Is this game at the point were it can be enjoyed as a game yet?

[sogeking99]

I'm extremely excited about Xenonauts. Looks like it's the bests game since UFO: Enemy Unknown to me. But is it developed to the point were it can be played? Or is it more of a tech demo?

[Chris]

You'll have to rely on other opinions as I'm biased, but it is playable. The next update coming in a few weeks should make it a lot more fun though - we're adding a second alien race, a second tileset and a significant graphical update.

[sogeking99]

Pretty sure I will pre order next week when I get the money regardless.

Only heard about this game when Totalbiscuit did a 'WTF is...' of it have been waiting ever since

[iamkyon]

In my humblest of opinions, dubbing Xenonauts a tech demo in its current state is selling the game short. Predictably, alpha builds have been rough around the edges and have presented but a thin slice of the finished product, but as their stability has improved and fresh features have been introduced, so has the game become more engrossing.

The current version comes with all the basic gameplay elements in place, but is limited to a single alien race and tileset, as well as a batch of research and manufacturing projects. If Xenonauts sounds like your idea of fun, and you feel that the attractions on offer will give you enough of a taster, by all means, jump aboard. You can rest assured there's plenty more goodness on the way in the coming months.

[sogeking99]

Ok, I've pre ordered it.

[Spinewire]

I have yet to be able to complete the first crash site due to various reasons, hopefully the newest version will let me!

[sogeking99]

Really liking this game. The addition of air combat is great. I love how the map is not a globe, navigating that thing was always an annoyance in UFO. Also 'Tail until above land' THANK YOU for these little things

So will all crash sites have civies now? Like Terror missions did on UFO?

[DamZe]

Right now it is not the best, for example when you load just before ground combat, the music stops playing and some sounds are lost. The alpha V8.61 might crash to desktop now and then, but again it is an alpha. From what I have played the game will be awesome when complete. I expect V9 to really show off what Xenonauts is capable of.

Edited January 15, 2012 by DamZe

[Gorlom]

Also 'Tail until above land' THANK YOU for these little things

Imo it should pause when over land again. I thought it was going to automaticly engage or something so i hit 4th speed and got surprised when i had to manually click and engage.. my aircraft didnt manage to catch up in time so i lost that ufo.

[UltimaVirus]

It often crashes, and the features are a bit basic at the moment. Of course, I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't think it would turn out amazing.

[anotherdevil]

Imo it should pause when over land again. I thought it was going to automaticly engage or something so i hit 4th speed and got surprised when i had to manually click and engage.. my aircraft didnt manage to catch up in time so i lost that ufo.

4th speed? It does automatically engage when over land (or at least the window pops up again),,,

[Gorlom]

Oh ok it didnt for me. it just keept going flying around and i tried to manually click it but the ufo either had gotten to far away from my planes or something buged out because the UFO managed to return to space despite flying over a substantial stretch of land with the planes tailing it "untill over land"

[OJSlaughter]

The game crashes way too often and my saves end up repeating the crashes. Making the game unplayable for me but stability will come quickly and regardless buy it and give the devs funding.

What I have seen, I love

[Thann]

Perhaps the UFO was faster than your interceptor and when over land, the interceptor had lost the UFOs tail.

[anotherdevil]

hmm I always thought that once in engaging distance they should stay in that distance. Chris?

[TheTuninator]

Oh ok it didnt for me. it just keept going flying around and i tried to manually click it but the ufo either had gotten to far away from my planes or something buged out because the UFO managed to return to space despite flying over a substantial stretch of land with the planes tailing it "untill over land"

This is a known problem, and one that has been raised with Chris. For whatever reason, it's very difficult for interceptors to close the last few pixels to get into contact with a UFO, resulting in very long and tedious chases.

Chris attributes it to the interceptors are following a tailing course instead of an intercept course where they lead the target; as he knows the problem, it will hopefully be addressed soon.

[anotherdevil]

yeah but this is 'after' they've already closed that gap initially...

[TheTuninator]

Yeah, that's what Chris was referring to, I believe; they're not set on an intercept course at the very end so it's very hard for them to close the gap.

I find that if you just jack it up to 4x speed they catch them like half the time anyways, so until it gets fixed that's a great way to save yourself some frustration.

[anotherdevil]

oh, because I was having trouble getting my guys to the UFOs in the first place. Once they reached them they could easily tail them over land, so long as they had enough fuel, and once over land it was always possible to engage them again.

Another thing this brings up though:

http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php?722-If-you-run-out-of-fuel-while-tailing-splash-them-first!&p=7991#post7991

[Chris]

If you set an interceptor to 'tail' a UFO, a faster UFO will still be able to fly away although the interceptor will follow it until it catches up with it over land or runs out of fuel.