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Medal Types?


Chris

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OOoh, looks like lots of achievement medals. :P

But Chris did mention that medals are to be reminders of memorable/epic events on the field. The idea of being a soul survivor was an excellent one,and keeping a guy alive for 100 kills on harder difficulties but ideas like :"kill X aliens with grenades" or "stun X aliens" are too "grindable". I don't think medals that actually improve a soldiers stats should be worth the effort of attempting to get them on purpose. No one would sacrifice a squad for 1 bravery.

Maybe have a more advanced option of Sole Survivor?

Like:

-order of perseverance(i'm bad at names): Succeed in a mission with the last survivor and kill 5 (or so) aliens after the other members of the squad die.

I remember finishing the final mission in UFO:extraterrestrials with my last soldier by blasting the core before the remaining aliens cach up. That was definitely an emotional ride.

- the medal of valor: Kill an alien at a close range after the alien shot 4 times at the unit. Again a fun battle experience,and memory of the xenonaut zealot who rushed the enemy with no regard for personal safety, but intentional grind for it will most certainly destroy the players nerves. Most likely due to the aliens not missing the shots for the first 100 attempts.

I was also thinking of a set of "traditional" ribbons. By that i mean the soldier tradition. In Roughnecks the soldiers were wearing arm bands with the fallen comrades name on it for a while after their death. Maybe after a xenonaut dies on a mission the others that were on the mission would receive a temporary ribbon of "soldiers name". That would give +1 bravery for 1,2 geoscape days. Fighting to avenge the fallen, and so forth. I assume this "tradition" stuff would be a jerk to program, but hey it's an idea.

P.S: TheTuninator and anotherdevil : Fight fight fight fight fight ! :D(Joking ofcourse)

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i can see the medal as being maybe a one time morale boost or attribute boost but it must be minimal so that way it doesn't become a collecting of medals, most medal could be given for performing exceptional tasks while other for more mundane or routine task.

As i mentioned before it can be based on awards your first award is you ribbon/medal and subsequent awards are markers or pin on the ribbon.

Also i see people not wanting mundane medals for every action you perform that is why they should be provided when a certain level of proficiency is reached for example

Grenadier, reaches 20 kills with grenades

Bulls-eye, reaches 20 kill with sniper weapon

Survivor, survives the mission after falling unconscious from fatal wounds, this could be a one time award or repetitive.

Luckiest, survives a battle after being shot (at) more than 20 time by enemy units.

Man of Steel, survives a battle after being hit 5 times by enemy units

I hope you see where i am going, some medals/ribbon should be given based on the units abilities but some are based on circumstances out of the control of the player. I think a lot of people have great ideas but need to focus on what is more important in their perspective. For me gaining attributes or skill points for getting a ribbon is non-detrimental, after all you are getting experience points for performing all tasks that is truly like the cherry on top of the cake :)

of course these are just my $0.02

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Personally i dont like temporary awards or 1 time useable awards. defeats the wole point of a medal system imo.

the system shouldnt be there for the bonuses, it should be there for getting attached to your soldiers and a small (almost insignificant) bonus helps with that. But you shouldn't have to rely on the medal bonuses to play the game. You shouldn't be forced to push your support class soldiers into combat to get medals because they are falling behind and they will be useless if you dont make them catch up. Nor should your frontline assult guys be overpowered because they got so many pins they loke like a porcupine.

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Again, though, because the Purple Heart is a real-world medal, it actually does make sense. There's precedence.

Are you trolling me? You realise we are arguing for the same thing, right?

-You want a medal for your men getting shot

-I want a medal for my men getting shot too. But mine is harder to get because he has to be using a combat shield (a very weighty piece of equipment) and he has to be putting himself in the way of multiple shots that may or may not kill him in the end (depending on how much damage continues through the breaking shield, if any other aliens attack, etc.)

And you're only justification of why yours should be allowed and mine shouldn't is that yours is based of an existing medal. Chris is asking us for new medal ideas!

Personally i dont like temporary awards or 1 time useable awards. defeats the wole point of a medal system imo.

the system shouldnt be there for the bonuses, it should be there for getting attached to your soldiers and a small (almost insignificant) bonus helps with that. But you shouldn't have to rely on the medal bonuses to play the game. You shouldn't be forced to push your support class soldiers into combat to get medals because they are falling behind and they will be useless if you dont make them catch up. Nor should your frontline assult guys be overpowered because they got so many pins they loke like a porcupine.

I agree completely. That's why I tried to go for medals of extraordinary feats. Sure I may have missed the mark a little with some, but I was brainstorming. I was however trying to give medals to those memorable moments, the ones where you think back and go 'hell yeah, I remember when [insert name] killed both those badass aliens with his last grenade!'

Or something along those lines. Something that, when you look through the medals they have gotten, it brings back fond memories of the awesome things that they have done. Can they be farmed? Perhaps, but then you lose that feeling. And farming +1 bravery? That's not really that much

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Are you trolling me? You realise we are arguing for the same thing, right?

-You want a medal for your men getting shot

-I want a medal for my men getting shot too. But mine is harder to get because he has to be using a combat shield (a very weighty piece of equipment) and he has to be putting himself in the way of multiple shots that may or may not kill him in the end (depending on how much damage continues through the breaking shield, if any other aliens attack, etc.)

And you're only justification of why yours should be allowed and mine shouldn't is that yours is based of an existing medal. Chris is asking us for new medal ideas!

Nobody's trolling anybody, calm down.

First off, these are not the same thing. Actually taking a bullet is not the same thing as having a few shots break your riot shield; in one situation you are quite likely hospitalized and in moderate to severe pain, while in the other you are uninjured.

Secondly, as I've indicated before several times, my understanding of Xenonauts is that it seeks to establish and maintain a fairly somber and realistic Cold War atmosphere. As such, any potential in-game decorations for soldiers should be based on real-world medals, in order to uphold this atmosphere. Chris is asking for new medal ideas for the game, yes; however, these medals should have some foundation in actual military tradition. The Purple Heart is a quintessential and highly recognizable military decoration. We can just pull random medals out of thin air, but if we look carefully at what actual medals are given out for and base Xenonauts' medals on those that will contribute to the game's atmosphere in a considerable way.

Thirdly, I already agreed with you that some kind of award for being the first guy into a UFO on a regular basis is certainly a good idea; I just don't think that simply giving it to a guy for getting a riot shield shot out from under him is a good abstraction of that concept. As others have noted, it feels a little "achievement" like, and it doesn't necessarily fit the model of "extraordinary bravery" either since the guy with the riot shield is actually less likely to die than his companions because he has more protection.

In short, I think medals should be more of an abstract concept, as they are in actual wartime, rather than being awarded for carrying around a specific piece of kit. Getting a medal because you carried a highly specific piece of kit and did something with it gives off a strong "achievement" feel to me, which is not something you want if you're trying to emulate actual military decorations.

Edited by TheTuninator
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Nobody's trolling anybody, calm down.

First off, these are not the same thing. Actually taking a bullet is not the same thing as having a few shots break your riot shield; in one situation you are quite likely hospitalized and in moderate to severe pain, while in the other you are uninjured.

You obviously know very little about how cover mechanics and damage are planned to work, but that's alright. Let me explain. If behind cover, the cover can offer 2 types of benefit: blocking line of sight, which makes you harder to hit, and actual cover, ie. absorbing damage. So if the cover takes the damage, that's all well and good. If however the shot is powerful enough to break the cover, then any excess damage that was not used in the breaking of the cover carries over into the object behind the cover. So as you see, the actual act of breaking the shield, not just using the shield multiple times as you seem to think would be good enough, does in fact do exactly the same thing as the purple heart medal

In short, I think medals should be more of an abstract concept, as they are in actual wartime, rather than being awarded for carrying around a specific piece of kit. Getting a medal because you carried a highly specific piece of kit and did something with it gives off a strong "achievement" feel to me, which is not something you want if you're trying to emulate actual military decorations.

That's fine for you to think that. I however am trying to contribute more than 'kill 5 aliens' 'kill 10 aliens' 'kill 15 aliens' medals. Instead I'll leave it up to Chris as to which type of medals he chooses to include in his game

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You obviously know very little about how cover mechanics and damage are planned to work, but that's alright. Let me explain. If behind cover, the cover can offer 2 types of benefit: blocking line of sight, which makes you harder to hit, and actual cover, ie. absorbing damage. So if the cover takes the damage, that's all well and good. If however the shot is powerful enough to break the cover, then any excess damage that was not used in the breaking of the cover carries over into the object behind the cover. So as you see, the actual act of breaking the shield, not just using the shield multiple times as you seem to think would be good enough, does in fact do exactly the same thing as the purple heart medal

I'm talking from a "real world" perspective here, not from a game mechanics perspective, as again I believe the game's medals would do well to be grounded in real-world military tradition. It's quite feasible that someone could receive a medal for breaching a UFO with a riot shield, or leading a charge into enemy lines with a riot shield, but I don't find it very realistic that there would be a medal given out for having your riot shield blown apart no matter where it happened.

If your whole squad is advancing together side by side toward enemy positions, and your riot shield takes a shot and is rendered useless, is that really something worth a distinction? You're actually less likely to die than a teammate in that situation, so why should you get a medal?

It'd be better to take what you seem to want the riot shield medal to be, which is a medal for placing yourself into a dangerous situation for the sake of teammates, and change it to something like "first person into X UFOs or alien bases", something like that. That way the use of the riot shield is still quite likely, but it also has a bit more of a "heroic" feel to it.

That's fine for you to think that. I however am trying to contribute more than 'kill 5 aliens' 'kill 10 aliens' 'kill 15 aliens' medals. Instead I'll leave it up to Chris as to which type of medals he chooses to include in his game

That's completely fine, and I reserve the right to critique your suggestions based on what I feel fits the game, just as you're free to critique mine based on your perspective. That's why we have this thread, after all, to offer up medal suggestions and then discuss them.

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AD: how about adding a customable "trophy" or something distinguashible from the medals that you can award manually for whatever exceptionally awesome thing they did that didnt get covered by the medal system (limited to one per soldier?)

That way you can "record" your favourite moment. (ie you get to type in whatever you want in the description field)

Edited by Gorlom
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Alright, I'm overhauling my list to make everything a bit harder to get and adding a few more.

Dropships:

-Xenonauts Campaign Ribbon-Carry out 30 UFO ground assault missions. This could also be changed into a theater ribbon, see below.

Troopers: (original medal names this time)

-Survive for X months: Xenonauts Service Ribbon/Medal (can be replaced by the Theater ribbons, see below)

-Capture 10 aliens: Bronze Medal of Gallantry

-Capture 20 aliens: Silver Medal of Gallantry

-Capture a leader/navigator: Gold Medal of Gallantry

-Survive a mission with 50% or less health: Crimson Heart (I'd put it at 25% but alien weapons are likely to bring you down that far most of the time anyways; still, 25% might be better if we want it a bit more exclusive)

-Sole Survivor: Survivor's Ribbon/Medal

-Kill 7 Aliens in one mission: Medal of Heroism (5 seems like too small of a number, this needs to be a really extraordinary one to recognize those times when a single operative comes through in the clutch)

-Be the first trooper into X amount (where X is a large amount) of UFOs and alien bases: Star of Courage

-Clear a UFO of medium size(large, maybe? this needs to be really hard) or larger by yourself: Order of Earth

-Take a bullet/explosion meant for a teammate: Star/Medal of Sacrifice (little iffy on this one, but just tossing out ideas)

"Theater" ribbons: Much like actual campaign ribbons, these could be awarded to denote long service in a particular theater and might serve as a more flavorful alternative to a generic "service" medal.

-Serve X months in a European base- Europe Campaign Ribbon

-Serve X months in a Soviet Union base- Soviet Campaign Ribbon

and so forth. These are basically to recognize the really old veterans, the guys who were riding in the Chinook to the first crashed scout ship and are now gearing up for the final mission. You could differentiate them with a simple palette swap to facilitate having a bunch of variants of the same medal.

Also, how's this for a reworking of the "X kills" medals:

-Kill 5 Aliens-Merit Star

The ribbon gets bronze stars on it for every 5 (10?) kills up to 20, as per xracer's excellent suggestion.

-Kill 20 Aliens-Distinguished Merit Star (gets a silver star on the ribbon for every five kills, so you would have a star for 25, 30, and 35)

-Kill 40 Aliens-Outstanding Merit Star (gets a gold star for every five kills, so 45, 50, 55)

-Kill 60 Aliens-Exemplary Merit Star (gets a platinum star or gold star for every five subsequent kills)

This way, you have no more than 3 additional stars on the ribbon at any time, but you can also reach higher "levels" of the medal, much like real-life medals.

Edited by TheTuninator
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that is very good and i think it really makes the medals sound official which is definitely great. the only things i will change in this will be:

-Kill 5 Aliens - Merit Star

The ribbon gets bronze stars on it for every 5 (10?)subsequent kills up to 20,

-Kill 20 Aliens-Merit Star (gets a silver star on the ribbon for every 20 kills, so you would have a star for 20, 40, and 60 subsequent kills) don't make the sub-sequent silver stars easier to get. i will remove the Distinguished since it will be implied that the silver start represent Distinguished

-Kill 60 Aliens-Merit Star (gets a gold star for every 60 kills, so 60, 120, 180)

-Kill 180 Aliens-Merit Star (gets a platinum star for every 100 subsequent kills) I know it sounds absurd but i remember some of my vets in XCOM had like 250 kills, and if the game is really what it sounds like, then 200 kills is just another day at the job :).

and the Gallantry medal as said by TT will follow same rules, although we can do a factor since we don't want so many live aliens (they cost a lot to feed!!!!)

also you could add specific ribbons for specific weapons or specific type of weapons,

Pistol/rifle = Marksmanship Medal

Grenades = Grenadier Medal

You can apply the same increments as previous we need to remember also for the art dept this will simplify things the only thing you change is the color of the ribbon and maintain a single set of artwork.

Also AD did get a few things that would be nice such as special or incredible feats

close quarters combat or hand-to-hand or stun-baton-to-hand if you get what i mean, you must be a bad ass if you get close enough to try and capture or kill an alien like that, Melee Medal :S

Also i think the Service Ribbon/medal could be given to soldier for the missions they perform such like 10 and then proceed with the same medal leveling scheme.

And the Campaign Ribbon/Medal based on locality i think that is nice, given after you serve in a region for a specific time, so in actuality you can have soldiers with different sets. Europe, Asia, North/South America, Africa, Australia and any other region in the game.

Also as i mentioned before all these ribbons/medals are really specific to you performing actions in the game. How about things that are out of your control.

Defender Medal = being part of a successful base defense

or being lucky enough to survive a few shots from your enemy, (i assume the damage is a RNG) so if you survive lets say 5 shots that is a feat on itself :)

I know i am all over the place, that is just how my brain works :D

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Excellent suggestions!

The Stars of Gallantry could reflect the "melee" end of things, as a fair amount of stunning is likely to be done via Stun Rod. If there's actually melee attacks with guns, though (this is supposed to be a thing, right?) and they kill enemies instead of capturing them, that would be a great thing to have a medal for.

I like your ideas regarding the Merit Star! As you are an X-COM vet, I will defer to you on the required kill milestones; I've not too much idea of what constitutes a truly difficult kill milestone in X-COM.

Also, I really like the distinction between the Service Ribbon and Campaign Ribbon you suggested! Service Ribbons for X amount of missions and Campaign Ribbons for X amount of survival time in a particular theater sounds great.

Definitely agreed on the marksmanship medal as well; I think AD suggested something like that, too? Not sure if I'd want a Grenadier one, as the phrase "close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades" exists for a reason, but an award for a trooper who has consistently high marksmanship could be quite cool, and would reflect the fact that players often designate a particular trooper as "sniper" or "marksman".

Maybe something like if he's hit with X% of shots after X number of shots fired?

Edited by TheTuninator
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Might I suggest some alterations to the ones you have, just to make them more extreme

Purple Heart - Wounded in action (below 25% health after a mission)

Bug killer - Kill 5 aliens

One man army - Kill 3 aliens on a single mission

Defender - Win an alien base attack mission

Saviour - Win a terror site mission

Sole Survivor - Only surviving soldier from a victorious mission (should probably get a lot of bravery for this one)

Possibly need some better names

But then some more (some of these are better than others):

Grenadier - kill 2 or more aliens with one grenade

Pistol marksman - kill an alien at over 50 feet with a pistol (this can then apply for all other weapons)

CQB specialist - kill an alien in close combat

Legionnaire - have your combat shield break after absorbing the full amount of shots

master and commander - reach top rank

Stunning - Stun an alien with a stun baton

Breach and clear - stun 2 or more aliens with a stun grenade/rocket

Ninja - killed the enemy commander before any of his men

Down but not out - survived a fatal wound

I in team - killed all the aliens in a UFO by yourself

And I'm sure others will have more and better ones

Really good ones here. Hope these get accepted! I just started laughing at "Ninja" ;D

Suggestions:

Tanker: Kill all the Aliens with a single tank

Miracle Man: Kill all the aliens with a single regular soldier

Flying Savior: Destroy three UFO's in the air (Not crash landing)

Protecter: Take a shot to save a civilian or other soldier.

Dyeing Kill: Kill an Alien with a grenade the turn after you've died. (Aliens turn)

That's all, sorry if they may sound like Achievements. :/

Edited by Wolfy
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I'm talking from a "real world" perspective here, not from a game mechanics perspective, as again I believe the game's medals would do well to be grounded in real-world military tradition. It's quite feasible that someone could receive a medal for breaching a UFO with a riot shield, or leading a charge into enemy lines with a riot shield, but I don't find it very realistic that there would be a medal given out for having your riot shield blown apart no matter where it happened.

While it’s good to take from the real world for inspiration, once again I’ll remind you that this if a forum for new ideas, and for the first time I will remind you that this is a game. It’s for having fun, and being recognized as having done awesome stuff (IMO). That way, rather than forgetting how many aliens my men have killed this time (is it 15 or 20?), I want to remember my men for the truly memorable experiences we’ve been through, the hairy situations that they made it out of, etc.

Not just another 5 kills, again…

If your whole squad is advancing together side by side toward enemy positions, and your riot shield takes a shot and is rendered useless, is that really something worth a distinction? You're actually less likely to die than a teammate in that situation, so why should you get a medal?

that’s just bad tactics, and while valid is as flawed as the quote below and I’ll show you why

It'd be better to take what you seem to want the riot shield medal to be, which is a medal for placing yourself into a dangerous situation for the sake of teammates, and change it to something like "first person into X UFOs or alien bases", something like that. That way the use of the riot shield is still quite likely, but it also has a bit more of a "heroic" feel to it.
So anyone who walks into a UFO first gets it? Brilliant, because I wont be able to farm that one at all. Hell, I could shoot rockets through the door all day, and then my men can walk through that door with next to no threat at all. That’s really ‘heroic’

Basically what I am saying is there will always be ways to get these medals that aren’t perfect, but the one you are hating on just so happens to be one that will not only require tactics, but also risk. Which your crimson heart does not. That just requires risk.

Plus who says they have to storm UFOs? Why not storming buildings? Or covering the entire team and drawing fire as they walk down a corridor in the enemy base? Why limit heroics?

Also see my reply to Wolfy (down the bottom) about memorable events. Being the first one in the UFO 3 times is rather forgettable to me

AD: how about adding a customable "trophy" or something distinguashible from the medals that you can award manually for whatever exceptionally awesome thing they did that didnt get covered by the medal system (limited to one per soldier?)

That way you can "record" your favourite moment. (ie you get to type in whatever you want in the description field)

That’s fine and all, but it doesn’t give you the sense of actually achieving anything, at least nothing the game recognizes. Maybe that’s enough, but I’d prefer it if my men did something awesome and I was like hell yeah, someone thought I could do that, and I totally did.

Really good ones here. Hope these get accepted! I just started laughing at "Ninja" ;D

Suggestions:

Tanker: Kill all the Aliens with a single tank

Chuck Norris: Kill all the aliens with a single regular soldier

Flying Savior: Destroy three UFO's in the air (Not crash landing)

Protecter: Take a shot to save a civilian or other soldier.

Dyeing Kill: Kill an Alien with a grenade the turn after you've died. (Aliens turn)

That's all, sorry if they may sound like Achievements. :/

Glad you like them =] And don’t worry about them sounding achievement like to get, this is just a friendly place to throw out ideas. Plus Chris did say he wanted them to represent particularly memorable events =]

The basic idea that I have is simple; the soldiers earn medals automatically for causing (or surviving) particularly memorable events on the battlefield. These would give small stat boosts (perhaps +1 Bravery for each medal?), and would be displayed next to their portrait on the Soldier Equip screen.

Sorry for the long post =]

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i think you guys need to relax a little bit,

first i can see the main argument between TT and AD, you guys are arguing two different schools of thought.

First TT wants a pseudo-military type award system having all types of recognition for all the hard work you do, which i can understand having served and all, it feels good to receive recognition even if you weren't expecting it, and i truly love it.

Second AD wants the gamers perspective having an award system that will remind him all the incredible awesome and lucky things his little soldiers have endure. and i can also understand that begin an avid X-COM fan and having those little guys survive against unmeasurable odds. Those are good memories.

So why don't' we reach a middle ground? there will be the medals that are standard for all unit as long as they reach those prerequisites and the there will be those medals that will make you say "Yeah... i got this one when i went in with a single grenade and my 9mm took the guy on my right with a single shot, right between the eyes, then saw 2 shadows approaching around a bend lobed my bouncing Betty and before the gray on my left had time to react i had slit his throat with my trusty K-BAR as i heard my little baby go boom in the back ground... ahhh that was a good day"

So you see guys both of you want the same thing in just different views, why not have them both it seems TT is really creative in the pseudo-real naming of those ribbon/medals, and AD is also really creative in the special type of awards area.

So why not let Chris decide, or try to convince him that both of them are awesome and every unit will be similar but at the same time they all will have their individuality.

anyway just my $0.02

Edited by xracer
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While it’s good to take from the real world for inspiration, once again I’ll remind you that this if a forum for new ideas, and for the first time I will remind you that this is a game. It’s for having fun, and being recognized as having done awesome stuff (IMO). That way, rather than forgetting how many aliens my men have killed this time (is it 15 or 20?), I want to remember my men for the truly memorable experiences we’ve been through, the hairy situations that they made it out of, etc.

I hear you, and I respect that, but I hope you can appreciate my point of view as well. Chris and the team have clearly worked very hard to create a dark, somber, and realistic Cold War atmosphere which I really enjoy, and I would like to see that atmosphere upheld across all aspects of the game with decorations that actually reflect real-world decorations.

In any case, I think what xracer says makes sense; we've offered our suggestions and critiqued each others', and we should wait to see which direction Chris wants to take things before debating further.

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Survivor Ribbon, survives the mission after falling unconscious from fatal wounds, this could be a one time award or repetitive.

Luckiest Ribbon, survives a battle after being shot (at) more than 20 time by enemy units.

Man of Steel Ribbon, survives a battle after being hit 5 times by enemy units

So going back to a previous post and something like AD i highlighted those and of course there can be very different a difficult scenarios which will award such a ribbon. and you can fun with them :)

one is the loneliest number = only survivor in a mission

Hell-raiser = use incendiary weapons on 10 enemies or kill 10

Demolition-man = blow up a whole UFO ( i know i don't think is possible but you get what i mean) :)

Ace in the hole = killed enemy with last round in his inventory

Senile = killed enemy with projectile weapon while enemy is in Fog Of War (i know what senile means :) )

etc... etc...

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I dislike the achievement style medals and medal names greatly.

For instance, just using grenades or rockets shouldn't get you anything. You should have to use all forms of explosives extensively, and it should result in a general explosives aptitude medal. For a marksmanship medal, you should need X kills using pistols and rifles.

I think the highest order should be based on the soldier's country of origin. If American, he gets the Medal of Honor, if Japanese he gets the Order of the Rising Sun, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_%28decoration%29

To reach that, you have to be amazing, so the requirements need to be extremely difficult.

-Capture 100 aliens and kill 1000 over course of career, and in one mission capture 10 aliens, be the sole survivor, achieve all mission goals. It should be like that, the specifics aren't too important since I have no idea what is realistic yet for the game.

The lowest should be extremely simple.

Acceptable Service Medal - Survive first mission.

That's the equivalent of the lowest kind of medal/ribbon you can get in real life, and fits nicely with how hard Xenonauts should be.

Then:

(Medium place holder name) Medal - Single mission, 5 caps, 5 kills, no civilian deaths, no team deaths.

I like the campaign medal idea for serving on various continents.

As for the Purple Heart equivilient, which definitely needs its own name, it should not have a wound limit. I think the only requirement should be getting wounded at all, even by 1 hit point. The actual Purple Heart places no distinction of type or severity of wound for the sake of being issued. All that really matters is that it happens in combat with an enemy, and that the damage is done by an enemy, or by friendly action in combat. Also, POW's punished in violation of the Geneva Convetion.

Edited by Bibidibop
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I hear you, and I respect that, but I hope you can appreciate my point of view as well. Chris and the team have clearly worked very hard to create a dark, somber, and realistic Cold War atmosphere which I really enjoy, and I would like to see that atmosphere upheld across all aspects of the game with decorations that actually reflect real-world decorations.

In any case, I think what xracer says makes sense; we've offered our suggestions and critiqued each others', and we should wait to see which direction Chris wants to take things before debating further.

I agree with you and xracer here, and I hope I wasn't too harsh on your medal types. I was just trying to point out the similarities between our ideas =]

Also new ideas:

- completed a terror mission without a single civilian casualty

- survived friendly fire

Black Cross - Survived your first night mission

As for the Purple Heart equivilient, which definitely needs its own name, it should not have a wound limit. I think the only requirement should be getting wounded at all, even by 1 hit point. The actual Purple Heart places no distinction of type or severity of wound for the sake of being issued. All that really matters is that it happens in combat with an enemy, and that the damage is done by an enemy, or by friendly action in combat. Also, POW's punished in violation of the Geneva Convetion.

There should be some modifiers, else you could just throw grenades or shoot your own men =p

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yeah. There is the regular 'participate in one' but you don't even need to leave the landing craft to get that one. That's why I figured something hard like 'save all civilians.' Could also do one where you 'save all NPC soldiers' or 'complete secondary objective'?

Also night missions are quite hard too, and I generally ignore them/wait for day if I can in X-COM, that's why I chucked that one up there.

Also, just thinking about weapon useage medals, what about rather than 'x amount of kills' you have something like 'do x amount of damage with a weapon'? That way even if you don't kill the aliens, you still are working towards a medal. Perhaps that's too farm-like, but it's just an idea, and who knows, maybe it'll spark others...

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AD: What if you make something incredibly awesome that the game doesnt recognize? would you rather have a manula ingame record or would you be pushing for patches with a medal for that unforseen siuation you just manged to acomplish?

Bibidibop: Xenonauts is a private organization as far as i know. i dont think it can give out oher armies medals. and i also think that would be annoying and pointless codeing.

Edited by Gorlom
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I like the idea of a kill number tracker type ribbon that will be upgraded as the numbers climb.

I think proficiencies for weapon kills makes sense.

For example 15 confirmed kills with a precision rifle may give you the "Sniper Proficiency Ribbon 3rd Class", 50 confirmed pistol kills for the "Pistol Proficiency Ribbon 1st Class" etc.

I feel actual medals need to be quite rare though.

For example a medal for successfully capturing a new alien type/rank.

Any rank of Andron captured will get the first (and only the first) person a "Bronze Andron Cross", while capturing one of a higher rank could be the Silver Andron Cross and the highest rank would bag you a Gold Andron Cross.

These could give a small bonus, specifically against that alien type, as there will only ever be a maximum of 3 people with them.

There could also be a second version for first kill of this alien type, Bronze Andron Medal etc.

The Purple Heart is a recognised and respected medal but the game version shouldn't be given to everyone who gets hurt.

I would rename it to the Heart of Terra and only give it to someone wounded severely who also managed to perform well in a mission.

For example someone badly wounded while holding the UFO control room or getting a certain number of kills.

Medals like the Terran Cross can be given for achieving mission objectives as the highest rank left standing after your squad has taken fatalities (only if you weren't the highest rank at the start).

Highest exp amount if equal rank.

This could also be given for any situation where morale may have been an issue, it should probably not be given if the trooper panicked during the mission.

Citations could also be recorded in the soldiers personnel jacket and be represented by a "Citation Ribbon"

These could be for leading (highest rank in the mission) the team that recovers the first specific piece of alien tech.

No need to give these ribbons special names but you could if it makes them feel more special.

Again these would only be for the first person to recover the item so would not be widespread.

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Guaddlike i dont follow the logic behind "first one to capture an alien type" = "does more damage against said alien type". Why would they deal more damage? I need a reason that doesn't make it feel like the medal system is there just for the sake of giving you (too powerful) bonuses.

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