First Impression 2.2.1 / bugs / suggestions

[Sconkel]

Hi there, first of all a big thanx to the crew. This game a cool remake of the X-COMs. Great work. I really like most of the game, just a few things to think over.

Campaign in standart mode:

- I searched 1 day for the Ufopedia, Statistics and New Base Buttons ! Show em !
- scrollable event log file

- missions don't disappear after some time. So if there's a mission area out of your range its says all day "6 civilans killed by aliens" bla.
- extreme money flooding, I played about 3 months (ingame) and know i have about +10.000.000, so no need to produce, no need to sell stuff etc.
- no special prices for rescuing people
- missing status screen for leveling of your marines
- other missions .. all time resuce people *g

[Sconkel]

hmm i wrote about one komplete side... the forum cut it to nothing.. dam, no fun to write all again.

[blondandy]

- I searched 1 day for the Ufopedia, Statistics and New Base Buttons ! Show em !

this has been improved in 2.3

- scrollable event log file

?

- missions don't disappear after some time. So if there's a mission area out of your range its says all day "6 civilans killed by aliens" bla.

range of dropship has been increased.

- extreme money flooding, I played about 3 months (ingame) and know i have about +10.000.000, so no need to produce, no need to sell stuff etc.
- no special prices for rescuing people

whole new campaign system is mostly implemented.

- missing status screen for leveling of your marines

I agree this would be nice. Tie Fighter style stuff was suggested by someone some time back. However, I think this is not a priority.

- other missions .. all time resuce people *g

?

[Doctor J]

- scrollable event log file

?

I think the OP means being able to see further back than the 20 event messages that can be viewed at the top of the GeoScape.  There is actually a button called [i think] "Open Messages", but it doesn't actually open anything when you click on it.  This is really needed, as the beginning of the month floods you with more than 20 events.  If, for instance, your scientists complete a research project right at the end of the month, you'll never see it.  I would like to propose that all event messages be kept for 24 hours [game time] and that all these be viewable [like the in-game email client] when clicking on the aforesaid button.  Another way to handle this is to simply put all the monthly financial stuff in a single email, and only put a single event message on the GeoScape alerting the player to the new email.

[Sconkel]

yes "scrollable log", -> being able to see further back than the 20 event messages.

alright some more stuff I mentioned, most of it are balancing issues :

- aliens are too hard ( normal aliens kill my snipers at extreme ranges )
- snipers are too bad i think, clear aim on 100 meters.. no chance to hit.. y not ?.
- in my opinion aliens have better shooting chances ( the marine is half shielded by a car, aliens hit it, the marine hits only the cars edge)
- whats the "grenade throw" skill depending on ? precision, explosive, both ? very bad aimings at my marines
- aliens = 1 shoot 1 marine kill; thats so boring. All time recruiting noobs, buying new wpns, armor etc.
- no real fights because of the quickkills ( aliens do about 90 dmg per shot vs my marines with the 2nd armor .. health of marines is between 70 and 100 ..)
- grenade explosion range too short
- silly civilans always block my shooting line ! I testet it, they always walk between marines and aliens !

- helicopters and fighters have same speed, skills etc.
- supply ufo is faster then fighter ...
- ufos flee at the second you start fighters/copters
- ufo vs fighter/copter .. bad graphics, bad fight, its just luck who wins.
(the thing from x-com was great, the little fight status screen where u see the range between ufo and you, the range of boths weapons, dmg, hull, etc. )

- night fights ... you even see nothing *g*

- shotgun useless
- set the reaction fire mode ( 1 shot , 3 shot, full fire, like the normal shot )


some more coming ^^ hope i can help.

[blondandy]

are you crouching when sniping?

grenades use explosive skill

to catch fast UFOs send interceptors from severel directions.

aircraft do not have damage points ATM (I think). This is being improved.

I quite like the air fights, you have to get used to it. It will be improved.

[Sconkel]

yes, my last move is always the "duck" button

btw. next thing

- aliens always know where the marines are, behind doors, in a corner, around a corner, they straight walk in and kill
- with ubuntu 8.04 the screen resolution changed at me all 30 seconds form full to window mode !?. ( im a linux noob so can be my fault)
 with the ati drivers the screen was "flapping" hmm cannot discribe it in english. "flackern" ^^

[Mattn]

try to deactivate compiz

[Sconkel]

alright I'll try it

btw. next thing

- flashbang doesn't work, they should immobilise the enemy for 1 round.. nada.
( i had 3 enemys infront , looking at me , 2 of theese little beetles and 1 sheeva, all moved next turn)
- activate the 3d map as default
- deactivate all auto-sell as default
- all time I get some new stuff, the auto-sell activates itself for the new things . .!?

- the "sniper" partikel kannon has only 1 shot reaction fire, even if u set it to multishots.

[Mattn]

they have to look into it - works here as far as i can tell.

not every flashbang is doing its job

[Judge]

- snipers are too bad i think, clear aim on 100 meters.. no chance to hit.. y not ?.
   Snipers are EXCELLENT! I can't say how many kills i've gotten with a sniper crouching with snap shot on reflex. Alien pops out and BAM! dead alien. Pretty much whenever i have them crouching and i can see at least 2/3 of their body, it's a sure hit.

- in my opinion aliens have better shooting chances ( the marine is half shielded by a car, aliens hit it, the marine hits only the cars edge)
   Was the alien perhaps (gasp) higher up? was the marine crouching? (Reflex shots are from the hip in my experience, so while the marine's head is above the car, his hip is below the car, and ends up hitting the car instead of the alien.

- aliens = 1 shoot 1 marine kill; thats so boring. All time recruiting noobs, buying new wpns, armor etc.
   Hardly boring at all, it means you have to be extroadinarily careful with the soldiers, eh? Easy Campaign doesn't really have any one hit wonders, even when they break out the particle rifles.

- no real fights because of the quickkills ( aliens do about 90 dmg per shot vs my marines with the 2nd armor .. health of marines is between 70 and 100 ..)
   On the contrary. If you have the marines in pairs, you'll almost always get your return fire. And an illustrative note: 8 ortnoks spawned in all in view of my troops. Move into positions, set up reflex, in two turns the last surviving ortnok was holding his hands above his head.

- silly civilans always block my shooting line ! I testet it, they always walk between marines and aliens !
   Research the stun rod. When you have a civvie blockage or just want him out of the way, stun him! don't know if it works with the gas grenade yet :S.

- supply ufo is faster then fighter ...
   COUGH COUGH SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY COUGH COUGH
- ufos flee at the second you start fighters/copters
   Look at the direction the ufo is flying. wait until the ufo is as close to the base as it's going to be THEN send the fighters, you'll get them 75% of the time. And when you have bases with radars that intersect make sure you send a fighter coming from the other way.

- night fights ... you even see nothing *g*
   Go to options, and set the gamma alllllllllll the way up.
- shotgun useless
   Shotgun useless at a distance. There's a reason it's under "close" combat skill.

[blondandy]

@Judge.

good points, well made. I just could not be bothered with all that typing.

[Sconkel]

I don't want to start a fight here 

Snipers are EXCELLENT! I can't say how many kills i've gotten with a sniper crouching with snap shot on reflex. Alien pops out and BAM! dead alien. Pretty much whenever i have them crouching and i can see at least 2/3 of their body, it's a sure hit.

It is as I said. but perhaps it could be some of the stats. I realized that they are very very random generated.
In the 1st game I started under WindowsXP, all marine stats were between 15 and 20.
The second ( under Ubuntu 8.04 ), 4 of my starting marines had skills at 35-45 !
The next game again under WinXP the stats were bit better, between 15 and 25.

- just for example the "somewhere in amazonas" map. The great river between both sides. I have 4 snipers. All crounch, all reaction fire to multi. Aliens pop up, fire go back, pop up again fire, go back, pop up, sniper fire uuh, miss.
-I tried many times to kill an alien with "aimed shot", percentage between 75 and 90 means MISS ! Between 90 and 100 is a "could be hit". 99 is always hit.
-perhaps I am at too long distance but snipers are... snipers not for infight.

Was the alien perhaps (gasp) higher up? was the marine crouching? (Reflex shots are from the hip in my experience, so while the marine's head is above the car, his hip is below the car, and ends up hitting the car instead of the alien.

-alien at same high, yes marine always crounching.

Hardly boring at all, it means you have to be extroadinarily careful with the soldiers, eh? Easy Campaign doesn't really have any one hit wonders, even when they break out the particle rifles.

- wrong. I play half an hour on a map, then just the last enemy comes round a corner, my soldiers fire, hit, alien still alive, alien fire, soldier dead.... -> repeat button. ....

COUGH COUGH SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY COUGH COUGH

SUPPLY UFO ! no battleship. A big fat freigther.

Look at the direction the ufo is flying. wait until the ufo is as close to the base as it's going to be THEN send the fighters, you'll get them 75% of the time. And when you have bases with radars that intersect make sure you send a fighter coming from the other way.

- i don't argue how to get em, sure I kill many of them .. but UFOs never get als close to a base to shot em ( about 5% do it ). Also the aliens must have superreactions.. fighter start.. 5 seconds later ufo flees.

Go to options, and set the gamma alllllllllll the way up.

- already tried that, but it's just a small workaround. I even cant see doors, windows etc.

Shotgun useless at a distance. There's a reason it's under "close" combat skill.

- USELESS at all distances. shotgun marine = dead marine.

alright just wanted to help with my experience about the game.If you don't want it, I stop it.

[Captain Bipto]

No offence these all sound like tactical complaints and gameplay rather than real code problems.  You have trouble catching UFOs? Use Saracens (i have a new one by the second month and I do not bother with stilettos, I use saracens in pairs when I can afford it.  Aliens bouncing rxn fire?  How many rxn shots are you giving your soldiers? Do you just have one guy covering the area?  I usually pair up my soldiers except for the sniper who I lonewolf to some high point on the map.   Shotguns i think are a matter of style.  Either shotguns or SMGs (i prefer SMGs) are useful from the first mission onwards for some time.  All this game demands is careful tactics.

[Judge]

btw, if you go to hire employees, under soldiers you'll start off with a pretty large list of soldiers. Go through the list, and look at each of the soldier stats for each one, as the computer usually give you some pretty crappy soldiers. Make sure you get the right weapon for each on too. (Guy that has competent in sniping? give him the sniper rifle.) (Competent in high explosives? give him the rocket launcher or the grenade launcher. and so on) You say you had 4 snipers, that probably sounds like either a very unbalanced team, or a bunch of people with sniper rifles, and only one of them actually trained in using a sniper.