Hello again, Chris.
You said in your website that you want the air-combat use the same skills like as the rest of the game. Tactical thinking. You made the air-combat auto-resolving. Nice. This is the easy road and somewhat a safe bet. No tactical thinking, but... nice.
So, it is logical that you want the Geoscape mode to use the same skills as the rest of the game, too. Tactical thinking. You can make it like in XCOM: Enemy Uknown (without the air-combat part). But it's not nice. Or you can make it real-time. Which is not nice too. Because AT LEAST contradicts with the tactical thinking skill as the rest of the game. You said that in this moment it is turn-based. One turn - one day. OK. But you said also in your answer to my question that this is not a final decision. I know. It is difficult.
Gollop said before a year that in the upcoming Phoenix Point the Geoscape will be turn-based. One turn - one week. Then (yesterday in live stream on Facebook) he said it will be in real-time. He doesn't gave a proper answer why he changed his mind - I asked him in real time (pun intended). His answer was unclear. He was unprepared for this question... You can watch it, it was yesterday. I think his team can not do a turn-based Geoscape properly and maybe for commersial reasons do not want to make an additional effort and slow down the development of their...buisness.
So. I see some contradiction in your words. You want to make the whole game tactical, but you feel dubious about "immersivnes and responsivnes in certain ways" and think about real-time option. But wait! What about the ground-combat? Maybe you want to make the ground-combat like Commandos series? Immersive and responsive! Great!
Again - I know, it's difficult. But if you desire to make properly this game - take your time and make the Geoscape mode like the rest of the game - turn-based game which use tactical thinking, not reflexes. It is a matter of principle. I saw demo-gameplay videos of Xenonauts 2. Your game looks great.
XCOM: Enemy Uknown's Geoscape is imitating a valid game - you can just watch and when something happen and must make a move - the time stops. But the air-combat real-time mini-game is not imitating anything. It is an obvious stupidity. They ofcourse removed it in XCOM 2, but now the Geoscape is in real-time and you make moves in real-time. Yes, you have huge amount of time and this clock movement is somewhat cosmetical thing but again...it is a matter of principle.
And now the situation is: IF you take the "hard way" and invest your time, resourses and energy to make a proper turn-based strategy (Geoscape) you will make the first ever X-COM-like game that is fully turn-based and require tactical thinking in every part of the game. The first and the only one (for now). In this case, it will deserve a special name, not "2". In this case, your efforts will be justified. In this case, you will be appreciated from around the world. At least the Earth. In this case. Only.
And if your feelings aren't wounded enough from my aggressive posts, and if you a tired of discussing about cultures and languages - which language is first, second and third for me, please make a comment. It's your turn. (pun intended)
Thank you.
Rosen, Bulgaria, Bulgarian speaker.
