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a few suggestions from a new xenonauts player


Ryodan

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I've only been playing for 4 days now, a full 4 days I've played all day each day. However I have been watching xenonauts for a long time and was a huge fan of the '94 xcom, not so much a fan of the new one. Heres a few items I feel would improve gameplay.

1. Increase the range that I can see the terrain.

I understand from a gameplay point that I can only see so far to keep it challenging and terrifying but I think from a game play point of view the ability to see only the terrain for an additional distance would be very good. There are a number of situations where combat in the game feels like this: I'm behind a rock/anything, I can see out in the distance a rock/anything. I'm being fired upon from the total blackness past that. I charge to the rock in the distance and now I can see... look a barn. why couldn't I see that there was a barn across the field before i started crossing? I'm not suggesting uncover the whole map but add in an addition sight radius that stays in the grayed out state, fogged over essentially so that it only shows the terrain. I think around 10 tiles of fogged view being seen would be good enough to be able to say were taking fire I think it came from the house or in that alley, instead of always saying I'm being shot at from out there in the unknown blackness. Additionally when you land you should have terrain awareness of the immediate surroundings in all 4 directions of the drop ship. after all it has windows. In fact the drop ship should serve as a unit for vision. it has pilots in it right? i know they are not graphically represented but someone had to fly it there and should have seen if there is an alien standing 3 tiles in front of the windshield when they landed, It irks me when i find them there, just annoys the heck out of me that the guy flying didn't bother to tell me hey theres a baddie right in front of us, keep that in mind when you step out the side door.

2. side arm equipment slot. or make pistols 2x4 and vertical for belt placement(yes im picky)

have you ever worn a pistol on your belt? In my regular clothes I can pack a pistol and 2 mags concealed. yet thats all my soldiers can fit on their belt in combat gear. I don't equip my troops with pistols because theres no need for a sidearm unless they carry a shield or a rocket launcher at this point. now you might think this is just pointless to worry about but if we had a side arm equipment slot we could make the game more interesting with my next suggestion.

3. weapon malfunctions

Add in a small chance for a weapon to malfunction when fired then slightly increase this chance with each shot fired through the weapon on a given mission. soldiers carrying assault rifles, or shotguns (or the equivalent higher tiered weapons) can automatically transition to a sidearm when the weapon malfunctions. (explanation is those weapons are typically used in a sling so the soldier simply drops it and it hangs in front of them while they draw the side arm) then they can clear the jam when they feel its acceptable to spend the tu's to do so. Soldiers carrying machine guns, rocket launchers, or precision rifles on the other hand would still work the same way having to unequip the weapon and pull a side arm manually. Ideally this would require the addition of a lot of artwork (8 images per soldier, per slung weapon, per side arm) a lot of that is just cut out x weapon and replace with y weapon and theres the new image though. Realistically it could work without any additional art as like a weapon swap mechanic when the main weapon jams you equip the sidearm automatically (only for assault rifles and shotguns)

Consider it this way, the most memorable thing about a game like this is the fact it keeps us sitting at the edge of our computer chairs nervously wondering whats going to happen next. This is why we play, this is what brings us back again and again. Take that and add to it, a new terror, a new chance for a dramatic comeback or defeat.

4. more crops

we don't eat cabbage as much as we did back in '94, its no longer the base of the food pyramid. Seriously though I never understood why the '94 game had cabbage everywhere, corn fields are far more terrifying.

I really think #1 would be a great addition, and I imagine a simple one when compared to #s 2 and 3. the next 2 would go hand in hand with each other and I feel greatly add to the suspense and replayability of the game. And lastly #4 is just me being sick of looking at cabbage fields, had enough of that in the '90s.

Thank you guys for making a great game, I've been looking forward, for a long time now, for a new version of xcom. One that kept the spirit of the original and the suspense I still remember from it alive.

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I think 4 is the only one that is possible at this stage, unfortunately. 1) is intentional to keep the player guessing, even if it is unrealistic. We're not going to mess with the inventory code at this late stage of development so 2) is out, and while 3) is quite an interesting idea I'm not sure it's suited to Xenonauts.

It's more the sort of thing you see in a Jagged Alliance game along with much more in-depth weapon customisation options - Xenonauts takes combat at a slightly higher level and abstracts the weapons a little more. So I like the idea but don't really think it fits with what we're trying to achieve.

Glad you like the game!

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Like the game, I love the game. thank you for responding. I'm sure #4 will get modded in at some point if you don't get to it.

Also thought of a few more this week. I noticed one thing that really annoys me. all the alien ships show up in waves, which is fine. but i have to center at 5 sec for each one until they all spawn and that I can then plan my interceptions. Problem is I have is to remember which number ufo is what type. I usually have to re-check them all to see which ones are small, medium, or escorted. Could we get different icons for each type? small, medium (i'm assuming there's a large later) and maybe a 2 smaller triangles on the sides to show escorts? If not its still great fun.

Also on the screen where you arrange the individual soldiers on your drop ship, would be nice if they soldiers showed their "role" on their icons so you could just move them around by role quickly. I like to place my shield guys by the side doors to scout the sides and line up snipers at the front gate to take pot shots at anything in the landing zone. As it is right now I don't even bother arranging them because as soon as I do a mission and a soldier is hurt, the new ones come in and its all different. too much work to arrange them pre-flight with as many missions as I do, I don't make use of the air strike option if I don't have too.

both of these are more things that annoy me as I play. Not anything big just minor annoyances that to me would improve the game play experience.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

I am new to the forums but I would like to throw my two cents.

Reapers are stupidly overpowered I don't care what XCOM purists say one of the best things about EU was that getting hit by a Chryssalid wasn't a one hit K.O. I find it utterly silly that a soldier wearing power armor or heck Sentinel armor (since it's full body armor) can get one shot killed by a reaper. People wearing Predator armor should be outright immune, with Sentinel armor there should be only a small (10%) chance and for Wolf it should be anywhere between 25 and 50 percent due to the alien alloy plating. Maybe with higher chance to get zombified as the armor degrades from enemy fire.

Also, what's with these unimplemented things like Colossus armor, Particle cannon, and the Saracen aircraft?

What the values of chemical about: were you planning on having acid spit as a secondary reaper attack or something?

One thing that would be nice is if the timer went to the lowest setting when a U.F.O. was intercepted it is infuriating to have to click the 5-second button and it's worse when another U.F.O. gets intercepted and you have to start the race to the 5 second button.

Having a single button to rally all soldiers to a specific area instead of doing a click, scroll, click 8, 12, 16 times.

Why can't you sell corpses? Given the implants and subdermal armor I figure you could get a modest sum for each one of a specific type.

Any plans for a sequel that takes place in the Deep or an Apocalyptic adventure if this pans out?

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Reapers:

Let's just say that a bunch of us like to panic-circle-the-wagons at the mere mention of Reapers/Chryssalids just for the fact that there will always be an enemy that has the ability to negate all our fancy indestructo-armor late game...

As a result, I keep picturing Reapers being able to tear through armor like a Genestealer through Tactical Dreadnought Armor.

UFO Interception:

Would definitely be nice, but you can also hit the spacebar to bring the geoscape back to it's zoomed out view and reset the speed to the 5-second mark.

Corpses:

It's 1979. Trying to back engineer implants and subdermal armor is probably going to just leave your poor scientists bashing their heads against the wall.

...and all your funding goes into research, manufacturing, maintenance, and salary. Everyone on the base has got to eat somehow... :)

Sequel:

Chris has stated (a while back) that they'll be moving on to something different and won't touch upon a sequel for a while. Hopefully without using the engine for Diner Dash this time...

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4. more crops

we don't eat cabbage as much as we did back in '94, its no longer the base of the food pyramid. Seriously though I never understood why the '94 game had cabbage everywhere, corn fields are far more terrifying.

Weren't orchards getting put in?

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