2.2 feedback

[vadim]

UFO combat: I like it! Much better than X-Com where it always was one on one. Being able to win by numbers certainly helps. Only issue is that fighters give up as soon as the UFO goes out of radar range. Fighters should give it a try anyway, going in the direction the UFO was last seen going to, in case it works.

One detail I'd like to see: When you shoot down an UFO, some of its occupants should die or be wounded. It's very strange to see aliens standing around an UFO smashed to bits and be completely unhurt. I've also seen aliens walking over flaming wreckage. That should hurt.

Civilian death count: Very annoying. It penalizes much more harshly than the original games, where you just lost standing. Here in comparison an unhandled terror event never disappears and keeps adding up deaths until you lose the game. That really sucks if you can't reach it, or it's too hard. I'd prefer it being like in X-Com: If you fail to go to the mission, civilians die, and the mission disappears.

terrain02d level: IMO, too hard. Much harder than any other level I found, for several reasons:

1. The dropship's positioning separates the group in two
2. Aliens attack from two fronts. Soldiers going up the hill get hammered from all directions. All the enemies move towards the house making the fight there hard, and at the same time still shoot at the soldiers on the hill.
3. There's no usable cover

Suggestion: Move dropship a bit so that the group's not split, add a bit of cover.

Hospitals: Why aren't soldiers healed automatically? The screen should still remain in case there are too many to heal at once and the user wants to pick who gets healed first, but I can't imagine why wouldn't I want to have a soldier not be healed when it's possible.

Save/load functionality: There should be a confirmation for loading and saving. The load and save screens are very similar and it's easy to click the wrong one by accident. Also, the list of saved games should include the time. It's quite possible to do several missions in one day, so it'd be good if it was possible to tell several saves during one day apart.

This keeps getting better and better, good work!

[nemchenk]

UFO combat: I like it! Much better than X-Com where it always was one on one. Being able to win by numbers certainly helps.

Vadim, you can attack a UFO with more than one Interceptor in XCOM1.

Save/load functionality: There should be a confirmation for loading and saving. The load and save screens are very similar and it's easy to click the wrong one by accident.

I don't think a confirmation will work, as many users don't actually read popups and simply click OK or whatever seems to be the equivalent. The second solution you suggest -- making the screens look less similar -- is probably a better one from a usability view.

Glad you are enjoying the game!


nemchenk

[Silveressa]

Perhaps a simple color coding would be the simpliest and most direct approach, red for saving blue for loading?

[vadim]

Vadim, you can attack a UFO with more than one Interceptor in XCOM1.

You can, but you get a one on one battle anyway. It went like this:
UFO vs Interceptor #1
UFO vs Interceptor #2
etc.

If you used craft whose range was less than the UFO's you could very easily get even 5 of them destroyed one by one without landing a hit. What I like about the UFO AI way is that the combat is actually all at once, so even inferior craft have a chance of surviving in a large enough number.

[Zorlen]

I don't think a confirmation will work, as many users don't actually read popups and simply click OK or whatever seems to be the equivalent. The second solution you suggest -- making the screens look less similar -- is probably a better one from a usability view.

I've long since wanted the games' save/load dialogs to have some color differentiation!

[nemchenk]

You can, but you get a one on one battle anyway. It went like this:
UFO vs Interceptor #1
UFO vs Interceptor #2

Umm... not at all. You would have all of your interceptor windows open at once, and all of the attacks would happen at once. Of course, the one UFO would only shoot back at one of your fighters.

[vadim]

Umm... not at all. You would have all of your interceptor windows open at once, and all of the attacks would happen at once. Of course, the one UFO would only shoot back at one of your fighters.

Hmm, strange, I guess I remembed wrong.

Some more 2.2 feedback after further playing:

* Bases are cheap. Way too cheap.

* Aircraft are too cheap as well

* First month you're poor, after that you're basically filthy rich forever

* Too much activity in the beginning. In the start there are few scientists and labs, but many things to do. The result is that the first missions are very alike as it's hard to research anything.

* There's some bug with particle weapons. I've got nothing left to research, researched all the particle tech, but don't see the accelerators in the weapons list. I can use the guns but can't see the ammo for them. The buy/sell screen indicates I've got plenty of them in storage. Can't manufacture the ammo (but can make particle guns) either.

* Right after researching the fancy Dragon aircrafts I can buy 8 of them instead of manufacturing. How come something I just figured out how to build is instantly available for purchase? I would understand if some appeared for sale some months later, but this is weird.

* Still not creepy. It would really use X-Com's abundance of footsteps, alien sounds, opening doors, etc.

* Fog of war would be nice. The unseen parts don't have to be black, but it'd be very nice to be able to see the difference between areas that are observed and ones that aren't.

[kracken]

* Aircraft are too cheap as well

They will be more expensive in next release.

* Too much activity in the beginning.

This is work in progress 

[Panthera Leo]

I'm thankful for two things: First the project is still alive! Yippee! Second, after revisiting Apoc₁, That I no longer have to manually reequip my squad!

₁ Of course I like their stats better. Had training facilities, and one unified accuracy stat. Which means that as long as the rookies don't totally stink, you could saddle them with any weapon and get them into a usable shape with minimal effort.

Also, Yes, you could attack with more then one craft in X-Com 1&2. You'd tell the first one to hang back, minimize the pop up, and advance time until the second intercepted. You could then have as many as you could muster gang up on the UFO. Of course telling them hang back didn't assure they didn't get hammered waiting for backup. There just wasn't a huge point to all that late game. Even if it did limp away there was nothing a Avenger/Barracuda? couldn't swat out of the sky with ease in under five minuets, from anywhere on the map!

[nemchenk]

Vadim, I agree with most of your points. I hope a lot of them will be fixed in a 2.2.1 release, and obviously 2.3.x is moveing ever onward and upward

Yours,

nemchenk