Leaderboard

Hi. I have a suggestion. Been really enjoying this mod; the long playtime and massive amount of content keep it continuously interesting. However, I think the length of each phase should be adjusted, as if you play well the game becomes much too easy and you spend lots of time waiting/airstriking before the next phase. Phase 1 is a good length. If you play well, by the time you finish researching and equipping your soldiers to be able to breeze through phase 1, phase 2 will start shortly afterwards. But then you go into phase 2 with multiple bases, a good amount of scientists and engineers and well trained soldiers. Now there's no building up/construction part and you just expand and develop your bases & soldiers so you finish research & development much quicker (unless you lose missions/bases etc.). Eventually you get 75% through phase 2 and everyone has alphawolf armour and mk3 Mag weapons and you just have to fast forward & airstrike to continue the game. If the attached picture is correct, then each phase >1 lasts 400 ticker points. The ticker rate is 0.002315 and alien missions (except base supplies) don't generate points. That's 120 in-game days (-1.5 days for each base supply run you allow) for each phase. Before I calculated it, though, it felt like a waiting game. I think it's too long, though I haven't seen how other people handle it (since getting to phase 3 takes me over 60 hours of playtime anyway). I liked: -The length of phase 1. It seems very close to how fast you progress. -The fact alien missions don't generate ticker points, so if you start falling behind you only lose funding and won't fall exponentially the more you UFOs you miss. I disliked: -The longer lengths of phases 2+. I spent just over 30 days waiting for phase 3 to start. -The lack of signs of progression for each phase. Now I know it's 120 days I can understand it, but before this it was confusing. I propose: -The phases are shortened (e.g. all 300 points, or phase 1 360, phase 2 330, phase 3 300 etc.) And/Or -There's overlap in the UFOs that appear, similar to "UFO and crew diversity" mod (on the workshop). Attached is an image that demonstrates its features for scouting and research missions. This allows for 1. Continuous progression into the phase. Currently it feels like you become OP then get destroyed by OP aliens when the new phase starts. This means both that you won't ever be too powerful, but also that you can start scraping for new tech then start building your strength to take on stronger UFOs, rather than forcing heavy losses then being OP then forcing losses again. 2. Indication of how far along you are. When you see your first cruiser, you'll understand "Uh oh, soon I'll get more of those. And hunters and terror dreadnoughts. I'm almost at the end of phase 2 now.". This allows people who aren't counting and calculating ticker points to know where they are in the game, and whether they're ahead or behind and should panic or not. I think it's a good idea and will make the mod more fair without removing the challenge, as well as help improve the gameplay experience and keep it interesting whether you're ahead of the aliens or behind. Thanks for all your hard work!