So, after about 12 years, I tried the game again for a few days because I found some mod that I absolutely had to try (
https://ufoai.org/forum/index.php?topic=9093.0).
The gameplay has improved quite a bit, I very much liked the smoke grenades changes (stun) and the new reaction fire and bleeding.
Didn't like the new soldier models. Why did they need to be replaced? Was there a copyright problem?
I even have two stories.
Story 1.
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So, my two riflemen (Shakiki and Din) had to cross an open field in front of aliens pointing rifles at them.
Din: We have to run all that way to that cover, we will surely die!
Shakiki: I have an idea. I take two steps and stop. Then you take two steps and stop. Then I again. Then you again. See?
Din: Curse your ideas, do you want us to also look stupid when we die?
Shakiki: Just lets try it. If we die I won't tell anybody. I promise.
Din: ...
(I mean, I really do like the new reaction fire. The player has to deliberately exploit it to break it. Without such tricks it works rather well. It could actually be perfect reaction fire for the Shevaar to give them some reptilian character).
Story 2.
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A Fighter UFO started to chase my Saracen. I fled with the Saracen, but noticed the UFO is turning to strange directions in response. Saracen is faster than Fighter UFO, so I figured out it thought the shortest path was around The Earth.
When Saracen stopped because the movement order ended, the UFO started to move towards the Saracen again. But when I ordered the Saracen to stop, the UFO continued to move in whatever direction it was moving.
So we met up at a convenient location above a desert along with my two Stilettos from the other base.
Later, a Harvester was chasing me back and forth over a SAM site, trying to catch me around The Earth.
(I mean, the aliens are not stupid, they just have a different perspective. For them, compared to The Universe, The Earth is very small. Like children chasing each other around a tree, when one of them changes direction, they bump into each other)
And a bonus question (I do not guarantee that I read the answer if it takes more than a few days).
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Is the graphics style of UFO:AI heavily influenced by Descent Freespace or is Descent Freespace just an example of what was generally fashionable at that time?
