General > Discussion

My first impressions

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eleazar:

--- Quote from: Troberg on February 15, 2008, 03:04:58 pm ---* I'd love to see multiplayer campaigns. Each player have their own bases, then when a mission begins, the soldiers are divided between the players so everybody has something to do.

* I'd love to see aliens vs human multiplayer, both in missions and in campaigns. A campaign would probably need to bend the story a little, for instance, the aliens have successfully taken over North and South America at the start and have bases there. For balance, humans would lack technology in the beginning, but have plenty of troops, while aliens are superior but few. As the campaign progress, they have the opportunity to overcome these limitations through research.

--- End quote ---

Multiplayer campaigns won't work.  The user-controlled fluctuation time-rate is necessary to make campaigns playable, and is not possible with 2 human players.

Silveressa:

--- Quote from: eleazar on February 21, 2008, 11:23:27 am ---Multiplayer campaigns won't work.  The user-controlled fluctuation time-rate is necessary to make campaigns playable, and is not possible with 2 human players.

--- End quote ---

What about making the time rate flow the same for both players rather than differently? Or perhaps giving player 1 complete control over the time ratio? (this would work well for LAN games at least)

Aiki-Knight:
Let me weigh in:

As others has said, this game is phenomenal. Really - it's incredible. Just as it is, I love it.

Let me enumerate my most primary feedback:

1. KEEP the realistic-looking special-forces-style troops at the beginning. THIS sets the game apart from the rest, and really makes UFO:AI feel realistic in ways all previous games failed to do.
2. Keep the excellent distinction of weapons. Players are clearly rewarded for using different types of weapons in a squad, especially the sniper rifle, and this realism is outstanding. Proper sniper use is very rewarding in this game, and adds tremendous gravity to being smart and realistic with tactics.
3. Keep the fact that there are civilians on every map. THIS is realism. With few exceptions, there would be civilians everywhere. A possible exception might be a dedicated alien base.

Now for some suggestive feedback:
1. I'd like to suggest modifying the maximum number of civilian deaths allowed. Punish heavily when PHALANX kills civilians, but not so much when the aliens kill them. A world-wide campaign against a massive alien invasion could hardly keep civilian casualties so low.
2. Currently, non-PHALANX military personnel tend to run up to agents and stand in front of them, blocking them. This innovation is brilliant and distinctive. If possible, perhaps tweak their AI to run inside the ship, perhaps (if possible) take orders, or fight independently against aliens.
3. Is there a way to model children civilians for immense realism? The civilians are such a genuine aspect of the missions, making them incredibly immediate to the mature player. What would happen if the occasional child were mixed in among more civilians?

Really, I have described this game to friends as "Rainbow Six meets XCOM", and I mean that as THE highest form of praise. This game really feels like you're commanding special forces in a very real, very dark, gritty struggle against very dangerous and cruel invaders. This game possesses a tone not seen since XCOM1, and in many ways far surpasses it. The maps are so various and realistic; it really looks like you're doing missions in real places. Perhaps, if there were a way to make the game open-ended so one could download limitless new maps into the game's treasury, people making new maps after the game is released could continue to grow the diversity of the maps. Like SimCity does with maps and buildings, UFO:AI could take off. New maps dumped into the directories would be randomly selected by the game for each mission.

In any case, I haven't a single complaint. I haven't been this excited about a game in a decade. Thank you. My sincerest thanks.

Troberg:

--- Quote from: Silveressa on February 21, 2008, 11:55:01 am ---What about making the time rate flow the same for both players rather than differently? Or perhaps giving player 1 complete control over the time ratio? (this would work well for LAN games at least)

--- End quote ---

Or run at a fixed pace, but with a pause every new day to manage your bases and all that stuff, and with a pause when something happens (UFO/activity spotted). When an interception is in progress, the game runs at a fixed, slower pace.

Of course, it would make it more turn based and not as fluid, but given that multiplayer campaigns would be possible, it would be worth the sarifice.

----

Some more suggestions:

* Since the game is rendered in real 3D anyway, not bitmapped fake isometric 3D like the "originals", why not implement a "cool cam". When something important/cool happens, zoom in to a closeup view (as close as the current 3D models can handle) of what's happening. For instance, when one of your troops get killed, place the camera a few squares away from him, along the line of fire that hit him. The same goes for killing an enemy. This could probably be extended to include other events as well, such as "Alien spotted", "Taking fire", "Grenade thrown", "Shooting at alien", "Civilian killed", "Civilian spotted" and so on, perhaps user selectable to avoid cool cam spamming. It would probably not be that difficult to implement, all the stuff is already in place, it's just a matter of sometimes moving the camera to another position. The camera is already moved, it's just a matter of moving it to the eye level of the troops instead. It would certainly increase the immersiveness and the feeling of creepy aliens sneaking up on you with their anal probes ready...  :o It would feel more like being the soldier, suddenly seeing something out of the corner of his eye. It would also help giving a sense of how three-dimensional the maps are, and lessen the feeling of them being stacked slices. I know the 3D models might not be designed for closeups, but I think that for fast flashes like these, it can be enough.

* Machineguns. Why are they less powerful than assault rifles, and why does their accuracy increase so little when crouching? I would suggest giving them more power and make them wildly inaccurate when fired standing, but accurate and hard hitting when crouched. Also make them fairly cheap in TU for crouched snap fire, to simulate their capacity for suppressive fire. On the other hand, they can be heavy and cumbersome.

* I think the text is wrong after an interception. After a successful intercept, I get "You have lost a battle...". If that's a loss, I don't want to win.

* The aliens have an AI that understands "hit & run". Often, they appear, fire at me and disappear again. I like that.

* I mentioned Blue Max as an inspiration to how interceptions could be handled. Rules can be found here: http://www.eaglesmax.com/ , and an online variant of the game can be found here: http://www.youplay.it/play/main.asp .

Starship_Yard:

--- Quote from: Troberg on February 22, 2008, 10:08:31 am ---
* I think the text is wrong after an interception. After a successful intercept, I get "You have lost a battle...". If that's a loss, I don't want to win.


--- End quote ---

The text "You have lost a battle..." comes in when one of your interceptors is shot down.  Each interceptor attacking a target is considered a separate battle right now, hence the analysis if yours goes down.  But it does really get me that I can win the air battle, have a new crash site appear and then 1/2 way back to base my interceptor vanishes (crashes) and I get "you have lost the battle".

Brett

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