Morbo513

Yeah, I would treat shotguns as secondary weapons in the vanilla game too, in which I'd rarely use shields. In XDiv I give them to my shield dudes since they're relatively light. Totally didn't realise UFO doors were destructible or enemies on the opposite side were susceptible to suppression. Thanks for the tips guys

Reinstalling from scratch fixed my invisible prop issue, and I've played a few hours now. My biggest complaints with difficulty are 1: UFO Doors and 2: Weapon ranges With 1, I can go through an early-game UFO mission without taking casualties, up to the point it comes to actually taking the UFO. The biggest reason for this I feel is the way the door mechanics work, ie they close themselves at the end of the turn of the side who opened them. The AI like to exploit it the same way I remember doing myself in the vanilla game; Stack as many units as possible right outside the door, open it and take your shots, it closes so the enemy can't easily return fire on their turn - they have to open the door themselves which exposes them to reaction shots. I find it incredibly frustrating to deal with because unless you've managed to preserve what shields you've brought to tank the reaction shots on opening, someone's guaranteed to die from it. I'm not sure exactly what's viable as a fix, technically speaking. But the ideal for me would be, if there are humans and aliens within X tiles of said doors, it stays open once opened. On 2, I get that early-game weapons are meant to be piss-weak in the face of an invasion of technologically and physiologically advanced aliens, but to me, range is the one factor that shouldn't be messed with. I've played a lot of Jagged Alliance 2 (1.13), and generally more realistic FPS games; I despise the notion that if your target isn't within a certain number of tiles you simply can't fire at them, especially when to scale, the effective range of the actual weapons they're based on is more than the length of any given map. In JA2 you can fire a pistol at a target across the map if you so desire, even if there might be a greater chance of winning the lottery in 3 countries simultaneously than scoring a hit, and even less of a chance of causing damage. With regards to the shotgun specifically though, I find it's almost completely redundant. If you want to get into range of a target it usually means putting the wielder in an exposed position - even in the confines of early UFOs or buildings - one where they'll certainly be heavily injured or killed if they fail to neutralise their target. So, that unit would be better off equipped with a shield and a stun-baton; It's much safer for them to move up on and attack a target, they have some insurance for if the target still stands at the end of the turn and if their attack's successful, you get a live alien to take home instead of a dead one. Anyway, This is especially welcome, and helps resolve one of the most punishing aspects of this type of game. Losing a troop during ground combat is bad enough since it severely impacts your ability to complete the mission, especially early on, but can have a knock-on effect when they die permanently. I do think it'd be cool if you had to do something extra to secure that incapacitated troop - carry them to the dropship, or stabilise them with a medkit within X turns of their "death", but I'm not sure what's possible within the game's mechanics. I remember reading that crouching no longer increases accuracy, only reduces the enemy's accuracy against the unit. Is there a simple way to revert that?

Yeah, I installed it. On the GOG version for what it's worth. I'll have a go at reinstalling entirely. https://gyazo.com/8b03102fc468cb03c2a369d06ed23933

I think I have a problem with invisible map objects. Didn't think to get a screenshot, but it was a warehouse building on a desert map. There were cover indicators and impassable tiles inside the building, but I couldn't actually see anything. This is on a fresh install, 1.65.

The point of my post is that every two-hand weapon would have a sling, meaning their primary weapon would be in their hands while a second one would be slung on their back. I don't think it'd be very fun or even balanced have to sacrifice your tactical options for the sake of increased protection - That's what the shields are for. Even with say the Wolf armour being restricted to one primary weapons and the belt, it's still possible to go over a soldier's weight limit just with that.

Yeah, load-bearing equipment is something people tend to overlook in this sort of discussion. I'd love a JA2 style system where the number and types of items a person can carry is limited only by their strength and what they're wearing to carry it. If we're going balls-to-the-wall realism here, no sane military force would dream of sending their troops against technologically superior aliens with a rifle, a couple of magazines and a few grenades. LBE could even be a research item, since during the time period Xeno's set in, it wasn't very advanced.

I haven't read the rest of the thread, but in regards to OP, 1 and 3 are a must imo. Maybe not thermal-imaging stuff (And if it does get added, it'd have to be late game). Binoculars would make dedicated scouts so much more viable. Ideally you'd be able to have them equipped with a pistol or grenade in the other hand. They'd have to be "fired" to extend the vision range, taking slightly less TU than throwing a flare does. Maybe some form of night/thermal vision would be derived from Harridan analysis and incorporated into a particular suit, or they'd just be their own inventory items I agree with this except for narrowing the FOV. Since there's only 8 directions a soldier can be looking there'd be dead-zones between each of them. I'd prefer for it to just be a high-TU cost item, the chances of stabilising would be dependent on how much damage the patient took below 0 and the number of turns it took between their incapacitation and using the defib on them.

I had a few ideas while reading a couple threads here Dropship inventory speaks for its self. You could load say a couple backpacks' worth of stuff into the dropship and it will be accessible from any cell within the dropship. With overloading, you would be able to cram the dropship with as many troops and/or vehicles as it can physically fit, but there would be a number of risks: It would slow it down somewhat and also increase its fuel burn, decreasing its range and making it somewhat more vulnerable. There would also be a risk of crashing which would be somewhat slim depending on what it's loaded with exactly. What you put in the dropship's inventory would also have an effect. Dropship crash-site missions; Basically if a dropship crashes or is shot down, in the geoscape you must send another dropship to recover the troops, or after a certain amount of time they would be recovered by local forces. If this happens, it takes somewhat longer for them to be returned to base. If the aliens get to the crash-site before hand, you must defend it. I think it'd be best if everyone survives the initial crash with varying levels of health (Perhaps relatively heavy injuries if it's shot down), but equipment other than their primary weapon, maybe belt contents, and armour, is scattered around the area. The dropship's inventory would be scattered potentially even further. Someone suggested having the dropships armed with door-guns (For ground combat, not air), I think that would work well in this context.

I kinda don't like the idea of limiting the carrying capacity, personally I think the additional weight and TU penalties of better armour does that job fine. Otherwise, it'd mean your rocketeer can only have a pistol as backup, or you can't give someone both a rifle and a shotgun which is a must in my book. People may say "well it's unrealistic that someone can carry two primary weapons". I have one answer to that: I wouldn't mind it if there was a separate slot for another primary weapon. Of course if you only have the belt, you still have to balance the weight of both weapons with what ammo, grenades and equipment you can take. Since the medkits don't fit in the belt last time I checked, there would have to be a bandage item which only takes up one slot, so if you're giving everyone heavier armour in a situation that necessitates it (e.g alien base), they don't just bleed to death. It'd stop their bleeding and maybe heal them slightly but nowhere near as much as a medkit.

Personally I'd like to be able to use a medkit on troops that are incapacitated (Whether they're incapped or dead would be determined by the amount of damage taken beyond 0hp) to stabilise them, you then have to get their body to the chopper or complete the mission within a number of turns to possibly save them. It'd add another dynamic to the tactical combat, instead of "Oh, s/he's dead, don't have to worry about them anymore". It also has your own actions have influence on whether they survive rather than it being entirely down to chance. Of course this isn't something you can just edit an XML file to do unfortunately