KickStarter Xenonauts 2 - now available on Early Access

[laclongquan]

"Profitable Goods" is a bad idea.

Such label usually go with entrepreneurial organization, not military ones. Military orgs only have surplus things they can sells.
And in xcom-like settings, military bases usually doesnt produce generic goods to specifically sell on market. We sometimes have a lot of things that we doesnt need urgently and thus can sell, but they all have some specific uses first.

 

[Bigg Boss]

Strategic Operations sounds like something in Final Fantasy Tactics, where you just click the unit, they go to a spot unavailable for a few days, then you get stuff. I hope it is more complex than that.

 

[Trithne]

"Profitable Goods" is a bad idea.

Such label usually go with entrepreneurial organization, not military ones. Military orgs only have surplus things they can sells.
And in xcom-like settings, military bases usually doesnt produce generic goods to specifically sell on market. We sometimes have a lot of things that we doesnt need urgently and thus can sell, but they all have some specific uses first.

Indeed, I'm surprised people didn't like the idea of selling goods for profit - it's not something that will be in the final game, but quite a lot of people complained about it being absent from X1. In this case it's just here for the first build so we can have two engineering projects and players can test the project queue functionality (which was wise, given people rapidly discovered quite a nasty crash we had no idea was there).

 

[laclongquan]

"quite a lot of" is a weasel term~ You can use that to represent a lot of misdirection.

I dont object to the concept of selling weapons/ammo/ships/alien artifacts for good sum of credits. It's the economic aspect of the game that make balancing things fun and enjoyable. Nothing like at the end of the month, gov funding havent coming in, but you have to pay a lot of people's salary and maintainance, thus you have to sell ALL the things you didnt need and maybe some of things you definitely still need but can somehow do without, one way or another.

It is the concept of a saleable item named "profitable goods" with NO use whatsoever other than to sell on market that I object about~

There is a critical difference.

 

[Trithne]

"quite a lot of" is a weasel term~ You can use that to represent a lot of misdirection.

I dont object to the concept of selling weapons/ammo/ships/alien artifacts for good sum of credits. It's the economic aspect of the game that make balancing things fun and enjoyable. Nothing like at the end of the month, gov funding havent coming in, but you have to pay a lot of people's salary and maintainance, thus you have to sell ALL the things you didnt need and maybe some of things you definitely still need but can somehow do without, one way or another.

It is the concept of a saleable item named "profitable goods" with NO use whatsoever other than to sell on market that I object about~

There is a critical difference.

The part of the quote you were supposed to read is "it is just here for the first build to test shit"

 

[laclongquan]

If we dont object the shit out of it, some devs will sneakily leave that shit behind to continue on next version.

We need to object loud and clear. If the devs dont want to hear loud objection, they will need to think before they insert dumb concept into their work.

To think more is a good thing.

 

[Ezeekiel]

For those of you playing the beta, how is the atmosphere? Lack thereof in the first game was a big letdown for me, esp. when compared to TFTD, M.A.X. etc.

 

[baud]

Strategic Operations sounds like something in Final Fantasy Tactics, where you just click the unit, they go to a spot unavailable for a few days, then you get stuff. I hope it is more complex than that.

It could also have been inspired/copied from the last DLC from XCOM 2, where you can send pairs of soldiers to get some loot/recruits new soldiers/reduce the game over counter.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Early Access Delay & Closed Beta V3 Released!
Posted by Goldhawk Interactive (Creator)

We've had a busy six weeks since the release of Beta Build V2 and today we're releasing another major update for the game, but first I'd like to discuss the Early Access launch of the game that was due to occur later this month.

Unfortunately, we don't feel the game is ready for an Early Access launch yet and so we're pushing this back and extending the Closed Beta instead. However all the £18 Kickstarter backers who are due to receive an Early Access key will instead be invited to join the Closed Beta and should still be getting their Steam / GOG keys this month as previously promised.

Hopefully this doesn't inconvenience anyone - let us know if it does. I'll write a longer post later this month with more details about our plans for sending out the keys!

Closed Beta Build V3:
The release of V3 today marks the first time that we've started to consider the gameplay of the builds rather than purely their stability and functionality. I'll pick out a few of the most important changes and briefly discuss them here, but the full (and very long) changelog can be found on our forums here - as I said, it's been a busy six weeks!

• Main Base Update: previously we were using the XCOM 2012 system where your base was made up of a number of equally-size "slots" into which you could place buildings. We've now returned to the familiar grid setup from the first Xenonauts where structures are all different sizes, a change that just makes the whole system feel deeper than before.
• Soldier Generation & Recruitment: we've made a number of changes to improve the gameplay with regards to the soldiers. You can now see the stats of your soldiers before you hire them, Strength has returned as a stat that controls carrying capacity, and the soldier randomisation should now be fully functional. We've also added about 250 new soldier portraits to the game.
• Strategic Operations: these are points of interest on the Geoscape that you can send your soldiers to resolve in order to receive some kind of reward. They are the main method for "recruiting" scientists / engineers into your organisation, but we plan to expand them to include many of the Geoscape actions that currently happen behind the scenes (we're outlining some of the possibilities here).
• Alien Base mission: there's a small Alien Base in the game at about the 15-day mark that allows you to test the first iteration of our Alien Base missions.
• Second Alien Race: to date the builds have only included the Psyons, but we've now introduced the Sebillians. The familiar regenerating lizardmen from X1 have returned as the basic Warriors who can wield a variety of equipment, but there are also larger and tougher Brutes that carry heavy weapons.

There's also been a large number of bugfixes and smaller updates and upgrades, all of which can be seen in the full changelogs.

As always, we'll be monitoring the bug reporter and our forums so we can quickly hotfix any major errors that appear. The community bug reports we get are always incredibly useful so please let us know if you find any issues!

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Glad to hear they went with the previous way of base building

 

[PanteraNera]

Glad to hear they went with the previous way of base building

Unfortunately, no

• Main Base Update: The ATLAS Base building mechanics have been updated. Previously you had 18 building slots and you clicked on them to select what building to construct in that slot, but now we've moved to a more complex grid-based setup where you are constructing buildings of different sizes in the same way as you did in the first game (except the view is side-on rather than top-down).

Source: https://www.goldhawkinteractive.com...69-xenonauts-2-closed-beta-build-v3-released/

 

[Alienman]

Yep, still the same. Just checked to make sure. Combat phase seems to run a lot smoother though, but it still makes my GPU fan spin like a mofo.

 

[PanteraNera]

still makes my GPU fan spin like a mofo.

The beauty of Unity.

 

[geno]

They are delivering the keys for backers. Check your email.

 

[Darth Roxor]

https://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/index.php?/topic/20115-x2-base-mechanics-community-poll/

Something I’ve said repeatedly throughout the development of Xenonauts-2 is that the changes to the first game are experiments to be tested and evaluated, and discarded if they don't represent a clear improvement on what they replaced. After several months of testing, I've come to the conclusion that the single-base system isn't a clear improvement over the classic Xenonauts / X-Com base mechanics, and so we should revert to the classic mechanics.

However, we’ve been using the side-on base screen as a key piece of our promotional art for several years and a lot of people have given us money in that time. We therefore want to ask the views of the community on this issue – I suspect the community will be in favour of this change, but we don't know that for certain. To give your opinion, please answer the poll below:

• https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1tuPzDGrFfAGPRsKR6LrfKE5HpM8ToD0bY1K9vV1RGCA

The detail of the changes and the reasoning behind them is explained below.

Top View vs. Side View:
Reverting to the classic mechanics would also involve reverting the Base screen to a top-down view (left), rather than the current side-on view (right). We recently solved a technical problem that was making it impossible to generate the custom base defence tactical maps that mirror the layout of your base, so now we can have those cool X-Com style base defence missions. However, those maps obviously can’t be generated from a side-on base layout and therefore we’ll need to switch back to the top-down view to support this.

ah, the dreaded technological limitations

Unfortunately not all technological limitations have been overcome yet!

Classic Mechanics Changes:
Although broadly similar, the planned implementation of the multi-base system isn’t completely the same as the system in Xenonauts 1. Firstly, there two new features that already exist in X2 which will be retained in the move back to the classic mechanics:

• Base Power: each base will need enough power capacity to operate all of its structures
• Staff Assignments: certain structures beyond the standard Labs and Workshops require scientists / engineers to operate

We're also making a couple of simplifications to the mechanics in other areas.

• Personnel and Base Stores are global across all bases (assume the bases are linked by alien-derived translocator gates)
• The Xenonauts only have one troop dropship at a time

(...)

As I said, supporting multiple dropships like in X1 is something we may end up adding before development is done but it's a bigger task with more knock-on effects than most people realise so I don't want to tackle it right now. For example, it involves:

• Quite a substantial code rewrite, as the code currently assumes that there's only ever one dropship
• Some UI changes, because you'd need to specify which dropship to use each time you launch a ground mission
• Potentially some changes to the Armory screen so you can manage soldier assignments to the dropship (although as soldiers aren't permanently assigned to dropships like they were in X1, this might not be too bad)

 

[Jimmious]

• The Xenonauts only have one troop dropship at a time

 

[agris]

Voted top-down, as should anyone who actually likes strategy.

I like how open Goldhawk is with their development, it's as if they're actually listening to the community in a thoughtful manner.

I do hope they return to multiple dropships, while I'm agnostic about the shared resources across the bases. It is a simplification to the mechanics, but per-base resources can be annoying, and not a fun management layer to interact with. On the other hand, having the manage those logistics, schedule air transport for general cargo, sounds like a reasonable abstraction and could be entertaining if done correctly.

Have a new forward base that can't support itself yet and you're scheduling round the clock air drops of material? Get ready for your C-130s (or whatever) to generate more UFO encounters and/or elevate the risk of base attacks for the forward and supply bases.

Ok, I'm not agnostic - I think shared resources is a negative simplification. If we were expected to have 10+ bases, then yes it would be a nuisance - but who really has more than 5 to 7 bases in X1 anyway?

 

[Darth Roxor]

On the other hand, having the manage those logistics, schedule air transport for general cargo, sounds like a reasonable abstraction and could be entertaining if done correctly.

Master of Orion 2 and its freighters could qualify in a pinch.

 

[agris]

Darth Roxor I've never played MOO2, is this an adequate description of those mechanics?

Once they're [freighters] built, they just sit in a pool until they're needed. As soon as there is a planet with a food [material] deficet, and annother with a surplus, one of your freighters will become active in order to balance the problem.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Yes, but freighters are also used when you transfer citizens between planets, so e.g. reckless long-range migration can accidentally result in a terrible famine somewhere.

 

[Jimmious]

Darth Roxor I've never played MOO2

Dude! https://www.oldpcgaming.net/master-of-orion-2-battle-at-antares/

 

[lightbane]

Epic exclusive when?

It's a shame that this has become a real danger for most projects by now.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Wouldn't restriction to single troop transport cause inevitably nu-X-com like "3 missions, pick 1"-situations?

 

[Edija]

Wasn't this supposed to be out already?

 

[Jaedar]

Wouldn't restriction to single troop transport cause inevitably nu-X-com like "3 missions, pick 1"-situations?

Probably, and it's a really stupid gamey limitation, so I hope it won't come to that.