Extra benefits for completing night time missions

[Boltdoc]

To encourage players to take on night time missions instead of skipping them, how about giving unique bonuses on completion? This could be a specific medal, increased experience points or an extra cash bonus. It does seem inconsistent to have a huge spike in difficulty on night time maps with no compensation. And also unrealistic to be able to play 99% of your missions in daytime by waiting for time to pass.

(NB Thanks to all for making this fantastic game - im really starting to feel the immersion for the first time with the latest update)

[crusherven]

I don't know that it's unrealistic. Troops have almost always waited for night to pass and fought in the daytime. You only fight at night if you're forced to or it gives you some advantage. A medal or something similar might be interesting, though.

[EchoFourDelta]

I don't know that it's unrealistic. Troops have almost always waited for night to pass and fought in the daytime. You only fight at night if you're forced to or it gives you some advantage. A medal or something similar might be interesting, though.

Yeah, nighttime combat operations are really only an advantage in armed conflict if you A) have night vision systems, B) the enemy doesn't, and C) when you actually have recon on the area you're attacking, and know its layout. We have none of these things in Xenonauts.

[crusherven]

And I'd also point out that there is a sort of built-in cash bonus--some missions can only be completed at night, either because the crash site will disappear or the landed UFO will take off.

[thothkins]

A medal would be nice, perhaps for a night time terror mission. Other than that, I don;t think there should be any particular bonus.

[SalsaDoom]

I would be happy with a medal myself. Medals are cool. You wouldn't really get any additional gear or cash from it, since the results are ultimately the same really. Just harder. So medals make sense.

[billion]

don't like night missions and always prefer to wait till day time. the reason is that my soldiers have limited sight range. it is much less then sight range of Aliens. so you always have shots from dark side. wish we could have some night vision system

[GizmoGomez]

Throw flares like mad. They only cost 10TU, so spam them.

In fact, if we were to add a night mission medal (5 night missions completed, 10 night missions completed?) I would recommend making the centerpiece of that medal a flare. For the 10 mission one make it two flares crossed under an alien skull.

[SalsaDoom]

Throw flares like mad. They only cost 10TU, so spam them.

In fact, if we were to add a night mission medal (5 night missions completed, 10 night missions completed?) I would recommend making the centerpiece of that medal a flare. For the 10 mission one make it two flares crossed under an alien skull.

I want this. Someone make this happen In games like this, I am willing to throw wave after wave of men to near certain death so some high ranking guy can get a new pin.

[Zekram Bogg]

Which brings up a point:

Why aren't Night Vision Goggles in the game already?

I mean, they were invented in the 1950's fer christsakes. You'd think an elite military group like the Xenonauts could obtain a few sets by 1979, right?

[StellarRat]

Yeah, but those early ones gave away your position. So, the aliens would be able to see you a lot further away than you could see them. The first passive systems came along in the Vietnam War. The really good ones came in the 80's. Also, there are various types of night vision system infrared systems (the earliest) suck because they give away your location. Thermal and starlight are much better.

[thothkins]

gameplay mainly I believe.

If the Xenonauts can see pretty well at night, it eliminates an advantage the aliens have. A number of threads have suggested options, but there are flares

[Zekram Bogg]

No, I get the gameplay justification to a fair degree, but it does seem odd that there wouldn't be improvement in tech along this lines as the game progresses.

I mean, let's say the base justification is that the NVDs of the era are too large or give your position away during night missions.

But once you get some research in the Alien tech done, then why not add a new research project that allows for building of the goggles? That way they get some use. Of course, they're also still heavy, so there's an encumbrance hit, and they cost money and time to make so there's that drawback too. It seems fairly self balancing at that point.

What about motion trackers at least? Are those in?

[thothkins]

Motion trackers were a kickstarter stretch goal that wasn't met, so at present that would be a "no". You never know what the dev team have planned though.

[Zekram Bogg]

Dang. I'm starting to wish I found out about this game a lot sooner.

[thothkins]

I've been kicking around here for over a year now, and I thought that when I joined

[OndieJ]

I do just straight up avoid night missions. If a ufo lands there or if a crash site will disappear... those aliens can go free. Terror mission at night? Sorry civilians but you're on your own. Xeno HQ is a 9-5 operation!

[Zekram Bogg]

Yeah, after running into a particularly nasty night mission the other day, I gotta say . . . that lack of awareness while the enemies seem to suffer no such penalty . . . super fun.

So yeah, there needs to be more incentive/mitigation on night missions, because I seriously never want to do one for anything larger than a light scout now.

As people said, a medal for surviving like, 3 night-time missions would be good (and hard to get, because seriously). Maybe also give us SOME other tool or technique to mitigate the darkness, or at least a few aliens who need to use some kind of light source themselves?

Or how about this? Alien plasma weapons give off a bit of a glow after their fired (as a lighting effect), so then the player can at least get a stronger sense of where the enemies are after they're ambushed and lose their best soldier.

[OndieJ]

We can (and I do) always send the rookie in first

[Mytheos]

The night missions are harder, and are meant to be so.

Its a concept of risk, and theme. If you deal with a greater risk, you get a reward...more money etc.

Over the course of a few months depending on your luck avoiding night missions can impact your progress a decent bit.

Instead of avoiding them, I suggest you save/load them until you are able to handle them better, it will require better and perhaps new tactics...and those tactics can be applied to day missions to make you a better player.

Once you get the hang of it, they arent really that big of a deal.

Edited September 2, 2013 by Mytheos

[Tobbzn]

I actually enjoy night missions for a number of reasons!

1. They set the mood well with the fog of war. During daytime missions, aliens still get to shoot you from outside your vision range, but it seems fake because walking one or two steps closer suddenly lets you see them. It's also more exciting, of course, since you have no idea what to expect when you're crossing a road, and requiring exploration to find out who shot that plasma shot from the dark adds another layer of intensity to the "find-alien-shoot-alien" gameplay.

2. Aliens may still have better night vision than you, but at least it's shorter than their normal range, so you're not getting your assault guys suppressed from five rounds worth of TUs away. This means you can actually get close to and kill an alien in a sensible amount of time from the point where it first fires at you.

3. I'm a big fan of the shieldbearer & sniper combo, and the fact that I can throw flares (at reduced TU cost since my shieldbearers just pocket their pistols) and "call in" thunder from my snipers is awesome.

4. Since aliens generally don't engage from the extreme ranges they do during daytime, once you DO have sight on an enemy, it's more likely to be in rifle/shotgun range, so it reduces your reliance on snipers.

The only issue my soldiers raise is something they call a 'Reaper'. Ah, yes, ‘Reapers’. The terrifying race of aliens allegedly waiting just outside their sight range. Xenonaut Command has dismissed this claim.

[thothkins]

Instead of avoiding them, I suggest you save/load them until you are able to handle them better, it will require better and perhaps new tactics

I was hoping that staying in the Chinook until dawn would work as a tactic, but alas the battlescape world doesn't change

I'm sure flares have been tweaked since the last time I did one. Actually, I'm sure a lot has changed. My fears are old ones. I should put them aside and leave this Chinook to try again! ...>bang< Gaaaaaaah!!!! Run away run away!

[gshuford]

I see lots of backing for a medal, but I dunno if I'd risk it for that. Maybe a little extra increase to attributes?

[EchoFourDelta]

Hey, a medal's an increase to bravery, and Chris mentioned making it a bit more important.

[thothkins]

I''d definitely not want anything beyond a Night Ops medal. I will try another one to see, but I get the same sense of relief in finishing one as I do a terror mission or and alien base.

Having said that, perhaps the medal should activate only for a certain size of UFO. When I've had to go on a night mission, it's often been things like landing ships which are much more of a threat than Light Scout maps.

If there's anything like an attribute boost just for going out after dark, I'd expect boosts for troopers who walk around with their eyes closed for a while,or the Xenonaut Strategic Nocturnal Defence Simulator as I'm calling it.