Black Cat

This is why I chose to buy this game early and will support you guys for a long long time. Why because when we ask a question a lot of times we get answered. Thank you very much for taking the time to reply to my query Aaron.

I am curious as to why this is. I'll be the first to admit when it comes to programming I won't even pretend to know anything close to you guys. But having played with the map editor and submap editor, I would assume you could just change the alien ships maps and submaps and footprints. Again I realize it is never just "that" easy but if someone would explain the technical reasons as why not I am honestly curious.

My only real complaint with sight ranges is night time sight. I just think it is a bit to low. Yeah that would probably require upping the daylight ranges a bit but immersion wise they are to low also. But they are livable.

My favorite hit lists would be.... Aliens in Alien Bases/UFO's constantly shooting without LOS and sometimes shooting through walls Inability to see aliens in the dark or behind mesa's even though my soldiers can see them. Doors in aliens bases somehow magically locking. Had the teleporter aliens teleport into the deployment room on a alien base and when I went back to get him none of my troops could open the door. Ran into that in a few rooms in the base.

Aliens Shooting through walls in alien bases

Or just give the aliens bats. After a few grenades get line driven back at the thrower I think they would be a little less toss happy ;-p

I actually like the idea of research and invest to get to new planes. Not sure the idea is feasible at this point. But it actually is a very interesting and novel idea.

I still think the problem is our guys skill up way to much. 8 ranks should equal 8 skill up. The fact that there is such a huge huge difference between a 20 mission vet and a 3 mission rookie is just bad. On top of that balancing becomes so much easier for things if you know a soldier's stats are going to fall between x and y. Plus it eliminates the powerleveling of guys through means that make no actual sense in combat such as overloading you troops with weight and spamming shots you hope to miss at. It also kills the worry about only wanting 8 super soldiers and anything beyond that becomes wasted because their stats are so low by the time you get them up and running. It makes losses become more acceptable because while a lost soldier is bad, replacing him isn't the end of the world. My first squad is a full 8 guys with almost 100 TU's or more each. At this point if one dies it is a reload because that kind of skill is just to much to lose. It also makes starting stats more important. A guy who starts with 60 TU's is going to be way more desirable vrs a guy who starts with 50 when you know at best he is going to get another 8-16 TUs throughout his career. It also makes the tradeoffs are starting stats more important. That guy with only 50 TU's might look really nice when he starts with 60 Strength.

I could see an accuracy nerf for non crouched shooting to sniper rifles. But I have to echo the "Don't touch the damage at short" bit. Our guys are elite soldiers. While it may be harder to be precise with a sniper rifle at 20 feet or less. The fact is our guys "should" be proficient enough that at 20 feet or less they aren't missing anyways unless under heavy fire. And while I am all for bending reality to make it fit the game. I guarantee you get hit by a 7.62 round from 20 feet you aren't going to care if it came from a sniper rifle, assault rifle, or some kind of whacked out modified SMG. It is going to hurt and hurt about the same regardless of platform used to deliver it.

18.x Currently coming up on the end of Nov. 3 Bases up and running, two condors and a fox Each. Two 8 man squads with full wolf and laser rifles and two chinooks. Granted in fairness... Been save scrumming like a little bi***. And still spending every dime I make and end up waiting on something to shoot down to get more cash. And numerous play throughs learning the systems. PS. Oh and knocking off an alien base with 8 relatively new rookies (was their third mission out) all with about 50 tu's each due to weight of wolf and laser rifles...sucks!!! Especially when you add in the shooting through the wall bugs and the damn base was androns and teleporters.

I could get behind a system like this. Of course I would probably end up having one poor bastard with a pistol and 10 C4 Packs running around specifically to blow doors.

From my understanding pistols shine when combined with combat shields. Granted never used shields. My squads are always the same. Full sniper rifles till I research Lasers. Then I switch over to standard Laser rifles for everyone. Why worry about a shotgun when a full burst fire Laser rifle will do the same from short range it seems. I am going to switch things up and do 2 precision plasma's this time through for each squad. See how those play out.

I'll be honest. I find having to throw multiple sorties at aliens to be very vexing. Generally if I cannot take them out in a single pass I let them go. Granted the furthest I have gotten to so far has been the beginning of January I believe. But I tend to think if we need 5 planes to down a ufo then we should be able to launch 5 plane sorties. It just seems to really go against my tactical thinking of sending a sortie at a target I know they cannot take down.

40 missions seems way to small a number for the game.

Well Bloody Hell. Well guess it is good to see the aliens getting smarter ;-p