Why so much air combat?

[windex]

I have to admit I am no Xcom vet, in fact I've played very little of it though I could see how it could be a timeless classic to many. But does X com have as much air combat as this version of xenonauts and will the final version of xenonauts have it?

I was playing last night and did about Three ground battles after taking down several light scouts. I had build a second base
and had most of the buildings in place but wanted to do more research but I need more ground battles and what's more
I was starting to run a little low on funds. What happened was I got wave after wave of air attacks mostly fighters and got sick of these battles( I honestly don't care for the air combat its just small a diversion for me) they were coming several at a time
and in fleets of three. I won most of the time in the beginning, but I never had any more crash sites for ground battles, what happened is I started to lose interest and got impatient with these tedious air battles and started losing fighter planes; in the end I built a couple more hangers and added planes but I wasn't earning anymore money, also I got a few terror sites much of the time I'd run out of fuel and have to head back and what happened was something unexpected I lost the game with a screen telling me the alien race took over earth- guess I stayed up late for nothing. How is this? I still had both bases most of my planes several soldiers all in tact, yet no ground battles to earn any money or discover any alien technology and I lost.

Is this game going to be mostly air combat like this?

And how are you suppose to earn any money if there are so far and few ground battles to be had?
shooting down fighters and corvetts and heavy fighters doesn't seem to provide any money or generate funds.
And had I continued I don't think I would have had another crash site. It was all air combat in the end.

How do you handle these terror sites? As far as I could see there were no other options then to circle and patrol with fighter jets. And attack with them.
Once I read that the terror site was nuked- so we got them somehow.

[poulwrist]

Pretty sure the fighter waves are sort of a bug.
Also, money is earned mainly through end of the month funding, which is tied to aircombat.

Terror sites, actual terror site, not just mood-blurbs, which for instance that nuke thing would be, are missions on the ground and you'll have to send your troops there.

[Gorlom]

Corvettes should generate crash sites. Try to not over-damage them.

Th amount of fighters spawning is currently not properly balanced. Future versions will probably have a bit less fighters to not make the geoscape part as tedious.

Did you get any warning that you couldn't pay off your engineers/scientists at the end of the month? There is currently a bug that tries to withdraw their wages before the payment from the funding nations comes in. And if you are unable to pay wages 2 months in a row you lose. Despite technically being able to pay if the game would just pay you before it tried to withdraw the wages instead of other way around.

[Max_Caine]

Windex, the short answer is – almost. Xcom was all about shooting down ufos and recovering the crashed vehicles. Which meant air combat. Lots of it. However, what are you most upset about?

- That you must undergo the air combat minigame for each ufo you want to shoot down?
- That there is no immediate reward for killing fightercraft?
- That there isn’t a ground battle for every ufo type shot down?

[Gauddlike]

There is currently a bug that tries to withdraw their wages before the payment from the funding nations comes in. And if you are unable to pay wages 2 months in a row you lose. Despite technically being able to pay if the game would just pay you before it tried to withdraw the wages instead of other way around.

At least it is realistic.
My bank tried to charge me as overdrawn 3 months in a row for the exact same thing.
By which I mean taking money out before they bothered to work out the money I had coming in, not that I was funding a multinational anti xenos organisation.

[Jean-Luc]

@OP

It's an Alpha, things are kind of a mess still and nothing is balanced. Ground combat is the core of the game.

[IceVamp]

Windex, the short answer is – almost. Xcom was all about shooting down ufos and recovering the crashed vehicles. Which meant air combat. Lots of it. However, what are you most upset about?

- That you must undergo the air combat minigame for each ufo you want to shoot down?
- That there is no immediate reward for killing fightercraft?
- That there isn’t a ground battle for every ufo type shot down?

There is an immediate reward. Look at the region's funding before and after you shoot something down. Profit!
Also, what Jean-Luc said. The alpha is to make sure the mechanics of the game works, so to speak. The beta is to make these things fun, while making sure the game works.

[windex]

I am well aware what the alpha is an what it is for. I was just wondering if the over frequent air combat was a bug. Which most seem to agree it is. Max Cain you didn't understand my questions: of course I know that I have to "under go the air combat mini game for each UFO I shoot down. What I am most bothered by if you read my original post is that after only three crash sites and so three ground combat battles the whole rest of the game was shooting down these dam fighter UFOs and I mean endless attacks with no ground combat. So many are saying this is a bug. And maybe I wasn't about to pay my scientist and techs though I didn't see any warning.

[Gorlom]

It's not a bug per se. It's just a yet to be balanced aspect of the game. I think Chris simply set the ratio as something that made sense to him (at the time) for an extraterrestrial force dominating the air. Not something that had been properly balanced to prevent the amount of fighters to be tedious and annoying.

It's also possible that if you completely ignored the fighters you lost too much support from your funding nations, and they simply gave up.

I am well aware what the alpha is an what it is for.

The way you phrase your posts make it seem like your understanding of what an alpha is differs quite a bit from my understanding what it is. You seem to think it's much much closer to the finished product then I do.

[Max_Caine]

Icevamp, I would argue there isn't an immediate reward for shooting down fightercraft. There's a reward at the end of the month, certainly - but nothing that you get right away, like you get at the successful conclusion of a ground battle. RotGtIE broght that up in the "funding" thread over in suggestions. Windex, I drew those questions from your post. Let me quote you:

(I honestly don't care for the air combat its just small a diversion for me)

and

what happened is I started to lose interest and got impatient with these tedious air battles

So, yes I would ask if you are upset with having to go into the air combat mini-game every time because from those two passages, it looks like you are! Furthermore, I wasn't asking if you knew you had to undergo the air combat, I was asking if you were upset having to do that. Another poster has already asked if they have to do air combat every time, and could an "auto-resolve" option be available. From your original post, it looks like you are in the same camp.