Freeze

So, lets summarize what we have here: A guy who never actually played on Insane, hence his inability to understand Condors chasing Carriers problem. People who actually see the problem, shooed away by devs. And devs themselves, which have absolutely zero understanding of the game design. Because going for straight +20 dmg buff is better than a couple of +5 dmg -5 range or +10 clip +5 dmg -10 accuracy, etcetera. Because one medium-range shotgun appearing in mid-game and quickly becoming absolete is such anti-balance mechanic. Taking JA as an example is a bad idea. First - to get particular weapon in JA you need to have an opportunity to do so. Second - JA is not the pinnacle of game balance (it is actually a powergamerfest). So, yeah. Lets, like, ignore around 10 hours of non-profit work of one of the fans and put it to the trash bin. With such approach, there is nothing to do here. I will personally discourage any friend of mine from making my mistake and spending a cent on this unfinished game, and everybody should do the same.

Clear gameplay improvements are debatable? Complexity beating boredom is debatable? If yes, then what isn't ? And with this decision You ruin perfectly good game with potential to become big. So, lets put it to trash then.

I guess AI anti-stuck mechanism making it teleport ten to thirty spaces for no TUS cost could be called cheating as well. I don't complain tho'. As long as it does not teleport the drone saucer inside the building so it cant move out.

Hello there Im Freeze, huge fan of X-com and UFO series of games (maybe with exception of latest X-com Enemy Unknown) and I'm pretty happy to tell that Xenonauts made me feel this feeling when played old UFOs in my childhood, even through I re-play them from time to time on dosbox. Really impressive. Now, through my gameplay, I've made a list of possible changes to make this game even more impressive. I don't know if any of those would end up in the original product (probably not) but still, I would be happy if some of them do, especially on higher difficulty settings. I would try to add at least some of them with mods (since many of those are in bare .xml) but I doubt that everything listed could be done like that. The point of these changes is to increase difficulty level, add extra features, stop monotony, bring more of the old Xcom feel to the field and especially Well, lets get it started. GLOBAL Global Control 1. Ability to upgrade radar/fighter speed during the course of the game. Why: Map control and UFO chasing are the strategic part of global mode. The thing is - on higher difficulty settings UFOs are extremely annoying to catch. You need to count on pure luck that UFO will turn in direction You want it to to get it. To compensate for this upgrade, UFOs AI could guide them to run away from fighters if their win chance is lower than 30/20% 2. Base defenses shoot actual projectiles(on the map) in incoming UFOs. Why: Primary - this removes the artificial "reducing enemy strike force" and "percentage to shoot down". The former would be automatically reduced, just as if UFO takes damage from fighters. Secondary - this makes the static defenses actually viable and reliable solution. It improves the actual global control in the country base is created on, and thus so, it makes the base positioning even more important. Economy 1. Every weapon, ammunition, armor and such must be manufactured or bought (#2) Why: I know why charges are unlimited - to reduce learning curve on Xenonauts. The thing is, people playing on veteran or insane difficulties do not need such. And, if this is possible, it would be nice to get this change in the official Xenonauts release. It is more of a very fun feature than difficulty increase. 2. Ability to not only sell, but also buy (at least the most basic) equipment in the storage screen. (optional for #1) Why: To compensate the first part, there could be "shop" in storage where we could buy basic equipment without need to overburden the workshop, and with little to no time consumed. 3. Store the alien weaponry and equipment instead of auto-selling it. Why? Somebody want to use it sometimes. Especially alien grenades, because they easily do 180 damage per tick. If we want extra money, we could sell them from Storage screen in any time. Tech Tree 1. Tiering (we cant move to the further tier without doing all the research from previous tier) Why: There are many neat equipment parts hidden there, and I remember playing Xenonauts for the first time. I've researched combat shield upgrade alongside best armor in the game, which is pretty bad, especially because that research was just sitting there, waiting to be done. Doing this faster would give me good defense power spike I've needed, but how could I know? Rushing new weapon types is still the best idea. Fighter Equipment 1. Universal slots (we could easily fit any type of weapon there (except torpedo), depending on situation and mission) Pretty self explanatory 2. Specialized torpedo/missile types a) Area cover, to hit many targets at once b) Armor-piercing (explained later) c) Armor-shred (explained later) More strategic and tactical decisions regarding fighters are always nice to have. Fighter Combat 1. Add BORDERS to the combat area. Again, it is self explanatory. One of many frustrating things about this game is that the grid is too bleak (especially on darker monitors or lower gamma) and we often do not see where the 'combat area' borders end, resulting in clicking there unintentionally. In fast combat it could lead to fighters really leaving the combat zone or loss in maneuverability to the point of getting shot. 2. Skill based combat. a) Ability to choose in which direction we want to do evasive maneuver b) Increase in speed for fighters, increase in turn rate for UFOs Why: To make it funnier to play. It is frustrating when fighters do not turn in the direction we want them to. Also it is pretty funny to watch "super mobile" UFOs that have slower turn rate than Condors. 3. Armor Value (alongside health points decrease by 20%-40%) UFOs start to have armor values decreasing the damage received by the flat amount. It results in heavier crafts being completely invulnerable to cannon damage without armor shred missiles. Armor-piercing missiles ignore (all, or part of) this value, but never decrease it. 4. UFO Critical Points Skillshooting torpedo right in the UFO cockpit between huge arms should result in victory. More skill based combat is the way to go. OPERATIONAL Soldier and Equipment 1. Attribute based soldiers Strength, Agility, Perception, Accuracy, Reaction Time, etc Actually important statistics (like TUS or HP) should be derived from the base attribute to stop mindless farming. For now, it is automatically increased no matter what we do on a mission, no matter what class soldier have. On the other hand, to stop soldiers from being too strong, the numbers are capped at 100. Such virtual capping is really not nice. To prevent such situation I propose to cap attributes, not statistics. The borders could be even raised, to reach 120 TUS when Agility, Perception and Reaction Time are all maxed at once. Maxing them through will be tough as nails. I can create proper statistic deriviations if needed. 2. Perk and Talent system To spice up the gameplay, each soldier could, on reaching every new rank, gain some kind of perk or talent only he can use. I do not mean bad things like Airstrikes, or magic rocket launchers 'ala Xcom Enemy Unknown. More like commando perk, that could enable soldier to swap positions freely. Spotter perk, that give accuracy bonus for whole team only in the turn when particular enemy was spotted for the first time. Ability to shoot from mid-air with buzzard armor on. You got the idea. Scale perks up to Commander, then give requirements for every one that soldier must meet to reach such 'upgrade'. If player want some particular perk for the soldier, he could wait with choosing one until the soldier meet the requirements. But until he do choose one, soldier is stuck on his rank and cant gain any xp towards the next. 3. Separately upgreadable equipment For the same reason as with the Perk and Talent system, to spice up gameplay, make the items soldier use independly upgradeable. Sniper could use proper sniper rifle. But why not put the Scope upgrade on the typical M16 (and lose close-range bonus for long range accuracy) for the makeshift sniper rifle with burst fire mode? Possibilities are endless on this layout. Upgrades could be tiered, just like the weapons are. Some energy upgrades could make conventional weaponry return on the field in late game. 4.Hit Locations I believe that it is not hard to add extra random value when shooting. This particular value will determine the exact location in which target is hit. Hitting the legs would make the soldier fall prone. Hitting the arm could make soldier drop his weapon, or even make this arm unavaliable for the rest of the encounter, and limiting the soldier to using pistols. Hitting the head result in loss of perception. Hitting the body is the easiest for no bonuses. Every hit location would have their own armor values, which still do not make them it stand for long in open fire. This change could open up a gap for the possibility of introducing 'fallout-like' critical aiming, which is also a very good idea. 5. Falling Prone As it says on the tin. Crouching do give increased protection and accuracy, but do not give player the option to completely hide behind those knee-high boxes and cover. It could not give increased protection, just make the person not visible from over cover. Enemies could exploit it as well. And know how to destroy cover the prone target is hiding in. 5. Effects And now to the critical effects. Falling prone. Falling unconsious. Getting yourself on fire. Poisoning. Radiation. "Alien Controlled". Covered in smoke. Covered in chemicals etc. More and more effects applying on the battlefield. Enemies 1.Energy shields Higher ranked Aliens, especially officers, especially Caesans or Harridans, should have very high overall "armor" value, displayed as energy barrier around the wearer. These shields easily handle projectile weaponry (taking only about half the damage from it), but have problem with energy weaponry and (new)MAGs. This barrier also protect from anything that normally could get through, such as gas or fire. 2. Deployable energy shields Every time I fight Sebillians they land up in a situations where they have little to no cover and take heavy beating. Higher ranked Sebillians could have deployable energy shields in a form of 25% or 50% cover they could deploy on the battlefield to defend behind. Such shields could have (if possible) the same properties as default Energy Shields have(projectile resilence, weakness to energy weapons). 3.Slight enemy changes Changing default Alien rifles range to match typical human rifle range (now it is like sniper rifle) Removal of Alien Control psychic ability (it is completely random through-the-wall attack that could only be blocked with ... luck) 4. Alien melee arsenal. Ability for Alpha Reapers to jump on top of buildings and ambush the attackers from above (jumping) Drones could intentionally suicide to deal the most damage Sebillians could detonate explosives (grenades or other explosive charges) in close range to deal the most damage. This alien race, as their resilence allows, should mostly survive such run. Harridans could flank and use energy swords. Slight change for their teleports not to drain 100% of their TUS on use should be nice too. Ability to fight in melee with bare claws or with the use of rifle butt. 5. Return of Alien Biological Weaponry Weapons that include spitting, vomit, mind-controlling drones that sit on your head. It could also limit many alien weapons to alien-only with DNA compatibility. Equipment 1. Conventional weaponry: revolvers, one-handed automatic weapons, short machine guns, knives. High Tier conventional weaponry could include full automatic shotguns, anti-tank rifles. 2. Ability to shoot with two one-handed weapons for one TUS cost and accuracy penalty. Could also be a talent from Perk and Talent system. 3. Specialized explosives: Conventional, Napalm, Gas, Plasma. Do not auto-replace the previous explosive type. 4. Specialized ammunition for weapons: Piercing, Emp, Toxic. For energy weapons: Low-Energy (more shots, lower power), Mid-Energy, High-Energy (lower shots, higher power), Positron batteries (offer extra damage against energy shields) 5. Ability to effectivelly use Alien weaponry against the invaders. The only drawback is limited ammunition and money lost in the process (they are highly valuable) 6. Logic fix: Removal for laser shotguns and precison lasers and human plasma weaponry. Include new type of weapons based on Plasma Weapon sprites: Positrons. 7. Positron weaponry: Weapons and equipment focused particularly to counter alien energy shields. It provides partial chance of ignoring such shield entirely. This technology is also required to overload and move inside bigger capital ships protected by such. 8. Actual variety of weaponry I wouldn't lie that I really don't like the whole concept of weaponry in Xenonauts. It derives highly from the new Xcom series of games, and as such, we do not have much to choose from. Pistol, Shotgun, Rifle, Sniper Rifle and Heavy Weapon. In 4 different tiers, where only change between one tier and the other is slight accuracy loss and damage buff. I remember the old games, where every weapon was heavily different from the other. Why it was lost and forgotten? Laser heavy weapon should be a beam. To focus it in one place or to sweep and cut the cover with. Plasma heavy weapon should be close range, like area super-shotgun. Mag Heavy - like a super-sniper rifle, able to shoot once per three turns. That would make the old Conventional Heavy weapon back to its might with toxic ammunition and only heavy with spread fire. There should be differences between rifles, different max ammunition, ammunition consumption, damage, accuracy, handling. Some bigger rifles could block jumping over cover. Variety. Not boredom. And with those words I would end. I am into game balance and game design since I am a kid, so I hope some ideas could be used effectivelly. Thank You for reading. In the meantime, we could do a general idea thread here. If You have any questions, write a PM, or better send an email to Fr33zerg@gmail.com