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[Darkening Kaos]

Even though it was a portentous op-name, it turned out to be quite positive......

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Muton squad was crushed........An MC'ed Muton and a Cyberdisk that was still crowding them when it blew.  A terror mission that only went for about 4 turns due to a couple of lucky hits on the cyberdisk in the first two turns.

And you can see the back of Holly's Mek, the only one I've had enough meld to upgrade to tier 3, {too impatient to save up meld for the other Meks}.

[crazysheep]

Well, you could say you dug the aliens a cold grave

And if the mission went south, they dug your operatives a cold grave

[umiman]

Your mech punched that guy so hard he turned inside out.

[Darkening Kaos]

   Not Holly, she's not equipped to do that, she has the FlameThrower.  The poor guy must have been done over by the heavy pie-floaters and Mutons that were in the diner.  Just wish that Holly's particle cannon hit more often, I might re-equip her with the RailGun.

   It takes me longer to clear a small crashed UFO than to finish a terror mission - mechtoids are hilarious when they are MC'ed ,btw.

Edit:
    Canada has requested some Arc Throwers to quell unruly spectators at boxing ice-hockey matches, while the Nigerians have requested a couple of Plasma Pistols for a different kind of quelling.  I know which country I'd prefer to visit.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Today's report won't be for a few more hours, but I figured I'd post this. It's an early combat concept trailer by Firaxis that shows some interesting things, like X-Com soldiers communicating and idle fighting during turns.

Holy crap! That's awesome! I mean, varied action cams, combat that feels like a movie, melee combat (including a soldier killing a muton in a knife-fight)...why the hell did they change it?

Well, it's just a concept trailer, and a lot of those elements did get in in some format. You can notice how young it is by the menu that comes up, it has a lot of Old-Com style options because Firaxis hadn't found their grounding yet (to make you even more jealous, Firaxis actually made a tactical boardgame for Enemy Unknown because they had no idea how to make combat happen, but alas, this remained an in-studio tool). Action Cams did make it in, albeit not as varied. The idle combat remains in the form of Suppression and Overwatch. And as for melee combat, it took until Enemy Within, but now we have Kinetic Strike Modules (complete with unique kill animations for large enemies!).

Oh, I thought that was an actual game thingy.
And somehow MEC weapons can't compete with killing aliens using a knife.

By the way, I read a great name for a sequel today: Enemy Beyond. Though I would hope any sequel to Enemy Unknown/Within would continue to expand upon the existing theme of "oh fuck, X-COM has crossed the Rubicon" in regards to humanity. Centuries if not millennia of technological advancement within the space of just a few years is not something that happens without problems. As Shen puts it, nothing will ever be the same after the invasion; the old world is gone forever even should humanity defeat the aliens.

I'd say "Enemy Beyond" would be more suitable to an expansion pack than a sequel. A sequel should have an all-new subtitle pattern.

Another aspect is how EXALT is "going too far" with gene augs. This is a good idea, except the Elite EXALT augs aren't very different from what X-COM fields, so it comes off as silly. EXALT should have had a third tier, employing plasma weaponry and truly posthuman augmentation (genetics, mechanics, psionics, the whole shebang). The kind of thing you would look at and go "oh god what the fuck". The kind of thing you'd have to autopsy. And that would be when Vahlen should have given her opinion that X-COM should never go that far.

To-do list for tomorrow:
-Murder EXALT
-Reprimand Chinese Council rep
-Shoot down the Overseer
-Mindjack an Ethereal
-Top off tech tree and foundry tree
-Convince Vahlen to stop replaying the recordings of her interrogations over the base speakers
-Prepare for the return of Sectopods
-SHIV-COM
-Gene-hack everybody during SHIV-COM
-Inform the Alliums they came to the wrong fucking planet

You might want to get that second one out of the way, low-hanging fruit and all. I hear she doesn't even realize they're playing over the speakers.

Re: "Enemy Beyond" I have lately developed the conviction that the endgame of XCOM landing on the alien mothership could be greatly expanded seeing as how that mothership is the size of a mid-sized nation. As in, it turns into a bit of a larger-scale strategy game with XCOM taking territory on the ship and defending against alien incursions by posting different squads at chokepoints and eventually finally working towards the reactor that blows up the ship, instead of just being invited there by a particularly unclever Ethereal.
I was also imagining a cutscene where Bradford reveals a whole fleet of Skyrangers ready to start the counter-invasion.

...That.
Is.
Awesome.

I still think that there's SOMETHING going on behind the scenes. What happened to the Outsiders? What if they weren't really supposed to be there to begin with, considering their lack of appearance at the end. Like... The Crystals were supposed to be there, but... the Outsiders themselves might not have been entirely there on behalf of the Ethereals.

The Outsiders are just psionic projections of the Hyperwave Beacon. They stop showing up because X-COM steals it, but lacks the Outsider Shards or psionic experience to use it themselves.

I wonder if future expansions might allow innovations in that direction..."Solid Energy" mooks one could summon...

Canada has requested some Arc Throwers to quell unruly spectators at boxing ice-hockey matches, while the Nigerians have requested a couple of Plasma Pistols for a different kind of quelling.  I know which country I'd prefer to visit.

No offense, Nigeria, but it's always going to be Canada.
Except maybe in winter.

[Silfurdreki]

Today's report won't be for a few more hours, but I figured I'd post this. It's an early combat concept trailer by Firaxis that shows some interesting things, like X-Com soldiers communicating and idle fighting during turns.

I know that they'd have to tone it down if the actual game turned out like this. Still...it's so good...if only. ;-;

While that is pretty cool to watch, I can see why they cut it out. Imagine having those, and a few more, canned animations happen every time a certain scenario happens in the game. Imagine how annoying it would be to have to sit through them for the hundredth time while doing a simple small UFO crash. Hell, even now the animations of your squad getting out of the skyranger is skippable for just that reason.

That, and also the immense amount of animation work they would have needed to make more than a few such scenarios. I think it's fair to say that they were justified in doing what they did.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I'd say "Enemy Beyond" would be more suitable to an expansion pack than a sequel. A sequel should have an all-new subtitle pattern.

I can't see how the game could be expanded much further. The good news is that Firaxis has said that one of their big plans is to do right what Terror From The Deep did wrong: Lovecraftian X-COM. Hence, Enemy Beyond. Humanity has entered the big leagues post-invasion, and that's not the best place to be, fusion lances or not.

Another aspect is how EXALT is "going too far" with gene augs. This is a good idea, except the Elite EXALT augs aren't very different from what X-COM fields, so it comes off as silly. EXALT should have had a third tier, employing plasma weaponry and truly posthuman augmentation (genetics, mechanics, psionics, the whole shebang). The kind of thing you would look at and go "oh god what the fuck". The kind of thing you'd have to autopsy. And that would be when Vahlen should have given her opinion that X-COM should never go that far.

Something you wanted to say here, GWG?

[Sean Mirrsen]

I can't see how the game could be expanded much further.

EXALT as a playable strategic side, with the goal of driving XCOM to closure and undermining the Ethereals' efforts with brainwashed and specially trained psionics, like the dam mission girl. Geoscape would consist of establishing secondary bases, screening recruits, infiltrating UFO landings and crashes, hunting for money, etc. Primarily resource management, counterintelligence, covert ops, manipulation, etc.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Eh, while I'm not strictly against playability for anti-X-COM factions (I was very interested in UFO: The Two Sides before it was shut down), that doesn't seem like a good focus for a further expansion.

[Descan]

I still want my Stargate X-Com.

Playing as Stargate Command, going through the 'Gate to worlds to explore, get resources, and kick alien butt, defending against invasion, diplomacy with other worlds, research Goa'uld, Asgard, Replicator, Tollan, and others technology, perhaps a base invasion where an infiltrator shuts off the Iris.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I'd say "Enemy Beyond" would be more suitable to an expansion pack than a sequel. A sequel should have an all-new subtitle pattern.

I can't see how the game could be expanded much further. The good news is that Firaxis has said that one of their big plans is to do right what Terror From The Deep did wrong: Lovecraftian X-COM. Hence, Enemy Beyond. Humanity has entered the big leagues post-invasion, and that's not the best place to be, fusion lances or not.

Not exactly sure what TftD added.
And, again, it seems to me that a sequel should have a different namescheme.

Another aspect is how EXALT is "going too far" with gene augs. This is a good idea, except the Elite EXALT augs aren't very different from what X-COM fields, so it comes off as silly. EXALT should have had a third tier, employing plasma weaponry and truly posthuman augmentation (genetics, mechanics, psionics, the whole shebang). The kind of thing you would look at and go "oh god what the fuck". The kind of thing you'd have to autopsy. And that would be when Vahlen should have given her opinion that X-COM should never go that far.

Something you wanted to say here, GWG?

Something I thought I had. Namely, that if TV Tropes is right, EXALT has augments far beyond what XCOM could hope for.

I still want my Stargate X-Com.

Playing as Stargate Command, going through the 'Gate to worlds to explore, get resources, and kick alien butt, defending against invasion, diplomacy with other worlds, research Goa'uld, Asgard, Replicator, Tollan, and others technology, perhaps a base invasion where an infiltrator shuts off the Iris.

Sounds like a good project for a mod.
Hey, maybe Enemy Beyond could include some mod-enhancing functions, like Civilization V or something?


Anyways...about this XCOM sequel. I've been thinking. According to TV Tropes, the aliens are invading to prepare humanity and themselves from some kind of external threat, right?
Well...imagine this.

Some decades or centuries past the Volunteer's sacrifice, the world is a different place, if much the same. Politics have changed a bit, but not as much as you might think. Technology, of course, has taken massive steps forward, especially with the development of elerium technology, advanced alloys, and the like, including Firestorm-like aircraft making travel faster and cheaper. War is different once more, as technology for MEC troopers, SHIVs, Titan Armor, and the like...but, again, much the same. Cities have been founded on the Moon, colonies have been founded on Mars, and there are mines in the asteroid belt. Psionics aren't common, but pretty much everyone not religiously opposed to them gets screened.
XCOM is still around, if gutted and relegated to more of a "sentinel" organization. It maintains a handful of elite soldiers, with titan armor as the standard. They discover an alien craft entering the system and crash-landing on Mars. They are sent to investigate, discovering a group of aliens. After fighting several sectoids, mutons, cryssalids, and other fodder, they get to the bridge, and defeat a couple elite mutons defending an ethereal, who promptly surrenders...and tells of a threat which is coming to Earth.

Hell if I know where to go from there.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Something I thought I had. Namely, that if TV Tropes is right, EXALT has augments far beyond what XCOM could hope for.

EXALT doesn't demonstrate any great use of augments. They don't use MECs or Psis at all, and the only Gene-aug they have that X-Com doesn't match in some way is Iron Skin for EXALT Elite Heavies.

[Descan]

The threat is obviously time-travelling space-nazis.

And yeah, I was thinking of a Stargate mod. God knows I can't mod for shit though, even if XCom was more mod-friendly.

Some examples of gene-mods Exalt could have that XCom could go "Okay, yeah, that's too far": Spider legs to get atop buildings. Chameleon skin to camouflage into buildings without ghost armour. Acid spit a la Thin Men. Hulking bruisers a la Mutons.

[USEC_OFFICER]

Anyways...about this XCOM sequel. I've been thinking. According to TV Tropes, the aliens are invading to prepare humanity and themselves from some kind of external threat, right?

Assuming that we're broadly following the old X-COM games, said threat is probably the Micronoids from Apocalypse. Which would actually make a bit of sense, since the Micronoids combined strong psionics with powerful foot soldiers.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I'd say "Enemy Beyond" would be more suitable to an expansion pack than a sequel. A sequel should have an all-new subtitle pattern.

I can't see how the game could be expanded much further. The good news is that Firaxis has said that one of their big plans is to do right what Terror From The Deep did wrong: Lovecraftian X-COM. Hence, Enemy Beyond. Humanity has entered the big leagues post-invasion, and that's not the best place to be, fusion lances or not.

Not exactly sure what TftD added.
And, again, it seems to me that a sequel should have a different namescheme.

Another aspect is how EXALT is "going too far" with gene augs. This is a good idea, except the Elite EXALT augs aren't very different from what X-COM fields, so it comes off as silly. EXALT should have had a third tier, employing plasma weaponry and truly posthuman augmentation (genetics, mechanics, psionics, the whole shebang). The kind of thing you would look at and go "oh god what the fuck". The kind of thing you'd have to autopsy. And that would be when Vahlen should have given her opinion that X-COM should never go that far.

Something you wanted to say here, GWG?

Something I thought I had. Namely, that if TV Tropes is right, EXALT has augments far beyond what XCOM could hope for.

I still want my Stargate X-Com.

Playing as Stargate Command, going through the 'Gate to worlds to explore, get resources, and kick alien butt, defending against invasion, diplomacy with other worlds, research Goa'uld, Asgard, Replicator, Tollan, and others technology, perhaps a base invasion where an infiltrator shuts off the Iris.

Sounds like a good project for a mod.
Hey, maybe Enemy Beyond could include some mod-enhancing functions, like Civilization V or something?


Anyways...about this XCOM sequel. I've been thinking. According to TV Tropes, the aliens are invading to prepare humanity and themselves from some kind of external threat, right?
Well...imagine this.

Some decades or centuries past the Volunteer's sacrifice, the world is a different place, if much the same. Politics have changed a bit, but not as much as you might think. Technology, of course, has taken massive steps forward, especially with the development of elerium technology, advanced alloys, and the like, including Firestorm-like aircraft making travel faster and cheaper. War is different once more, as technology for MEC troopers, SHIVs, Titan Armor, and the like...but, again, much the same. Cities have been founded on the Moon, colonies have been founded on Mars, and there are mines in the asteroid belt. Psionics aren't common, but pretty much everyone not religiously opposed to them gets screened.
XCOM is still around, if gutted and relegated to more of a "sentinel" organization. It maintains a handful of elite soldiers, with titan armor as the standard. They discover an alien craft entering the system and crash-landing on Mars. They are sent to investigate, discovering a group of aliens. After fighting several sectoids, mutons, cryssalids, and other fodder, they get to the bridge, and defeat a couple elite mutons defending an ethereal, who promptly surrenders...and tells of a threat which is coming to Earth.

Hell if I know where to go from there.

Obviously the way to go is down, TFTD style. Expanding to space is easy, space is empty. Underwater, though, is a completely different kettle of fish.

So, what happens is that the Earth suddenly has a meteorite smack into it, dealing minimal damage and seemingly just disappearing. What actually happens is a Lovecraftian monstrosity of an alien species infiltrates our planet via these means, using a regular meteor shower as cover for its arrival. They spread in the water, attack ships and coastal cities. Terror attacks happen even deeper inland, with protozoan invaders reaching up rivers and springing up through sewer systems.

Combat happens both on land and in the deep waters. Titan armor is standard, but Elerium is impossible to procure or produce, so flying units are out, and Titan armor is barely sufficient to survive underwater. Avengers are still used to ferry teams around, modified to be able to deploy a deep-sea bathyscaphe for sea-floor ops. Inland terror missions require you to fight with standard gear - railguns, but provide you some regular law enforcers to offset your general unpreparedness to them. Terror missions at sea happen on cruise liners as well, and at times things like deep sea pipelines, oil derricks, and other ocean-based facilities may come under attack.

Aliens will use biotech now, and living semi-symbiotic suits and weapons will become the new elerium. Superweapons include sonic cannons, that retain a good deal of their efficiency on land, as well as direct psionic weaponry, such as psi-sheathed plasma shells.

UFOs - well, USOs - are going to be Kaiju-like lovecraftian monsters with their own weapons, that will be able to travel up rivers and usually "land" by beaching themselves, but with time they will start to fly as well. The initial XCOM interceptors would be supercavitating railgun-equipped submersible strike craft, eventually progressing into a proper meld of biotech and technology, a hybrid craft that travels through the air and the water with equal ease.

The Ethereals' gambit would soon become apparent as the more developed specimens of the new aliens begin to appear, sporting downright obnoxious psionic capacity. The new species would turn out to be a breed of planet-consuming parasites, homing in on the latent psionic potential of various species of life, and using the planet's own biosphere as a source of both nutrition and fuel. The Ethereals were attempting to create a species both strong enough psionically to stand on equal footing with what is essentially a giant Psi-capable hivemind, and strong enough physically to have an edge over the parasites, capable of forcing them back and essentially taking control of a giant psionic biotech supercomputer slash production facility, which would make conquest on a galactic scale and beyond, possible.

Something like that.