The_Mad_Mel

I'm sorry if I miss understand you here, but this is a turn based game. When it is the aliens (bad guys) turn you are left helpless as to the actions that happen to your soldiers after you select End Turn. It is your responsibility as a Commander to place, and/or position your soldiers during the movement turn you were given and allow for the individual soldiers cover and reaction fire. Example: Before you end your turn. did you position your soldier behind cover? is he crouched? did you allow enough time units for a reaction fire attempt ( a random chance to fire during the aliens turn)? If not then you have left your soldier open and unprotected during the aliens turn of action. You will be unable to move during the aliens turn. During the aliens turn it is sad and sometimes terrible to watch, as they approach and fire on your men, but this is the process of the game in turns. Even well placed soldiers hidden behind cover have a chance to be hit, and damaged enough to die in the first part of the game. As the aliens move, take cover, and shoot your soldiers you can do little but watch the outcome of the event. You was given your turn to place your man. Now you must take the events that play out as given. Your soldiers at this point can't react. You can't move the as you have already taken your move action. Your defense is to end your move actions behind cover, crouched, and with time units left to spare for reaction fire(based on reflex attribute of the soldier). Just remember you move then the aliens move. When the aliens move they can fire on your solders, if they have the time units. If you left your solder open (not crouched, behind cover, or etc.), then there is a very good chance the alien shoots at you and scores a hit with a good amount of damage. In the first stages of the game this will probably kill that soldier leaving you frustrated and infuriated at the game as you just lost a good asset.

I think we have a couple of things going on here. 1 The Placement of the downed alien craft upon arrival of our Xenonauts force. 2 The advancement of our forces through the current map layout. I'd like to address my thoughts on these two items if i may. (my thinking only, I may have misread your intention) 1 I can see @rafaelpic's argument in the placement of a known downed alien aircraft. A: We have shot down the craft overland and should know the general coordinates of the crash site. B: Upon arrival we descend from the air unit ,Charlie 1. We should have a good view of the site. Maybe even a fly-over to confirm the site provides a decent landing point. If none presents itself we can assume a short airdrop and e-vac point is established. C: If we take into account A and B then we should know which direction the alien craft should be and can thus proceed in the direction most logical. Hmmm. As this is not the case in the game and we are left with the hide-and-seek element it remains that it is both fun and un-realistic. It's fun to hunt the aliens down. It is also glaringly obvious that we should know the direction of the downed alien craft. 2 Advancing through the map terrain in search of the (nasty) aliens does present a sense of tension that is the staple of this game. I personally like this type of suspense. A: From your perspective it seems like (in the early game stages) your beloved soldiers are being shot down without a chance to defend themselves. This is a classic direction of thinking if you've not played this type of game before. Don't worry. It has happened to us all. What I think may be going on here is. When you move your soldiers you are not allowing for reaction opportunities. Let me explain: When the aliens are moving they are leaving enough TU: time units to fire upon your soldiers that come into view. It is so tempting to "rush" into the map to find the alien craft that you may be leaving no TU's to allow for reaction fire on the aliens. Hmmm. The aliens are allowing this TU advantage for you, why should you not for them? That is the question. The aliens do move during their turn. I hear doors open and such. If you strategically allow your TU then you have a small opening for a reaction attempt. Also like @dregas mentioned, you have shields, and later basic armor to protect you. That stops most cases of a one-shot-kill. My advice for you is if you are starting a new game and have reviewed all your soldiers stat's and are on a mission. (despite knowing the location of the alien craft) proceed with caution. Take your time, and group your team into 2's or 3's. As far as the new Xcom and Xcom2 the POD deployment system was designed for that game system attributes and functions and should not be a concern in this game. As it is irrelevant for Xenonauts 1.

Have there been any mods for iMac version of this game?

Thanks for reading my post Chris. Glad to hear there will be more to the Scientists and Engineers, even if it's not an ability score type of update for them. I'll keep an eye out for the Forum on design suggestions. Until then keep your weapons loaded and your courage high.

First: I'd like to apologize if this is the incorrect thread to post my topic of discussion. If it is please have a moderator place it in the correct thread, Thanks. Second. I was replaying the Xenonauts 1 and I was left wanting in the area of Engineers and Scientist. I know a few Engineers and, ok, one Scientist. I felt the need to post this in hopes of helping relay my(ok MY opinion ) as a thought to the development crew. (To the Development crew Please give this a good read, Thank you. It's just a thought I had playing your Xenonoughts game.) It may not be a thing you had considered or even want to add to the new game. I just humble offer my thoughts here. ----------- The game lets you hire additional personal to "speed up" the process of building or researching tech what ever the case may be so you can get the tech or item faster. Hmmm. Ok that makes sense. If i may offer my humble suggestion to the dear fans of the game and it's creators? Please accept my suggestion as only that. A plain and humble thought to help create a better game. Thank you. --------- I would like to see attributes for scientist and engineers, maybe a list like soldiers with attributes listed. Generally you would be able to choose if you would like to keep said personal or disregard based on attribute skill. Please let me give a broad example: Engineer: Mechanical Skill: 23, Work Ethic: 42, Reliability: 45, Accident Prone: 23 Mechanical Skill: This would be the knowledge the person has obtained through schooling, experience, hands-on training and so forth. Work Ethic: This would be the ability to get the job done in said amount of time, with positive attitude to help others meet deadlines. (very rare) Reliability: This is a constant fact of missing work, due to being in sickness and in resolving personal responsibilities. This would hinder or help the scheduled factors into the time the item needs to be finished. Maybe he/she has family, maybe lazy, maybe always on time, maybe ready for more work, or just don't care. Accident Prone: Could be an addition to a computational factor that adds more time to the completion of a project due to a mishap with a mechanical device, or prone to in-advertantly hinder the project completion or other contributing individuals, goofing off with him/her. Multiple low personnel with this factor could hinder production considerably. Any above 65 should be considered for reassignment. Scientist: Random Thought: 23, Meticulous 34, Organized 23, Communication 45 Random Thought: An inspirational moment of cognitive thought that propels rational thinking. Could accelerate research by a day, or more based on an equation. Meticulous: Could help or hinder other Random Thought personal and Communication Personal. The Random Though person never keeps a record of what they said. The communication person has difficulty recalling what they said. A good Meticulous score will help the equation balance to a positive result (or negative if under alien influence). He or she notes on everything and has a memory if not notes to display for auditing facts. A adjunct example: "I have meticulously recorded and noted our past meetings and you have backtracked into a situation we first deemed inadvisable, due to (X) requirements." (Alien influence): I have meticulously recored and noted our past meeting and you have miss judged our enemies We need to asses an alternative route that involves their assistance in the matter at hand. I'd be more than happy to relay the message to their ambassador to facilitate a delay in our current plan of action. At least we could by us some time (enemy advantage) to ascertain there intent in the area" (ok someone should shoot this guy, lols) Organized: Complete and ordered notes will help the process to completion. May increase or decrease research by x days. This person has kept ordered notes, computer files and schematics, calendars and schedules as to proceed with the current agenda and will enhance/hinder completion as to incorrect/complete records of details on the project actively being researched. By reference to notes this person has a 50/50 chance of boosting positive results. Communication: Ability to express current needs to others in an orderly, logical fashion as to get the required task to completion or comprehend a new hypothesis that will complete the desired task. Example "Ah, I see what your saying now. Yes! You're correct. It would be advisable to go that direction. Let's formalize a logical solution based upon your analysis, Let's schedule a meeting Thursday and have all administrative staff on hand. We'll order Pizza! " ------- Ok let's be real here This is a in depth mechanic to add to the process to the game. I concur if this is too much detail, but I express my opinion that it would greatly enhance the (bean counter) experience to the game and let us choose our Scientist and Engineers. At least let my post guide you to think about a direction for these two fun aspects to the game. It can be done if you wish it, Chris. Scientist and engineers. They are just as important as the soldiers. Well, at least they are in the game. Let's give them there due. My Post thoughts: I think the more detail and enhancement you add to the new game will be that much better. I only wish to express my thoughts on this one tiny bit of the overall game. It is a tiny bit of the game but could be broadened. I did not mean to disrupt your design but only offer my wishes of what a true game of this could be. I would like to say that you accept my apology if Ive overstepped my forum privilege. I've posted in forums before and they have been brutal. Mad Mel

Thanks Chris. I'm concerned with the new take of the strategy in the Geoscape. Is it possible I could ask some questions in this thread? Other than the passage of time and making sure to intercept and neutralize/destroy Alien aircraft. (preferably overland), and construction of bases to cover the most dry land possible, I would hope you put more into this part of the game. Just a peak of something cool I'd like to see in Geoscape mode, is the ability to launch from Naval Aircraft Carrier bases, and if an alien craft did land in the water, you could include some (Terror From the Deep) tech for soldiers to splash down and recover the fallen vessel. Just saying. The opportunity would add to the game. Also, I play on iMac so I'm sure I'll get the game after PC, but I am excited to see that you've allowed this much of your development to be posted. I hope it means we can all have a say and hopefully give you some new or better ideas to think about.