Hey everyone, I haven't checked the forum for several months, and I see that you are still arguing over miniguns and power armors
I haven't checked it because I got the feeling there is nothing I could contribute with, other than disagreeing on some concepts here. My impression was that the devs really know what they want to do and they only need time or help to complete their project, so ideas like miniguns or whatever are just a waste of forum space.
So I'm waiting to see if I'll like the game in the end, and if not, I'll play something else...
I think that many fans here want a reincarnation of X-Com, JA and Fallout in one game, but this is a different game.
I didn't like much the idea of miniguns, because they aren't very realistic as a human carried weapon, but the idea of powerarmors is great, no matter how you want to counter it with wiki articles and such. No matter what the limitation are now, in the future, with the increasing development of robotics, there will be viable powerarmors that will protect the soldiers not only from bullets and debris, but from chemicals or radiation too. Besides, soldiers will be able to carry heavier weapons and more equipment.
My impression is that there is alot of emphasis on the scientific and techologic "realism", like the devs are trying to build a simulator, not a game. I read alot of debates over technical details and I think it's a waste of time to research this much when you are developing a game, but that's just my opinion. X-Com had many flaws in terms of realism and the combat engine had its problem, but it's still considered the best game of its kind, because it was fun to play.
Good luck with the development