Sorry but for my money this game is too hard

[Dranak]

Honestly, I think most of the problems above could be countered by a funding increase. I've been playing through on normal, I've been doing really well and losing very few soldiers, but I simply haven't had the funding to do anything other than equip my soldiers to having a snowballs chance in hell of putting up a fight, let alone play around with any cool toys. Then north america dropped out and at no point was I even close to being able to afford to get another base up and running. Maybe I have just been doing it wrong.

I do have a suggestion though that could work for everyone - let us have customizable difficulty sliders for different aspects of the game. For example, due to my funding problems I want to be able to slow down the alien escalation so that I can learn to do it properly without having to do the same sort of thing over and over and fail a bunch of times. But at the same time, I don't want the aliens getting weaker weapons and so on that comes with easy difficulty.

Edit: Additionally, part of my problem might be that, and I'm not sure if this is a bug or a feature, aliens don't obey the same LoS rules as you at night. That is, it appears that the aliens can see at night as if it were day time. This has led to me ignoring several terror attack because they happened at night and there is literally nothing I could do about them without being totally wiped out (I am generally reluctant to attack anything at night because when you can't see the enemy until you're right up in their face and they can shoot and kill you in one shot from normal distance, it's suicide) and maybe that escalated things quicker (plus I had to let a number of ufo's go, but again this was always due to funding).

Aliens having a large advantage over you at night is intended, although exactly how large of an edge is still being debated. Although they are much more difficult, night terror missions are completely winnable. Flares and adjusting your tactics are your friends.

[Knightpt]

It's quite clear the game is not balanced yet, but sure as hell is fun to play on this situations as well if you aren't on the mindset that you want to finish the game at all and are just testing it in multiple starts.

makes good practice. I'm quite confident that when the game ships i'll have so much practice with its dificulty as it is now i'll need to make myself play at maximum dificulty after the balancing act is done in the final version.

[Spyda665]

I Semi-Agree with the air combat, It does get 10x harder very quickly, but as for ground combat my veteran troops had a pretty good accuracy after roughly 10 or so missions, 60-80% ... and I've not tried grenades yet, scared of blowing myself up after seeing how badly they throw flares lol

[Sathra]

If I don't feel like a challenge, I reload terror missions from the Geoscape till its Sebillians. Soo much easier.

[MisterLock]

If I don't feel like a challenge, I reload terror missions from the Geoscape till its Sebillians. Soo much easier.

I don't understand....Not a challenge?Wait till Sebillians??Androns and reapers are the real challenge.

[svidangel]

Note the "don't" part.

[thothkins]

I take it that the Sebilians have been toned down then. It was sometimes three or four soldiers to take one down earlier. Now it seems a little too easy, compared to my expectations.

[Sathra]

Nah, it was just their crap view range, and I never had problems with Reapers in terror missions. They always seemed to run over and stare at my troopers.

[thothkins]

Reapers are only an issue if I'm really careless at the moment. As Sathra said, they are a little forgiving.

[svidangel]

Yeah, after the hail of plasma from nowhere phase the enemies seem downright myopic now, when they aren't shooting through ship walls/base walls/hedges/each other.

[thothkins]

not so much Grim Reapers as chatty, neighbourly ones*

*thothkins is well aware of the risk of Reaper Doom, should the devs see this. But then thothkins has...[THE REMAINDER OF THIS POST HAS BEEN CENSORED BY THE XENONAUT PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT, KEEPING A BRIGHT OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK FOR HUMANITY SINCE 1979]

[MisterLock]

I'm afraid of night terror missions with reapers...I remember my first terror mission on this build...I've spammed flares everywhere...I stand very close to the Charlie around 10 turns...After that I think 3 Androns were moving up on me...I just moved my units couple of tiles every turn to see if I can discover aliens...fortunately there weren't any reapers...

[thothkins]

that's my problem. I can't stay still for that long. When I force myself, I just get mugged by plasma casters

[Commissar Pancakes]

That's why I just execute every single solder in the chopper and call it a day for those.

[Challenger-X2]

You know even though I agreed that certain things are a bit too hard right now, I want to chime in one more time.

I think it's important for the aliens to have an advantage around mid game. They are an advanced people after all! I like the idea of needing to be very careful about picking your battles until you can gain some of their tech. It only seems right.

However, the way things are now it feels like they become too hard too fast and then you can never recover (at least I can't)... We need a better way to hang in there while perhaps still taking their savage blows.

[thothkins]

can;t argue with that Challenger-X2, although I do think that with lots of playing you lose fewer people and craft so it does get a little easier. Therefore, it doesn't get that out of hand. As you said, picking and choosing your battles. Not the solution for new players I hasten to add.Would I do a terror mission at night. No I wouldn't. Let them nuke the place.

[Actionhanz]

OP two things:

1.First I do agree with you that this game needs substantial polish before final release. Lets all hope it will get the love it needs. I am desperate for a good UFO EU replacement.

2. Are you sure this is the right type of game for you? Do you know what X-COM's secret for success and memorable moments of gameplay goodness is? The first game has a very good balance between the unevitable deafeats you'll suffer while fighting the aliens and the strategic level that will help you balance those losses out. The game wants you to be the underdog until you discover the alien technology for yourself and start turning the tide only to see the aliens pull out another deadly new trick and the cycle continues. This emotional up and down (especially the first time you play with all the RNG) makes this kind of game so good. It is perceived as brutally hard and yet is playable/beatable by normal people. If you try your best and it's not good enough but somehow you pull it off anyway? Then you know it's X-COM.

a little personal side note: The instant gratification theme park route many games nowadays go is not good for the future of the games i like

[Person012345]

Aliens having a large advantage over you at night is intended, although exactly how large of an edge is still being debated. Although they are much more difficult, night terror missions are completely winnable. Flares and adjusting your tactics are your friends.

Ok, I'll say I was not aware of the function of flares until you said that and now it seems so obvious...

[Gauddlike]

That is one big problem now there are a lot of new players coming to the game.

There is no manual or list of features so some things that should be obvious can be hidden.

[Dranak]

Ok, I'll say I was not aware of the function of flares until you said that and now it seems so obvious...

You're welcome. There's a lot of info that isn't presented well (or at all) in game currently.

[Person012345]

Well, night missions just got a whole lot easier. >.>

[thothkins]

yeah, I thought they would. But it turned out that my guys were so scared they kept their eyes closed so the falres didn;t really make much of a difference.

A manual seems to be a trend at the moment.

[Kinky Kel]

Flares are ok, but what about a flash light? A flash light would be nice.

[Commissar Pancakes]

I think the sight range is factoring in the flashlight. No way an unaugmented human can see 5-10 meters ahead of him/her without aid.

[Yoplate]

Air combat is difficult due to the slow improvements in Xenonaut Aircraft. Initially it is very easy (as it should be) to down scouts and light scouts. Even Corvettes are relatively easy to deal with once you get Foxtrots. The problem is the number of Landing ships and fighters that appear. Corvettes and scouts are entirely gone and the enemy aircraft are entirely Landing ships, or fighters (that explode on death). This makes downing enemy aircraft extremely challenging and the number of enemies means I must ignore a significant portion. If they kept several scouts and corvettes flying around during this time before Corsairs start coming out, it would make it easier to keep up relations and income.

Ground combat is relatively fine, at least during the day. Night missions are pretty difficult, and I outright ignore night terror missions. Starting soldiers seem way too weak, both in accuracy and TU's, and your troops have the annoying tendency to throw grenades directly into their own cover. Other than that, the ground combat seems relatively fine.