Calling all personnel: What do you want from XCOM 3?

[Funky Papa]

Inspired by Tuco Benedicto Pacifico 's recent thread about XCOM 2 and taking as a fact that XCOM 3 should be well in development at this point. Name whatever you think could improve the current experience, either borrowing from the classic games or introducing mechanics that are new to XCOM.

My personal wishlist:

• A plot that is focused on humanity. Bringing the alien perspective didn't make much sense when you are the commander of XCOM. It felt out of place and it's not like the writing was stellar to begin with.
• Lore. Lots of lore. If Firaxis are going to turn it into a proper tactical RPG, lore should be a priority. Get your ass to Mars.
• Multiple bases around the world, althought I think XCOM 2 worked around them very well with the factions.
• Old school base management. Make it meaningful.
• Ramp up the difficulty/crush stat progression so you are forced to field rookies even more oftenly. Let those bodies hit the floor.
• More zannier enemies. I thought XCOM 2 was excellent in that regard. OG X-Com/UFO was incredibly corny and I loved what XCOM 2 did with the aliens.
• Aliens that can snipe.
• Make Chrysalids even bigger assholes.
• Improve flamethrowers.
• Underwater missions. Or at very least maps with bizarre settings that are heavily tied to the main plot.
• Find new ways to toy with the Lost. Those missions were incredible.

Go ahead, post yours.

 

[Deleted member 54320]

Simple, I would just like an option to turn off timers during missions.

If I can make a match go on for 99 turns then I will.

 

[Soj]

Just a good console port.

 

[Cup O' Tea?]

How about another Rabbids style collaboration but with Final Fantasy characters/story.

 

[Wotkar]

more cool shit big-ass things

 

[Jintor]

I want to have to actually suffer losses but in such a way that it hurts but doesn't make the campaign catastrophically spiral... At least not immediately

 

[boybrushdRED]

I want the expansion to be a new campaign. Not just new goodies integrated into the old campaign.

 

[WellbornWarrior]

Some kind of ship-to-ship combat would be nice.

Apart from that they pretty much already nailed everything else.

 

[Hektor]

Most obviously more classes, weapons, enemies and mission types blabla

apart from that

I find Phoenix Point's inclusion of vehicles to be a really cool idea.
Obviously, the maps would have to be designed for it, but vehicle based mission types could be an interesting addition.

I'd love to see some maps completely focused on verticality, such as a skyscraper with 20 floors.

Some more sandboxy basebuilding.

Endgame "Army missions" were you would deploy more than a single squad, XCOM2 already had those implicitly with the base defense missions.

A more interactive world map and ways to build things on it, like let's say a big laser canon that would give you the option for a strong laser attack once per mission on the continent or radar buildings that would lift the fog off war etc.

I'd also love to have a playable alien campaign at some point, but i think that's better suited for a fully fledged spin-off.

I'm not even going to list underwater missions because the end of XCOM 2 more or less already implied those.


And my most out there idea:

Give me fucking mechs.
And i don't mean the little ones we had in the XCOM1 expansion or the XCOM 2 robots.
I mean huge ass fucking evangelion/gundam mechs fighting alien mechs.
That would be one huge ass, destructive unit fighting another, while you still control a squad of normal soldiers fighting normal Aliens between them.
Gameplay wise i'd imagine a simple combat system between the mechs about tactically choosing the correct attack and defense moves to counter the opposing mech that would reck huge parts of the battlefield with rockets and lasers, but each attack would require a full turn to happen so every unit has a fair chance of moving out of the way.

 

[i hate cheaters]

probably a better strategic layer

or just no strategic layer at all

i can't decide which

 

[Strings]

... I'd like a different art style overall. Both of their titles are great to play, but pretty boring design-wise. I'm not saying it has to be cartoon-y or anything, just a little more... Distinctive?

Would also love a story that is a bit more personal and focused, but that would require taking away some of the freedom from players and giving you named units, etc, which would turn a lot of them off probably. Maybe an Etrian Odyssey Untold style option, where you can choose at the start to play the campaign with a story and set characters or not?

 

[VaporSnake]

I really thought the superhero armor you ended up in at the end of Xcom 2 was pretty lame, everything felt very comic booky in comparison to enemy unknown.

Gameplay wise though? Pretty much nailed it, I'd love more systems that create cohesion and stories between squadmates, maybe even traits/random events could expand upon it, the way total war three kingdoms does it's personality traits comes to mind.

So yeah I guess I just want a more grounded tone for the most part, I missed the spoopy 90's ufo alien tone of the earlier game but I wouldn't mind a completely different aesthetic all together.

Xcom 2 has one of the best mod communities around, would be nice if there was even more support for that kind of thing going forward, maybe even a way to get some of them on consoles, as I feel Xcom 2 is truly an infinitely replayable game with mods.

 

[Shelbyville Milhouse]

I actually disagree with OP, I think shining a bit more light on the Alien perspective was really cool and I kinda want them to focus on it.
Cause the human perspective is just "Aliens are here, let's get rid of the aliens" while the question "why are the aliens here" is far more interesting.
I also would love to be able to recruit some alien defectors similarly to the groups in WotC it could give you some unique units with their own playstyle and also ad some potential internal conflict (can we trust those guys?) to the lore/story.

Also, traits. Having to deal with a Sniper who is afraid of Crystallids in a mission involving Crystallids was super fun and resulted in tense and emergent gameplay. There really should just be more of them.

Also, and this is the most important part: KEEP THE POSTER-STUFF FROM WotC! Getting a group photo with some dumb headline after a mission was a treat each and every time-

 

[fieldafar]

Just a good console port.

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[Dhruv_Hanom]

More weapon tiers, even sidegrades too.

 

[Funky Papa]

I actually disagree with OP, I think shining a bit more light on the Alien perspective was really cool and I kinda want them to focus on it.
Cause the human perspective is just "Aliens are here, let's get rid of the aliens" while the question "why are the aliens here" is far more interesting.

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Oh, I would absolutely love to see the alien view and motivations. It's just that moving from first person perspective (you are the commander) to alien perspective (look at those aliens being cunning and plotting against each other as if you were at their base) felt very odd. There was a huge disconnection there.

I wouldn't mind expanding the alien lore through artifacts, recordings or even Skirmishers.

 

[ParmeSean]

What i enjoyed more about the original XCOM was fighting the unknown, i would love if the alien attack came from the ocean and just got back to this "terror of the deep" vibes to it

 

[Paz]

Reduce the focus on the player as a story character, it should be the story of humanity not some chosen one.

Add meaningful base layout and combat elements for the classic defense elements.

Bring back the global game from the original games where you need multiple teams active at the same time rather than building a core team that you only swap individual members out of when they're incapacitated.

deeper and more meaningful ufo combat elements and more fighting downed or landed ufos.

 

[Karn]

Story wise:

Payback! Take the game to their ballpark.
And oh, mountable mechs.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

- Don't over-complicate things and maintain game design balance as a priority.

- Don't escalate into silly OP tech which destroys game balance.

- Don't make us manage multiple bases unless you streamline it. Would be too much and would destroy game rhythm.

- Do create further ways of personalising and individualising your soldiers. Is there a way of doing this more for scientists and engineers too?

- Underwater missions would be ok and cool.

- Maybe more air combat if there's a way of making it interesting.

- Prettier grafix with ray tracing pls.

 

[Funky Papa]

- Do create further ways of personalising and individualising your soldiers. Is there a way of doing this more for scientists and engineers too?

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Imagine having pilots with their own stats and survival kits and having to bail them out from alien captured territory when downed, Flight of the Intruder style.

Hire me Firaxis.

I can write copy, too.

 

[TC McQueen]

-Better CPU performance optimizations
-Apply abilities directly to weapons to create a broader swath of weapon development options
-Add a DMR weapon as a sniper primary to mitigate early game sniper uselessness: 1 action to fire, with a range table in between that of the AR and the sniper rifle
-Replace the lame single enemy suppression skill on soldier skill trees with a multi-target suppression skill and move default suppression to weapons
-XCOM 2 aliens as squadmates
-A better mod uploader
-A better mod launcher
-Better gear selection UI that doesn't turn to shit when you've got tons of mods

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

I'm going to suggest something weird. You know how we have not seen the alien species in their true form before they were enslaved? Give me a DLC campaign that is on an alien planet, we play an entirely new species that has never been invaded, and the enemy already possesses human mutants among their forces.

 

[Siggy-P]

Auto-save only after every move you make. No save scumming.

 

[Pargon]

Simple, I would just like an option to turn off timers during missions.
If I can make a match go on for 99 turns then I will.

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https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=616964599

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1125412463

 

[Deleted member 54320]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=616964599

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Oh I've been using that mod since day one. I'm just hoping there's an option for something like that if a new X-Com is ever announced.

 

[Skade]

Decent perfs first and foremost.

Then yeah, maybe toy with the idea of using vehicules or fixed weapons.

For the rest, just follow on what was made with WOTC (and definitely keep the mod support as amazing as it is in XCom 2).

 

[Sean Mirrsen]

Oh I've been using that mod since day one. I'm just hoping there's an option for something like that if a new X-Com is ever announced.

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I'd trade that for a return to inventory management and limited ammunition. It's not much of a strategy tactical game if you have both unlimited time and unlimited ammo.

 

[Deleted member 54320]

I'd trade that for a return to inventory management and limited ammunition. It's not much of a strategy game if you have both unlimited time and unlimited ammo.

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I never really played it as such to be honest but I get that. I enjoyed abusing the 'overwatch' feature with unlimited time, and taking as long as I want with it.

I don't want the core game to just be that of course, I just like messing around like that when it comes to these games.

 

[Dr.Phibes]

I only want people to understand probability and stop complaining about missed 99% shots.

 

[Kyougar]

My ideas/wishlist

- adjustable slider for campaign length (everything takes x times more, i.e. with a slider set to "3x" every research, building, training etc would be 3 times as long, or 2 times or 0.5 tims, or 6 times, etc. etc.)
- adjustable slider for soldier fatigue from nothing, where you could field your elite squad forever, to hardcore, where the soldiers need to rest for a month until they work at 100% again, which makes it mandatory to have several teams.
- more impact on what destruction means for the country/world. Like a devastation meter and how xcom is viewed if there is too much devastation in their wake after a mission
- comeback of the corporations from Apocalypse, it is unreal that XCOM is developing and creating all of the material and weapons alone, there should be corporations who research and produce new and old technology and xcom is selling them the rare materials to research
- in conjunction with the "devastation-meter" a high devastation would mean lesser output of the corporations because of all the damage etc.
- more ressource management in the geoscape, more strategic situations and handling. Factories and mines that have to be defended and invested in or built up.
- bigger tech tree
- more meaningfull base nuilding and base defense

 

[Laughing Banana]

No percentage based gameplay would be nice, something like Into the Breach. It's just silly how you can have your gun up to the alien's face and yet still misses.

 

[Sean Mirrsen]

No percentage based gameplay would be nice, something like Into the Breach. It's just silly how you can have your gun up to the alien's face and yet still misses.

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Without hit percentages it becomes a tactical puzzle game - which is fine as a genre of its own (see: Into the Breach), but it wouldn't be XCOM.

Also there's plenty of reasons why you can miss something from point blank range, that the ingame character animations don't necessarily respect. Like disorientation, etc. It's an annoying but everpresent disconnect between most tactical games' RPG elements and combat animations.

It's much more hilarious in better-made games that actually make an effort to simulate these things in visuals. Like the Silent Storm games, which took into account the limits of the character's model and held weapon when calculating hit percentage, and thus rifle-wielding soldiers had trouble hitting adjacent enemies, because they couldn't actually turn and aim the weapon barrel to hit the target unless they stepped away beforehand. This made the occasional "blatant misses" that much more hilarious, having pistol-wielding officers fire point blank at a soldier, but because the simulation demanded a miss it'd result in a dramatic attempt to aim anywhere but at the soldier, into the floor, the ceiling, anywhere the animation rig permitted their arm to move.
But on the upside, the combat animations were on point - the weapons always hit what they were pointing at, no missing an enemy right in the line of fire just because it "ducked" under your hail of bullets at the right instant.

So, if I wanted one upgrade in a future XCOM, it'd probably be something like that. I'll always prefer better animations and design over higher-definition graphics.

 

[Cecil]

I would primarly want more things that adds to the replayability:

*Expanded basebuilding, with tougher choices. I want to have to chose what I can build, and fit in my base, rather then just what order I build into.
*Expanded strategy layer mechanics.
*A bit less focus on story missions.

Oh, and I absolutely don't want this to be exclusive to the Epic Store.

 

[Igniz12]

I only want people to understand probability and stop complaining about missed 99% shots.

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Or just not put yourself in situations where that one shot determines your squad/unit's success.

X com could do better with teaching people how to setup contingencies and not play the game like Final Fantasy tactics.

 

[Staf]

XCOM 2 without timers, go go go!

Oh, and mods isn't an option for me since i play on console.

 

[Mentalist]

Not right now. EGS needs to fail first

 

[DSP]

Get rid of chance based hits, it's so bad. It doesn't even make sense they way it is now.
Phoenix Point is way better and more intuitive.

 

[Deleted member 28523]

assuming we keep with the same story - playable aliens. ethereals are finally gone and we getting terror from the deep. XCOM's got put those muton and sectoids to work now that they are no longer mind controlled. draft them in the army against the new alien menace.

and bring back eggsalt. The idea of a counter human group is a lot of fun and was missing from XCOM 2.

ignore everything phoenix point is doing because it sucks. complaing about hit %'s is very dumb and Phoenix Point's change's are awful game design and hot what you should be doing with a budget crowdfunded game.

but really Solomon will deliver with whatever he does. he's like best game director right now so I don't have any fear.

 

[jaekeem]

I think player vehicles and mechs could be a cool addition, since we already have giant robots

 

[Window]

Improved difficulty curve. These games are hard as hell in the beginning phases of a campaign but become a cake walk late game. While some of that is warranted as a reward for player's time and hard work building up their team I think a bit more fine tuning and equalization of this curve would benefit the experience. More variety in level design and especially music is a must too.

 

[JaxiPup]

I'd like to see more depth in what classes can do. A much larger list of powers for psi-ops geared toward utility, more hacking options for supports, opportunities to interact with the environment beyond hackable towers.

On the more wishlisty side of things, some better multiplayer options would be amazing. Narrative skirmish play with an evolving fireteam.

 

[Window]

Oh and maybe borrow a few elements from Invisible Inc. on how to do stealth. Some more traversal + team combo moves ideas from Mario + Rabbids would also be nice.

 

[edo_kid]

Either do a good console port or don't do it at all, the current state of WoTC on ps4 is beyond laughable.

 

[Chirotera]

I'd like to see armor and weapons get retuned so you don't have to keep swapping them out from one team to the next. It's too expensive to armor up everyone, and constantly swapping it around only encourages you to stick to your A-team.

The caveat would be that armor/weapons could be bound to a single soldier and not removable once placed. (Though you could bind more than one to swap between types) They could also add different types of armor that can level up to further meet your soldiers' needs. Sort of how they did weapons but more robust, locking it onto one soldier to encourage uniqueness, with many different types available.

 

[Jintor]

Improved difficulty curve. These games are hard as hell in the beginning phases of a campaign but become a cake walk late game. While some of that is warranted as a reward for player's time and hard work building up their team I think a bit more fine tuning and equalization of this curve would benefit the experience. More variety in level design and especially music is a must too.

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yes, this is a huge issue with xcom generally.

if they can solve this and the pod problem I would be super happy.

if they also managed to make it so that you actually have to suffer losses but the game still feels balanced I will be super duper happy.

 

[Vince-DiCola]

Mod support for console.
Better strategic game.
Multiple bases.
Incentivise using more soldiers
More boss enemies that harass you throughout the campaign

 

[Petrapan]

the blaster launcher (waypoint missile). One of my favorite weapons from any videogame

 

[Window]

yes, this is a huge issue with xcom generally.

if they can solve this and the pod problem I would be super happy.

if they also managed to make it so that you actually have to suffer losses but the game still feels balanced I will be super duper happy.

Click to shrink...

Oh yeah that too though I don't know how they can address that without fundamentally changing the game by e.g. dividing the map into multiple zones and having the AI units be completely active, moving and engaging freely within that zone only.

 

[Starlatine]

Be aligned in tone with EU/EW and less like X2 and specially WotC

The mechanical additions of WotC are solid but i hate what it and X2 did to the overall plot and feel of xcom. Put some uguu eyes on the characters and it would disguise itself as a low quality anime. You never feel the tension you felt in the first game and you never had missions like newfoundland, ashes and temples, slingshot - the only one that COULD be called that is when you need to defend the avenger after the UFO attack and not only its completely optional and easily avoidable (you need to goof around a lot for it to happen) its also easy as hell to cheese