XenoMask
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Posts posted by XenoMask
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I guess new idea might be more profitable, but I at least would miss the old concept since they just don't do Jagged Alliance type games anymore <_< Strategy games where units are unique are rare outside of SRPGs nowadays... Same about narratives, I'd in general would like better narratives in games and especially strategy games...
Besides missing hand crafted characters with personalities, and narrative, I'd say that I hope with new idea there'd be variety of maps that doesn't get tiring. Random maps are hard, but hand crafted maps will eventually get tiring unless there are so many of them you are unlikely to see them repeat much.
(note: If we can play as aliens/robots/cyborgs in new idea, then yay
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Soo, wait, this mod has xenomorphs? As in Alien movie xenomorphs?
Isn't that bit redundant since reapers and by extension all Chrysalid clones are xenomorphs expies? ._. Thats like also including zergs alongside reapers.. Granted, its cool, but still
Anyway, sorry if I'm being rude, I'm bit confused. So is this different from Into the darkness mod or is this updated version of that? The feature list sounds bit different like I don't hear mentions of xenomorph on into the darkness mod. Maybe my confusion comes from that I don't know what XNT means <_<;
Also, noticed from screenshot this has caesan rebel? How are you going to handle all plot changes that result from that? I mean, in base game alien soldiers lack individuality and have been thralls for thousands of years. And even if one would be rebel, why they don't just tell what is purpose of alien invasion instead of praetor interrogation since they are willingful to tell information and why they don't share tech info? Sorry if I'm asking questions already answered in the mod
And most important question: Whats that dragon thing with canons in your avatar, it looks cool
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Gotta say that at same time I love and hate the final mission. On the other hand concept is cool, but gameplay wise its hall with little cover where everytime you take step all enemies shoot and hit you
I guess its to make you move at slug's pace so that reaper spawning will really make you consider whether you want to destroy engines or not to save soldiers.... I could swear though that enemies in last mission do much more damage(and are much more accurate) than enemies in game otherwise, but I guess that might be because there isn't really good cover around..Anyway, I did remember seeing heavy drone somewhere before so I guess I do have seen it somewhere, but I definitely haven't seen its autopsy so I probably did see it on one of 1.09 playthroughs but never managed to kill it <_< Still sad about medium and heavy drones, they are only research entries I missed...
Fury is pretty awesome and singularity canon is awesome too
I kinda wish there was aircraft that was capable of having tons of fuel and patrolling areas... I heard there is saracen mod that makes it long range version of foxtrot so I guess thats almost as good.Actually, even besides fury and singularity canon, last tier equipment in this game is really awesome even when compared to other XCOM type games. They just feel so satisfying. Predator makes everyone into terminator and sentinel gives all sorts of good upgrades..
Also, is it just me or was high praetor 3d model instead of sprite? O-o; It definitely had animation at least...
Anyway, on final epilogue from head scientist, I love that
(I loved scientist's personality in research note through whole game) Its really ominous(as is everyone who says "Hey we have better weaponry than everyone else, who is to stop us?"), but its kinda referencing what happened to original XCOM in original game when war ended and taking stance to avoid that situation. -
Yes, I STILL haven't finished the game
I did get to praetors after release, but bug with reapers made me take a break and I figured out to start over now. I think I had everything researched but hadn't managed to capture a praetorI have seen medium drones occasionally, but as I die usually soon after that point, I haven't gotten chances to see heavy drones(I didn't even see them when I got to praetors long time ago <_<). In this playthrough I took break from ironman so that I'd finally see the end, gonna start ironmanning again after this though
But I have apparently managed to skip medium drones completely on this playthrough <_<; In previous playthroughs I did see them with androns/caesans/sebilians before reapers/harridans/wraiths started appearing, but didn't this time. And I haven't seen heavy drones at all even though praetors have started appearing... So when exactly are mid and end game drones supposed to appear? ._.; Do they only appear with smaller ships that have single species crew? Or have I had some "bad"(while they are annoying, I do want to finish xenopedia...) luck?..
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There is bit of time management when it comes to picking missions, but picking missions based on shortest time isn't really good idea if mission itself doesn't give you what you need. Or like if you don't have money at all and shortest time one is where you get access to really good shop, then its just waste of time
I picked missions based on which company I was infiltrating(I hate Sankaku because drones ruin my day so I avoid them if I can) and whether they gave me what I needed instead of just picking them based on traveling time.Anyhoo, I do agree that Invisible Inc would be good example to try out(and not just because its fun game, it does work as example of short time limit tactical game and its alarm system is interesting plus I love what they did gameplay wise with four megacorps), but this game concept's scale is city scale, Invisible Inc's scale is "You are flying on really fast jet plane across the world" so this game's 72 hours could be much longer.
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First off, I love idea of recurring elite clone trooper villains, it allows villain with face who you can kill off if you are skilled enough and still face them later in final confrontation. One problem with rather many games, especially strategy games, is lack of good memorable villains after all..
I'm confused by complaint "Its not fair since you can't use clones" though .-. I mean, thats like saying aliens in XCOM are unfair or AI in AI Wars is unfair, they are designed to be asymmetrical and it makes them more memorable when its story justification...
Anyway, on whether you should get rewards for beating them early or whether they should be like "advancing rebel fleet" in ftl... Well, at least there should be story rewards, like pathfinders commenting on their defeat and when they come back in final mission they are like "You killed me a******!" and maybe other stuff like scarred guard coming back without scars, older proximan coming back as younger, clone degeneration kicking in and one of them coming back deformed and pissed off about it, etc visible things (assuming cloning isn't 100% safe in narrative). No need to have debuffs(I agree that final mission should still have something "Aww, frick" difficult so proximan guard shouldn't be nerfed much) or anything.
Now, I guess you could have bonus rewards, but I guess that "prototype bonus weapon that is stronger than weapons you get otherwise" loot would be against game's ideas <_< So maybe stuff like them having codes for artillery(or unlock mission on the map were with codes you can get good CP reward or something else) on their person or you being able to get their statwise same as yours, but appearance wise customized unique equipment as bragging rights battle trophy.
One thing I'd like to point out that it'd be nice if as named and faced enemy elite soldiers they'd be essentially computer's version of pathfinders and that there are almost as many distinct named and faced members who are gameplay wise distinct. So if game sends them against you before final part and you see its Mr. Cool Sniper Dude you are like "Oh frick, I hate this guy, he is hard, better get away if I can". Would allow interesting combos if they send you differently mixed teams so maybe in last playthrough you had fight against mr. big tank and speedy mc speedy this time its mr. big tank and mr. cool sniper dude squad.
Besides that it'd be interesting if some named members have some history with some particular pathfinders(whether its friendly or "You killed my family you bastard" "hahaha you can't kill me" relationship), maybe even affecting how they behave if you are using those pathfinders. Or maybe stuff like you killed Mr. Shotgun guy and took his gun and in final mission he is like "Wait a sec. Is that my gun? Is that my fricking gun? I'm gonna kill you" and he goes after the guy with his gun. That'd be one way to give rewards for final mission without debuffing or decreasing the guard, on new playthroughs you know this one guy will be aggro'd by one of your guys and plan for that.
Too long to read version: I love the idea, I agree that you shouldn't make the final mission easier by killing them off or debuffing them, I think they should have colorful cast as well and I think there should be story type rewards to make it feel satisfying if you are skilled enough to beat them first time early
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So I tried out Invisible Inc. today, and one of it's features is a 72-hour time limit leading up to a grand finale (although the grande finale really isn't). This gave me a chance to experience what a "short time limit" game would be like, and I gotta say Invisible Inc. is really quick. Downloaded it last night, tried beginner mode today, completed it today. The game is built around re-playability (each time you win or loose, you get "global exp" which unlocks more characters and more options for Incognita) and no doubt the levels will get longer as the difficulty gets higher but there weren't that many missions to do. The minimum "travel time" between missions was 5 hours, with average "travel time" of 8-10 hours. I got around 10 missions in before I hit the endgame mission and I felt.. well.. cheated, tbh. After the end credits rolled I was all "that's it?". Chris, I don't know what kind of travel time you intend to put in between strategic objectives, but when I was playing Invisible Inc. I went out of my way to make as many stops as possible around the world in as short a time as possible, completely ignoring anything that had a travel time of more than 8 hours unless I absolutely had to. I would suggest getting Invisible Inc. and using it as research material as the missions are quick, the overall game is quick, and you can see a tactical, turn-based short time limit game in action.
You should play Invisible Inc at higher difficulties
I didn't even try beginner since I knew it wouldn't be as insanely difficult as game's base difficulty <_< Even if you wouldn't change base settings, 5 rewinds is enough to make all missions completable.I'd say that on higher difficulties the Invisible inc's time limits purpose comes clearer. Its kinda like FTL's "rebel force is advancing", its there to prevent you from farming good equipment and force you to select what you want for the final mission. I mean, yeah, time limit and game's short length is good for replayability too and exp unlocks does show that, but game's base difficulty is so insanely hard that if game was any longer... Well besides pacing being off... Like I know that I need better stuff to complete final mission, but I'm afraid of getting better stuff because trying to get better stuff might result in me losing agents or losing the game because I mess up. With longer time limit you have much longer time you have to deal with difficulty, though I suppose after enough surviving you would get enough good stuff that game's difficulty curve would drop down. Ironman version of the game is really unforgiving even though you can still win when you mess up stealth
Though I'm curious about what the final mission is like on beginner? On experienced I got lucky that I completed it, but it was still rather insane <_<;
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Random idea on the "how to introduce new pathfinders without lack of emotional attachment problem": What if new characters you get in expansions are background characters from first mission? Like, you get status reports from Mr. Sniper with cool codename, certain pathfinders talk about some other pathfinder who isn't here right now, or hear enemy/pathfinder chatter about some really crazy guy wrecking havoc on other side of battlefield? You know stuff like that, those stories crop up enough to get interested about characters and then you get to later meet them yourself.
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I was thinking the concept rang a bell and finally put my finger on it. It has a similar theme to Bionic Dues. That is a turn based, top down, mech game where you have a small squad attacking objectives around a city to weaken the inevitable counter attack.
The outline above looks interesting. I was interested to see how you were planning to run the pre-orders this time and I reckon it sounds like quite a solid plan. Now I just have to wait for the kickstarter to begin!
Oh yeah, good point that is pretty similar to Bionic Dues
I myself was reminded of Pathfinder the tabletop rpg actually
Just because of the name. -
Or are they actually in and I haven't just noticed them? <_<
Because its kinda sad if that stretch goal got completely dropped despite being achieved because of budget or something
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Some kind of training facility where you can train up to X soldiers in Y stat over Z days would be wonderful. Especially for the really difficult to raise stats.
Yeah, game is already really hard without the aspect of how hard it is to get back on the track after losing few missions <_<
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Gotta admit that I find game more a lot more frustrating than original XCOM on strategic level <_< Its really really punishing and its really easy to go bankrupt too soon especially since you have to really fast spread out bases to prevent funding level from dropping in other countries. I'm not even sure if its feasible to start from other places than europe since europe has most amount of countries you can cover with single radar, but thats because I have been bit afraid to try other places first.
Heck, game is actually bit more frustrating than original XCOM on tactical layer as well since computer is actually pretty smart. I mean, rookies in this game are much better shots than one in the original xcom, but to counter that aliens seem to be much more effective at killing if you play badly... In original xcom most of early difficulty comes from reaction fire in dark spaces and rookies missing all the time, but if you get close to aliens, they are pretty much toast since they die really easily from one hit early on. But in this game aliens are sturdier and difficulty doesn't come from blind reaction fire, its because computer actually knows what to do once it spots you
In otherwords, this is really unforgiving game <_< Even the normal difficulty can become hard on late stage of invasion. Then again, I was playing the version where tank killing zombie created two reapers... I personally like hard games even if I'm doing badly, but I have to admit that this is hardest XCOM type game I've played yet. And yes, I'm including Terror from the deep. That game is hard because its basically remix of first game with everything made harder, but I don't think it compares to this... In Terror from the deep, if I play badly, I can survive first few missions fine enough, in Xenonauts if I play badly, my whole squad is dead in first three missions.
So yeah, in other words... I'd say that original XCOM is actually more "fun" game than this one in terms of difficulty <_< I mean, I guess its partly because original xcom did have the part where if you managed to survive it, rest of the game was a cake while in Xenonauts you always have to be in your toes since aliens get a lot stronger during course of the game... Its pretty stressful. Original XCOM and 2012 had the inverted difficulty curve where game is hardest at beginning and once you get good equipment it got easier, in 2012 it just got a LOT more easier than the first game. So yeah, I'd completely understand why some XCOM type game fans might not get into Xenonauts, I do like hard games so I'm fine with it, but Xenonauts is notably harder if you ask me
Note: Of course, original XCOM was also fun because of stuff like ridicolously powerful grenades. Seriously, those things went really big boom. It was really fun blowing stuff up in that game. Cyberdiscs also went in glorious boom... Plus incendiaries! Fun to burn stuff even though fire isn't that effective. Ah the ridiculously cool weapons in original...
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Huh, I see... Interesting. Thats quite lots of work
Just to ask, what are you planning to use for predator?
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Ah, so THATS why its called "gaming" faces/bodies, because they are literally from other games. I thought it was to imitate general generic style common in many games <_<
Like, check all female soldier art in almost all multiplayer fpses and whatsnot. They aren't really far off from that. Pose might not be as blatant, but armor is pretty much in same style. Which is understandable since you just said you edited them from different armors from other games, I at first thought they were completely original except for the faces. I guess i should pay more attention
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Hetkinen, molemmat niist jätkist jotka on tekemäs tän so sorttisia modeja on myöskin Suomalaisia? Huh. Funny coincidence. *to everyone who don't understand that sentence, I'm just amused by amount of Finns here in this kind of mod threads ;p*
Anyway, I'd probably be waving my pitchforks and torches if not for the fact it also applies to male soldiers
That being an exaggeration of course, Skitso there has his feelings hurt apparently, but I honestly don't care that much. His mod isn't that offensive, but its(well, I guess this one is partly as well since it started out like that, but whatever) part of a trend I don't like. BTW, isn't that Jill Valentine? One soldier's face looks kinda like Kaidan from ME unless I'm mistaken. Are there other face references I haven't noticed? -
You should be warned that some of us don't like stuff like this.
Suuure, let's import drama from other thread
Did that make you feel better?*pats Skitso*But hey, at least hes completely right. This is what women look like in gaming industry sadly. Though as criticism I'd have to complain about male soldier not having action hero pose. Because seriously, while you are right about women looking like that in gaming media, you haven't done enough good job with male soldier's pose. Face does fit though. If nothing else, you should add a gun to male soldier's picture. But yeah, I recommend that you take more inspiration from fps and other games with 30 something year old male white protagonists and make male soldier pose more like that. Otherwise I call bull on name of this mod if its just to make female soldiers pose differently.
Edit: Ah, noticed that on later images you gave the guys' same pose as female soldiers. Okay, thats hilarious so I approve that. Thanks for making the poses same even if its not common to see male characters pose like that in games! Nah let me fix that, thanks for making the pose same especially since thats not common!
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I dont know about getting stronger soldiers as game progresses, but I agree it would be nice to be able to get.
I have been in a similar situation as yours where most my team was killed in the previous mission and I only had low rank soldiers left.
Fortunately for me I was not as far in as you and managed to catch up again, but I was really struggling for a while.
One thing I remember from Beta, which seems to have been taken out again, is that once you recruited soldiers you were able to train them up from private to the next rank, sergeant.
Took about 10 days but could sometimes mean the difference between victory and defeat in a mission.
I found it a bit odd that it was removed again but never thought much about it.
I guess it made game too easy because you can just get army of sergeants or something?
Still I think they should have kept something like that in the game. Maybe have the training building increase rank of soldiers you recruit like having training building gives you corporals instead and after base upgrade gives soldiers above that?*shrugs*
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Edit: Ah frick, post made in wrong thread
Anyway, yeah, game is awesome. Not perfect, it shares some problems with original XCOM while amplifying some of them(for example, while rookies aren't as crappy shots, due to fact that AI in Xenonauts is better than in XCOM... Yeah, it hurts even worse if all of high ranking soldiers die and you have to use squad of privates)
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I mean, I might be remembering wrong, but I remember over year or two ago hearing that we were eventually going to have a thing in this game where recruits you hire start at higher rank when you are far enough in the game <_< I guess thats not the case since everyone starts out as private and after everyone high ranked died last time I haven't been able to keep anyone alive for longer than one mission.
(I have literally done all research except praetorian interrogation(yeah, my first battleship mission had dead praetorian from the start. Oh joy. Only time I won battleship mission so far since my team hadn't gotten all killed yet) and I've been stuck for lack of money for while xP Since I'm at the point where ufos are starting to overwhelm me so even though I have pretty okay defense, I'm starting to be in debt after upkeep costs catches up. Should have invested in more marauders earlier I suppose. But yeah, I kinda keep losing almost all of my soldiers before reaching live praetorian on battleship and I can't defeat it and its guards with few people left.)
Yeah, I suck at strategy games I admit that
I probably have to start this playthrough over since this is being annoying and frustrating(since I'm basically just for easy ufo kills to get money to manufacture gear and hope funding nations don't drop down the funding further. I was doing well before aliens started out sending basically only the battleships... Since only marauders are fast enough to catch them and I have only two of them one each in two of my three bases) and learn to have better backup in case of Total Party Kill and remember to have more marauders at each base earlier... Anyway, do I remember this wrong or was it changed because it made game not enough XCOM-y or something? Was there supposed to be mechanic like that or not? It'd certainly make things less frustrating in late game if recruits started out as corporals at least, though I suppose it doesn't really matter since people like me who are stupid enough to have all high ranking soldiers die in one missions aren't going to do well until we learn to not put all eggs in one basket <_<
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I'd have assumed that items getting destroyed during mission definitely gets rid of them so this isn't about that...
I've noticed that sometimes when mission fails I lose majority of armor and equipment soldiers had instead of everything and sometimes they don't seem to lose much at all. Is there some kind of mechanic where like 1/3(or none) of equipment is recovered after mission failure? I'd have first assumed that this would be like first xcom where you lose everything if you fail, but it seems I don't lose everything always?
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Well, you DO get crap like steam profile wallpapers and emoticons for crafting badges and some of them DO have nice artwork. Though honestly, they only get sold because gamers happen to be sort of people who like collecting crap.
Seriously, I don't get collectible trading cards in real life either, I get trading card games since at least you can play those, but cards which exists just to collect them?... Yeah, don't get why someone would want piece of cardboard with baseball player or some crap like that
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So let's see, scientist guy gets head visor over time, engineer guy gets fancy welding protection thing(I have no idea what those are called) over time, military guy gets prosthetic arm over the time, storage guy... Stays the same forever.
Makes sense, hes just the guy who smokes and reads newspaper, but I still find that amusing for some reason
Oh, and I gotta say that head scientist's tone makes research entries entertaining to read. So props on that
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Oh, so there isn't even "Commander, we researched on the psionics, but turns out that humans can't do it. Sorry!" type of research? Ok...
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So I stunned a lot of caesans, non combatants, guards, psions, etc... But only guard was taken and psion was "destroyed". So umm, I know you can't use psionics in this game, but I assumed there was at least a research for it. Or do you need to research something else before you can attempt to research psionics by capturing a psionic alien? Why did only the guard get brought to interrogation?
Yay, FINALLY completed the game(my comments include some spoilers)
in Xenonauts General Discussion
Posted
I do have to admit that now that I'm thinking about it, I'm bit confused why aliens became catatonic(including captured praetor) according to epilogue .-. It does explain why the remaining fleet in chaos doesn't just glass the earth, but considering how much captured praetor wanted to live, he clearly didn't know that killing high praetor would result in that? I don't mind that much, just something to think about
Anyhoo, now to complete game on ironman. I guess I'll be using skitso's mappack mod this time. Then after successfully finishing it on ironman, it'd be time to try out community edition..