TFTD Fanfic Discussion

[uriaheep]

We could do with someone keeping some kind of timescale - so that we know how long has passed for research etc.

 

I want Milne to work on a couple of other ideas but it's hard to know how long each item will take without knowing the date.

 

......... or am I getting to deep here?

[The Veteran]

No I entirely agree Uria... At the moment it's late afternoon/early evening January 1st 2040. We need to make sure we continue to reference this so we know. Simple things can do this...

 

If the time of your post is very close or simultaneous to the time of the post before you then don't mention any time or time change, or alternatively link the posts with a 'meanwhile' or 'elsewhere' or something more creative!

 

If it's dawn or dusk then that only takes a few words to say! It was dawn/dusk... How easy is that?

 

Now currently, it's Sunday. And yes that is a fact, 1st Jan 2040 is a Sunday so that's exactly where we are. Say 7pm, Sunday 1st January 2040!

 

Now we don't want or need that in every post so we won't have it, but if a day has passed then just say something simple like 'the next morning' or point out the sunrise, even something like having a character say 'I don't like monday's' is easy enough!

 

Anyway let it run a few more posts and just stick to those simple little rules... See how it goes and if anything's a bit dodgy I'll point it out and we can do something about it

[uriaheep]

I've just come off the Ethics string and I can't believe how much posting is going on there. It's all good stuff too. Don't forget the story chaps!

 

I can see a problem with the Ethics Committee though, somewhere along the way a decision has to be taken and unless the committee is brought to a vote then in the future we could get bogged down with red tape.

 

We need someone to Chair so that it doesn't take too long, someone to take the role of the Commodore. someone to take the role of the UN and someone to take another role, maybe other world leaders or another X-Com official.

[Zager]

Hey, here's a suggestion. Given that the general plot of TFTD is based off of Cthulhu Mythos, how about we add some Greek legends too? What I'm saying is that let's have the refined state of Zrbite be that of coppery beads that glisten like red fire. I'm referring, of course, to Orichalcum from Plato's writings on Atlantis.

[The Veteran]

Go for it Zag! It's all Greek to me anyway...

[Accounting Troll]

Some of the underwater missions take place in Atlantis style sunken cities, so it would be a nice touch. One little word of warning though: if Atlantis had been destroyed by the TFTD aliens, they would have finished the job at the time, and not gone back to bed for the next 10,000 years while humanity rebuilt.

 

I don't mind being the UN representative in the ethics thread if nobody objects. Don't forget that the purpose of the ethics thread is so that everybody interested in the TFTD story can chip in and help to hammer out a compromise that most of our characters and the UN will be able to live with. When the debate comes up in the story, the chances are that only a few X-Com personnel are going to be involved, however the person who write it up is going to be able to avoid misintrepreting some of the characters or coming up with a solution half of us hate.

 

When the commodore gives her view in the ethical discussion thread, those are just her personal views and not her telling everybody "Do it this way or I have the lot of you busted down to the rank of powder monkey and then keelhauled". I figure that even she is politically astute enough not to want to upset both the UN and her entire staff on her first day

[Gimli]

Clueless questions (sorry, I don't have time to read the fanfic right now, there's too much of it, and too little time): Would it be possible that the underwater ruins were cities of Gillmen? That would also leave you an open path of what to do with Atlantis, in case you wanted to include it. It could be built by anyone, since it has no clear background (even X-COM).

 

Also, a game that covers Atlantis nicely is of course Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, one of the old Lucas Arts games. I highly recommend the game, both for the gameplay and Atlantis of course.

 

Finally, if you want to include Greek mythology (can easily be fit in), be sure to read about the "Battle of the gods" (or whatever it's called in english). The story is about the beginings of the world when Zeus fought Chronos (== time). Now if the book I have, called "Myths of the old Greece", is correct (and most stories correlate for the most part), there are several interesting things in that battle, giving you extra material to work with. Pay attention while reading to the part where it mentions that during the battle Zeus (i think it was him) threw thunders and caves of all things at his enemies. Now normally, thunders wouldn't bother me, but caves did a year or so ago, when I last read that story. Then I figured it out. Notice that North American Indians reffered to rifles as "staff which thunders" and similar names, because they did not know what it was. So let's assume for a second that the Greek writer actually witnessed the battle, and that he also invented a name for the "caves" being unable to understand the complex technology. This gives you a great opportunity to introduce aliens - the evil bunch we know or Ascidians or some other aliens or heck why not humans from the future? For the rest use the material from the myths and your imagination. I know that when I get to write my own fanfic finally, I'll include it.

 

While we're at the myths, if you guys have time, you could research other mythologies as well. Not only will you read extremely interesting history (unlike history taught at school, I expect this will keep you glued to the books), you have an opportunity to link all those together into the X-COM universe, which would not only make the story far more xomplex and interesting, but I dare say it could be a far more firm world than any other fantasy world I know of (maybe even Tolkien's or the one from Star Trek, for example). Of course, if you do it right.

 

Of the top of my head, I would suggest Egyptian, Greek, Nordic, Slav, Chinese and Celtic mythology, as well as South American Indians (now that is very interesting). Just use the basic formula I gave you (high tech thought to be magic and special powers). There is a bit of a problem with Egypt though, sicne it is already mentioned in UFO (the scene where the alien brain tells you about the pyramids), the problem is, if you want to do something else, you'd be going against it, which would make it inconsistent. Of course, you could always rewrite what the alien brain said, or even better (what I would do) simply say that the alien brain was lying (for an xy reason).

 

I'm done.

 

Edit: Ugh, this is too long. Oh well, your problem, hehe.

[uriaheep]

I'm happy with that AT, I rekon I could do the chair if no one objects 'cos most of the stuff on the Ethics page is comepletely over my head. Greeks indeed, Atlantis? What next, a mention of Star Trek? ....... Ooops, no that's there too.

 

Vet, you need to take a role in this too. Zag? Anyone else? ......... times ticking.

[Zager]

Also, a game that covers Atlantis nicely is of course Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, one of the old Lucas Arts games. I highly recommend the game, both for the gameplay and Atlantis of course.

 

That's where my idea came from, actually. I like the idea of having Atlantis being originally inhabitated by Gillmen, who were then enslaved by the aliens.

 

While we're at the myths, if you guys have time, you could research other mythologies as well.

 

One thing we could have is Lovecraft being a latent psionic who had unconciously tapped into the aliens MC network, resulting in bizare dreams which would serve as the basis for his stories.

 

Greeks indeed, Atlantis? What

 

What's your problem with it? It fits nicely into the plotline established by the series.

[The Veteran]

I'm happy to take a role in the ethics debate bt I don' want it t take over thfc to much t the end o t day, the fanfics exist in such a wa hat each postr canmake a deision themselves, wih no prior disussio. Tat what makes it copeative!

 

If someone makes an error of judement and people are unhappy with a decision made in the fic then it comes to discussion and its sorted. I understand how the ethics topic works and why we have it, it's nice to be able to bring people into the discussion who aren't actively involved in the fic. That doesn't get the story moved along mind...

 

All that said, I think the best place for me in the ethics topic would be as the moderator that I am. I'll play Gamesmaster... Dungeonkeeper... Whatever you want to call it, I'll be there with my own views and opinions but at a certain point I'll also be there to say when. Hopefully that way the fic won't get bogged down with unnecessary political debates and whatnot.

 

If anyone can foresee a post that may involve something of debate then please try and post it in the ethics thread as soon as you can. If you don't think of it as a problem, or simply don't think of it in time, then just post and we'll decide as a group if it's a bit much, a bit out of character or my favourite, downright heroic!

 

As far as the mythology debate goes, just remember that this is an XCom forum, not a Greek one. Everyone here is an expert in their field but not many of us specialise in mythology of any kind! I appreciate the input and any references that may be made are all well and good but if any posts start springing up with 500 word tangents they will most likely be deleted!

 

Atlantis landscapes are also an interesting point of conversation... They clearly aren't alien constructions so they must be ancient human civilisations, or Gillmen as Zager said... That makes most sense as then we needn't worry about history books and what happened how and why etc. Aquatic species building aquatic cities is fair enough after all!

 

All I will say is that personally I feel the actual Atlantis should be left as a myth... I know there are genuine historical references and proof of such sunken cities in certain places but these are small time and mostly result from tectonic activity. Atlantis is a much more hard-core reference and I really don't think TFTD should touch it with a barge pole!

 

Also when we get to the sunken city terrain, I don't think XCom should be making any kind of guesses at what they are or where they came from... Something that's becoming a recurring theme in this fic already is that the aquanauts keep hitting on things they should not know! For example, we've already 'guessed' that these aliens are using sonic weaponry... I know we have techies among us but lets not ruin the R&D part of the fic completely. Yes, we know already but even so, the characters in the fic wouldn't. Not yet at least. So next time anyone thinks about writing in a too close to the truth aquanaut statement think again!

 

And one last thing... I know I post huge clumps of text in here and its really boring and you all have better things to do... But... Read every word! Because at the end of the day, if I say something that someone doesn't read and I see a post that contradicts that, its going to look like I've been ignored. Now personally I'm a big boy and I can deal with that! But I shouldn't have to. In the same way that I read everything you guys write, and all of your advice and input etc. that's all I ask in return. Everything runs smoother that way!

[Zager]

Atlantis is a much more hard-core reference

 

And Cthulhu isn't?

 

All I will say is that personally I feel the actual Atlantis should be left as a myth...

 

Why? In real life, we know what Atlantis was. It was a story Plato made up based on the Thera erruption and the collapse of Minoan civilization. Anything else is just wild conspiracy theory. I say we make Atlantis the center of the Gillman civlization before, and at a pivotal moment, locate it and somehow use it to free the Gilmen from the aliens and form an alliance with them.

 

And on further note with Cthulhu Mythos, I say we have the workings of the Cult of Sirius resemble Lovecraftian cults, to further enhance the Cthulhu mythos connection. Sacrafices, strange rituals, direct contact and control by aliens, etc.

[Gimli]

Hmmm, I see my post made a bit of a hassle. Perhaps I should have been more clear. As The Veteran clearly states, all of those things are interesting, but they shouldn't be what the story of TFTD revolves around. It would be nicer if you just rubbed on these here and there (if at all). Personally, since the official story doesn't mention Atlantis or any similar things, I would leave it by the side, and just have the aquanauts take note of the ruins. I would think that X-COM doesn't have the time to look into these, since they have to focus on researching the aliens and their technology, and sidetracking too much could mean getting shut down? As a commander, I would be more prone to researching what directly seems to tie in with the aliens, with possible "mistakes", since you cannot possibly know what research will bring useful results, well, not all of it at least. Things that you see an effect of, would IMO be good candidates for research, like the alien weapons and their mysterious grenades.

Researching ruins seems to sidetrack too much from the aliens for the time being, which doesn't mean that X-COM couldn't figure it out some day, I'm thinking more of the time of Genesis or later, but not TFTD. Even then, I wouldn't make it pivotal to the plot, more as things that would make a clear picture of history of Earth, but not have much use out of it. Same as when the alien brain tells you about the pyramids, it's nice, but that's it, it doesn't give you an actual advantage, it just creates a more complete universe for you. As another example of this, had I written the official story of TFTD, I would have X-COM realise that T'Leth was in the Bermuda Triangle (rather than Gulf of Mexico, IIRC). This would be interesting, because it gives a solution to an age old problem, but that's all it does. So all of those would be just there to answer the questions we are bothered with since stone age, not to create a tangent on the official plot, so more of a small addendum to the story.

 

I hope I'm being more clear this time.

 

Let me point out that I'm completely clueless as to what you guys have in mind, it is your story, so do it your own way. It's just that I find all these things rather interesting, so I can't keep my mouth (keyboard?) shut. Since I'm not part of this fanfic, my opinion bears almost no significance, and even if I was, I wouldn't want to push it on others. But don't let me distract you, I'm just offering ideas that randomly pop into my head, but you guys know better.

 

Once again, excuse my ignorance of the topic.

[Zager]

Well, if Plato's writings are real in the game history, and we use Zbrite=Orchialcum, then there would be a massive quantity of Zrbite located in Atlantis, used primarily for ceremonial purposes and decoration. That would be something worth tracking down.

 

Hey, AT. Do you have IM? Think you'd be up for doing a joint post sometime on your recruiting guy recuiting Sato into X-COM?

[uriaheep]

My comments were just a bit of humour but I do agree with what Vet said.

 

I also think we are getting too bogged down with future issues.

 

Let's get it running and see where it goes.

[Accounting Troll]

X-Com would probably initially assume that the sunken cities were coastal cities built by humans during the last ice age, and then submerged when the sea levels rose - a theory that is popular among archaeologists. I agree with Gimli's argument that X-Com scientists should concentrate on researching the alien military technology and not going on an archaelogical dig. Remember that the UN would probably be putting pressure on X-Com to acheive a quick victory over the aliens. The Indiana Jones stuff (I might add that real archaeologists all have straggly beards, even if they are female) will have to wait until it can be justified to the commodore as more important than researching alien weapons and craft.

 

I don't advise having the Ascidians as players. They can't be that powerful by the 21st century or they wouldn't need X-Com's help against the aliens, even though they don't have any psionic abilities. Regarding the pyramids, either that was a lie by the alien brain when it was begging for its life (it was certainaly lying about cooperation) or both human and Ascidian civilizations were influenced by the aliens.

 

Regarding the comments about the squad making guesses about the alien technology, remember that they were recruited as scientists and engineers to scavenge sunken UFOs. It stands to reason that they would work out that the aliens must have adapted their technology for underwater use. Also, modern scientists are well aware of the potential destruction sound waves can cause, and the effect that intense sound waves of the right frequency can have on metals. It's therefore likely that the squad would work out that the aliens are using sonic weapons from the damage they cause, although they have no idea how the aliens manage to operate their devices or direct sound waves yet.

[Zager]

I'm not saying they should head out tommorow, but interrogations of captured Gill men should eventually give X-COM enough information about Atlantis that the expense of finding it can be justified, especially if it would lead X-COM towards more information about the alien threat.

 

Frankly, the path towards the endgame has always been a bit disappointing to me in X-COM. Just interrogate a couple of commanders, and you get what you need. I just think there should be a bit more to it. An arcehological expedition to Atlantis seems to be more fitting as one of the steps along the path towards T'Leth.

[The Veteran]

Reading the last few posts I do find the theory of Zrbite in Atlantis very interesting... T'Leth was a Martian colony ship, it would have been powered By Elerium, inert in water...

 

We already know that when T'Leth crashed on Earth the aliens were awoken for a short period of time. In this time they enslaved the Gillmen, captured some Hallucinoids and Xaarquids then pumped them full of drugs. They also constructed the Molecular Control Net at this time...

 

It stands to reason that they must also have developed certain new technologies to allow life to continue underwater. New weapons and propulsion systems...

 

The best solution to this would be the discovery of Atlantis, not as a sunken city but as an already aquatic city inhabited by the Gillmen. They used their newly constructed MC network to control the Gillmen who they then took back to T'leth for cryogenic freezing.

 

The Gillman civilisation was not as advanced as that of the aliens but there was an abundance of Zrbite, an element not found naturally on Mars. The aliens used this element to enable their craft to function underwater but when the iceage followed and communication had still not been re-established with the alien homeworld the city entered a cryogenic lockdown, only reawoken by the Tachyon pulse that resulted from the destruction of the alien base at Cydonia.

 

 

That's a very interesting tangent that could very easily be used in the fic contrary to the game itself. Every time XCom attends an Alien Artifact site and destroys a Synomium device there, the alien's control over the Gillmen will be weakened.

 

As a result, Gillman interrogations will begin to reveal more and more about their true origins. Eventually this will lead XCom to Atlantis, presumably a vast alien colony by this point, specialising in the supply of Zrbite for the alien submarine fleet.

 

More input on this would be very interesting...

[Accounting Troll]

Liberating the Gillmen would raise the question of their fate by the time of Acopalypse. Maybe once they realise what the aliens have done to them, they will be delighted to learn that Earth has produced not one, but two intelligent races, and they will swear never to commit an act of violence against a human. This would prevent them from joining X-Com as it becomes more of a mercenary outfit in the years after AWII. They might well have a few ethnic restaurants in Mega-Primus - "authentic cretaceous cusine" could be as popular as Indian and Chinese food is in the modern UK.

 

It's ironic that the Gillmen might find it easier to intergrate into human society than the hybrids. The Gillmen would carry the fascination of being a liberated intelligent race from the age of the dinosaurs, wheras the sight of a hybrid would be a disturbing reminder that the Sectoids might still be out there.

 

One problem woith zrbite: if it was created by the Gillmen, why did it become inert when the alien molecular control network shut down?

[uriaheep]

There are lots of historical instances of towns and cities 'falling into the sea'. Wasn't Port Royal one of these?

[The Veteran]

Dang, I forgot Zrbite died along with T'Leth... Maybe the aliens discovered the element in the Gillman civilisation but they had to develop it onboard T'Leth to activate it. That way, when the colony ship is destroyed, maybe the technology that activates the Zrbite would be lost too.

[Gimli]

Hmmm, well actually, you don't really have to have a problem with Gillmen in Apocalypse, because by that time, perhaps there was some kind of agreement that they would move to another planet... OR... even better, they rebuilt Atlantis, and made other underwater cities. They can't survive for very long out of the sea - enough for terror sites and such, but not for actual living, same as what you'll see mentioned about the aquatoids, in the official description (not sure if it was the autopsy or the live one). Thus you don't meet them in other games, and they can be added to the universe (in Genesis for example, or whenever you want to) without directly going against anything. Sure it would be a bit strange that they were never mentioned, but I think the theory holds the water.

 

I have a few questions, if they've been covered before, tell me, I don't have time to read much.

 

First, how do the aquanauts stand on the seabed? Is it possible in reality, or do they use special equipment in the game? While we're at the topic, what about movement, clearly, the aliens look to be built for water movement, so they would have a heavy advantage against X-COM? On the other hand, if your standard aqaunauts when you hire them are equal to the highly trained ones from UFO... that would explain some things, but at the end of the game, would you then have some super developed humans, and how would this affect them and the world, etc?

Second, this involves a bit of physics: can you hear the alien weapon sounds? Now it clearly says in the game that ultrasonic waves are beyond human scope (which they are, of course), so how come you can hear them? If someone remembers physics, does the frequency of a wave change when bouncing off objects? Frequency does determine whether or not you'll hear sounds, and I do remember that for waves in general, for some case the frequency doesn't change, only velocity and wavelength. However, I'm not sure if it's for the case when the wave is changing the media (air, water, etc.), or something else.

Third, what about some of the tactics you use in the game? Here I'm primarily thinking of the "lay weapons" when fighting tasoths and such, and something I'm not sure about: if you go on a terror site, and immediately abort, will you lose less rating points, than if you had not gone there at all?

Fourth, have you covered the more graphic parts, such as tearing limbs? I hear that in reality scientists have managed to make it possible to have all organs (except the brain) regrow on mice when damaged via genetics, so if you tore a leg off a mouse, it would grow back on its own. Since I heard of this last year, I think it would actually be possible for it to happen even during the UFO events (X-COM would benefit greatly from such research in reality), not to mention TFTD, by the time of which I think it actually might already happen with humans, the way science and technology is moving forward.

 

Final question, which is something I'm more interested for myself actually: Is it mentioned anywhere in the official MicroProse documents where the colony ship came from? Meaning, is Mars anywhere explicitly mentioned, or implicitly, but with no room for another solution? Becausem all I've found was "their stellar cousins" which can mean more than one thing, if you assume that the aliens in UFO don't make all of their race, but perhaps just a colony or something of the sort (seems to fit in with Apoc, Interceptor as well as Genesis and Alliance)?

 

Before finishing this post, I noticed your reply, Vet, so to offer the solution I was going to use: Zrbite is actually Elerium mixed with Gold (it's mentioned in the game that it's gold plus something). Now as you know, Elerium is inert underwater, so perhaps the Sleeper is keeping it active thorugh it's mental powers, and when it dies, so does Zrbite. That opens another problem, how did the Gill men prevent it, if they lived underwater? Well, maybe they had some sort of technology to "encase" it, so to speak, I'm think of something along the lines of gold pressed latinum, you ST fans should know what I'm talking about here. Not sure if that was the purpose of gold for latinumm though, but it doesn't matter.

[The Veteran]

On Gillmen...

It is a bit of a problem with the storyline we're currently discussing that we would still be left with Gillmen after the war, but this may have been the case anyway thinking logically. My take on it would be this... In AW1, the aliens that were psionically controlled, Reapers, Mutons, Cryssalids etc, all died when the alien brain went down. That was due to the brain being the sole focus of the entire alien hierarchy from Mars. We know there were other brains however, controlling different troops, these would have survived, on Phobos for example. The difference with Gillmen is that they can be explained as controlled by the MC grid, not the Great Sleeper. When the Sleeper is killed, the aliens on earth will all die with it. The Hallucinoids, Xarquids and Gillmen however are not psionically controlled. They will live on, though probably in small numbers. That's my opinion at least!

 

On Aquanauts...

The aquanauts are simply too heavy to allow them to swim or float, that's how they walk on the seabed. Of course if the water is too deep then this becomes impossible but in these situations XCom will find itself unable to attend the mission in any case. The aquanauts XCom is fielding at the moment are nothing like the best of the best in the UFO fic, they're mostly soldiers by necessity, not by choice. In later instalments we will be seeing some genuine soldiers, SWAT, divers what have you. At the end of the fic, I don't understand what you mean about superhumans... Everyone who's been diving for XCom will inevitably have become stronger, faster and more capable of operating underwater but they're still only people... Besides, I won't spoil it for people who don't know, but lets just say whoever doesn't go to T'Leth for the final mission is lucky!

 

On sonic weapons...

We need Zager for this but I imagine the only sound and sight from these weapons will be the disturbance of the water between shooter and target. The soundwave will vibrate the water molecules at some extreme rates and push straight through to its target. We'll see and hear a lot of sloshing and bubbling! Not very scientific, but it's the best I can do!

 

On tactics...

Not sure what you mean with 'lay weapons' but as for terror sites and the like te fanfic will ignore most of the games scoring system. The bonus of having human writers is that we decide how the outcome of each mission affects things like morale, funding, public feeling towards XCom and all sorts of other things that the game doesn't even include!

 

On wounding...

I wrote a section in the Apocalypse fanfic to put an end to my character's saga in there... I have a sniper in that fic who lost his eyes in an explosion. He blatantly refused to have any mechanical replacements due to his job and his pride so he found an illegal surgeon in the slums who used his own tissue to create a clone of his eyes but obviously without the damage. This is 2080 so forty years ahead of current fic time but by then anything is possible. At some point, we will have people in TFTD sustaining rather serious injuries and we'll think of a way to heal them if possible. While regrowing of limbs may be a scientific possibility, especially in thirty years, we should probably try to avoid that extremity if at all possible. Test tube organs and cloning procedures sound far more acceptable than simply regrowing a lost appendage in my opinion.

 

On T'Leth...

I know exactly where T'Leth came from because I'm special! But that's another story I'm afraid... And because its another story, I'm not going to tell you! So I suggest you head over to the new Colonisation forum here and fish for some clues!

 

On Zrbite...

Simple solution is that the Gillmen didn't actually use the Zrbite for anything. Or at least if they did it wasn't to power flying submarines! The Gillmen are simple, happy creatures before the aliens turn up. They have no need for what humanity strives for in millenia to come. Eat to survive and swim for fun seems to be the jist of it! I tend to think of the gillmen as a kind of child-like race. They don't have war, work or industry, just the ever present cycle of life. I think Zrbite as found in the Gillmen's possesion would be more akin to our jewelery materials than our fuels. More like gold than oil... Simply valued because of its appearance and utilised because of its abundance.

 

 

As always, input, opinions, etc...

[Zager]

Here's a possible solution for Zrbite: The base alloy is worthless as a power source, only being used as a decorative metal by the Gill men (as noted in Plato's description of the use of Orichalcum), until the aliens arrived. Infusing Zrbite with a certain alien bio-material that is activated by the MC network controlled by T'Leth gives it the capability to sreve as a highly effective power source in a refined state.

[Gimli]

The Hallucinoids, Xarquids and Gillmen however are not psionically controlled. They will live on, though probably in small numbers. That's my opinion at least!

 

This is interesting, and you've just found another one of those questions that have never been officially answered. Now my first question is, how intelligent are Xarquids and Hallucinoids? And what would be their fate after TFTD if they are? If they're not, I would assume they would continue their simple life cycle, not interfering with humans? Although, I have never witnessed a Xarquid attack (not even on T'Leth ), so I don't even kow what they do? I mean, having a ranged attack might make them worthwhile for research later on? But I stray again...

 

As for aquanauts, what I meant was, under water normal humans have a hard time moving at all. But the aliens are built for water movement, much like our own sea creatures (fish, dolphins, octopuses and the like), so compared to assuming a human has, say... 60 TUs, an alien would have 4-5 times more. Which is why I mentioned the level of trained UFO ones (obviously you can't use the ones from there). They have progressed much beyond a normal soldier, and when put underwater, they would be set back to the level of a Seaman aquanaut. But by the time of T'Leth (assuming they don't go) they would be so good that when fighting on normal soil, they would be a few times better than even the best normal soldiers... hmmm, which brings up another question, what about the differences between fighting underwater and on terror sites?

Now none of these have to be too realistic as far as I'm concerned, I just want to point these out in case a problem is arises later on.

 

I forgot to explain the sonic weapons further, not hearing them would be a set back for X-COM, because unless they could see the shots, well they wouldn't know they're being fired upon. Again, I'm not sure how this would work physically, so maybe there is no problem at all.

 

By lay weapons I mean the tactic when you drop the weapons at the end of the turn to prevent the aliens from MCing your soldiers and tehn using them shoot your own soldiers.

[uriaheep]

One explanation for the parity of TU's between Aquanauts and the divers may be quite simple. True the aliens are developed for life underwater but they are still humanoid. Related to similar types that walk on land. Dolphins are quite removed from human physiology an are designed for speedy movement through water. While ever the aliens have humanoid form they will have the same problems of movement if not buoyancy.

 

A passing note on this: Quick walking movement cannot be achieved underwater, even when leaning over at a severe angle, you simply fall over. I have considered this and intended to bring an 'assister' into the suits of the divers during the story.

 

On the weapon sounds, sound travels very well under the sea but if the sonic wave from the alien weapon was silent, no matter how much disturbance it made in the water molecules it is doubtful you would hear anything. I suspect the easiest way to solve the problem of sound is to consider that though the deadly wave emitted from the weapon has no sound, the technology to fire it does. IE, a ball from a cannon makes very little sound but the cannon creates a great deal.