Endgame theory crafting

[ApolloZani]

Near the end of every XCOM-em-up, there's a phase where you can take on the final mission but there's still stuff to do. Research, filling out your soldier's skills, building equipment. Typically there's no real pressure to take on the final mission early. In X-COM: UFO, you can handle the invasion pretty readily by the time you can take it on. In XCOM:EU, same thing. XCOM2, there's an achievement but no real reason beyond that. In Xenonauts, so long as you're blowing up the battleships instead of clearing them, you're golden for just filling out the list of things to do. The alien invasion can wait, even in OpenXCOM and X1: Community Edition.

My question is, is this a good thing?

You want to balance the game around the final mission being available before you've run out of stuff to research and things to build. Players reaching the end of your content before the end of your game is rarely a good thing, but.. Should we have an incentive for finishing the game early? Different endings depending on how well you were able to complete the final mission? A granularity to the fate of humanity and a golden ending for doing everything right, quick, and saving as many as you can?

What if the aliens achieved milestones as they researched you? At some point they could develop a virus that would likely wipe out 90% of humanity if it were released and so stopping them before that happens or coming out with a tech later on to counter the virus is an easy example. Perhaps psionics against humans is something that gets better over time as more and more mindstates are learned such that some human leaders or others in power are 'permanently' under the alien's will even without active measures, so ensuring that counter-psionics is put into place as early as possible and setting up key people to assassinate/replace control key humans in missile silos around the world are something that has to be done over time if you want a better ending. Perhaps never capturing a singularity generator means humanity will have to go to the stars the hard way instead of immediately being able to flee across the void.

But I don't really know if that's a good thing. For the challenge, it's great. In Breath of the Wild, you were always able to go straight to Ganon and end the game; you'd get the worst ending for it but boy was it fun to be able to just take on that challenge. Perhaps Operation: Endgame can run on a similar system. Where you're allowed to take the final step almost as soon as the game begins but with no knowledge of what you'll find, no means to do anything but kill and destroy whatever you see, and see what ending you get as a result. But if you wait, if you study and research, you learn that you have to destroy certain key generators, dispersal systems, and communications arrays; capture the Preator in a specific room that will get locked away and hidden by a psionic shield (where killing them results in less ability to prepare for the future and never understanding the true purpose of the invasion); and learning of a way to get your soldiers out alive rather than sending them into a literal suicide mission.

Do people want that kind of granularity? Saving the Earth quickly would be an achievement in itself, but you'd essentially be incentivised to either go as fast as possible or hold off until there's nothing left to do. How you appease the middleground people who don't want to capture every memory and do every shrine, yet still want to try for the 'true' ending? Obviously this method provides the much needed consistantancy of challenge for the final mission, where it slowly becomes easier the further along you are but never becomes a cake walk unless you're only doing the bare minimum objectives. Inverted difficulty is always an issue when balancing these games.

 

Edit: For theming, this can be something you do after capturing your first UFO. Just take it to zip off into space and land on their mothership/moonbase/whatever with six guys who will 'save the world.' They'll be ready for you. So one easy to see step of Operation: Endgame techs would be to disguise your arrival. Another would be to just have a bigger UFO with more people to send. Another would be to have your own ship so you have a way to leave once you're discovered. High grade missiles to take out certain components that you'd otherwise need to clear internally. EMPs to take out some of the robotic units nearer the outsides. Ect.

Learning new objectives is where difficulty goes up.

Learning new techs is where difficulty goes down.

Edited August 3, 2018 by ApolloZani

[drages]

Able to end an alien invasion at first day looks like a Hollywood scenario. If you could end it with 6 brave people with standart weapons, then I would laugh to that invasion. I think it should be impossible to reach to the end boss with earth tech. 

I like to play as long as I want. It gives you the sandbox feel. Even xcom 2 countdown got very harsh reaction from gamers. I am against cool downs but possible early ending is fine for me. 

I would like to have more then 1 step to the ending, not just one mission. If you fail it, you should able to escape and game should continue. 

[ApolloZani]

Well yeah, but like. Worst ending. You kill the Preator, the invasion technically halts. The Earth gets overrun by the barbarian alien masses, nuclear war breaks out in the ensuing battle even if it's not a MAD situation, and humanity is so devastated that little hope exists for the future if the aliens decided to come around again. You technically fended off the invasion, but at immense cost. 

Edited August 3, 2018 by ApolloZani

[Ninothree]

6 hours ago, ApolloZani said:

Where you're allowed to take the final step almost as soon as the game begins but with no knowledge of what you'll find, no means to do anything but kill and destroy whatever you see, and see what ending you get as a result. But if you wait, if you study and research, you learn that you have to destroy certain key generators, dispersal systems, and communications arrays...

So you're saying that the player would unlock secondary objectives as the game goes on? I like that idea. The game Into the Breach allows you to jump to the boss after only completing 2/4 levels - OK, that whole game is more of a single-sitting arcade but I definitely like the choice of rushing a playthrough or stringing it out if you like how things are going. Thing is though, with Into the Breach your choice is influenced by the random weapons that you can receive. In Xenonauts, the game is not built to throw random stuff at you. To make that kind of feel, something really creative would need to be implemented into the research tree. 

Beyond that, I think it would be interesting to see how the community receives the challenge of taking on Endgame with only bullet weapons and rookies. It is a task for which I'd guess even the dev team wouldn't have the skill/patience.

Personally, I get bored quite quickly with the lategame - I like the earlygame's sense of hopelessness and the midgame's sense of progression, but not so much the mopping up that you do toward the end. The excitement of top tier weapons eventually wears off. Sometimes I like to be one of those 100-percenters though, I always have at least one campaign that collects all the content. Given that there have been plans mentioned to shorten the campaign, I guess that the option to keep going will be something of a sore point if it is not included.

[RustyNayle]

I like a game with many option variables which can be checked or left unchecked to try out different game modes.  A sandbox mode with no pressure to end, a dynamic one where everything is against you and there is a very limited window through which you should hit Endgame (not too fast as you have to find your enemy first and earth tech will be no good, but don't take too long as all the nations of Earth will eventually be dominated and hunting you as well), and some other modes in between due to different options being checked or not.  Obviously, the ability for modders to tweak these further will be a big boon towards replayability.

[Komandos]

My endgame theory is this:

Xenonauts infiltrating the main alien base ship and killing the general manager on it is like fighter planes shooting down the "last" alien UFO. The player won the dogfight. UFO defeated. There will be no more new UFOs.

  Victory !!!

But:

Three functions are still available to the player:

1. Wait a few days for the Last UFO crash site to disappear and celebrate.

2. Command the bombing "Last-UFO crash site" and celebrate the victory.

 

In these two versions with "Last-UFO crash site", artifacts will also be destroyed. Humanity will not be able to get new technologies.

 

Third option:

3. After the "Final battle" (the destruction of the alien leader), the player should be able to: "collect artifacts." Just like after air combat, the player has the ability to capture (save) artifacts in ground combat at the crash site.

Total:

After the final battle (destruction of the alien leader), a list of UFO "crash sites" appears in the game:

 in orbit, on the moon, on Mars;

"crash sites" of the Alien Base:

on the moon and on Mars. The player can direct nuclear missiles at them (bombardment) or send a tactical group to obtain unknown artifacts and knowledge about aliens.

[Alienkiller]

Let you surprisse. What we know that the Game get several Endings, not just Win (Elemenate everything) or Loose (Humankind defeated).

[Jennie]

Different endings, side-missions, haan!

Different choices and strategies leading to various endings can significantly enhance replayability, as players may want to explore different paths to achieve the best outcome.

What are the updates now on these theories?

[Alienkiller]

As Crowfounders and first Day-Beta-Testers we could play the final Mission after the big Problems to get there get solved after a very very very long Beta-Test-Time. Atm. It´s like in every Game of the Gerne with 2 Endings:

1. Ending (the good one): Go there, hit the Aliens in the Back and destroy their Command-Center with the Main-Brain / Computer or whatever they have in that Games.

2. Ending (the bad one): Try to defend the Earth to the Time Limiter and the Aliens will raise the Panic with an hardcoded implemented Orbital Bombardement on the big Citys or whatever similar in that Games.

Other Options like in Phoenix Point (with the 4 or 5 Factions you meat there and have to Choise then) aren´t implemented in Xenonauts 2 yet. There could be more too, but the Devs couldn´t integrate them in Xenonauts 2 during the big Alpha- and Beta-Development. The Idea with more differnt Endings (like in Phoenix Point or better then there similar to Terra Invicta) are still planed.

What Endings, we can only speculate. I personaly think there could be 2 with the big Nuclear-Nations (Win / Loss), 1 Patt-Situation (the 2 Nuclear-Powers combine their Arsenal with that of the Xenonauts) and / or something else with more cool Things we haven´t in Mind yet. With the 2 Standard-Endings there are about 5 / 6 more thinkable, 3 I have written already.

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Alienkiller

[Ogilvy the Astronomer]

On 8/3/2018 at 7:16 AM, ApolloZani said:

Edit: For theming, this can be something you do after capturing your first UFO. Just take it to zip off into space and land on their mothership/moonbase/whatever with six guys who will 'save the world.' They'll be ready for you. So one easy to see step of Operation: Endgame techs would be to disguise your arrival. Another would be to just have a bigger UFO with more people to send. Another would be to have your own ship so you have a way to leave once you're discovered. High grade missiles to take out certain components that you'd otherwise need to clear internally. EMPs to take out some of the robotic units nearer the outsides. Ect.

This could be a hidden gem of an idea. Let me expand on it how I think it could work well.

Once you reach 100% of Operation Endgame, you've built your own spaceship and could blast off to the aliens' homeworld for the final mission. But you can continue the game, completing five special missions (or completing extra research) that each unlocks a different special module you can build for your spaceship. There could be five possible modules, but your spaceship can only accommodate three. So, you've got to choose. Ideas include:

* Crew space. Allows you to take an extra two Xenonauts.
* Medbay. Confers some healing ability between missions part #1 and #2 (it's a two-parter, right?)
* Cargo bay. Increases the total equipment weight your spaceship can carry. Without this you might not be able to equip everyone in the best, heaviest armour for example. 
* Bombardment cannon. Represents blasting the alien base as you arrive, meaning some of the defenders are injured / dead upon your arrival (like a crashed UFO mission).
* Extra fuel tank. Without this, your soldiers are on a one-way suicide mission. With it, the survivors can return. Makes no difference to the actual final mission, but if you choose this module then you get the best ending -- your team have a ticker-tape parade when they return, rather than all dying!

You might have to launch with zero modules if the aliens are close to winning by the time you reach 100% of Operation Endgame. But you've got a better chance of winning if you can make some of these modules. There's form already for this kind of thinking: the two Cleaner missions with the data drives. Completing those has an influence on the enemy forces you face in the Cleaner HQ mission, right?

This could help spice up the late-game and give the player some impactful choices to make.

 

[Raffik]

For the endgame I would have the following ideas - no idea how the endgame is being designed or how it was in X1:

Once the orbital bombardment is started by the aliens, the world nations officially combine their efforts and agree on cooperation against nearing annihilation. They offer the Xenonauts ICBM silos for usage agsinst the alien satelite. As the satelite is too hard to destroy (shields or countermeasures - attempted missile strikes unsuccessful), Xenonauts will have to send a mission (multiple parts and levels) to the satellite or a base on the moon or mars to turn off the defense and gather as much data on the enemy as possible to discover their main base of operations. When successful, the world nations execute another attack on the satellite and destroy it, which technically brings the whole world together against the common enemy and ends the cold war. This could also give the player a possibility to recruit soldiers with higher ranks than private from the nations (up to mjr f.e.). Research triggered from the brought data would allow to start Operation Endgame preparations.

When not successful, the bombardment would continue and slowly increase the panic to levels (multiple attempts for the mission could be possible), where the world nations would surender to the aliens one by one (or start a general nuclear exchange), which would end the game unfavorably for the player.

Operation Endgame:

Attack on the main alien base/homeworld HQ. Main purpose to capture (not kill) the praetor/leader. Success would trigger a research to interrogate the praetor, which would lead to negotiations with the alien homeworld to cease fire. Win for the player (true purpose of the invasion uncovered) and possible plot for DLC or X3 - return of the aliens.

Fail would lead to the same fate as unsuccessful mission on the alien base or to an ending, where the aliens would take over the nuclear powers and cause them to start nuclear war. After the nuclear exchange, they would take over the rest (depending on the true purpose of the alien attack - enslave, conquer or annihilate humanity - which would be uncovered in the endgame fail cinematic)

[Komandos]

I believe that for the player (in the process of research), several options for the final mission should open up. For example:

Big risks. 

Average risks. 

Small risks.

 

Big risks - do not require additional scientific research. (Preparation for the task takes little time).

Medium risks - require additional scientific research. (Preparation for the task takes some time).

Small risks - it is necessary to conduct several additional scientific studies (Preparation for the task takes a lot of time).

For example:

The player in the final can choose: One very long and difficult mission.

Two simpler and shorter missions, but with a time interval (break) between them, (necessary for one scientific study).

Three short and fast combat missions, but with a long time interval (break) between them, necessary for many scientific studies.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Komandos

[doubleskulls]

Maybe having research open up optional missions that just make it a bit easier in the final mission? Just off the top of my head a mission that lets you have a 'storage locker' available in the alien base so you can replenish ammunition / grenades etc. 

[Komandos]

I like the analogy of "Action Points". The player can "aim" for a long time and shoot accurately. (Confidently win the final mission). But if the "strategic" APS were squandered earlier and there are not enough of them, then you have to count on luck. "Strategic Action Points" are the days that the player spends on construction, research, and waiting.