Rakiii

I think "shock" effect from X-division would be better (Shock effect removes flat amount of AP from aliens there (if they loose hp) and you can even combine it with suppression for stronger effects but thats not the case for robots). I am not sure about adding new mechanic to the game but it could be just a special effect for EMP damage here eventually.

Just kill aliens inside UFO and capture it for 3 turns (you dont need to kill all aliens on map).

I know but does it give any damage bonus against them? I guess not or its not written anywhere.

just to add to my older post (5.24 stable Commander): I have been playing since beginning of EA and I have to say very early missions are getting harder bcos of a few nerfs you have done recently. -Damage randomisation changed from 50-200% to 50-150% which means less one shots but also general damage nerf for your soldiers - Grenades nerf (damage ones) - damage is done based on proximity now which is more realistic but you cannot one shot cleaners with grenades anymore (you could with interrogation/autopsy projects). Btw I think grenades are a bit too weak bcos of the change now and I would think about small damage buff (at least from 35>40) Btw aliens are still very dangerous with their grenades (wraiths) and imo way too accurate ... - No more interrogation / autopsy project for Cleaners = -10-25%? damage nerf -Reinforcement move 50% of their TU once spawn there ... and know your last position Although I think these changes are fine in general it had strong effect especially on early missions. I think the timed missions are the hardest part during first phase and 100% harder than first UFO crash sites (even been harder than first terror mission for me). I think VIP elimination seems quite fair but abduction (all stages) and data hack should be rebalanced, I am talking about Commander. I think minus one or two soldiers before reinforcement will hit and + 1 turn would be fair. these missions should be kind of tutorial and not the hardest part. Despite I am able to do these missions on commander IM I think early missions should be easier and in line with the rest of the game.

Here are my thoughts from playing on Commander difficulty on the stable 5.23 branch: General feedback Pacing of the game feels too fast. Each phase should be at least 3 months with more events occuring (more missions, wave of UFO´s etc). Also Long war version of the game would be cool The moment I have researched advanced lasers I could have gaus weapons. Btw I think magnetic and gaus weapons should have advanced version of them available to research same as laser/fusion does. Abduction mission seems harder than the rest of other early game missions. There should be less aliens or we should have more time (+1 Turn would be fine) // Well cleaner timed missions are harder than UFO crashed in general cos time pressure (+1 turn would be fine) Sebiilians - giving them burst was a nice idea but 5* burst feels a bit too strong. I would change it to 3* but made them harder to suppress. Well suppresion is too strong in general imo. I know we had different values for suppression in X1 (for grenades and weaponsú. Is it still a thing ? I cannot see any values. I think Reapers are too easy to kill - they should be tougher to kill but give them more stun damage over lethal damage to compensate. Also there could be rare but bigger and stronger version of them (alfa reapers) Cyberdrones - I think they should not be moving through walls (e.g. on orbital mission) and the gun feels too accurate or strong in general. I think one bigger ball of plasma that explodes on impact feels ok. Also did you buff their numbers? I have met six of them on terror mission and seen screen with 7 of them ... I think I have never met such high number of them in any mission earlier. I think 3-4 would feel more fair. Colossus Armor First of all I would keep it rather niche but more interesting armor to use. I think base armor could be buffed from 40>50 but rather than just buffing its armor values I would give it smth special like semi-regenerating armor based on damage taken. Smth like restoring 33% of damage taken as armor (60 lost hp could restore 20 armor) More effective LMG - reduce TU from 75% > 65% Modules - not all but I think it could have inbuilt healing module and could give user higher morale bonus (as opposite to negative reflexes). You are kind of walking tank so you shouldnt be too scared right?:). I have controversial idea here. What about removing strength module from the game ( it´s easy to use on all soldiers and feels mandatory). instead I would reduce weight of items (especially grenades, magazines,-...) to not affect your soldiers too much but +strength bonus on Colossus would feel more rewarding finally. Additional weapons - I would allow heavy launcher for use as well. Big melee weapon? yeah that seems unrealistic but could be fun so why not. Maybe smth like minigun with higher number of projectiles but lower damage, high strength and TU requirement (40-50 strength), low accuracy but high damage and suppression potential so it could profit from strength bonus. Carry other items - ok why not Jetpack - pls NO! ever seen tanks flying? .. Wraith Cloaking Field: Activates at start of first turn (battle), becomes disabled for rest of turn on damage and been disabled permanently while on low life (<33% hp) Squad Sizes: 8 - 10 - 12 would feel like a good compromise but I wouldnt mind having a few special missions where you just need e.g. 4 soldiers or smth. It would bring more diversity. Btw I could use max 12 soldiers on UO-1 mission despite having the best ship. Is it intended?

I am with you on this 100%. The current maps feels a bit boring. I would enjoy more dynamic maps, different weather, winds, spreading fires, demolished buildings and all little details we had in many X1 CE maps or UFO from 90s....

Yeah we need more missions with less harsh penalties aka eliminate VIP mission with infiltrators being involved etc.

I think the current implementation of Doomsday point system is a bit boring. It forces you to spam more or less the "reduce tension button". I would prefer doing it through missions 90% of the time /the button should be one time per month thing or so/.

I think using a teleporter could spend more TU´s and if you nerf suppression in general you cannot cheese it as easy. Same goes for doors and such (it has been changed in some cases already). Btw I have been surprised openning doors in X-division for the first time... the aliens were camping behind and been shooting at me the moment I have opened the doors ...

As Skitso has said. If I remember correctly Shotgun had range of 8 in X1 (with bigger maps in general). Btw it has range of 3 in X-div mode (it has way lower TU´s for action though). In fact I would prefer lower range of shotgun (8 max) but with reaction modifiers back. It made all weapons more unique.

We can get an inspiration from X-division (the biggest X1 mode) about weapons. just a hint ... Laser weapons are more accurate, longer ranges, lower damage X Plasma weapons less accurate, more damage, less range there. Although you can get an access to Plasma weapons later sb can still prefer Laser weapons (for their properties) There are also 3 tiers in each category. e.g. imagine having tier 2/3 Magnetic weapons here being better than tier 1 Gaus weapons etc. The weapon upgrades are not just more damage version of the previous. I really like Uzi (SMG´s) there - one handed, 8 round burst, low range, low accuracy, ... I also love miniguns there ... 80 round burst (do you like predator scene with MG?) The weapons are really different there ... and same goes for aliens (they use sheer amount of weapons there) ... On top of that there are 4 different damage types there (kinetic, energy, incendiary - thermal, chemical, EMP) and the aliens have different weaknesses e.g. Androns have very strong kinetic resistance, strong energy resistance, imunity to chemical, middle resistance to incendiary (thermal), weak against EMP (We have shock pistols doing EMP here) They also removed reaction modifiers from the weapons (reaction fire abilities). It also made the weapons differ more. I think MG are just too strong without nerfed reaction modifier and with improved accuracy here.

Maps are quite small so its better to reduce ranges. gG-Unknown - yeah "C4" is too heavy to use early on and rather weak later so I would add upgrades (alenium, plasma variants - 75 - 100 damage?) with better damage and reduce weight to 10 as you have suggested too. There´s also no need to use strong explosives (such as C4) cos you can destroy even hard cover with just charge or just shooting it with laser. Some cover and especially UFO´s door / base wall and such should be much harder to break. On the other hand you should be able to pass through small bushes in Colossus suit. - I think accuracy should fall of with range on grenades dramatically. It´s not possible to have 100% accu with more range than shotgun. - I think accuracy of grenade should be affected by smoke and high obstacles but not small cover.

I think aliens could use more variety of weapons. Not only pistols, rifles but also cannons, even minigun (leaders?). Some could deal a bit of AoE, some weapons could even ignore armor or shields in later phases. Many of these things were in X-division (the largest X1 mode).

I think pacing of the game is too fast especially early game. Researching new things seems trivial and I had scientists idling early on. The moment I have built accelerated rifles I have just researched lasers , ... I think some tech could be semi-locked behind capturing specific type of aliens (pilots for new crafts, engineer / weapons officiers for weapons and things like that.) It would also make doing crash sites more meaningful. Researching process shouldnt be linear and there could be more ways how to reach specific tech eventually. Explosives - I think all explosives should deal damage based on proximity and should be affected by smoke. There´s also no randomisation in damage? Maybe give it 75-125% randomisation. The grenades are also too accurate and have insane range. I can throw grenade futher than is effective range of shotgun and on top of that with 100% accu etc. It could work both for players and aliens. Exotic material should be rare. Especially if you just need alloys / alenium to build things.

I can only agree here. I also think all explosions should deal damage based on profiximity, including grenades.