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Balancing Jackal armour costs


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I have played through the first few months several times with version 18 and I have been trying to balance the production costs of Jackal armour against the alien weapon ramp ups.

Jackal armor currently costs $30k a unit and it starts to become fairly vital once you hit the second month and alien weapons start to 1 hit kill.

Currently the high cost feels like an inhibitor when you are trying to get yourself established, as it is something that you almost must produce in a large quantity if you want to keep up.

I use a 15 soldier rotation at the start of the game and trying to equip these units with armour can become a bit of a headache early on and the funding for this is heavily affected by the number of UFO's that you can shoot down in the first 4 weeks before you hit the bigger UFO'S.

My suggestion would be to reduce the cost of Jackal to 15k a unit. This way production of the armour doesn't cripple your efforts to expand/build hunters/interceptors at the beginning, but still requires some thought and planning.

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I disagree.

I played two ways with v18. The first approche lead me to build a second base very early, the second one to focus on a unique base (both games played until end of december).

The first way (fast expand) forbid me to get jackal armors early, and I had to choose who could get one, and who could'nt.

The second way (unique base) was pretty easy, because I had "lot" of money (more than with the 2 bases). Money was a problem, of course, but I didn't had to choose between "a set of 8 jackal armors" (240k$) or "something else".

Should the price get lower, the 2 bases strategy would get much to easy, because the second strike team would be too easily geared, and because you could gear the first one on september without delaying the second base.

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I disagree. Alien units needs to be a step ahead of you, or you will lose that feeling that you're the underdogs, prevailing against impossible odds.

Choosing what parts of your equipment to upgrade is, and should be, a vital part of the game. Fully equipping your entire squad and all your vehicles should be a long-term goal, else you'll have large parts of the game where you are simply waiting for something new.

If you are having problems with losing men, try playing more defensively. Use only half of your TUs when you can, sprint between cover, use leapfrog manoeuvres, etc. Good tactics will do more to keep your soldiers alive than any armour you can produce.

If costs are your biggest concern, consider that the Jackal armour will at most block one shot. A soldier can take one shot before dying.

Soldiers are 10k each, Jackal armour 30k. Spending your money on more meat for the grinder is cheaper than equipping your current squad with armour.

Also, if you are trying to equip all 15 of your soldiers with armour, then you are doing something wrong. It would be better to unequip the armour from a soldier sitting a mission out, and using it for an active soldier, than making armour for soldiers that aren't even seeing combat.

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I disagree. Alien units needs to be a step ahead of you, or you will lose that feeling that you're the underdogs, prevailing against impossible odds.

This. I sorta like the frustration of getting my newest weapons or armour out in the field, only to find that the aliens also up-kitted themselves, leaving us pretty much where we were before but with fancier armour and bigger guns.

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This. I sorta like the frustration of getting my newest weapons or armour out in the field, only to find that the aliens also up-kitted themselves, leaving us pretty much where we were before but with fancier armour and bigger guns.

Good then that Xenonauts have short enough upgrade range with distinctive steps, so this not became akin to Oblivion-like pointless leveling.

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Good then that Xenonauts have short enough upgrade range with distinctive steps, so this not became akin to Oblivion-like pointless leveling.

That is very true. Perhaps I should have phrased it better. What I meant is that when I get Jackal Armour it is actually darn good compared to what I'm facing and had previously, and the same goes for Wolf armour (and that's about as far as I've gotten). So for a time I actually feel like I've levelled the playing field, then in comes the plasma rifle-toting dudes and now the aliens have the upper hand again. At least my progression feels like it matters in Xenonauts, unlike in Oblivion where everything would just always be better than you.

Not sure if that last part is true, but it sure felt like it!

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At least my progression feels like it matters in Xenonauts, unlike in Oblivion where everything would just always be better than you.

True =) My remark was about that as well - progression here feels right.

And also true, your phrasing reminded me of shady ways of Bethesda designs.

Astonishing, really, how similar intent and methods can produce designs with such radically different feel.

And to not delve off topic too much - at first i thought too, that jackal is too costly. But later i found that after 2-3 missions you usually have enough cash to equip most of your drop-squad and then keep some on reserve soldiers.

Then again, i do not equip snipers and heavies with armor most of time, especially at first, when it needed for scouts and assaults.

So, not a problem right now, imo.

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