Elydo

Hell, I already get multiple ufos at once, four or five per base sometimes and a mix of small and medium, escorted and not. It's impossible to get them all because even assuming I don't take damage, I'll need to RTB to refuel and rearm after two or three intercepts and that typically takes too long for me to get the planes airborne again before the ufos bug out. Don't even ask about what happens if I get shot down. Kiss the next two waves goodbye as well. Haven't really got a problem with not being to down everything, but I'd still like the refueling time to be decreased slightly.

There was an early idea of having local forces defending an object on the map, like a landmark or monument. You'd get a better result if it was still standing once the mission completed. Haven't heard anything about it recently.

Remember to put air holes in the box.

I think you're right, it was in but they took it out because it wasn't working properly, and they decided it was no longer necessary. It might solve this issue though. Or I maintain that giving Foxtrots gunpods would allow them to have a higher damage output for higher risk. Should there be a method of getting a ufo to switch it's attention between fighters? Currently it's a bit of a lottery, you just kite with whatever it locks onto and you have the others to do damage.

I kinda like that idea actually.

Heatens? Do you lose points for unintentional puns?

The problem with introducing it later is that you need all four alien plasma weapons in order to research your own. Although slowing down the plasma tier might also be an idea. I can't recall the requirements for laser weapons, is it just any two alien plasmas (typically the rifle and pistol) of must it be the rifle and pistol. Either way introducing the heavy plasma later wouldn't affect that. My way makes more new players pee themselves slightly and cry though.

I was more thinking that Condors (and their subsequents) should be vital for killing escorts and weakening larger ufos, but unable to kill a heavier ufo by themselves in a single sortie even with the best weapons for the tech level. Ultimately, I find Foxtrots somewhat boring and limited. Like I said before, any time I take one into combat I get it in range, launch then retreat, then I start actively managing the Condors to finish the engagement. And I need to manage the Condors to finish the engagement because a Foxtrot launch will not alter the battlescape. It won't even take out a scout, meaning the Condors need to take out any escorts and then finish off the main target as well. Even if they're are sometimes actually necessary, the Foxtrots always feel superfluous. I think that needs to be addressed.

Hope you keep the forums for whatever you do next, we're building a massively over-reaching, pedantic, lore-focused and punloving community here with some fantastic mod work going on. Transitioning that over to future projects would be good. Just allow us our love for insane levels of overkill. Or is that just me? It can't just be me, right?

I'm not saying there should be a 'right' way of playing, obviously. Adaptability is strength. But I do think there can be easier and harder ways of playing. By all means have 'light' fighters (the Condor line) able to down all targets, but not in one sortie. Otherwise what is the point in the missile boats? They lack tactical versatility, they're the same strategically. If you load them up with sidewinders they can take down one (one!) alien fighter, if you stagger the launch right, and are then useless. If you give it Avalanches, it still can't take out a scout. Thinking about this issue, I keep bringing back to mind the climatic battle of Independance Day. All the human fighters trying to take down this enormous spacecraft with various types of anti-fighter missiles, and somehow not realising beforehand how ineffective they'd be. And they are, they don't even slow it down. That's the situation you want a few torp-equipped heavy fighters to really take a few chunks out of something the lights would otherwise have to nibble to death, and such nibbling should certainly take more than one sortie. If the Foxtrot line are supposed to be the primary striking force, single-minded and fundamentally niche in role, then they need to be so overwhelmingly good at that role that trying to substitute them with anything else comes with a corresponding loss in efficiency, higher costs and more effort. Or fundamentally different tactics. Currently, the Condor line are very good at what they're supposed to be good at, and that's why I don't think nerfing them would be the answer. But they're also good enough at everything else that the minor benefit in taking a Foxtrot is all too easily eclipsed by the tactical versatility the Condors provide. For a multi-role fighter to not be an appropriate choice over a specialised craft, the niche needs to be more distinct. As an analogy to the ground combat, the assault rifle is supposed to be a middle ground between the shotgun and the precision rifle, and it fits there quite nicely. Now, take away the shotgun and give the assault rifle burst fire with the same effectiveness at short range. You still need the precision rifle for long range combat so you still take them. Now give the assault rifle only two points less damage and two squares less effective range than the preision rifle, but it still has burst fire for mid-to-short range punch. It's still not as good as the precision rifle at range, but it's good enough for the majority of situations and it's tactical versatility is so overwhelming otherwise that you're more likely to load out almost all your soldiers with them and construct adaptable tactics around them rather than try to specialise with weapons that require specific tactics with more limited weapons that work only slightly better when they do and utterly screw you otherwise. Keep the assault rifle that good but give the precision rifle overwhelming damage however, and people will take them in order to deal with something they need to die right then! For targets that assault rifles would just take too long to down. They're niche, but a niche it's important to fill, though you can still use assault rifles to get the job done albeit at the higher risk you'll entail. The Condor line is multi-role, assault rifles. The Foxtrot line, or the torp capacity anyway, should equate to precision rifles then. Or at least that's my paradigm. I'd argue that some sort of balance alteration needs to happen though, but it's not clear exactly what alteration needs to be done. I don't think a simple buff or nerf of a single factor would suffice, I think it's more complicated than that due to interlocking issues.

Oh that's evil. I love it. What's the default rate for female recruits? I haven't noticed any dearth of them certainly. Which is good because they die at the same rate as the men and I don't want to have to coddle them in order to retain a female presence. Would somewhat defeat the point of gender equality...

On the other hand, that merely evokes a sense of familiarity for me... My own personal bad part? After dealing with the initial wave, and using almost all my ammo in the process, I then had to storm the damn landing craft whose crash was the mission... Ended up arming everyone I had left with heavy plasmas (there were plenty to go around) and advancing a gunline the width of the ufos entrance inside under smoke cover. Save Scummed the heck outta that mission and it still ripped me a new one.

I think it might be a bit more involved than that. My approach would be to take the hp of the early ufos; scouts and corvettes, and adjust their health to be appropriately placed against Condors. Then adjust the damage of Avalanches appropriately, then the health of the next ufos like landing craft. Then adjust the damage of alenium torps etc. It might be that, rather than a flat increase across the board different tiers, need different adjustments. Certainly I would think one Foxtrot against a scout should be overkill, but at least one against a corvette should be a necessity in order to down it in a single sortie, and that dynamic should continue I would think. A question to be asked is whether a single sortie should always be the goal, with ideal weapons and tactics, or if accepting one sortie will not be enough has to be a factor. For an escorted ufo two escorts on our side should be required, leaving only one slot for a missile boat. Assuming no losses. One escort for two boats might be another option but you'd likely have to accept at least one loss, hopefully after its launched. The damage potential of missiles needs to be adjusted appropriate to these factors.

That should be a level in one of the Earth Defence Force games. "In order for the EDF annual picnic to go ahead, we need you to clear this park of giant ants, giant spiders, giant wasps, Hectors (giant robots), the giant ufos that spew giant ants, spiders and wasps, as well as anything else that shows up..."

Yes! That was my intent! >.>

Should have given them lighters as well.

It's the alien equivalent of leaving towels on the sun loungers first thing in the morning. They must think we're really rude to ignore their dibs.

I still think the ufos are a bit too underwhelming. The weapons are fine but, even given two Avalanches can't even take down a scout, the ufos feel far too flimsy. Giving me the paradoxical position of arguing that both our heavy missiles AND their targets need a buff... I think my feeling is that you should need at least one missile boat to stand a chance of taking down the heavier ufos, tier relative. Our interceptors simply shouldn't have the damage potential to down one (meaning anything an interceptor can take down a missile boat should obliterate, if its payload connects). But at the same time, missile boats should be prey for their escorts, which currently works fine. They can't dodge, they have no cannon, fine. Send them out unescorted themselves and they die. Typically. Though I think aliens fighters could be slightly faster to get them in range of our craft before a missile boat can launch. Or start them between the escortee and our fighters.

So, not your typical lunchtime then I take it?

I was half expecting you to try to actively stab anyone who suggested you start work on a sequel right away Chris ; )

A bitchin' white trench/lab coat. Everyone will want one. [mumbles] I do...

If it's probable to kill any given ufo, even escorted, at a given tech level if you have the right weapon/craft for that tech level/time period I'd think those ufos were a bit too weak. My take has always been that for a given ufo the next tech level should be able to match it. Then a new threat appears. So you're always developing the technology to deal with what you're currently fighting. So Corsairs should make the ufos (scouts, corvettes) Condors/Foxtrots had difficulty with managable without too much trouble, need tactics against, say, landing craft and bombers and have real issues with whatever comes next. Cruisers I think. You should need to pay to win against them (or whatever to appropriate ufo is). And so on. And battleships (or whatever the top tier is) should only ever be manageable. They should never be easy. And so, when facing the ufos that are beyond your current tech level, the tactic of multiple sorties against the larger craft becomes viable, but only if you can tie it up and keep it from escaping until you can make multiple sorties against it. I'd argue it also makes using missile boats less boring, currently I take one, have it fire everything then make it run away. Then I actually start playing the air combat simulation. Having to strategically manage them would make up for the complete lack of tactical versatility. Hopefully what I mean is coming across, I'd go into a point-by-point progression but I'm using someone else's computer and it's less than comfortable. Not a fan of laptops.

I'm housesitting until the weekend so I'll have to wait to see the new Xenopedia, it'll be something to look forward to. I agree with with sense of character you get from the entries and I do think it's important.

To paraphrase a quote from Neil Gaiman; Be Competent, Be Punctual, Be Likeable. You can get away with two.

The research reports are supposed to be direct reports from the head scientist to the commander (the player), and the head scientist is in turn supposed to be an arrogant prick. Having a chip on your shoulder is not an uncommon attitude amongst those who are (or believe themselves to be) gifted, and in a way reinforces the "we'll take whatever we can get and work with it" nature of the Xenonauts as an organisation.