X-Com: Enemy Unknown

[Sepiche]

My real wish is that the AI gives the illusion that the aliens (both strategically/tactically) are trying to achieve something. Usually one gets no impression that they're there for any purpose but to be vaporized. Someday we'll get. Missions where the aliens are attacking to capture this or destroy that, even base defence raids are only shadows of what I mean.

Actually that's one of the things I liked about X-Com was the aliens were actually conducting missions with varying effects... infiltration missions, base construction, base support, scouting, terror, resource harvesting, etc.

[NickAragua]

Yeah, I think that's what Mr. Strange was talking about. At the strategic level, yeah, the aliens acted like they had a purpose, but when you got down to the tactical part of it, they were basically standing around whacking off (with the exception of terror missions where they'd shoot nearby civilians and base assaults where their corpses would disappear because the item table overflowed.)

Since this is 2012 and we have the technology, let's make the aliens do something other than stand around in random farmhouses waiting to be blown up!

The one major hope I have is that losing a couple of guys (even veterans) won't necessarily mean the end of the game. That's what was great about the original: sure, you had your hand-picked elite squad, but you could easily lose half of them to a stray blaster bomb or whatever. It'd suck big time - there goes the guy that was one of the original 8, or the guy that got four kills with one grenade. But that wouldn't be game over - you can bounce back.

When you have a mechanism where the high-end veterans are so much better than the rookies that you have no chance with the replacement rookies, losing a squad of veterans does mean game over. So, I'd like to see some sort of upper limit to a soldier's advancement. Tone down the RPG elements fellas, and concentrate on the tactics/strategy.

Oh, and if X-Com could develop a way to perhaps clean the blood and guts out of existing suits of armor and patch up the holes so that they can be reused, that'd be great.

[JonathanStrange]

Back in the day, I suppose it was enough to call one battle a "Terror Mission" and another "Resource Harvesting" and to slowly increase the diversity of enemy weapons and enemy types as the game evolved.

It may still be enough if the combat really grabs you. I'd love though to move past that to where one is confronted with on the ground by aliens who aren't like gangbangers trapped at the Gas 'n Sip or in the sky by aliens who seem intent on capturing oil/supply depots, CnC centers, building their bases, etc.

But again, if the combat's cool - and it sure looks that way - I can wait another decade.

[Sepiche]

If you were talking about the battle AI and general sameness of the battles, then yeah I agree completely. It sure looks to me like the aliens were typically placed on the map and then randomly move around just shooting at your troops. I did like the varying placement of the aliens on missions... I always liked how the snakemen in particular loved to put snipers on roofs and little touches like that.

My only point was that on the strategic map the alien ships did actually have missions with results that furthered their agenda and hurt X-Com if they succeeded. The tactical battles may not have always reflected that fact, but each alien ship buzzing around did have a purpose which I always felt was pretty cool.

[GreenGoo]

You're right in that the aliens mostly played a defensive game, staying put, but they did scout and then pull back. They'd peak out, pull back often without an opportunity shot from the soldiers, then the scout or others would fire on the spotted soldiers.

There was no flanking or other advanced tactics, but they did hunker down behind cover, and they did scout out targets for others to fire at.

[Kraken]

with the exception of grenades I don't think I ever had a unit run out of ammo, so if they take that bit of micro out I don't feel like it will effect too much.

I was thinking specifically of rockets. You had to think hard about when you wanted to use one, because you could only carry a small number with you. You also had to be selective about what loot you hauled back, IIRC.

[GreenGoo]

I've run out of ammo lots of times. And that's not even with me spraying down large areas. It's tougher to do later in the game with larger magazines, but those early pistols and rifles can eat through magazines pretty quick. That's when I start scavenging from dead bodies.

And X-com 2 has intentionally smaller magazines, so ammo is even more of a premium in that game.

[TheMix]

When you have a mechanism where the high-end veterans are so much better than the rookies that you have no chance with the replacement rookies, losing a squad of veterans does mean game over.

Perhaps they could take the opposite approach, like Silent Storm. In my game, at least, the soldiers that stayed back at the base increased all their skills significantly while the ones that I took on the missions barely increased at all. I guess they wanted you to switch up your selection for every mission. Unfortunately I didn't figure it out until my game was mostly over and I'd been running with the same (severely gimped) characters for most of the game.

[LordMortis]

When you have a mechanism where the high-end veterans are so much better than the rookies that you have no chance with the replacement rookies, losing a squad of veterans does mean game over. So, I'd like to see some sort of upper limit to a soldier's advancement. Tone down the RPG elements fellas, and concentrate on the tactics/strategy.

I concur that this what set XCom and Syndicate aside from other tactical games where you are building personalities. Casualties are not only expected, there are times when they are necessary. It's quite unlike JA2 (which I like but for different reasons) where losing a guy pretty much means you might as well call it game.

[Kasey Chang]

All soldiers need to improve their skills. It can be assumed that those who didn't go on YOUR missions went on some OTHER missions, or gotten training elsewhere.

(Slightly offtopic... I discovered an old Japanese anime: Project Blue Earth SOS, only 6 episodes, so it's like a miniseries, but it's got blood and alien abduction and other stuff. Some of those alien tactics would serve as great "scenarios" or such. Got the 50's sentimentality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Blue_Earth_SOS

Oh, and it's free to watch on Crackle.com
)

[Daehawk]

Why dont Sectoids wear clothes? They travel thousands of light years across space to run around naked killing people on an alien world? What if they have to carry a laser pistol or some food?

[Yojimbo]

Why dont Sectoids wear clothes? They travel thousands of light years across space to run around naked killing people on an alien world? What if they have to carry a laser pistol or some food?

Clothing? Clothing comes with shame and plumage envy. I believe the fictional alien beings were created with none of these flaws - this is why they must die.

Years ago, a friend clued me into the early game ammo solution: research laser pistols right away. They use no ammo and have a Bust mode. My early game firefights are now punctuated by 14 TU auto fire vollies that are full of sound and fury.

[Carpet_pissr]

"plumage envy".

LOL. I am so stealing that and using it sometime in the near future when an opportunity presents.

[NickAragua]

Years ago, a friend clued me into the early game ammo solution: research laser pistols right away. They use no ammo and have a Bust mode. My early game firefights are now punctuated by 14 TU auto fire vollies that are full of sound and fury.

Yeah, I go straight down to laser pistols -> rifles as soon as the game starts. Then, I load my team up with them as they roll off the assembly line and sell all the crappy "standard" guns. I still keep grenades, flares, demo packs and rocket launchers though.

[silvaril]

Heya

Why dont Sectoids wear clothes? They travel thousands of light years across space to run around naked killing people on an alien world? What if they have to carry a laser pistol or some food?

Clothing? Clothing comes with shame and plumage envy. I believe the fictional alien beings were created with none of these flaws - this is why they must die.

And there I was thinking Alien Frat Boys on Spring Break...

[Lagom Lite]

Clothing? Clothing comes with shame and plumage envy.

You live in a warmer region I take it.

[Yojimbo]

You live in a warmer region I take it.

I do, but it's 13 f tonight. I used to live in the Midwest but I was asked to leave.

[Lagom Lite]

You live in a warmer region I take it.

I do, but it's 13 f tonight. I used to live in the Midwest but I was asked to leave.

*converts fahrenheit to celsius and back again*

Last month we've been having downwards -4 f during the day.

I wish someone would ask me to leave.

[Yojimbo]

I wish someone would ask me to leave.

Jake Johannsen said i it best (about Iowa in his case): "Until I was 17, I didn't know we were free to leave."

[tgb]

OK, I know I made a resolution that I would make no more Day One purchases, but Christ on a cracker!

This can't come soon enough.

[NickAragua]

Holy crap that looks awesome! The only thing that could make it better is if it came out on Steam, although, for X-Com, I'll make a drive out to Best Buy or whatever.

One thing I'm hoping for though is that you get the option to turn off "cinematic camera". I like seeing cool shots as much as the next guy, but when you've seen your sniper shoot a sectoid in the head forty times, you really need to be able to skip that.

[tgb]

What makes you think it won't be available on Steam?

[GreenGoo]

Holy Mother....

[coopasonic]

Yeah, I wasn't really paying any attention to this, but they've got my attention now.

[JonathanStrange]

It was a captivating video; if the game manages to integrate the eye candy with interesting tactical decision-making then ...aliens beware!!

[NickAragua]

What makes you think it won't be available on Steam?

Nothing, I'm just paranoid.

[tgb]

What makes you think it won't be available on Steam?

Nothing, I'm just paranoid.

I wouldn't be. Steam and CIv V were very good to each other, so I would think that the 2K guys would like to repeat that synergy.

[Cylus Maxii]

That looks fantastic!

[Chaz]

Civ V was Steamworks, I imagine this will be too. And the video that just came out moved me from "cautiously optimistic" to "holy hell give me this now." While I doubt I'll have a problem with the cinematic cameras, I'm sure they'll have an option to turn them off. Doesn't Civ IV-V have an option to turn off unit animations? If so, then Firaxis is obviously on board with allowing you to cut cosmetic stuff. I never got tired of the cinematic shots in Fallout 3 though, so I'm sure I'll be fine with these.

[LordMortis]

Civ V was Steamworks, I imagine this will be too. And the video that just came out moved me from "cautiously optimistic" to "holy hell give me this now." While I doubt I'll have a problem with the cinematic cameras, I'm sure they'll have an option to turn them off. Doesn't Civ IV-V have an option to turn off unit animations? If so, then Firaxis is obviously on board with allowing you to cut cosmetic stuff. I never got tired of the cinematic shots in Fallout 3 though, so I'm sure I'll be fine with these.

CIVIV had the options to turn animations off and it was almost necessary for the typical machine at the time. On a large map you would bog down with animated stack groups that all duplicated the same movement to move into a new location. I never looked for it in CIVV though, as I never had a problem with the game bogging down.

[Reemul]

Definitely just moved to the top of my want list. Looks great and also liked what the programmers were saying and how their vision seems to be in line with what I would like.

[Lassr]

it's rare that Firaxis disappoints. This just moved up to my purchase ASAP list.

[Bakhtosh]

The cinematic camera didn't appear to be the annoying slow motion generic movie that plays the same way every time. It's actually zooming the camera in on the characters. As long as it can do that quickly and not stop the flow of the game, I'll leave it enabled. It looks amazing in the trailer.

[Carpet_pissr]

LOVED the camera! It's normally the first thing I notice as it can be such a make or break factor for me in a game.

And I couldn't hear the audio as I am at work, but is it confirmed this WILL be turn based? That's all I really care about. I noticed in the video that the shooting options window showed something like "YOUR SHOT WILL DO UP TO 5 POINTS OF DAMAGE" as the player was highlighting a specific Zerg, but I didn't see anything like that on the movements, which worries me a little, but it could have been visual only (as in, showing the pathing, and the max range, etc).

[Lassr]

LOVED the camera! It's normally the first thing I notice as it can be such a make or break factor for me in a game.

And I couldn't hear the audio as I am at work, but is it confirmed this WILL be turn based? That's all I really care about. I noticed in the video that the shooting options window showed something like "YOUR SHOT WILL DO UP TO 5 POINTS OF DAMAGE" as the player was highlighting a specific Zerg, but I didn't see anything like that on the movements, which worries me a little, but it could have been visual only (as in, showing the pathing, and the max range, etc).

it is turn based. He talks about the decision to run all the way to a location or to use just enough turn points to make it half way leaving enough turn points to shoot if needed (like in the original game).

[Carpet_pissr]

Thanks, also came across this in the forum:

"TUs replaced with Move-Action mechanics instead." (/me madly searching for reference to "move action mechanics" and hoping it's not a nice way of saying "kinda real time")

Which I guess explains why I didn't see a "move" window like the "shoot" window that pops up in the video.

[tgb]

Thanks, also came across this in the forum:

"TUs replaced with Move-Action mechanics instead." (/me madly searching for reference to "move action mechanics" and hoping it's not a nice way of saying "kinda real time")

Which I guess explains why I didn't see a "move" window like the "shoot" window that pops up in the video.

My understanding of "move-action mechanics" that that instead of TU's, every turn you have a fixed number of actions you can take. They can be spent on movement, firing weapons, reserved for reaction fire, etc. It's just a matter of semantics.

[IceBear]

They sort of explained it in the video. Basically, you have actions like move and shoot. You could choose to move twice, but then you couldn't shoot. I'm assuming there's more to it than that, but that's basically what the guy said in the video...you might need to move quickly so you move twice, but then you wouldn't be able to shoot.

[D.A.Lewis]

this looks like the first new X-com game that really looks and feels like an updated version of the original X-com game.

also base defense looks like its gonna be scary again.

[Kraken]

This just moved up to my purchase ASAP list.

As Soon As Patched? Yup, I'm on board with that.