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Phoenix

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Posts posted by Phoenix

    Balance and starting options

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    Sure you can place it in other place, but you expose yourself to more negatives on funding and less positives on funding. 1 base won't cover all of americas, while 1 base covers whole africa, europe arabia and a decent part of soviet block...

    The point i was trying to make is still the same. there is very little variety in builds to have a decently successful game. Try to play without expanding radars and going for fast second full operations base (with second drop ship and stuff) or even try to go for 5-6 bases world wide (with 3 being filled with soldiers)... not doable, at some point (month 4-5) you get starved by funding hits, because you had less than optimal radar coverage.

    Balance and starting options

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    Yes, you do need to build more bases, radar and fighters, but isn't discovery of the strategy part of the fun of a new game? If a decent strategy was just "handed" to you at game start what fun would that be? Besides there are plenty of threads, guides, youtubes, etc... that suggest how to win. I personally never read that type of stuff when I get a new game. I want to learn it myself.

    The problem is, that there is no deviation from the 3 base build. You place the first base always in the north Africa (to cover EU, NAfrica, SAfrica, Middle East and part of Soviet Block, and then your second base is most likely somwhere on Cuba or Mexico to cover Majority of Americas, and 3rd is around Phillipines or Japan. to cover Asia, other part of Soviet Union and Australia.

    You always pump up immediately 2 additional radars in the first base.

    I mean, in theory you have a lot of choices, but in reality, there are no choices at all... You have to go a specific route or you will fall behind due to funding problems, especially on anything above normal.

    The first X-COM wasn't that restrictive, even the New X-COM gives way more real options (use of satelites, starting location and play style from there, build order of buildings).

    Any good streamers doing Insane playthrough Let's Play videos?

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Phoenix

    @Kordanor

    Interesting points, but I am so used to flanking moves and close combat that I have hard time moving away from it. moving in spaces from the sides, and with 1-2 flashbangs usually helps a lot. My usual strategy pre-Crovettes is flashbankx2 and stun grenades x2 or shotgun fire fire from safe distance or face rush (depending on the number and positioning of enemies. It's a good training before zap-jockeys required for medium UFO commnaders.

    I have 2 varied tactics, but i each I have at least 2 CC specialists.

    1) is a traditional tank followed by infantry column (tank spots, fires and depending on the result I take more actions, starts to be very effective once Pulse lasers appear)

    2) is 2 shield guys for forwards with flash bangs, snipers always with a lot of smokes and then riflemen and assaults (very high TUs) with CC equipment (flashbangs, stun rods, stun grenades), and moving them as two units within firing range of each other. Allows for both aggressive and defensive plays

    On another point - geoscape interceptions

    I've noticed that you send 2 interceptors for light scouts and sometimes 1 condor for regular scout (which is not enough). I've learned that the speed at which the ships are moving are indicators of what size type the UFO is. (1400 light scout, 2000 scout, med 1400 corvette, 2000 medium landing ship, etc.) It really helps to plan the distribution of interceptors.

    NOTE: currently watching your 12th video.

    Any good streamers doing Insane playthrough Let's Play videos?

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    In most cases I would secure the area around the UFO first. I mean you always start on the right, and the ufo is always on the left.

    I normally secure a corner of the map first, and then clear the map in horizontal strips (two or three strips to the left/west). The last strip should bring you to the entrance of the UFO. After that I clear the UFO.

    Except of maps with multiple floor buildings aliens in the outer area are mostly harmless. The hard thing is to clear the Ufo. Leaving out aliens outside would just mean to miss out on the money from the item drops. In addition, if you go straight for the UFO you might get flanked by Aliens which you did not spot before. And then it would get really painful.

    So besides of having a chance to finish the map faster it brings no real advantage. It's riskier and brings you less income. And in the end you want to get the maximum out of each mission. Otherwise you could just bombard it.

    Also I never ran out of ammo.

    Another question. After 6 videos I've noticed that you avoid close quarter combat and do not use grenades or explosives at all. Not even for destruction of obstacles. (you are using a lot of ammo for that though)

    Any reason for that, or just personal play style preference?

    Any good streamers doing Insane playthrough Let's Play videos?

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    I am doing pretty good ^^

    Some Stats:

    42 hours played.

    40 Missions done. From these: 1 Base Defense, 4 Alien Bases, 0! Alien Invasions,

    Strongest enountered Ship so far: Landing Ship (3 times)

    Total Missions lost: 0, Total Soldiers lost: 24

    0 Regions lost

    Was in Late December and just going for Marauder/Predator/MAG technology.

    A question:

    I've noticed that neither of the two lets play videos decided to just secure the UFO and hold it for 5 turns. Why taking additional risk, when you can claim the objective and end the mission, and instead you go hunting for missing alien, with low ammo and without a couple of men?

    Aliens inside ships opening the door to attack...

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    I am sure that is not the case, or at least it wasn't in V22. On at least a few occasions, there were aliens popping out of the UFO when I didn't have troops in close proximity.

    AI seems to cheat a bit when it comes to engagements. I noticed that they decide to move forward or move back and hide depending on the distance of my soldiers, but there is no way they can see their full movement.

    As for UFO breaching. It seems they pop out at random. They sometimes go out when full team is nearby and sometimes when there is 1 or 2. ALthough each time they pop out, they have good chances on pot shots / insta kills, as if they knew exact position of troops before hand.

    Why would you ever take a Hunter scout vehicle?

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    I am so used to have a Hunter or Scimitar in the squad that I can't play without them... Early on they are mobile cover, good scout (TUs, full vision at night), pretty solid DMG if it hits or guaranteed pin down, and once you will get pulse lasers on those babies... there is no stopping to them... some obstacle blocking your path.... well boom, no obstacle and still plenty of shots to spare.

    I often run my tank forward with two guys following it as a mobile cover, then I have 4 other men doing flanking/sweeping duty. In case of engagement I open up with the pulse laser shot. If it hits - it kills, even the higher tier androns and medium drones, then I plan my next moves based on the result of the opening move. Sure they cost more than a raw soldier, but less than a soldier kited out with armor and better weapons, and can take some direct hits from the front.

    I've lost 2 Hunters, but they did their job. I have yet to lose a single Scimitar tank. With the next gen drop ship you can have tank goodness AND 8 troops.

    [v1.03 GC] Reapers blown up by hyperions plasma bolt duplicate

    in Xenonauts Bug Reports / Troubleshooting

    Posted

    It is happening no matter what weapon you use. If you kill them after they spawned from zombie you killed in the same turn, they will duplicate and become untargetable until the next turn. It is really a very annoying bug. You basically need to kill the zombie and then move way back so you can leave it to be killed in the next turn. I also think that in general it would be better that if you will blow up the zombie (pulse lasers, rockets, any type of heavy ordinance) the reaper should not spawn. I mean, where is the logic - a healthy creature spawning from tiny bits of vaporized meat? Even in the first X-COM there were situations where Chrysalids were not spawning after the zombie kill

    Airstrike rewards

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    Actually, there are two ways to look at this. Yes, grinding every mission could build up your troops, but if one of them gets killed doing an essentially worthless mission then you've defeated the whole purpose. If he gets blow up and gibbed then you lose the equipment too, twice as bad. Unless you play perfectly every time and are lucky you might be shooting yourself in the foot by doing every GC. Casualties are inevitable IMO no matter how good you are. I'd much prefer my veterans survive to get the awesome weapons and armor even if they're not "perfect".

    Well, use B teams for the recoveries then and weed out the weak and unworthy ;)

    Psionics Question - Anyone?

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    How many aliens actually survive the turn they sight the Xenonauts? If you make psionics LOS (or squadsight) then they come into play much, much less.

    I have quite a few of them on larger UFOs or terror missions. As it is, it is an annoying random factor, which you can't really address as a player. It was something that was very annoying in the first X-COM, but it was more of the spam, and the fact that after a few turns the map was revealed for the AI (as it was fairly poor at that time), as it did require a LoS from at least one alien on the target to make the PSI attacks.

    In the New X-COM the PSI aliens are fairly tough and with the cover system and limited explosives they were something a player had to play around cautiously. Also the 2 move system was not allowing for Move-shoot-hide style of gameplay.

    Here it is immediately global and is frustrating from the get go (instead of frustrating from turn X as it was in the first X-COM) and you can't really do anything but hope that attacks will fail or be inconsequential if succeed.

    I'd say limiting the range to LoS of aliens AND full Alien base and full alien vessels would be something better than what it is now.

    Funding seems to be way off

    in Xenonauts General Discussion

    Posted

    Hmm, I've started the game recently, and was a bit surprised by the pace of funds dropping. I mean, sure the old X-Com was similarly unforgiving on the global funding levels, BUT it allowed you to become self sufficient with manufacturing and selling items for profit... In this game it is not a viable macro strategy.

    I believe some things should be changed in regards to the funding and the drop rates. As it is, you have to be playing each game basically in the same way.

    1st base EU (Alps), 2nd base central NA (in the first month you build the core), 3rd base set up in Indochina (northern China/Mongolia) in the 2nd month and then you start upgrading your bases and catch up on research which you were running from one lab only by this point. You basically can sack South America and Australia and possibly South Africa, because if you have good coverage in interceptors of those areas, you will be getting enough cash from ground missions (3 teams needed, only skeleton replacement soldier crews)

    I personally do not like this. There is little to no freedom in the Sandbox aspect of the game. I am inclined to say that the Firaxi's X-Com did the Goescape better, just because of that. It given you freedom in starting location and gameplay was deciding about your expansions placements.

    The first X-Com allowed for various expansion routes, because of the funding mechanics and manufacturing being also a viable way of getting funds. You still needed to respond to global threats and various alien activities, but it was again more gameplay driven, here you do exactly the same moves from the start in each playthrough. If you will divert, or delay the first expansion or place bases in less than optimal way, you will have much harder time if not actually doom yourself in the long run, but newer players will not see that until like 5-6 months of in game time (on normal), when they will be fund starved to get upgrades up and the larger UFOs will start to appear. The first X-COM was not that unforgiving.

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