Some sort of mechanic for the part where the facility defences fire - maybe like what interception uses - so it's not just a binary hit/miss for each defensive facility (x2 if grav shield).
Currently in progress here on the forums by redv.
Should be able to happen early in the game but use weaker UFOs, which also means it's not 3000 damage or bust for your facility defences.
Agreed. It would require a rebuild of how alien deployment works though.
Maybe even multiple UFOs at once? Well, let's not overcomplicate things...
Yeah, one step at a time.
All damage to the base should matter and cost you, even mere plasma-scorched walls (a little bit), but without the "destroy an entire facility module and via it everything connected through it" mechanic
Not that important to me, but okay.
The accuracy mechanic always felt a little awkward; most shots would either be wide misses or perfect headshots. Replace with a (much narrower than current) cone of fire. List accuracy as degrees of deviation.
I think UFO Extender does a good enough job in the accuracy department.
Multiple shots in flight at once to make auto shot/burst fire less awkward
That would really complicate things regarding the camera, hitting a target that is already dead etc. Plus, it would be really confusing - look at the shotgun mechanics, I can never tell who and what was hit.
Reaction mechanics probably need a second pass; the mutual surprise mechanic generally works well, but it looks really dumb when a sectoid walks out of the UFO, spins 90°, headshots a guy, then walks back inside without any return fire. Maybe something like a "focus on this area" which gives a soldier a x2 Reactions stat bonus vs any target that appears inside it and ignores the mutual surprise rule...
Nah, it's a very good system already, probably the best I've ever seen. Sure it is a bit abstract, but I think it's faithful to how it works in RL and also easy to control once you learn it.
(Various weapons, crafts, items and so on are all over the place balance-wise and need finetuning obviously, but this is more for deeper changes than ruleset mods can do)
What exactly?
Research options that don't do anything useful (autopsies, most interrogations) ought to, even if it's minor
I sort of agree... But I never cared about it that much. It was kind of realistic.
- Manufacturing stuff (without using irreplaceable alien materials) purely to sell it probably makes the player too independent of the funding countries, which feels awkward narratively even if the game balance wouldn't be affected much due to the massive amounts of loot. Increase the funding they'll give X-Com, if need be.
Sadly, I haven't encountered a good enough model of preventing this. So I wouldn't touch it.
Gotta say the XCOM EU/EW way of restricting races to weapons feels like it works well for gameplay progression, though some flexibility for each race would probably improve it (Sectoids/Thin Men using pistols early on, rifles mid-lategame)
This. So much.
