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Kindly remove (QUICKLY) all alien 'interceptor squads' from the game.


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I've said this before.

1) They serve no purpose other than to ruin the game\

2) They're not even fun

3) they chain-lock you (I've lost a foxtrot and a condor just now because of chain-locking... couldn't escape them) which is possibly a bug

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Chain locking is a bug. It will be patched out. Are they overpowered or do you need to adjust your playstyle. Were the condor and foxtrot out alone? cuz if they are you were asking for it..... Did you send them out while fighter squads were prowling.

I believe this could help the community if you changed the OP the answer these questions.

1. What difficulty were you on.

2. What version are you on.

3. How many alien fighter squads were there.

4. How often do they spawn.

5. Are they heavy fighters or normal ones.

Edited by Name
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I actually love them... That's why I have a whole wing of my condors myself + a foxtrot... you can easily win with two condors if you do some micro (currently only though as they seem to be too slow to evade first missile). Later on you will need 3 v 3 i guess (only one stingray will connect, and each will have to go head on with the fighters after one stingray hits).

It also gives the sense of alien invasion.. you do not fight overwhelming odds only on the ground but also in the air...

Personally though I'd rather prefer to have mre focus on the pilots than the aircrafts in terms of the cost and replaceability, then we could have some costs of aircraft reduced, (initial free upgraded, special material cost only) and focus on the men and women in these awesome machines :)

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We ought to get funding points for downing fighters. I can't tell if we do or not, but we ought to and downing fighters should reduce the chances that fighters will escort the next large alien ship that comes around. That would be somewhat of a reward for destroying them.

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I play normal - ironman.

Maybe that is why i'm annoyed at them. everyone else can just save-reload and never lose a plane.

The fighters are just a pointless annoyance. I agree that there needs to be a feeling of alien superiority, but forcing me into constantly whack-a-mole'ing fighter squadrons is not 'alien superiority', but rather 'annoying redundant chore'.

fighting them is not rewarding, it's the same drill over and over again.

That's the feeling of it.

Here is what it actually does in terms of gameplay balance:

1) forces you to have more fighter planes (fine I guess, but what's the point)

2) makes you go through the chore of downing them again and again, which you HAVE TO or you cannot do ground missions sometimes.

2) makes ironman mode a terror to play because they can one-shot a foxtrot and put you out of the game, and the smallest loss can put you back into unrecoverability.

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Aircraft cost is something being balanced at the moment. I wouldn't be surprised to see Foxtrot's cheaper as well, to give more of a cushion before tier 2/3 planes that require more resources/time to build.

Getting points and/or some scraps of alloy sounds like a great idea, and would make players want to shoot them down.

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There's one interceptor squadron a wave.

One.

ONE.

ONE.

It's hardly a "chore" to take on one inteceptor squad per wave of UFOs, which only stays on the geoscape for a fixed period of time, and will never stay longer than a downed UFO. They're incredibly easy to spot, and incredibly easy to take out. It's the same kind of "chore" to take on a corvette with an escort, or a landing ship with an escort, or any kind of UFO with a fighter escort. Fightercraft aren't a "terror" except to people who have zero skill in the air combat minigame, and to people who cannot budget whatsoever and spend it all as soon as it comes in. Praise God there will be an autoresolve function for air combat in v19, which will do away with the whining about how hard the air combat is.

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I play normal - ironman.

Maybe that is why i'm annoyed at them. everyone else can just save-reload and never lose a plane.

The fighters are just a pointless annoyance. I agree that there needs to be a feeling of alien superiority, but forcing me into constantly whack-a-mole'ing fighter squadrons is not 'alien superiority', but rather 'annoying redundant chore'.

fighting them is not rewarding, it's the same drill over and over again.

That's the feeling of it.

Here is what it actually does in terms of gameplay balance:

1) forces you to have more fighter planes (fine I guess, but what's the point)

2) makes you go through the chore of downing them again and again, which you HAVE TO or you cannot do ground missions sometimes.

2) makes ironman mode a terror to play because they can one-shot a foxtrot and put you out of the game, and the smallest loss can put you back into unrecoverability.

You can tell they are fighters by the size, timeline, and number of ships in the formation. Why don't you just ignore them if they're not attacking your transport?
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I suck at the minigame. No excuses. For me it is hard to kill fighter squadrons even with a three jet squadron. But ultimately, this is why autoresolve is needed. At some point, you get to be as good at the mini game as possible, so it loses it's meaning completely and every round becomes a foregone conclusion. This is true of pretty much any mini game.

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We ought to get funding points for downing fighters. I can't tell if we do or not, but we ought to and downing fighters should reduce the chances that fighters will escort the next large alien ship that comes around. That would be somewhat of a reward for destroying them.

I think we do get standing (and thus income) for them, same as shooting down any other UFO. It's just a lot less than winning a ground mission. Of course, it only takes a few seconds, so that seems fair.

I don't have a problem taking down interceptor squads. Of course, I do have 2 light and 2 heavy fighters in each base, which makes it a lot simpler. Switch out for Marauders later and you don't need light fighters anymore.

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I play ironman on veteran with absolutely no problem with these interceptor squads other than the chain locking.

I think the interceptors should sure as heck remain in the game, as it adds (tough not effectively yet) another layer of strategy, risk and resource management to the game. If anything I'd make the heavy interceptors much tougher (certainly able to kill two Condors easily), though arrive maybe a little later in the game after Condors can be replaced. As the game is now, I do not feel at all that the alien fighters are a threat, let alone some sort of hyper advanced piece of weaponry that should be able to decimate the modern airforces of the world; they are too easy to "game" and kill (though I understand the game is no where near to done and will be balanced further, etc.).

So, I agree with Solver as well in principle. This minigame is pretty much a pointless annoyance after you learn how to play it right. It's like lockpicking in Skyrim and Oblivion. To address this, I suggest improving the minigame (or removing it entirely... though it is charming and I like the aesthetics and kind of feel it is supposed to give) AND definitely adding an autoresolve button, as well as introducing pilots to the game that have stats and the like. To improve the minigame (and even the Geoscape game in general), perhaps there could be some element of surprise... perhaps undetected interceptor squadrons could intercept your squadrons, starting within missile range. Then you have to actually maneuver, think about how to handle a unique situation as it's not so predictable. I dunno...

As for my reasoning for having pilots with actual skills/stats or whatever... it would serve to help cushion in between tech tiers as well as make technological superiority no longer the only determining factor in things. I mean, this isn't necessary, but it is another way to fine-tune how the game plays out and could actually assist in balancing not only the gameplay but the pacing of the game. Also, it would feed into whatever auto-resolve feature or lack of mini-game... it would give additional parameters that would feed into the outcome of the auto-resolved battle. Just think about UFO:AI; it does this pretty much, it works very well, and I really really like it.

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I dislike the air combat mini game but I do like the idea of the air superiority missions.

I would avoid the invisible unavoidable version though, that feels like blind luck that you cannot plan for so removing the strategic aspect from the player.

If you cannot see them then you cannot decide how to handle them, you can never risk sending out a weak squadron to take on a small craft because they could get a random ambush on the way.

If you see an air superiority squadron you can either try to avoid it if you don't have the available craft or attack it directly.

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Each fighter shot down should give us one alloy, each heavy fighter two alloys, to simulate crews being sent to the wreckage and picking up what's left.
Fully agree. There ought to be rewards for downing enemy figthers (including the escorts for larger ships) because you are risking some very valuable equipment to do it specially later in the game.
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I am not in the habit of trying to figure out how to cover bad ideas with a bit of chocolate.

New thought is required! :)

It's only a bad idea in your opinion. I know you want to make the game super simple, but some of us prefer complexity. Also, not everyone wants to play Ironman mode. In fact, I'm pretty sure the vast majority don't.
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New thought is appreciated, however I don't think it will change. One suggestion, stagger your missiles, so you fire one and then the other. The fighter will dodge the first, but be hit by the second if you time it correctly. With alenium missiles (or higher) you should take out at least light fighters with one shot.

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While I am appreciative of your opinion, it is not my own :) And so opinion is not a good way of judging.

A good game is one where every system is tied to others in a way that makes the whole greater than the sum.

Not a game that has many systems, none of which adding to one another, and sometimes making a mess of each other.

For analysis that is sensible you need to specify in points which systems a certain system ties into, and how it affects each one and the whole.

My analysis starts with:

1) The air combat game system involved in taking them down is very shallow, necessitating that you perform exactly the same actions time after time to take them out

2) They artificially add to your need of having a bigger fleet of interceptors, which could just as easily be done in other ways (such as making funding balance require that you have a base to cover another continent, or whatever. if it's even necessary at all)

3) The smallest mistake in the air-combat game with them and you've lost aircraft. losing aircraft means losing the game. this is another big problem which can be addressed by making your fighters 'flee the scene' when too damaged, never getting downed.

So in fact they currently are supportive of a much bigger balance problem.

4) They prevent you from taking on certain missions or performing certain actions because your planes also need time to reload/repair/refuel. If you have a terror mission now and fighters jump in while ur repairing/refueling, u cant do the mission.

This I actually like a lot. I like it when the game hands you a situation and says "sorry matey, u can't have it ur way every time"

5) feel free to add

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