maxm222

This also drove me nuts in X-Com: in the first couple of months, what alien/enemy loot/corpses can I safely sell without worrying that--as with alien alloys-- I'll **need it later on.** I'm writing this after 10 minutes of searches through the database here & finding nothing so far. I vaguely recall that in some earlier version I needed some alien weapon to do a subsequent Xenonaut weapon upgrade. But: - Will I need alien scanners for anything later on? - Do I need to keep Cleaner data or can I sell it all? - Do I have to keep any alien corpses? Because that entire section of the storeroom stinks so bad that no one will go in there. Players can always try to look up this info in 3rd party guides, but this is one area where I think it would naturally fit in with some research/after-action/intel report, just as with the Alien Alloy report in the Xenopedia section. For example: "SECTON CORPSES: While one corpse was necessary for our autopsy, Research says we can sell any further dead Sectons to the intel services of other countries. Only use the Odor-B-Gone body bags for international mail. " "ALIEN SCANNERS: We are aware that one of the techs was able to somehow connect an alien scanner to an internet connection and avoid paying for streaming movie content. DON'T DO THIS! All scanners can be sold to other intel services--money that will (or maybe won't) pay for that next clip of ammo when you reach for it." "ALIEN VIDEO GAME CARTS: With considerable effort, we have translated the titles of two of the most frequently recovered alien game carts: they appear to be "Gollum" and "Dead Matter." We haven't recovered an alien player (Alienware PCs don't appear to have the proper interface), but we are destroying all of these, carts, just in case.."

With the Research Projects: I'm assuming you're talking about researching multiple different areas (like a new weapon type and also new alien materials) at the same time? If so, I don't think there is a way to do that. Only one research project at a time. If I'm wrong, someone tell me! I'd like to research multiple areas simultaneously--although that would probably slow down all the projects even more. More scientists = faster research, as far as I know. I don't know what the exact command structure of the Xenos is, but I also find the Operations Director irritating, although not as irritating as many of the commanding officers in games who apparently think they have to sound like a nine-year-old's idea of a "hard-ass" CO. I think it's difficult to get away from all the comic book cliches when writing military character dialogue, since the content of what they're saying is extremely limited ("Do this! Stop that! Faster! You're an idiot!"), and the clever or different ways of saying any of those things were used up a long time ago. Also, I think the additional dialogue at the beginning of a mission is simply not needed or interesting--unless it is conveying information that the game doesn't give me in any other way and it's not cringe-worthy. Come to think of it, why would the big chief wait until the ship is actually landing on the battlefield and subject to possible immediate attack to give last minute instructions or a pep talk to the commander? The Chief Scientist is also a cliche: the aloof, irritable, arrogant guy who thinks anyone's ideas or instructions are mindless, unnecessary interruptions; I find that boy annoying also. But of course, if the game has a comic book sensibility and is not a role-playing game, spending much development time on trying to create really humorous or interesting or profound dialogue for 2-dimensional characters when most of us are playing for the combat and strategic aspects, doesn't make a lot of sense.

I noticed for the first time that an open door did not appear to slow down or stop an enemy shot. Do you (or anyone) know if that's true of all doors in any position? If I could use them as cover (I thought they were!) I'd be in favor of using them as cover, but if they are hinged and don't block LOS or weapon fire, I'd rather they open to a flat position against wall their hinges are on.

Thanks for the response. I was able to save my last game by writing in the name--will try using game-suggested save title next time. As for what is actually in my game directory (in Users), maybe showing my saves and logs in file manager will be quickest by way of explanation. I haven't looked through all the various mission(?) folders, but they all appear empty except for silver-queen:

See screen shot and files. This had also been happening intermittently in some recent versions. Also, "save game" UI had previously "filled up" with ~ 50 save files which mostly disappeared after V1.29, leaving around 10 saved files with V1.30 or .31, and now only these three saved files appear. output.log.1 output.log

Got it, thanks.

When I started up the new build my saved games button is disabled and if I go to the load screen (to load a v27.6 save) it shows the "made on older version and can't be loaded" message.

After a break for a while (after playing beta versions for 4 years and over 700 hours, Steam tells me), I wanted to say that I think I'm the most impressed with V27.4 compared to past versions. Movement, combat, views, UI all seem the best they've been so far with fewest or no glitches. Base-building, choosing and equipping troops, choosing research and building projects all seem the easiest and most logical so far. The variety of gameplay loops in the beginning game (Cleaner combat, downed craft, air-to-air, alien intel team combat (I think) base-building, research/engineering choices, etc.) seem to be the most interesting/fun combination yet. And SO HAPPY TO SEE A GOOD INITIAL TUTORIAL! I think tutorials can make or break games for many people. Suggestion: Base-building needs a good tutorial. Starting out, I was flummoxed and frustrated by things like not knowing I could rotate a hanger with the mouse wheel, or what was the effect of two medical centers. And JUST AS HAPPY TO SEE THE END OF THE "HIDDEN MOVEMENT" GRAPHIC! It was a break-the-immersion experience every time the semi-zombie faces of those two soldiers popped up, covering movement that was already hidden. Civilian NPC AI: except as an additional score measure prompting faster exploration in combat (personally, I let 'em die--better than getting my folks shot), I don't see the point in having them run around in random patterns, including running away from the troops and helicopter that would presumably offer safety and towards obvious alien locations. It's another immersion-breaking distraction for me. I assume there's a rationale, but why couldn't they gather around the chopper or try to put the Xeno troops between them and the aliens, once they see the troops/chopper? My biggest wish: Better dialogue. It mostly feels like filler that doesn't suggest that there is more than one dimension to a character or which adds interesting or useful information about a current or upcoming situation or challenge. For example, here's dialogue from the first Cleaner mission: ------------------------------------------------------ Operations Director: OK, Commander, The dropship has touched down. Get in, grab as much data from their computers as possible, then get back to the dropship. We won’t have long before Cleaner reinforcements arrive. Commander: Understood. And you’re absolutely sure this building is under Cleaner control? Operations Director: Positive. Well, mostly. Too late to back out now though! Get on with it! ----------------------------------------------------- I thought the OD's "Well, mostly" answer was humorous, but.. I'm assuming the "Commander" is the player? Although, if so, why is there a picture of a guy with a beard, since the player might be a 15 year-old kid or a woman, and we don't get a choice to choose appearances (maybe in the future?). I also noticed that I, as Commander, have made the interesting fashion choice: to dress as a commercial airline pilot with a white shirt and tie and big-brimmed captain's hat. Maybe I stay in the chopper and monitor the battle from there? Or maybe I'm not on the battlefield at all, but monitoring from an undisclosed location? Because if I'm on the scene, why does the Operations Director tell me that "the dropship has touched down." I'm so stupid I wouldn't have noticed, even though I'm on the dropship? And then she repeats what the basic mission is and that I've got to hurry--so I must have a severely impaired memory, as well. But I indicate that I'm all over it--except that, at this late point in the mission, I'm wondering whether the objective information is actually legitimate/accurate. Maybe the Cleaners aren't here at all? What would have been extremely helpful, if not as dramatic, would have been to have been told that I have to right mouse click--not left click as with most other UI interaction--with the computers to grab the data. That missing information meant accidentally finding out about right click on my second try after being unable to collect any data. But maybe I missed something in the briefing? The Operations Director could be telling me things like: "We think the reinforcements will be better armed than the operatives on the site." or "We think the current operatives are inside the building." Anyway, whatever the dialogue, good to see all the improvements. Keep it up!

I don't understand the point about comments. When is it okay to make comments to your post?

The amount of time for a game to be delivered that bothers people enough to post a comment (we don't really know about non-posters, right?) seems to vary as much as which game elements & mechanics people like or don't like enough to comment on them--which is to say, it's all over the map. In general, I'm bothered most by game dev teams that don't share progress updates and don't respond to feedback and make repeated promises which aren't kept while little or nothing about the game seems to change. The Xeno-2 team doesn't fit any of these categories, and have, in my opinion, been among the best examples of competent customer & potential customer relations in the industry. And I think the game is so much better in so many ways than the original Xeno, that whatever time to get here has been worth it. I understand the impatience of someone who expects a game within X amount of time after a trailer or announcement, but if you look at the variety of outcomes of various development times--from short dev time-terrible game to long dev time-great game, to long dev time and still terrible or no game, etc.--and consider the thousand variables that speeds or slows progress, it helps to be fatalistic about how the process turns out. And one has a choice of so many other games to play or follow in the meantime. I also realize that since I've been able to play parts of the game in various states and give feedback that I think is at least heard by the devs and often responded to, I'm probably not the typical customer demographic, although with a non-AAA turn-based SF game, I may be closer to the average audience than with a triple-A shooter-looter game.--we're a devoted bunch.

Agree 100%. Almost any art from the game would be better looking. The picture could also be smaller, so as not to have the screen filled with a graphic that we see over and over and over in our face. I assume it's there for "visual interest" while we're waiting for aliens and others to move, but it's not necessary to keep hidden moves hidden since there's nothing going on "under" the graphic--so it doesn't need to be large. I'd just as soon see a (small) question mark on the screen.

No, not the video app. I posted a request for some zoom-in to see the action more clearly/add drama in February of 2020. A year later, I posted this & got the response below from Chris: ---------------------------------- "Posted February 28, 2021 One year ago I asked about being able to zoom in a bit closer during ground combat.... Chris replied: "Yeah, it's relatively easy to support this - it's just a camera setting. It'll probably be a day or so of work to set up the different view levels on the camera and the logic that remembers which one you have selected between missions etc,...If you ask me again in a few months we might put it in the game then " ------------------------------ So here I am to add my voice once again to the other requests for a zoom--three years after the first one. Note that Chris estimated a "day or so" of coding to set it up, although that seemed/seems optimistic. At this point, a zoom would probably add the most visual enjoyment to the game for me, and I do see others mentioning it.

[v25.3 - General] Crash to desktop loading save Similar to crash described above: lost an air combat and attempted to reload a "UFO interception - auto" file to try the air combat again. Game crashed to desktop a few seconds after clicking on the "save" button with no intervening message or screen. Not sure if I have the right outpt.log file below; last save attached also. output.log auto_strategy_after_intercept-12.json

I guess it's too late, but I'm interested in the next round of playtesting, whenever that becomes available.

First, I've been away from the game for a while and it's great to see the continued progress. One point: The "varied" part in your words above is important (to me, anyway) and something I've wondered about for years concerning many games: Why is there so little variation in exclamations by characters in repetitive situations? There's nothing that kills suspension of disbelief more quickly for me than some soldier saying: "I'm gonna boogey to somewhere more exciting!" for the 100th time instead of just: "Changing position," or "Moving to new location," or "Moving," or "Looking for better position," (even changing one word makes it easier to listen to) etc. Why not have all those phrases and 20 more besides, while avoiding the "Git some, haw-haw!" phrases? I can't believe it's lack of memory, but is it? Voice artist time costs too much? When crunch time comes, do the devs decide that 5 variations on phrases that players are going to hear hundreds of times are enough? Can writers literally not think of more than a few alternatives for a repeated phrase? Play testers don't play long enough to get sick of hearing the same 5 phrases repeatedly? Maybe repeated phrases aren't thought to be any part of buying decisions (this one I could see, but I can also imagine hearing "Scratch one alien!" 50 times to be at least among the reasons for getting sick of a game early)? I'd appreciate any insight on this, and having some would make playing games with repeated situation dialogue less irritating. I think.

Yeah, sure, I knew all that, of course, no big whoop, I didn't have a cow, man, I didn't think the empire would fall. It just that [blushes], since I hadn't seen it again, I thought it was fixed in the last iteration and that someone might not know that it had snuck back in. I guess I just forgot: "don't sweat the little stuff." Gotta go back and work the steps.

Since this bug has happened and been eliminated before, I'm guessing/hoping that no files are needed. The floating dead aliens at left in the screen shot are in their saucer. As before when this popped up, the floating dead guys disappeared when the saucer was in LOS. On the positive side, the bodies are better than GPS (Green Prey Sleeping?) for finding those pesky crashed alien scout ships. This is during my first ground combat in 18.2.

When I first started using a "disarm defense" to protect my troops from former buddies turned berserk, well-armed zombies, I figured this is what everyone probably did--since armed zombies often did large amounts of damage and/or took up time and ammo to put down. I started wondering, though: do you Xenonuts also do the following? If a soldier is under mind control attack----I have them shoot and throw things as needed, and then get them to as safe a spot as possible, leaving a couple of action points so the unit's turn isn't ended. I then have them drop all their weapons (including smoke grenades) on the ground, since dropping gear doesn't seem to use any action points. - If in the next turn they shake off the psionic attack, I have them pick up their stuff and return to the fray. Note that picking stuff up takes up large numbers of action points, so the soldier pretty much loses a turn. - If in the next turn they panic and I can't move them, or they run away, all their weapons are still available in a pile for them--if they recover. If they go to the Dark Side, other troops can use the weapons. One has to note the location of the weapons' drop, since the graphics are sometimes too small or ambiguous to recognize easily. - If they lose their brave struggle and become drooling stooges for the not-cool aliens, they have nothing to attack me with besides dirty looks (so far no zombies have reclaimed their dropped weapons), and again, teammates can still scavenge the weapons' drop. Is that what the rest of you do? Or have you worked out something better?

Will do, thanks for checking it out. I'm re-fighting the battle complete with all the mind wars: no glitches so far. It's not cause-and-effect, it's magic.

Chris said: "Do you have the autosave from the beginning of the turn or the end of the previous turn? If it's connected to Mind War then that should allow us to reproduce it." Actually, problems started several turns before the one where I couldn't do anything, so here are the autosaves from turns 3-4. Hope one helps. I'll try to note the first occurrence of any such problems in the future. auto_groundcombat_turn_3_start-45.json auto_groundcombat_turn_4_start-47.json auto_groundcombat_turn_3_end-46.json

This is a weird one. Didn't see any precipitant. I tried various ways of moving other soldiers, but after tab (only) worked briefly to cycle through troops, the same soldier stayed highlighted and was the only one who could be moved. I had to quit the game to end the turn. Will re-load and see what happens. See screen shot and turn file. user_cannot_clickchoose_troops-8.json

Just read Skitso's long list of reactions and very much appreciate the work that went into it, and the many good/interesting suggestions and positive feedback. He's one of the few people I've seen who has indicated an interest in a further zoom-in (my 2/28 post). I can't believe that so few people wouldn't want a closer view, given how the graphics hold up. Maybe I should do a poll (grumble..grumble..).

One year ago I asked about being able to zoom in a bit closer during ground combat, and figured out what a 1.5 (50%?) increase would look like (see lo-rez screenshot below). Chris replied: "Yeah, it's relatively easy to support this - it's just a camera setting. It'll probably be a day or so of work to set up the different view levels on the camera and the logic that remembers which one you have selected between missions etc,...If you ask me again in a few months we might put it in the game then " Okay--I'm asking again!

Wow! Sort of like the Allies in World War II encasing the entire world in lucite to defeat the Nazis. Of course, the victory celebrations would have to be pretty low-key.

Did it again! Same game, couple of turns later. The Mars moves about 4 hexes straight forward, no obstacles, then the game freezes. See files, didn't get screen shot. Since both freezes came in the middle of the Mars movement, maybe that suggests something. auto_groundcombat_turn_10_start-350.json output.log