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I've been reading this forum and the one on Steam for a week or so trying to decide whether to buy the game or not. I'm not a fan of X-com but I like tactical squad based games. The game being close to completion I'm interested to hear if Goldhawk Interactive will continue to work on this game in the form of DLCs or they are going to start a whole new project? I know the game is quite complete even now but I would always welcome new content (and pay for it, the devs have to eat too).

Some of these ideas are fairly close the current game, others I realize would require a new code base and a far bigger development project. Alternate Version XCOM ------------------------ Geoscape Improvements -------------------------- All current countries with 1 million people or more represented. Geoscape is 3D spinning globe again and faithful copy of Google Earth. Eventually with tech player can also view and build bases on Moon, and there are missions on the moon in space suits. Maps always match landscape landed on. Summer and Winter modelled (ie, in countries with winter, tiles are snow covered and trees bare in winter on maps). Tilt axis of sun angle also changes to shorten daylight time in appropriate hemisphere depending on time of year. Aircraft can request arial refuelling. Only major power countries have this ability, and if enough tankers shot down, they will no longer provide this request. The tanker appears on the map and fighers must rendevous with it) Anti-UFO defenses on map have range and fire when UFO's in range, not when they try to land on the base (if they make it that far it's too late) Base Aircraft available match country base is built in, or planes country has traditionally purchased (Ie, India likes Russian planes but has some Mirage 2000's and home-built Tejas) Maximum squadron size in an intercept increased to 5, same with aliens. Aircraft now need pilots, who are recruited as per soldiers. Pilots have various traits that improve certain features of the game, such as top airspeed, max range, hit chances of weapons, damage, ect... Number of kills kept for each pilot. Pilots also become injured. 2 pilots required for the landing vehicle used. If a plane is shot down, there is a good chance the pilot can eject safely and be recovered, but he will likley be badly injured and need a long time to recover. Research Improvements ------------------------ Research abilities increased: - Improve any building: workshops each improvement increases space and workers by 1 labs each improvement increases research ability and max scientists by 1 radar each improvement increases radar range and detection by 10 km - 1 % Can research cost reductions. Can research any weapon to improve it. Tactical Improvements -------------------------- Soldiers can now lie down in prone position and leopard crawl. This greatly improves accuracy and defensive bonus, but reduces movement to near zero (but not action points for firing) Machine guns can now choose sustained burst, which greatly drains ammo but fires more shots (6 instead of 3) 60 mm mortar added as weapon type. Can fire blind over buildings, can fire smoke, wp, or explosive. wp grenade added, causes fire damage and produces a lot of smoke. Sniper rifle added as weapon. Can research better rifles, including .50 cal sniper rifle (which is deadly in the early game and can fire across any map without penalty with ease) Consequently, the aliens also now get a plasma sniper rifle. combat knife added (range 1 close quarters combat weapon) bayonette added to assault rifles for close in work. katana added (same use as knife but MUCH more damage). Two handed weapon. martial arts is now a skill soldiers have. The higher this skill, the better they are with melee weapons, and... Hand to hand combat. Soldiers can now throw punches and kicks. player can find chainsaws to use in farm maps. Gun store in terror campaign has ammo reloads, shotguns, assault rifles, and pistols to choose from. Humans close by will loot it to use against aliens. DUCK! They are bad shots. Aliens otoh also now get melee weapons and use martial arts. This makes the Sebs MUCH more lethal... Bayonettes added to Seb plasma rifles. Soldiers may now learn 'perks' similar to the new Firaxis XCom title. Perks are random, as there are no soldier types, and adding this would be stupid. Visual Improvements ----------------------- Aliens are as per actual descriptions, ie, greys are greys and they are naked and grey; Reptillians are reptillian (no tails). UFO's are as per actual descriptions: - Scout - classic 'Mars Attacks' saucer style with bubble on top, 3 crew. (See Vancouver Island UFO picture for an actual photo of one of these) - Fighter - crescent shaped ship similar size to scout but heavier armed. (Lead ship of nine ship formation as sighted by pilot Kenneth Arnold over Mt. Rainier). 4 crew. Fighter now will crash and be added as a mission type. - Medium - classic 'hat shape' ship, as from original 'The Invaders'. (And from famous photos by Rex Heflin). 5 crew + 2 soldiers. Used in Abduction and Mutilation type missions. - Large - Triangle ship, as per Belgium sightings from 1980's. 6 crew + 4 soldiers. Used in small terror attack missions. - Very Large - Cone ship as per Jesse Mantell case. 7 crew + 6 soldiers. Used in base attack and large terror attack missions. - Huge - Giant flying Wing from Phoenix Lights cases. 10 crew + 12 soldiers. Used in base attack and large terror attack missions. - Transport - Flying Cigar shape, frequently reported. 2 crew + 10 soldiers. Used to transport aliens to bases and for large terror attack missions. Mission Types -------------- New mission types: Cattle mutilation, human abduction, electricity grid sabotage, nuclear base infiltration, Men in Black, Ancient Aliens Cattle Mutilation: Team lands in a farmer's field, find numerous cattle badly mutilated, find UFO with partially mutilated cow inside, aliens performing weird surgery on it. Aliens will attempt to get away by taking off. Must destroy main computer, all of the engines, or all aliens to prevent. If the UFO takes off, everybody still on UFO considered lost. Human Abduction: Team lands on a rural property and find aliens taking family from farm house to UFO. Must try to save as many of the family as possible. Some of the family are mind controlled zombies, some are still alert. Aliens will attempt to get as many humans on the UFO as possible and take off, same rules as above for take off. Electricy Grid: Map is of a power station. Live power lines and equipment everywhere make this a very dangerous map. Aliens are drawing power from the grid for their UFO. On discovery they will do a fighting withdrawal back to the UFO, attempting to destroy as much of the plant as possible. Must prevent damage to plant and try to capture UFO before it takes off. Nuclear Base Infiltration: Team finds aliens have landed at a nuclear missile base and are attempting to sabotage it and abduct military personnel. Kind of a hybrid between abduction and electricity grid scenario. Must prevent damage to the nuclear warheads. Men in Black: Team encounter alien Men In Black. They have a cloak-capable 1950's big ass sedan, and they are quick and sport automatic plasma pistols (MIB unique weapon). This is a small version of a city terrorization mission, set in urban environment. MIBs are modelled as caesians in dark suits, hats, and of course, sunglasses MIB objective is to kill all humans on map and escape in their car. Team must kill all MIB's and hopefully capture car, which can be researched for cloaking technology. Ancient Aliens - Team finds landed ufo at ancient ruins site. Aliens are in the ruins, searching for 'Atlantian Crystals' which are types of power crystals similar to Elerium they can use to power their devices. Team must locate as many crystals as possible and also attempt to capture the ufo. Various famous ruin sites that feature in UFO mythology are modelled and used from throughout the world.

A follow up to the Xenonauts action figure thread... I've been tripping across this lot for a while now, shopping for Christmas presents and think of this game. Clearly, it's something that could be used as a merchandising cross over for a Terror From the Deep re-imagining. You don't have to do everything yourself. Enter:- XENONAUTS2: THE OCTONAUTS The troops, each visually distinctive with a variety of alien killing abilities... Your new underwater HQ... They don't seem to fight much, obviously the war is in it's early days. But here's a vampire squid.

I'd like to ask about a few things that relate to the making of a game. 1. What is it like to make a game? Also, what is it like designing the graphics/animations and the story design (Coming up with enemies, weapons, plot, etc.). 2. What level of importance would you rate a story designer and animation/graphics. Also, which do you value most of those to and of all of the other jobs. 3.Would you recommend getting into the gaming industry and graphics/animations and story design sub-jobs. 4. What training would you need to become an animator/graphics designer. 5. What are the day-to-day jobs of an animator/graphics designer. 6. What would be the the job of a story designer. Also, do they have a seperate job or are just part of the team in general. 7. Do you plan to make a sequel. Betuor

It's been my first opportunity to jump onto a ground combat build of Xenonauts and I'm pretty blown away by the progress to date as well as the polish already demonstrated in the V8.1 existing assets. I messed about in a ground combat mission and for the most part the gameplay was smooth, looked great and most importantly reminded me of the gameplay I so enjoyed as a kid. The best part is that it already has a few great little tweaks and items I've always had in my XCOM wish list. Animations in particular were very polished and smooth to watch. Everything from bringing the shotgun to bear to vaulting over small obstacles was fantastic. The smoke and fire effects are very nice too - the explosions also have a nice animation. So far I'm really impressed by the devs. Keep up the good work!