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Geoscape Balance Discussion Build V21 Experimental 4!


Aaron

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The Geoscape had fewer changes in this build than ground combat, but it's been a while since we had a new thread for it anyway. Here are the changes:

- Aerial terror sites somewhat less common

- Significantly reduced resource gain from shooting down UFOs that do not generate crash sites

Feel free to just discuss the general state of the Geoscape game, if you have no specific comments on these changes.

EDIT - Additional changes from V21 Ex. 4 Balance Update:

- Geoscape region funding has been rebalanced to improve initial base placement options. Overall funding remains the same, but regions now provide more / less funding depending on their size and proximity to other large nations.

- Corsair now has dual cannons instead of a single cannon and two light missiles, and has received 30% increased HP.

- Cannons have received a buff to ammo capacity and range. Damage has been buffed on all cannons except the autocannon.

-Heavy Fighter and Interceptor UFOs have had their HP reduced by 25-30%.

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Maybe funding should be tied to distance to the nearest base?

Therefore, a nation would be less angry at you if you didn't have any bases nearby.

Would not solve the issue of the Middle East being the most viable location for a first base. It is closest to the most countries and therefore will net you the most cash.

Different regions simply need to be worth more/less then other regions. A base in north america should be just as viable as a base in greece.

On second thought this isn't enough... For a few reasons.

For example you have a base in the middle east. It covers that region plus europe, north africa, and half of both russia and indochina.

That is effectively 4 regions protected from aliens. The aliens attack each region randomly, (an even chance for each region). That means there is a pretty good chance that when the aliens pop up it will be in a region you protect, and you can stop them. An attack on north america is worth the same as an attack on north africa, or the middle east, so why wouldn't you pick a starting base location that gives you maximum coverage of regions?

Also, simply buffing a regions money will make it harder for them to leave the project which will lead to unintended balance problems.

I see only two solutions for this.

Weight the chances of alien attacks happening so that the richer regions are targeted more often. That way, left to their own devices, a rich country and a poor country left unattended will leave xenonauts at roughly the same time.

OR

Perhaps make alien activity cut a % of funding instead of a flat amount per event. That way an alien event in north america will cost you more in funding then an alien event in south africa because it is a bigger "chunk" of funding being cut. You can keep the chances of an alien attack equal for every region in this case.

Edited by legit1337
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OP updated with additional changes from V21 Experimental 4 Balance Update, discussion can continue here.

The changes to the regional funding are done with multipliers (and always have been), rather than with an increase in raw funding value - so UFOs inflict more relative damage if they attack a nation that is funding you heavily.

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OP updated with additional changes from V21 Experimental 4 Balance Update, discussion can continue here.

The changes to the regional funding are done with multipliers (and always have been), rather than with an increase in raw funding value - so UFOs inflict more relative damage if they attack a nation that is funding you heavily.

Thank you for clarifying. An elegant solution.

The game is really coming together now. Can't wait to get home and playtest!

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Okay, done a few air combats with the new cannons and I gotta say I really, really, really like the new cannons. I can use cannons to take out escorts while saving my missiles for the big boys. Possibly might be better to drop the range down to 3000, inline with missiles and then bump them up, what, 200 per tier? but I'll see if the current range makes a difference later. Any chance of bumping up alien escort cannons a bit as well?

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Dunno if this was intended but current balance allows for a single baseline Condor to eliminate a single Light Scout while taking 0 damage.

(Order Condor to slow to 500m/s, allow Light Scout to get into range, fire one missile to miss, wait a second, fire second missile to hit. Finish with cannon. Combat results: Condor undamaged, 21 rounds remaining on cannon. If you lose track for a little while the Condor might get shot a few times.)

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- Geoscape region funding has been rebalanced to improve initial base placement options.

I feel this information just isn't available for the player at the beginning of the game. How should I know where it's worth to build my initial base when there aren't any numbers given to me to base my decicion on...?

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I feel this information just isn't available for the player at the beginning of the game. How should I know where it's worth to build my initial base when there aren't any numbers given to me to base my decicion on...?

Agreed. It wasn't necessary before since all the regions have the same funding, but now it kinda is.

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Dunno if this was intended but current balance allows for a single baseline Condor to eliminate a single Light Scout while taking 0 damage.

(Order Condor to slow to 500m/s, allow Light Scout to get into range, fire one missile to miss, wait a second, fire second missile to hit. Finish with cannon. Combat results: Condor undamaged, 21 rounds remaining on cannon. If you lose track for a little while the Condor might get shot a few times.)

It was doable before, but yes it's a lot easier now. You can also just autoresolve for 100% victory.

And I'll second (third?) the request for being able to see regional funding before placing your first base now that they regional funding is different.

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I'm not sure I like the cannons now having more range than the Sidewinders. I mean, it's fine and all that you can turn a Lt. Scout into Swiss cheese before they can even fire, but from a realism perspective it is so wrong. They would be just fine with old range IMO. Either that or just extend the Sidewinder range to at least match the cannons.

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Dropship progression's been brought up before, but I think it would be appropriate for the Shrike's tech unlocks to be available from the Corvette and the Valkyrie's tech unlocks to be available from the Cruiser. They just come (especially the Valkyrie) a little too late otherwise. I'm guessing the original progression including the Dreadnought and the Destroyer paced the two a little better, but nowthey are gone it could stand to be reshuffled a little.

Edited by Max_Caine
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On a related note, am I the only one that thinks the UFO progression overall is a bit fast? I know it shouldn't be easy to keep up with the alien progression and build/research everything we want, but it feels like once we move past Corvettes the game hurtles along at a crazy pace relative to our ability to manufacture/research. Maybe a slight decrease in UFO progression speed is in order? Or go the other way, and decrease some of the manufacture times?

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On a related note, am I the only one that thinks the UFO progression overall is a bit fast? I know it shouldn't be easy to keep up with the alien progression and build/research everything we want, but it feels like once we move past Corvettes the game hurtles along at a crazy pace relative to our ability to manufacture/research. Maybe a slight decrease in UFO progression speed is in order? Or go the other way, and decrease some of the manufacture times?
Yeah, its a little much. I think we need about a month more breathing room between corvettes and cruisers.
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These are largely valid points. I'll slow the invasion slightly on Veteran relative to the easier settings, and I'm going to reduce the cannons to having the same range as the Sidewinders.

I'm also going to do as Max suggested and move the dropships to arrive at the same time as the comparable fighter craft. I've been meaning to do that one for a while, actually.

We should make the funding info visible when placing the initial base, yes. Good point.

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