Komandos

To add an oxygen indicator to the planet and a formula affecting the paremeters of soldiers - does it take two years?

The level of panic is the percentage of people who believe in victory over the enemy. When there are more than 51% of them (60? 70?), the power in the region changes. Some soldiers, scientists and engineers quit their jobs. (Low level of bravery.) The indicator of the composition of the atmosphere turns on at the moment when the aliens begin to change the atmosphere. Let's say this is due to the appearance of certain types of UFOs. The longer they are in flight (UFOs), the stronger their contribution to the change in the composition of the atmosphere. The low oxygen content in the atmosphere gradually reduces the speed of soldiers in battle, the speed of diesel vehicles, the speed of jet fighters. The rate of individual reaction decreases. The fighters are inattentive, absent-minded. The panic on the planet is increasing (fewer and fewer people continue to believe in victory).

The composition of the atmosphere (oxygen, carbon dioxide) is not visually visible (a small adjustment of the color scheme is enough), but (for example) the lack of oxygen in the atmosphere will greatly affect the endurance of the player's soldiers in battle and the efficiency of the player's jet engines. (Aircraft speed). Low speed of armored vehicles. Cities can also be destroyed by volcanoes and earthquakes that have arisen. Instead of the panic level, you can put an oxygen indicator in the atmosphere. The lower the oxygen concentration in the atmosphere, the more Earthlings panic. (stres).

The player should be able to: solve any problem that arises in the game without resorting to the help of advisors. The player should be able to solve the problem on their own, even if the player has to reduce the difficulty level of the game. Therefore, I am in favor of the game having the necessary tool for this. In X1, such a tool was the ability to easily and quickly edit the parameters of the game.

If the game increases the number of soldiers in a tactical mission (at the "beginner" difficulty level), then the requirements for the player's tactical skills will not be so strict. It is easier to change the balance of the game by adjusting the maximum number of soldiers on the battlefield than to adjust a huge variety of other game parameters to make the player's squad feel comfortable.

1. The viewing range of the soldiers in the game (at the moment) is very low. 2. If we increase the viewing range of soldiers in the game, there will be much less need to shoot into the fog of war (by adjusting).

If a soldier is wounded, then his physical capabilities should decrease.

If the developers want to slow down the economic development of the player, it is easier to increase the construction and production time. I think they just don't want to give the player a lot of Bases from the very beginning of the game. Since the Base is a guarantee of the security of the region.

The smaller the turnover of money, the lower the level of economic development. Probably - the speed of economic development in the game was too high. And money turned out to be the most effective way to solve all global problems. If you use the mechanics of the game, in which a player with an unlimited amount of money can win, and maybe lose, then there would be no point in severely limiting prices and resources.

It seems to me that you are confusing the "history" of the game with the "imagery" of the game. For example: UFO2 had a more thoughtful and diverse game mechanics. However, the battles under water (UFO2) are far from our imagination (it does not fit well into our imagination), and therefore, with all its shortcomings (compared to UFO2), the UFO1 game (where the fighting takes place on land) found a stronger emotional response in our souls. The plot in the game kills the Strategy, depriving the player of the opportunity to independently choose goals and ways to achieve these goals.

I agree. If a player can change the composition of the crew (depending on the actions of the aliens), then why can't the aliens change the composition of the crew (depending on the actions of the player)???

Instead of an orbital laser, it is possible to introduce an alien climate weapon. After activating the aliens' climate weapons, - the weather on the planet begins to deteriorate. Weather conditions are starting to give a penalty to your soldiers and your fighter planes. However, they begin to give a bonus for aliens.

It would not be bad to implement the mechanics of the global economy in the game (as it is in X-COM: Apocalypsys), where alien invasions disrupt the balance of economic relations (and with it the availability of certain resources, services, transport and weapons),.

It all depends on what level of difficulty to set the automatic balance of the game. If the game complicates tactical combat every time (creates more enemies) in the presence of a low level of losses. (For example: if the average loss rate below: one soldier per mission). And vice versa: if the game simplifies tactical combat (creates fewer enemies), if the average loss rate (for example) exceeds three soldiers per mission. - Then this is a fairly simple and cheap way to achieve balance in tactical combat. And a pretty cheap and easy way to create a difficulty level for a beginner. I do not suggest doing such a balance for experienced players, but for those players who are sensitive to the exact balance of the game (as beginners) - this option "difficulty level Automatic game balance adjustment" - will come in handy.

While playing Xeonauts 1, I increased the number of aliens to 50 aliens per UFO, (by simply changing the values in the file using Excel). What prevents the game from independently increasing the number of aliens in UFOs if the results of the battles show that the player is incredibly strong for this stage of the game?

The balance of the game should be a self-sustaining system, similar to a nuclear reaction inside stars: when too much hydrogen enters into nuclear reactions, the star expands and nuclear reactions decrease. When too little hydrogen enters into nuclear reactions, the star shrinks under the influence of gravity and the number of nuclear reactions increases. Therefore: when the player achieves too much success: the number of aliens in the tasks should increase. When the player's progress is small, the number of aliens should be unchanged, and even decrease at the "beginner" difficulty level. I suggest doing this as an additional level of difficulty and only for tactical battles on the tactical map. Such a function is not suitable for the strategic level, because it makes meaningless all the strategic advantages that the player receives by adhering to the correct strategy.

In the classic UFO (X-COM), the player's soldiers could pick up enemy ammunition and enemy weapons on the battlefield and use them in battles. Also: the soldiers had the opportunity to pick up their wounded comrades and take them out of the zone of explosions, fire, destruction. Also: soldiers had the opportunity to pick up wounded and stunned aliens, take them out of the zone of fire and destruction. However, the desire of the game to tightly control the balance of forces of the player and the aliens (at all stages of the game) led to many restrictions (in Xenonauts 1), which locked the player in a narrow corridor of possibilities and forced the player to move along this narrow corridor. In fact: collecting artifacts on the battlefield and using them in battle is a very useful function on the battlefield, the potential of which is poorly realized. The main reason is that the alien soldiers and the player's soldiers, in terms of their physical capabilities, practically do not differ from each other. Moreover, with the development of technology, the physical capabilities of the player's soldiers begin to exceed the physical capabilities of the alien soldiers. And the only way to maintain the balance of power is to limit the player's soldiers in the possibility of using alien artifacts. If the game makes the aliens physically very strong, then the aliens' weapons and grenades will gain huge weight, and therefore the player will be able to use them, but will have a large penalty for exceeding the weight.

The difficulty of the game (difficulty levels) lies in the player's desire to spend more time and effort on the game, but at the same time still enjoy the game. This cannot be achieved without increasing the variety of the game. For example: in order to spend more time on the game, many people suggest removing the orbital bombardment and the game time limit. But if there is nothing interesting in the game (what to do all this time), the player will quickly get bored. In the original game: the player himself decided when to go to the final battle. In order to increase the effort spent on the game, players suggest limiting the effectiveness of "simple game mechanics" and increasing the share of using "complex and multi-way game mechanics" (which requires the player to have deep knowledge of the game, memory, attention, intellectual tension). But at the same time, the player wants to enjoy the game, not get tired of it. This means that the complexity of the mechanics must be compensated by entertainment and rewards. And it also requires broader rules and less narrow restrictions (more freedom in the gameplay). The higher the difficulty, the more freedom and variety should be given to the player.

The final battle (final battles) must necessarily differ from the usual battles both in scale and complexity. The player in the final should get the strongest impressions, the widest range of gaming sensations. This cannot be done if the final battle is not fundamentally different from all other battles. 20-24 soldiers is even less than in classic games (26-36 soldiers participate in the final battle). We were asked: what additional levels of difficulty do we dream about? I replied that I was dreaming of just such additional types of complexity that some players find too difficult.

Difficulty settings. Increase the viewing range for all units on the battlefield by a multiplier of x1.5 and x2.0. Also, (simultaneously) increase the firing range for all small arms by a multiplier of x1.5 and x2.0.

Pilot's skill. The skill of the pilot of the transport for soldiers - can be realized with the help of the function: "the player can independently choose the landing place on the tactical map." (For example. Landing: closer to the UFO or further away from it. Landing in an open area or landing in the midst of various objects. Landing from the rear of a UFO or landing from the flanks of a UFO). To do this, when creating a map, you must specify (at least) two possible landing places on the map. A pilot with a skill of 80% - with a probability of 80% will land the transport as required by the player. And with a probability of 20% - randomly. It is good if the tactical map consists of two blocks. The central block (square) with the UFO location. And a side block of the map (with a landing place for transport for soldiers). The block with the selected landing place is attached to the main map (square) from the side necessary for the player. This will avoid situations where the entrance to the UFO is closely adjacent to the edges of the map (if desired by the player).

To prepare for night missions, the game has lighting grenades and incendiary weapons. Similarly, the player can receive special equipment for missions in the north. Or equipment for missions in rainy weather. (You may need to add rain clouds and seasonal temperature fluctuations to the map. Or add rain as a random event when loading a mission.) And rain has a bad effect on the characteristics of energy weapons. Therefore, for the tropics with rains, some types of weapons may be a bad choice.

In chess, you can also compose a plot. Write down in advance all the moves that you and your opponent have to make. In situations where the player will have the only choice with the only correct move (all others will lead to a loss) - give the player the opportunity to make this move independently. Where the player will have many different options - to show the player a video with moves made in accordance with the plot. A strategy game can't have a plot. A strategy game can only have stages of conflict development. The birth of conflict. Mobilization of forces. Selection of priority goals. The search for allies. ---- The development of the conflict. A show of strength. The use of force. ---- Crisis. Mobilization of all forces and means. Preparation for the general battle. ---- A general battle. The turning point of the battle in favor of one of the parties. Exhaustion of forces. The extinction of the conflict. ---- The final battle. Determination of winners. You can only divide the game into stages in which different "external and random factors" influence.

In fact: Every item that the player adds to the soldier's backpack is a new "feature" that the player adds to the soldier's capabilities. Therefore, for convenience, the backpack can be made in the form of a number of pockets, in each of which one item can be placed. One cell = one function = one type of equipment. Each type of equipment (grenade, rifle, first aid kit, etc....) it has its own graphic sign, which is placed on the control panel as a function (opportunity) available to the soldier. For example, as in these games. The rows of slots on the control screen are both the items in the soldier's backpack and the functions that the soldier can use on the battlefield.

If all the aliens will also shoot from around the corner, then how in the game, with such mechanics, where opponents shoot at each other from around the corner - the player's soldiers will attack UFOs? The aliens can easily destroy all the attackers by shooting at them from around the corner and at the same time staying out of the affected area themselves.