you summed up josh's point... which is why it, and yours, sucks. this is a crpg, and unless aliens is crpg in name only, people is gonna have to choose a particular weapon or weapon set to specialize in. maybe give you and josh a few minutes to stew over, 'cause we can tell you both ain't getting the ramifications.

No, I already thought about it. So has Krezack, apparently. And Wombat.

There are really only three "classes" in the Alien franchise:

 

(1) Inadequate Space Marine.

(2) Sigourney Weaver.

(3) Casualties.

 

Yeah, this thread has pretty much already been won.

I love Witcher inventory system.Weapons aren't hiden in some magic bag but are visible on body of character on places where it makes sense.

Come to think of it, the Invantory system of Xcom was a perfect example of this.

 

A backpack with 3x3 grid, two sholder and two hip pouches of 2x1 grid each, and a belt of 3x2, missing the lower middle square.

 

What it meant is that for really heavy weapons like the rocket launcher (ammo is 3 squares high) or blaster bomb (2x2 size ammo) a single soldier could only carry very limited ammo, and had to rely on team-mates to carry spares, if needed.

 

Smaller important items like medkits or grenades could happily be placed in the other 'containers'.

 

Different containers took different amounts of time to access too, so you'd only want to place items in the backpack if you really couldn't advoid it.

The new Alone in the Dark has the absolute coolest inventory system ever seen. I can't speak for how well it "works" in an overall sense, it could be slow as heck or overly limited, but it's still cool.

There are really only three "classes" in the Alien franchise:

 

(1) Inadequate Space Marine.

(2) Sigourney Weaver.

(3) Casualties.

 

Yeah, this thread has pretty much already been won.

 

A) -Weland Yutany member (security agent, lawyer, shock trooper... whatever) //Or member of another corp.

B) -Colonial Marine (whit all thouse weapons skills)

C) -Synthetic (stronger than a human, charisma penalty etc...)

D) -Scientist // medic (some lab and research habilities)

E) -Industrial cargo crew member (whit some industrial and pilot ship skills)

F) -Colonist ( atmospheric processors, hostile eviroments skills blablah)

H) -Civilian // from earth or another planet

 

Options are endless...

I'm still keen on the idea of the PC being synthetic. You could start off as a commercial android and become augmented as the game went on, towards combat or science or whatever.

I'm still keen on the idea of the PC being synthetic. You could start off as a commercial android and become augmented as the game went on, towards combat or science or whatever.

 

Yeah I reckon it's the most suitable method.

 

However, even in a classless skill/combat system, it's probably a good idea to first set out a bunch of 5 or so core classes which you'd like to be playable within the game, then build your system so that these classes are possible.

A) -Weland Yutany member (security agent, lawyer, shock trooper... whatever) //Or member of another corp.

B) -Colonial Marine (whit all thouse weapons skills)

C) -Synthetic (stronger than a human, charisma penalty etc...)

D) -Scientist // medic (some lab and research habilities)

E) -Industrial cargo crew member (whit some industrial and pilot ship skills)

F) -Colonist ( atmospheric processors, hostile eviroments skills blablah)

H) -Civilian // from earth or another planet

 

Options are endless...

 

I dunno dude, most of those options have words that can be used contextually in another game, that would make it, like, exactly the same game.

There are really only three "classes" in the Alien franchise:

 

(1) Inadequate Space Marine.

(2) Sigourney Weaver.

(3) Casualties.

 

BTW, it's never really been discussed how far into the future the Aliens movies are. A century? It's interesting that they have faster-than-light travel, yet the space marines only had machine guns, grenade launchers, flame throwers, and motion sensors. The exomechanical lifter suit was the only real thing that seemed "high tech". Oh and orbital nuclear weapons. Nothing that hasn't already been invented in the 20th century. It's interesting that they don't have beam weapons or the other high tech weapons found in other sci-fi sagas. I find it interesting the 2nd iteration of Battlestar Galactica also went low-tech with weaponry; although they have spacefighters, they still essentially fight with machine guns, rockets, and projectile weapons.

 

That has nothing to do with classes per se, but I wonder about the "tech level" of the game. The other technically advanced things were the extremely humanlike androids like Bishop and whoever was Winona Ryder's character in A:R. Obviously, I think many might want to play an android. They sure were fast and survivable, I mean heck, Bishop appears to have survived being torn in half.

 

The other interesting question is if we might see the genetic human-alien hybrids of the 4th movie (A:R) either as foes -- or allies.

I always thought it made sense for characters in the Aliens universe to use advanced conventional weaponry. I'm sure in the future we will have specialized energy weapons and other wacky stuff, but regular guns and explosives are really darn good at killing things. Also, they're pretty low-maintenance. The Colonial Marines technical manual has things like the PIG in it (basically a coil gun that excites cadmium telluride to a plasmatic state, magnetically shields it, and then throws it into an enemy before demagnetizing it) but even that is a special purpose anti-armor weapon.

 

And though the smartgun and pulse rifle are "regular" guns, they do both fire caseless ammunition, which was pretty cutting edge in the late 80s (and still not used for various reasons).

A) -Weland Yutany member (security agent, lawyer, shock trooper... whatever) //Or member of another corp.

 

How about Corporate Sleazeball... that was the "class" the Paul Reiser character played in Aliens.

I always thought it made sense for characters in the Aliens universe to use advanced conventional weaponry. I'm sure in the future we will have specialized energy weapons and other wacky stuff, but regular guns and explosives are really darn good at killing things. Also, they're pretty low-maintenance. The Colonial Marines technical manual has things like the PIG in it (basically a coil gun that excites cadmium telluride to a plasmatic state, magnetically shields it, and then throws it into an enemy before demagnetizing it) but even that is a special purpose anti-armor weapon.

 

And though the smartgun and pulse rifle are "regular" guns, they do both fire caseless ammunition, which was pretty cutting edge in the late 80s (and still not used for various reasons).

 

Good.

Heck, the Colt 1911 is approaching a century in age and it still sees use. I imagine we'll be throwing slugs at each other for quite some time to come.

Edited February 6, 200818 yr by Tale

I'm not sure how developed the Aliens setting "cannon" is, or whether or not Obsidian has a free hand in implementing ideas.

 

But a quote jumped into my mind just now: "Any technology that is sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic" (or something like that).

 

The moral of the story is that taking current trends in science and extending them out, you could very well have a "mage" class that uses super high technology nano devices to create effects ranging from mind control (nano scale robots invading a host creature and re wiring the neural circuitry to obey the commands embedded in the nano robots programming or to simply paralyze/disable) to levitation and so on. Some futurists talk about nano devices that can heal wounds and diseases (there's your "cleric" or healer guy) etc.

 

So if they really wanted to, Obs could make conventional fantasy rpg classes like "mage" "cleric" with a (nano)technological excuse.

I don't really want Obsidian to emulate Bioware's Mass Effect. They had the exact same quote in mind as you, the mass effect in the game is magic that has a nifty explanation, new-found energy source that can be controlled by a synaptic link. It's really just magic with a twist - the huge cooldown time, and is a good presentation on why I'd prefer if Obsidian just had mechanics, soldiers and medics(to make a rough generalization) - no mages. It's an interesting idea, but I think a little extreme augmentation to the Aliens "cannon[sic]".

 

Instead of having nanomachines, why not make security measures like cameras, floodgates, turrets and other defense systems interesting and useful enough to give players reason to have some kind of gadgety techie with them? Make them valuable and give them an edge that offsets the penalties of having a relatively non-combat oriented dude, almost like a bum with a wrench, with you. With some work, Obs could make the hacker or the mechanic the third wheel in the old crpg melee-ranged-magic trinity.*

 

 

*Even though melee is not really viable, besides powerized armor and exosuits. It's just there to make the case clear.

Edited February 6, 200818 yr by Musopticon?

Does that mean we will be able to see an AK-47 at least?

 

I mean, damn, they got a prehistoric shotgun in the movie anyway.

The original gun design stems from the fact that the production team had to struggle with a budget that didn't really allow a ton of leeway in terms of outrageous scifi design. So there were (IIRC) M4 gun props that were modified to look like smart guns and really old weapons(considering the time the movies are set in) that seemingly had no place there, but probably served their purposes because only internet nuts would take notice if the shottie is from the 22th century or not.

We are assuming that gauss guns and laser cannons would be economical, I have no problem imagining that they would not be issued to grunts. In fact I much prefer a technology that I can relate to rather than have them run around with energy weapons. I think Cameron does too regardless of what the prop budget may have been.

We are assuming that gauss guns and laser cannons would be economical, I have no problem imagining that they would not be issued to grunts. In fact I much prefer a technology that I can relate to rather than have them run around with energy weapons. I think Cameron does too regardless of what the prop budget may have been.

 

Point understood, but you would think a society able to design mechanical androids that are as lifelike as Bishop or Winona Ryder, and has faster-than-light space travel, and knows genetic engineering well enough to hybridize human and alien DNA, might make advances in other fronts, particularly weapons.

 

The exoskeletal mech loader is actually based on technology that's already in development right now. But I guess we've heard it semi-officially confirmed such mech suits are in.

 

One thing will make combat in an Aliens CRPG interesting -- hand-to-hand fighting them, even in heavy armor, with their acid blood, is going to be foolish. So is shooting them at close range.

Point understood, but you would think a society able to design mechanical androids that are as lifelike as Bishop or Winona Ryder, and has faster-than-light space travel, and knows genetic engineering well enough to hybridize human and alien DNA, might make advances in other fronts, particularly weapons.

 

Slug-throwers have been around for hundreds of years, and while they've gone up in range, accuracy, rate-of-fire, and penetration, they're still recognizably variations on the same device. I don't see why we should declare that death ray guns are more advanced simply because they don't currently work and ordinary guns do.

 

Why don't we complain about the lack of monorails and jetpacks while we're at it?

The moral of the story is that taking current trends in science and extending them out, you could very well have a "mage" class that uses super high technology nano devices to create effects ranging from mind control (nano scale robots invading a host creature and re wiring the neural circuitry to obey the commands embedded in the nano robots programming or to simply paralyze/disable) to levitation and so on. Some futurists talk about nano devices that can heal wounds and diseases (there's your "cleric" or healer guy) etc.

 

I hate this idea. No offence to you, but books, movies and games which use this ploy really annoy me.

 

Deus Ex trod a fine line but in the end it got it right. Deus Ex 2 did not.

Point understood, but you would think a society able to design mechanical androids that are as lifelike as Bishop or Winona Ryder, and has faster-than-light space travel, and knows genetic engineering well enough to hybridize human and alien DNA, might make advances in other fronts, particularly weapons.

You don't reinvent the wheel. We fling deadly pieces of metal at each other. There's not a lot to it. It's efficient, economical, and compact. It's everything it needs to be. It's almost like expecting chairs to become radically redesigned and replaced with fans that hold us aloft on air currents in our future.

 

And actually, the truth of futuristic warfare is more likely to come in the form of NBC or mechanical agents than ray guns. We won't send marines in, we'll just drop a payload and hope it only kills the people we want it to kill.

Edited February 7, 200818 yr by Tale

I guess one problem with laser guns would be that, like tracers, they work both ways.

...M4 gun props that were modified to look like smart guns ...

 

Actually, its the World War 2 MG42 modfied to look like smart guns.

 

Thompson SMG modified to pulse rifle.

Edited February 7, 200818 yr by Zoma