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« on: June 24, 2009, 09:30:59 pm »
game could use:
1. Prone position (lying belly down on the ground) in addition to the kneel/stand. it would probably screw the TU costs to hell, but improve accuracy and cover. *much like Jagged Alliance 2
2. More aliens - perhaps extremely large aliens (think reapers from x-com but bigger) that the aliens use as "tank" or meatshield. fast, scary aliens like the chryssalid or aliens in some form of power armor.
3. Aliens that require different methods of killing - weapon types dont seem to make much difference when it come to killing aliens. aliens with a force field only penetrable by melee weapons or kinetic/energy resistant aliens/alien armor. that would make weapon loadouts more important and add another tactical element.
4. More bolt weapons - perhaps a "heavy" bolt rifle similar to the autocannon from x-com and a bolt pistol. it's an entire weapon tree with only 1 weapon. almost feels pointless to research it (i much prefer laser rifles/sniper rifles to the bolter).
5. Tweak the worldview UI - the 3 "hidden" buttons and screen take up a lot of space. shrink them and move the buttons to the top or side of the screen.
Overall the game is pretty damn solid. I know suggestions 2 & 3 will be pretty hard to implement as the bottleneck seems to be 3D modeling and stuff, not the coding.
hmm, forgot about the AI...
Alien AI should be based upon 3 things: race, weapon, rank/role. Heavy, durable aliens (ortnoks) should act more aggressively (constantly advancing forward, rapid-fire weapons, grenades, etc.). Weaker aliens (tamans) should move more cautiously (staying in cover most of the time and relying on reaction fire). Aliens equipped with sniper rifles should stay back, look for high ground. Assault aliens (rifles, heavy) should "leapfrog" from cover to cover providing covering fire for shocktroops/recon. Shocktroops (heavily armored, high damage weapons/melee) charge forward to soak up reaction fire. Recon (pistols, grenades)
aliens would scout ahead, locate enemies and try to lure them back to the rest of the troops or try to backstab lone phalanx soldiers (esp. snipers).
most of this seems to be true, so the alien AI is okay (although the taman have a bizarre fondness for the kerr blade...). however, alien AI (or tactics) should make more use of the different alien types. those little metal bugs should be used to scout the area and flush out hidden enemies, while the alien "handlers" would follow behind at a safe distance. commanders should stay back with several bodyguards, "forting up" in hopes of rescue.
that lead me to one last suggestion for more varied missions: enemy reinforcements/rescue. as it is, there is an unlimited number of turns for a mission. enemy reinforcements arriving after some time would make add a little pressure to the mission. alien commanders could get rescued before they get captured, making capture missions more difficult. however this could add another layer to strategy. waiting for alien reinforcements and try to ambush them in order to gain more alien tech or capture a ship (the reinforcements dont simply just appear from nowhere). of course this is pretty damn risky, but would be very cool.
sorry for the extremely long post. i think i'll put some of these in the requests section.