Dren608

I like the idea, one of the things in the original X-COM was the unpredictability of the next alien mission. Under the hood they basically had each mission type available, They did some limitations like % chance of Base attacks being based on your activity, but basically the Game would "try" say abduction missions a couple of times, if they succeeded they kept doing them, once you stopped them 2-3 times in a row, it went back to the RMG (Random Mission generator). Where it was possible to generate the exact sane mission set. I had one game on Superhuman level that had 6 or 7 terror missions in a row, I beat each of them but it took a long time for the Random assigning code to pick something else. It was epic in feel and made it impossible to "game the system" as it wasn't really scripted except for a few things (there was always at least one Base Attack and At least one Alien Base building sequence). As time went on tougher alien mixes too. It made the game very re-playable because of the Chaotic nature of the mission selection. I would love something like that in X2. Yes you will have your "story missions" but let's randomize "when", maybe its relatively quickly like now, Maybe it starts coming into the game later. You might come to recognize the missions as a story line type, but having them pop up at different times keeps you guessing. Another thought is having random "mixes" of aliens on missions, this keeps the "oh another abduction mission" thought have a possible surprise. Instead of Secton/Psyons its Wairths/Mantids! It would go a long way to insure you want to play the game again - Win or lose, because of the Variety.

So someone else read the X-com novel (well more like a long short story...)

I've done some comparison math and based on observed damages in missions it seems to go something like this. The Armor eats up some of your Damage dealt. then your damage to the armor is calculated after the attack. So basic assumptions in my comparison are these: You will hit, you will do the listed damage (RNG always at 100%), Armor of alien is at 20. Both weapons do 40 damage Thermal or Kinetic which can make a difference on Alien type later on. So The Mag Rifle will do 25 (40 - 15armor because 5 penetration which goes by that much armor) damage on first hit, Laser 20 (40 -20 armor) Then the Armor is reduced to 18 for the Mag Weapon, to 12 for the Laser. 2nd shot 27 (40 -13 because of Penetration), for the Mag, 28 (40-12) for the Laser. From 3rd shot on the Laser is superior as long as it is the same target. You usually get 1 shot sometimes 2 on a specific alien from one soldier. The kicker comes in the available shots. over 20 attacks the Mag doesn't need a reload, the Laser needs 3 (until you get the upgraded ones) that means it will take you "23 shots" to get 20 actual shots out of the Laser (reloads basically cost a shot in TU). Currently the missions aren't long enough for the most part to make that a significant issue. All the above is observational data I don't have access to the actual code, so the Devs or others that have delved into the code can correct the above. I personally bring a couple Lasers and a couple of Mags, the Lasers hit first to lower armor then the Mag can finish them off. Just the way it seems to work from what I've observed in 1.28b

That doesn't change the reason they use "conventional" type weapons, they are trying to keep the tensions up between the factions of earth. Seeing damage and dead people from Weaponry not available to their "normal" military will have people looking in the "Wrong Places". So cleaners don't get Plasma weaponry from the get go because of that story element.

Content for early access end around day 180, you might get some more UFOs by random chance but that would be about it.

Yeah it is really nice early in the game because you usually don't have many options for intercepts or Ground mission to have an auto select. I have had it select a damaged AC (over 50% damaged) to do an intercept and had to deselect it

Hope these help - BTW Content basically ends at 180 days in early access, so anything beyond that is just RNG things going on. 1. Known bug should be fixed in near future release (see 19 too) 2 - 3 Save Game before it happens and Send to Devs on Bug reporting thread. 4. known bug, should be corrected in near future Release 5. I think they got tunnel vision, 6 regions, 6 bases (1 per). the biggest bug on this was losing a base did not let you rebuild it so you would have one less base for game. 6. known issue not sure it will be done real soon, it is something that should be doable 7 not sure all those are implemented for Early access - I don't think Lasers count (I think it is supposed to be get the Plasma tech) 8-10 good suggestions 11. you build extra Radars to increaese range (3 is max range) 12 - 16 many discussions on this mechanic 17. known "bug" since civilians don't seem to matter ATM just let them draw Alien fire 18. Well we only have the first 180 days to work with that is 1 base every other month... 19. it is explained in nested tool tips - go to soldier screen hover over a stat, the nested tool tips give you how to improve, and further in the nested tool tips of several of them it leads you to the mechanics (progression points that once hit a certain count make a stat go up a point see attached Screen shot on diminishing returns.). The one on strength basically tells you to move with a full load out to increase the stat over time. In general what you do on the battlefields will ramp up your stats the fastest (Shoot at aliens, carry a full load, etc.) Training centers add progression points like 4 an hour, so in a day you get 96 points. It takes 1000 progression points to get points 1-5, then 1200 points for next tier and so on, after a while it will slow down considerably. So Higher stats to start are fairly important for your soldiers. 20. It does help your Accuracy, but you didn't technically" Kill it". You don't you get credit towards being an Ace in Areal combat if the other guy just runs of fuel and crashes. I don't think this will change. Maybe we can have it help the soldiers Bravery?

I do believe the Alien's Grenade use is a matter of getting "x" number of your soldiers in the blast radius, as I'm paranoid for my own soldiers blowing the Throw of a grenade I very rarely have more than two next to each other (usually because need of using a med-kit) That may change when the start doing the AI reworks so start expecting more use, like to remove your cover...

The lore I remember when this started in kick starter was the cleaners used "conventional" weaponry to allow their actions to be "blamed" on other human factions and thus continue the cold war and regional rivalries so we wouldn't notice what was really going on. Maybe I'm "miss-remembering"?

And Gas Masks/Vision goggles for Assaults that go into the Smoke filled rooms. We had that once upon a time in alpha/beta versions, don't know why it went away.

Training: If you go to soldiers screen and hover over an attribute like TU or ACC you get a tool tip, also over the training facility I think. The Mechanics are a bit involved. You get Progress points towards attributes from Doing things in combat (like Shooting at aliens, using many TU moving with near max load, etc.). The Training facility also grants a few points per hour. the first 1-5 actual points added are 1000 progress points each, then it increases the total for higher points added above your max. Over your soldier when you see the pluses from combat experience that is what those are added to character from the progress points they have earned. I think the "training points" are added into the combat experience points so when you get to the Threshold for any given attribute it gets another +1 and the progress points reset (I think extras overflow so if you go over by say 100 progress points they are put into the next level of progression. So Training will help you along but only going out and actually doing stuff on the battlefield will really get your Attributes up to higher levels (Like 80+). There is a tool tip trees you can find that shows how many progress points it takes for Attribute plusses. It reinforces that higher stats in the starting soldier will make it easier for you to get them up to those really high levels (80+). See Screen shot clip attached

I build 2 ACC Shot guns and maybe 2 ACC rifles, They help in the early missions , LAZ Sniper and 4-5 LAZ rifles after that, (Until the good stuff comes). The ACC Shot guns I'm still using in Month 4, since I use them at really close range the diff in LAZ Shotgun to ACC Shotgun doesn't seem to matter that much, and the Resources are better spent on other things than LAZ Shotguns. The are only a "TRAP" if you go all in, as you use up too many resources before you should. A couple can help but main Riflemen probably need to be on LAZ as well as Sniper. I just use the original MG as a suppression/Cover remover. Can't afford the Resources for ACC or LAZ versions. Now ACC Cannons for Fighters are a "TRAP" as LAZ guns for AC are so much better (Range is everything in Air combat) My 2 cents worth.

Knife does less Damage than a pistol and weighs more... It weighs like it is a Sword not a combat knife. Even a Bowie knife doesn't weigh that much. How about we drop its weight to half of current (5) that takes into account of how you have to actually use it in a live combat situation, which I think the "weight" is supposed to also represent. I also find it odd that reloading Weapons takes so many TUs, Modern Combat rifles don't take that long to switch Magazines, Again I guess it is a game balance thing. Just seems odd that you can't usually get any kind of shot off after reloading.

BTW you can not destroy the original structures in your first base...

I just confirmed that the original structures come up whit a can not be demolished message. I can only think this is due to the (spoiler alert) - Base attack mission. Hopefully @Chris will read this and let us redesign the initial base to be more defensible (if we want to spend all that cash)

I just tried it in 1.28b version (not experimental) and it worked for me. I could even destroy something that has people or items in it (i.e Storage unit or Living Quarters, Lab, Workshop) and the people stayed in count for Lab and Workshop, not so much for Living quarters.

Is it broken in that you can't select them or just you can't see all the info?

I believe if you lose your last base that is basically a lost game, used to take us to a "loss" screen. Basically all of the Xenonaut program has been destroyed. Don't know if they want to allow you to rebuild if last base destroyed. Now if you still have a base somewhere on the GeoScape, then that would be a Bug.

I would request the Admins lock this thread, so we can discuss the game - political views have other forums to be voiced in.

Happens to me regularly when I move them to a position for next turn and forget I had the Pistol up for reaction fire. Now if it takes on the characteristics of say a LMG or Shotgun then that would be A Bug

Exactly, Veteran players like myself can probably figure it out, "newbies" will not understand. A tool tip per region would be ideal, but just separating the research income to it's own line item would seem "easier" to implement and make it clearer as to what's going on from the funding side. BTW in first info box at getting to base there is a reference to handling the political side (cryptic for funding) as long as panic doesn't get to high. So there is a hint that keeping Panic low is something you need to do.

For me that is why the new player will be confused, you told them you get +$240,000 funding, but the Funding report does not show that. It is "hidden" in the 6 funding Regions totals. A New player would rationally expect to see a line item showing their increased funding. The reductions for each region would still effect over all funding total but ti would be "cleaner" visually to see the Research funding as it's own line item in the funding report. It also would reinforce the lowering of funding in various regions as You might see say three with negative levels prompting you to do something for those areas. Something to think about. BTW: I try to look at a game in development/EA like this from a "I have no idea what I'm doing" perspective. Something as simple as adding the line item shows a true Newbie they did something "Good" and will also reinforce the poor protection of regions that are now showing negative funding. with it added to funding regions they could still show positive numbers in funding but not as high which could lead to misunderstanding how the funding works. Love what you've done so far - Really want more content/story line but there are other threads for that...

I believe it gives you just one warning, a box comes up saying you will lose all progress and ask if you really want to change research. This is definitely not an intuitive thing. The Research you already have done should at least jump start you when you return. Maybe lose a % of current project, for each other pproject you start before returning.

The opening cinematic and the previous text intro both state it is 2009, the cold war is still on... So we are in an alternate time line or parallel universe (your choice on that) so while stuff looks somewhat familiar not all is based on our technology. IF you read te notes on things like the Interceptors it states that they work because the are old technology, There is a fair amount of "lore" available in your scientist's reports and is available in the Encyclopedia (Xenopedia?) that you can access. IT also stops the clock so no worries about getting ambushed

OK so in bug reports I got this from Chris: So it is buried in the Regions, there is no indication that this is the case, just "up by $240,000" in the research description. I had ridiculously low Panic and it still didn't seem to matter on funding to go up, only the incidents that happen and panic above start seem to reduce it, there doesn't see mto be any bonus to keeping panic low (I had it in single digits in 3 regions) So I would like an under the hood explanation of the Factors they are using because it seems to be a Random number is Generated, then start deductions, only addition being your research that gives funding? As the player you should get rewarded for protecting regions by increased funding, but that doesn't seem to be the case. At least some sort of dialogue or tool tips for each region at funding that gives you a reason why your funding is lagging. OH well the planet will just have to get conquered due to lack of funding