Komandos

And there is also a series of "Civilization" games, where the number of units in need of player control can reach several hundred. And that's not to mention dozens of cities.

In the classic game, (X-COM:1; 2; 3) which became iconic: X-COM: 1; 2 allowed the presence of 26 soldiers on one combat mission. At the same time, in some key and final missions, even this amount was not enough for a confident victory. In X-COM:3, the player could already take 36 soldiers on one mission. For dynamism: You can have one soldier in the game, just like it is implemented in the Diablo game

In the game "Xenonauts", the function of controlling some game characters by others is not implemented in any way (control by the commander of a detachment of his subordinates), therefore, the official rank is a decorative element of the game. It is enough to add some additional number of Action points (AP) to the game, which the squad leader can distribute to his subordinates (Inspiration) and the role of the commander and his rank in the game will become more noticeable.

High morale can be evidenced by the willingness of soldiers to fight for much less reward or even for free. If soldiers are ready to defend the planet only for a lot of money (and even then: for 8,000,000,000 people, there are only a few dozen who want to protect the planet and these people will not be of the best quality), then the reputation of xenonauts can already be considered extremely low. With the increasing reputation of the Xenonauts organization, people will come to the organization who will fight only for an idea and not for a monetary reward. And also people who need much less money will come to the organization.

The problem of the shortage of experienced soldiers is easily solved by building educational institutions where your soldiers are trained. However, this will mean additional costs: for the maintenance of such soldiers and for the construction and maintenance of training centers. The player can choose any strategy for training soldiers: either train soldiers in battle, or train soldiers in training centers. It would also be wise for the list of available (for hire) soldiers to be fully updated once a month. Thus, the list of available soldiers for recruitment will not accumulate very weak soldiers who will have to be hired due to the lack of the best.

As an alternative to the "automatic battle", it does not look bad. It resembles the mechanics of the game "Heroes of Magic and Sword". There are immortal heroes in this game who participate in the battle, but cannot be killed in battle. And there are troops who are suffering losses. Only immortal heroes can raise the level of development and accumulate experience.

Stress and fatigue

The stress mechanism is able to work (appear) as a valuable resource in the game, only when the aliens use massive attacks (raids). In these cases, the player needs to maintain an army of several tactical groups so that the soldiers do not lose combat capability after several battles in a row. Tactical groups also need to create a sleep and rest regime. So that the tactical group, which spent a day on combat duty, could not fight effectively after the end of the work shift. All this requires the creation of a full-fledged army structure for the player's army (similar to how it exists in the Warhammer game)

Stress, overwork, on the contrary, make a soldier less attentive and more indifferent to danger. The stress indicator should reduce reaction speed, accuracy, endurance, strength and health. On the contrary, courage increases with severe fatigue. If you have ever cared for wild animals, you should know that if wild animals lose their fear and wild animals stop being afraid, then this is a sign that the animal is weak and sick. A dying animal is completely indifferent to any danger.

If the game is based on logic, then the player should have time and opportunity (pause) to think about it. If reflexes and reaction speed are required from the player, then the game cannot be called logical.

The ability to heal soldiers (after infecting with maggots) will make the game less dramatic. Previously, the aliens had almost no weapons that were guaranteed to kill xenonauts with one blow, and now the aliens will not have such weapons at all. The aliens become weaker and less scary on the battlefield.

There are simply not enough events in the game that require the player to react (action). I would advise giving the player more money so that the player can look less into the void on the monitor screen, waiting for a new event. The player should take more part in the construction of bases. The lack of micro-management makes the game empty and boring in those moments when the player has to wait for the next UFO appearance or a new task. For example: if in the game "HMM:3" remove from the strategic map all the bonuses and resources that the player can collect by exploring the world around him, then the game instantly becomes boring and empty for the entire period, which is while he is waiting for the completion of the construction of his city (castle). Because there are no events happening at the moment. The player is just waiting for the accumulation of sufficient resources to enable new construction.

The game as it exists in 2023: - you can already play in 2023. It exists in the public domain. The game in the form in which it will be in a while: - it will be possible to play only after a while.

Footprints in the snow should not disappear at all, only during heavy snowfall or blizzard.

Instead of displaying progress using %%, you can change the color of regions on the planet map. Alien activity (panic) can be displayed in a similar way

I also remember my first fight in UFO:1 where several (2-3) surviving aliens completely killed my entire team of 14 soldiers. In Xenonauts 1, I had battles in which my soldiers completely destroyed themselves on their own. (Friendly fire, suppression, a grenade thrown at oneself and comrades' feet). Also in the game Xenonauts 1 there were very poor settings: the range of visibility, the range of weapons, which forced them to play very slowly and walk in dense crowds, exposing soldiers to the risk of being killed by "friendly fire". As a result: I continue to play the game with my own settings. As a result: the battles in Xenonauts 1 were difficult only because they forced the player to use boring tactics, and the greatest threat was not the aliens, but the player's own soldiers.

The game does not provide an option that aliens defeat the player on the battlefield. Or the option that the aliens are defeating the player due to the faster development of technology. There is an option in the game that the aliens defeat the player only economically. (The player's victory or defeat depends on the effectiveness of economic management.) For me, a more interesting option is when a player loses because he has incorrectly prioritized research. (The player made a mistake in choosing the direction for research, as a result of which he lost a lot of time). It is better to limit access to alien technologies in the following way: if the player arrives on a combat mission later than a few hours, and also: if the combat mission lasts more than a given number of moves (rounds), then the aliens manage to destroy their most important technologies. As a result: without important alien technologies, the player's scientific progress slows down.

Battles in the sky can be done on the same principle as battles in the game "Mortal Kombat". Each aircraft has its own set of techniques (which depends on the design of the aircraft and the skill of the pilots). The outcome of the battle depends on how the player correctly assesses the situation (the distance to the enemy, the reaction time and time the execution of the "tactical technique".

In aerial combat, players do not have the opportunity to gain an advantage over the enemy in any other way except to upgrade weapons and aircraft. There are no pilot skills. There are no weather conditions. No wind, no sun, no altitude. There is nothing that gives airplanes a situational bonus.

I like the idea of adding the ability to hang additional fuel tanks or reconnaissance equipment on the plane instead of weapons.

There are no real difficulties in the game. (Aliens are easy to defeat in battles on earth and in battles in the sky). But there must be difficulties and problems in the game that make the player think. Therefore (I assume so) the developers decided to create difficulties and problems with financing.

In X2, do the xenonauts return all their weapons to the warehouse if the xenonauts are not on the helicopter? (Can all soldiers who are sitting in reserve be "armed" with one laser rifle?)

Xenonauts 1 was a tedious game because the range of view and range of the weapon were very small. (In UFO, the range of the weapon was not limited). Besides, the team of soldiers was small. As a result, the soldiers had to move in a very dense crowd and with very small steps. (Any alien that appeared out of the darkness immediately approached the dense one and presented a serious problem. Especially considering the fact that the player's soldiers liked to make "friendly fire" and suppress their neighbors. But the range of the view, the range of the gun and its low lethality, did not allow the soldiers to disperse.).

If we take, for comparison, the old UFO:2 game, in which the player loses 6-13 soldiers out of 14 in every battle from the very first day of the game (especially for battles in which units like Chryssalids participate from aliens), then the level of drama in the game in the old UFOs is much higher than in Xenonauts. where the player often wins the battle without any losses at all. In Xenonauts, players lack drama during combat. Also, the game Xenonauts is inferior to UFO in epic battles. As a comparison, the final and general battles in UFO and Xenonauts are incomparable in terms of scale and number of losses on the part of the player and the aliens.