XenoMask Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Huh. UFO: Alien Invasion is planning to add skills to pilots at some points. But yeah, while having pilots to be employable might be nice, it isn't really needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thothkins Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 having downloaded but not played it, does AI have as interactive an intercept component? If not, then I think the lack of player involvement lends itself a little more to having pilot skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seiseki Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I'd like to have pilots just for the sake of the aircraft feeling less anonymous and actually knowing the pilot flying it. It doesn't really make air combat more complex during the actual combat. It just gives you yet another resource to manage in your base and ace pilots to take care of and make sure you don't lose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thothkins Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 fair point. You're likely to remember the pilot that came out unscathed against huge odds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gauddlike Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 (edited) With the amount of craft I will probably end up having I doubt I would remember any of their pilots anyway. Depending on the size of the waves you could end up with several squadrons active at the same time. It just seems like fluff text for the sake of it. But it would give skilled pilots a better fighting chance with an old airplane. Sometimes you have to go with the old option (when your fundings are getting low), but if you have a set of skilled pilots you can have a better fighting chance on a stronger enemy. Maybe, why are your pilots in your worse craft though if they have the skills? Surely they would be in your better ones, the ones that just got shot down. I prefer to have a single marker for combat chances in a part of the game that is less important than the ground combat. Tech level will determine your chances. If you are low on cash have two older fighters and a high tech one. Adding pilot skills to the mix needlessly complicates things. Edited May 10, 2012 by Gauddlike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oracle1990 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 (edited) Hi!- The pilots are there, but are hiding under the Chinook for added safety. The pilots are there, and they are getting offended of your comment... (actual screenshoot, not "photoshoped") Edit: The pilots was too big, reduced the size a litle: Edited May 10, 2012 by oracle1990 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Maybe, why are your pilots in your worse craft though if they have the skills? Surely they would be in your better ones, the ones that just got shot down. I prefer to have a single marker for combat chances in a part of the game that is less important than the ground combat. Tech level will determine your chances. If you are low on cash have two older fighters and a high tech one. Adding pilot skills to the mix needlessly complicates things. Because Chris said pilots are the plane and that if added you couldn't switch pilots between planes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oracle1990 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 (edited) If you are low on cash have two older fighters and a high tech one. Adding pilot skills to the mix needlessly complicates things. If you loos all your soldiers in combat or they are in sickbay, you have to get rookies. Maybee all your good armour and fancy weapons are gone too... If you loose all your planes and have to buy the good old F-17 just to have some airdefense, a skilled pilot can make the difference. Why do you have a skilled pilot when all the planes are shoot down? Because you can choose which pilot you are going to send on a mission and you was lucky, it was not the best pilot that you lost. It will not be any more difficult than choose the right team of soldiers for ground combat. Edit: If the aircombat is not a essensial part of the game, it could just as well been dropped? Edited May 10, 2012 by oracle1990 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thothkins Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Because Chris said pilots are the plane and that if added you couldn't switch pilots between planes? For the reverse engineered planes - if you're going to have pilots - this could be explained in that the pilots have to interface with the craft. It's a neural connection that is strengthened by practically bonding with the craft. Performance is improved if this is with the same craft and the pilots also become very possessive about their advanced fighters. The pilots are there, and they are getting offended of your comment... problem solved by Oracle! Just show us a pilot sitting there in the Chinook. Mission can be aborted with everyone still outside but the Chinook is saved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoMask Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Am I only one who actually likes fluff text for sake of fluff text? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gauddlike Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 If you loos all your soldiers in combat or they are in sickbay, you have to get rookies. Maybee all your good armour and fancy weapons are gone too... If you loose all your planes and have to buy the good old F-17 just to have some airdefense, a skilled pilot can make the difference. If you could make the pilots skills able to compensate for the power difference between an f-17 and whatever enemy you were up against then why bother with better fighters? How would that be balanced in any way? Your ace can take on a dreadnought in an f-17 so what can he do in a top tech tier interceptor? How would a lower skilled pilot fare if enemies were balanced for that kind of combat power? If you lose all of your ground troops you can always storm the enemy with 16 or so rookies. Sheer weight of numbers and fire would probably get you through a mission or two until the survivors were promoted. That is not the case in air combat. Because Chris said pilots are the plane and that if added you couldn't switch pilots between planes? Then the pilot skills would need to be good enough to make an f-17 able to take on the best alien craft or you would have to fire your favourite pilot just because his plane was unable to cope any more. Edit: If the aircombat is not a essensial part of the game, it could just as well been dropped? I am not sure if that was in response to someone else or if you are attributing that comment to me. Interception is an essential part of the game, not specifically the air combat. I have never been a big fan of the air combat model used, I feel it is already too fiddly for a task that will be repeated so many times with so little variation. Maybe once it is a more interesting game in its own right I will change my mind. Adding more fluff to it that adds no interest but more management doesn't interest me. Fluff text such as a callsign or pilot name is fine, a badly thought out pilot skill system is what I am against. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oracle1990 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I am not sure if that was in response to someone else or if you are attributing that comment to me. It was more as a general comment. As the game is now, at least for me; Out of 25 air combat I get 1 downed UFO - so most of the time is spent on air combat. And then get the message that air combat is not essential for the game - well, it doesn't add up for me. If the most important is ground combat, why do I have to spend 90% of the time on air missions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thothkins Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I would have though a fair amount of this is down to game balance? I can't imagine going through so many intercepts for a single crash site. From what I've read of Chris' comments the ground combat is the meat of the game, but they have taken pains to improve the old intercept aspect as well. I'd be surprised if in later versions it dominates so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoMask Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Ah, ok, I agree on that.(I would actually prefer just having callsign/pilot name/portrait instead of any actual skill system) Still going to be interested in how UFO: Alien Invasion is going to do the pilot skill system when they do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Am I only one who actually likes fluff text for sake of fluff text? I've already told you in the research topic: NO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoMask Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 I posted that before posting in research topic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linque Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 I would hope pilots with levels to be one stretch goal added feature. Would certainly make your army feel more alive with Maverick, Goose and Iceman going after the aliens instead of some faceless fighter pilots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thothkins Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Still, it's a pain having to let the UFOs shoot down your pilots because they're from Top Gun and then replace them :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gauddlike Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 It was more as a general comment. As the game is now, at least for me; Out of 25 air combat I get 1 downed UFO - so most of the time is spent on air combat. And then get the message that air combat is not essential for the game - well, it doesn't add up for me. If the most important is ground combat, why do I have to spend 90% of the time on air missions? I still don't understand where you are coming from I'm afraid. We are going to have to agree to disagree For me the air combat is not supposed to take up as much of the game time as it does. The fact that it does needs to be addressed (and probably will be in the balancing stage). I don't see this as a reason to start adding more complexity to it, I would rather see it simplified. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 As someone new to the game I think the new air combat is excellent as it is. Anything additional should be secondary to the ground combat. Maybe later enhancements to the game could have pilots in the landing craft and running around in a panic in base defence missions. Rescuing downed pilots in the UFO:xxxxx games was just a pain, particularly as team space was limited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sadi Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 I am just coming from the kickstarter page and tried the demo - awesome game, awesome potentials - even with the limited demo. I am here to support the urge for pilots. I think this is one of the little things, mentioned on the kickstarter page with "the little touches that make a game memorable!". Team building (training soldiers) is one of key elements for motivation in my eyes and with the same reason they improve, pilots should do the same. It feels just like there is something missing, if I care for my soldiers but not for my pilots. . I care for my "base", I care for my soldiers but fighter, I just send some, one replacable by the other. If one dies, I buy a new one (but if my top trained soldier dies... ) Character traits could be speed, turning rate, weapon accuracy, damage, fuel (which are improved by low percentages) and an experianced pilot would be as good as a veteran soldier compared to a rooki. But surely there would be plenty ideas how the concept of soldiers could be portet to pilots as well. Balancing is surely a lot of work, but totally worth in my eyes. However, the game needs not be perfect if its rolled out - values can always be fixed/modded afterwards. All the questions mentioned above, like experiences fighters vs rookies (if the good one die), older vs newer equipment (fighters), this sounds like something I want in my game. This adds "feeling" and depth for the alien invasion scenario. Maybe with the kickstarter success this could be added as stretched goal? Best regards and I hope this idea is not directly declined like it sounded at the beginnign of the thread but considered by the devs. Sadi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Speed, turning rate, damage and fuel doesn't really make sense to increase because the pilot got more experience. Those are dependant on the craft. Accuracy would require that your plane can acctually miss. As long as the graphics of your shots intersects with the graphics of the enemy (and viseversa) the attack will hit, the only way to miss is if the UFO or your fightr dodges. As far as I understand the way planes are currently coded the pilot and the plane is the same thing. Which means you can't transfer one pilot to the next plane. Which means that pilot you got attached to when you leveled him up becomes obsolete and you can't do anything about it. If the game lets you get attached to your pilot and then forces you to abandon him, I would be pretty unhappy. It would be pretty bad design imo. Furthermore: IMO don't fix what's not broken. Leveling up aircrafts wouldn't really add anything to the gameplay imo. It would just make evrything more complex and messy. Time spent on balanceing what is essentially a minigame could be better spent on balanceing the core of the game or new features. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oracle1990 Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 It would just make evrything more complex and messy. Time spent on balanceing what is essentially a minigame could be better spent on balanceing the core of the game or new features. If you just remove all aircombat and let the mission just pop-up direct on the Geoscope, you will have a even simpler solution and maybee less time spent on the game balanceing it. If air-combat are going to be this big part of the game, it should be well developed too. Adding pilots and experience to this part of the game is one option. But this is only my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Does it have to be one of the extremes oracle? Isn't the minigame fun enough as it is? Does experience and stats really add anything to it? My opinion is that it removes from the game instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.