[Cover System needs a lot of work]

18 hours ago, Sheepy said:

As for idle stance, if the soldiers are going to look around them, we'll need to get rid of vision cone to keep it consistent.

I think there's definitely a middle ground between idle animations and having to completely remove the vision cone.
I'm personally a fan of the vision cone as it drastically alters the feel of the game.

[Cover System needs a lot of work]

12 hours ago, Drahkan said:

Then you could have specific reactions to each "miss category": really dig in behind the cover if that's what blocks it, dodge/step towards cover if the shot comes close but misses, wince and glance to the side if the shots go wide, etc.  ...  Just a few more (relatively) little things that would make the combat much more "alive". (I'm not even sure I've even seen any other games in the genre that have taken this "multiple reactions and sounds" sort of approach beyond a single level, like XCOM's dodging..?)

I fully agree, currently the units all feel "static".
Even the idle animation of the soldier has the soldier standing almost completely still, which feels incredibly off-place in a combat situation.
I feel the soldier should be looking around a bit, maybe even have a different animation for overwatch vs. "at-ease".

[Cover System needs a lot of work]

On 3/7/2017 at 3:19 AM, Sheepy said:

Ducking behind cover is a good way to make the battlefield feel more alive than having the shot miss.  I think XCOM's action cams would feel a lot more static without the enemies or soldiers actively dodging shots.

Turning miss chance into dodge chance - where you can see your soldiers hitting the alien's normal position, may also reduce that "are these soldiers blind" feeling...

I am heavily in favor of this!
We can still have a bit of deviance on the shots for realism, but the shot spread can be reduced drastically.

The dodge animation itself will already clearly show the miss for most intents and purposes, doubly so because the camera is so zoomed out.