gG-Unknown

I like the idea, but rather make "Emergency repair boost" as interrupt feature. A side job. So you can switch it on/off while standard Engineer project queue remains intact. When emergency repairs are done then Engineer come back automatically to the point where he was interrupted. Keep it simple ass possible, so no other links (difficulty or whatnot)

Lower diffilculties shotgun feedback look like this: 34 23 MISS! Higher difficulty removes the red hp counts so it looks like this : MISS! Two shots which hit, has no feeddbaack. It means, only negative feedback is passed to player >> the miss word. That is not pretty nor creates positive feeling. I believe that game should give player the positive information. In some form. Like this : Hit Hit Miss! As you can see, player gets nice positive feedback he made two hits. Information value is the same as in current system, but two red words Hit! are the positive feedback. On top, when player shoot a Machine-gun batch to the flock of opponents, the red word Hit above various opponents gives a clue who is hit, or not. Which is not available in the current system. Omiting possive feedback game loosing motivation for player and feel confusing. Satisfaction moment is missing ! On top of this, I would recommend to ad Holywood type of Hit (it is just a scratch) Graze. Graze is hit for (0 to 3hp) then it start nicely communicate with player when armour comes into the game. Look at this feedback of machine-gun long batch. Miss! Graze Miss! Graze Graze Miss! Miss! Miss! Hit Hit The player clearly see that 3 first hits made some scratches, probably bounce of armour, then last two bullets actually made some damage. Which is very good for emphasise powerfull enemies. In current system it might look like player shoot but nothing happens, no feedback, player is lost. My advice is, add possitive feedback of Hit and Grace to improve general motivation of the player. All this by three colored words. :-]

You made good improvement masking combat mission loading screen by briefing. Good. Can you do the same for after battle Victory table (promotion and so) ? I mean, instead of staring at static loading screen, give me the after battle report table, so I can spend time by digesting a report, meanwile globe is loading.

"We've also taken the opportunity to move the tactical mission briefing onto the loading screen, rather than showing it at the start of the mission. This gives you something to read while the mission loads," I am glad you accepted my advice. :-) BTW: I am the one who recommended you on Steam forum to design various mission types, assault, extraction, overwhelming opponents (endless enemies). It happen when game development was in a stage when you set very limited number of combat missions (UFO landed missions) because of too much repetitive game play. I received serious beating (well, disapproval) from other Steam forumates because their didnt understand possibilities. However, you did. After few months, cleaners grown and new mission types rise and shine. You could give me a free copy after first week of great sales. :-) gG

Get noticed, the icon of oponent, the alien head is orange, it means - unit do not see oponent. When icon is red, means xenonaut see particular oponent. Most probably, angle of view limited by container is set to 45degree. Then it can happen that oponent who is far away is right in the blind spot. Math is merciless.

I see usage of pause at will as major problem. Arial combat should be a minigame. Therefore completely diferent to rest of the game. This is chance to develop a game inside a game. I think this : Whole game is turn based, or globe map has pause at will. It means - Major dierencee of a minigame to contrast to rest of prodct >>> aerial fight should be build as fast paced logic brain teasear WITHOUT pause. Player could have option to slow down, but player can not stop the minigame when it is started. So minigame should have just TWO speeds, normal AND slow. No pause. Therfore speed controll is just one button/ keyboard key or on screen element. >> again simple controls allow player beter forcus for fast action/reaction. Best would be make slow button a form o bullet time. 5 seconds active while 10 seconds to charge up. This way, even slow down button becomes part of the minigame control set. Then higher difficulty levels of game are made by growing the minimal speed allowed of minigame. Tetris, Mortal combat, ... are good examples of how to approach. 6 keys on keyboard to controll at maximum OR mouse (left,righ mouse button + wheel UP,DOWN. and two side buttons) There is serious reason why six buttons at max for whole controll set of miniigame - Console ediiton ! Console contnroler ! Thing ahead ! Simple to control, but fast without pause, that is how refreshing minigame would look like.

Whole improved idea of larval infestation have to be : 1. easy to understand. e.i. Do not develop a game inside a game. 2. larval infestation is terminal decease. If some countermeasure exists, then it would be towards end game, AND as costly optional research. Which means, most players will not research it. I think game should have such things for repeated playthru. There should be more research projects than you could handle in one game. 3. Simple proposal of Larval infestation counter measure. After advanced medkit research done AND Reaper autopsy done. Reserach of Larval infestation Healing appears. It costs 6 days of research. Result is - Apply advanced medkit on Infested soldier, it makes him drug over-dose. Purpose is slow down body processes and put harmful substances into blood circulation. Soldier fell unconscious immediately after application. Now player have to deliver soldier to hospital to actually heal him. It can be done by win the mission and controll battlefield (grounded UFO missions )or In case of raid missions like data sticks (land-assault-fly away) then unconscious infested body have to be carried back to chopper to get him into hospital. Soldier have to spend 2 weeks in Hospital. As result of harmful substances used by healing procedures (to kill the larvas) and some consumed body parts, soldier suffer 15% reduction of : hit points,strength and reflex for rest of his life.

Agreed, 1. dont move camera, as long as target or source is on screen. 2. Aliens icons should be in form of opponent type. (Cleaner, Ripper, ... ) each oponent type should have own icon. 3. Alien icons should be able to use as shortcut for a fire command.

Regarding lost equipment : Mission briefing AND after_combat_summary screens should add following sentence : In case we win, we control battlefield. (we can pickup all items and bodies left on ground. Our support team handle that.) In case we win, we will not control battlefield. (all items on ground are lost. Soldier body left behind have no chance to revive and he will have no proper burial. Various raid/snatch missions, where player goes in do the task and fly away.) All this, makes clear if player need to pickup items or not. It is another method how to make missions different ! Make clear if player need to take care weight management when leaving missions. Also let pickup body then strip armour in inventory, so player could decide damage control. Retrieve fallen soldier, or his armour or both. Also add : in the Cemetery screen, those soldiers who are properly buried has nice tombstone, but those who were left behind are just listed by name but without picture, as they are forgotten.

Cleaners weapons are considered now as humans weapons, therfore cleaners weapons are useable in all missions. It is intended change.

Footsteps on snow should disappear based on turns time flow. e.i. Footsteps lasts for 3 rounds, where each round are less and less visible. So player could guess how much time (turns ) left since their were made. Current status is, footsteps decals disappear based on real time counter. time dilatation is wrong. It is unfortunate design. Let me track my opponents by footsteps in snow !

Showing a percentage "done" is reasonable for Beta test. Not for a gameplay focused at researching unknown. When you know how much unknown left, it is rather known then unknown. Which means, gamebrakeing feature. Perhaps make chapters, to create feeling of progress. When you read a book, there are chapters which can be described by a sentence. Lets say make Story Chapters, when hidden progress counter reach (20%,40%, ... ) then player receives a screen like research - Picture and a text, which wraps current progress and add some questions about future. Perhaps it could explain new payment method, or introduce general gameplay changes which comes with the new Chapter. Like orbital bombardment. Perhaps a chapter screen could offer a decision buttons like : Our organization struggle to get finance so we will (player choose one option) : 1. encourage local supporters to inform as about resource convoys (more ambush misions) 2. work with governments to send us data from their military radars (ability to see UFO out of radar reach, in case it is on cooperating state) 3. work with governments to send their military aircraft against small ufo (once per week call for support)

Topic is a bit chaotic. Here is the latest proposal. I have updated the first post to keep the latest proposal easy to find. After infestation it takes 1-3 turns to develop alien inside, based on bravery attribute. It means brave soldiers could handle infestation longer, but player dont know how long it lasts. Status of infestation should be announced same way as bleeding - small icon on top screen info panel. Get noticed, player get the information about Status - infested, but not how much time left. Soldier who is infested gets a zombie walk animation set, and his TU budget is lowered by 10%. It means, player could use infested soldier for solid part of mission with lower performance, but uncertainty has a risk it could suddenly turns and attack former colleagues. If mission ends before infestation develop, then soldier is considered dead anyway. e.i. once infested there is no way back. How does it sounds ?

I like this final scenario. I would add - last objective o the scenario is hold position for 4 turns to get time set explosives. At the end it is the end. All xenonauts are heroes of the planet in memoriam. There are two possible ending of the mission - Big explosion - Everyone dies - success. - No explosion - Everyone dies - aliens continue their plans - it is open ending allowing DLC story. Anyway stop derailing this thread. Here we talk about better infestation process. Thanks

Good argument. For adding a bit uncertainty, lets say: After infestation it takes 1-3 turns to develop alien inside, based on bravery attribute. It means brave soldiers could handle infestation longer, but player dont know how long it lasts. Status of infestation should be announced same way as bleeding - small icon on top screen info panel. Get noticed, player get the information about Status - infested, but not how much time left. Soldier who is infested gets a zombie walk animation set, and his TU budget is lowered by 10%. It means, player could use infested soldier for solid part of mission with lower performance, but uncertainty has a risk it could suddenly turns and attack former colleagues. How does it sounds ?

By Iteration to perfection. Any idea how improve current status ?

1. Great idea. It adds feeling player is sort off underground revolutionary defence force. Scraping resources various way. 2. Current version is a bit slaughter. Tactical spice or some development progress is missing. 3. advices for gradation a) limit deploy area, lets say half map closer to barricade b) split opponents to 2 groups.then make them spawn in 2 phases. Warriors (Cleaners with rebreather and auto-weapon and grenades on bikes) ,Support ( drivers in white collar and pistol, assistent-driver in work-clothes and a knife). Bikers are official defence force so they are there in the deploy phase. On the end of first turn, drivers with assistants spawns next to each door of the truck.

I edited your post, to highlight the important ideas. I hope we are on the same wave. The proposed change "larval infestation delay" is not meant as easier for player. It is not meant to save soldiers. It is created purposely for a situation, when a player is forced to decide by himself how his soldier die. Make player feel the desperation moment - "I am going to die, but I am going to do one last right thing."

I think that let people play longer on current stable version can bring consistent feedback. Chrismas are gaming peak so it would be wise let all the player base share tactic and develop some meta. I would rather see some hotfix of milestone 2 then new period of development start by release on Friday 5th January, just before weekend. Happy Chrimass to Chriss

Reality vs game need certain level of abstraction. On top, you need to make it so that rules are fun to use. Mandatory knee on end of round is not fun. It is bad design. As long as game do not have prone position (for simplicity reason) then kneel is only available "the_stable_position". Because we don not want bad design of mandatory kneel for everyone, we need to find a group of weapons which has different usage, then grant this weapon group advantage over rest. e.g. special group of weapons has bipod. As long as kneel is "the_stable_position" then we grant acc bonus for stable position to this group. For creating a dilemma situation (Reaper is incoming, do I rather knee to get acc bonus or stand to get better melee defence ? ) it is smart to add also disadvantage for kneel in some situation. As long as kneeling is generally submissive position, and not very good suited for melee fight against standing opponent, it is very reasonable to set disadvantage to kneel in melee. There is no need for question "is it possible to fight on kneel?" . Of course it is(, with some disadvantge). The issue here is, make a rule which makes sense, is readable and is acceptable abstraction of an engagement.

Controlling civilians is can of worms. If you allow add another team member by "controlling civilians" game could turn to be tedious. Even now 12 members is overwhelming. I said in another topic, number of soldiers under direct players controls have to low, to keep gameplay flow. For most of combat missions I would rather see limit of 9 Xenonauts. However, I would like to see an ability to narrow down friendly AI behaviours. Idea is : Soldier come to distance of 2 squares to civilian, then icons of hand ( same as operating abduction tubes or recover data sticks ) allow an interaction dialogue with civilian. Dialogue is Basically menu for AI behaviour switch 1) Stand still 2) Fallow me 3) Go to chopper 4) Do as you like ( it is a default behaviour) This way player get feeling of controlling the battle without overwhelming player with micro-manage an army of civilians.

Defensive AND Offensive buff for all weapons is questionable design. It means, player is forced to knee at the end of every round with every soldier. If you remove knee option and remove 4 TU points and add 10% acc and defence to every soldier. Result of battle will be the same. That is sad. It would be better add acc buff by knee only for a Bipod type of weapon - mg, sniper. Also, knee in melee should get de-buff ! For obvious reason, knee is less mobile and submissive position. So when you meet Reaper kneeling well, ... Expanding this mechanic: certain melee attacks can throw opponent to kneeling state so attacker gets a bonus in subsequent beating. Result is, knee is option how to get a bonus, sometimes. But is no longer mandatory.

I agree idea, but lets keep UI as simple as possible. add another fire mode which consumes 90% of TU, uses 15 ammo pieces, have fixed cone which is visualised, and can not be used in over-watch. On top, each projectile has 10% bonus to suppression build up.

Well, on second thought, it is not a classic dilemma situation. Rather grim selection of death. You described it properly. Player have to make a decision : How to die in 3 turns, to give best benefit to my team. Perhaps my recommended idea can be based on Bravery stat as option to current status. When soldier get infested he makes bravery roll, if he fail he turn into zombie-enemy immediately (current status) if soldier succeed bravery roll, then he turn into zombie-friendly ( he get the zombie walk and lowered stats, but player can still control him.) Brave soldier wants to help the team to the end. It should add an communication-explanation from "Operation commander" Lady. Soldiers who die this way, zombie-kamikadze-controled by player, get the highest rank medal in memoriam. Zombie state duration is 3 turns in both cases. Soldier will die anyway, but there are options, progress is not always the same. I think the situation when player deliberately kill the Brave soldier for greater good is precious moment of gameplay. Whole gameplay, The Player is in the situation of underdog who fight nails and tooth with stronger opponent. Does it sound better ?

Larva infestation can offer more hard decisions. Current status : after mele attack soldier is infested in a form of zombie. He is not under control of player. It gives no options for player, no decision making. Idea : Give player an opportunity to control a "dead man walking". Add a symbol, similar to bleeding, in the same spot in top screen area, which count down from 3. After infestation it takes 3 turns to turn into zombie. Player can use a soldier who is dead already for a suicide reckon mission, or even blow self in front of enemy with a grenade. In zombie mod it lasts another 3 turns but it is enemy, then eventually turn into Reaper. On top, cut all base stats of infested soldier to half immediately, also use zombie walk animation set, and let player control him. Just make sure player feels suffering - change base numbers also change Acc & TU. So the player has a soldier in control for 3 rounds who is destined to die. It means, player have to make decision, how he die to cause lowest damage to the team. Hard dilema. Based on Bravery stat, soldier can panic in fear of inevitable death. Soldier who is infested AND in panic mode is considered as friend by Alien AI. It is also possible add research med-evac capsule for landing chopper, which can hold one soldier. Capsule prevents terminal stage of infestation and turns it into wound needing 21 days of healing. (it need to be so long, becaouse of another dilema - perhaps it better let him die than block Hospital capacity) Med-evac capsule can be also used for rise up survival chance of a dead soldier. Player have to pick up dead soldier and put it in the capsule to make it work. Again, player have to make hard decision who deserve to be saved. After research, Capsule is just one per chopper, at maximum. ---------------------------------------- Based on the contribution of others forumites, here is updated latest proposal : After infestation it takes 1-3 turns to develop alien inside, based on bravery attribute. It means brave soldiers could handle infestation longer, but player dont know how long it lasts. Status of infestation should be announced same way as bleeding - small icon on top screen info panel. Get noticed, player get the information about Status - infested, but not how much time left. Soldier who is infested gets a zombie walk animation set, and his TU budget is lowered by 10%. It means, player could use infested soldier for solid part of mission with lower performance, but uncertainty has a risk it could suddenly turns and attack former colleagues. If mission ends before infestation develop, soldier is considered dead anyway. e.i. once infested there is no way back.