Messages

61

Discussion / Re: Impressions of 2.5 11/1/12

« on: November 05, 2012, 05:15:22 pm »

Yeah, that needs some sharp looking at. Should be about 3k for the Dragon and a much sharper up tick in materials from the various ships. The Harvester has far more than 800 Alien materials in it. Should be more like 1000-1200.

Two questions then: If I were to modify the numbers would they only effect a new game? And which of the files are they stored in?

62

Discussion / Re: Help us out: how many scientists do you have?

« on: November 05, 2012, 01:36:43 am »

Okay, I'm now to June with 50 scientists and the longest thing to research was the Dragon.

63

Discussion / Re: Alien Capture

« on: November 05, 2012, 01:34:27 am »

I thought you couldn't research stun rods until you got the breathing aparatus researched.

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Discussion / Re: Impressions of 2.5 11/1/12

« on: November 05, 2012, 01:31:23 am »

A bit late. I finally got through the mission, and once you get around that want to keep your troops alive, it's much easier. I've actually just finished a lull. Got through the harbor mission, lucky spawn.

Okay, so while I dislike the combat wounding system, the hospital has been seriously improved. There's actually a benefit to having one now.

I like the stun rods. Works well. One complaint is that half-way through or so, there's a message talking about Stun Grenades. Are these not implimented yet? Or later tech? Either way, that's the first mention, and there's nothing I can do for them. A mis-print?

One point of balance is that 5000 alien materials seems to be a bit expensive for the Dragon Interceptor. That's 17 landed scouts. I'm not sure the exact return from the larger ships, but it seems a bit over the top, particularly for the first of the alien tech interceptors.

65

Discussion / Re: Yet another ''thank you'' thread.

« on: November 04, 2012, 06:46:38 pm »

That looks fantastic, but if you really don't like the default UI, under the options menu is the Alternate UI, which I prefer. I'm going to give UI2 a shot and see what I think though.

And I agree with the above posters. Thanks for putting all your hard work into this guys.

66

Discussion / Re: Impressions of 2.5 11/1/12

« on: November 04, 2012, 12:21:35 pm »

I'm thinking it might be worth arming people with pistols in one hand and combat knives in the other. I've never used knives so I don't know if they're faster than plasma pistols. But at least they'll be able to take out the alien before they bleed out.

---

Edit: Yup, that seems to be the trick. Soldiers are disposable assets.

Two things. One of the tips of the day is about grenades, and says tossing them around your own trips, instead of troops.

The other is, I think we could benefit from the hospital tool tip telling us what the penalty is for wounded arms, Legs etc. I know arms cost two more TU to do things. Fortunately it doesn't seem to hurt aim.

67

Discussion / Re: Impressions of 2.5 11/1/12

« on: November 03, 2012, 11:33:57 pm »

I don't have dedicated medics. Everyone except the Machinegunner has a medikit.

They fan out in pairs, typically one Assault Rifle and one specialist. (Sniper, Flamethrower) They move so that they're no more than 3 spaces apart, unless it's absolutely necessary. What ends up happening is that one of them has to go around an obstacle, like the containers in the harbor and gets shot by an alien, then when turning to run for their partner, they end up shot in the back and if they don't make it close enough, they die to bleeding damage. If they're stupid enough to shoot the alien, they get blasted, can't reach their partner, the partner can't get to them and apply the medikit, and they bleed to death the next turn.

I'm stuck on this stupid harbor mission, no matter what I do, I lose two or three soldiers. I guess I'll just have to start treating them as completely disposable. Which is good because I can put the money I'd have spent on medikits to use buying ammo, or producing it.

68

Discussion / Re: Impressions of 2.5 11/1/12

« on: November 03, 2012, 05:01:47 am »

That's fine, but what I'm saying is that they are completely useless for the purpose of stopping wounds. Right now, you get wounded, you have to turn and abandon all hope of doing anything but run as close to the nearest medikit equipped soldier, and pray you get within 5 tiles. Because at best they're going to have 31 TU and they have to have some to get it out, which means you're probably not being handlded as well as possible, because that's at least two turns, during which the aliens are continuing to shoot at you... It's just no use with such a high TU cost to heal. Which should definitely be renamed to 'Staunch' if all it does is stop the bleeding.

69

Tactics / Re: I <3 Smoke Grenades

« on: November 03, 2012, 01:41:57 am »

What I'd like to see is the ability to walk up on top of some of the drop ships. It'd be an assured vantage point, and give you the ability to strike back against enemy targets which are either higher or otherwise hidden. Of course that would require some of the models be altered. Or the maps. Either way it's not vital.

And I thought I was far enough away. There shouldn't have been enough TU's left for an attack after the alien walked through the cloud. I'm pretty suspicious of the additional reaction shot that was available to the alien afterwards as well.

70

Discussion / Re: Impressions of 2.5 11/1/12

« on: November 03, 2012, 01:37:01 am »

Don't get me wrong, I love the Rocket Launcher, but with only 6 move, it means if I have to try and reposition, I've got very very limited space to do it in.

I went to Lasers, because I tried the Bolter and found it lacking until I got nose hair close. It had a very bad accuracy. Lasers were weaker, but so accurate that they completely made up for it.

I haven't gotten far enough to see more than the basic weapons yet, but the rebalance seems to have worked out well, better than usual.

That's what I'm saying. It takes the same 20TU to heal less than a quarter of the amount. I think that a point could be taken from... UFO: Extraterrestrial here. They had 'Stimpaks' and Medikits. The former could heal small amounts of damage but not 'critical damage'. While Medikits healed more but were much bulkier. It make for a more tactical healing choice though, because the stimpaks healed less.

I agree, the healing needs a very close look.

71

Tactics / Re: I <3 Smoke Grenades

« on: November 02, 2012, 10:39:11 pm »

Yes, I figured that might be the case.

No, what I mean is, had I thrown a flashbang instead, the alien would have been unable to move and kill her at all.

72

Discussion / Re: Impressions of 2.5 11/1/12

« on: November 02, 2012, 10:37:19 pm »

That's good. I'm finding that pop and grenade is a useful tactic. It shouldn't be quite so useful. Up shot is that pistols seem to be the order of the day. Since the standard snap shot is 4TU, it means I can fire first and not get a reaction shot.

I'll try switching out the Rocket Launcher for a second Grenade Launcher, but I'm still thinking that 24 is a bit high. I don't know if it's going to be possible to shoot it without being reaction fired to death though.

Interesting. If that's so, why is CWL a new game technology? Or is it because there's no alternate step up the Aircraft ladder? And is there now some prerequisite for Electromagnetic Lasers?

73

Discussion / Impressions of 2.5 11/1/12

« on: November 02, 2012, 09:00:10 pm »

So, I downloaded, installed and played some of the latest build of 2.5. I can say that I am both impressed and depressed with an about it, in the two hours or so I've played.

Combat: I was worried about the 'combat rebalance' which usually means it's be skewed well and truly out of proportion, but you guys did well.  I love the fact that it's now possible to hit a target with sniper rifles from beyond arms reach. I tell them to shoot, the alien gets hit more often than not, instead of the bullet wandering off to try and murder some random part of the scenery. Reaction fire is also much more reliable, which is fantastic. The downside is that it works more often for the aliens. Haven't gotten past the basic weapons, but at the moment it's no issue. I find that rather comforting. Even the Machinegun is still useful though no-where near as dominant a weapon. The fact that it will now hit a target once in a while is also nice.

The downsides I've noticed are two fold. First, the Rocket Launcher is now too expensive to be more than a one shot wonder. It's been pushed way too high in TU cost for it's accuracy, plus the lack of mobility to fire it means that I fire one shot at the start of a mission then drop it and pull a pistol. Should be about 18TU to fire, instead of 24.

The other problem is the new 'damage' system. I don't mind bleeding damage, it makes sense, but the medi-kit heals way too little and costs way too much to be of any use. I had a soldier hit once by the aliens ending up at 58 health, and ended up dead, because even though there wasn't much distance between her and the nearest squad member, upon moving to be healed, she got shot again, dropped to 14 health, and didn't quite reach the healer, who couldn't reach her and have TU enough to use the kit. I killed the alien with a burst of assault rifle fire, but lost the soldier. That's flat out insane. 'Heal' should be renamed Staunch, heal no HP but stop the bleeding and cost only 5-8TU.

Research: Am I supposed to research more than just continuous wave laser to get to man-portable laser weapons? Or am I experiencing an issue with the research system? I like the rebalance of how fast it goes. It means I can get lasers sometime before the end of April, rather than sometime in May. Even with only ten scientists it no longer feels like such a chore to get any research done.

On the other hand it looks like it might be more efficient to kill a mission worth of aliens then go to the plasma weapon research instead.

Base: I like the redesign for the initial base. A more compact one, with more room to expand those 1x2 pieces, without having to destroy the alien containment to have room.

UI: Not a bad UI, though I prefer the Alternate, which needs one minor change. The Morale/TU's remaining meter in the lower left hand corner is hard to see in front of the portraits. If it could be moved up, that would be very useful.

74

Discussion / Re: Help us out: how many scientists do you have?

« on: November 02, 2012, 07:55:57 pm »

I mean I'd accidentally end up with the best one and then end up researching the older ones.

Okay, so I'm at April 5, just started with 10 scientists. Very easy campaign. Research speed seems fine. I got through lasers without much issue. Of course all I got was laser base defense and Aerial Laser. Should I have researched something else? At the moment it seems lasers are pointless. There's not much reason not to jump straight to Plasma Pistols. I've already got enough to outfit the entire squad already. (Presuming I can manage to survive that long...)

75

Tactics / Re: I <3 Smoke Grenades

« on: November 02, 2012, 07:48:57 pm »

Ah, thanks.

Okay, so I'm still seeing no benefit to smoke grenades. I tried to put one near one of my troops so she wouldn't get shot long enough to get up close to stop her bleeding out, and it rolled past once and bounced past the second time. And it didn't matter either time, the alien just walked through the cloud and blasted her, and then she bled out because of the new garbage damage mechanic.