New Aliens: Snakeman and Snakeman Leader

[KiethSomataw99]

I thought of a new type of Alien in XCOM: Enemy Unknown: the Snakeman and the Snakeman Leader

The Snakeman is a slow but tough alien, even tougher than the Muton with health ratings 10/10/15/15. They first appear starting in the 4th month in groups, though if you assault the alien base before that, they appear individually until the 4th month. Snakemen carry light plasma rifles, alien grenades, and lethal melee bites (ie. they can attack in melee and range). Their bites deal 6 damage and poison the target. They posses average accuracy and moderate will, but the most distinctive feature of a Snakeman is that is comes from a hostile volcanic environment, and as a result, they take less damage from explosives and environment explosions than most others, and therefore, will not hesitate to throw a grenade into a party of soldiers, even if a snakeman will be caught in the blast.

 

Snakeman autopsy will grant access to blast plates, which slightly reduces the damage soldiers and shivs take from explosives and environmental explosions passively.

 

The Snakeman Leader is a tougher command version of the Snakeman, who occasinally substitute as ship commanders by chance, or in case of multiple commanders, one of them is a Snakeman Leader while the other is a psionic alien. Snakeman Leaders don't have any psionic powers and are even slower than Snakemen (they are the slowest enemy in XCOM), but make up for holding heavy plasma, powerful bites that can badly poison targets in melee and deal 10 damage, and more importantly, 3 alien grenades they can bombard with and a blaster launcher! They are even more resistant to explosions than snakemen. However, they can only fire their blaster launcher when its health is below 25%. It has a health rating of 20/20/25/25. Targets bitten by a snakeman leader without any protection from poison will suffer badly poison effect, which is like poison with same duration, but with every turn it takes, the effects grow worse (ie. poison damage increases, aim is reduced further).

[Sorbicol]

The thin men took the place of snake men in the new version.

[NKF]

If you could substitute the Thin Men model with a Snakeman model, they'd fit right in with little need for any modification. Even on the Council missions. Their behaviour would be spot even though they were never very nimble in the original nor did they have a poison spit.

 

- NKF

[KiethSomataw99]

Snakemen do not substitute for Thin Men. They appear the month after Mutons and they do not have the poison spit and mobility of the Thin Men. Instead they were tough and can attack in melee and range. Their melee attack poisons the target but they do not release a gas cloud if they die. Snakemen were notable not so much for their poison melee attack, but for their resistance to explosives.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

Sorbi basically summed it up.

The thin men took the place of snake men in the new version.

 

Maybe not a substitution per say, but they were replaced by the Thin Men. As for a Mod based on the Snakemen, I'm all for it. If you intend on making some drafts make sure you post 'em, I'll be interested to see how they turn out.

[Sorbicol]

There is somewhere a file on alien physiology for the thin men, and it notes the striking similarities between the thin men and reptilian snakes on earth.

 

I think it was a concious decision by Firaxis to replace the snakemen who (to be honest) were always just different coloured Mutons. I'm sure that Jake spoke about it briefly during one of the many many many interviews he did prior to launch.

 

I do hope that the next expansion/DLC/sequel does include some new aliens, but I doubt some revised version of snake men will be there.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

@Sorbicol Actually in this link Julian Gollop explains that the original X-COM had intended to make an alien based on the Men In Black (not the movie). And in this link shows what it would have looked like. But something or other made them change there minds. IMO the new Mutons kind of remind me of a Snakemen/Muton combination, but that could just be me..they .kind of look reptilian looking. And if the new project IS in fact something in relation to TFTD (Fingers Crossed) then we shall have "new" aliens.