Xenonauts - Legit remake of the original XCom

Gavinmad · Jun 6, 2014

Game is coming out of early access this month and I started reading up on it. Game basically looks like it's exactly what I've been looking for, a faithful remake of the original XCom with a better interface (and what looks like only slightly improved graphics lol). The 2012 XCom was a pretty good game, but it got about as far away from the original as you can get while still being able to call it XCom.

Almost finished downloading now, first time I've paid full price (20 bucks) for a game in a long ass time. Should give me something to do while I'm waiting for Beta 10 of the Long War mod for Enemy Within to roll out.

Gask · Jun 6, 2014

It's nice to see this released after so many years in development... I think this was going before Firaxis even started enemy unknown. Good stuff and there is a custom map pack on their forums that is quite good also.

Gavinmad · Jun 7, 2014

It's the original XCom alright. My ass hurts.

Aaron · Jun 14, 2014

I bought the game back when crowdfunding started. Played a bit back when there was only one map and no geoscape (lol). Then I forgot about it til yesterday when a friend pointed out to me that it had been released. Just got into it and so far so good. Lots of quality of life improvements. Not having to buy bog standard stuff is also amazing (making some of the tedious micromanagment of the old games gone). But still too short in to actually give it any decent rating.

One thing I did notice was that in the quickstart guide they said you only need to do ground missions of the same type of craft a few times to get all you need from it, after that just "nuke it from orbit". Is this true? My old X-com sense of going to every combat site, even when its only a small scout and all my troops are veterans in power armour makes me shout "no" at this.

Gavinmad · Jun 14, 2014

Well if you very carefully manage your alloys and alenium, you don't need to do every ground mission. I tend to only do 1 or 2 per wave, anything more than that and I get mission fatigue pretty bad and just save quit til later. They recently upped the value of airstriking a crash site too to make it a more viable option.

Ichu · Jun 14, 2014

Damn this looks good. Sounds like they hope to have it finished by the end of this year, too.

I think I might pick this up early, is the game completable at the moment?

Gavinmad · Jun 14, 2014

The game is feature complete and they're trying to hammer out a last few bugs for the release build. Official release will definitely be this month.

Aaron · Jun 16, 2014

Lost three troops on the first mission.

Yup, this is X-com!

Gavinmad · Jun 16, 2014

Well, it's pretty bland and restrictive compared to the originals. Also, the fucked up way funding works in this one, your #1 priority has to be building two more interceptor bases as soon as you can muster the funds, or else you'll take too much funding damage and shit will just snowball until you lose. Like I delayed a bit too long building my second base, so now there's barely any point in putting up a third one even if I could afford it (which I can't). There also doesn't seem be be any need for more than one lab or workshop, the upkeep cost is too high and you can't task your engineers to build sellable stuff like you could in the originals.

... · Jun 17, 2014

Do you have to maintain multiple bases? do they intercept their own and respond to crisis near them?

do the bases get attacked? do they have to be defended by those present?

I'm so freaking annoyed with xcom enemy unkown + expansion because...you only need one team. some times some one is injured but mostly you just superman squad out and you have no need to leave anyone in reserve. the trailer for x-com trailer showed the base being assaulted and...it's really just one mission (which is fun, but just a gimmick).

I want to build a base then fight in it with the rookies i left behind with the gear i left behind? is that in this?

Nutron_sl · Jun 17, 2014

It's not perfect but I've been following it since early kickstarter and its enjoyable. There's no other good TBS games to play anyway since recent ones are all action crap with no depth (like the xcom EU one).

Gavinmad · Jun 17, 2014

..._sl said:
Do you have to maintain multiple bases? do they intercept their own and respond to crisis near them?

do the bases get attacked? do they have to be defended by those present?

I'm so freaking annoyed with xcom enemy unkown + expansion because...you only need one team. some times some one is injured but mostly you just superman squad out and you have no need to leave anyone in reserve. the trailer for x-com trailer showed the base being assaulted and...it's really just one mission (which is fun, but just a gimmick).

I want to build a base then fight in it with the rookies i left behind with the gear i left behind? is that in this?

I already answered the multiple base question. You won't have the funds and supplies to make gear for a second team of recruits, so at best they'll be equipped with the hand-me-downs left over from gearing your primary squad. Yes, Xenonauts has base defense, although apparently it's a pretty rare event.

Personally, I just downloaded UFO: Alien Invasion and I'm giving that a try, then I'll probably fire up OpenXCom now that they're at 1.0, and by the time I'm done dicking around with all of that, Beta 10 should be out for Long War. I don't quite regret my purchase of Xenonauts, but I do sorta wish I'd bought it later on sale or something.

The Long War mod for Enemy Within should solve most of your complaints about having a single team of supermen btw. Among other things, they introduced fatigue which means a soldier has to sit out for 4-5 days between missions. Between that, long injury recovery times, and the fact that missions can come in spurts, and you need a really deep roster for Long War. Plus the officer promotion system and OTS upgrades require you to have a certain number of total ranked up soldiers rather than all of them unlocking just from having a single guy ranked up to max.

... · Jun 17, 2014

Gavinrad_sl said:
The Long War

I'll scope that out. Is there a new version of it coming out soon? should i wait until beta 10 to try it?

Vaclav · Jun 17, 2014

Disappointing that this isn't up to snuff from what ya'll are saying.

Gavinmad · Jun 17, 2014

..._sl said:
I'll scope that out. Is there a new version of it coming out soon? should i wait until beta 10 to try it?

You can give it a whirl with beta 9, just stay away from the Not So Long War second wave option, it badly needs rebalanced. Beta 10 is soon, but they don't give

Vaclav_sl said:
Disappointing that this isn't up to snuff from what ya'll are saying.

I'm being a bit overly critical because I flubbed a playthrough and don't really want to start a new one. It's still a good game to scratch the XCom itch.

Vaclav · Jun 17, 2014

I got the impression they added new gear from some of the SS - like a riot shield it looks, that correct?

Gavinmad · Jun 17, 2014

Yes, there's a riot shield. I'm not convinced it's very good. It has limited HPs, so it can only absorb a couple shots. You can eventually research a more durable one, but after using them a bit, I'm not convinced it would be very good even if they were indestructible. Half the time you take reaction shots when breaching a ship or alien base, its from the side or back and the shield doesn't protect you. It's usually better to just yolo breaches with a shotgun.

One of my biggest pet peeves is how badly nerfed grenades are. If you don't have a free hand (free hand meaning you have to be carrying a 1 handed weapon, so pistol/stun baton only), grenades are something like 80% TU. Grenade throwing range is also fucking ridiculously short. Like we're talking with average TUs you can throw a grenade about 1/3rd as far as you can move. Throwing ranges were a little ridiculous in the originals, but Xenonauts are some seriously limp-wristed motherfuckers.

Vaclav · Jun 17, 2014

IIRC throw range scaled with the STR (or equivalent) stat in original XCom, you tried throw range with stronger/weaker folks?

What's the ratio of new gear since riot shield is obviously new

Gavinmad · Jun 17, 2014

Riot shields and sniper rifles. Sniper Rifles are ok, since you don't have unlimited range with every weapon like you did in the originals, but most of the maps are pretty small with LoS obstructions everywhere, so you don't want more than 1.

Basically, since you can't manufacture for profit and you get a lot less from crash sites, all your funding revolves around nation happiness in the geoscape. They did add a minigame to interception which is pretty slick, and once you get the hang of it you can trash stuff thats way tougher than you should be able to take down. Also has an autoresolve. You absolutely have to get a second base started asap (like, beginning of month 2 asap). You probably only ever need a single lab or workshop, so all of your extra bases will just be interceptor bases.

Gorestabb · Jun 19, 2014

This is the game I have been waiting for for 20 years. Finally a proper remake of Xcom without any nonsense added.

Xenonauts - Legit remake of the original XCom

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