Voidfoam

Hi there, I was a backer of Xenonauts and have not been gaming for many years. I used to be very active on the forums before the launch of Xenonauts. Life took other turns and i quit gaming for a while. I have just started gaming again a few months back. I recently restarded a Xenonauts campaign on insane mode and have actually kept my backer portrain personality alive for 7(!) missions without savescumming. I anticipate a deadly reaper attack very soon. I have been following the development of Xenonatus 2 only sporadicly. But it seem it is well on its way to become a solid improvement over Xenonauts. Now i have read on some of the improvements coming to AI, that will make the Aliens move around more(roam) around the map. This is good. One thing i find is a weakness of Xenonauts is a fairly predictable AI and alos a quite passive AI. I have recently been playing a game called Ultimate general Civil war. Best way to describe it is realtime combat on a painted 2D map. It's fairly simple but the AI is one of the best i have ever encountred in a tactical game. One of the things that make the AI feel different from time to time is that the behaviour of the AI is semi determined by traits of the Units. If enemy brigades have certain traits that will decide wether they will hunker down, come at you in mass, charge often or try to owerwhelm you with firepower. This way the same battle many times take on entirly differant pace or character, even if enemy units reinforce or start at the same place every time. Becuase thier behaviour is semi randomized. One thing i felt would have made Xenonauts better is if different crews of UFOs had different overall tactic. It could be explained by some alien officers being different as humans are different. Even if you down a corvette with Ceasans (psyons) like you did last time. This officer this time is very aggresive and will take all his soldiers directly to you grabbing you by the belt as soon as you come off the landing ship. Next officer is a sneaky one and has his shooters on the rooftops, with units waiting in abushes on the bottomfloor. And the third one hunkers down with almost the entire crew in anticipation of your breachparty. This way the player can only semi predict what he will face. He maybe( by resarch) will know the race, but not this certain crew personality. And of course a aggressive sebilian will be very much more scary than a Sebillian chosing to snipe at you, since sebillian aren't snipers. This way you could also explit the enemy using 'wrong' tactics. I feel it is an oppurtunity to make the AI change and not always behave the same, and also let the player feel that he really need to determine what he is up to. Nice to be back. I am in anticipation for Xenonatus 2. Very thankful towards Chris and the team for keepin my childhood game favourite Microprose Xcom alive, improved and reskinned in a fantastic reimagination of this gem. Cheers folks

So, whats going on with this project? I am dying longing for those saucer shaped ufos!!

Can anyone who doesn't suck at file compatibility and modding tell me if this is compatible with the game still? Really liked these projectiles over OG.

I remember sometime seeing an animated logo for Goldhawk Interactive on youtube? Chris, you should put this in before entering the mainmenu ingame, as is standard for games. Its your first game. You should grab the opportunity to establish your franchises's logo in the minds of people playing it. Regards!

Confirmed here as well. But i had it already in 1.0

Hi, i posted this in another (wrong) thread a while ago, where it didn't really belong. So i give it a try here. I get the feel the Aliens most of the time still are quite stationary. They seem to linger in pretty much the same areas on the same maps time after time. They should roam the maps more aggressively?, When contact is made other aliens should be drawn to assist. Now most of the time, i am finding them in the same spots. I feel the mission variety would gain greatly if the Aliens as a group, randomly choose between say three different "team behaviors" Representing the local alien commanders choice of strategy against the Xenonauts. -Aggressive protection. Most of soldiers and crew, actively attack the Xeno dropship as a counter. Reckless strategy to put severe hurt on a not careful an unsuspecting commander. - Balanced stance. Much like the aliens act on all maps today. Some are in the terrain waiting, lurking. Some protect the UFO. Maybe this should be the most common if the ufo has landed. And you catch the alien scum with their pants down. -Defensive stance. Most aliens, except some random sniper or strangler, protect the UFO. Dug in around it, and awaiting the breach in full force. A good way to make you not knowing what to expect from each UFO assault? In attacks upon Xeno facility for instance, some Alien commanders could choose to move their force in a big group to present an aggressive attack in force against the command center. Some alien commanders might choose to spread out and make great damage to the entire facility. Maybe its too advanced coding involved and maybe its too late. But i feel its a pretty good idea, so i throw it out there. And small drones should put way more fire in the terrain, like fire all the time. Now they most of the time take reaction shots. And last two times i faced larger drones, they just sat there starring at me, no movement, and no fire. Up their aggression please

Ok. I have fought some battles up to my first terror attack and base attack. I would like to raise a few things that crossed my mind. 1) I feel the Aliens most of the time still are quite stationary. They seem to linger in pretty much the same areas on the same maps time after time. They should roam the maps more aggressively i feel, when contact is made other aliens should be drawn to assist. Now most of the time, i feel i am finding them in the same spots. BUT i really feel they are superb at seeking cover, which is great. I feel the mission variety would gain greatly if the Aliens as a group, randomly choose between say three different "team behaviors" Representing the local alien commanders choice of strategy against the Xenonauts. -Aggressive protection. Most of soldiers and crew, actively attack the Xeno dropship as a counter. Reckless strategy to put severe hurt on a not careful an unsuspecting commander. - Balanced stance. Much like the aliens act on all maps today. Some are in the terrain waiting, lurking. Some protect the UFO. Maybe this should be the most common if the ufo has landed. And you catch the alien scum with their pants down. -Defensive stance. Most aliens, except some random sniper or strangler, protect the UFO. Dug in around it, and awaiting the breach in full force. Quite a simple way to make you not knowing what to expect from each UFO assault. In attacks upon Xeno facility for instance, some Alien commanders could choose to move their force in a big group to present an aggressive attack in force against the command center. Some alien commanders might choose to spread out and make great damage to the entire facility. 2) Small drones should put a lot more fire on the Xenonauts. I have faced them many times. And they are described as a suppression unit. Yet the only time they fire against me, its reaction shots, with great damage on a single soldier. This is cool. But where is the tons of fire that should be coming my way to make me keep my head down? 3) Its quite annoying that every rookie basically is greatly hampered by wearing armor. Yet later it is the only good way to make them live long enough to improve. Maybe armor should eat more time units while on the move? So the rookie would be slower if moving, but if he is stationary, he could still have full TU to put some fire on the Aliens. And i am having a blast with the game i bought. Love it. Cheers Maybe i put this in the wrong thread? Sorry in that case.

Sweet. Thanks for your time.

Is there a way to mod inner walls into the UFOs? I dont see the reason why there are no walls. It makes them look so empty and its strange when only a doorway marks where there should be a wall. Cheers

Hi. Have just tried the new build. Haven't played the game for about 6 months. A small thing that disturbed me. Why does all developed aircraft weapons sound the same? All guns have the same sound? Would be nice if the cannons would sound different depending on either its laser or kinetic? And maybe some epic multiple explosion effects for bigger ufos, when they go down. Its not as if more immersion and variation would hurt the air combat, and sound is very potent. Otherwise i love what you have done so far. Enjoying it a lot and i don't regret my kickstarter funding one bit. Even though my portrait seems cursed cheers

You can simply download his file and look at the effects through opening the files. I like them, but i dont like the plasma bolts in OG, but i have to see yours ingame! Good work anyways! But i think you also need impact effects to go with them? Right?

Well we are just facing the same ships in the alpha? Wont different types of UFOs solve the problem of repetitive game play? I find fighting corvettes quite epic. Well don't stop evolving it pls Chris! I enjoy quite a lot, and i think many do.

Yes. I don't think anyone thought you offered to mod all the ships by yourself. Hence my winking smiley. But you posted a new kind of possible solution in a thread about "new solution" on a issue where i think many people still are hoping for another alternative. Nice that you are trying anyways, cause as of now, with now "inner hull" and only inner walls. I am thinking maybe i should learn to mod myself. And you also Raakku! Nice work. I didn't realize you said pretty much the same thing, since my brain can apparently only understand these things when presented in pictures!

Well ZZZ1010, nice work as always. I am very impressed! Gonna be waiting for your mods

Too Americanized also. "Gun shops out of stock" ) In most countries i have been to gun shops isn't even a thing to consider. Since they don't exist. And if they do, they sell parts of guns or hunting gear. I agree with Gorlom. Farmers should be armed. If not to protect their animals from foxes and such, they might be hunters. But otherwise i feel there are too much weapons already on civies. The odd pistol armed one is fine. Are there any maps in Xenonauts were there are no civilians? That would be nice.

Well, i can imagine you easier can produce a much tougher AI in turn based games than you would in real-time games. Since the AI can calculate on a fixed setting and not respond to human "irrational" decisions. Unbeatable though? I would like to see it to believe it. But a very though AI sounds really fun. Hopefully this is a true claim. Anyway. Nice to hear about the progress! Always fun.

Cant people standing next to walls blocking from sight them be given "glowing forcefields" instead. Some red or green outlines. Or a small symbol above their head showing somebody is standing there. A small arrow pointing downwards or whatever. Afterall you can see their heads. Just make it so that you don't forget them. Showing the inner hull is much to the feeling of being inside the ship. And why would a glowing force field door look better standing by itself than a ordinary door?

zzz1010 could you perhaps make an example of ordinary pineforest? Some boulders, rocks, logs and maybe a little river? I would really like seeing it. And i still hope this would convince Chris into having a forest/wilderness tileset! I fully understand if its too much work. Its just a humble wish! You make great stuff!

In a metaphysical sense i would like to conceive a baby with this idea! Thats how much i like it in contrast to the two-parter solution. The two-parter would of course then have been the barren woman whom i would have struggled on with, due to misplaced love and hope of us ever having a baby. Yet subconsciously i would have known the truth and resented her. I am so eager to see this unfold. It would be great if the inner walls could be painted with some machinery, pipes, lights, and stuff(maybe even animated?). That would actually make the ships look even better than with outer walls. (the facing of the walls outwards so to say.) I think i actually like this better than having the classical solution with showing outer walls. Makes it feel as if you really are inside this ship! Great.

1) In industrial areas you could have some chemical/gas canister standing in rooms. If hit by a round they could start spewing out poisonous gases. Just got cover and getting ready to pound those Xenos across the street, and boom, room quickly getting filled with gas. Time to evacuate! Could use the same gas cloud as for the gas grenade? 2) Rubber, car tires, ect, if caught fire should cause heavy thick black smoke and burn for a good while. (i mean cmon, what is urban combat without burning car tires?!) 3) Got that bad ass Ferret? Feeling invincible do ya? All fancy with that 50.cal. Lets take the quick route through the muddy field or through that wall! Flank those bastards. Oops vehicle got mired! Thrown a track(messed up hover engine ect.) or got stuck in the mud. Make some terrain risky to trespass with heavy equipment? Could also apply for Aliens. I don't remember. Does cover make you harder to hit or give you an increased toughness from damage? In X-com EU i like how the cover system makes you wanna keep your guys in cover. But sometimes i feel cover is to easily destroyed. I do get it! Aliens weapons are badass, and they should be. But if cover is important in Xenonauts in the same way, namely making your troops harder to hit. Make it somewhat sturdy. And yes destroyed cover should lower your cover. But still, kneeling behind a collapsed brickwall is a lot more cover than kneeling on open ground. Collapsed walls should not disappear as they do in X-com. If an entire building wall falls over with roof coming down on top, it should still prove valuable as cover, kneeling in the rubble. If the tiles can represent this in a good way. Rubble should provide good cover! Burnt out armoured vehicles and so forth should also be good cover. And troops behind them whether destroyed or not should easily be able to fire from behind them. Making them useful as mobile cover. And of course a death trap if destroyed while close. Aliens equipped with heavy plasma or other heavier weapons should be aware of the power their weapon possesses, meaning realize that a Xenonaut hiding behind a thin wall should still be able to be shot at, even if the alien necessarily dont have a clear line of sight to target.

Will Aliens as in Xenonauts be able to fall unconscious from wounds? Not only stunning with stun weapons? From a game play perspective i see this as maybe a bit too easy perhaps. Since you could capture important prisoners with little less effort than pure chance. But i liked it in X-com, especially when the wounded Alien regained consciousness and ran away. But apparently they couldn't rearm themselves by picking up their weapons. It could be explained by being confused from the chock or whatever, or just wounded and afraid. But for instance a Muton shouldnt care, just wake up, pick up his plasma rifle and start burning holes in rib cages again. Anyways i had som interesting situations when stunning chryssalids. I didnt want the bastard to wake up behind my troops and ambush them, so i resorted into blowing the downed beast with grenades, rather than have him wake up and make a mess. And will Some or all Aliens suffer from bleeding wounds, panic, berserk and such? The more chaotic the fighting gets. The more interesting! Or?

If i understand it correctly. Then i like it. If i switch between one soldier outside and one inside the ship. Will it just show interior/exterior depending on whom i choose? Is it possible to se an example of how it wouuld look from the inside of the ship? Anyways, i find this miles better than two parters. Nice idea, now lets try it.

I could agree on most of your observations Chris. But i admit the reason i loved playing the new one, was that i early on accepted the fact it was gonna have very little to do with OG. Doing that i appreciated the game standing on its own feet, a really entertaining game! Although admittingly it suffers from some really shitty bugs. I also abandoned a Iron man Classic, to a couple of fat Mutons stuck mating or whatever behind a railway cart in the fog of war. some 10 hours of game play. I actually did close my eyes visualizing Jake Solomon saying "Thats X-com baby!" Then strangling him with my bare hands in my apartment. Then i restarted a campaign and forgave the man. But the biggest issue i had except strategical layer was the lack of art! Which make the story incredibly dull. Now i am just around the corner of finishing the game, but i honestly don't care one bit why they are here. Now that's a horrible mistake in my book. I mean art in X-com games should be and are a really important factor for giving life and credibility to this alien invasion. Basically all discoveries are walls of text with a boring little shitty picture of an object in some lame blueprints?! I mean, i saw their concept art? Have anyone of you ever checked the archives but ones? Edit.. I actually meant asking you a question with this also. Answering it as a game maker. It feels like the mechanics are what they focused the most on. Not the story. Its obvious in the inconsistencies you pointed out in the strategy layer at least. So, isn't story, immersion and lore just as important as the mechanics?

I am kinda curious whats brewing on the problems with the UFOs implementation in the battle maps? There has been very quiet on that front lately. And i feel that is an obvious part of the beta stage of the game. Other than that, nothing seems to be missing. Nice road map and interesting to see the plan unfold Cheers!

Yes. I tried, farm map, invisible civilians, "shadow" tried to Jump fence, CTD. (V17)