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weatherman667 · 2 years

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The Greatest Turn-Based Tacticals

Fallout Tactics: The Brotherhood of Steel

The biggest problem of Fallout has been an absolutely terrible companion AI. One of the short-time companions in Fallout 2 will run behind you and shoot an automatic weapon through you at whatever was attacking you. The escort mission should be about 5 minutes, but I had to redo it a couple dozen times. You also can’t get you companions to carry something. This is because if you give something to them, it’s theirs now.

Fallout also had a bit of a problem, (from a perspective), of not taking itself seriously. The original creator was apparently against any sign of civilization actually recovering, regardless of what you did. As such, the elements of the Fallout stories were basically just props.

Fallout Tactics gave you control of a party, along with taking itself seriously. This meant it took the heretical measure of using real-weapons, to the point that AK-47′s became the primary currency.

So, how to you tie this altogether? The Brotherhood of Steel. The Brotherhood of Steel was the leftovers of the US military. The original idea was that they were going to rebuild. The problem is that the President turned out to be a bond villain. Since, the Brotherhood of Steel has done nothing but perpetuate itself.

So, a faction of the Brotherhood of Steel wanted to do the heretical actions of... associating with locals, actually trying to improve their lot in life. Trying to rebuild? So, this faction of the Brotherhood of Steel left on blimps and flew over the mountains, crashing near Chicago. Now, they didn’t really have much choice. They started creating pacts with the locals, you provide us with men and food, and we protect you. You play a tribal, newly recruited, with most of the other ones, as well. You are in charge of your squad of up to 6 members. You get to look through the various recruits, and build your squad off of it. Depending on how you play the game, this can include Humans, Ghouls, Mutants, Deathclaws, and Robots. You start off protecting the local tribes from bandits, but as you distinguish yourself in the Brotherhood, you are giving more and more important missions. Eventually you go up against a robot army being controlled from Vault 0.

Fallout Tactics includes most of the basics from the other two Fallouts, with the exception of adding a semi-real time mode. A remember a comment I made about Fallout 3, and that’s that cannot fire the Chinese Assault Rifle on single shot. This is what made assault rifles so valuable, as they had plentiful ammunition. Single shot had good accuracy, and a missed shot was not the end of the world. This guy’s reply was that its “not that kind of game” despite the fact that the previous Fallouts not only let you do it, but it was almost an essential element of the game. People who play the new Fallouts honestly do not know what they lost.

What Fallout Tactics let you do: Individual Stealth, called shots, almost every firearm had a multi-shot mode, (semi-autos double tap, while full-autos typically fire 5 rounds), included melee, (if you really wanted to), multiple ammunition types, every character can be trained in everything, (all characters had 3 skills they gained 2 points from instead of one, which was a much better system than anything the new Fallouts use), consequences for major decisions, incredibly varied dialogue options. Honestly, no game has combined them all together like Fallout Tactics did.

The problem with Fallout Tactics is that it was literally ahead of it’s time, as game engines and hardware were not good enough, yet, to do what they wanted to do. While they had vehicles, you had to carry all of the ammunition in your own pockets etc. One of the bases is too short, and your APC will get permanently stuck. They used a weird hex-grid system that made it almost impossible to move up or down. It tried to add a 3rd dimension, and largely failed.

XCOM2

XCOM2 forces an incredibly dynamic gaming style, and as such, a lot of what it does it simplified, but still wonderful. It’s one of the only games where you can barricade behind nearly everything. The game designates it as half or full cover. It has group stealth, which is something I don’t think any game actually deals with. An infantry platoon can walk so quietly and swiftly that a company can overrun you in a minute without notice. That said, once you shoot or are spotted, the enemy now nows where you are. Returning from a patrolling is always more dangerous, as the enemy now knows you are in the area.

The downside is that because of the simplified nature, you don’t have an orientation. As such, flanking doesn’t mean what it does in real life. It has nothing to do with attacking from the flanks It then eliminates the fact that having some cover beside you is a benefit, and turns it into a detriment. But again, simplified. You can make decisions quickly

Instead, XCOM adds a strategic aspect, that can sink your campaign as quickly as bad tactical decisions.

XCOM wants to make grenades more useful, and so makes Frag Grenades strip armour, because it went way too crazy on the armour, that you now needed to strip. You can also use it for demolition, a lot more than real grenades will do. And because of this, they only give you one grenade. I mean, this is only the end of the world, we are talking about? Two grenades isn’t too much to ask?

Because of it’s simplified system, the 3rd dimension works wonderfully, if a bit simplified.

XCOM2 is one of the only games to recognize the role of the Tactical Marksman. It also answers the question of how it works extremely well, because you cannot move and shoot with your sniper rifle in the same turn. You instead have to use a pistol.

Valkyria Chronicles

Valkyria Chronicles has a tactical system not used anywhere else. It has no grids. You have two modes: Command and Tactical.

Command Mode has you overlooking a map of the battlefield. All of your soldiers, along with all visible enemies are shown. When you hold the cursor over an icon, it will show you which character it is, their stats, Potentials, (natural affinities / detriments), along with sight lines. Enemies that character has LoS with have blue lines, enemies that that LoS with that character are yellow. Every character has a facing, and if you are in tactical mode and move into the arc of an enemy with smallarms, they will shoot you. Until either their magazine is empty, or you are dead.

When you go into Tactical Mode, the camera drops down to 3rd person behind the character, and you directly control them. Every character has a distance you can run, and during this time you can make one attack.

If you enter tactical mode within the range and arc of an enemy with small arms, they will start attacking, immediately. These attacks stop the moment you go into attack mode or end your turn.

When you are controlling the character, you directly control them, and move them as if they were any other 3rd person video game character. If you push the stick softly they will walk, if you push hard, they will run. Either way, you can cover the same distance during your turn. When being shot at, running is preferable. If you are worried about mines, then walking is probably a better choice.

One of the biggest downsides of this game is that characters will only barricade with sands. Sandbags are easy to destroy, and easier to repair, because?.. but it does make a clear what your actions will accomplish. Otherwise, you have to hide behind other objects, (including your tanks). Infantry can also not cross terrain that would be incredibly easy to infantry to cover, with ladders being clearly marked.

This is one of the only games that has semi-automatic rifles be one of the primary weapons, and they are always useful. It gives you 2 grenades, (kind of), is one of if not the only game that makes Engineers responsible for creating/clearing obstacles, (at least to a limited degree). It includes tanks in a fantastic way, allows you to hide behind tanks, and makes anti-tank infantry INCREDIBLY important.

As for the ammo, small arms have unlimited ammo. Other ammos give you a limited number, but you regain 1 per turn. An Engineer running into an ally will resupply any of their used ammo. This means that characters can use 1 grenade every turn. Except Engineers that get 3, but this is largely because the game doesn’t include any satchel/demolition charges.

But, that said, the characters all have two grenades hanging from their belts. Unfortunately, despite the fact they are stick grenades, you can’t throw them very far. At least until your riflemen (scouts) learn to use rifle grenades.

The biggest downside is that despite the insane importance of cover, you can’t duck unless you are in a (designated) trench, sandbags, and tall grass. This said, hiding behind sandbags does make you immune to headshots, (despite the fact they make them more likely). Also, you can’t tell people to keep their fucking heads down because all of the snipers.

#fallout tactics #xcom2 #valkyria chronicles #video games

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grimmhorizen01 · 1 year

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Action….

As Jasmine slithered around the room, she slowly grow more an more worried, be it about Shepard’s safety or how she would survive without him on a ex-alien cargo ship now full of xenophobic soldiers.

As she slowly went insane with her pacing a soft knock was heard coming from the cold metallic door that shielded her from her would be coworkers and potentially enemy’s, she stared at it for a minute before hearing another soft knock, her battle tested mind start analyzing things as she slithered to the door.

The knocking sound was heard again when she was about half way to the door, the knock was rather light, which could mean two things, their a new recruit afraid of messing up or a female as most knock lighter then their male counterparts, unless angry, then they just scream or throw lighter punch’s in most situations that Jasmine been in.

“Whosse there?”, she hissed out as she slowly typed the code in for the door, yet waiting to click the little green check mark that would open the door.

“Rookie Angel “Jackrabbit”! Reporting for guard duty ma’am!”, she sounds young, less then 20 yet older then 15, must of been a special case for her to be recruited.

Jasmine stared at the little green symbol, thinking if she should just stay in her room until she starts to starve but sighs after a moment and presses it, the sliding door opening an revealing her new ‘Friend’ for the next few days.

They both stared at each other, a short girl only recently recruited staring up at the war veteran that was the viper commando, an the female viper whose fought so many battles she can’t even remember when they started fighting who looked down at the 4’9 trooper, she was shorter then the average advent troop, an she was rather thinner then her fellow soldiers.

“What do you need sssoldier”, her eyes look over Angel, seeing her rifle on her back, hoping she won’t have to use it.

She stares for a moment before blinking “oh Uhm just wanted to get familiar with you ma’am……. See what you where gonna do today so then I can plan a good route through the ship with the less amount of people in between so nothing bad can happen”, she gulps as she looks away from the imposing figure of the snake, seeing as she was taught at a young age to fear their deadly bind and poison spit, an now having to work with one isn’t helping her anxiety.

Jasmine just stares at her, thinking, yawning as she only woke up a bit ago, her tongue rolling out as she made a rather odd sound, easily noticing the twitching of Angels left hand.

“Give me your data pad, I will put in my sssschedule”, she held a hand out to Angel, her black finger nails filed down to a dull point so she didn’t stab her hands or other people on accident.

The young soldier reached into her back pocket an pulled out her data pad an handed it over, her hand entering the room an only now noticing how hot it was in there, she simply waited as she watched as the snake opened her data pad an put her daily schedule into the datapads calendar for the next few days.

“Done”, was all Jasmine said as she handed it over and slithered out of the room, Angel quickly following behind her.

Surprised, it took a bit of an effort and manages to keep up with with the large snake being but angel manages an marchs behind her.

“Where are we headed for first ma’am?”, her rifle is in her hands safely on as she followed the snake.

“Cafeteria, Heard there was going to be chicken sandwiches today, want to get there before the main part of the ship does”, She makes a soft affirmative sound and manages to keep up, no wonder they called her a jackrabbit, she’ll most definitely be a Ranger after her first kill.

After a bit, they both finally make it to the cafeteria and enter, only the night crew is up and about and eating, good, Jasmine immediately heads for the chicken and gets a plate, her bodyguard does the same.

Jasmine looks around and sees a couple early wakers finally come Inside meaning the main crowd will be here soon, she picks the farther table and sits, Angel siting across from her, checking her data pad.

For a good while it’s all nice an quiet as Jasmine eats her chicken, until a hand can be heard hitting the metal table beside her.

She looks to her left and sees a large male soldier, a scar over his left eye, a tattoo of an bird on his soldier, Falcon, one of the Avengers top snipers, “This is my seat snake bitch….”, he stabs a combat knife into her half eaten sandwich, “Leave”.

Angel watches rather scared as both veterans are in a glaring match, she watches Jasmine stare at her now ruined sandwich before seeing her hand ball up as she hisses angrily, and-.

-Cliffhanger!-

#xcom2 viper #stuff i came up with while on the road #original character #xcom 2 war of the chosen #xcom2 #xcom #time for a reaction #cliffhanger! time for a fist fight!

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