How about . . . X-Com Apocylapse

[Sejs]

And having your heavy support units be mechanical, and thus immune to morale and mind control.

Mmm, hovertanks. Blaster Launcher equipped hover tanks. Nothing like sending a little bundle of joy in thru a second story window, down the stairs, catching the aliens in the back and taking the front off the building they were hiding in all in one fel swoop.

 

[Roudi]

And saving/reloading often.

GM: Well, most of your squad is dead, your landing craft is a pile of slag, and the Chryssalids are closing in on you. You're at -3 hit points. Fort save to stabilize?

Player 1: Crap. I'd like to reload from my last save.

GM: ...

Player 1: Well?

GM: Uhm, no.

 

[Psion]

Mmm, hovertanks. Blaster Launcher equipped hover tanks. Nothing like sending a little bundle of joy in thru a second story window, down the stairs, catching the aliens in the back and taking the front off the building they were hiding in all in one fel swoop.

Aw, that tears it... now I am going to have to dig out that disk when I get home.

Thanks a bunch!!!!

 

[The Edge]

Thanks for the tips guys. Aghh, I wish I had those other games like spycraft, but I just dont have the money to buy them.

I think I'm still considering an X-Com agent class, half of the others just dont quite fit. One like the bughunter would look perfect at a glance, but then half of their abilitys are based around useing just one personal weapon. What happens when the boys at the lab unveil the new disruptor weapon they've managed to create from alein tech, but the agents wont use it because they they have spent all their abilitys on their old guns? Not right. :\

Maybe im just being too fussy about the classes? I dont know. I guess other than the weapon specilisation thing theres no problem.

I'll introduce the remote tanks from UFO into the game, they should have been in Apocalypse. They'll be fun. As will being able to storm the area in an APC or any of the other vechiles. I can take my game places the PC version never could.

As for maps I'll probably just end up drawing them out. I have some A2 squared paper so I should be able to fit some decent settings in there. Also I've started getting satelite images from google earth, they should make nice props for briefing.

I think I might know how to deal with psychics. My plan was to have a varient of the X Agent class I would make. It would remain largely the same as the other one, with matching attack bonuses and defense; but it would trade half the special abilitys for the psychic powers. In the game there was four powers - mind probe, panic, stun, and dominate. I'll add a few more, but only in the same style. Since no agent in the game could rely on his powers as his main weapon like the D20M Telepaths and Battle Minds can, the Psi Agent (or whatever I call it) will be more like a cross between a telepath and a soldier.

Should be good. I wish my computer could run the old game.
So many Ideas. Can't wait till they find that multiworm in a chickenshed.

 

[Pbartender]

Aw, that tears it... now I am going to have to dig out that disk when I get home.

Thanks a bunch!!!!

Since the game is abandonware, you can download X-COM: UFO Defense at the Home of the Underdogs...

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

And having your heavy support units be mechanical, and thus immune to morale and mind control.

Mmm, hovertanks. Blaster Launcher equipped hover tanks. Nothing like sending a little bundle of joy in thru a second story window, down the stairs, catching the aliens in the back and taking the front off the building they were hiding in all in one fel swoop.

No no no!

The best was when you'd intercept the big "base building" UFOs.

First, you force them down (or catch them when they landed).

Then, I'd send a blaster-- or as I liked to call it, the Flying Football-- straight out the back of my interceptor, up to maximum height, over the top of the UFO, then straight down into the top of the UFO, which would blow a nice, discreet, 1x1 tile hole in the roof.

Then all my guys would fly out in their hoversuits, enter through that little hole, and take the whole damn ship lock stock and barrel with nothing but stun bomb launchers.

Live aliens and salvage galore.

I bet the aliens HATED that.

 

[The Edge]

My brother got an 'X-Com Gold' pack or something like that for cristmas long ago, had 5 games. UFO, Terror from the Deep, Apocalypse, Interceptor, and some X-Com email thing which never worked. Should have played them more while they still agreed with our computer. Now they don't seem to agree with the hardware or windows. (prob both)


I hated the etherials in UFO Deffense, they drove me nuts.

My worst mission ever.

A tiny UFO comes past, shoot it down no problem, same as always. But upon investigating...oh dear.

Someone went nuts while still in the landing craft, happend to be the one with the lovely new alein missile thing (the blaster your mentioning?), blew away all but two men. One of the two survivers gets shot, just like that. The other goes insane and runs into the hills.

Over before a full turn had passed. *sigh*


But I had plenty of vengance in Apocalypse. From reviews I've found it seems no one really liked the real time option, am I safe guessing the same for people here? But for me Apoc was the first I played, and I choose real time and practicaly never touched turn based. Maybe I should have.

What I loved to do was to set up a line of agents out side a building, all dual weilding auto cannons full of incendinary amunition. Then, just set them on autofire, and hold the force fire button all over the enemys location. Hit the exits first, then rain fire on the rest of it. The whole place would be ablaze in seconds. (didn't save after this because of the horrific compensation I would have to pay. Just for laughs when the aliens have been irritateing.)

I guess thats something you couldn't really do in turn based.

 

[solkan_uk]

I was working up some rules for this in d20 modern (before I discovered spycraft - and I think SC could do it easier). But since we're talking d20 modern here...

The Facehuggers I think would work best with Intelligence damage, almost like a poision, Will save each round or suffer d3 Int damage, a successfull Will save makes it drop off dead (which did happen occaisionally in the game IIRC), if you're reduced to 0 then you become face-hugger zombie. It's rather nasty, but given how many agents I used to lose, probably in character for the setting.

I was working up an 'Agent' advanced class, though a slightly different take, as I wanted the agents to be as much investigators as soldiers - perhaps you could change your bughunter class into getting used to alien weapons quicker or suchlike?

I'd allow skill checks to use new weapons in the field, allow your field scientists to get some use, rather than just waiting for the research team to do there stuff.

For psychic powers I'd probably go with some sort of skill-based system. Perhaps a set of 4 skills corresponding to the 4 powers, since psychic stuff doesn't really come up all that often I would personally just say the skills are here, there's no class which has them as class skills so it costs a lot to get good (of course if using mutant characters they could perhaps add them as class skills...)


I hated Apocalypse in real-time initially but realised it was actually a lot quicker for missions I expected to be easy.

 

[The Edge]

I've so far been thinking about baseing the face huggers very closely on stirges, giveing them the same easy attach method. I was thinking of haveing them take two rounds once attached before they take control. That way there is time to get them off, but if you don't act quickly then they can be a risk. Especialy if you split up. Although that doesn't allow for any type of save so I might change it.

Int damage could work, but would probably need more than d3 other wise they'd never be a real threat. So...

How about, evey turn they start attached (like a stirge) the victim must make a will save DC6 +6 for every previous turn attached or lose their mind to the alien. A sucessful save means the alien must still be removed, but it has not taken control (perhaps it dies on a natural 20). This way all nearby agents always have at least one chance to help get it off before the save must be taken, and possibly more, but at the expense of takeing their focus off the rest of the battle.

Theres always a danger of a sudden loss (except for those with good saves) but overall they will have time to get it off most times.

I'd allow skill checks to use new weapons in the field, allow your field scientists to get some use, rather than just waiting for the research team to do there stuff.

Thats good, I'll use that.

Im adding some misc stuff too. An X-Com Tactical Rifle, a Megapol riot shield, a wounding needle gun for the aliens, and an awesome remote suport tank (as seen in UFO defence).
I'll hopefuly be starting it soon.
Thanks again people.


Regarding the actual game.
I imagine the autocannon saw less use in turn based since it would use use more TUs right? Which seems such a shame. For real time it was one of the best in the game, I used it right to the end, way after all other human weapons were being used as paperweights. Really its just because of the incendinary rounds, which stoped the aliens fighting properly as well as acting as a perfect screen against hyper worms and those damn suicidal explosive things.

 

[solkan_uk]

Incendiary rocked towards the end of the game (i.e. alien dimension), before then you had to be careful as I had a tendancy to destroy swathes of the landscape with it (and have to pay severe compensation).