Max_Caine

Well, I think you've probably reached the end of available content. Operation: ENDGAME is in theory the final mission, with a custom map and all, so if you can't get that, it's because Chrs hasn't designed it yet!

Just a friendly reminder folks. You attack the argument, not the person. Or I lock this thread. Tara for now!

Seeing as the X2 air combat is currently almost exactly the same as the X1 air combat, I can see how people would be dissastisfied with it. The esstial thrust of air combat in X2 is either: 1) Run straight at your opponent or 2) If you have more than 1 aircraft, kite your opponent into revealing the section of UFO that is uncovered by weapons and start shooting I spent quite a lot of time making air combat more interesting in X1, resulting in three generations of Flying Circuses, and I'm sure Charon can recount his experiences of changing up air combat for X-Division. In my case, what I aimed to do was create an interesting puzzle to crack. Each new UFO presented a different type of challenge. Perhaps it fired swarms of micro missiles. Perhaps you had to fly between multiple turrets. Not all my creations were successful. I think that if X2's air combat is to be more fun, it needs to create new problems of positioning. The rotating turret and energy shield are a good start but there's a lot more that I feel could be done. Firstly, I think that Goldhawk should steal Steambird's control mechanism for aircraft. The mechanism that the original Steambirds uses is an excellent fit for X2's air combat. You can see the turning curve for your aircraft and plan for where it's going to end up without constantly hitting the pause button every few seconds. When the aircraft reaches the end point of its planned movement, that's when you can set up the next plan. I can see this being useful for also setting up and controlling multiple aircraft at once, as you could bandbox aircraft together and set them all by the same plan. Secondly, I think Goldhawk should take a leaf from shmups, specifically the boss fights in shmups. As frantic as Boss fight shmups are, they are all about positioning and that's made possible through the wide range of projectile types that bosses have. As things currently stand, UFOs have two types of projectile - homing and non-homing. There's no continious beams, no aerial mines, no splitters. no swarmers. There's no telegraphing, no wind-up, no obvious lock-on. I'd like to see more projectile types that encourage positioning, because, at the moment, they don't, really.

On trying to commence combat on a specific Destroyer Borealis Logging map, the game crashes. Savegame (warning - takes forever to load): auto_strategy_before_combat-69.json

Here are some more 99%'ers in case there are similarities between problem savegames which could help tracking the issue down Terror Mission: user-20.json Observer crash Mission: user-9.json

If I construct Interceptor lasers, the game freezes then crashes. Savegame (3 game hours before final construction): auto_strategy_after_intercept-68.json

Sgm. Buck Reed was Mind Warr'd, paniced and dropped all his kit. When trying to get it back I could transfer the LMG and med pack back to their proper places, but not the ammo to the belt or the backpack: Savegame (Reed has full AP at this point): user-18.json Pic: :

I can't click on any alien fightercraft that have been detected. Savegame: user-7.json

Can't comment on that - only got as far as March/April.

If a soldier is affected by Mind War, but you kill the Psyon before the soldier can take their turn as an enemy. the Mind War flag on the UI will stay throughout the rest of the battle. Savegame: user-5.json

As far as interceptor bases go, I add one more to fully cover australia and move the other base a little further up. Given the shortage of scientists and engineers, there doesn't seem like there's a need to create a dedicated factory or a research complex - you can add those on to either the main base or as extensions of the satellite bases as needed.

.... I've seen this particular discussion way too many times during the development of X1. It never ended well. Rusknight has established that if you want an all female or all male crew, you can do that and shows you how to do it. Please, can the discussion end there.

That's the pioneering spirit I like to see! EDIT: Perhaps you might have to edit the regiment field as well? It might be that the two are tied together.

All the maps I've seen are static, but based on comments Chris has made in the past, the underlying structure is intended to be semi-random submaps. As I understand it, Goldhawk's map creation tool uses licenced properties so they can't release it for general consumption so I can't say more than that. As far as alien varieties go, do you mean more alien types, or more alien sub-types within the types we've seen?

This probably more true than ever with X2. The add-on modules for armour mean there's a lot more options and as a consequence more room for new loadouts. When it comes to modding, I imagine the first thing modders will do is add 20+ modules per armour set!

Well, it's looks like you've levelled up, Rusknight. Could you check to make sure you can have an all female crew,please, and tell us about any experiments with adjusting the ratios.

I like Option Charon. If XCE already does what Charon describes, then I'd like to see that in X2.

You might want to play about with combatant.json in /steamapps/common/Xenonauts 2/assets/assets/template/strategy/masters/actor/combatant. (phew, that was a long one!). I'm mid testing a theorem of mine, so I can't fiddle with it myself, but have a look at that file, you might find what you want.

One thing that's worked for me in the past is to uninstall the game, then go into where the xenonauts 2 directory is stored in Steam (this is for me /steam/steamapps/common/xenonauts 2/ and delete that. Also, go to where your saved games are stored (again, for me this is /documents/my saved games/Xenonauts 2) and delete that as well, so there's absolutely no evidence what-so-ever of Xenonauts 2 on your PC, then re-install.

If you proceed along that route, then in terms of game mechanics you see-saw between a mechanic being OP, and a mechanic being utterly useless, the periods of usefulness and uselessness being as long as the designers see fit. I'd prefer a mechanic that I can use consistently throughout the lifespan of the game.

Regarding camouflage: it's an interesting concept, but I can see it being horribly abused. As Charon so rightly notes, LOS is more important than cover so switching everyone to camo as soon as possible would be the obvious choice. If the counter to camouflage is to produce abilities that neutralise camouflage then the counter to that would be to kill any neutralising agents first then you have free reign of the map. I think if something like camouflage were to work, it would have to be unstable, in a similar way to the way that Reapers' camouflage in XCOM2 is unstable so you can't consistently be camouflaged.

Needs more Dakka?

When the MARS was first introduced, it became clear pretty quickly that the MARS was a bit OP when deployed in multiples, especially when people sang the praises of the MARS and told stories of how their 4-team of MARS roflstomped the opposition. So now it's a hard cap of 1. You get a juicy bit of tech on the field without facerolling the aliens.

On the armoury screen on the bottom left hand section, you have a list of soldiers. There's a tab for soldiers in the skyhawk and a tab for all other soldiers. Try clicking between the tabs to get a feel for it.

This is probably better directed at Chris rather than me, and I'd love to see your opinions on other things Chris wants to introduce over on the Geoscape Strategic War thread. The only thing I'll say is that we're in a time of crisis right now, and the opinions of the hoi polloi have definitely shaped the thinking of our illustrious leaders.