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Old 08-06-2010, 09:06 AM   #1
hackbarth
 
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Default X-com

I'm adapting X-COM to GURPS 4e (I played a whole campaign from beginning till the end in Cydonia, using 3e).

Here is the equipment, the text is in Portuguese and the weight is in kilos, but it's mostly a selection of Weapons found in Characters:
http://www.gurpsnation.com/artigos/94-x-com-equipamento

The Aliens are here, in english. There still are some details to finish: how to make the melee attacks of the Chrysalid, Celatid and Silacoid dangerous to men with DR 50 sealed armor and still believable?

https://sites.google.com/site/thackbarth/gurps-x-com

I tried to remain true to game stats. The difficulty of downing a alien with each different weapon should remain the same as in the PC game.
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Old 08-06-2010, 09:18 AM   #2
Langy
 
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If you want the chrysalids to really tear through things like they do in the game, their claws should have Armor Divisor (100) or (Infinity) - they completely ignore armor or anything else in-game and just destroy anything they attack.
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Old 08-06-2010, 09:31 AM   #3
David Johnston2
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hackbarth View Post
I'm adapting X-COM to GURPS 4e (I played a whole campaign from beginning till the end in Cydonia, using 3e).

Here is the equipment, the text is in Portuguese and the weight is in kilos, but it's mostly a selection of Weapons found in Characters:
http://www.gurpsnation.com/artigos/94-x-com-equipamento

The Aliens are here, in english. There still are some details to finish: how to make the melee attacks of the Chrysalid, Celatid and Silacoid dangerous to men with DR 50 sealed armor and still believable?
Remember, they're all cyborgs. If the Sectoids have to equip them with a vibrodrill to implant their eggs, then that's what they'll do.
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Old 08-06-2010, 09:56 AM   #4
Nymdok
 
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Default Re: X-com

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Originally Posted by hackbarth View Post
... how to make the melee attacks of the Chrysalid, Celatid and Silacoid dangerous to men with DR 50 sealed armor and still believable?
Chrysalid

Please note that I never played X-Com well enough or longenough to face these guys or get the power armor so I dont know how well these suggestions jive with the game.

As they are NPCs, the specific justification you use to account for their melee damage is left to your imagination.

as YOur chrysalid has 25 st, thta means your expecting 2d+2 thr or 5d-1 sw.

Setting the Knobs

To puncture DR 50 50% of the time, your looking at about 14d+1 and need a minimum of 9d just to have a chance of getting through.

To help bridge the gap, Id allow swing damage on the striker, say sw+3 cut (not unlike a polearm).

Armor divisor becomes the issue as it can really change things quickly. Although its really only for innate attacks and afflicitons, I dont see any harm in using it here with a basic melee attack.

If we go with armor divisor 5 for example, that means its facing (effecitvely) DR 10. Per above, we're currently dishing out 5d+2 and expecting about 19.5 points per sucessfull hit. Thats probably going to be a bit much as one hit that makes it through the armor is likely to have your PCS HT rolling on the first shot!

Id probably do something closer to Armor Divisor (3) which leaves your PCs with functional DR 16 (rounding down) versus the expected 19.5 damage. That way when they get hit it will hurt, but wont neccesarrily be a fight ender and you can expect an HP 10 person to take at least 3 good hits before the HT checks start and survive up to 6 good hits.

THis of course is also offset by how skilled the attack is. If they attack poorly versus the Party's AD then nudge the damage up a bit by applying Striking strength or Exra Effort. If they Attack VERY well versus the partys AD tweak down the Striking strength.

Other Options might include

Higher ST or striking st. Please note that to start getting through that DR on ST alone you'll be around 100.
High skill for Chinc in armor attacks. THis has armor divisor 2 built into it, but can cause other problems as well.

Nymdok

Last edited by Nymdok; 08-06-2010 at 10:03 AM.
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Old 08-06-2010, 10:16 AM   #5
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Sillicoid and Celatid

Althoguh packaged differently, the description leads me to believe that the only real difference is in the DR, Which at 30, seems about right, (depending on the weaponry, I might go a bit more.)

You can feel free to give the creature Damage Resistance to Heat/Fire and either only apply it to the inside of the critter (thus allowing lasers with thier burning damage to ge through) or simply limit it to non-energybased weapons.

Acid spit ahs come up quite a bit, a search should sort you out. If not, let ti eat through the DR (treat as ablative) and decide how many turns it takes to breach. Time in rounds x Damage per round should exceed DR 50 :)

Id take a similar tack on the molten digestive system and might even pass some heat damage on the the player as a followup.

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Old 08-06-2010, 10:22 AM   #6
Langy
 
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If we go with armor divisor 5 for example, that means its facing (effecitvely) DR 10. Per above, we're currently dishing out 5d+2 and expecting about 19.5 points per sucessfull hit. Thats probably going to be a bit much as one hit that makes it through the armor is likely to have your PCS HT rolling on the first shot!
That's how it should be. Chrysalids can kill tanks in one hit, and will worse than auto-kill any soldiers they attack, no matter how much armor they have.
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Old 08-06-2010, 10:25 AM   #7
Nymdok
 
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That's how it should be. Chrysalids can kill tanks in one hit, and will worse than auto-kill any soldiers they attack, no matter how much armor they have.
I see. But is that really gameable? One hit kills/amputations are kinda rough on player morale, especially when they happen before the player gets a chance to act.

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Old 08-06-2010, 10:26 AM   #8
MattStriker
 
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That's how it should be. Chrysalids can kill tanks in one hit
Actually, they can't.

They just have an insane amount of TUs and a 1TU melee attack. If you watch a chrysalid attack on a tank you'll see that there's actually a lot of the little 'psi or melee attack' sprites (and sound effects) in rapid succession.

Same with powered armor. They don't punch through with a single hit, they just attack so often that it makes no difference, they will kill the target eventually.

Frankly, with their supercharged metabolism, Altered Time Rate might be a good advantage to give them...
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Old 08-06-2010, 10:40 AM   #9
David Johnston2
 
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Originally Posted by Nymdok View Post
I see. But is that really gameable? One hit kills/amputations are kinda rough on player morale, especially when they happen before the player gets a chance to act.
Chrysalids are the scariest creatures in the game. The key is not let them get within ovipositor-reach.

Incidentally, I don't remember the Silicoides being effective at all against armour. Which is understandable since they are actually not combat troops. They're how the aliens dig out their bases. Giving the Celatids a corrosive attack that attacks the armour itself will make them useful enough.

Last edited by David Johnston2; 08-06-2010 at 10:48 AM.
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Old 08-06-2010, 01:10 PM   #10
Mark Skarr
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Chrysalids are the scariest creatures in the game. The key is not let them get within ovipositor-reach.
Bah, with the chrysalid shuffle, they're not that scarry, just give your recruits live grenades in their off hand and see what that does to the chrysalids. It's like MCing an alien, going into their inventory, and having them drop a grenade at their feet. Oops!

And, once you get flying armor, chrysalids are no longer an issue.
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