Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags ' story'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • XENONAUTS 2
    • Monthly Development Updates
    • Xenonauts-2 Releases & Patch Notes
    • Xenonauts-2 General Discussion
    • Xenonauts-2 Bug Reports
  • XENONAUTS 1
    • Xenonauts General Discussion
    • Xenonauts: Community Edition
    • Xenonauts Mods / Maps / Translations
    • Xenonauts Bug Reports / Troubleshooting

Categories

  • Complete Mods
  • Xenonauts: Community Edition

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


About Me


Biography


Location


Interests


Occupation

Found 8 results

  1. Xenonauts: Blue Crimson Introduction: OC: "OC" is the flag standing for out of character, or writing from the real world perspective. This story is based on a game of Xenonauts by Goldplay Interactive, version 1.09 HT, difficulty set to Normal, game reloads only for glitches and crashes. Due to interface problems, the story is being written on a different system. Files are being named after the processor code of the other system, story files "Meron" after the system the game is running on, and the game files "Northwood" after the story editing computer, which is not quite old enough to run the original Enemy Unknown without an emulator. The story's name was decided on a whim based on the colors of the belligerents' blood. Chapter 1: Briefings "Launch Director to all flight controllers, remain at your consoles, ," the man's right hand returns to his tie to center it. He then calms his breathing and tries to reduce his heart rate. He's in charge of a Delta launch operation in Hanger AE at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. His Delta rocket and its spacecraft were just destroyed late in the first stage burn. "Propulsion, what er- What indications did you get just before we lost the signal?""LD, from Propulsion," the voice comes back, "We're going over it now, but we had a big pressure spike on the LOX tank in the first stage, a smaller one on the fuel tank, and two temperatures were trending upwards. It wasn't near burst pressure, but definitely above design, and the pressure relief valves were open. We also had a small attitude disturbance." "What's your first impression?" the Launch Director asks, "Did we have a glitch in the pressurization system on the first stage?" "No sir," the answer comes back, "We're seeing pressure and temperature spikes all over the vehicle, except the third stage, which is under the fairing, and the spacecraft, which we don't have downlinked. The fairing pressure was increasing as well." "So," the Launch Director repeats, "What's your first impression as to the cause?" "It's too early to tell," the Propulsion officer reports tensely, "I really think we should have a deeper look at this da-" "Please," the Launch Director quietly insists, closing his eyes and hoping that what he saw on the video monitor is some sort of trick on his eyes. "I'd tell you sir, I really would," the Propulsion officer takes a deep breath, "but I'd rather not air this sort of speculation on a recorded loop. It's probably going to be overtur-" "Let's hear it," the Launch Director huffs, hoping for something that'll overturn the plainest interpretation of the visual record. "Uh," the Propulsion officer starts, "it looks a bit like we got shot down by a laser weapon. Like I said-" "Have you seen the tracking video?" the Launch Director interrupts. "No, sir," the Propulsion officer laughs, "We're so buried in the numbers over here, it takes us like four or five hours to look at that, even on a normal day. You're about to tell me just how absurd this-" "Actually, I was hoping you'd say something mundane, really," the Launch Director closes his eyes and rubs the bridge of his nose between them before depressing the microphone switch again, "The video shows a pink beam coming at the rocket from directly above it, hitting just aft of the interstage. It stays about there for two seconds until the explosion. We have four camera angles on it, and this beam is visible in all of them." After several seconds of silence, the Propulsion officer comes back on, "Really?" "Yeah," the Launch Director says, "The Air Force gave me a number to call if we ever saw this sort of thing." -------- The phone just keeps ringing. He answers this call, "X-COM" as though it were his first name and he was trying to get back to sleep. "Uh, hi," the caller nervously gives his name and affiliation, "We were launching this rocket from Pad 17A down here, and it kinda blew up-" "'Kay, why are you calling this number?" he asks impatiently. "'Cus it looks like a laser weapon brought it down, sir." After a moment, he asks, "What else would you like to know?" "Is there anyone missing, injured, or killed?" asks the X-COM guy. "Well, no," the caller answers, "it was a space rocket going at like Mach 14 and three hundred thousand feet." "Well," X-COM sighs, "That's an improvement at least. Thanks for the report." Click. He picks up the other phone, "Hi, Mr. President, I'm glad I could finally get through. The number of reports went up from fourteen to eighteen while I was on hold." "Marshal Kisberg, I think it's time to activate the Xenonauts," the President says. "I don't quite agree, Mr. President," Kisberg replies, wrapping the headset cord around one of his fingers. "Why not?" the US President asks, sounding slightly annoyed. "The time to activate the Xenonauts was twenty years ago," Kisberg replies, "Let's hope now isn't too late to save the planet." "Sorry, sorry, you're right," the President sighs, "I hope so too. NORAD's Charlie will pick you up in twenty minutes." Kisberg stretches his arm out to read his watch, "I can't get to the airport so fast-" "Just draw the curtains, Marshal," the President orders, "It'll be double parking in front of your house and might break a window or two. No joke. You might want to call General Wahlmer and Dr. Sneidly while you're waiting." -------- Scant hours later, Matthew Kisberg lands at NORAD. Wahlmer directs him to the prep room next to the hangar, "We've got the basic facility set up to hand over to Xenonaut Command, four hangars along the northern row, the command center in the middle, workshop east, laboratory west, quarters south, one of our best radar facilities in that corner, and secure storage in the other. " He points at a layout map. "How long before we can get an interceptor up to make a dent in this fracas?" Kisberg asks impatiently. "Two minutes from the scramble order," the General reports. "Really?" the Marshal raises an eyebrow, taking the clipboard and lifting the first page, "F-17 Condors made to Sneidly's specifications, too." He hands the clipboard back, "Finally some good news." "Uh," the General grimaces, "You might not think so once you see the squad. They're waiting on the ready line just outside the hangar." They march out, and General Wahlmer braces while Marshal Kisberg's jaw drops slightly in disbelief at the five men and three women coming to attention in baby blue combat fatigues. Kisberg spins about to face the man in the blue shirt, white lab coat, grey pants, Browning sidearm, and the Hitler mustache under, as opposed to above, his mouth. His hand drops, having pushed up his black rimmed eyeglasses and tucked a lock of his long black hair behind an ear. His frown indicates that he's ready to explain the sad state of the squad, and probably quite aware that Kisberg isn't going to like it. "Funding plans were just activated last night, Marshal. I kn-" "I know that part, Ken," Matthew growls, just above a whisper, "We have no specialized equipment, going up in Fighting Falcons made of magnesium so they can survive long enough to squeeze off a crappy missile, a Hercules turboprop transport with a landing rocket system from the Soviet lunar landing program loud enough to wake the dead in the middle of a hurricane, and we're freaking lucky to have a base at all." "Why the snit, Matt?" the chief scientist raises an eyebrow. After another brief look at the troops, he turns back to the scientist, "You expect the Xenonauts, elite alien fighting troopers to face fiery death in toddler pyjamas?" A slight squeak from the General indicates that his own reaction wasn't quite as incredulous, and that his faculties are being stretched just to keep himself from collapsing in laughter. "Camoflage doesn't work," the scientist answers simply, "but I hope you like the argon-filled magnesium riot shields that actually managed to survive a hit from a pistol recovered by the SAS last week." He indicates the corridor with his clipboard, "You'll have to excuse me, I'm working with nine other guys to make sense of the DSN's crazy radar reports in order to brief you on what's happening." "NASA's Deep Space Network?" the Marshal wonders, "Aren't they a bit busy with the Voyager, Pioneer, Mariner and Viking spacecraft to be looking for aliens?" "Nope," Dr. Sneidly answers, "Over the last three months, they've been disappearing one by one, and now they're all gone. The Space Shuttle's been canceled, Salyut 7 evacuated-" "Wait," Kisberg squeaks, "All the world's space programs are dead?" "There's only one person on Earth who can authorize a launch into space these days, sir," Dr. Sneidly says frankly. "Who?" the Marshal wonders. Ken reaches out and taps Matthew gently on the chest with his clipboard, "I'm looking at him." Then he walks off down the corridor to his lab, scratching his head with the clipboard. As Matthew takes half a step after Ken to try to quantify how desperate the situation is, General Wahlmer taps him on the shoulder, whispering, "The troops?" As the Marshal turns to face him, it is apparent that the military commander, still dressed in a somewhat sensible green parade uniform, expects his address to the gathered soldiers watching this strange conversation to have some news for the Xenonaut Commander, (X-COM for short.) "Welcome to the Xenonauts' North America base in Cheyenne Mountain," the General starts bellowing, "Yesterday it was called NORAD. Your mission, generally, is to defend Earth from an alien invasion." Yup, they're having trouble buying it. Maybe that's why they were given pastel blue combat uniforms. "How deep does this rabbit hole go?" one of the three women says just loudly enough to be heard by the General. In three strides, General Wahlmer closes to within three inches of the tall, brown-haired Russian, "I'm sorry, Corporal Alice-?" "Katerina Sokolova, Sir!" she bellows back, "Awaiting orders, Sir!" The General steps back and continues the briefing, "I'm sure you've all heard of the incident in and around Iceland on 23 April 1958 where eight nuclear warheads detonated off course, one after crashing on the northern coast while being disarmed. That's the cover story. The final so-called nuke wasn't such a device, but was the power source of an alien cruiser the seven previous nuclear warheads had shot down. Thirty-two fighter aircraft went missing that day, not because of the off-course nukes as reported, but because they were vaporized by this cruiser's weaponry, which we know almost nothing about. Our scientists believe that part of the reason for our successful shoot-down was because the alien crew had trouble controlling the spacecraft in our atmosphere, magnetosphere, and gravity field. The craft we're seeing today are much smaller. The specific idea is to either shoot down or catch on the ground one of these smaller craft, after which you come in. Your job will be to kill or capture the crew and recover alien technology to reverse engineer in our lab and those of our funding nations all over the world." The General takes a step back and introduces, "This is Marshal Matthew Kisberg [the player character], who will now brief you on how these missions will be run." "Prior to today," the Marshal begins, "most of this was theoretical, but we're now to see if it really works. I will be managing for each of you, a five million dollar monthly training and equipment budget. For this reason, our supplies of normal weapons and ammunition is practically limitless. Your performance has been distilled to six figures: speed, durability, strength, accuracy, reflexes, and stability. The last isn't meant to reflect on you in a derisive way, but is drawn from tests of situational awareness and decision making capacity under extreme stress. Why we care about it is because the aliens have the ability to project hallucinations and cause sudden changes in neurotransmitter levels, inducing all sorts of adverse symptoms. We call the field psionics, and, frankly, I seriously doubt our stability figures will matter much. Now, let's get you kitted out." He comes to the first, "Sargeant Nils Andersen. Assault Role, Sir!" The Marshal takes a look at his figures, quietly turns to General Wahlmer and whispers, "John, you suck at this. Nothing personal." The General holds the clipboard while Matthew rolls up the weapon cart and grabs one of the biggest rifles, chambered for .300 Winchester Magnum. The Norwegian Sargeant smiles. He was a sniper in the HJS, after all. "Let's work out a standard sniper kit," the Marshal tilts his head nervously, "and hope it does something awful to these alien jerks." The previous kit included a pistol backup. Matthew immediately ditches that and grunts, "You'll be in trouble without armour and close enough to use that." Addressing the squad as a whole, he explains, "The only way you're going to survive out there is by working as an interlocked team, assault roles up close to deliver grenades and take the fire, snipers delivering damage from a distance to pin them down and eliminate them." Returning to Nils individually, he says, "I'm sure you'll be a great assault trooper: you're fast, tough, and the accuracy spec will serve you well with pistols, too. The assault kit will be too heavy and slow you down. Work on your strength please." "What do I do to avoid getting hit, sir?" the pensive sniper asks. The Marshal puts a grey cylindrical grenade into his hand and says, "Hope they can't see through smoke." OC: Don't take that too literally. His hands are full of the sniper rifle on the equipment screen. "Everyone gets chitosan wound packs," the Marshal continues, "Some of you will get hit, and we can't have you bleeding out before the battle is over. The aircraft has no room for corpsmen, and you would not have time for them to catch up with you if it did." Flipping the page, Matthew raises an eyebrow with pleasant surprise. Wahlmer had slotted him as a sniper. Matthew, on the other hand, says, "Kacper Gorski, I was hoping for a guy like you. You can handle the Pig." "Actually, sir," the Corporal from Poland who faced fire from the Mujahadeen only a few weeks earlier, "I'm used to the RPD." "Well," the Marshal hefts the less reputable M60 to his shoulder, "This isn't your granddaddy's Pig. John and his friend Olaf over in the workshop put some sense into it with this foregrip, and by attaching the carrying handle to the barrel instead of the receiver. They call it the 'E3', whatever that means." [OC: I'm not sure if Goldhawk gets noticed at E3, but the real M60E3 has the features described, although it came out much later than Xenonauts' setting.] Kacper also gets three smoke bombs, his strength rating indicates that he can launch them quite some distance, as well as handle the machine gun. "Corporal Lynn DeJong," the first of the ladies barks, "Assault Role, Sir!" "Agreed," Matthew replies, handing the clipboard to John, "but the assault role might look a bit different than you're used to." He grabs one of the huge magnesium riot shields from the cart and hands it to her. "The shotgun goes on your back, as this thing won't stop alien plasma for long. Once it takes a hit, drop it and the pistol and switch to the shotgun." Former Spetsnaz operative Inga Novikova, the second lady, also gets this kit instead of the FAL rifle General Wahlmer had previously issued her. [OC: The game depicts an M16, but the specification is more consistent with a 20 round 7.62mm NATO/.308 Winchester rifle, such as the M14, AR-10, or FN FAL.] Colin Henderson, a black former US Navy SEAL (although with a speed rating of 41, both John and Matthew wonder how he passed the BUD/S obstacle course.) The General thought a heavy weapons kit would be appropriate, doubtless due to his strength rating of 67. The Marshal considered an assault kit appropriate for his low accuracy rating of 43, but such a slow trooper has little hope of staying near the front of the formation as the battle advances. He's astonished to find himself holding a sniper rifle, his belt jingling with flashbangs and smoke grenades. The Marshal doesn't like frag grenades, his instinct telling him that with the long fuse, a typical alien victim would almost always cut the thrower down before it detonates. The Swedish Corporal Jonas Bergdahl, once holding the FAL rifle, is briefly considered for a machine gun. The Marshal decides that more shields are needed in the squad, and so he gets an assault kit. He has a very high stability rating of 70, and a face that looks like it has been rearranged over a few beers once or twice. "Let's hope the locals don't mistake him for an alien," the Marshal could overhear among the whispers. With an accuracy rating of 69, Matthew expects he'll be a sniper once armour suits are available. "Hello, Alice," the Marshal smiles, "Welcome to Wonderland." [OC: I'm not a fan, these AiW references are actually homages to The Matrix and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home] Katerina Sokolova is a little sheepish being reminded of her earlier comment during the briefing. She is issued the fourth and final assault kit of the squad. The Marshal is again pleasantly surprised at the combination of strength, accuracy, reflexes, and stability in the final selectee who is far to slow on his feet to keep up with the assault line. The squad gets its second machine gun, rounding it out at four assault, two snipers, and two heavy gunners. "Corporal Ross Jenkins, formerly US Army Special Forces, fought in the Vietnam War." "Yes, sir!" he answers sharply. "I think you entered your birth date incorrectly, Corporal," the Marshal explains, "If this were correct, the Vietnam War ended when you were sixteen." [OC: Actual bug. Game says he's 22.]
  2. Hello community, Hello designer, xenonauts hase a nice story with some significant changes compared with the original xcom. One of the major changes is the timeline, which affects almost the whole background. I want to suggest some minor changes to the game, to make a better use of the storyline and hence improve the feeling ingame. summery of the storyline The storyline told us, how the first contact was made 21 years (not 30 as the homepage suggests) before the start of the game, which is the autum 1979. For the first years after the Iceland Incident major ressources where put into the xenonaut-project from both blocks, east and west. With the years pasting the funds where reduced, the backers vanished and the whole project was about to be shut down. Then the aliens apeared again. conclusions out of that storyline The xenonauts have an advanced knowledge about the pure existence of the aliens, an ideas on their superior technology and the alien tactics. They are prepared, compared to the rest of the world, but fallen back to almost marginal logistics. The Xenonaut-Project has done something for 21 years, it has databases, sleeping networks, mothballed hideouts, retired officers and soldiers which can be reactivated. And much more. It is all in all comparable to the gladio-project (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio) transfer out of the storyline into the game The Project is an 21 year old advanced military project. That should be more noticeable when the game starts. The player should have both feelings: beeing overwhelmed by the alien superiority on the one hand; beeing somehow more prepared on the other hand. The player should be able to reactivate easily the old status and networks of the xenonauts-project. ingame suggestions The suggestions which I am bout to make have the major purpose to change the ingamefeeling without changing the present mechanics to much. They are more cosmetical than anything else. But they should make the game more spooky, more tense and more ambientic. training facilities; the single squad left should have own facilities, which should be able to make use of for the new recruts. Put 2 officers into the facility as military instructors and put new recruts into the drill; which should be easily made by the retired squads. aircraft carrier; a kind of mobile basis which hase the advantages to be better protected against detection and alien aggressions. In the Year 1979 aircraft carrier are the world wide major and most advanced military unit. Make use of it! submarines; as the second idea of mobile bases / rocketlauncher against the alien air superioirty. mothballed radar stations; the player should put some ressources to reactivate already existing logistics more than building new ones mothballed bases; same here with bases. if the player builds up a new base, there should be lot of stuff ready, just needed to dust. There are more thoughts to come, I am still about to think all of that through.
  3. It's always fun getting to discuss stories with readers after they've gotten a chance to read. For those who have finished XCD already, what were your thoughts? Could you guys relate to Mikhail throughout his situation? Did anyone pick up on the mind control element before the reveal? Do you feel like you'll be jumping into a living, breathing world come Xeno's release? It was definitely a shift writing something so similar to Epic conceptually but in a totally different time period (near-future vs. late 1950's). It was also new writing in someone else's universe, XCD being in Chris's. There's always that feeling of needing to tread respectfully to ensure that, while you're still making the story your own, you're not taking it off in a direction the original creator didn't intend. This was a unique project in a lot of ways. It's just nice to finally be able to talk about it. And to finally have it out there! I hope the wait wasn't too painful.
  4. As part of the celebrations for reaching our 100% funding on Kickstarter, we've announced a digital novella for all the Premium Preorderers and above (you'll recieve it if you Premium Preordered prior to Kickstarter too). This might be anything from 7,000/8,000 words up to 20,000 words. It might take a few months to arrive, but it'll arrive before the game does. It will tell the story of the Iceland Incident, humanity's first contact with extraterrestrials and the event that led to the foundation of the Xenonauts. It will tell the story of a Russian commander involved in the battle for the crashed UFO. It shouldn't be spoilerific - really it should just set some of the background for the game. It is to be written by Lee Stephen, who is the author of the Epic Universe series of books - they are currently the top selling independent sci-fi series in America. Writing is a very subjective thing, so but Lee has offered to write this for free - if you love what he writes, great! If you don't, fair enough - but it hasn't diverted any funds away from the game. So this can only be a good thing for us. Lee is a huge X-Com fan (hence why he's working for free), and I've pointed him at this thread. Please make him feel welcome and I'm sure he'll be happy to answer any questions you have. Alternatively, if you just want to wait and see what comes out of his brain over the next few months, that'll be fine too!
  5. While we wait for V8, I thought it would be fun to guess at the motives behind the alien invasion. I'll give my somewhat serious answer to start, as I'm sure there will plenty of amusing theories. First, we can take a look at what little we already know and draw some conclusions. They are obviously highly advanced, having presumably mastered FTL speed and interplanetary travel, as well as a host of other futuristic technology. Therefore, I doubt there is anything resource or technology wise they want from us (but I wouldn't rule out the possibility.) They are obviously warlike. Either they don't do diplomacy, or don't think that it's worth it with humans. There are some interesting possibilities depending on which one it is. Maybe they have a culture that favors war to settle disputes, or they don't negotiate with us, because they see humans as mere bugs. They may have highly limited resources, or are in a state of distress in which case invading Earth may have been a last resort. Otherwise, I think they'd launch a War of the Worlds style invasion (leading to a very short game ) Because they are in a low scale war with us, it might suggest they are incapable of a grander operation, or the smaller operations benefit some other motive. They see us as a potential threat to them or their long term goals, necessitating an armed response. Either they want to prevent us from challenging them in space one day, or they want our planet and don't want us on it. Here are some other factors to consider: the Rare Earth hypothesis (habitable planets are extremely rare, and may be the most valuable resource in the universe to spacefaring civilizations). The Drake equation, which attempts to estimate how many advanced races may exist (in my experience, it would suggest a lot) and Stephen Hawking's belief that if an alien race visited Earth, it would likely want to take it over. My guess: The invaders represent a small portion of a considerably populated galaxy, with depleting resources and almost no uninhabited Earth-like planets to move to. An alien astronomer gets lucky, sees the Earth on the outskirts of one of the Milky Way's spiral arms, informs their superior, which kicks off an invasion to grab the prime real estate before anyone else. Considering their tech level, they have no qualms invading us because to them, we're semi-intelligent apes (which I guess is pretty accurate ) And they are trying to invade us quietly, because a large scale invasion could tip other races off to their plans and they want to keep the Earth a secret and all to themselves.
  6. Just a query to see if a particular mod would be possible as things stand with the game. Like EU, I imagine there will be a pretty sequential storyline leading to a final battle. Once completed, this would end the game. What I'd like to know is if there is a way to either not complete the game at that point and progress to another mission or to add in missions of your own along the way and return to the game once done. An example would be that one of the alien races had a goal of their own. Preventing them attaining that goal would be a key mission, but you'd want to return to the main storyline once it had been completed.
  7. The Coldest War "Today, America would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order. Tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told that there were an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by the World Government." - Dr. Henry Kissinger,US Secretary of State 1973-1977 Founded by both world superpowers in the face of a possible invasion, the organisation has had to fight tooth and claw to retain it’s existence, appropriating funds from either side where and when it could. As the Superpowers glacially looked to expand their spheres of influence to counter each other, only the organisation remained aware of a potentially greater threat. When this threat arrived in October 1979, it was clear how far the organisation had moved beyond geopolitics. “A clandestine organisation known only as the ‘Xenonauts’ establishes communication with the major world powers and claims responsibility,” for the only known successful interception of an alien craft over the Baltic Sea. The Xenonauts demand “both funding and authority to operate within their territory and airspace in exchange for protection.“ In fighting the invasion, the goal of the Xenonauts organisation will indirectly result in each nation reassessing their relationships with the rest of the world. Earth’s best defence is a united one. It is the goal of Xenonauts to channel as much collective development and unity from its funding nations as possible. To that end results from some of the Xenonaut research can be distributed throughout the funding nations. While this may sound utopian, bear in mind that the Xenonauts are essentially extorting capital from their funding nations in return for protection and the hope that their advanced technology will secure a victory. Also note that throughout, Xenonauts do not openly share their key research findings with the rest of the world. “The deal was simple – a monthly funding grant and authority to operate in a nation’s airspace and territory, in exchange for protection against extraterrestrial activity. Reluctantly, all the major powers agreed.” Why? The ideas below were some of the very first thoughts I had when putting together the Geopolitical mod thread. That shows the reluctance the funding nations have in greater detail. The short set of ideas below would ideally be part of the same setup, but are separated here as they can stand alone. They follow a similar path that the Alien Origins/The Martian Solution/Cydonia or Bust research topics of the original did. This is intentional so as not to detract or delay the main mission too much. The back story, as provided, shows the Xenonauts as an organisation on the brink of extinction, a situation now facing the rest of the world. It also shows that they have goals and demands that coerce the funding nations into agreement. They are not quite the clean cut outfit that their X-Com predecessors were. The ideas below take the Xenonauts in a direction that is a little darker than simply saving the Earth from an alien threat. Particularly when there are other enemies closer to home. Shadow Kingdom Research Required - Iceland Incident; Alien Invasion; Third tier weaponry Game Trigger - Save scientist mission objective at a particular ticker point. Unlocks Research - The Third Path Unlocks Bonus/Penalty – Reduced staff costs Summary – While liberating a research lab from the aliens, a supposedly missing prominent scientist is rescued. In debriefing, he reveals that, although his research is compartmentalised, that he must be a tiny part of a larger recruitment programme. A programme so aggressive, that the scientist was believed to have died so that he could vanish into the project. Further research has revealed the mysterious disappearances of individuals form a variety of scientific fields. The deaths of prominent figures in Physics, chemistry and astronomy are now put in doubt. This programme has been going on since the late 1950s. Insiders refer to the programme as the Brian Drain, but it is designated Project Aquarius. The scientist’s own work has reached a conclusion. It is unknown if this applies to the rest of the programme. The location of any related work or of funding sources is also unknown. Notes: The third tier research topic could be replaced with something else. Ideally, it should be a technological topic as this fits into the rest of these additions. It should also be something far enough into the game to be advanced technology, but not so advanced as to get in the way of the final mission topics. The game triggers are provided as additions/ alternatives to the required research topics. The reduced staff cost bonus reflects that whatever was going on, it’s now coming to an end. This will free up researchers elsewhere to join the Xenonauts. Ties with existing Xenonauts story: Echoes the steps a clandestine organisation may have taken in the cold war to capture the only people it believed capable of advancing it’s own agenda. Mod Requirements: Edit Research topics, Add research Topics, Add mission objectives, Research Lab indoor mission (optional, but is one of the stretch goals); recruitment cost alteration The Third Path Research Required - Shadow Kingdom, Last third tier topic Game Trigger –Aliens launch a base attack on a base not used by Xenonauts at a particular ticker point/ or a simpler pop up screen stating that local agents uncover a base, but it isn’t an alien one. Much like in X-Com/ Alien Base mission, but they’ve used a previously extant Xenonaut-like Base. Unlocks Research - New World Order Unlocks Bonus/Penalty – Free Base/ Reduced Construction Costs Summary – While the Xenonauts are setting up new bases around the world to combat the alien invasion, another party is making use of the bases set up in the 1960s following the Iceland Incident. While many of the facilities look to have been deserted for decades, there is clear evidence of recent and intensive use in key areas, such as laboratories and workshops. Whoever vacated the base in a hurry left few clues for the retrieval team. However, in the dust covered, deserted command centre Project Aquarius briefing documents are found, supporting the ‘missing’ scientist’s claims. The documents outline high level meetings between the Soviet Union and the United States military in December 1958. In these meetings, available findings from the Iceland Incident were shared. Analysis of potential further threats was made and ideas on how to combat such an enemy were suggested. These ideas became three distinct solutions. The solutions were known as Project Majority, an inside joke on the lack of consensus achieved to select one of them over the others. The documents suggest that parallel programmes, entitled The Three Paths (and the Three Bears informally), were put in place. Disturbingly, the Xenonauts look to be connected to one of these alternatives. Path 1: Project Aleph – The manipulation of population sizes, in order to force a cohesive, militaristic humanity prepared for the alien attack. Such extreme population control measures could only be put into effect by creating a number of disasters. Biochemical research was proposed for this purpose as was artificial escalation of the Cold War. A further option was to use this research to deny the planet to enemy forces should the situation become hopeless. This ruthless, cold option was considered one where worst case scenarios would prevail. Path 2: Project Anteus - Aquarius would ensure the construction of numerous underground shelters. Ostensibly these would be built to survive a nuclear war. In truth, they were to be build to survive an alien invasion. The bases would house a military command structure and a breeding population of civilians. Path 3: Project Aquarius – An expansionist approach that suggested that mankind’s best hope was through it’s own rapid advancement. By expanding knowledge in electronics, propulsion, astronomy and physics mankind could reach beyond the Earth. Increasing detection capabilities was considered an immediate goal of this project. Projected suggestions looked to move mankind to a more even footing with any invading force. These suggestions advocated that mankind should set up a base on Mars, titled Wells Station, using the Moon as a staging post. Veterans of Operation Verne provided support for an Aquarius programme that looked to advance the military readiness of a unified military force. They outlined a number of necessary projects. There are clear parallels between the Project Aquarius proposals and the structure of the Xenonauts. These projects would become the operational structure of Xenonauts in years to come. Aquarius – Umbrella project cataloguing all available intelligence from the Iceland incident Garnet - Coordination of all information relating to the aliens. Sign – Intelligence gathering to determine further aliens presences. Sign alerts the organisation following the WOW signal. Blue Book – The public face of Project Sign, actively investigating the public UFO sightings. Snowbird –Create disinformation to cover test flights & gauge intelligence. Redlight – to pilot reverse engineered UFO Pluto – Evaluating all alien technology with a view to enhancing human space capabilities/ biological intelligence. Excalibur – develop a weapons system capable of combating an alien craft. Gabriel - The use of pulsed sound weaponry against alien craft. Sigma – Establish communications with the aliens. No communications were received throughout the Iceland Incident. Plato – A project looking to create diplomatic links with an alien species. Blue Fly/ Blue Team – Reaction, retrieval and recovery operation briefed and trained on Iceland Incident. Xenonaut soldiers are trained by retired Blue Fly operatives. With no alien incursions following 1958, Blue Team eventually became part of Project Sign. Delta – The security arm of Blue Team and Pounce. Luna – Relates to construction and maintenance of secret underground bases. Pounce – the subsequent retrieval of crashed UFO materiel following Blue Team missions. Notes: Again, the research topic used as a requirement can be replaced. The changes to bases as a reward reflects the Xenonauts uncovering the series of hidden bases placed around the world by their organisation in it’s prime. It is suggested that the Xenonauts research topics be designated project titles as above to further tie them in with the Project Majority briefing documents. Ties with existing Xenonauts story: The back story reveals that the initially, well funded Xenonauts had a number of hidden bases that then fell into disrepair. This topic returns to that. It also suggests some tactical options available to countries facing a threat of unknown, but superior technology. Mod Requirements: Possibly a scripted map – combining alien and Xenonaut base (optional)
  8. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1869102574/conquest-2-vyrium-uprising-rts-fans-unite?ref=category This kickstarter seems to be getting sad ending =/ Devs have been trying to do the game for years, but they don't seem to have any luck in kickstarter either. I guess original game is forgotten by now so nobody remembers it. Also no game journalism site wants to cover it. Do game journalism sites have something against kickstarters now?
×
×
  • Create New...