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« on: April 21, 2009, 05:30:49 pm »
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
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