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Is this what the aliens do for fun? At least they're not playing XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN

UnbrokenEvaUnbrokenEva HIGH ON THE WIREBUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered User regular
edited October 2012 in Social Entropy++
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SE++ XCOM Name File http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19998065/SE - DefaultNameList.ini
Fearghaill wrote: »
so I made a thing and thought I'd share it if anyone else wants it

it's a DefaultNameList.ini with hopefully all of the forumers who have posted in this thread since release (in theory, I made the list by hand so I might have missed someone). Nationalities assigned randomly.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19998065/SE - DefaultNameList.ini <- there if you want it

to use it, go to <Steam Directory>\steamapps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XComGame\Config\ (or the non-steam equivalent I guess) rename the existing DefaultNameList to something like DefaultNameListOriginal and save this to the folder as DefaultNameList.ini

If you do not want to replace files, just place the file in \Documents\My Games\XCOM - Enemy Unknown\XComGame\Config

If you want to be added to the list, send me a message or something.

Original OP content:

I thought about trying to come up with a clever thread title but this is too important to mess around. The people who make the Civilization games are making a proper X-Com remake.
"XCOM's leader needs a worldwide perspective where threats are identified, populations reassured, and national leaders mollified - but a tactical mind is just as critical considering every shot XCOM's soldiers fire on the battlefield is under the player's turn-based control."

Firaxis boss Steve Martin added: "It's been a dream of ours to recreate X-COM with our unique creative vision. We're huge fans of the original game and it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to re-envision a game that is as beloved as X-COM.

"We were careful to keep XCOM: Enemy Unknown true to the elements that made X-COM such a revered game while delivering an entirely new story and gameplay experience for both die-hard X-COM fans and newcomers to the franchise."

Holy shit holy shit holy shit

screenshots!:
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information!:
Wasn't there another XCOM game?
Yes, 2K Marin is developing a previously announced first-person shooter, simply called XCOM. That game was originally scheduled to come out last year, but has since been delayed out of 2011.

How do those games relate to each other?
The shooter takes place earlier in the fiction, chronicling the aliens' first attacks in the United States. The strategy game we're talking about here deals with the global response to the later full-blown alien invasion of Earth.

So this is some kind of RTS?
No, not in the way the term "RTS" typically applies to games like StarCraft. The real-time element of XCOM is confined to the global view, where the player keeps track of known UFOs and abductions going on around the world. Managing research and development at the XCOM organization's secret base can be done at the player's leisure, and all combat is completely turn-based.

You switch between real-time and turn-based?
Yes. When your aerial transport lands at an abduction site, the game switches to a tactical view and you command your squad of personalized soldiers in battle against an unknown alien threat.

So what do you do in the real-time global view?
On the strategic layer, players direct research into alien technology, give their engineers and foundries fabrication requests, interact with the nations of the world (who have to be mollified to secure funding for XCOM), intercept airborne UFOs with jet fighters, level up their soldiers and recruit new ones, and dispatch the Skyranger transport to engage alien incursions on the ground.

Is this a remake of the original?
Kind of. Re-imagining is probably a better term. Firaxis' XCOM: Enemy Unknown doesn't directly copy the underlying game systems – for instance, soldiers have different stats than they did in the 1994 original – but the concepts are still here. Players still have to manage multiple resources and threats on a global scale in a seemingly hopeless war against extraterrestrial forces with far better technology and capabilities.

Is this going to be dumbed down for the "wider console audience"?
Firaxis is undeniably streamlining aspects of the game and removing no small amount of micromanagement, but from what I've seen I wouldn't call it "dumbing down" the game so much as getting rid of tedium and uninteresting mechanics. Soldiers still die permanently, fog of war and line of sight are hugely important in combat, and you absolutely can lose the game if you screw up too badly.

Does it look awesome?
I came away from our visit to Firaxis' studio extremely impressed by XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The project is far from done, but I am personally thrilled at the prospect of playing the final game.
OK, so as evidently the only flippin' Game Informer subscriber in any forum anywhere, it falls to me to dish the data from the issue I received yesterday.

•No black blobs in Firaxis's XCOM. The guys in suits are called "Thin Men" and they can use weapons, jump large distances, and puke disgusting goo.
•No action points. The game uses a move-and-shoot (or move-and-move) dynamic. They don't want people piddling around counting individual action points. Some will call this a concession to consolitis; others will call it useful streamlining.
•Soldiers gain perk-like abilities when leveling up; some examples given are, for a sniper, Snap Shot (move-then-shoot, not normally a sniper option) or Squad Sight (shoot any enemy anyone on your squad can see -- not sure of the rationale there....).
•Environments are destructible, as we would wish.
•Soldiers can still panic, but not to the point of wiping the squad. Likewise, you'll never get plasma-bombed right out of the carrier. They want to make the game more fair, and those were specifically mentioned.
•The strategic layer is extremely robust. You still need to choose which countries to send missions to, which offers of aid (in exchange for more protection) you'll accept from which countries, which alien technologies you'll research, etc. The back-and-forth between tactical and strategic play remains at the heart of the game.
•Overwatch, duck-and-cover, etc. are all still very much present, tactically.
•You can research vehicles, which take the place of a squaddie. They don't gain XP and when they are destroyed they are lost for good, but they provide serious cover and firepower. One example given is a mobile heavy weapons platform that serves as a good overwatcher for a tactical advance.
•Sectoids and Mutons are in. Cyberdiscs and Thin Men are also mentioned. Evidently psionics are also in.
•Aliens have their own special perk-like abilities as well.
Overall it looks really fucking fantastic and I am now DAY ONE.
The article specifically cites a sniper spending their entire turn to take an aimed shot for Massive Damage. Perhaps it's more accurate to think of the game as having only two action points per turn, for Move-Shoot, or Move-Move, or Aim-Shoot, etc.

Gus, like I said, overwatch is in the game. In, in, in the game. You definitely can set up squaddies who haven't used all their actions in a turn, such that they can do overwatch and shoot the instant something comes into view.
Reloading costs an action, so it is a tactical consideration. Ducking into cover is the main positioning mechanic they mention. They also mention supppressive fire as another mechanic -- your heavy weapons guy can lay down a barrage that can paralyze pinned units (e.g. remove their actions). Grenades are in, wounding is in. Generally it doesn't sound like there are fewer tactical options, but rather that the bookkeeping is simplified.
Apologies if the article was unclear, but the deal is that sniper rifles are unusual in that they take a full turn to shoot. You can unlock a move-shoot perk for snipers at some experience level, but your basic sniper rifle takes a full turn to fire.

Ammo is abstracted. You're assumed to be carrying enough clips to reload as much as you want, but it takes a turn to do so. Suppressive fire is crazy awesome, for instance, but it burns through ammo like a mofo so you're borrowing turns down the road to kick ass now.

Body positions - AIUI you are assumed to be kneeling behind partial cover etc. They didn't go into a ton of detail here. Personally that's a level of control granularity that I'm not concerned about preserving, so long as I have other awesome shit that I can do and creative tactics to explore. Which from what I've seen will not be lacking.
So yeah, you only have one base. Building different bases has been removed, but you still buy satellite coverage (the new radar) and build hangars for interception in different countries. Your single base is like way more crazy awesome than any base from the original, though, and presents lots of opportunities for more decision-making in terms of digging deeper as well as what kind of expansion facilities you add on (see the screenshot of the "ant farm" that we put online Monday).

UnbrokenEva on
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Posts

  • BaidolBaidol I will hold him off Escape while you canRegistered User regular
    Yes.

    Steam Overwatch: Baidol#1957
  • Blackhawk1313Blackhawk1313 Demon Hunter for Hire Time RiftRegistered User regular
  • JunpeiJunpei Registered User regular
    Holy balls yes please

  • WeedLordVegetaWeedLordVegeta Registered User regular
    I'm all for this, so long as an Alpha Centauri sequel is hot on its heels.

  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    I still want Alpha Centauri (and yes I know it'll never happen, but I can dream damnit), but this could be really awesome (or really bad like their Railroad Tycoon remake :().

  • MorivethMoriveth BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWNRegistered User regular
    This sounds rad. I'm interested in the shooter too but if this has turn-based combat (it probably won't!) I'm slobbering all over this game.

  • UnbrokenEvaUnbrokenEva HIGH ON THE WIRE BUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered User regular
    Moriveth wrote:
    This sounds rad. I'm interested in the shooter too but if this has turn-based combat (it probably won't!) I'm slobbering all over this game.
    "XCOM's leader needs a worldwide perspective where threats are identified, populations reassured, and national leaders mollified - but a tactical mind is just as critical considering every shot XCOM's soldiers fire on the battlefield is under the player's turn-based control."

  • a5ehrena5ehren AtlantaRegistered User regular
    Moriveth wrote:
    This sounds rad. I'm interested in the shooter too but if this has turn-based combat (it probably won't!) I'm slobbering all over this game.

    It will.
    Firaxis' XCOM has destructible tactical environments, and fuses a real-time strategic view with turn-based combat.

  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    Moriveth wrote:
    This sounds rad. I'm interested in the shooter too but if this has turn-based combat (it probably won't!) I'm slobbering all over this game.

    Seeing as how the article says that "but a tactical mind is just as critical considering every shot XCOM's soldiers fire on the battlefield is under the player's turn-based control," I'm pretty sure it will be.

    JtgVX0H.png
  • WeedLordVegetaWeedLordVegeta Registered User regular
    someone please clarify if this is going to be turn based

  • SnorkSnork word Jamaica Plain, MARegistered User regular
    holy shit i did not see this coming

  • MorivethMoriveth BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWNRegistered User regular
    Oh what, how'd I miss that

    I think that since it's an xbox/ps3 game as well I figured it'd be all real-time.

  • UnbrokenEvaUnbrokenEva HIGH ON THE WIRE BUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered User regular
    I'm looking forward to seeing what 2K Marin is doing with their FPS version as well, mind. It seems like it will be a good shooter even if it doesn't turn out to be a "proper" X-Com game. But this, this is what I want.

  • Mr. GMr. G Registered User regular
    Great, now I have two X-Com games I really really want?

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  • MorivethMoriveth BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWNRegistered User regular
    Also the new Jagged Alliance game comes out... Next month? Looks interesting.

  • Mr. GMr. G Registered User regular
    And now I'm reinstalling UFO Defense and naming all my soldiers after all my friends

    Also I want pepperoni and cheese on my Tombstone

    6F32U1X.png
  • Blackhawk1313Blackhawk1313 Demon Hunter for Hire Time RiftRegistered User regular
    I was just lamenting the change in vision for X-Com just a few months prior. Clearly my powerful thought rays got through to someone!

  • Virgil_Leads_YouVirgil_Leads_You Proud Father House GardenerRegistered User regular
    http://www.xenonauts.com/
    has been developing pretty well.

    I hope this doesn't wind up killing this project.

    VayBJ4e.png
  • KlykaKlyka DO you have any SPARE BATTERIES?Registered User regular
    http://www.xenonauts.com/
    has been developing pretty well.

    I hope this doesn't wind up killing this project.

    I actually preordered this :(

    SC2 EU ID Klyka.110
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  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    Somebody send an ambulance to Fishman's house, he probably just had a heart attack...

  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    edited January 2012
    Well this is a good news item


    let's see if they have the balls to make it mind numbingly hard

    Jasconius on
  • Virgil_Leads_YouVirgil_Leads_You Proud Father House GardenerRegistered User regular
    edited January 2012
    Klyka wrote:
    http://www.xenonauts.com/
    has been developing pretty well.

    I hope this doesn't wind up killing this project.

    I actually preordered this :(

    Me too.
    I'm still excited about it, but I'm a bit worried that it won't become financially successful.
    That said, it'll be great to have two new takes on it- in the event that one of them doesn't pan out.

    Virgil_Leads_You on
    VayBJ4e.png
  • UnbrokenEvaUnbrokenEva HIGH ON THE WIRE BUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered User regular
    To be fair, Xenonauts seems like it will release a lot sooner than Firaxis' XCOM, hopefully people will buy it to have something to play while waiting for the big budget game.

    Also it will probably get steam sale and indie bundle boosts. Xenonauts has been gettng good advance buzz, so it should hopefully do alright.

  • Der Waffle MousDer Waffle Mous Blame this on the misfortune of your birth. New Yark, New Yark.Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    Now everyone can be happy the IP is relevant again!

    Now we just need someone to make a downloadable squad-based/multiplayer dual thumbstick shooter for Syndicate and we'll be set.

    Der Waffle Mous on
    Steam PSN: DerWaffleMous Origin: DerWaffleMous Bnet: DerWaffle#1682
  • Iron WeaselIron Weasel Dillon! You son of a bitch!Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    If this happens, I'll buy a new computer to run it.

    Iron Weasel on
    Currently Playing:
    The Division, Warframe (XB1)
    GT: Tanith 6227
  • TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
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    TheStig on
    bnet: TheStig#1787 Steam: TheStig
  • FishmanFishman Put your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain. Registered User regular
    o_O O_o :shock: :...: :!!: :bz

    X-Com LP Thread I, II, III, IV, V
    That's unbelievably cool. Your new name is cool guy. Let's have sex.
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    Best news ever.

    Native multiplayer would be amazing.

  • Iron WeaselIron Weasel Dillon! You son of a bitch!Registered User regular
    Apparently, this is coming out for PC, 360 and PS3.

    Huh.

    Currently Playing:
    The Division, Warframe (XB1)
    GT: Tanith 6227
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    Do you hear me Firaxis

    I want to be the Chryssalids and scare the turn-based shit out of my friends

  • Blackhawk1313Blackhawk1313 Demon Hunter for Hire Time RiftRegistered User regular
    Funny I don't see anything in LoS this turn... OH GODDDD NOOOOOOOOO!!!

  • TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    Apparently, this is coming out for PC, 360 and PS3.

    Huh.

    oh no, they figured out they make a lot more money by doing a multi-platform release

    bnet: TheStig#1787 Steam: TheStig
  • Virgil_Leads_YouVirgil_Leads_You Proud Father House GardenerRegistered User regular
    That's great!
    Strategy games tend to work out really well on consoles.

    VayBJ4e.png
  • TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    well, turn based ones do anyway

    bnet: TheStig#1787 Steam: TheStig
  • KarlKarl Registered User regular
    OH DEAR GOD THIS GAME CANNOT BE RELEASED SOON ENOUGH

  • KarlKarl Registered User regular
    I'll be getting this on 360, fuck the haters. Its turn based so its coo'

  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    Producers who shoehorn obvious PC titles into console ports will be the first to die when my people rule the globe.

  • chiasaur11chiasaur11 Never doubt a raccoon. Do you think it's trademarked?Registered User regular
    Age of miracles, people.

    Age of sound. There's a golden age...

    (Add in Xenonauts looking good, and this is really exciting.)

  • ForarForar #432 Toronto, Ontario, CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited January 2012
    a5ehren wrote: »
    Firaxis' XCOM has destructible tactical environments, and fuses a real-time strategic view with turn-based combat.

    Yes. YES! YESSSSSS

    I've dreamt of this day for years. As much as I love the original, a proper update (graphical, physics, but retaining base building, research and the tactical combat) makes my pants tight.

    Do you hear me Firaxis

    I want to be the Chryssalids and scare the turn-based shit out of my friends

    "Hey, Fred, what's so funny?"
    Funny I don't see anything in LoS this turn... OH GODDDD NOOOOOOOOO!!!

    Forar on
    First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
  • Brovid HasselsmofBrovid Hasselsmof [Growling historic on the fury road] Registered User regular
    I'm tempted to get this, but if my performance in the original is anything to go by everybody will always die or go mad on the first mission, so it might be kind of a waste of money.

This discussion has been closed.