X-COM THINK TANK (Out of Character Discussion about X-COM and the Series)

[ChristopherOdd]

If you're in support staff(engineers, pilots, scientist) or in the games barrack's display. For example, he picked out 28 soldiers from the applications, but only 12 are currently in the game's barracks.

This is correct. Thanks!

 

[Psilon]

Hey guys...I might have missed some discussions along these lines, but I wanted to ask if anyone's wondered how news reaches the base so quickly. Or more to the point, I've been thinking (and am planning to integrate in my post) the idea of a live feed from the active soldiers, viewed by Odd, Vahlen, Shen and Bradford (maybe in a dedicated room, to avoid information reaching everyone else, prior to filtering, lest panic spread if things go badly) in a dedicated sound-proof room, from where Odd can give orders and the rest of us comment on things as they happen.

 

[too_spooked]

Hey guys...I might have missed some discussions along these lines, but I wanted to ask if anyone's wondered how news reaches the base so quickly. Or more to the point, I've been thinking (and am planning to integrate in my post) the idea of a live feed from the active soldiers, viewed by Odd, Vahlen, Shen and Bradford (maybe in a dedicated room, to avoid information reaching everyone else, prior to filtering, lest panic spread if things go badly) in a dedicated sound-proof room, from where Odd can give orders and the rest of us comment on things as they happen.

I kind of incorporated that into my post, as I had to edit it minutes earlier to fit the journal guidelines better, but it's obvious if a soldier dies because they don't return to the facility, so instead I have the combat streamed into small monitors that lay strewn about in high population areas (ergo, engineering, mission control, the lounge, but not the labs as the techies are the most busy of us all, constantly researching alien artifacts and such) that censor out any particularly gory parts that occur to our soldier (like a soldier getting gibbed by a grenade) automatically to reduce the chance of people freaking out (I don't think they'd freak out when our soldiers are gloriously and gorily kicking alien ass)

As a bonus, they stream it several minutes behind, so if a soldier dies it can be edited to appear that the death never occurred, to make it less obvious and impacting to the people in the facility, rather than say, this appearing when said events occurred

 

[Psilon]

We'd have some pretty magical scene editors then Though in all the idea does sound rather solid. Still, I'd think Odd would have real time information. Bradford congratulating him on the mission's end otherwise, would seem...weird, considering he had no chance to interfere. And I didn't notice that in your pre-edit post...I'll give it another look now.
Oh, and on a related note, did you have it split in two at the start because you hit the character limit? I noticed your post's length is almost identical to that of the first part from before.

 

[Sarge-Pepper]

This isn't a very realistic idea at all. I doubt the commander would want to televise the missions to the rest of us, and the delay in showing it would just take people away from the task at hand of defeating the alien,s. Normal soldiers don't get a play by play, so I think we shouldn't either.

As for the soundproof room, why? The commander had psychologists and therapists to listen to us, it would be horribly inefficient to have a direct pipeline to the commander when he has officers in place to handle us as soldiers.

Edit: Stoopid phone spelling. Thumbs are too big for the damned buttons.

 

[Psilon]

This isn't a very realistic idea here. I doubt te commander would want to televise the missions to the rest of us, and the delay idea would just take people away from the task at hand of defeating the alien ax normal soldiers don't get a play by play, so I think we shouldn't either.

As for the soundproof room, why? The commander had phychologists and therapists to listen to us, it would be horribly inefficient to have a direct pipeline to the commander when he has officers in place to handle us as soldiers.

And yet, the cinematics and some of the dialogue suggests that some people have information as it comes. Shen and Vahlen react to things as they happen in the longer mission, without any apparent knowledge of what's to come, and how the mission ended, and are around at the ends of missions knowing what happened and what enemies were faced (a la Vahlen commenting on the retrieval on the Ethereal device and its guardian). Bradford also congratulates the commander, suggesting some level of involvement, as well as giving briefing on missions as they go (like in Deluge). Come to think of it so does Shen (would you mind disabling that power node, if it's not too much trouble), and he's briefing and congratulating the commander personally.

 

[too_spooked]

We'd have some pretty magical scene editors then Though in all the idea does sound rather solid. Still, I'd think Odd would have real time information. Bradford congratulating him on the mission's end otherwise, would seem...weird, considering he had no chance to interfere. And I didn't notice that in your pre-edit post...I'll give it another look now.
Oh, and on a related note, did you have it split in two at the start because you hit the character limit? I noticed your post's length is almost identical to that of the first part from before.

Yes, they contacted me about it, saying it went over the character limit and I had to change it to be like everyone else's. I did my best to shrink it to the page, so some things have been removed, some added, others modified completely. All in all, I think it's fine now.

EDIT:

This isn't a very realistic idea here. I doubt te commander would want to televise the missions to the rest of us, and the delay idea would just take people away from the task at hand of defeating the alien ax normal soldiers don't get a play by play, so I think we shouldn't either.

As for the soundproof room, why? The commander had phychologists and therapists to listen to us, it would be horribly inefficient to have a direct pipeline to the commander when he has officers in place to handle us as soldiers.

It actually wouldn't be a terrible idea, seeing our soldiers beat the aliens second-hand would certainly make morale sky-rocket, and I should mention that only the soldiers currently not on task (i.e. if only four engineers were needed to construct a laser rifle for the troops, and one was left with nothing to do, he could watch the troops battle the aliens as a pseudo form of entertainment.) will be watching the monitors, as I doubt every single individual is needed every single minute of the day. Aside from those with continuous tasks like researching, and even then, I'm sure not all scientists are needed every second of the day. And of course the normal soldiers don't a play by play, they're experiencing it themselves! Think of it more as a documentary, informing the base facility more about what X-COM is doing and what the aliens are doing by showing them live footage of it in action, after all, the best proof is proof you can see.

 

[BMPixy]

Yes, they contacted me about it, saying it went over the character limit and I had to change it to be like everyone else's. I did my best to shrink it to the page, so some things have been removed, some added, others modified completely. All in all, I think it's fine now.

Just a quick question: what is that character limit? It seems that my first journal is getting on the long side, so I need to see how much I can push it/have to scale it back.

 

[Cpt. Lokken's Moustache]

I would like to point out that Shen and Vahlen are sometimes seen hanging around in Mission Control during cutscenes at the end of missions. Presumably they're there to give expert feedback if it becomes necessary. The Ops guys watch the ground pounders, correlating and relaying useful information while the Commander gives orders in real time.

No real reason to believe that the rest of the base are watching in real time.

 

[Psilon]

Just a quick question: what is that character limit? It seems that my first journal is getting on the long side, so I need to see how much I can push it/have to scale it back.

I'd love to know too...while I'm out of shape now, when I hit my stride I have the bad habit of writing posts the length of your average research article.

I would like to point out that Shen and Vahlen are sometimes seen hanging around in Mission Control during cutscenes at the end of missions. Presumably they're there to give expert feedback if it becomes necessary. The Ops guys watch the ground pounders, correlating and relaying useful information while the Commander gives orders in real time.

No real reason to believe that the rest of the base are watching in real time.

Okay, mission control then. It's not far from the labs anyway, and makes more sense than my idea.

 

[Gahlo]

In previous seasons, we've kinda ran on the assumption of soldiers having a mounted cam somewhere on their body. The Commander and privileged support staff, Bradford, Shen, and Vahlen all having access to live feeds. Whether the rec center has a live feed or if it's a "wait for replays" type thing has always been decided randomly.

 

[Psilon]

In previous seasons, we've kinda ran on the assumption of soldiers having a mounted cam somewhere on their body. The Commander and privileged support staff, Bradford, Shen, and Vahlen all having access to live feeds. Whether the rec center has a live feed or if it's a "wait for replays" type thing has always been decided randomly.

Good man, you get to be dumped in a relatively small desert after we're done with your memory.

 

[Gahlo]

But you said I could keep it. D:

 

[Psilon]

Eh...right...I meant to say that I'll...buy you a small dessert say... a dumpling when all of this is over...while we're reminiscing about it.

 

[Sarge-Pepper]

I just can't see why a normal debrief wouldn't serve this purpose. The higher ups get to watch the conflict, not us. Word travels fast anyway. It doesn't take much to get moral up when it comes to victory, same can be said for defeat.

 

[Psilon]

Well, I admit, all I need for the post is to know that Vahlen can see it, which I think we've seen is a given. As for the rest, I'll let the more military minded debate it, since it's getting very late. Also, Gorgutz 'ead 'unter...I'm watching you.

 

[Meaningofbread]

But you said I could keep it. D:

By "Desert" we meant "Dessert". Now keep your eyes on this pen, and ice cream will be delivered shortly.

 

[too_spooked]

I just can't see why a normal debrief wouldn't serve this purpose. The higher ups get to watch the conflict, not us. Word travels fast anyway. It doesn't take much to get moral up when it comes to victory, same can be said for defeat.

Honestly, why WOULD'NT they broadcast it during breaks and rests for staff, it provides decent entertainment, and just like actual television, people find it much more interesting to actually SEE what's happening, rather than hear.

 

[Sarge-Pepper]

That's just my opinion really. I've been in the military and It'll be a damned day that anyone broadcasts anything like a UAV attack or overview of a fight to the buys on base. It's just more reminder of what they are not in. War isn't fun for most people and they want to step away from it instead of be updated with live action of a warzone they just left (Even if just for a while.)

 

[too_spooked]

That's just my opinion really. I've been in the military and It'll be a damned day that anyone broadcasts anything like a UAV attack or overview of a fight to the buys on base. It's just more reminder of what they are not in. War isn't fun for most people and they want to step away from it instead of be updated with live action of a warzone they just left (Even if just for a while.)

This isn't a fight against our own species though, it's understandable why people would not want to watch one human kill another, but aliens, coming to OUR planet, abducting OUR people? If anyone, I'd love to watch soldiers defeat aliens in live combat. It would bring hope seeing a soldier kill those damn, repulsive beings.