Messages

1

Discussion / Re: Feedback 2.3

« on: August 05, 2010, 08:57:42 pm »

Now I just got so upset I deleted the entire game. For what fun it used to be when started, the utter disappointment it turned into.

More than often it happens that one or two aliens get hidden behind a piece of rock on certain maps. It is impossible to get closer to the rock because it lies in open terrain, with even a river in the way (seriously, why can't my soldiers cross a two steps wide creek?) In each turn they come out of cover, fire a few rounds with deadly precisity (the usual thing: wielding plasma pistols they hit my soldiers kilometers away, despite they are behind a cover, crouched) and immediately step back behind the rock. There's no chance even to fire at them because they never come out. My soldiers don't fire back with reaction fire regardless I turned it on. Hence it is mission impossible. And it is happening again and again in a row.

Besides of the aliens becoming the best snipers in the world, they seem to have endless TUs compared to my soldiers. They just run across half of the map in a single round, and still have time for multiple well-aimed shots. Their speed is also an unmatched advantage which especially turns out in close quarter combat.

Also the rate of terror missions get unbearable. Every day there are at least two or three landings and half a dozen flying UFOs which I can't handle. All the nations gradually lose their faith in me. This is a serious game balance problem. The game is simply no fun at all after a point.

2

Discussion / Re: Feedback 2.3

« on: August 05, 2010, 03:30:03 am »

OK, I think I am done with this game until it's made somewhat fair.

As I mentioned before, aliens tend to become invincible super-Terminators as my research develops. As soon as I invent some new weapon or armor, the aliens instantly have an even bigger gun, and my new toy is rendered useless. Also the opponents become smarter, way smarter than any of my best soldiers, and now we are at a point when they never ever miss a target, let it be at any distance, with any weapon.

Having an unarmored Taman mowing down my entire squad with a plasma pistol from the other edge of the map while my men are clueless about even how to fire their guns is stupid. This really has to be adjusted. A major thrill element in the old UFO was how you were able to see your new scientific developments deployed and used. This game gives the feeling that research is completely irrelevant. Regardless whatever weapon you develop, forget about using it. All you get is a few e-mails but you actually gradually lose your chances in combat. Now I have the Nanocomposite Armor and Plasma Rifles but I find it completely impossible to finish a tac mission without at least one of my soldiers killed. That would be actually acceptable if it was not that hard to acquire new soldiers and it wouldn't be that difficult to improve their abilities. (Which are, as I previously said, also next to impossible.)

A major problem on tac missions that in some cases my soldiers are dropped out to an open field, with no cover within a hundred meters. Sometimes they can't get there for two or even three rounds. It'd be much more advisable if they always started in the dropship, and not scattered around it.

Also wanted to ask why some aliens begin to cry after they get wounded? Is it supposed to mean they are losing morale and panicked?

3

Discussion / Re: Feedback 2.3

« on: August 03, 2010, 02:35:01 am »

Hi! Let me put my two cents.

First, this is a great game. It's the same feeling as the old UFO (or X-COM) and I am actually playing through nights with it. However there are a few points that I don't like and some even make me pissed because it spoils the fun. Perhaps worth to address.

- Reserve points. It is annoying that you can't save some TUs of your soldiers to return fire if the enemy strolls into their crosshairs. Yeah, I found the button but actually my soldiers very rarely shoot back, if ever. It was way better in the old UFO where you was able to ambush careless enemies. Nevertheless there's not even a Reaction value for the characters as I noticed. Maybe it'd be worth to implement.

- Soldiers gain experience way too slow. After fifty or more missions my best guy is still only Competent in Assault Weapons while he'd be already a superhero in the old UFO.

- The thing that pisses me the most is the "balancing" of the game, namely the better weapons you have the tougher the opponents become. Indeed there's supposed to be some challenge but not like this. I mean what the heck happened to the weapons, or are my soldiers up against Terminators? A simple Taman grunt takes more than a burst shot from a Plasma Rifle from point blank range, although it's not wearing any armor. And they tend to become wonderful snipers as well, they can hit my soldiers with a plasma pistol from kilometers without a problem. Soon it comes down to this: if the enemy sees you, you are toast, period. And it all ends up in playing "Retry" again and again - there goes excitement. It seems my soldiers have no chance, and it's not the kind of thrilling no-chance-but-we-are-heroes thing. It's the game-unbalanced-to-unfair-and-rather-boring thing.

- Have anybody mentioned that there are way too many tactical missions? It'd be useful to have a difficulty setting to set them. Actually there's an UFO landing somewhere every hour and that gives really little time for strategic playing. Also it chewes up soldiers real fast and here we get to that stupid Retry button again. (Hey, the solution is NOT removing the Retry button!)

- Talking about tac missions, it's quite boring when all off sudden an avalanche of Harvesters appear and all land in the same environment. I'm just done with the 6th farm shootout in a row and I am quite bored. But you can't just skip these.

- Why the heck are soldiers scattered everywhere around the base when an attack occurs? A long set of rounds pass by just moving them in position. Meanwhile the aliens barely move, actually they are just holding positions. I can find them always at the same spots. I don't even have to look just throw a grenade into those rooms.

- It is rather odd that a field medikit can heal a mortally wounded soldier just immediately, but it takes weeks in a high-tech hospital for them to recover. Also, recovering takes waaaay too much time.

- In the old UFO there was fatigue, soldiers lost Energy points if moved too much. Now soldiers don't get tired. It is an important game aspect, why drop it?

- Also in the old UFO, when a soldier got wounded, he lost one Health point every turn from then on, until the mission ended or he died. Now the soldiers can fight on without a flaw with half of their heads chopped off with a Kerrblade. WTF?

- It would be really useful if the radar told what size is an UFO it just spotted. One might lose less interceptors.

- For the technical side, I still can't get any sound on my Mac, but I barely get a thing of how to recompile the game. Should I really start learning a new profession just to play a game properly?

- No, I did not read through previous posts so I don't repeat what others already wrote.

- Yes, I still like the game, it's the best I've seen for long years.

4

Mac / Re: No sound: Could not find sound file

« on: August 01, 2010, 02:19:58 pm »

No, it did not. Funny enough, suddenly there was ONE sound that worked: the sound of glass breaking when an alien shot through a window. So the sound system is OK, just the files are missing.

5

Mac / Re: No sound: Could not find sound file

« on: July 30, 2010, 01:10:39 pm »

So where can I get that?

6

Mac / No sound: Could not find sound file

« on: July 30, 2010, 12:00:26 pm »

Hi! It's a great game but very silent on my Mac. It can't find sound files. Apparently nobody has encountered this so I opened a new topic. The log says:

Code: [Select]

2010/07/30 11:46:42 music change to van_theme (from PsymongN3)
2010/07/30 11:46:42 M_Start: Could not load music: 'music/van_theme' (Failed loading /opt/local/lib/libvorbisfile.dylib: dlopen(/opt/local/lib/libvorbisfile.dylib, 2): image not found)
2010/07/30 11:46:42 S_LoadSound: Failed loading /opt/local/lib/libvorbisfile.dylib: dlopen(/opt/local/lib/libvorbisfile.dylib, 2): image not found.
2010/07/30 11:46:42 S_LoadSound: Could not find sound file: 'weapons/bloodspider'
2010/07/30 11:46:42 S_LoadSound: Failed loading /opt/local/lib/libvorbisfile.dylib: dlopen(/opt/local/lib/libvorbisfile.dylib, 2): image not found.
2010/07/30 11:46:42 S_LoadSound: Could not find sound file: 'weapons/medikit'
2010/07/30 11:46:42 S_LoadSound: Failed loading /opt/local/lib/libvorbisfile.dylib: dlopen(/opt/local/lib/libvorbisfile.dylib, 2): image not found.
2010/07/30 11:46:42 S_LoadSound: Could not find sound file: 'misc/klonk03'
2010/07/30 11:46:42 S_LoadSound: Failed loading /opt/local/lib/libvorbisfile.dylib: dlopen(/opt/local/lib/libvorbisfile.dylib, 2): image not found.

And so on. Seems everything is missing.