Elydo

It could also be argued that, as the invasion continues each country is still having to throw their own soldiers into various skirmishes we don't know about (the "local forces downed a ufo" that I've actually never seen beyond week 2. Is it just a starting thing?) And thus they end up with a core of vets they refuse to give away, and the same rooks we need to deal with hiring, everyone else dying at probably an even faster rate than our guys, heh. So no stat increases for the rooks as the game goes on : P Mwa ha ha ha.

Given the musing on the need for late game relevance, as the plasma shottie is supposed to be a late game alien weapon for elite mooks thus needs to not be useless by then, it was suggested that the current one be nerfed slightly and an 'elite' version introduced later to remain viable. Personally, it might make more sense to make the current version the 'elite' version, retaining armour mitigation, burst fire and accuracy just how it is, and introduce a 'standard' version that only has single fire, needs to be closer and is less effective against armour. Then when the elites starts treating you like the chew toys we're currently feeling like, it'd be an unpleasant surprise. Maybe re-introduce some fear.

That V3 helmet kicks ass! You're doing too good a job 'sleezy, we're going to come to think of you as a miracle worker, capable of anything. ; )

Some sort of bot, though I've no idea what the goal is. I usually put my first base on Corsica, gives coverage over all of Europe and into Asia and the top of Africa, as well as the upper part of the Atlantic (I try to shoot ufos down over water if I can't be arsed dealing with the crash). My second base typically goes north of the Hudson Bay to give coverage over most of North America and my third would be planned to expand to cover either the rest of the CONUS or where ever alien activity was growing fastest. I've haven't gotten beyond two bases at once yet however, still trying to master the early game. Plus I'm not wanting to get too deep until the game is finalised, otherwise the finished product wouldn't be so enjoyable.

I've wanted your third option to be a feature from the very beginning. Even in these builds one of the firs things I do is begin building a few facilities in different places and demolish the old ones when they complete. Just for a layout that's more intuitive for me, as opposed to any defensive benefit (as there's less to be gained from gaming the base layout here as far as I can tell) Costs me a lot of money and time right off the bat though.

You missed me mentioning (bitching) about that earlier I take it? ; )

I find it's much easier to have condors charge the fighters actually, if you can draw them off from their escortee. Head straight in head-to-head, the fighters always fire a missile first, have each condor dodge, by this point you should have closed to fighter gun range, they'll get one, maybe two shots off before the condors get into autocannon range and the fighters evaporate. You now have two free condors, each damaged but not seriously and each still with majority cannon ammo (usually they use more than necessary for the fighters due to rof continuing to loose rounds whilst enough are in the air to down the target) and retaining both sidewinders. Maneuver to the rear of the, say a corvette as that's all that can be taken down in one sortie, loose both missiles per bird and empty the guns, then have the third kiting fighter turn around and use its sidewinders for the kill.

And raves.

The only other way of working the situation is to start the game with an already existing globally distribution of fighter bases with realistic ranges. Which might be an interesting way of structuring the game, but it'd be quite a fundamental change to pacing and strategy. You'd need global transporters for equipment and even shuttling your team to local bases near any crash before they could switch to an insertion craft. Would make the eventual development of global-range interceptors/transports/insertion craft lead to needing an evolving strategy through the game's progression. Might be an interesting idea for a rather redefining mod in the future. Except I can't code worth a damn, so I won't be doing it. Edit: If I ever get rich and/or powerful I'm going to contract a developer to make a game like that. X-COM with realism, hard sci-tech, CAS, plausibility. The purists would hate it. It'd probably be a total flop. Heh, I actually have a design document already partially written from a while back with how some of that could be implemented.

Eh, it really isn't that big a deal. The only people who would even think twice about it are enthusiasts and at that Goldhawk picked an appropriate aircraft from the time period which is more than some developers (would) have done. Neither the Su-27 or the MiG-29, or any other aircraft, are capable of the range of the Foxtrot, and no aircraft is as limited in loadout. So the differences between reality and the game overshadow the more nuanced differences between two real aircraft either of which could have served as the inspiration for creating something impossible. The Flanker looks so much more badass though. There's an adage in the aersopace community: If it looks right, it's Right. One of the reasons why the Boeing X-32 lost the Joint Strike Fighter contest; it just looks kinda dorky. Not the official or even a deciding factor certainly, but trust me, it WAS a factor.

It's one of the biggest issues of setting the game in the late '70s. In a near-future setting we can just handwave with "Oh, we've developed interceptors capable of hypersonic cruising." As it is... Shut Up Is How. [grin]

1985 as far as I'm aware. They started designing what would become it in 1970 though, to act as a counterpart for the F-15, but it took a while to stop it from being crap. The first prototype flew in '77 but had... issues, so it was eventually redesigned and started test-flying in '81 and moving to full production in '85. Arguably the xenonauts stealing the design for the Flanker instead of the MiG-29 would have made more sense, as the two were developed concurrently (or at least both came from the same program), with the Flanker being the primary. After the full range of requirements proved to be too ambitious, the development was split into 'light' and 'heavy' roles, from which the MiG-29 was the short-range tactical 'light' fighter developed on the new track, and the original development track was redefined to be slightly less ambitious and focused on the 'heavy' role, and led to the Su-27. At that, the Flanker came into service only two years after the MiG-29, which wasn't 'out' until '83. Too late to change it now, of course, but I maintain it would have been a better option.

As well as repairs and patches to the materiel after manufacturing or battle damage.

You can never be certain that you will be able to though. You have to assume that you will be shot at, and it's safe to assume some of those shots will land.

You guys just aren't going to give me the option of shredding enemies, are you? >: (

Aw, now I just look mad. And I so hate revealing that I am... Yeah, I couldn't stand Macross 7. Thank pasta for Frontier. It even gave us a Koenig Monster (squee) I adore overkill. Being a bit more serious, it wasn't introduced for a few more years after the start of Xenonauts, but I'd drool over a Flanker (Sukhoi Su-27)

With or with? I'll go with with. : P Not sure how useful a fold booster would be in atmo though, and it not only blocks the pulse laser but would add significant lateral drag. (I'm going with the Macross Plus version. Isamu Dyson ftw!)

[takes notes]

Do I get to quote myself? Oh, what the hell. That's not to say orbital bombardment might not elicit a different reaction of course, but even then not all of humanity lives in cities so even if the aim was global extermination that would only be the opening act. On the other hand, 'western' society is much more squeamish than at any other point in history, but we humans tend to regress to savagery pretty quickly when given an excuse. It's part of our charm.

Jsleezy did say he was considering reworking the entire look of the helmet, so I figured the link still applied.

I'll take a YF-19 Excalibur. Or are we supposed to be remaining plausible? : )

Well, aliens alloys are what they use for their hulls. I kinda like it.

I think the idea of a buffed elite-tier weapon in the late game would solve the problem. Add some more spangly lights to the inventory icon (don't worry about the sprites), even add a quick research topic for it that gives you "Well, this one has been tweaked to be even more powerful. We can't copy the improvements, tell your men to not get hit"

I was assuming that, as the discussions referenced particle weaponry, the use of positrons would be as some sort of projected particle bolt or beam, rather than isolated within a containment system and used as the explosive agent in a 'standard' projectile.

I think doubling the missile capacity of the Foxtrot might be a good idea. At the moment they just are (literally) a one shot pony. Get in range, fire, immediately run away, and two avalanches can't even down a scout whilst the Condors autocannon chews them up. Speeding up the time taken to refuel might also be a good idea, so that multiple sorties involving the same aircraft are more viable. Another option would be to allow for the fitting of external gunpods on the Foxtrot. Hit the burners, get on their six and shred the bastards. It'd take skill but it'd be really nasty.