New NESes, ideas, development, etc

Milarqui: Would there be a metaplot? Specifically, what happened to cause the ISOTting?
Well, to be honest, my main idea was to make a NES around the culture shock that would derive from the sudden appearance of a 21st-22nd century town in the middle of, for example, the Roman Empire, and the interactions between locals and time travellers. The ISOT would have happened for the same reason as in the Island in the Sea Of Time and 1632 books: the Assiti thought it might be interesting to send several towns into the past at the same time, using those Assiti Shards of theirs. This could even explain the appearance of new player cities at any moment, since it would be that the shards "propelled" the cities not so much into the past.
 
How would it be modeled? Would player control individual soldiers or specific squads or competing X-Com-like organizations?
 
Yeah, personally I think the third concept would be the best in terms of current understanding/application of NES'. Also it would be hilarious if we keep the X-COM casualty rates.


Update 0: Each organization is staffed with a collection of mastermind scientists, genius engineers, and elite soldiers. Get to Alien hunting, boys.


Update 1: Player 1 loses all of his soldiers and transport craft due to a timely thrown alien grenade. Player 2 enjoyed similar 'successes' after a Rookie panicked and shot his CO in the face. Player 3 lost his entire team to Chrysalids. Oh. All of London is now infested Chrysalids. +4,000,000 in funding from USA, EU, China. Good job, boys!


I would have each update be a month long. Players would not have direct control over battles, only squad composition. For the most part it would be pretty macro (they are the heads of X-COM/the X-COM a-likes). The only real thing you would have total control over would probably be manufacturing; research would see you telling your scientists "HEY. See this alien corpse? DISSECT IT." And then going on from there (so the tech-tree would be 'loose' and sans points because I hate NES' with solid, inflexible tech-trees; also it would heighten the atmosphere of "Jesus, what do I do now?" that is X-COM).

Similarly squads would be you being presented with a pool of potential soldiers you can recruit and then assigning them to various squads. Soldiers would have simple stats like: Bravery (BRA)/Strength (STR)/Reactions (REC)—I got rid of throwing/firing accuracy because, well, speaking as someone who has a great deal of family in the military (we're either soldiers or doctors, pretty big divide imo) I can say that if these soldiers really are commando-esque troops then they will probably be able to shoot pretty damn well at the minimum. That's one thing I hated (loved) about the original X-COM: "Here's all your super-elite soliders. LOLOLOLOLOL LETS SHOOT INTO THE GROUND WHEN A SECTOID'S 5-FEET AWAY." This would still be modeled in the NES, but via Bravery (imo, the most important stat) since it would effect how these elite soldiers fare when presented with the weird stuff they'll see when fighting aliens. Psychic Power (PSY) is a hidden stat till a certain point.

FURTHERMORE! I would have the soldiers' initial stats be hidden from the player until after combat (one of the few 'improvements' that I like in Firaxis' re-imagining of X-COM), and even after combat it would be communicated via descriptors like "Good" or "Very Good" that would encompass a range of numbers only the mod knows ("Good" = 5-10; "Very Good" 10-15; etc.). Keeps things interesting and less gamey. You can assign your soldiers their roles by giving them weapons and vague orders like "You'll be the sniper; you're the ammunitions guy; you're the redshirtscout) though they aren't set roles like 'classes' or silly nonsense like that, just how they should operate (all soldiers could be a sniper, for instance, but what makes them a 'sniper' in the NES is you giving them a sniper-rifle and telling them to hold back/seek high ground or something).

Alien contact would be generated via rolls (the map would be in a grid-form; each grid gets a roll to see if an alien is there and what they are doing/if they just outright crash all rosswell style) and you would then roll some numbers to see if players detect this stuff/have to hear about it from terrified civvies. Combat, likewise, would be a matter of rolls, though since this is all pretty WIP we probably could hash out a better system.


The most important stats, though, would be the X-COM Company's stat. Now, I'm thinking it would make more sense to pursue one of two routes in terms of how the players' factions come about: 1) We're all competing separate alien-hunting entities, we can customize our back-stories for various bonuses (i.e. one player choosing "Government Agency" to get a boost in relations/funding with a certain government; another going with "Military Contractors" to get a boost in soldier capabilities or something; etc. etc.) or 2) We're all branches of X-COM and command specific base(s) and have a third layer of diplomacy via appeasing the shadowy X-COM HQ.

Regardless of what route faction stats would be the same: Funding; Research Capabilities (via Scientists); Manufacturing Capabilities (via Engineers); Bases (which has a few sub-stats: Detection Rate & Special Facilities); Aircraft; Squads.


Though, again, all pretty WIP.
 
If you develop it, I'd join! :)

I already am developing one NES via a world-building NESlite (StarNES), running another (NutraNESIV6) and have a few more in the lists (NutraNESIV5; ArosNES2; ???)! X-COMNES would be making it overkill!

Though, I do love making up NES-mechanics. I may (and most likely will, now that I think about it) develop the mechanics for how I would run an X-COMNES and just post the progress/final rules here in the ideas thread just for fun, but I'd invite anyone to adapt/use them.

Were either of you guys around for Daftpanzer's X-Com projects?

Nope! I've never been in a DaftNES, though I've posthumously lurked the majority of them.
 
I already am developing one NES via a world-building NESlite (StarNES), running another (NutraNESIV6) and have a few more in the lists (NutraNESIV5; ArosNES2; ???)! X-COMNES would be making it overkill!

Though, I do love making up NES-mechanics. I may (and most likely will, now that I think about it) develop the mechanics for how I would run an X-COMNES and just post the progress/final rules here in the ideas thread just for fun, but I'd invite anyone to adapt/use them.

Then, if you help me with the mechanics, I am willing to run it :).
 
And I would gladly join! Gimme a couple days. I've got a big paper I'm currently working on (got it up to 130 pages over the past 3ish days; now I need to reduce it to 80/something manageable). I'll post things in my spare time, though it would help if you let me know how you would envision the X-COMNES. Everything is helpful in a brainstorm!
 
How would competition be handled? I mean, everyone's fighting the aliens, sure, but we're still human. If the Russian XKOMRAD can take advantage of an American blunder, well, why wouldn't they? I think some of the potential of this NES would be the tension between cooperation and competition. You want your neighbor to lose, just not badly enough so that everyone loses.

I'm imagining a global pool of money that is doled out by the UN, with more going to the higher-performing teams. There should also be a reasonably constant source of domestic funding to prevent bad teams from being punished too hard.

Also, I think tech sharing should have a downside. If team A wants to get access to team B's new heavy plasma tech, it should take team B's research/engineering time and effore for that turn to demo and explain it. Same thing with manufacturing capabilities. Teaching someone to build an Avenger from scavenged bits of alien alloy and Elerium isn't something you can do over the phone.
 
Well, my ideas would be these:
- You start with 12 people: 5 soldiers (the guys you send into battle), 2 scientists (the investigators), 2 medics (they heal your soldiers), 2 engineers (they design new weaponry based on what the scientists discover) and 1 pilot (he takes your soldiers to the battlegrounds and can also intercept alien craft) (modificable).
- 1 turn would be 1 month long.
- Every turn, nations would be sending messages about missions, and each group could take two or three missions per turn. The reward from each mission would mean higher monetary support from the different nations, perhaps some intel and you could get your hands on the alien tech and bodies.
- Players would only have control over the squads in a mission.
- Players would be able to improve Earth technology or study the aliens' technology in order to be able to use it.
- Your idea for the stats sounds quite good.
- Soldiers would have four stats: Strength (health, carrying capacity and melée combat), Speed (how fast they move), Mind (their mental force, potentially affects their Psi ability) and perhaps Reflexes (their ability to react to the enemy's presence). They would also have five Weapon Proficiencies: Close Combat (melée and short-range weapons), Heavy Weapons (machineguns), Assault Guns (assault rifles), Sniper (sniper rifles) and Explosives (grenades, mines...)
- Engineers and Scientists would have just two stats: Theory (how good they are at understanding what's going on) and Practice (how good they are at actually making something out of it).
- Medics would have the Ability stat, which would be how good they are at healing the injured soldiers.
- Pilots would have Piloting (how good they are at flying the planes) and Reaction (to check how good they are at firing at the enemy).
- About each group, I'd say it could be a mix between your two proposals. Say, each player group comes from a local/national group, and has become part of X-COM, but they still retain their previous backgrounds, so part of their funding comes from X-COM (which means that you would have to share things with them) and other part comes from their past.
- Your suggestion for Faction Stats is perfect. Not sure if I would give all players the possibility of making more than one base, but it would be quite excellent (and it also makes for interesting possibilities, as you would have to keep soldiers on both bases, and you would have separate stats and weapon stores for each base).

Everyone: opinions?
 
How would competition be handled? I mean, everyone's fighting the aliens, sure, but we're still human. If the Russian XKOMRAD can take advantage of an American blunder, well, why wouldn't they? I think some of the potential of this NES would be the tension between cooperation and competition. You want your neighbor to lose, just not badly enough so that everyone loses.

I'm imagining a global pool of money that is doled out by the UN, with more going to the higher-performing teams. There should also be a reasonably constant source of domestic funding to prevent bad teams from being punished too hard.

Also, I think tech sharing should have a downside. If team A wants to get access to team B's new heavy plasma tech, it should take team B's research/engineering time and effore for that turn to demo and explain it. Same thing with manufacturing capabilities. Teaching someone to build an Avenger from scavenged bits of alien alloy and Elerium isn't something you can do over the phone.

Yep! I agree with all of these points. Let me put them in summary just for the sake of clarity/posterity:

  • Competition should be encouraged; you want your enemy to lose, but not cause the world to lose in the process.
  • Global funding pool that is divvied up by the U.N. to the various X-Crops depending on preformance, diplomacy, and luck
  • Domestic funding keeps the 'bad'(read: unfortunate victims of blaster bomb sneak-attacks) X-Corps afloat.
  • Competition over resources AND technology; Tech-sharing can occurr, but it would see a (temporary) loss of brain/manpower in the form of loaning scientists/engineers.

Well, my ideas would be these:
- You start with 12 people: 5 soldiers (the guys you send into battle), 2 scientists (the investigators), 2 medics (they heal your soldiers), 2 engineers (they design new weaponry based on what the scientists discover) and 1 pilot (he takes your soldiers to the battlegrounds and can also intercept alien craft) (modificable).
- 1 turn would be 1 month long.
- Every turn, nations would be sending messages about missions, and each group could take two or three missions per turn. The reward from each mission would mean higher monetary support from the different nations, perhaps some intel and you could get your hands on the alien tech and bodies.
- Players would only have control over the squads in a mission.
- Players would be able to improve Earth technology or study the aliens' technology in order to be able to use it.
- Your idea for the stats sounds quite good.
- Soldiers would have four stats: Strength (health, carrying capacity and melée combat), Speed (how fast they move), Mind (their mental force, potentially affects their Psi ability) and perhaps Reflexes (their ability to react to the enemy's presence). They would also have five Weapon Proficiencies: Close Combat (melée and short-range weapons), Heavy Weapons (machineguns), Assault Guns (assault rifles), Sniper (sniper rifles) and Explosives (grenades, mines...)
- Engineers and Scientists would have just two stats: Theory (how good they are at understanding what's going on) and Practice (how good they are at actually making something out of it).
- Medics would have the Ability stat, which would be how good they are at healing the injured soldiers.
- Pilots would have Piloting (how good they are at flying the planes) and Reaction (to check how good they are at firing at the enemy).
- About each group, I'd say it could be a mix between your two proposals. Say, each player group comes from a local/national group, and has become part of X-COM, but they still retain their previous backgrounds, so part of their funding comes from X-COM (which means that you would have to share things with them) and other part comes from their past.
- Your suggestion for Faction Stats is perfect. Not sure if I would give all players the possibility of making more than one base, but it would be quite excellent (and it also makes for interesting possibilities, as you would have to keep soldiers on both bases, and you would have separate stats and weapon stores for each base).

Everyone: opinions?

+I always thought that the 'pilots' of the various X-fighters came bundled in with the fighter jets, and in terms of the transport-crafts it was the soldiers sent in who piloted them (as evidenced by the steering/command consoles/cockpits you can see in the ships). But even if it's not X-Lore then I would still bundle "pilots" into the fighter-craft/transport-craft to keep unnecessary management to a minimum. As for the rest I agree to an extent—why include medics? Why not just do it the old way and just equip your soldiers with med-kits and say "HEY. YOU'RE THE HEALER NOW." rather than consign people to specific classes?

+1 turn/1 month is perfect.

+Missions I agree with, them coming from governments I do not. If the governments are sending missions... then X-COM is not doing it's job. The only time I think a government should send a mission should be in the event of a terror crisis. Missions coming down from the U.N. (specifically some super-secret U.N. Alien Security Council), though, could easily replace this, so I do not know why I am picking at it so much. However, I disagree with the doling out of "intel" and tech via the same council—why would the U.N. pick and choose when sending out tech stuff would benefit all humanity? Keep teching in the hands of X-COM scientists!

A further note on the mission structure: a way we could generate them would be to have the 'mission pool' consist of the missions that players actually detect and report. That way individual X-Corps could keep certain missions to themselves and steal all the glory, though if they fail horribly the U.N. would be pissed about this. To model this at the end of every turn private stats could be sent out detailing what activity the players likely will detect for that month and let players contribute to the pool.

+I am not quite getting you on this point. Why wouldn't they have control of all of their squads if they belong to that particular X-Crop regardless of combat status? Or is it that you are suggesting they be able to give blow-by-blow orders for battle (which seems pretty impossible to model in a NES, imo)? Or that there is a communal pool of troops that we choose from?

+I agree, to a point. Improving earth-tech should totally be doable, but only up to a certain level. I think alien tech should always be more powerful than Earth's tech given the time-frame covered in the NES (likely a few years, it would take a lot more to push earth tech to be on a same level as alien). The + of earth tech would be that it is easier to manufacture and could be more reliable (it being 100% understood by humans). Alien tech, on the other hand, is the quick and dirty way to get us some plasma cannons and go to town. Researching alien tech would be as you said it, studying it to use it. Understand it is a whole different level and at best I would say that it still backfires on humans more often even at '100%' studied (which would be, like, 30, maybe 40%). + of the alien tech would be that it is powerful. Ridiculously powerful. It is, after all, the tech that aliens are using to invade us.

+Strength stat, I agree with; Speed I do not because you have a lot of situational factors there: terrain, weight/encumbrance, wounds sustained, etc.; Mind/Psi--yeah, it is all good, though should be hidden till players discover psi-facilities/psi itself; Reflexes should definitively be in, though I would expand it to be more than "reactions" and into "dexterity" in general--in fact we could probably rename it to dexterity. Also. Bravery! You need bravery in there to represent how much the soldiers are liable to break! The atmosphere of X-COM was so great because it was, for the most part, a losing war that you fought; a war filled with all sorts of crappy alien horrors!

On the weapon proficiencies: I would shy away from them because it is a lot to model for soldiers who (should) be pretty expendable (excluding the rare Rookie-to-Commander stories).

+Engineer/Scientist stats is an interesting thing to include, actually. I agree on the Theory/Practice divide, however in the effort to make it not just one scientist or one engineer doing all the work I would instead split engineers/scientist into two new stats:

Scientist/Engineers--This is just a # and the general workforce assigned to various projects.

Brilliant Engineers/Scientists--Now here are your Einsteins and Carl Sagans, these dudes could be named and have the aforementioned Theory/Practice stats. You start with either a notable engineer or a notable scientist, but as your dudes research/build more stuff you have the chance to get some more ones.

+Again, I would shy away from medics. Just assign a general recovery time, perhaps altered by players teching/building advanced medical centers in their bases after getting to a certain point of human & alien tech (cause alien biology is utterly not human, but using a plasma-based macgruffin to stitch up a soldier would be pretty doable).

+Again, I would shy away from pilots and just wrap them into the vehicles so as to limit micromanagement.


edit: In general the only things I hesitate about in your proposal, Milarqui, are the things that seem to make the NES more about special soldiers/about earth just sticking it to the aliens. Desperation really is key to X-COM's atmosphere! Having your soldiers die off in droves; knowing that eventually you'll have to abandon some of your laser rifles for plasma rifles, but all the while worrying over your stocks of elerium; knowing that in some cases it will take teams of ships to bring down a single alien craft, or that certain alien craft are nigh impossible to defeat in the sky; knowing that, sometimes, you have to let a few civvies die by letting a terror squad land or outright carpet bombing a residential neighborhood infested with Chrysalids, or simply abandoning a whole town to their sorry fates because, well, you just don't have the manpower/resources to save them all, now do you? That's X-COM! Making it to Mars and whooping some extraterrestrial butt becomes all the sweeter after knowing you did it only by the skin of your teeth.
 
+I always thought that the 'pilots' of the various X-fighters came bundled in with the fighter jets, and in terms of the transport-crafts it was the soldiers sent in who piloted them (as evidenced by the steering/command consoles/cockpits you can see in the ships). But even if it's not X-Lore then I would still bundle "pilots" into the fighter-craft/transport-craft to keep unnecessary management to a minimum. As for the rest I agree to an extent—why include medics? Why not just do it the old way and just equip your soldiers with med-kits and say "HEY. YOU'RE THE HEALER NOW." rather than consign people to specific classes?
True. Had not considered the possibility of bundling pilots with the aircraft. I only suggested it because you could have, at one point, to fight off a very agile spacecraft (which would require very good Reaction to know when to fire exactly) and, at other point, he might be followed by an enemy (which means using Piloting to avoid the enemy and put yourself in an advantageous position)

+Missions I agree with, them coming from governments I do not. If the governments are sending missions... then X-COM is not doing it's job. The only time I think a government should send a mission should be in the event of a terror crisis. Missions coming down from the U.N. (specifically some super-secret U.N. Alien Security Council), though, could easily replace this, so I do not know why I am picking at it so much. However, I disagree with the doling out of "intel" and tech via the same council—why would the U.N. pick and choose when sending out tech stuff would benefit all humanity? Keep teching in the hands of X-COM scientists!

A further note on the mission structure: a way we could generate them would be to have the 'mission pool' consist of the missions that players actually detect and report. That way individual X-Corps could keep certain missions to themselves and steal all the glory, though if they fail horribly the U.N. would be pissed about this. To model this at the end of every turn private stats could be sent out detailing what activity the players likely will detect for that month and let players contribute to the pool.
The idea about the missions is perfect. The individual X-Corps detect the missions, decide which ones they can take care of easily and then they reveal the others so that other players may do something about them.
About intel, there is a chance that the UN could have some sort of detecting system, to report on possible sightings and such. And the teching part, well, maybe several corps could collaborate in the research of certain things.

+I am not quite getting you on this point. Why wouldn't they have control of all of their squads if they belong to that particular X-Corp regardless of combat status? Or is it that you are suggesting they be able to give blow-by-blow orders for battle (which seems pretty impossible to model in a NES, imo)? Or that there is a communal pool of troops that we choose from?
Woops. Mistake there. Though, a possibility would be that X-COM would have a pool of soldiers, scientists, engineers and pilots (who come with their own craft) and players would be able to choose what they want.

+I agree, to a point. Improving earth-tech should totally be doable, but only up to a certain level. I think alien tech should always be more powerful than Earth's tech given the time-frame covered in the NES (likely a few years, it would take a lot more to push earth tech to be on a same level as alien). The + of earth tech would be that it is easier to manufacture and could be more reliable (it being 100% understood by humans). Alien tech, on the other hand, is the quick and dirty way to get us some plasma cannons and go to town. Researching alien tech would be as you said it, studying it to use it. Understand it is a whole different level and at best I would say that it still backfires on humans more often even at '100%' studied (which would be, like, 30, maybe 40%). + of the alien tech would be that it is powerful. Ridiculously powerful. It is, after all, the tech that aliens are using to invade us.
That is true. There is, however, an idea that, maybe, something could be done that, after a lot of research, players could mix earth and alien tech, with sexy interesting results.

+Strength stat, I agree with; Speed I do not because you have a lot of situational factors there: terrain, weight/encumbrance, wounds sustained, etc.; Mind/Psi--yeah, it is all good, though should be hidden till players discover psi-facilities/psi itself; Reflexes should definitively be in, though I would expand it to be more than "reactions" and into "dexterity" in general--in fact we could probably rename it to dexterity. Also. Bravery! You need bravery in there to represent how much the soldiers are liable to break! The atmosphere of X-COM was so great because it was, for the most part, a losing war that you fought; a war filled with all sorts of crappy alien horrors!
Strength, yeah. Speed, acceptable idea. Dexterity is good (and, in fact, it could be the stat governing your weapon ability). My idea of Mind was a mix of Psi and Bravery.

On the weapon proficiencies: I would shy away from them because it is a lot to model for soldiers who (should) be pretty expendable (excluding the rare Rookie-to-Commander stories).
Hmmm. Well, I only suggested weapon proficiencies because it is not the same to have a sniper than a CQC fighter.

+Engineer/Scientist stats is an interesting thing to include, actually. I agree on the Theory/Practice divide, however in the effort to make it not just one scientist or one engineer doing all the work I would instead split engineers/scientist into two new stats:

Scientist/Engineers--This is just a # and the general workforce assigned to various projects.

Brilliant Engineers/Scientists--Now here are your Einsteins and Carl Sagans, these dudes could be named and have the aforementioned Theory/Practice stats. You start with either a notable engineer or a notable scientist, but as your dudes research/build more stuff you have the chance to get some more ones.
This is a great idea! :)

+Again, I would shy away from medics. Just assign a general recovery time, perhaps altered by players teching/building advanced medical centers in their bases after getting to a certain point of human & alien tech (cause alien biology is utterly not human, but using a plasma-based macgruffin to stitch up a soldier would be pretty doable).
There is going to be hospitals or infirmaries in the base, so I thought that medics would be good.

+Again, I would shy away from pilots and just wrap them into the vehicles so as to limit micromanagement.
That's OK.

edit: In general the only things I hesitate about in your proposal, Milarqui, are the things that seem to make the NES more about special soldiers/about earth just sticking it to the aliens. Desperation really is key to X-COM's atmosphere! Having your soldiers die off in droves; knowing that eventually you'll have to abandon some of your laser rifles for plasma rifles, but all the while worrying over your stocks of elerium; knowing that in some cases it will take teams of ships to bring down a single alien craft, or that certain alien craft are nigh impossible to defeat in the sky; knowing that, sometimes, you have to let a few civvies die by letting a terror squad land or outright carpet bombing a residential neighborhood infested with Chrysalids, or simply abandoning a whole town to their sorry fates because, well, you just don't have the manpower/resources to save them all, now do you? That's X-COM! Making it to Mars and whooping some extraterrestrial butt becomes all the sweeter after knowing you did it only by the skin of your teeth.
I do understand your position. However, there could always be a balance between focusing on soldiers and focusing on the very big problems that come from trying to fight aliens that are very powerful.
 
Well, these could be the stats for X-COM NES:

X-Corp Name / Player
Background: could determine some important things.
Funds/Expenses: how much money they have and how much they spend per month.
Standing: how much they are loved at X-COM HQ, would determine how much money they get from X-COM, as well as new Soldiers, Pilots, Researchers and Developers.
Base X You can have several bases, each of them with its own stats.
Spoiler :
Location: where the base is.
Facilities: what rooms (hospitals, labs, hangars) the base has.
Defenses: pretty much explanatory.
Soldiers: the soldiers in the base.
Spoiler :
Soldier 1 (NAT/STR/DEX/BRA) First goes the name, then their nationality and then the three stats.
Aircraft: You use these to intercept alien UFOs, help defend your base and patrol in search of potential missions.
Spoiler :
Pilot 1 (NAT/TYP/SPE/AGI/POW) Pilot's name, nationality, the aircraft used and the combined stats of pilot and aircraft.
Researchers: these guys investigate alien bodies and artefacts your soldiers have brought. It also shows what they are working at.
Spoiler :
Scientists: just a number to indicate your research power.
Doctor 1 (NAT/TEO/PRA) First goes the name, then nationality and then the two stats, they direct research and make breakthroughs.
Developers: these chaps take what the Researchers discover and make things with them. It also shows what they are working at.
Spoiler :
Engineers: just a number to indicate your production power.
Inventor 1 (NAT/TEO/PRA) First goes the name, then nationality and then the two stats, they make designs and can, out of the blue, discover interesting things.
Hardware: everything the base has for combat, from weapons to medikits, is listed here.
Others: if you have aliens (alive or dead), mysterious artefacts or something else of importance, it goes here.


X-COM Stats
Funds: how much money it is getting each turn from the different nations.
Support: shows the support it is getting from the different nations. A change in support will change how many funds they are getting (and if you see support dropping, it can be a signal of alien infiltration).
Soldiers Pool: the soldiers that are looking forward to become members of X-COM. Each X-Corps may ask for a certain number of recruits every month, and depending on their standing, they will get the good ones or not.
Spoiler :
Recruit 1 (NAT/STR/DEX/BRA)

Pilots Pool: the same as with soldiers, they come with their own aircraft.
Spoiler :
Pilot 1 (NAT/TYP/SPE/AGI/POW)

Researchers Pool: the same.
Spoiler :
Scientists: just the number of free researchers.
Doctor 1 (NAT/TEO/PRA)

Developers Pool: Guess what?
Spoiler :
Engineers: just the number of free developers.
Inventor 1 (NAT/TEO/PRA)

Mission Pool: the missions that happen and are available. If one mission is not taken care of, the nation's support for X-COM may drop.

Mission
Location: where the mission happens. When you do it, you will help increase support of the corresponding nation towards X-COM.
Type: could be Terror, Abduction, Alien Base... though, sometimes you might have to defend your own base, in which case you can put up your own mission on the mission pool, asking for help.
Difficulty: easy to understand.
Reward: what you will get if you manage to get through the mission. Extra rewards will come from Alien bodies and artefacts.

What do you think? Too difficult? Or lots of potential fun?
 
The shared pools recruit pools will probably cause no end of bitterness between the X-Corps, but I think that is what we're aiming for. :D

I'll have to get used to the notion of pilots, but they are not necessarily a bad thing. It is reasonable to expect your top guns to be pretty darn awesome at things.

I'm also fully behind you in terms of scientists/engineers!

Now let's talk stat definitions:

Soldiers
NAT: Just tells us where we'll be sending the funerary wreaths to.
STR: Covers most physical exertions. More STR allows for bigger guns and more stuff to be carried; also melee combat (god forbid you have to get into a fist-fight with a Muton) is dictated by STR.
DEX: Reactions, reflexes, speed all rolled into one. More DEX allows for shots to be squeezed off at a moment's notice, determines if a soldier will jump over a fence or blow it up out of frustration, and makes the soldier more able to tinker with the small tools (med-kits).
BRA: Morale/leadership rolled into one. Braver soldiers will act as morale-crutches for the less brave soldiers, and all soldiers have a breaking point before the just outright panic.
(PSI): The soldier's psi-defense and psi-attack. The higher this score the more they are able to fend off/use psi-attacks.

Pilots
NAT: Again, fluff!
TYP: The kind of ship the pilot is flying.
SPE: Just how fast the pilot's aircraft can move, which is important in chasing down that alien-scum.
AGI: The grace and dexterity with which the pilot can control his bird.
POW: The kind of damage that should be able to be dealt with the ship. I would say divvy this into two sub-stats: Power (Ammo type), but that may just make an unnecessary amount of work for you so it's your call.

Scientists/Engineers
NAT: Herr doctor!
TEO: Theoretical application of the crap the scientists/engineers will be able to figure out during this godawful war. Mostly effects the mental dexterity of how our researchers come to understand the aliens.(?)
PRA: Arguably the more important stat, practical application of the knowledge we gain is important. It's one thing to understand that a sectoid is a bio-engineered freakshow of a being, it's another to explain just why this is important to killing them.

Do I have the right of it?

So how will you relate the stats to the player? I would say it is best to keep the stats ???/???/??? for the soldiers and scientists, but pre-generate them before hand so you know what they are, and reveal them upon the first combat (for soldiers/pilots) or first research/building project (for scientists/engineers). Now, when the stats are revealed it's a toss up to keeping them still pretty vague (Very Poor-Poor-Average-Good-Very Good-Excellent-Commando-Heroic), but I would say cap the lowest stat amount at "Poor" unless the soldier gets pretty injured in the field, but doesn't die (rare cases, but this would put them at "Very Poor"). "Excellent-Commando-Heroic" are the ranks earned after the soldier has been through the meat grinder for a while; for scientists/engineers it's what they attain after spending too much time around the aliens.

Or we could just do a number system 1-100 (like how X-COM did it) and just cap the stats at 40 pre-battle experience.

Let's talk maps! I've got two ideas for how they can be handled: either we can divide up the world via a grid or we can divide up the world via provinces. The +/- of grids, so far as I see it, is that it would give us a more detailed control of what's going on/where it's happening, though it might be a pain for you to deal with that much stuff. The +/- of provinces is that is would pretty macro-tastic and allow you some more freedom to just say "Now aliens are in Kamchatka" or something like that, the downside is that you don't have as much of a detailed control of it all. Personally I would go with a grid.

Or we could just not divide up the map at all and just use a blank earth-map with points scattered all over for potential mission-sites, important cities, and human/alien bases. Work's just as well now that I think about it.

When I get back from class I'll blather on a bit about weapons.

edit: Lucky me! First class cancelled.

Also I agree on your point that earth+alien tech should happen after a certain point/a lot of reserach. However I'd keep it limited to the realms of propulsion/fuel/armor (i.e. making an Avenger; which still can be outrun by certain alien ships mind you!).
 
Well since I have time, let's talk tech.

Let me say this right off the bat, as this may be something we will disagree on/cause us to go off in separate paths in interpreting how an X-COMNES should be run: I hate tech trees. I hate tech trees.

That being said, let's talk tech trees!

The way it was handling in the X-COM game saw the player kind of doing ad hoc research with whatever crap they happen to have. Certain things were strung together (i.e. you need to interrogate a Sectoid/Ethereal Commander before getting access to psionics), but by in large these were one-off connections with multiple ways to attain them in a vast, black sea of "Jesus, what is going on here?" I say we try to replicate that!

Certain techs should be tied to certain types of aliens/alien material:

Lasers
Spoiler :
To begin requires: Humans! We have them in abundance

Laser Weapons→Laser Pistol→Laser Rifle→Heavy Laser→Laser Cannon→Laser Defence


Plasma
Spoiler :
To begin requires: Plasma Clip/Plasma Rifle and/or Heavy Plasma Clip/Heavy Plasma Rifle

Plasma Clip+Plasma Rifle→Earth Plasma Rifle→Plasma Cannon→Plasma Base Defense

Heavy Plasma Clip+Heavy Plasma Rifle→Heavy Earth Plasma Rifle→Plasma Cannon→Plasma Base Defense


Fusion
Spoiler :
To begin requires: Blaster Launcher/Blaster Bomb

Blaster Launcher+Blaster Bomb→Fusion Ball Cannon→Fusion Defense


Armor
Spoiler :
To begin requires: Alien Alloys/Elerium/UFO Power Source/UfO Navigation

Alien Alloys→Personal Armor

UFO Power Source→UFO Power Source (Meaning we can recreate it now)

Elerium+Personal Armor+UFO Power Source→Power Suits

UFO Navigation→UFO Navigation (Meaning we can recreate it now)

Power Suit+UFO Navigation→Flying Suit


Craft
Spoiler :
To begin requires: Alien Alloys/Elerium/UfO Power Source/UFO Navigation

Alien Alloys+Elerium+UFO Power Source+UFO Navigation→UFO Construction

UFO Construction→Firestorm (Fighter)→Lightning (Fighter-Transporter)

Lightning→Grav Shields

Lightning→Avenger


Psionics
Spoiler :
To begin requires: Living psionic-capable alien (Ethereal Commander/Sectoid Commander)

Interrogation→Psi Lab

Psi Lab→Psi-Amp

Psi Lab→Mind-Shield


Detection
Spoiler :
To begin requires: Living alien navigator of any kind

Interrogation→Hyperwave Decoder


One-Off Research Topics
Spoiler :

Med-kits

Alien Grenades

Motion Scanner

Mind Probe

Alien Food

Alien Surgery

Alien Entertainment



Now I pretty much just copied what I found on the UFOpedia. All this stuff makes for a pretty good 'base' when it comes to tech trees. First, it's not really a tech tree so much as a tech-pit that occasionally has a few linking trees. Second, it's established enough to mean you don't have to outright design new tech tree, but vague enough to give you/the players some wiggle room! Who is to say that after figuring out "UFO Power Source" and "Laser" a player cannot try to combine the two and make some sort of "Laser+" tech? Or that "Alien Surgery" (normally useless) "Medkits" and "Elerium" cannot be mishmashed into some sort of "Hospital Facilities+"? This way we can have a kind of 'established' tech tree, but have the freedom to try (and more than likely fail, a lot) in working out our own ways to use the alien tech.

In terms of how long things would take to reach, there is a really useful table in the UFOpedia that gives base "man days" for the research modified by "lab bonus". Given enough time I could comb through the table and translate it into something more NES-applicable.
 
About the stats' explanation: you are pretty spot on. Nationality could serve as more than just fluff: if a nation signs a peace treaty with the aliens, there would be a chance that the soldiers/pilots/researchers/developers of that nation would abandon X-COM, since their nation would essentially order him to get back. And, well, about the Pilots, the ammo type does not seem relevant, especially when you consider that, nowadays, fighter and fighter-bomber planes have several types of weaponry. Also, the only stat the pilot could improve with time would be AGI, the others would require either buying/building better planes or attaching new things to the current plane.

About numbers: I'd go for using the Very Poor/Poor... but applied to the 1-100 system. This way, you can easily apply each definition to a bracket in 1-100, thus making it easier for me to determine stats, and, at the same time, putting the players into a bind because they won't know whether their Good Strength soldiers are at high Good Strength or low Good Strength, which could make a difference.

About maps: I thought about separating the whole map into 10 or so supernations, simplifying things a bit for me. The map would also be showing the important cities, bases, missions, etcetera, so that players know where they are going to happen and also so that they know how much they are going to need to do if they want the nations to keep supporting X-COM.

About techs: in this game, I share your opinion. It is not like a Fresh Start, where there are differences between making up a tech tree or doing it on stream line. Here, you have to deal with alien technology, which you can only research/reverse-engineer when you get your hands on some of it. We can use what you have said as a base for everything. And your suggestion for combining technologies is magnificent :). The Man-Days thing for research is easy to do. Each researcher/engineer would add 1 Man-Day to the research, and for each project there would be bonuses for the Doctors attached to the project and the Lab quality. And yeah, Hybrid tech would take some time, until the alien tech is understood at least to a way that helps knowing how to apply it.
 
Top Bottom