Quite a lot here to talk about as I think you have some misconception for the lore of the world. I believe the only way they stop aliens from rebelling is because their worlds have been enslaved many years ago and growing up in Elder-crontrolled society is the norm. If you were a Viper for instance (one of the intelligent species) you were raised in a world where the Elders are not only the ruling body, but they have been seen as saviours as they have united your world, killed all possible issues of viruses, diseases and the like so if anything you feel it is your duty to work for them.

Many have been broken down and learnt to accept whatever the Elder's require, not to mention the possible greater terror that lurks in the beyond, worse than them.

On the comment about the Advent soldiers looking like humans part of that is due to, as seen in the game, the second facility after the Blacksite vial and another reason is, much like the other species, they are modified to have combat advantages and to as the face of advent they need to look "relatable" and "trustworthy" to the humans who wish to commit to Advent. Not to mention the many benefits of Advent being cured of ALL ailments, living in a advanced society with safety and security. Imagine it, you could simply live out your life without the fear of strolling down side-street resulting in a mugging, if you caught a virilent disease it is cured instantly and all damage reversed, if you developed cancer it is cured with little-to-no issues.

Also there ARE aliens walking around in society, but generally the more intelligent ones such as Sectoids and Vipers. Ontop of that, the spokesman is a Thin Man, evident by the splotches on his neck. Again, the reason he looks human is because he is the face of Advent bringing all of us the news on genetherepy, how it's helping people and how they need new volunteers for the greatest new venture that will bring us all together!

As to the mention about how the aliens are crontrolled, there's a hint to it at the end of the game:
Near the end when you are in the base, many of the advent forces start fighting each-other because of the weakening mental link from the Elders loseing their control on the world. Not to mention the hint at the end where there is a more dangerous being that is following them much like it will now attack you and how you are unprepared to face it. This might also be something that links the race together in a fear of a greater threat to them all.

not to mention as shown in the research, the officers and soldiers have a chip in their brain to control them,

Also, if you have played the mod or if curious, all the aliens are recruited differently. Sectoids and Vipers are cloned, Advent Mec is reprogrammed and rebuilt, Codex is reprogrammed, Mutons and Berserkers have implants to control them and Crysilids, like all their species, are born pregnant so you make sure to spawn one of their eggs and train it like an animal. Others I havn't gotten to just yet.

Also your argument for cloneing doesn't work as it's not the same as Kidnapping. Captured aliens, like people, are not likely to work with you to fight against their own allies, but Clones were created AND born under XCOM care and raised with XCOM views and trained under XCOM soldiers so they are certainly more likely to follow the group to the end. For a real-life example, why do you view Terrorist as evil? This is due to upbringing in your country of course with their opinion, however don't confuse for what I'm saying as a support to people like ISIS. Many children under ISIS rule are raised with the opinion we are all evil, want to cause them harm for no reaason and that they are the warriors of God.

Same concept here, Vipers and Sectoids will be raised by XCOM operatives and with the opinion that other members of their species are working under a evil group and fighting them is for the best of the world.

The way I view it in story (as a single-player game it's MY game and MY story in that concept) is that XCOM have found ways to bring the aliens on their sides, fighting fire with fire, but also want the intelligent ones to work with them and build up a true peaceful unified society. If anything, it'll be more like the origonal XCOM 3 where there are various humanitarian societies that support mutants, sectoids and other aliens so they view XCOM in a negative light due to their violence against Aliens in the past.

Again, these are my views, we're all allowed to draw our own conclusions on the whole situation. I'd love to see something like this in XCOM 3 as I'm sure there might be many aliens left over after Advent have been overthrown.

Looking back, I really, really screwed up my point of view. It was a comment that went on too long, and it shows. I think I need to reorganize my thoughts.

It doesn't matter whether playable aliens, lore-wise, are plausible. Whatever lore happened, whatever backstory there is to this game, doesn't matter unless it's stated to the player. Because the player views the world from the eyes of XCOM, they only learn the lore that XCOM learns. Unless it's stated in the game, then it'll feel like an ass pull; something that just exists because I want to play as aliens. That breaks the illusion of a world run on internal consistancy, and suggests it's a world run on the plot's demands.

When I talk about XCOM's potential prejudice against aliens, I really mean the player's. They've spent the entire game shooting these things on sight; what's going to make them come over to XCOM's side? While the reasons are there, the tone is not; because you're suddenly creating aliens, with only a flavor text of justification, it clashes with the game's tone. The soldier upgrades, while they also are justified with flavor text, also seem like logical progressions, a slow but steady upgrade to XCOM's technology. A new species? That's gonna take more work.

That's why I went on about that mission. The player sees hints beforehand, letting them slowly adjust to the idea of friendly aliens before they're introduced. The foreshadowing presents a mystery, slowly ramping up to the reveal. The trick is to let players guess what is happening before we tell them, so they accept the tone before we force it on them. Failing that, the combat pressure when the captive alien is revealed forces the idea into the back of their minds, giving them other thing to think about while they digest the revelation. Even then, the alien isn't added to the squad immediately; it's treated as a VIP, with no immediate indication that it'll join the squad. This is why I suggested the scanning and research requirements afterwards; the switch between "VIP" to "squad member" needs appropriate pacing, reflecting the change of tone the game takes.

All that said, I'm still intrigued by a couple points you brought up.

Originally posted by Grognard_87:

I believe the only way they stop aliens from rebelling is because their worlds have been enslaved many years ago and growing up in Elder-crontrolled society is the norm. If you were a Viper for instance (one of the intelligent species) you were raised in a world where the Elders are not only the ruling body, but they have been seen as saviours as they have united your world, killed all possible issues of viruses, diseases and the like so if anything you feel it is your duty to work for them.

I like the reasoning, but disagree on the conclusion. The similarities to humanity's conquest, instead of casting each alien race as a special case, indicate the Elders use the same tactics on all conquered worlds. It casts the Elders as businesslike in their approach, only changing things when they stop working. And in a weird way, it's relatable. If I were an alien lifeform bent on conquering the universe, I'd act the same way. Wow, that was an odd sentence.

The problem is in the conquered species' reaction. True, they are the savior of your species, erradicating disease, poverty, hunger, and so on. But they're also warmongers that oppress other races. Sure, those other races aren't you. You're fine. But for those altruistic members of alien species, are you going to stand by and watch this? Are you so in debt to the Elders that you'll commit war crimes in their name? Sure, the Elders did tons of good things in the past, but they're no longer the good guys. Can you live with yourself knowing your life's work is erradicating a sapient, diplomatic species?

Take the example defecter I used. As manager of a city center, they're goal is to keep humans as comfortable as possible. If, say, the alien started to like their job too much, then it doesn't matter how well he/she/it's being treated; they care about how humans are being treated, too. If the Elders are butchering humans for experiments, then the alien's gonna get pissed, whether he/she/it lives in a utopia or not. And this is just one example; if it's true aliens walk around in society, then there's plenty of ways aliens could become attached to humans. What about alien bueracrats that gain respect for their human underlings, or the alien soldiers that believe the same propaganda humans are fed? What about the curious guy/girl/thing that finds new species fasinating, or the alien police officer that actually cares about the neighborhood? There's plenty of reasons aliens could defect, even under a debt of duty.

Originally posted by Grognard_87:

Also your argument for cloneing doesn't work as it's not the same as Kidnapping. Captured aliens, like people, are not likely to work with you to fight against their own allies, but Clones were created AND born under XCOM care and raised with XCOM views and trained under XCOM soldiers so they are certainly more likely to follow the group to the end. For a real-life example, why do you view Terrorist as evil? This is due to upbringing in your country of course with their opinion, however don't confuse for what I'm saying as a support to people like ISIS. Many children under ISIS rule are raised with the opinion we are all evil, want to cause them harm for no reaason and that they are the warriors of God.

Same concept here, Vipers and Sectoids will be raised by XCOM operatives and with the opinion that other members of their species are working under a evil group and fighting them is for the best of the world.

This is some nature vs. nuture stuff here. How much of our personalities are based on our upbringing, and how much are based on our biology?

The reason I view terrorists as evil is because I think they do evil acts. I'm thankful my parents taught me "intentionally targeting innocents in war = bad", but at the same time this view isn't tied to my country. For instance, if my country nuked Switzerland, that'd be pretty messed up. I'm not gonna accept that just because it's my country; no one gets to nuke Switzerland, at least not until I invade it with my alien armies. After that, fair game.

I'm not going to pretend why the children raised under ISIS view the west as evil. I can only imagine there's some complicated political-social voodoo magic in place, all of which is above my pay grade. I do want to point out, as bad as ISIS is, they don't want to exterminate the human race. The children of ISIS aren't the last free humans, enacting a genocide against themselves. This is the key difference between alien soldiers and human soldiers; the aliens, while they might ally themselves with XCOM, also are their own species. Are you willing to betray your own species? Maybe, if the cause is right, sure. But that won't aleviate suspicions. If a single, confused alien flipped allegiences, imagine the damage it could cause. This isn't just any old mole; it's a mole on the Avenger. Everything, from research progress to operational planning, is compromised. The alien soldiers, being more at-risk of subversion, are liabilities. As likely or unlikely as it is, are you willing to take that risk?

While I'm at it, some of XCOM's aliens are "created" rather quickly. Is XCOM sending in child soldiers? What does that say about our alien's mental state? Are we actually instilling our values into them, or just using quick-and-dirty brainwashing?

Let me get back on topic. I like the questions the lore brings up, but these don't impact the story's quality. Whether alien defecters are plausible doesn't matter. In fiction, anything's plausible, so long as it's executed well. What we really need in this mod is good pacing. Playable aliens is a radical depature from the human-centric XCOM, and players are going to pick up on that. There needs to be foreshadowing, suspense, all that good stuff. Only then will we gain willing suspension of disbelief.

Again, lots of this I have suspension of Disbelief. Yes, I'm sure some would be unwilling, however we know little about how these worlds were taken over. For all we know, sapient species like the Vipers were living in a society the equivilent to native african ancestors who's most advanced technology in offence were spears. Not to mention the Elder's psionic abilities they would be hard to face up against.

Also if you were raised under the oppressive thumb of the Elders, how would you understand a concept of what war crimes are? I doubt ALL the aliens would know the plans and much like real life with military forces you are going to have the people who have to do their job (keeping the peace, killing insurgents etc) and know nothing about what's going on back at the base or what the Avatar project means or even requires, apart from defeating a mutual enemy. So as far as you know, you are helping the human race for the greater good. This would certainly give creedence to your own suggestion of a Advent alien who watches over what happens to the humans and eventually stumbles across the nefarious part of the genetherepy programs.

Also, I don't believe they want to exterminate the human race. Our race just happens to have some of the genetic material as part of their Avatar project, must as they need it from the other races too and why those races have been altered since their invasion of Earth. It isn't an eradication, but it certainly is a genocide based on rebuilding their race to a more impressive and powerful beings.

This is worse as one of the many mods I've added, adds new advent "Corrupted Avatar" who appear in some missions and are REALLY nasty. Not faught one yet, but I've unlocked them by killing the prototype you fight.

Eitherway, you can read into it as much as you like or just have fun like I've been (especially as I now have a Berserker on my side) I see it as the aliens being on my side.

On the mention of not having enough slots for deployment, if you download the Long War Toolbox you can alter how many soldiers your start with, increasing it beyond the bonus two spaces you can buy.

Originally posted by Grognard_87:

Again, lots of this I have suspension of Disbelief. Yes, I'm sure some would be unwilling, however we know little about how these worlds were taken over. For all we know, sapient species like the Vipers were living in a society the equivilent to native african ancestors who's most advanced technology in offence were spears. Not to mention the Elder's psionic abilities they would be hard to face up against.

For all we know, yes. I'm not going to spend time making up theories that justify the game's plot. If I do feel like I need to do that, then I've already submitted to the game's illusion; I believe it's real anyways, so why do I need to justify it? And if I don't think it's real, why should I waste my time justifying it?

My suspension of disbelief is broken, not because of internal consistency, but because of tone. The aliens just sort of pop out of nowhere. Sure, they're being "cloned" or "reprogrammed" or whatever; that doesn't help. Without proper foreshadowing and an appropriate pace, the tone shift sticks out. The first thing that pops to mind when I ask myself "why do we have playable aliens all of the sudden" isn't "because we cloned them"; it's "because I downloaded a mod." Vanilla XCOM, while not exactly a masterpiece of writing, does it's best to convice us our soldiers are real. Every soldier is given a full name, a nationality, a backstory, a unique appearance, etc. There's even subtle things, like how all the helmets show our soldier's faces, letting us identify with them just a little more. Playable Aliens lacks these touches.

I want to sympathize with my aliens. I want that escapist feeling, that kind of approachability that fantastic things have. It's cool being a spec ops soldier that kills aliens by the truckload; it's even cooler if you're a monstrous being with superpowers. I can understand why others have suspension of disbelief, even if I personally don't. I want to find a way to make Playable Aliens plausible. Lore can't do this, but a balanced tone shift can.

Originally posted by Grognard_87:

Also if you were raised under the oppressive thumb of the Elders, how would you understand a concept of what war crimes are? I doubt ALL the aliens would know the plans and much like real life with military forces you are going to have the people who have to do their job (keeping the peace, killing insurgents etc) and know nothing about what's going on back at the base or what the Avatar project means or even requires, apart from defeating a mutual enemy. So as far as you know, you are helping the human race for the greater good. This would certainly give creedence to your own suggestion of a Advent alien who watches over what happens to the humans and eventually stumbles across the nefarious part of the genetherepy programs.

Let's talk about war crimes! Yay!

War crimes, technically, are a modern invention. While different cultures have had their own laws and customs of war, our current definition of war crimes have only developed in the past century or so. This mostly coincides with WWI; there weren't any laws about, say, chemical weapons, so people used chemical weapons.

That said, just because it was legal doesn't mean it felt right. Take a look at post-war WWI media. People HATED war. Sure, they hated the enemy, but they also hated their own governments. They're the ones that started this war, they're the reason for all these horrors! Even though people were taught war was good, they saw war was bad.

So, if I were raised in under the oppressive thumb of the Elders, I might not know what war crimes are, but I could see something is wrong, no matter how much propaganda they sent my way. That is, if they weren't censoring their own plans.

Of course, this is a generalization. Humans are extremely complex beings, and we can't pretend they all think alike. Assuming aliens have higher-function thinking just like humans, they're going to be just as varied. Some might be patriotic, some might be apathetic, some might be rebellious. As Playable Aliens features multiple alien defectors, they're going to need unique reasons for joining the resistance. The better we understand why an alien would defect, the more ways we can characterize our own aliens.

Originally posted by Grognard_87:

Also, I don't believe they want to exterminate the human race. Our race just happens to have some of the genetic material as part of their Avatar project, must as they need it from the other races too and why those races have been altered since their invasion of Earth. It isn't an eradication, but it certainly is a genocide based on rebuilding their race to a more impressive and powerful beings.

This is worse as one of the many mods I've added, adds new advent "Corrupted Avatar" who appear in some missions and are REALLY nasty. Not faught one yet, but I've unlocked them by killing the prototype you fight.

Look, if you're going to be killing gazillions of people, it doesn't matter why you're doing it. You're killing gazillions of people! Call it what you like, but that's kinda ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up.

Originally posted by Grognard_87:

Eitherway, you can read into it as much as you like or just have fun like I've been (especially as I now have a Berserker on my side) I see it as the aliens being on my side.

I believe this is a major misstep. So long as the story is unobstrusive, you might as well make it good. Sure, I can just enjoy the gameplay and skip the story. But a good story can impact me much more than good gameplay. A story can raises questions about myself, about our society, about our world. It can challenge my preconceptions, making me a better person. A good game lets me have fun. I mean, I like having fun, but shouldn't we desire more?

Originally posted by Grognard_87:

On the mention of not having enough slots for deployment, if you download the Long War Toolbox you can alter how many soldiers your start with, increasing it beyond the bonus two spaces you can buy.

I'm not sure where this was mentioned. I've tried using larger squad sizes in the past, but it slowed gameplay down and split the spotlight between my soldiers. I wasn't as attached to my soldiers when each person was more expendable.

I'm think it is plausible as the aliens show levels of independence and intelligence, operating ships and weapons. Some show signs of clear social structure, the Viper and Muton especially, vipers ate centred around males a patriarchy that is centred on females possible competing for breeding rights with strong males, Mutons are certainly intelligent with tribal markings and some with adorned helmets. The gatekeepers and Archon are possible upper class in terms of the alien hyrachiey with clear roles as guardians of the ethereal regime, Codex's are artificial intelligence so it all comes down to weather you think a machine as independence, I don't believe they do but possible ghost may exist. Sections are clearly oppressed, in the Frist game, but now seamed to have been elevated in status, given the genetic unguarded they have properly been pinning for centuries. The Andromeda may be new to their alliance of aliens, advent is in theory just another member, but show an increased hold over by the ethereal masters, sue to their organic determination. They may have been chooses as a new vessel by the ethereal and as such are now under direct ethereal control, the advent soldiers where once more human or perhaps entirely human but throughout the years replaced by cheaper hybrids with unquestioning loyalty to the ethereal when created correctly, mishaps may created deviations. Rebellious ones.

The aliens who resist would be fighting across this empire, the Chryssalid would be hard to tame creating hives on all world, to stupid to be bought back into the fold, the Mutons are likely to rebel being tribal in nature and thus easily startled. The sections given their lowly positions would likely rebel led by commanders in fleets scouring the stars for technology to survive, and aliens to decipher their genetics and improve themselves, the Vipers are likely the same led by their kings to rebel against the ethereal rule. The Berserkers would be led by their tribe, intelligent enough to breed and nurture the young. The Archon and Gatekeepers if going on may theory either learn to much have sympathy to other aliens or even humans or perhaps working with rebellious ethereal like shown in bureau.

Originally posted by Legion Prime:

Good god, guys TL,DR please

Having read this whole thread, there really is no "proper" "TL;DR" for it, imho...just interesting views.

We have had many theories on how the aliens should be recruited. A lot of people have mentioned missions to rescue Resistance sympathizers, both alien and Advent in nature, much in the way we rescue human VIPs. This idea has mostly been turned down by the mod makers.

In their infinite wisdom, Firaxis removed one of the key features of XCOM that could have been used to make these scenarios possible: Capturing and interogating aliens. This has really hobbled the ability for mod makers to make mods where you capture aliens, interogate them, and get something out of capturing and interrogating said alien. So unfortunately, there are no animations or tech pieces that can be used for such a purpose. The makers of this particular mod are short on man power, and artists, to create these assets in the first place. Why do you think we have yet to get tiered armor for our alien followers?

To be clear, coding is no small task. Learning it is like learning a second language. And while XCOM 2 flaunts it's 'Easy' access to modders, it is not, in fact, easy in any way shape or form to make the code do something it wasn't already set up to do. That's why custom Perks are so hard, and why we can't have customizable aliens at this particular time.

It is important to remember that building new missions and quests, and creating new maps for a specific mission, would be a tall task, as well. This would require brand new assets be developed, new NPCs, New dialogue. What you are suggesting is more along the lines of a proper expansion, rather than a modification of the current game. At this time, it is unfeasible to make such a complex mod for XCOM 2, as cool as it would be. We'll probably have to settle on this project as it is now until the modders can recruit more people. I would volunteer my limited abilities with code, but I simply don't have the time to dedicate to it.

Originally posted by Legion Prime:

Good god, guys TL,DR please

TL;DR The Original Poster wants a more realistic and 'fluffy' introduction to recruiting aliens than just killing it, autopsying it, and magically gaining the ability to acquire it in days.

Originally posted by Not A Cop:

My suspension of disbelief is broken, not because of internal consistency, but because of tone. The aliens just sort of pop out of nowhere. Sure, they're being "cloned" or "reprogrammed" or whatever; that doesn't help. Without proper foreshadowing and an appropriate pace, the tone shift sticks out. The first thing that pops to mind when I ask myself "why do we have playable aliens all of the sudden" isn't "because we cloned them"; it's "because I downloaded a mod." Vanilla XCOM, while not exactly a masterpiece of writing, does it's best to convice us our soldiers are real. Every soldier is given a full name, a nationality, a backstory, a unique appearance, etc. There's even subtle things, like how all the helmets show our soldier's faces, letting us identify with them just a little more. Playable Aliens lacks these touches.

I want to sympathize with my aliens. I want that escapist feeling, that kind of approachability that fantastic things have. It's cool being a spec ops soldier that kills aliens by the truckload; it's even cooler if you're a monstrous being with superpowers. I can understand why others have suspension of disbelief, even if I personally don't. I want to find a way to make Playable Aliens plausible. Lore can't do this, but a balanced tone shift can.

While your expectations of a small group of modders are a bit lofty, they are understandable. The "cloning" ability was always a bit of a crutch, a proving ground project added for the sake of allowing people who really, really wanted vipers to simply build a viper. A more positive means of recruitment has always been something I've personally been interested in getting going, which is why we now have recruitment missions which can be accessed for a bit of intel, wherein you go and extract alien squad members who have already proven their interest in overthrowing Advent.

Custom descriptions for the Alien rebels are a feature we're hoping to add somewhere down the road, but it's not at the top of the to-do list for obvious reasons. We're a team of one and a half at the moment, cut us a bit of slack, :P

If you need anyone to do lore-writing for you, I'm a hopeful sci fi writer and XCOM lover. :D