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Build V9.4 has now been released through the Desura client (though I don't think it is yet active for those doing the standalone download).

Barring a couple of small new features and some bugfixes, this is basically the build that will be released to the general public along with the Kickstarter build (we'll also add new art as and when it becomes available). Please test it as much as you can. If there's any major bugs in the build, we need to squish them before public release for obvious reasons.

The key new features are as follows:

- We've added a new launcher window to the game. This is a bit ugly, but in terms of functionality it is a big improvement. There are two main reasons for this: firstly, the game will remember your screen resolution from game to game, so starting up is less of a pain in the ass (resolution can be set in the Options screen). Secondly, we've added the Quick Battle function, which will load up a Terror Site immediately after you place your base. This is basically for people who want to try the combat but don't want to go through the early game to get there, but hopefully you guys will enjoy it too. This feature will not be in the final version of the game.

- A new alien type has been added to the build, a light combat drone that appears on the Terror Site. The animations are not yet all there for it (nor are the SFX) but they will be before the game comes out. In terms of role I think these drones will come into their own a lot more once we implement supression, plus the AI to go with them. They're intended to harass the player at long range with inaccurate long-range rapid fire weapons, but without suppression they don't really have their own niche yet. Still, I like them. They're kinda cute in their own way. We're working on a nice death animation for them too, which should arrive this week.

- The Xenopedia has several new research images in it, and should display better than before. The only major issue with it is that the text is still being cut off prematurely. I need to look into that in a bit more detail, as it's a problem with the game engine rather than anything that our programmers can do anything about.

- I've spent a little time on the Title Screen, scaling up the text and formatting it better to make it easier to read. There's still a problem with the text scaling here though so on a large monitor it'll still be largely unreadable (though better than before).

- I've added some new maps to the game, and I'll try to expand them a bit so there's more variation. The Light Scout maps are smaller than before now, though the Scout maps are the same size. Should be better than before though. Obviously you can check out the (still WIP) Town tileset too by clicking on the Quick Battle. There's some new props floating around on the Industrial maps though, and I've designed them to have fewer buildings than before.

- The MiG construction images should be working well now. There's three images that show the progress of the construction.

- There's a new grenade explosion, so now it's a bit smaller than the massive explosion we use for the rockets and explosive scenery. There's also a new plasma-type explosion for the alien grenades, but they aren't throwing them yet so you're unlikely to see it.

- We've put various bugfixes in place. These include fixes for building the MiG causing your engineers to disappear, or your money to vanish. Also, UFOs should display their size correctly now. Previously they were always displaying as Medium irrespective of their actual size.

- There's also been a pretty major fix to the accuracy formulas. Previously shots were missing targets, but not scattering properly and so not deviating from their original shot path. This led to shots "missing" but frequent still striking their intended targets, effectively making weapons much more accurate than intended.

The AI bug has not been fixed yet unfortunately, so I imagine you'll still encounter hangs in the ground combat. We'll release a hotfix for that when it arrives and we'll also fix any major issues you guys encounter in the testing pronto. We want to be sending this build out soon, so hopefully you'll see a flurry of activity from us over the next few days.

The features we want to add to this build before it is complete are:

1) Adding Smoke and Nerve Gas grenades

2) Updated smoke / fire for the existing Frag grenade to couple with the new explosion animation. These will no longer generate fire, and the smoke will be thinner than the real thick stuff you get in the larger explosion.

3) There's a problem with the multi-tile rendering so multi-tile objects appear on the wrong layer and sometimes below things they should be (you can occasionally see this with the Chinook walls).

4) Extra art:

- Light drone injury and death animations

- Updated tiles (painted over versions) for the Town tileset and the new Industrial props, as many of the tiles are still currently 3D guides.

5) We'll add some civilians for the terror map. They're currently there, but don't have sprites so are invisible.

6) If possible, auto-toggle roof off toggle when a unit is behind a building

I'm pretty tired now so I'm heading to bed, but give it a try and let us know what you think.

Edited by Chris
Build released on Desura
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if you still want to have people testing out buggy builds during beta phases i'll volunteer. one guy won't make a difference but if you get enough hopefully it will keep you from having those last minute game crashing bugs from reaching the public.

p.s. thanks for saving the resolution, probably the most annoying thing (minus some of the bugs) thus far.

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The features we want to add to this build before it is complete are:

1) Adding Smoke and Nerve Gas grenades

whoa! nerve gas! how would that work- if you were to be 100% realistic about it it I would think it to be way overpowered, so would this be like a 2 turns till death unless antidote is administered thing? Are the aliens going to get nerve gas as well?

(a nerve gas attack by aliens would make a fantastic random-encounter type event - you woud have to stock your bases with antidote, masks, and hazmat suits)

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Unless nerve gas is a stun weapon?

Or possibly an incendiary-equivalent for grenades. Creates 'danger' zones on the map, that slowly spread and/or dissipate.

yah! you could have grenades that spurt vx nerve agent on the ground to create a danger zone! thats actually what the stuff was designed for:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VX_(nerve_agent)

In real life though, nerve gas is nasty business, it kills usually within a minute or two even at low doses. that's why solderers are equipped with things like ATNAA antidote autoinjecters when there is a possibility of nerve agent use.

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This all sounds fantastic, but the most exciting news is that suppression is in! When I joined the forums back in January that was one of the first things I asked about and I remember you said it was something you were considering, but I'd assumed it had fallen by the wayside since it hadn't been mentioned again. I really think this will add another layer of tactical depth. Excellent stuff! :)

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OK so this has been authorised on one branch but it still waiting authorisation on the other, and the full non-Desura downloads have not yet been updated. Hopefully it'll be available for everyone on Desura shortly.

Yes, we've decided we need to implement suppression. I've always found it vaugely annoying that burst fire was overpowered and was always mathematically the best thing to do in any situation, assuming your gun could do it. This way we can add minor suppression for normal gunfire but add significant suppression for burst fire and reduce the accuracy by a lot. That should make things more tactical.

The nerve gas grenades will be something we'll test, they may not make it into the final game. Basically the new smoke mechanics allow you to set damage for smoke types when you enter the tile containing it, and start a turn in a tile containing it (like fire). So we can just set the smoke to do chemical damage, and for stun grenades we'll set it to do stun damage. We'll also give normal smoke a small amount of stun damage too.

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Suppression is likely to sap APs, intially preventing reaction fire but then taking them away from the next turn too.

That sounds really good. Having a way of preventing reaction fire is something that was definitely missing from the original X-COM. Makes it feel like you're commanding Napoleonic line infantry :D

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I can't wait to get in from work to have a crack at the terror site.

Regarding suppression; I think it will need careful balancing to strike the right note between being overpowered or being nothing more than a gimmick. Do you see it as being integral to successfully completing missions, Chris, or as more of an option if you choose to play the game that way? (sorry if you've not thought about it in that much detail yet, given all of the other stuff you're focusing on at the moment!)

I like to think it would be an optional tool at your disposal, personally. Say your troops come face to face with an alien in heavy cover, they'd have the option of trying their luck and pinging some shots towards him, even though the odds weren't in their favour. They could find cover of their own and enter into a potentially protracted shoot-out, with both sides being protected. Or, one could suppress the alien while the other tried to make their way to a position where they could see around the alien's cover, for a clear shot. (Thinking about it, they'd also have the option of blowing the wall up, tossing a grenade over, and god knows what else...wow even just that simple scenario shows how tactically flexible the game is/will be. Ace!)

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Nah, I see it as potentially an important part of gameplay. It'll allow us to add things like flashbangs, and make approaching aliens to stun them much easier. It should also make machineguns much more useful without completely overpowering them. It should add quite an important mechanic to the game really.

That being said, it'll have to be carefully balanced to make it enjoyable.

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Suppression will be fabulous I think - that mechanic is sorely underused in games. For an example of it being used well in a RTS you should look into Company of Heroes by Relic btw. Squads can be suppressed where they move slower but can still move and after a certain amount of suppression then they are "pinned" where basically they can only retreat to the base and don't fire back etc. Which sets up great flanks or nade tossing at them stuff like that.

So in a more turned based environment I think it will vastly increase your tactical options for handling situations. Plus if suppression removes reactive fire that will make it easier to stun aliens but keep in mind it works both ways! So your guys can be suppressed and then the aliens can flank you - or a muton can run up and rip your face off...

Nerve gas sounds interesting - will that be primarily a damage over time (DoT) or a stun device? If you throw one and then your troops walk on that area will they be affected? Will the effect of the gas dissipate over time? Sorry to pepper you with questions but I can't muck around with anything for about another 12 hours due to work haha.

Overall sounds like a great update! I was just reading in my PCGamer this month and they kept referring to Firaxis Xcom coming up and my brain kept thinking "But... Xenonauts is coming too!!!!" so it will be great to get a demo version to PCG IMO. I'll poke around for bugs as soon as I can xD

Edited by Hellstormer
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Chris, did you change how the amount of AP used per movement is shown? Seems now when you put out a path on Ground Combat, it's saying what AP will be left rather than AP used for the move.

Quick edit: Looked like I was asking two questions, not one.

Edited by Buzzles
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Yeah, 'ression is gonna fit in really nicely. It should probably sap bravery as well (for a bit at least).

Similar to JA2, standing units being "suppressed upon" should automatically kneel (take cover/get down) at some point.

Yep, I initially thought it should sap bravery, but in practice, is that actually the same as sapping APs? The affected unit will eventually be frozen to the spot (due to panic of a lack of AP) and will need his allies to take out the suppressing unit for him. As long as the AI is up to the task, this could be amazing!

Just thinking about it; the heavier armours could offer suppression resistance, giving them a benefit other than just a straight up armour boost. I'd imagine you'd need a downside to compensate for this, such as an AP penalty, a lower chance to perform reaction fire or a restricted field of view. Or, if you wanted to avoid the stereotypical 'well armoured but cumbersome' setup, just give it a really high cost, so that they're ultra rare items.

... sorry, I'm getting carried away here... :)

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Seems now when you put out a path on Ground Combat, it's saying what AP will be left rather than AP used for the move..

That came from a thread a while back.

Few of us figured it made more sense to know how many you would have left rather than having to calculate it yourself each time.

I like the sound of the nerve gas type grenade.

The smoke will dissipate over a few turns so as long as the AI reacts properly to it then it should be quite a useful weapon.

Very similar to an incendiary in effect but without the collateral damage potential.

Probably means Sathra won't use them ;)

Suppression resistance would also be a nice feature on the breaching armours.

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