Things in X-COM that don't make much sense

[Canageek]

#2754

-Storage limits at the base: Really? I can’t store a few things in a warehouse an hour away and truck them in as needed? Do I really need ALL my Alien Alloys on hand taking up storage space?

-Having to buy standard ammunition and weapons. From a game balance point of view it is such a tiny expense that it doesn’t change anything, and from a size perspective shouldn’t I be able to fit hundreds or thousand of round in one warehouse pallet? Why not just have unlimited magazines available, or deduct the cost of used ammunition from your budget each mission?

-Can’t we have a plane do a flyby or take a satellite photo of the area before I arrive so I can pick the weapons to bring? Explosives are great, but too many maps are too close-quarters for it.

Is there anything else that bugs people about logical inconsistencies in X-COM?

[Tijn]

#2755

The most annoying right now is how the guys block each other. I mean seriously, you don’t have the “time” to lean over a few centimeters and let a buddy through? Haha wtf

[Canageek]

#2756

Oh yeah, that is really annoying.

I thought of another one: That civilians don’t run away, hide, or anything else. They just move randomly. Would it be that hard to have a ‘move in a direct line away from the last alien seen, or last gunshot heard?

[Tijn]

#2757

Yeah, it was surprising they didn’t go inside the Skyranger to hide from the aliens. They just panicked. But honestly I think I would panic as well when a bunch of aliens terrorised my town 😛

[kdrnic]

#2759

I think that the guys blocking each other is reasonable gamedesign, you can already make a 2-deep line by having the front man kneel and the other stand behind, like real armies – recalling the British army lines by Lord Wellington defeating Napoleon’s columns mentioned the other day by voxel.

The civilians are indeed peculiar – it would be funny if the civilians could behave differently depending on the area. Picture rednecks going on an alien-hunting rampage, alien bodies piling up on the back of a pickup truck… there could be the option to arm the population, with the downside of their inaccurate shots being more dangerous than the aliens…

[Canageek]

#2761

There is a mod that adds armed civilans. I didn’t think it made much sense, since if it was that easy to kill them, why aren’t the world’s normal militaries taking care of it?

[kdrnic]

#2763

You start with unarmoured soldiers armed with standard rifles, so you really are no better than the regular military or an armed civilian.

Maybe we need to assume there is no military – world peace has been achieved prior to the start of the game.

[voxel]

#2765

I think we can all agree that this would be a terrible tactic when faced with any enemy armed with explosives

[kdrnic]

#2766

Indeed – so far the aliens seem to mostly employ the stun launcher, I am not sure if I’ve seen explosives

[Evil Taco]

#2769

Maybe that depends on difficulty level and version – I’m playing OpenXcom on Veteran and I was just now checking for the best thread to lament how Alien Grenades are the bane of my troops.

[Canageek]

#2776

Yeah, grenades will make you NOT want to use that formation pretty quickly. Small launchers and Blaster Launchers will make you REALLY REALLY not want to use that formation.

[Canageek]

#2777

I figured you where the most elite, best weapons, troops. I might be being biased by UFO: Alien Invasion though (Open Source spiritual sequel) which I played first and read the UFOPeadia very heavily.

[kdrnic]

#2779

Oh also – the game is like Counter-Strike, in that the spotter has an advantage over the spotted; the offensive over the defensive; movement over entrenchment.

Although I think this is a reasonable decision, in that it changes the “flavour” of the game. IIRC JA2 had the opposite emphasis.

[yozy]

#2783

Storage limits force you to build your bases in specific way so they add a bit to the ‘strategic’ part of the game I guess.

Modern x-com games do not have munition limitations but I guess it’s the time and age. I agree that handling ammunition is a bit of a time waster (in the beginning, because of laser rifle). In Apocalypse you could have a real shortage of ammo which made this mechanic more interesting.

Knowing the map type beforehand would be really cool, maybe there is a mod for that somewhere? Would be an interesting addition to OpenXCom

Some inconsistencies I would add:

– Aliens can forget where your base is once they have found it.

– It takes 3 hours to reload or swap missiles on a plane. I am pretty sure in reality it can be done in minutes.

– Aliens hardly ever send out more than 2 ufos at the same time.

– Chryssalids defy law of conservation of matter.

– Of course the biggest inconsistency is: $60000 a MONTH for a scientist in 1999 dollars?

[Canageek]

#2787

I’m a scientist in real life and I make…less then that. A lot less. Not counting for inflation or US/CAD dollar conversion.