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How is Xenonauts going to improve X-Com?


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I don't think this will be a problem. The Xenonauts AI programmer is very experienced. But, you do have to keep in mind that a smart human player is going to go into the final mission with every possible advantage. I always enjoy the journey more than the end. The other improvements are too numerous to mention, graphics, sound, GUI, etc....

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Well you know about the "elites" in the 2012 XCOM?

Well X(xenonauts) is going to have multiple stages of every alien. So when in EU you can have one-two elite mutons and then a map full of normal mutons , in X every individual of a certain race will be upgraded. EVERYONE is going to be an "elite". And when you go up in tech, everyone will be a better elite. Caesans(sectoid equivalent of X) will have a total of 7 stages. So you will have to fight new powerful races and jacked up old races simultaneously. >:]

And in the end when you go through all the tech the aliens will still have special powers and Psi-powers. Ergo advantages you will never quite reach. So there's that.

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I'm sure this was something that's been brought up as important in the past. You really need that continuing feeling that the game is challenging. Even on a repeat play. Taking out the overpowering aspects of EU was a step in this and no doubt Beta will really work at getting that balance right.

The R&D tree looks pretty promising as well as the variety of aliens and their levels.

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Every game has a point when all tech is unleashed that you get a tipping point, else you would never be able to win.

Im guessing Chris's aim is to ensure that the larger UFO's etc always increase the pressure on you. The final missions will hopefully be a challenge.

However, I would imagine that end game UFO's will be difficult, yet with experienced troops and full equipment weapons/armour they would be more manageable.

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One of the things I liked about XCOM was the lack of high end push. The developers gave you a Beginning and an End. In between was the low level stuff, the mechanics of the game. It's completely up to you how you get from Beginning to End. Want to save the entire world..every country...from the alien menace? You can. Want to get backed into a corner with 5 or 6 specialized bases surviving wave after wave of base attacks? You can. Want to build an uber team that dominates the aliens all the way to cydonia? You can.

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As a complete newb I hope it is still manageable, I am still stumbling around learning and if you want new people then you have to balance it against those v the guys/gals that know all the tricks and have been doing it for years

hopefully there will be more then one difficulty so new people can learn on easy and the guys/gals that know all the tricks can play on inhuman for a challange

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I haven't played too much XN so far(I only have the alpha demo, I'll get around to pre-purchasing eventually), but there are a few things that it could take from other games:

UFO: Extraterrestrials GOLD(never played vanilla) has aliens with a really nice resistance spread, which made combined arms and different damage types very important.

XCOM EU has really nice tech balance(except Plasmas, Ghost Armor and Blaster Launchers could have stood to have a LOT longer research times). Even traditionally "useless" techs like Autopsies and Interrogations were extremely useful. It would also be cool if they took some elements from the Foundry base improvement.

UFO AI has some cool temporary detection and anti air constructions that did the job of the base modules, but were easily detected and destroyed.

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I have to admit from what I've seen in the current build (Haven't completed the tech tree yet. Too many Terror attacks! Gets a bit old to have a terror attack almost every day sometimes!) I have seen no way to scan ufos or simply determine which they are at long range. Rather than the old detection improvement in XCOM UD why not base it on UFO crash recoveries? Each crash could have a mini-research item. Enough of the same type of research and Radar could identify that particular craft at long range, saying 'Fighter' instead of Very small etc. examine 3 intact crashes (or more if they are severely damaged) would give you enough info to get a radar signal profile for the craft.

Just a thought.

Edited by Patupi
typos
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I have to admit from what I've seen in the current build (Haven't completed the tech tree yet. Too many Terror attacks! Gets a bit old to have a terror attack almost every day sometimes!) I have seen no way to scan ufos or simply determine which they are at long range. Rather than the old detection improvement in XCOM UD why not base it on UFO crash recoveries? Each crash could have a mini-research item. Enough of the same type of research and Radar could identify that particular craft at long range, saying 'Fighter' instead of Very small etc. examine 3 intact crashes (or more if they are severely damaged) would give you enough info to get a radar signal profile for the craft.

Just a thought.

You'll proably need a better radar first.

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I'm particularly interested in how the two components of the player's progress (tech progress and soldier development) each and combined would affect the late game balance. Would it be critical to lose veteran on higher difficulties, or we are going to operate with the replaceable cannon fodder?

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I think there will be enough injuries/ fatalities that you will want to keep a rotating squad of soldiers on the go. In this build, there's a push to get other bases stocked with troops, due to the range of the Dropship. If that is still the case at least one upgrade later you may see three squads develop in their own geographical spheres, allowing you to select the best of them for the later missions. Should they suffer fatalities, you should have some reasonably experienced troops to take their place.

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  • 2 weeks later...
You'll proably need a better radar first.

Actually, I was thinking of a sort of interim measure. Early in the game, as you examine wrecked ships etc you get to tune existing radar to at least identify which is which, but not give any other advantages. IE, in the old XCOM you could tell what race it was, what their mission was etc due to the psychic nature of the scanner. This would just be using existing radar, but have a list of radar profiles of known UFOs. Later on a more advanced radar could be done with alien tech that would give extra info in addition to this.

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See topic for the question. Specifically, how is Xenonauts going to tackle the problem of the end game becoming way too easy, a problem every X-Com thus far has failed to adequately resolve? Thanks in advance.

To me part of the game is to become good at it, I want to feel I can easily handle the "regular" stuff late game. Not to say that it should be outright easy to win last mission, but some benefits from all your research and building should show itself in some way I think.

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To me part of the game is to become good at it, I want to feel I can easily handle the "regular" stuff late game. Not to say that it should be outright easy to win last mission, but some benefits from all your research and building should show itself in some way I think.

Yep, after hard work of building up your troops you should be a force to be reckoned with

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