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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.

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Discussion / A UFO:AI Let's Play

« on: October 31, 2012, 04:19:54 am »

He's actually doing three LP's, original X-Com, UFO:AI, and UFO:EU.

Here's the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgC5TIABQVxB63cLssYMhIpeqOBlNXiC0

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Discussion / Some 2.4 thoughts.

« on: October 14, 2012, 02:09:16 am »

So after having made comments about balancing, I've been playing more and I'm inclined to believe I was wrong and it's not the game that's the issue, but rather that there seems to be something wrong with the Easy Campaign. I never seemed to get enough stuff to sell, and by the time I'd made enough money to do anything I'd lost all support and was inches from being totally slaughtered.

I started a Very Easy campaign, and it quite frankly hasn't been. I'm on my 6th Machine Gunner, now a Heavy laser guy. For some reason they always end getting murdered by grenades. I'm really hoping 2.5 see's some new armors.

Always before, I was going to bolters, and then dying horribly. This time I went lasers, and while they were more expensive, having to research both D-F Cartridges and the Laser Rifles, they make a much more potent weapon in the hands of the troops. They're far more accurate than any of the projectile weapons and if they require more damage, that's fine, because I can get more shots out of them per turn than I could with heavier weapons. And reaction fire doesn't eat my entire TU store, so there's some for movement and thus lasers cause me to be more mobile.

I'm wholly unsure about the effectiveness of Aerial Laser Cannons though. I mean, the Stiletto is now armed with them, and is perfectly capable of knocking down a Fighter or Scout, but where the Saracen is capable of downing a fighter one on one with TR-20's, it seems in capable of doing so with laser cannons. There also seems to be no point in mounting Targeting Computers with Laser Cannons. Is that right and I should sell them and purchase Raven ECM's instead? Or am I overlooking a benefit?

The ground difference is beyond remarkable however. I went from having to try and close nearly to knife range to use full-auto to deal with even unarmored Taman's, to being able to terminate them from across the map with pin-point accuracy.

True, Blood Spiders and Armored Taman's are pretty resistant to Lasers, but judicious use of Grenades and the Rocket Launcher deal with either of those with remarkable effectiveness. And nothing so far has come close to the usefulness of the Grenade Launcher or Flamethrower. I have one soldier carrying both, and I really like being able to swap between the two if the situation changes. It's more efficient to drop the Grenade Launcher and jam a Flamethrower in the face of an alien than it is to swap to Flechettes. Costs less, and does better damage at the range Flechettes are effective at.

I also love the range of the flamethrower. I had a base defense mission and could hit an alien at the top of the entry ramp from the bottom of the entry ramp. It's nice to see a Flamethrower with a sufficiently long range instead of those that are one or two squares and then STOP suddenly.

I'm actually finding Very Easy more enjoyable and yet harder, than Easy. At the same time, it's easier than easy. Which sounds strange, but in Very Easy, I'm not only getting more Alien Ships that I can engage, but those that I can't, like Harvesters, are landing more often. Which is good.

Downsides: I hate the Market map. It's cramped unpleasant and has too many corners and 'alleys'. It's awesome. Which is why I hate it. Is it odd that I was more terrified by this mission than I was by the actual Terror mission?

I also hate the Hills map. That one never goes well, because the Aliens don't leave the Harvester, they just bunch up between the tails so that when I try to get into position to see in there to engage, there's five or six of them waiting, no cover behind the ship to get close and if you don't go around, neither do they, but if you don't, they won't come to you. Finding out that it's that map is enough to make me abort the mission, load my save and use the Auto-mission button.

I also found myself not liking the farm, until I learned you could stand on the wood piles to get a height advantage and shoot over other wood piles.

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Feature Requests / Mortars

« on: May 15, 2012, 06:40:03 pm »

I've noticed that the enemy likes to hide behind walls, and there is occasionally no cover to close in enough to throw a grenade, usually without exposing yourself to enemy fire.

Mortars as heavy weapons would neatly solve the problem, while being able to potentially punch through floors. They'd be very expensive to use, and possibly immobile within the battle space, so they don't step on the toes of grenade launchers.

Having multiple round types would make it a useful tactical weapon. Large area smoke rounds, incendiary, and naturally armor piercing. Possibly even a camera round to be dropped into an area you can't see. It doesn't have to last for more than a round.