Squad-Based Tactical Strategy - Like X-COM Thread

Preface
It's been more than 10 years since the release of X-COM: Enemy Unknown (also known as X-COM: UFO Defence), which basically created the genre of the squad-based tactical strategy game. Since then, no games in this genre have come close to its level of gameplay despite its dated graphics. My goal is to create a game as good as, or better than(!!) the original X-COM game.

For those of you that have never heard of X-COM, it was released by Microprose in the early '90s. The game's storyline was substandard: aliens were invading Earth and your squad of rookie soldiers were the last line of defence against the incursion. What made the game great was it's formula. It existed in 3 major parts.

Part 1 - The Geoscape) This was an overview of Earth. It was fully 3D and you could rotate it in any direction. From here you establish military bases and send your aircraft to intercept UFOs, detect alien bases, or transport soldiers to engage the aliens at crash sites, bases, or "terror attacks" (this is when the aliens land and terrorize a city).

Part 2 - The Base) This screen was accessible at any time from the Geoscape. Here you manage your research, production, soldiers, purchases/sales, and the building of the interior of your bases.

Part 3 - The Battlefield) When you sent soldiers to engage enemy aliens, you would come to the battlefield. The setting of the battlefield was dependent on the geography of the location of the battle (if you shoot down a UFO over the Sahara in Africa, the setting is desert, etc.). The battles were turn-based.

Features of this game included
-The ability to research alien technology and reproduce it, creating new weapons, armour and devices for your soldiers, new interceptor craft, etc. The range of researchable things was impressive, anything recovered from an alien spacecraft was researchable. You could even research the bodies of dead aliens to discover weaknesses in their anatomy.
-Your soldiers would increase in skill and rank over time, improving in a wide variety of statistics.
-There were no uber-weapons. All weapons in the game were well balanced and implemented.
-The wide range of strategies one could employ in every aspect of the game, from what weapons to use in combat (Plasma or Laser? Do I want to take 4 men off of my transport to make space for a tank?), what to research (fighter craft or telepath technology?), etc. etc.
-Randomized battlefields
-(Seemingly) Intelligent AI (This was the early '90's)
-Much more that would take too long to explain

What really made the game great was the atmosphere, especially on the battlefield. This wasn't just a gory bloodfest. I'll let Russian from some random forum I was reading early today tell you about this
"UFO was really really scary. The gloomy, dark and oppresive kinda attitude. And how you nearly crap your pants when after a long, drawn-out, suspensive hunt for the last alien you suddenly see a plasma bolt come out of some dark second story window like a lightning streaking the dark sky, and then the blood-curling human shriek as the empty shell, that only a minute ago was your sergeant, collapses on the ground devoid of all life. *shudder*"

The problem with recent forays into this genre is that most of them lacked the freedom and strategy of this game. Fallout Tactics for instance had you going on pre-determined missions and there was little strategy involved off of the battlefield, Final Fantasy Tactics had much the same problem (although it had a very customizable character skill system), and most of the others just aren't worth mentioning (other than its sequels, X-COM Terror from the deep and X-COM Apocalypse).

I'll lay out my idea for a game in a reply to this post but right now I have to go to History class (I'm a university student).

- Edited By en_C On Tue 28th, Oct 2003 @ 5:30:47pm

For anyone that wants to play this game, I can send it to you since it isn't being sold anymore. Just give me your e-mail. Keep in mind that it's a DOS game.

I've it somewhere myself (all up to XCom Apocalypse), but I prefer Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games.

Someone should remake that.

- Edited By CheapAlert On Tue 28th, Oct 2003 @ 6:00:37pm

ufo:enemy unknown is one of the best strategies ever!

...there is an ufo mod already here Moddb.com

Basic Idea

Storyline/Setting
The setting is a nuclear wasteland with scattered clans and resources a la Road Warrior (the movie). Clans battle for resources (mainly water and fuel) and use whatever technology that they can scrounge.

Your clan leader has just died and you succeed him by birthright. Your primary goal is to expand the influence of your clan, increasing their numbers and strength.

This allows for a very de-centralized plot. The player can investigate the origins and history of the world (where did this abandoned technology come from?) or they can focus on the gameplay. Scripted events will to some degree dictate how the game develops, but how the player reacts to them is completely open (e.g. A new clan is gaining power in the East, there is a shortage of water and the clans are turning on each other to pillage water supplies and survive, etc.). The biggest draw of this storyline for me is you aren’t saving the world (like in every other game), and your character does not have super powers or anything of the like. It also avoids the “A devastating war that has been waged for centuries…” stereotype.

I’ve really just built this rudimentary story around the kind of gameplay that I want to see. It can be completely altered or changed to fit the game.

Characters
Each character has his or her own unique skills. The skill system I’m looking at is based on the Fallout games, i.e. there are many skills over a wide range of areas (Small firearms, heavy firearms, melee, medical, science, mechanical, etc.), and you choose primary skill for your character to have. The system would be level based, and experience could be gained for almost any successful activity (for example, a character that uses his science skill to study a new mechanical device and learns its mechanics so it can be reproduced would gain a large amount of experience). I really want to make each character’s skills FULLY customizable (i.e. every time he/she levels you choose exactly which skills she gains in) but this would be very tedious when managing 100+ clan members. It would be better for clan members to simply gain skill based on their primary skills.
As for statistics (strength, intelligence, etc.) and perks (special advantages a la Fallout), these really just augment the skill system so they could be fine tuned at a later time.

Gameplay
In this wasteland there are scattered resources and stockpiles of technology. Your clan has to live on whatever it can scavenge. For example, you stumble upon a rusted out car. You can have a science specialist study the technology of the car so that your mechanics can replicate it, you can attempt to have your mechanics repair it, you can strip it for metal and components, etc. There will also be small iron ore deposits for your clan to build things out of if they have the right technology, oil deposits, water wells, oases, possibly uranium deposits, etc.
The way you run your clan is largely open. You could have a nomadic clan that pillages and raids surrounding clans and settlements, or you could establish an underground military base (or move into one you find), or you could establish a town and draw traders from the surrounding areas.
You gain technology by researching whatever you find. There is no technology tree. For example, your tribe somehow stumbles upon an abandoned crashed spacecraft (not saying that spaceships definitely be in the game, just giving an example). After a lot of research, your scientists could research and replicate the weapons they find on board without having to research the more primitive firearms first.
Resources would also be tangible objects, not just numbers on counters up in the corner of your screen like in StarCraft. You could carry oil and water in your inventory and they would have weight. Why is this important? So you can raid an enemy camp at night and take whatever resources you can find and carry.
The individual NPC AIs in this game would play a significant role. Your scouts stumble upon two wandering merchants. Do they offer to join you, trade with you, try to kill you and take your guns and water, etc.? NPCs wouldn’t be pre-programmed to join your cause, but would join your cause based on their own self interests, for example, if they are starving and you have food, if they are being hunted and you offer protection, etc. Alternatively you could forcefully intimidate NPCs to join your cause, but you of course would have to later deal with the consequences of your actions (discontent clan members could try to stage a coup).
Like X-COM, this game would have a map view (of a small area of the world) where you could issue movement orders to your troops and get reports of findings from your scouts, a detailed view (basically a “base” view but you don’t necessarily have a base) that allows you to manage your clan members, research, production, etc., and a battlefield view.

The Battlefield
I’d really like the battle system to be based off of the Laser Squad Nemesis system. Its part RTS and part turn based. What happens is that every ten seconds the battle pauses and both sides issue orders to their troops. The troops of both sides then carry out their orders at the same time. The combatants cannot issue new orders before the battle pauses again. This alleviates most of the issues with both turn based combat (things don’t happen at the same time, you have to wait for your opponent to finish his/her turn) and RTS (mad click-fest where many units end up not doing anything and dying because the player is concentrating on something else). It also makes the battles quite realistic. I recommend you try Laser Squad Nemesis and see what I mean, it’s free (http://www.lasersquadnemesis.com). Coincidently, many designers of the original X-COM designed LSN. =)

That’s a basic summary of my ideas, but I have some fairly detailed plans for this mod. Many of the concepts that I’ve expounded here sound difficult to pull off, but I’ve thought out many solutions. Don’t criticize the story too much, I’m not saying it’s incredibly original, it just works with the kind of game I have in mind. Tell me what you think, and feel free to give me suggestions. If anyone wants to help me build this mod, tell me. I’d also appreciate suggestions on which engine(s) to use. Right now I'm looking at a few such as Fallout Tactics and Laser Squad Nemesis.

I also have money and connections to throw behind this.

- Edited By eN_C On Wed 29th, Oct 2003 @ 5:08:35pm

No commentary?? What do you guys think of this idea?

IT's 4 at night, wait a few hours to get comments.

Ok, I read the first paragraph only, and, while the concept is good, it's a pretty used cliche (no offense, just my opinion). Try to break away from the "Road Warrior" stuff. It's probably one of the easiest storylines out there (besides A) Aliens invade Earth, you are the sole defender, and B) Terrorist orginizations run rampant over the globe). I can't offer any good suggestions right now (pretty late, brain...barely....functioning ), but I think you do have a good idea, just the storyline needs a bit of work. You CAN create an original storyline from that idea, but it probably won't be too easy.

- Edited By UnknownTarget On Sat 1st, Nov 2003 @ 6:49:33pm