Hadrian

Wait what? Who said the UFO series had random maps? It didnt, and never did. I have every game right here and its bespoke maps in every one of them. In fact I know pretty much every single map in Aftershock and Afterlight like the back of my hand and have them memorised because they are not random.

Two things of note from your DXDIAG; 1.) It states it crashed at Stage 4; gathering system info. This should never happen and indicates and issue with your system. What that maybe is unclear at this point. 2.) You have ffdshow codecs on your system, which can cause games some issues. While I myself also have them and dont see this problem with Xenonauts its best to ensure these dont cause a problem (see below). Now as it pertains to the system error; I strongly suggest downloading and installing the latest direct x redistributable package and installing it. NOT the web based version, the full package. Its quiet possible you have outdated dx entries causing the issue. Secondly for ffdshow, there is a control applet that lets you place a games exe file in an excluded list so that the codecs are not used for the game. It should be in with your codec packages entry. For example Start>All Programs>K-lite Codec Pack>Configuration>ffsdhow video decoder.

I think at the very least the area around the LZ should be automatically uncovered. I mean there are windows, the crew just did fly in and saw the area on landing. Having it blacked out is rather daft, and its one of the things the original X-com did wrong. Other than that I would not want the game telling me the entire layout of the map zone.

Know issue with the maps not having Valkyre landing zones added as far as I am aware. I suggest going to the mapping section of the forums and downloading the community map pack. This has various map corrections and new additions and should resolve your problem till its fixed by the devs in the next release.

Ive had this myself Mathew. Consistantly as it happens. Every game where I have a successful "shoot down" of a UFO by base defences results in a "soft" lockup as described. The message in my case actualy states that my defences MISS, yet somehow managed to shootdown the UFO. The "continue" button on the message does nothing and the game must be reloaded prior to the assault in an attempt to continue.

If you were to send up your aircraft again the UFO would follow and attack those craft. Its sitting still to patrol and stop you launching aircraft. Its the aliens combat air patrol (CAP). Its intended design as far as I am aware.

Doing crash sites and terror missions in an area will increase your relations. Ignoring incidents will reduce your relations with that zone. The game starts with every nation at "bad" relations, its up to you to improve that score by doing missions in those areas. Example; Shootdown UFO in the USSR > Clear site = Points added to Russia relations Shootdown UFO in the USA > Clear site = Points added to USA relations Ignore ship over North Africa > Lose points from North Africa relations Fail terror mission in Europe > Lose points from Europe relations.

I dont mind being shot from BVR, but its to much in the current build. AI units seem to shoot from across the map from BVR, as when I chase after then in my turn they are almost always the length of a field away which is a fair distance. It even seems that at times the AI deliberately choses to go BVR to get this "wonky" shooting.

Imo this is a system error with your computer. If you could post up a dxdiag file, it could help pinpoint any obvious issues with your system taht may be causing the problems with the game. Click start > in search type DXDIAG and hit enter On the screen that appears at the bottom is the option to "save all information", chose this and save the file to your desktop Then copy/paste the contents of it here and we can take a look at it for you.

For me it normally starts around the 10th of January or so. Thats when the "Massive" size stuff starts popping in with interceptors whizzing around. I had at one point 6 intercept targets on radar nearly every day.

I prefer the carbine for reaction fire in the base missions. The shorter ranges due to corridors and room scales means its only disadvatage (its range) is nullified.

I had a praetor as a base commander in one game that made it to January. But I absolutely agree with you on forcing the players hand. I want to drag the game out as long as possible to get the max "fun" out of the playthrough. As you said I would much rather lose to lack of nation funding than from endless waves I cant compete with.

You dont have to do every mission though. Just shooting them down is enough to stop them advancing the invasion ticker score. More shootdowns means slower invasion ticker growth.

Double post, sry.

Radars increase your detection chance by 10 % per minute short, 1% long per minute to a max of 40% detection short and by 4% long. Many times UFOs simply wont BE detected, so increasing your odds of detection its critical imo. Initially you may only detect one or two UFO's per wave, but with more radar you may detect more per wave.