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Random questions about the game mechanics.


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Here's the thing. If we let the dice fall as they may, then there's a reasonable chance that a nascent base can be wiped out before any kind of defence can be constructed. I mean, it takes.. 5? Days for a barracks to be made? Then 3 days to recruit troopers. So that's enough time for at least one wave that to occur before you can staff a base with defenders. A wave which if the base were completely randomly chosen, the RNG could in theory smite the player without th eplayer being able to do anything and take him/her for a hefty wedge of wonga. By stacking the deck in favour of older bases, in theory, the player has had more time to raise defences so has nothign to complain about if they get smitten.

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Base attack mission UFOs do not pop up that often in my experience. Further, this concern could be addressed even better by (again) requiring a scouting mission to find the base first. The probability of the aliens detecting and attacking your base within that week-long window would not be especially high.

This may also be tangentially related to the issue of whether perhaps it should be possible to get the initial buildings up faster in a new base.

Right now, there isn't any real feeling that my subsequent bases are in danger. The base most likely to be attacked is my first one, and it has the best protection - a strong air wing that may shoot down the attacking UFO, and the base also houses my primary ground team. Peripheral radar/research bases are safe.

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Interception missions don't turn up that often either, but it only took a UFO on CAP to be in the right place at the right time to spawn a lengthy discussion on how the all-powerful RNG shouldn't smite you like that.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the scouting mission was taken away because the stats collected by Goldhawk suggested the scout looking for bases was getting shot down before it could either find a base or report back.... which meant that base assaults wouldn't happen. Which then means that if the pathfinder is getting killed, what was the point in putting any effort into base assaults/base defences in the first place?

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I think the interceptor CAP case is distinct. The RNG should be a part of the game, and a somewhat significant one, but the consequences of a RNG roll need to be within some sane range. Losing your dropship with your best troops is as dramatic a consequence as can be, that's the most punishing thing that can happen to you, and I'd argue that particular case needs a fix at least in terms of better escort capabilities.

Losing a new-ish base is nowhere near that critical though. If the RNG attacks your base in its first week when it still has no defenders, that's a setback, but it's not the murderous event that losing your team is.

The point about scouts being shot down is an important one. I do not immediately have a solution that has the best of all worlds.

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I have a sneaking suspicion that the scouting mission was taken away because the stats collected by Goldhawk suggested the scout looking for bases was getting shot down before it could either find a base or report back.... which meant that base assaults wouldn't happen. Which then means that if the pathfinder is getting killed, what was the point in putting any effort into base assaults/base defences in the first place?

Why can't they tweak the game to make it easier for the aliens to discover your bases. Just increase the number of alien scouts and fighters and let them fly around all the time not just in waves. This way when a wave of landing ships arrives, you'll have to compromise and hunt the bigger ships and then some scouts will get through and possibly discover your base.

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Easy - have occassional "scout swams" where many base-finding UFOs are sent at once. If the player decides to have 8 hangars and intercept every scout UFO one-on-one, great! They've made the decision to focus on (fairly expensive) air superiority for base defense purposes.

Or they can ignore the UFOs, knowing they won't do any harm that can't be fought off by the team at the base, and focus on the lander or two that popped up and maximizing their relationship score, or relying instead on either taking out the assault ship or their bases anti-ship defenses working well.

I think it's /good/ to have multiple options for taking on base defense, and with some tweaks air superiority could be possible - just expensive. The problem is when you can achieve air superiority defense versus base invasions without any extra effort at all.

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I have a sneaking suspicion that the scouting mission was taken away because the stats collected by Goldhawk suggested the scout looking for bases was getting shot down before it could either find a base or report back.... which meant that base assaults wouldn't happen. Which then means that if the pathfinder is getting killed, what was the point in putting any effort into base assaults/base defences in the first place?

Couldn't the base scout be made invisible / undetectable? That way you can have a delay on the base assult ships showing up for new bases, while not weighing preference in favour at the oldest bases.

Edited by Gorlom
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Here's the thing. If we let the dice fall as they may, then there's a reasonable chance that a nascent base can be wiped out before any kind of defence can be constructed. I mean, it takes.. 5? Days for a barracks to be made? Then 3 days to recruit troopers. So that's enough time for at least one wave that to occur before you can staff a base with defenders. A wave which if the base were completely randomly chosen, the RNG could in theory smite the player without th eplayer being able to do anything and take him/her for a hefty wedge of wonga. By stacking the deck in favour of older bases, in theory, the player has had more time to raise defences so has nothign to complain about if they get smitten.

Conversely, if the aliens attack a base that consists solely of a command center, you're only out a quarter-million bucks. That's basically only a wave of UFOs or a small fraction of the monthly wages, base attacks only come once every other month, and you are basically never in any other danger of losing any base equipment.

Hence, if I lost a fledgling base like that, my response wouldn't be that I was devastated and shaking my fists in impotent rage, but rather to just shrug and rebuild a new one. The only reason I'd even go for something like savescumming and hoping for a UFO to attack a different base would be because I want a proper base defense mission.

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On the topic of alien scout retaliatory missions, you could also try doing the most obvious detective tactic - just tailing the enemy home.

You shouldn't necessarily need the scout to be able to physically go back to the mother ship to deliver a message - they're capable of FTL travel, I think they can manage a radio. Just send a scout ship with longer-than-normal radar to watch what direction your chinook returns to after doing a mission. With even two incomplete tailings (if the scout gets shot down), the aliens can at least triangulate the probable location of your base. Then, they could send a third scout (if you're really Johnny-on-the-spot about wiping them out,) coming down out of the atmosphere relatively close to your base, and knowing pretty much exactly where to look. Even if your interceptors shoot that one down, the aliens will see what runway they took off from. (Which always was the big question of why the aliens didn't just look for runways...)

Maybe giving it some "stealth" technology of sorts would help, as well, but only a significant "saving throw" against radar detection, not total immunity. (Basically, radar only being 10-40% as likely to pick it up.) It needs to still be detectable in some way, however, or else it may as well just be the aliens automatically "finding" your base. If the player can't see it or interact with it, there's no point in having it there in the first place.

Edited by Wraith_Magus
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