Multi-level missions

[xracer]

I know a lot of people do not like this idea, but then again a lot also do

a little background for non-X-COM nuts, So if you have played TFTD (my personal favorite) when you did Base Assault Mission or Artifact Missions (EDIT) "also the ship mission i think), there were two phases to the mission.

The first phase consisted of clearing the entrance to the base, by either killing all enemy units or getting you all your units to the entrance of the base ( i always used the former it seemed less dangerous )

Once you have gotten there you will access the base, the system gives you a chance to re-organize your units and armament, no you do not get to add ammo or anything that wasn't brought to the mission, your units are not healed this is just a breather for you to regroups and prepare for the next phase.

The next phase was simple, kill all enemy units or the command center and get out of there alive. I did get lucky a couple of times and was able to take out the command center very early and the high-tailed to the exit, but most of the time (99.8%) i had to kill all enemy units.

So my request is can we please get those type of missions!!!!!

Edited January 20, 2012 by xracer

[BigityBalzworth]

it would have to be implemented better than it was in TFTD. Unfortunately, that's what kept me from finishing that game back in the day. the terror missions were on cargo ships with countless tiny rooms to search that would take FOREVER to search for aliens. EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING!!!!! its was a brutal pain in the ass. and when you FINALLY found the last alien hiding in a closet and blew his brain all over the wall, you found out that you had a whole other part of the ship to do the same thing all over again.

[anotherdevil]

yeah and no extra ammo, no restocking, no healing, no way to get units to replace those lost, it was a cheap way to make a mission twice as hard, if not harder, and to destroy the soul of anyone who didn't do particularly well in the first one.

I can imagine that it would be a special kind of hell for those doing iron man...

[Chris]

The only instance I can see us using it is if the player was attacking very large UFOs - you clear the crash site, then you clear the interior. The gain for us would be we'd only have to show the entrance to the UFO rather than the entire thing, which would save the art budget.

It's up in the air, though. I really don't know whether we'll do this or not yet.

[anotherdevil]

The only instance I can see us using it is if the player was attacking very large UFOs - you clear the crash site, then you clear the interior. The gain for us would be we'd only have to show the entrance to the UFO rather than the entire thing, which would save the art budget.

It's up in the air, though. I really don't know whether we'll do this or not yet.

I would suggest that if this is the case, have the amount of aliens on each 'half' map determined randomly from a fixed number pool. So say that the UFO carried 20 aliens. 6 died on impact. That means that the remaining 14 can then be split between the outside and the inside of the UFO, whether it is 7 and 7, or 3 and 11 or whatever. So long as the amount always adds up to 14, and not say 28 (2x14) like it would in TFTD.

Also having the outside portion of the map would be cool, as it could allow you to show off the crash site. You know all the scotched earth, the ravine where the UFO ploughed through the ground, the half smashed buildings, the squished cows, etc.

[xracer]

yeah and no extra ammo, no restocking, no healing, no way to get units to replace those lost, it was a cheap way to make a mission twice as hard, if not harder, and to destroy the soul of anyone who didn't do particularly well in the first one.

I can imagine that it would be a special kind of hell for those doing iron man...

dont' worry my soul regenerates fairly quick!!!

Trust me those were the missions that i was most careful, that is after my first time it was truly something i was not expecting.

The only instance I can see us using it is if the player was attacking very large UFOs - you clear the crash site, then you clear the interior. The gain for us would be we'd only have to show the entrance to the UFO rather than the entire thing, which would save the art budget.

Well, it ocudl be done for base and very large ufos as you mentioned and you are correct it does allow for only showing the entrance to the UFO instead of the whole UFO and once inside you only need to show the interior of the UFO and not the surrounding area, which could allow for the map itself to appear a little larger and the UFO to feel huge!!!!. After all this are the missions that are supposed to be hard.

It definitely will be awesome to have something like that.

[Sathra]

I like AD's suggestion.

I loved TFTD's combat, but I agree that the 2-part missions got to be a bit much. Not to mention how hard it was to blow your way through the terrain in them.

[Gauddlike]

If the two parts were classed as different missions it wouldn't be bad.

On reaching the entrance you get the option to continue to the inside or to return to your base.

If you decide to leave you could then send another squad into the interior by intercepting the crash site again.

That would give you the option on pulling out a team that had been hit hard without penalising them further.

The ship entrance could be covered by local forces to prevent them repopulating the outside area, or maybe the aliens are just cowering within trying to get the wreck to fly again after hearing the death screams of those who were outside.

[Beagle]

I'd prefer if UFO clearing ops remained single-mission so we can choose to split our teams, come in from different angles, leave some guys to sweep the exterior, etc. Only thing I can see two-part missions doing in that sense is sacrificing mission complexity by dividing it between two. Whole is greater than the sum of its parts, etc.

If you're assaulting an alien base with only one entrance and your objective is just to get your whole team in there and take out the command center, I could probably be okay with that though. Just not the first example with the UFO, that'd annoy me.

[Gauddlike]

Ah but who said you wouldn't be able to assault through different entrances on the big ships?

Secure all entrances for so many turns then when you assault the inside you get to choose who goes in through which door, that would be one way of doing it.

As long as the maps and objectives are designed with multi level missions in mind then there is no reason they shouldn't be able to work out.

What would your suggestion be to make them interesting to you?

[Beagle]

That would certainly fix some of the inflexibility of being forced into two missions, but the issue I take with it is there's no benefit I can see to splitting things up apart from, as Chris said, it would be less work.

Of course, if you can suggest to me ways in which it brings something fun to the table, I'm all ears

[Gauddlike]

With my suggestion you aren't forced into the second half of the mission.

You can leave it and get a little reward for doing the first half or go into the ufo in hope of getting a better reward for doing the second half.

[anotherdevil]

you could have it quite easily be:

do first half = get funding nation reward

do second half = get all that bounty! (almost typed booty =p Never know though, that would be a sweet reward =p)

[Beagle]

I'm not really a fan of that, would feel like a cop-out to fly to a crash site, secure everything but the UFO and then leave. I don't know what the point of even going would be if you're not going to finish the mission.

When I read the title I assumed the mechanic was intended to present a multi-story mission where it was absoloutely necessary - for example, you have to assault the exterior of a base, then move in and clear out the interior, but both maps are so big that they have to be split up into their own sections. Apart from that kind of necessity, I can't see any reason to split maps.

[Gauddlike]

That's pretty much what I was thinking.

The funding nation would obviously not be quite as happy as if you had taken the whole thing out.

There would be corpses and equipment to take back to base as well if you do the outer section.

If the inner part is a bit too hot for you (not as in booty AD) you can back off and call in the air strike.

If both maps have their objectives, and both can be made interesting in their own right, it could be a good addition to the game.

Nothing at all like the TFTD missions at least.

[Gauddlike]

The point is some of the alien ships are so big the map to contain them and have any kind of outside area would need to be huge.

One suggestion was to just have the inside areas and not bother with an outdoor area.

I would prefer some outdoor section and multi level missions is one way of having both.

You could do the same with bases but I would probably have multiple areas to capture or take out on the surface before you can get inside rather than a simple rush to the door mechanic.