Some proposals for this already great game

[baseballBAD]

I played UFO:AI for a while and i think it's a fantastic game (one of the best open source games i ever played). I had lots of fun playing it. But of course there are still some things to improve and add to gameplay. So here are my thoughts about it:

*Faster Gameplay
I know it's the same in the old UFO games, but why is everyone just walking in that game? Ever seen a Police Squad walking into a building? (Im talking just about the animations no the AP and stuff.)

*Crashed UFO Missions too easy
Most of the Missions with crashed UFOs are to easy (compared to the rest of the game). The aliens are just standing around and you can shoot them with the sniper rifle. They should be hiding in the buildings or something ...

*Maybe add some kind of sentry gun
Since the game is quite hard to play (without loosing soldiers, i just dont like them dying) it would be cool to add some kind of sentry gun wich you can build up at an important strategical position and then does some reaction fire)

*Improve Civilian AI
I know there are lots of threads around about this, but the civilians should at least run away from aliens and/or soldiers standing in front of them, or hide, or just do anything realistic (and they should be running of course  )

Thats about it, Keep up the good development.

[TrashMan]

I'd say aliens are TOO EASY to kill. Beef up their HP.

ATM I have no problems killing them with a burst from a assault rifle. Heck, my team only uses missile launchers, flamers and assault rifles. Even medium armor aliens seem to go down way too easily.
f'course...there is no save, so this sorta counterbalances that..and the fact that your own soldiers go down easily enough.

One strange thing tough - why are laser weapons more damaging than assault rifles when the tech description sez they are far more accurate, but deliver less damage per shot?

[nllsq]

Aliens die too easy?  Have you tried it on "very hard"?

[shevegen]

Aliens die too easy?  Have you tried it on "very hard"?

I havent yet tried the latest versions, but I tried very hard.

My biggest problem on very hard was the scarcity of recruits and sometimes the money.

My complaint about aliens is that they sometimes behave silly, or predictable i.e. if you look at
them they tend to run in cover.

I think it would be more interesting if sometimes a few aliens behave irratically or non-logically every
now and then, maybe even storming forward, or something like that.

[Chriswriter90]

I think it would be more interesting if sometimes a few aliens behave irratically or non-logically every
now and then, maybe even storming forward, or something like that.

Aliens who run into my bullets, I like that idea

I think everything is going along finely right now, I just can't wait for tanks though.
My theory is that they might be in 2.3.1

[TrashMan]

I have another suggestion - when you start, have 60 recruits available, so you can put together a decent team (and don't have to re-start the game 20 times to put it together).
Then, after you picked your team, most of the soldiers are removed (easy to rationalize - PHLANAX gets the first pick on new recruits in it's initial phases, but other organizations start hireing afterwards).
After that, the recruiting works as normal (you get X recruits each month).

Call me crazy, but I got a perfect team* in my head and I'm always trying to re-create it. I'm sure a lot of other people feel the same.



*usually I recreate my JA2 killer squad:
- heavy/assault guy (yours truly)
- assault expert (Shadow/Bull)
- heavy weapons expert (Grizzly)
- female sniper (Scope)
- female close quaters (Buns/Raven)
- explosive expert (Kablamis/Boomer/Red)

[homunculus]

lol, and i thought creating a good team was what i liked in games.
never imagined you could take it to that extent 

[TrashMan]

You'd be surprised how many people do....

[Spoo]

I just downloaded 2.3 (20430?) and gave it a whirl.  I'm going to go back to 2.2.1 due to some game changes/bugs that detract from my fun.

Although I was originally weirded out by the way reaction fire works in 2.2.1, after going back to the old X-COM way of doing things in 2.3 I think I have to say that the former was better.  When your reaction fire has to come out of your current turn, you lose the TUs whether there ends up being anything to shoot at or not.  This REALLY slows down the gameplay and be very frustrating, making it difficult to get into any kind of a tactical position.  My machine gun guy can only take 1 step/turn if he wants to crouch afterward.

I DO like the option of reserving fire separate from reaction fire, and reserving crouching was a nice touch too.  I don't think crouching should cost more than a standard step though.

I wanted to say that the new way is more realistic, but the more I think about it, it's really not.  Picture yourself walking down a spooky hallway with a gun in your hand, waiting for an alien to pop out.  You might lose some TUs by "being cautious", but if nothing pops out, you're not slowed that much.  Then let's say an alien comes around the corner - you snap your gun up, blast a few rounds in him and this is when your ability to perform more actions is decreased, right after jumping to action.
So basically, this is how I think would work best: reserving does use up SOME TUs (a down payment, if you will) which you lose regardless of whether you fire or not.  7 TUs from 2.2.1 worked well making you plan ahead, but still giving you options on your turn.  Then if you fire, the cost of fire is taken from your next turn (perhaps a bit cheaper, since you did contribute from your previous turn).  I just think this way would feel more tactical, and move things along well.

Also,  in my 2.3 build my interceptor didn't seem to actually shoot at the UFO (Rotary Cannon & Sparrowhawk Missles properly installed), but merely followed him from The Mediterranean to Alaska.  I do like the increased range, and not needing 4 interceptors/UFO is nice (I assume it's balanced that way since there's now only 1 ship per hangar.

I also had the texture bugs others have mentioned, but I'm sure they're being addressed.

I love this game, I was reading on its development 3 or 4 years ago before any playable releases came out, then forgot about it until now.  Very impressive!  I hope it keeps coming along - it has potential to be THE best tactical game ever! (if it's not already)



P.S.  In 2.2.1 I seem to get nothing from having researched the stingray and dragon interceptors.  Am I alone?

[ghosta]

hihi, just every way you do it you do it wrong^^

We had this discussion with the old system, but the other way round.

In my opinion I think the current solution is the better one. You get a deeper tactical depth. You have to think about allowing reactionfire or reaching a save spot.
Especially the machinegunner shreds every alien into pieces when crouched and having his 2nd reaction fire activated. Great for covering a certain area.

[BTAxis]

What he said. You're not supposed to be able to move far AND get a reaction fire opportunity.