UFO Fanfiction Discussion

[Doug]

Hi

 

How close are we sticking to the original game development ?

 

I was wondering, as TANK/CANNON and TANK/ROCKET LAUNCHER are on the purchase/hire personnel screen.

 

That could get Photon off the hook with Knight ?

 

Has anybody managed to get the laser pistol developed before the first ufo is shot down ?

 

 

[JellyfishGreen]

Tanks: Nahh, it's more fun this way, than to assume they already exist. After Sanjay finishes the first two tanks, the next ones can be done by subcontractors *as if* they were commercially available, like the game. You start with one tank in the game, right?

 

Who wants the job of remote-operating the tank back at base? Worm or Slice, maybe? Any bloodthirsty scientist types, or does Sanjay get the job by default?

 

Lasers: no, development wouldn't be complete, and the first UFO or two will be stormed with ballistic weapons (ie bullets). (in real life, a laser cannon would be easier to prototype than a pistol...but never mind.)

 

Assaults: I pictured one assault, say of an intact landed UFO in farmland, would be disastrous with massive panic and few survivors - say, Squad 3, which has the fewest main characters. Another assault of a UFO, say a crashed one in desert, would go better. Don't know which one would play better first. Maybe losing 4 npc's from Squad 1 would also count as a disaster - but the writers would have to capture the mood of impending panic and transfer it to the very heroic characters of Squad 1 somehow.

 

Teams: The way I pictured active duty is, one squad is on 5-minute scramble notice at all times. This means the squad is no more than 5 minutes from their remaining gear and the Skyranger in case an intercept order is received, and goes around wearing some of their gear. The other two squads are off-duty, one designated the backup squad on 30-minute standby. Rotate every 6-8 hours, say, for 24-hour coverage. Pilots are organized similarly, so one or two are always on-duty and available while the third sleeps.

 

Greys: Once we recover the first body I'd say they get named Greys. If we ever start referring to them as Sectoids it will be after we analyze a ship computer or navigation system, or someone gets mindprobed and gets a mysterious psychic impression. eg. Snickers' "Christel" character, maybe.

 

Thanks for moving the story along, Vet! Carlos is off to boot camp which (gulp) leaves you in charge - ?

 

JG

[The Veteran]

What do you possibly mean? I've always been in charge. It just took me a while longer to get there than Carlos...

And on the storyline front we really just need things to move along quickly. The tanks are being manufactured as we speak. The laser cell that won't fit the pistol is going to power them. They're supposed to be ready by Friday. It's now Wednesday lunch and everyone's going back to their training.

After another three hours of training they'll change around again. After that they'll have just a few hours to rest up and get to know each other. Then there'll be the evening gruel, and off to sleep.

What happens tomorrow is another story completely. Or a different part of this one at least...

[Alitorious]

Oh, uh... hi I've been following these fanfictions for a while, and... uhm... never mind. I'm not totally anonymous, I registered on the old boards as Whasp Commander, but decided to change my name to this.

 

Anyway, I just decided to pitch in some advice.

 

They don't really research on laser pistols first. The scientists who are assigned to laser research have to develop the theory of laser weaponry first, possibly with a prototype cannon or something. The laser pistol would logically be the easiest practical application of it. I mean practical, because the prototype proof of concept thing would be huge! Maybe not that huge, but much too unwieldy and heavy to be practical for mounting on anything. So basic theory of laser weapons first, then proof of concept, then prototype of integration with power plant (you could skip this one), and then a small hand-held laser pistol.

 

Personally, I thought it was strange for research into laser weapons to begin so soon. At the rate it was described as, it felt like they'd have the pistol in a week. Maybe you could've had some one make or explain the theory behind laser weaponry, but only after a week or so.

 

But that's just me.

 

 

Plus, I thought that some coder was working on an AI system? I thought that was what was going to be used on the tanks.

In the game, the first tank would arrive at the base after 72 hours or so, which I think is 3 days. Perhaps ordering the original parts might take a bit longer, because the manufacturers have to get the specific parts needed? (Because I think that the first and/or second mission should be fought without the luxury of a tank.)

 

But again, that's just me.

 

 

So, maybe if I scrounge up enough courage, I might attempt to post my own character for the UFO fic. Or maybe I could just try with the characters you already have, but I don't think that would be a good idea. Presuming, of course, you wouldn't mind me posting.

 

 

P.S: I don't really hate the Lightning. Actually, I think it's a neat little ship. The way you could deploy in all directions at once is a useful feature. Does away with that sectoid sniping all troops coming off the ramp (Unless it happens to be underneath the ship.)

If/when we get to the lightning in the fanfic, can we use the mounted gun in battle to blast away a side of a ship for entry? Or maybe just to blast away a lone sectoid? Or maybe that barn? Or what about that rock? Or what about that slacker? Or how about that cow? Or....

[JellyfishGreen]

Alitorious, both points you raise are good.

 

The game does put "Laser Technology" research ahead of any actual weapon, and it would make sense to have a non-portable prototype in the story as a proof of concept. So I'd recommend this to whoever writes Photon and Zager.

 

I thought you did get a cannon tank at the start of the game, though. Anyone want to fire up the game and correct me? My character Sanjay is going to try and cobble together his tanks from various other vehicles and some custom circuit boards, odds and ends, but after he makes the first one, it'll be a subcontractor job and he's on to other things.

 

I'll be the first to invite you to write, although Vet is the administrator you want to bribe. I think it's wise to have your own character somewhere in the fic. Soldier squads will need replacements called up, and there's plenty of room for scientists and engineers. I suspect if someone kills off your character, they're trying to voice an opinion on your writing

 

I would rationalize the Lightning gun as roof-mounted, unable to hit anything below the third story. So why can't we use it to shoot grounded battleships? Umm....Scattering effects and collateral damage?

 

The X-COM Landscaping Service already has a pretty bad reputation.

[Zager]

Concerning the last post, unless I'm totally mistaken, haven't we not had any alien incursions or terror missions yet?

[Snikers]

Especially with BLASTERS.

[The Veteran]

This is useless... Not only have the fics still not been touched by any of the regulars but now Mirage has turned up and decimated the apocalypse fanfic!

Mirage get here now! I edited your profile for the UFO fic because it was impossible to tie it in with the previous story. You obviously haven't read either of the fics and you probably didn't even know there was an apocalypse fanfic running did you? I just read your post in the fanfic. It was about a Sectoid soldier and written from his point of view... So it's wrong immediately. I read it anyway and to be blunt I was amazed at the content of the post. You clearly haven't read a SINGLE post of the fic as if you had you would understand the style in which we write them.

You have written from the point of view of a sectoid on a terror mission. Firstly no terror missions have happened yet, which you'd know if you'd read the fic... Secondly you mention a disk exiting a transport craft. Not only does it sound like you're describing a cyberdisk but we don't even have normal tanks available to us yet. Let alone hovertanks! Thirdly if this transport was destroyed then ten soldiers would have died and so would our pilot. These characters all have controllers and cannot be killed! The skyranger isn't even back at base anyway... Fourthly and most importantly, Sectoids have no personality! They are clones! This completely negates your entire post!

I'm leaving your post up until you reply to this but as soon as you do I'll delete it as it is not only against the storyline but it's in the wrong place, wrong format and wrong time zone.

Now go and read the whole of the UFO fanfic and check the changes I've made to your profile...

[Snikers]

Slight nit-pick: Clones does not mean personality. I think you mean drones...

 

Oh, and I would have posted in the fanfic, but I am not in the military and I would not know exactly

what the training grounds are like...

[The Veteran]

You don't have to know what the military is like Snikers. I'm a civilian until next summer but I'm making it up as I go along!

Hmm... I follow your point about drones I guess... But clones are all exactly the same organism so how could they have personalities? Plus the fact that they could easily be classed as drones... Look at the way they act in the game! :alien2:

[JellyfishGreen]

Naw, Vet, identical twins technically classify as natural clones. & have different personalities and experiences. Mass clone production and training might have more uniformity. (Hmm. Wasn't there a movie involving a clone army recently? They attacked something? ) The word drone, on the other hand, suggests mindless obedience.

 

One of the fanfics has Sectoid Leaders with personality/independence but the regulars are drones. I was wondering, would it be useful to have this as our backstory? Even though we probably won't be writing from the alien point of view?

 

And Snickers - I'm no expert either, but for instance, I found a military PDF on grenade training on the web. Before November I only had heard vague anecdotes about fumbling grenades in the throwing pit. (Waitaminute - was that Private Benjamin?) Here's another link I liked: https://web.qx.net/warcat/MilSF/

 

 

Cheers

JFG

[The Veteran]

Snickers?

Hmm, well it may make an interesting backstory. Especially when we get to researching live aliens...

[Snikers]

BTW, with the way humans can find out how alien technology works in a few months,

I figured the humans were way smarter than the aliens. Are we going to have the aliens

taking cover, giving surpressive fire, deploying ambushes, etc? Or are we just going to

have them blindly firing drones?

[The Veteran]

The aliens are pretty dumb. They fight on their own unless they happen to be standing right next to each other. And even then I would say the extent of their teamwork only spreads toshooting at the same guy!

[Snikers]

But will the aliens, say, shoot through a brick wall to get to their target, given their weapons, or will they wait

'til they have a direct LOS?

 

Will the aliens dive for cover or stand out in the open firing blindly?

 

Will the aliens have snipers, artillery, or just everyone is infantry?

 

Will the aliens really have medics? In the game they don't do anything and as you've pointed out they'd do little

to help one another.

 

Will the aliens keep chasing a guy even if it's obvious he's leading it into a trap? I'm thinking Jennings is chased

by a muton with a plasma rifle until it turns to corner to be staring down twnety rifles here.

 

Will the aliens learn if we continue to use the same tactics against them?

 

Will the aliens have more numbers than in the game to increase drama?

[JellyfishGreen]

I'd say yes to all that - give the aliens some tactical intelligence and learning ability, but we have the advantage because we're more used to the planet.

 

I'm thinking more Rainbow Six and Platoon and Aliens than Rambo - although we will be using ammunition and explosives liberally on some occasions. So a fair touch of Black Hawk Down.

 

Mostly our opponents will be just hard to find, because of the small numbers and rugged terrain, even though they don't have a well-planned ambush. Either side can be surprised. Sweeps have gaps. Snipers often get the first shot. Aliens will dive for cover when returning fire - but can be surprised in the open. Therein lies the drama.

 

Ambushes will be half-assed, spur-of-the-moment things, so instead of 20 rifles waiting there will only be time for two to get into position - but still damned effective thanks to that element of surprise and increased accuracy when kneeling.

 

I'm not objecting to some full-scale firefight against superior numbers, say on a terror mission, but I wouldn't want it to be the norm.

[The Veteran]

Is the right answer... I like it. I'll see if I can answer what you asked anyway though...

 

Aliens won't shoot through anything unless they know what is on the other side. LOS will be relied on 99% for the aliens as there is very little communication on their part (we presume)

 

In the game aliens often appear from around a corner, fire twice then disappear again. This would seem to suggest keeping cover but as it seems so natural to watch dopey sectois wander out of a corner slower than most people crawl I guess they wouldn't be amazingly good at cover... The mutons wouldn't bother. Ditto for the machines, and the reapers are too dumb. Floaters would tend to surprise people by hovering directly above them. Same for Ethereals but they never use their own guns... Come to think of it I've only ever seen sectoids take cover... It's more common in tftd...

 

I would personally say everyone on the alien side is infantry. They aren't coordinated enough to have specialist troops. The medics probably don't do field work and most of the aliens are more scientist than soldier.... So why bother with a sniper?

 

Mutons especially are extremely stupid and being as aggressive as they are they would probably follow a soldier indefinitely. Faced with twenty rifles (which as pointed out won't happen!) they would probably go insane and attack all of them at once.

 

The aliens won't live long enough to report our tactics to base. If there are survivors, say alien base attack, terror site, abandonned crash site, and so on, then maybe. But we'll deal with that when we come to it.

 

I'd like to see larger numbers of aliens but only, like JFish said, on terror missions. And alien bases should be much bigger. Like what JFish did with Pine Gap.

[Alitorious]

I concur with your Ideas on alien's tactics. I think they should me mostly like in the game, but a bit more advanced. They tend to rely on single unit snipering and ambushes (such as the lone sectoid or floater in the barn shooting through the window at your troops coming out of the skyranger.) I think we could also expect them to use their superior night time vision to an advantage (like in the game.) the sectoid could probably see your troops easily, but the humans would probably be squinting and waiting for confirmation of kill order (after all, it could just be a human child) at least until several green bolts erupt from that small grey figure.

 

TJ, in the Character Profiles sheet, you were saying about both of my characters helping with the HWP development. I could understand Dana working on it (she'd probably be excited with this kind of thing, even after the euphoria of seeing the base's engineering and fabrication labs has worn off .) I just can't see how Daniel could help with a HWP project. It's pretty much an engineering/computer thing. So I'll just have him help work on the laser project, if that's okay.

 

And I'll just post this here (instead of in character sheets), I was thinking of Daniel having a Psi strength between 85-90, and Dana would be one of those rare people with 95-99 strength. (Of course, they're base personnel and not soldiers so it doesn't really matter.) I hope those figures aren't too high.

[Snikers]

Since the aliens are all drones anyway, will they be pinned by surpressive fire? Mutons probably, again, won't

bother, but sectoids, snakemen, and ethereals will probably have the survival instinct and brains...

[The Veteran]

Yeah they'll definitely not walk into a loaded weapon or flying bullets... Except as you said maybe mutons. Being as tough as they are they could probably take it anyway.

I agree Alitorious. The vision thing especially but I think they will be similar slightly advanced to the game as you said.

And I read the post as soon as I got online. I'm very impressed. I'll probably post soon but I'm not sure I have anything significant to write about. The main storyline right now is for Dana and the tank prototype... Do you have anywhere you want that to go?

[Alitorious]

No, I don't really have anywhere in mind that I have it to go. For my fanfic post, I just tried to plop in something rather vague that describes the two character's attitudes a bit.

 

Oh, to note, I wasn't actively trying to contradict the Honda ATV with Bushmaster cannon idea, that's more Dana's character - she'd rather order raw metal and mould it around a completely new design from scratch - chassis, engine, cannon and all. I doubt she'd object to ordering stuff like electrical motors (the HWP is electric powered, right? Would make a lot of things easier if it was) and power systems, because those are too difficult to make.

 

So, just do pretty much whatever you feel like.

[The Veteran]

Yeah the original tanks will be electrical I imagine... We discussed the controls and such stuff earlier in this thread too if you've read it.. I suggest you do as it may save having the same conversation again!

[Alitorious]

Yeah, I remember about that, and I just read through the discussion a second time.

 

But I always thought that the HWP in the game was AI controlled, and used voice orders or that. If it was remote controlled, there would be a slight delay in movement, and unless a tank opp comes with the avenger on the cydonia mission it would be impossible to bring to cydonia (doh, forgot about hyperwave comms, but I assume they have range because hyperwave detection has limited range - it either can't travel through solid rock or hyperwave comms from UFO's drop of with distance). Also, certain tank stats such as reaction and accuracy never increase. If it was remote controlled, I would expect the operator to eventually become better at aiming and develop faster reactions.

 

So, I think we should go with AI. After all, this force uses the best of the best technology, right? (Also, it means we don't have to worry about writing in a character who controls it! Beneficial AND lazy )

 

Plus, I don't think I saw anything about motors or stuffs, in the fanfic or this discussion. I noticed a small remark about the bioelectric cells being used to power the HWP. I don't think Dana would like it, but she wouldn't put up much of a fuss about it (After all, it works better than anything else she would be able to think of, custom made or bought.)

[Ki-tat Chung]

but then they would have to fit the old tanks with hyperwave devices. and that would cost money, which i doubt is/were/was ever deducted from your funds to modify the tank.

[Ki-tat Chung]

oh, and btw, the red flash of laser dosn't hurt anyone, just blinds dana and me for a moment. bit like a flash bang.