Expansion Pack

[Exe22]

that with aiming directions and officers would work, but i stil think that it requeiers some iq to aim a mortar

[pemigan]

but none of the weapons / heavy weapons platforms need training right now in the game - after all we command soldiers not civilians. Why should a mortar need training and a bazooka shouldn't? Naaa training is no good. And about the mortar i think only one man would be needed to operate it. I Thought of something like in JA2 was done.

 

What do you mean aiming officer? You command the guy to shoot he stands deployes the mortar loads the shell and off one shot if you're lucky you'll hit the target if not he fires a second shell and so on. One mortar one man. No new complications. Just another heavy weapon in the game.

[pweasel]

I'd love to see some reworking in the engine, so if i have a kneeled op he has less chance of being hit than one standing up, same as with obstacles. Another good thing to have are those nifty 'dentist' mirrors SWAT has, so you can see in the corner without being watched. Also some rethinking of the "Defend Base" missions, cos if you have teleportation technology, why do you have to chinook all the way there? and why are all my ops scattered all over the base (they should be together in one of the access shafts)? and why in gawds name we don't have security cameras in the base's corridors so i can see where are those b45t4rds! ? (they could fire at them so i get 'blinded'). Flashbangs could be cool too, stunning a bio-armored dude to squeeze that last plasma shot.

[Obi-Mark]

Some things that have crossed my mind during base missions. Why not have two part base defense too? I mean you are outside (pity you can't climb watchtowers that are always in urban base missions) you have anti-infantry weapon emplacements (like machiengun nest), barbed wire, movement sensors (I really miss those from X-COM), securtiy cameras. Aliens start charging, you wipe the first wave, they retreat, call in their air strike (that would come in handy as well).

You have a choice, stay up get blown or retreat below and set up an ambush.

 

Then in base you have security cameras, movement sensors, booby traps (that would be great to have, booby trap kit, wired explosives...) and security chekpoints.

 

Also what I miss in game is that soldiers cannot lie down (like most snipers like to do), or roll on the ground when they see missile coming in at them. Naturally chance of hitting would be greater, but visibilty poorer, that goes for kneeling too). It would be great if you could also make your soldiers to hide behind walls and then try to knife alien as he was passing him by (yeah, heavy thermic lance would be great to have too).

It would also be great to have an X-com like HWP (heavy weapons platform). Something big, heavily armoured and with a REALLY big gun. Immune to small arms fire something you need a rocket launcher to dent.

[Exe22]

would have loved a hwp, caus then those f#### aliens would have had something else than my men to aim those launchers at

[lemmingzappa]

I would like to see ::

 

1. Larger levels, which could also lead to your squad to set up small camps in the middle of a mission to survive over a long fight.

 

2. Maybe mounted guns that could be bought with credits to put in the camp to fight off the enemy.

 

3.Better graphics when going inside an alien spacecraft (i find the graphics very colourful and sickly).

 

4. Being able to edit your bases and make new rooms etc* like in x-com apocalypse.

 

5. Enemy's that look slighty more human like, but they are deformed, i think this could make it a bit more realistic.

 

6. I could go on forever but i cant be too picky.....................

 

WHAT YOU THINK OF MY IDEAS?

[BlackAlmaz]

i realy like the idea of a small...camp...maybe a new mission type can be added(steup out post..and defend outpost)

[XCOManiac]

why not add a module wherein we can change the weapons of the fighters being sent? it seems that there is not much control given to the fighter jets, it all relies on numerical processing, a.k.a. randomly! bleck! we need control on our own jets!

[Exe22]

The thing i would like to see most in an exp.pack is multiplayer

[lemmingzappa]

Yea I noticed that too, in x-xom apocalypse you can customize your jets weapons and armour, but in aftermath you can't. Also once you have lost your jets in aftermath do you regain them automatically? Cos' i havent seen any way of rebuilding them. Also as I mentioned in my last post, you cant build your bases, in x-com you can build different rooms and defenses, that would be much better for aftermath to have.

[XCOManiac]

If expansion packs are concerned, it could be like how they did with UFO:TFTD, where the terror starts from the seas, since no mission ever comes out of a shot down ufo in the seas, right?

 

Questions and clarifications:

1.)Why didn't they show how the moon mission was?

2.)Can't we have a new mission area in the moon where we have to deploy bases of operations before going into the final mission at once?

3.)Why didn't the aliens use biomass in the moon since it is a self sustaining organism capable of living in space? the moon can be made a great new mission dimension...

4.)Are there actually more than one alien? I don't think so, the only alien for me are the reticulans since the latter are only mutations of earth lifeforms...

 

Suggestions:

1.)Can't we make use of the alien armors with the earth armors? like making a combat armor out of the alien armor...

2.)making the jets and choppers equippable, I mean giving them the ability to change weapons would make the game more enjoyable

3.)Doesn't the bases have defense mechanism against ufo attacks? they're just sitting ducks waiting for a ufo to attack them then voila, a new mission...

4.)tanks would be a great addition

5.)vehicles would be even better but that would call for a larger map...

6.)Airstrikes would rule if ever they are given the opportunity...

7.)why don't they create a new story line before aftermath? like stopping the spores from ever be releasing into the atmosphere? it would be like a prequel to aftermath where earth still has all of its glory, using its commanche, raptors, apaches, abrams, etc...

[Exe22]

I dosnt think ther was a way to stop the spores, they just attacked one day

[Obi-Mark]

Expansion pack.... promised dreamland...

Bases that can be customized... with security chekpoints (automated machineguns), cameras, security fields, anti infantry mines (ones that you can see, but enemy cannot). Outer perimetar defenses (see above), anti air defenses, airstrikes, ability to climb buildings, ability to lay your soldiers down, allow them to crawl so as to be near invisible, give them Hide in shadows and move silently abilities and some blade so as to be able to knife aliens as he walked by you (attack from behind), selective fields of vision (you look in one direction you see in that direction alone, unless heavy armour, that one has sensors in it). IR goggles for night missions (those flares are useless), some exotic weaponry (someone mentioned gauss technology).

It would be cool if you could actually see your chopper as it landed (this way we can only curse chinook pilot, that way we could actually shoot him). It would also have some machine guns to clear out LZ and defend it, it would stay there throughout mission and if it was destroyed you would need to find other means of transport. Or you could arrive in APC and have it's armament to support you.

Being able to intercept with more than one squadron of fighers at the same time (just add option to wait for reinforcements). Aliens ships having anti infantry weapons as well... maybe not immediately but once you take down about 10 of them aliens start to equip them with such weapons...

[Cornelius OMonkeyboy]

Well, here we are!

 

Rifles that use the same caliber of ammo should have the same ammo! (Eg. Steyr and M1) It's soo annoying when you've got two(+) that use 5.56, but you can't use the one you want 'cos you don't have its' specific type!

 

I don't think that cyborgs etc. wouold be realistic at all despite how much fun they'd be - realistically, I don't think any kind of concerted research project could be set up

so so on after such a catastrophiuc disaster.

 

 

Formations! Please!

 

New voices! (I've mentioned this elsewhere, but is anyone interested in voicing new ones?)

 

I agree completely about the "Delegate" function - you should be given an idea what

teams are available, what skills they have etc. and how ready they are for combat.

Also, is 2 Helicopters really out of the question? What about troop-planes etc. ? ~The Chopper's just too damn slow!

 

Maybe a basic terrain/ city map somewhere on the screen? How about obscuring terrain until it's in the troops LOS?

 

I disagree about the training being one profession per soldier. In real armies, soldiers can apply for any weapons course (realistically speaking) and such an elite force (any small) would of course have to be capable of many skills. (Althoughn perhaps, over-training would have some detriment compared to pure specialization)

 

Well, that's it for me. Congrats to anyone who's read this far!

[Hyperion1250]

Obi- not promised dreamland. You're asking for the wrong thing, leave that one to Mythos(now CoDo) and the Gollop brothers.

[Wrath]

The only thing I'd really like to see is a save-loadout option!

You have different equipment settings for different types of missions, yet you still have to unload and load every single time, taking up a lot of time. It's really annoying! Really though, that's my only quarrel with the game right now besides bug fixings.

[demios]

I've allready posted this, but as a suggestion for mod add-up, but this, this is a different story

 

I hope u don't mind me saying this two times. ???

 

You have to consider I havent finshed the game yet nor tried out any of the modes so correct me if weapon/armor/property allready exists. Thanx.

 

Is it possible to add new insterceptor (e.g. Su-37, Mig-29,f-24 Raptor, some kind of a spy plane to discover alien bases or surveilance satellite for tracking UFOs that are out of radar range).

And definetly, equip interceptor like in UFO3: Apocalypse. I like the idea of chopper actually landing down to battlefield. Also some kind of deployable mortar with which you could target an area at your choice and when u fire the weapon you wait for e.g. 5 secs for grenade to fall from the sky. And definetly binoculars, it's silly to go to tactical mission w/o one of them (you could search area /w it and soldiers /w better observation ability could spot enemy on greater distances), the idea of female solds being more stealth, and able to hide behind trees is also good. I think the aliens shouldn't be able to posses some of human's newest weapons because they have no way of aquiring it, unless they capture base or research center and steel tech, or (if UFO is nearby) they down your chopper and take the weapons . Basicly i'd like this game not to go too far with weapon types (nail guns are too much, this ain't Quake) and should be as realistic as possible. About tact. nuke, I think the idea is good, but radiation should remain during entire mission, and maps should be bigger and terrain and foliage more abundant in types. I don't miss too much base managment as in UFO 1/2/3. Windows on main screen for listing current missions and UFOs are great idea, 5 time speed settings, PSI tab in weapons section, silencer(i know this presents a technical problem), maybe some kind of deployable bunker for 1 or 2 persons (which could be destroyed /w dircet hit from some kind of grenade thrower or so). And if chopper lands, it should have some 30mm cannon in front that could be used but only in an area in front of the chopper some 30 degrees in total and would need 1 soldier to operate it. Also lying position is needed ! Sold. must be able to throw bombs from that position (deecresed range and accuracy of throwing by 1/3). And some kind of AA baterries taht u could manufacture or capture in some sort of "secure outpost point" mission. then u would be able to spread them accros ur teritory (you'd have small number of them; e.g. for every 10 bases u get 3-5 "outposts - deployable anywhere in your zone of control). That's just for now. See ya.

And guys tell me what you think of this?

[ziggy5540]

What would I like to see in an expantion for this game...

The game has SO much potential, and they did an awsome job with the game that we have. The release of the Official Mod pack is a step in the right direction. The game doesnt have enough publisity though, and perhaps a full fledged sequil would be better than forcing people to find a copy of the original to play the add on.

I live in Canada and read lots of Game Magazines and check all the web sites regularaly but I almost missed this game compleetly. For this game to be more succesful all it really needs is better advertising. The game is great, and if you play it you will love it. You just need to know about it first.

So back to the topic, I would like to see it NOT require the original to play, and be better advertised first and formost.

As for gameplay...

The game needs more veriety, but not too much. More "different" creatures, not just different looking. Maybe some stationary ones that are the size of entire buildings.

More veriety in the wepons you can use, the game did an awsome job with all the human wepons, but again, not much veriety. Lots of the pistols were not very different. And there were not enough heavy wepons. I loved the mobile turits (after the v1.3 patch) and more of that kind of thing would be awsome.

I would love to see vehicles, but for that to work well, the maps need to be bigger. maybe having them too big for you when you dont have vehicles.

The E3 Trailer shows the Helecopter fly over and the men drop down, if you could impliment that, you could add LOTS of veriety. Like chose where you drop your troups... maybe call in reinforcments and the possability of loosing one of your choppers. This would also solve the problem of maps getting too big.

More vehicles on the Stratagy map would be nice. It gets too boring otherwise.

More R&D is a must, and of course better tutorial stuff would be needed for this game to be more main stream. Its not too difficult of a game to play if you know what you are doing, and keeping that true while adding veriety would be a chalange.

I think you could do so much more with the charecter development and still keep it simple. You might have to make some major changes to it though. Seperate the wepon stuff from the psi stuff and then put all the other stuff together. And Make then add abilities. PSI ones and Wepon ones. Maybe change the training a bit too, make it more specialized. Like train with a particualr wepon class (something you should add more of by the way, like maybe add a whole new alien wepon class and maybe seperate the pistols and semi automatics, shotguns and assult rifles and sniper rifles, launchers and heavey wepons, and so on and so forth, but only some, not all.

More choice in what you can bring on missions would be cool, like the whole android thing and the vehicle thing, but they would have compleetly different charecter development than humans, and that might make it too complicated, as does the seperation of all the wepons. Bit if you can keep it simple enough that anyone can play then by all means. The ability to customize vehicles would be cool, like you could have a general hum-v and switch up the armour or the wepons on it. And do that too your chopper and your plains.

A big thing I missed from the old games was the ability to build your base, and something I wish they did in the original with it is alow you to place your men befor you go into the battle at them (you did have time to prepair). Also in your storage room, you didnt have the equipment you should have in them.

This may seem like alot for an expantion pack, but really its not, its just detailed.

Oh, and if they could add some multi-player aspects and maybe even twist the game around and make you the aliens, that would be cool.

Like I said though, this game has SO much potential, and with so little compatition in the ganre you could change so much and still have a great game.

[ziggy5540]

I compleetly forgot about the story lol

Well I hinted at it in the end, twist the story around and be the aliens is one option, and play the same game as the original.

Or you could do the whole attack their home planet thing, and it would play very similar due to the small start and need to expand your terretory in a new land.

Or you could play a different angle all together with a prequil kind of thing, and have it be the first wave deffence (but with that you are destined to lose lol)... or you could play the initial attack as the aliens.

Then there is the whole twist the story half way, and make the ending of the first game not were the game would play from. Have it maybe as the aliens won on earth, but the few people you had with you when you left the planet were not effected by it... like a compleet bio mass take over, and now your planet is covered in it, even the water... hmm... maybe you could play from under the bio mass... a new take on the tftd anyone?

I supose they would have to keep it in line with the story as it is, unless they want to make a whole new game with a similar engine... Alien vs Preditor anyone?

But this games story has FAR less potential than the game engine itself, witch is why I think Mod Tools are a vital part to this game, and to expand on them would be a great alternative to a true expantion.

If they wanted they could do kinda like the sims and just add new elements to the game engine without changeing the story at all, and if they wanted almost remove the forced story that is there right now. I would like to see something alowing us to make our own modles in this game... why cant they release a program of their own? (I know its alot of work, but if they are not making a new UFO game, why not make that?)

[MFA101]

Ok this might sound stupid, but one thing i REALLY miss, landing your transport, cant remember if you could pick your LZ but actuly having to move out of the craft and take up defensive possitions was key if you wanted to get off the plane without being turned to pate... one thing i would like if not having buildings you can enter, how aobut ones you can get on top off, so many times ive wished to put my sniper on a roof and cant.

 

simple things, but hey, it would be nice

[BlackAlmaz]

maybe we can...i'm trying to find out...why i can get on some things and not on others....if anyone can figure this out....i will make some stairs...and maybe animation...whena 3d studio max plugin is made

[Haryon]

What I would add ?

- Tanks/Robots/Drones.

However it's done, all I need is units which I can sacrifice (use to scout out, get in sight of aliens for psi, to attract aliens awareness somewhere else than where my men are). It's a pain to reload when your best men die.

 

- better heavy armors

the idea of heavy armor or collapsible mass-damage weapons is very good. But it's hardly usable.

--- Heavy armors with higher protection rate

--- Button to predeploy a weapon, waiting for those aliens to get in sight

--- Collapsible Shield. Like Police Squads, they got that metal shield, they need to put down, then they can rocket throw, or fire from the sides with addition protection for when they are in corridors nowhere to hide. could be nice for outside missions.

 

- very different types of missions

Right now missions differs mosly on : whether it's reticulan or transgenant (psi effective or not) and how many of them there are. I wish I could make 2 or 3 different teams, each best adequate for different type of missions.

--- Terror missions (like in XCOM1, aliens or mass of transgenant ride a city, you must kill danger before too many civilian dies - extra experience, manufacturing boost, "weapon cache", or new recruits and of course increase of 'presence' in the area, would be gained with lowest civilian casualities). Best with speed people, and no colateral-damage weapons (rockets and such would always be a risk for civilian)

--- Defend site/city. Non-base setting, with having aliens arrive by one side, trying to reach and destroy a specific objective. Such missions would better use Heavy Armor Heavy Weaponery squads.

--- Sabotage. Destroy some alien installations (a site where they plan on building a base for example) or assassinate some earth politician pacting with aliens, and leaking info out. Would be best with stealth units, snipers and such.

--- Biomasse burning (like one proposed above). Would require flame throwers.

--- Ability to flag units, and show/hide units based on flags. Use in 2 ways. First way would be to easily select my team for Defense Missions. Second way would be to easily find a Sniper to replace my injured one in my current squad.

 

- better stealth options

--- camouflage armors (say, we have studied reticulan or transgenant 'eyes' and we realise they do not use sight, but thermic or bat-like vision, then we could imagine light armors which cools up or absorbs sonar waves, making the unit way better in stealth).

--- Dropable/Throwable Motion Sensor. They would act as if you still had a unit where the sensor is (you spot hostile), would require a high observation skill to be detected (and only then they could be destroyed/disarmed).

 

- Armor Customization/Enhancement (Helmets and more)

Psi helmet were a good idea, you could choose extra normal defense, or extra psi defense. But most armor simply don't use helms. What about you provide each time of armor with custom parts that can affect either the soldier stats, or give new features. Light/Combat armors with accuracy visors for better marksmanship, or gas filtering helm to protect from sleeping gas aliens would throw at us, or psi protection helmet, ... Or heavy armors with rocketbackpack to allow 'floating over ground' (able to move over water or over 'holes', to walk on step parts of cliff or ship and such. no need for levels like in xcom 1), or with shoulder guns (they would fire at whoever you fire with your weapon for additionnal damage), or extra-powerback (a kind of engine that would help you move the armor around, so allow you a slight better speed). Life Watcher mecanism, that would teleport unconcious bodies back to a safe place (either landing area, but it's not safe, or to the feet of one of the soldiers of your choice) etc. (basically, work on different helms for light armors, and different back engines/systems for heavy armors).

 

- Proximity grenades

Designed to kill or paralyse. Would need observation skill to detect when on ground. Could be dispatched from range but only with some specific type of damage (rockets would work, but soft not, laser or warp would, but not plasma, or whatever, let us be able to remove the one aliens but down in their ships without being too easy for aliens to remove ours).

 

- Enhanced info about upcoming missions/interceptions

Research tree nodes (Transgenant Signature, Observation Satelite, Very fast scout planes) so that we can get extra info about what's coming up in the mission, what type of transgenant, how heavy reticulan weapons seems to be, how large the hostile is etc. Would help us pick the best team to send out.

Langage Decoder would give hints on ufo mission goal like in xcom1.

 

- Better influence on how Earth coverage develops

I find it painful to have to wait for a mission in biomass. Why can I simply go install or capture a base near the biomass. When I lose presence over some area (yellow/orange outlines) why can't i order my planes to patrol the area ? Same, when I need to find area 51 or russian base, why do I simply need to wait ? Why can't I send a ship there and seek ?

--- Ability to send out scout planes/chopers to spot missions in specific areas.

 

- Better interception customization.

Different types of interceptor, I pick which type I send every time I need to intercept a ufo : speed light weapon fighters (to catch those observation ufo), heavy weapon slow heavy armored fighters (for base and battleships), stealthy planes to follow ufo ships and find out alien bases and outposts ("we have detected a ufo returning to base" -> send stealth scouts, find out their outpost, raze it).

 

- Better glossary, r&d screens

--- I wish I would very quickly see what a transgenant is vulnerable to/protected from.

--- I wish I wouldn't have to look thru the whole list of developped techs to find which one I just developped now (sometimes they don't appear selected)

--- result of research could leak into tactical combat, where I could select an alien or transgenant and get info on their weaknesses and weapons (you reckonize the weapons in this aliens hands as being a Plasma gun weapon).

 

- New weapons, weapon types, new equipment

--- Cryogenic weapon, that would paralyse while doing minimum damage

--- Multi-Ammo weapon, where burst/aim could be replaced with ammo selection (stun/kill wave weapons, or weapon that would save the pain of opening backpack and changing rifle everytime a new alien shows up)

--- Sound based weapons (would stun, easily get thru most armor, could break computer devices such as in some alien robots, or break a weapon or rather make it unusable for a few seconds)

--- Mini teleporters. single use device, one hand most probably, that allow you to jump a few squares.

 

- Misc improvements

--- ability to switch items without having to put down one to ground, move the other, take the one on ground back

--- ability to select armor on body in the squad screen to display stats, without having to replace it with cloths (esp good when you have only one bio armor!)

--- ability to shoot at controlled aliens to kill them. Btw, when alien control wears of, please make it that he is still visible if he was in sigh of my other soldiers (I hate when it disappear and shoot at me until my soldier suddenly realise it's time to succeed an observation roll and .. oh there is a guy just in the square in front of me.. grr)

--- geo mode, I want to click where appear the number of 'research' base I own, that would highligh all research base on the sphere (1 reseach base left ? how come, where the h... is it ? roll that sphere, roll it again, 2 mins later ah here.. )

--- better video when intercepting ufo. especially would be nice if a BASE ufo doesn't simply look like a laboratory ufo )

--- a button in geo to color areas based on presence, to better spot where it's going down, where it's going up, and where I need to act. Or give the presence rate and whether it's currently going up or down each time a missiong appear so I can better know whether I need to do the mission, or simply take the risk to delegate (would be good if we could somehow upgrade CoE troops, or make them more sucessfull, or simply if they success would be based on how strong my team is and my researches are).

 

that's all for now. that's already a lot to read, I know. sorry.

[little_me]

I think that space missions would be a good thing. Maybe also to be able to build bases on other planets or even solarsystems. This would make the strategic part of the game more intresting. I read alot of good ideas in this subject in this forum.

 

I would like to be able to change (or automate) my troops formation in the tactical game, make them spread out, move forward on a line or que.

 

In recearch and manufacturing: It would be a bit esier if everything was ordered in alfabetic order.

 

Sorry for my bad english, but I'm learning...

[Sectiod]

Something like a tripod Machine Gun that you dont need heavy armor for

More creature types

multiple squads in action at the same time (ie my elite going after alien base, the rookies get the clearance mission, while the squad in between gets a abandoned base)

an element of stealth

being able to manufacture things in batches (IE build 6 plasma rifles then build 12 hybrid power cells)

Customizable equipment (can make one plasma rifle a sniper version, while another is automatic, gls on rifles etc)

controllable vehicles that is found in/needed in the mission (IE a hummer that has a piece of high tech stuff in it)

Diplomacy, striking deals with the other humans

A hold the fort mission, against, say, a horde of chompers against the walls of a base

more story missions

make it so that when your base is under attack due to losing presence, transies and not recties attack (that happened before my guys got anything better than uzis and shotties *eek*)

ehhh Ill think of more later

[Cunctator]

I know that some of the things I'm going to mention are already included in some mods, but it won't hurt to include them in original version.

 

There are things I would personally like to see the same way they are now and those are:

 

1. The lack of tanks and weapon platforms. In squad based tactical games tanks come in two varieties - totally useless (see X-COM: UFO Defense and X-COM: Terror from the Deep) or totally overpowered (Silent Storm). In the first case it just takes research time, in the second it unbalances the game too much.

 

2. Idea of various bases and no base building, like in X-COM. (I mean, in XCOM you were part of an organization that expands its power and BUILDS new bases. In UFOAM you CAPTURE them and have time only to make some minor changes).

 

Things I'd like to change:

 

1. Add cloaking devices/armors whatever, so that the scouting missions would really be scouting missions.

 

2. You see only the parts of the research tree you have researched or ready to research. (Kind of annoying to see names and amount of aliens you are going to face )

 

3. Machineguns would be nice (normal ones, like M60 or RPD, not ueber powered gattling guns)

 

4. Silenced weapons (with less damage/lower rate of fire, but their fire will less likely attract other alien attention - would be great for scouting or base attack missions)

 

5. NORMAL Flamethrowers, I mean their range was some 30-50 meters already in WWII and the technology has advanced (although no armies use them in regular battles anymore).

 

6. Personal shields like aliens have. It would be nice to see your men in normal human armor BUILT from alien materials with shields etc. and not the ALIEN looking tights.

 

7. Adding morale would be nice. It was really fun to see your Terminators panicking when they were controlled/uncontrolled by aliens.

 

8. It would be nice if you really had to defend your base, not clear out the aliens that have already breached the perimeter. I mean why aliens always get the chance to fight my squad above ground, but I don't.

 

9. Special skill Machineguns/Heavy weapons or whatever the name that is required to use MG's and Collapsible weapons etc. Leaving Marksmanship only to snipers and Launchers to bombardiers.

 

10. It would be nice if you could enter the buildings, but seeing how large the mission areas are and how long it takes already to find a sole alien in it would probably be best if you could just climb on rooftops, crates, various other objects. It could give your snipers (and the alien ones too) advantage in spotting enemies (and make you even more cautious when fighting in urban or mountain areas)

 

11. Various ammunition - explosive, incendiary, armor piercing etc.

 

12. Several choppers, so that you can send two or more squads on missions at the same time (I mean I finished my game with a 6 men team of super soldiers and about 10 losers who took part only when they had to replace a wounded soldier - makes the idea of recruiting new soldiers quite useless after you have full team).

 

13. Better AI - aliens make ambushes (I mean, why don't they ever wait around the corner with all available firepower ready), use grenades and cover etc.

 

14. More mission with specific objectives - scouting missions (seeing every alien without setting off the alarm), defense missions (defending a specific object), more gather information missions (like area 51), bombing missions (blow up specific objectives), patrols (you send a chopper to patrol some territory and get a mission if he sees any aliens), rescue special characters (rescue of a scientist adds to research speed, engineer to production etc.), missions to capture a specific type of alien (like: capture a living baloonfish), place bugs/cameras in different places (to monitor alien movement around and in their bases and crafts etc.)