Feedback/Suggestion

[Surrealistik]

So far I'm loving it; definitely an improvement on the base game in virtually every way.

That said, my thoughts on how it might be made even better; I'm especially big on the Infiltration suggestions:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D13 ... No_xQ/edit

[Amineri]

Couple of quick notes...

There is an in-game option to show the class ability skill tree, instead of future ones locked. Believe me, some players do prefer the future ones locked, so it has to be an option.

We considered making psionics an overlay class, but it was already pretty strong in base XCOM 2, so we were concerned about the power creep involved in allowing combination of class + psi + officer + AWC abilities. So we decided to stick closer to the base pattern here. Plus, on the technical side of things (which I have to handle!), their abilities are tied through their psi amp secondary, so it would have been considerable work to change. More time spent here would have meant some other feature would have been reduced/cut.

In our heads, PCS really are genemods

Loot drops. Loot can be turned into fungible currency via the black market. I kind of like having them drop items (maybe they don't use it for the same thing as we do?) instead of "The badger drops 5 gold".

The reason infiltration goes from 0 to 200% instead of 0 to 100% is that the current 100% is the typically "optimal". Being able to infiltrate beyond 100% is there to help provide benefit to smaller squads, providing some diminishing returns in reduction of opposing force and detection range. One of the challenges we faced was to make a wide variety of squad size choices viable. I think we got pretty close.

[Surrealistik]

Alright, cool, it's nice to see where you're coming from.

With psionics I definitely get the power creep argument, but I do feel it would be counterbalanced by the time investment involved, the lab prereq and their relative exclusivity (powers being soft gated by Will for example), plus the fact that each and every time you have a trooper actually use/tap that power, he's going to be out of the fight for that much longer. I definitely acknowledge that it might make the final mission have to be scaled up in difficulty however (because if you can, you will make sure your superfriends will be available for the final gauntlet). Also understand the time required and technical challenges of implementation; however if you have plans to improve on the mod further down the line, it's certainly something that can be phased in with time.

As Loot drops go, yeah I understand that it seems like a little thing given you can liquidate mods and such fairly easily, but as bad as 'badger dropping the 5 gold' might sound, badger dropping a silencer is arguably worse, particularly when 'gold' in X-Com 2 is supplies which could be any combination of salvage and resources, and so might make more sense than currency would; that Chryssalid may not be carrying salvage, but perhaps shell remnants can be readily repurposed? Maybe a compromise might be reached where certain enemies like Chryssalids, Berserkers, Drones etc drop supplies exclusively, while humanoids using weapons have a chance to drop either supplies or mods/PCS?

PCS, fair. I just was hoping for a more formalized recognition/redefinition of it as a gene mod complete with multiple slots, using fatigue, facility prereqs and application time to balance out the ostensible power creep.

Finally Infiltration. I get the logic involved with wanting 100% to intuitively be recognized as an optimal, but on the flipside I'm not sure if this would be recognized without reading documentation on the matter, in which case you could describe 50% as being the optimal prior to diminishing returns. At any rate, that's more of an aside. I do agree that it succeeded at making a wide variety of squad sizes viable which is an impressive accomplishment (though I'm not quite sure if it made some squad sizes exploitable/too easy; will have to investigate further). However the ability to choose the impacts of Infiltration (which you can mix and match) through its expenditure I feel would constitute a major improvement by expanding the strategic layer and giving the player more meaningful choices; again, definitely a significant technical hurdle here as with psionics but so worth it.

[Devon_v]

I read infiltration percentages as "we are 100% prepped and ready to go", with higher numbers representing additional work. "We could launch now, everything's set, but since we have the time Rodgers wants to look into some potential alternate angles of attack."

You're acquiring battlefield intel above and beyond the strict needs of the mission.

[GavinRuneblade]

As Loot drops go, yeah I understand that it seems like a little thing given you can liquidate mods and such fairly easily, but as bad as 'badger dropping the 5 gold' might sound, badger dropping a silencer is arguably worse,

Reminds me of diablo where killing a small critter would sometimes result in multiple suits of armor dropping, each one 10x the mass of the critter. Then again, maybe the badger is from Narnia. ~.^

[Surrealistik]

I read infiltration percentages as "we are 100% prepped and ready to go", with higher numbers representing additional work. "We could launch now, everything's set, but since we have the time Rodgers wants to look into some potential alternate angles of attack."

You're acquiring battlefield intel above and beyond the strict needs of the mission.

TBH, like I said it's a minor aside. Personally I do find it a bit silly, but I get what Amineri was going for; it's the ability to use Infiltration as a resource I'm big on.

Though I understand that Intel can be expended to affect mission parameters (such as the timer), it's not nearly the same thing.

[Surrealistik]

One other thing I'd really like to see his Dodge/Graze manipulation; some aim assist elements like Holotargeting should help reduce your opponent's Graze and/or Dodge ratings; as is alien Dodge/Graze values are, so far as I have discovered, virtually untouchable. Furthermore, relevant status effects like Disorientated, Unconscious and Stunned should either reduce Dodge or disable it entirely.

I feel Dodge should be an opposed roll against Aim, triggering only when it succeeds by a greater margin than the Aim roll, so the accuracy of the attacker is relevant to the probability of dodging. For example, if Aim exceeded its target number by 30 (needs to roll a 60 or better to hit, and rolled a 90) and Dodge exceeded its target number by 10 (needs to roll a 20 or better and rolls a 30), Dodge would fail. Conversely, if Dodge exceeds its roll by more than Aim, it triggers. This would probably require that the Dodge rating/growth rate be increased across the board in order for Dodge to remain relevant, but I feel it's definitely a valuable change from a perspective of verisimilitude and gameplay.

[Surrealistik]

Secondary objectives on missions might be a cool idea:

Power Nodes that when hacked or disabled disable random Scanner posts and Sentries. Disabling all of them neutralises all posts and sentries.

Transmitter Nodes that when hacked or disabled increase the timer and/or increment in turns before reinforcements arrive. Neutralising all of them might remove the timer or disable reinforcements (to compensate for their presence, the timers might start off lower).

Completing secondary objectives awards bonus XP to a squad upon successful completion of the primary objective.