Asmodean

Well I won't call it garbage but I don't like the firing as a % of TU for a few reasons. 1) I like to remember the firing cost and know how many TUs to save. Now everyone is different. 2) I don't feel like leveling up TUs is nearly as important now. I can move a little bit more, but I can't shoot more. Leveling up TUs used to be the highlight of my mission ending.

What drives the escalation of: 1) Alien ground forces 2) Alien spacecraft I am asking because it seems that the spacecraft progress VERY quickly while ground forces a bit more moderately so. Early on I had finished out what I will call tech level 1 of the research tree and I had nothing left to research. But then new research came flying in and I felt way behind... Then even as I am catching up I cannot afford much... especially I cannot afford to be competitive in the skys. So I was worried I somehow triggered the game to move forward faster than I could keep up. Right now I am tracking 9 alien space craft and I can probably manage to shoot down two! Is that normal!? So I wanted to understand if the alien threat progresses based off a predefined timescale? certain number of missions? research progress overall or certain research projects? Hoping I can manage a better balance next restart.

Here is an idea I think would add a lot of realism and game play. Humans: For the human player I'd like to see some sort of marker on the map (even outside FOV) showing where sounds were heard. Maybe it would be limited to loud sounds like gun fire and explosion. And it would not need to be placed exactly. Aliens: I'd like to see the aliens respond to gunfire as well. It seems odd that I can engage 2 aliens in a fire fight only to find 2 more hanging out just a little farther on. Even if the aliens in the fire fight die, it should still be marked as an area of interest to the aliens to move on and check out. And when I meet up with one of those big military base walls and decide to c4 my way thru instead of walking all the way around... the aliens should be all over that. This could also be a way to differentiate alien types... maybe only certain types would behave this way. Maybe some would actually run the other way? Of course this could be used by the player to try and bait the aliens so not sure how to avoid it becoming an exploit... just wondering what people think.

On the other hand being forced to advance TOO slowly gets boring. Some thoughts on this one: 1) I prefer to make cover more relevant. You can progress much faster (on some maps) by moving from cover to cover leaving just enough TUs to reaction fire. This certainly is a very sound strategy in theory, but right now cover seems to do little to save you, and reaction fire for humans seems far less effective than aliens. So yes right now you are forced to do much more hiding and that is much slower and more boring. 2) I think it is good to apply some time pressure. DO NOT implement turn limits. But maybe a higher incentive to save civilians. Right now I am not clear if this has any impact... maybe only a minimal one, but when I first started playing I did alot more charging across the field to save them and that made for a very interesting game. As a second point to this one, it would be nice if you could take over a civilian you meet, or somehow order them to a certain area you have already cleared out (only would work if they are not actively panicked). Civilian rescue could add a lot of depth to missions where they are present and add variety of strategy overall. 3) Not sure what people think of this one. But if aliens in the ship never leave (which seems to be the case) then a message showing that the outer map is cleared would be nice. Immersion breaking? maybe a little... but it would eliminate a lot of slow & boring map exploring when there is nothing left out there.

I am pretty sure it is FOV. Once you mentioned it that makes sense. Some of the examples I am thinking of were times I was shot at from 5 or 6 spaces beyond my FOV... in one recent battle I was shot at from a good 10 spaces beyond my own FOV. Also I have gamed the FOV myself. Run up and explore, or use the tank to reveal as much as possible but save enough TUs to run behind a wall. Then the aliens wander into my FOV. I just for some reason didn't consider that is what the aliens might be doing. So the main point would be to update FOV to if not real time then to update between turns to prevent reaction fire that is beyond the current squads LOS. On open maps the current system can lead to alot of unavoidable deaths which is no fun. If that update happens then adding sight range bonus items is a secondary point. Though I don't think it would unbalance it if done well... we already have it with vehicles, I just don't like using vehicles. Maybe I will mod in my own scout armor and see how it goes.

Hmmm good point on the distinction between total FOV and actual sight range. That could be my problem then as there are times that as I advance I am shot at from deep within my unexplored range. So probably one of the aliens revealed the FOV then moved back, or behind a wall. Then on my turn I unknowingly step into the FOV, yet don't see any aliens and get shot at by any alien who has LOS. Maybe then FOV should be updated between turns... so after moving when you hit end turn your FOV drops to current LOS. Same for aliens. This could be a big improvement on the game mechanics I think. As for sight range being tied to armor type. Is it not possible for an item to just give a bonus of say +2? I still think the strategic options there would be interesting. If not then maybe some sort of scout armor or night combat armor would be fun to add.

Great game! 4 thoughts. 1) Just a thought on this hugely long discussion about the AI math and what shot types it should use. Does the AI ALWAYS need to use the best mathematically correct choice? Maybe the robotic ones should... but the others are living, thinking, feeling beings in the heat of a battle. Are they pulling out a range finder then an excell spreadsheet to calculate how best to use their TUs? NO! I think you should throw in a little randomness. It makes the game more interesting and probably more realistic. Not saying they should do blatantly stupid things but usually they have a few decent options to choose from. 2) Difficulty settings. Is it possible to have a more nuanced way to set difficulty? Instead of just easy, normal, etc... maybe we could set some of the modifiers individually (could be behind an advanced settings menu)... for example it drives me crazy to have aliens with better sight range than me. And until the game is fully balanced maybe we can make adjustments mid game... then people like frank_walls who is nearing end game can tweak it himself to suit his needs. 3) More on Sight range: I think it would be useful to add some options here. Binoculars? Night vision goggles? Maybe they have to be held in a hand and used (TU cost) to give a 1 turn sight range boost? Or maybe you could even "fire" them to reveal a small radius (with a range limit), thus your scout could spend several TUs slowly scanning the field ahead. Snipers (weapons with scopes) could get a sight range bonus. Give the player some strategic options on those wide open maps (without that I just want to nerf the aliens sight advantage so he stops killing me before I see him as I advance from cover to cover). 4) Windows: Regardless of line of site working or not. If a soldier is standing directly next to a window then the wall in front and to the sides should not impede his fire. He should be able to stick his gun through or even lean thru the window and get a full 180 degree clear line of fire. Same as how being next to a crate does not impede you firing over the crate. Or maybe that only applies once the window is broken.... which then maybe we need a way to spend a few TUs and clear a window. What do people think?