Played all X-COm/UFO games since Alien invasion

[Fratzicu]

Hi,

I opened this topic for the ones that played and enjoyed them all.  I don't do this often but since Xenonauts is the only one continuing this legacy and since there is some desire to bring the game to the next level I thought I would share some impressions and suggestions.

Annoying stuff for all the games:

- the missions are very similar and get boring. There can be many missions at times with very similar tactics and biome. the reward is very small in comparison with the collecting reward without fighting.

- the interceptor planes battles are quite poorly designed

- the action happens only on Earth (except the endgame in some games).

 

Suggestions for Xenonauts 2:

- less ufo missions and more diverse 

        - mixture of races

        - possibility to choose to control also local forces and also recruit some after battle

        - possibility to just watch the battle (AI controlled battle - for the oones who get bored)

        - possibility to choose to increase certain skills after battles

- tactical geoscape game more diverse

       - no limit of number of bases

       - some types of bases (small - only for interception, some big including research, some custom, etc)

       - custom design of aircrafts (number of weapons, hull thickness - of course this could influence speed, maneuvrability and range)

       - pilots skills maybe

       - possibility to send 2 squads for the same crashed UFO mission

- next level game

      - interstellar mission aircraft 

                      - after some research you can build a spaceship with some personnel to go on another planet (first in our solar system and then in some surrounding solar systems)

                     - possibility to recruit some alien soldiers

     - if you go on another solar system - the possibility to recruit some soldiers of the local race

                    - could be sectoid (psionic power, low strength, low accuracy)

                    - could be sebillian (high hitpoints)

                   - could be Mentarch (high accuracy)

                  - could be other conquered races with various strengths and weaknesses

  - both underwater (like UFO 2 - terror from the deep) and land game play

 

- improved AI

     - I noticed that during a tactical combat, if you stand in front of a closed door the enemy does not open it (except the reaper).

     - also I noticed that the enemy does not use grenades unless there are more soldiers grouped together

 

The game has  many possibilities. I enjoyed every one since Alien Invasion but it has to bring something new to become playable, challenging and more enjoyable.

Kind regards

Edited September 24, 2023 by Fratzicu

[Komandos]

22 hours ago, Fratzicu said:

Annoying stuff for all the games:

- the missions are very similar and get boring. There can be many missions at times with very similar tactics and biome. the reward is very small in comparison with the collecting reward without fighting.

This means that you haven't played OpenXcom with its many modifications. The tasks of the missions there are very diverse.

[Komandos]

22 hours ago, Fratzicu said:

  - possibility to choose to increase certain skills after battles

Is it similar to those games in which a player kills an opponent with a knife, gets "experience" for it and with the help of this experience improves the skills of a "hacker programmer", "fighter pilot", "diplomat" (other skills that have nothing to do with stabbing)???

[Komandos]

On 9/24/2023 at 11:06 AM, Fratzicu said:

       - possibility to send 2 squads for the same crashed UFO mission

In UFO: 1-2, the player could choose two development strategies:

1. Focus your research on UFO equipment, which led to the appearance of a roomy Avenger ship (26 soldiers) and thus gain a numerical advantage over the enemy (on the battlefield), but have poor weapons and poor armor for soldiers.

2. Either: The player could focus his research on arming soldiers and thus get good weapons and good armor, but there would be few soldiers on the battlefield (14 soldiers).

Unfortunately, in Xenonauts, the player cannot choose the strategy and tactics of ground combat that he likes the most. Neither by choosing one or another industry for research. Not with the help of special options in the difficulty settings of the game.

The player could play the game twice and see completely different tactical battles each time.

 

[DaMulder]

I agree with many points you brought up, but not the underwater battles...

As much as I loved ALL XCOM games (Apocalypse and the two new XCOM games are my favorites) - I hated "Terror from the deep". I hated the graphics most of all. How could they make it so ugly after making the beautiful UFO game? And it was all so pointless!
Anyway, I don't want to see underwater levels or bases or anything. NO WATER PLEASE!

Just sayin...

[SoulFilcher]

It is always interesting to read what other long-time players think about the games in general, not just one of them or a comparison between X and Y games.

I feel the same about some things there, for example I always wanted the option to "acquire" an alien soldier somehow, by removing a control chip, breaking psionic mind control or whatever makes sense for each case. And also possibly acquire alien scientists or other non-fighter functions. An alien scientist could unlock research projects automatically by sharing knowledge and count as several human scientists together for purposes of research speed/efficiency.

Pilot skill is also something I've thought about before and I'd like to have in some way (pilots are already more interesting in Xeno2 than most older games), would make losing interceptors have more of an impact as a player would like to keep good pilots or invest in their improvement over time. The game could even start with one special pilot available that is above average.

I think I agree with DaMulder in that underwater missions don't really fit here, not that I dislike Terror from the Deep, but I think the ship missions would fit since we fight Cleaners on docks.

Going to other solar systems that much is probably out of scope, I guess it would be better left for the future if a true sequel is planned, where that could be one of the game's main pillars. But definitely an interesting  (and very ambitious) idea for a game of this genre.

[Komandos]

5 hours ago, DaMulder said:

I hated "Terror from the deep". I hated the graphics most of all. How could they make it so ugly after making the beautiful UFO game? And it was all so pointless!

The problem is not in the graphical execution. The problem is that the underwater world is not only an unnatural (and even hostile) habitat for humans, but also that the underwater world is not filled with any associations and feelings that a person feels for the underwater world. (It's like a book in a foreign language). A book that a person sees, reads, but does not understand). Just compare your impressions with the house where you spent your entire childhood and with any other house you have visited. The childhood home will always be beautiful, no matter what slums this house is located in. The planet's land is a man's home, but the underwater world is not. The underwater world is a hostile habitat for humans. Therefore, the underwater world is always perceived as empty and lifeless, and urban developments are the most beautiful locations for the player's eyes.

[Raffik]

8 hours ago, SoulFilcher said:

It is always interesting to read what other long-time players think about the games in general, not just one of them or a comparison between X and Y games.

I feel the same about some things there, for example I always wanted the option to "acquire" an alien soldier somehow, by removing a control chip, breaking psionic mind control or whatever makes sense for each case. And also possibly acquire alien scientists or other non-fighter functions. An alien scientist could unlock research projects automatically by sharing knowledge and count as several human scientists together for purposes of research speed/efficiency.

Pilot skill is also something I've thought about before and I'd like to have in some way (pilots are already more interesting in Xeno2 than most older games), would make losing interceptors have more of an impact as a player would like to keep good pilots or invest in their improvement over time. The game could even start with one special pilot available that is above average.

I think I agree with DaMulder in that underwater missions don't really fit here, not that I dislike Terror from the Deep, but I think the ship missions would fit since we fight Cleaners on docks.

Going to other solar systems that much is probably out of scope, I guess it would be better left for the future if a true sequel is planned, where that could be one of the game's main pillars. But definitely an interesting  (and very ambitious) idea for a game of this genre.

Agree with SoulFilcher.

Pilot skills (also SAR missions to save downed pilots) would be great as well as tactical missions on ships (terror, abductions, plot related missions etc)

For space travel, if, then within Earths "close" proximity, like Moon, Venus or Mars at most. Further away would be a nice idea for future Xenonauts game

[Alienkiller]

Yeah, I too played all Games of that Gerne I could get.

The first was the old X-Com-Row with the 4 Games in the Row (correctly Row: Enemy Unknown, Terror from the Deep, Interceptor and then Apocalypse). The Shooter (5th Game) was not good. I played it with Fun. Sadly the 3 new Games of that Gerne, which were in an big WIP-Stadium never saw the Worlds-Light with the surprisse, that all 3 were fully corretly linked in the Storyline of old X-Com [the missing Science-Ship the intergalictic Alien-War which get announced in Int / Apoc, the other directly were linked with the finish of Apocalypse and the 3rd I don´t know anymore).

The second Row I played was the UFO-After-Row (Aftermath, Aftershock, Afterlight), which come up in the 2k-Time and were not bad in the Storyline (similar to old X-Com with the Storylinelinks to all 3 Games). But it had a lot of Weaknesses too, which belongs to the Technology you had in the 1990s and the fully 2K-Timeline. The Weaknesses were similar the old X-Com-Row, but some cool Ideas were come in (like differnt Ammo-Types for the Rifles, Pistols and not only for the Rocket-Launcher as well as other heavy Weapons).

The third Row I played was the new XCOM-Row (Enemy Unknwon single & with the Enemy Within-DLC, XCOM 2 single & all DLCs, Chimera Squad). There you see the new doable improvements from the 2010+-Timeline. But it limits it´s Potential about the unflexibility in some Points, where all other Games of that Gerne have their big advantages. The new Tech-Improvments which get shown like Upgrades from Weapons, Support-Vehicle, Soldier-Specials and so on are not so much, because they are in the Beginning.

Then there were a lot of Fan-Projects, which are to much to list (UFO: Alien Invasion, Xenonauts 1, Open XCOM etc.). Some have nice Ideas for Improvements the older Games, others bring new Ideas for new Games or Games in Development to make them more interessting. All in all that Fan-Projects are good, but don´t come to the professional Games of that Gerne.

 

Only 3 Games of that Gerne combines old and new Stuff more or less:

The first is Phoenix Point. We know it all and it´s an direct Rival to the new XCOM-Series. It have different Endings, a lot of Decissions and you have to find your Bases, which are all over the World alotted. The cool Feature of the Game is that the Decissions you take have an big Influence to the Game as well as your time to save the remaining Humanty is less about the big wave of the mutagen-virus which is in the last big Mutagen-Nebula to change our World. The differnt 3 or 4 Organisations you meet and have to work with as well as the internal fighting between them gives the Game more Pepper. Short said: You have a lot to do from beginning on and it´s not easy to manage.

The second is the UFO-ET-Row. There we had the Original-Game (UFO ET from 2006) and the light Rework (UFO ET Gold from 2009 / 2010) as well as the Pre-Story-Part (UFO 2 ET: Battle for Mercury, where you only can play the Basegame atm with a lot of Gaps open). The Gold-Version get a big Refit about different Reasons to run on modern Mashines with the Integration from the newest Possibiltys, which get tested in UFO 2 ET-Base-Game already.

It´s an Hybrid from old X-Com and new XCOM from the first Game on, before the new XCOM Row come out. It´s Development isn´t finished yet (esp. for UFO 2 ET, but the UFO 1 ET Platium-Refit will show at this Weekend, what is possible to an 2 Decade old Game (from the Planing to fully Playable) with the newest Game-Tech-Improvements.

The third Game is Xenonauts 2. I agree, there is a lot of Potential there and will be used with the more advanced Versions from the Milestone 2+-Steps. The Suggestions from the Comrade are very good and some of them are planed for an evtl. DLC (like Space-Ships for the Space-Travel). Others will come in the Base-Game (like Pilot- and Interceptor-Upgrades / Changes to bring our important Suggestions there). Some of the Ideas, which will improve the Base-Game "Xenonauts 2" come from the Beta-Testers already and it´s very good that the Communty bring them again as important in Reminder.