Voidfoam

Ya it shouldn't be easy you know. A lone scout will and should mess up your craft if you don't do it correct. 2 Rockets is all you are bringing. Sorry you are not low on ammo. Just try and control your fighters, you get the hang of it soon!

@SuichiNiwa: Thats the hypervelocity. Powerful weapons might pass through objects if damage is high enough. Its just great. Because you know, unless hitting bones or being slowed down by a vest or other protection this is very likely for a bullet.

Well the Aliens are not afraid of blowing their shit up rather than have it Captured. Xenonauts should be well aware of that since the Iceland incident pretty much left nothing but a blast crater the size of small town. And that was all they had to study up til now, so some sort of awareness of this occurring is nothing more than obvious. But i also find rushing half of the globe deactivating it is strange. But i like the idea of having them trigger a meltdown of their power core during the fighting if they are loosing. Sometimes. And i also really like getting information from interrogations to hit them when they are weak or unprepared. Maybe during preparations for building a base, Abduct missions, Resupply or in the middle of mating season.

Ha! Shadowcaster is a good name! I like that. I like the ability to block out the light also. Mine would be simply be called "Nightmares" or "Dreamwarper" More of a horror/Tftd touch i guess!

I am sure that makes perfect sense for you! I agree with Chris i also find that amusing. In nothing but a good way. Also sympathetic and eccentric in a likable way! Cheers too you Max_Caine! Good initiative.

Ok that's cool. Because i don't wanna know. But nice to know its in somehow. I am not sure i understand the "gloom" part of your post Gaudlike. Did you mean like some sort of active cover unit concealing the aliens around it in a mind fog of sorts? In that case i like your thinking. Perhaps difficult to make it look good? I also thought in the case of my little mind creature it would use others minds as platforms. So maybe its own range would be quite small, say 5 tiles around. But if capturing one soldier this capture would also transfer say five tiles, capturing another and so on. Making it a lot more deadly if happening to catch several soldiers crammed. In short making him kinda harmless when around few, and potentially catastrophic when around many. But of course it would be more dangerous for it to close in. And to balance him, you could have him immobile and "unaware" whilst in active mode. To euphoric to pay attention. So that he would present an easier target. This is just one creature of many with a different role than killing. Gaudlikes is another, if i understood you correctly. I also thought of some kind of engineer race. Or with engineer abilities. Enhancing efficiency on drones and robotic units, maybe also light repairs. Simply because its more fun fighting a diverse enemy! And balance is not fun when completely balanced. If someone might think this sounds too scary or powerful. Find ways to overcome it yourselves. Thats a part of the charm with being the weaker one in a struggle. According to me.

No offence thrashman. But that was the shitiest, most uninteresting answer i ever got. If you don't like it at all just hold your tongue, or maybe you could give some interesting critique instead. All of this was an idea, especially the "maybe" in the part you choose to pick out. Damn... There is a lot of room for passive abilities in these kind of games. This would be just one way to go. Others could be rookie enhancers late game.

When speaking of unique in the genre Well you see i didn't exactly envision it running upfront to your super though sniper. Of course it would stay out of the way and prefer the alleyways and rooms of houses. And by using its mind and searching for other minds your beloved marksmen and machingunners could sit on the roof of a house crying their horrified minds out, while he is the floor below them just enjoying the ride of fear, from through the wall. On a more serious note though. It would be simpler to implement since it wouldn't need renders with any weapons or such. Just movement and death animation.

Now i know that probably all alien enemies that will be in the game is already mapped out and planned. I have had many years since beloved X-com to think about aliens i my self would like to face in such a game. Wouldn't it be interesting with something quite unique in the genre. I am thinking something with the sneaky speed and death contempt of the Chryssalid but with the terrifying psychic abilities of say the Ethereal. A small, lean, fragile, dwarf sized vessel of flesh with two pitch black eyes like an bottomless abyss if gazed into but most important, a thirsty, devouring radiating mind. A mind that radiates demoralizing or even paralyzing nightmares to the enemies (Civilians, Xenonauts) It could have active abilities also, but i think it would be too powerful and take away its character. Now what it would try to do, is to sneak up to your troops as close as it can get, and by just being in their proximity it would render soldiers paralyzed, drop equipment or simply panicking them. It would not carry a gun, and would have no means or even intent of physical aggression other that radiating these horrible nightmares before the eyes of the poor victims. Its body would be a mere carrier of its mind. Living of the imagery it would steal/borrow from its victims heads. Having no intent to kill, since it would deprive it of its entertainment/nutrition. So in effect it would not kill itself. They could also perhaps be made more interesting also choose a defensive mind attack, if detected. Fooling the senses, eyes and hearing that they aren't there so they could invisibly relocate and try another time. A Xenonaut further away could see it skulk away and finish of the critter with ease. Now i see them as primarily a terror weapon. Or maybe something larger ships could house one of, searching the ship constantly for intruders or unwelcome guests. Maybe that's one of the reasons Aliens abduct people simply to have a supply of thoughts. Since its thoughts and dreams this vicious little beings mind somehow transforms into proteins for its physical development.

I engaged a small hoover drone and a Ceasan on a terror mission with three troops up front. Both tucked tail and ran. They had cover just behind them. What i think would have been nice in that kind of situation is if the drone would have opened fire in full force against my troops, suppressing them. The Ceasan could have made for the cover and returned fire from there. Now both were gunned down in the open. I guess this is a tall request, making such a consequent decision. But the drone is after all a robotic support unit for maintaining a shitload of fire on my troops- he could have suppressed them all, and sacrificed itself for the benefit of the non robotic unit. And i have also noticed that the AI prefer to either shot or move, a combination of both would perhaps have been fitting in this very engagement. But i have not tested so much, maybe others have other experiences contradicting this one? (That the drone runs from armor feels anyhow correct, since its value is reduced alot.)

Well thats just pure soft porn right there! Damn thats nice! I liked the crammed interiors and small spaces, makes perfect for bloody close quarters with assault teams.

I wont help with that i can assure you, as soon as beta hits, i am out of here. I already know more than i wish i did.

I would like to ask out of pure curiosity. Are all art, descriptions, backgrounds and story ready to implement and waiting. Or are you "in progress" with this still?

I liked the applause and the cheering in the X-com game after the first downing. This would be nice after a successful terror mission, downed big ship or destroyed alien base. In other words, the important victories. That would be nice. Also the sounds of fighting and screaming in the terror missions in X-com EU i liked a lot. Made a whole lot unique stress and severity apart from the other missions in the game. Generally, for some reason, no games ever succeed in making unit acknowledge-sounds sound good. They never feel real. But the once playing now in Aircombat sound good and very real, probably because they are.

What about Voidfoams idea at the bottom of page 2 in this thread. It didn't get addressed and i feel it was quite interesting Its at least a different approach to the problem of late game rookies. And on the interception part, as it is now i am defiantly not bored, i am having my hands full. And i liked scouting around the globe the first months for the odd UFOS in X-com. But it feels like in Xenonauts the scale and strategy of the alien invasion is more like an quickly enveloping military attack. So in that case it would be plausible that the conventional military succeeded in downing the odd smaller UFOS either with AA or Airforce.

I remember the beloved leader (Chris) saying something in the line of "Id rather end my own life" But i think he was referring more to the strain of developing a game in 2d, tiles. I am glad he did it though, Xenonauts looks awesome, but i never liked 3D I guess "no" was the short answer A sequel of some sort though, is probably very likely if as you stated, sales favor it.

Hmm, i have nothing to add when regarding the Aircraft issue. I think its fine the way it is now, expect Chinook range- On 1) i have a completely new(i think) idea. Maybe not highly realistic but more of a representation of realistic. Mostly because i strongly dislike going into combat with a squad of say only colonels. The more chefs ...well you know. In X-com you could attain only a certain number of officers depending on amount of soldiers. This is good. Generally it took into late game to rank up soldiers. Lets give the rookies passive bonuses to their stats from having high ranking officers on the mission. If the officer dies. Well the bonuses goes with him, though luck for the player and the rookies. This makes officers a valuable asset and something to protect, and would automatically improve the late game rookies to a fighting force to reckon with. In war snipers targets the patch on your collar for a reason, its not a grudge thing The bonuses wont stack, if you have a captain, as the highest ranking one. Then he sets the standard. Not the two sergeants in the group. If the captain goes. Sergeants stats boost the rookies. The bonuses diminishes when/if the rookie gains stats similarly to the officer himself. Lets say a rookie then becomes just as good or better under a captain or colonel. Well fine. When beloved captain Gareths face gets burnt into a mess of charred flesh and bones from that sneaky alien sniper, fear not for your future. There is now ample amounts of competent rookies to draft into officers. Loose them all late game! Well lets just say you are in for a rough ride. You could argue that it is not realistic to have someone shoot better because of a present high ranking officer. But this could of course represent being led by a good leader. Anybody who has fought in the army or any other organisation knows the difference in a groups performance from this. Cheers! Ps. This would comfortably remove the need for say the training idea. Since of course these officers and veterans teach the new guys. although i would strongly prefer the training idea, before the mass of late game sergeants!

I don't think that you thought of them as flying grey boxes when you played it many years ago, i think that's something you call them afterwards because of recent discussions on shape and form. Yes UFOs in Ufo:EU were very scaled down. But they were in no sense any more ugly or boxy than the rest of the game. The abductor is actually star shaped, remember?

Here is my X-com mini review! OG and Firaxis X-com has 3 things in common! 1) The name 2) Its turn based. 3) You are fighting aliens. But my beef with Firaxis is not so much game play as it is with the "vision" or lack of it. My biggest letdowns with this game are. In order of "letdowness" 1) The lore! aaaa aaaa cmon! "Why are they taking people?" Well first of all Firaxis, you presented it in such a lame ass way, that actually I don't care! There you have it- i don't care one bit why they are taking people! In the original they came at night. In scary ships to our towns and farms and fetched us. They stringed us, our cows and poultry up and cut us open with huge cutters. Why? I don't know exactly. But it made my imagination run wild and you have done shit to my imagination. They made us into liquid and drank us that's one thing i know. Not so strange when half of your army is enslaved carnivores from distant worlds. I don't need all answers JAKE! I need inspiration. The discoveries i make in the "remake" i barely care for. The "art" and walls of text is almost insultingly boring in a game whose predecessor made the fight inspiring and mysterious with it. And i know exactly everything about the Snakemen and Muton. Cause the OG showed me an inspiring picture with some facts, of a live one, and a cut up one. Then based on that i figured out all about their home world, culture, history and fate. Simply because i cared. I need to be inspired Jake and Sid, if you are to make a great game. You failed. You could of course argue that i was younger and had a more vivid imagination. But that would be horseshit, cause its wrong! 2)Well the geoscape and my possibilities there are so obviously made for the consoles and its locked ufo fights and three combo abductions is just repetitive and boring. No surprises there! I really wonder for my next playtrough. Will i go for cash or scientists? Exiting. Will there perhaps be a small scout to shot down after the first two other missons? Cant wait! 3) The escalation of the early game is a bit too much action. I liked the first month in OG hunting the single scout. 4 Interception left me the first time with a feeling of .......huh!? It was actually the only area were i thought it would be impossible to not outdo OG! Shame on me. Jake proved me wrong. Very inspiring TY Jake. I guess Xenonauts have spoiled me! On the other side! Its hard and unforgiving as hell! It was ages ago i played a game i could loose. And i care about my best guys. At least early game. Have had some real nail biters! Thanks Firaxis for providing a challenge! I like the fighting. Its a nice and challenging form of chess. Although the predictability of the alien behavior "squads of three, sitting waiting" makes it very flawed and predictable when you get the hang of it. The occasional single flanker, or more movement from the aliens would have been a game changer. But mostly on the AI side i like X-com. Aliens working in squads feels very nice. Actually id rather have both the strangler and the squad military style to be honest. I liked the screams of panic, gunfights, choppers and sirens in the terror missions! Made a lot for immersion (Hint Chris!) Good flow in animations and soldiers interact nice with surroundings. Overall a very well worked and consistent style in graphics. I thought i would hate it before. But i actually kinda like it know. Even the silly infiltration unit "thinman." Nice infiltration btw. Seems the aliens should do more anatomy studies of us, instead of planning for that epic Hollywood evil alien thing i don't care about anyways. Solid and fun game in many parts! Horrible in others. Glad i bought it, but i wont play it much longer unless modders make wonders. Now i am eager to hear what Chris thought of it! Since this was his biggest chance of playing a remake himself, and of course if he got any nice ideas from it. Chris?

I assume he is only providing suggestions for outer hull and size of ship. Since thats whats causing the issues. Of course it will be rooms. But why would he add those now? Its not up to him.

Imagine that shit when painted and done. zzz1010 for president!! Luv it.

Nice work again zzz1010. Well i don't think those maps look too big. And the ships look nice in size, added there are several floors. According to me, bigger is too big, and maybe i am wrong. Maybe these are too big as well? Hard to say without being able to test a map. Are this the planned size by development team or is it your own vision of the size? And are this your own shapes or the shapes of what was planned? If it is what was planned, i can still only see problems in the shape of the cruiser? But maybe i misunderstood the issues involved.

People seem to think its a choice between all in one map missons or "two parters." Its not. Two parters is a solution to a problem that occurred. Two parters will be avoided if its possible as i understand from Chris part 2 in "ufos and being horrible." If the problem with the big ships is solved then there wont be "two parters." If not there is no other way. So this vote is superfluous, because its not depending on which one you guys prefer. Its depending on which one is doable.

Ok. I dont like this idea. Dont get me wrong, its a good solution! But i dont like the way it plays out. Because i wanna go in my ships and, kill them all, and secure them for myself. 14 men against 1400 and sealing sections of? Sounds like a end mission to me. Not the way every big ufo mission plays out. Have we even discussed the size of the ships? To me it seems the size have gotten too large. Why should they bee so big? It doesn't feel fun from a gameplay point of view. This idea sound exactly like the cruise ships from TFTD, albeit with and UFO interior otherwise the same. And they were too big, too boring and time consuming. I would suggest changing shape and size first. Make them more compatible with the tile system. There are obviously a middle ground between flying phenomena of beautiful shapes and "pancake stacks" as has been shown.

Sign up for the Dota 2 Beta. Its free to play, and will be free to play. The most lonely person i know finds that game very fun Haven't tested it myself though. Stay away from SC 2, team liquids forum and the general SC 2 community is not an inspiring place for misanthropes, or maybe i should say its very inspiring. Hence not good.