X@COM

Morale is in, and works how you remember/expect it to. So now you can shoot your friend in the foot when he (and you) least expect it!

Check out the results of a total berserk rage as described in the log:

There you can also get a glimpse of the log coloring (which is available in the current release, R6, but I never put up a screenshot showing how it looks, for those of you who aren't downloading the intermittent dev builds).

Despite the thoroughness of UFOpaedia.org, some questions remain as to how the system works, which I resolved using what I guess are the most likely and appropriate methods:

• How much morale is lost by an individual unit when it is only injured? (I have it set to use half the value of an ally death.)
• How do non-X-COM, non-alien factions (e.g. civilians) fit in? (I have this handled on a per-faction basis, whereby it affects only the individual shooter, and X-COM soldiers lose morale for killing civilians, while aliens gain it. This behavior is easily moddable, of course.)
• What are the precise alien equivalents for the human ranks where morale calculation purposes are concerned? (The data I've got now sets alien "leaders" equivalent to colonel, and "commanders" equivalent to X-COM commanders, and all the remaining applicable aliens are squaddies, except where N/A.)
• How much stamina is drained for fleeing units, if any? (I left it as normal, though I believe the original doesn't actually deduct TU/stamina for panic movement.)
• Do fleeing units trigger reaction fire before they reach their destination?
• Exactly how many TUs do berserking soldiers get? (I've got it set at 125% their normal TU, which makes some sense--UFOPaedia says they get an absolute 255, but that can't be right since it would enable units to fire a ridiculous number shots..., and no one has confirmed that value for certain. From what I remember, I think they are only restored to full (100%) TU before berserking, but I would have to go back and play the game [yet] again to confirm it. Still have yet to do that, but I'll definitely need to set aside some time for it eventually to make sure I get everything right.)

Some of the strangeness in the original has not been carried over, of course:

• Fleeing units will not always head southeast
• Fleeing units behave according to normal movement blocking rules (i.e., no walking through other units)

I'm not going to put these extended options in the game yet, but some ideas for the future of panicking:

• Out of ammo? Charge up to an alien and repeatedly bash it in the face with a rifle butt. That would be great...
• Could also have different actions based on varying degree of panic
• Civilians jumping out of high windows to escape aliens (not unlikely), most likely plummeting to their death (for anyone who didn't already know, units jumping through windows and other fragile terrain has been possible for a while now, but civilians won't normally do it yet)

Morale effects are optional and can be turned off, like just about everything else. By necessity/extension, unit rank was also coded and actually means something now.

Below are a few more log screenshots of a game played in Area 51. Nothing exceptional, really, and these excerpts don't show much of the possible unique text and interesting events, but I haven't had enough time to gather a collection of fun logs yet.