TrashMan

It doesn't fundametally change much. Weather you research a weapon upgrade/addon like a stabilizer/silencer/scope or whatevr, you build a new gun. It is still new research and new production. The difference is aplicability. While a completely new gun would be self-contained, a scope might be fitted on different guns.

That would be an interesting mechanic. The game has the alien mothership moving around the map, nuking big cities, with smaller UFO's hitting smaller settlements and doing terror attacks. You would be in a race against time to find a way to stop the mothership while there's still something left to save (and before humanity surrenders, although technically, you could still keep the game going after that, since you refused to surrender)

Nah, the annoying gameplay gimmick aside, the concept itself is what I hate. The idea of data having a physical form, ignoring the laws of physics and being defeated with bullets is so utterly retarded it offends me on a deep level.

BOOOOO. Hiss, hisss! I can kinda accept weapon families being researched in an order, but only if it's not the research end, but rather the start of research. That is to say, you unlock ballistic, then lasers, then plasma, but as you move on, more research in ballistic and lasers is unlocked. Basically, new application of newly mastered tech on already existing weapons. Most people seem to have a very limited thinking of "high-tech sounding and looking = better than low-tech sounding and looking", which has no connection to reality whatsoever. A lot of high-tech things are horribly inefficient, expensive and can have some serious downsides that are way too often ignored. I find it funny that 40K of all settings tends to be a lot more realisitc in many aspects despite it's over-the-top nature compared to some settings that are supposedly more grounded. Plasma guns in that setting are powerful, but can overheat and explode in your face and have low rate of fire, which is why you want mixed weapons in a squad.

Earth tech >>>>> filthy xeno tech Ballistics is king.

I find Codexes extremely stupid.

Why do some many devs hate the ballistic family?

Why is that annoying? It's like complaining you have to carry an AT missile to kill a tank.

How is it playing differently? You replace a 10 damage weapon with a 20 damage weapon. There's no change in playstyle at all and there is no choice to make. It doesn't play any differently at all. As for the bolded part, it is completely the opposite of what you claim, as it restricts the player even more.

I am supposed to pick and choose. Low-tech isn't bad tech necessarily. If I whack you on the head with a big hammer, no high-tech armor in the world will save you from a concussion. You speak as if refinement doesn't exist. If I make an unobtanium bullet for a ballistic rifle, isn't that "new" tech? Or it still a regular rifle and therefore "uncool"? Lasers aren't inherently superior to bullets in every way, you have a very binary, game-y mentality of "types=tiers". Why not Ballistic 1 -> Ballistic 2 -> Ballistic 3, Laser 1-> Laser 2, Plasma 1 -> Plasma 2, etc? Increasing in lethality with more refined weapons, but different pros and cons. Why do you want to REMOVE all choice in a game that's about planning and choices? In the specific example you mentioned, THAT laser isn't supposed to be used like a spray-and-pray machinegun. (or it just need a balance pass) It is logisticaly a good weapon in that you can stay in the field without returning to base and not worry about ammo, basically allowing continous deployments. Nor does it tie your fabrication shops with ammo production. It's not good in prolonged assaults against multiple opponents. As long as you fight in theatres where you don't expect you will be draining it's energy store, it's good.

It makes sense you'd know the layout of buildings. It's not secret info, there are city maps and google maps. Hell, with Street Cam you could probably watch their every step!

Given that flying back to base or another mission easily takes a few hours, that's more than enough time to rest I rather love the JA2 way of doing things in combat. You had stamina that certain weapons and actions (running, climbing, carrying really heavy stuff) depleted it. Stamina was something that you recovered quickly, but led to interesting gameplay. A shotgun blast to the gut wouldn't damage you if you had armor, but it would knock the air out of you, putting a big hit on your stamina. If you were already low on it, it would knock you down. That's why you had energizer syringes on you. And bandages and regenerators. Because you had to treat the wounds, no magical instant HP restoration.

Why?

And since we are on the topic of weapon asymetry and weapons, what weapons would you even want to see in the game? LASER FAMILY. - pulse lasers: your typical 40K lasgun or star wars blaster in visual looks. Releases a lot of energy in short pulses, delivering a lot damage to the target. Works like a normal rifle in that regard. Can overheat. Small damage falloff with distance? - continous lasers: a real beam weapon. Functions a bit differently in that it does NOT miss. However, the damage you do is equal to the hit chance. So, for a 100 dmg C-Laser, with a 69% chance to hit you'd do 69 damage (at optimal range). This basically represents your ability to keep the beam on target as it moves and hides in cover. BALLISTICS: - conventional/basic: starter guns. Lots of dakka, can be upgraded and can use different ammo types. - ETC (electrothermalchemical) guns: using more advanced propellant ignition systems (plasma spark) and propellant, a more reliable rate of fire and greater muzzle velocity (up to 4km/s) can be achieved. This is actually a real thing (look it up). They are like more practical railguns, that don't suffer from the insane energy requirements and RoF issues, but don't have quite the same oomph. Also, they can use different ammo types. Pretty much conventional guns on steroids. - railgun: simplest implementation of electromagnetically propelled weapons, by simply putting a metal spike between rails and inducing a magnetic current. The vibration and bending of the rails is an issue, causing the weapon to be less accurate with each shot and the rails to degrade fast and need replacement. In practical terms, that would mean that a railgun ammo clip would come with spare rails, making it heavy. - coilgun: projectile accelerated trough a series of ring that have to be charged in a precise sequence with milisecond precision. Requires a lot more electronics (making it more sensitive) and more capacitors, but the rings don't bend or wobble, making it more accurate and capable of far more shots before replacements are needed. Both the railgun and coilgun suffer from Rate of Fire issues. OTHER: - flamethrowers: self-explanatory. Sets things that can be set on fire on fire. - Plasma thrower: huge quantities of plasma. VERY short range. Sets things that can't be set on fire on fire. - grenade launchers - missile launchers - acid guns? - sonic weapons? I guess thermobaric would count. For POWER ARMOR: - heavy cannons: as in, actual heavy cannon, not a machingun. Short range, slow fire, BIG round, brutal punch. Like Hellcannon from Phoenix Point. - HMGs.. like 50 cals. Basically the standard Predator gun in Xenounauts 1 - Gattling guns. Good old painless. Say goodbye to your ammo and everything in front of you that isn't behind heavy armor. Supplying this with enough ammo would be the biggest problem. ETC gattling gun? Now THAT is a scary thought. - shoulder mounted mini-missile/grenade launcher?

Wait, you WANT a static, linear progression? That would make you and me mortal enemies. I hate...HATE that concept with an intensity of a million burning suns. It's dull, soulless, boring, uninspired, brainless. Every type and tier is the same, just +1 with different graphics. It's so lazy it's an immediate turnoff for me. Different weapons families should behave differently (but that's not to say you can't have upgrades within a family) So plasma guns (short range, slow to fire, no plasma snipers, can actually set you on fire) would behave different from lasers (supper accurate, no shotguns, damage fallof with distance?) would behave different from conventional ballistics (high RoF, eats ammo), etc.. But you can upgrade a weapon family. The early, bulky plasma guns could be upgraded to more refined ones with overall better performance, then to high-grade ones (that can maybe go around some limitations?) So you have variety, with different weapon types exceeding in certain roles, with some overlap (the handgun/rifle role all would share); and you have linear progression. And it all makes sense and fill up the research tree nicely.

Agreed. Linear progression of "the same thing, only better" is as soulless as it gets. Especially for weapons.

Yes for a ground radar and at extreme ranges. The earth curvature does not apply in aerial fights, as missiles generally have a short effective range (10-30nm) No if you got an enemy aircraft searching for you. Also depends on the terrain. Flat terrain won't hide you from an air radar.

Missile info:

It makes you quite visible on radar. Look a bit into air combat mechanics. It's very interesting. I suggest videos like these (especially the second one). The guy explains a lot of things, especially near the end, when he does the battle overview, as he explains both combatants actions.

Altitude and terrain topography should be a thing. There should be cons and pros to high and low altitude. For high altitude, you're dealing with thinner air and clouds obstructing visibility. For low altitude, you're dealing with dense air and terrain. Flying low over water is a death sentence. Hilly or mountainous terrain makes it easier to evade. Flying low over sand desert makes heat seekers less effective. Etc. Tiny bits like that could be implemented in a simple way like "what type of terrain is the aircraft over nad what altitude? Ok, apply bonuses/penalties!"

If you study history, then you'd pretty much call half the nations stupid or lacking tactical thinking. There's thousand of examples of misscalculations, errors, terrilbe oversights, arrogance or just plain bad luck. The logical conclusion is thus, that humans are stupid. There's also circumstance to consider. The aliens might be forced to attack before they are ready.

I disagree. The enemy won't just stay still and let you take pot shots. While you are focusing on the enemy with best sensors/anti-cammo/detection range, others are moving in. Cammo reduces detection range, it doesn't make you undetectable - even less when the shooting starts. I see cammo more as something that lets you set up into good position.

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You are staring on the assumption that the aliens came fully prepared and informed with a full army. The aliens might be a fraction of an invasion fleet that got splintered/lost/whatever. They may have stumbled onto Earth without prior plan to invade and are underestimating human resistance.

I for one don't particually like the cold War aesthetics. As for why the aliens aren't using the heaviest units from the get-go? Could be different reasons. Perhaps they are a scouting force and have limited resources themselves? Perhaps more advanced units need time to bring in from wherever they are coming from? Perhaps those advanced units ARE there from the get go, but deployed in more pressing theaters. Xenonauts certainly wouldn't be a big enough threat early on to warrant such resource expenditure, especially since the alien wouldn't really know who the Xenonauts are or the extent of their abilities. If this is the case, the game should comminicate it trough messages, briefings, news reports, etc.. Make sure to not just mention, but also show in some way the world armies ARE fighting. Something like: "Commander, I'm sure you already read the reports about the crushing defeat of the 5th army corps? The alien invaders are deploying weapons and troops significantly more advanced than what we have encountered so far. Fortunately, they appear to have a limited number of them, and we can consider ourselves lucky our men haven't run into them yet. However, sooner or later it is bound to happen. I urge you to divert funding into weapon development to combat these threats. Trying to capture samples would be of great benefit, but bear in mind the risks involved."