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[Dohon]

Community Video 3: Modernising a classic. Have fun!

[Mephansteras]

Community Video 3: Modernising a classic. Have fun!

Hmm. Nothing really new in that one.

[sambojin]

Whilst I know that Xcom is meant to be made up of the most elite soldiers on earth, 22 casualties to win a war against an alien invader seems pretty good. It sort of breaks the immersion really. I always thought that I did pretty well in the original if I lost 5x that number.

I kind of assumed it was because it was more of a covert ops thing. A secret war, with a secret organisation, the low numbers were more about them not finding us than anything else. There might have been thousands of times those casualties amongst the regular troops, we were the cutting edge. It sort of makes you wonder why an elite sniper (one of the world's best), would start with crappy stats and need a lot of training, but I guess gameplay is one of those reasons.

Still, I'm looking forward to playing this. I can't wait for the ending.

"We've won the war against the alien menace and wiped out their civilisation."

"How many casualties did earth suffer?"

"Twenty."

"Damn those aliens were pussies."

[Mephansteras]

To be fair, I imagine the armies of Earth are doing a lot of combat against the aliens later on and taking pretty heavy casualties.

[Pandarsenic]

To be fair, I imagine the armies of Earth are doing a lot of combat against the aliens later on and taking pretty heavy casualties.

Tons of this.

How many civilians die before each terror mission? How many soldiers die holding them off from the quarantines they seem to be establishing for you to land in? How many people are abducted? How many nations are getting their aircraft shot down trying to protect themselves?

[sambojin]

I guess a lot of the "I'm a navy-seal. I can't hit a barn door and don't know how to run" thing will be somewhat different in the new x-com with the various skills and options for firing/flanking. It used to make me laugh a bit in the original when a trooper couldn't hit the hedge in front of him on a regular basis. Elite troops of earth my bum.

It would be nice if you got a bit of a running report on military deaths and actions in the new one. Not a time stopper, not a mission, just something to show that it's not your six blokes against the (other) world. Maybe just a blurb in your monthly funding report to show where some sorts of alien activity is in the world and the losses that the human pops and military are sustaining or something.

The original could lower your sense of disbelief due to multiple bases around the world and squads that were big enough to be tricky to control. Sometimes an entire landing team could be wiped out and you'd just damn well send more in. Terror sites could be pretty terrifying early on. 30 blokes (24 casualties) to save the world might need a blurb at some point to make it feel a little larger in scale and more of a world-wide conflict.

[MaximumZero]

I guess a lot of the "I'm a navy-seal. I can't hit a barn door and don't know how to run" thing will be somewhat different in the new x-com with the various skills and options for firing/flanking. It used to make me laugh a bit in the original when a trooper couldn't hit the hedge in front of him on a regular basis. Elite troops of earth my bum.

It would be nice if you got a bit of a running report on military deaths and actions in the new one. Not a time stopper, not a mission, just something to show that it's not your six blokes against the (other) world. Maybe just a blurb in your monthly funding report to show where some sorts of alien activity is in the world and the losses that the human pops and military are sustaining or something.

The original could lower your sense of disbelief due to multiple bases around the world and squads that were big enough to be tricky to control. Sometimes an entire landing team could be wiped out and you'd just damn well send more in. Terror sites could be pretty terrifying early on. 30 blokes (24 casualties) to save the world might need a blurb at some point to make it feel a little larger in scale and more of a world-wide conflict.

I figured all the soldiers were 8-balls, and had nowhere to go, hence joining Xcom. (Yeah, I know that section VIII doesn't exist anymore, but it's an easy way to reference what I'm talking about.)

[Thexor]

I guess a lot of the "I'm a navy-seal. I can't hit a barn door and don't know how to run" thing will be somewhat different in the new x-com with the various skills and options for firing/flanking. It used to make me laugh a bit in the original when a trooper couldn't hit the hedge in front of him on a regular basis. Elite troops of earth my bum.

It would be nice if you got a bit of a running report on military deaths and actions in the new one. Not a time stopper, not a mission, just something to show that it's not your six blokes against the (other) world. Maybe just a blurb in your monthly funding report to show where some sorts of alien activity is in the world and the losses that the human pops and military are sustaining or something.

The original could lower your sense of disbelief due to multiple bases around the world and squads that were big enough to be tricky to control. Sometimes an entire landing team could be wiped out and you'd just damn well send more in. Terror sites could be pretty terrifying early on. 30 blokes (24 casualties) to save the world might need a blurb at some point to make it feel a little larger in scale and more of a world-wide conflict.

I figured all the soldiers were 8-balls, and had nowhere to go, hence joining Xcom. (Yeah, I know that section VIII doesn't exist anymore, but it's an easy way to reference what I'm talking about.)

"Son, you're completely out of shape, you panic at the first sign of trouble, and you can't hit the broad side of a barn from inside the barn. There's only one thing I can do with you."

"What's that, sir?"

"Send you to defend the Earth from alien incursion."

Makes perfect sense!

[IronyOwl]

Well, X-COM is highly experimental, controversial, and covert. It's also international, meaning even if they had perfect confidence in it, every nation involved might feel better keeping their really good troops at home, under their command and protecting their assets.

[Sensei]

Considering how countries raise and lower funding on a whim, the idea that they're sending you lousy soldiers is pretty feasible.

[Domenique]

Considering how countries raise and lower funding on a whim, the idea that they're sending you lousy soldiers is pretty feasible.

Countries with huge armies (USA, China) could really send atleast moderate soldiers, it wouldn't mean much to them anyway.

[Dohon]

Hmm. Nothing really new in that one.

Right you are. Might be handy for people who enter the thread late though. I hope that E3 will give us some more gameplay. Or better, show us some more gameplay!

[Farce]

It would be nice if you got a bit of a running report on military deaths and actions in the new one. Not a time stopper, not a mission, just something to show that it's not your six blokes against the (other) world. Maybe just a blurb in your monthly funding report to show where some sorts of alien activity is in the world and the losses that the human pops and military are sustaining or something.

Man, this would go a -long- way towards preserving my immersions.  You should send that in, see if they can squeeze that in or something before release.

[MrWiggles]

I never understood why folks thought that the X-Com recruits were suppose to special operation folks.

Its quite clear they're just out of boot camp. Hence them being more or less in shape, and following orders well, even stupid orders. It also explains why no one has any ranks, until they start to be field promoted by X-Com itself.
---
When I've ran x-com table top games, I've open it further, making it closer to an iternational military force that any citizen of any participating country may enlist.

Which is sorta closer to the novel representation by Diane Duane. (Which, was a hard book for me to get a hold of.)

[Dohon]

...

Which is sorta closer to the novel representation by Diane Duane. (Which, was a hard book for me to get a hold of.)

Thanks for referencing that novel. I'm a bit starved for XCOM and a novel would be what the doctor ordered. Is it a good book, despite the complexity?

Also, if you guys want a good XCOM fanfiction story: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/245417/1/XCOM_The_Unknown_Menace

Absolutely MASSIVE story (I converted it to a .doc and it is almost 500 pages long). Worth a read.