sarge945 wrote:Fatigue System
Currently, the fatigue system works in that if a soldier is tired after a mission, they must take a risk if they go on another mission which could result in them gaining a negative trait. The amount of fatigue a soldier gains during a mission seems to be mostly random. I know it is based on some factors, but they are so difficult to keep track of it can seem arbitrary.
Being able to risk a soldier by taking them on a mission while tired is actually a really great system though, however it clashes with the idea of infiltrating to a degree, as both systems serve to limit the amount of missions you can send an specific soldier on.
I think both systems could be merged. Halve the time needed to infiltrate, but require all soldiers to rest for the same amount of time after each mission, or risk a negative trait.
This allows emergencies where we can take more powerful troops along for a high-value mission, while risking having to put them in the tube for 10 days, which is actually a really good mechanic and could add a lot more depth.
Secondly, by splitting the waiting time for a squad (instead of front-loading it which is what the infiltration system does), it could reduce a lot of the empty time spent waiting around, which I know BeagleRush complained about a lot, and is probably annoying for a lot of people.
So basically, instead of being:
INFILTRATE for 8 days, then do a mission, then soldiers are good to go (assuming no wounds, etc)
It would be:
INFILTRATE for 4 days, do mission, all soldiers must rest for 4 days or risk negative traits. Obviously wounded soldiers would be able to rest and heal at the same time.
Since all soldiers would be tired at the end of a mission, and for a predetermined amount of time, this would effectively make the will bar completely useless. Enter...
Covert Missions
This system is fantastic and would fit into long war really well. I could see it being tied into the region management system a little more though. For example, instead of having faceless haven missions be effectively random based on the level of the haven advisor, I would instead have a covert operation, something along the lines of "Interrogations", which roots out faceless. I would have another one for tracking down Convoys (which would instantly create a convoy mission instead of having to roll the dice) etc.
The Pavinos team could do a lot with these.
I mentioned this in another thread but just want to touch on it with a bit more detail after getting some time to think on it. I feel that alone Infiltation and Fatigue CANNOT work well together, sure you can half the time for one and reduce the effects of the other...but that's not a solution, it's just a reduction in the problem. I also noticed another mention that you could just have fatigue be reduced while on Infiltration...but then Infiltration becomes easier and less of a punishment.
My suggestion is a merging of the Covert Ops and Infiltration systems and leaving the Fatigue system alone. The Fatigue system in XCom 2 is meaningful and well thought out, it doesn't artificially force soldiers out of missions but gives you reason to not want to take them in order to allow them to rest up and not risk panic, negative traits, and even possible soldiers losses due to bad timing on the panic. Infiltration is an interesting mechanic that never really felt complete, it always felt like it was just there to force you into getting more items and using more soldiers. Using the Covert Ops I feel that Infiltration could finally be something that feels complete.
Scenario:
1) A mission pops up, the time on the mission is available as usual and you can choose to go on the mission or do Infiltration, once again as usual.
2) You choose Infiltration because there's plenty of time - gearing out squad has a bigger impact though, gear can increase/decrease the chance that you are discovered [soldier is injured, etc.] and if discovered it spawns a mission
3) Mission Types hack or assassinate could be the types spawned if caught [better than the same exact map/mission type in vanilla already] so you either have to hack a terminal to prevent them from sending the alert or kill a person/squad that noticed you.
4) Assassinate could include a bunch of turrets and MECs that way it kinda makes sense that only this one person can alert others to your presence.
5) Depending on the success or failure of your Infiltration the readiness of the enemy is modified and you choose a new squad [or use the same one] to send on the mission.
This system still makes you require multiple items, multiple squads of soldiers to rotate, and even adds in the requirement of needing items/gear to suit 2 different playstyles if you want to maximize on benefits but doesn't require splitting in half the negatives of each of the systems. The Infiltration squad will gain fatigue and the Mission squad will gain fatigue respective to the amount of work they had to do. A successful Infiltration leads to less Fatigue for that squad and subsequently less Fatigue for the squad you send on the mission because you reduced the amount of enemies they'd run into.
This also removes one of my most hated things, being unable to equip your squad with the new gear that you got the day after you were forced to start the Infiltration. You still get to gear out the Mission squad right before launching on the mission and that gear doesn't get locked away for 5 days because for some idiotic reason we can't send in a fresh squad at the time that the Infiltration squad tells us is the best.
This concept could be taken further by removing the timer completely and not always allowing Infiltration, the Infiltration will be similar to Covert Ops that it tells you how many days it is going to take if you choose to do the Infiltration the mission remains up until its over otherwise you must do the mission or it disappears. If the option doesn't appear that just means there wouldn't be enough time to make any meaningful changes before opportunity would no longer be available.