base escape tunnel + siren/he-man additions

I waited until Xenonauts was released before getting it and... I'm so glad I did! It gets at least 8/10 from me.

I decided to play Ironman Veteran, and have reached December 1979 but with poor funding from most nations now (and boy is it tough to survive, despite doing well in the ground missions).

The way Chris has gone about the whole project, certainly with regards to incorporating the communities ideas etc. has been exemplary (the other game I spend my time on, War Thunder, really needs to take note of this as they always take one step forward and two steps back).

Just two possible ideas for incorporation into the game (maybe they are in there already - I just haven't seen them yet?)) are:

1) a base escape tunnel - if all goes wrong in the base defence scenario, it would be nice to be able to have a chance to evacuate your best troopers to serve in another base via an escape tunnel - if the route is clear and you can get them there. I build my bases so that they are ultra-defensible (i.e. there is only 1 route to the hangers where the aliens enter) with the downside that they take longer to build this way. This would cost 1 base square and 1 day to build at minimal cost.

2) siren/he-man additions - this would serve as the reason why you should always send a mixed squad of females and males (there's a reason for everything!). These would be non-combatants (actually attractive earth people under alien control) that when a siren/he-man comes into the vision of a male/female Xenonaut, it halves their action points available (a sort of "I don't want to shoot at something so beautiful" reason). These would appear in the later stages of the conflict, and would actually tie in with the alien abductions. They could be rescued for bonus points, rather than shot!

What do you think?

I think the base escape tunnel has promise if the community team can get it done, as Goldhawk itself has written off active development of the game, and passed it onto the community at large. But to be honest I'd never want to see the he-man idea, it's just to comical, to me.

But it serves to make use of the different genders in Xenonauts.

It's comical, and seriously I'm all for gender equality, which is why it's good females and males are both in the game, but that's the thing about equality, it means they're equal, which means it shouldn't matter wither you bring an all male or female squad to a battle or mix it up. Generally I just bring my starting squad.

Um... I have news for you. Men and women are "equal", but in different ways! Men tend to be physically stronger (STR) and women perhaps more intelligent. I am the last person to be PC, but this is a good way to ensure you take a mixture of both. Otherwise there is really no point in separating gender (apart from the fact that girl players will want more females in their squad, and boys will want more men).

If you think about it, it is comical that that in xen, the world leaders treat an invasion with apathy. If we were being invaded, they would pump more, and not less, money into a viable defence. But I suppose that is a key game mechanic.

Really, this idea is just a way of making the game slightly more complex and involved; as a games programmer myself, I am always looking at ways to easily add more perceived complexity into something (all it would take is a few new graphics/UFOpedia update and a bit of coding to ensure TVs are cut in half if in the cone of the particular soldiers sight). I suppose, though suppression does the same thing.

Issues of gender are a hot button topic when it comes to computer games. As you've been on the forums for a long time, I'm sure you remember the furore over first not having female soliders in the game then having female soliders in the game (I've always been surprised and relieved that an enterprising journo didn't make more of it). Making male and female essentially the same - both as capable (and as ugly) as each other neatly sidesteps any social issues that would threaten the game.

1) Hate all male dominated games. 2) Hate chest enhanced female psuedopron characters. 3) gimme more fems that are lean mean fightin' machines, eg pvt. vasquez aka "goldstein". she so badass she wouldnt even blink before blowin' the head off some pretty boy fantasy

[video=youtube_share;SZYkBbB9cEA]

I think the siren idea is silly and arbitrary, and wouldn't fit at all with the tone/lore of the rest of the game. That said, complexity shouldn't really be a goal in and of itself. Adding additional layers of complexity that don't add interesting choices and fun rarely would actually add to making a game better.

Another minor addition - rather than have 2-digit stats have 1-digit stats (say 2-9 = 20%-90%). No stat should ever be able to attain 100%, and you can't assess a soldiers abilities to the nearest percent (but maybe to +/- 5%).

There should be an element of doubt about a soldiers stats should there not?

Silly and arbitrary or not, Chris has put quite a lot of humour into the game from what I have seen so far (maybe you just have to be British to see it)! Who is to say that Aliens might kidnap attractive earth people and send them back under their control to "sterilise" whoever they sleep with?! It's a bit dark I know, but in the late 70s there weren't a lot of females in most militaries; this would be a good way to explain the need for a balanced squad. Just a thought anyway - xen gets an awful lot right.

Max - if Chris had only wanted males in the game then that was really up to him. In the 70s, I only know of female combat troops being allowed in the soviet union and in the east (China etc.). The fact that he has been so flexible towards what the community wants is exemplary. Yes, I do remember those arguments. I have kept quiet on the forum for so long though, as I didn't want anything to spoil the game for me on its release. And I haven't been disappointed. Him and his team have done a damn good job on Xenonauts - I think most of us would agree.

A developer can do whatever s/he pleases, so long as the developer is prepared to pay the consequences of those decisions. A developer can, for example, produce a set of videos belittling a famous youtuber, rename their online name to "JimFnSterlingSon", censor all criticism on their Steam Forum and watch their game flop. Or a developer can become angry about Steam incorrectly mislabelling their game, make an unwise Twitter post and be kicked off Steam never to return. I recognise these are extreme examples of what a developer can choose to do and they are not directly connected with a game. Of more relevance is the recent case where Ubisoft announced there would be no female models in the multiplayer of Unity. The expression of disbelief that Ubisoft couldn't afford female models was massive and across the board. The journos have in each case profited (in terms of ad impressions) from the decisions of developers, exploiting all the angles. Do you not think if Goldhawk were to implement Sirens in the way that you'd like it to be included, that this wouldn't get the nightcrawlers out and harm Goldhawk?

Max - I hope you don't think I was "attacking" you. That was not my intention at all. I was simply saying that there is a limit to the amount of input that a developer can take on board, and that if something isn't implemented (say female soldiers) then he shouldn't be lambasted for it. I think most people understand that.

Is it an oversight not to include female soldiers? Not really, but I can see why he did it (to keep the peace mostly). Here in the west, female combatants were rare in the armed forces in the 70s. I guess this sirens thing - it's just my nature to have a reason for everything, and Chris has scripted the UFOpedia so well that to me, at least, it makes sense. It probably would harm Goldhawk, I guess, but here's the thing - Chris and his team have been so accommodating to the community that it shouldn't really matter what the journos think.

This game seems to have been a labour of love from the start, and actually, the majority who have bought it have done so from kickstarter or because they have been waiting so long for a UFO enemy unknown update. This is different from the norm these days, where software houses churn out any old rubbish just to make a profit.

Anyway, it was just one of those ideas I had when I was set to do my own modern sequel (Chris beat me to it, and has done a fantastic job - so I don't need to, thank goodness ;-)).

Contrast Goldhawks policy of listening to what the player base wants compared with Gaijin and Warthunder - there's no contest. This is the way forward: listen and include what the potential player base want (within reason) and they will play it.

Edit: You know what, No, I'm tired, and talking on forums when tired never leads to good things, especially when there's more blood than coffee, in my system.

Ha ha! ;-). I should add that I never meant to offend anyone, if I have done. It was just an idea. The escape tunnel thing's good though, no? I was worried when my Charlie got shot down with my best men in it - thankfully most survived! A nice little bit of detail there (I'm playing on Veteran Iron man; boy is it tough).