GizmoGomez

Best video ever. So hilarious.

Okay; for whatever reason it seemed like you were. My mistake, and apologies. It is a good question; one that can only be answered by the age-old adage, "Gameplay trumps realism". <shrug>

Well, think of it this way: Back in 1958 when the Iceland Incident first happened, the nations were all flipping out over the alien attacks that were surely going to happen. The Xenonauts got founded, and secured a treaty with the funding nations to where they'd fund them in exchange for protection. Then, for the next twenty years, nothing happened. The world forgot about the Xenonauts because they weren't relevant. "Maybe that one UFO was a one time thing?" Once the aliens start attacking again, they don't have unlimited resources; the nations all think they can probably do it better themselves. But, they still continue to fund you because of the treaty. Once you start doing your job well, they recognize that you are actually helping and doing a good job, so they fund you more. Also, just gonna say it: It's a game. Don't flip out.

The UI update should be here in v20. That may come out within a few weeks (I have no official word on it, this is merely speculation on my part). I suggest a screen magnification program, or even a magnifying glass. <shrug> Sorry, mate.

The limitations would be the sharp range limitation. You cannot fire it unless you are one or two tiles away (like grenades), and it isn't as powerful as the melee version. (I updated my idea below, check it out.) Actually, here's a revision of my Alien Stun Pistol idea. So, aliens have a weapon called the Alien Stun Pistol in the Abduction Missions, and only a few aliens carry them. (Maybe non-combatants get the task of stunning people? After all, they have the correct pistol sprites already). Alien Stun Pistol Details Uses Alien Plasma Pistol sprite set Fires purple projectiles (recolor the alien plasma pistol projectiles) Looks like an alien plasma pistol with changes in markings (in Xenopedia and inventory) Short range Single shot (all three levels?) and 3 shot burst Takes normal alien plasma clips (though aliens don't use ammunition, so almost a moot point) So, you play an Abduction mission, and you win. You retrieve an alien stun pistol, you research it, it (basically) says that "the device uses non-lethal plasma that carries an electric charge. How it manages to do so is unknown, but perhaps once we understand plasma technology better we will be able to understand the weapon more fully." Later, you research and unlock plasma technology (and plasma weapons for you to manufacture). You get a research, "Improved Stun Weapon". Once you research it, the "Stun Pistol" is available for manufacturing. The description (basically) says, "We now know how to make "stun plasma"; a low-energy, and therefore non-lethal, bolt of plasma that carries an immense electrical charge, perfectly suited for stunning organic lifeforms or dealing electrical damage to artificial. Unfortunately, stun plasma only carries its charge for a relatively short distance; a few meters, at most. Because of this, it cannot be used in any sort of long range engagements. Utilizing this new discovery, we have designed an improved version of our Stun Rod. The aptly named "Improved Stun Rod", upon contact with a target, imparts a massive dose of stun plasma. It is much more powerful than our simple battery-based Stun Rods. We have also designed a modified plasma pistol that fires this stun plasma. This will allow one to stun an enemy at range, albeit a very short one. Because the plasma has to travel through air, the stun effect of the newly designated "Stun Pistol" is somewhat less than that of the Improved Stun Rod. However, perhaps being farther away from a hostile extraterrestrial will be worth the lessened effect. Irrespective of which you find most useful, both are now available for immediate manufacture." Stun Pistol Details Uses regular (human) plasma pistol sprites Fires a purple projectile (recolor the normal plasma pistol projectile) Looks like a human plasma pistol with changes in markings (for Xenopedia and inventory images) Takes normal plasma ammunition. Has a smallish ammo count (six or more) Deals better damage than the original stun rod Super close range, can only fire when right next to, one, or two tiles away (so there's still good risk in stunning something) Has single shot (all three levels?) and a 3 shot burst Not free; requires manufacturing just like all other plasma weapons Improved Stun Rod Details Uses standard Stun Rod sprites Looks like a Stun Rod (so it can use the same sprites) with a slot for a plasma cell (for reloading) and some sort of hole, vent, or aperture for spraying the stun plasma itself at the target (probably at the end, I would assume) I can't remember if there's a flash, or effect, or anything of the sort when hitting an enemy with a stun rod, but if there is, make it purple Takes normal plasma cell ammunition Has limited uses; 4 hits, maybe, because of the high damage output? Stuns really well (deals electricity damage too, so, stuns people really well and damages robots) Like the Stun Rod, it's a melee-only weapon (but if you get that close to the andron, it's gonna die soon) Feel free to suggest better names, I just picked ones that got the point across. Anyway, this would give us improved stun weapons (showing we are improving all of our stuff, not just main battle weapons), it would give us more (technically optional) research to do so we can get our funding's worth out of our scientists, and it would add some nice flavor to the aliens in that they do, in fact, have a stun weapon that they use for abduction missions. I think it'd be fun. What about you all?

Since the aliens are stunning the abductees, shouldn't they have a stun weapon of some sort? I say lets give them a plasma pistol that shoots a purple projectile (simply recolor the normal projectiles) that deals good amounts of stun damage, and give it to them on the abduction missions. Call it the Alien Stun Pistol, or Stun Gun, or something. So, you get the Alien Stun Pistol. Once you research it, it gives a description where it talks about how it somehow makes the plasma carry an immense electric charge that stuns the target, or something like that. Once you research your own plasma weapons (and can build them) you unlock an "Improved Stun Weapons" research that talks about how you've unlocked the secrets of the Stun Pistol and have improved your stun weapons that now utilize the non-leathal plasma electricity or something. Give the Stun Pistol to a few of the aliens in the Abduction Mission so they can stun your guys. If a Xenonaut soldier gets stunned and you have to leave him behind (you bug out in the Chinook, for example), the alien ticker advances a bit to indicate that they've interrogated the soldier. Also could give you a massive "you're an idiot" smack on the head with a funding decrease. Sound interesting?

I wouldn't mind stretching out all of the events some.

[sarcasm] Gee, that's a polite way to report a problem. [/sarcasm] Instead of giving attitude, maybe you could try to be helpful and explain exactly what's happening? "Ground combat is still not loading" is kinda vague, know what I mean? @valsolo: I would recommend downloading the Windows version and putting it into a wineskin yourself. I've never had any problems with the windows version running in a wineskin I made, so maybe it's an issue with the porter? I dunno. I've tried to upload an empty wineskin before, but for whatever reason it's not let me (something about permission errors and whatnot). But, anyway, it's not difficult, just google "make a wineskin" and I'm sure there's a guide to make one somewhere. Don't worry about changing or customizing the wineskin, it should run just fine without tweaking it. At least, it does for me. <shrug>

3: Are you only getting increases in TUs and Acc? If you've got your troops loaded up to over 80% of your soldier's capacity then you'll increase Str. Bravery is increased by panicking (which doesn't happen nearly enough).

For the rewards, how about this: We get a nice funding boost (because people not sent to die at the hands of aliens is a good thing for nation morale). We get the option between three things: Something (two free scientists or technicians, perhaps) Something (a free laser rifle or wolf armor if sufficiently progressed in the game, perhaps) Cash (a decent amount, but not gobs and gobs of it, probably) This way, even if you don't like the two somethings, you can still get some cash. So, people like the idea I presented about Rescue Missions (Could be called Abduction Mission, same deal)? Mechanics, and whatnot? For an indoor style map, like people suggested, we'd just put the teleporter and the stasis pods somewhere inside the building. Here's another (really basic) mission idea I had: Aggressive Reconnaissance Mission: Basic Description: The aliens are attacking a military base or research laboratory to steal human secrets. It's kinda like a rescue/abduction mission, except with terror units, local forces, a longer timer to accommodate the larger area, and a larger, indoors, area. Basically the terror mission of the abduction missions, if you'd like. I don't know if we'd want to have stasis pods with a teleporter be the "item of interest" again; perhaps it could be a teleporter with computers/research materials as well as stasis pods? The computers and research materials would be of greater value to the nation (precious information vs a single human life. No question as to which is expendable in their eyes). Thus, the computer/research material pods would look different, and give you higher bonuses if you save them, but higher penalties if you destroy them or, even worse, let the aliens make off with them.

Check out Aaron's post here: http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/7656-Feedback-on-new-farm-maps He talks about his plans for maps in the future, and they involve some nice "randomness" that hopefully people appreciate.

Ha, looks like we had similar ideas. Even if my rescue mission doesn't go anywhere, we should at least have something along the lines of hostage stasis-pods containing the civilians being abducted. Saving those should give us bonuses, destroying them should give us negatives, letting them be transported away should lose the mission (since our objective was to keep them from being abducted, and we let them).

While thinking about how we could incorporate actual abducting into the "Abduction Mission" idea, I came up with this "Rescue Mission" idea. Ideas, comments, criticisms, feedback, etc are welcome. Rescue Mission: Gameplay Description: You start off with a timer showing "X Turns Until Aliens Escape" or something along those lines. The goal is to rescue some humans that have been abducted by the aliens and placed into stasis pods for transport (this eliminates having to deal with the civilian AI). The stasis pods are connected to a teleporter device prop, which at the end of X turns will teleport the stasis pods away. At that time the aliens will also be beamed up (simply "escape" in gameplay terms), though independent from the stasis pods (they all have ST:TNG combadges or something, no need for a transporter pad for them). The stasis pods should be in some kind of defensible position (maybe the aliens can have put up barricades or something) that some aliens are programmed to guard. The mission ends when the timer hits 0. If you have destroyed the transporter device (preferably without destroying too many of the stasis pods too) you win. If the device is intact when it hits 0, you lose (and take large penalties for each stasis pod that survived to be transported away. It's better to kill the hostages than to let them be transported away.) Alternately, you can simply kill all the aliens before the timer hits 0; that wins the mission and prevents the hostages from being transported out too. Sample Briefing: "Extraterrestrials have abducted humans for interrogation/experimentation and have placed them in stasis pods for transport. Rescue the hostages before the aliens teleport them away." Objectives: Kill all aliens within X turns. -OR- Destroy the teleportation device, preventing the aliens from teleporting them away, within X turns. (If you kill all the aliens after destroying the device while waiting for the timer to finish, then you'd win under Objective 1.) Losing Conditions: Time runs out before you either kill all aliens or destroy the teleport device Bonuses and Penalties: Among the bonuses you normally receive, you get: Good bonuses for surviving stasis pods. Among the penalties you normally receive, you get: Destroyed stasis pods (the props get destroyed) get a small penalty Aliens Escaped (if you won using objective 2 or you lost) Stasis pods teleported away (heavy penalty here; it should be better to kill the hostages than to let them fall into alien hands and be interrogated, tortured, and vivisected)

If it's an abduction mission, why aren't there any people to abduct? Maybe add civilians, but making the aliens use some kind of stun grenades against them only? Maybe a special alien stun weapon? Looks like a normal alien plasma pistol/rifle/whatever but has a purple firing animation? (Unlock improved stun gas?) Ideally, the aliens would drag the unconscious bodies to a teleport pad and send them off to a UFO waiting for them. Perhaps it'd be as simple as making the aliens pick up the stunned bodies and walk to a certain location and dump them on the ground. Any bodies left in the location are lost when the ticker times out. As far as rewards go, a large funding boost would be nice, and slowing/reversing the alien ticker would be really nice. Depriving them of research materials, and the like. Can't have it be too much, though, otherwise you could just do every "abduction mission" and keep the aliens at square one forever. (You wouldn't be able to progress much in terms of research, but you could max out funding and amass a fortune in terms of money).

I've not played any of the new maps, so maybe I shouldn't even comment. All the same.... I really appreciate the effort you've taken in making the maps as variable as possible. I second the sentiments expressed above and recommend utilizing multi-level buildings. Support for multi-level buildings (AI, LOS, firing, grenades, etc) needs to be good, though. Also, make the maps as unrealistic as you want. Realism isn't important when compared to a good gameplay experience. When it's a Xenopedia entry, realism matters to an extent because it's just text and a picture; no flashy amazing gameplay to go along with it. When it's in the ground combat, though, an exhilarating map will more than make up an oddly placed fence, or a wonky looking set of hedgerows. After all, UFO:EU had randomly generated maps, and thus very little realism oftentimes. I didn't ever get the feeling that it looked too unrealistic; I was too busy fighting aliens and trying to survive to notice/care about anything out of the ordinary.

That's not a bad idea. It'd make what you choose to bring, ammo wise, actually matter late game.

The reason it starts in full screen is because your monitor isn't large enough for a window that large. If your monitor was larger than 1366x768 then you could window it just fine. I know it's a known thing. Personally, I don't see why it would be an issue; why would you want a window larger than you could see? That may just be me, though.

Please can we have "super" incendiary weapon upgrades made from this stuff?

I totally support incendiary rockets and grenades. They'd be brilliant area denial weapons to create choke points.

Wouldn't/shouldn't we just make it a canister ammo thingy that you attach/detach from the gun itself, and can reload? That'd work best in the game, I think, unless we wanted it to be a "you use it all, you've used it all" kind of a weapon.

Yes. Better armor, right?

Sure. All you do is equip the med pack, select it, hover the cursor over an ally, right click or use the scroll wheel to decide how much healing you want to do (more HP for more TUs spent), and click on the wounded ally. It can only be used to heal another person; you can't heal yourself with it.

I know how the game ends, and how all the lore goes. (Xenopedia, man. Spoilers. So many delicious spoilers.) Without spoiling too much, the aliens didn't think they needed as good a force, so they were rather lax about their invasion. When they realized that we were withstanding their small stuff, they brought out the big stuff. Their big problem was not considering us a threat.

I use pistols for my shield bearers. My snipers have shotguns in their packs, so no need for pistols there. My RL and MG both have pistols for those special moments.

Well, wouldn't the toxigun idea basically just be a dedicated incendiary grenade launcher?