[Upcoming Projects - (Very) Basic Details]

JA2 *strategic* view. The actual combat is a mix of new XCOM, JA2 and Valkyria Chronicles. You'll have to wait a little longer to see exactly what that entails though.

Dammit, if you're doing *exactly* what I'm trying to do and learn for at the moment I will shoot myself in the foot.. Looking forward to it.

[Insane Ironman LP - Get you name in the mix]

theSovereign. ... Tap Rack Bang!

[In honour of all the devs]

Cheers #19! HUZAARARAAARGH!

[Want to save the planet? Sign up here and help a new let's player out!]

I'm In!

theSovereign, for optional fun give me a Stun Rod, Shield and as much C4 as I can carry!

[[X:CE 0.24] Soldier roles in minibars]

Wow! Exactly what I always wanted!!

[Upcoming Projects - (Very) Basic Details]

Not necessarily, but besides making a lot of things easier for the designer/programmer a tile-based system is more easy to follow for a player. It's easier to understand you placed your unit on the wrong square/hex than a few pixels off the optimum position.

[Upcoming Projects - (Very) Basic Details]

I've been working with for quite some time (as an amateur). From what I've learned, Unity is really solid but has a few certain areas which are not at the level of quality the rest is at. A friend of mine said that physics end up a bit random/buggy and I've had other problems.

Nevertheless, I am trying to work on my own 2d tactical strategy game atm, at least learning/working at the basic framework.

Just out of interest, what will you be using for grid movement/pathfinding and Line of Sight evaluation?

[i'm working with this atm, for a beginner there is not much in clear tutorials, and apparently you can do it in 20 different ways.]

cheers

[Ground Combat Guide For Beginners]

Why take 1 LMG trooper if you can have 2?

Personally I found rifles to be generally lacking, they tickle the enemies at long range (although that is less of a problem) but they are horrible for breaching UFOs.

[Xenonauts scores 81 in Metacritc this week, with 8.8 user score.]

It's 8.9 now by use score.Honestly I learned long time ago that what I expect and what is promised aren't two same things and your friend should do the same.

Erm.. I was talking about Watch Dogs for PC, which has a User Score of 4.6.

(I.e. Xenonauts is not just better than Watch Dogs, it's massively better when you compare the User Scores.)

Xenonauts is awesome... I was taking it out on Watch Dogs.

[Xenonauts scores 81 in Metacritc this week, with 8.8 user score.]

Pretty sure they even missed some 85-score reviews from sizeable publications, so far at least. But 81 is ahead of Watch Dogs, doing great!

Especially when you consider the User Score Rage (which is totally justified in my opinion, not that I had any expectations for this game but a friend was pretty disappointed).

[Xenonauts V1.07 Released!]

Doing too many ground missions just gives the aliens too many opportunities to kill your best soldiers.

[Sibillians overpowered.]

I tried Insane Ironman today. Sebillians on an Industrial Site is the Stuff of Nightmares. Breaching a UFO with several Sebillians is ridiculous too, it's extremely hard to concentrate enough damage to take one out.

Then again, it's supposed to be Insane, so I guess working as intended.

['Splosions! by Michael Bay]

There is nothing like reducing aliens to pink paste and transforming a city centre into rubble.

Show the invaders you are not joking around. Dr. Vahlen might disapprove - but to hell with that, the ground forces need BIG machineguns and MOAR ROCKETS!

[Oh god, what a waste this game is]

I don't really understand the hostility of some.

I for one am not a particular fan of some parts of the X-COM formula, but this game nontheless is extremely fun and challenging for a long period of time.

The weapon tiers are not exactly interesting, but on the other hand you have quite a deep toolbox of weapons and equipment in Xenonauts from the start. At least it doesn't lose complexity - in the old X-COM psionics, blaster launchers and heavy plasma were a degenerate strategy (i.e. everything else was worthless due to them being the best option).

Other problems IMO are mission variety or grinding solder stats - but those are my general opinions and are not limited to this game.

[Why would you ever take a Hunter scout vehicle?]

I love them. One has to remember though, that they are not as tough as their looks might suggest.

They mainly work due to their massive firepower. In one turn they can advance fast and still blow an alien to shreds along with the cover it has been hiding behind. Never expose them more than absolutely necessary.

One thing that seems really odd when playing with them is the low TU cost for turning. Spin that tank!

Edit: Also, the hunter can serve you well for a long time in the phases where Alenium and Alien Alloys are scarce. The weapons are upgraded for free...

[once there was an anti psi gadget planned....]

Wasn't there at some point in development a psionic research branch that led to nowhere? (I.e. humans have no psionic potential)

[Xenonauts Released & the Immediate Future (of Xenonauts)]

Congratulations!

Will Unity be your next engine, I wonder. I'm by no means a professional, but starting learning/working with it about a year ago. I love it, and it seems very solid (except a few physics issues or if you want to make a game on the higher end of the fidelity spectrum).

I'm a fan of top-down 2d...

[1-Base Strategy Possible?]

I just captured my first Praetor. Up to now I never got this far.

It was hell.

But damn was that intense. Now they still have to clean the rest of the base up.

1 Base on Normal, and it worked (4 Regions left, as kind of expected). Relations with the rest are basically maxed. Base is full with Corsairs and Marauders.

[Combat Roles and Kit]

I favor brutal fire superiority. Anyway, here goes.

Firepower Team

Gunner: LMG and plenty of ammo.

Grenadier: Rifle, Rocket Launcher ready in the Backpack when needed.

Support: Rifle, Medikit, Grenades (anything that's generally needed, the prior 2 Soldiers mostly carry ammo).

That's a general 3 Person fireteam. To fill out the rest of personnel slots you can either take a tank (which I prefer), or bring an additional soldier into each fireteam for scouting and breaching.

Edit: I select my soldiers primarily by Strength and Accuracy. Everyone who does not yet fulfill the requirements to carry a heavy gun will either play support (which is a good rookie position) or stay at home.

[1-Base Strategy Possible?]

I have to agree on the defensive structures, KevinHann. When it's my main base I should have 2 full squads available at any time (so even in the catastrophic instance of them attacking while my dropship is away I have a decent defence.

Generally I look towards cramming 7 Hangars in there - which means I have 2 full convoys of 3 each available to fight off enemy convoys. An 8th is nice if possible - because then I can build additional aircraft and cycle old ones without giving that up temporarily.

By the way - for now I always stayed at 1 Workshop (15 Engineers). The reason is they often have dead time anyway (due to limit of funds and materials). To get necessary stuff ASAP would be good but its usually not worth the funds imo (and the space in the base - giving it up gives me an extra hangar).

I start loving tanks - the Hunter Scout Car might die easily but with strong weapons I can blast numerous houses away and it's no big deal if it dies (just 60k).. I reserve most of my materials for Aircraft and Heavy Weapons.

(I'm becoming increasingly aggressive towards the aliens...)

[Aliens inside ships opening the door to attack...]

I played for a couple hours today and the aliens popped out of the UFO maybe 2-3 times. But those times it was a catastrophic result for my team!

(Reactions are usually not a high stat priority for me...)

[1-Base Strategy Possible?]

You lost 5 xenonauts and you call that flawless ?

That was sarcasm. Still one of the most exciting battles I had.

Interesting phrase you use there. If I said I fluked something, I would mean I had incredibly good luck, and succeeded. Obviously to you fluking something is bad.

Yes, I did use that word incorrectly. What I meant to say was I blundered it.

Air domination was working really well, I have to work on my ground tactics.

[1-Base Strategy Possible?]

Ok, game is close to being lost.

I will still play this (even though my game is doomed )

My bottom line is this (I missed that on veteran you can only lose 4 funding regions).

On normal it should be decently possible (there you may not lose 5), especially if you don't fluke like me and blow a terror in South Africa. A region I lost, but I shouldn't have.

[1-Base Strategy Possible?]

Terror attack in Christchurch.

5 Xenonauts dead, 1 Wounded, 2 Injured. Flawless.

[1-Base Strategy Possible?]

A quick update:

So far it seems pretty good, now it is time to decomission the condors and start building corsairs. Foxtrots are immensely valuable.

America didn't leave yet, even though the aliens are apparently bombing it back to the stone age.

Note, I am definitely NOT a very good player, I suffered quite a number of casualties and even fluked a terror mission in south africa (due to a stupid mistake on my part... sorry Capetown). Veteran is a good challenge for me from the outset.

All in all, I am still curious.