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Just pre-ordered after lurking here for months and thought I would scribble down some thoughts as I went through my first hour playing. I'm used to playing X-com and other x-com-like games.

1. Can't tick the tooltips option in the main menu (but they seem to be on anyway)

2. Geoscape is very X-com - nothing here really that seems different or that I can't grasp fairly much straight away.

3. Intercepting UFO's - no idea what to do here or what the options are. Tooltips for some things and not for others. What does it all mean? My Aircraft shoot the UFO down anyway.

4. First mission. Lovely graphics. Try to zoom but I can't - realise that's not possible with the graphics - not really bothered.

5. Great music - very X-com.

6. Hidden movement :D

7. Like the way of showing how far you can move and the path you will take - very clear.

8. Would be nice if there was a way of forcing movement or firing regardless of whether AP are reserved, rather than having to use the slider (shift click maybe?)

9. Burst/single shot button rarely works - doesn't seem to light up all the time when mouse is over it.

10. Mission over. Like the mission and kill counts, but the vehicles don't seem to increment - mine says 0 for both when it was the one that killed the only alien.

11. Want to build a new base - no idea how much it costs before I do though.

12. Mission 2. The same map (and UFO in the same place) - disappointing. I knew there was only one tileset, but assumed there would be more than one layout. Maybe I just got the same one twice by chance?

13. My men don't have their full AP on the first turn? E.g. one only has 49/57 but the green bar is full on the battlescape under their portrait - assume it's a bug.

14. Full AP on second turn.

15. Nice light effects for dusk.

16. Can't get in the UFO :(. Hope that changes.

17. Aliens don't appear to shoot back or even come after me (version 9.2). Pop round a corner, shoot one, pop back and then next turn it's still standing in the same place. I know it's only very basic AI but thought it might be a little more clever. Only an alpha though so no worries.

18. Mission 3. Same map - it is just the one layout. Not sure I can keep playing just that 1 map regardless of how good the rest of the game is :(

Anyway, it's all looking good from what I can see. A lot of work left to do though - hope you can pull it all together in time for the release date you have planned (if it is still to release at the same time as Firaxis).

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Just pre-ordered after lurking here for months and thought I would scribble down some thoughts as I went through my first hour playing. I'm used to playing X-com and other x-com-like games.

1. Can't tick the tooltips option in the main menu (but they seem to be on anyway)

They aren't fully implemented yet.

3. Intercepting UFO's - no idea what to do here or what the options are. Tooltips for some things and not for others. What does it all mean? My Aircraft shoot the UFO down anyway.

Interception saw a revamp during this build. Basically you direct the fighters using left mouse clicks, if you click on weapons they'll either be green or red. Green means they'll fire as soon as they're in range, red means they'll hold fire. The squiggly line arrow allows for evasive maneuvers. Only the F17's can roll though, Migs can't.

8. Would be nice if there was a way of forcing movement or firing regardless of whether AP are reserved, rather than having to use the slider (shift click maybe?)

great suggestion, I'd second it.

9. Burst/single shot button rarely works - doesn't seem to light up all the time when mouse is over it.

haven't noticed this myself.

10. Mission over. Like the mission and kill counts, but the vehicles don't seem to increment - mine says 0 for both when it was the one that killed the only alien.

probably something to do with vehicles not gaining experience.

12. Mission 2. The same map (and UFO in the same place) - disappointing. I knew there was only one tileset, but assumed there would be more than one layout. Maybe I just got the same one twice by chance?

so far there is no tileset randomization. There is supposed to be a farm map, but I haven't fought on it since the very early builds (like 6.X). It'll get there eventually though.

13. My men don't have their full AP on the first turn? E.g. one only has 49/57 but the green bar is full on the battlescape under their portrait - assume it's a bug.

There seems to be a persistent bug that involves your troopers picking up a lot of extra weight after finishing a mission. Right now the only solution is to go thorugh the equip screen and click on the weapon they are using to unequip/re-equip it really quickly.

16. Can't get in the UFO :(. Hope that changes.

The Small Scout doesn't have a lot of room to move around in. Can't really comment though since I've finished the mission before having the chance to assault the UFO itself ever since 9.2 came out.

17. Aliens don't appear to shoot back or even come after me (version 9.2). Pop round a corner, shoot one, pop back and then next turn it's still standing in the same place. I know it's only very basic AI but thought it might be a little more clever. Only an alpha though so no worries.

Hey, up until 9.1 the aliens would only reaction fire. I've had a couple take pot shots at me on their turns and one do a bit of running around before I riddled him with holes but the AI is still at a very, very early stage.

18. Mission 3. Same map - it is just the one layout. Not sure I can keep playing just that 1 map regardless of how good the rest of the game is :(

Right now, yes. Have patience padawain. It's an alpha. I remember playing maps that didn't even have an alien craft, just a barn as a stand in.

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so far there is no tileset randomization. There is supposed to be a farm map, but I haven't fought on it since the very early builds (like 6.X). It'll get there eventually though.

I thought the farm tileset wasn't introduced untill 8.6? As far as I know the industrial tileset will be used if the UFO crashes in the north hemisphere and the farm tileset will be used if the ufo crashes in the south hemisphere. atleast that was the release info I read about it in the 8.x update.

Donkeyfumbler: If you poke around in the modding setion you could posibly make your own maps to help with the randomization. (the layout/bluprint that decides what submap goes where. you won't need to make the submaps ie build the houses, barns, farmfield, UFOs by yourself)

Edited by Gorlom
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The original tileset was the farm.

It was swapped out for industrial before being reintroduced.

And I still miss the Evil Alien Barn®.

Glad to see you are enjoying the game, even at this early stage.

I think a lot of us forget what is missing because we focus on what has been added!

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Are the current plans then just for the two tilesets - farm and industrial? How many did the original X-com have - I think it was more than that wasn't it? I do remember reading that there will be Terror missions so presume there will be a new tileset for those

There is definitely going to be tileset randomization though? Rather than a finite number of manmade layouts?

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There will be more than two tilesets, how many depends on how much time they have to finish them.

The maps in xenonauts are pre generated maps but each section of the map can have multiple submaps.

What this means is that you may only have twenty different layouts for industrial maps (or desert maps, farmyard maps, city maps etc).

Each building or area on those twenty maps can also be randomised from a list of options though.

For example you might get map no.3 twice in a row.

The first time you get it you start opposite a two storey office with a gas silo behind it.

The second time however the building in front of you is a 4 story factory complex and the gas silo is a delivery yard full of transport containers.

The reason you don't see this at the moment is that there are limited maps and sub maps.

This will probably be the same until later in development and more time can be spent on them instead of feature implementation.

Once a building submap has been created, either by the devs or someone else, it can be added to this random rotation.

A level map can also be created quite quickly that uses the existing submaps.

The design process is quite easy once you work out how the tools work.

I am looking forward to adding a few of my own buildings and maps to the mix a little later in the year when I have more free time.

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Thanks for clarifying Gauddlike. It's good that level maps can be (relatively) easily created by modders too - hopefully once the game is release and becomes as popular as it deserves to, we will have people creating them. How easy would it be for people to create entirely new tilesets and add them to the rotation?

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What do you mean by tileset? When Chris (the developer) uses the term he is refereing to if it is an industrial, farm, desert, arctic or forrest etc type map.

Are you refreing to the type? the layout or the submaps (individual buildings/areas).

I think adding your own art for a new tileset is going to be troublesome if you want to match the artistic feel already in the game.

Is there a specific tileset you want to add? Chris might already be planning to include it.

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Tileset - Set of tiles with a specific theme such as industrial or farmland.

Level - The whole area a ground mission takes place within.

Submap - A single area within a level that can have multiple randomly selected types, for example a building, storage yard, or orchard.

If you were artistically inclined then you could draw each wall section, window, door and so on to make your own tileset.

I imagine it would be a long job though, more so if you were trying to keep the feel of the current ones.

With a degree of skill and access to the right tools (Chris might be able to shed light on what his own team use) it is possible to do.

I am not sure if it would be possible to add it to the geoscape as an area specific tileset.

For example if you wanted to add a tileset that was specific to your home country, as opposed to overwriting an existing one.

That would involve the game knowing that you had a new tileset and that it needed to be accessed when missions were spawned in certain areas.

It was suggested in the modding section of the forum a while back that the areas and associated tilesets could be set in an external xml file if I recall, don't know if anything came of it though.

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Gauddlike has it as I mean it. I'm not suggesting that I would do it, even if it were possible - I don't have the skills or time I'm sure - but it never ceases to amaze me how much effort some modders are willing to put in if something is possible. As you suggest, knowing that being able to create a new tileset is possible and then being able to slip it in, either as a random rotation or an area specific thing might be enough for someone to feel it is worth giving it a go.

I really feel that it is important to have as much variety as possible in the missions for the game to have decent longevity.

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You can vary your maps a little more if you don't mind the odd bit of weirdness.

If you copy some files from the assets/maps/industrial subfolders and put them together with other buildings of the same size it will swap between them randomly on missions.

Just copy all of them to a single folder then paste them all into each of the folders.

It is quicker than making a new level.

You can also put multiple copies of the same submap in each folder if you want a higher chance of a certain building to show up.

As always it would be a good idea to back up anything you alter.

I would suggest putting these together:

NewFactorySE

NewWarehouseSE

NewPowerstationSE

NewPowerYardSE

NewOfficeSE

And these together:

NewOfficeSW

NewWarehouseNW

NewFactorySW10

Some of these buildings have doors and external walls in different places so the level may look a little odd at times.

Gaps between walls and fences, doors that lead into fields instead of pavements etc.

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My above post mixes terms way too often.

It should say:

Copy the file from each of the folders in the sections listed above and paste them into the top folder from that section.

Then when you have all of them in one folder copy them all and paste them back into each and every folder from its own section.

Do not mix files between sections as the building submaps are different sizes.

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I'll add some new maps at some point. Making them is a pain in the ass and I've not got round to it yet.

The planned tilesets are:

Farm

Industrial

Arctic / Tundra

Desert

Town (Terror map)

Alien Base

Xenonaut Base

We're working on the base attack missions at the moment.

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Will it be possible to add tilesets as mods? With XCOM any additions had to replace vanilla ones, which was really a shame.

Our planet has such a diverse landscape, it would be very cool if we could have a method to capture as much of it as possible.

It would also open the door for new types of missions: We could have to defend objectives when the aliens attack infrastructure like airports, train stations, power plants, hospitals, ...

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IF we add a forrest tileset and make a lake... or add a pool to the town terror map will xenonauts be able to interact with the water? =P

Why did I post this? obviously it will be too much hassle for neglible benefit. And assuming you are ok with them walking on the bottom you could probably fake it.

I'm tired and rambeling nevermind me!

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Actually Gorlom they would probably have to walk ON the lake rather than under it as there would be no water around anyone who tried to go underneath.

Although I think it could be possible to add a 'water' particle that does damage like fire.

If you could add armour that could resist that damage then you have underwater action and diving suits.

I reckon Chris will open up the allocation of tilesets to an external file at some point pack.wolf.

Maybe that will allow us to set areas on the globe that we can attach new tilesets to or even mission types that will use them.

For example adding your airport or train station to the terror mission cycle.

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I reckon Chris will open up the allocation of tilesets to an external file at some point pack.wolf.

Maybe that will allow us to set areas on the globe that we can attach new tilesets to or even mission types that will use them.

For example adding your airport or train station to the terror mission cycle.

And forests. I like forests. And especially jungles. Oh, fighting aliens in the jungle, I do get excited about that.

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You can vary your maps a little more if you don't mind the odd bit of weirdness.

If you copy some files from the assets/maps/industrial subfolders and put them together with other buildings of the same size it will swap between them randomly on missions.

Just copy all of them to a single folder then paste them all into each of the folders.

It is quicker than making a new level.

You can also put multiple copies of the same submap in each folder if you want a higher chance of a certain building to show up.

As always it would be a good idea to back up anything you alter.

I would suggest putting these together:

NewFactorySE

NewWarehouseSE

NewPowerstationSE

NewPowerYardSE

NewOfficeSE

And these together:

NewOfficeSW

NewWarehouseNW

NewFactorySW10

Some of these buildings have doors and external walls in different places so the level may look a little odd at times.

Gaps between walls and fences, doors that lead into fields instead of pavements etc.

Thanks Gauddlike, I shall give this a go.

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I'll add some new maps at some point. Making them is a pain in the ass and I've not got round to it yet.

The planned tilesets are:

Farm

Industrial

Arctic / Tundra

Desert

Town (Terror map)

Alien Base

Xenonaut Base

We're working on the base attack missions at the moment.

Thanks for the info Chris. I imagine others could be added once the game is out and everyone buys it (which of course they will), but that's a fairly good list as is.

If you do have the chance to add more maps in the near(ish) future, I'm sure it wouldn't be just me who would be grateful. It would certainly make it more likely for me to keep playing into the game and so help pick up on bugs or other things.

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