Playthrough impressions

[sword7495]

Hi all,

 

I just finished Xenonauts 2 (Veteran difficulty) and I would like to give you my impressions. First, I’m a Xenonauts 1 Veteran, which played 100^th of hours, most of the time with overhaul mods like X-division. So I have quite a bit of experience and a (strong) own view how the game should be played.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the current status, but there is room for improvement. I got the familiar feeling and the tension like in previous Xenonauts like games and enjoyed the play through. Some detailed feedback:

Cover: Cover which does not breaks light of-sight is useless. It is too easy to destroy (by gun or by explosives) and the drop in accuracy (ACC) is not strong enough to prevent aliens to shoot at your guys (besides using a smoke grenade, but then you cannot shot anymore from behind cover). I tried rushing from cover to cover in the first missions, to get my guys a better hit change, but got seriously punished for it. How to solve it? Maybe, increase cover resistance and accuracy drop and introduce a ACC penalty for moving before shooting. The last point avoids hiding around the corner, outside line of sight.

Start of the game: As always, the first 5-10 missions are the hardest ones, especially if there is a timer. After your guys got some additional stats, everything is much easier. Maybe add a penalty to the aliens during the first months in the game?

Timer missions: At first I hated these mission, but then is became clear that you can always get the objectives and the challenge is more on how much bonus is possible. I would further strengthen this point by adding more bonuses.

Special UFO missions (besides crashed ufos): After I got 3 bases with 3 planes each, it was quite easy to destroy most of the UFOs, which resulted in a lack of these special missions, at least this was my impression. I would love if some of these special missions are triggered automatically, so the player cannot avoid it. (looking at you base defense) . Another option would be special camouflaged UFOs or something like that, which cannot be shot down, like the regular ones.

Unique upgrades: I understand the idea that you want to avoid small-scale engineering of single items, which is ok for stuff like grenades. However, for my aircraft, I would prefer to upgrade them step by step at a smaller cost for each. (you did it for personal armor!)

Soldier exhaustion: Xenonauts 2 needs an exhaustion system for soldiers! Don’t allow deployment in multiple missions during a 1-3 day window. Or at least decrease the overall states by x%.

Soldiers equipment: I still find the system not very intuitive and difficult to manage. Especially the case when you come back from a mission and some of your guys are lightly wounded. You have to manually empty their equipment (I have an empty “role”) and deselect the transporter. I don’t have an easy solution here but there may be some.  

Soldiers in general: There is no really difference between soldiers, especially in the later stages of the game. It would be nice, if they earn some simple passive perks, depending on their role in the battlefield. Like, +5 ACC with their favourite weapon and so on…

Color coding: The soldier selection bar in the middle of the top screen during missions needs some improvement. It is VERY difficult to recognise the weapon and the role of the soldier in mid battle (in xeno1 there were simple role symbols). Suggestion: allow to color coding the armor of your soldier or at least give each role a color code which is shown in the bar.

Reserve TU: Please let me reserve TU to crouch!

Smoke grenades: Why do they stun? Why don't your soldiers have gas masks?

Friendly fire and suppression: To often my guys supress or hit each other due to a stray bullet, especially in close encounters. I mean, there are a combat team, they know when they are firing, there is no surprise. It would be nice to address this issue. E.g. plus 50 % suppression resistance and minus 50% to be hit change when your own, close by guys are firing.

Civilian: In my last mission an unarmed civilian run into an ufo and teleported around – he was killed. Suicide by aliens - Why?

CPU: My relative new Laptop gets quite hot running the game. I find this quite strange for an turn based game. Any idea?

Autosave: Please add an autosave at the start of the first turn during ground combat. Currently, only successive turns have one.

Baton: You can put a baton in the second hand slot and use it, while carrying a 2-handed weapon. This should not be possible.

Geo: It should be possible to seen how many days remain in a month and the current financial expanses, not only in the report at the end of the month.

Zoom: There should be a vertical zoom for ground combat. Aiming at greater distances, e.g. sniper, is difficult, because I cannot see the soldier, obstacles and the alien at the same time.

 

[doubleskulls]

Special UFO missions (besides crashed ufos): After I got 3 bases with 3 planes each, it was quite easy to destroy most of the UFOs, which resulted in a lack of these special missions, at least this was my impression. I would love if some of these special missions are triggered automatically, so the player cannot avoid it. (looking at you base defense) . Another option would be special camouflaged UFOs or something like that, which cannot be shot down, like the regular ones.

100% agree we need more mission diversity. 

Unique upgrades: I understand the idea that you want to avoid small-scale engineering of single items, which is ok for stuff like grenades. However, for my aircraft, I would prefer to upgrade them step by step at a smaller cost for each. (you did it for personal armor!)

I'm happy with the current system. Money is very tight anyway, and if you've a dozen interceptors upgrading them all may be very expensive compared to just a single upgrade. 

Soldier exhaustion: Xenonauts 2 needs an exhaustion system for soldiers! Don’t allow deployment in multiple missions during a 1-3 day window. Or at least decrease the overall states by x%.

They can sleep on the drop ship! 

Soldiers equipment: I still find the system not very intuitive and difficult to manage. Especially the case when you come back from a mission and some of your guys are lightly wounded. You have to manually empty their equipment (I have an empty “role”) and deselect the transporter. I don’t have an easy solution here but there may be some.  

I agree there needs to be improvement here. 

Soldiers in general: There is no really difference between soldiers, especially in the later stages of the game. It would be nice, if they earn some simple passive perks, depending on their role in the battlefield. Like, +5 ACC with their favourite weapon and so on…

That's not my experience. Soldiers have very different stats all the way up to Colonel. Colonels are better at everything than privates, but compared to other Colonels they can have big differences in stats.  

Color coding: The soldier selection bar in the middle of the top screen during missions needs some improvement. It is VERY difficult to recognise the weapon and the role of the soldier in mid battle (in xeno1 there were simple role symbols). Suggestion: allow to color coding the armor of your soldier or at least give each role a color code which is shown in the bar.

Yes please... I find it very difficult to differentiate the troop types and the icons for the weapons (even on the soldiers weapons, let alone the top nav) are often very similar so its easy to make a mistake. 

Reserve TU: Please let me reserve TU to crouch!

Yes Please. 

Smoke grenades: Why do they stun? Why don't your soldiers have gas masks?

Some of the later armour does have gas masks. 

Friendly fire and suppression: To often my guys supress or hit each other due to a stray bullet, especially in close encounters. I mean, there are a combat team, they know when they are firing, there is no surprise. It would be nice to address this issue. E.g. plus 50 % suppression resistance and minus 50% to be hit change when your own, close by guys are firing.

There is a setting to say 'no friendly fire risk' or you can individually turn off which weapons will be used for reaction fire - its the eye icon in the bottom right corner of the weapon's panel. 

Civilian: In my last mission an unarmed civilian run into an ufo and teleported around – he was killed. Suicide by aliens - Why?

The AI is basic... personally I think its hilarious. 

CPU: My relative new Laptop gets quite hot running the game. I find this quite strange for an turn based game. Any idea?

Autosave: Please add an autosave at the start of the first turn during ground combat. Currently, only successive turns have one.

Baton: You can put a baton in the second hand slot and use it, while carrying a 2-handed weapon. This should not be possible.

Would you disallow using a sidearm with a sniper rifle too? 

Geo: It should be possible to seen how many days remain in a month and the current financial expanses, not only in the report at the end of the month.

The month is 30 days, and you get the funding report first thing on the 31st, 61st etc. 

Zoom: There should be a vertical zoom for ground combat. Aiming at greater distances, e.g. sniper, is difficult, because I cannot see the soldier, obstacles and the alien at the same time.

There is, pageup/pagedown.

 

[Chris]

3 hours ago, sword7495 said:

Hi all,

 

 

 

I just finished Xenonauts 2 (Veteran difficulty) and I would like to give you my impressions. First, I’m a Xenonauts 1 Veteran, which played 100^th of hours, most of the time with overhaul mods like X-division. So I have quite a bit of experience and a (strong) own view how the game should be played.

 

Overall, I’m very pleased with the current status, but there is room for improvement. I got the familiar feeling and the tension like in previous Xenonauts like games and enjoyed the play through. Some detailed feedback:

 

Cover: Cover which does not breaks light of-sight is useless. It is too easy to destroy (by gun or by explosives) and the drop in accuracy (ACC) is not strong enough to prevent aliens to shoot at your guys (besides using a smoke grenade, but then you cannot shot anymore from behind cover). I tried rushing from cover to cover in the first missions, to get my guys a better hit change, but got seriously punished for it. How to solve it? Maybe, increase cover resistance and accuracy drop and introduce a ACC penalty for moving before shooting. The last point avoids hiding around the corner, outside line of sight.

 

Start of the game: As always, the first 5-10 missions are the hardest ones, especially if there is a timer. After your guys got some additional stats, everything is much easier. Maybe add a penalty to the aliens during the first months in the game?

 

Timer missions: At first I hated these mission, but then is became clear that you can always get the objectives and the challenge is more on how much bonus is possible. I would further strengthen this point by adding more bonuses.

 

Special UFO missions (besides crashed ufos): After I got 3 bases with 3 planes each, it was quite easy to destroy most of the UFOs, which resulted in a lack of these special missions, at least this was my impression. I would love if some of these special missions are triggered automatically, so the player cannot avoid it. (looking at you base defense) . Another option would be special camouflaged UFOs or something like that, which cannot be shot down, like the regular ones.

 

Unique upgrades: I understand the idea that you want to avoid small-scale engineering of single items, which is ok for stuff like grenades. However, for my aircraft, I would prefer to upgrade them step by step at a smaller cost for each. (you did it for personal armor!)

 

Soldier exhaustion: Xenonauts 2 needs an exhaustion system for soldiers! Don’t allow deployment in multiple missions during a 1-3 day window. Or at least decrease the overall states by x%.

 

Soldiers equipment: I still find the system not very intuitive and difficult to manage. Especially the case when you come back from a mission and some of your guys are lightly wounded. You have to manually empty their equipment (I have an empty “role”) and deselect the transporter. I don’t have an easy solution here but there may be some.  

 

Soldiers in general: There is no really difference between soldiers, especially in the later stages of the game. It would be nice, if they earn some simple passive perks, depending on their role in the battlefield. Like, +5 ACC with their favourite weapon and so on…

 

Color coding: The soldier selection bar in the middle of the top screen during missions needs some improvement. It is VERY difficult to recognise the weapon and the role of the soldier in mid battle (in xeno1 there were simple role symbols). Suggestion: allow to color coding the armor of your soldier or at least give each role a color code which is shown in the bar.

 

Reserve TU: Please let me reserve TU to crouch!

 

Smoke grenades: Why do they stun? Why don't your soldiers have gas masks?

 

Friendly fire and suppression: To often my guys supress or hit each other due to a stray bullet, especially in close encounters. I mean, there are a combat team, they know when they are firing, there is no surprise. It would be nice to address this issue. E.g. plus 50 % suppression resistance and minus 50% to be hit change when your own, close by guys are firing.

 

Civilian: In my last mission an unarmed civilian run into an ufo and teleported around – he was killed. Suicide by aliens - Why?

 

CPU: My relative new Laptop gets quite hot running the game. I find this quite strange for an turn based game. Any idea?

 

Autosave: Please add an autosave at the start of the first turn during ground combat. Currently, only successive turns have one.

 

Baton: You can put a baton in the second hand slot and use it, while carrying a 2-handed weapon. This should not be possible.

 

Geo: It should be possible to seen how many days remain in a month and the current financial expanses, not only in the report at the end of the month.

 

Zoom: There should be a vertical zoom for ground combat. Aiming at greater distances, e.g. sniper, is difficult, because I cannot see the soldier, obstacles and the alien at the same time.

 

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I'll start out by pointing out a few requested features already in the game:

• Zoom is done with Pg Up / Pg Dn
• The financial report / expenses can be seen from the button on the top right of the Geoscape
• Autosave points can be controlled in the Settings Menu
• Friendly fire through friendlies can be disabled in the Settings too
• Right-click on the crouch button to reserve TU for it

I appreciate your other thoughts too. Civilian AI is going to be worked on in the future. Yes, there are certain special mission types you can't avoid even if you shoot down all UFOs, but base defence is actually one of the only mission types that is completely avoidable.

For the point about recognising the soldiers in combat, would it be helpful to show a portrait and role icon when you hover over the little statbars like we do in Xenonauts 1 then? The entire bottom of the UI changes to reflect the soldier being hovered over - is that not helpful? Or did you not notice it happening?

You shouldn't need to remove the equipment from your injured soldiers - the UI doesn't explain it well, but soldiers don't "claim" equipment until you try and put them in the dropship.

The secondary item slot is best thought of as a holster rather than the off-hand. You can put a 1-handed item / weapon in it and still carry a 2-handed weapon in the main slot.

[doubleskulls]

5 hours ago, Chris said:

• Right-click on the crouch button to reserve TU for it

Good to hear!

[DaviddesJ]

8 hours ago, sword7495 said:

Start of the game: As always, the first 5-10 missions are the hardest ones, especially if there is a timer. After your guys got some additional stats, everything is much easier. Maybe add a penalty to the aliens during the first months in the game?

Better to buff the aliens during the later months.

[sword7495]

14 hours ago, Chris said:

• Zoom is done with Pg Up / Pg Dn
• The financial report / expenses can be seen from the button on the top right of the Geoscape
• Autosave points can be controlled in the Settings Menu
• Friendly fire through friendlies can be disabled in the Settings too
• Right-click on the crouch button to reserve TU for it

 

Thanks for pointing these out. It would be nice to have the zoom and the crouch reservation in the tutorial. I would also suggest to have small UI buttons for map rotation and zoom.

 

14 hours ago, Chris said:

For the point about recognising the soldiers in combat, would it be helpful to show a portrait and role icon when you hover over the little statbars like we do in Xenonauts 1 then? The entire bottom of the UI changes to reflect the soldier being hovered over - is that not helpful? Or did you not notice it happening?

 

I did not noticed it :). However, I would prefer to see the role all the time without mouse over. Just from a typical scenario with two squads spread around the map: where the f*** is my sniper? It would be really nice to have a bunch of easily to recognize icons which can be assigned to each soldier. Customized Armor colors would be nice too.

15 hours ago, Chris said:

You shouldn't need to remove the equipment from your injured soldiers - the UI doesn't explain it well, but soldiers don't "claim" equipment until you try and put them in the dropship.

Ok, this is new and could be shown as a in-game tip during the loading screen.

[doubleskulls]

17 hours ago, Chris said:

You shouldn't need to remove the equipment from your injured soldiers - the UI doesn't explain it well, but soldiers don't "claim" equipment until you try and put them in the dropship.

This is good. Where this can break down is where the solider is changing role, so if I have 2 laser MGs, and make 3 solders heavies (with the laser) one won't get a weapon. If I think make one of them a rifleman the unequipped heavy will not automatically pick up the now 'spare' laser MG. I've been caught out by this a couple of times. So I manually have to check every soldier before launching and/or make sure the stocks of spare weapons are 'correct'. 

Also, as I'm regularly changing the soldier role I regularly set them all to 'blank' and then reassign them, to have the correct role composition, with the best candidate for each, for the squad .  

[doubleskulls]

The reserving TU for crouching seems to be exclusive with reserving time for shooting/throwing, which is not what I expected. I want to be able to reserve time to crouch and shoot.  

Reserving time seems a bit weird in the UI as when you go to the next turn the TUs are reserved still (good) but it doesn't show properly on the UI.