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Author Topic: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race  (Read 65925 times)

Failbird105

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #120 on: December 24, 2017, 09:40:48 am »

Okay, so, we have a few options. I suggest we design a new unit to provide a mobile defense. I'm thinking like a big crab with long legs and shields for claws(will elaborate in a design). As for our revision definitely should be the fighter algorithm improvements.

And yeah I suppose we can do air superiority provided there's no better ideas.
« Last Edit: December 24, 2017, 09:45:08 am by Failbird105 »
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NUKE9.13

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #121 on: December 24, 2017, 09:51:29 am »

Hmm, hmm. I suppose a defensive unit may be better for our regular design. But I'm definitely voting for Recruit Collaborators for our bonus design. I'm not sure Air Superiority will be very useful.
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Failbird105

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #122 on: December 24, 2017, 10:10:59 am »

Hmm, hmm. I suppose a defensive unit may be better for our regular design. But I'm definitely voting for Recruit Collaborators for our bonus design. I'm not sure Air Superiority will be very useful.
Hmm, yeah I can see that. I'll join you in that vote.

Now for the design I envisioned, which is probably not the best, but it's both cool and a good bit more versatile than just making armor that we'd probably need to make a new version of for every new creature we design.

Design:
Armorer Crab
The Armorer Crab is, as the name implies, based on the DNA of earth crabs. Its purpose is simple, a living piece of armor. It has four long legs which it can use to wrap around other units and hold onto them, and its claws are thick and plate-like with sharp edges and great crushing power, and have a layer of alloy on the outside. Its main body is fairly flat, instead spreading its mass out horizontally and the top of its shell is also reinforced. This creature is designed to grab onto the back of one of our units(not just sectoids), and form into a sort of armored vest for them, and if the wearer dies before the crab does, it can latch onto another unit that lacks one.

I recommend we use the DNA point on it, but we don't have to

Quote from: votes
Design:
Armorer Crab [1] - Failbird105
- Use DNA token [1] - Failbird105
- Don't use DNA token [] -

Bonus Design:
Recruit Collaborators [2] - Failbird105, NUKE9.13
« Last Edit: December 24, 2017, 11:15:17 am by Failbird105 »
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piratejoe

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #123 on: December 24, 2017, 10:13:04 am »

Air Superiority is designed for two reasons, cause panic, and fight Xcom with our fighters and possibly tie up their resources. Either way, what we should do is upgrade the fighter, either making the thing fully automatic and have the AI be a much better pilot, or simply upgrade its speed and maneuverability seeing how I wouldn't be surprised if Xcom tried making a new fighter so they could fully destroy our own with ease. I do like Recruit Collaborators though, and would be fine if that won instead. Also, we should make some kind of large scout or small Abductor that is better armed and armoured to deal with Xcom's shenanigans. Another thing we might want to consider is trying to get more VP so we can just swarm them with UFO's.
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Failbird105

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #124 on: December 24, 2017, 10:24:42 am »

Also, question, has our mind merge feedback been affecting them, or do we not know. I ask because it only mentions us spying on our enemies with it.
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NUKE9.13

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #125 on: December 24, 2017, 10:55:30 am »

Hmm. I'm not sure about having the crabs be totally useless by themselves. I'd rather do something like

Scuttles: Pulled from the gene banks, patched up with the DNA of Earth crustaceans, Scuttles are here to provide mobile cover to our troops. This chitin-covered species has six crab-like legs, a lobster-like tail, and a sort-of-humanoid torso. Notable are their arms- one has a large plate of alloy-reinforced chitin on the end, forming a nigh-impenetrable shield. The other has a large claw, which can cut through some extremely solid objects. A plasma pistol has been mounted on the wrist of the claw-hand.
Scuttles are not especially fast, but their chitin provides natural armour, and their large shield makes them all but immune to conventional weapons fired from in front. Allies can take cover behind a Scuttle, using it as mobile cover. And whilst their offensive power is somewhat lacking, don't think them harmless- their wrist-mounted plasma pistol can still cause serious damage, and if you let one get close to you, one snap of its claw can cut right through flesh and bone.

Quote from: votes
Design:
Armorer Crab [1] - Failbird105
- Use DNA token [1] - Failbird105
- Don't use DNA token [] -

Scuttles [1] - NUKE9.13
- Use DNA token [1] - NUKE9.13
- Don't use DNA token [] -

Bonus Design:
Recruit Collaborators [2] - Failbird105, NUKE9.13

PS, for ebbor's benefit, here's the description of Recruit Collaborators:
Quote
Recruit Collaborators: Not all Earthlings are irrationally opposed to our efforts to bring them into the Great Plan. Many are, for various reasons, willing to cooperate. Some want wealth, their desire for the worthless metal they call "Gold" overwhelming xenophobia. Others want knowledge, and will work for us in exchange for meaningless secrets. Some simply want to be a part of something greater than themselves. Whatever their motivation, we can accomodate them.
We send a team of negotiators to contact susceptible individuals, establishing communications and providing whatever it is they desire. Subsequently, the converted Earthlings will serve us, providing information on their country's actions, offering assistance in further missions, and spreading our influence to make way for our eventual takeover.
Mechanically, the goal of this mission is to contact, negotiate with, and then ensure the safe and anonymous departure of our new allies. Should XCOM interfere, they should be either eliminated, or kept away from the negotiations long enough for them to conclude, and prevented from identifying our collaborators.
« Last Edit: December 24, 2017, 10:58:59 am by NUKE9.13 »
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SamSpeeds

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #126 on: December 24, 2017, 11:09:17 am »

I support NUKE's idea, as long as the shield and wrist mount for the pistol don't require separate designs. And while I like Thin Men, I don't think they'll solve our pressing infantry issue, so we should hold off on them for now.

Quote from: Votes
Design:
Armorer Crab [1] - Failbird105
- Use DNA token [1] - Failbird105
- Don't use DNA token [] -

Scuttles [2] - NUKE9.13, SamSpeeds
- Use DNA token [1] - NUKE9.13, SamSpeeds
- Don't use DNA token [] -

Bonus Design:
Recruit Collaborators [2] - Failbird105, NUKE9.13, SamSpeeds

Let's hope we can do this without scaring them away with our little gray men appearance.
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Failbird105

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #127 on: December 24, 2017, 11:10:01 am »

Quote from: Votes
Design:
Armorer Crab [1] - Failbird105
- Use DNA token [1] - Failbird105
- Don't use DNA token [] -

Scuttles [2] - NUKE9.13, SamSpeeds
- Use DNA token [2] - NUKE9.13, SamSpeeds
- Don't use DNA token [] -

Bonus Design:
Recruit Collaborators [3] - Failbird105, NUKE9.13, SamSpeeds
*fixed

Hmm, the problem is that it doesn't really solve the issue of our troops being unarmored, it just gives them something to hide behind. A simple flanking maneuver can leave our troops just as vulnerable as before. That being said, I will give the crab actual claws.
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10ebbor10

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #128 on: December 24, 2017, 11:13:36 am »

Just to be clear, do you want a crab that comes with a "free" Plasma pistol, or one that can use a plasma pistol?
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Failbird105

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #129 on: December 24, 2017, 11:16:26 am »

I'd assume he meant the latter, but who knows.
« Last Edit: December 24, 2017, 11:18:33 am by Failbird105 »
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sprinkled chariot

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #130 on: December 24, 2017, 11:24:10 am »

plasma beam cannon design
By extending barrels and replacing single one with rotating block of six  we have created long ranged cannon shooting continuous thin beam of scorching plasma.

dominator drone revision

Our engineers replaced weaponry of drone with explosive elerium core, super charged the thruster and programming was changed to charge hostile aircraft or missiles and trigger explosion upon certain proximity. Pathetic earthlings take pride in their missiles, now they shall see, HOW IT IS REALLY DONE
TLDR : drones turned into SWARM MISSILES for shooting pesky jets or missile interception.



Air superiority mission tactics design

Shooting down any civilian or military plane showing up in area should show earthlings, that resistance to us is futile, aswell as results of shooting down planes over populated areas should be catastrophic.

I suggest, that we should like really focus on winning skies,  you can't infiltrate, when your shit is shot down.


 

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Failbird105

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #131 on: December 24, 2017, 11:35:19 am »

I do agree we need to improve air power, but firepower seems to be the wrong way. Our shots can kill them just fine, the problem is in dodging and hitting, that's why the plan is for the fighter algorithm improvement for our revision.
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piratejoe

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #132 on: December 24, 2017, 11:47:17 am »

Fighter Algorithm Improvements: By making our light Fighters truly autonomous and not reliant on any nearby ship, we can deploy them anywhere on the earth without the need of a larger mothership to control them. This can also allow it to utilize its construction better and react thousands of times faster then any mere sectoid controller could ever hope. This will result in more agile fighters that can tell the difference between human aircraft and our UFO's, know how to engage and destroy human aircraft in an efficient manner, and of course, be able to dodge and get into the blind spots of enemy aircraft.

Air Superiority: This Mission is exactly what it says on the tin. Its simple air superiority designed to shoot down anything that enters the range of our UFF's, whether or not the targets are military or civilian does not matter to us. The goal of these missions is just simply take down anything Xcom sends at us and cause a bit of panic by destroying anything else the ships can see flying. Can also be useful to test out how the humans are doing with their air combat designs by pitching them against our own as we know they would attack, after all, they wouldn't want a passenger aircraft getting shot down and possibly hitting a city now, would they?
Major Fighter Improvements: Our Light Fighter has proven to be inadequate to deal with the Humans own interceptor, and the fact that such primitives can do such damage is unacceptable. As such, we have decided to make plenty of improvements. To do this, we increase the speed and maneuverability of our craft as much as we possibly can, all the while replacing the control of the craft from a navigator in another UFO to the fighter itself, this can also allow it to utilize its construction better and react thousands of times faster then any mere sectoid controller could ever hope. All of this will result in more agile fighters that can tell the difference between human aircraft and our UFO's, know how to engage and destroy human aircraft in an efficient manner, and of course, be able to dodge and get into the blind spots of enemy aircraft. A side objective of this work, that is mostly only to be worked on if we have time left, is to armour the fighter a little bit better, not much as it needs to remain light, but enough that it will increase survivability slightly.

Quote from: Votes
Design:
Armorer Crab [1] - Failbird105
- Use DNA token [1] - Failbird105
- Don't use DNA token [] -

Scuttles [2] - NUKE9.13, SamSpeeds
- Use DNA token [2] - NUKE9.13, SamSpeeds
- Don't use DNA token [] -

Major Fighter Improvements [1] - Piratejoe

Bonus Design:
Recruit Collaborators [3] - Failbird105, NUKE9.13, SamSpeeds
Air Superiority [2] - Sprinkled Chariot, Piratejoe
« Last Edit: December 24, 2017, 02:42:38 pm by piratejoe »
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crazyabe

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #133 on: December 24, 2017, 11:58:32 am »

Quote from: Votes
Design:
Armorer Crab [1] - Failbird105
- Use DNA token [1] - Failbird105
- Don't use DNA token [] -

Scuttles [3] - NUKE9.13, SamSpeeds, Crazyabe
- Use DNA token [3] - NUKE9.13, SamSpeeds, Crazyabe
- Don't use DNA token [] -

Major Fighter Improvements [1] - Piratejoe

Bonus Design:
Recruit Collaborators [4] - Failbird105, NUKE9.13, SamSpeeds, Crazyabe
Air Superiority [2] - Sprinkled Chariot, Piratejoe
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sprinkled chariot

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Re: Ethereals : XCOM Arms Race
« Reply #134 on: December 24, 2017, 12:28:00 pm »

I do agree we need to improve air power, but firepower seems to be the wrong way. Our shots can kill them just fine, the problem is in dodging and hitting, that's why the plan is for the fighter algorithm improvement for our revision.

One of our problems is missiles having better range.
Also revision of fighter should definitely involve moving guns from fixed mounts to rotating turrets on top and below craft for 360 coverage
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