Why was the God-awful orbital bombardment brought back?

[Ruggerman]

I have battled through the storm, and invested in newer aircraft, which was able to shot down the alien craft, which has reduced the global panic to 00 Humanity survives!!!

Praise Your Virtual Entity, and Pass the ammunition

[Komandos]

The timer in the game (orbital bombardment) turns the game into a race - with all the consequences that follow from this: For a player who is not familiar with the "race track", the game will become too difficult. For a player familiar with the "race track", the game will become too easy. This will also deprive the player of the opportunity to set other strategic goals (in a strategy game). The only thing left for the player is to explore the race track using the save/load method (as in the movie "Edge of Tomorrow")

[Alienkiller]

Therfore you have the Difficulty-Settings. In all of this Games you have such an Special.

In UFO ET you get not normal seeable UFO-Swarms, in new XCOM the Panic-Level / Alien-Project, in old X-Com as well as Xenonauts 1 it´s not definitable and in Phoenix Point the misterius Nebula.

Here you have the orbital Bombardement which comes after 4 or 5 Month the first time and you have Countermeasures to reduce the effect incl. buying Time for Humanity. The same you have in XCOM 2 with the Alien-Project and in Phoenix Point with the Nebula earlyer or later.

In Xenonauts 1 and old X-Com you have for the undefined Specials no Countermesures to buy time. So be happy to have such Countermesures to reduce Panic and similar in Xenonauts 2.

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by Alienkiller

[Komandos]

1. In the old X-COM, the player could spend as much time in the game as he saw fit. The game did not force the player to fly to the final mission right now, (timer), and not after 20-30 years of playing time.

2. The timer in the game does not allow the player to fully explore the game world. Instead of satisfying your curiosity: "What will this or that research give?", the player has to be content with only those studies that move him forward, as a person who is late for work. However: some players come to the game as tourists who want to see all the sights.

[Alienkiller]

Komandos, you have in old X-COM an similar Timer too. You only don´t see him and get the Game Over without to know why.

In the new Games you see the Timer (in new XCOM 1 EU and Xenonauts 2 the Panic-Levels from the Founding States; in UFO ET-Row and XCOM 2 the slow Enslavement from the Humans; and in the UFO-Afterrow / Phoenix-Point the special Nebula-Fluid which make live on Earth earlyer or later impossible)

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by Alienkiller

[Komandos]

55 minutes ago, Alienkiller said:

Komandos, you have in old X-COM an similar Timer too. You only don´t see him and get the Game Over without to know why.

In the old X-COM, a player could defend the planet for at least a thousand years and no one forced him to fly to Mars right now.

56 minutes ago, Alienkiller said:

In the new Games you see the Timer (in new XCOM 1 EU and Xenonauts 2 the Panic-Levels from the Founding States; in UFO ET-Row and XCOM 2 the slow Enslavement from the Humans; and in the UFO-Afterrow / Phoenix-Point the special Nebula-Fluid which make live on Earth earlyer or later impossible)

But after all, developers make fan fiction specifically on the old X-COM, but not fan fiction on XCOM 1 EU or XCOM2.

[Kamehamehayes]

I think there needs to be more of a sense of urgency in Xcom games. The lategame of moat Xcom games are the most boring because you have the most advancrd technology and you can comfortably shoot down even the biggest ufos. The aliens can't do anything or force the player to compete in unique missions anymore. The final missions are generally not designed for the player to have every piece of technology at their diaposal either, so player will be very overprepared. Thus, the game's pacing is ruined imo and the difficulty curve takes a downwards slope towards the end. 

The orbital bombardment mechanic might be able to do a lot to fix these issues and create interesting geoscape scenarios in its final state. Thus, I am still optimistic even if its current implementation is less than fair or only partly integrated. 

[Komandos]

3 hours ago, Kamehamehayes said:

I think there needs to be more of a sense of urgency in Xcom games.

You can use "urgency" (timer) to create tension in the game. But this method is no better than "UFO waves" when the player is experiencing time pressure and lack of resources. From the "urgency" (timer), the player gets tired just like from other ways to create tension. 

The only way out is in the variety of the game. 

The timer is only good when it is running in the game for a short time.

[Komandos]

3 hours ago, Kamehamehayes said:

The final missions are generally not designed for the player to have every piece of technology at their diaposal either, so player will be very overprepared.

The final missions, for the player, are fundamentally no different from the usual ones. The battle is also designed for 8-12 soldiers, (like a normal mission). The only difference is more powerful weapons and thicker armor.

In the original X-COM 1-2: For the final mission, you need a special transport that took twice as many soldiers (26) as for a normal mission. And the last mission consisted of two episodes.

[Kamehamehayes]

In the original xcoms, they were pretty close to you usual base assault mission, but slightly longer. However, I think that this design is a little lame. The final mission should be a unique and challenging experience that separates it from the rest of the game. It should be a climactic sendoff for the playthrough, and where many ironman runs will either succeed or die. Making it too similar to other missions would be a shame imo. 

[Kamehamehayes]

3 hours ago, Komandos said:

You can use "urgency" (timer) to create tension in the game. But this method is no better than "UFO waves" when the player is experiencing time pressure and lack of resources. From the "urgency" (timer), the player gets tired just like from other ways to create tension. 

The only way out is in the variety of the game. 

The timer is only good when it is running in the game for a short time.

I think that being limited in reseources (be it time, money, materials, personel, etc) makes these games much more interesting. It leads to more interesting descision making if done well, and it keep the difficulty curve and pace consistent across the game. If it weren't limited, then the game would not have as good of a difficulty curve, pacing, or have as many interesting decsisions. I also more immersive to have your struggling organization actually struggle to spread out its resources as it cannot do everything it desires with the limited resources it has.

[Komandos]

10 minutes ago, Kamehamehayes said:

I think that being limited in reseources (be it time, money, materials, personel, etc) makes these games much more interesting. It leads to more interesting descision making if done well, and it keep the difficulty curve and pace consistent across the game.

The rich have a much more interesting life than those who are in need of material resources, free time, etc.

[Kamehamehayes]

28 minutes ago, Komandos said:

The rich have a much more interesting life than those who are in need of material resources, free time, etc.

That topic has been debated to death over the course of human existence, so I won't be going into that here; but for me personally, the adversity that I have to go through against the aliens makes the strategies, the technology, and soldiers you employ more valuable and I have a better gameplay experience. If I was just granted all of that will little cost or challenge required to obtain it, than it makes those upgrades a whole lot less useful or interesting imo. 

[Alienkiller]

Summarized is to say: Most of us like the new Features which can implemented since the 2010s. Others life in the Past with Features from the Stoneage and don´t let new Features in.

For Xenonauts 2 it need new Features to overflow the Predecessor. And that is such an Feature as well as the Modular Armor / upgradeable Structurs etc.

We already have some good old Features from the Predecessor here in the Game, which are Refited / Reworked to fit in Xenonauts 2.

[Komandos]

On 8/30/2022 at 12:36 PM, Alienkiller said:

For Xenonauts 2 it need new Features to overflow the Predecessor. And that is such an Feature as well as the Modular Armor / upgradeable Structurs etc.

Players need a good tactical and strategic simulator. Where many different tactics can be used on the battlefield. And on a geoscape, you can use many different strategies.

There are no new tactical functions (crawling, the ability to interact with individual tactical groups on the battlefield, etc.) in the game. There are no alternative strategies for winning (except to develop as quickly as possible) in the game either.

 

Do not forget that the first X-COM was more of a sandbox than a strategy.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Komandos

[Alienkiller]

3 hours ago, Komandos said:

Players need a good tactical and strategic simulator. Where many different tactics can be used on the battlefield. And on a geoscape, you can use many different strategies.

There are no new tactical functions (crawling, the ability to interact with individual tactical groups on the battlefield, etc.) in the game. There are no alternative strategies for winning (except to develop as quickly as possible) in the game either.

 

Do not forget that the first X-COM was more of a sandbox than a strategy.

 

We don´t play an Standard-Earth-Army Game, where such Things with Tactic-Groups and an TV-Team nearby are normal.

You play an organisiation which are unknown to the Public. There you don´t have official help, YOU ARE ALONE WITH YOUR SOLDIERS on the Battlefield and on Geoscape with your ORGANISATION. Only your Enemys and highest official Sponsors know your Organisation.

Like in old X-Com-Series, new XCOM-Series, UFO ET-Series and Phoenix Point. The others have no Clue that you and your Organisation exist.

[Komandos]

32 minutes ago, Alienkiller said:

Like in old X-Com-Series, new XCOM-Series, UFO ET-Series and Phoenix Point. The others have no Clue that you and your Organisation exist.

Making X-COM a secret organization made sense only in the first X-COM where the invasion itself (preparation for the invasion) was secret. When an orbital laser destroys entire cities, it makes no sense to hide from the population that there are forces on planet Earth that are trying to stop this mess.

[Alienkiller]

That belongs on the Storyline the Game have. In the new XCOM-Row I give you right and in old X-COM after the 2nd Game. In UFO ET it´s completely Secret, in Xenonauts 1 too and in Xenonauts 2 we will see.

[Kamehamehayes]

3 hours ago, Komandos said:

Making X-COM a secret organization made sense only in the first X-COM where the invasion itself (preparation for the invasion) was secret. When an orbital laser destroys entire cities, it makes no sense to hide from the population that there are forces on planet Earth that are trying to stop this mess.

From what I understood, it is not a 100% clandestine war. The people know that there is some multi-national, joint-operated organization fighting against the aliens, but the name, location, military branch, technology, and allegiance are are kept top secret to prevent the information from falling into the aliens, world governments, and/or the general populace. 
This is just head cannon at the end of the day, but it makes the plot and structure of xcom games make more sense imo. And if Xen 2 leans into this approach, I don’t think an orbital laser would retcon the general structure and lore of an xcom game. 

[Alienkiller]

Exactly Kamehamehayes. And such Alien-Projects, Orbital Bombardements, making Alien-Terraforming or whatever gives piquanzy in the Game. And that have to be hardcoded, like it is in the UFO ET-Row with the Mothership and his potential, in the UFO-After-Row / old X-COM the Specials or in Phoenix Point with the Nebula.

People which can´t handle this can play Ponnyhof.