Aiel_Wolf

Yea this is true. Those 6 rounds should be more like 18 rounds from 6 - 3 round bursts. But the TU cost for burst fire is too high for most weapons, maybe lower the damage of an individual bullet while making the normal and aimed shots burst fire. Would get more ammo usage, and maybe a reason to reload during missions.

The couple of squaddie friends always told me they were trained to count their rounds as they fired, and try to conserve ammo. You don't want to be reloading because you wasted 30 rounds on a tree. I think it is different depending on the weapon. A LMG would be used for covering fire, and thus they try to keep heavy fire on an area to keep enemy heads down, while the others move to better positions. The covering fire would burn through a lot of rounds, but that's why they come with such large ammo boxes.

I think that any extra or unlocked equipment slots should be limited to either the armour, as in lighter armour gives more "weight space" for extra equipment or powered armour overcomes the Xenonauts basic strength. Or their rank/strength over a threshold gives more slots, as in a more experienced soldier knows what he needs in a mission and removes junk weight or a stronger one can hold more stuff. The latter starts to revert to the original problem, just in a different way. Having both would definitely return you to the original problem and quite quickly too. The more I think about this, the more the armour option makes sense. If you want to take it deeper you could add in research bonus' to armour slot limits. "Capture Alien X alive to research their lighter equipment load outs, This system allows your Xenonaut to carry more stuff due to the modified weak anti gravity emitters found implanted on the alien's back." Or maybe I digress too much.

Ah the good old 70% shot that misses or doesn't kill with the last of your time units. Much cursing to be had there.

I know that feeling! "Rookie, you're to take cover behind those barrels" Rookie - "Yes Sir!" PEW PEW PEW Rookie - "WHAT THE !" "Don't stop there rookie, you got those barrels to save you!" Rookie moves closer... PEW PEW PEW Rookie - "Ok! Now, I quit!"

The first change makes a lot of sense to me. If I am not looking I cannot see it. If my squad mate cannot see it, he cannot tell me where it is. This one I like, a lot. The second makes more sense depending on the situation. A single 3 shot burst wouldn't be enough to keep a head down over time, but several would do. How much they can see would depend on their cover and the rate of fire. No cover and they have nothing to hide behind. They could still see, unless they made like an ostrich and buried their heads in the dirt. With good cover and you might sit down and hide until shots stop coming your way, greatly reducing your LOS as there is not much that you can't be shot through but can still see through. With how the game works I think this might be rather hard to change to this extent? All though I don't think a full reduction in LOS from suppression would make sense, maybe 1/4 reduction with no cover and 3/4 LOS reduction from cover. (If possible) If not then balance the two with a 1/2 reduction from suppression. But then I have never been shot at, so I couldn't tell you how much bullets flying my way would effect me. Maybe bravery (or stupidity) could effect the LOS reduction? A brave (more possibly stupid) soldier would be happier to stick his head out and get a look around when under heavy fire. Edit: More on the Sniper/Spotter roles. This is an every day tactic but the spotter as far as I know has to give the sniper very good information on the target to make the shot. For me this would mean, for those long range shots the spotter would need specialized gear to relay the correct information allowing the sniper's to do his job. This being where the spotter needs those prior mentioned binoculars and a range finder. The spotter has a much narrower but longer view when using them. They also take up the weapon slot when equipped, assuming he has to put his gun down to make note of the targets and use the equipment. If its possible to make it so that only the sniper rifles have an effective range over the long distances then this avoids any gun hitting the target. But, how to stop a team with two spotters and ten snipers? I am not sure what is possible with the games engine. Pairing the two people together could be one option, as in only that one sniper could use the data from one spotter. (Would suck though if you had two teams and one spotter/sniper died from each pair, rendering both useless!) Only allowing a sniper with in two squares to use the spotter is another, but still easily exploited. Could the game re-check LOS with the removal of the binoculars bonus after a sniper rifle if fired? The last one would work best in my opinion. (Time for some out of the air numbers as examples.) A regular rifle has an effective range of 10 squares, anything beyond this and the accuracy exponentially declines. The sniper rifle has 20 squares before any penalties. The binoculars gives a sight of 25 squares in a 4x4ish pattern, this could be a cone or a circle at the target. After the next weapon is fired this extra LOS is removed. As in the sniper takes his shot and the spotter has to confirm the kill. This could be used in shorter ranges but would be wasted with regular rifles. Edit 2: (This is becoming a lot longer than I ever meant it too.) The binocular equipment would also tie into my suggestions on strength/equipment load outs very well, as the power over the weight is balanced by its inventory space. A spotter has less ammo, nades, etc. They cannot spot and then fire effectively. Also to avoid individual units who can spot then snipe. As in the sniper spots his own ranged targets. Make the binoculars cost ~30-50% TU while a long range sniper shot takes ~75-55% TU. Edit 3: (Last one, I almost promise.) The binocular squad sight allows for alien research advancements, in that some aliens have great vision, what makes their eyes so good? Can this new ocular understanding improve our binoculars, range finders, radars or scopes?

I have been thinking some more on this and I feel that keeping the strength stat would work well for picking out soldiers for heavy weapons duty. All soldiers could come with a minimum strength too make sure they can carry any load with in the minimum space provided. The extra strength gains would be used not for extra gear but their guns. Their guns as in the accuracy of LMG's and Rockets. I am not sure if it is currently in the game at the moment but the strength could also be used for melee and nade throwing distances. This makes me think of the old British Army in the days of the red coats. The big muscled soldiers would be picked for grenadier duty. They were expected to carry heavy loads in battle as well as be used as shock troops in melee.

I decided to look at some real soldiers pack weights. It seems they are expected to carry anything from 20-50kgs and sometimes more. This is including body armour, weapons, ammo, tent and other stuff. We can rule out tents, food and water, spare clothes and other bits from our Xenonauts as they are not in the field for weeks on end. The Xenonauts backpack would be on the lighter end of 20-30kgs. It would probably be higher for heavy weapons users. Being that all soldiers are expected to carry the same minimum weights. I see no reason that my Xenonaut rookie would not be able to carry a weapon, two clips, side arm, a couple of nades, medi kit and other pieces. This being the case I would be happy to see the strength stat removed and have a reduction in pack size and possibly some equipment resized. In this reduced pack I would say it could have: A belt slot of 2x2. It would be possible to have two clips and two nades for snipers, rifle men or assault. It also allows for two LMG clips or a pistol for a rocket trooper. The back pack slot of 3x2. This gives the choice of a medi kit, alternative weapons like the stun baton or a pistol and clips. (I personally think the stun baton should be a smaller 2x1) Two spare rockets, again maybe resized rockets to allow for three spares. Possible Unlock-able slots. Could use these to represent more experienced or stronger soldiers. Maybe even different armours could unlock extra slots. These extra slots could be like the original X-Com's shoulder or leg slots. As you are working with limited space it makes taking everything much harder. But still allows for the armour and weapon that all soldiers should be capable of carrying. This could also be worked to keep the strength stat and still having to make choices about gear later in the game as the soldiers become super strong.

Hello, Aiel_wolf here. (Yes, I am a WoT fan.) I remember X-com from when it was just called UFO: Enemy Unknown. I first played it back when I was too young to understand it properly but my brother always helped me along. I am looking forward to this rendition of the game. The Firaxis version was enjoyable but the bugs have become too infuriating to play any more. I just wish that this xenonauts didn't crash when ever I see more than one alien. Is there a fix for this that I have missed or is it deliberate? Can't wait for the full version, I am glad that I have pre-ordered. I just hope the final copy is polished and doesn't suffer the same fate as Firaxis' X-Com. That copy had four years of trial and error work. (As Jake Solomon said him self with the '4 years in development', sounds good, until I saw that it was 3 years of testing different alpha models.) Leading too a personally disappointing final product. Good luck Chris and glad to be here, Aiel_wolf.