Exiled Penguin

Hello, Let me introduce myself. I am an Exiled Penguin and I am an UFOholic Up front I have to say that the Xenonauts are really a great tribute to the good old UFO and as such show a lot of promise - while they stick to the basic premise, they offer a lot of "new" stuff to be interesting in their own right (first time I was in the air combat, I was entranced... and still love it ) Unfortunately life intervened after I first supported the project and I had to leave off for a while, but now I am back... And with a head full of ideas... First look: Aww, UFO is back!!! Yes, I am a sucker for games from the time when there were no flashy graphics and instead the games were built on gameplay and story... Second look: Wait, it is not UFO... It is better! What I love on Xenonauts is... Well, a lot of things, but most of all the basic setting. This is not the nondescript 1999 with weird planes and generic weapons, this is a Cold War era, with specific crafts we know and love and with specific weapons. And therein lies the power to expand upon the basic model - the developers already did so in the ground combat, and I hope that, in time, they will do similar (expansion of options) for air combat as well. After all there are so many Cold War projects to pick from, starting with the "super interceptor" based on A-12/SR-71 ... I mean the 'human tech' variant which is Sci-Fi enough in its own right Third look: Mods? Interesting... As it seems the game is at least partially moddable, and thus contains more potential fun, I guess I will keep an eye on the mods. After all, maybe I will be able to try it even myself and go for some crazier ideas Anyway, tha's it. Xenonauts are very promising and I hope I shall spend long winter evenings over them!

Grenade launcher is easy to balance IMO (just look at Jagged Alliance 2): Long range, but clumsy reload, small grenade (less effective than hand grenade), inaccurate... OTOH with option for "beehive" round for close-in work.

Well, a favourite would be YF/A-16 Viper to replace F-17 Condor (F-17 was a Northrop competiton to F-16 and predecessor to F/A-18). As armament (to have something special) replace 20mm Vulcan with pod with 30mm GAU-13/A. MiG-32 then maybe could switch to MiG-31ET (well ET is self-explanatory). As for weapons, AIM-9X Sidewinder has a nice ring to it; AIM-54X for Avalanche... But something in between would be nice. AIM-7X Sparrow as a mid-range missile?