Elydo

For clarity.

Version 1.07 according to the launcher: Yet if you would direct your eyes to the top right: The initial base also costs the same, from a starting account of 2 mil. If those images are too large I'll resize them. EDIT: Or, y'know, they could be too small

If that's directed at me, then no. I get the cause/effect link, all too well after seeing two Scouts cover a quarter of the globe in activity notifications outside the range of my radars. That cost me two funding regions within a month No, my "What the heck is going on" was referring to the fact that my NBC is still set at the beta value of 1 million dollars [raises pinkie finger to mouth] Makes me curious if any other aspects of the game have changed for Release and my version just hasn't caught the. I did a clean install...

Wait, what? My New Base Cost is 1 mil. This might explain why I'm having a harder time of it than most other people I read about on here Wonder what the heck is going on...

This was something I went and finally grabbed now that the game is done. Superb work sleezy, simply outstanding. Both this and your portraits packs.

Currently Electroshocks do stun damage against all targets, meaning they don't do much against aliens immune to stun, like Androns and drones. EMP damage is supposed to be inflicted instead against such targets, but it's currently disabled.

Six months does appear to be a rather insanely short period of time, objectively speaking.

You could look at it this way; any invasion has a plan, no plan survives contact with the enemy. The aliens succeeding at their missions is them remaining on-plan, so they see no need to accelerate their efforts or try new tactics. Things are proceeding exactly as they should be, from their perspective. We start stopping them from succeeding, start throwing their plan off, that's when they need to start switching things up. Accelerating some aspects, stopping some to try and develop new tactics. It can be effectively twisted to justify any timescale you want, with a slight amount of handwaving for 'alien perceptions and though processes' Want things sped up? "They're accelerating their plans in response to our efforts." Want things to slow down? "They're having to pause while they analyse our actions and try to get their plan back on track." or even "They've discarding the plan and are creating a new one." Anything you want, from the same lore. Elegant, I think >: D Edit: The key to strategy is not to choose a path to victory, but to choose so that all paths lead to victory. Victory being whatever game design you want. Of course.

The base personnel have enough time to get to the secure bunker beneath the command center, presumably at the same time the soldiers are gearing up and deploying those sandbags. Remember the base is underground, so even after the ufo has landed after surviving any ground fire from turrets, so we can know the base knows about it at that point if not before (before is likely), it still takes a certain amount of time for the base to be breached. My main complaint would be a lack of fixed defences, heh. If you've set up sandbag emplacements, how about some fixed .50 cals? Adapt them from scout car turrets! Bah, it's like there are arbitrary considerations beyond effectiveness to take into account or something...

I've noticed bombers can really up the casualty count in short order.

Being able to throw a buddy a magazine would help with those long hours on missions where nothing seems to happen. Or the endless chinook flights. You're all secured in the transport, but your launcher guy down the far end of the chopper finished his copy of 50 Shades of Grey already. But you've also finished with the latest Horse and Hound and feel like a nap before touchdown. But, dammit, no throwing mechanic, he'll be bored and you'll wake up every time a buffet of turbulence makes your relaxed napping hand drop the damn magazine and everyone sniggers at you. That's two soldiers without their head in it even before the shots start flying. Poor design, very poor design.

I've seen the same happen with smoke, but there was an open door at the edge of the smoke cloud in that case, I haven't tried in other situations yet.

Having EMP be stun damage to units that can't be stunned (Robotic types specifically, if there are unstunnable biologicals), and so just dealing damage would be fine for me. Though I'd question having electroshock being quite so good at stunning biologicals. I use them exclusively over the actual stun gas grenades. I'd also like to see an electroshock rocket.

It's confusing shorthand in this case, as it can either refer to our organisation or to the aliens.

If rockets became vertical then they could only be stored in the backpack, they wouldn't fit on the belt any more. This would make reloading and even more ap-costly affair.

I remember during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon there were accusations of the Israelis using white phosphorus as incendiaries against civilians (illegal) when what was being deployed were wide-area screening munitions that use WP burning wads of felt to produce smoke. These wads hitting objects could cause burns and damage, but they weren't the design ethos of the weapon and are less effective for incendiary purposes than a pure WP round and are not illegal munitions. The potential side-effects and health risks of WP use even in these rounds are leading to discussions regarding a wider ban on WP use however.

Yeah, my understanding of breaching was that the doorknockers were not first through. Right, I shall retain the rest of my curiosity and leave it at my thanks.

How much range does a breaching round have in combat? Honest question, I hardly ever get to pick the brains of a professional. It's somewhat rude even when I do so I try not to indulge. Given the rarity of magazine-fed shotguns, any round selection would have to be preloaded into the weapon. Does the operator simply keep track of expenditure and jack out any combat rounds upon reaching a breach situation?

A material with no active components that turns radiation (bad) directly into electricity (good, usually) That's revolutionary. Most power stations of any types still use steam to turn turbines, the difference being how you generate the steam, be it coal, gas, nuclear, geothermal. Turning heat into electricity directly by way of a thermocouple is stupidly inefficient to the point of uselessness, and this new material bypasses that energy transformation. Not only could this be applied to a whole new generation of nuclear power plants, but the ramifications for space travel and infrastructure could be profound in a multitude of ways. Electricity ≠ Energy I'll wait to see what, if anything, results from the Higgs boson before I judge that the exercise has been pointless. I may need a couple of spare lifetimes but I'm sure they're an investment that will pay off. Edit: We're at the point now where scientists make stop-motion animation with individually placed molecules. Don't count anything out, heh. We play with quarks already, let alone mesons. I'm sure bosons will come.

I would have thought a shotgun with breaching rounds wouldn't be of that much use in a fight, thus negating its application as a 'weapon' for the purposes of consideration.

Makes me think of Toona (Raven) from Rune Factory 3. Happy times. Incidentally, those qualities were not listed in order of preference. And that picture is sadly sadly lacking in ordnance. I instead offer this one: Okay maybe not that one, it threatens to make me break out in derisive laughter every time. This one: Or this one:

As far as I am aware, and I shall of course default to Delta's practised knowledge here should mine be incorrect, but most soldiers don't carry more than a single main weapon into combat anyway. Depending on the mission parameters some members of a squad might carry single use Anti-Tank launchers in addition, but otherwise you'll have your main weapon according to your role in the squad, a sidearm as a secondary and any other mission tailored sundries. And the sidearm has its own special little carrying option that isn't really made for stowing anything else. And a knife. Or a spoon if you're Australian.

I haven't played it, but the plan for Sword of the Stars 2 was to move the tech forward universally. In the original you move from fission though fusion to anti-matter, the sequel would start you at fusion and move past anti-matter to something else. You don't need to start coming up with new genres of technology in order to have better gear though, merely new manifestations and implementations of existing stuff with a few new developments on the side. Metamaterials are going to allow for magic to happen. Materials that passively redirect EM wavelengths. Materials that turn radiation directly into electricity. Who knows what quantum computing will finally manifest as, especially now they've succeeded at building processors out of carbon nanotubes. The potential ramifications of the Higgs boson are unimaginable, but keep in mind this is the particle that is supposed to give objects mass. Then you have existing stuff. Better plasma guns, better regular guns, better armour. Or powerplants that have been miniaturised to one fifth their previous size. Battlefield C4I that is better integrated at all levels. The trick isn't coming up with the tech, the trick is keeping the game balanced. Though I'll admit it would be difficult for Xenonauts to get such a sequel due to them rather going to 11 with the technology implications in the first game. My suspension of disbelief was lost when the Predator armour was said to be able to take a stroll through lava. Well, I guess the next stage is a stellar corona.

Boobs. Redhead. Flames. Boobs. I like.

Given that the sprites don't come with backpacks anyway, we could always say that the largest inventory box is in fact a chest loadout. Which in turn gives rise to a highly amusing image when a soldier is carrying a comrade, or an alien corpse. Baby-carriers, anyone?