Return to the Deep (Part 1 of 2)

With the release of XCOM: War of the Chosen, I find myself wondering what (if anything) Firaxis has planed for the XCOM franchise.  My hope is they come around to the idea of taking the action underseas like they did for the sequel to the original.  For all I know the developers have considered everything I'm going to mention here, but I thought it might be fun to go over some potential features a Terror from the Deep remake (or re-imagining) could entail.

Generally speaking, water is 800 times more dense than air.  This fact alone has dramatic influence on the nature of any combat that might take places in such an environment.  Squad-based weapons and tactics that work well on land have to be adjusted or replaced entirely when fighting in the ocean depths.  If you've seen movies such as "Leviathan", "DeepStar 6", "The Sphere", or most significantly "The Abyss", it's easy to see how there is a certain methodical deliberateness to every movement and action taken.  That might sound like a negative (reducing the pace and intensity of the action), but in a turn-based strategy game I think it fits rather well.  Teams operating in small units of 4~6 individuals makes a lot more sense under water (where oxygen consumption is an ever-present concern).

Another feature that can be re-emphasized is the horror aspect of XCOM games.  It's a feature that faded away in XCOM 2, but could make a big comeback because fighting a war hundreds of meters under the surface is a terrifying proposition.  The darkness, the cold, and the crushing pressure all add up to an unwelcoming environment.  Throw hostile aquatic aliens into the mix and you have a great recipe for creating some serious anxiety and fear.  The aliens don't even need to be particularly unnatural looking.  Real sea life such as lantern fish, Gulper Eels, goblin sharks, and spider crabs are already creepy as is.  Just modify their designs a bit (perhaps because the aliens have combined them with human DNA) and you've created high-octane nightmare fuel.

Stealth and detection could also be expanded on in interesting ways, both tactically and strategically.  Sunlight doesn't penetrate to the deeper parts of the ocean and even shallow places are poorly illuminated at night.  Electric lamps, underwater flares and chem-lights are pretty much a given, but these methods of improving visibility are somewhat hampered by rapid light absorption that aren't in the blue/green spectrum, as well as diffusion caused by turbidity.  Obviously, acoustic detection pays a very big roll in underwater surveillance, whether it be passive (listening) or active (sonar).  Much like actual submarine warfare, this could lead to some interesting gameplay dynamics involving back-and-forth cat-and-mouse situations.  One could send out pings and risk detection, but potentially find a target...or stay silent and hidden, but possibly unable to locate a target.  A significant portion of the research tech-tree could be dedicated to improving detection systems as well as countermeasures.  In terms of infrastructure, the player would build and deploy listening buoys in various sea zones rather than satellites over continents.

As for the battlefields in which tactical engagements take place, one might be inclined to think they would be flat and boring.  While it's true that much of the ocean floor is relatively flat and featureless, the areas in the game need-not-be.  Sunken shipwrecks, coral reefs, kelp forests, hydro-thermal vents, and underwater ruins are just some of the spots battles could take place.  I rather like the idea of a mission taking place under a polar icecap with columns of frozen water extending from the pack ice on the surface down to the ocean floor...or perhaps a storm-wracked shoal at night with flashes of lightning penetrating the churning seas overhead.

Surprisingly, real-life firearms can work underwater provided some modifications to the design are made.  Even so, it's oftentimes more desirable to used compressed air rather than chemical explosives to launch projectiles.  Ammunition can also vary a great deal.  Everything from harpoons and spears down to bolts, darts and flechettes have potential uses.  More exotic armaments could include sonic or electric devices, as well as psi-based weaponry.  As for things that go boom, it would be pretty easy to substitute rockets and grenade launchers with mini-torpedoes and lancejet (an underwater variant of gyrojet) bombs.  Underwater blasts tend to have more powerful shock waves than their above-water counterparts, but do not throw shrapnel out nearly as far.  In game-terms this might mean more damage, but in a smaller blast radius than on land.  Close combat in Terror from the Deep came in the form of power drills for XCOM aquanauts and giant pincers for the aliens.  In reality, there is a fairly lethal underwater melee weapon called a "powerhead".  As silly as it sounds shrimp have surprisingly powerful punch that, if scaled up to a larger size, could be deadly to humans.  Capturing live foes could be handed by a net launcher or tranquilizer dart gun.  A submersible equivalent of the SHIV would make for a great unmanned support vehicle (particularly for the purposes of scouting).