KickStarter Phoenix Point - the new game from X-COM creator Julian Gollop

[Endemic]

I thought it was based on the Gerry and Syvlia Anderson non-puppet (live actor) puppet show UFO?

That was one influence, yes. But there are some noticeable differences: in the TV series there is a human base on the moon, and the aliens don't go all guns blazing. In fact you barely see them, some episodes are literally just crew interpersonal drama.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

NuXcom is a comic book setting though.

Truth to be told, so was the original X-com. The intro, the illustration, some of the aliens...

I thought it was based on the Gerry and Syvlia Anderson non-puppet (live actor) puppet show UFO?

That too, but certain comics influences are very clear.
I think it's most notable with Personal Armour.

Compare with.

 

[mediocrepoet]

NuXcom is a comic book setting though.

Truth to be told, so was the original X-com. The intro, the illustration, some of the aliens...

I thought it was based on the Gerry and Syvlia Anderson non-puppet (live actor) puppet show UFO?

That too, but certain comics influences are very clear.
I think it's most notable with Personal Armour.

Compare with.

I've always thought the opening of X-Com looked like X-Men with guns. Even the Mutons look like X-Men villains.

 

[gurugeorge]

Oh I'm sure there were various other influences too, but the basic idea of a secret organization on Earth, with its own resources dedicated to discovering what's up with UFOs, intercepting UFOs in the air and investigating landed UFOs., was from the tv show. I remember reading about it ages ago. The only key tropes from the tv show that are missing are the moonbase and the space interceptors.

Gollop and the team wanted to make a squad shooter simulation, and someone in the team came up with the idea for the game inspired by the tv series, and that's how they pitched it to the suits. The show had been a minor success in the UK so it was fairly well-known.

 

[Bigg Boss]

The show is worth watching for hardcore fans for sure.

 

[Galdred]

sser Do you know how the TV show and superhero comics influenced the game?
If my memory is right, the producers were the ones to talk about the show to Julian Gollop as they were looking for a them that would integrate the tactical part with the strategic one.

 

[sser]

sser Do you know how the TV show and superhero comics influenced the game?
If my memory is right, the producers were the ones to talk about the show to Julian Gollop as they were looking for a them that would integrate the tactical part with the strategic one.

You guys pretty much have it right. Gollop already had a prototype made (a riff on Laser Squad). MicroProse wanted more 'civ' style games, so they introduced a strategy overlay and then needed to figure out what the context would be. Peter Moreland, the producer going to bat for Gollop, was the one who suggested they do it like a TV show he used to watch (called 'UFO' but I've also seen it referred to as 'Shado'); that show was basically the same concept as the game.

John Reitze was the comic book fan. All the intro graphics, some backgrounds, and the research slides (e.g., the dissections) were by him and as noted the influence is very clear to see.

 

[gurugeorge]

sser Do you know how the TV show and superhero comics influenced the game?
If my memory is right, the producers were the ones to talk about the show to Julian Gollop as they were looking for a them that would integrate the tactical part with the strategic one.

You guys pretty much have it right. Gollop already had a prototype made (a riff on Laser Squad). MicroProse wanted more 'civ' style games, so they introduced a strategy overlay and then needed to figure out what the context would be. Peter Moreland, the producer going to bat for Gollop, was the one who suggested they do it like a TV show he used to watch (called 'UFO' but I've also seen it referred to as 'Shado'); that show was basically the same concept as the game.

John Reitze was the comic book fan. All the intro graphics, some backgrounds, and the research slides (e.g., the dissections) were by him and as noted the influence is very clear to see.

Excellent. Just to dot the "i" there, SHADO., Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organization, was the name of the secret organization in the tv series, so they might have referred to the concept that way too at times. IIRC there's a jokey reference to SHADO in one of Bradford's radio interjections in nuXCOM.

And at this point, to cross the "t" we must of course genuflect to the gorgeous Gabrielle Drake, Lieutenant Gay Ellis of SHADO Moonbase, irl sister of the cult classic English singer-songwriter Nick Drake, and the vision of loveliness that inspired many a pubescent male stiffy:-

 

[0wca]

Is this game any better now than it used to be? I remember playing when the first DLC came out and some big patches and yet it's such a drag.

The game constantly creates conflicts on the map you have to respond to and doesn't give you some sort of auto-resolve even for the most mediocre, push over battles and just repeatedly wastes your time. In Xenonauts you could bomb the encounter and didn't have to do it and wasted any resources you could have gotten from it. Yet this game doesn't give you shit.

Has it been improved in that sense or is it the same?

 

[Parabalus]

Is this game any better now than it used to be? I remember playing when the first DLC came out and some big patches and yet it's such a drag.

The game constantly creates conflicts on the map you have to respond to and doesn't give you some sort of auto-resolve even for the most mediocre, push over battles and just repeatedly wastes your time. In Xenonauts you could bomb the encounter and didn't have to do it and wasted any resources you could have gotten from it. Yet this game doesn't give you shit.

Has it been improved in that sense or is it the same?

They reduced the frequency by a lot, and the ones you do get are harder.

 

[0wca]

Is this game any better now than it used to be? I remember playing when the first DLC came out and some big patches and yet it's such a drag.

The game constantly creates conflicts on the map you have to respond to and doesn't give you some sort of auto-resolve even for the most mediocre, push over battles and just repeatedly wastes your time. In Xenonauts you could bomb the encounter and didn't have to do it and wasted any resources you could have gotten from it. Yet this game doesn't give you shit.

Has it been improved in that sense or is it the same?

They reduced the frequency by a lot, and the ones you do get are harder.

Hm. Might be worth checking out.

 

[0wca]

Yeah...no. I just tried it again.

This company just can't hit the mark no matter how hard they try. They overcorrected from lethal shots to absolute bullet sponges. I shot a dude at point blank range with 2 rifle bursts straight into his face (all hit). And the guy drops about a third of his health. He then IMMEDIATELY retalliates, shoots me and takes away more than half my guys health. I shoot again next turn, same shit. My dude dies and the guy has a third of his health left even though I unloaded into his face 4 times.

Retadred.

 

[ArchAngel]

Yeah...no. I just tried it again.

This company just can't hit the mark no matter how hard they try. They overcorrected from lethal shots to absolute bullet sponges. I shot a dude at point blank range with 2 rifle bursts straight into his face (all hit). And the guy drops about a third of his health. He then IMMEDIATELY retalliates, shoots me and takes away more than half my guys health. I shoot again next turn, same shit. My dude dies and the guy has a third of his health left even though I unloaded into his face 4 times.

Retadred.

Sound like you fought NJ soldiers early with your starting gun. Those guys all carry heavy armor, you cannot damage them easily with your starting rifle. You use grenades or sniper or autocannon.

 

[0wca]

Yeah...no. I just tried it again.

This company just can't hit the mark no matter how hard they try. They overcorrected from lethal shots to absolute bullet sponges. I shot a dude at point blank range with 2 rifle bursts straight into his face (all hit). And the guy drops about a third of his health. He then IMMEDIATELY retalliates, shoots me and takes away more than half my guys health. I shoot again next turn, same shit. My dude dies and the guy has a third of his health left even though I unloaded into his face 4 times.

Retadred.

Sound like you fought NJ soldiers early with your starting gun. Those guys all carry heavy armor, you cannot damage them easily with your starting rifle. You use grenades or sniper or autocannon.

Sure. But still incredibly stupid.

 

[ArchAngel]

Yeah...no. I just tried it again.

This company just can't hit the mark no matter how hard they try. They overcorrected from lethal shots to absolute bullet sponges. I shot a dude at point blank range with 2 rifle bursts straight into his face (all hit). And the guy drops about a third of his health. He then IMMEDIATELY retalliates, shoots me and takes away more than half my guys health. I shoot again next turn, same shit. My dude dies and the guy has a third of his health left even though I unloaded into his face 4 times.

Retadred.

Sound like you fought NJ soldiers early with your starting gun. Those guys all carry heavy armor, you cannot damage them easily with your starting rifle. You use grenades or sniper or autocannon.

Sure. But still incredibly stupid.

Why? In UFO you could regularly fire a lot of shots at well armored enemies (like Mutons) with zero effect. And then they would one shot you with reaction fire. After you lost a couple of guys like that you learned to fight better.

 

[0wca]

Yeah...no. I just tried it again.

This company just can't hit the mark no matter how hard they try. They overcorrected from lethal shots to absolute bullet sponges. I shot a dude at point blank range with 2 rifle bursts straight into his face (all hit). And the guy drops about a third of his health. He then IMMEDIATELY retalliates, shoots me and takes away more than half my guys health. I shoot again next turn, same shit. My dude dies and the guy has a third of his health left even though I unloaded into his face 4 times.

Retadred.

Sound like you fought NJ soldiers early with your starting gun. Those guys all carry heavy armor, you cannot damage them easily with your starting rifle. You use grenades or sniper or autocannon.

Sure. But still incredibly stupid.

Why? In UFO you could regularly fire a lot of shots at well armored enemies (like Mutons) with zero effect. And then they would one shot you with reaction fire. After you lost a couple of guys like that you learned to fight better.

Never played the original UFO. But shooting a dude in the head at point blank range and dealing next to no damage while they reaction fire and deal way more to you by hitting you center mass is dumb.

You can't fix balance issues by just inflating HP. Then you just get ridiculous bloat like in NV, but luckily you could fix it there with mods.

I guess nu-XCOM had the whole miss a 95% point blank shot and this game has this. The game also has boring and extremely limited soldier builds as well so whatever, it's not worth my time.

 

[ArchAngel]

Yeah...no. I just tried it again.

This company just can't hit the mark no matter how hard they try. They overcorrected from lethal shots to absolute bullet sponges. I shot a dude at point blank range with 2 rifle bursts straight into his face (all hit). And the guy drops about a third of his health. He then IMMEDIATELY retalliates, shoots me and takes away more than half my guys health. I shoot again next turn, same shit. My dude dies and the guy has a third of his health left even though I unloaded into his face 4 times.

Retadred.

Sound like you fought NJ soldiers early with your starting gun. Those guys all carry heavy armor, you cannot damage them easily with your starting rifle. You use grenades or sniper or autocannon.

Sure. But still incredibly stupid.

Why? In UFO you could regularly fire a lot of shots at well armored enemies (like Mutons) with zero effect. And then they would one shot you with reaction fire. After you lost a couple of guys like that you learned to fight better.

Never played the original UFO. But shooting a dude in the head at point blank range and dealing next to no damage while they reaction fire and deal way more to you by hitting you center mass is dumb.

You can't fix balance issues by just inflating HP. Then you just get ridiculous bloat like in NV, but luckily you could fix it there with mods.

I guess nu-XCOM had the whole miss a 95% point blank shot and this game has this. The game also has boring and extremely limited soldier builds as well so whatever, it's not worth my time.

If you got stuck at such a simple obstacle maybe it is better that you play simpler games instead.

 

[0wca]

Yeah...no. I just tried it again.

This company just can't hit the mark no matter how hard they try. They overcorrected from lethal shots to absolute bullet sponges. I shot a dude at point blank range with 2 rifle bursts straight into his face (all hit). And the guy drops about a third of his health. He then IMMEDIATELY retalliates, shoots me and takes away more than half my guys health. I shoot again next turn, same shit. My dude dies and the guy has a third of his health left even though I unloaded into his face 4 times.

Retadred.

Sound like you fought NJ soldiers early with your starting gun. Those guys all carry heavy armor, you cannot damage them easily with your starting rifle. You use grenades or sniper or autocannon.

Sure. But still incredibly stupid.

Why? In UFO you could regularly fire a lot of shots at well armored enemies (like Mutons) with zero effect. And then they would one shot you with reaction fire. After you lost a couple of guys like that you learned to fight better.

Never played the original UFO. But shooting a dude in the head at point blank range and dealing next to no damage while they reaction fire and deal way more to you by hitting you center mass is dumb.

You can't fix balance issues by just inflating HP. Then you just get ridiculous bloat like in NV, but luckily you could fix it there with mods.

I guess nu-XCOM had the whole miss a 95% point blank shot and this game has this. The game also has boring and extremely limited soldier builds as well so whatever, it's not worth my time.

If you got stuck at such a simple obstacle maybe it is better that you play simpler games instead.

I came pretty far in this game last time I played it and play a lot of (superior) tactical games.

Everytime I come back to this one hoping the developers improved it they always go one step forward two steps back.

Xenonauts is vastly superior, even though it looks shittier.

 

[ArchAngel]

Yeah...no. I just tried it again.

This company just can't hit the mark no matter how hard they try. They overcorrected from lethal shots to absolute bullet sponges. I shot a dude at point blank range with 2 rifle bursts straight into his face (all hit). And the guy drops about a third of his health. He then IMMEDIATELY retalliates, shoots me and takes away more than half my guys health. I shoot again next turn, same shit. My dude dies and the guy has a third of his health left even though I unloaded into his face 4 times.

Retadred.

Sound like you fought NJ soldiers early with your starting gun. Those guys all carry heavy armor, you cannot damage them easily with your starting rifle. You use grenades or sniper or autocannon.

Sure. But still incredibly stupid.

Why? In UFO you could regularly fire a lot of shots at well armored enemies (like Mutons) with zero effect. And then they would one shot you with reaction fire. After you lost a couple of guys like that you learned to fight better.

Never played the original UFO. But shooting a dude in the head at point blank range and dealing next to no damage while they reaction fire and deal way more to you by hitting you center mass is dumb.

You can't fix balance issues by just inflating HP. Then you just get ridiculous bloat like in NV, but luckily you could fix it there with mods.

I guess nu-XCOM had the whole miss a 95% point blank shot and this game has this. The game also has boring and extremely limited soldier builds as well so whatever, it's not worth my time.

If you got stuck at such a simple obstacle maybe it is better that you play simpler games instead.

I came pretty far in this game last time I played it and play a lot of (superior) tactical games.

Everytime I come back to this one hoping the developers improved it they always go one step forward two steps back.

Xenonauts is vastly superior, even though it looks shittier.

I played unmodder version, it is really not. It is worse than all other versions of Xcom (At least the popular ones).

You already admitted you never played original Xcom so your opinion is worth little.

Install Open Xcom and come back after you finished it on Impossible Ironman.

 

[Infinitron]

Take a drive on the wild side with DLC 5: Kaos Engines. This vehicular-focused DLC features a brand new vehicle, the Kaos Buggy, and tons of vehicle customization options for all your existing vehicles, too. Plus, try out new and unpredictable Kaos Tech weaponry: great power, but also great risk!

For more: https://bit.ly/KaosEngines

 

[PanteraNera]

One can not make this shit up .
Honestly, vehicle customization was in the talks when there was only the backer builds. I think at that time they were like it will come with the release of the game.
How long ago was that? Nahhh I am not caring anymore, enough of .

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

Take a drive on the wild side with DLC 5: Kaos Engines. This vehicular-focused DLC features a brand new vehicle, the Kaos Buggy, and tons of vehicle customization options for all your existing vehicles, too. Plus, try out new and unpredictable Kaos Tech weaponry: great power, but also great risk!

For more: https://bit.ly/KaosEngines

Not orky enough.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Take a drive on the wild side with DLC 5: Kaos Engines. This vehicular-focused DLC features a brand new vehicle, the Kaos Buggy, and tons of vehicle customization options for all your existing vehicles, too. Plus, try out new and unpredictable Kaos Tech weaponry: great power, but also great risk!

For more: https://bit.ly/KaosEngines

Not orky enough.

Needs moar dakka.

 

[ArchAngel]

Take a drive on the wild side with DLC 5: Kaos Engines. This vehicular-focused DLC features a brand new vehicle, the Kaos Buggy, and tons of vehicle customization options for all your existing vehicles, too. Plus, try out new and unpredictable Kaos Tech weaponry: great power, but also great risk!

For more: https://bit.ly/KaosEngines

Not orky enough.

Too much ORK and you get Ork lawyers on your door.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

they didn't even make it red