Xplodingducks

Who’s the evil bastard that told the AI to hide in buildings and stay there, scaring the shit out of me with reaction fire every time. Also who was the twat who put a SEBILLIAN IN A BATHROOM WITH A FLAMETHROWER. i want to yell at them.

Thanks Charon! People get angry with these tactics that the AI does, but it is smart. That’s the best way to slow you down. My personal least favorite is the urban maps, where they hide in bathrooms and you have to clear it room by room. Eventually I grew tired enough of loosing guys clearing bathrooms that I just threw flame grenades and C4 into every bathroom I could find... Instead of assualting a building, I launched a rocket into it. I know it sounds weird, but you have to use scorched earth to win. Collateral damage is just a number with a dollar symbol after all.

SUPRESS SUPRESS SUPRESS. When approaching, ALWAYS have a fall back out of sight. Shotguns are phenomenal at short range supression and will shred enemies that have their armor weakened, but those flame thrower Sebs will RIP you apart. Engage them at range and with copius amounts of machine gun fire. Smoke DOES work against them, so use that too. Use creative tactics to take them down. I put two rocket launchers in my team. There’s a sebillian that is too risky to take down? Nuke the building he’s standing in. this mod requires new tactics and plans. Supression is key. You can’t just rush the aliens and hope to win. You need to use strategy and supression to take them down. And if all else fails, close range LMG fire. Works every time. My breach team is two shotgunners, a shield, a rifleman and TWO guys with miniguns/LMGs. Creative tactics my man. This mod is very advanced and will make you pay. You’ll be screaming in frustration. You’ll have to retreat. The strategic level matters, as you’re gonna take heavy casualties. The mod developer took 3 ON THE FIRST ENGAGEMENT. The best chance you have at getting you guys home is suppression, slow and methodical moving, and using stupid amounts of cover. You’re facing an enemy with hundreds of years of technology ahead of you. By all accounts, you shouldn’t even be able to hurt them. Their armor absorbs shots easily, but it does break down. So if you can just batter away at them and hunker down, they’ll go down. not gonna lie, you will lose some missions. A good commander knows when to fight, a great one when to retreat. And if you think this is hard... wait until the first terror mission. tl;dr? If you have a guy in an enemy’s line of sight, not in cover, and isn’t smoked, they’re dead. This is realistic. The aliens know exactly how to kill you. You have to outsmart them.

Hi! I just wanted to make sure something was correct the Gatling laser... is it supposed to be that... well... weak?

Just came back to the mod after around a year hiatus, and it’s still as insanely difficult as ever! I do have a few tactical questions though. 1. Flamethrowers are devastatingly effective especially early game, doing a shotgun’s job much much better. I know it destroys corpses, but should I phase out shotguns for flamethrowers? 2. Any tips for breaching UFOs? This is the part of the mission I always take casualties. Either I’ll be entering the ufos and take reaction fire from guys hiding in the corners (smoke sometimes works, sometimes not), or guys will rush out when I’m preparing a breach team on the flank. Great work guys! The aliens feel intelligent and dynamic, always requiring you to think. Props to who ever made the AI, I am extremely impressed. Keep it up!

I could write some more, perhaps for the corvette and some alien weaponry, but I can't remember for the life of me what the corvette has armament wise, and I would have to see what each alien weapon was like stat wise. I have some for the ceasean guard and medic, but they aren't too good and I want to work on them a bit. (Side note, why are they called medics? They don't really do anything... medical-ly)

I remember an incident where my defender drove around a corner and immediately got shot by a ceasean with a lightning rifle, destroying it. It was a mild inconvenience, but I like it's more devastating now. I've also played three different games, one where I got laser weapons within the first two weeks (alien stun grenades FTW), one where I got fox armor within the first three weeks, and one where I had neither of them, and got my A team wiped on the first terror mission. This mod is evil. Androns are evil. I love it. Finally won that terror mission by waging a shadow war against the androns, stealing their weapons, luring them into buildings and rushing them with stun batons, etc.

Hi guys! This mod is awesome! So much so I have done some writing for a couple xenopedia articles. I would love to help with writing. Here's what I have so far, feel free to criticize and suggest things! Mauser Recent combat trials with the autocannon show that it is less than what we could have hoped for in terms of stopping power, especially against alien fighter craft, where the difference between victory and defeat is decided in very seconds. With this in mind, my team and I have worked to design a cannon that would narrow the gap between us and the aliens. The idea for a more rapid fire weapon came from a bonehead in the engineering department, who suggested that we just make the cannon rotate faster instead of add more barrels. Using this less than eloquent suggestion, we came up with the “Mauser”. We focused on the fire rate of the cannon, and we are pleased to say that the Mauser fires nearly four times as many rounds per minute than the autocannon does, allowing it to shred alien fighter craft. During development, we ran into a road block when constructing the weapon that resulted in some severe burns of some researchers and engineers. Standard steel and even titanium actually melted when the cannon was fired for more than a half of a second, due to the intense heat produced by the extreme fire rate. However, the high melting point of alien alloys recovered from downed alien craft were able to withstand the intense heat generated during sustained fire, and the dense nature of the alloys makes each round to do more damage when compared to the autocannon. However this fire rate and increased damage come at a price. The length of the barrels had to be shortened and the rounds are heavier, which means the range of the Mauser is much less than the autocannon, and the amount of rounds had to be reduced to forty rather than the autocannon’s 100, all changes made due to weight limitations. So while the Mauser’s damage per second is much higher than the autocannon, its final damage output is actually less. This means the Mauser is less effective at shooting down large UFOs, but will be extremely effective in shooting down small craft such as fighters. This should be taken into account when you scramble fighters, Commander. Fighter Beam The Fighter Beam is a radical and bold change of engineering when it comes to fighter cannons, abandoning conventional ballistic cannons for a beam weapon. It is unlike anything that humanity has ever designed before. The idea came from a much too intelligent man to be working in the engineering department, when he wondered out loud why we didn’t just take the beam found on alien craft and weld it to a fighter jet. The rapid fire nature of the weapon emulates the one found on alien fighters, which use a powerful combination of lenses and power sources to create a rapid fire weapon that can shred a Condor in seconds. We imitated this weapon in the creation of our own beam weapon, and it is a massive improvement over the autocannon, being able to deal more damage quicker, while maintaining the range and slightly exceeding the autocannon in the final damage output. It is an all purpose weapon, being effective against alien fighter craft as well as heavier UFOs. Each “beam” is actually a pulse of weakly energized light that lasts for around a fifth of a second. The beam passes through multiple lenses that bend the light to a tiny point, which allows a large amount of energy to be fired at a small area on the alien craft, resulting in combustion of the surrounding air and an explosion. This unique design allows for the power source to fit within the weapon itself. However, the amount of power required to fire each pulse is too much for terrestrial reactors, requiring alien Allenium. The “rounds” of this weapon are not actually rounds at all, but rather Allenium power shells. The shrunk down and modified Allenium reactor is capable of firing the cannon forty times before it is depleted. However, the advanced systems and engineering exceeds the capabilities of our current technology, which means we require the weapon systems of alien craft to create the weapon. You see commander, we merely repurpose the alien weaponry to function on our fighter craft by decreasing energy requirements, weight and heat production, rather than actually build the weapon ourselves. So please, tell your soldiers to be careful when breaching alien craft, as it is the only way to recover alien weapon systems. Finally Commander, keep in mind that we require LIGHT alien weapon systems to build the Fighter Beam. Heavy or medium weapon systems will not work. Alien Fighter The Alien Fighter craft is a very small saucer shaped UFO, apparently designed for air supremacy. It is slightly smaller in size than our Condor craft, with a width of around 28 meters and a length of 45. The Alien Fighter is exceptionally well equipped. It’s main and only armanet is a rapid fire weapon that does not ap pear to fire ballistic shells, but rather intense pulses of light. This weapon should not be underestimated, as it is capable of shredding a Condor in a few seconds. More interestingly, it is also equipped with what appears to be counter measures for missiles. But rather than producing an alternate heat signature like terrestrial fighter craft do, it actually fires a short range laser to obliterate the incoming missile, making missiles almost useless unless the missile is fired at nearly point blank range. The maneuverability of the fighter craft is astounding. While the speed of the fighter is nothing remarkable, only reaching a speed of 1,800 kilometers per hour, it is capable of turning extremely quickly, much quicker than our fighters. It can quite literally fly circles around our craft. It achieves this not through aerodynamics, but through a unique set of thrusters and stabilizers. Even more interestingly, it does not appear to have a pressurized crew cabin. The amount of biological material within the wreckages of the craft confirm it is not unmanned (or unaliened), but the lack of transparent canopy or even control systems suggests the pilot is much more integrated into the fighter than terrestrial pilots. The Alien Fighter will commonly be found escorting larger craft, discouraging direct engagement of the main UFO, but also flying in air superiority wings of 1 or 3. They do not just target our interceptors. They will shoot down anything they come across, from military aircraft to civilian airliners. Such attacks result in hundreds of deaths and large scale publicity and terror, so once a fighter wing is identified, I suggest we shoot it out of the sky as soon as possible. Finally Commander, the aerial wargamers have come up with a maneuver to destroy entire fighter wings with minimal damage to our craft. Aptly named the “Twin Dragon” maneuver, it is done by flying straight at the fighter wings with two or more interceptors. Once the fighters hit the alien firing arc, an evasive roll is performed, each rolling in the direction of the other fighter. You will be able to get a glancing salvo at the fighter. Then each fighter turns to engage their original target, and the maneuver is performed again. Correct execution of the maneuver will result in the destruction of the alien fighter wing with minimal damage to our own craft. However, if incorrectly done, it can spell the end of our engaging fighters. This is by no means the only way to destroy alien fighter wings, so take discretion in engaging. Alien Scout The Alien Scout is a heavier version of another reconnaissance vessel identified; the Light Scout. It is around the size of a small building, and contains a reasonable compliment of crew of around ten aliens. The armaments of the Scout are heavier than its lighter cousin, having a powerful repeating beam cannon as well as an interesting homing plasma weapon that functions in a similar way as terrestrial missiles. The cannon is dangerous, but not dangerous enough to risk flying through the firing arc to get behind the craft. Unlike the Light Scout, the Scout cannot do an evasive roll maneuver due to it’s size, making traditional air-to-air missiles effective against it. While not heavily armed, such weaponry discourages direct head to head engagement. The maneuverability of the Scout is nothing to sneeze at. While slower at both turning and speed than the Light Scout, it still turns fast enough to make getting behind it without entering its firing arc impossible. Our fighters will be damaged when engaging the Scout. However damage will generally be light unless something goes completely wrong. During breaching, it is comprised of a large section that is entered through the main door that contains the weaponry, engines and control systems. Be careful commander, there are likely to always be at least a few aliens within this compartment. Passing through a set of double doors leads you to the data core compartment, which has proved impossible to decode. If I were to guess, I assume it contains data about our planet and species from the “eyes” found on the outside of the hull, which appear to be multi-purpose sensors detecting everything from infrared to seismic quakes. Be extremely careful when fighting in this room Commander, if the data core is destroyed or damaged a failsafe will activate, and Allenium explosive charges built into the hull will detonate after an hour, destroying the craft and anything salvageable. Finally, a maneuver has been developed to engage the Scout. Using two or more fighter craft, the interceptors fly directly into the firing arc of the Scout, rolling to avoid missiles. Once it reaches close to the edge of the arc, the fighters are to roll to get out of the firing arc, then slow down and deliver their deadly salvo.

Hi Jasse, I am in no way a developer, but I have some suggestions. You say you are in 1982, that is late game. Very late game. Something I have come to notice is that the mod demands you build bases just to launch aircraft. If you don't have many set up, I suggest setting up bases just to launch aircraft. Have teams rotate to fight. You are facing the full brunt of the invasion now. It is time to show the Xenos not to mess with earth. Secondly, make sure there are no alien bases. They increase the max number of active UFOs.

I have some AI changes that I would love to see, but having done AI coding in the past I know how much of a nightmare it is and fully understand if it is not feasible or even possible to impliment. Firstly, I think Xenos should try to stick together. I know how much of a nightmare it is to have them coordinate movements, but fighting them in squads of two or three is much more of a challenge then fighting them one on one. I think AI on defensive missions should be a lot more defensive, having them prioritize protecting the UFO instead of hunting xenonauts. Perhaps have the AI delegate a certain percentage of its forces as defense that will not stray too far from the UFO? In regards to above, this being more of a map editing thing, maybe give the Xenos some fortifications around the UFO? I know large ufos have this but even small ones like scouts are a pretty prize for the xenonauts, and it would make sense for the aliens to place fortifications around the ship for them to use. Maybe get the defenders to try to stay behind them? And when the xenonauts are close or a certain percentage of the defenders are dead, have them retreat into the UFO? If it is possible to have multiple AI profiles for different weapon classes, it would be super interesting to see xeno AI take advantage of their weaponry. For example, Xenos with machine guns and the like would fire at enemies they have a low chance of hitting, even as low as 5%, with the intent of suppression rather than killing. Riflemen would fire at targets that are far off, but try to reserve TUs for reaction fire. Snipers would fire at anything they can hit with a reasonable chance, and shotgunners would hunker down until the xenonauts are close enough to charge and shoot at. Ive noticed the main weapon of ceaseans are lightning weapons. While effective, they lack punch and stopping power of other weaponry. Perhaps give some ceaseans some heavier weaponry? Finally, if at all possible I think it would be interesting to see Xenos take cover whenever possible. Even a little cover is something, and when they're far enough away it doesn't matter if they can't shoot. If they're sticking together and suppressing, this would make them all the more dangerous. I know this is a tall order, and I'll take a look at some of the scripts to see if I could help in any way. I just think Xenos would be so much more dangerous if they worked more as a unit rather than one on one. Make it feel as if you are the attackers advancing under enemy fire rather than the clean up crew shooting stragglers. You guys have done an amazing job and can't wait to see where this mod goes! (Also your air game is perfect.) Cheers! Ducks

I have noticed the andron AI is actually not bad, it plays on their strengths. One waits for reaction shots while the others run straight into the middle of your soldiers. They know you can't really kill them, if you try they get reaction shot, and when you fail they injur or kill someone. Just would be nice if it was less RUSH B NO STOP and make a bit more use of cover. But I know first hand how much work it is so while I would love it, I understand if it's too much.

Hi guys!! Let me start by saying this mod is incredible. Terror missions are like a war zone, I sent 8 trained soldiers and a defender into one, no defender and 5 came back, all wounded. AI is pretty good, although they have a bit of a RUSH B NO STOP style to them. One thing I'm wondering, xenomorphs will always try to eat vehicles instead of people. Is this intentional? Sort of removes the difficulty fighting them. I've read suppression is weak, but it seems to me suppression is perfect, It allows you to maneuver around without them being able to reposition. I feel the flamethrower should be a little stronger, more accurate or a little bit more range. But that may just be me thinking flamethrowers are awesome. Finally, I've read UFO doors are locked. They don't seem to be, and they love opening the door and just getting slaughtered. However some do hide inside. I have the installed patch and everything. overall, incredible work. Keep it up!