Let's discuss expansion (ffg I really hope you have one in the works) Ideas/fixes

[Krynn007 2,445]

Had another game last night. We finally beat the easy mission.

Had a lot of fun in doing so

It was a three player game so I took on the roll of central officer and research.

For the most part my group likes the game with one or two exceptions.

With an expansion I think its safe to say we'll probably see things like

New research

New troops/abilities for troops (likely in form of research)

Néw aliens.

New missions and final mission.

That is pretty well a given but I'm sure it can add other things.

One thing I'd like to see is something new for the chief scientists

In our games it's obvious nobody really wants to be the chief scientists. They feel that he doesn't get to do much

Yes the role is important, but when your familiar with the research deck you basically just wait for the app to tell you to research and during the resolution phase their tasks seem to be over faster than others. Especially squad leader as they have to take more options into consideration.

My group feels the chief scientists lacking vs the other three.

So I hope an expansion can add some minor ability or effect that the chief scientist can do to make them feel like they are not sitting out so much and just watching others.

The central officer imo is another role people don't seem to want as much.

Again to some it doesn't excite them reading out the apps instructions.

Since I'm the one who bought it and have the app it's basically me who always becomes the central officer.

I don't mind it, bit I'd like to try other options as well.

So with an expansion I just hope that with whatever néw and improved ideas they add to it they make the central officer and chief scientist a little more enticing.

I wonder if they'd add a new color dice.

I believe one in our group wasn't too keen on the dice odds.

One bad roll really changes the tide

No matter how good our resource management is if the research scientist bombs the first couple research rolls it makes it so much harder for everyone else, and the squad leader is in a uphill battle.

After last night's game the three of us enjoyed it and had a lot of fun.

I personally wish there was just a little more to it, which is why i hope an expansion.

Add the obvious new cards and abilities, but also maybe make some of the other roles a little more interesting for some players.

As i said research and maybe central officer (one game a guy picked being chief scientist because it seemed nobody else wanted it, during the game he did start to look a bit bored which is why i really hope they add something to that)

So what would you like to see added?

Other than the obvious (New technology, aliens, mission, soldiers/abilities)

Is there another component of the game you'd like to see tweaked or removed from the game?

(A new dice option. Maybe with more hits for example)

If so what or how would you like to see it implemented?

Edited May 3, 2015 by Krynn007

[rmsgrey 22]

I'd be very, very, very wary of adding new technology to the game - currently the Chief Scientist can rely on drawing a certain mix of techs over the first couple of rounds, and you can pretty much guarantee having a SHIV (or whatever) to research by round 4 or 5.

 

Add 5 cards to the deck, and it takes about another round to cycle through everything, changing it from "Will I see X early enough to be much use?" to "Will I see X at all?"

 

Similarly for Missions - currently if you don't succeed any missions, unless you're playing Onslaught, you'll go through the Mission deck exactly once. Adding more Missions will mean missing more Missions each game. Okay, adding 6 more Missions (one per continent) and making it a choice between 3 Missions each turn would come close to balancing the change (and bring it closer to the videogame)

 

New Aliens and new Final Mission(s) are easy to insert, assuming you can come up with suitable ones - they replace existing elements rather than diluting them.

 

New soldier types (MEC and PSI) would be interesting, though I'd want to avoid adding to the tech deck. Having PSI as an alternate upgrade path for soldiers instead of becoming elite seems like it could work. Over on BoardGameGeek, someone suggested that MEC soldiers could have every skill but no specialisations, and only be killed if the alien die rolls under the current threat. For PSI, assigning them to an enemy suppresses that enemy's special ability.

 

 

What I'd like to see added is the base-building - an ant farm that lets you unlock some bonuses by building rooms rather than having to research them. I'm not entirely clear on how it would work, so it may be that it's not a practical addition.

Edited May 4, 2015 by rmsgrey

[Krynn007 2,445]

The base building part would be cool.

Could give a little extra for the chief scientists to do

As it is now it seems Noone in our group really wants that role.

I assume it's the same with others

In some games the player that was the chief scientist looked bored. Especially after the time phase.

Adding new technology I don't think would bog down the current deck

Ya it means specific cards may not show, but there are ways to discard, redraw and search i belie, plus I'm sure the new technology could become just as vital as the current ones

Same can be sad with the missions I believe

As for the final mission just add another scenerio which imo is never a bad thing

Edited May 5, 2015 by Krynn007

[rmsgrey 22]

In my games, Squad Leader has been the most contested role, with Chief Scientist coming second.

 

The Chief Scientist can end up more detached than the other players - if he fails a task, then the other players have a harder time of things; if he succeeds, they have an easier time of things. It is pretty much the difference between winning and losing, but the consequences are a lot less immediate and direct than for the other roles: Squad Leader is at the pointy end - base defense is irreversible progress toward losing while missions are progress toward winning; Commander and Central both need to keep panic down, and letting UFOs pile up means things are that much harder next round; Commander and Squad Leader both incur additional costs when they take losses while Central and Science recover automatically and often don't use all their units anyway...

 

 

Whether the Chief Scientist role is boring or not, adding more technology to the deck isn't going to solve that - they'll still be sat at arm's length from the action, buffing up the front-line roles.

[Krynn007 2,445]

Well your right, adding new technology won't make the chief scientist more enticing, but adding another feature like building on to the base could liven up the roll some

[rmsgrey 22]

Yeah, the best way to make the Chief Scientist role more exciting is to get more excited about the Chief Scientist role.

 

The Chief Scientist starts the game with 5 things to do each Timed Phase (draw cards, Research Center to get better cards, and 3 Research to assign) and 3-5 during Resolution (resolving Research three times and possibly using the Workshop). Their choice of Tech to research is a pretty important decision - up there with the Commander's choices of Crisis - and the outcome of their research efforts is often the difference between winning despite bad rolls and losing despite good rolls.

 

If you really think the Chief Scientist role is boring, then try playing a game with no scientist at all and see how much they do contribute...

[Krynn007 2,445]

I understand the chief scientist is extremely crucial, but just to people in our group, it seems to not be as exciting as the other roles

I think it's because it's less actiony if that makes any sense.

They are not actually shooting at anything, and what they research is usually for the other players

I think commander is second( I'm usually ccommander since I bought the game and am the only one to run the app)

It seems that is the excuse people use "I never ran the app before" and it's actually quit easy.

I don't mind playing the commander, but i wouldnt mind trying out some of the other roles.

It's just if I want others to enjoy the game I try let them decide what they want and I take the left over role, which again is usually commander because Noone wants to run the app.

I think the reason is again they don't feel as much action, even though you get to shoot down ufo.

Come to think of it, I enjoyed the chief scientist when we played a three player game, I ended up using both chief scientist and commander

[rmsgrey 22]

Just because it's confusing:

 

The Commander is the guy who chooses Crises, decides how much Emergency Funding to take, and plays with the Interceptors.

The app is controlled by the Central Officer who also places UFOs and controls the Satellites.

 

The other thing that's missing from the Chief Scientist is that he never does any of the alien actions - Squad Leader gets to turn over the top card of the Enemy deck, Commander has Crises, Central has UFOs and Threat.

[Krynn007 2,445]

Just because it's confusing:

The Commander is the guy who chooses Crises, decides how much Emergency Funding to take, and plays with the Interceptors.

The app is controlled by the Central Officer who also places UFOs and controls the Satellites.

The other thing that's missing from the Chief Scientist is that he never does any of the alien actions - Squad Leader gets to turn over the top card of the Enemy deck, Commander has Crises, Central has UFOs and Threat.

(sorry in my above post I ment to ssay central officer)

That's another good way to look at the chief scientist position

They don't have anything for alien interactions

Maybe something could be introduced to give the central officer some sort-of interaction.

As suggested earlier in this post, maybe allow the chief scientist to build onto the base. This will give him something else to consider. Because really once you know what you want to research all you doing during the time phase is waiting to lay down a card,

Edited May 9, 2015 by Krynn007

[hone 0]

I actually found the chief scientist to be my favorite role because they have a hand size. Being able to use your scientists to play things during your hand to help others out using worksho really helped keep me engaged with every role during resolutions. This combos well with Research Lab to fish for more "exhaust this" cards, to play during resolution if I dont' have ones I want. It gets especially neat when combined with alien alloy because you could pitch cards but also put them back on the top of your deck. All in all, it reminded me the most of playing other cards games.

[Ghaundan 65]

Eh, in our group we have a guy who wants to play the chief scientist every time (got the game on friday and gotten...7 or so games in). He loves the role, makes good decisions, uses the discard ability often to save us when things get iffy. It's not like he'll be able to research it all anyway. So it's different in our role.

If you have no one that wants to play him then you simply don't have anyone in your group who likes to be in the support role. We have several who do. I still haven't been allowed to play the scientist and it's my game. Personally I feel he has the most crucial decisions to make because they have longterm effects that can either scuttle or drive your game to succeed. 

My suggestion: play 3 player.

[Krynn007 2,445]

Well I finally was able to play as the chief scientist and another friend played as the central officer.

I don't see why some don't like the chief scientist.

I enjoyed it.

[Vol3rd 0]

So far I have played Chief Scientist and Commander and enjoyed both roles. Actually I preferred the Chief Scientist especially because you're a bit withdrawn from the action and are here to help the others. I guess after playing a few games, and once you've discovered all the tech cards it becomes more of a routine... we'll see !

 

As for an extension, I'd definitely see more functions in the app rather than the game : possibility to change the monsters while in the game, adding some story elements, or why not a campaign mode ? Think about how awesome that could be ^^

[selfryn 0]

here our house rule for champain mode (sorry for spelling error second language here)

 

as expension my and my friend have start to chracters sheet out progression as in a role playing game separete by task leader/job/character played. after each game played we assign xp (see the score chart) to each

role we play (half xp for a 3 man game to the second class the player having 2 play ) after cummuling 50 , 100 , 200 400 etc in a class we can ''buy a permanant tech from that class that had been acquire the last game played so we can start with it next time we start a game (playing that class for sure ) we keep track of remaining spacecraft on board as well as the panic level.

 

doing so we have a nice time line drawn for our cyber punk game (pen and paper ).

 

as i go , i would really like the apps dev to add a survival mode!!!

 

[selfryn 0]

please a campain mode (we allready my buds and i made house rule for this ) and a survival mode that keep going long long long ...........long long time

[Vol3rd 0]

here our house rule for champain mode (sorry for spelling error second language here)

 

as expension my and my friend have start to chracters sheet out progression as in a role playing game separete by task leader/job/character played. after each game played we assign xp (see the score chart) to each

role we play (half xp for a 3 man game to the second class the player having 2 play ) after cummuling 50 , 100 , 200 400 etc in a class we can ''buy a permanant tech from that class that had been acquire the last game played so we can start with it next time we start a game (playing that class for sure ) we keep track of remaining spacecraft on board as well as the panic level.

 

doing so we have a nice time line drawn for our cyber punk game (pen and paper ).

 

as i go , i would really like the apps dev to add a survival mode!!!

 

That is actually pretty cool and allows you to play in "expert" mode more easily I guess. However, how can you keep the panic level, since at the start of each game the app asks you to change the level of each continent ? Do you just ignore that step ?

[Bleached Lizard 31]

The first thing I would want from an expansion is for the app to act like a true GM, with hidden information regarding the alien invasion plan and such.

[jediry 0]

My group was recently discussing exactly this, and came to similar conclusions as others on this thread:

• "Campaign mode" is extremely interesting to us. In order for a campaign mode to be interesting, there needs to be continuity between successive episodes. The most obvious way to do this is by carrying over acquired tech into successive episodes. However...the problem with this is that you'll quickly become completely tech'ed out, probably by the end of episode 2...and at that point, you're ridiculously overpowered compared to the aliens and the Chief Scientist has nothing left to do.
• Thus, a campaign mode needs alternate rules around tech acquisition, as well as something extra for the CS to do. Similar to others earlier in this thread, our proposal was to take a cue from the original X-COM, and re-add "base construction" as a CS responsibility, and give CS "construction engineers" in addition to scientists. Then, similar to the original game, we modify the tech cards to have "prerequisites", in the form of base modules and/or previous tech (e.g., "Carpace Armor requires having built the Armory module"). Similarly, certain base modules can have dependencies on tech. Thus, rather than a purely random list, we have a tech tree. I haven't yet figured out exactly how the tech researching rules would need to be modified, but I feel like this should be possible.
• However, this creates a different problem: tech accumulation is now slow enough to span several games, but this means that X-COM acquires tech too slowly to win the early episodes of the campaign. To resolve this, the game needs to escalate in difficulty, which means that the app probably needs to be modified.

Ideally, FFG would open-source the app, so that enthusiasts (like us) can modify it to support custom scenarios (like the above campaign).

 

The "base construction" addition would be pretty cool as a set of 3D base module models...I would totally buy that if FFG published it. If they don't, I'll may look into creating it myself, using a 3D printer.

[rmsgrey 22]

To use the current buzz-word: XCOM Legacy

 

Though once you go the campaign route for XCOM, it's more natural to bring it back to being a squad-based tactical combat game - rather than spending most of the time on the strategic layer, play each round out as a co-operative tactical game, and use the strategic side to tie the campaign together - there are decent cardboard AIs out there that can provide tactical opposition for a co-op game, or you can have a player take the alien role.

 

For the strategic layer, again, you could have a human to run the aliens, but an app might be better - or a Pandemic Legacy style stacked deck if you're happy with a less reactive opposition.

[BruceLGL 127]

Ideally, FFG would open-source the app, so that enthusiasts (like us) can modify it to support custom scenarios (like the above campaign).

 

This wouldn't actually help much.  The game logic can (and has been) reversed engineered and isn't all that complicated.  The biggest issue is who owns the assets and associated intellectual property and what are you allowed to do with it (if the assets were creative commons or something similar I would have started an open app to use them already, but that isn't going to happen).

 

Secondarily there is the issue of unofficial apps having a higher barrier to entry for locked mobile devices (particularly iOS, but most android users aren't going to install anything that isn't on the play store).