rasuloman

I don't know how much this is an issue with others, but here it is. Does ALTAR plan to improve the randomness factor in UFO:AS? What I didn't like in UFO:AM is that if you saved the game at the right time (just before interception, just before delegated mission) you could almost always win after an adequate number of reloads, no matter the strength of opposition. It would be much better if this random number determining outcome wouldn't change just because you reloaded. Maybe on easy setting randomness would work as before (like an in-game cheat), but be fixed on harder settings.

My Feet Touch the Sky The world seemed upside down. In the remains of his confused and shattered mind, he knew this was wrong, but somehow it felt right. He hovered above the ground, effortlessly flapping his wings. Were human beings supposed to have wings? Maybe I died and became an angel? He certainly didn't feel like one. He always wanted to fly when he was a kid, though. His wish has finally come true. That was something. It was important. Important was something. THE SOMETHING. He had trouble focusing. When he tried to think about his past, it was like the something didn't want him to think these thoughts, the something that didn't want him to have any past, any future... The something that wanted to swallow him in an eternal, horrible now. He struggled to keep thinking. I think, therefore I am. Yet it seemed so easy to stop thinking and just act, simply live for the moment. It seemed so desirable to give in to that deep voice in the back of his mind that tried to shout down his small i am with a loud, obnoxious I AM. Think, you gotta think, man. Thinking with your thinker, that's what separates us from the animals, my daddy always used to say. The mindless silence inside of him seemed to imply, YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR DADDY ANYMORE, I AM IS YOUR DADDY NOW. The voice tried to sound soothing. Why did it send shivers up his spine? Or was it down? He didn't care anymore. He was missing something important. If only he could remember it, this it would explain everything. Or at least it would explain something. Maybe he somehow lost his memory, like in one of those movies. No, his memory was right there in his mind behind the closed doors. The something has closed the doors and didn't want to let him in. What was his name? It was something something. What was the deal with all the somethings? Has he died? He didn't remember that he died. Or was it presumptuous of him to think that he would remember something like his death? Was this hell? Don't look for hell outside, it's within you, the something whispered in his ear. It's trying to scare me, he thought. But if I'm really dead, then why would I be scared of anything? Somehow this thought comforted him, as if there was really some logical link between being dead and being scared. He looked around him and all he could see was strange, alien growth. And the ruins of the town he spent his childhood in. Or was it a different town? And what were these strange creatures that seemed to avoid him? Why were these birds flying on the ground? Something seemed wrong. Terribly wrong. The something was terribly, horribly wrong. But a stronger urge seized control of his thoughts. Are they edible? Only now he noticed that he was hungry. He took one of the birds and bit its head off. Tastes like chicken marinated in detergent. Instead of satiating him, the bird flesh just increased the pangs of hunger. Look, there's a dead cow nearby. He hovered to the carcass and started feasting. A regular McDonalds, if only I had fries too, he chuckled to himself. His chortling sounded more like buzzing. What would his mom think if she saw him like this, this wasn't sanitary. Sorry Mom, if you were as hungry as I am you would eat it too. Suddenly, something interrupted his breakfast. The sound of gunfire was getting closer. Some bullets flew over his feet. He flew behind the corner of a building as fast as his wings could carry him, which wasn't very fast after the meal he just had. What was happening? His thoughts were again interrupted by something that ran into him. A soldier? Malcolm?! Now he remembered! Malcolm, I'm so glad to see you! I got separated from the squad, I remember being hit... While raising the shotgun, all Malcolm could hear were grunts and threatening buzzes. How can you do this to your best friend, after all we've been through, he thought, while his military instincts compelled him to defend himself. Or was the something taking over? With a superhuman effort and quickness he didn't think he had in him, he flew into the air until his head was in the same level as Malcolm's. Then an instant later his teeth bit into the face of his best friend. The lifeless body hit the ground. What was that look on his face? He looked at the now bloody face annoyed that he couldn't study the expression, because it was an interesting one. Disgust and surprise merged into one by the suddenness of recognition. Why would he be surprised? Didn't he save my life once? For that he felt grateful, but the something tried to suppress the emotion. With an effort, he tried to remember more. I remember my name! Brian. But why does even my name seem so ages ago? No time for reminiscing, the something whispered urgently. The shouts, sound of running boots. He reached for the weapon that was lying on the ground. The cold steel felt good to the touch. He picked it up. The battle was over quickly. Carcasses of his comrades were lying on the ground, while he hovered above them like an apparition. At least I'll have enough to eat for the next few days. How can you think such horrible thoughts, they were your friends, he buzzed loudly at himself, trying to outbuzz the something. The something menacingly buzzed back, while his mind fogged over. While it tried, even the something couldn't prevent the inexplicable sadness that slowly crept into his tortured soul.

I recently started the game but can't research power cells. I seem to remember someone mentioned a workaround using resmission cheat, but I couldn't find that topic again. Does anyone know how resmission works? Thanks

How about a map feature? Also assigning troop orders from the map view.

This is a topic concerning fans' wishes for the sequel, not expansion pack, so let loose your imagination. I haven't finished the game yet (problems with installation) so I'll present my idea in general concepts instead of in specific story. That being said, I think the story is the most essential part of the game. Altar moved in the right direction with the story-moving missions. It's kind of like Freelancer with the story missions set apart from the other generic missions which you do until you reach a required level. If you remember the Freelancer cinematics, they weren't that bad, but if you look at Unreal 2, it looks so much better in the game itself. So I don't know how possible would it be to licence some 3D engine like that (or maybe Doom 3 or Half Life 2 engine) not for the game itself but just for high quality game cinematics. If I remember correctly, Altar developed an fps engine, but didn't include it because it was good enough. Maybe they could improve it and use it for cinematics, if licencing is too costly. Anyways, I think greater characterization is a must. What if we had some background story of characters like Malcolm and Brian? And not just some short biography text, but if we followed couple of major characters through out the game. Think of how Warcraft 3 improved with the introduction of heroes; even those low quality cinematics drove the game forward. So let's say we follow a character named Arnold . Somehow the aliens are back and start a campaign of terror, abducting remaining humans. Arnold's wife and daughter are abducted, but he somehow escapes (or is it that the aliens are abducting just females? maybe used as cloning machinery- like axlotl tanks from the Dune universe). --- Stage 1: Training The first mission would be to escape without weapons and locate a nearby military installation. Arnold signs up as a rookie and undergoes training: this would be, you guessed it, a required training mission where you learn everything about weapons etc. Now the real game begins. Stage 2: Control just one character First couple of missions you control just Arnold and have to listen to orders. Here you would get yourself acquainted with other characters you will again meet later in the game. Stage 3: Control a squad Now you would control a squad, but you still don't get to choose missions you go to. Stage 4: Control military operations This is like Aftermath without R&D. Stage 5: Control everything As you see, this would be something like rise of Arnold to the top. Couple of other intermediary stages could be inserted between stage 4 and 5. At this point you don't have to bring Arnold to missions anymore (if he dies the game ends). How it goes from here depends on the story. But the setup could serve for many interesting missions. Maybe you don't control the whole world, but your buddies from the training days also hold key positions in the alien resistance. So some missions could involve helping them, fighting against them (you fight against brainwashed humans sometimes), etc. Then you could also maybe search and rescue your wife and daughter (like X-files Moulder searching for his sister); daughter becomes a soldier so you can send her to missions; to protect her you don't, so she escapes with a "delegated" squad, something goes wrong, so rescue her again. Etc etc. Having developed characters helps reducing the monotony of missions: rescuing your daughter or budy whom you saw in the game cinematics would mean more than rescuing a pilot. Also, it would be great if there was AI to control any part of the game you don't want to bother with. Now you're on the top. You don't care about research? Assign it to your underlings, who would decide which technologies first get researched, maybe based on your previous choices. You've had enough of tactical game? Send a squad you controlled up till now, and they would perform as you would expect a highly trained team: if you would win that mission, automatic resolve should also win it. So no outright randomness involved. The ultimate ideals would be that you can the game is able to autoplay itself from start to end. However, as this wouldn't be very interesting, some limitations would be imposed: you would have to play each type of mission at least once, and also all the story missions. --- R&D: I would like to see scientists and engineers similar to X-com Apocalypse where each has its own skill set. So you wouldn't have 200 scientists, but a small number of top experts whom you gained mainly through save-a-scientist/engineer missions (it's assumed that you have a greater grunt force as a part of r&d bases). To continue aftermath ideas, you would still have research bases, so more of them the better, while the scientists would serve as a significant modifier. So scientists could have values from 0.1 to 1.0, while the bases would have values in hundreds. speed of research = scientists' collective score X number of bases X base value i.e. 4.0 X 15 X 100 = 6000 (research speed) This would also be somewhat realistic. Today, just think of how fast new technology is developing. In the future, and with the help of alien technology, this would be even faster. So scientists by themselves couldn't do much, but with powerful computers in each base (which are also useless without scientists) they can research very quickly. Other missions could be concentrated on this: capture alien scientist, alien computer, alien replicator machine (for engineering), etc. It would be also cool to have a Q-like character who would introduce new technologies, or at least get back to pictures like in x-com. I must admit I don't like those research animations very much. --- Air combat: The combat cinematics in Aftermath are cool, but it's still a step backwards with less control over your fighters. I would like to see something more than x-com solution, without it turning into a flight sim. Maybe something like Freelancer combat or Homeworld. I know it's too much to ask, but this is my wishlist. A role-play system for the pilots would also be great. That's it for now. I can't think of anything else. Your turn :alien2:

I didn't know where to put this topic, so here it is. Does anybody know how much do the programmers get out of those $40? I've read somewhere it's only one dollar, while the rest goes to publishers, retailers, and other necessary parasites. So my question is, how would the fans respond if Altar created some sort of tip jar where fans could contribute something just for the programmers? If I paid $40, it wouldn't mean much to me if I gave them $1 or $5 or even $10, especially if I liked the game and knew that only the guys who created the game got it. And for the multitude of pirates of all sorts, they would have the chance to battle the establishment (like that's the real reason ) while also supporting the artists and relieving their consciences. This would also be a nice way of saying thanks for listening to our suggestions while the game was in development, and ensuring that they continue to do so for the upcoming sequel. I understand this could be a controversial issue, and Altar team could have its reasons for not doing it. The game is already beyond gold, so the publishers should be satisfied already. So maybe some of you who have connections with Altar could suggest this and see what they say. Let's give power back to the programmers!