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Oh yeah, I know I'm asking a lot, but my view is that to create something good you have to aim for perfection. Obviously anybody will fail, because nothing is perfect. But from that desire can come something truly special. And I have to clarify, the things I write are nothing but suggestions, I'm just sharing my experiences and that's all. It's a complete prerogative of the developers what to take from those suggestions and include into the game. I just want it to be something exceptional..)) P.S. JA2 is legendary for a reason, you know... The replayability of that game is enormous, and the immersion is beyond description...))) And you don't need all of what is in JA2 to make a game special, just look at the original Fallout and how it was developed...)) With all it's bugs and balance issues it is still alive and the mod community is improving and fixing it even now..)) And I feel that is all because of the unique atmosphere these games create..) Granted, Xenonauts is a clone of the original X-COM, but that doesn't mean it can not be a game in it's own right, it has the potential to REALLY revive and hugely evolve the feel and the gameplay of the original X-COM. Just not by copying another attempt at revival – XCOM: Enemy Unknown... And what a poor attempt it was.. Not really a revival, but exploitation of a legendary title...

Got to thinking last night about the soldier-scientist concept. Gordon Freeman sprang to mind - crowbar ninja with PhD. And Batman/Ironman too, both valiant geniuses. Hell, even Plato was know for being broad of shoulder and mind. So I'm sure it would be easy to accept for most players that you have a small group of all rounders. Plus, them not being pure super soldiers explains why they can't even shoot forwards in the early missions and why you only have a dozen units, not whole platoon or company Maybe people would be happier to go along with the change if the Scientific stat were replaced with something like Technical. Sounds a little more battlefield appropriate. Makes sense too, I wouldn't know for sure, but I'd hazard a guess that operating the higher tech in today's military is pretty damn complex and not that feasible for the stereotype of a jarhead. In the book of Starship Troopers, the protagonist explains that the training for using power armour is of the level of Master. Ok, so they don't all have doctorates and are still fairly gruntish troopers in that story, but their skill set is much wider than just combat capabilities. "Everybody works, everybody fights". As for the stat progression itself: we're never going to have everyone agree on this because there are loads of ways to do it. I reckon that the only way Goldhawk are going to please everyone is in the extent to which they can make the stat mechanics be approachable at more than one level. So if ideas get put forward, they don't need shooting down because that might not be something overly visible when you play. Take, for example, the air combat of X1. I really like that mini-game but it wasn't for everyone. Fortunately, the option to auto complete engagements meant you didn't need to. Similarly, if the surface of the stat progression can be made to feel something like the lowest common denominator of what everyone is saying in the forum then it wont put many people off - but if deeper and more subtle mechanics can exist which give more flexibility then it will make the game much more interesting. I'd say that having quite separate systems of mechanics for stats, perks, attributes, etc. could provide room for pleasing everyone e.g. have attributes fixed for each of the 40* characters but stats randomised each game, have perks chosen by the player based on xp but medals given out for set achievements. Also, making it so complex that it is difficult to understand is by no means a bad thing - it certainly keeps communities thriving if the forum is full of people discussing how to game the game to make the best sniper/medic/laser-wielding-quantum-physicist.

@Chris Also. I just went and looked at the X2 demo ground combat gameplay again, and those square "hills" and "mountains" just break the feel of immersion completely. On an otherwise beautiful battle map. And as I mentioned the music before, I'd like to mention the game sounds. All of them. Starting from mouse click sound, then to weapon sounds, and the ambient sounds or really lack of them. This I feel requires a lot of attention, if you're going to make progress from X1. And would it be completely impossible to make the map more organic, by getting rid of that black hole ouside the map, maybe doing it Fallout: New Vegas style, seemlessly hiding the edges of the map?!?.. I have a feeling that's a too big of an ask... P.S. I really want the X2 to evolve without losing the original game's feel, but rather evolving it. Thanks, Chris.

@Chris Regarding the similarities to XCOM: Enemy Unknown... You might be able to pull those mechanics off better than that game.. But PLEASE don't make it feel more like it! I feel the way is to make it feel more realistic, more immersive, and not so arcade-like as XCOM: Enemy Unknown is... The 3D setting gives you the field for acieving more realistic and immersive feel, please don't waste that possibility.. About fighting humans. I like the idea humans collaborating with aliens itself. But hybrids are a step too far, I feel. Maybe make those humans tougher giving them better armor, weapons, technology, make them cooperate with aliens in ground combat making use of alien's abilities. So that even human, they in a way feel quite alien. I LIKE this idea! Non lethal weapons against humans (even though they're alien collaborators) and a kind of different ending (maybe for the X-COM..sorry, the Xenonauts organization itself) depending on how you choose to treat your own species feels an interesting idea to me))... Provided humans do feel alien, like I mentioned previously. I kind of agree a lot with this too... Fighting humans if they feel human – is a huge step back, as I feel it. Disagree completely. XNT made the aliens feel REALLY strong, and there were basically no weak ones. To make aliens feel strong you need to make them REALLY smart, and come up with some interesting abilities that make them surprising and hard to deal with. This is one option. Although I have to say, I WOULD like to fight humans, if they FEEL ALIEN. It is all about the atmosphere, as I mentioned before. But many of those original X-COM fans won't like fighting humans at all. I wouldn't describe it like this at all. This is a rip-off of the XCOM: Enemy Unknown's mechanics. Just telling it as it is. And I HAVE TO agree with these point maid by endersblade.

@Chris I have to especially agree with this point TacticalDragon made: And this: I really enjoyed XNT's alien AI feel. Maybe you should take TacticalDragon onto your staff:) But I also especially agree with this point Chris made: I feel like maybe a few very-very tough aliens, with the AI and skill set that REALLY makes them behave differently, would be the thing. And not like in X1, where behaviour didn't really change from one alien to another, and yeah, they went down TOO easily. Although it should be mentioned, that in the original Enemy Unknown the aliens weren't that tough, but still much scarier than in X1, maybe through a better designed atmosphere, that actually made everything feel ALIEN, the whole situation. And the music, the music is VERY important too. X1 didn't impress on that front, although I kind of liked the music itself.

Hi there, just got done with phase 1 on normal - thought I should share my experiences and provide some insightful feedback. Thanks for the mod! So; this is how the game has gone for me thus far; A weak start for the airgame, though I'm gradually catching up (I've downed almost 30 alien fighters at this point.) {note: I'm using Easy Airgame since my reflexes are poor.} I defended Athens from the first terror mission (which was androns {note: oh god, the bullet sponge roboreaper from hell,}) AND got both the caesan and seb early terror operators (Division Shotguns and Snipers FTW, also; I'm embarrassed to say it took 17 tries, five map rerolls and multiple TPKs). -- I soon realized this was a massive victory for only losing 4 Lt. and a Defender tank; I mean, seriously: andron corpses give me armour and cores, live terror operatives give me antimatter weaponry so I can assault alien bases before phase 2, then I can gain massive loot from the alien bases thanks to the high mitigation incendiary damage. I lost a firebase to alien attack, then reclaimed it within the 48 hour time limit (thank the heavens for those antimatter snipers, miniguns, defender tank, fox and wolf armour). It took me a few tries before I realized the telepad room is the second to first place I should go through. Managed to build a Shrike dropship a month before phase 2 began (I'm in love with these massively reduced time constraints.) Defended Madrid on Oct.31st from a caesan terror op, but neglected a terror attack in Europe during December 3rd (I wanted to destroy the last standing alien base before it could flip.) I strategically sold datacores in order to ensure I was breaking even for the first few months (the weak airgame on my end was making base maintenance rather costly.) I've managed to train 8 rookies up to the rank of Lt. (it would've been 11 had 3 not died from my sleep-deprived mistakes.) I've currently engaged in 39 [grounded] U-FO assaults, 2 [landed] U-FO assaults, 1 Base Defense, 2-of-3 Terror sites, and 2 Base Assaults. My main base is currently situated in Armenia, with bases at Yellowstone, Vladivostok, and the East Amazon. Australasia and Greenland are currently undefended sections of earth. The policy on encounters w/ new aliens (aka use the Div-2 Shotgun on em' about 13 times) has had a resounding success with wraiths, xenomorphs, and sebs. Toxin grenades and shotgun-through-the-door methods have proven massive success against organics (the AI really likes sitting on the door tiles, and xenomorphs run through multiple gassed tiles before reaching a waiting shotgunner. As for AI; Xenomorphs express Hit-N-Run + Wolfpack Tactics w/ Queens expressing some form of frontline command role. Caesans are best to engage during the first half of Phase 1 due to their frailty and steady movement patterns (don't underestimate them because you can O-HKO them, they've got decent Defense-in-Depth & Flanking tactics + a lucky Officer might win the RNG for mind-controlling one of your people.) Buzzard Armour renders most Phase 1 reapers null since you can spot them from the comfort of roofs and treetops (don't let seb flamers get close though; they'll melt you into scrap.) Sebs aren't big on flanking, so I walk past them and perform Hit-n-Runs as to trick the AI into making a mistake. Harridans... Harridans use a "Feinting Retreat" style of fighting, in order to beat them; you need to follow them carefully and keep them suppressed - make one mistake and someone dies - advance too quickly and a reaper or flamer-seb will ambush your people. Overall; I find ground-combat extremely enjoyable with base-type missions and terror missions acting as difficult puzzles to solve. As for the strategic layer; I enjoy the difficult decisions and choices I have to make in order to stay slightly ahead of the curve, with finances taking a minor preference over resources, and rewards for a successful gc gambit having tremendous effect on my successes. In conclusion, all I can say is this: Move with caution, be persistent, press the advantage, don't make any given mistake twice, and peel the enemy like an onion. That's all and I hope everyone is having as much fun as I am! Good day~