Radar range balance discussion?

[Monifix]

Hi everyone,

So I've been thinking, how do people feel about current radar range you get from having a fully equipped base with 3 radar arrays? It seems to me that it might be a little too convenient that you're basically able to cover most of the landmass with just 3 fully equipped bases, one in the middle east, one around Cuba and one in eastern China. Going above 3 bases doesn't add much benefit as far as radar coverage goes. Wouldn't it be more fun and challenging if there was a slight reduction in the radar range? Even just a slight reduction would make a big difference in how you'd have to approach the geoscape. Your thoughts?

[quiescat]

i find its keeping my planes in the air that tends to be more of a challenge then radar range. i go for a 5 base pattern of one base for North and south America central gets cover by proxy. main base is in north Africa this ends up with 3 radars so it covers EU middle east and south Africa. 1 soviet some what near Alaska and one in Australia. the set up you have sounds like it might have dead zones near the edges of your range where the faster UFOs can tease your foxtrots into running out of fuel or forcing you to down them over water.

but if the do lower radar range they might need to tone back how much bases cost per next teir as my last base is a fight to get built with out grinding ground missions for the extra cash.

next game i am going to have to try your set up and see if it works better to have 3 bases and just build 6-8 hangers instead of my normal 4. as a side note this might explain why i think the quantum cryto thiney i cant think of how to spell right now costs to much for seeing how you need one for each base with radar coverage

[Monifix]

@Quiescat: Yes you are correct about there being dead zones with no coverage with the 3 base setup i use, I'd say it covers roughly 80% of the land mass. I think that's basically enough though, as you don't need to intercept every single UFO to beat the game at all, and it's a cost effective setup that does the job, so I don't see much reason to get more bases beyond that. This is just my experience though, and my opinion, It's not necessarily the truth, which is why I appreciate the discussion

[kabill]

Personally, I'd be happy to see base radar range reduced. In theory, there's the option to increase radar range by building more radars, but I've never felt the need as a default from one is huge enough as is.

On the other hand, the early game can sometimes be a bit random in terms of whether you detect UFOs early or not and reducing radar range would only compound that.

[Lidhuin]

I was considering suggesting adding listening posts. Essentially small single radar bases that are not cost effective to build, but that don't require building an entirely new base and let you cover small portions of land.

(Then I realized it was a bad idea and would be both difficult to balance and implement).

[thixotrop]

I really like the idea of listening posts to cover the leftover areas your base radars does not reach.

Only recently I found out, that it was possible to enhance radar range with further radar buildings in your base. I don't know why that info passed me. But then I did not have the space anymore.

So with one radar building per base the game is quite hard fundingwise. Therefore I don't want the radar range decreased.

And quiescat is right, keeping the jets in the air or in active state (so no repair) is a heavy task already. At least for me with only three bases. I never could afford to built and maintain more bases.

[Beltorn]

I was considering suggesting adding listening posts. Essentially small single radar bases that are not cost effective to build, but that don't require building an entirely new base and let you cover small portions of land.

(Then I realized it was a bad idea and would be both difficult to balance and implement).

I think this is a great idea and game would benefit from it immensely.

Let's take out radar and hangars equipment from bases altogether - it never really fit there. i still shudder at the jokes of neutrino radars from XCOM 2012.

Now we have two types of bases - main - production/research facilities safely hidden underground and really hard to find for aliens and airbases which are a collection of hangars, radars and some defenses - a no less juicy target for UFOs to attack as that heavily cripples xcom operations in region if destroyed - i.e. you would have to keep airpatrol in the area by diverting planes from neighboring regions. Such bases would be upgradable too and when attacked, would require defense by xenonaut's strike teams. This would nicely increase the required amount of soldiers, because frankly i don't need more than 8-14 operatives +tank and an occasional recruit when somebody gets killed. Also such change will finally rework base defense missions into a strong possibility instead of once-in-a-game occurrence. Besides this would fit with the "planetary defense" title.

[Lidhuin]

I always figured the actual radar facilities (antennas, dishes, etc...) were above ground, while the crew, computers, etc... were safe in the base.

Of course, this begs the question of why there isn't already radar coverage of most of the planet. Obviously the alien UFO require specialized equipment to detect reliably.

[Komandos]

If a player buys on the market an aircraft equipped with a radar for detecting UFOs, then it is logical that such a radar should be in every city.