Talk:XCOM: The RPG
--Gdaze 14:12, 18 November 2009 (MST) XCOM is one of the most amazing games, ever.
Edmiao sounds neat, what are the players trying to do? kind of a PA feel game?
JASON: I dont know yet. I was just thinking about X-Com and started writing, the history just wrote itself. What do you guys think would be cool? I have considered normals who have relatives captured by aliens, normals who have relatives killed by aliens, military cut off from orders, survivalists and pulp hero type alien busters. Anything else?
--Gdaze 15:52, 18 November 2009 (MST) For me, XCOM and the 2nd game, XCOM: Terror from the Deep (underwater XCOM) were not just about killing ze aliens, but also about stealing their tech and researching it. I think military cut off from orders could be pretty fun, but you'd have to come up with a good reason for why they can't. This is harder in the digital age (or is it.., remote jungle?).
JASON: Its established in the history there that the alien technology shorts out electronic devices. This makes it easy to say that they have used it to make communication difficult if not impossible. The tech stealing is another fun thing that could be implemented. I like that idea.
--Gdaze 16:21, 18 November 2009 (MST) Yeah I actually bothered to read the back story instead of just assuming haha. XCOM is a little bit more low scale (aliens doing research still), but I think what you have here makes sense. Thanks a lot North Korea. Seems pretty cool. I also like that it seems most players will start out with very little knowledge of the aliens. Dealing with various aspects would also be fun, such as, humans who side with the aliens (welcome star childern!), humans fighting humans even with the very real threat of aliens, small victories (group of "normal" people take out one alien tank, yay), and so on. I really like the unknown enemy aspect of it though. This way anything the aliens do, or pull out, could scare the characters AS WELL AS the players (thus helping the characters to act accordingly).
Edmiao did you see district 9? that would make an interesting setting, kind of the inverse of this one.
JASON: I think you hit it right on the head, Gabe. Those are all good scenarios to implement. And Ed, yes I have seen District 9. I thought it was pretty good. There are probably ideas in there I can steal. Maybe the governments know more than they led on...
--Dieter the Bold 15:24, 19 November 2009 (MST) The game was awesome. And I found the progression to basically proceed thusly:
Respond to small alien infestations in rural areas, desperately try and survive with a team of greenhorns
.........Immediately start expanding your base and begin researching captured alien tech
Begin responding to terror sites in major cities and attempting to shoot down medium sized alien craft
.........Continue desperately researching alien technology, focusing on laser and plasma weaponry, followed by xeno-metallurgy
.........Also make your first assault on a hidden alien base corrupting one of your international supporters (and budget)
Begin producing advanced fighters and flying powered-armor
.........Once you have advanced fighters with plasma guns and a crew of flying powered-armor veterans, it's pretty much over. You just keep playing smart and then build the advanced troop carrier for the final assault on Mars base.
What I found to be a singular experience about the game is how worthless your troops were in the beginning (didn't get many actions and were pathetic shots) and what crackshots aliens can be (seriously, they would one-shot your guys from the darkness). This dropped substantially once you researched and produced advanced armor, but it could still happen. And even at the very end when you were tripped out with all your gadgets, they put up a good fight.
I'd say a military-style operation (could be corporate funded, hoping to build their own money-driven state from the wreckage) would be your best bet for a setting, as your average person is really totally helpless vs the aliens. Or you could do PA-style where you were pretty much fighting other humans for survival (either desperate survivors like yourself or alien-dupes (who may or may not have a fancy gizmo)) and running like mo-fo's from any aliens (as such encounters would be insta-kill, or if you survived you'd have some kind of tracker implant or terrible mutations/scars from experimentation). I'd be totally interested in playing either of these options. Man I want to track a copy down, now.
