Xenonauts

[noiseredux]

anyone playing this? Holy balls it's hard. I mean I played Terror From The Deep back in the day, but this is rough haha. Good stuff. Super involved.

[Erik_Twice]

I really want to check it out because the roughness of the original X-Com is kind of tiring, specially once you can spam psionics. How does it compare?

[noiseredux]

I've only played about 90 mins so far, so it's really early for me to make any judgments. But it def seems worth checking out for sure.

[noiseredux]

for anyone on the fence, you should know that the download includes a soundtrack, manual, strategy guide, and even a prequel novel. It's really insane how much work was put into this release.

[Exhuminator]

I got the GOG version of it, haven't started playing it yet. My kind of brain candy though for sure.

[noiseredux]

My kind of brain candy though for sure.

oh man, it's so nerdy. I still feel like I haven't wrapped my head around plenty of stuff. I've definitely conditioned myself to play XCOM (rather than X-COM, if you know what I mean) over the past couple years. So it feels a bit like un-learning stuff, and re-learning stuff, before I can learn new stuff.

I'm still very early into the game, but if you have an interest in getting started would be fun to have someone to talk about it with.

I might try to read the novel at the same time, too.

[noiseredux]

I'm a little frustrated with this. Like, I feel like I should be having more fun than I am. But either I still have a lot to understand or I'm just terrible. I don't seem to grasp how to take cover in missions. I tend to position myself in cover, but then my own shots are blocked. I try to position myself to take clear shots, and then have one alien take out 3 of my guys in a row. I fear that nu-XCOM has ruined me a bit with how streamlined it feels.

[Erik_Twice]

I've been playing it for a while now and it's really an UFO: Enemy Unknown remake. It solves the main issues I had with the game, namely the low resolution, the terrible interface and (as far as I'm told) the unbalanced weapons and broken technology tree as well as streamlining a couple things here and there. Sure, it chugs along with a bad framerate and is hopelessly bland in its presentation but so far I think it's the best version of the game.

I've started at Veteran difficulty with ironman turned on and after a couple runs in which my whole party was killed, I've finally gotten a good start. It's probably a hair too difficult for me at this point but given how much I've played the original and that I'm pretty good at strategy games, I'll probably be fine once I get used to it.

I'm a little frustrated with this. Like, I feel like I should be having more fun than I am. But either I still have a lot to understand or I'm just terrible. I don't seem to grasp how to take cover in missions. I tend to position myself in cover, but then my own shots are blocked. I try to position myself to take clear shots, and then have one alien take out 3 of my guys in a row. I fear that nu-XCOM has ruined me a bit with how streamlined it feels.

I would try to forget about the Firaxis' XCOM because it's a completely different game.

Xenonauts and the original UFO are overwatch games. You should try to position your troops in such a way that any enemy that comes across your squad is going to be shot down. Your troops are weak, you cannot "tank" any damage with them because, obviously, humans can't shrug off a bullet. Playing well means not getting hit.

If you are being shot, move all your troops behind cover and slowly peak around the corner and check if you can see the sniper. If you can't, try to take another path or use smoke grenades as cover. But do not try to run through open terrain or places where you know there are aliens. They'll kill your troops in one or two shots and they see farther than you do, specially at night. (Try to avoid night missions at first for this reason, it affects you but not your enemies)

What I do is to divide any group in two and alternate their movement. So if I want to cross the street, I put half of my troops on overwatch while the other half moves. And then that half that moved is left on overwatch while the first half moves. This way your troops always cover each other.

Still, there are a couple things I would always keep in mind:

1) You can pop out of a corner, shoot and then hide back.
2) Grenades are the best way to clean out UFOs.
3) Until you get armour and vehicles your troops will die like mayflies and have terrible aim. Start recruiting troops in advance .

[noiseredux]

thanks, good tips. I don't want to get too frustrated and pushed away from this one as it seems awesome.

It's hard for me to be in the XCOM mindset, as I've put over 150 hrs into it haha. Plus, it's been like 20 yrs since I've spent serious time playing Terror From The Deep. I think I'm being too aggressive. Too hasty. With Enemy Unknown/Within, I'd gotten so used to just knowing exactly what I was doing that it was a lot easier for me to not even have to think too much about most movement. So yeah, I just need to approach this a lot differently.

[Exhuminator]

if you have an interest in getting started would be fun to have someone to talk about it with.

I have interest in playing it, but right now my list of stuff to play for this year is already full. I appreciate the offer though man.

I've been playing it for a while now and it's really an UFO: Enemy Unknown remake.

That is exactly the reason I got this game.

Also, General Norris is right about setting up sentry units to watch the perimeter. That's probably the only way to keep the xenos from unexpectedly flanking you. Or at least, that's what worked back in the day.