Xenonauts (XCOM) - Kill those aliens!

[Guest]

Wondering if anyone here plays Xenonauts. Perhaps you guys are familiar with the original XCOM games (and the more recent XCOM: Enemy Unknown by Firaxis). It's pretty much an alien invasion (set in the Cold War) scenario and your small and often under-funded organization is the only thing preventing them from taking over Earth. Turn-based strategy game.

I'm sure Scott Manley can explain better than I can:

It's been eating most of my KSP time.

[xcorps]

I've been in the Early Access for about a year and a half. It's a good game, with an active community.

[Streetwind]

I gave it a try. Fairly good recreation of the original, though from the limited exposure I've had, it seems extremely easy. You don't seem to lose any soldiers or aircraft, ever, even if they get utterly blasted to bits - all it takes is some extended rest in the medbay / careful repairs in the hangar. That's a bit of a bummer considering there's basically no risk involved anymore. Who cares if you "lose" six people every mission or an interceptor in every air combat, they just pop up ready again a few days later. In the original games, a major part of the challenge involved keeping your soldiers alive long enough for them to gain significant experience so you had a chance of actually beating the late-game missions. The aliens seem to be unable to aim properly, when they do hit they don't do much damage, and I've yet to see any of them use grenades.

I have a convenient means for comparison because I ended up grabbing the X-COM Classics Pack in the Steam Summer Sale, and I've been playing some Terror From The Deep (as it's the only one of the original four that I never finished). And well, holy hell. If you're looking for that feeling of a desperate struggle against a technologically superior invader, and Xenonauts isn't scratching that itch because of the lack of challenge, then this is the game for you. There's really no adequate description for how viciously you will keep getting murdered even many hours into the game, you just have to see it to believe it. It's the Dark Souls of turn-based tactics.

There's a number of things Xenonauts does a lot better than TFTD though. Leaving aside the difference between FullHD and a 320x200 graphics resolution, the in-combat user interface and usability is lightyears ahead. It really shows off the lessons learned by two additional decades of game design. And, of course, it's modable.

[FanaticalFighter]

I don't have Xenonauts atm, unfortunately. Saving up money to buy it. I do have all the XCOM games.

[Seret]

In the original games, a major part of the challenge involved keeping your soldiers alive

The loading screen for Terror Sites still gives me the heebie-jeebies. So many good soldiers dead.

[The Jeb.]

Cool game!

[Zad Fnark]

Very nice game. I've been hooked on it lately.

I grew up on the original x-com series. In fact, I had a Terror From the Deep campaign going until I had to go through a hard drive re-format.

There are some quirks I'd wish they'd fix. Aliens don't have morale effects or have to reload.

ZF-

[Seret]

You don't seem to lose any soldiers or aircraft, ever, even if they get utterly blasted to bits - all it takes is some extended rest in the medbay / careful repairs in the hangar.

Installed it and had a play last night. Lost one dead two wounded on my first mission. In Scott Manley's video above he loses a soldier in his first mission too. What level of difficulty you playing on?

It does seem marginally easier though. It used to be very rare for unarmoured troops to survive any hits from plasma weapons. Taking any wounded was unusual, it was KIAs all the way.

I do get you about the aircraft though. It was almost impossible to lose an aircraft in the original (you'd just disengage) so I was a bit shocked to have an F-17 wasted in about half a second when it tried to engage a "fighter" UFO solo. But lo and behold, it seems to be back in the hangar getting repaired.

[Streetwind]

I'm playing on Veteran. So far I've only had two soldiers incapacitated (i.e. reduced to 0 HP) across I think 3 missions, and both of them lived. Maybe it's related to the severity of the hit that incapacitates them? The difficulty setting doesn't seem to make much of a difference here. Scott Manley plays on Normal, and you can definitely see him repeatedly losing men which are shown in the end screen merely as "wounded". That's also where I saw that shot down interceptors get retrieved and repaired.

[impwarhamer]

Taken 16 hours of my time so far, and I'm loving it!

Not to say I'm that good though, normal difficulty and i'm averaging 1 death per mission, if I'm lucky. To be fair, I'm playing Ironman.

I've found the armoured car extremely useful though (named it daryll da barrel for no particular reason), I love just shouting NOPE at the screen and parking in front of my soldiers to save them from enemy fire.

[Seret]

Maybe it's related to the severity of the hit that incapacitates them?

According to the game's forum there's a 50% chance that "dead" soldiers are actually just critically wounded, modified by -5% for every point below 0HP that they go. So at -20HP they're the permanent kind of dead.

So yes, that is less brutal than the original. Sounds like they've made the early game slightly easier and the end game much harder (by getting rid of psychic powers for humans).

[Streetwind]

Aha, I guess that means I was lucky! Cheers for finding that out.

[xcorps]

According to the game's forum there's a 50% chance that "dead" soldiers are actually just critically wounded, modified by -5% for every point below 0HP that they go. So at -20HP they're the permanent kind of dead.

So yes, that is less brutal than the original. Sounds like they've made the early game slightly easier and the end game much harder (by getting rid of psychic powers for humans).

No blaster bombs either. Also the economy is vastly different. It's really the one major thing I don't like about Xenonauts.

[impwarhamer]

According to the game's forum there's a 50% chance that "dead" soldiers are actually just critically wounded, modified by -5% for every point below 0HP that they go. So at -20HP they're the permanent kind of dead.

Does that mean if you use a medkit on a 'dead' soldier it is more likely to survive?

[Seret]

Does that mean if you use a medkit on a 'dead' soldier it is more likely to survive?

Apparently not.

[KerbMav]

Two monts after the release - any new insights?

I hear mixed voices (mostly from 90's UFO veterans) about it so far and Scott Manley mentioned a mod that were much needed to make the game really worth it - was the development "declared finished" prematurely?

[Dark Junior]

UFO Defense was the best strategy game I EVER played.

[sal_vager]

Then you might like OpenXcom, and you can get the original here.

[Guest]

I bought this game when it was in "Early Access".

It was promising, at first, but later my hopes faded.

It looks and feels like ... still Very Early Access. Just like KSP

Of all things, like decent, if flat, graphics, complex management of everything, multi-layer bases, ... I missing deep vehicle customization.

Even in "cut 75% features out" XCOM apocalypse, it was better.

I still love UFO Extraterrestrials.

[Mock Turtle]

X-COM was one of my all-time favorites back in the day. I've tried playing a few fan remake projects, but there's always been a lack of followthrough. I'll give this one a try, it sounds promising.