example of having a much broader world, with increased scope and resources. Yet it’s also one that drills down into focused Xenonaut involvement at each stage. Xenonauts piggyback onto the resources of other countries, forming an advanced, if small, elite in air, ground, research, manufacturing and intelligence areas.
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I also like the idea of the class systems. It linked in nicely with mission types/ threat levels in the original.
I also used to like the idea of race partnerships. If you saw a Sectoid you knew with a sinking feeling that there could be a Cyberdisc lurking around.
A lot of the effectiveness also relates to being invested in the back story to each race and the overall alien goals. The original X-Com not only did that, but also linked it to various Ufology events that were big at the time such as abductions, mutilations and pacts. SO it had an extra creepy and relatable quality to it.
Caesans - They could lose the Star Trek outfits, but I quite liked their awkward, creepy movement. Sectoid psionic increasing with classes/roles. Possibly without uniforms use them as wall crawlers to give them a different tactical edge.
•Sebillians - I agree that the regeneration could be more obvious and therefore more worrying to the player who may feel he has to keep someone back to cope with the ones they only thought they had killed.
•Androns - I liked just how tough these guys were. In the early game, defeating a particularly tough opponent is always a thrill. I agree that they are also tanks. Perhaps more specific roles/ backgrounds (relating to all those drones) might help find them a home in the alien plans.
Drones - I'd look for the drones to be cyberdiscs of varying scariness. I don't really think I got that feeling in this one.
•Harridans - More of a role/class of a race rather than a race all by itself really. But they were linked with the Caesians, so that makes a some sense. Tactically they are needed to offer challenges to the player. Floater like flight coupled with accuracy. Possibly add those repair skills and the ability to get a UFO to dust off leaving the crash site/ self destruct. I liked their look.
•Wraiths - There are those stages of the game where the player feels almost invulnerable. The Wraiths should always give the aliens a chance to outflank the Xenonauts. I like the intangibility idea too. It gives another tactical edge to the mission. Perhaps have other ghost like abilities to disrupt equipment/ electromagnetic effects/ energy discharges.
•Reapers - Can't go wrong with Chryssalids really.
Praetor - I've barely seen them, but they seemed to fit the Ethereal model well enough. Having that increase of psionic ability is certainly memorable.
Other options culled from an old post:-
Something that is particularly fast or has increased movement. If the Caesans are Greys and the Sebillians are Reptoids, these would be Chupacabras. Small, fast, spiky, clawed and dangerous in close combat.
The Juggernaut idea is a good one, whether it turns out to be robotic or not. Something unexpected and simply huge. It would force the Xenonauts to focus their fire and leave other parts of the map vulnerable.
Likewise, something that affects the terrain might be interesting. A Mongolian death worm sort of thing that can tunnel beneath the battlescape. If the Xenos don't spot the trail it can explode from beneath them/ behind them. Possible Acid Spit or Electrical attacks
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Xenonauts 2
Some thoughts mined and tweaked from some older threads that covered similar ground in 2012 such as:-
Heating Up the Cold War – Looks at the world of 1979 and makes some game suggestions
Potential GeoPol Mod – Jimbobfury’s look at the Cold War
Base Spread –ideas on why the player should expand out into the Geoscape, and what can be doe not promote it.
Coldest War – A look at a darker version of Xenonauts based firmly in the Cold War setting.
Determine function of Xenonauts in the game
This determines if the Cold War setting is to be a backdrop, or something with more importance such as the Xenonauts representing a superpower.
No Xenonauts? – You instead control the response to the invasion for all nations.
UN funded organisation? – single Xenonauts group as per first game.
Cold War Backdrop – Like Xenonauts, with a single global organisation, but where the options belwo are implemented. The Xenonauts commander gets to have a major influence on what the world will look like post invasion.
Superpower funded organisation? – US/USSR Possible opposite number. – Current Xenonaut 2 position.
Country funded organisation? – China/ UK & Commonwealth/ Germany etc.
Black budget organisation decades on from the Iceland incident ?– Single Xenonauts group but with superpower opposites and goals that may differ from the cold war protagonists. Possibly Majestic 12 or USSR equivalent. See Coldest War thread for an example.
Other?– Anything from a cabal of the Illuminati to Alien fifth columnists to Refugees from other conquered aliens setting up a strategic post here and fighting back.
Determine global regions
The first step in defining a cold war regional world. For example:-
North America
Central America
South America
Western Europe
Eastern Europe
North Africa
South Africa
Middle East
Soviet Union
Australasia
Asia
Indochina
Events in one country will have a knock on effect on countries in their geographical area. For example if Aliens are taking photos of a ruined Eiffel Tower, Belgium will start worrying. Regions such as Antarctica could also be added, as they will have resource/ strategic uses below. More sci fi/ variant regions could also be added depending on how the game goes – Ocean floor bases (TFTD), Moonbase(form UFO), Hollow Earth Last Refuge etc.
Split Regions into countries
This is to create the constant struggle for cold war dominance with specific cold war conflicts and affiliations. For example Poland, Iran, Iraq, Cuba, East Germany, Egypt could be flashpoints of this time. This would be best represented at country, rather than regional level.
Determine Xenonauts Resource Requirements
What kind of base structure will the Xenonauts use? Is there a reliance on countries to support Xenonauts? As a number of the options would require the countries to have certain resource variables, this is placed here.
Single base covering globe
Multiple Self Contained Bases in regions
Some central command but reliant on countries/ regions for facilities such as research, manufacturing, supply.
Determine Country Cold War Variables – A few simple numbers to represent the cold war that will allow the decisions in the game to affect it.
Alignment
Affiliation
Stability
Strategic Importance
Alignment:-
A simple score for each country to determine the influence each faction has over them.
5 Core ideological state
4 Puppet Regime/ ideologically aligned
3 Special relationship/ strong military support
2 major political/economic influence being used
1 political/economic influence being used/ supporting rebel groups
0 No influence/ Independent
You could have as many variables as factions. For example a US backed government could have Soviet rebels fighting them. The aliens would also be counted as one of the factions if there is alien infiltration in the game. The effect of all factions gives an overall Political Alignment showing which faction the country is more aligned with. If a more shadowy Xenonauts organisation is in play, then this could also be a faction.
Affiliation - A secondary variable to Alignment is Affiliation, which simply indicates if the country is part of a larger organisation. This plays a part in how likely an opposing faction is to test treaties. Affiliations include NATO, Warsaw Pact, NAM and Alien Pact. Changes to one country in an Affiliation will have knock on effects on the others. This helps to make more remote regions very important to the superpower factions.
This would also country scoring/resources to cross geographical boundaries. This is another useful way to make remote countries useful. Such as America & Western Europe, Soviet Union & Cuba etc.
So a country scoring would take into account its own resources, modified by its geographical neighbours, affiliated countries and the influence of the superpowers that look to control it.
Stability:-
A rating from 5 (UK) to 0 (lawlessness, with 1 being heightened civil war).Indicates just how safe that funding is and those resources are in the cold war world. It will also be important in determining how the country reacts not only to the on-going influence of superpower factions, but also their morale and funding when the aliens arrive. Alien missions such as Alien Base, Terror, Abduction, or Harvest would affect the stability specifically.
There’s an additional variable related to Stability, which is …
Strategic Importance – A simple 1-5 to indicate how much the factions consider this territory worth fighting for in the cold war for example Cuba, Poland etc. This helps concentrate the globe into key conflicts of the time, rather than a numbers based free for all.
The stability & Strategic Importance variables come into play when the Xenonauts and other factions look to alter the influence within the country for their own ends. They use Intelligence & Infiltration to cause a number of effects.
Each faction will be able to use diplomacy as well as missions to counter the threat from other factions.
Expansion of funding nation actions (From 2012’s Gepolitical Mod)
As the game progresses, the influence each faction has over countries and regions will shape their policies regarding both response to the alien invasion and to foreign policy. For example, with alien technology the Soviet Union avoids a quagmire in Afghanistan. It then has resources to secure other targets. Likewise, if the Xenonauts are looking to be particularly successful, some factions will divert their resources to secure their own interests when a victory against the aliens looks inevitable.
The suggestions below move the funding nations away from being passive states. In this cold war setting nations are not only faced with an immediate threat of possible extinction or invasion. They face a loss of fundamental ideologies and of long held power structures in their world. Nations must act, not only to preserve mankind, but to protect their cherished ideals in whatever world comes to pass.
Patrolling -
Xenonaut craft patrolling to waypoints above funding nations should result in a slight score bonus for doing so at the end of each month. This shows the population of the funding nations that their leaders have ensured action against the alien threat will protect their nation.
Aegis
There is an increase score each month if the Xenonauts maintain a base within that funding nation.
Propaganda
This is linked with the scoring that each funding nation has (see funding nation variables above). The effects of alien attacks in the funding nation are dampened/suppressed or enhanced/fabricated depending on their relationship with Xenonauts. It promotes trying to keep as many funding nations as happy as possible.
It reflects the huge amount of propaganda, suppression, disinformation and general skulduggery that occurred as a matter of course in the cold war (and now for that matter)
Bear in mind that Propaganda feeds into the scoring loop that provides more local forces etc as described above.
Espionage (Infiltration prevention)
This is duplicated in the Sightings research topic above, but is included here as an alternative approach. This represents local intelligence agencies being able to spot alien doppelgangers and rogue MIBs, thus keeping countries free for their own manipulations post invasion. Like the sighting research topic the result would be an increased chance to spot alien infiltration (pop up that this may be happening) and alien bases (the old X-Com local spies have spotted alien base).
Sphere of Influence
The world is dominated by the Soviet Union and the United States. Their power extends to other regions. Likewise, the trading relationships between the fading European powers still have an influence in Africa, across the commonwealth, and in central and southern America.
Changes in financial support from one funding nation (in effect your monthly score) will have an impact on others, to a lesser degree.
This supports a world fighting for a common goal as well as reinforcing the rather fragmented political position of the world at the start of the invasion.
It also promotes players to not abandon certain nations, as they are interconnected with the others.
Each of the funding nations has ties to the others that will impact the funding of others should they come under attack, or for that matter be really pleased with your organisation. If either USA or Soviet Union sign a pact, there may be some real struggles ahead.
Proposed Spheres of influence, with influencing nation first.
Soviet Union - Central America
North America - Europe, Middle East
Europe - South America, North Africa, Australasia
Central America - South America
South America - Indochina
North Africa - Middle East
South Africa - North Africa
Middle East - North America, Europe
Indochina - Soviet Union, Europe, North America
Australasia – Indochina
The knock on effects to scores would be small, again building up an overall Geopolitical picture with the other suggestions rather than dominating it. Around 2-3% of additional scoring could be added/removed based on the above relationships. Balancing would have to be done, particularly due to Soviet and US world dominance. However, it should not be equal reflecting the real world at that time.
Expansionism
History generally shows that mankind is only united against invasion until it is convenient not to be, and mostly not even then. An alien invasion removes a large amount of this convenience in the face of imminent annihilation.
However, as time passes and the aliens seek to infiltrate, rather than carpet bomb, certain funding nations will adjust their view of the longer term and their place in it.
Realpolitik
As a funding nation sinks into signing an alien pact (score is in the terrible region), there is an opportunity for another funding nation to invade it. The plus is that funding is not completely lost for the nation about to be lost to the aliens. The downside is that funding is halved for both the invading and the invading nation. Alien infiltration is reduced for the invaded nation, but remains and will grow again.
This leads to a possibly unsettling option. That certain funding nations would deliberately orchestrate the fall of a neighbour to expand their sphere of influence. This has happened on countless occasion in the real world. In the game, it may not be something that nations look at as an option until their survival as a species is secure.
One of the ironies of the game is that the success of the Xenonauts promotes nations to invade each other, under the pretext of preventing alien infiltration in destabilised nations.
Betrayal
One suggestion is that each funding nation may be more or less prone to alien infiltration, depending on their positions of dominance in the Geoscape. However, alienating players of the game who find that their home region is perceived to be more easily dominated by aliens, is probably not a good idea.
Self Sufficiency
As the Xenonauts prove their effectiveness against the Alien invasion, funding nations may be more likely to make sure that they are not giving away too much power and funding to them.
There should be a balance in the game, beyond a certain tipping point, that the more successful & self sufficient the Xenonauts are, the more that the funding nations are going to look to their own forces to face the world to come.
A suggestion is that there is a blanket reduction of funding at certain key stages of the research tree.
To use X-Com as an example – Heavy Plasma, Blaster Launchers, Psi Amps, Ultimate Craft could be options here.
Further, the game could keep a rough track of what you are selling to the funding nations. An expansion of the Buying/Selling would tell you where everything is going. Funding nations will use this to bolster their own defences and goals, and lessen their ties to your organisation.
Once certain thresholds are met, or certain items are sold, funding from that nation decreases. This will reduce player’s willingness to sell off everything they get.
If a funding nation score is low and you have distributed plasma technology, the nation may dismiss Xenonauts and try to go it alone. They may feel that a global response is too thinly stretched and decide to put their funding to better use locally. That’s what they might feel their electorate demands.
Increased Expectations
Each funding nation will expect the Xenonauts to earn it’s money. Each finding nation will obviously have their own ideas about their importance in world affairs. Most of this is taken care of within the current structure of comparing Xenonaut score against funding nation score.
However, keeping that level of funding, particularly for the big two, could be altered.
Resource requests
Xenonauts are requested to produce certain items by funding nations to assist in the distribution of alien technologies around the world & to help local forces fight the alien menace – particularly alloys and power source derivatives.
Such requests take up workshop time, but keep or enhance the nation’s score
Pre-emptive strike
This really only applies to the two superpowers. Should one of the big two succumb to the alien threat, there is an increased chance that the other will simply nuke it out of existence. Better that, than let its defence capabilities fall into alien hands.
Mutually assured destruction
Beyond the point of losing the game, with the invading hordes about to reach their goal, the superpowers decide there is only one way out. The missiles fly, and hopefully humanity will one day emerge from their secret caverns where the survivors have been placed.
This decision of last resort could appear as the funding council picture with the mission briefing details and an accept or decline option. Much like the Launch on Cydonia option screen from EU.
Determine Resource/ Funding Variable
Will the game use pounds or dollars s currency for everything from bullets to aircraft? Will the countries/ regions support the Xenonauts in currency or will it have a more abstract system of Resource Points?
Resource Points: These would be available per region/ country depending on how the Xenonauts perform . The resource points given could also be tailored to the countries assets. For example, an alien base in Cuba is foiled. Cuba have an established specialty in medical research. Biological Research points (as opposed to Physics based points etc)are available to Xenonauts to use as a reward. It’s another way of giving the player a reason to keep a number of countries onside.
The reward in this example could be modified further if a Biological Research Facility had been placed in Cuba and on the relationship Cuba has with the Xenonauts. It would also change based on the level of facility in the country. As the game progresses, facilities could be upgraded enhancing the score form that nation and also providing bonuses.
Whatever is decided would determine the Resource/ Funding variable(s). The Cuba example leads to…
Determine Country Resources.
How resources are delivered to Xenonauts was decided in the Determine Xenonauts Resource Requirements section above. So the resources that a country could provide in the game can now be looked at.
There’s a split between variables that represent the country’s resources and those that are a more direct substitute for a Xenonaut facility. This continues with the idea of making all regions/ countries valuable to the player.
First, some country variables that sit between the Cold War ones in Determine Country Variables above and the Facilities Variables below. These allow countries to really support the Xenonauts throughout the game. The variables are increased through distribution of Xenonaut research through regions/ affiliations and decreased through the missions given in the table.
Resource Affects
Armed Forces Local Forces/ Recruitment
Airforce/ Air Defence Interception/ Recruitment
Intelligence Infiltration/ Propaganda/ Recruitment
Corruption Overall funding/Infiltration
The above are key variables as they will determine how easily countries can take care of certain alien missions without having to call on the Xenonauts. These capabilities will be increased as the game progresses. From the Iceland incident slaughter to local forces that enable the Xenonauts to focus on the mission critical craft. They will also help with that countries stability.
They could also represent Xenonaut interception capability too. Advanced Xenonaut craft would complement the local Airforce for that country/region.
Capabilities are increased through completed research and successful missions. There’s a ripple effect on increases as technology goes form a superpower faction through to its allies then geographical neighbours. There’s also the option for a mission to capture breakthroughs from opposing factions at certain points in the game.
Criminal Infiltration
Police Local Forces
Media Infiltration/ Propaganda
Fuel Manufacturing/ Morale
Food Manufacturing/ Morale
Facilities Variables
If the country is hosting facilities instead of them being centrally located in Xenonaut bases, then there are a number of possible options.
Facility Affects
Research - Biochemistry Research
Research - Physics Research
Research - Psi Research
Engineering - Aerospace Aircraft
Engineering - Automotive Vehicles
Engineering - Arms Manufacturers Weapons & armour
The above could easily be combined into a Tech level variable or variations in-between.
If Xenonauts represent the US/USSR etc, there may also be some specific research trees available to that nation. Examples would include DARPANET, Psychotrionics, CERN, Drones, Lasers etc. More details of these can be found in the Geopolitical Mod thread. But they provide variations in selecting which faction to play. They also differentiate between existing research trees of the 1970s that can mature in the game, the reverse engineering research from recovered alien tec and the breakthrough research that may allow humanity to defeat the invasion.
Facility Affects
Detection - Radar Outpost/Astronomy Detection. Used to link the Xenonaut Geoscape Events into actual missions as well as UFO/ base detection.
Treatment - Surgery Medical
Tactical - Strike Base Local Forces & Xenonaut response.
This is used when there is no single Xenonaut base in the game. Missions can be launched from each strike base, allowing access to mission sites without global reach transports. Some countries will be only too keen to have a Xenonaut base. It allows the Xenonauts to build up multiple squads, enhancing troop transfers, getting to more UFO sites and creating a link to each region/country so you won't want to lose a base there.
Training Skills
Storage/Dismantling Supply
Tech Specialty various
Strengths could also be applied to all countries within a region:-
Soviet Union - Vehicle Cost
North America - Scientist hiring cost
Europe – Research Time
Central America - Missile Defence
South America - Soldier recruitment costs
North Africa – Base facility construction time, Store sales
South Africa – Manufacturing Time
Middle East – Engineer hiring cost
Indochina - Manufacturing Cost
Australasia – Soldiers in Medical Bay
To show some figures behind connecting Xenonauts relationship to a country with the bonuses it could receive, here’s an extract from the Geopolitical Mod thread of 2012. It shows some possibilities to connect alien invasion events with resource variables in the game. :-
Below is shown the Xenonaut relationship with a funding nation, followed by adjustment to variables.
Excellent: -10% to requirements
Good: -5% to requirements
Average: 0
Poor: +5% to requirements
Bad: +10% to requirements
Terrible: +20% to requirements
Local forces are hostile. Points are still lost for killing them and any civilians on Battlescape.
Variables affected by score (Funding effects are already in the game). Not all of these have to be affected, but are included as options.
Resource Costs
+/- X% Base Maintenance Costs
+/- X% Scientist hiring cost (Good: North America)
+/- X% Engineer hiring cost (Good: Middle east)
+/- X% Soldier recruitment costs (Good: South America)
+/- X% Craft cost
+/- X% Vehicle Cost (Good: Soviet Union)
+/- X% Base Facility construction time (Good: North Africa)
+/- X% Store sales (Good: North Africa)
R&D
+/- X% Research Time (Good: Europe)
+/- X% Manufacturing Time (Good: South Africa)
+/- X% Manufacturing Cost (Good: Indochina)
Battlescape & local forces
+/- X% Number of local forces appearing on Battlescape
+/- X% Aggression shown by local forces on Battlescape
+/- X% chance of local forces intercepting UFOs
Geoscape
+/- X% Terror Site Mission Window on Geoscape
+/- X% RADAR Range
+/- X% UFO Mission Window on Geoscape
Defence
+/- X% Missile Defence (Good: Central America)
Personnel
+/- X% Soldiers in Medical Bay (Good: Australasia)
+/- X% Soldiers survive drop ship crash (due to relationship with locals). Either promotes a rescue mission or simply they return to base or there’s a popup
Other options
- Prevent/Delay funding nation’s area denial attack for terror missions.
- Propaganda effects
- Soldier Morale. Xenonaut morale is adjusted depending on how the soldier’s funding nation is faring in the conflict.
In addition to changing the score for each of these variables as the game progresses, each funding nation may start the game with differing scores in each of the above.
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A number of cold war ideas than themes were covered in...
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Please no, that is the exact plot of the new X-Com 2 and it makes no sense at all. If we lost having the planet and funding nations, how the f*** can we beat them without that?
Busking, garage sales, e-bay... all skills in X-Com:2 and could be ours in Xenonauts 2 too!
I do agree about the tone of the art. It's one of the things I remember first when thinking about Xenonauts. I'd miss that miserable, underpaid, overworked look of my troops if it was replaced by the standard steroid abusing hero/heroines.
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Adding more of the Cold War setting to the mechanics is a bit of a tough ask given the way that the game is set up, as it really does risk moving the focus away from the big old alien invasion and turning the game into more of a political simulator ... .
Since the focus of Xenonauts was always the ground missions, there's a balance to add depth and choices to the game without it getting in the way, or turning into a board game. Much like the good air combat sometimes seemed to have too much importance at times.
...and it sort of flies in the face of the "we're all in this together" wordwide X-Com vibe..It does a bit. But since all the nations are really stingy in funding Xenonauts in the first place, their money must be going somewhere in the face of an alien invasion.
Possibly setting up their own plans and units with a view to taking advantage of the invasion, even as they fight it. You'd get to reuse a lot of the human sprites by making them enemy spies, agents or soldiers too....One of the existing problems with Xenonauts is that the game has definite "right" places to put bases because of how much territory they cover, and other places that are almost not worth protecting at all because they're so isolated (looking at you Australia).Just off the top, but having a politically linked world helps here. You want to help Australia because they are key US allies in Oceania. If they go, then there's a domino affect both politically and in local forces being able to coordinate defences against the aliens.
A look at facilities could also help. Perhaps Australia is the place where medical research is a premium. Labs located there get a bonus to medi-kits, surgeries and later technologies such as nanotech, cloning etc. Lose them, and the technology may be found elsewhere, but it will be harder to come by.
Australia is also the place where the Castlemaine XXXX non-lethal cannon to capture aliens is being developed, as everyone knows.
Without changing the shape of the world's landmasses there's not much we can do about this, but perhaps the Cold War political setting might be used to add a new mechanic or adapt existing ones that makes the initial base placement less constrained?
It would also be a bit of a retcon, but potentially a sequel could actually see you choosing either Nato or the Soviet Bloc to play as.Yup, having the player not only look out for humanity, but potentially a certain part of it. This could take the part of an overarching theme of the game. But it could also be horse trading in the middle of it. The US will increase spending on that new tank technology but only if you help that Engineer escape Berlin/ rescue him form the aliens etc. The Middle East will increase funding, but only if you don't give alternate energy technology to oil dependant nations. Little deals that then affect the game, change the globe and promote those important missions.
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Two questions - one, would you buy an improved version of Xenonauts again if we made it?
I'd definitely buy it, or if it were to go the Kickstarter route, back it to at least the same level as before.
Secondly, what annoyed you about the first game and what do you think we should improve?
Probably just seeing how much that early engine decision hamstrung the game and made lots of other things so difficult. If you were free of that... then you must have simply loads of things you'd like to change.
Intended Improvements:
These are the improvements to Xenonauts that I'd like to make in a sequel:
•Full 3D - We'd make the game in full 3D with a (90-degree) rotatable camera. I'd also want to replace soldier paperdolls and painted screen backgrounds etc on the strategy layer with 3D models.
As someone has noted, there's an atmosphere around the original games. But since you know that, so I'm sure you'd know what you're after there.
•Aliens - I'd like to add some more aliens, rework some of the existing ones mechanically to be more interesting and also redesign them so they look more striking and "alien" in the ground combat.
I grew to quite like them. It's going to be really tough to top the X-Com greys and Chryssalids. But you had decent stand ins. A bit more oomph in their execution, losing the star trek outfits although it was nice pretending they were Wesley Crusher before opening fire:) etc. Perhaps not being able to use their weapons - leading into a more "believable" reverse engineered look for Xeno-weapons?
•Research / Development - I want to add the concept of 'development' to the research tree, allowing you to continue researching "hub" technologies (like laser weapons etc) to increase their effectiveness if you choose. Choosing whether to improve existing tech or research new stuff should add more choice to the research tree.
Losing the linearity of this would be good, and the hub idea opening up multiple further channels is a good start. I'm sure the economy and all the instantly appearing stuff could be looked at too.
•Destructible UFOs - the UFO outer hulls should be destructible, which means we'll have to redesign them visually too.
Yup, and also for the tactical changes blasted hulls made in the original.
•Vertical Terrain - we should have hills etc in the game, rather than purely flat maps with buildings offering the only verticality.
Definitely. A better tactical landscape offers all sorts of possibilities.
•XCOM Cover System - I think the cover system in XCOM was very easy to understand and also integrated 'leaning' in an intuitive way, whereas our cover system was a bit of a mess. I think we'd probably switch to their cover system.
•Soldier Colour Customisation - I want to redesign the armours so they are more recognisable from silhouette, allowing people to customise their colours of their troops (including having role-specific colour schemes).
A relook at stats, skills, training, roles and customisation would be great in addition to the customisation. Having the ability to note memorable actions/mission notes for each would be nice too.
UI - the existing UI is a bit of a mess, particularly with regards to the strategy layer, so we'd redo that.
I was generally OK with it, but there's always room for improvement in everything.
•Air Combat - I'm not sure exactly how I'd redesign this yet, but I think it could do with further improvement.
I ended up really liking this. It still stands out...probably more than it was possibly intended to.
•Tutorial - the game should use the Iceland Incident as a playable tutorial that explains the setting and the basic game mechanics.
There's also the possibility of having a couple of things appear alter, depending on how you do in the tutorial. Certain personnel perhaps appearing later.
•Modding Tools - we've been working on some pretty cool game editors and level editors, so the modding / translation / level creation tools will be much better than in Xenonauts 1 and will handle the "modular mod" stuff automatically.
Always great to have.
Other thoughts
An more immersive cold war experience where countries shift allegiances, not only against the alien threat, but against each other would add another layer to the game. Tying resources/r&d to certain countries/ regions would be good too. Making the world part of the game, rather than just an interesting backdrop would make it a more memorable experience.
Additional mission types, even if it's an increased number of secondary mission objectives.
A motion scanner, sentry gun and a Reaper Hive
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Looking forward to this. I'm playing a game on the tablet called Hunters - a small (possibly 8 max) group of futuristic mercenaries who are essentially clones (they will be restored for the next mission). The weapons are the usual range, but this is expanded in the sequel that also offers a campaign and xenomorphs (although I can't play it as I'm on Android bah!). There's even a quote from Julian Gollop on the website. Stamp of quality.
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Good News. I've been holding off so I could play this version. Lots of good changes too. Thanks to everyone for all the had work.
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Looks good Nemeo.
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Gah! incoming incendiary shells from tank commander Julian! Back into the building! What do mean we can't go back in because of the fire alarm? Gah! Run around aimlessly waving arms!
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Quick everyone, Pancakes is coming! We need to escape. Someone set off the fire alarm
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That troll is well on its way to being legless. Remember: Don't drink and smoke!
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Fire in the Troll!
Sorry
Fire in the Hole!
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Jillickers! I'd forgotten all about goodies! I've no idea what I put down for now. I'll need to dig it out. I always meant to get round to doing a T-Shirt of my avatar actually...
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I didn't want to seem greedy, but I was thinking the same thing
X-com: Apocalypse 2?
in Off-Topic
Posted
I had always hoped the connections between the companies in Apocalypse could be used across countries in an X-Com game, or Xenonauts. The invasion and your actions would have consequences for each country, that they would then react to or take advantage of.