[Xenonauts 2]

Perhaps during gameplay it'd be fixed at certain points, but the player can grab the camera and move it around for a "lets-take-an-epic-screenshot-without-the-UI-in-the-way" mode.

[Xenonauts 2 - Weapons and Armour Development]

Ideally you want something where fully upgraded plasmas are better than fully upgraded lasers, but there's also scope for situations where lasers are better than plasmas due to fact that lasers are a more mature tech than plasmas because the player has had access to them for longer.

Just throwing it out there:

What if plasmas weren't better than lasers? Lasers became your long range guns, plasmas your short range guns? Instead of there being four tiers of weapons, you'd have four weapon technologies that complimented each other without treading much on each other's toes.

Thoughts?

[Xenonauts 2 - Weapons and Armour Development]

If you wanted to make the classes feel distinct we need to make them wildly different in operation, not just vary their damage and penetration bonuses.

(etc etc etc)

+1

Points I especially like:

– Ballistic assault rifle remaining the most versatile weapon in the game. Weapon attachments and multiple types of ammunition would help keep it feeling fresh.

– Lasers deal little damage unless you focus fire for a long time, eating TUs. Perhaps pulse lasers could have really good armor penetration?

Reasoning:

Pulse laser

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pulsed operation of lasers refers to any laser not classified as continuous wave, so that the optical power appears in pulses of some duration at some repetition rate.[1] This encompasses a wide range of technologies addressing a number of different motivations. Some lasers are pulsed simply because they cannot be run in continuous mode.

In other cases the application requires the production of pulses having as large an energy as possible. Since the pulse energy is equal to the average power divided by the repetition rate, this goal can sometimes be satisfied by lowering the rate of pulses so that more energy can be built up in between pulses. In laser ablation for example, a small volume of material at the surface of a work piece can be evaporated if it is heated in a very short time, whereas supplying the energy gradually would allow for the heat to be absorbed into the bulk of the piece, never attaining a sufficiently high temperature at a particular point.

– Plasma having terrible range.

Because plasma weapons would have such poor range, should the aliens get other forms of weaponry for longer range things?

(Needlers? )

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V8]

Armor suits will fill that niche. (Mobile suits?)

[Research Specialisation / Intelligence]

This Intelligence concept sounds awesome. I've got a suggestion for it.

In war, there are three basic levels of operations: strategic, logistic, and tactical. I recommend we incorporate these levels of warfare into Chris' intelligence system.

(For those not familiar, "Invade France to aid/liberate the French and attack the Germans" would be strategic, "Do it on June 6, 1944, with this many ships, this many soldiers, and with these weapons" would be logistic, and "Put soldiers here on the beach, have them advance in this way, and use grenades to flush out this bunker" would be tactical.)

• Strategic Intelligence would mainly involve the "Big Picture," or the "Main Idea," and wouldn't bother about individual missions. The player's knowledge of the alien's main, overarching strategies and plans would come through these channels. Information such as where (i.e. in what general region) the enemy will focus efforts, how the enemy plans on destroying humanity's capability to fight back (destroy population, destroy morale, destroy infrastructure, etc), and even why the enemy is attacking could be learned in this way.
  This sort of intelligence would allow the player to modify global/regional strategies based on the alien's own. For example, if the player knows that the aliens are going to focus on capturing live humans, the player can behave differently than if the aliens were planning on utterly destroying everything. Also, large offensives and/or important events would first be learned of through strategic intelligence gathering. Something as simple as, "The enemy plans a terror attack in Turn 14," could become the difference between success and failure, simply because the player now expects something.
  I feel like Strategic Intel gathering could really drive the story, too, as discovering the alien's main plans would give some serious insight as to what they are doing on our turf. In the interest of making every playthrough different, I would suggest that the Xenonauts don't necessarily need to know why the aliens are there. That information could be learned through strategic intel gathering, if the player was actually interested enough. It would then be up to the player to act on that new information.
  
• Logistical Intelligence would deal with the traditional sort of info we UFO:EU vets have come to know and love. Mission destination, ETA, UFO class, enemy race/type, numbers, armaments, etc. This would be the most useful for planning specific ground combats in the future. Knowing through Strategic Intelligence that a terror attack is coming soon would help the player prepare (perhaps by allowing him/her the chance to have the team ready and well rested), but knowing through Logistical Intelligence that the terror attack will use X number of reapers and Y number of wraiths in Eastern Europe on a rainy Tuesday would allow the player to adjust the actual load out of the team and send them in at the proper time. There really doesn't need to be an argument for this, IMO, as this sort of intelligence is already planned.
  
• Tactical Intelligence would be given right at the start of the ground combat. As a basic example, "Local forces have scoped out the area, and report that the enemy UFO crashed about 70 meters North by North-West of the warp zone (or whatever we call the starting place of the soldiers on the map). Multiple civilians have been spotted."
  A more technologically advanced local force could report, "Thermal imaging has revealed the location of the UFO, in the South corner of the combat zone. UFO damage appears to be minor. A concentration of heat signatures, assumed to be hostile, were detected to the South-East and the South-West of the warp zone. There are civilians to the North, and on the upper stories of buildings to the South-West."
  This sort of intel would give the player some idea as to how he/she should go about the specific ground combat. The player could decide to focus on rushing and capturing the UFO, on saving civilians, on clearing every hostile, etc etc. It would also help avoid the annoying "let's search every corner of the map for that blasted UFO" syndrome. (Honestly, you'd think that the soldiers could at least see the smoke plumes from the crash site or something.)
  

How much, or how little, information is given would depend on intelligence research level, probably on some weighted RNGs, and whatever Chris feels would be best.

Creating these categories for intelligence would increase several-fold the number of possible play styles in relation to the intelligence concept. Is it better to live and fight battle by battle, or to have advance notice as to what sort of battles will be coming? Do we want to know why the aliens are attacking, or do we not care so much if we can instead learn which blips on the radar are extra-terrestrial and which are simply extra terrestrials? How much can we actually trust these little scanner thingies, anyway?

What do you people think?

EDIT: Tactical intelligence would likely be increased/improved through independent (i.e., not the main "Intelligence") research projects that create new tech for the player to proliferate.

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V8]

Will we be able to select the load outs of the local forces before the level? For example, what would happen if the player wants to use lasers on a crash site, but the local forces have received both laser and plasma tech through proliferation? If each tech tier isn't designed to be a straight upgrade to the previous tier, then we would have to be able to choose what the local forces are equipped with somehow.

I don't need vehicles.

I'd rather see the brain juice spent on fleshing out the infantry part.

The desirable qualities of vehicles could just as well be put on soldier weapons and armor.

• Having a way to deal with reapers or similar heavy hitters.
  A suit of heavy armor can carry ablative armor. The soldier is slow but nothing gets through until the extra armor is used up or blasted off manually.
  
• A way to eject from armor a considerable distance backwards. The armor may fail (or be about to) but the soldier might live.
  Another worthy upgrade to research.
  
• Scouting at night without using kamikaze rookies.
  A suit of scout armor can launch a sensor package maybe 3 times. It must be retrieved before it can be fired again.
  Some coverage - but not infinite or completely without risk. Just like with a scout car. =)
  
• Heavy weapons are/were already in the game but they didn't quite have the desired oomph. That's pretty simple...
  
• Some armor types could get a shoulder-mounted slot for heavy weapons. No reloading or such fanciness. Shoot until dry, then it's auto-discarded for some extra mobility.
  Easier to balance than a system of weight costs and buffs.
  

It's not about vehicles but what they can do for you. =)

Yes. This.

[Xenonauts 2 - More Alien Aliens]

One thing I'm probably going to do for Xenonauts 2 is rename the Caesans, because they have a rubbish name - maybe I'll call them the Psylons?

Pylons is pretty close to Cylons.

(BSG FTW)

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V8]

Will the player be able to get any sort of map to a ground combat, terror site, base/outpost or the like? Researching some form of reconnaissance would be really nice; preferably several forms that are more or less useful depending on the situation. High tech scanners could take base energy as well, meaning that while you know the exact type and number of the enemy, you can take one less soldier (or whatever is well balanced).

What if the player could get access to thermal imaging goggles? This could counter the camouflage abilities of the aliens (which is a counter to long range sniping), until they adapt to the thermal imaging tech and you lose that advantage as well.

I like the idea of escalation. (We get semi-automatic weapons, the enemy gets fully automatic weapons. We get bulletproof vests, they get armor-piercing rounds. We start jumping off of buildings, ... etc etc.) Making each tier of weapons/technology less of a straight upgrade, and more of a reaction to the enemies counter to the previous tier would make most sense to me. If I shoot them with bullets, and they make bullet proof vests, I want to specifically research bullets that'll punch through them. The enemies would then make better vests, or something. If my lasers keep toasting the aliens, and they make some sort of reflective armor, I want a frequency/wavelength of light that'll break that armor. This way, research can gain back some of the effectiveness lost to proliferation and adaptation. Not all of it, if that's what works best, but some of it.

[Xenonauts 2 - Leaning around corners]

Shooting around a corner is actually of varying difficulty depending on whether you are right or left handed and which way the corner goes. If you are right handed, and the corner bends to the left (or vice versa) then it's quite easy to move the gun around the corner and aim down it. However, if you are right handed and going to the right, then the gun actually gets in your way while going round the corner and you almost have to step completely around the corner to sight down it.

I'm not suggesting that we implement right/left handedness into the game, by the way, just answering the question about shooting around corners being harder.

Everyone is ambidextrous in the Xenonauts. If you aren't, you aren't even considered for the program. It's the most important thing.

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V7]

I suggest that Alenium mines are somehow better in Africa.

Also, perhaps you can send interceptors on scouting missions to find alien bases, UFOs, or something.

[Xenonauts 2 - Leaning around corners]

I agree with Chris on this one. Why should someone be able to see around a corner without being seen? The added bonus of peeking around the corner should have some sort of penalty. If I can see you around a corner, you should be able to see at least my head. If we add a mirror to the in-game inventory, then we'll talk about seeing without being seen.

Based on movies and whatnot, people tend to like shooting at people peeking around corners, but never seem to hit them because of the corner in the way. Often, the ones behind the corner get suppressed by the enemy fire and have to pull their heads back to avoid getting shot in the face. There's a bit in Saving Private Ryan in the D-Day landing scene that perfectly demonstrates what I'm talking about. The only way the captain was able to see the enemy without getting shot at (and suppressed) was by using a small mirror.

The wall the soldier is leaning around should give him/her a massive cover bonus. It should be difficult to hit an opponent around a corner. Suppressing them should be fairly easy, though. Once suppressed, the leaning soldier should return to the not leaning position and apply the normal suppression stuff (crouched, no TUs, etc). This means that while a leaning soldier can see the enemy from behind a corner and is very difficult to hit, he/she is more likely to be suppressed. This also works in the favor of the Xenonauts too, since a leaning alien would be suppressed, a shotgun guy would move up and blast them while they're cowering behind the wall.

Will leaning soldiers be able to fire while leaning? If so, will they have a penalty to do so? I would suggest a modest accuracy penalty with most two handed weapons, since firing a rifle around a corner is rather difficult to do with any degree of accuracy. Carbines and other shorter two handed weapons should have a minor accuracy penalty instead of a moderate one, as they are easier to control/handle. Pistols and other one handed weapons should have no accuracy penalty (we can assume that the soldiers are ambidextrous for the purposes of firing from left corners and right corners). Perhaps some guns would be impossible to fire around corners with any degree of accuracy, like maybe a sniper rifle. Ever try looking through a scope in that position?

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V7]

How did the Xenonauts form in the X2 universe? (I hope that name sticks)

Can the hyperwave decoder be used without base power? If we require base power for it to be useful, there is no option but to use it. If we make it useful without base power, but require more power to make it more useful, then there could be an option there. The thing is, if sending a maximum strength team costs literally all of the base power there would never be a time when you could safely use it to reconnoiter. Lets say you scope out the scene using power and find that it's a mega-terror mission. You aren't going to send in a small force to that; you'd want all the men you can get. See my point? Is the extra knowledge from spending base power on the hyperwave decoder worth going in to the fight underpowered? Probably not. Best to make the device require no power. In hand-wavy technobabble terms, the device only picks up transmissions so it is as low powered as a normal radio. If it were to send a transmission it would cost much more energy, but it works fine leeching off the excess energy of the reactor.

Going back to my first question, what if the Xenonauts were formed after some guys found the Iceland ship (which had been sitting there for thousands of years or so) and intercepted an alien transmission (from the bad guys) about targeting Earth? The hyperwave decoder was still functioning fine since it requires very little power.

Turns out, the Xenonauts are actually the "crazy" people that go about with signs and proclaim the extraterrestrial doom that awaits us, who were just trying to help humanity. In the mean time, they've been stockpiling weapons and making secret treaties with the funding nations, explaining to them the truth. Why not tell the whole world the truth? Because they couldn't handle it. (Think Mr. Kent's reasoning from Man of Steel, if you've seen that.)

[Psychics?]

Perhaps you could have a few different levels of psychic ability. I would group most soldiers at the lowest end of the power spectrum, and only have very few who have exceptional powers/abilities. Most would be level 0, and should stay in close proximity to the level 3s and up.

Level 0 is just that. Zero ability.

Level 1, the soldier has some resistance to enemy attacks.

Level 2, the soldier can resist well.

Level 3, the soldier is can resist really well, and those around him also gain some resistance.

Level 4, the soldier can resist really well, those around him gain resistance, and he also can perform low-level psychic actions.

Level 5, the soldier can resist really well, those around him gain good resistance, and he can perform effective psychic actions.

I don't know if we should have super effective psychic attacks on our side. I'm just remembering UFO:EU where the only strategy was to mind control the enemy and have them blaster-bomb themselves. If we do decide to have super-effective psychic people on the human side:

Level 6, the soldier is practically immune to psychic attacks, those around him gain exceedingly good resistance, and he can dominate the minds of his prey.

Perhaps mind control shouldn't be a thing, but the ability to negatively affect someone's mind would be better. Making them panic, losing morale, perhaps even dealing actual damage as the blood vessels inside the body/brain rupture, etc.

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V6]

Sorry for the double post.

5) no "openable doors" for UFOs, instead you have breaches from air-combat or have to breach yourself with a bomb. I've had quite enough of the "opening of the front door" shenanigans from xenonauts It'd feel better and more real if you breach it, and wherever you like.

I agree; breaching is fun.

I recommend leaving the "front door" alone, allowing the player to simply walk in and fight his way through if he wishes.

I also recommend adding airlocks on the starboard/port sides of the ship, and perhaps on the roof, which the player would have to destroy in order to access. Perhaps we could add a hacking skill to open them quietly? (haha... right.)

I would also recommend designating certain panels in the UFO as "potential breach points" which are only able to be destroyed if they were damaged in the crash. Personally, I would like these panels to allow the player to surprise the aliens, in a way. Perhaps the panel is occasionally behind their defensive line, or already behind some decent cover, or something.

There could be X number of these panels, but less than X of them would have been damaged in the crash to the point that the player could destroy them. Depending on a RNG and how well the air combat went, more or less of the panels would be available, and the ones available would change each combat. The non-damaged ones would look no different from a regular indestructible panel, and would be functionally no different too, but the damaged ones would be slightly dented or cracked to indicate the lost structural integrity.

I also think that these panels should not be able to be destroyed by regular weapons, to make them special. I would make them immune to all types of damage, save a new "demolitions" damage type. Only certain weapons or items would deal demolitions damage. For example, C4 could deal some damage, though because it isn't a shaped charge (in Xenonauts 1, at least) it would not be the most effective. Once the humans research alien materials, perhaps, a research "Breaching Charge" could be researched which unlocks shaped "breaching charges" (which would destroy the panel in one or two goes, and deal no splash damage on adjacent squares) and "breaching rockets", which deal a little less demolitions damage than the breaching charge, and aren't as good as other rockets at anything else due to the specially shaped warhead. These charges should be heavy, so the player has to choose if he wants to sacrifice some equipment in order to get into the UFO in a more favorable place. More options, better game, no?

EDIT: The reason for only allowing certain breaching points is to allow the map designers some consistency in knowing how the player will access the UFO (leading to better level design), and so that the UFO can still look awesome (like Xenonauts 1) and not like a box (like UFO:EU).

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V6]

Lightzy - the swarmy aliens is actually a really good point; it would stop high-damage one-shot weapons being the most powerful weapons in almost every situation. I'll have a think about how best we can integrate that into the design.

This would mean that being able to fire multiple times with a good degree of accuracy in a single turn would be important. If you think about it, one would rarely stumble upon a room of six or seven enemies in Xenonauts 1 and try to gun them all down (at least, I've not). You would probably retreat, or throw a grenade and retreat, or some combination of things that includes retreating. With lots of low level enemies, you could go around blowing them up with one or two shots from your ballistic weapons, making it a much faster room clear.

Imagine the flood from Halo 1; running around with a shotgun, blowing them up with a single shot. That would be really fun. Perhaps they could be adolescent cryssalids or something. (They're called reapers now, right? Can't remember.)

[Xenonauts 2 - Weapons and Armour Development]

I was wondering if you could have a choice on how to research it, I want to have the option to go to my scientist and just tell them, just tell the engineers how to build the gun with the alien materials or, you could tell them to learn how to make it with earth materials. I'm pretty sure this would make players think long vs short term, because just copying and pasting what the aliens are doing would be easier and quicker however you would have to use alien alloys. While learning how to make it with earth materials would take longer because you have to dissect the gun and develop your own alloys during the time, however you can get them for a lot cheeper down the line and spread the tech to the local forces.

That's a nice idea.

[Humble Bundle & Mac / Linux Native Ports]

I've tried 1.63 for mac and the very first enemy turn was never ended.

Mac OS 10.11.1

No mods

There is a place to report bugs for the OS X version in the bug reporting place.

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V6]

So what will aircraft do? Just shoot down ufos? Seems a bit limited for an asset which might have multiple upgrade paths. There's been suggestions in previous design versions that aircraft can do more than that - will this be carried over?

Shooting down UFOs, ground attack missions to prep the combat site for Xenonaut assault, and maybe scouting missions? I'd like reconnaissance to be a viable option.

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V6]

Using excess cores to boost base power output seems like a valid option. Perhaps each core would only increase the output by, say, a percent or two, but that could be extremely useful in the right circumstances. Plus, if you have a day without alien attacks, the cores you've worked hard to get can be put to use doing research work, giving them both a tactical and a strategic value.

EDIT

The ability to overcharge a weapon would depend on having an extra core socket, which I would assume would need to be installed by the scientists of the base. I'd make that an upgrade that can be researched, "Overcharge."

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V6]

Perhaps there could be an active ability that let's you coordinate your troops to all fire at the same time

Ladies and gentleman, the firing squad.

Soldier's gaining abilities seems like an interesting path that I'd like to see exploded. Some would be active, some would be passive.

Passive ability idea:

Instead of a soldier's base accuracy raising over time, what if the soldier simply gains an accuracy bonus with assault rifles? Pistols? Sniper rifles? By using a gun in the field, the solder would gain experience and such, allowing him/her to use the weapon more effectively.

"Shotgun Adept"

"Shotgun Expert"

"Shotgun Master"

Something along these lines. They'd be unlocked after X kills with the shotgun, or something along those lines, and offer a bonus to that soldier when using a shotgun.

My thoughts are that soldiers upgrading their base stats as they do missions has been criticized by some. This could be a way to make them better over time, but in a more "logical" way.

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V6]

[insert "Like" Here]

Suggestion Regarding Automatic Research

As far as automatic research goes, I am against naming it "automatic research" in the game.

Call it instead, "We just got this thing from the enemy, and we figured we'd give you the option of using it now, even though we've done absolutely nothing to make it more user-friendly for humans, unless you count using a disk grinder to smooth out the grips." It's not that the player researched it immediately, it's that it has not been researched at all. Upgrading it is doing the research, placing the innards of the plasma rifle into a more human-friendly housing, upgrading the specs, etc.

This will give you functionally the same thing, with less whining from those of us who enjoy a degree of realism.

Perhaps the first upgrade can be called "Basic Retrofitting", and it would simply remove the minuses of using an alien weapon that wasn't originally designed to be used by a human. In game mechanic terms, the upgrade just makes the weapon work better; the stats can be lower to begin with to reflect the user's unfamiliarity with the weapon.

In regards to this,

Regarding development - is this an all-or-nothing approach? As in, you either develop an item in a turn or you don't. So you have to go all-in if you want something developed, or you loose everything you've invested even if it's 99% of the total power required.

Suggestion Regarding Research and Power Usage

I recommend allowing the player to divide up the power cost of a project, meaning that it can be finished over the course of several days. For example, I have a project that costs, lets say, 1.21 GW. I can decide to blow all my power in one day to finish that, or I can tell it to do 605. GW on Monday, then 605 kW on Tuesday. Or, I can have it do 302.5 KW on Monday and Tuesday, then 605 on Wednesday. Etc etc.

Functionally, this reminds me of how scientists worked in Xenonauts 1. I can commit all of my scientists to the project on one day, remove them all the next, then allocate half of them to the project the day after that. The project only progressed when there were scientists assigned, but it did not lose progress if I removed them temporarily.

As an example using the turn based system and the base power, lets say I have a 100 GW project to upgrade a plasma rifle, and a 50 GW generator.

Day 1 - I allocate 25/50 GW for the project, which now has 75 GW of research left.

Day 2 - I allocate 40/50 GW for the project, which now has 35 GW of research left.

Day 3 - I allocate 0/50 GW for the project (terror mission in New Zealand), so it still has 35 GW of research left.

Day 4 - I allocate 35/50 GW for the project, finishing it and getting the bonus it provides.

I also recommend denying the player use of the weapon being upgraded until the project is completely finished. This sounds obvious, but it has a significant effect. If a player wanted to play slow and steady, upgrading his 100 GW rifle project by 3 GW per day, it would take him 34 days to finished the project, and he would receive his shiny new rifle on day 35. If a player wanted to upgrade that same project by allocating 30 GW per day, the project would finish on day four (and would only take 10GW), and he would receive the rifle on day 5. If the player allocated all 50GW for two days, he would get the rifle on day 3.

This gives the player incentive to complete research fast, and to not have six different projects going at once. Once a player begins a research project, he cannot get the item back until it's finished.

...unless the player is allowed to cancel research projects.

If the player is allowed to cancel research projects, what would be the result? Lets say that the weapon isn't somehow lost when the player cancels a project, as that would a) be too harsh for the player, and b) remove any reason to cancel a research project in the first place, as one could simply allocate no power to it and it would stay as it was.

On the one extreme, the player can simply start up the research just where he left off, once he returns the weapon to the labs. I recommend against this.

The other extreme, the research progress is completely lost, and the player has to start from day 1 again. This is better for gameplay, but could be problematic for some in terms of lore. One argument is that the scientists could simply preserve their notes and the new parts they made for the rifle, and resume from where they left off.

The middle ground seems like a better place to meet; a percentage of the progress is preserved, but not enough to make researching, canceling whenever the need arises, and resuming the research a viable strategy. It should be just enough to compensate the player a little if he is forced to use the weapon in an emergency situation. Maybe 25% of the progress is retained? That would depend on balancing.

I first support the % of progress is retained system, and if that doesn't work, the 0% of progress is retained system.

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V5]

On another note, could it perhaps be an idea that Cores could come in different sizes?

Déjà vu.

As a note btw, if we aren't going to have vehicles such as we had in Xenonauts 1, could we have 'vehicles' in the forms of Mechanized Walkers? IE, think like the Goliaths in Starcraft - a guy in a giant mechanized suit.

I think that may be what Chris is implying. I like the idea of having mech-suit style power armor. Not quite mobile suits in size, but a little bit larger than Iron Man. Maybe Jeff Bridges' Iron Man suit knockoff size?

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V5]

Can you explain this a bit further? Maybe with an example. I'm not quite understanding what you're saying here. Can you have high quality equipment without cores?

Quality is defined by how much R&D and manufacturing you do.

Quantity is defined by how many cores you have.

I can research and build a bunch of super awesome rifles with my R&D teams and my engineers (using base power), but if I don't have the cores to power them they're useless.

Following that same logic, I can have a pile of cores in my storage shed, but if I don't do any R&D to make better weapons I'll just be able to field a bunch of low-quality weapons.

Does that make more sense?

What sort of power can we expect one core to provide? To power a single pistol, which deals the least amount of damage, I would assume we would require one core, which is the smallest number of cores we can possibly have. How many cores would it take to power a rifle? A hover-tank? An advanced interceptor?

If the number of cores needed to power an advanced weapon is comparable to the number required to power an aircraft, the immersion could be damaged. I can imagine people saying that if this core can power an aircraft, my pistol should be dealing more damage.

The simple thing to do would be to require aircraft to carry many more cores than the ground combat weapons need, but that actually does not fix the problem. Why would I send up one more advanced aircraft if it requires taking the weapons of all of my soldiers? One aircraft could power an entire ground combat's worth of weaponry.

Perhaps we could have different sizes for cores, like small, medium and large? Small cores would be used in normal small arms, like pistols and rifles. Vehicle weapons would require medium cores, and large cores would power aircraft and their weapons.

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V4]

Interesting idea about gaining political capital based on the flow of refugees into the safe zones, where they get to work on something useful to the survival of humanity. Then rescuing people gives you a resource bonus, and allowing the aliens to get them gives the aliens a strength bonus. So you're working to rescue people or at least prevent them falling into the hands of the aliens (presumably by killing them before the aliens overrun them).

This makes sense to me. Also, it gives the player an incentive to actually save people instead of simply euthanizing everyone. If you save people, you get stuff. If you kill them, you don't. If you let the aliens get them, you lose. Simple concept.

Yeah, potentially the final section of the game could be some kind of counter-attack (once the alien reinforcements were cut off) rather than a final attack to kill the big bad boss ... but in either case the majority of the game would be your attempts to evacuate the survivors to the safe zones.

What if, as part of this counterattack, the Xenonauts buff their teams with new soldiers? Lets say the superpowers have been training soldiers this entire time to combat the aliens.

I dunno if it's a good one, but an idea would be to have each member of your A-Team head teams made up of cannon-fodder to overwhelm the aliens by sheer number. That could be interesting.

EDIT:

Maybe that could be cutscene, or something.

We finish evacuating everyone, we win that phase of the game. It goes to a cutscene, where the A-Team each leads teams of people everywhere to take back the Earth. Then, after the cutscene which says that there have been lots of retake-the-earth-battles, we are at the final battle; the hardest, the biggest, the bestest. The A-Team gets back together, and we have one last ground combat.

[Xenonauts 2 - Strategy Design V4]

@GizmoGomez & @drages: like XCOM 2? Even if Xenonauts 2 were released in 2018, with those type of suggestions for the strategic vision there would still be unfortunate parallels drawn between both games.

Is that what XCOM2 is about? Rats.