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A good adition to the game would be to get rid of heavy and normal missile slots and just have a missile slot. BUT, in addition, either have a list of mountable missiles in the aircraft entry, or a list of aircraft a missile can be mounted to in the missile entry. Example for an aircraft entry: <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">AV.AIM9D;AV.AIM7E;AV.AAMRAM120</Data></Cell> Or for a missile entry: <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">F14;F15;F16</Data></Cell> This basicly allows you to be very granular with restrictions and allow for finer fine-tuning and balancing, as well as a greater weapon loadout. The weapons a fighter cannot mount would simply be grayed out on the list (or not shown at all) ***** Missile having more than x1 ammo. This gives fighters some longer-term utility. A fighter that can only carry 2 (or4) missiles is pretty useless. With the way the system currently works, if missles had x2 or x3 ammo, a single battle would play pretty much the same because of lock times - so you'd rarely be able ot fire off more than 1 salvo anyway. However, it would leave fighters with enough teeth after the battle to persue another objective - or to defend themselves if intercepted by alien fighters. **** Special weapons & fighter abilties. Things like multi-lock. Basilcy add a entry to both aircraft and weapon Example: <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">Multilock3</Data></Cell> This would basicly give a fighter/missile the multilock ability (lvl3) - in other words it can track, lock and fire missiles at 3 separate targets. In order to work, the aircraft and the missile must BOTH have this ability...or not. Other abilities could include long-range radar and guadance (basicly means the lock is attained from long range and you have missile lock at start of combat..only works with long-range missiles), different trypes of tracking, etc.. This gives options and variation. ** Also, pilots & pilot experience. This a given.

Title says all, really. Asking because I'm buying the game for the core tactical/strategic gameplay and would be interested in such a mod after launch. So, in order to make this happen, will it be possible to easily: *Remove parts of the base menus pertaining (non-transport) aircraft? *Refit the technology trees/construction screens? *Have landed/crashed UFO's appear on ground maps randomly? *Create custom geoscape notices reflecting said state of the tactical-map UFO - "Scout-class UFO shot down by SAM-fire over Belarus", "Local air forces corners, destroys enemy fighters over the Red Sea" "Battleship-class UFO lands in the Mojave" and so on and so forth? *Weigh the odds of such geoscape notices depending on gamestate (ideally so that research carried out at the Xenonaut R&D translates into larger quantities and classes of UFOs being shot down as advanced technology becomes available to humanity)?

Finally got past first 2 missions without crashing! YAY! Couple of frustrations Terror site in Australia.. Base is in middle of America. Chinook won't make it there with it's fuel. I take no death or losses from it. (and given the text, I sort of thougth I would have taken big losses on the screen) It even talks about big diplomacy negative from all countries but real effect. My frustration, I think whatever mode of transport we have should be able to make it to all the sites. That was a basic in the original. 2nd point of frustration. Dodging enemy craft. I can't seem to hit them at all with missles. THe little fighters outrun migs and others.. I chase them around for a while but never get them. When I finally run out of missiles they will turn and fight and sometimes I will get them. But never any crash sites. (it is in october) 3rd point of Question.. I have tons of aliens floating above my home base.. I send ships out all day and chase them around.. if I catch them in combat they still get away. Should these guys be hovering over my base and a pack of 5 groups of aliens just hanging around *MY* home base. I also can't tell if my missle base Is actually doing anything. What is the range on that thing? 100 yards 4th statement I really don't like the air combat but that is just me 5th statement. I love everything else about the game. I wish I go along far enough to see some technology trees. Working on Energy weapons right now but it does look cool. I really like the ground combat and the options. I need to equip my people. I am not much of a shotgun guy I think the full game will be great. Just need to work on the tuning. A very decent alpha

That's pretty much the only thing I hate about xcom and xenonauts.

So, I've heard the beta is coming out soon and we're balancing stuff then. I think the air combat needs a pretty hefty tweak. My first run through I focused on research and troops, built a 2nd base maybe a week in. I couldn't raise any more money when the small scouts showed up shortly after and I didn't have any aircraft that could catch up to them. My second run through I focused entirely on air power. I build my 2nd base on day one just to get the hangars done earlier. I ran out of money before I could really get it running. My first base had 3 interceptors and two MIGs when it was finally done, though. Unfortunately, the small scouts showed up before I could finish the first MIG, so I still had 3 or four days when I couldn't do anything. I had to stare at my projected monthly income dropping with nothing I could do about it. I think the game should be more forgiving in the first month or two. It should accommodate different strategies than a race for air power. My starting aircraft shouldn't be obsolete so quickly. And I think small scouts could be toned down a little. The fighters too. The thing about the aircraft game is, those jets are expensive. If I lose one in the first week after the small scouts show up, it's game over. I won't be able to take out the fighters when they start coming. And the fighters need to be toned down too. I use my air rolls and all my missiles and they sometimes still kill one or two of my fighters. That's 200k down per jet, that's 3 missions worth of money that I can't run anymore anyway if I've lost a fighter too early and can't defend my airways. And reliance on an expensive and all too often defenseless MIG is a terrible gamble in a stage of the game where losing it can lose you the entire game. I was careful never to send a MIG if there was a fighter in the way, but when the small scout started too close to the MIG I'd lose it anyway. I was playing on normal difficulty. This needs some adjustments. My first suggestion would be to make the small scouts show up after a longer amount of time, and the fighters too. My second suggestion would be to not remove the very small scouts completely. Have the small show up sometimes and the very small show up other times. And fewer or more manageable fighters. I'd lower the time it takes to fire torpedoes, there's no reason why a pilot couldn't have them armed and ready before engaging an enemy, maybe lower the time to 1 second just so they don't automatically fire straight away and I can tell the pilot to shut them off if I want. Lower the price on jets. Finally, I'd suggest slowing the small scouts down to where an f17 can catch them. One week into the game the 2nd class of scouts show up and all my f17s are good for is engaging the enemy fighters, and they kind of suck at doing that, too. On a higher difficulty you could get away with forcing a specific build route. You shouldn't have dogfights that end in a jet down and there's nothing you can do about it. This usually happened on 3v3s. I realize that I'm up against aliens and it's not supposed to be fair, but right now it feels like the only way to progress in this game is to load an earlier save every time I lose a jet. Maybe it only feels like I'm fighting a random number generator because I suck at the dogfights or something, but they shouldn't be this punishing on normal difficulty.

There should be some randomization for the starting positions during an intercept specially since we only have two dimensions to work in. Your squadron shouldn't be broken up up, but air combat ought to start in different configurations. I could easily see the XCom fighters beginning at the UFO six o'clock position as well as other positions. There ought to be a GOOD chance the engagement should begin with the fighter behind or to the side of the UFO if they are chasing it before the engagement.

I can get to the point where the 2nd type of ship shows up, the small scout I think it's called. They kill my interceptors and I can't seem to beat them. I understand I need a power core from one of them, or a ship that comes later? Any advice? I've tried tailing with 2 interceptors at once, but when I hit the engage button, I only get one craft. Also, does anyone know how to map something to the quick buttons? The ones that are usually loaded with flares and clips.

Before anyone says "the game hasn't been balanced yet" I do know this. This is just some thoughts on air superiority. I have no problem with fighting air superiority battles. They make sense and they are fun (even out-witting you the first time they bait you). However, in the early game you are forced to either have some good micro in the battles (making use of cannon fire) or risk not being able to complete a second engagement during the same sortie. This means you no longer fight ground battles as you are constantly fighting air superiority on your terms, or fighting them on the enemies terms (with reduced squadron size and or not enough firepower). My suggestion would be to limit these in the early game for a time period after winning a battle. Perhaps the following wave should be clear of them. Otherwise you are forced to build more hangars and aircraft in order to do both air superiority and alien interdiction. Forcing the player to do something early in the game or risk punishing losses they might never recover from is not the best idea (some may disagree!). This would reflect earth forces achieving air superiority for a period and give you a chance to shoot down some more meatier targets. Ok so you may argue that they probably were not going to be in the early game anyway but this is one possible solution that still allows them with early tech while keeping the game enjoyable.

Anyone else think we should be allowed to have more in our squadron than 3 when launched? I would also like to see set attack formations.

I'm doing great shooting down alien UFOs now thanks to all the help in my previous thread. Now I'm trying to fine-tune my strategies. I'm over-killing the targets. This is what I'm using on each kill: Fighters - no crash, so irrelevant Small Scout - two sidewinders Medium Scout - four sidewinders Corvette - two sidewinders, two avalanche (1 Mig's payload) Landing Craft - two sidewinders, two avalanche (1 Mig's payload) These attack strategies get the UFO knocked down, but it's damn hard on the wreck. I get a lot of dead and wounded aliens, and very little loot to recover. I've thought about using guns, but it's harder to catch the smaller ships, and the big ones I'm afraid will kill fighters. I don't have enough fighters to keep them in the repair bay, either. I'm clearly over-damaging the UFOs, but I'm in need of a better way to attack them to minimize damage to both my interceptors and my target so I can get undamaged power cores sooner. Thanks!

I know we're suppose to get better craft to supplement the F-17 and Migs later on but for the moment they're all we have. Anyone have any luck downing alien assault ships and those bombers? I'm throwing everything I have at them and they refuse to go down. Doesn't help that they're usually escorted by heavy fighters. Heavy fighters that I usually only take down if I outnumber them 2 to 1. (1 distracts, the other homes in on it's 6). I'm probably overlooking something here so, halp. Signed, Clueless Xenonauts Air Boss

I think I'm two months in. I'm getting swarms of enemy fighters, and have no capability of defeating them. I use Interceptors in packs of three. I fire the first missile at each fighter (1:1 ratio), and the second one a few seconds later to catch them after the barrel roll. More often than not, I still end up losing the battle. Would Alenium missiles help in this respect? Can enemy fighters still dodge them? I'm losing so many fighters that I am almost immediately rendered incapable of engaging them anymore. Sending out the Chinook is pure suicide at this point, even when I do manage to catch a scout. HELP! Please?

In the game review that I saw, alien craft can escape a dogfight by reaching the edge of the map. That doesn't make any sense. The map is supposedly just an arbitrary screen showing the details of the combat, not an exit portal. Escaping by reaching the end of the map seems forced, arbitrary, and silly. I am excited by this game, I loved x-com. But this one issue really bothered me. I think it should be fixed. Some ideas on how to fix it: UFOs can escape not by reaching the edge of the map, but by getting enough distance away from the interceptor and/or enough elevation. Tactical bursts of speed could be added to the mini game, with whatever explanation, maybe afterburners, doesn't matter really. The mini game map would have to update if a ufo reaches its edge. With elevation being a valid escape, an elevation marker should be added, probably in small figures near each craft, and an entry should be added in the ufopaedia listing the maximum elevation of each of the defending craft types. Perhaps research could increase that number, perhaps not. Or, if there's only one ufo on the screen, it would be possible to center the map on the ufo and have all other actions be performed relative to it. I think that would be too weird looking though. Since this probably affects tactical missions as well, and the concept of shifting the map to accommodate fleeing aliens would be way too much work for too little gain (in my mind), mention somewhere in the dialogue that your soldiers can't stray too far from the mission field, maybe they have to stay close to the interceptor, or some machine with a satellite uplink, or something. Give a reason, so it doesn't seem so arbitrary. If you want to really go crazy, explain that the field is what the commander can see and issue orders to, and soldiers can leave the area, but they are on their own if they do so. A soldier leaving the field to pursue an escaping alien would be out of contact with a good chance of dieing or returning empty handed, but a small chance of apprehending the fleeing alien and returning with it. But that would take a lot of extra coding. Either way, give an explanation somewhere. I can't look at the game until this weekend because I'll be doing homework (I WILL be doing homework, hear that, self?). I am basing my info on online reviews and footage from reviewers and cons. If it's out of date so that this is no longer an issue, my apologies. Just, no unexplained arbitrary borders, especially in the dogfights, that say, "Oops, we know he was 50 feet away from your pursuing ships, but he gets away. He crossed the invisible line! Better luck next time!"

After making a bit of a mistake on a game last night, I ended up having an escorted Chinook get engaged in combat pretty much right over my base. Despite managing to utterly destroy a wing of fighters, I was engaged by another wing within a few seconds. This was not a fight I could win with two lightly damaged F17's that had no missiles left, so I chose to disengage. This is where a massively frustrating problem began in the shape of the game flipping back to the Geoscape once the F17's exited the map, only to be immediately be returned to the aircombat for a second round. Retreat again -> re-engage. Repeat ad-infinitum. I feel if the option to retreat from combat is going to be there, there needs to be some check put into the engagement code in order to create a delay between the UFO's re-engaging so that things can happen on the Geoscape. I didn't even have time to order the squadron to retreat, such is the speed in which you're thrown back into aircombat. This was made doubly annoying by the fact that just before the first engagement I'd ordered a full set of F17's in the air, but due to the way the game functions they were essentially stuck. Having a small delay introduced (only between UFO's and squadrons that have just engaged each other, if another set come along at the same time, they should be able to engage/be engaged), will actually allow options like scrambling fighter squadrons to be effective but providing there's enough distance from the base to the dropship/retreating squadron, still make them the retreating set a target and a potential loss as they will be re-engaged if you can't come to their aid. What do you think?

The reason I ask that the first new UFO of every type to have minor damage is that a lot of key research depends on recovering items from wrecked ships (take for example, the power generator from the Scout), but these are fragile and will blow up in a ship that suffers major damage. It can be very difficult in air combat to measure exactly how much damage to cause (especially on harder settings), so while this is a concession to lern2play, I think it would save a lot of frustration over not being able to get a minor damaged UFO of the type the player needs.

So after a few months away from the game (due to Desura issues). I decided to come back at it hopefully with a fresh view on everything. The first thing that struck me was how boring Air Combat was/is (something which when I previously played I quite enjoyed). I realised that in every engagement, the only way to actually win is to move your aircraft towards the enemy. I don't mean that you can't do all sorts of different manoeuvres during the combat but in order to actually shoot the enemy down you have to physically stop whatever you are doing and actually reselect and move toward the enemy. The effect of this is that instead of having two fighters pass by on either side of an enemy aircraft - they have to physically play chicken with it (with no contact obviously). Would it not be possible and desirable to have one button for selecting move orders and the other for selecting targeting orders. This would allow you to move in the rough general direction of the enemy and still target them without actually having to vector in directly towards them? Now I know some of you will argue that you can do this manually, but really you can't because of the current missile locking system. As soon as you deselect the target your missiles will revert to their locking cool down times. This means you are actually at a tactical disadvantage as soon as you try and do something other than directly move towards and target the enemy. A slightly modified targeting/move order combination would open up a whole host of new opportunities. For example, the MiG could actually be useful as a stand-off fighter, speeding around the edge of the main engagement and dispatching avalances and other long range missiles. I would propose that the targeting system have the same locking cool-down system etc but be wholly independent of your aircrafts movement and a function of direction only (perhaps a 120 degree arc to the front) - with the missiles failing to lock outside of this front arc. Does anyone else agree? Is there anything physically stopping such a system from being in place?

I would love to see more air maneuver for your aircrafts like Force to land Go for destruction Target the engines Also there would be a quick status-check for all your aircraft useful. If you click on the intercept button you have to choose the destination before you can see all the aircraft and their fuel and health status. I would prefer to see the list before choosing a destination because sometimes I just want to see if my aircraft are fully refueled.

I've just spent most of the first month chasing ufos around with F17s... never actually catching any, just running out of fuel and returning to base, or having them escape to space. It's all very benny hill. By the time I've researched and built some migs, I'm now getting wings of fighters, which the Migs aren't too brilliant against since the fighters dodge missiles and the migs don't have cannons... To my mind the early game is quite formative and never actually catching a ufo to bring it down to get a tac mission to get the matertials, xp and research opportunities seems a little ... off. Thoughts?

Clearly I am new to this Alpha and I understand that things will change and ballance out before the Beta or indeed release. However I'm having trouble with air combat, I find it almost impossible to go toe to toe with 3 fighters vs 3 of my aircraft (have used both types). I did once manage to kill 3 fighters with 2 of my own for no losses, but that was because the 3 hostiles followed on of my fighters and allowed the second to straif them all from behind. but when ever I use 3 v 3 they each follow one of my planes so I can't sneak up behind any. Could anyone offer some advice or should I resign to the fact that 3v3 will = losses on every encounter?

I had no trouble in Kickstarter build - happily got to Aug/Sept before terror missions and never lost a plane. It felt too easy until corvettes and 2+1 fighters turned up. I know there is much balancing to come - this is just for discussion not bitching Oh, Veteran difficulty. However, with 12.1... scouts instakill F17s if they get in range. Before, you could take a hit or two, and they had the slow firing weapon so you could dodge (or am I remembering this wrong?). I now have to take 2 of mine for one of theirs, so I can get behind. I still did this before when possible, it was much safer. On its own, this would be fine - I have no problem with UFOs being better than my feeble starting craft. But now it seems UFOs spawn in clusters more than before - I've seen 6 targets on geoscape simultaneously by June 18th! I don't think I could field 12 F17s by then! I build two bases from the start, get hangars as fast as possible in the 2nd so I'm stopping a fair few of the early UFOs (which I believe slows invasion progress). But it's just not possible to shoot down this many. I'm getting Terror missions by late June, I simply can't stop that many UFOs at once. I'm going to experiment with a single base and 8 hangars, but I suspect I'll lose out, not stopping enough activity in other zones due to losing coverage. Alien fighters seem weaker than scouts now, bit strange. They have the slow weapon so you can dodge, and get behind 1-on-1. But they come in packs of three much sooner (it seems?), I can only field 3 craft at once, and coordinating 3 dodges is hard. UFOs are, reasonably enough, better than my 1970s crates, so I die here also. Am I using weak air combat tactics? Missing something else that's causing huge spawning?

1. Can we rotate the map so you can see your troops when they are moving along the right side of a wall? 2. I like the pilot chatter during air combat . I think you ought have them say "Engaging bandit", "I have tone ", "Fox Two" and "I'm RTB". At the appropriate times in combat. 3. Aircraft should gain experience with each successful combat. 4. There ought to at least one other missile option for all aircraft . Even in the 70's there were longer ranged missiles than the Sidewinder. Sparrow or AARAM would be good. 5. Please show a cone indicating the maximum range of the aircraft's missiles and gun.

How the hell do I shoot the damn missiles? I can't seem to figure it out. Sometimes they fire on their own at the scouts, and sometimes they don't. It seems completely random. I hit the assigned keys to fire the missiles, and nothing! My expensive MiG-32 are being blown up left and right as they absolutely refuse to shoot anything. Don't even get me started on how fragile they are, sometimes one or two hits from a simple scout blows them sky high. Absolutely ridiculous. So how do I fire the missiles. What keys do I use ect. ect. This game desperately needs documentation on basic controls. Edit It isn't just those fighters either, the starting ones also wont shoot. If they get close they use their guns automatically, but they still wont fire their missile. Unless some sort of random gerbil in space sends them the orders and they do. It seems completely random. Edit2 I finally got the MiG 32 to fire, somehow. I guess the magic god of chaos decided to fire the missile. And... the fighter dodges. Shoots it down. Great. What the hell are these things used for? They seem incredibly crippled against anything. So much as sneeze in their direction and they will die. Meanwhile they seem to never shoot, and if they do most certainly never hit. Then they are sitting ducks. I just wasted a lot of time researching junk didn't I?

This is a freak of a bug that will be near impossible to replicate: - Chinook arrives at a crash site, engage mission. - This occurs at the same time that interceptors auto-engage a UFO - The game tries to run both combats at the same time, rabidly eating computer resources - The air combat shows as the black background in the ground combat, and as the black background in the uppermost part of the geoscape - Even though you can see the air combat screen, and it is active, you cannot interact with it by mouse, only keyboard I got out of this jam by: - Finishing the ground combat - At this point, you cannot advance time, even at the base game speed - In the Geoscape, pressed [sPACE] and prayed that my F-17s didn't die - Game and computer resources returned to normal, and all Xenonauts lived to fight another day Sorry, but I didn't have the presence of mind to get a screen capture.

always having to choose disengage from combat seperately for each airplane can unnerve after some time (well it did to me anyway), so a quick button to tell all your aircrafts to disengage might be very useful, especially if the planes are low on fuel

Right now I feel like the air combat is a little bit backwards with the 'overkill' model in terms of nuanced tactical play. At the beginning of the game, when you're not experienced, you need to exercise more tactical nuance in air combat to avoid over-killing UFOs and leaving no crash site. Later on, when you're more experienced, the bigger UFO's become much harder to overkill, so you can just let loose with everything you've got. This has the odd effect of actually reducing your responsibilities as a tactician as the game proceeds onward to 'harder' air combats. What could be done instead would better simulate the sheer size of these vessels, as well as introducing a different tactical element that makes air combat more involved, rather than less involved as ships get bigger. When a UFO takes a certain amount of damage (perhaps enough to kill it now), it becomes 'seriously damaged'. This means it can no longer go back into orbit and is certain to crash at some point, but it stays on the battle map and can still fight you at reduced effectiveness. Once you've seriously damaged something, you'll want to break off combat with it (too much more damage could bring it down catastrophically and you lose your crash site), but you'll need to do it carefully as the vessel can still hurt you as its going down. The analogy would be to a damaged B-17 - if you took out a couple engines from one of those things, it could still be flying for minutes or even hours before crashing (and sometimes even make it back to base), but during this time its machineguns can still harass and harm attacking fighters. I notice on the battle map ground combat that they've made allowances for varying damage levels of the UFO - you could tie that in to how much damage the UFO sustains while already seriously damaged. Bigger ships can stay in the air while 'seriously damaged' longer than smaller ships, which means they'll remain dangerous longer than the smaller ships - thus leading to a greater need for tactical nuance (planning not just your attack runs but your exit routes) as you begin to fight larger and larger vessels. Something like a Scout can still crash right away and a Corvette can remain on screen for just a second or two, but a giant battleship can stick around for 20-30 seconds or so (or even minutes or hours, if you want to let people escape from the combat and then see where it crashes in the geoscape). Alternately, instead of a timer, being seriously damaged can introduce a percentage chance per second that the craft will crash, leading to random amounts of time before a vessel is brought down. You could do the same thing with player craft - once it's below the 50% mark in damage it needs to get out or risk crashing.