Bring on the Xenos!

[Zombie]

Quote

We've added a system so that the sell value of items can gradually decline as you sell more and more of them. I'm going to be using this as soft pressure to discourage players from grinding too many crash sites (doing so makes the game very repetitive), as the returns will eventually fall below the Airstrike / Bounty value of the crashsite.

I don't agree with this. Let us play how we want to. Who cares if it's repetitive, it's only affecting the person behind the keyboard or controller. If they want to subject themselves to grinding it's the player's fault. If you don't code this right you still might be able to skirt the issue by simply stockpiling equipment for months/years at a time and then selling the whole lot in one go. At the end of the day is it even worth dev time to code that in? All it's doing is protecting the players from themselves.

If you don't get much money from selling the loot and are only looking at airstrike/bounty as income sources (besides country funding) then how will the game become any less repetitive than perpetually airstriking sites ad infinitum?

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

It's usually best to leave such things to player discretion - it's your time and disposition that determines what you want to pursue.

At the same time though, this wouldn't come across quite the way it did had it been presented differently - had the developer stated that a system had been put in place to better simulate market dynamics, making goods depreciate as market saturation increases there wouldn't be much to be ruffled about. It's a design decision.

There's also no way of telling at this stage how gradual will said decline in value be. I do doubt it will be that severe, as it's clearly still a part of the economic model of the game, factored in as one of the ways the player can help sustain his own forces. Viability of player success is a pretty big deal and ties into difficulty curve.

With Early Access supposedly starting next year there's going to be no shortage of input to help calibrate things, so I wouldn't worry overmuch.

[Zombie]

On 10/31/2022 at 10:05 AM, Thorondor said:

At the same time though, this wouldn't come across quite the way it did had it been presented differently - had the developer stated that a system had been put in place to better simulate market dynamics, making goods depreciate as market saturation increases there wouldn't be much to be ruffled about. It's a design decision.

Yeah, when I read the dev's description I immediately thought "supply and demand". You flood the market with something and then the price starts to go down. H-o-w-e-v-e-r: my beef is with alien items. In real life, governments would be clamoring to get their grubby little hands on alien plasma rifles for their armies. It wouldn't matter how many you could supply as there would be almost endless demand. Same for a lot of the other stuff. There would always be a demand (might not be through legit channels, more of a black market type of thing). If the general populace hears about it they will find ways to utilize it too.

 

On 10/31/2022 at 10:05 AM, Thorondor said:

There's also no way of telling at this stage how gradual will said decline in value be. I do doubt it will be that severe, as it's clearly still a part of the economic model of the game, factored in as one of the ways the player can help sustain his own forces. Viability of player success is a pretty big deal and ties into difficulty curve.

Unless the devs are playing your hand and cramming endgame down your throat. I've seen this before in other games and honestly I lose a lot of interest if it becomes more or less scripted after a time. If you lose the ability to play the game you want to, it eliminates a good portion of the strategic element. -end broken record rant-

There is a very fine line to tread here though. Too much and you end up with nothing, too little and you may as well not even code it in. Or if you don't code it correctly to account for smart players who will find a way to get around the restriction. And we all know, there are a lot of smart gamers out there.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

::

Xenonauts 2's latest progress report has now landed here.

[Thorondor]

::

Xenonauts 2's most recent sitrep is here.

[Zombie]

@silencer_pl is a V25 beta tester for Xenonauts 2 so if you are curious on the game's progress you can check out his videos on YouTube. As far as I know he doesn't have a playlist set up for this yet. The link I provided is a search so you'll have to watch by sorting them yourselves.

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

I did check it out. No real shockers there. Seems like another rehash of X-COM.

[Thorondor]

:: Video - Xenonauts 2 | Gameplay trailer

[Thorondor]

Quote

The demo will offer a fully-armed and operational slice of gameplay with all features accessible. Players will have 50 days' worth of in-game time to lead the early phases of your defense of earth.

::

Xenonauts 2's demo will become available on Steam on the 6th of February.

[Thorondor]

::

Xenonauts 2's latest progress report is here.

[Thorondor]

:: Video - Xenonauts 2 demo test run, impressions | DGA YouTube channel

[Thorondor]

::

Xenonauts 2's most recent sitrep is here.

[Thorondor]

::

Xenonauts 2's latest progress report is here.

[Zombie]

I like the campaign options but wish it was more customizable though.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

There's inevitably quite a lot subject to change before launch, so it's all up in the air.

That's what Early Access is supposed to be for - catching problems, taking in player feedback - and seeing as that is only expected to start in July or August, with actual release a year or more past that you can imagine how much room for improvement there is.

At the same time the issue with these projects tends to be drag. Spend long enough on something like this and you can start to lose perspective as a developer, there can be feature creep, game engine ageing, overcooking things, etc.

Given all that, Early Access will be an important milestone, providing an influx of cash and fresh eyes on the game to get momentum going again.

[Thorondor]

::

Xenonauts 2's most recent sitrep is here.

[Zombie]

One of the comments in Steam says: "When Xenonauts 3"?

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

The poor fellow lost sight of his tinfoil hat, so that's what you get.

[Thorondor]

::

Xenonauts 2's latest progress report is here.

[Zombie]

UFO2:ET - 5x5 base = 25 modules. Hangar = 2x2

Xeno2 - 6x6 base = 36 modules. Hangar = 1x2

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Oh, yes, a veritable world of possibilities.

[Thorondor]

::

Xenonauts 2 is now officially slated to become available via Early Access program on the Epic Games store, GoG and Steam on the 18th of July.

[Thorondor]

::

Polygon's Charlie Theel writes about Xenonauts 2.

[Thorondor]

::

PC Gamer's Rick Lane too writes about Xenonauts 2.

[Zombie]

23 hours ago, Thorondor said:

PC Gamer's Rick Lane too writes about Xenonauts 2.

Another XCOM fanboi whose feeble brain can't fathom actual thought-provoking strategy rather than the dumbed-down variant. Got it. If you've read one, you've read them all. I'm looking forward to Xeno 2 actually, whenever it comes out.

- Zombie