New Version of Xcom

[NobleHelium]

I'd pay for a real DLC, a 'RB-mod' with all those little things we have been griping about added, and I think a lot of people would, it would probably not be too much work (not compared to all those $12.99 they would earn).
say,
*Overwatch all (remaining) button - or at least make overwatch have same keystroke on all troops so I can spam it
*Customizable difficulty level - impossible is now a package, suppose you could keep monster spawn 'impossible', enemy HP/stats 'classic' and cash availability 'easy' but add war weariness and all that Jazz.
*Customizable almost anything one could think to customize at startup, in fact.
*More everything, items, weapons, abilities, balanced so not so many obvious best choices.
*Outposts with skyranger/barrack - because you need a certain proximity to stop abduction/landed UFOs
*More to do, optional missions.
*Random maps + More maps.
*(at least limited) Inventory (fond memories of "grab that deep one/deep one corpse/blaster launcher/sonic cannon" and GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE near-wipe-missions from TFTD). Just ONE inventory space you can use to grab something/someone and haul back to the skyranger.
*Better panic (I could do this. You hunker down useless, you run away, fired weapon semi-randomly in enemy direction. You do NOT take careful aim at you buddy and headshot him, nor nail the 35% shot on that alien (that you missed on your own turn which lead to the panic in the first place)

I mean, why not? I know little about coding/modding but how many man-hours will this really take? Making a random map generator mabye a bit, but it doesn't have to do city maps either...and mabye just move around some cars/huts/trees/rocks. More optional missions - pickup item and bring back should fit with a limited inventory

That's...actually quite a lot of content. That's basically enough to be a traditional expansion pack I'd say. So something on the order of $30 maybe.

[haphazard1]

Sorry if my initial thoughts seemed too negative. I do not consider myself a nay-sayer on the new X-COM. I have gotten a few dozen hours of very enjoyable game time out of it, and am quite happy overall with my purchase of the game. Satisfied X-COM customer here. (Unlike the money spent on Civ V, which I still regard as a loss.)

I just wish that the "DLC" released so far (patch would certainly be a better word for this latest one) actually addressed the main issues that most people appear to have with the game: better replayability, more maps. Pretty much everyone wants more maps, but so far there is no sign Firaxis will address this themselves or provide even a limited map creation utility. I think the community could provide a lot of quality maps given the chance, in a similar way to how the Perpetual Testing Initiative and community maps have provided large numbers of excellent maps for Portal 2.

Sullla made a very valid point about Firaxis always seeming to attack whatever strategy proves effective. Balancing is necessary of course, especially if one approach proves wildly more effective than all others. But if Firaxis produced a racing game I would expect them to release a patch to nerf going fast because it was too popular a strategy. They never seem to consider balancing by strengthening other strategies, they just keep nerfing the tall blade until you don't have a lawn anymore, just bare dirt.

I like most of Moloch's suggestions for improvements. Some of them could be done by modifying the ini files, but then Firaxis went and blocked that by bundling the ini where it is difficult to get at and gets overridden at startup. Apparently all the tricks pulled off by the modders of the demo pre-release scared the hell out of them, and they reacted by clamping down on everything.

I would love a way to modify standard encounter sizes -- instead of always getting groups of 3 thin men get 5, instead of two mutons plus a berseker get 3 mutons and 2 bersekers, etc. Even a customization as basic as that would provide a lot of value. Something like a true "generate a random skirmish with some configuration/control options" functionality would easily be worth "sizable DLC"/expansion pack money to me, and maybe to others as well.

For Overwatch, note that there is a separate Overwatch command key that you can bind. (At least on PC.) I never use the ever-changing command keys to overwatch, and spamming the set key (I bound it to 'O') was very easy. So that's one item already supported.

[Yazilliclick]

*Overwatch all (remaining) button - or at least make overwatch have same keystroke on all troops so I can spam it

Think this already exist (same keystroke). Check your keybindings. X-Com has the numbered shortcuts for bars which can shift but also has standard shortcuts for things like Overwatch.

[spellman]

Overwatch is "O" if I recall. I spammed it a lot.

Except when I moved my Snipers. Then I had to switch him to pistol, then spam O.

[dazedroyalty]

I think that there has been some misunderstanding going on and I wasn't sure where because I hadn't read the article ASM posted, but I now have done so. The article is incorrect. The latest chnages are not a "Free DLC" but in fact a patch as described on the XCOM forums (http://forums.2kgames.com/forumdisplay.p...Discussion).

Also, "second wave" options are not nerf's to game play. They are OPTIONAL extra challenges. While I do not actually like many (if any!) of the Second Wave options, it's not really fair to claim Firaxis is nerfing strategies because they released optional extra challenges that essentially make all random parts of the game harder (and, as has already been pointed out, were in the game from the start just still being worked out for bugs). Honestly, if they did do something like make the AI better, I wouldn't want that to be an "extra" option in Second Wave. Nor would I want beating the game to unlock new weapons or aliens. Those things should be a part of every game from the start!

[dazedroyalty]

*Overwatch all (remaining) button - or at least make overwatch have same keystroke on all troops so I can spam it

Think this already exist (same keystroke). Check your keybindings. X-Com has the numbered shortcuts for bars which can shift but also has standard shortcuts for things like Overwatch.

Overwatch is "Y" but there is no button or binding to immediately overwatch all units at once, sadly.

[Molach]

Yeah, overwatch is Y, found the edit keyboard thing now, thanks. I moused over "end turn"-button, and that shows that backspace is a shortcut to that. Mousing over the overwatch button showed nothing so I didn't know there was one. Lazy. Changed it to 'O' so better to spam it now - Wasted quite a few 'run and guns' due to them being on same ability number.

Whenever I do not have unspotted aliens and am slowly sweeping an area (first move the farthest, then move the rest, only when all moved go into overwatch) overwatch is only needed when a patrolling group walks into range, which is rare enough that I would just end the turn instead. So a ["overwatch all" > hunker down > do nothing] button would be welcome. Last two only used to snipers without snap shot in/out of cover.

Liked idea to customize or randomize enemy pack size - they really should adapt to MY pack which is 6 whenever I can

[Sirian]

I am guessing most of these really just mean less of everything, as that seems to be the theme of the whole Second Wave package: make the game harder by reducing the player's resources/soldiers/options. Nothing about making the game harder by making the enemies tougher or more numerous, and of course not smarter.

I hope this isn't too off-topic, but I think it's worth pointing out that Firaxis approached game balance in the Civ5 patches in exactly the same way: relentlessly attack player strategies that proved to be effective as a way of making the game "harder". I can't say that I'm surprised to hear this. It's too bad that the new XCOM does so many things right, and then lacks the random maps and deeper strategic (not tactical) side to the game that would give it the replayability that it needs.

I agree that random maps would extend the replayability of the game.

I also agree that trimming the tall grass until there's no lawn left is not the best way to balance a game, although sometimes some of the grass does get too tall. I think the player's options in the new Xcom are already too limited: reducing the player's soldiers or resources even further doesn't sound very appealing to me.


- Sirian

[spellman]

I am guessing most of these really just mean less of everything, as that seems to be the theme of the whole Second Wave package: make the game harder by reducing the player's resources/soldiers/options. Nothing about making the game harder by making the enemies tougher or more numerous, and of course not smarter.

I hope this isn't too off-topic, but I think it's worth pointing out that Firaxis approached game balance in the Civ5 patches in exactly the same way: relentlessly attack player strategies that proved to be effective as a way of making the game "harder". I can't say that I'm surprised to hear this. It's too bad that the new XCOM does so many things right, and then lacks the random maps and deeper strategic (not tactical) side to the game that would give it the replayability that it needs.

I agree that random maps would extend the replayability of the game.

I also agree that trimming the tall grass until there's no lawn left is not the best way to balance a game, although sometimes some of the grass does get too tall. I think the player's options in the new Xcom are already too limited: reducing the player's soldiers or resources even further doesn't sound very appealing to me.


- Sirian

I think the imposed restrictions are a reaction to "people seem to enjoy using Ironman mode as a rougelike, we should make it harder"

[haphazard1]

I think the imposed restrictions are a reaction to "people seem to enjoy using Ironman mode as a rougelike, we should make it harder"

I am not sure if I agree that the Second Wave options were a reaction -- most of them were in the game from the initial release, just not formally accessible. Modders found most of them and were able to turn them on before the recent patch/"DLC". So they are not the result of player feedback.

They are options, fortunately. I am glad Firaxis left them as options. I just wish they would introduce some more options for players that are not further restrictions and limitations. I agree with Sirian that the player is already quite limited (in many ways too limited) already.