StK

@TrashMan: I could give you several explanations based on >this< why aerial refuling in the Xenonauts environment would be highly improbable. (the need of uncontested Airspace would be one of the more important ones) But none of it would matter. The essence is this: For the gameplay as it is now the "so high range its nearly unlimited"-range Skyranger is a necessity and always has been since EU 95. The maximum range of the Interceptor planes is a design decision to force descisions on the player and to also give a feeling of spatial progression as the game continues. edit: in the game the Aliens recognize threats very well as they prove by going after xenonaut-planes and bases rather quickly. The strategic tankers would be recognized as threats (because they improve the combat readyness as well as the range of xenonaut planes) and easy targets. Then you would have to protect the tankers, account for pilots getting tired and so on and so forth. That would go beyond the scope of this game but if you enjoy those things (as I do) I can suggest a game for you: Paradox's Naval Warfare. edit2: and if you really like managing all those tings I would recommend War in the Pacific: Admirals Edition by Matrix games. A great, but very very time consuming game.

Hey, Thats the series the original XCOM was inspired by (^^,). But I don't think a movie can work in any satisfying way, simply because there is too much to be explained, it would need to be exposition dialog all the time. A TV series might work tough, but they would need to be careful about it. Imho it would need to be a strange survival, horror, sci-fi, action mixture. I'm not sure they can pull it off. edit: @Dead Dead: Thx for the link. I was looking for this.

@TrashMan I disagree from a gameplay and a lore point. First the gameplay. Unlimited range means unlimited fuel which in turn means you can leave your aircraft up on any point in the world indefinitely, which screws with some interessting decisions (f.e. how do i protect my skyranger when its flying to the otherside of the world, or is it even to risky to take the terror missions, etc.) Second the lore: Air refuling (which would also work for choppers btw.) requires a slow unarmed aircraft to stay in an area for a considerable mount of time. The UFOs would have a field day with those things and I think it would be nearly impossible to maintain it as the Aliens should know quite quickly the strategic implications of leaving those tankers flying.

@screeg how did you kill the last alien? Because I had a similar problem but I think to remember it always happend when i threw a grenade at the last alien and killed it before the grenade exploded... but I'm not sure. Though I searched every nook and cranny for an Alien and couldnt find one.

How did I miss this. Thank you very much for this list.

In the first round i tend to blow up the door using C4 and some in yellow range positioned snipers and rocket launchers to clear out the entrance room. Afterwards smokegrenades, ballistic shields to storm in and assault rifles (or their better equivalence), flash bangs or other supression weapons to deal with alien resistance... and bring loads of smokegrenades they are immensly useful.

@Chris: But all in all players get less money because in the mentioned mission types there is no way for them anymore to improve the funding of countries. So if the change was made because the overall income of players was to high then it seems plausible, but you said it was only to not penalize airstrikes too much. And the increased maintenance is linked to this. Because higher interceptor costs means less air space coverage and as in v6 interception is the only way to increase long term funding, player funding takes a dive. P.S. Awww.. Local forces downing crafts is linked to difficulty? I like this feature a lot, because it helps the immersion greatly and also makes the world feel more alive. That was always something that bothered me about the old X-COM and I loved the way you changed it. P.P.S Just thinking here. How about moving the relations point back to the ground combat and awarding a relations increase for the airstrike mission similar to what a "medium" success on the ground mission would give you. Because as was already said even if countries wouldn't care about how you specifically dealt with the UFO, they would care about civilian casulties, local forces casulties and if you actually dealt with all the aliens in the region or of some fled the scene.

@Dranak: Yes but that constitutes a net income-loss for the player and as v6 also increases the cost of early interceptor maintenance, I'm not sure if thats a wanted byproduct.

Ahh a several stories high alien might have been such "fun" but I think I can feel the headaches that would've given the programmers. (collision model, hitboxes, range of sight/fire, ... it sounds awful)

Only the positive score is bound to the UFO. you will still rake in negatives (^^,). I made a thread in beta discussions about the implications this might have.. but i don't really have an idea how it is handled since the values aren't shown anymore.

Ouch.. sounds like a hard one. Best of luck.

@cb1987 The relations bonus points got moved to shooting down the UFO in the first place, so as long as there is an interception part to the mission nothing much should have changed. But I'm worried about missions that don't have an interception part

Credit where credit is due. Amazing series Tascruel. I was "a little" out of my depth in Aircombat but watching your tutorials was really really helpful.

So what happens if local forces down the UFO? I get no bonus relations at all? that doesn't seem right. or in missions that don't really have a UFO component (at least in the early game because you cant take it) like terror missions or alien base missions. Do I get boni from those? (didnt get that far in v6) That seems like a huge economical hit to the player, as byproduct to a seemingly small change.

The balancing way I would like to see most is to not let the Condor equip the more advanced weaponry. This would keep it as a good interceptor during early and its usefulness fading away during midgame. If still needed maybe a dmg buff to later weaponry while also buffing hp of later UFOs. This connected to the flat rate maintenance and the increasing radar range of later crafts should discourage Condor spamming during later game stages enough.

While I also think something had to be done about the Condor, I don't think cutting it's speed and range is the right angle. I played 2 games but stopped because the Geoscape-part just felt frustrating. If a UFO doesn't "want" to fight your interceptor you wont catch it. period.

thx tascruel I did not know i could hit guys in the smoke without touching them (cause of 0% to hit). Mb just shouldve tried sometime edit: @jonny211: Yes they always shoot past the soldier as they do with cover that is right in front of you. So you can use Soldiers with shields as makeshift, moving cover.

Uhhh.. I will love that. Insta download. Ty for your work edit: Does this work with 20v5? edit2: Could this also be done for Aircombat missions? I think I could cut some sounds out of Iron Eagle, Top Gun and the lot that might fit. edit3: I need to think longer before pressing "post". Is there a possiblity to include something like "Enemy spotted" when your troops see an enemy?

looks nice... maybe the "fabric"-pattern is a little to big, but i will give it a whirl.

+1.

Here you go http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php/7927-Xenonauts-Declassified%21-My-youtube-FullHD-serie?p=91614&viewfull=1#post91614 this little "tutorial" by Tascruel (thx very much btw) helped me a bunch (I was too sloppy because I wasn't used to put effort into interception in an XCOM-like title)

No reality doesn't work that way. it depends on far to many little things and time frames that no round-based engine will ever be able to handle. But as an example: If 2 guys charge into a room filled with soldiers that are ready and waiting theres a huge chance that they both die.. but realism isn't really the issue here. The issue in my opinion is that the reaction shot system as it is now does not let you set up defensive perimeters, because the 2nd alien in a turn will always breach it. The issue as you see it (correct me if i'm wrong) is that a well laid ambush by a player will slaugher the AI if reaction fire is done sequentially. Both positions have a lot of merrit (imo) but there is easy middle ground here: There should be a chance for every soldier (and ofc alien) with reserved time units not to open fire on a dead body. How high that percentage should be is a balancing question.

ufo was a small scout and crashed both times, tileset was desert/arabic city the first time and arctic the second. I think I had a guy bleeding to death the round before in both battles too and ironman mode ( which might not be the smartest mode to play in an experimental release... ) As I said i will try to reproduce but i didn't find the time yet.

Happend to me twice now and both times i forgot to make a save.. will try to reproduce as soon as i have time. What happend is this: I throw a grenade at the last alien and kill him afterwards with the rocket launcher. Now instead of the ending screen popping up there's an alien turn again. Could be that there need to be civilians alive because both times i remember civilians running around. And yes i'm sure it was the last alien because it was a fairly small map and i combed it very thoroughly afterwards with my nauts.

+1. I think most of the battlefield pop ups are not necessary and could be optional (with a switch turning em on and of in the options menu).