Looks good, but not exactly fun

[kowitz1]

sjm, RC3 is totally outdated, you should have tried the xdelta patches before even posting, IMHO.

The xdelta patches aren't even "supported."  If you expect people to use them before they comment, add them to sourceforge and make them easier to use.

Last I tried, (shortly after RC3 release) the host died almost every time I tried to download, they took forever to download for small files, they weren't user friendly and you could only find them by browsing a forum post.

...

As for RC3 difficuly, if you *didn't* find the xdelta patches, and I'm guessing you didn't, the difficulty was bugged to the point of impossible on the first missions I tried.

After I applied the patches, it was much, much easier.  3 aliens vs. the 8 I had before the patches, etc.

[Bandobras]

The xdelta patches aren't even "supported."

I hope you are aware, that RC4 is now available on SF (and RC5 will be there in 2 weeks, I imagine).

The xdelta patches aren't even "supported."  If you expect people to use them before they comment, add them to sourceforge and make them easier to use.

I expect people to use reasonably recent versions of the game or to read the forum and bug reports on SF and make sure the problems they report aren't an old story. I expect them to do this regardless of how hard it is for them. If it's too hard, they should find some other ways to contribute (there are plenty of ways, hard and easy) than by commenting about things that are long gone.

Last I tried, (shortly after RC3 release) the host died almost every time I tried to download, they took forever to download for small files, they weren't user friendly and you could only find them by browsing a forum post.

I'm sorry about your problems, but unless you can contribute to solving them by discussing them here, I'd rather move this discussion to "Off-topic", just as well as any complaints about obsolete versions of UFO:AI.

As for RC3 difficuly, if you *didn't* find the xdelta patches, and I'm guessing you didn't, the difficulty was bugged to the point of impossible on the first missions I tried.

Really?

After I applied the patches, it was much, much easier.  3 aliens vs. the 8 I had before the patches, etc.

That is old story, too. Please read before you write or move to Offtopic --- there's free speech for everyone.

[Cultrarius]

Well, first i have to say i totally agree with the post of "sjm". The game looks good, but has an odd UI and is too difficult (for me). I think the main problem is that the AI seems to know "too much".
I cannot make a surprise attack on some aliens, because they always seem to know where i am, walk around some corners and shoot me to death. In the old X-Com games the aliens walked around but they did not walk always to my positions, and they only engaged me when they saw some of my troops - in my opinion much more realistic.  :wink:

[grumpy]

I expect people to use reasonably recent versions of the game or to read the forum and bug reports on SF and make sure the problems they report aren't an old story. I expect them to do this regardless of how hard it is for them. If it's too hard, they should find some other ways to contribute (there are plenty of ways, hard and easy) than by commenting about things that are long gone.

I think this is a slightly unreasonable attitude if you want input from non-developers. As long as the comments relate to the latest RC, they should not be considered old story. If they have already been taken care of, just inform that the problem has been noticed or, worst case, ignore it. If anyone needs more info they can look it up.

[sirg]

Regarding difficulty, I agree, the game looks great and has teriffic potential, but in some cases I feel like the aliens are cheating or are one turn ahead of me, so it's tough, mostly in the begining.
The hardest missions in my case were the Japanese alien hideout - 2-3 of my men died in the first 4 turns - the military base and the one with the office building.
I want to stress the fact that in almost all missions, most civilians get killed and the player doesn't have much to do preventing that. In some missions up to 4 civilians get killed from the first turn, somewhere on the other side of the map (see the african crash site map) and I think it's frustrating, because the objective is "protect civilians". Maybe the civilians should run towards the PHALANX dropship for cover instead of walking like idiots into the crossfire.

I would like to suggest a training map/scenario, with alien dummies, or something like that, where the player can test weapons, tactics and game mechanics, and where the soldiers can't die for real.

[grumpy]

I would like to suggest a training map/scenario, with alien dummies, or something like that, where the player can test weapons, tactics and game mechanics, and where the soldiers can't die for real.

This is not a bad idea, you could make it look like a firing range with different firing positions. Next to it you could have an urban combat setup, i.e. a few semi-destroyed buildings and narrow alleys between. Alien dummies placed in ambush positions inside. They could simply be static, in same positions every time or randomly distributed between a few fixed positions.

A simple solution would be to have it always available in a popup window like the one used for base attacks. Press on the base, get the popup, choose if you want to access the base or go into the training area. Maybe an option in the game settings to disable it for hardcore players.

How difficult would this be? Disable AI for a single map and no damage to soldiers. On second thought, why disable damage, people getting hurt and killed during live fire excercises is quite realistic.

[sirg]

I thought about it and made a new post about this idea:
http://ufo.myexp.de/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=679 .. something like you are proposing.

[Trevero]

I agree with sjm that there is a problem with aliens wading around a corner or trough a door and wasting half your squad who just stand there even though you have used "reaction fire". To me it feels like the chances of getting off a shot should be boosted. In my opinion (and I used to be a proffesional soldier serving in both Bosnia and Kosovo) this would make real-life-/common sense-tactics more viable.

If your squad is gathering around a door (keeping clear of one anothers lines of fire of course) preparing to go through it, fully focused on the door, it seems strange that someone or something can just wander through it and shoot at them before they even get a shot. If your weapons are too inferior to bring down the thing - fair enough, but chances are that soldiers waiting and ready would get the first shot rather than the ones bursting through the door. (Or around a corner for that matter.)

Of course this should go both ways, so that you should think twice before rushing through doors yourself (provided that aliens will eventually be able to use reaction fire). Possibly grenades could be given a stunning effect. But this may not be realistic due to coding/programming issues?