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[Dohon]

SPAM ATTACK! Gamespy has a preview up, going into detail about the tutorial campaign. There is also some info regarding the "starting bonusses" you receive when you pick the location of your base.

North America, "Air and Space" - All aircraft and aircraft weapons cost 50% less to purchase, build and maintain.

Europe, "Expert Knowledge" - Labs and workshops cost 50% less to build and maintain.

Asia, "Future Combat" - All projects in the foundry and the Officer Training school cost 50% less.

South America "We Have Ways" - Autopsies and Interrogations are completed instantly.

Africa, "All In" - Monthly XCOM funding increased by 25%.

Read more here. SPOILER ALERT!

[lordcooper]

Weird choice for Africa.

[Domenique]

Weird choice for Africa.

I read somewhere some time ago, that if Africa would pull it's shit together it might become a great center for banking and stuff (I think that during recession a few Nigerian banks had great times). But I wanna say I agree with you, but... That's racist!..

[lordcooper]

Not really, it just isn't a continent known for it's excessive wealth.

America would make more sense, with the Middle East offering decreased aircraft maintenance cos of oil and stuff.

[sambojin]

Weird choice for Africa.

Not really. If Africa ever had a threat that could tie the continent together as a cohesive force, then they might end up as a huge power block. They have the man-power, the resources, the cheap labour, the ability to do things covertly, they also have many funding channels open where things could be "off-books" for the fund-raisers, either shown as being benefactors or simply as under-the-table deals.

This is the future. Within 20-30 years Africa is expected to be the next China or India in the real world. This is the very reason why China, India and the rest of the world are investing a little ahead of schedule so that the returns are all the greater when the continent emerges fully towards the potential it shows.

Seems like quite a reasonable benefit for starting in Africa really.

[lordcooper]

That could well be true, but AFAIK X-COM is set tomorrow, or possibly the day after.

You can play through the game twice in its entirety and never see the same map.

That's either a lie, or they have an awfully large amount of maps.  Hoping for the latter.

[Domenique]

That could well be true, but AFAIK X-COM is set tomorrow, or possibly the day after.

You can play through the game twice in its entirety and never see the same map.

That's either a lie, or they have an awfully large amount of maps.  Hoping for the latter.

I was hoping for randomly generated maps, since hand-made maps differ too greatly to feel x-com-like .

We don't really know the date when X-COM is set.

[LoSboccacc]

even if map are similar, tech escalation should be the same in each game, so that's quite a bogus claim.

[GlyphGryph]

Their justification was that Africa IS absurdly wealthy, they just don't utilize most of it efficiently. In terms of natural resources, at least. Also, Africa might include the middle east in-game, or at least a good chunk of it. Oil!

[Criptfeind]

even if map are similar, tech escalation should be the same in each game, so that's quite a bogus claim.

Well. There was a mention of choice between high tech, high equipment, and high training. Which I guess is possible, in which case yeah it could be true. But I dunno.

[Sirus]

There could also be multiple, branching paths of research, like there was in the first game but expanded (ie: do you continue down weapon paths, focus on psionics, improve you soldiers' survivability, etc). Making blanket statements about a game that has not even been demoed and has maybe an hour of total footage released so far seems pretty stupid illogical to me.

[ZebioLizard2]

Their justification was that Africa IS absurdly wealthy, they just don't utilize most of it efficiently. In terms of natural resources, at least. Also, Africa might include the middle east in-game, or at least a good chunk of it. Oil!

Oil, the highest concentration of gold, diamond, and other natural resources that  could make alot of pretty pennies for X-com if they were to get involved in it.

[Pandarsenic]

I don't think that one is half as racist as

South America "We Have Ways" - Autopsies and Interrogations are completed instantly.

[sambojin]

There is a certain amount of "experience" in S.America in things like kidnapping, torture, forced confessions and a somewhat charming attitude towards law and order and the prosecution of known criminals.

Imagine what could happen if they wouldn't be breaking any ethical codes or moral standards. Human rights are for the humans, the aliens don't have them.

What happens in South America often stays in South America. In garbage bags and missing some toes. They have ways to make sure that this is so.

(It's not racist if it is said with a morbid admiration and just a little bit of fear. With a smiley face.)

[sambojin]

Actually, just that one sentence for a starting base bonus kind of sends chills up my spine. People have said that the new Xcom aliens seem too animalistic, they make the wrong sounds, they're not eerie and quiet anymore. Perhaps it's not the aliens that are meant to be scary or a hidden terror. They're aliens, they're bad, we kill them.

If humans and earth, with it's track record of sometimes doing things somewhat amorally when the chips are down, got into a war against an alien civilisation, I don't think we'd be very nice to them at all. We're in the trenches and we're losing. Our friends, our family and our hometowns are being wiped out. It's time to cut bits off every bastard you capture alive, then cut some more off when they're dead.

It might not be grim-dark, but maybe humans aren't necessarily the good guys in Xcom. They're just the other side in a war, a war that they intend to win. We might not growl much, but we can be pretty damn scary when we need to be. Against the enemy and even against our own, to "raise morale" of course. Plus we know how to cut bits off. Either for !science! or just to prove a point.

Humans can be quite effective as terror weapons as well, the aliens will find that out in due time.

I really like that starting bonus........