[What other music do you like to listen while playing Xenonauts?]

Hi all.

Xenonauts native soundtrack is just dandy as it is, but sometimes you like to listen to something else. This happens to me with other games as well: playing Panzercorps I like to listen to the Commandos 2 songs, as well some war themes from Civilization 5, and playing Age of Empires 2 I like to listen to traditional folk music of the people I'm playing as. 

I suppose music for hacking or programming would make an interesting soundtrack for Xenonauts, but I haven't tried yet.

[What Xenonauts 2 needs]

Although, thinking of helicopters strikes, reminded me of Battle Academy 2 (and also Command and Conquer Generals as well as Company of Heroes), which had "special abilities", that the commander could call upon the AO, like airstrikes, artillery shelling, supplies. Anyone knows if they're planning on doing something similar?

[What Xenonauts 2 needs]

5 hours ago, Ninothree said:

Yeah I wouldn't advocate using air support in-mission, that would feel like cheating.

I suppose so. Plus it adds another layer to the battlescape, that will clutter the experience.

["Terror" mission]

About terror missions rationale, take a look at the X-COM UFO Defense TVTropes entry, "headscratcher" session of  http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Headscratchers/XComUFODefense

One troper suggested the following:

I got the impression that the Terror Missions were deliberate traps by the aliens for X-COM. They land and start shooting up civilians, forcing an X-COM response. X-COM arrives and runs headlong into the best the aliens have in the form of their terror units, in tight urban terrain, with civilians all around them that limits X-COM's ability to employ heavy weapons. The aliens are forcing X-COM to send in troops and potentially wipe them out or send them scurrying away in defeat. Either way ends with X-COM suffering casualties and bad PR if the aliens are able to force a victory.

[What Xenonauts 2 needs]

1 hour ago, Ninothree said:

Alternatively, drop zones themselves could come into the foreground of the game, with the option to strafe some areas of the map (or something that fighters can't do) 

All this talk of gunships is calling for a new Close Air Support mechanic. Call upon a chopper to overwatch or fire upon an area. Limitations could be: small one way range - may only be sent on missions close to its hangar; big target for plasma weapons - could be fired upon anywhere on the map; vulnerable to functioning UFO cannons - rushing and securing the UFO would reward the player with a safer AO for the gunship.

Did anyone play that Sierra game, SWAT 2? It had a chopper you could call on the mission, but I can't remember anything about it. I think it had one sniper on it, or it served only for reconnaissance, I can't remember.

[What Xenonauts 2 needs]

40 minutes ago, Safe-Keeper said:

He does indeed say "we'll build anything you want, comrade".

This I found criminal. The unique setting, where the whole world is fighting for the common good, putting government (and religious) ideologies aside, and the only active interaction on the part of Russia is this. The rest is passive: the Scientist calls them stupid.

I may be sound exhausting by now, calling for due representation and characterization of everyone, but if the game doesn't want to show diversity, don't even hint at it. Treat it like the first X-COM. Give nationalities only to the soldiers; the rest is generic and standard.

[What Xenonauts 2 needs]

1 hour ago, Safe-Keeper said:

I sort of liked that the USSR was more in the background in Xenonauts. They seemed to cooperate, but still didn't trust each other.

If the engineering bay screen is representative, the engineer corps of the Xenonauts Initiative was Soviet. Literally every nut of every new weapon and vehicle built was tightned by Soviet hands. If this isn't trust and cooperation, I don't know what is.

[What Xenonauts 2 needs]

You certainly like military variety. You must feel right at home with games like Wargame and such. 

Do consider that every addition must have a purpose and a place; failing this, you create redundancy. 

I agree with the Russian thing. It's pitiful the little influence the Soviets had on the designs of Xenonauts. 

This made me think of something: it would be great to have actual characters at the base. The base scientist (did he have a name?) was funny, but his personality was more of a funny flavor to the research entries. XCOM did it nicely: you had the american captain, the chinese engineer, the german doctor, each with personal traits; even the shadowy figure of the Council was interesting. It's a shame the other "characters" in Xenonauts - the soviet monkeywrench, the barracks officer, and the storage keeper - were only decorative.

Inshallah the devs will look into this.

[Make both site playable]

On 06/04/2018 at 7:49 PM, Max_Caine said:

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Are you a Xenonauts developer? You have quite a bit of insight into the thing. And that series of books you mentioned look like amazing literature, and an incredible foundation for games with aliens. It's curious, but both the first book (Worldwar: In the Balance) and the first X-Com came out in 1996. I wonder if one influenced the other.

Your idea to demote the player to a part of the invasion, instead of the highest authority, makes it more manageable, developer-wise, although losing the protagonism of the thing sounds lame. Also, undeniable work must be put into building a dynamic between the player and other alien generals. There would be politics at play.

Picture this: You, the Player, choose to commit your forces in South America; General Ackbar will work in North America, and both of you meet at the middle, within 100 solar cycles (days). News from the front: General Ackbar asks for reinforcements pronto! Earthlings show superb resistance there! Do you send aid or not? Siding with him could make the Americas a single powerful fortress, a beachhead for further attacks beyond both the Atlantic and the Pacific. But maybe Mister Ackbar should be released from his theatre of command, forcibly, where you'd certainly deal with things more competently.

Heh of course I have troublesome suggestions for the devs, it won't be me doing the hardwork!

edit: this politics idea came from the 15 minutes I played Decisive Victories Operation Barbarossa. It's a operational level wargame where decisions must be made at every turn, catering to generals, and to Hitler himself. It's curious that being a Nazi or not is a important character trait to consider in your dealings.

[Multiplayer Turn-based games like Xenonauts (or the original XCOM, or Silent Storm)?]

On 07/04/2018 at 8:20 PM, Coffee Potato said:

I think there was a mod of Jagged Alliance 2 that had it . The original, not the atrocity that was the remake.

Certainly noone plays it anymore?

[medals for soldier]

Medals are already given in Xenonauts. Each grants +1 bravery to the recipient. I don't think this will be stripped away from the sequel.

[Make both site playable]

16 hours ago, Chris said:

 It'd certainly be much easier to essentially texture swap Earth into Mars and the Xenonauts into the Alien Defence Force or whatever, but I think it'd miss the fundamental opportunity that comes doing an alien campaign - which is that you're actually getting to invade Earth while playing a massively superior species. Finding yourself hugely outnumbered by the primitive locals and having to beat them before they manage to steal and reverse-engineer enough of your stuff to defeat you is a pretty neat idea, particularly if you can come up with plausible reasons why the aliens choose to attack Earth in a piecemeal way that actually gives the Earthlings a chance of victory...

Great to see that you're heart's in it =)

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particularly if you can come up with plausible reasons why the aliens choose to attack Earth in a piecemeal way that actually gives the Earthlings a chance of victory...

The cycle of empires is to rise and fall. Maybe, the terrifying alien invasion of Earth is actually a last ditch expansion into our solar system for that one campaign that will heal the empire, or so is the High Council's desperate bet. Faster than Light fuel is terribly low, food reserves are scarce, and the warrior castes are getting power hungry with the apparent frailty. 

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But whether it would actually be fun to play as a game, I don't know - would it be challenging to fight massive hordes of humans in every mission, or would it just be boring? Conceptually it's a nice idea but ultimately I don't know whether it would be enjoyable in practice.

Right. 

A vulgar suggestion would be to discriminate Earth forces by their nationalities. The year is 1979. The US and Soviet Forces would be the most capable foes, in war and research. Powerful tanks, Special forces - and armed civilians in Texas lol. Now, to invade, say, developing countries (not ruled by the military) would be far easier. 

One ludonarrative sound way to explain the alien tech progression could be internal procedure. It is protocol to first send expediotionary and raiding parties, so that must be followed. Elite forces are out of your reach, for now, depending on your results.

Hell, you can go very far from here. Include a political mechanic, where you must choose which parties of the alien organization you want to favor. 

You could find inspiration in Mass Effect lore of its races and apply it to the vast variety of alien races. Eg, the Sebillians (maybe like the Aztecs) grow through combat performance; The Caesans get a buff in unit cohesion and hierarchy (they seem officer-like to me heh);  Wraiths (based on the interrogation record) couldn't control themselves being in the defensive, and could berserk if surrounded by contacts; Reapers are basically rabid beasts and should be tamed from time to time; also they reproduce via destruction: if the commander chooses to employ them, victims MUST be made available, or the reapers will claim their own; Harridans, being dumb puppets, wouldn't fare well in groups, a two-way distaste between both parts.

You can write a book on Xenology with the basis Xenonauts provided =)

 

edit: ponderings on this post. While playing as the Xenonauts, we find success through unity (of the ideologically diverse peoples of Earth), victory despite huge differences; as the Aliens, the player will experience difficulty because on their own diversity. This makes for interesting gameplay, but I don't like the implications of this, in the current cultural political scenery we're in. I, speaking as a person, ultimately think diversity is good. Maybe the ultimate theme of the alien campaign would be that FORCED diversity, towards an immoral objective, is set to fail.

[Make both site playable]

17 hours ago, Chris said:

So maybe you'll be able to tempt me into some kind of alien campaign DLC post-release, but I'm not even going to consider it until then  

A (laughbly) simple idea, would be to basicly reverse the game as it is:

- Randomize the Earth's, or better, Mars' geography;

- The proud, and desperate, people of Mars have designated you for the defense against the alien forces (in later interrogations, you'll discover they call themselves Homo Sapiens). So you set your first base, according to the regions you want to better protect;

- Take a look at your initial troops: volunteer Caesans, conscripted Sebillians, one or two spare Drones, and equip them to your liking;

- Radar contact! Enemy expeditionary ship in bound! You go intercept it with available assets at the time (http://xenonauts.wikia.com/wiki/Fighter);

- You send your team in a Light Scout ship to check the crashsite

- and so it goes.

Beyond this, the greater challenge would be to come up with an interesting technological progression. The classic logic should remain: the enemy is superior, and you race to catch up. Maybe, in this universe, the humans went from ballistic straight to the superior MAG weaponry. So you, as alien, go from the basic Plasma, to MAG and ultimately to... I have no idea what could be beyond that.

[Are multi-tile vehicles still going to be removed from X2?]

The XCOM have those drones. They can be used for adhoc cover by the soldiers. Very practical.

[Correcting fire]

Yeah, on one hand it would reward bounding overwatch, on the other, turtling would also be rewarded.

Maybe this setup would call for a counter: remaining stationary buffs accuracy at every turn, but taking fire from the sides would also be increasingly damaging. This would motivate the use of flanking. Maybe even implement a tunnel vision mechanic, but that could turn shooting the main door of the smaller ships into a piece of cake.

Focused shooters should also be more susceptible to suppression.

[Make both site playable]

17 hours ago, Safe-Keeper said:

The thing I want the most would be for other players to control the aliens when you play missions in single-player, for extra challenge .

That is a great idea. Of course, like all games with drop-in multiplayer, like Far Cry, it would be dead in a matter of months. But friends could arrange to meet eachother. I think it would be great, challenging, fun. 

Would the alien player choose where to deploy? or would all his units start in the ship, and sally forth? This would be the more realistic setting, if the Xenonaut team arrived rapidly at the crashsite. 

Ah the delicious reapers ambushes. The Harridan snipers positioning. It would rock.

 

edit: the alien campaign would also be a great addition. I think it should be harder than the Xenonauts side. 

The aliens should be penalized for each casualty and equipment left behind - this accelerates Xenonaut research, increasing difficulty. At the same time, attacks should be done to bring in hostages and cows. Maybe hostages, civilian or otherwise, could be mutated into new units, as the aliens seem to adopt dominated races into their roster. Also, just like in the standard game, the higher the terror, the more susceptible a country is to submission; this would give a strategic depth to the game.

I'm thinking of the zerg campaign in Starcraft 2, which I haven't played. I know you choose how your units evolve, depending on your playstyle. This could be adopted.

edit 2: what would be Earth's defense at the start of the alien campaign? No Xenonauts unit, for a tutorial? One Xenonaut base, and future bases popping up days later, or do they start with numerous bases already? 

This Alien campaign thing could be a very complex endeavor. Would you send a ship to terrorize a rural village, for a quick round of hostages, or a major city hub, with better protection, but also with a better show of terror?

[Multiplayer Turn-based games like Xenonauts (or the original XCOM, or Silent Storm)?]

Hello all. I was wondering if you know any turn based games as tactical as Xenonauts (in the battlescape), where you can face, or coop, with other people. Silent Storm comes to mind as a similar game, although it doesn't have a suppresion mechanic, but I can't remember if it has multiplayer.

I suppose the latest XCOM is an option, but the gameplay is streamlined, taking it far away from the tactical depth of Xenonauts, and the original XCOM. It still is an awesome game, but I'm looking for something more technically complex. It must be amazing to work with (or against) another person in this sort of game, so much space for communication, planning and coordination.