Binoculars & Nightvision

Hello!

New member here, I did the right thing and clicked that "Buy" button on Steam and now I'm here. So, I watched like 14 episodes of

These suggestions I am putting forward might already be considered or someone else might've already suggested it (I didn't search). But watching Yeti play made me often wonder "Why are there no binoculars? That seems like it would be something very tactical to use".

Binoculars:

- Day-time, being able to see further but more concentrated and focused (instead of a wide cone vision-field, it'd give a more straight line of vision).

Nightvision Bino's

- Same thing as above

Thoughts?

EDIT: I posted this in the wrong section, sorry. It should go in Suggestions and Feature Requests.

It's been covered before - do search, it's faster than typing a new post.

Binos could be exploited by snipers, night vision would just make night missions the same as day gameplay wise.

A compromise suggested in the past was having 'deployed' snipers have a narrower/further cone of vision to simulate a scope, but with squad site any vision bumps kinda break the game.

I see.

Well, I've got a follow-up idea then.

Binos only activating at the end of turn. So you'd have to equip it, then look down towards... let's say North, then as you hit "End Turn" you get the vision (so you can see if there's an alien running past the vision during their turn, or if you're lucky spotting an alien outright. Maybe see a civilian in need, or key locations such as a building or the alien ship), and retain it until the next turn. Now, when the next turn begins you'd have to go into inventory (Pay TU) and equip a weapon if you so desire, when you de-equip the Bino it could return back to normal Soldier vision right away and grey out the Bino vision.

I'd be ok with night vision if the aliens got flashbangs, otherwise nope.

Would the alien flashbangs work? Because if they got the same borked ones we get I might not have a problem with that.

Would the alien flashbangs work? Because if they got the same borked ones we get I might not have a problem with that.

Alien flashbangs produce a puff of a ganja smoke anyway so the party can begin with or without ocular bleeding!

Marleybombs!

Toss 'em in and go with the flooooooow

Binoculars should be researchable after you capture a pair of advanced alien trinoculars which are, of course, beyond our ability to utilize and therefore need to be reverse engineered back into the more modest form of binoculars.

And then further reverse engineered back into a spyglass or scope?

Combat Monocles!

Aren't Snipers a two man team? One got a binocular, logistics savvy (wind/angle etc. etc.) and the other got the rifle?

I still think that binoculars could be a very valid tactical item to have in this type of game, and make it function gameplay-wise and still be an item with balance.

I think that depends on if you prioritise gameplay or realism.

There doesnt seem to be any point to it if you value gameplay more then you do realism as all it does is add something to seemingly uneccesarily micromanage.

If you value realism though it's awesome just by having it in there.

AS you can probably tell by my signature I'm not much for versimilitude if I think it afffects the gameplay in a negative manner, and quite frankly I don't see the gameplay point of binoculars. It seems (to me) like a cheap way to prevent aliens from reaction firing at you upon discovery, that would be the items only purpose right? Or what else would you use it for?

So, the gameplay points of binoculars.

Gameplay Mechanics:

1) First of all, the Soldier who has Binoculars equipped won't get better stats as all he/she would do would be to sit around.

2) The Soldier who uses a binocular to look down a path needs to dedicate to it. The line of sight would only activate at the end of the turn, kind of like how a grenade only activates at the end of the turn.

3) Difficulty Levels -> The harder the difficulty, the more the enemies would react to binoculars as they react to a Sniper (So even if you spot an Alien with Bino's, chances are that he'd move away from the line of sight).

4) Doing ANY action with the Soldier with the Bino's would remove the vision instantly.

5) The vision of the Bino's should be very narrow (maybe 3 tiles) and maybe 1.5xtimes Sniper sight range. Or enough for the Sniper to be 1 or 2 tiles away from "Weapon's Effective Range". This is only an idea, it could even be further.

6) Could cost 20-35 TU to use (enough to make the Player consider opening the backpack and using them). An early mission item that slowly looses value as the mission progresses.

7) If there's something in the way of the Binoculars (a tree, a wall, a house or whatnot) the Binocular Vision would stop (thus making the possible range shorter). And you wouldn't be able to see anything behind it.

What's it good for?

- Spotting houses

- Spotting civilians

- Spotting the Alien ship

- Spotting Aliens

- Spotting in general & gaining intel

- Open maps (such as the desert maps)

Conclusion?

A) Player Turn 1: You use the Binocular's at the end of your turn and direct it into the Fog of War. Costs 20-35 TU to use.

B) End Turn: Now you get the Binocular's Vision. Maybe you spot nothing, maybe you luckily spot an alien.

C) Enemy Turn 1: Alien scenario: The alien reacts to the Binocular akin to a Sniper Rifle, moves away from the vision.

D) Player Turn 2: Now you know there's an alien in the general direction. You decide to move up your guy with Binoculars, the Binocular vision gets greyed out instantly. So if you are going to take a shot, take a shot before moving the Binocular guy.

Why?

I imagine that when Xenonauts grows, as I undoubtedly believe it will, more maps, more randomization, maybe even larger maps begin to pop up. More mods. More stuff in general (Xenonauts has so much future potential), then I believe an item like "Binoculars" suddenly become much, much, more important as every map has some new "sub-map" or whatnot and gathering intel becomes way more important. As it is right now it is easy to figure out the maps, but I believe that it's going to get harder and harder the closer the game comes to release and then continues post-release.

Just trying to have some sort of foresight. I also believe that on harder difficulties, when more maps is a thing, gathering intel would be a crucial method to progress, whether it is with Binoculars or not. Binoculars is just one idea to get intel.

EDIT:

Whilst I am on the subject of gathering intel:

Camera Research

- Gives the ability to deploy Cameras on the map. Could take up 4x3 in the Inventory (which means you'd be able to carry 3 on a Soldier if you equip 1 (2 in backpack, 1 equipped, extra room for a Pistol ammo and grenades. Two-handed.).

Mechanics:

- Must stand adjacent to wall (No throwing). So effective range would 1 tile.

- Gives intel on potential flanks, and because it's cool

- 0 use during nights (or just 1 tile sight range/width)

- Sight Width would start at 1 Tile, then 3 Tiles, then 5 Tiles

Example:

[]

x

xxx

xxxxx

- Can't turn the Camera when deployed.

- Is targetable and has like 1 HP (So Aliens could easily shoot them down)

The above Camera thoughts is just brainstorm and probably nothing anyone would like to see, I just thought it'd be a cool little item

You want the aliens to react to binocular vision? How does that make sense from a gamemechanic point of view?

Haven't you made the binoculars kind of pointless in your effort to balance them? They seem to cumbersome to acctually use, and no particular benefit unless you managed to trap an alien in a culdersack... or possibly if you manage to supress an alien and then pull back out of it's range. Which again make them seem cheap and exploitable to me.

It is impressive that you are looking at the game with such foresight that you can see the binocculars to increase in importance. Ricght now I jsut can't see it.

It is not the Binoculars per say that I am weighing into consideration here.

And yes, they would be overpowered if you could just "I'll look down this way! Now this way!" and get vision of the entire map, which is why I am suggesting these balances:

A) They only activate at the end of the turn (like grenades).

B) On higher difficulty only the Aliens would move away from the vision (Why? Because mechanical balance in correlation to the difficulty level, it'd be too overpowered if I'd spot them and then just shoot them over and over again on, say, Insane Difficulty). Doesn't the Caesan report say they speak telepathically? There you go, maybe they sense some sort of radio waves or whatnot.

C) It is an Early Mission Item Suggestion. Not something you chase your enemies down with. Gather intel early on to figure out the layout of the map, get some strategical information about what's going on on the map. Instead of bum-rushing down a path, take a turn and see if it's safe to go down that path in the first place.

etc. etc.

D) It's not pointless to gather intel and take the best course of action depending on what you spot, which is what I'm suggesting with the Binocular. I'm a slow and careful player. I can take 2-3 turns just getting around a corner because I don't take unnecessary risks.