Mytheos Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 I just had a passing thought... There is a desire to make the different aliens "feel" and act different, perhaps each type having a slightly different tactical feel right? What if this went beyond stats and AI profiles? What if enemies had other reaction abilities instead of just being able to fire their weapons? The Lizardmen (One day I promise I will learn the names of Aliens) are supposed to be tough, strong and brutish aliens with razor sharp claws. But you have no reservations about walking up to them and shooting them in the face if they are suppressed as they cant reaction fire. What if they could have another reaction ability such as a short distance charge and maul attack that ignores suppression penalties? Walking up to a bear and popping it in the face feels odd...but if getting too close could trigger a burst of speed followed by a rending maul... That would really drive home the concept of you REALLY dont want to get close to these guys, and REALLY make you nervous about using a stun rod on them. (When the time comes anyway that alien live capturing is reworked and fine tuned) Am I crazy or does this sound like a potentially interesting concept? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 I actually love that idea. Sebillians (the lizard men ) getting an ability to do a short charge and very strong melee attack. Maybe three tiles would do it? As in, if you come within three tiles of them, and they have X TUs left, they'll charge you and rip you apart. Really love the idea. Ha, this would ruin my fun, though. I have shield bearers just run up and shield bash Sebillians until they're dead. Caesans get pistol whipped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mytheos Posted July 1, 2013 Author Share Posted July 1, 2013 Yeah, lol, that would put a dampener on the recent rodney king style beat downs people have been posting about recently with Combat Shield use. That could even be a balancing factor to combat shield use...and add thoughts to the whole Combat Shield -Use/weight/vision penalty debate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerfectDeath Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Sebs used to have acidic blood I believe, thus you did not want to step on their corpse or blood pools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoitessier Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Yeah it's too bad the big mean lizards have manicured claws, but guessing it's too much work to render the sprite animations now, come to think of it would be nice if they could hop on 3 meter high roofs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Well, the xenonaut melee attacks don't have any animations (that I've seen, at least). Why would alien melee attacks need animations then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svidangel Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Probably at least want a wicked sound file so people know why they are taking damage "Rawr smack.ogg" I didn't even remember there was a melee attack till recently so I probably would have reported the non-shot damage as a bug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Maybe for melee damage, the numbers should be accompanied by a symbol, or simply the word melee? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max_Caine Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Well, slap my thigh and dress me in gingham. A cursory check of the spritesheets seems to indicate the only sprites done for melee are reapers and stun stick carrying xenonauts. Would MELEE! past muster, though? XIII used a lot of in-game windows to communicate events. Would opening an ingame window which has a comic-style still of a Xenonaut wailing on an alien or visa-versa be an idea? It would get past the need for animation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Hmm... Well, it makes sense, considering the huge number of sprites involved in making a melee attack for every weapon and armor combination, plus every weapon and alien rank/armor combination. However, I still think that sebillians should have a melee attack that they use to great effect, even if we don't have an animation for it. Melee is more of a secondary attack, anyway. The primary attacks all have animations, the secondary melee attacks don't. The only time melee is animated is when it IS the primary attack, as in the case of stun batons and reapers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svidangel Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Wouldn't even need the popup window. I'm not a huge fan of those popping up for the bleeding at the moment. Just tacking the word melee on to the HP that shows up over the target's head would be fine. Could also add "stun" for stun damage, or just make it blue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderGr Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 A blood drop on the soldier's quick access interface would do the trick for the bleeding. I am not a fan of the popups, either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GizmoGomez Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 (edited) Wouldn't even need the popup window. I'm not a huge fan of those popping up for the bleeding at the moment. Just tacking the word melee on to the HP that shows up over the target's head would be fine. Could also add "stun" for stun damage, or just make it blue. Agreed, add the word Melee to the damage, and add the word Stun to the stun damage. It could be blue as well, I like the idea. And yeah, the popups are annoying. Instead of a popup, perhaps simply putting a blood drop icon on the soldier quickselect interface (I liked that idea), and making it brightly flash three or so times at the start of the turn, would be a good idea. This way it would be obvious to the player that someone is bleeding without making the player do extra, unnecessary work in closing a popup window. The flashing would get the player's attention without being too "in your face" about it. Edited July 2, 2013 by GizmoGomez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mytheos Posted July 2, 2013 Author Share Posted July 2, 2013 (edited) I would think if the Sebs made a "Reaction Ability" attack, it would be on your turn and be handled same as "Reaction Fire" As far as different damage types, I would figure you could go with different colored damage numbers. I understand animating sprites for a melee attack would be something to do, but I think you could get away with it cheaply. You could just have the Seb going into a crouched position, and then stand up and walk towards the soldier that triggered it followed by a claw mark graphic starting at the soldier's body and then floating up over his head and maybe the soldier would flash red? This wouldnt need new sprites, just a "claw marks" graphic overlay. Also keep in mind the crouch-stand-move next to soldier would need to have the animation speed up quite a bit... It would maybe look like they kinda sprang at you and in a burst closed the gap followed by "claw marks" graphic overlay on your solider, your soldier flashes red...and maybe a roar and slashing sound file. Something like this for the claw graphic (Again this just flashes on your soldier for a moment as he is hit) - http://www.allfreelogo.com/images/vector-thumb/claws-scratches-vector-prev1268768589V5M000.jpg Edited July 2, 2013 by Mytheos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mytheos Posted July 2, 2013 Author Share Posted July 2, 2013 And just to clarify... I'm not suggesting to add this ability to every Alien. I am suggesting to add Reaction Abilities to "some" Aliens to increase tactical depth and give then a unique feel beyond Stats and AI behavior. But different Aliens would have different "Reaction Abilities" but yeah the "Maul" ability would be great for Sebs/Reapers/Chryssalids. Just as an example... The Androns (Green Robot guys) could have 3-5 chances with a 5% probability of success, to Stand back up. Each chance would be triggered like a normal "Reaction fire" and after 3-5 fails the Androns would be "really" dead. They would NOT have their weapons functioning if they succeeded tho, so they couldnt fire at you, but instead would just simply stand back up, heavily damaged (Very Low HP), and if you didnt finish them off on your turn, they would on their turn walk towards the closest Soldier and if they made it close enough to them, would then self-detonate. "I'll be back/suicide bomber" style lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mytheos Posted July 2, 2013 Author Share Posted July 2, 2013 (edited) Another example... The Engineer/Sniper Aliens could have a "Smoke Grenade" Reaction Ability, where if they didnt feel they had a particularly good chance to shoot one of your soldiers with a Reaction Shot, they could instead drop a special smoke grenade at their feet (Blue colored Smoke maybe) and your soldier could still see them, however if they were standing on a tile with Blue smoke on it, your soldiers would have a small accuracy penalty when shooting at them. This would compliment their role as a Sniper. Edited July 2, 2013 by Mytheos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MACtic Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 Sounds interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoitessier Posted July 2, 2013 Share Posted July 2, 2013 Love your Seb and andron ideas, the Andron sounds like it would need some more animation tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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