Some suggestions from playing 17.1 (plus XCOM 2012)

[karthink]

Some suggestions from playing 17.1 (and the new XCOM.)

(Here's hoping they're already being planned!)

1. More hidden movement screens: Considering the player stares at the hidden movement screen for minutes at a time (cumulatively) in each encounter, it will be great if there's a rotation of hidden movement screen so it doesn't get boring. Bonus: the screen is based on the tileset the map is made of!

The existing one is ace, by the way. It's just going to seem a bit off when all my soldiers have advanced armor and the chaps on the hidden movement screen are in regular old BDUs.

2. Geoscape details: The Geoscape we see is a terrain map, basically. Is it possible to show signs of civilization, such as lights on the night side? In general, the geoscape feels too static compared even to a slowly rotating globe, so any kind of animated detail that lets us know we're not staring at an atlas would be very welcome.

3. One feature I really miss in Xenonauts after playing XCOM 2012 is the calendar on the screen (that you can expand) showing all items on the agenda for the next month. This is a timeline that includes research times, new soldiers arriving, pending requests, constructions, and pretty much any base activity that takes time to occur. It's also much easier to plan when I can see the big picture, instead of being surprised about popups for activities that I scheduled ages ago.

4. Speaking of pending requests, the random requests for equipment from various countries in XCOM 2012 was also a nice touch, generally a windfall just in the nick of time. Does Xenonauts have anything similar?

5. The font size is really tough on the eyes!

6. The soldier run animation does not match the speed at which the sprite moves along the ground. So it looks like the soldier is skating sometimes. This should hopefully be an easy fix?

7. Any chance we can see a dirt trail behind the hunter as it moves? As things stand, a livelier map would be great. I know idle animations are in the works and animated tiles _might_ make it in, but I suppose there are other ways to liven up the battle map too.

And then there are some longstanding suggestions (that I made ages ago) that I know can't be fixed because of the engine, but I'll reiterate anyway:

1. Bullets as slow white streaks, lasers as slow red streaks feel really underwhelming. Any chance the bullet sprite could get a makeover (or at least a velocity increase)?

2. Projectiles emanate from the center of the tile, and not from the barrel of the gun. Anyone else find this annoying? Is this something you just get used to as you play more of the game?

Edited November 20, 2012 by karthink

[thothkins]

Al ot of these have appeared in other threads, to varying degrees, with the possible exception of the EU2012 calender.

From what I recall there the new Geoscape map will at least show all the islands that were removed by accident, but that a night time map would not be appearing.

Night map thread

and also here

I'd love to have rotating Hidden Movement screens, with a folder that contains the images and that you can add to yourself post release.

Edited November 20, 2012 by thothkins

[Max_Caine]

The walking speed, bullet speed and bullet sprite are all currently moddable. StellarRat demonstrated changing the bullet type when he made a buckshot sprite for his modded shotgun.