Cut items and features (Apocalypse)

Mythos Games said about X-Com Apocalypse

Below is an excerpt from the official Mythos Games website, stating how the game could have turned out very different!!

After completing this game I know how Francis Coppola felt after filming 'Apocalypse Now'. Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and the amount of effort required to pull it into shape was immense. After three years of hard work and five different producers 'X-Com: Apocalypse' finally hit the streets. The initial game design was definitely too ambitious and too complex. The aim was to recreate in some detail the events, organisations and personalities within a futuristic megalopolis. Each corporation had a leader who could be tailed, arrested, interrogated or assassinated. Organisations could buy and sell buildings as their financial fortunes changed. X-COM agents could spy on other organisations to gain valuable information. A sophisticated diplomacy display allowed the player to instigate aggressive or defensive alliances with other organisations.

There were multiple alien dimensions, generated pseudo-randomly, and the aliens gradually expanded their empire as the game progressed. The game also featured a scenario generator and multiplayer options using a hotseat turn based system or a real time LAN option. Most of these features were implemented to some degree, but were finally stripped out due to the horrendous amount of work involved in QA and debugging.

We decided right at the start of the project to include an option for real time tactical combat or turn based. This decision alone caused many of the headaches for the programmers, but the final implementation of the real time combat stands up as a truly innovative system.

Found by StrategyCore, Original text

Game Storyline
The year is 2084 and human civilization has undergone some fundamental changes since the last alien incursion. In an attempt to overcome Earth's problems without abandoning the planet altogether, self-contained cities called Megalopolises were erected around Earth in the year 2046.
Game Play
The majority of the game play takes place within the largest Megalopolis on the planet, MegaPrime. This vast city, however, is more than just a combat zone. To play the game well, players must immerse themselves in the society of Megalopolis, learning key information through interrogation of suspects and the investigation of organizations within the city. At the start of each game, the city of Megalopolis, the character skill sets and the alien universe are all uniquely generated to increase game replayability.
The in-game action of X-COM
Apocalypse falls into three distinct phases. The player investigates many strange, inexplicable incidents throughout the city. Inevitably these lead to conflicts with alien entities and their servants, in all kinds of locations within the city. The second phase features aliens beginning to send their larger invasion forces into direct, real-time combat with X-COM attack craft above the city. The final phase involves real-time squad level combat action sequences using an updated version of the familiar X-COM combat system. The aliens invade the city, running amok in the huge buildings and drawing players into the strange alien dimension. Players can choose either turn-based or real-time combat.
Additional Game Features
The X-COM agents have the same abilities as in the earlier X-COM titles with many additions including interrogation skill, perceptive ability, biochemistry, quantum physics understanding, forensics, engineering, sanity, driving skill and flying skill. The action is more lifelike, featuring SGI-rendered agents and aliens that can crawl, jump, climb, kneel, stand, run and walk.

Found by FilmBoy84, Original text

With regards to Items, here's what testing has discovered that adds to the wiki information above:

Accidentally left in game, you can find it or add by editing

Mind Shield

UFOpaedia: The Mind Shield is an expensive, clumsy device which protects the wearer from Psionic attacks.

Text lines: Psionically protect unit, Lend Psionic strength, Psi-drain, Psi-lend, Psi-unpanic, Psi-unstun

Notes: A clunky Mind Bender-lookalike that increases an agent's psi-defense when held and activated, as the half-assed UFOpedia page says. The effect is bugged so that any agent leaving the battlefield with it still armed and running will have the +30 bonus permanently added to their stats. They were officially removed from the retail version, but some are still lying around on Marsec property.Were officially removed, but someone forgot to purge the loot tables for a few raid targets.

Energy Pod

UFOpaedia: N/A

Notes: A large energy cell that looks like two laser rifle magazines stuck together. Its mostly purged UFOpedia entry suggests it's a magazine for a man-made Devastator, the market entry connects it to the disabled ForceWeb weapon and they can be found in Transtellar facilities. Pick a theory. Were officially removed, but someone forgot to purge the loot tables for a few raid targets. Note 2: This does provide ammunition to the forceweb. It has no link to the Dimension Destabiliser as suggested elsewhere

Advanced Alien Containment

UFOpedia: "Due to the size of the Megaspawn we need a lot of free space in the Alien Containment facility to hold it and an advanced Bio-lab to study it."

Notes: A large 2x2 version of the Alien Containment to complete the set of advanced science facilities. Since the tiny holding tank in the retail version holds as many mooks as this quad unit, the whole rigamarole of researching bigger containment areas might've been cut as pointless. The basic room took the capacity that the game was designed around and these assets were left behind. Still in the vanilla game and can be added by editors. This facility was simply a larger version of the existing alien containment, capable of holding 3x the capacity of the smaller sibling. It was necessary to own this facility to hold the larger alien creatures such as psy-morphs and Megaspawn as well as parts of the living tissue of the City-scale Overspawn (Another cut set of missions). More critically, it was the only Alien Containment facility that allowed X-COM to barter with the Aliens, the normal facility allowed for capture of the smaller creatures, but had no capacity for forensics or interrogation of sentient aliens.

Cells

UFOpaedia: NOT USED!

Notes: Holding cells for human prisoners! Blackmailing corporations with infiltration evidence or hostages, undermining criminal organizations, interrogating Sirius cultists... who knows how much the developers promised to deliver with this system. The flags in the building tables hint that this was unlocked through research. Still in the vanilla game and can be added by editors. Functionality was similar to the lab/workshop facilities and agents could be assigned to the cells to oversee a host of options in terms of diplomacy and subversion. This facility also allowed X-COM to hold on to agents, spies and VIPs from other organisations [Capacity of 10 plus 5 assigned agents]. X-COM could even capture civilians (though at a cost to popularity) and force them to train as new agents for X-COM; this allowed X-COM to recruit via kidnap if willing agents were not forthcoming due to organisation issues or alien control.

Not in the game but in texts,sprites and UFOpedia images (some can be edited)

Forceweb

UFOpaedia: An energy beam device which can render a target immobile for a short period of time. The target remains conscious but is unable to move or use equipment.

Notes: A weaker version of the Stun-Grapple, but has an area effect forming a 3x3 square. This allows for capture of multiple small aliens or used against the larger aliens that the Stun Grapple COULD NOT capture prior to vanilla. No animation effect is present in the beta, but it does seem to "stun" creatures within the 3x3 tile radius. It uses the Energy pod ammunition.

Alien Detector

UFOpaedia: N/A

Notes: Allows for identification of "micronoid infected VIPs or brainsucked civilians/gangs/police" that are not hostile to X-COM in the Tactical game. It appears that the game was meant to allow, as part of the tagging model, some infected units to be in the tactical game but not attack X-COM or run away from them as they went about their missions in the Cityscape. This device allows X-COM to see infected units through a minimap similar to the Motion Detector that remains in game, but much more accurate. Different colours identify "safe" units and "hidden" aliens. X-COM can then be told to shoot the infected unit accordingly

Dimension Destabiliser

UFOpedia:An X-COM developed Disruptor Beam weapon based on Alien technology. It is a faster firing and more effective weapon than the Devastator Cannon.

Notes:Does not use ammunition as suggested, appears to draw energy from the alien dimension as the Disrupter and Devastator do.The only handheld human replica of the alien disruptor tech. It fires 5 shots in the time a Devastator can manage two and sits between the two alien guns in terms of power. A probable pair to the Energy Pod, but the discrepancy in numbers and the fact it recharges like the alien units might mean that this rifle was complete enough to have its stats balanced before getting cut.

Dimension Force Field

UFOpaedia: N/A

Notes: Appears to have no clear purpose, as per the wiki, though tinkering suggests it was more intended to form "barriers" on the Tactical game that agents could hide behind and shoot over. It's too large to be intended as a personal force field.

Tracker Gun, Tracker Gun Clip & Multi-Tracker

UFOpaedia: NOT USED!

Notes: Probably the coolest feature cut from the game. In the second beta it's still there but has been drastically hacked to pieces since the first beta (presumably as they started to cut features). The tracker gun was used in the tactical game to "tag" civilians, VIPs, Aliens and gang members. These units, if allowed to flee the tactical game, or left there as X-COM withdrew would then appear on the cityscape in a similar manner to X-COM agents. Confusingly, when i've been able to tag and track units historically (prior to losing my debug copy) the units appear using the Red man and Yellow circle, in debug, X-COM were green men with a yellow circle. Civilians appeared as a grey man with a yellow circle. For some reason, by beta, the colours were reversed. You could follow them around the cityscape and capture them with stun weaponry in the tactical game. There was a bug where units had to be tagged before they could be captured; you couldn't capture a VIP just by stunning them. The tag indicated that they were to be sent to the X-COM cells after a battle and not returned to the parent organisation. In effect "tagging" a unit gave X-COM permission to arrest and hold for interrogation (giving details of alien infection, organisation relations, other organisation units locations, etc.), ransom (yes, this was a thing that X-COM did to raise funds) or execution (that antagonised the parent organisation).

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Psi-Grenade, Psionic Blast

UFOpaedia: A device which causes a Psionic disruption blast. Any target with high Psionic capability is particularly vulnerable to Psi-grenades. The blast will drain Psi-energy and possibly render the target unconscious.

Notes: When exploding, this caused units to "panic" or "berserk" and even "flee" by knocking their psi-defence and psi-strength as well as bravery right down. It was most devastating against high-psi or bravery units as the mechanism worked on a "percentage damage" model. A great weapon against Psi-morphs and Micronoids.

Dimension Shifter (CRAFT EQUIPMENT)

UFOpaedia: NOT USED!

Notes: Just like the name implies, this allows vehicles to dimensionally jump without the need for a Dimensional Gate. Notes: Back in debug there was provision for NINE (Yes nine!) Alien Dimensions, these were procedurally generated with the buildings linking in different manners for each dimension. From what i can recall from the debug, only dimension IDs 0 through 4 were used (0 being Mega-Primus, plus four other "alien" maps; there were preliminary plans for expansions that added more up to the 9 threshold). The dimension shifter allowed for X-COM to select which dimension they travelled to. If X-COM did not research this item, they could "win" the game by destroying the first dimension, but there was a twist ending by which the aliens would keep invading Earth and X-COM actually lost (In short, there were "alternate endings" planned for apocalypse, much in the same way that Dreamland Chronicals [UFO Aftermath] had). The only way to truly win apocalypse was to complete ALL of the alien dimensions and this is why the "ONE WAY TO WIN" piece of research can still be found in the vanilla game! The "One way to win" image is of a special building that grew the technology to allow the aliens to settle in different dimensions; this was later made into the building that grew new buildings for the aliens (as it is in vanilla). There was a significant story change from the aliens being from a vast multi-dimensional empire to that of the micronoids effectively invading other dimensions to escape the death of their own (as is the case in vanilla).

Leaders and Vips and Agent Spies

Notes: Text lines from game:Squad leader, Gang leader, Cult Leader, Gangster, #Psiclone gang, Alien attacks VIP, Crazed VIP attacks VIP, VIP spotted:, Do you wish to tail this VIP?, Observe VIP's.

Notes2: File titles (S-title.png and vipttl.png) means that for VIPs and Agents should have been allocated its own category in ufopedia...

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  VIPs
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  Leaders sprites PS
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  V-title.png
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  S-title.png
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  vipttl.png

Wall

UFOpaedia: NOT USED!

Notes: Somthing with walls...part of a UFOpaedia article about the walls in the city.

Overspawn

UFOpedia:"This enormous creature is deposited by an Alien Mothership. Its primary objective appears to be destruction of the city and annihilation of X-COM bases. The terror and panic that it causes amongst the population indicates a change in Alien strategy. It is possible that they have abandoned their attempts at infiltration and are now only concerned with revenge and retribution against X-COM."

Notes: As with any creature, even the Overspawn has its "live" analysis with less anatomy and more motive and function. Of course, since you can't exactly capture this thing, you'll only ever see the "autopsy" results of bombarding one into pieces.Only visible by flipping the "unlock" flags with an editor.

One Way to Win

Notes: This is the very last discovery in the Alien Dimension category, even beyond the Real Alien Threat. Before the endgame consisted of gradually slaughtering the alien war machine one organ-building at a time, the original design might have involved a climactic "Cydonia or Bust!" type no-turning-back invasion in the vein of the first game. The picture seems to depict an immature pod in the Megapod Chamber, the last alien target before the final battle to destroy the dimension gate generators.Only visible by flipping the "unlock" flags with an editor.

There were at least four intended endings:
1) X-COM and Earth are destroyed
2) X-COM and Earth are teleported into the alien dimension, stripped of resources and populations made slaves or used as food
3) X-COM destroy the parent alien dimension, but do not discover the other dimensions they have populated, Earth appears saved, but is ultimately destroyed out of revenge when the aliens find their way back to Earth again ("False-Win" ending)
4) X-COM destroys the parent alien dimension and either destroys or seals the other dimensions conquered by the aliens ensuring survival of the solar system and humanity... For now... ("One way to win" and the only "Good" ending)

In vanilla, ending 1 and 2 are combined (populations destroyed with the remnants of earth being teleported into the alien dimension).
A new ending was created for a vanilla win ("We did it! Yeeessss!")

I do remember seeing footage of the cut videos on the web a few years back, i really must try and track them down as the above "alternate" endings were most certainly made...

Items not cuted but many peoples dont know about it

Alien Gas Grenade

UFOpedia: A grenade which releases the X-COM developed anti-Alien gas. It does not harm humans or terrain but will be lethal for any Alien remaining within its dense gas cloud.

Also maybe linked from UFOpedia "There is a possibility that a multi-toxin can be suspended in gaseous form, which would increase the efficiency of our Biological weaponry."

Heavy Launcher AG (Alien Gas) Missile

UFOpedia: This conventional missile contains a highly effective gas which targets Alien life forms. The gas is harmless against humans and structures making it ideal for forcing Aliens to flee from cover.

MiniLauncher AG Missile

UFOpedia: Developed by X-COM to target Alien life forms. When the warhead explodes it releases a cloud of gas deadly to Aliens but harmless to humans

X-Com Apocalypse Map Editor

File:CITydemo.zip Notes: You can turn Map Editor on by using hex editor and edit UFO2P.EXE and then add CITydemo to UFODATA folder. Actually, this is an editor that developers used to create maps, it has full functionality and can be used to edit any map or create a new one.

Text remnants in files

• Advanced Cells (X-COM Facility) Notes: Purged from vanilla. The advanced cells added torture functionality to the list of available X-COM options for VIPs/Agents/Leaders/Civvies. They also included security turrets (disruptor tech) to ensure that when persons escaped, there was a means to control them. Just like the cells, advanced cells were a possible spawn point for "raiding" parties from other organisations. Holding capacity was 2.5x that of the standard cell at 25 plus a maximum of 10 agents assigned to spy duties. Presence in debug was limited, they used placeholder sprites and sprites stolen from other buildings. Colour pallette was borked. Turrets were controllable but prone to crashing the game when fired. Listed pre-requisits to researching the advanced cells were: "Disruptor Gun", "Alien Infiltration" (Or similar), "Alien Diplomacy" [Stub research with no content, at this time the alien leaders were still capable of learning human speech under the control of a queen and not the micronoids], "Advanced Alien Containment" [Suggesting the methods learnt for alien interrogation were being applied to human/sectoid parties].

By FilmBoy84 "In other news, dug this up from my debug notes circa 1999 - glad i added this much detail at the time as more info here about state of implementation than in my post above (will expand things accordingly as time allows)"

• Structure Probe (CRAFT EQUIPMENT) Notes: This was intended to allow X-COM to probe the next building in the alien dimension, this could only be found on the dimension probe and gave it it's purpose. After successfully completing a building mission in the alien dimension X-COM had to fly a probe over the next building and scan it before returning to earth. This unlocked the research for the next building. Of course, in vanilla, this was automatically granted and the dimension probe remains as a useless vehicle in the research tree.

• Vortex Analyser (CRAFT EQUIPMENT) Notes: If X-COM had successfully worked out that there were multiple alien dimensions, this piece of equipment would be made available to "look"/"scan" for "vortexes" between the different alien dimensions within each alien dimension map. These were hidden in normal play and moved (like the dimension gates) over time. Once found, a vortex could be traversed using the "Dimension Shifter" to one of the other alien dimensions. Only when the "One way to win" research was completed did vortexes to the "final" alien dimension start to open. This allowed X-COM to "skip" some of the dimensions and truly destroy the alien threat if they were quick to research the "Real Alien Threat" and "One way to win" in quick succession.

• Zorium Notes: Sits right next to Elerium-115 in the market list, with double the value. Before the dimension gate disruptor dimension energy hooplah went in, the game probably followed the tradition of discovering an alien magic substance that powered their supreme alien magic tech. The numbers can be tweaked to "stock" it in the open market, but it's so inert that nothing happens.

Source content

• https://tcrf.net/X-COM:_Apocalypse
• http://www.strategycore.co.uk/databank/games/x-com-apocalypse/concepts/
• The OpenApoc Project maintains a thread dealing with cut functions of X-COM: Apocalypse on their forums here: http://openapoc.org/threads/beta-observed-cut-functions-behaviours-items-and-units.241/
• Additionally, a detailed documentation of the cut "Spy/Interrogation/Diplomacy" features can be found here: http://openapoc.org/threads/beta-of-spies-interrogation-forensics-extortion-agent-skills-vips.278/