StK

Sounds interessting. Finals are done for this year. Sign me up, but it would be good to know which kind of classes you are using? Daniel Schneider - preferably a nation of the old Austrian Empire since Austria doenst exist (Czech, Hungarian, even SU) or something German - and if you use Rocketeers I'd love to blow Aliens to smithereens for you. Otherwise.. hmm Standard Rifleman.

You are an angel. I missed those buttons so much.

Oh God, I missed a good AAR (After Action Report). Video-LPs are nice but they can never have the role-play of a good old fashioned AAR. If you use the Xtended Background mod and stumble across an Austrian I would volunteer to be his namesake.

I wish you the best of luck; I just got myself killed in my Veteran/Ironman playthrough by sheer stupidty and lack of perception in my 5th ground mission; First casulty as well; I'm so proud of myself

Awww Skitso!!! You always do this: You point out a problem I never really knew existed. Now I see it and can't play without your mods anymore... The Devil I say! The DEVIL!

Uhm.. I fare the best when I use every weapon at my disposal.. Shield / Pistol (with Shotgun in backpack) for Scouting and Storming Sniper Rifle (with pistol (or shotgun strenght permitting) in backpack) for long range fire support HW for supression (but it seems these guys rack up a lot of kills too) Rocketlauncher: very situational (before stun rockets) but some situations need more firepower (alien entrenched on a roof can be a nightmare w/o RL; with RL you just throw rockets from long range at him until the problem seizes to exist) Rifles for pretty much everything else; Rifle deals best with "fair" fire fights; Which you should avoid like the plague in the beginning.

@Tactical Dragon: I disagree. Imho Firaxis failed to adress the major problems the game had, but tried to blind people by adding "cool stuff" that does nothing for the game or tries to patch over existing problems. The power creep through medals, mech-units and bio-enhancement makes the already inverse difficulty curve even more of a problem. Lategame Enemy withhin is (no matter what 2nd wave option you choose) insanely easy). While the first 2 or 3 exalt missions are funny they quickly become grind and propose no difficulty what so ever. The base attack mission is nearly completely scripted throws non-existing rookies at you for whatever reason and does not at all consider your base layout. AI still horrible, cover functionality still not fixed, Free Alien move still exists, ... in short... Enemy within is like the main game a lot of bling but hardly any substance.

One of the most used buttons in the original and I didn't catch it was missing. Shame on me.. -.- But then the stat bars and the ability to select every xenonaut via his/her portrait kind of make up for it. Would've been nice but.. yeah.

TUs first is pretty much the way every XCOM-style game did it so far and I think its the way to go. TU is the value u constantly need to keep an eye on (how far can i walk, so I will be able to turn/kneel/shoot/reaction fire.. etc) Health might seem the more impotant value at fist, but it rarely changes and you usually will check every soldier that got shot at immediatly (if he isn't already a corpse after the Alien turn).

Hmm.. The new XCOM I was so happy while playing the tutorial mission. The presentation there is amazing. The way it pulls you into this dark scenario is fantastic. But after a little while there comes a vey rude awakening. The other missions are (ofc) nothing like the heavily scripted tutorial (which is good for the most part but they also don't deliver the same quality of immersion) The game (imho) is so dumbed down it hurts. Cover only does anything if you kneel directly behind it. In any other circumstance bullets will go through nearly anything without impeding on aim. Then as Chris already said that alien free move is aggrivating and a cheap fix for a really bad AI. And in tactical combat the solution to pretty much every single "problematic" (the game is way to easy .. with the exception of the "Thin Men" showing up, maybe the sectoid commander when he first appears if you get unlucky) situation is a Sniper with Squad sight.

Yey... I got my bearings in EU IV.. I think I complicated the essentials of the game in my mind...

I dont really get why ppl want UFOs in between waves so much... All they would do is feed you XP and money.

I love fluff And I'd love to worry about it when you do such a pack. (Fuel storages or -lines in the UFO wings or underneath the hull, ammunition storage, general weakspots in the armor where they welded on the parts they needed to make the saucers capable of athmospheric flight) Maybe I cold even conjure up some of my (limited) artistic skills for some basic artwork, but there are people in this forums that are a lot better at that then I am.

@Hicks I usually fare better with squadrons of 2 foxtrotts and 1 corsair per interception base... (so i usually have 3 of these) and 1 extra corsair per base for Air superiority. Manually fight your battles let the foxtrotts take out the bigger craft(s) and then get them the hell out of there.. corsair provides cover and distraction. If you cant get them down on your first run either launch the air-sup corsair or if that wont be enough a full second run. @Monifix I really don't think its that bad, but then again I'm using the community map packs. I also think your nostaligia is getting the better of you when you look at XCOM 95. The game didn't use completely randomized maps it used tile sets and you were pretty quickly able to spot a tile when you saw one (patrol stations, drug stores, etc.) I for one like the fact that there is Air-combat in the game.. and it provides tension.. too much sometimes (and I'm not that good at it.. so I autoresolve when I'm unsure). I agree that it's a thin line to walk and that ground combat should always be the focus, but I don't think that line got crossed that heavily. Again the community map packs help a lot.

That looks really interessting... And yes there could be fluff explanations to why some points are breachable and some points aren't.. there could be research missions (or just additions to the briefings you get when shooting down UFO types) and nice graphs of those weakpoints... Really nice... very good work.

refreshingly free in this context means: As long as gameplay, balancing or engine don't dictate otherwise. Look, it seems we have fundamentally different views when it comes to "achievements". I don't like them and I hate that steam popularized them. If a Xenonaut makes an incredible shot over ~3 screens with his rifle, I'm happy that he did so and the fact it happend is rewarding enough for me. I don't want nor do I need a pat on my back from the game engine that tells me: "That was a great shot, here have 5 more accuracy". That's what i meant when I said gamey-mechanics. That what it boils down to in my opinion.

@kabill I agree with most things you said (with the exception of the strength training thing.. if I give you a backpack fill it up with heavy stuff and let you run around a few kilometers you will get stronger as long as you do it often enough). As I said its as close as I think this game can get while still giving the the player that sense of progression. (with the bravery exception .. that ones completely bollocks) I also think I would kinda like your solution if my troops were kinda viable from the start and if a game implements proper training facilities to implement little improvements (just for the sake of having it )

@Kabill Well, it got the basics right, it only works way to fast when compared to IRL. In the game your ppl progress by using that stat. They get stronger by carrying a lot of stuff, they get more TUs (Endurance?) by running around, etc. , they get better at aiming by shooting at stuff... Which is essentially how you would train those things... granted you wouldnt train them in combat situations.. but well the player wants some kind of progression in his game and this (imho) is the best way to implement that @legit: Well we disagree in this point. And I'm glad the developers (so far) don't see it your way. This game is refreshingly free of obviously "gamey-mechanics" and I hope it stays this way.

How would surviving that situation make you aim any better or react any faster?... Learning doesn't work that way. Aim gets better by training, not by random acts of "heroism" same goes for every other stat. Also there is no need for progression outside the system thats in place... it would only make more balancing necessary. I like the system thats in place in Xenonauts and always found the system that the new X-COM uses completely blown out of proportion, counter immersive and with all the other "little improvements" your soldiers get in the expansion pack simply game breaking.

This. I agree with the whole post. 100%

Aren't the doors kinda folded away during flight? On a more serious note: Yes maybe Dropships should be disabled for Air Intercept missions. Missclicks do happen.

To implement this feature properly would take a lot of work and balancing and thought. If you just make some UFOs go invis after a while I think it would become and feel like some games with a bad AI and where you just go "The DMN AI is cheating AGAIN!" At least I think that is what my response would be.

@StellarRat I thought so too in the beginning but I love that game.. if only the UI wouldnt be that bad and didnt complicate the easiest tasks that much (Yes I'm looking at you there screen that lets (doesn't let) me set up a military). Its oddly freeing not working towards an arbitrary victory sceen and the options the game provides you with are nothing short of baffling.

@StellarRat Yes DF has no win condition ... Eventually every fortress falls. You can set yourself your own goals... but no theres no "Victory-screen".

@Commissar Pancakes: could you give me links to the better EU IV videos? (I never really played Europa Universalis... only HoI 2-3 (hundreds of hours), Victoria I - II and CK I - II)