Only one complaint

[Zombie]

So I finally got around to installing UFO Aftermath from the UFO Trilogy I purchased a couple weeks ago. Biggest reason for not installing it right away was that I was enjoying Silent Storm too much. Hehe.

 

Completed the tutorial, but it was a hair-pulling experience. Why, oh why, are all actions dictated by using the right mouse button? That's totally backwards! The left mouse button should be for movement at least, no? Guess not. Is there a way to customize the controls for the game? I want to use my left mouse button again.

 

It's nice that the camera zooming and rotating is the same as in Silent Storm. However, when I hold the control button and press the right arrow, the camera pans the opposite way. Wha? Here again, is there a way to customize the controls so that I'm not relearning how to manage the camera? What kind of Bizarro world were the devs living on?

 

That said, if there is a way to fix these two issues, I could probably learn to play this game a lot more.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Another complaint: why do aliens carry human weapons at the start of the game? They sent down these spores to kill most everything off, yet don't have the common sense to equip their troops with advanced alien weaponry to easily exterminate the few living creatures which survived. No, they have to use human weapons for some reason. (Sporting chance maybe? Or they don't want their weapons getting in the wrong hands should they die)?

 

I know very little of the UFO backstory, so can someone fill me in? Maybe there is a clue to why the aliens use human weapons. Or did the developers fail to create a decent backstory to explain this issue?

 

Edit: I just read our Transgenants page which says these creatures are mutated humans or animals. That kinda explains why they carry human weapons. Doesn't really explain why some carry alien weapons though.

 

- Zzombie

[NKF]

Zombies, if you will. I'm just guessing they gather the weapons from the bases that you recover. How they get their hands on the reticulan weapons is a mystery, unless they managed to get them the same way you did - through combat. Some of their attacks, especially those hive thingys, are brutal.

 

 

- NKF

[Thorondor]

@Zombie:

 

The ALTARians (namely Lead Designer Mr. Martin Kl

[Zombie]

Thanks, that helps a little. Any more info on the Reticulans?

 

Id like to point out this statement:

 

imagine yourself using a pesticide to kill ants in your home: you don't really care if there are some survivors, as long as the colony dies.

True, but the "ants" on Earth have intelligence and guns. Even a small number of hu-mans can wreak havoc on the marauding forces.

 

Maybe the Reticulans assumed that humans posed very little threat to their objective. Still, if they were around longer than humans, they should have the intelligence to figure out (and recognize) that we are a force to be reckoned with. That would require a different strategy other than a lack of interest on their part.

 

I find it hard to believe that the Reticulans lack forethought and intelligence with eons of evolution under their belt.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

The Reticulan's roles in this war become more apparent once you progress to Aftershock. Spoiler:

 

 

 

To put it bluntly, they're just (lower tier/cannon fodder) pawns in an affair of a planetary scale.

 

 

Though I'm being as vague as I can, and I'm exaggerating the scale for emphasis, I think I've just given away what I personally thought as being Aftershock's "after shock".

 

 

- NKF

[NKF]

Thought I'd give my old savegame a spin. One bit of advice I can give regarding the camera is to get used to using your middle mouse button/scroll wheel. Use it for all of your camera operations if need be.

 

Scrolling the scroll wheel manages the zoom, and holding the middle button in lets you rotate the camera around.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

I don't have an external mouse - only a touchpad and a trackball, so no middle button or wheel. Oh, the joys of using a laptop for gaming.

 

I'm managing a little better now with panning the camera, but it's still difficult at times. When you get used to Silent Storm's controls and then jump to this game, it's hard. I'm always expecting the camera to go the way the arrow key is pointing, not the opposite direction. Horribly annoying to say the least.

 

I wonder why this issue hasn't been fixed yet? You would think that either Altar or a modder would have got to it by now.

 

- Zombie