Victor_Tadeu

I cant believe I just find out Xeno2 is being developed today! It's ubber amazing news!! Well, I hope I'm not too late to the party, since I would like to give a suggestions if it already hadn't be given. I really would love to see some politics and factions ingame! Not sure if you guys ever played XCOM: Apocalypse, but I did, and while lots people on the internet seen to not like it, I did loved it. And one part in particular: the indepth faction relations it gives you. In XCom:Apoc you control only a city, not the whole world, and this city is divided between diferent factions, going from economical companies, equipment manufacturers, the police itself, aliens sympathizer and so on. While this cool system is added to XCom:Apoc, the game not really go deep into it. Being in good or bad relations with one faction or another don't change much, except some very particular cases (messes with the cop, and their vehicles becomes hostiles, messes with companie 'x', and it wont sell you their sutff). Relations changes not based only about how well I'm fighting or not the aliens or our trades, but if I keep causing too much collateral damage in firefights with the aliens, both in the map level by damaging their building or in the tactical level by imploding their building from inside, they will get anger! Also, aliens tries to infiltrate all factions buildings and structures, and I get a relation boost if I'm able to exterminate the pest before it become critical, but I get a relation penalty if I keep "invading" their facilities and not finding anything! This kinda o stuff is an awesome immersion in X:Apoc, even so it's kinda basic there. But anyway! Xeno2 is not X:Apoc but with that faction system in mind, I ever wonder how in Xenonauts universe during Cold War the whole world seens to just sit and watch you do all the job and the Cold War itself seens to just fade away? I always wanted to have some diplomatic issues to deal with: shouldm't' I get closer to USA or the soviets? Or should I try to keep a better balance? What are the countries armies doing to protect themselves? They want my help and really help me or they want me off of their country because they are self-confidend or just don't want me to attract the aliens to their borders? Shouldn't the governments be willing to sneak-peek all that new technology I'm creating? Shouldn't I be able to sell some of my equipment and projects to them and buy something in return? Shouldn't the countries sometimes getting in conflict between them and, sometimes, forcing me to take some actions? I thought it would be awesome if the Xenonauts could be a kinda of an international organization like UN (or part of UN), but not all governments are immediately involved or willing to cooperate. It would be cool if instead of starting trying to protect the whole world while everyone just decided to give me part of their money and troops, I actually have the feel of starting more modest and governments would be coming after me for help... or against me if they think I'm causing too much trouble! So, that way, the game could start with a very Cold War feeling where countries still aren't willing to trust each other and sometimes having bigger interested apart or WITH the aliens, but as time goes by and the alien threats increase and I prove my value, more countries tries to come after me asking for help: and that help is not only "build a base and it's you problem now", but start by cooperating with their army. exchanging equipment and technologies, paying me freelancers to deal with small aliens guerrillas in their territories or just to help their political faction to gain a upper hand against their rival... and sometimes even my help on a full scale war!! Imagine if country X decides to cooperate with the aliens or suffers from a coup from "fake" humans! It's up to you not to face only aliens, but also the worst part of mankind who is trying to cooperate with the aliens!! So... any words about it? Can it be possible?

Ah, cool! Thanks! I think it would be great if we had this information in the autopsy report. Something like "This alien is highly resistant to ballistic damage, have moderate resistante to energy and is very vulnerable to fire". Ah, by the way! I'm in love with the Spear AP Ballistic Cannon! Feels like good old XCom and it's awesome against heavy armored enemies! I'm excited how the fun in this mod actually start to scale up after thefirst laser weapons! When I start to field the first laser weapons and already had tons of Jackal and Fox armor, I was completing three bases and have decent research and, above all, high production levels. So I was basically stomping the early aliens. Soon after it heavier aliens started to came to play and I started to be stomped, but them this mod throws so much new production things right at this point that it actually stimulates me to keep going for the new stuff, balance my economy and try to expanding my production (since new stuff takes longer to produce)! It really feels like a technological "run for it" by the human side! It's much more than regular alien bashing, feels like the X-Division is actually doing it best to survive!

drages, I need some help figuring out the alien resistances since not all of them are ingame (I think autopsy should give you that). Most of them are based on my observations but I'm not sure about most of them and I'm supposing all different kinds of aliens of the same species have the same resistance proportion. Caesans: Ballistic: very low Energy: low / medium Incendiary: very low (?) Sebillians: Ballistic: low/medium Energy: very low Incendiary: very low (?) Xenomorphs: Ballistic: High Energy: low/medium Incendiary: very low Reaper: Ballistic: high (?) Energy: medium (?) Incendiary: medium (?) Androns: Ballistic: very high (?) Energy: very high (?) Incendiary: very high (?) (what should I use against them!? I see no difference no matter what I use) Drones (small and big): Ballistic: very high (?) Energy: high (?) Incendiary: very high (?) (same with the androns here, but I suppose they are a little more vulnerable to laser?) Harridans: Ballistic: medium Energy: High Fire: dunno...

By the way, there is another thing I miss in-game. The alien resistance. Some of them have it wrote out, most not. It would be great if in the necropsy we are presented that alien resistances (in numeric form or something like "low for ballisct, medium to fire, very high to energy). EDIT: Plus... do you can explain how exactly armors wears off? I mean, it seens that each hit cripple the armor a bit, so after some hits there is no armor at all and the target can take full damage. That's ok and good, but it seen that the armor wearing is based on hit, not damage. I mean, snipers can cause a lot of damage even in full armor, but dont seens to wear if off proportionaly. I also tried to wear tough enemy armor off with a couple of grenades, but after when I try to shot it with another type of damage, the armor still seens full. So each type of damage has it own armor to wear?

This is a good answer! At least the project is live and running!

Ah! Good question! Want to know it too!

Max, are you still working in this mod? I think it is the most ambitious project ever made for Xenonauts because of the sheer amount of work needed and something no one ever did so far (a full set of brand new armor, not just a recolored one).

drages, I saw the mod have some dedicated AP weapons. Can you explain to me exactly how they work? I suppose they are made to be a counter-andron, but I'm not sure if their low damage will be better than a much higher damage of the first laser weapons line despite their low mitigation.

I understood. But maybe some proper anti-material rifles may be put in game shooting only once in a turn?

Hmmm... this is kinda interesting stuff you can make use of! I already was feeling the advanced ballistic as an anti-material rifle and more frequently than not, I was using it to destroy cover and expose enemies, like small obstacles, walls and UFO doors. Maybe the advance ballistic rifle may not be the most accurate rifle to be an anti-material (or may be), but I totally would support this kinda of weapon in game.

Just a question. I'm seeing that the laser sniper have a much higher damage than the advanced ballistic one, but it does not destroy wall, door and such as efficient. Is it a difference between ballistic and energy damage?

It remembered me one of the old XCom games, I think it was Apocalypse but I cant remember exactly wich one, where the ufopaedia says companies are buying aliens corpses to turn it into sushi or such. Hahahahahaha!

This is great! By the way, I was thinking... I think it may be something beyond a mod and more into X:CE, but wouldn't be possible for certain research need some aliens to research? I mean, like when you will research Stun Gas. It already appears on your research screen, but there you can see something like "Requirements: One alien of any type" or "Requirements: one caesan of any class"? This would make capturing aliens not only needed to unlock new researchs, but also for to make some of those researchs. Like, if the cientists wants to test a new stun gas or weapon, they need to see if it's effective, right? And nothing better than a live alien body. Than, for example, to research a new weapon, you may need to capture one sebillian and one xenomorph, so the cientists can see if the weapon is actually effective. I think it not only would make the game more immersive, but make capturing live aliens more meaningful. For whatever anti-alien operation I think constantly capturing live specimens would be a frequent part of the job, but in Xenonauts it doesn't matter much as soon you have any of each type. Maybe you could interrogate alien specimens/officers more than one time, and they could reveal alien base locations, spoil where next UFOs will appear, give you a research boost or whatever. I think the alien capture/interrogation could be revamped. You already did great with your mod with all those new aliens types and classes, but I think it may be the limit without new game codes or such...

You mean the aliens specialists I capture from a scout will not be the sames from the ones in a cruiser and a carrier and I need to capture the colorful ones from those ships too? That's nice! I really miss later game capture! Stun weapons almost ever lose their purposes as soon as they emerges! Anda you mean those "Recovered [ufo] Equipment" are for profit? Thanks, you just made me profit almost 2 millions and finish my research base!

Those differences in aliens detection will give a much more immersive approach to each alien type too! With the silent caesans, you may expect an ambush from anywhere, but with noisy Androns, you hardly wont notice them moving behind that wall!

I dont know how hard it will be to code, but seens like a much simplier and easier approach to anything else proposed, I think.

Max_Caine, your text gave me an insight... Wouldn't it be possible to make alien base assaults to have some kind of early phase before the combat itself start with enough time for you to send a dropship? I mean, lets suppose an alien begin an assault in one of your minor bases. You failed to shotdown the alien dropship and the ship already got there. Instead of the battle starting right away, the player gets a popup saying "Aliens are preparing to assault base X!" or "Alien laid siege on base X!" or "Aliens are landing troops around base X!" or anything like that. After that, the base assault is inevitable, but a mission-like icon appears over the base and the player have, like, 24 hours or such before the assault kicks off where he can move a dropship there so a proper squad can participate on the defense. When the dropship arrives, the assault starts immediately, if not, the player will defend the base only with what it have. What do you think?

There is a chart where I can see wich are the aliens subtypes, their apparence and if they can be interrogate? I think I already capture all the early caesans and senbillians for interrogation, but I'mo not certain and it's tough to continue to risk my xenonauts to capture live specimens. Also... there is also kinda of a guide to what I cand do with UFO parts I capture both from missions and disassembly? Because I dont know what I can sell for profit and what I should have in stock.

I think civilians should be more likely to run to inside of the players spacecraft and for where the players soldiers are coming from or to nearby xenonauts. If I was the poor like guy scared in the middle of an alien invasion, I would want to be near the guys with big guns who actually can kill the aliens and take me out of there!

So I was posting around the forums recently about alien being able to throw a grenade at me without seeing me or saw me before. It was much like the aliens could actually "sense" my soldiers. (the point of this topic is NOT this bug/thing. Keep reading ) drages, in his XDiv. mod said that the aliens was actually hearing me, not just "sensing". So, like, the alien didn't sensed me on the other side of the wall when he threw that grenade, he heard me. But in comparison, my soldiers seens deaf. I can here door opening and weapons shooting, but I cant be sure from where it came (unless the UFO door that is more distinctive). It remembered me from the Silent Storm series (also turn tactical combat) and other games. Jagged Alliance 2 and I think the original XCom or another one also had something like what I would say now, but I will use Silent Storm as an example since I remember it pretty well: you could actually detect someone by the noise it make. When you soldier hear something around him, a thing like a red ghost appear where he think the sound came from (it could be an enemy or friendly, if he dont see it, there is no distinction). It could be on the other side of a wall/door, after a corner, in the vegetations or from where he think a far away shot actually came from. This "sound detection" was not accurate, the "red ghost" may appear in the tile just on the other side of the door but actually be some tiles away from it in any direction (like behind a desk just waiting with a machinegun for you to open the door with a knife trying to stab someone). This is the first part of the suggestion: sound detection similar to Silent Storm and Jagged Alliance. Not even sure if it is possible in Xenonauts and surely it would be a lot of work, but anyway, just saying. The second part will be a consequence of the first one: how could I move around without warning every one? Well, just add a "stealth move" button that double you move cost but makes you silent. It may also make reaction fire more hard to trigger when you enter someone LOS, but if you move stealh in someone LOS, you are actually more likely to be shot at. I mean... you was stealthily moving around the corner, when, BANG, you face an alien. It would be less likely for him to shoot you if you entered his LOS in stealth. But if you try to move in his LOS in stealth, both if you just want to or because you didn't saw him, he is much more likely to shot you. Aliens may have stealth movement too or different stealth capabilities. I, myself, imagine a sebillians as noisy heavy-breathing heavy-stepping creature that you can hardly miss him around, but a harridan is a very stealthy silent creature. Diferent aliens categories may also have diferent stealth abilities: a red caesan is just a noyse guy without any training, but the caesan soldier knows exactly what he is doing and wont making much noisy. So... suggestions? (I wish Goldhawk could make a Xenonauts expansion with tons of new features like that! I would gladly pay for it! )

I was thinking about the problem and in come in a common direction with a thought of mine: you have too few bases. Building a base, with hangar, planes, radars, batteries, garrison, etc, is very expensive, so you only mantain 2 early-mid and 3 or 4 mid-late game. Why not make cheaper bases that can be expendable by making some structures cheaper? I mean, a base with only, like, 2-3 hangars, 1-2 radar, 1-2 batteries and losing it may not be much of a economic hit. Meanwhile, "core" bases with workshops, laboratories, people inside it, etc, should be much more expensive and losing one a big hit. Plus if the idea of two kinds of base go foward, maybe the "inexpensive" should be 4x4 instead of 6x6 and may only have some restrict building choices (like hangar, radar and batteries only). I also like the idea of being able to recapture a lost base. For immersion, I could see this "time" you have before the base is lost forever in two ways: the aliens planting the bombs and detonating it taking some time to do it, since I believe the bases are underground so kinda hard to totally destroy and, more important, the aliens are actually studing your base to see what you was doing there, so they dont just capture it and immediately explode it. Max_Caine also gave an idea that I like very much: stuff (buildings) became more cheaper with research. So maybe in the first couple of months having more than 2 bases is cost prohibitive, but after some search and development, the price for a new base or structures start to fall. I think we have three points here. Each one has it advantages, are different to apply with different solutions and, more important, all the three can work well together: 1- Bases can be recaptured and repaired for a fee. 2- Two kinds of bases, one cheaper, one expensive. Suggestion: the cheaper one could be 4x4 and structeres limited to hangar, detection and auto defense. This base may not be recaptured. 3- New base, hangar, detection and autodefensive are much more cheaper while workshop, laboratories, living quarters, etc, much more expensive. This can be done by what we already can easily mod in game, right? Suggestion: I dont know the exact formula that will give a good balance. But maybe 50% more cheaper for hangar, detection and batteries and 50% more expensive for the rest? Maybe both the cost and the maintenance?

I mean, the Xenopedia says that all caesans seens able to have a telephatic nature, but few really uses it. Still, I thought they would be kinda able to sense my soldiers especially if they are scared or with low moral. Not really "I know exactly where he is', but "I know someone is around". But when it come to psions, I really thought the aliens could sense soldiers nearby by not just "he is around", but "he is somewhere to my left". I not telling to put in the game, is just how I was roleplaying caesans fighting my soldiers (like when runned out of the UFO and shooted me or throwing a grenade without LOS). I thought it was real in game code. Only when I saw a senbillian doing the grenade stuff I thought it was odd. Plus, I will mess around the group seeing what people already wrote to have a feel of what I should do! Thanks, I wish I can help, this mod really gave one step beyond XNT! It's not like playing the same stuff but only with more content. I'm actually losing more soldiers than I ever did and gun fights feel more intense... haha!

-Different post for different subject- I miss more lore and info for alien weapons, so I was thinking that I could help writing it the group. But I have some problems that I wish to ask out before posting there: - My english sometimes sucks. I think I can put out a good text, but someone may had to correct some grammar. Is that a problem? - I saw people posting fully codes like this: I dont understand Xenonauts gamefiles that much. Would it be a problem if I post, like, just the weapon name or there is a tutorial of how I get those codes? - For a better immersion of what I'm writing, I may need to see the weapons stats. Wich files they are in?

That's a nice explanation! So, I understand now how that alien "sensed" my soldier out of the UFO. The aliens knew I had a wounded soldier nearby (they saw me), knew it was around the right side of the UFO, thought my soldier may not had runned far away so the alien took it chances and did a daredevil run, scored, and is my fault for not retreating a wounded soldier thinking the aliens was morons. Actually... I love that it happened now! But there is still two points: 1- Can the aliens actually "hear" me!? This is actually a kinda of extra sense that the human didn't have, since we cant hear the aliens, I mean, no from where the sound is coming. If the AI can tell from where a sound came, like footsteps or a door opening, it just can "sense" the player like a radar while the player cant do the opposite. I mean, I can hear UFO door opening, but I cant hear an alien moving on the other side of the wall. 2- I'm not sure if the explanation about the AI smartness awnser they throwing grenades over walls in situations there is no way it had seen my soldier. If they "heard" my soldier, they basically sensed my soldiers like I said before. I was thinking it was a feature for caesans, since they are telepathic creatures, but sebillians do it to. Now it seens they just are not deaf like my soldiers... It would had being great if Goldhawk had implemented a "sound spot" kinda like Silent Storm had. (I wish someone could convince Chris do to some DLCs... Xenonauts is so great and could be made even greater like this mod already do)

Thanks for the tip! I reposted the bug in the mod topic and drages gave me an in-depth explanation of what is happening and what is the AI behaviour. It's more clear to me why the caesan runned out of the UFO directly to my soldier, killed him, and runned back and I'm perfectly fine with it now. The AI was just being smart. It knew I had a wounded soldier nearby, knew It was around the right side of the UFO so it took it chances and it is my fault for not retreating a wounded xenonaut. The AI behaving more like a human, it's so rare that almost sound like cheating, but now I think it's great! The problem, really, is when there is no way the AI saw me, I never saw it to, but still it throw a grenade over a wall right in the foot of my soldiers... I may mess with ProbabilisticSearch=X to see the results, but not set it to 0 since I think it may broke the AI turning it into a retarded coward. But I'm not sure if the ProbabilisticSearch will change much about the grenade throwing...