raziel1981

it went live !

great Max_Caine! thanks

I'd add a vehicle degradation model to iron man mode. I'd consider it more of an annoyance in an ordinary game. Drop tanks are fine as an idea, but most likely would be forgotten in later stages of the game.

I think that that specific rephrasing of your words brings a world of difference to their meaning from the reader's point of view. A certain degree of pragmatism with suggestions wouldn't kill anyone here (including myself). However, while its clear to me that a great deal of the ideas we see rolling around on the forum at this point, are far more fitting for Xenonauts 2, it does seem pointless to title a thread with "suggestions for Xenonauts 2"

thotkins I just finished reading this post and its simply amazing the amount of thought and effort you put into it. Although it does sound like "mod-only" territory as the ideas you mention demand massive changes to the geopolitical interface (at least it sounds like it). Generally, an iron-man mode could include the possibility of achieving all the alt. research by managing to bring all the opposing parties of the cold war under a Xenonaut lead global consensus that would end in an international peace pact (boy what a dream...). You'd be fighting every possible challenge the game has to offer to appease all parties and would have to avoid selling any of your equipment to the countries (technology that mankind isn't ready for and all those cliches...) but eventually you would gain an incredible anti-alien war machine Regardless, this is probably the most amazing idea I ever heard of for x-com-styled games. The question is from where you start making such a mod? I think its fair to say that its unlikely we'll see any of this implemented in the game at this point.

thothkins - this could be quite an interesting idea if implemented correctly. Possible flaw with such a weapon - there is a small chance of it causing a localized space/time singularity where it hits (or perhaps at the point it is being fired from) Event Horizon anyone?

Gorlom - I don't necessarily picture it as anything specific at the moment, its just an idea in general. I was just trying to get the ball rolling with the idea, with the hope that other forum members will try to shape it out with me...isn't that the whole point of sharing ideas here ?

I think that your general guidelines are correct Max, however, I'm certain that Chris is capable of making his own mind on what and if any of the ideas we post here are relevant to the game. As a person who takes interest in Xenonauts I don't expect any of my suggestions to be necessarily implemented. Sure, it would be fun if they did, but I realize as an adult in a global economy, that creating a computer game eventually is a process that is driven to create a commercial product that makes profit for its developers. Brainstorming ideas is first and foremost simply fun. I'm sure that if the dev. team would see fit, they could simply post that the project is complete and no more suggestions of any kind will be implemented into the game. Eventually, they are not obligated to take anything posted here seriously, just as much as any person here doesn't have to post any suggestion they got. Your suggested rules might be a welcomed filter for the developers, but I don't see why they might need such a screening process in the first place.

Well it can always be curbed down to something milder...Its just a suggestion anyway, I didn't say it was a wholly thought out idea, but I'm fairly certain that with a bit of imagination it can be polished into a more feasible technology (at least as far as an alien invasion considered game goes). I simply find the whole ballistic->laser->plasma tree quite repetitive and boring to be honest (since its been redone so many times by now). Alenium will probably take the exact role of Elerium from XCOM which will be then used as a component for all alien-tech energy weapons so I don't consider the mass to energy conversion technology expressed through it. At least not in the way I picture it.

Max - thanks for your support. I don't mind having my ideas being critiqued, I just wanted to share a few that I think could possibly enhance the game experience. I might be wrong or not, but we all really want the same thing - the best Xenonauts experience we can get. thothkins - (1) A spotter would have to equip its optical equipment as a weapon while using his skill to aid a sniper. What I'm suggesting isn't meant as an uber-game-killing bonus but more as a condition for long-range-sniping. How long-range are we talking about - say 1.0-1.5kms (needs to be translated into game tiles) and perhaps with the sci-fi weapons becoming available 2.0-2.5kms. I think that this is a plausible addition to game mechanics as far as sniping goes. As far as the spotter goes - you should keep in mind that you are basically stranding a second soldier to use binoculars or any other optical device instead of being available to open fire. I don't see this in any way becoming a game breaking skill, it can easily be tweaked as a limited bonus or used as a condition to sustain current chances to successfully hit a target at longer distances. (2) It could be justified that they can't overload/etc their weapons so its limited to a certain amount of energy/mass. I have to emphasize here to all the responses that kicked off with this idea into nuclear weapons, E=Mc^2 doesn't necessarily mean that you're nuking the aliens. It says exactly what it is -> that Energy is Mass and vice versa. My idea is just to use energy/mass conversion as an alien technology. I just thought it would be nice as a new form of tech that no one tried so far in these kind of games and would be quite original. Didn't say it was a perfect idea... (3) In the geoscape an EMP weapon could easily be used to soften up an alien base before attacking it or on the more massive alien ships. This could be tricky to implement, and i'd dare say that its far more obvious in battlescape when dealing with the Androns and/or any heavy platform that might be deployed against your team. (4) I wholly agree on the prox. mines, I also think that AP mines could be a lot of fun (for aliens and humans). Perhaps using spider mines like in Crusader - No regret? Or a small swarm of mechanical spiders like in minority report that could hunt down a target in a building? Just think of this as an alien attack weapon - now there's true terror for you. (5) Sadly, this is true. There's a great deal of consideration to be put into here. This could be dealt with the actual deployment of the equipment taking a few turns to avoid exactly this kind of situation and forcing the player to move their forces as fast as possible away from the starting point. I still think it could be used magnificently with the suppression mechanic. Just think of the challenge and tactical advantage that could be gained by deploying a heavy machinegun near a UFO's entrance. Of course the aliens wouldn't run into the fire after the first few that went out the UFO door. (6) I still think this would be a GREAT terror mission.

1) Sniper combos could be countered by a variety of ways - teleportation, camoflouge, GITS-like invisibility, smoke screens (or any other gas that could disrupt Vis/IR optics) I'll skip straight to 4) So what about aliens putting mines for you? that could definitely add some tension to each mission. But yeah you make some strong points that I didn't think over myself. Basically to really enjoy the things I mentioned here there would have to be a "setup stage" to each mission but that would basically turn it into a whole other game. Still, one can always dream...

Dudeman Jones - 1) regarding the sniper in generally I agree with most what you said. However, I think that people tend to miss out on the possibility of alien snipers as well as far as balancing goes. 2) I don't see why this has anything to do with the blaster technology, the idea I'm suggesting here is about basically using an inanimate/animate nearby object/alien/civ/etc as ammo for a weapon that then releases the absorbed "mass" into "energy". This doesn't have to end in a nuclear blast necessairly...I was more thinking of a high powered energy weapon. 3) EMP grenades would be the most intuitive weapon to deal with the Androns imo. 4) I guess that the mines idea is problematic to implement because of the nature of most of the missions in this kind of game. 5) With the suppression mechanism implemented into the game, I'd think deployables is a must. I mean that is the main purpose of such weapons in actual warfare. Even in an offensive mission , it could become a real challenge to successfully deploy such a device in the right place on a map to gain the upper hand in a battle (especially when dealing with bigger maps). 6) Like I said to Kaguya - I'm not meaning to use artilery in battle scape as a weapon but as a mission surrounding the neutralization of such a system. Its effects would be felt in geoscape or/and relations with other cities. I'm quite sure this could be a great new form of a terror site mission. Kaguya - The scout is most likely cannon fodder, and doesn't play the practical role of spotter. The idea of a deployable weapon is for it to be stationary without needing to use the extra space for a vehicle in the transport. Infantry is always better for the kind of missions we see in these games then vehicles. The blaster launcher was basically a one man-handled cruise missile which (as much as i hate to admit) a game breaker. The idea is not for an artillery gun but a real structure/vehicle that is being deployed as a strategic threat which you need to stop. The main point of this is creating variety in a new form of terror mission and yes it is likely that a battleship could probably do this just as well, but the whole point is suggesting ways to enhance the experience and not just stick to what has already been done time and time again. At least that's my take on such projects.

Hey everyone, I get to do a lot of hours per week commuting via public transportation on and off work (almost 4 hours a day) which leaves me with plenty of time to think, and what's better to think of then suggestions for Xenonauts? So I started thinking on all the things that I felt being long absent in turn based tactical games (of course with the original x-com as the gold standard for this niche) and this is what I came up with (I'll do my best to categorize them into "types" of ideas): (1) Snipers: The sniper role has been done and redone hundreds of times in this kind of games with little consideration to how actual sniping team work in realistic combat scenarios and i don't necessarily mean ballistics as much as i mean tactics. For instance - real combat snipers often go in teams of 2 (at least I'm familiar with this feature from my own service in IDF) with one being the eyes and the other handling the rifle itself. This could generally enhance the sniper role in such a game if we supposedly manage to express this through a significant boost to the sniper accuracy if he's paired with a scout (not sure what's the exact term for it in English). This could lead to the aliens aspiring not just to hunt down your men but also attempt to protect tactical bottle necks such as stairways that lead to building roofs or other elevated positions as once your sniper team is properly positioned, you'd have a significant advantage over the aliens. In terms of the actual weaponry in game - the current sniper rifle in the alpha build is nice and all, but their are guns and then their ARE guns. For instance - the Baret M82 .5 caliber anti-material rifle is fine example of true stopping power in a form of a rifle.Another great example is the PGM Hecate II (their are probably more modern weapons of this class but I'm not familiar with them). Although these shouldn't be anywhere close (for the sake of holding the sci-fi thrill of the game) to a rail-gun sniper rifle or anything of the sort. But I am aware of an encounter irl where such a rifle stopped an APC dead in its tracks by a direct hit to its engine (through its armor). This actually brings another point that i find curious in such games - I can't recall any sci-fi tactical turn-based game with alien snipers in it. The necessity of a sniper role seems obvious to me from a tactical point of view. They can manipulate DNA, they mastered interstellar travel and can control our minds but they can't use their own snipers?! I mean c'mon... I was thinking of some kind of critter with a harpoon gun like the predator, possibly capable of partial invisibility and actually jumping a whole floor/s upwards/downwards. Alternatively some kind of extremely evolved race that can eject some form of projectile. In either case, I'd see no point why they'd use a loud plasma rifle or anything of that sort when they could use a near-silent hyper fast crossbow/harpoon gun of some sort or another. Regarding the camouflage idea - it could probably be countered with smoke grenades that would supposedly disrupt the optical illusion. (2) E=MC^2 can kill you... This is slightly inspired from mass effect but HEAVILY inspired from the actual Einstein equation - actual weaponry that could transmute mass into energy or energy into mass - using the environment to charge the weapon and then discharging it as a beam or a projectile at your forces. Perhaps directly using corpses of fallen civs/xenonauts/aliens... This would probably work much better as a bio-mass weapon of some kind, however it would be novel as a sci-fi concept (I can't say I t remember anyone who used such an idea) and would resonate well with the cold war era. Probably could also be used as a form of force field - use animate/inanimate objects around you to charge your forec field. I think this could be a technology tree of its own really... (3) By 1979 the EMP blast phenomenon should be well understood by scientists and it could be a real treat if at some point throughout the middle/later stages of the game you could use this. It would demand some significant balancing but just think of the possibilities this would open up in tactical terms as well as strategic terms for both sides (anyone ordered an EMP base defense?) (4) Mines - this is also a possibility that's been mostly ignored in X-COM and its clones. Specifically I'd love to see claymores, AP and AA mines, perhaps more guerrilla warfare oriented weapons (since this is basically an asymmetric war scenario), booby traps (trip wire set mines...) (5) Deploayable equipment - in general, their are many forms of weapons that can be deployed in an actual combat scenario starting from automated grenade launchers such as the SB LAG 40 (a potentially incredibly useful tactic to clear a building through its windows), a heavy (truly HEAVY) machine gun, starting from the ol' Gatling to a full-scale gun boat minigun. This could be mobilized in teams of 2 or 3 soldiers that each has a "pack" that is part of the device/weapon. Perhaps a similar mechanic should be considered for a field EMP weapon? Oh and there's of course the "Davy Crockett" (yeah i'm a Fallout fan as well). Be sure to wiki it (6) Alien artillery - generally I never seen in any of these games any kind of alien artillery. This seems ironic as it would be the first thing any invasion force of any kind would most likely deploy (well...at least after you finished with orbital bombardments). Suppose a terror site in the suburbs of a city - Xenonauts intelligence identified a construction/deployment site of an alien artillery platform of one kind or another. This must be stopped or else a capital city of one nation or another will be demolished which would probably be an immediate turning point for your relations with that country. Such a mission could also be rolled out in the form of an artillery site being built nearby one of your bases which you probably would want to stop...Kind of an alternative to the repetitive "attack on base" missions. Not every attack has to come as a direct grounded raid... Pretty much that's it. I'll be glad to hear everyone's opinions on these ideas. Cheers!

Hey guys, I just wanted to tell you that I think that what you're doing with Xenonauts is a true revision of the original X-COM and that I was so impressed with it that I just had to make a thread about it in a computer enthusiasts forum that I reg. for the last 4 years (www.iopanel.net/forum). I'm just having so much fun with the Alpha that I just had to have others hear of this especially since a lot of my forum's regs are PC gaming old timers like me that wasted their younger years on X-COM:UFO defense. I can't wait for the next build and for the game to go live already!

happened to me last night as well, second turn of a ground play, identified a reptilian alien, aimed with a sniper rifle and had zero percent and....CTD (don't remember if before or at hit)

the true boss of x-com were the fusion bombs...seriously guys...

Their's also the Matkal reconnaissance unit that is the land forces "spec-force" unit (unlike the Shayetet which belong to the Naval forces). Their's also Shaldag that belongs to the Air force.

mmm i noticed their was no sign of proximity mines in the demo? these were really useful for me when i played the original x-com. And how about subway maps or including subway levels in main urban maps as underground levels ?

Also protecting certain scientists or a research facility of elevated strategic value for the Xenonauts' effort !