[Analysis Discussion] Operations

[Mask]

The operations feature being added to the game is interesting, and I thought I'd discuss some possibilities for it. It's possible I've missed some of the recent details about its intended mechanics, so please forgive some inaccuracies.

 

 

Combat / Espionage / Diplomatic

You would have three categories of activities. These would let you know quickly what kind of danger you can expect, what sort of characters/attributes are best, and how risky the operations are and in what ways. Espionage can damage your reputation in the bloc it takes place in, combat is more likely to injure or more rarely kill your operatives, and diplomatic missions are generally safe.

 

Leveling Up with Operations

I think Operations should raise the stats they involve. This would make them a lot more useful and interesting, and we could training up our second-string team with operations.

 

Stats and Missions

There is the question of what stats you would have for operations. I presume all the original stats of Xenonauts are still in play. We can also assume Researchers and Engineers will have at least one stat to show their skill at their jobs. But should we add some more? I guess we should start out with some examples of missions, and figure out what stats would be good for them. If we notice a few types of missions lack a good stat in the existing lineup, we can add a new one.

I will try to list the stats in order of most important to least important, including when I list X or Y.

General

Here is a list of trends I noticed, while making the list below.

Bravery = Charm: Without a dedicated charm stat, this is the best one to represent it.

Diplomacy: Your full charisma bonus seems to be your rank, bravery, medals, and possibly your kill or mission count. You can't really use this in Espionage operations, as those are undercover, of course. This reminds me of King of Dragon Pass, where some stats are made up of several others.

Intelligence Stat: This seems to be pretty useful to most operations. Maybe it would be a stat that helps with all operations, some more than others? It would make sense.

Escape: TUs and Reflex are the stats used to evade danger and return to base. Needing to get away safely is common in Espionage missions, and maybe some Diplomacy or Combat ones.

Evasion: Maybe we should just have an Evasion stat for Operations, based off your TUs and Reflex?

HP to Survive: Any time injury or death is a possibility, HP would determine how likely you are to survive unhurt.

Wow, Technology: Technology should add to a lot of these rolls.

Everything in Combat: Even if not listed, I figure every stat should help somewhat in Combat Operations

 

Spoiler tags

I apologize for the formatting. Spoiler tags are completely broken on this forum, and are basically impossible to edit or even copy text out of. So I've left it in this unfortunate state.

Espionage

 

Kidnapping: Strength to grab him, Accuracy to identify the guy, Reflexes to make sure he doesn't get away.

Assassination: Accuracy or Strength, then Reflexes. TU score determines how likely you are to evade the police and get out quickly.

Blackmail: Bravery to scare the guy with your confidence? A Charisma stat would be useful, but maybe Bravery is good?

Illegal Alien Tech Trading: Bravery works like charisma and ensures the deal goes well. Reflex and TUs allow you to escape if it turns out to be a set-up. Some sort of Charm or Int skill would be good.

Robbery: Reflex or Strength, to pick the lock or break in. Accuracy and TU help you to evade detection and capture.

Hiring Double Agent: Bravery to build a rapport with the agent? An intelligence stat may be necessary, unless we figure Reflex is somehow a good measure of that.

Investigating Suspicious Person: TUs to act as a Stealth skill, and Accuracy to act as Recon.

Stealing Research: Science, Bravery to convince people you're supposed to be there. TUs and RFL to get out safely, if discovered.

Diplomacy

 

Public Speaking: Rank, then Bravery, to charm the people. Kill count and medals may also apply a bonus.

Kissing Babies: Bravery to charm the people?

Political Mingling: Intelligence to keep track of what is going on, Bravery to charm people.

Recruiting Experts: Science/Engineering, Intelligence, Charm.

Military Parade: Armour Tech Level to impress people. HP to have the patience and endurance for the drill.

Marksmanship Display: Weapon Tech Level to impress people. Accuracy to hit your targets.

Combat

 

Suppressing Protest: HP, STR, and RFL to beat up the protesters without getting beat up.

Eliminating Alien Cult: RFL and ACC for room clearing. HP to survive. In extreme cases, this could be a tactical mission.

Busting Alien Weapons Trafficking: ACC and TUs to round them up and gun them down.

Attacking Non-Urban Terrorists: TUs then ACC for speed and accuracy in the terrain, RFL and HP as well.

Raiding Pro-Alien Parliament: ACC, RFL, HP, TUs, STR, and BRV for a hard fight. Technology advantage makes a big difference, too. Likely to be a tactical mission.

Training Exercise: Tests everything. You might get specific ones, perhaps in specific nations, that raise specific stats.

 

Reputation

With the possibility of brutal espionage operations, or even overthrowing governments in combat operations, it might be worth having a reputation system on top of the relations with each bloc. Your reputation would show how honorable and trustworthy you are perceived as being, as well as how scary and powerful.

Respect and Approval

Perhaps we should divide Reputation into two stats? One for how well you are liked, and one for how scary and powerful you seem. Approval and Respect, we could call them. Even if your Approval rating plummets, with a high Respect you can maintain funding and keep the nations in fear of your terrorist-like military organization.

The aliens of course will try to undermine you in these aspects. They would also have Respect and Approval stats, and their rating is relative to yours. So they will launch propaganda operations to reduce your Approval, and spread terror to reduce your Respect.

When the aliens spread terror, it lowers your Respect rating. When you beat up the aliens, or when you commit acts of terrorism against Earth's nations, you raise your Respect. When you are caught committing acts of Espionage, or openly harm civilians or governments in Combat missions, you will lose Approval.

Failure

Allowing both your Respect and your Approval to drop too low could be a failure condition, as the nations of Earth decide to disband you and maybe surrender to the aliens.

 

Inspiration: This is the Police

The games in this series are built entirely around the concept of X2's operations, so should be looked into.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Mask