Editing XCOM (section)

==Terra Invicta==

'''X-Com in SPAAAACE!''' (For real, this time- and focusing on Grand Strategy!)

No, seriously. Take X-Com, but (1) replace the tactical combat with rudimentary, quasi-realistic space colonization and combat, and (2) add in some competition(selectable variations) for X-Com, and you have Terra Invicta. At the edge of the solar system, when Russia is invading Ukraine, uncensorable news of space activity filter to general public. Everyone shits themselves for a while, some token unification talks are made, but then humans being humans everyone picks their asses and noses and moves on.

You play as one of seven factions, with different reactions and relations to the aliens and different win conditions. The first main difference from classic X-Com is that all these factions are going on at once, and do their agenda simultaneously.

The factions, from most to least hostile to the aliens<ref>Do note that all of them besides HF and PE have a "the" in front of their name which we're leaving out</ref>:
*Humanity First: [[Deathwatch|Exterminate the aliens!]]
*Resistance: [[Imperial Guard|Stop the aliens from invading!]] (closest to X-Com in the plotline)
*Initiative: [[Leagues of Votann|Exploit the aliens!]]
*Project Exodus: [[Eldar|Escape the aliens!]]
*Academy: [[Tau|Befriend the aliens!]]
*Protectorate: [[Heresy|Appease the aliens!]]
*Servants: [[Extra Heresy|Surrender to the aliens!]]

You have a pool of "Councilmen", from 1 to 6 recruitable special characters who act and are played exactly like your player characters from [[Crusader Kings]] with stats and gain experience to spend on increasing said stats. Instead of special equipment/artifacts you have control of indestructible (but stealable/tradeable) corporations which can be bought, obtained, researched and unlocked through conditions like [[Adeptus Mechanicus|DARPA]] from the control of USA, or Mafia/Gangs/Special Intelligence Divisions from regional governments you control (like CIA, NSA, FBI from controlling USA or 'State Security Ministry' or Golden Triangle Mafia from China)

The characters' jobs are to control/fight over/conspire, manipulate and buff/debuff countries. We got most countries on Earth, though very small ones are mashed together like Benelux or a few small African countries. Basically each "country" has control tokens that need to be fought over before armies and construction orders can be directly given. As the story progresses, societal research allows uniting, or fragmenting countries like "claim" system in [[Hearts of Iron]]. Countries have the usual things like money and research output, *and* launch capacity(your important early resource to get shit up there) and mission control(Sort of like unit cap but *very deadly* to run low on). Geopolitical issues are a thing. Rival points can be "purged"(captured) if an espionage skill check vs many country issues(size, economy, internal stability) are passed. Control points can be reset en masse if country collapses in a coup by itself, or captured en masse if a faction does the coup. Expect resistance to future coups to degrade rapidly into a vicious circle due to reduced civil rights and legal apparatus.

Instead of squad combat, we have crude, satellite-like spaceships fitted with naval guns at first, then railguns and lasers, with an alpha-strike option involving rockets or if you are feeling crazy, nuclear missiles. The thing is, most of early and mid-game you'll be playing cat-and-mouse guerilla war in a solar system using sub-liminal, quasi-realistic thrusters and fortifying deep space solar bases against alien raids. Aliens have fusion torches. We got chemical rockets, crude nuclear engines and crap ion motors.

Ground combat is very much like Europa Universalis and armies are expensive to build since you won't be running a bunch of special operations aginst 5-10 aliens per mission, but entire divisions and navies under countries you control in bloody battles for entire countries. Expect nukes to be used, particularly against alien armies since the tech level difference is huge at first and the most logical thing to do at an alien landing is to nuke the ship to radioactive slag before they spread out. There will be the consequences: aerosols can even out the global warming though.

The backstory is not too shabby compared to no communication, no mercy XCOM: 

The Aliens, named "Hydra" by the scientists due to their tentacled, but still existent mouths(some kind of invertebrate freshwater animal) turned out to be hailing from Delta Pavonis system, suffering from a species-wide PTSD after being nearly exterminated by an invasion from a militarist reptilian species. Activating emergency mind control powers at the last minute, they reduced the Salamanders to slaves, then saved a neighboring system of flying species from a biological civil war and taking them as vassal servants, slightly more honored compared to the reptilians. Deciding that no species deserves freedom other than themselves like Ur-Quan(their faces look similar too, wonder wonder), the ayyliens decide to go slowly capture all the systems they detect life in. Humans can surrender, fight, try virus bombing them(proving that they were right) but they can also try something else, the Academy can first try peace talks, then threaten the Hydra with a bioweapon who will exterminate all life if they go through. That can trigger a peace movement among the aliens who will then slowly become more peaceful.

All of this should explain the difficulty of the game: Considering the state of 2022 we live in, you start in a balkanized Earth with crippling wealth inequality, cultural discord and no one knowing what to do. So getting enough lifting capacity to send stuff to orbit and start a Zero-G industry in a solar system with aliens encroaching like Spanish Conquistadores will be a Herculean, but still possible task. And yes, they bring diseases, their own fauna and use collaborators. This time you are the natives chucking obsidian spears, they are the Europeans with guns, germs and steel, held back by internal divisions. 

[[Rage|Good luck.]] Made by the folks who made the Long War mods above.