[Noob question: air battles w/ more than 1 fighter]

Thanks for that Kordanor!

The squad tip you gave me works like a charm of course. That video is very thorough, though it seems to not show one interceptor against one small UFO. I wonder if that is because there is no real way to bait it into a position to hit it from the side.

Maybe I'll stick to autoresolve for one interceptor, and then try air combat when running two interceptors in a squad.

Cheers.

[Noob question: air battles w/ more than 1 fighter]

So I know you can have more than one aircraft engage a UFO at the same time. But unless I'm blind and it's staring me in the face, I can't see a way of coordinating this when one fighter engages the UFO first. How is this done?

Also, with real time dog fights, the manual tells you the controls but doesn't offer any real basic strategy or how to go about engaging a UFO. I've done it I think twice (usually hitting auto resolve), and the first time I did it the smallest UFO in the game shot my fighter down. So I've been hesitant since.

But from what I've read you stand a real advantage by mastering this. Anyone have some basic do's and don'ts to get me started?

Cheers guys.

[Any way to see hired troops en route to base]

I was also disappointed in this as it's very handy to know and was easy to see in the original.

Not sure if you're aware but you can see this info for scientists at least (not sure about engineers). After you order scientists, if you go back into the hire/fire screen it will show your number of scientists, plus the number you have in transit appearing in parenthesise next to it.

The same is not true for Soldiers unfortunately.

[Why do people like this game so much?]

As for the game, it seems to have potential and I actually like the graphics, but people are exaggerating a bit, it's doesn't have the kind of brilliance and depth that the best Paradox games have, it's pretty shallow if you ask me, although I could see myself having fun with it... once it stops crashing...sigh.

So long as you understand that this game is a direct remake of a now 20 year old game. It's not meant to compete with the most in-depth strategy games of today, it's meant to modernise a classic. A job it doesn't brilliantly, coming from someone who spent many hours playing the original in the mid 90's.

Don't get me wrong if it's not your thing then great. Just checking with you that you're seeing it for what it is, rather than what it isn't, if that makes sense ;p

[Why do people like this game so much?]

I think you hit the nail on the head. For me, it's just not even remotely engaging. There's no story, no characters, nothing. If it played like an arcade game, it would be acceptable, but for this kind of depth and strategy, some lead in would add a lot of atmosphere. As it stands, I start the game, I watch time tick, go after a couple of UFOs here and there, and next thing I know I'm on the ground going in several directions at once for no particular reason.

I can understand where not having a linear storyline can help, as it does become frustrating in X-com when you know exactly what turn it's going to take and when. Having something a bit more open ended is very exciting.

I tried playing it again, and I just can't get through the first ground battle. Part of my frustration is the seeming lack of balance between the alien capabilities and the human capabilities. Maybe I'm just not thinking strategically enough, but when shots come out of nowhere, and kill all of my guys, it's pretty frustrating. I also haven't figured out why they so rarely shoot back.

OP please correct if I'm wrong but in your first post when you mentioned that you had played X-Com before Xenonauts, I think judging by your comments you are talking about X-Com: Enemy Unknown which is the game released in 2012 by Firaxis. I am thinking that you perhaps don't realise that Xenonauts is NOT based on that game, but is actually based off a game released in (I think) 1994, called X-Com: UFO Defence in the US, and UFO: Enemy Unknown in the EU and AUS.

Unless I've missed it, I think this is a big source of your confusion. Many of us who love Xenonauts loved the original game from 20 years ago.

The more recent X-Com: Enemy Unknown that you have played is a re-imagining of the original, but Xenonauts literally is a direct remake of the original, or to put it another way, Xenonauts is the same game done better.

I hope this helps.