Morgurthion Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 (edited) This question has probably been asked and answered already (didn't find anything when I searched though), but how many different types of terrain is planned? Jungle, Desert, Steppe, towns (western, middle-eastern, asian, african, south-american), cities (same geographical varieties apply), leaf-tree forest, needle-tree forest, farmland, mountain (rock/forest/snow?), tundra, coast (there should be variants of this with all of the different themes) and arctic are the minimum if you ask me. Also, will there be seasonal differences on terrain type? Also, will there be height differences in the terrain or will all maps be flat? And lastly, will there be different weather-types? For example hunting down a crashed U.F.O. in the arctic during a storm would give a really cool The Thing-like atmosphere. As I see it, this is (together with a functional A.I.) the last piece of the puzzle before I can start enjoying this game fully - I already know that I like the general design of everything else, so much depends on how this is handled. What is known at this point? *EDIT* Something that would be really cool was if the weather was visually represented on the geoscape, so that if you could see formations of rainclouds over the crash-site, there will be a high chance of rain in the battlescape. These things could have effects on vision range, weapon accuracy and such things. This would mean that you might have to make a tough call beforehand - say if you're stuck with rookies, and a U.F.O crashes in a powerful lightning storm, you might just decide to bomb the site instead because your rookies won't be able to handle those conditions, or do you send them in, risking your whole crew, or do you wait and hope that the weather changes before the aliens scatter or gets picked up by their allies who will most probably slaughter or abduct all the civilians at the site? Edited August 16, 2012 by Morgurthion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khall Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 As far as I know there'll be Industrial, Farm, Town (American and Soviet style), Desert (Middle-East and US/African style), Arctic, Temperate, Alien base, Xenonaut base, Indoor missions (like a large military or research complex), Suburbia and Final mission. (going by the files in the map folder, I might have missed one or two out) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 That's a lot of tilesets Morgurthion... the original X-com had what 8? 9? And you see 20 as the minimum? And that is not even counting bases or final mission. There will be hills and level differences on non town maps yes... There is no seasonal effects and I don't think there will be any... Too much hassle and no gain at all. It is likely that there will not be any weather effects as the dev team doesn't have access to the engines source code and the weather would be terribly tricky to represent and code without it. Plus it's a "nice to have feature" but nothing that is necessary for the game. Maybe it could work out if they went the cheap way and just made an overlay with rain or snow animation but without letting it interact with any of the tiles in any way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgurthion Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 (edited) Isn't the point of making this game to improve on the original? 20 years has passed since then. so doubling the variety in environments does not seem that over-the-top. But yeah, I know that it is more complicated than that, and that there are many things that makes building environments more time consuming now than back when X-com was first released. So maybe it wasn't very realistic of me, but I was thinking more of what I could accept as plausible. I mean, the point of adding different tilesets is to make the connection between the geoscape and the battlescape seem natural and plausible, right? I'm thinking purely out of that perspective, the goal being that there should be no place in the world where I could shoot down a UFO and the battlescape would seem out of place. Maybe for the sequel, right? Edited August 16, 2012 by Morgurthion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgurthion Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 Khall: Thanks, I guess American/Soviet will do, seeing as that was more or less how the world was divided during this time period. Missing a few other terrain types there, but seems to have the most important ones. Only two I'm really missing that can't be substituted by any of the others to a plausible degree is Jungle and perhaps Mountain. What type of terrain will there be when a UFO crashes in middle-africa I wonder... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar Pancakes Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 If they ever put in weather phenomena, it's probably going to come with effects like " -# visability in rain" or something of the like. This leads to more effort to put into the geoscape since commanders have to see those effects. This also leads to a longer development time. As things are right now, Xenonauts is already well on its way to surpass X-COM, what with the player-allied NPCs and the UI layout (admit it, X-COM's layout was quite clunky). Oh, and mid-Africa is all jungle... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRat Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 I seems to me someone with some talent and computer skills could probably make whatever terrain tiles they want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Terrain tiles could probably be modded in. Not sure if the art would look like they belong together with the official tiles. but it's probably doable. I don't quite understand why everyone wants every little thing to have bonus or penalty to stats. Would weather really need to have any effect other then be visible to the player? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgurthion Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 Commissar Pancakes: Sure it isn't all jungle, but when a UFO crashes in parts that are clearly jungle it might be a little bit weird to see farmlands or temperate woods or whatever they choose to substitute the jungle with. Gorlom: Isn't very important, but it makes the game feel a little bit more dynamic. I mean, it shouldn't do a lot, just maybe 10% penalty to accuracy and vision. The main thing is that it makes >some< difference, to me that makes the whole experience a little more immersive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Sorry, that was a bit of ranting... but I think people are a bit quick to suggest stat modifiers because "it would feel right" without really considering what it would effect. For instance there were people that avoided fighting at night like the plague in X-com. Weather effects that have different penalties are in the long run just as likely to be despised and avoided (through save scumming or whatnot) because they are seen as an annoyance rather then a cool effect. And then all that work would be for nothing, a huge disappointment imo. Night missions at least adds to the atmosphere and can be countered by flares and already existing local light sources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRat Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 I haven't seen flares or night vision equipment in the list for my soldiers. Is that coming later or am I blind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khall Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Every soldier gets 2 flares automatically when you go on a night mission. It's in the grenade slot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gauddlike Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 Not blind, just in the dark. Remember that tiles cannot be dynamically altered by the game engine. You couldn't have a set of farm tiles for example that looked different in the rain or snow. You would need another full set of wet farm tiles and another of snow farm tiles. The time and resources taken up would mean less overall tilesets. Jungle tiles are missing because Chris felt that he didn't have the resources to do them properly because of the way trees and foliage are represented. Too few of them and the levels would be full of identical trees, which might have been fine back when x-com was made but today would look odd at best. I don't know which tilesets will be used in areas that are normally heavily forested though, maybe the temperate one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgurthion Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 Gorlom: True, that's why I'm all for having those elements. Set up moments that forces the player to either engage during these horrifying conditions or take a penalty. It could be something like not responding in time to save civvies, but it would only mean missed loot and maybe slightly reduced approval - it would still be plausible to play through the whole campaign without doing missions during extreme storm night missions. I think that the game gains from being hardcore to the bone, as long as it is clear on the rules and conditions and it always gives the player some form of a choice. And again, I'm not talking about game-changer-type effects, I'm talking slightly lowered vision range, accuracy and perhaps a few less AP's. Maybe more for extreme conditions, but they would probably be really rare. Like one of those "level 5 storms" of alien origin that are mentioned on the geoscape. A mission where would intervene the Aliens while they are causing one of those storms would be really interesting. Maybe not doable in this title at this point, but interesting. Also, these things would effect the aliens to, so the balance would not have to change. Btw, aren't people who engage in save scumming already missing the point of the games challenge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgurthion Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 Gauddlike: Ok, well, that makes sense then. Jungle was the only one that was really missing from my list there minus some of the stuff in the parenthesis, but they were there because they were less important, so that's ok. Coasts aren't that important when I think about it - the chance of the UFO crashing on a beach every time you shoot one down close to water is pretty slim. As for mountains, they could perhaps do something like what they did for the sea - just have a text pop up that explains that the craft crashed and can't be reached. Could even make it so that if your interceptors catch up to a UFO over mountains you can choose to "tail until over land" - I would find that plausible enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morgurthion Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 Hm, maybe I should be over in the suggestions-thread instead, these are mostly just thoughts of what could be if one were allowed to dream a little ;P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carnesaur Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 that is a good question.. what DOES appear when you shoot down a ufo in the middle of the amazon?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gauddlike Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Nothing, the craft hits the ground and is immediately swarmed by hundreds of pygmies with spears or the aliens are captured by a race of buxom, nubile, warrior women. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorlom Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Gorlom: True, that's why I'm all for having those elements. Set up moments that forces the player to either engage during these horrifying conditions or take a penalty. It could be something like not responding in time to save civvies, but it would only mean missed loot and maybe slightly reduced approval - it would still be plausible to play through the whole campaign without doing missions during extreme storm night missions. I think that the game gains from being hardcore to the bone, as long as it is clear on the rules and conditions and it always gives the player some form of a choice. And again, I'm not talking about game-changer-type effects, I'm talking slightly lowered vision range, accuracy and perhaps a few less AP's. Maybe more for extreme conditions, but they would probably be really rare. Like one of those "level 5 storms" of alien origin that are mentioned on the geoscape. A mission where would intervene the Aliens while they are causing one of those storms would be really interesting. Maybe not doable in this title at this point, but interesting. Also, these things would effect the aliens to, so the balance would not have to change.Btw, aren't people who engage in save scumming already missing the point of the games challenge? It's more likely that people will start savescumming because of annoying mechanics than that they were already savescumming when encountering this. It's the turning to savescumming that I find undesirable. I don't think it's an extra challenge. It's just something that is annoying, an arbitrary penalty for something outside of your control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thothkins Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 ...or the aliens are captured by a race of buxom, nubile, warrior women. Sgt thothkins: Quick Commander Gauddlike! we must ensure that all of the aliens have been killed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRat Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Every soldier gets 2 flares automatically when you go on a night mission. It's in the grenade slot.Well, I've been avoiding night missions like the plague. Good to know. That explains why I've never seen them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gauddlike Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Sgt thothkins: Quick Commander Gauddlike! we must ensure that all of the aliens have been killed! The one and only time Thotkins leaves the Chinook! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thothkins Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 I knew you were going to say that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gauddlike Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 I was originally going to make a comment about lil'Thotkins but thought that could probably be taken out of context for those who haven't read some of the previous threads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thothkins Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Hey, if you had survived what the poor guy had survived in that first mission, you'd be cautious too. My Xenonaut li'l thothkins seems to mostly end up being one of he guys going into the UFOs first due to resilience stat. 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.