A modern take on nostalgia gaming, LP UFO: Extaterrestrials

[Iskandar]

Not quite X-Com, but it will do while I wait patiently for the new one to come out.

This game was released in 2007 in a fairly broken form. Since then, modders have put it back together and made it into an almost perfect X-Com type game.

This time it isn't earth we are saving from aliens it is Esperanza, in a near future type scenario. More forgiving than X-Com, but still fairly brutal, a fairly deep research tree, a much improved UI, decent graphics, and iconic gameplay.

Playlist here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4D97CB8D5393A35A&feature=view_all


As before, if you wish to join as a soldier, let me know and I will add you to the ranks. Also, you can join as a tank commander. It should be noted that soldiers have a much improved viability in this game, with higher hit points and the ability to merely fall unconscious instead of dying when hitting 0 HP. Tanks, otoh, are fairly weak in the starting game. Choose wisely.

(no more tank pilots, since they don't actually "die" as such)

Active Soldiers:

Sfc. Killian Hawkeye
Sfc. Crossblade
Sgt. Phantom
Sfc. Eldan
Cfc. T209
Cfc. Crimsonshirt SlyGuy
Cpl. Kizor
Cfc. Triaxx

Tank Drivers:
Grif
Zain

In reserve:
Missy Foggy
Need more victims recruits.

In Memoriam:
Pvt. Redshirt Slyguy
Pvt. HAM-R-TYM
Sfc. Samantha Hayes
Sgt. Puck-R-UPP
Sfc. Smuchmuch

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Redshirt SlyGuy reporting for suty, sir!

[RagingKrikkit]

How could Samantha Hayes II not follow in the footsteps of her mother?

[KillianHawkeye]

Okay, I wanna get in on this one!

[Iskandar]

Right, I'll add you guys to the list shortly. Those of you who posted in the other thread, please post in this thread, thanks.

For now, I'm trying to get the next few vids up from last night... and youtube is not cooperating.
Edit: Ah! there we go!

[Crossblade]

Crossblade also wants to be in this again!

And just like last time, I saw the videos before this Forum Thread. heh

[RagingKrikkit]

The aliens seem a lot more agressive in this than in X-Com. Through part 5, you've yet to storm a UFO and, hell, you haven't even seen it half the time.

[Iskandar]

Yeah, and there seems to be quite a few more of them. Luckily, my soldiers are a bit more durable, and the aliens are less accurate. To make up for it, the sheer volume of fire can be quite annoying. Plasma pistols especially can squeeze off like 9 or 12 shots in a turn, apparently.

[Grif]

I'll be the resident tank commander. A quick check in the World of Tanks thread will explain why. :smalltongue:

[smuchmuch]

Tahnk you Mr Mc Fly
Unless you need help wiht the SCIENCE !, I don't mind reinlisting in the frontlines for another turn, sah !

[RagingKrikkit]

Yeah, and there seems to be quite a few more of them. Luckily, my soldiers are a bit more durable, and the aliens are less accurate. To make up for it, the sheer volume of fire can be quite annoying. Plasma pistols especially can squeeze off like 9 or 12 shots in a turn, apparently.

In EU, it changes your TUs to 255 when you go berzerk. I think it was that second base when somebody popped off thirty (I counted) rounds from his laser rifle.

[Murska]

Mr. HAM-R-TYM is back, after being demoted for a reason, for another tour of duty. Please kill him off so I can bring out someone else. :smalltongue:

[Zain]

Tank Pilot ZaIn requesting Active Duty Sir!

[BobVosh]

I'll take a slot and go with the paranoia theme.
Puck-R-UPP ready to roll out.

[ThePhantom]

Private Phantom reporting for duty sir.

[Eldan]

Recruit Eldan volunteering, SIR!

[Iskandar]

Tonight's videos are going up, as things go from fairly easy to pants-wettingly-diffiicult in short order.

[KillianHawkeye]

Damn, who painted that giant target on my uniform? Thanks for the heals, Crossblade!

At least my guy looks like a total badass with those sunglasses. :smallbiggrin:

[Grif]

Dear lord, the voice acting in that introduction.

It's on the level of Men of War.

[Iskandar]

Dear lord, the voice acting in that introduction.

It's on the level of Men of War.

Yeah, if you listen closely, you can hear me trying not to laugh during the whole thing.

To be fair, I think a lot of that was because the actors weren't native English speakers.

[t209]

I am in as T209.
If I die, Admiral General Aladeen (from Dictator)
then, BigS (my brother)
then, EdHt (my Sister)
then, Mom (my mom)
then, Papa (my dad)

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Gassed to death by a bleedin' Larva's reaction fire. Pathetic.

Sign me up for another tour of duty as Crimsonshirt SlyGuy. Hopefully the more badass-sounding designation gets me a messier and more impressive death.

[RagingKrikkit]

Yeah, if you listen closely, you can hear me trying not to laugh during the whole thing.

To be fair, I think a lot of that was because the actors weren't native English speakers.

Why didn't your modder group do something about it? Like actually record a decent sounding set of voice acting? Was it just to priceless to mess with? It will tear them into pieces.

[Iskandar]

Why didn't your modder group do something about it? Like actually record a decent sounding set of voice acting? Was it just to priceless to mess with? It will tear them into pieces.

Kinda out of scope for modding, actually, due to the amount of work involved. Plus, most competent VA expect to be paid, and yeah.

Not worth it for something that will only viewed once, really.

[Kizor]

Sign me up as Kizor if there's room. Either I'll mop the floor with aliens, or I'll take bullets for people who do.

[KillianHawkeye]

Darn, taken down again? Sheesh :smalleek:

Out for another month, too. :smallfrown:

At least I got promoted this time.

[Crossblade]

A friend just showed me a trailer for the new X-com game. I figured I'd post it here, since Iskandar said he's playing these to lead up to it.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2012-xcom-enemy/730855

[Iskandar]

Yeah, I saw that. Looks good. Mind, I do have some reservations, though. The 4 soldier limit concerns me, as does the one base thing. Also, I'm not sure how the geoscape works in this game, yet. Still, it does look amazing.

Xenonauts also is looking good, and it appears to be a touch closer to the old X-Com. I've been cheering the kickstarter on.

[Iskandar]

There, now I'm caught up. And go, go Killian. You are just kicking alien ass.

[BobVosh]

4 is an actual limit? :(

While I do kinda like the idea of cutting down the sheer number of units (12 was a bit excessive a lot of the time, and 24-36 whatever it was for the super shuttle was flat out crazy) I feel that 4 isn't nearly enough to display how incredibly lethal these aliens are. If I don't order a new shipload of rookies something is going wrong.

Ant farm style base is still weird to me, but I'm starting to dig it. Do we still get tanks, and how are they going to explain the space a tank takes up with only 4 guys :(

[smuchmuch]

At around 1.05 of the trailer there's something that looks awfully like a robotic drones on wheels/tank so they'll probably be in game (htough researcheble rather than from the start)
and the aliens will probably be a lot less lethal. let's face it a game as hard as the original x com might please the origianl fanbase but not many people out of it, so it'll prbably be mellowed a bit for modern tastes.

[KillianHawkeye]

There, now I'm caught up. And go, go Killian. You are just kicking alien ass.

It's the sunglasses. They make me an action hero. :smallcool::smallamused:

[Eldan]

At around 1.05 of the trailer there's something that looks awfully like a robotic drones on wheels/tank so they'll probably be in game (htough researcheble rather than from the start)
and the aliens will probably be a lot less lethal. let's face it a game as hard as the original x com might please the origianl fanbase but not many people out of it, so it'll prbably be mellowed a bit for modern tastes.

I hope that it will have something like a "Classic Mode".

[Iskandar]

I hope that it will have something like a "Classic Mode".

Eh, the new X-Com is said to be moddable. If so, and it is anywhere near as pliable as UFO:ET, the modders will make a classic mode if one does not pre-exist.

[Grif]

I finally bought this game thanks to the LP. :smalltongue: (Gold version though, can't find the original on Steam. Looks like it's just the mod minus the copyright infringement parts aka Bman lite.)

[BobVosh]

and the aliens will probably be a lot less lethal. let's face it a game as hard as the original x com might please the origianl fanbase but not many people out of it, so it'll prbably be mellowed a bit for modern tastes.

XCom was hard?

Only the last fight and some night mission versions of Terror Sites ever gave me any trouble.

I admit I lost a ton of personal, but so long as my commander and other high level guys live who cares? Always more rookies.

[Triaxx]

Triaxx, reporting for duty, ready for his body bag.

[Crossblade]

Got another video.
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2012-xcom-enemy/731893

This one gives hints at how a 4 man team would work: class specialization [ex/snipers]. Though non-specialization seems an option.

They also have soldier visual customization and nationality; kind of ironic considering they did say death WILL be a consequence still (what with not being able to get attached to a soldier).

Release date Oct 9. I may actually get this game.

[KillianHawkeye]

Looks like my terrible luck in the early episodes is being paid back with great luck now. This must be the 3rd or 4th time that I've wandered off by myself and NOT gotten ambushed by plasma fire. :smallamused:

[Iskandar]

Taking the weekend off. This should let everyone who wants catch up. We're doing well so far, and nearing the break point for moving into the next Era.

The move to the next Era will mean stronger aliens but will also bring new techs. There are 4 (I think) Eras total, however getting through them won't take nearly as long.

[KillianHawkeye]

Wandering about where there's no aliens to shoot.... :smallsigh:

[Triaxx]

How did Killian get an Auto-doc?

And is there a reason only one shield per person? Does more than one simply not work, or it's not worth the effort?

[Iskandar]

Killian got the auto-doc through random loot. Apparently you can find one of a kind, non-researchable stuff in UFOs. I think the mod is responsible for those.

Actually, more than one shield will work. The problem is weight. That and the fact that each shield only absorbs 3 damage and then is destroyed. I would need to add like 10 or so per soldier, and replace them every time someone got shot. Not practical in space, weight, or financially.

[KillianHawkeye]

I got it so that I could be AWESOME. :smallwink::smallamused::smallbiggrin:

:smallcool::smallcool::smallcool:

[BobVosh]

Angry Joe's XCOM interview at E3. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_XLGJSIoyo)

[Triaxx]

Makes sense. It just sems like the shields aren't that effective, but I never played without.

Cool way to distribute the loot.

[Eldan]

I usually gave about four shields to my soldiers. But yeah, prohibitively expensive.

Also, for Iskandar: coloured UFOs is a feature added by Bman's mod. After you have researched an UFO type (scout, fighter etc.), they become colour coded according to the type of mission they are on. One colour for terror missions, one colour for base building and so on.

Also interesting to me: you have really few scientists. I usually spend most of my money on research (which usually leaves me unable to build the new tech :smalltongue: ). Will be nice to see how your way goes.

[Iskandar]

Yeah, my research proceeds much slower, but this means I have time enough to actually manufacture what I research. Eventually I'll get bases built in the surrounding countries, which will allow me to move my Stormbringers away from my main base, that plus Advanced Laboratories will allow me a few more scientists, which will speed up research a bit.

[Iskandar]

It is taking a bit longer to finish this game than expected. However, if y'all are still watching, I'll continue on. Actually, things are getting harder, and thus more fun. Some big things coming up in these next few videos.

[Crossblade]

Watching it, loving it and cheering my guy on.
Darn that shot in the back in ep 29. Watching 30 as I type this.

Edit: Here's a question, you picked up and threw the alien's grenade on the golf course in ep 30; I also saw it's plasma pistol... wouldn't you have been able to take a weapon from downed aliens to use as your own at the start of the game?

[Iskandar]

If you mean right from day one? No, you cannot fire or use alien tech without researching it first. Also, in this game, you can not even get to most of the ground side alien tech without first capturing an alien commander, in this case the greenish Vipons.

Lasers make a good stop gap, however, unlike the original X-Com, plasma based weaponry is superior in all ways to lasers, so I moved up.

Unlike X-Com, also, is that there is more than 1 tier of alien tech. In X-Com you had plasma, and that was it. Here, you will see the aliens going from plasma based weaponry, to ion to, well, we'll see when we get there.Also ,I'm getting increasingly large UFOs, which is putting a real strain on my interceptors. I might have to go to 3 interceptors per base, but that is going to put an even larger strain on my already overloaded manufacturing capabilities.

[ThePhantom]

Yay, I'm finally in. Well, at least things are going better here for me than in XCom.

[Triaxx]

You could always jump to more than three interceptors and build the cheaper Lightnings, or buy the basic ones, and use them as disposables.

Zerg Rush FTW.

[KillianHawkeye]

Crossblade was never the same after taking that grenade to the face.... :smalleek:

[Zain]

Would anyone mind giving me a run-down of the various tanks available to us in game? I'm curious as to the differences

[Iskandar]

Atm, we have the starter armored car type, fast, low armor, but it mounts both a cannon and a few rockets, two slower tanks with more armor but only carry cannons OR rockets, and a brand new fast, low armor plasma armed armored car type.

Edit: Right then, modding skills activate. The mod I'm using changes the tech progression in ways I was not expecting. I just rolled a few things back, so I have a chance to fix my mistake. I hate doing things like this, but I had backed myself into a corner where I was seeing aliens two tech tiers over my own. Basically, rendering any ground mission unwinnable. Now I am aware, I can take precautions. Things are about to get ugly. Really, really ugly.

[Iskandar]

Holy crap. This is getting lethal. I lost as many in 2 hours of play as I have the entire rest of the game. Samantha, you are about to have company in the ranks of honored dead.

[t209]

Sorry that I didn't get to watch or catch up with your gameplay since Internet is not good for video buffer here even with current 24/7 electricity in my country.
Can somebody give me a summary of the gameplay videos and tell my relatives (Actually my successors except Admiral General Aladeen) that I die honorably (or horribly).

[Crossblade]

Is there higher ranks than Sergeant First Class? Aka can stats be raised beyond what they are when you get that rank?

[Iskandar]

Is there higher ranks than Sergeant First Class? Aka can stats be raised beyond what they are when you get that rank?

Yes, but it takes quite a bit of experience. I'll get there, I think.

[RagingKrikkit]

Holy crap. This is getting lethal. I lost as many in 2 hours of play as I have the entire rest of the game. Samantha, you are about to have company in the ranks of honored dead.

Aw, dang it. I was about 15 videos behind, and trying not to see spoilers...

[Eldan]

So, wait. I'm a reserve soldier, go away for four or so days without net, come back and I'm a sergeant first class? Damn, I have to catch up.

And I'm quite far behind, too.

[Crossblade]

Saw the update of needing more recruits.
I volenteer my gf's handle: Miss Foggy or Missy Foggy
Take your pick, I know female gamers are hard to find, you may even end up with 1 more viewer.

[Mobius Twist]

I will step up to the challenge with one condition: If I happen to be knocked unconscious in a pile of king larva fumes, for the love of god, please heal me enough to survive the incoming damage.

I know, I know, choices made in the heat of battle and all that.

Anyhow, Mobius Twist reporting for duty.

[RagingKrikkit]

Yeah, that seems to be how most deaths occur.

[Iskandar]

Eh, the problem is I cannot heal a fallen soldier, I can only stabilize them to prevent them from bleeding out (this is the "critical damage" on their health display, as in how much health they are losing each turn).

This is, normally, not an issue. Aliens do not target downed soldiers, and mostly a weapons hit is unlikely to kill a soldier outright.

The problem lies with area attacks, like Larva chemical clouds. They do repeated damage over several turns, and I can neither move the soldier nor clear the cloud. So, a downed soldier in a cloud of crud is in trouble. If they weren't hurt too badly, and they have good armor (Beekeeper is almost chemical proof, for instance) they will survive. Otherwise....

[Mobius Twist]

Thanks for the explanation - I didn't realize that you can't heal anything other than critical wounds when knocked unconscious.

Also, if you're still looking for something to sell to raise money, I believe you have the laser cannons on all your subsidiary bases unequipped but unsold.

[Iskandar]

Woo. Ok, I have now entered Era 3. It is not a good time. There are enemies who do AoE fire, and enemies who do AoE toxic crud. Sometimes on the same ship. Which is leaving me with a horrible choice, because no matter what, someone ends up in a cloud of gunk their armor wasn't designed to resist, and they summarily die.

Soon as I figure out the best way to handle this, I'll get an episode recorded.

[Crossblade]

No chance you'd upload a game session even if you died and didn't save?

[Iskandar]

Um, about that...

I'm at a failure point. As in, the game has been lost. I can back track to another save, I think and try to sort things, but honestly at this point, I don't think I can, without a fair amount of fudging and saving and loading.

Now, I can go ahead and release the video I have of the failure, and call this LP lost, or I can abort back to the save and try again.

If i do decide to quit, what do you want me to do? Try again, try again with another mod (Grayfiend's, which significantly upgrades the research and makes the game a fair bit harder), or move on to something else?

[Zain]

I'd say call it a loss, then either reboot or try a new game of the same genre.

[Crossblade]

Just watched the newest video. Up until the misplaced jump in Eras, the game seemed fine. After that jump though, the aliens just seemed brokenly strong. Especially in this last fight.

[Triaxx]

Nah, start this one again, and this time you'll know what the optimal path is to the best tech.

[Iskandar]

Actually, I think I'm going to give this a rest for a bit. I want to try another mod, one that is a bit harder, and a bit more in depth, than the current one. However, it also needs a bit of fine tuning, so it will take me a month or two to tear the code apart and do a debug/rebalance pass.

Plus, I'm a bit burned out on the game, having just spent 25+ hours playing it.

[t209]

Was it just me or the Death rate is lower than UFO Defense? I'm still alive in UFO Extraterrestrials.
- How many of you plan to make a comic version of Iskander's X Com gameplay?

[KillianHawkeye]

Wait, what happened to ME?? I died? OFF SCREEN??? Oh, I get it. Somebody left a red shirt in my locker by accident. Really, it's not mine. I don't know how it even got here! :smallmad:

LOL

Well, that sucks, but at least we had an awesome time along the way! :smallamused:

[Iskandar]

Yeah, those of you who died off screen, you were wounded. You can assume that the aliens shot you in the head while you were in your hospital beds.

And yes, the death rate was much lower. Mostly because soldiers were, mostly, knocked out when hitting 0 HP and not killed outright.

I'm moving to UFO: Aftemath soon. It is not X-Com, but it is X-Com like. Sort of.

[RagingKrikkit]

Was it just me or the Death rate is lower than UFO Defense? I'm still alive in UFO Extraterrestrials.
- How many of you plan to make a comic version of Iskander's X Com gameplay?

I'm plotting a novelization.

[Iskandar]

I am honored.

Right now, I'm trying to decide which game to move on to next. Xenonauts (the beta I'm playing now) isn't quite ready for primetime.

The UFO trilogy (Aftermath, Aftershock, and Afterlight) aren't quite X-Com enough (well , the first kind of was, but it is also old, and the resolution is such I'm having trouble telling what is going on, much less trying to make any kind of LP out of it).

X-Com Terror from the Deep is a possibility, but there are technical issues, and there isn't a handy patch program for that like there was for the first X-Com.

I'm not particularly interested in any of the other X-Com games. For some reason, I never liked Apocolypse, and the rest are X-Com in name only.

I might just move onto another type of game altogether. I'll have to think about it.

[Kizor]

I've never had trouble with Aftermath's resolution - but then I'm consistently amazed at what vast monitors we make today. Anything we can help you with?

For those of you watching at home, Aftermath is a clunkier, clumsier X-Com variant with some good ideas and a compelling theme. For instance, I like the way one of the twisted mutant enemies roaming the post-apocalyptic wasteland is useless. Not just weak, without any weapons or defenses whatsoever. It flaps about and screams when hit. That really drives home the nature of the setting. I'm really not sure if the fresh ideas are enough to carry the game.

Aftershock plays better, but its plot retroactively ruins the original's best twist, and apparently the bugs were outright dangerous to your data - though I'm pretty sure that's been fixed. Afterlight I like, in large part because it lets you tweak Mars (http://imgur.com/WKXxP) (for a criminally small gameplay effect), but there are very few reinforcements and practically no tolerance for casualties - there'd be no death by blaster bomb for any of us. I'm halfway through a replay of Afterlight using every interesting mod, but it's been cooling for months after getting too repetitive.

Volcano unrelated (http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a94_1340566754).

[Iskandar]

My biggest problem with Aftermath's resolution is that I think that recording it is going to make things a bit too tiny for my viewers to see comfortably.

My second problem with Aftermath is that the geoscape UI is clumsy as hell. That, and the inability to tell your manufacturing arm to make multiples of something, having to set up each suit of armor, or weapon, or what have you.

I've been playing a bit of Aftershock. Definitely not X-Com. Not a bad game, though. And it explains thing well enough that playing Aftermath is not required. Although I keep wanting to zoom out further than it lets me.

[Triaxx]

Accursed People. Interceptor was Amazing. So there.

And I still support UFO:Alien Invasion as an amazing successor. Sadly it ends when you find the alien base, but it's still awesome.

[RagingKrikkit]

Not even invade the base? Well, I guess that's what ICBMs are for.

[Iskandar]

Accursed People. Interceptor was Amazing. So there.

And I still support UFO:Alien Invasion as an amazing successor. Sadly it ends when you find the alien base, but it's still awesome.

Whether it was amazing or not, Interceptor was not X-Com. Which was my point.

And my argument about UFO:AI is the same as my argument about Xenonauts. Amazing game or not, it is not ready for prime time. If you can't play the game all the way through, doing a LP is kinda pointless.

I'm still deciding. I might do a LP of another game entirely. I wish I had a bigger fanbase. I have a fairly extensive back catalog of games I should play. If I could get more than 10 or 20 people voting, having my viewers choose what I play next would be cool. However, as it stands I am likely going to get 1 vote for 10 to 20 games, which is not cool.

[Triaxx]

Except I disagree. Rather than 'not X-Com' it's more an outgrowth of the air to air combat of X-Com pilots v Alien ships.

Instead of just dismissing it, I view it as another angle of the fighting.

What games have you got in mind? I still have yet to see a Fallout Tactics LP that gets all the way through. The best one I've seen is by Aiccyn, and he couldn't finish because of a computer crash.

[Zain]

Have you taken a look at Bastion? I hear that's a neat little Iso 3d adventure game.

[Iskandar]

Except I disagree. Rather than 'not X-Com' it's more an outgrowth of the air to air combat of X-Com pilots v Alien ships.

Instead of just dismissing it, I view it as another angle of the fighting.

What games have you got in mind? I still have yet to see a Fallout Tactics LP that gets all the way through. The best one I've seen is by Aiccyn, and he couldn't finish because of a computer crash.

Eh, it still shifted the genre away from the turn based tactical battles that I prefer. There are few enough of those type of games to begin with.

About Bastion. I own that game, yes I do. I also suck at it. But I'm willing to make an effort if enough people are interested.

Also: http://backloggery.com/games.php?user=1skandar
A, more or less, comprehensive list of my current game collection. I will take suggestions. Also, you have a game you'd like to see me play that isn't on there, ask. I may have it, or I may be amenable to purchasing it. This is especially true if the game in question is $10 or less.

[Triaxx]

How about some 7.62? What I've seen is pretty fun, but the only LP I found ended rather abruptly because it was pre GG and was translated from Russian.

[smuchmuch]

'Chtuluu saves the world' intruiges me

[KillianHawkeye]

'Chtuluu saves the world' intruiges me

It's a parody of old school 8-bit jRPGs. I'm not sure how great it would be as an LP.