Future X-com games suggestion thread

[Gimli]

Why have Ethereals 65 million years ago at all? You could always have different species from that time frame, or choose a closer time frame. We only know about Aquatoids from that time frame for sure.

I had some ideas stemming from that, and built around the Aquatoids, but I just don't have the time for thinking about it more and fleshing it out. But the short summary is that I would have taken that and then connect it with all the games that were made including Alliance and Genesis and excluding Enforcer. Then tie all of that in so it makes complete sense. I just don't have the time for that now, too busy with lots of other things.

[Jman4117]

I always imagined that they left in sublight colony ships of some sort, .05c to .2c, and gradually spread across the galaxy. 50 or so years between stars. They'd seed any inhabitable planets with slave races and leave some scout craft in the system to keep an eye on anything interesting. If said slave race gets too advanced to be manageable, the scouts radio back to the central command to come and terminate the new upstarts before they can become a threat. This likely happened in the aftermath of WWII, scouts detected nukes, they went to investigate, some may have gotten shot down, reinforcements were requested. 50 years later give or take, the fleets begin arriving from nearby stars to either pacify the planet, or eat the inhabitants and start over from scratch.

[Hobbes]

Not going into a big post here but regarding the weapons and technology failure BB just mentioned I've got to say it's difficult filling 65million years of Ethereal history when we already know their most developed weapon in 1999 is a plasma. I eman yeah it's pretty cool but I reckon given 65 million years I could probably make one... So we're facing new challenges from a prequel that I think it's safe to say none of the sequels ever had to deal with as well as some that I'm sure they did!

 

Regarding the issue raised, 'why have the aliens only came up with plasma in 65 millions of their history', there are two assumptions that might not apply to the aliens:

 

1) How they see technology. In modern times we are constantly striving to advance our technology because of several factors (lack of resources, military competition, etc.). This might not apply to a different culture/species. You have cultures on Earth who made no attempt to improve their technology during thousands of years because they had no need for it. The same can apply to a interstellar civilization, their technology might simply not advance because they have other priorities for investing resources. This might be strange to us, but it could make complete sense for them.

 

2) How they see time. Or how they measure it. 65 millions for years for a common human being is a long period. For an alien it could mean simply a blink of an eye. Or maybe they don't see time as we do, other than being a dimension like the others, constantly changing.

[jverne]

Regarding the issue raised, 'why have the aliens only came up with plasma in 65 millions of their history', there are two assumptions that might not apply to the aliens:

 

1) How they see technology. In modern times we are constantly striving to advance our technology because of several factors (lack of resources, military competition, etc.). This might not apply to a different culture/species. You have cultures on Earth who made no attempt to improve their technology during thousands of years because they had no need for it. The same can apply to a interstellar civilization, their technology might simply not advance because they have other priorities for investing resources. This might be strange to us, but it could make complete sense for them.

 

2) How they see time. Or how they measure it. 65 millions for years for a common human being is a long period. For an alien it could mean simply a blink of an eye. Or maybe they don't see time as we do, other than being a dimension like the others, constantly changing.

 

although i agree with your points i'd personally do the story differently. my idea is based on the fact that any civilization that had 65 million years of technological development would be virtually untouchable. my story would bring the aliens down to manageable levels.

the UFO series did this better IMO.

you don't need weapons to bring humans from 1999 to their knees.

 

My story would go something like this: it's now 2010, humans have intercepted stray alien communications 20 years ago which after being deciphered showed that something alien is nearing and it will arrive by the end 2010. In secret a global military union has formed that focused on R&D and planing in the event the aliens might be hostile. The received almost unlimited resources to plan for a potential attack. The strategist realized a direct confrontation against a space faring civilization would probably be futile, so they focused on highly organized guerrilla warfare. The intense 20 year development led to remarkable breakthroughs so in secret the organization has access to state of the art earth based equipment, they established a well connected network of military bases and critical resource centers.

They even established a secret base on the moon. By this time the space elevator has been built and some serious space surveillance and support equipment is established.

The public was left in the dark about most of this in fear they might start panicking, but some vague info leaked. Most believed it was a warning of a potential meteorite strike, so a substantial part of the populous prepared for a possible natural catastrophe.

By the end of this year the aliens reach Mars and establish their HQ there. A few moths later a smaller alien battle fleet attack earth and seriously damages all major world cities. The regular earth army is mostly destroyed in the defense of earth. Suddenly the fleet retreats and returns back to their HQ. As it later turned out most ships were made inoperable due to a glitch in the software after the aliens were attempting to reconfigure their computer to the new circumstances. Also an unknown virus kills off a substantial portion of the new visitors...as the story unfolds we learn they made it themselves in the attempt to engineer themselves to the new atmosphere and living conditions. So after these two major setbacks the aliens have to start almost from scratch. So they send smaller scout and research missions to earth. By this time earths population realizes what they are dealing with and also the secret military force is fully unleashed and renamed as the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit. Dealing with just sporadic ufo activity they manage to keep up and downing ufos and researching them. Despite the favorable circumstances they still struggle to compete with the much more advanced alien aggressors, they fight slowly but surely.

As the XCOM gains better equipment and knowledge so the aliens on Mars recover, becoming more and more aggressive and sending more and more ships.

After a long struggle XCOM manages to get the upper hand and attack their HQ. In an almost miraculous fight to the death they disable the enemies base and capture the remaining aliens.

Finally the secret behind the aliens is partially revealed. It turns out they are about 2000 year older than our civilization and just started serious experiments in interstellar travel. The enemies fought were just an experimental convoy that was sent from their home solar system in the attempt to test their faster than light speed travel technology. The convoy was sent in this direction because the aliens discovered human civilization by the signals earth was emitting trough the 20th century. Primarily is was just a contact establishing mission and not an act of agression, although the technological difference made the aliens feel superior and less empathic.

Since the experiment partially succeeded by transporting the welcoming convoy 20 years of slower than light travel from earth.

After the jump the aliens lost all communication to their home solar system and all their warp speed technology was destroyed in the experiment. In fear they might never see their home they decided to use their superior technology to re-colonize the earth and establish a new home. Since they didn't think too highly of us the decided to go for the invasion option. Why didn't they just choose another planet to settle to? Because earth despite some differences was the most habitable in the whole solar system, otherwise they must live in domes on planets like mars.

They share similar traits to humans but are biologically too different to allow mixing. It's either human biology or their kind, that's why they were additionally forced to the invasion option. The additional problem the aliens had was the light armament they were sent with. Although their race was not particularly militaristic back home they had decent weapons for self defense and light offense. The visiting aliens like previously said had to start from scratch and manufacture their weapons.

 

The end.

 

Hmm...should i copy-write it, lol

 

anyways...with this story most things are covered. The aliens are not some uber god like beings, the story is much more real and plausible also the aliens aren't inherently evil as shown in Xcom games. It would also explain why they didn't use the most powerful weapons since the beginning, because they didn't have them.

 

This would be the story i'd like in a new xcom game.

 

Oh and guess what the next installment could be? Hint: before destruction the Martian aliens managed to send a SOS signal to their home planet...

[The Veteran]

Gimli

I would have taken that and then connect it with all the games that were made including Alliance and Genesis and excluding Enforcer. Then tie all of that in so it makes complete sense. I just don't have the time for that now, too busy with lots of other things

 

That's what we've done but we're not likely to just come out and publish the whole story are we now

 

Jman

I always imagined that they left in sublight colony ships of some sort, .05c to .2c, and gradually spread across the galaxy. 50 or so years between stars.

 

50 years between stars is pretty damn fast man for any kind of technology level! Though Star Trek and George Lucas seem to think it's a bit slow so what do I know? I'm just thinking for Colonisation it wouldn't work in that these aliens would have time to visit 1.3 million solar systems between us and Enemy Unknown. If I knew where there was a seedable planet and it would only take me 50 years to get back to it I wouldn't wait 65million years personally!

 

Hobbes

Regarding the issue raised, 'why have the aliens only came up with plasma in 65 millions of their history', there are two assumptions that might not apply to the aliens:

1) How they see technology.

2) How they see time. Or how they measure it.

 

Very good points Hobbes, I guess we do tend to think of everything as relative to human standards but it really needs to be as far from this as possible! It's one of the largest creative obstacles for science-fiction design in my opinion. How many races are there in Star Trek for example that are not bipedal? And how many truly innovative weapons systems are featured in popular sci-fi as opposed to the very standard point-and-shoot weapons we have on earth?

 

I think the part of Hobbes' post that caught my eye was the last line though;

Or maybe they don't see time as we do, other than being a dimension like the others, constantly changing.

 

For those who remember Interceptor, the aliens weren't ever destroyed at the end of the game but their only means of instant travel to our dimension was destroyed (a wormhole or black hole or something?) Of course Apocalypse also uses dimension aliens but this is totally different but the inclusion of Sectoids in the alien dimension does suggest that the Ethereals are versed in dimensional or possibly even inter-dimensional travel.

 

jverne is the longest post so this may take a while but here goes

My story would go something like this: it's now 2010

 

I can see one problem there straight away based on the title of this thread. You can't set a future XCom title if it interferes with the official timeline. It has to fit in or it instead becomes a UFO:A-alike and that's the problem with the XCom franchise at the moment. The designers out there just don't seem to be able to imagine any other scenario than an alien invasion of earth (or an alien invasion of an earthlike world with humans living on it...)

 

Add to this the fact that the 20th and 21st century has been nothing but war and death for the human race already. WWI in the 1910s, WWII in the 40s, Vietnam and the Cold War amongst numerous others, 99 saw AWI and then in 2040 there was AWII. Move onto to the 60s and interceptor is happening and then in the 80's its time for apocalypse.

 

Do we really want someone to just come and say oh yeah and then in 2113 they invaded again and the game is exactly the same but looks a bit better? How many times do we have to kill these guys for them to stay down seriously?!

 

As it later turned out most ships were made inoperable due to a glitch in the software after the aliens were attempting to reconfigure their computer to the new circumstances. Also an unknown virus kills off a substantial portion of the new visitors...as the story unfolds we learn they made it themselves

 

I hate to say it but it seems like these aliens are a bit too stupid to have mastered lightspeed travel. They reboot their systems en-route to a warzone with no supplies or reinforcements and cripple half the fleet. Then they design a virus which is meant to help them adapt to earth conditions and it kills them... If I were earth I wouldn't be worrying. Especially if I had the technology to build a moon base and space elevator.

 

Why didn't they just choose another planet to settle to? Because earth despite some differences was the most habitable in the whole solar system, otherwise they must live in domes on planets like mars

 

Domes on Mars or a full scale invasion of an alien planet with unknown population and technologies and only a crippled experimental science fleet with half it's crew dead and no weapons. Why didn't they like the dome idea again?

 

Sorry for such a critical post Verne I didn't plan for it to come over the way it has but it seems you need a minor rewrite before you get that copyright! My major concern though is that we're discussing future XCom games in a thread you started and therefore must understand the purpose of yet you've suggested a game idea that completely destroys the continuity of the XCom franchise and therefore can't possibly exist. I think what you've come up with is a good idea for a spiritual successor either on Earth in a non-XCom universe or on another planet altogether. I don't think what you've jus tdescribed can ever be an XCom game though because although the features are there, the story is there and it fits the genre perfectly it just doesn't cooperate with the other games already in place.

 

Sorry again for coming over so critical, I know it sucks when people knock your ideas eh?

[Hobbes]

anyways...with this story most things are covered. The aliens are not some uber god like beings, the story is much more real and plausible also the aliens aren't inherently evil as shown in Xcom games. It would also explain why they didn't use the most powerful weapons since the beginning, because they didn't have them.

 

This would be the story i'd like in a new xcom game.

 

Several important points of discussion there, specially the reality vs. fiction part. I don't think that reality or plausability are so important in a game (or a movie or a novel). If the gameplay grabs the player those things are secondary. The same applies to explaining everything: you don't have to explain all threads of the plot, you can leave it to the public/players to come up with their own explanations. In most of the best sci-fi there are no detailed clarifications of why or how things are that way: the ideas stand on their own because the reader to accepts the background because it is the story/action that really grabs their attention.

 

One example: War of the Worlds by H.G.Wells. Everyone knows that there are no canals or Martians and that the whole idea of sending an invasion fleet by firing bulleted projectiles at Earth is a bit strange but when you read it you accept it all because that is not important to enjoy reading the book.

 

Not everything in life makes sense. Thus it makes sense if there are weird/unexplainable aspects in the plot of a computer game.

[jverne]

jverne is the longest post so this may take a while but here goes

 

 

I can see one problem there straight away based on the title of this thread. You can't set a future XCom title if it interferes with the official timeline. It has to fit in or it instead becomes a UFO:A-alike and that's the problem with the XCom franchise at the moment. The designers out there just don't seem to be able to imagine any other scenario than an alien invasion of earth (or an alien invasion of an earthlike world with humans living on it...)

 

Add to this the fact that the 20th and 21st century has been nothing but war and death for the human race already. WWI in the 1910s, WWII in the 40s, Vietnam and the Cold War amongst numerous others, 99 saw AWI and then in 2040 there was AWII. Move onto to the 60s and interceptor is happening and then in the 80's its time for apocalypse.

 

Do we really want someone to just come and say oh yeah and then in 2113 they invaded again and the game is exactly the same but looks a bit better? How many times do we have to kill these guys for them to stay down seriously?!

 

 

 

I hate to say it but it seems like these aliens are a bit too stupid to have mastered lightspeed travel. They reboot their systems en-route to a warzone with no supplies or reinforcements and cripple half the fleet. Then they design a virus which is meant to help them adapt to earth conditions and it kills them... If I were earth I wouldn't be worrying. Especially if I had the technology to build a moon base and space elevator.

 

 

 

Domes on Mars or a full scale invasion of an alien planet with unknown population and technologies and only a crippled experimental science fleet with half it's crew dead and no weapons. Why didn't they like the dome idea again?

 

Sorry for such a critical post Verne I didn't plan for it to come over the way it has but it seems you need a minor rewrite before you get that copyright! My major concern though is that we're discussing future XCom games in a thread you started and therefore must understand the purpose of yet you've suggested a game idea that completely destroys the continuity of the XCom franchise and therefore can't possibly exist. I think what you've come up with is a good idea for a spiritual successor either on Earth in a non-XCom universe or on another planet altogether. I don't think what you've jus tdescribed can ever be an XCom game though because although the features are there, the story is there and it fits the genre perfectly it just doesn't cooperate with the other games already in place.

 

Sorry again for coming over so critical, I know it sucks when people knock your ideas eh?

 

 

hey no sweat, i don't mind criticism. actually in this case it's pretty welcomed.

 

so...to respond

 

1. I thought the new xcom would be a remake and it would start from the beginning. To be honest i didn't really like the way the Xcom story went forward in the sequels. You see, i like more realistic scenarios and the Xcom's ones are somewhat more cartoonist. That doesn't mean i don't like them, they're my best games ever, but if we can start from the beginning why, i'd like it differently.

 

2. They haven't mastered light speed travel, they were just experimenting with it, that's why they ended up too far out and only in a small contingency. It was far from perfect. The fact that they screwed up with the other two experiments just shows that they aren't all powerful beings. You also have to take in consideration that they were under-equipped and also those sent weren't the best and brightest of their species since no one would risk the best minds in an experiment so dangerous. So it's quite plausible they screwed up.

 

3. Actually a moon base is not that impossible even with today's technology, you just need vast resources to build and sustain it. The space elevator i also not too high tech, in the real world it is planned to be build somewhere in the next 20 years. It's really not that advantageous.

 

4. Living in domes would be too demanding o resources/manpower to keep up for the desired rebirth of their race.

[The Veteran]

1. I thought the new xcom would be a remake and it would start from the beginning. To be honest i didn't really like the way the Xcom story went forward in the sequels. You see, i like more realistic scenarios and the Xcom's ones are somewhat more cartoonist.

 

They could release a remake professionally and I'm sure it would sell very well! I have a feeling that if they did though they wouldn't change such elements like the actual alien race and general story though, probably just uprate graphics and such. I think I know what you mean by the originals being a bit cartoony, I imagine that's probably down to the time at which the games were made. I imagine if we'd have played the mat the time of release you may have felt differently but I do know what you mean. Some of the sound effects could have been chosen a little better to avoid such impressions being given couldn't they

 

2. They haven't mastered light speed travel, they were just experimenting with it, that's why they ended up too far out and only in a small contingency. You also have to take in consideration that they were under-equipped and also those sent weren't the best and brightest of their species since no one would risk the best minds in an experiment so dangerous.

 

Yeah good point, a manned mission to Mars we'd send the best we have but a high risk interstellar mission with a high probability of failure would probably call for a different crew! Personally I would imagine this would result in a skeleton crew being sent though. Why risk a whole invasion force in a test?

 

3. Actually a moon base is not that impossible even with today's technology, you just need vast resources to build and sustain it. The space elevator i also not too high tech, in the real world it is planned to be build somewhere in the next 20 years. It's really not that advantageous.

 

Yeah as you say it's all about having the funding but surely with advanced knowledge of incoming aliens and unlimited funds they could've been a lot better prepared than just a moonbase that didn't do much. Maybe the story could rely less on stupid mistakes being responsible for the loss of the alien invasion fleet and it could be put down to a more extensive war before the game starts. Say the moonbase was a large military installation which soaked up a lot of the alien forces before they overpowered and destroyed it or alternatively have them capture it and use it for their own base. After this though earth has no base and no space elevator etc so you're at the point you wanted to be at without making the aliens out to be retarded invaders

 

4. Living in domes would be too demanding o resources/manpower to keep up for the desired rebirth of their race.

 

Yeah that's true they would need resources to rebuild but then they'll need to anyway so if we need to be convinced that they're putting together a new invasion in situ then there needs to be at least a limited amount of resources available where they base themselves. Maybe the 'mothership' that bought them to Sol with the new technology is no use anymore due to irreparable damage caused by the systems failure and it could be crashlanded and recycled for new vessels?

[jverne]

1. I thought the new xcom would be a remake and it would start from the beginning. To be honest i didn't really like the way the Xcom story went forward in the sequels. You see, i like more realistic scenarios and the Xcom's ones are somewhat more cartoonist.

 

They could release a remake professionally and I'm sure it would sell very well! I have a feeling that if they did though they wouldn't change such elements like the actual alien race and general story though, probably just uprate graphics and such. I think I know what you mean by the originals being a bit cartoony, I imagine that's probably down to the time at which the games were made. I imagine if we'd have played the mat the time of release you may have felt differently but I do know what you mean. Some of the sound effects could have been chosen a little better to avoid such impressions being given couldn't they

 

 

 

Yeah good point, a manned mission to Mars we'd send the best we have but a high risk interstellar mission with a high probability of failure would probably call for a different crew! Personally I would imagine this would result in a skeleton crew being sent though. Why risk a whole invasion force in a test?

 

 

 

Yeah as you say it's all about having the funding but surely with advanced knowledge of incoming aliens and unlimited funds they could've been a lot better prepared than just a moonbase that didn't do much. Maybe the story could rely less on stupid mistakes being responsible for the loss of the alien invasion fleet and it could be put down to a more extensive war before the game starts. Say the moonbase was a large military installation which soaked up a lot of the alien forces before they overpowered and destroyed it or alternatively have them capture it and use it for their own base. After this though earth has no base and no space elevator etc so you're at the point you wanted to be at without making the aliens out to be retarded invaders

 

 

 

Yeah that's true they would need resources to rebuild but then they'll need to anyway so if we need to be convinced that they're putting together a new invasion in situ then there needs to be at least a limited amount of resources available where they base themselves. Maybe the 'mothership' that bought them to Sol with the new technology is no use anymore due to irreparable damage caused by the systems failure and it could be crashlanded and recycled for new vessels?

 

1. at the time of of the release i was young and didn't really notice it

 

2. They sent those willing to risk it all, yes they were trained and good but probably not the best. Why would anyone send a critical scientists or best pilot they got on a mission that has a high probability of failure.

I never said they sent some idiots, but subjects that were up to the task.

But even if they sent the best they got it still doesn't mean they don't make mistakes.

And you see it was not an invasion force, but just a experimental peace mission. Later the surviving crew decided to go war on our asses.

 

3. Well yes i haven't integrated the moon base too much in the story, but what you suggested could work. Maybe the moon base lured a substantial part of the fleet and then self destroyed taking the alien ships with them.

Yes of course, the space elevator was probably the first to be destroyed since it's such a fragile target.

 

4. It's possible that it was like that.

 

Some additional points i'd like to comment.

By the moon base and space elevator i was implying that humans have harnessed the moons resources and so forth. Although i like your idea of being it a military base that confronted the arriving ships.

 

Another very important point. You see we have to use some creative freedom otherwise in reality one alien ship could annihilate the whole earth if it wanted. We have to make the aliens more down to earth if we want to fight them otherwise we have no chance. Even if the aliens didn't invest much in weapon technology they certainly have some way of transmitting energy from one point to another. For quick interstellar travel you need massive amounts of energy...more energy than the earth ever produced. That means they'd just need to ram the earth and detonate one ship to wipe us out. If by some stupid chance they wanted earth intact they just engineer a DNA (retro i think it's named) virus that would kill all living beings.

Do you really think the Sectoids would go ass naked in a fight where clearly they are inadequate. They surley developed some kind of power armor that was impenetrable to our weapons (shield or something).

Actually interstellar travelers probably wouldn't even be biological but mechanical...which makes our weapons ineffective.

Let's not even presume the existence of nanobots that would devour anything human before we'd even know what hit us (ever saw the Replicators from SG1 or The day the earth stood still).

 

That's the whole point...to make aliens more vulnerable.

 

In reality the aliens would be like a modern tank against a stone age warrior. The poor dude would have no chance unless the tank accidentally fell down a cliff. Hell, i think the difference would be even more dramatic.

[The Veteran]

Another very important point. You see we have to use some creative freedom otherwise in reality one alien ship could annihilate the whole earth if it wanted. We have to make the aliens more down to earth if we want to fight them otherwise we have no chance. Even if the aliens didn't invest much in weapon technology they certainly have some way of transmitting energy from one point to another. For quick interstellar travel you need massive amounts of energy...more energy than the earth ever produced. That means they'd just need to ram the earth and detonate one ship to wipe us out. If by some stupid chance they wanted earth intact they just engineer a DNA (retro i think it's named) virus that would kill all living beings.

Do you really think the Sectoids would go ass naked in a fight where clearly they are inadequate. They surley developed some kind of power armor that was impenetrable to our weapons (shield or something).

Actually interstellar travelers probably wouldn't even be biological but mechanical...which makes our weapons ineffective.

 

Based on the ship-self destruct theory I think it's flawed for the reason that the experimental ship with the interstellar drive has gone pop and therefore doesn't have the energy to be used in such a way. The other ships would have probably travelled either docked with or in a field with that main ship so won't have huge energy reserves. Add to that the fact that they want earth intact for resource plundering as you mentioned already so you don't need to really worry about the tech level of the alien fleet. Plus this is a research fleet so won't be heavily armed as you also mentioned so there won't be many weapons systems apart from defensive systems and improvised weapons.

 

I think there are 2 explanations for why the sectoids would go unarmoured with the main one being the fact that they're so feeble physically and a secondary reason being they employ fear and psionics as their main weapons (their two main weapon ) so armour would be rather inconsequential and make them appear less alien. Also bear in mind that the XCom aliens are for the most part clones and so have no real self preservation and work for the greater good. Why equip cannon fodder with armour? You never see the redshirts in armour after all!

[jverne]

Based on the ship-self destruct theory I think it's flawed for the reason that the experimental ship with the interstellar drive has gone pop and therefore doesn't have the energy to be used in such a way. The other ships would have probably travelled either docked with or in a field with that main ship so won't have huge energy reserves. Add to that the fact that they want earth intact for resource plundering as you mentioned already so you don't need to really worry about the tech level of the alien fleet. Plus this is a research fleet so won't be heavily armed as you also mentioned so there won't be many weapons systems apart from defensive systems and improvised weapons.

 

I think there are 2 explanations for why the sectoids would go unarmoured with the main one being the fact that they're so feeble physically and a secondary reason being they employ fear and psionics as their main weapons (their two main weapon ) so armour would be rather inconsequential and make them appear less alien. Also bear in mind that the XCom aliens are for the most part clones and so have no real self preservation and work for the greater good. Why equip cannon fodder with armour? You never see the redshirts in armour after all!

 

i like the idea of other ships being docked to the mothership.

yes i agree that if the ship went FUBAR it would have no energy, but i was talking about aliens in general and not as part of my story. Like if aliens really visited us and wanted to destroy earth. In the case of my story, yes i agree with you that they wouldn't want to ram the earth.

btw, in real life you don't really need that much energy stored in some reactor to seriously damage the planet. Let's presume that the ship was at least big enough as let's say on of the WTC towers (in reality it would probably be much bigger). You'd just need to accelerate the ship at some meteor speed and hit the earth. The impact would blow of our atmosphere, boil our oceans and make our planet a magma pit. You don't even need high tech stuff to do that, just accelerate a big ass piece of mass to a decent speed...for example the satelite Voyager 2 has a s peed of 70 000 km/h, if a small building would impact earth with that much energy probably half of the planet would be uninhabitable for decades.

 

There is really no plausible reason why would aliens want to plunder earth for resources, since they are much more easily obtainable and in far greater quantities in space. Scenarios where aliens want to plunder earth are just silly in real life.

 

 

As for the fear factor of sectoids, just look at the armor in the UFO series. And besides soldiers in armor look more menacing.

 

https://www.grantsmilitaria.com/gall/pix/images/24.jpg

 

https://www.downloadmunkey.net/images/peos-03.jpg

 

https://www.natick.army.mil/about/pao/2006/FutureWarrior_med.jpg

 

this is not just some fictional armor but a prototype concept of the Future warrior

 

look of what the future might bring us

 

also see no reason why wouldn't they equip each grunt with power armor. Having the technology they have it would be like giving armor to our modern soldiers...and we do equip all with it. I don't see this as a manufacturing problem. And besides the armor might provide some support for our gravitational pull, or against native organisms...like a hazard suit, not too comfortable but necessary.

As for weapons...well since aggression is not their main trait they wouldn't be equipped with powerful assault weapons. And weapons are much more menacing than armor.

To spice up the plot we could make it so that the aliens were just equipped with basic life sustaining armor that wasn't really meant for heavy war. This way we'd see aliens progress in technology as they regain strength.

 

 

I really see no way how earth forces could compete with aggressive aliens in full strength. We need to bring aliens down to our level to fight them as depicted with the tank vs. caveman analogy.

This story would also explain sporadic sightings, alien covert missions, small scale conflicts as shown in the original Xcom.

The original games are as unrealistic as they get...but very enjoyable nonetheless. My idea would incorporate both concepts.

Since i first took the Xcom games more seriously i was always bothered about how the story made no real sense. Actually those games didn't really have a proper story, but the plot was amazing and what drove the player forward.

[Bomb Bloke]

In the first two games, you were never fighting the alien's entire forces: In UFO, you were merely under siege by one of their outposts, while in TFTD it was just you versus one of their really old space cruisers.

 

Most of what held the aliens back in each game was a lack of personal. They could've done better if they'd just hung back, let the cloning machines do their job until they had a decent force, then jumped down and overwhelmed the planet.

 

Presumably the reason they didn't do this was because they had a project manager trying to hold them to a schedule... They underestimated the difficulty of taking the planet, and next thing they knew X-COM was kicking down their door and kicking their butts on Mars/T'leth.

 

Remember that their aim wasn't to wipe out all life on the surface of the world: They were there to either enslave or consume humanity. Can't get much sustenance out of something you've vaporised...

[The Veteran]

Glad you said that before me BB as I would have no doubt taken 3 times as long to make the same point! I totally agree with the last point though, namely in EU. The fact that the aliens were constantly attempting to mess with your funding countries and the final video (or one of them) shows the UN accepting peace with the aliens shows exactly what they were after and as BB says this was not total annihilation of the general populace. It must be noted of course that soon after the aliens made peace with the UN they sent a much larger attack force to seize control of the planet but this was only achieved because they had initially defeated XCom and convicned the planet they had always had peaceful intentions. Once we stopped attacking them and allowed them to visit earth freely they could produce clones continuously with no loss due to war. Then when they were ready they simply landed in the whitehouse or whathaveyou and took the keys to the planet. Quite clever buggers really

[jverne]

actually that make no sense whatsoever if it was real life.

 

why would the aliens want to enslave the human race, or have them for food. the first might mean they are just sadistic and are doing it for fun because it's not that they needed the workforce at all. as food...well being so advanced i'm sure there are million better options than breeding humans for food.

 

as for underestimating the difficulty...if earth wasn't before hand prepared for a fight they cripple us so fast we wouldn't even know what hit us. they'd just need to destroy our main industrial and living areas. i don't know if anyone noticed how long it took Germany to conquer Poland in WW2.

 

One option would be that the Mars base was just a small research outpost and someone there decided to wage war against us. But even this would not explain the issue with interstellar travel, since they'd just call their friends back home

 

"Mars base: hey i'm kinda having a bad situation right now, would you mind coming here and give me a hand?

Home planet: well...i'm kinda busy finishing this proton gravity nullifier...

Mars base: oh come on, it will just take you a couple of quiblips

Home planet: but...dinner is almost ready...

Mars base: if you do this favor for me i'll buy you pisza

Home planet: hmm...ok this time, but don't ever ask me again before dinner, ok?!

Mars base: thanks buddy

Mars base: oh oh....i almost forgot...would you mind bringing a couple of those blaster launchers with ya?

Home planet: well...ok...why?

Mars base: uh oh...n.n.nn..nothing serious, just having a bug problem right now. Thanks dude, see ya in 10 quiblips!

Home planet: *yells at cloning manager* WHERE ARE MY FLUCKING PANTS!?*

[Bomb Bloke]

We already know the aliens like eating humans (take a look at the "Alien Food" research page), so there's no conjecture there.

 

If you lose the game, you're told most of humanity gets wiped out and the rest are enslaved to turn Earth into an alien colony.

 

If you win the game, you're told that Earth was an alien experiment all along, and that they had indeed considered bringing us into their "fold".

 

It seems likely that the Mutons, Snakemen and Floaters "joined" the Ethereals in a similar fashion. Humans, on the other hand, aren't the strongest critters in the game, but they're much stronger physically then Sectoids and Ethereals, while retaining far more psionic strength then any of the other races. A jack of all trades and a master of none.

 

As for "calling their friends", that's exactly what brought about the events of TFTD - the distress signal sent out as the Cydona base was totaled. It took the best part of 40 years for the aliens to get their act together for a second attempt, and that was from a force that'd been on our planet all along.

 

It could even be surmised that the Cydona outpost was established to track down what happened to T'leth, and Earth was merely invaded for supplies. There's no cattle to abduct on Mars.

[NKF]

The earth is pretty much a plaything for the aliens. A source of raw material. The sectoids and ethereals are into the whole self improvement thing, after all. The fact that the raw material is able to fight back is a bit of a concern for them.

 

The fights we see in the game seem very combat oriented from X-COMs perspective, but really they're more political. Small scale spats and terror attacks to get the governments worried and give in to their requests.

 

From tricking the UN into signing the earth over to the aliens and then killing them off (PSX version's bad outtro) to the horrid mess of mutated humans (in the PC version's bad outtro), we can see they tricked the earth into handing itself over so they can be used as raw material for furthering their experiments - and food. Better to win through diplomacy than go through an outright war and destroy most of the winnings in the process.

 

- NKF

[jverne]

guys guys...i feel like i'm repeating myself here.

 

1. aliens using us for food is downright silly, because they could make food themselves with their advanced technology and besides what did they eat before coming to earth?

it's silly just like the story of The Matrix...using human bodies for power, like there aren't a million more efficient ways to do it.

 

2. Alien colony...for what? a colony is usually for resources it's not that those are lacking in space.

 

3. an experiment...that might be the only plausible reason. but the fact is that they could easily overpower us when we started to revolt.

 

4. the TFTD continuation is just uber silly. aliens hiding in the sea for that long and later having their asses handed to them by some humans. like they couldn't have some surveillance system if they were 65 million years old.

these numbers are just exaggerated beyond any real possibility

 

5. again as for raw material fighting back...just look at cattle ranches, sure the cows might cause some trouble every now and then, but then the cavalry comes and nails their place back in line.

 

6. the superior aliens wouldn't need to persuade the governments, they would just come and take what they want.

 

look i know every story has holes in it...but the original Xcom story has gaping holes. it feels to me that it really wasn't intended to be continued, that it was just some generic story to fit a game back then.

 

the only plausible reason would be that the aliens were just bored and played with us. in real life the story of Xcom would not be possible, if the aliens wouldn't be from the start close to our level.

 

maybe i'm being way too serious here, but i like a good well developed and detailed story. just watch "The andromeda strain". there was almost no part where i'd go "wait...what??? that just doesn't make any sense".

[Bomb Bloke]

Ah, I get it now - you're not trying to explain/justify the original plot, you're trying to justify a complete re-write.

 

Yes, the original plot has plenty of flaws in the logic, but it is very difficult indeed to change the established facts without the original fans losing interest. But I've already said that, so I'll stop here...

 

(Though I will say we turned out to be more of a Jurassic Park then a cattle ranch. I wonder if any of the aliens ever found themselves thinking "clever girl" just before one of our agents gunned them down... )

[Gimli]

In the first two games, you were never fighting the alien's entire forces: In UFO, you were merely under siege by one of their outposts, while in TFTD it was just you versus one of their really old space cruisers.

 

Most of what held the aliens back in each game was a lack of personal. They could've done better if they'd just hung back, let the cloning machines do their job until they had a decent force, then jumped down and overwhelmed the planet.

 

Presumably the reason they didn't do this was because they had a project manager trying to hold them to a schedule... They underestimated the difficulty of taking the planet, and next thing they knew X-COM was kicking down their door and kicking their butts on Mars/T'leth.

 

Remember that their aim wasn't to wipe out all life on the surface of the world: They were there to either enslave or consume humanity. Can't get much sustenance out of something you've vaporised...

 

That's similar to what I had in mind. My second reason ties into why they were such a long way from home in the first place. In my version the alien brain was sort of thrown out of the main alien force for disobeying orders and going to the Solar System. It was supposed to be an exploratory mission, trying to figure out just what happened with T'Leth 65 million years ago but the alien brain didn't expect another civilization there. The problem was in lack of Elerium which hampered its military production. Thus it had to come up with a plan to subjugate Earth. You know the rest.

 

Ascidians play a large role in my story and Apocalypse is a crucial point in time as it directly influences everything that happens afterwards.

 

But like I said, I never got into the finer details and most likely never will. Besides, I am preoccupied with another story, though it's still all in my head. I'll need an enormous amount of research before I can even begin writing anything.

[Crafty]

Wow, this thread went pretty far afield of what I thought it was going to be about... Anyway, I think it should be an update of the original game, keep the same storyline, but improve the game. Some thoughts:

 

1. Make it so that any troop can develop psi-defense, but make it very rare for one to be able to master a panic attack, even more rare for one to be able to mind control. Developing psi effectively ends the game unless you swear ahead of time not to abuse it.

 

2. I'd like a feature on higher levels where the aliens can intercept your transport in flight and shoot it down. Then you're starting a mission shorthanded, with the aliens conducting their own recovery mission. Of course, you could attempt to have escorts for your transport, or have a dogfight with the avenger, but still, another dimension.

 

3. I think if a funding nation bails, and you have a base in that country, you should have to move everyone out and close down the base. On the flip side, have situations where a funding nation pays you a bonus to put a base in their country, and a monthly bonus to keep it there.

 

4. Update to include modern real-world weapons. There's no reason our boys shouldn't be able to rock the AA-12, for example. Make it more appealing to just go with what we've got rather than develop new weapons research.

 

5. In higher levels, have e-115 diminish over time, like it has a half-life. Create some urgency on the player's part, encourage aggressive play.

 

Just a thought.

[Tnarg]

Tanks:

 

Upgrade and more Tracked tanks

 

Once you research power suits you can research Armoured Ground tanks which lets you build armoured rocket/cannon/lasers tanks.

For example to make an Armoured Rocket tank you need a normal rocket tank and a load of alien alloys + $

 

The Best Armour on tracked tanks should be higher than the armour on flying tank but they should not as fast.

 

Maybe an improved version of a laser tank once you research UFO power source and need one to build it?

 

Maybe an upgraded rocket tank / baby blaster tank (once you research a Sectopod?)

 

 

Funding:

 

In harder modes make it so alien tec dose not sell for as much meaning the player has to focus more on getting money throw funding.

[Missions should be rewared they take a while to do.]

 

Also stop the player building for profit by lowering the sell price.

 

Crafts:

 

Force the player to build one of each of the new crafts (as a prototype) before they can research the next one.

 

More HWP spaces for the Avenger up to 6HWP + 2 people (helpful for 1 man campaigns see below).

 

Small/large crafts + small(2x2)/large(3x3) hangers most crafts are small and only need a small hanger where as sky ranges/avengers are large.

 

Also a new craft that you can buy, a small transport holds 6 people or 2 and a tank. (maybe this is faster but has a limited range then the sky ranger).

 

X-com Bases:

Hangers:

If they are keeping them as 6x6 like the old game then large hangers are 3x3 1/4 of a base. Forcing the use of more bases or the use of smaller transport small hangers are quicker to build (18 days?)

 

 

Hard mode smaller bases?

5x5 should not make it too much harder. Would need to spread aross bases a bit more.

4x4 would make things interesting with forcing the use of small hangers and custom base for the avenger.

 

 

Setup for first base:

 

Give the player control over where rooms are placed. (Maybe 100% lock which rooms and how many can build or maybe just disable a few rooms at the start like alien confinement and large radar.) and force a time limit in build days so they can chose to have their base fully build or set up how they want but with some rooms still with a build time at the start of the game.) And even control over what items they buy and people they hire maybe? Also give a few default options for quick starts.

 

 

Research first rooms

 

Maybe make large radar some think you have to research but can be research right at the start.

Make alien confinement a research project after you researched a dead one.

 

Missions:

 

Bases:

Base attack; make it a 2 stage mission.

 

Mars:

It should not be possible to go to mars as soon a the player as built an avenger there should be some research or item they can only get once the avenger is built so they always get time with the avenger on earth. ATM it is possible to research 'Cydonia or Bust' before you research any new craft meaning as soon as you get an avenger you normally leave.

 

Small UFOs

Option to bome the smaller crashed UFOs after awhile (maybe need to research stuff first) to stop so many simple missions. Still an option to do the missions for loot.

 

 

Quickplay.

 

Some single mission's games unlock in normal play. Like:

 

One man and his tank vs. (small/mid/large/battle ship/base/mars)

One man vs. (small/mid/large/battle ship/base/mars)

Or full squad armed with only melee weapons (can't pick up any alien guns) vs...

 

Maybe these can't be saved have to be done in one go?

 

 

Campaign:

 

Limited Army

Can't hire any more solders (only the 8 you start with but you dont know the PSI skill for quite a while) free to use tanks as much as possible.

 

Limited Army Hard

Or for hard mode just 1 solder. (+ as many tanks as you can get)

 

Small bases:

Small base 4x4 (start base will only be able to have 2 hangers not the normal 3)

 

Very Small bases:

3x3 (if you include my large hanger idea then you have to allow the avenger to fit in to a small hanger or maybe a special version of a small avenger for this mode only)

 

The Start base should have:Hanger (sky ranger lite), Access lift, living space, resurch lab, small radar, 1 free spot (for radar upgrade or alien containment)

 

The player should be compensated, moneywise, for the lack of interceptors, large and small hanger and workshop.

 

The start is going to be hard without interceptors or a workshop but they should have the money to start build an interceptor base from day one and they will still be able to follow and take landed UFOs.

 

 

Other Campaigns:

 

No radar.

No alien Guns.

No saving in missions

Only melee wepons

Only one base