Line of sight & Visible Enemies and geoscape combat

[Knathrek]

Hey guys,

Am new to the forum and the game, first of all i'd like to say i like it very much you guys are doing an awesome work.

I tried searching but found no similar question or topic.

Line of sight & Visible Enemies:
I would like to suggest that you change the way Visible Enemies are cycled, make it Soldier dependent.
Like in the x-com series when each soldier would have a dot or a number in the hud of the visible enemies he sees.
Its a bit confusing this way when i see 4 aliens but have no clear idea who sees them without moving about the map.
Also an option to remove the Line of sight Line would be great and it wouldn't be needed if i knew who sees what by the option mentioned above.

Geoscape Combat:
I find it very hard to "see" actual combat in geoscape and most of the time i have no idea what going on
Or who is going to win in advance.
The X-com series 1&2 games Featured a very easy way to understand air to air combat and added some aspect of strategy missing here
I think it could be awesome to have the same kind of system where i can see both Crafts in a radar like way and set the Aggressive and Distance of my own craft or even Retreat.

Thanks

[NQue]

Hey Knathrek,

I agree with you on that point; the numbered buttons from XCOM are much better than the general number-of-aliens-sighted, but there is a plus side to it. With this system, you're always able to see the aliens, no matter which soldier you have selected (it wasnt like that in XCOM as far as I can remember). Also, if you want to know if a soldier can see the alien in question, use the first person view!! (its "v" if you weren't aware of it). Now that in my mind is definitely one-over on XCOM!

[Marsu]

I second both ideas!

Also, I have found the visibility check to be a bit buggy on several occasions. Just now a soldier of mine spotted an alien through a solid fence. It also happens very often with the smaller tower-structures on industrial maps. The soldier spots the alien through the edge of the building (only after standing up), but cannot shoot at it because it is behind solid concrete.

Otherwise I totally love this game!

[courier]

There are definitely cases where an actor (soldier or alien) can see something that it can't shoot from its current position: The eyes and the gun muzzle are in different places.  Think of it this way:  UFO:AI's underlying engine is an FPS engine, and it happens all the time in FPSes that you can see an enemy but may have to move a bit before you can get a clear shot.

As for seeing through solid objects, that sounds like a bug and should perhaps be submitted in the bug tracker.  Unless someone more experienced with the code than I has more of an idea what's going on there?

[blondandy]

perhaps there is a small hole in the fence...

press [t]
unfortunately this handy key does not have an explanation in the keymapping GUI.
t cycles through foes, (as does space).
t also draws red lines from the current soldier to enemies the current soldier can see.

[Doctor J]

Also, if you want to know if a soldier can see the alien in question, use the first person view!! (its "v" if you weren't aware of it). Now that in my mind is definitely one-over on XCOM!

Not so fast.  The "t" key will show you all aliens that you have a clear LOS to, even if they are to your side or behind you.  The "v" key only shows directly in front of you.

[Doctor J]

Also, I have found the visibility check to be a bit buggy on several occasions. Just now a soldier of mine spotted an alien through a solid fence. It also happens very often with the smaller tower-structures on industrial maps. The soldier spots the alien through the edge of the building (only after standing up), but cannot shoot at it because it is behind solid concrete.

I think the problem is either in the map or the way the engine interprets that map.  For example, i often see a gap between the walls and floor of a room.  You can spot others through that gap, but the engine won't let you fire through what it conceives of as a solid joint.