Air combat - first impression

[Gam]

Hi all,

I haven't played any beta in a long time, as I was mainly focusing on the translation.

This week I had to start a few games to check any translation problem, and the first thing to do in the game is to shoot down a few UFO.

Honestly I was a bit disappointed.

1) Once you create and lunch a squadron, you can't split the aircrafts anymore..... why???

2) The interceptors consume so much fuel during the combat that unless you intercept the UFO right over your base, the combat often resolves in a retreat for low fuel. wtf?

Does anybody know if there i any fix planned for these issues?

Gam

[Max_Caine]

1) No. There are many threads on this. Check out a few.

2) Aircraft range (fuel) can be modded.

[Serker]

Hi all,

1) Once you create and lunch a squadron, you can't split the aircrafts anymore..... why???

You can't make new squad on the fly as well. I don't think it is big problem though.

2) The interceptors consume so much fuel during the combat that unless you intercept the UFO right over your base, the combat often resolves in a retreat for low fuel. wtf?

Gam

Yeah, fuel is problem, especially considering bad habit of tail chase across half planet. But it makes air combat somewhat more challenging - you must do all your stuff as fast as possible. You rarely even need more than 40 seconds of Condor fuel if you go for kill, or 60 if you need to retreat.

I can think of two things to make it easier: try to predict UFO course and set aircraft to meet them en route; and don't use Condors unless you need to shut escort or enemy fighter squad. Foxtrots easily do everything except for dogfights. Even soloing light and medium scouts. Pair of foxtrots can even down escorted ship, but it is more of suicide run later in the game.

[llunak]

Yeah, fuel is problem, especially considering bad habit of tail chase across half planet. But it makes air combat somewhat more challenging - you must do all your stuff as fast as possible. You rarely even need more than 40 seconds of Condor fuel if you go for kill, or 60 if you need to retreat.

One can use the same logic for the opposite claim - if you rarely need more than 40 seconds, what's the point of burning the fuel so fast, when burning it more slowly wouldn't actually make a big difference? Well, except for actually having the fuel to do any meaningful maneuvering or not having the game do suicidal retreats, of course.

[Gauddlike]

Fuel burn rate in combat can be altered in the xml separately from geoscape burn rate.

These are the sections to look for in gameconfig.xml if you want to try it.

<!-- AIR COMBAT FUEL BURN RATE -->

<airCombatFuelBurnRate value="200" comment="This is the multiplier for combat fuel consumption compared to Geoscape travel." />

<evadeFuelMultiplier value="1" comment="Multiplies fuel consumption in air combat while Roll is active." />

<!-- AFTERBURNER PARAMETERS -->

<afterBurnerFuelMultiplier value="3.0" comment="Afterburner fuel consumption multiplier when active." />