Idea: Common sense (humans)

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lamefun
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Idea: Common sense (humans)

Post by lamefun »

There are too many obvious inconvenient questions, they need answers! This topic contains some story and gameplay proposals.

Q: Why do humans all look the same?

They're clones.

Q: What is the point of credits going to another clone when some clone dies?

The paranormal investigators were right and the skeptics were wrong: it turned out that out-of-body experiences (ODEs) are real after all! Some select human minds can survive without a body for a limited amount of time before either dissipating or passing on into the afterlife (no one really knows).

This was discovered when the bio-engineers have finally found a way to stop the physical aging of the body. However, as the time passed, it become apparent that everybody who underwent the treatment mysteriously becomes brain-dead at the ages 140-160. Further investigations have discovered that the mind is not an entirely physical system and has its own limits.

Anyway, the scientists have figured out how to stabilize disembodied minds and how to put them into new bodies, but are yet to figure out what exactly makes some minds capable of clinging to this world for a few minutes without a functioning brain.

The telenodes and the bodies of the clones have built-in mechanisms that keep the nearby disembodied minds alive.

This is why the humans are afraid for their credits and their telenodes but not their bodies.

Q: Why are there so many troops put on the battlefield without an adequate training?

Because the Unvanquished fighting force is very short on troops. It's very rare for a human mind to be able survive long enough after the death the body to be stabilized. This trait is so uncommon that the skeptics have been dismissing ODEs as a myth for a very long time. This is why they send new recruits on missions as soon as possible.

Q: Why are there both male and female clones? Why aren't they asexual?

It was found out that it takes time for a mind to fully adapt to a body of the opposite sex or a asexual body and time is of the essence in the war with aliens.

Q: Why do basic weapons (shotgun, sniper rifle) cost money while the basic clone bodies are free?

The logistical bottleneck of the alien war is not the availability of resources, but the availability of experienced soldiers. The life expectancy of an Unvanquished troop is too low to live through enough alien encounters to get any significant battle experience without the mind transfer technology.

And since the minds that can be transferred are so rare, it's important that they learn to fight as quickly as possible. The credit system has been devised just for that.

The less-experienced troops are given less powerful weapons and less armor, so they are forced to actually practice their combat skills.

Although the pain receptors of the clone bodies have been modified to limit the maximum possible pain intensity (so that the minds are not traumatized to the point of no longer being capable of fighting by the first few clashes), getting a chunk of your flesh ripped off is still not a very pleasant experience, so there's more than enough motivation to learn.

Q: Why can humans take multiple rifle shots to the head and not die?

This should be fixed IMO. This takes away the need to be careful with your weapons and makes the game look less like a futuristic military mission simulator and more like a futuristic blood sport simulator where the humans are given joke weapons.

Q: Why can humans only wear some fixed sets of equipment? Can't one sacrifice some clips to carry an extra grenade for example?

What about a modified UFO:AI inventory system?

There should be 5 thing types: armor, backpack, large item, medium item and small item. Every piece of equipment should have a weight.

  • Large items: primary weapons.
  • Medium items: secondary weapons, medkits.
  • Small items: weapon magazines, grenades.

A human should have 3 discrete encumbrance states: not encumbered (e.g. <20% load), somewhat encumbered (e.g. 20% to 60% load), very encumbered (e.g. 60% to 100% load). These should correspond to stamina consumption rates.

There should be 3 types of bodies available that you can get.

  • Basic: a basic free body.
  • Strongman/strongwoman: costs credits, should have the same amount of stamina as the basic body but should be able to carry more weight.
  • Marathoner: costs credits, should have more stamina than the basic body, but should be as easily encumbered.

There should exist the following basic item slots:

  • 6 belt slots (small items only, 0.5 seconds to take an item out, 1 seconds to put an item in).
  • 1 holster (1 medium item or 2 small items, 1 second to take an item out, 1 seconds to put an item in).

A human should be able to buy a backpack with the following slots:

  • 2 medium slots (1 medium item or 2 small items).
  • 1 large slot (1 large item or 1 medium item or 3 small items).

To take items from a backpack the human should have to put the weapon down and take the backpack off.

Humans should be able to put items on the ground and give them to other humans.

It should be possible to save load-outs and to bind item types to keys.

Q: Why can't humans use their grenades properly? Why can't they throw them very far or cook them to hit the structures on the ceiling?

Here's my proposal: when you press a key that you have associated with a grenade type, the human takes a grenade of that type from the belt or the holster into his/her dominant hand while holding the weapon in the other hand. The left mouse button throws the grenade, the right mouse button rolls the grenade. Holding either mouse button cooks the grenade.

Of course, the grenades should be made less powerful, since you can carry a lot of them with the new inventory system.

Q: Why is the Lucifer cannon so badly designed?

It is an "open" design, and, as we all know, the human mind has a nasty quirk: whenever someone is working on "open"-source software or hardware, their critical thinking skills are severely diminished (often in subtle and treacherous ways) for some weird unexplainable reason (by the way, this is actually true and can be easily observed in the real world).

I still think that this should be addressed. I propose introducing Apple Blast™ - a cannon that is a well-designed, PROprietary version of the Lucifer cannon!

See, when the normal Lucifer cannon does not have enough ammo for a full 265 damage shot, it can keep that last charged shot stable indefinitely!

The reason for this is that once the cannon begins to charge a shot, the flow of plasma from the fuel cell to the cannon core can not be stopped without firing the shot. To work around this, the Apple cannon uses several small fuel cells instead of one large one. This decision is not without drawbacks: the Apple cannon only holds 7 cells (due to practical weight constraints) and if you don't fully charge a shot, you'll be left with a partially charged cell.

But this if far outweighed by the ability to run around with a shot ready that is able to kill almost any alien in one hit!

The Apple version should hold look like iPhone (should ideally be updated every time a new iPhone is released) and the fuel cells should only be able to be replaced by the geniuses who work at Apple stores (yes, the ammo for this cannon should actually cost credits, a lot of them).

Q: Why does the battlesuit increase stamina consumption instead of reducing it?

This makes no sense at all. I propose the following change: the battlesuit should have a lot of stamina (power), much more than a human with basic armor. Running and sprinting should both take stamina. When the suit runs out of power, the human will only be able to walk very slowly.

The speed at a which the power is refilled should depend on the amount of wireless power at the area. For example, when a battlesuit is close to a reactor and there aren't many structures, the power should be refilled very quickly, but if all the power is used by the turrets, it should refill more quickly outside the base than inside the base.

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illwieckz
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Re: Idea: Common sense (humans)

Post by illwieckz »

Why is the Lucifer cannon so badly designed? It is an "open" design, […] I still think that this should be addressed. I propose introducing Apple Blast™ - a cannon that is a well-designed, PROprietary version of the Lucifer cannon! […] The Apple version should hold look like iPhone (should ideally be updated every time a new iPhone is released) and the fuel cells should only be able to be replaced by the geniuses who work at Apple stores (yes, the ammo for this cannon should actually cost credits, a lot of them).

You mean the Apple iBlast™. :tongue:

This comment is licensed under cc ​​by 4 and antecedent.

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kharnov
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Re: Idea: Common sense (humans)

Post by kharnov »

:cyclops:

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