Dogfights

[shevegen]

One good aspect in the "mini-game" was that you got feedback how efficient your weapons were (more or less...)

Right now you dont get this feedback, its mostly just shot down ufo, or be destroyed. Missing suspension here :-)

[Silveressa]

Perhaps expanding the dog fights to be similar to the regular missions would work? Replace the soldier icons with the planes/UFOs and require changing direction to cause a unit to move x # of forward squares in it's current direction (depending on speed) and the crouch option replaced with "afterburner" or some such that increases the # of squares you can move forward, but also increases the # of squares you must move in the direction you're facing before you turn.

(One could also incorporate the ability to move between three height levels as well with a shift command if one really wanted to represent the z aspect of dog fighting)

For maps one could do a basic blue terrain with cloud banks that would break line of sight and provide cover for units inside them. (and maybe some storm clouds that would damage units that entered them) You could even go as far as to add in a mountain peak taking up a portion of the map.

This would make the air combat much more rewarding/exciting than it is currently. (adding in an option just skip the battle and auto resolve it would be good for people that get tired of the missions)

[Doctor J]

Right now you dont get this feedback, its mostly just shot down ufo, or be destroyed.

The minigame as seen in the original games is not practical due to the fact that we allow multiple interceptors to engage the UFO simultaneously, which didn't happen in the original.  While it could perhaps be done, it seems like it would be fairly involved to code. 

I agree that we do need some form of feedback, however.  I would like to propose that after every dogfight we get a debrief screen or email stating how many rounds of each type were fired, hit rate, etc.  Optionally this could include data on rounds fired by the UFO.  I'm assuming this wouldn't be too hard to code.  The question then is what event triggers this report: i suggest that every time an interceptor or a UFO is shot down the report is generated.

As to the kill-or-be-killed nature of dogfights, every craft currently has an effective hit points of just one.  There is a TODO about implementing craft hit points.  After this is done, we will see craft being damaged rather than destroyed.  Hopefully then the Shiva will be useful to bring down smaller UFOs without obliterating them, or lightly damaged UFOs to be grounded and captured for research.

[TroubleMaker]

The minigame as seen in the original games is not practical due to the fact that we allow multiple interceptors to engage the UFO simultaneously, which didn't happen in the original.

What did you call "the original"? Current game, old UFO:EU, or real world UFO persuasion?

[BTAxis]

The minigame as seen in the original games is not practical due to the fact that we allow multiple interceptors to engage the UFO simultaneously, which didn't happen in the original. 

Except it did. I get the feeling we've had this discussion before...

[Destructavator]

I noticed that there is now a button (in the SVN version) that highlights nations, would it be difficult to add another button that would be used for aircraft details?  In other words, perhaps the player could stay on the geoscape during dogfights, and the button would allow small pop-up information that would follow each aircraft (perhaps a small, partially transparent box) that would display remaining ammunition, armor levels, etc., (as numbers or bars, or both) as well as have one for enemy aircraft that shows known data about it.  The small floating boxes could again perhaps be toggled on and off with a button.

This idea would give feedback on how well fighters are doing in combat, and it would also allow the player to stay on the geoscape to launch/coordinate additional fighters, etc, and because it wouldn't be a separate mini-game I'd imagine it wouldn't be a (relatively) big deal to code.

[Doctor J]

Except it did.

Multiple interceptors could gang up on a UFO in XCOM: Enemy Unknown?  I guess it's been so long that i don't remember details like that.  My bad!

[TroubleMaker]

Multiple interceptors could gang up on a UFO in XCOM: Enemy Unknown?

Yes! I do remember at least THREE green radar windows with three interceptors launching "avalanches" and "plasma balls" into UFO's tail

[Jagger]

I never had multiple interceptions in UFO:EU   But I never got far due to errors.

I think there should be something. Implementing craft HP would probably sate me, at least for a time.

[sathie]

Damn forum timeout.  Yeah you could use multiple, you just had to use the minimise button and wait for the others to arrive, then maximise again (button in one of the top corners of the intercept window).

When I played UFO:AI it just felt like they'd transferred save/load gameplay to geoscape with how random the intercepts felt.  There's little feedback about whether that interceptor should be faced off against the different types of UFO that appear.  In EU/TFTD you soon learned whether a UFO was too much for your interceptor when it was at 90% damage after the first second.

[Doctor J]

After some reflection, i think we really could use more control over the interceptor.  If the dogfight is over the ocean, it might be nice to lay off and just tail them until we get over land.   

[Destructavator]

It may work to simply be able to click on an interceptor in-flight and select from a short list of behavior settings, such as "follow" (useful for chasing a UFO over water but keeping distance until it nears land), "assault" or "attack" (to try to shoot it down), "destroy" (In an attempt to blast it out of the sky, if a ground mission isn't desired afterwards), etc.

It would then also be nice to have a "guard" or "escort" option for following friendly transports to protect them and also to patrol near a player's base if the player thinks one of their bases might be attacked soon.

...And of course, also an option for sweeping areas looking for an alien base or other special (potentially plot-related?) activity.

As a final note, I think there is already an option to send a fighter back to home base if it isn't doing too well.  (I admit I've been busy lately and haven't fired up the latest SVN version in a while.)

I'd think this would be easier to code than a complete mini-game that pops up.

EDIT: If pilots are ever added to personnel, (that could be hired/fired, have various skills, etc.) then a "eject" option would also be nice as a last resort to save a good pilot - whether or not a ground extraction mission would result would depend on if the pilot landed in a friendly territory (that supports the player) or not, or if the pilot landed in the middle of the wilderness - or even the ocean!  (I could very well imagine a pilot surviving a *short* time after landing in the ocean, hoping for a quick rescue before their supplies run out.)

EDIT (Again!): If pilots were added to personnel, one of their potential skills related to quick-thinking and reaction could affect their chances of successfully ejecting automatically if they think their fighter is about to be destroyed (They are damaged badly and they see that plasma blast or whatever from a UFO coming at them with their name on it...)

[Doctor J]

It may work to simply be able to click on an interceptor in-flight and select from a short list of behavior settings, such as "follow" (useful for chasing a UFO over water but keeping distance until it nears land), "assault" or "attack" (to try to shoot it down), "destroy" (In an attempt to blast it out of the sky, if a ground mission isn't desired afterwards), etc.

It would then also be nice to have a "guard" or "escort" option for following friendly transports to protect them and also to patrol near a player's base if the player thinks one of their bases might be attacked soon.

...And of course, also an option for sweeping areas looking for an alien base or other special (potentially plot-related?) activity.

As a final note, I think there is already an option to send a fighter back to home base if it isn't doing too well.

I really like the idea of a context sensitive menu ["guard" for dropships; "follow", etc. for UFOs].  The devs have spoken out against the idea of allowing patrols of any sort, however.  Apparently it'd make it too easy to find alien bases.

Yes, you can send an interceptor elsewhere at any time.  The problem being that the fighter goes from brand new to destroyed in a single tick of the clock.  When the new system of craft hit points arrives, hopefully we'll get some good feedback as to the status of our crafts.