Xenonauts Update (XCom Remake)

[mikeck]

Thanks Kushan

[Nefaro]

The tactical combat is a lot better then the remake IMO. There is cover, but going behind cover also limits your hit percentage. Cover is also scarcer and a lot of the time you don't have any choice but to march your troops through open field in order to reach your objectives.

Don't forget the Inventory Management side, too.  That's something I sorely missed in the new X-Com remake.  Xenonauts certainly has that, so it adds that extra dimension to each drop.  Load up more ammo, grenades, and special equipment but suffer weight penalties if that specific character isn't beefy enough?  I love it.

I've also really enjoyed the artwork in Xenonauts and most of the interface feels crisp and informative.

[mikeck]

Since I have never played the original, I doubt that I can just jump in. Is there a tutorial or manual available with the beta if I pick it up through steam?

[Nefaro]

Since I have never played the original, I doubt that I can just jump in. Is there a tutorial or manual available with the beta if I pick it up through steam?

I've not played it in a couple months, and there have been some updates.  I believe those updates have also pretty much finished what was missing from the interface before and that may include some kind of tutorial or in-game instructions.   I don't recall it having a tutorial before so I don't know if that is in now.

If you've played the new X-Com, then the general style of gameplay would be familiar.  Sure, there are some more things to do but it's not difficult to figure out if you've played any similar turn-based tactical strategy or RPG (the inventory management I mentioned, for example).  The most confusing part of playing Xenonauts, for me, was some parts of the Base Management interface but I fingered it out by click-exploring.  Also some of the finer details on building specific rooms in your base, only because some of their descriptions weren't finished at the time.   

I believe it has had more tooltips added in the latest updates too but someone else should confirm.

[JasonPratt]

I don't recall there being a manual in-game; and there is no manual link at Steam. There are a number of community guides at Steam, however.

You only played the XCOM remake for five minutes before getting bored, Mike, so I don't know how much that experience will help. There's definitely a lot more to do in original X-Com, and thus in Xenonauts.

[KyzBP]

I've been playing this for a couple of days now and I'm really impressed.  I've had to restart a couple of times because the game punishes poor tactics.  I've been losing soldiers at about a 50% rate including a couple of 100% loss missions.  No one has gotten above the rank of Sgt.  In spite of the incredible loss rate I'm digging what they've done with this game.

Right now the only thing that detracts is the soldier's uniforms.  They are plain awful.  I'm really hoping someone mods them.  I did see a mod that makes all of your soldiers Jarheads (USMC).  The mod edits the rank structure and uniforms.  It looks really nice but I don't want all of my troops coming from just one service.  The other thing I don't like is the game takes place in the late 70's yet they have female soldiers from the U.S. with Special Forces experience.  I didn't mind having female soldiers in the original XCOM  because it took place in the future (1999?) but there were no women with Combat Arms experience in the 70's.  But really it's no more than a minor detraction.

I'm really looking forward to the final version.

[Grim.Reaper]

Just curious, besides the graphics, what major differences are there between this version and the XCOM version that was released?

[Nefaro]

Doesn't your soldiers' look change when you progressively put on body armor and such, on down the road?

IIRC, they end up looking more like an old SWAT team or something, with various pieces of black armor over their blue outfit.  It isn't near as bad as the "janitor" uniform they start with.

[Nefaro]

Just curious, besides the graphics, what major differences are there between this version and the XCOM version that was released?

This one has the more classic style of X-Com play.  Such as having actual inventory management, full attribute and 100pt AP system, some other stuff...

The mechanics are more detailed, in general.   It may not sound like much but there's a noticeably different feel to it.

[KyzBP]

Just curious, besides the graphics, what major differences are there between this version and the XCOM version that was released?

I haven't gone more than 3 months yet but so far here's what I've noticed:

The Alien AI seems pretty solid.  You get a larger variety of missions.  You have "Local Forces" that sometimes show up to help.  Better loadout screen.  There's really enough difference to make it feel like a different game but enough similarity to pick it up and play if you have XCOM experience.  So far it's been challenging enough to keep me restarting the game...not out of frustration, but out of motivation to fix mistakes that I made early in the game.

[KyzBP]

Doesn't your soldiers' look change when you progressively put on body armor and such, on down the road?

IIRC, they end up looking more like an old SWAT team or something, with various pieces of black armor over their blue outfit.  It isn't near as bad as the "janitor" uniform they start with.

So far I've only gotten far enough to use the Jackel Armor.  It makes the soldier resemble an elite janitorial unit, the kind you'd call in when an ordinary plunger just won't do.

[Grim.Reaper]

Thanks for the additional information....

[skeptical.platypus]

So far I've only gotten far enough to use the Jackel Armor.  It makes the soldier resemble an elite janitorial unit, the kind you'd call in when an ordinary plunger just won't do.

Yes, as I recall, DeNiro's uniform in Brasil was rather blandish.

[Pinetree]

I've been playing this for a couple of days now and I'm really impressed.  I've had to restart a couple of times because the game punishes poor tactics.  I've been losing soldiers at about a 50% rate including a couple of 100% loss missions.  No one has gotten above the rank of Sgt.  In spite of the incredible loss rate I'm digging what they've done with this game.

Right now the only thing that detracts is the soldier's uniforms.  They are plain awful.  I'm really hoping someone mods them.  I did see a mod that makes all of your soldiers Jarheads (USMC).  The mod edits the rank structure and uniforms.  It looks really nice but I don't want all of my troops coming from just one service.  The other thing I don't like is the game takes place in the late 70's yet they have female soldiers from the U.S. with Special Forces experience.  I didn't mind having female soldiers in the original XCOM  because it took place in the future (1999?) but there were no women with Combat Arms experience in the 70's.  But really it's no more than a minor detraction.

I'm really looking forward to the final version.

There are a couple of uniform mods out there, look for the one by Jsleezy, Real Armors, I think it's called. You can also mod the females out, in gameconfig.xml there's a setting where you can increase or decrease the chance for females to be generated.

[KyzBP]

I've been playing this for a couple of days now and I'm really impressed.  I've had to restart a couple of times because the game punishes poor tactics.  I've been losing soldiers at about a 50% rate including a couple of 100% loss missions.  No one has gotten above the rank of Sgt.  In spite of the incredible loss rate I'm digging what they've done with this game.

Right now the only thing that detracts is the soldier's uniforms.  They are plain awful.  I'm really hoping someone mods them.  I did see a mod that makes all of your soldiers Jarheads (USMC).  The mod edits the rank structure and uniforms.  It looks really nice but I don't want all of my troops coming from just one service.  The other thing I don't like is the game takes place in the late 70's yet they have female soldiers from the U.S. with Special Forces experience.  I didn't mind having female soldiers in the original XCOM  because it took place in the future (1999?) but there were no women with Combat Arms experience in the 70's.  But really it's no more than a minor detraction.

I'm really looking forward to the final version.

There are a couple of uniform mods out there, look for the one by Jsleezy, Real Armors, I think it's called. You can also mod the females out, in gameconfig.xml there's a setting where you can increase or decrease the chance for females to be generated.

Cool Pinetree!  Thanks.

I just had to abort a mission.  I had 7 of 8 troops at the door of a small Scout.  One soldier had to hang back due to severe wounds but he kept an overwatch on the ship's entrance.  My assault team forced their way in and were met by a hail of Plasma fire.  Those troops that were still able to, returned fire.  As the dust cleared they could see 3 lizard-like Aliens taking cover in the Command Center.

We had 2 down and one wounded but hit all three of the Aliens.  Unfortunately none of the Aliens seemed too upset about being peppered by our NATO approved bullets.  Our other problem was the bottleneck at the entrance.  The first soldier of Wave 2 set off a nasty chain of events.  As he maneuvered into firing position he was cut down by one of the Lizardmen.  That was apparently the final straw in my unit's morale.  One of the Wave 2 guys outside the ship went berserk and downed 2 of his fellow team members.   The Lizardmen then finished off the soldier trapped in the ship.  This caused further panic outside the ship.  Berserk guy dropped his weapon and ran across the front entrance only to be turned into a bubbling puddle of goo by a Plasma barrage.  The last remaining troop at the entrance embraced the inevitable and stepped weaponless in front of the three Lizardmen.  He showed no fear, only acceptance, as a bloody, smoldering pile of cloth replaced what had once been Private Jones.

Now, by pure chance, the wounded Sgt. providing overwatch had a clear shot into the ship.  He traded 5.56 rounds and got Plasma in return.  He chose a good position though and was protected by a low wall.  The Aliens couldn't come out to get him nor expose themselves too long for every 2nd or 3rd shot rang home and punctured another small hole in the Lizardmen's scaly skin.  The Sergeant tried valiantly to snipe the remaining Lizardmen but an earlier firefight, the one that left him with a golf ball sized hole in his calf, had used up much of his ammo.  The bolt of his M16 remained in the open position as he patted every part of his body.  He did it more from muscle memory or perhaps training than with any real hope of finding a magazine he'd forgotten about.  He knew the battle was over for him.  There was no way the Aliens could get a good shot at him as he slowly limped back to Dropship Charlie-1.  The Sergeant paused briefly to look at the empty seats that less than an hour ago held the backsides of his friends.  He took a deep breath and slapped the Emergency Return button.  The ship's engines fired up as the auto-pilot lifted the ship off the ground and began it's 3 hour journey back to The Boot.