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The air war has become unwinnable and I’ve exhausted all avenues of research


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I'm having the same problem, and I do all air combat with autoresolve since I don't find the air battles fun.  By the time 3-6 ground battles have gone by (I'm at 01 April) even 2 missile and 2 fighter jets with upgrades attacking at the same time get shot down (that's all the aircraft gone at once--which happens as fast as I can build them at this point) .  I don't have a phantom interceptor in my research or engineering list.  I do have a Laser Lance Interceptor on the engineer list, but I need alien materials to build it, and guess what I can't get more of because all my aircraft repeatedly get shot down?  It's a Catch 22.

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3 hours ago, maxm222 said:

I'm having the same problem, and I do all air combat with autoresolve since I don't find the air battles fun.  By the time 3-6 ground battles have gone by (I'm at 01 April) even 2 missile and 2 fighter jets with upgrades attacking at the same time get shot down (that's all the aircraft gone at once--which happens as fast as I can build them at this point) .  I don't have a phantom interceptor in my research or engineering list.  I do have a Laser Lance Interceptor on the engineer list, but I need alien materials to build it, and guess what I can't get more of because all my aircraft repeatedly get shot down?  It's a Catch 22.

Out of curiosity, how are you handling the fights? 

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Maxm222 is correct, in that it is a catch 22, because you need alien resources to build better aircraft to keep up with the alien aircraft, as they get bigger, you are trapped, because you can't get those resources to fight them. Therefore it would be nice, if the smaller probes could be sent for longer, to build up those resources so as to build better aircraft.

Not much of a game, if it is based on ground combat, if there is no ground combat?

Edited by Ruggerman
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Ah.  I do all air combat with autoresolve, since I don't find the air battles fun.  The X1 manual talks about being able to see what the odds are before one decides to engage or not, but I don't see that in the X2 autoresolve window.  If I knew the odds, I wouldn't throw away 3 aircraft at a time.

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17 hours ago, maxm222 said:

Ah.  I do all air combat with autoresolve, since I don't find the air battles fun.  The X1 manual talks about being able to see what the odds are before one decides to engage or not, but I don't see that in the X2 autoresolve window.  If I knew the odds, I wouldn't throw away 3 aircraft at a time.

Yeah, playing them is much more reliable. The auto was never a particularly good system to circumvent a pretty fun minigame. 

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For those people who are having issues with autoresolve, I'm pretty sure you're being held back because of Foxhounds. I'm fairly certain like in X1, Foxhounds are intended to be the foil to early capital-class ships such as Observers and Destroyers. However, the Sklylances are terrible even against larger ufos so I've made 2 adjustments to the Skylance which make the Foxhound more tenable. The adjustments need tweaking so Foxhounds aren't the primary pick every time, but following testing with a full squadron of Foxhounds verses Observers and Destroyers, I think you'll be reasonably pleased.

Replace the torpedo_tier1.json file in xenonauts2/assets/assets/xenonauts/template/strategy/item/aircraft_equipment with the torpedo_tier1.json file attached. As always, back up any file you adjust so in the event of any problems, you don't have to wipe the whole game and start again. Do not replace the file when you have birds in the air - in fact you would be best off replacing the file on a savegame in-between UFO waves. This file was tested using a full 3-plane squadron verses destroyers and observers and a 2-plane squadron against Observers so test results are limited, do not expect single Foxhounds to flex hard. 

 

torpedo_tier1.json

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Thanks for the file and fix, but unfortunately, I think I have only been able to research and then engineer a skylance once in 9 or 10 games.  Since skylances generally haven't appeared, what I've used are a mix of Falcons and Foxhounds with as many upgrades as possible.  Is a falcon-foxhound mix inadequate even with the new file?

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Encountered first destroyer. My interceptors weren't available so I've sent 3 basic fighters. Did a trick where one fighter is kiting destoyer while two other get on his tail. Both fighters expanded all ammunition. Then all fighters ran out of fuel and I've accepted to evacuate them all. But at the last moment before screen closes, destroyer fires main cannon and shoots down fighter that it was chasing, which already left battlefield. To my understanding this is a bug, or is it some sort of meta-mechanics? Could it be that planes stop moving when they reach the edge of the screen but still can be shot down?

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Second run through. Still can't find this phantom (sic) research.  What do you have to do to get it? I attended every ground mission for those UFOs I could take down and it's early March and it's game over. That's just the air combat bit of the game, the rest is equally painful. (I'm being polite there although I'm not sure it deserves it).

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It looks like the research tree changed since I wrote that inital post, as I was once able to get the research prequisites after downing an Observer, but not any longer. In any case, it's possible to take down an Observer with Falcons - you need 3 of them, and you need as many alenium missiles as you can get. Then you can just charge straight at the Observer - no fancy techniques needed, the Observer doesn't have the firepower to down a Falcon so you can dive straight through it and the Falcons turn faster than the Observer can, meaning their cannons can finish the job. However, to take down a Destroyer you need Foxhounds. Foxhounds as they currently are designed do not have the weapons to take down a Destroyer - you need to use the updated Skylance heavy missile that I have posted above. The update Skyance has a range that is slightly longer than a Destroyer's. In autoresolve, a squadron of Foxhounds will win, and in realtime combat a squadron will very likely win, but you have to turn immediately after launching the payload or the Destroyer will down at least one Foxhound. 

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On 12/29/2019 at 3:26 PM, Dangermouth said:

Thank you for the patch. Have now downed 6 or 7 destoyers and 3 observers.

 

And still no research so the cruisers, harvesters and even bombers are killing me.

 

'enuff said.

In my experience, bombers and harvesters require multiple intercepts. You can send 3 interceptors with alinium torpedos, use one for distraction and two others to deliver payload. As interceptors refuel so much faster than fighters, you can do multiple intercepts with the same team.

the cruiser is a different stOry I think it’s even faster than foxhound so kiting it might lead to losing crafts. But in my second play through I did get research into a much better air tech right before first cruiser appeared. 
Try restarting and doing more research into air tech.

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2 hours ago, Dangermouth said:

Thanks. I have exhausted all research but I'll try the tactic you've suggested. I'd just lke to be able to get into the swing of things and see how the game goes. Only found a couple of bugs and they were ones that others have found anyway.

On my first play through I went heavy with science team and upgrades for ground team. Got stuck at air superiority as you describe. I had too many basic fighters too.
 

For the second play through I went heavy on engineers and focus more research in a general direction of things. More engineers help with getting more interceptors running, which is helping a lot with all the medium and large UFO that start to pop/up. That did help with unlocking more tech for air and I think I’ve got new plane under the research already. Or at least I remember seeing tech in the list related to improving air beyond the first set of upgrades.

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Yeah. You need to get the Foxtrots out early and lose a couple even to get the Carrier and Bomber down otherwise the clock is against you. At the moment it pushes you very quickly to have to deal with Battleships and I would have thought they were much closer to the end given I've probably done not even 25% of the research, etc.

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With each new incarnation of this game, it has gotten harder and harder, to play. What are these people thinking, now you get less money, less scientist, less engineers, and the aliens are more stronger.

This game is not developing into the game, I thought  we would see, the designers seem to be finding it hard to deliver that concept, and so we are seeing a game much like X1 but with better graphics.

Please prove me wrong!!

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I'd assume it'll sort out once configurable difficulty becomes a thing. I know I was confused on the original for ages until getting used to the mechanics on easy. I haven't seen anything inherently harder about this one yet, though. 

 

Just bear in mind it's still just getting it's features working, nothing's going to be balanced yet, that's one of the last things to get done usually. 

Edited by Coffee Potato
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Hmm, currently have no idea what to do with cruisers. My latest tech is Phantom interceptors. Foxtrots can't chase or run away from cruisers, they have exactly the same speed. I can't deliver any payload without loosing at least one foxtrot as bait.

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I think destroyers are the limit of Goldhawk's current designs, which is why there are so many issues post-destroyer. I'm also fairly certain that the stock configuration of each generation of Xenonauts fighter craft is intended to last X UFO types before they become sub-optional and you're encouraged to move to the next generation. However, I have in the files noticed certain utility addons - specifically a fuel pod and an afterburner. I think it would be helpful to open up utility hardpoint slots so the existing fleet can be upgraded some more.

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