Air combat?

[Hank Rearden]

Are there any details about Air combat yet. I've heard that they will expand the feature but haven't heard or seen anything definitive yet. For instance, will it be behave like the minigame in XN1 still or will it expanded to be a  turn based combat between the player's squadron versus the alien in a map similar to ground combat?

 

Also, are there any thoughts on implementing recruitable pilots feature for air combat? If player's could recruit, level up, and give perks to pilots, it could potentially create some interesting strategic options. For example, if a player had several planes that where unavailable due to repairs or rearming, a player could add a pilot to the plane to reduce repair/rearm time via skill perk. Or  a pilot could provide stat bonus the planes like reduced fuel consumption or a leadership buff. I was really impressed with the air combat feature in XN1 and I'm looking forward to what Goldhawk will do for XN2 so any info would be appreciated.

[Sheepy]

Many things were planned for XN2, including replacing individual fighter with squadron, and switching the whole geoscape to turn based.  The later will obviously affect many aspects of the game, including at least the interception phase of the air combat.

If I recall correctly, the original idea is you'll match a squadron to a UFO before you end the globe turn and let it play out.  There were some discussions on how to add depth to it, such as putting SAM sites on the globe which let player choice to intercept early with strong squad or intercept later with weaker squad.  The actual resolution mechanism, or the mini-game itself, has not been discussed much however, perhaps because there are too many unknowns on the globe side.

There is also the possibility that the experiments don't work out and the fund runs dry and Goldhawk decides to fallback to cloning XN1, which I expect to include the air combat.
Either way, I expect air combat to be something decided later rather than earlier.

[Rhishisikk]

I like the idea of radar stations and SAM sites that aren't full bases.  I can see the aliens deciding they just don't like those sites and targetting them.  Do you send in only your fast craft, and get to the site before it is disabled or destroyed?  Or do you risk the site to make sure more planes are involved in the fight?

But if they scale up the air war, are they scaling up the ground war also?  Will their be "save this military unit that's gotten in over their head" missions?  Missions where we send "leaders" to assist the troops in a massive human-on-alien ground battle?  Sorry, back to main topic.

Several things have been proposed, and many of them are contradictory.  I'm going to sit on my hands for now and try to speculate as little as possible.

But XN2 has the bones to be awesome.

[CommissarGeneralClark]

I'd definitely like to see more dynamic air combat, with more realistic weapon loadouts, more interceptor and fighter types and more weapon variety. I'd also like to see one where damage to enemies carries over from one interception to the next... as well as to the tactical map. 

Maybe an option to target specific areas of an alien ship, or random hit location allocation. Then check to see what alien crew are in that section and apply damage to them (to kill them or have them start wounded). Different weapons might have different penetration and/or effects. Same procedure for components. Thus destroying the engineering section in air combat would likely end the combat quickly, causing the ship to lose power and engines and crash...killing the engineers onboard, but also destroying power systems and engines, so no chance of recovering those or fuel sources in the missions. Targeting the enemy crafts weapons would mean they can't shoot back, making it safer to attack, but stands little chance of downing the enemy craft and means you can't recover alien craft weapons. etc. etc.

Base this on the damage done to the ship, maybe by section/compartment. Damaged, breached, destroyed values maybe.

Then of course, this damage would be reflected in the ship model for tactical combat, both exterior and interior and create more dynamic entry points.

Maybe options to bomb or strafe the site and continue the attack as the craft goes down, or has already crashed...which would cause more damage and kill more enemies, making more breaching points, more options and an easier mission...at the cost of more aircraft ammo, less experience for troops on ground, and less equipment and components that can be recovered in tact (less alloys from the hull too, obviously).

Give more strategic and tactical options and flexibility, at the cost of more choices...balance your needs.

[Xeryx]

Air combat in Xeno 1 works just fine, the only thing that really needed changed, is the switch to it being a squadron of fighters instead of individual fighters. I personally don't know how turn-based will work? It can be successful with an order type and formation system, such as Endless Space 2 and that system is awesome and well done.

I would like to see a Spherical GLOBE again, because it is the most accurate!

There are so many things that could expand and make the Geoscape more immersive and I think you guys are really missing out on a golden opportunity.

If the governments were actually a "faction" that had assets they could use against the Aliens at the start of the game. This could include airbases, navies, and of course Missile sites.

During the first phase of the invasion, the aliens would of course work on eliminating these assets from the various factions.  These assets would also only have a limited success rate against the superior alien tech, but it could down some ufo's and it would be cool if these assets were shown on the geoscape.   I would LOVE to see the destruction that the aliens cause on the Geoscape. Like when a city is lost to the aliens or when it is nuked it should disappear from the geoscape.  These things would greatly increase the immersion and feel of impending doom to the player.

Back on topic of the Air combat, I did enjoy the simplified system in xcom back in the day. But here we are many many years later. I think that we need something innovative and honestly I think a Turn-based geoscape is not innovative, I think it is a step backwards. I want to see the action as it unfolds, I want to see my squadrons fight the UFO's and I want to feel the ACTION of success or failure.  All of the real time elements in X1 work, the only complaints I had with it is I would like more control over the time itself, especially in air combat due to my limitations to be fast enough to be effective in certain situations.  I also would like to have it in 3D over the geoscape, I would love it to look like a genuine dogfight from a movie..is this too much to ask? Google earth has already done the work for you! A 3d geoscape is entirely possible in todays times with the free data available.

Edited January 25, 2018 by Xeryx

[Mordobb]

I like the individual management. Of plane Vs Plane. Squadron VS squadron will only change the scope with no adding at all. 

And it would loose coerence (due to price and construction time) if you do not the world something dynamic with xenonauts. With a dead world as was Xeno 1 and many other games (100% of them) it will be real weird.