Zinn

I would like for the UFOs to be a bit less aggressive in chasing your planes on the Geoscape compared to now. It feels like I should have at least 6-8 planes by the second month in order to not get blown out of the sky every time I try to go for a downed UFO or Terror Mission that's a bit outside the radar range of my main base (which is most of them). Especially the smaller strike group of 3 UFOs are borderline impossible to escape and you might as well just lose your planes, rather than get stuck in an infinite "escape" loop where they catch you before you're even back on the geoscape again. Also, as previously mentioned in this thread, the balancing on the Geoscape is completely lopsided in favor of the aliens. You go from Scouts with practically no means of fighting back to roving packs of Fighters that have significantly longer range than the radar actually indicates, in a single day (when it switches months), not to mention the almost impossible to kill medium craft.

Tbh, piracy is a political movement these days more than anything. I mean, we have piracy political parties here in Europe that people actually vote for because they're tired of the bullshit they have to deal with when buying games/music/movies. It's also important to note that piracy, when it comes to the various industries, have different backgrounds that each illustrates how god damn slow and/or stupid the major players in each industry are. I mean, music has certainly died more times than I can count in my time: It died when we got tape recorders because people would just record it from the radio, it died when we got CDs because people could just burn them and customize their music, it died when we got Mp3s because you could share them on the internet and so on. But guess what? They wised up and made things like iTunes which brings in a hilarious amount of money. The problem wasn't some random guy burning some CDs or using his tape recorder (although the RIAA still insists it's the case), the problem is that the industry kept on trucking and ignoring that people stopped buying CDs because they're 30 USD and contain maybe 2-3 songs that are worth listening to for more than a week. That, of course, and the fact that they keep throwing untold millions at their top stars, even though they barely make their money back on CDs. The same basically applied to movies once we got the VCR. That industry was also killed 30 years ago because holy shit, someone could record from their television! Surely the lack of cinema ticket sales couldn't possibly be related to the fact that movie makers kept throwing increasingly stupid amounts of money at special effects and stars that nobody asked for and the result of the increased costs meant that a cinema now had to pay triple or quadrouple price for a hyped movie? And that because of the increased costs for cinemas, ticket prices went from almost nonexistant to incredibly expensive? I mean, I have to pay about 10-12 bucks for a decent seat now, not to mention probably about as much if I want soda and snacks when viewing it. 20-25 bucks for a trip to the cinema and people wonder why they're empty? I'm not saying piracy is good but you can get a crappier version of the movie for free and buy your snacks for 10 bucks at the super market instead. Even the movie industry is going to wise up soon, just like TV has, and focus more on streaming or some alternate way of showing their stuff. This then brings us to gaming, where the industry giants' moves seems twice as dickish and retarded, given the history of the medium: As popular as Atari, Amiga, Nintendo and SEGA were, they had nothing on movies or music and it was even worse if you tried using that ridiculous PeeCee of yours to play games on. If you played games you were a god damn child and you had best stopped doing it by the time you were 12. Only super nerds were still playing, which of course is also why cracking games were a popular way of showing your 1337 skillz. Basically, PC gaming companies in particular were all about the passion for games and never selling out but we've all seen today how that ended, especially with EA. Why must they make every game for every platform and port them poorly? Why is it - and I quote - "dissapointing" when Battlefield 3 sells 13 million copies? Acting like this is basically pissing on your customers and saying they're not throwing enough money at you, despite many of these games being priced at 50-60 dollars. Are they serious? Imagine Ferrari complaining about their customers not buying enough optional shit for their cars, to use the age old and somewhat inappropriate analogy. Even worse is the fact that just about any "best of" series on games is half filled with games that cost less than 1% of a modern AAA game to make. That might be worth thinking about. Another extremely important note about all of these products, unlike pretty much every other product on the planet, is that you cannot return them and get your money back. No matter how shitty and buggy, I can't return my copy of a game because the CD key has been used or they think I might have copied it. I can't get my money back for a cinema ticket or DVD because for some magical reason, it's not okay to think a movie is shit. I also can't get my money back for a concert ticket or CD for the exact same reasons. Basically, pirating a product is a way of avoiding obviously bribed reviewers, give it a try and see for yourself. I'm by no means saying pirating stuff is okay or good, but the fact is that game review sites and magazines are largely funded by game makers and publishers, whereas movies and music at least has a place in most newspapers. If the game companies would simply stop being absolutely retarded with their money it would help a lot when it comes to pirating, though. That's why I have primarily thrown my money at various Indie projects like Xenonauts and only purchased big games I'm absolutely sure I'd love. It's extremely rare that I've pirated anything in the last few years and if I do, it's something I've wanted to try and eventually end up buying 99% of the time. I will say this, though: Until entertainment products get in line with everything else and become refundable, pirating will happen a lot. Games do have demos but even they are often untrustworthy because they either contain the most awesome parts, making the rest seem boring, or have things unlocked that just won't be when you get there in the full game. The F2P model is also highly successful due to the fact that it, essentially, is a refundable game: You can play it for free and, assuming it's balanced properly, can unlock a "full" version by paying a small amount for it now and then. Basically, the player can withdraw funding at any point in time and decide they've had a good time or simply try it and uninstall for free if it sucks. The entertainment industry needs to change the way it works. Kickstarter, indie companies that does its best to listen to their customers, iTunes that lets you customize your music and so on are all good things. Piracy will never ever be completely gone but then again, it's always existed in some form. Even theatre pieces were often stolen and performed by rival groups centuries ago, it's just how humanity rolls. As much as some pirates feel entitled and act like idiots, the big companies do the same. No, EA/SONY/WB, you are not entitled to my money, just as I am not entitled to get your stuff.

Yes, there are a few problems with this. I've had the problem with multiple UFOs that keep attacking me but also a single fighter attacking three F17s, escaping and then re-engaging on the Geoscape. The only thing I can do is ground my aircraft until there are only a couple of UFOs on my Geoscape, otherwise it's a guaranteed crash. I'd also like to point out that the biggest problem isn't the crashing but that it's a massive pain in the ass to deal with. Games are supposed to be fun and playing infinite cat-and-mouse as my fighters fly 2 pixels before being engaged again doesn't fall under that category. It's even worse when your fighters are running out of fuel because the infinite fights force you to keep burning more and more extra fuel to get away, since the game treats enemies attacking you as you attacking them. Basically, your planes will face the wrong direction every single time a fight begins, even though you are supposed to be on an escape trajectory. There needs to be some sort of time where you straight up can't be engaged after a fight, otherwise you'll end up being permanently stuck on the Geoscape. This issue can also be partially fixed by dialling back the amount of UFOs near your base (especially the fast fighters) or by making base expansions less expensive. I think it costs a million or more and takes a couple of in-game weeks to set up a secondary base with 2-3 F17s and a radar, something that just isn't affordable for most players. There's a reason most RTS games (which the Geoscape technically is) keeps the zerging for later missions when you've got a good grasp of the mechanics and know how to set up a functioning economy.

I can vouch for that in 17.1 as well, including what happens if it does it for long enough and/or if you run the Geoscape at max speed: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Zinn/doublefight.jpg This event results in a CTD every single time. I am basically forced to ground my planes when there are lots of UFOs about because their fighters are faster than my F17s, so they'll initiate combat 10 times in a row and this event inevitably occurs.

It seems to work quite well so far. I've had one Hidden Movement freeze on the Industrial map but that's all. And this might be a stupid question but I haven't played in a while, so bear with me: Is it possible to capture UFOs in the current build or am I just not trying it on the right size? I've tried the small scouts and regular scouts so far, both with minor and severe damage, yet it doesn't seem to capture them despite me waiting forever in each compartment. EDIT: After waiting 50 million turns with guys in the UFO, I killed the last alien and got this instead: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/Zinn/ufosecured.jpg Now, I don't know about you, but I think that a rating of -13.684.431 seems slight overkill if they're somehow unhappy about me capturing a UFO.

I like to roll with a balanced team, although I am giving up the LMG unit, since he never gets to do anything because of the ridiculous AP cost. While it's pretty realistic, it's also entirely useless with the game mechanics in mind. That said, my team usually looks like this: Hunter (x1): Useful for mobile cover and suppressing guys Scout (x1): High AP guy with a pistol, a spare clip and various utility equipment (grenades, C4 and later a stun baton). Overall a very useful and mobile person who can scout, heal, breach, set up entries and rush in for a stun. Light armor, of course. CQ Guy (x4): Assault rifles/shotguns, a couple of grenades, heavy armor and med packs. Equipment can vary from person to person, though. Sniper (x2): Currently completely broken with low AP cost but otherwise I tend to roleplay and use them to cover my advancing guys. They will often sit back and cover UFOs or buildings as much as possible, so any stray aliens won't go in and surprise my breachers. Rocket guy (x1): Alternate means of breaching, taking out fortified alien positions and so on. I don't mind blowing out a wall or killing a particularly annoying enemy with AoE damage if needed.

Yeah, it definitely needs some balance but that has always been the case. Quite a while back, I remember the HMG being the go-to gun because it had near perfect accuracy (due to the many bullets, one would almost always hit) and extremely high damage, meaning aliens would go down in a single bullet most of the time. Now it's snipers that cost way too little to use. High accuracy and damage makes perfect sense, IMO, because that's exactly what sniper rifles are desgined for: A very accurate and probable instant kill, assuming you are a good shot and have a good spotter. They fire nasty bullets that are designed to wreck your body so you'll bleed out even if the sniper "misses" a critical location. The problem in the current build is that there shouldn't be enough AP to both move a long distance and fire the rifle. IMO, it should still be very strong and accurate but have a fairly prohibitive cost, like 45-50 AP or something along those lines. You could possibly design it so snapshots have absolutely terrible accuracy, since a sniper rifle isn't designed to whip around like shotguns, assult rifles and pistols, but spending more AP for an aimed shot improves accuracy much beyond what standard weapons can hit at those ranges. Just my 2 cents anyway.

1920x1080, looks good Now, if only we could have the crashes fixed so I can play a properly long game and kick some alien ass.

Farm map tends to crash randomly for me during the enemy turn.

The crashed UFO looks great

Humanoid doesn't mean "looks human", it means "vaguely resembling something human-shaped". For instance, greys are humanoid, yet you'd have to be more than a little bit blind not to notice their short stature, their skelton-like limbs, the sounds they make and balloon-shaped head: Lizardmen are humanoid but you'd still notice them looking like a walking crocodile or whatever and so on. A little bit of darkness doesn't make you unable to see this, as evolution has made sure we're damn good at recognising humans specifically. I mean, a chimp or gorilla is infinitely closer to a human in shape and size than the aliens I've seen here, yet you wouldn't mistake them for humans, no matter how dark. In fact, we're so good at recognising humans specifically that we'll avoid anyone who looks even a little bit off with all our might: That's why, say, people with Down's Syndrome can often provoke a sort of "ugh" reaction for those who haven't learned the political correct behavior yet (ask any kid), or why we'd like to avoid people who look sickly, even if they don't actually carry anything that can hurt us. As for the funding argument, that makes no sense at all. It's basically the country doing an alternate version of what I said, only instead of letting the world burn, they somehow think they're better at shooting aliens than the guys who are barely able to do it with ALL COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD FUNDING THEM. Also, People tend to forget that when the "we're totally safe" dictatorship works (and it does so extremely rarely), it's because almost everyone really ARE safe: It's always some tiny minority that gets persecuted, usually one that isn't well-liked anyway for whatever reason. People will not trust aliens bombarding the crap out of them two days ago, even if their government goes "no, seriously, they're totally nice". It's very illogical to go rogue in such a situation, no matter what, and the population will know it in no time. It's a perfectly fine difficulty modifier, I'm just saying that you can't really find a logical reason for it, without giving the aliens enough power to just do it to everyone anyway. For instance, the president of the United States or Soviet Union would surely know where the Xenonauts operate, so mindcontrolling one of them and then mindcontrolling the Xenonaut commander would make an easy-mode win for them.

I don't buy the theory that civilians wouldn't recognise people in power armor: People are still people and when you're that far into the game, it's extremely unlikely they haven't heard of the brave humans who battle aliens using their own tech. They may not have the internet but there certainly were global news networks back then. It's the same reason why I doubt various nations would stop funding you, given that the alternative is death/enslavement, although I accept it as a game mechanic to make things difficult. "If I don't get to live, no one gets to live" is cartoon-villain logic after all and real-life politics continually prove that mindset wrong (if there's one thing people are good at, it's banding together against ridiculous odds, no matter our differences). I would love for the civilians to go to safe zones as soon as they realise there is one: A "command aura" of sorts would be a good way of doing this, as the civilian realises that there are friendly humans nearby, hopefully equipped with giant guns to kill the aliens. All things considered, it's not like you wouldn't notice a UFO the size of warehouse landing or crashing near you, even at night. As for Terror missions, especially at night, it would make sense for civilians to go for the nice guys throwing flares around: If you've ever been to a truly dark place (like a farm in the middle of nowhere during the night or a city at night during a complete blackout), you'll generally want to give anything for a light source. It'll depend on gameplay reasons and the final AI in the end, though, but it would make sense for civies to seek out the safest place (areas soldiers have cleared) or by hiding somewhere in a building, where aliens are unlikely to be around.

Sounds like a fun idea to write something like that. This is the internet, however, so I'll also expect stories about Yuri and Carl making the Cold War hot in no time. Yes, this almost physically hurt to write but you know it to be true

I've just done a quick ground combat before going to bed, so I don't have enough to make a thread yet, but I've also encountered the invisible, yet spotted, alien. It is simply marked as a shadow (was on the Farm map). I had the strange problem that my machine gunner couldn't shoot at it, even while targetting tiles in front of or behind the shadow, but my sniper could (and one-hit killed it). Likewise, while this requires more tests, on industrial as well to be certain, it appears that it's impossible to access the second floor of the farm house. My soldier would run straight through the stairs and it was impossible to target anything on the second floor.