What´s my secret project?

It´s scifi, so far so good - but what exactly?

BTW, I just started it, so I guess I will not be finished before the PTW release. I plan to do most of the gfx first, than taking advantage of the (hopefully) improved scn features of PTW when it comes to gameplay issues...

I love how you're using a spaceship for the city graphic. That looks great. Are those converted paratroopers next to it? Looks kind of Star Wars-ish, though the ship looks like something out of Space 1999.

Yes, the unit is a changed para

But the scn is not about StarWars or another movie. It´s well known, but perhaps hard to say from the first pic...

Is it X-COM?

Damn, I guess it was a bit too easy Yes, I planned to do a better XCOM scenario for Civ2 for a long time, but since we have Civ3 now...

I´ll change the look a bit - not those 50ies style from the XCOM games (which was cool, but I like to make some own gfx), however, a lot of those nice sectoids, snakemen or cyberdiscs etc will appear in the scn.

hehe,

I guess this means there will be individual units representing each of the weapons? So like a standard trooper has a rifle, and a blasterbomb trooper is more expensive to build?

The dropship style city graphics look excellent.

Starship Troopers??

Sounds cool. Can't wait to see the unit graphics you come up with.

Originally posted by Jezz
hehe,

I guess this means there will be individual units representing each of the weapons? So like a standard trooper has a rifle, and a blasterbomb trooper is more expensive to build?

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Well, yes something in this direction, although I´m very early in the development, and have not made much decisions about the gameplay.

Currently, there are two major ideas for the "story" behind the scn:

1. A small "just for fun" scenario, only two sides (XCOM/Aliens) limited number of turns, where your XCOM troops have to explore an UFO crash site like in the first XCOM game. The UFO would be a bit like a labyrinth (completely changed terrain tiles show the inner UFO), and the player has to secure all parts of it. These parts like control room, reactor room etc. are placed as Alien "cities" with heavily modified gfx...

This scenario would be very similar to the original missions in XCOM games, much combat, but less (or nothing) research. However, it can probably only be made when PTW offers new options to control diplomacy, because at the current state, a player could simply make peace and trade maps with the Aliens to look for the right way to his objectives.

2. A big mod/scenario on a world map, XCOM/Aliens plus other Civs (countries), more like a standard civ game with settling (new XCOM bases), research, conquest and so on. It could for example be about a large scale Alien invasion against the Earth...

This would rather be similar to the management elements in the XCOM games, the techs and buldings would be similar to those from the games.

However, also here I hope for the better abilities of PTW.

Maybe, I make both types, but let´s see....

Preview of the Snakeman unit (run anim).

Not bad for the start, but needs still a bit work...

Urge to greate alien invasion scenario, rising.

(BTW that big X on the side of the ship sort of gave it away .)

A static preview of a Sectoid, a Snakeman, and a Muton unit, all known from the first XCOM game.

In the game they all will be animated, of course. Maybe I also change some details here and there, but not the basic design of these units. More to come soon - hope you like them...

As an Xcom player myself this is great stuff!

Urge to greate alien invasion scenario, further rising.

The sectoid will go great with the UFO unit. Make the UFO a mobile aircraft that invisible and give it a transport capacity.

Anyway great work.

Great idea!!! Havent play XCOM in ages, but this looks great!!!

Keep em coming!

Anim preview1: Muton fires his blaster

Anim preview2: Cyberdisc is going down

Expect more in the future - it´s a lot of work to create all those anims, but also lot of fun

As you can see there are lot of X-Com fans around here and here's one more for you.

I would definately recommend making that second choice...
Big mod/scenario way...

You could use some earth maps that are ready and done.

Example different cities could be presented as resources. Example big city would give more food/shields than small towns. And you could also use different buildings as resources.
The cities would be the HQs of X-com or the alien bases.

Even though your units aren't top notch detailed....they do they work and that's what important. I think you should get someone to help with that animating and making those different animations for X-com men.

However you should then also invent different meanings for things such as "culture" and "luxury" as they would maybe sound little bit stupid.

Problem is that what those others civs would be then and what would be their purpose? Would there be many alien civilizations and only one X-com civ?

I find myself still editor lacking in many cases. Even though certain parts could be coverable there are things that are unpassable as things stand now.

Even though your units aren't top notch detailed....they do they work and that's what important. I think you should get someone to help with that animating and making those different animations for X-com men.

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What exactly would you criticise? It would be helpful to hear

I use the cut&paste method for the aliens and XCOM soldiers, and 3d software for the vehicles (ufos etc). However, those are my first anims for Civ3, so they are far from being perfect - but I hope to improve my anim skills with more practise

However you should then also invent different meanings for things such as "culture" and "luxury" as they would maybe sound little bit stupid.

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Yep, a lot of things will be different. Eg. City flipping could occure due to overwhelming PSI forces. Eras could be technological breakthroughs, techs and buildings can be taken from directly from the XCOM games etc. Roads can be transport tubes (perhaps I´ll not allow to construct railroads), Mines can be suburbs of mega cities and so on...

Problem is that what those others civs would be then and what would be their purpose? Would there be many alien civilizations and only one X-com civ?

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I´ve lots of different ideas, but much depends on the possibilities
of PTW. If its possible to control diplomacy in PTW, I could eg create one human civ (which has XCOM units/techs etc) and several alien civs that are permanently allied to eachother
Or I could create one XCOM civ (for the human player), one ore more alien civs, and several other human civs. These human civs could act like those nations in the first XCOM game - at first they are against the aliens, but some of them can change sides...

But, as said, it depends on what is possible with PTW. I hope also they implement some kind of "triggers" (like the events language in civ2) but thats all speculation at this stage

I find myself still editor lacking in many cases. Even though certain parts could be coverable there are things that are unpassable as things stand now.

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I absolutely agree with you. However, I hope for PTW, if they include things like a WWII scenario, there must be some more options than in the current editor, because otherwise a detailed historic scn seems impossible to make. So I hope to profit from those changes...