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ObLoM

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  1. But this wasn't a bash post, this was a "Here's what we can take from EU2012 that's not bad" post!
  2. How did my thread get sabotaged into a "should there be base defence?" thread?
  3. That reminds me of another thing I loved about the new X-COM - battleships DID contain something special that only battleships could contain! Let's please reward extra hard fights
  4. I actually agree with you here because as soon as you allow it, it becomes an integral part of game mechanics and you HAVE to balance things around the assumption that the player is constantly manufacturing things to sell at profit. So yes, selling should be at a loss, but selling obsolete equipment as well as excess should certainly be a possibility.
  5. That you can't sell your carapace armors once you moved on to titan armor. That you can't manufacture laser rifles just to sell them etc. - is I think what he meant!
  6. But sharing a design and having actually produced ones are different things. And in-fact, I would LOVE to see you get the ability to sell your designs to governments (just once per design), or maybe have some special requests (like council requests in X-COM 2012) for blueprints and/or manufactured items. It makes the world come alive.
  7. The problem with abduction missions was that there was no ship. They just spawned. I had satellites and interceptors on every continent with the "decoder" device (which I think increases the number of detections) and I never noticed any way to prevent an abduction mission. That's what I mean by artificial. Agree with base building being nice. However, I do also like the classic X-COM base management, it just needs a bit of spicing up (like the link bonuses). Also no "general stores" mechanic makes you feel a lot less miserable about looting UFOs. I still maintain that not being able to sell anything and everything is a major downside. About useless techs - did any X-COM game ever have such an issue? I can't recall any research being useless, except maybe autopsies. The autopsies were nicely handled here, just like the interrogations.
  8. Yeah I have read that post about a week ago. This post here is some of my own impressions of the game. It's actually not entirely complete as I got bored of typing and it was getting pretty lengthy!
  9. Hi guys, I've just premium pre-ordered Xenonauts about a week after beating the new X-COM game from Firaxis on Classic Ironman. I've been following the project passively since its conception and even posted a few times on the old forums, but I haven't had the time to dive in-depth into Xenonauts until now. Now that that's out of the way, I wanted to share a few positives from the new X-COM game that I think made the game more fluid than the original, as well as a few things that were very bad ideas. I realize that this is very far in the development pipeline, but it could be that some of these good mechanics can be taken into account nonetheless. The Good: Cover system: The cover system (taken in a vacuum) was in my opinion very well set up. Simple yet complex at the same time. Barring a few silly objects that provide cover, the idea of half and full cover is great. Flanking is also part of this mechanic also worked very well. Most likely this sort of mechanic is already in Xenonauts. Soldier progression: This is another system that impressed me. Very simple, yet very powerful. You have to make a meaningful (usually) choice at every rank. This is how you customize and build your squad, allowing them to complement each other. I did absolutely hate all of the item-related abilities (especially ones that were a must). I.E. 3 uses on medkit, smoke grenade, extra rockets, extra grenades. Soldier customization: Not much to say here. There was a lot of customization available, which added to the overall immersion, and helped you get attached to your soldiers. We all know, losing soldiers you are attached to is an integral part of X-COM. Ironman mode: Trivial to implement, incredibly fun. The argument that people can play Ironman style by just not loading is flawed - the temptations are too strong. Not having that option changes the game completely. This is one feature that I think should make it into Xenonauts - it's simple to implement and incredibly powerful. Base building: This is more about synergies between facilities. It's such a fun idea I'd love to see it in X-COM. It doesn't need to astounding things, but small bonuses would make base building more fun than just using space where you have space. Movement system: Not having to worry about time units and seeing exactly where you can move and how and the idea that you have to decide whether you want to take a shot or move some more made the gameplay much more enjoyable. This played very nicely with the Overwatch ability. Again, simple, but powerful. Foundry projects: I loved the idea of improving existing equipment and having yet another "research" hub, but without a tree as such. Fun. Live alien captures: This made the UFO missions shine. You wanted to capture live aliens. You wanted to interrogate them and get those juicy bonuses. This was well done. The fact that alien weapons destroyed themselves on death was irritating though. Information display: Important information about abilities, aliens that you've researched (in combat) etc. hi chance was easily accessible in game with a breakdown of what modifiers apply and why. This is CRITICAL for learning and understanding the game and ultimately made the game enjoyable despite its huge shortcomings in other areas. The Bad: Soldier loadout: There was a distinct lack in selecting loadout for your soldiers. While I really liked the item slots system for extra armor/utility things, I really hated that I can't bring extra grenades/rockets/flares/stun guns/etc. The one positive was the fact that I didn't have to worry about ammunition for conventional firearms. It was just a hassle in the original. Abduction missions: This felt like a very artificial way to make the game challenging. These missions were usually easy and boring. Research tree: Not enough research, not enough research variety, laser weapons too powerful, or plasma weapons too weak. Soldier psionics: There's a good reason why Xenonauts doesn't have it. Although, it did make the game exciting because not every soldier was gifted and there was a strategic decision involved in testing your soldiers. Problem came down to 180 will soldier mind controlling an Ethereal with 91% likelihood to then mind control more stuff. Mind control gets out of hand. The first two abilities were pretty good though, and even the mind control alternative. Just not mind control itself. Base management: Why can't I manufacture cool toys and sell them? Why can't I sell anything and everything? Why can't I hire scientists/engineers? One good thing here was council requests for items. Rest was pretty rotten. The Ugly: Pull mechanics: Missions felt like World of Warcraft dungeons, where you pull a pack at a time and destroy them before moving on to the next pack. Really horrible mechanic that should never ever be in an X-COM game. Combat mechanics: Why can't I shoot my gun at walls to take down cover? I can miss and take down cover though? Why does my rocket have such a short range? Why is my sniper unable to even attempt a shot across the map without Squad Sight ability? Aspects of this were awful. Interception: What? How did they manage to make it worse than the original?
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