AtillatheBum

I assume that the devs are hoping to attract more players than just the die-hard xcom fans, those fans are probably the majority to be sure but selling more copies never hurt. Easy visual identification of what something is and whats going on in the game is key to making a fun experience for players. If you played Team Fortress 2 before it got drowned in hats and new weapons and what not, you might of read the developer commentary that came with the game. It talked about how the artists had made very individual and unique looks/silhouettes for all 9 classes. They wanted players to be able to look at something and have some idea of its capabilities right off the bat. For instance the Heavy Weapons Guy; he's a huge fat dude who's toting a minigun. If slow moving, high hp, high DPS doesn't pop out to you at a glance I don't know what to say. I never said that the game should be balanced solely around its visuals, merely that having visuals that are intuitive and easy to understand at a glance make the game that much better and rewarding. I also never said that agility was or was not required for dogfighting, I only pointed out that the F-17 looked more agile.

To be fair, long range heavy engagement platform would be a misnomer for the planes in this game, Avalanches release only about a half second before the plane comes into range of the current alien ship's main guns, and between the sidewinder's lock on time and short range they usually launch from within the alien craft's effective weapons range. I imagine the larger alien craft have much farther reaching and harder hitting guns then their lesser brethren, and in this scenario the proposed Mig changes would allow it to be able to operate in such an environment for 25% longer. Additionally, you must take into account the visual aspect of design. If you took the F-17 and the Mig-32 as portrayed as they are in game, put them sided by side and asked a random person which of the two was likely to be faster and more agile, I believe that most would be in favor of the F-17. Sure you might get some history buff that could tell the exact specifics such as the top speed and combat ceiling of the designs on which they are based, but I believe most would agree that the F-17 would be more deserving of the classification of interceptor. It's all about the visuals; if you took the weapon art from the game most people could tell you that the shotgun would be used up close, the precision rifle would be used at long range, and the standard rifle somewhere in between. To me the F-17 has a very sleek, agile look that lends itself to the idea of a quick interceptor, while the Mig-32 has a large, bulky look and seems like it would be more suited for straight dogfighting. I do like the idea of different speeds while in combat, not so much in the geoscape.

I already posted this in the sticky at the top of this forum thinking it was just a general suggestion thread, but another poster informed me that it was intended just for v8.2. Anyway, here's a quote of my thoughts on the early game aircraft meta. "I know this is more a beta/balancing type suggestion and that you guys are more concerned with just getting the game feature complete, but I'd like to see the stats of the 2 starting interceptors to be reversed. So the F-17 would have 160 hp, 2300 km/h top speed, etc., but keep the weapons loadout on the craft as they are now. As it stands, F-17s are almost useless against the early game ships, they aren't fast enough to catch them and even when they do, their firepower leaves a lot to be desired for such a slow craft. As if to make F-17s even more obsolete, the default Mig-32 loadout is almost unbeatable by the alien craft. The AI isn't able judge when to roll out of the way effectively due to the different missile speeds and all 4 missiles hit 9 times out of 10. If you reverse the stats, it would turn the F-17 into a fast, agile, but relatively weak interceptor perfectly suitable for hunting down and destroying alien scout ships solo and mediums when in a squadron. It would also turn the Mig-32 into a heavy engagement platform useful for taking on the alien's larger, more heavily armored combatants where its low speed would be less of a disadvantage when weighed against its heavy armament and good health pool." Additionally, the F-17s ability to make evasive rolls would fit in better with the plane that is less heavily armored rather than the more armored one as it is now. Thoughts?

I know this is more a beta/balancing type suggestion and that you guys are more concerned with just getting the game feature complete, but I'd like to see the stats of the 2 starting interceptors to be reversed. So the F-17 would have 160 hp, 2300 km/h top speed, etc., but keep the weapons loadout on the craft as they are now. As it stands, F-17s are almost useless against the early game ships, they aren't fast enough to catch them and even when they do, their firepower leaves a lot to be desired for such a slow craft. As if to make F-17s even more obsolete, the default Mig-32 loadout is almost unbeatable by the alien craft. The AI isn't able judge when to roll out of the way effectively due to the different missile speeds and all 4 missiles hit 9 times out of 10. If you reverse the stats, it would turn the F-17 into a fast, agile, but relatively weak interceptor perfectly suitable for hunting down and destroying alien scout ships solo and mediums when in a squadron. It would also turn the Mig-32 into a heavy engagement platform useful for taking on the alien's larger, more heavily armored combatants where its low speed would be less of a disadvantage when weighed against its heavy armament and good health pool.