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[gimli]

I think Xenonauts had damage types as well but I think it was limited to 'kinetic' and 'energy' (and I suppose stun, too), but you basically never wanted to use kinetic because the aliums were more resistant to it.

This is why the "modding potential" is so important. Imagine if game a like CK2 or EU4 or even Xenonauts 1. would have shitty modding possibilities.
Anyway, if someone is going to give a try to Xenonauts 1. [You should, if you prefer the old X-Com games over Newcom], make sure that you install a mod like X-Division. It enchances the vanilla game a lot. [Since you've mentioned dmg types, this mod has 4 main damage types. Kinetic-Energy-Chemical and Incinerate. All aliens got weak and strong resistances against certain type of damages. ]

[ventuswings]

As for me, X-Division did not really appeal for purely preference reasons. Survival of Xenonaut feels like more technology dependent than tactics dependent. For example, new armor makes more and more of alien attacks frivolous; you can literally take grenade and several bursts to the face and completely be unscathed damage-wise. This is in contrast to old X-Com where armor is merely an insurance and old Xenonauts where best armor can buy your soldier around two more hits (depending on remaining HP). It completely kills threat of earlier type aliens (equivalent to small UFO) gameplay wise and mood wise.

This is why I still enjoy its discontinued predecessor XNT mod more, which has significantly higher lethality and demands constant vigilence at all times.

[Virtz]

The thing I'm least thrilled about is that they're doing an alternate timeline thing. With the Cold War again. Basically an instant reboot. Only thing possibly worse would be a prequel.

I guess they really like the Cold War and don't want the setting to change. Like at all.

[simoroth]

The thing I'm least thrilled about is that they're doing an alternate timeline thing. With the Cold War again. Basically an instant reboot. Only thing possibly worse would be a prequel.

I guess they really like the Cold War and don't want the setting to change. Like at all.

Keeps them away from having to compromise gameplay or story for the sake of making sure the canon works. So I can deal with it. If it's as engaging as the first I'm sure it will work fine.

I'm hoping for the mid game to be shorter or more varied. Felt like a 20 hour game, but played for 60. I complained to Chris about this in the pub a few months ago, and will continue to do so at every event he attends, so hopefully the changes will keep it fresh. 

[Majestic7]

I still hope someone makes reverse X-Com one day, you could place it after Roswell or something. Basically you'd start with a tiny alien scoutship stranded on Earth, abducting people and what not. You'd have to be careful and stay secret; then with time you could start corrupting governments and so forth. Your endgame would be to either take over the planet, build a huge transmitter to call home or get together McGuffin so you can get out of this backwaters hellhole. At some point you could move from covert ops into overt alien invasion, but in the early to middle part of the game you should try to be stealthy.

[Cthulhu]

The old (presumably dead) multiplayer X-Com had a pretty good idea of how to do aliens.

You started with a base just like X-Com and had various resources like organs, food, etc. and did missions like the AI did in order to complete them.  So abduction missions got organs which were used to make more aliens, harvest got food, scouting made missions in that region easier, etc.

So it gave you a good progression as you got more resources to use better ships and aliens, and effectively made an external view of your gameplay identical to the aliens in the original x-com, though maybe smarter and more focused.

And the goal was to either destroy all of x-com's bases or terrorize enough of the population that they pull the plug, just like in the real game.

A more detailed version of that would be a lot of fun.  Judging by x-com 2's moddability it might become a reality some day.

[Fanofgaming]

The old (presumably dead) multiplayer X-Com had a pretty good idea of how to do aliens.

You started with a base just like X-Com and had various resources like organs, food, etc. and did missions like the AI did in order to complete them.  So abduction missions got organs which were used to make more aliens, harvest got food, scouting made missions in that region easier, etc.

So it gave you a good progression as you got more resources to use better ships and aliens, and effectively made an external view of your gameplay identical to the aliens in the original x-com, though maybe smarter and more focused.

And the goal was to either destroy all of x-com's bases or terrorize enough of the population that they pull the plug, just like in the real game.

A more detailed version of that would be a lot of fun.  Judging by x-com 2's moddability it might become a reality some day.

This mod was called UFO: The Two Sides, and it is one of my favorite mods of all time for any game. It's poorly balanced, buggy, and has been shut down for five years, but the idea and execution behind it are so damn good. It can still be found with a quick google search and is a blast to play if you have a friend to play with.

If it hadn't received a C&D (due to XCOM EU's release, I think), it would likely be something truly exceptional today.

[Rilder]

This mod was called UFO: The Two Sides, and it is one of my favorite mods of all time for any game. It's poorly balanced, buggy, and has been shut down for five years, but the idea and execution behind it are so damn good. It can still be found with a quick google search and is a blast to play if you have a friend to play with.

If it hadn't received a C&D (due to XCOM EU's release, I think), it would likely be something truly exceptional today.

Afaik it wasn't taken down due to a C&D, the developer/s wanted to go into developing other games I think and took it down as a legal precaution.  Also wasn't it not so much a mod, but a stand alone game that just used the graphic assets from the players copy of the Originals?

Edit: I found a quote from the main developer that had been saved in a bay12 post from a few years ago.

On Development
by NeFuRii at 22:16:05
It took me some time to write this news. Unfortunetly we are bringing UFO:TTS downloads down and stoping the development. It’s not because we don’t have the time, or that we got bored. Reason is simpler – legality issues. When we started the project we weren’t as concerned about this as we are now. We believed that if we are doing everything from zero and doing it for free – we are doing it legally. Turns out its more complicated than that. All the material that we studied on the internet points towards a simple fact that even things like ‘look and feel’ of any game can be considered intelectual property of their authors. As to the future of the game and the site… it remains open for discussion. The site will most likely remain operative. As to the game itself – we don’t know yet.

You can visit our forum for discussion.

[gimli]

Unity is fine and all for the appearance, but what of the actual gameplay? Is there any hope of Apocalypse-style terrain destruction?

So, as I promised, I PM'd to Chris in regard to "possibilities of [terrain] destruction". We have to wait to get answers. Understandable.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Chris: Hey - we're not going to go into specific details of the combat mechanics until we formally announce the game and get our new website up. At that point we'll have opened up the Xenonauts 2 design forums and all the questions will be in one place for users to read.

[Fanofgaming]

snip

Thank you for clarifying. I remembered that it was due to legal issues, but I must have made up the C&D part.

As for the mod part, I think that comes down to interpretation.

On topic: I reeeeeeeeeaaaally hope that Xenonauts 2 gets some good terrain destruction. That was one of Apocalypse's saving graces, I think.

[EuchreJack]

Gimli, your intro post makes it sound like you're an employee of GOLDHAWK INTERACTIVE.  Congrats if that is the case, otherwise you might want to edit the OP. 

[ChairmanPoo]

UFO Aftermath/Aftershock/Afterlight did one thing very well - there were different damage types and they had different uses. So it wasn't just plasma being better than laser, while laser being better than projectiles. Rather, certain enemies were vulnerable to damage X while other types were vulnerable to damage Y. It was thus wise to have different types of weapons in your squads.

I think this would be nice to see in some other game too, especially if the projectiles would have different effect on the enviroment. Such as gauss rounds going through anything, explosives destroying the surroundings, lasers igniting fires etc.

Enemy Unknown did it before.

[Krevsin]

Not nearly to the extent of UFO afterblank games tho. Usually a Heavy Plasma was good enough to deal with most things, apart from the occassional sectopod. And even that could be brought down quickly by concentrated heavy plasma fire.

[Drakale]

I hope they do better this time around, I can't really get enough of this type of games.

I kinda wish they dared to try a different combat system. Simultaneous movement a la Frozen Synapse would be very interesting, with some added mechanics like cover fire.

[Ozyton]

7.62 High Caliber but not buggy and crap would be pretty neat too. It's realtime but you can pause it, so sort of like Frozen Synapse if you could sort of react to a changing environment.