Looking for help with A couple of Issues/Questions

[Anaguma]

I'm a big fan of the original X-Com and have had my Eye on Xenonauts for years but decided to wait until it was actually out to pick it up. I did so yesterday and have been enjoying it immensely however I have a couple of questions/issues I'd like to discuss.

Aerial Combat

I genuinely enjoy the new style of Aerial combat. I just have one issue with it that may or may not be a bug. A couple of times when I've intercepted an enemy the auto-resolve has been at 100%. I've then engaged the enemy manually anyway to minimize damage and get more experience with the new combat system. I've then hit the enemy with everything that i have, not missing a single shot or taking any damage... and they haven't gone down. I've then had to retreat. Is there some kind of locational damage on ships? Or is this a bug.

Reapers

I know, I know, reapers are supposed to be hard. I know they're supposed to be terrifying. I know that everyone complains about them. TBH After the new X-com game I was actually pretty happy when I saw the reapers and how far they could move and pleased in theory that they could 1hit kill Because I remember the first time I encountered a Chrysallid in X-com and I like how dangerous they're supposed to be.

However; It seems to me that at the moment reapers are actually unfair.

Maybe they're supposed to be, but nothing else in this game [so far] has been, and nothing in the original X-com was either.

I'll qualify that statement with; If you know that Reapers are on the battlefield then they stop being unfair, sort of.

However in two recent battles I've been destroyed by reapers through seemingly no fault of my own, because in both situations I had no idea I was facing reapers until the damage was already done.

I put these examples in spoilers for people who want to read them.

Situation A

In one scenario it was an alien landing, I left the skyranger and advanced carefully for two turns, at the end of my second turn two reapers ran out and killed two of my men turning them in to zombies. I had no warning, i didn't even know that the crash had Sebillians.

Situation B

More recently I invaded an alien base, i'd been having a lot of fun with combat shields so I had my two guys with combat shields next to a door, all of my other units where behind them, they all had plenty of time units but I ended the turn in that position so they'd have full time units when I breached through the door. Note; this was the end of the third turn and I hadn't seen an alien yet. During the aliens turn a single reaper opened the door and killed both of my guys with shields, then everyone fired reaction shots. [They missed but that's beside the point]

So i guess my question with this one is; did I do something wrong? Should I always act as if there are Reapers until I know there aren't? But I feel like if I do that i'd never get anything done

Sorry if this seems a little whiny so if you read it all then thanks

I'd absolutely be up for general advice if people want to give it.

Like I said loving the game, so happy with the way it turned out. Going to start another save because all of my good units got reaper'd in the alien base

[KevinHann]

The autoresolve option equation is kind of awkward at some specific occasions, you will also notice sometimes squadrons of Foxtrots will end up taking damage even though if you play it manually they simply shoot down the UFO from a safe distance. It has values assigned to different aircraft which don't perfectly represent the actual combat. Someone with more knowledge will probably elaborate for more detailed explanation how it works.

As for reapers - they aren't unfair in my experience. You need to assume there might be reapers present in every single GC before you discover otherwise. If anything I find them underpowered, I haven't suffered a single casualty to them in 1.04 and after. They are also pretty rare. You have to factor in your soldiers' reaction attribute, and the fact different weapons have different reaction modifiers. Pistols and shotguns are the best in that regard while HMG and snipers reduce your reaction.

[Anaguma]

Thanks for the response.

I suppose always acting as if there might be reapers is the best option. Both of the shield guys had pistols and I had another with a carbine, which i assume has increased reaction like a shotgun, but i think they all had quite low reaction stats.

Why do you find them underpowered? I think they're definitely interesting from a balance point because it's all positioning. Position right and in theory they should never kill you, position wrong and they definitely will. So they're either completely ineffective or 100% effective.

[KevinHann]

Well basically because they are so easy to kill, I only ever had a struggle with them if they appeared before I researched laser weapons (and that only happened once when I sped up the game for some testing). If the AI was a bit smarter using other troops as decoy on purpose to let reapers flank your troops they would be more of a menace, as it is they are always sitting ducks for me. Although they seemed a bit broken in earlier versions (mostly mindlessly running around without attacking) and I haven't had many encounters since upgrading to 1.07.

Of course this has a lot to do with how you are actually approaching the GC, how experienced/equipped your team is and sometimes sheer luck.