Tactical UI

[zolobolo]

Just ran across this old interview on PP:

Looking at the tactical UI e.g.: at mar 3:07 I feel so bad that PP had this brilliant UI system and then went wtih somethign that is worse in every possible way

The final PP UI is jsut a mess with totall unnecesseraly colorful backgrounds for the soldier profile bacgrounds, tiny images, souless buttons and throwing out that sleek item swap menu is just baffling: it seems like a gneious idea to get rid of the item MGMT menu which is not relegated into yet another window to be maanged

Their original concept looks very similar to what I have seen of Xenonauts 2 tactical UI so far - and I am very happy about it

For whatever reason they didnt pull through and its their loss:

 

[zolobolo]

This was just sleek - they even took out some of the colors from the characters to make them belnd better with the UI color scheme and the background:

[MrAlex]

I do not like the idea of new games of the genre: move-> shot.
This is a strategy, and what if I want to make 2 moves, or 3, or maybe 5. What if I want one soldier to make 3 shots at different targets?
The classic system with TU is more complex, but also more interesting. It creates more space for tactical action. Phoenix Point simply copied the combat system from the new X-Com.

[Alienkiller]

That not fully correct MrAlex. Phoenix Point advance the combat System from new XCOM, that´s the correct statement. It belongs on a similar combat system but you can make more moves on the Ground tiles and shoot.

Means for Example: Move, shoot, move in Cover or Shoot, Shoot, Move in Cover!

It´s not exactly an TU-System like here or in UFO ET / UFO2ET / old X-COM that´s true but give with lesser effort an similar effect.

I play Phoenix Point, which is in Long-Time-Development with Patches and DLC´s (Changes, Upgrades, complete Refits etc.) to have comparissions to new XCOM-Series, UFOET-Series and Xenonauts 2. So we can give more input what the competitors are doing and what Xenonatus 2 doing better.

Means that it´s not false to give Input from similar Games on the Market which are still in medium to longrange Upgrade- / Refit- etc.-Developments with Patches and DLC´s.

Edited March 25, 2021 by Alienkiller

[zolobolo]

On 3/25/2021 at 12:46 PM, MrAlex said:

I do not like the idea of new games of the genre: move-> shot.
This is a strategy, and what if I want to make 2 moves, or 3, or maybe 5. What if I want one soldier to make 3 shots at different targets?
The classic system with TU is more complex, but also more interesting. It creates more space for tactical action. Phoenix Point simply copied the combat system from the new X-Com.

I agree and also dont like the simplifications introduced by XCOM. Its fine for those games as they are much more of an action then a strategy game

Alienkiller is also right in that PP does not copy exactly the XCOM formula: soldiers can do as many actiosn as teh TU allows for, its just that the UI gives hitns on how much a soldeir can move for example before they will not have enough TU to shoot

The above UI is not about TU as far as I can tell it doesnt show that system. I was referring on how:

1. Item MGMT was solved (with the rotating menu) which sould basically replace the inventory MGMT view. Just imagine a dynamic rotating menu which can show 1-8 items with two numbers next to them indicating the amount of item type and hte ammo within that item. If you want to switch to medkit you either clikc on that icon and it "dials" into the hand or press a dial forward or backward button untill it is selected. The venefit would be that you can swap to any item that is found anywhere on the soldier in the main tactical UI with a single click an you can read out the exact inventory of any soldeir by simply selecting them. It also looks cool as all h*ll Also note the cocnept is using iconography instead of text to convey weapon details such as damage dealt hand special effects such as piercing or shred... this is something only the best boargames are doing (e.g.: Eclipse Second Dawn)

2. The Soldier profile is large enough to recognise is cener alligned and the colors are altered to give it a paint-like look at have it match the tactical map colors an bakgrounds better then what I have seen in any such game. The final PP menu shows tini-tiny portraits of over-saturated figures in front of a distractingly colrofull background which is not needed at all and is wildly unfitting for the UI colro scheme and the backrdop altogether. They also look much less detailed then in the above video...

We got none of the above two awesome concepts in final PP though

I am verry happy that X2 contains the centered soldier porfile image with no background - dont know if they took the idea from the above video but its a solid concept

This is coming from someone who doesnt care who my soldiers names and profile are - never did. I have played the original UFO for two decades before I started renaming some soldiers and even then I was just using: "Commander" "Squadron Leader A" "Sniper" "Commando" that is it. I enjoy these types of games if I can send in a bunch of dudes in generic soldier attire and loose a bunch of them in bloody battle and dont have to sonsider them as persistent resource. That being said, with this centering of the profiles on tactical UI and if they are given decent faces and combat attire (no anarchies of children stuff though that is not a danger here) I might learn a name or two yet...