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[Delta Foxtrot]

I think the developers just wanted to add another layer of futuristic vibes to the game. And what's more futuristic than unisex? With high tech come high gender-equality. Timeline of the game was not too distant future back when it was made after all.

I dig hexes.

[Flare]

XCom rookies are good, but like others said, I don't think they are the best of the best. I think the countries sending them may tell XCom they are the "best of the best", in much the same way they assure us that they are giving us "as much funding as they can possibly afford". But seriously, I don't think the countries of the world take X-Com seriously (at least at first), and they are only going along grudgingly until they see some actual results.

I actually imagined XCom had its own recruiting agency as well, and didn't just limit itself to those "offered" by the other various countries.

I'm in agreement with this, but on top of this, I think that while X-Com personnel and the overall organization gives an air of people who have no training and absolutely no idea what they're going up against, I think they made the alien threat a bit too serious. Not in that it's too dangerous, but that the Alien threat is a threat at all given that you can handle them with a group of utterly incompetent draftees.

There seems to be an element missing from this, in that the alien threat isn't really all that threatening in the first place and our information as the players might be false justifications and inflation of the dangers the aliens pose, both through doctored media and sending green horns that haven't held a gun before to get slaughtered to fabricate a plausible excuse to receive more UN funding.

If it were this case, I'd find it believable given the abysmal performances of the soldiers given to this program. Personally, if aliens were invading I'd imagine a much bigger reaction from the collective world communities and far better equipment than what is given to XCOM personnel.

[Mephansteras]

Well, you have to keep in mind that only Sectoids and Floaters are manageable by what X-Com has at the start. Once the nastier types of Aliens show up you really need to have better weapons than the earth standard ones (and those are supposedly the most advanced weapons Earth has at the start of the game). So the Threat is pretty scary, overall, it's just not unmanageable in the beginning.

And I think the Alien infiltrations is what's supposed to keep the world from being overwhelmingly hostile to them in the beginning, plus the world governments trying to hush it up to prevent panic.

[BishopX]

Well, you have to keep in mind that only Sectoids and Floaters are manageable by what X-Com has at the start. Once the nastier types of Aliens show up you really need to have better weapons than the earth standard ones (and those are supposedly the most advanced weapons Earth has at the start of the game). So the Threat is pretty scary, overall, it's just not unmanageable in the beginning.

And I think the Alien infiltrations is what's supposed to keep the world from being overwhelmingly hostile to them in the beginning, plus the world governments trying to hush it up to prevent panic.

Rocket launchers and grenades handle most things pretty well...as long as you don't care about colateral damage.

[Nilik]

I remember reading... no idea where... that X-Com recruits are indeed just grunts; recruited from various militaries around the world but not really given much traning beyond boot camp and whatever experience they've picked up in the field. The reasoning was that the various world governments need their special forces now more than ever, and are definitely not going to hand over their most elite to an organisation that has yet to prove itself.

What i'd like to see is more experienced recruits unlock as you improve your reputation with the various nations. In fact, what I really want to see is more effects to keeping nations happy beyond just increased funding. Maybe if you keep the USA happy they'll increase your funding, or maybe you'll start seeing Delta Force or Navy Seals pop up in the recruitment pool. Maybe next time you land at a terror mission, there's a squad of black-ops waiting who have cleared a landing site for you. Likewise if they've signed a treaty with the aliens these same forces would be allied with the aliens at any missions that pop up in their territory.

The presence of human enemies at least is encouraging in that regard.

[Cthulhu]

I don't think even the Special Forces of the human military know about the aliens.  I think the X-COM troops are elite, it's just that they're completely out of their element.  It doesn't matter how long you've trained for conventional Earth combat when you're suddenly sent to fight aliens with plasma guns and fusion grenade launchers.

[Microcline]

I remember reading... no idea where... that X-Com recruits are indeed just grunts; recruited from various militaries around the world but not really given much traning beyond boot camp and whatever experience they've picked up in the field. The reasoning was that the various world governments need their special forces now more than ever, and are definitely not going to hand over their most elite to an organisation that has yet to prove itself.

What i'd like to see is more experienced recruits unlock as you improve your reputation with the various nations. In fact, what I really want to see is more effects to keeping nations happy beyond just increased funding. Maybe if you keep the USA happy they'll increase your funding, or maybe you'll start seeing Delta Force or Navy Seals pop up in the recruitment pool. Maybe next time you land at a terror mission, there's a squad of black-ops waiting who have cleared a landing site for you. Likewise if they've signed a treaty with the aliens these same forces would be allied with the aliens at any missions that pop up in their territory.

The presence of human enemies at least is encouraging in that regard.

I really like this idea.  One of the big problems with the original was the redundancy of the funding nations, and that past the first month your income was largely independent of them.  This idea
i) explains why your starting troops are so unreliable
ii) rewards you for accomplishing your mission of protecting the funding nations
iii) punishes you for not accomplishing your mission
iv) gives you some degree of ability to replace fallen troops without grinding, which would encourage players to tough it out instead of savescumming when they lose a skyranger full of veterans.  They'd still need to be below your veterans though.  Maybe they'd get a morale penalty for their first few alien encounters.

It'd also add some flavor to the troops, even if it's just a little flag on their profile.

[Nilik]

Yeah, I figured / hoped Xenonauts is going to do something like this, given that we already know you're explicitly shown your recruit's original unit.

[lordcooper]

I always felt that XCOM were able to succeed in spite of being rookies due to having the best scientists and engineers.

[BishopX]

I always felt that XCOM were able to succeed in spite of being rookies due to having the best scientists and engineers.

QFT, guys who can build a laser cannon working alone in a little under 3 months a feaking incredible.

[Nilik]

Manhattan project anyone? I think if we had sufficient motivation and put all of the world's greatest scientists into one lab together with infinite funding we could do some pretty incredible stuff.

[Domenique]

As I said before, rookies being shitty is just a gameplay mechanic that doesn't correspond to the plot. A lot of games do this, why do you keep looking for the answer when it's obvious?

[onyhow]

Then why they don't try to improve game mechanic?

[Domenique]

Then why they don't try to improve game mechanic?

It's fine alright. The game is not broken at the beginning because you don't have super-soldiers, and later, because you really care for your elite and don't want them to die. If you could easily replace elite, it would make this game too easy and not that interesting, what regards agent management.

[Ivefan]

It's fine alright. The game is not broken at the beginning because you don't have super-soldiers, and later, because you really care for your elite and don't want them to die. If you could easily replace elite, it would make this game too easy and not that interesting, what regards agent management.

Yep. sure do get attached to most of my grunts, and that is good to me.