Steelpoint

M14 are all well and good but there are several factors to consider. 1. The Xenonauts employ the latest in military technology, due to their political ties they get access to a limited amount of the latest tech. The M14 was retired with the US military around 1970, nine years prior to the games, with the M16 being the latest gun used. 2. The M14 was retired, still in use but effectively not state of the art. This means getting access to the weapon in good quantity's would be more difficult (I would imagine). 3. The M16 is more versatile than the M14, at least in this game as having a weapon that is useable in most situations is more reliable than a battle rifle that is more effective in mid to long range combat. 4. Video game!

However let us not forget that we are combating against Aliens! These creatures seemingly wear far superior Armour than their human counterparts do, meaning that a Terran weapon that would bring down a normal human in a single shot may only wind an Alien, but the reason we bring these weapons with us is because it is the best we can offer. Also we are combating a viarity of Aliens in different environments and situation from close combat to long distance, each Alien having different Armour, tactics and weaknesses, bringing weapons that can be adapted to these situations is vital. Simply put, normal Human conventions of warfare are not going to apply easily against the Aliens. It is like comparing Archers to WW1 Riflemen. The riflemen have a big advantage with their better weaponry and ability to use tactics the Archers would never be able to employ, however the Archers could still kill the riflemen, eventually.

Just so you know your color standard of the Andron's (If anyone is interested) (Minor Spoilers regarding appearance) Guard - Green Soldier - Blue Warrior - Light Blue Elite - Red Officer - Purple Should be noted that as the rank increases they get better weapons/stats and a more distinct visual appearance aside from color. *EDIT* Now that I look into it, it seems that Officers (Purple) do not appear on Corvette UFO's launching Terror Missions. Andron officers start to appear on Landing Ships that start Terror missions. The crew compliment of a Terror Mission for Androns on board a Corvette are. 5-6 Guards 3-4 Soldiers With Landing Ships taking it to. 7 Soldiers 1-2 Officers 3-5 Wraith units.

So this entire debate was sparked because a certain group of people have a problem with the ammo count of a machine gun that is depicted in a Video Game? At the end of the day, compromises have to be made by the developers to balance the game. Unfortunately you will never make a mechanic or decision that everyone will like, as is evident. I mean let's not forget that the range's that these engagements are occurring should mean that the soldiers would have a hard time missing their targets. Ultimately it seems that pursuing this line of argument is pointless, the energy spent would be far better expended on discussing how Machine Guns and other weapons be balanced within the game itself. (Or I could have missed the whole point of this argument and made a fool of myself).

I would imagine that above the underground hanger is another underground run way, and that the planes are lifted up and down the runway by either a crane or the platform below the plane. Also makes sense since it would easily allow the plane to land back at the base.

Fantastic art, I really like the addition of the sandbag defences around the HQ, as well as the Alien Pods. Makes it far more difficult to defend your base when you don't know where the Aliens are coming from.

I don't know if this has been mentioned but do the blurbs that each of the chiefs say change uniquely every time the player enters that screen, or will it remain consistent throughout?