Cleaner Ideas

[skaianDestiny]

As it stands the Cleaners are a neat idea similar to EXALT and ADVENT from the nuXCOM games, but they're fairly underutilized. Their presence is limited to 4 missions (5 if you count the tutorial): the mission where you steal 10 data sticks, the 2 regional command VIP assassinations, and then the final assault on the Cleaner base. They've also only got the 2 enemy types: the suited agents and the hazmat-wearing soldiers.

So here are some suggestions on expanding not only their presence in the early game but also mission variety:

• VIP Rescue Mission
  • Your Operations Director identifies a heavily guarded compound where a certain VIP is being held by the Cleaners. Her agents are unable to infiltrate or extract the VIP, thus it falls upon you and your heavily armed soldiers to perform a prison break. As the VIP is being held at the facility for only a certain window of time, the mission has a time limit on geoscape. The compound would have a mix of Cleaner soldiers and agents as guards, with reinforcements incoming as with the regional command missions. The VIP would be held in a similar cell thing as the civilians in alien abduction missions, and once you free them they can be ordered around like your soldiers. Optional objectives could be gathering more data sticks and perhaps rescuing other identified Persons of Interest. Victory is when you extract your team along with the VIP and any PoI. Rewards would be panic reduction in the region the mission is in, increased with each PoI rescued.
• Sting Operation/Convoy Interception Mission
  • Your Operations Director's agents either located the route a Cleaner convoy carrying valuable alien equipment is traveling through or set up a trap for a Cleaner strike team. Either way, there's a limited amount of time to intercept them. The enemies would be a large amount of Cleaner soldiers, with the convoy perhaps having a few lower ranking aliens like Sectons or Sebillians hidden away. Like base defense, you would be able to set up the position of your soldiers within certain areas and had the entire map revealed as you have already scouted out the area and set up the ambush, however you would still have the first turn. Victory is from killing or incapacitating all enemies, with the rewards being either some alien alloys and alenium from a convoy interception or a regional panic reduction and Cleaners network progress for sting operation.
• Cleaner presence on crash sites
  • Right now the Cleaners not only don't really live up to their name as "Cleaners" but a crash site with 1 hour left on the timer is no different from one with 2 days left. It would make sense that the Cleaners clean up the crash sites and make it so delaying a crash site has consequences. Perhaps for each day that passes, there is more Cleaner presence at the crash site, with more of the ambient civilians replaced by 1 or 2 Cleaner soldiers. This would go away once the Cleaners' base is destroyed, but adds some more urgency in the early game to take on crash sites.
• Cleaner Heavy
  • Simple, a Cleaner soldier that uses a machine gun (same stats as ours) and is heavily armored. The look can borrow from EOD uniforms or other heavily armed military gear such as this, this, or this. They'd only appear on missions with a heavy Cleaner presence such as sting operation or convoy interception or the Cleaner base defense, or perhaps as part of later reinforcement waves to really force the player to extract.

Would like to hear others' thoughts and suggestions along these lines!

[EIG]

I think an interesting option would be a sort of VIP defense mission, at least if you got control of the VIP or the AI improved.

The idea is you've found a target for the Cleaners, and are able to intercept the team preparing to take the target out. They're close enough that there is a time limit to do the mission, and both the VIP and the Cleaners are on the same map.

Goal is to protect the VIP for a standard turn limit timer, with optional objectives of taking out the Cleaners and recovering data. VIP starts close to the dropship, representing you going straight for them, while the Cleaners are spread out a little but mostly in a structure on the map that has 1-3 computers with Cleaner data.

The idea is a reverse Abduction style. You collect everything at the end of mission, and the goal is to stop the Cleaners from killing the VIP for the turn limit. You can use any excess turns after taking out the Cleaners, if you take them all out, to still be able to grab the data before "it gets deleted".
Edit: Just remembered the detail I thought up for why it is reverse Abduction. You have a requirement to kill a certain number of Cleaners because the actual goal is to eliminate the cell. So the reversal is that the interactable is optional while killing is required.

... although this did make me just realize I haven't checked how Abduction works with the 99 turn limit option that just recently was added.

 

Mostly I'd like to see more Cleaner missions with auto-collection of resources at the end. The autopsy and capture of the basic agents/soldiers is a bit of an out of the way thing right now, with no real prompt/time to do it, and it seems to me that at least one mission where you get to collect stuff before the final base mission is desirable to fix that.

Edited August 20, 2023 by EIG

[Raffik]

4 hours ago, skaianDestiny said:

Cleaner Heavy

• Simple, a Cleaner soldier that uses a machine gun (same stats as ours) and is heavily armored. The look can borrow from EOD uniforms or other heavily armed military gear such as this, this, or this. They'd only appear on missions with a heavy Cleaner presence such as sting operation or convoy interception or the Cleaner base defense, or perhaps as part of later reinforcement waves to really force the player to extract.

 

While there are suggestions for the Cleaner presence at the crash sites after certain time, VIP defence/assasinations and convoy raids already in the discussions and it was also already announced, that there will be more cleaner missions if I am not mistaken, I like the idea of a Cleaner heavy, but instead of axheavily armoured soldier, I'd like to see some drone like servitor or a vehicle similar to the MARS, but exclusive to the cleaners.

I had an idea some time ago about the cleaner base - it would be captured after the cleaner base mission and have to be defended  against multiple attacks from remnants of the cleaner organization, until all research unlocked by completing the cleaner base mission would be finished. After all research would be completed (quantum device, quantum lab and nano workshop), the attack would be stopped and the base would stay under player's control and serve as an off site installation as passive source of income or an extra base for the player.

3 hours ago, EIG said:

although this did make me just realize I haven't checked how Abduction works with the 99 turn limit option that just recently was added.

It virtually turns off the turn limit to a time limit mission, I assume the same would apply for all missions, including abduction..? Good point though, now I have to check as well...

3 hours ago, EIG said:

Mostly I'd like to see more Cleaner missions with auto-collection of resources at the end.

I kind of like the necessity of capturing individual weapons from the cleaners to be able to use it for future missions.. It could be used in the same way for "usable" alien weapons (such as plasma, fusion, magnetic) in case the devs decide to allow such possibility... 

[Raffik]

On 8/20/2023 at 2:56 AM, skaianDestiny said:

Cleaner Heavy

• Simple, a Cleaner soldier that uses a machine gun (same stats as ours) and is heavily armored. The look can borrow from EOD uniforms or other heavily armed military gear such as this, this, or this. They'd only appear on missions with a heavy Cleaner presence such as sting operation or convoy interception or the Cleaner base defense, or perhaps as part of later reinforcement waves to really force the player to extract.

 

Cleaner heavy sounds good - heavy weponry (machine gun, rocket launcher, alien weaponry), with advanced armour, that would be cool. And lethal.

I saw some concept art of Thralls, which could be a third branch of cleaners - human/alien hybrid, enhanced with bio implants, replacing an arm with powerful weapon. That could be some stage of alien plan to conquer earth f.e. or the Thrall could fill the role of MARS or Andron for the cleaners.

[Komandos]

1 hour ago, Lisa Landry said:

Clean the whole house, not one room at time. 

dino game

To do this, it is necessary to see all the foci of contamination.

[Erraticus]

i think need any new things of other sagas Xcom:

- use radar or drones unarmed to detect enemy or add vision zone.. ( type space hulk ).

- can aleatori discover in houses weapons/armors, computers with research points, specials resources to make special things, money or other thing in houses or crates in a missions.

- Can add drones to multiple purposes, detect special items at map with special scan, add vision range, distract the enemy proyect holograms...  ( i recomend see Xcom online game for type of use drones )

- i think not investigate armor or weapons... investigate pieces of armor or weapons and with a base chasis you can personalice your weapons or armors.

- with money can make option to invest in any type of bussines can get you a return of money.. not only depend of countrys rewenue. can posibility of develops your bussines... for more revenue.

i have more ideas... but im see not its de way of this game progress but if aplly any diferents ideas can be a diferent Xcom game... not only a clone.

for last idea can make spanish and other languages space in forums... for the people cant speak english,

Please sorry my bad english im spanish

Edited October 26, 2023 by Erraticus

[Marian]

We all need to ask who the cleaners are and what their purpose is. So we already know who they are, they are members of a secret organization to combat UFOs, such as ours, which was established 30 years earlier but over time was filtered and consequently taken over by UFOs. The above information leads to the following conclusions - purpose of action: imposed by a UFO that wants to take over the earth. - possibilities of action: unlimited access to funds and technology ensuring an advantage in a possible confrontation with the forces of the army or other agencies - Since this organization has existed for many years, it has people in high, general and, I dare say, even presidential and governmental positions. Additionally, it has hidden operational bases on every continent. - if it has bases, it also has means of transport, helicopters, planes, transport ships. - in addition, it has combat means in addition to normal terrestrial ones, such as combat vehicles, tanks, and also those supported by alien technology, i.e. advanced armor, laser or plasma weapons... . The above information gives the scriptwriter full freedom to create an intricate plot in which the player will fight a much stronger agency with unlimited financial resources and better technology. We can have missions such as obtaining additional funds for the agency by taking over convoys, seizing transport ships which, in addition to money, allow us to obtain equipment (the better one) for cleaners. After missions aimed at getting to know this agency or stealing their technology. Then missions aimed at recapturing an important general, admiral, e.g. from an aircraft carrier they had captured. After a mission to eliminate important targets, for example, it turns out that suddenly Europe stops paying your agency money. You say ok, but then you focus on missions to obtain information about the European Presidency and you break into the president's palace at night, e.g. in Germany, you get information (here I would like to say that the developers should emphasize that some missions can only be completed at a certain time of the day, for example at night ) and what may be controversial is that these are stealth missions where we have to complete the goal without being detected (here camouflage and silenced weapons would have an impact) finally, after completing the mission, we find out that the president has been taken over by aliens and, for example, when we travel by plane or helicopters, we send our own aviation and eliminate him in the air or the ground mission would be to send a unit to catch him while he is resting in Majorca in his residence. Imagine that we have to kill the president of the USA and there is a mission in the white house to which we get through the sewers and it starts in the basement... Additionally, it may happen that we will have to fight the regular army in a given region to eliminate its president. As you can see, there is a lot of scope for creating an engaging intrigue where we will have to engage air forces and soldiers to fight the cleaners.