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To the second point on refuelling: it did seem a little silly that you could fight half a wave but would have to nip home before going back to finish them off. It wasn't exciting and it broke immersion somewhat. I remember needing to take trips back for something as little as a tiny handful of autocannon rounds. Obviously there needs to be some challenge in the air war to make it a game but I'd say that if you're only managing a half dozen craft, the challenge shouldn't be logistics: the refuelling/rearming wait time isn't an interesting aspect of play. As for your point on lore related research: in another thread on weapons, Chris stated something to the effect that the player shouldn't be facing a decision between researching lasers or filling their xenopedia with lore about the invaders. On a second play through, you wouldn't feel as compelled to study the lore, so you'd get all the combat tech first (in a recent play of XCOM, I did just this and played most of the game with top tier weapons - it became a drag). I guess the issue here is that the single research tree is the helm for too much development. It is the only way to get at the story line, progress through stages of the game and upgrade your gear. These are qualitatively different so probably shouldn't fall under the same umbrella. Xcom Apocalypse had two research divisions, so you could be studying the alien life cycle whilst also designing a new fleet of interceptors. One side of research would seem more important than the other for a while but their significance would alternate as the game progressed.

Yes they did in both games. 1) I don't think this should be changed as it keeps the fear in Reapers and makes you stay away. As long as you check corners and keep your distance you should be fine. For them to attack they need to be pretty close to begin with on the start of their turn. Some sort of cue would be nice with all aliens where you get a heads up of knowing when something is under the shroud or close by like unique footsteps or specific sounds to each alien. This would make it so you could plan your attacks and defense better with a higher strategy element, but it cant always be relied on. Sometimes you get jumped scared and there is nothing you can do about it. This is the main frustrating part. Maybe a scout drone with low HP? 2) You can always speed up time a little and go back out when the tanks aren't quite full so you can catch the last few. They stick around for a while. However, some sort of minor fuel tank/range upgrade and able to add 1 or 2 more rocket ammo would be nice so there was more customizing of fighters before having to buy the fancy new one. I do like how currently there is an automated equipping side of it, but some customizing would be good. 3) I believe this was a limitation in the first 2D engine and hence a lot of aliens had less moving parts and were more confined to their block like structure. This could be expanded with unity and definitely yes more organic like tentacles and less "humany". The Tentaculat from TFTD was scary AF. It did however have the fighting style of the Reaper. 4) Sounds good and seems logical for a normal human to do. Sometimes though they are best staying put rather than becoming a target. The aliens vary rarely go back into buildings you've already checked, but this could change with improved AI and better use of vertical upper levels in buildings. 5) Agreed (with some voice overs would be nice) 6) lol

I like idea 2. Did the refueling/re-arming take place in parallel in Xenonauts? I can't remember, I might be thinking of the original XCOM games...

This has been interesting to read, but I have a question to ask. How many people here have played ALTAR Interactive's AfterX series of X-Com-like games? ALTAR Interactive tried doing many of the things that people have suggested here. In Aftershock, there was a large array of competing weapon types - projectile, laser, plasma, psi, sonic and warp, with each type being introduced later in the game. Each weapon tier was different in terms of damage, range and accuracy. They also introduced ammo types and modifications for each weapon type, and every enemy type had different resistance types to the different weapon tiers. But the takeaway from AfterX was people used projectile weapons throughout most of the game. Accuracy didn't matter. Want an accurate weapon? Make a scope and a gyrostabiliser and stick it on a rifle. Raw damage didn't matter. Put AP or explosive or Acid rounds in a projectile weapon and go for headshots (the only kind of shot) with your snipers. ALTAR did to Aftershock what usually only modders do after a game has been released but it was easy to boil down from the massive list of STUFF which weapons were the most accurate, fired the most shots and did the most damage with the appropriate mods (it was projectile weapons - the first tier that you get - all the way). In Afterlight, they dialed back the weapon types, but projectiles STILL lead the way. The ALTAR experiment over 3 games shows that trying to vary things based on key statistics doesn't work. What happens is that the weapons with the best stats bubble up from the pool and everything else is ignored. You end up with perhaps the sniper rifle from lasers, the assault rifle from projectiles, the shotgun-esque weapon from plasma etc. etc. If weapons from different tiers were intended to be the same but different, then those differences have to be radically different but not keyed to stats, as keying them to stats didn't work in the AfterX series. Furthermore, the differences in later stage tiers have to be sufficiently enticing for people for put work and time into them. Let's take.. plasma weapons, for example. A nice late-tier weapon. If a plasma weapon did as much damage as an earlier stage laser, what would set it apart? Perhaps the plasma weapon sets things on fire. cover, for example. Or people. Perhaps instead it instantly destroys terrain, so you can destroy cover quickly with a plasma weapon Perhaps all plasma bullets have a 1-tile detonation radius. Perhaps it does everything. Take lasers. Why would I put research into lasers when I have guns? Perhaps lasers are a beam rather than a bullet style of weapon, which affect every tile they cross into. Perhaps laser have infinite ammo, and overheat harming the operator. Perhaps lasers can blind enemies. Perhaps all of the above. Who knows! But for different tiers to be the same but different, extra effort would have to be put into having those tiers behave differently on the battlefield.