My comments on the design/gameplay

[suliman]

Hi
Im making games myself and let me start by saying AWESOME project! I love the worldmap and the early weapons. Now to my comments on version 2.2.1:

TACTICAL COMBAT
Reaction shoots (RS) are way to good/overused. A find myself moving my guys a bit, then crouching and putting them in multiple RS and just keep pressing E (turn over) until the aliens kill themselfves from my RS. Maybe RS should have way worse accuracy to push the player to be more active/agressive and manually fight the aliens.

It would be nice with more varied mission objectives like rescue someone, blow up something etc. I know this is under considiration though. The medkits are great! In fact so great you start to hate the hospital. The hospital is expensive and VERY slow, medkits are instant and nearly free. Soo healing is most efficiently done... in the heat of battle?

OVERALL INTERFACE
Common tasks like checking research/manufactures should be easy accessible. Put a small progressbar on the main-view(the worldscape) for each active task and add a popup when its completed so a new can be started. Why do i need to put soldiers on a dropship to be able to see/edit their equipment?
In transfer, why can i send equipment that i have already fitted on my soldiers? This is really annoying to have to count which of my 'available armours' are really available so not all of my strikeforce gets automatically stripped.
Hiring people is kinda messy. And the guys that are statsless(non-soldiers) could be hired with just +/- like you do when saying how many guys should work on research. Also, its hard to get an overview on the employees of a base, like how many more workers could i have/when do i need a new living quarters. A little window with all this info would be nice.

WEAPONS
Sniper rifle is to good for starting weapon but a better version should be available mid-game.
Laser rifle seems to good for such an early weapon (good damage, insane accuracy, good range etc) I can just kick all my old guys and walk around with 6 laser rifle guys and i never loose one soldier. It doesnt have any real weaknesses.
Plz add a button to throw grenades directly from the panel. Not open inv->move nade->close inv->click nade->throw. (TU cost would still be as high from preparing the nade)
Alien weapons all seem a bit the same and lacking in character and diversity (most big energy things that go 'zap'). The human startweapons are really good, diverse and fun to use but becomes bad quickly so that makes the game loose some charm. What about
- Alien/hitech weapons that actually use projectiles, not just 'energy'
- Alien/hitech squad support/suppression type weapons (gauss minigun, autocannons etc, spend ammo plz!)
- Alien/hitech grenadelaunchers/bazookas (so fun to use and plays a different role then 'normal rifles')
- Alien/hitech 'shotgun'-type closecombat stuff

ECONOMY
I quickly get endless cash, and it all comes from the same source: the countries pay me. But since keeping the companies happy is the same as surviving (they will end the game if they get angry) the player dont have the choise to "i need money right now, lets do something just for ME". Maybe some countries could ask for a big order of guns or something to fight rebels so you can manufactury these for cash. Maybe optional missions pop up just for cash/items.

SHIP-FITTING
This is really messy and unclear. Why not use the same system as you have for equipping soldiers? All slots shown and just drag the equipment there. Also i think you can skip the "time to install component" feature, it doesnt have any real tactical value, its just annoying.

SHIPS GENERAL
Why cannot i see health of my ships? It should be clear both on map and in hangar. Dropships are helpless, if i send one to a far away terror site (which i must otherwise i loose the game eventually) and after a long tactical mission a alien ship turns up and downs my dropship in 1 second. I loose all my best soldiers and equipment! And i cannot back up the dropship with my interceptors couse they have very limited range... So i must savecheat and try again which destroys the fun. Some suggestions:
- A dropship can land and hide, and later try to continue
- Interceptors can escort (and since they fly slower now the fluel can last longer or something)
- The soldiers/equipment from a downed dropship can be recovered by sending a rescue party there on a minimission!
The escort option is fun becouse it makes the interceptors less pointless. Now they sit still a lot becouse 85% of the alien traffic is harvesters that are very strong and not really worth going after.

SAVING (TACTICAL)
Ive seen some of the argumentation already but plz consider a limited save. One time for small maps, two for bigger ones. This makes savecheat impossible but if all goes wrong you dont need to restart totally. Often the setup/initial phase of the map is very identical so this is what players dont wanna be forced to do all over again.

COMPLEX MAPS
Maps in many layers are a bit too frustrating. The best example is that mine-map-maze in new zealand. Plz skip these and use more flatten maps like in cities etc, these are great. You can also mix the maps up a bit by offering more extreme maps like very open desert or a very closed map (claustrophobic office, bring the shotguns!) This makes a player more prone to bring varied equipment.

PRODUCTION
Why is autosell on for all new equipment (if anything, this is the stuff you DONT wanna sell). Add an option to exclude all buyable equipment from manufacture list, why would you produce these? It just makes it look messy.


Again, thanks for a great game and I hope i didnt come off as too whiny.
Erik, Sweden

[geever]

The medkits are great! In fact so great you start to hate the hospital. The hospital is expensive and VERY slow, medkits are instant and nearly free. Soo healing is most efficiently done... in the heat of battle?

Healing will change... yes it's too powerfull.

Why do i need to put soldiers on a dropship to be able to see/edit their equipment?
In transfer, why can i send equipment that i have already fitted on my soldiers? This is really annoying to have to count which of my 'available armours' are really available so not all of my strikeforce gets automatically stripped.

aircraft <-> soldier <-> equipment relations are hard limits now. We will change it once, but it's tons of work with million possible bugs.

Hiring people is kinda messy. And the guys that are statsless(non-soldiers) could be hired with just +/- like you do when saying how many guys should work on research. Also, its hard to get an overview on the employees of a base, like how many more workers could i have/when do i need a new living quarters. A little window with all this info would be nice.

We have that stat box there in the current dev. version.
@Note: "check the current trunk" is a general rule here. That's because 2.2.1 is very old but we're not ready with 2.3 it's too buggy.

 I agree with the statless employee idea, needs consensus.

WEAPONS
Sniper rifle is to good for starting weapon but a better version should be available mid-game.
...

Balancing is always a difficult job. There are plans for upgrades but not for the near future.

I quickly get endless cash, and it all comes from the same source: the countries pay me. But since keeping the companies happy is the same as surviving (they will end the game if they get angry) the player dont have the choise to "i need money right now, lets do something just for ME". Maybe some countries could ask for a big order of guns or something to fight rebels so you can manufactury these for cash. Maybe optional missions pop up just for cash/items.

In the next version you'll get less money from the countries.

This is really messy and unclear. Why not use the same system as you have for equipping soldiers? All slots shown and just drag the equipment there. Also i think you can skip the "time to install component" feature, it doesnt have any real tactical value, its just annoying.

Planned (drag-n-drop) equip system. About skip "time to install".. convince the Designers.

Why cannot i see health of my ships? It should be clear both on map and in hangar.

Some airfight stuff is planned also.

Some suggestions:
- A dropship can land and hide, and later try to continue
- Interceptors can escort (and since they fly slower now the fluel can last longer or something)
- The soldiers/equipment from a downed dropship can be recovered by sending a rescue party there on a minimission!

Good ideas. Well, last one should not happen every time. maybe by chance, once or twice during the game.

SAVING (TACTICAL)

Will not happen.

Maps in many layers are a bit too frustrating. The best example is that mine-map-maze in new zealand. Plz skip these and use more flatten maps like in cities etc, these are great. You can also mix the maps up a bit by offering more extreme maps like very open desert or a very closed map (claustrophobic office, bring the shotguns!) This makes a player more prone to bring varied equipment.

Hehe. Is it too hard for you?

Why is autosell on for all new equipment (if anything, this is the stuff you DONT wanna sell). Add an option to exclude all buyable equipment from manufacture list, why would you produce these? It just makes it look messy.

I'll disable automatic autosell..

Thanks for the comments.

-geever

[Borsti67]

I agree with the statless employee idea, needs consensus.

+1 on that

Good ideas. Well, last one should not happen every time. maybe by chance, once or twice during the game.

indeed!

I'll disable automatic autosell..

ah, that's good, too! Thanks!

[Kaz]

Hiring people is kinda messy. And the guys that are statsless(non-soldiers) could be hired with just +/- like you do when saying how many guys should work on research. Also, its hard to get an overview on the employees of a base, like how many more workers could i have/when do i need a new living quarters. A little window with all this info would be nice.

We have that stat box there in the current dev. version.
@Note: "check the current trunk" is a general rule here. That's because 2.2.1 is very old but we're not ready with 2.3 it's too buggy.

 I agree with the statless employee idea, needs consensus.

Another idea with this type of personnel would be to give them appropriate stats. As it is now, all scientists are equally proficient in physics, chemistry, biology, etc. Having them have different skill level in different disciplines, and that skill affect their ability to move certain project forward would allow for some interesting management of scientists. A scientist that suck at biology but excels in physics would contribute much more in plasma weapons research than autopsies.

I haven't given much thought on the subject to workers and medics, but I'm open to ideas here.

WEAPONS
Sniper rifle is to good for starting weapon but a better version should be available mid-game.
...

Balancing is always a difficult job. There are plans for upgrades but not for the near future.

I've also found it funny that specialized long range weapons, like the sniper rifle, can be used so effectively at close range. Perhaps some type of minimum range under which the weapon loses effectiveness (be it accuracy or damage potential) could be interesting. The sniper having to switch to a handgun upon entering an office building, but switching back to sniper rifle upon getting to a high window which covers a park.

Some suggestions:
- A dropship can land and hide, and later try to continue
- Interceptors can escort (and since they fly slower now the fluel can last longer or something)
- The soldiers/equipment from a downed dropship can be recovered by sending a rescue party there on a minimission!

Good ideas. Well, last one should not happen every time. maybe by chance, once or twice during the game.

The last one could depend on the amount of damage received by the craft. Too much damage and the ship blow in flight killing everyone on board. Less damage and the craft falls down, but the pilot manages to safely crashland, which would allow to recover some items and/or people.

Depending on the type of alien craft/mission type, the aliens could land as well and assault the downed craft before recovery can be carried out.

While we are on this subject, I have also thought of merging pilots with soldiers. Having soldiers have piloting skill, could allow for the pilot to work as a soldier in the tactical mission, as well as having the aforementioned alien assault on downed craft make sense for interceptor craft. A lone pilot defending from aliens while rescue comes in. EPIC!

Maps in many layers are a bit too frustrating. The best example is that mine-map-maze in new zealand. Plz skip these and use more flatten maps like in cities etc, these are great. You can also mix the maps up a bit by offering more extreme maps like very open desert or a very closed map (claustrophobic office, bring the shotguns!) This makes a player more prone to bring varied equipment.

Are you high?!?!? This in one of the maps I enjoyed the most. It took a long time to complete, since there were so many paths the last alien could take to circle my men. I had to go about the mine several times in order to find the creeper.

I do agree with you on the need for more varied maps. Combined with situational limits on weapons it would make for incredibly more varied tactical options.

Cheers!

[Winter]

I agree with the statless employee idea, needs consensus.

Doesn't need consensus, this has been on the design team's books for years, along with removing medics and adding pilots.

Regards,
Ryan

[geever]

Doesn't need consensus, this has been on the design team's books for years, along with removing medics and adding pilots.

I meant about replacing individual hiring of statless employee with some +/- like. I don't know if that was decided already.

-geever

[Winter]

I meant about replacing individual hiring of statless employee with some +/- like. I don't know if that was decided already.

-geever

I recall a discussion with BTAxis a while ago, we were planning to use spinners rather than buttons, but regardless we have always wanted statless employees with simplified hiring.

Regards,
Winter

[TrashMan]

I've also found it funny that specialized long range weapons, like the sniper rifle, can be used so effectively at close range. Perhaps some type of minimum range under which the weapon loses effectiveness (be it accuracy or damage potential) could be interesting. The sniper having to switch to a handgun upon entering an office building, but switching back to sniper rifle upon getting to a high window which covers a park.
Good ideas. Well, last one should not happen every time. maybe by chance, once or twice during the game.

Just give it a bigger TU cost so it's quick shot is actually "slow". Like, you can make one shot with it with full TU's

[Colamann]

Another idea with this type of personnel would be to give them appropriate stats. As it is now, all scientists are equally proficient in physics, chemistry, biology, etc. Having them have different skill level in different disciplines, and that skill affect their ability to move certain project forward would allow for some interesting management of scientists. A scientist that suck at biology but excels in physics would contribute much more in plasma weapons research than autopsies.

That would create an awful amount of micromanaging IMO. Assigning scientists would be as complicated as putting together your soldier squad, only with more guys to keep track of.

[Vio]

Hey

I'm also new to this game, and therefore had the chance to collect first impressions from an "outside" point of view before coming here. While I'm no programmer I have a history of mapping and modding of games, including some work with the Ufo2000 team, so I can and do appreciate how much work you have put into this great project.

I've played 2.2.1 and a had a look at the latest Dev build. Generally, it is a solid game, especially the stable release, and there are not many features one would miss if one didn't know X-Com. Only a few things struck me as "unfinished", most of which have been covered by Suliman. Still, a few comments on what I noticed in that regard:


OPTIONS MENU
The first place I usually go. The menu is functional, though one does note the missing keybinds. The graphics options, however, could use some tooltips explaining what things like "Texture compression" do.
What is more, it would be nice not to have to restart when changing the brightness/contrast - or simply not needing to do so. On my system, all battlescape/3D graphics in the dev version were way too bright at standard settings, creating a graphical mismatch in the staff/plane menus and an ugly, completely bright battlefield.

STORY TEXT
The scrolling intro is well written, but could use some black borders. Especially across a widescreen, the formatting looks painful.
A background would also be nice, if not several (i.e. making it a slide show).

GEOSCAPE UI
The new globe options like radar and countries are great. What I do not understand is why the intuitive "message list by mouse-over" was removed. And in a detail, if the menu takes up the right side of the screen, it would be nice to place the globe a bit to the left.

BASE BUILDING
The new floating build window prevents the base view from being compressed in build mode, but in turn gets in the way of viewing it in the first place. I had to keep moving it around and wished it could be minimized, which didn't feel like an improvement.
Imo displaying the costs of a room at the bottom right would suffice, not necessarily showing a graphic. Or displaying the (interlaced?) graphic when choosing a location, instead of just a frame.

EMPLOYEES
What Suliman said. From a game designer's point of view, there is no point in making players choose individual scientists or workers if that decision does not lead to distinguishable consequences. In that regard, it is tedious business that goes against the principle of "KISS". So it's good to hear it is being adressed.
One possible solution that doesn't obsolete the existing models would be to put two or three of them on a screen (e.g. "Scientists") that lets you adjust their numbers and provides an overview.

The thing is, this also applies to the newly introduced pilots. Unless you are planning on giving them improving stats, or make their possible shortage a game element, I see no reason why they shouldn't just ship with their craft.
Even there were stats, those could still be tied to the craft itself, because it is unlikely that an experienced Stiletto pilot will be better at flying a transport.


Sadly, those are things I can not help to improve myself due to lack of programming skills.
On the other hand, I'm certain that I will find some things on the todo list that fit my skills, so I can contribute to this nice game when I find the time. Because I sure would like to.

Regards
Vio

[geever]

The new globe options like radar and countries are great. What I do not understand is why the intuitive "message list by mouse-over" was removed. And in a detail, if the menu takes up the right side of the screen, it would be nice to place the globe a bit to the left.

It was not removed. Focus on the messagelist itself with the mouse.

BASE BUILDING
The new floating build window prevents the base view from being compressed in build mode, but in turn gets in the way of viewing it in the first place. I had to keep moving it around and wished it could be minimized, which didn't feel like an improvement.

It can be closed and reopened.

The thing is, this also applies to the newly introduced pilots. Unless you are planning on giving them improving stats, or make their possible shortage a game element, I see no reason why they shouldn't just ship with their craft.

Pilots will have stat(s).

-geever

[Destructavator]

Sadly, those are things I can not help to improve myself due to lack of programming skills.
On the other hand, I'm certain that I will find some things on the todo list that fit my skills, so I can contribute to this nice game when I find the time. Because I sure would like to.

Welcome, could you please describe what skills you have or what type of development you would like to do?  Even if you don't do coding, we've had people come along and contribute in a number of different ways.

[Vio]

It was not removed. Focus on the messagelist itself with the mouse.

It can be closed and reopened.

Really? Oh well, maybe I just missed that. Though I'm certain I tried. It was not the very latest Dev version, however, but 2.4322.


My main skill is really that I can quickly pick up any program or rule system, or at least have no problem spending a lot of time learning and improving stuff, if I'm into something. I did that with editors for various games like Doom, Quake or Half-Life, Ufo2k and some others, not to mention games with "user-friendly" editors like StarCraft. I create my own textures and other resources when I feel the need, and basically like modding everything I understand.
I would particularily like to help improve the AI if that is not too complicated. This is something I haven't done yet.

However I will be on a business trip / holiday during August, and I can't promise anything for the time after.
I guess I will just keep an eye on the things that are being done and talk to people when I see something I'd like to help with.

[odie]

Really? Oh well, maybe I just missed that. Though I'm certain I tried. It was not the very latest Dev version, however, but 2.4322.

2.4322??

The latest development built is but 2.3.... where is 2.4??

Or was it 2.3-development built Revision 24322??
U built it yourself or downloaded from somewhere>? There should NOT be a version 2.4322.
(Maybe links?)

[Vio]

Revision 24322. I got that from the older "windows installers" thread.

But I found R25186 shortly after, and I've been testing the campaign of that since (all Tamans so far, lol, but plenty of UFOs to sell). Things are like geever says now.