Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for the thorough feedback!
-excessively long research times for topics to advance in the game. I am having to throw too large an amount of scientists to any given topic to make any sort of progress at a reasonable time.
Yes. It is unfortunate that there aren't very many mods out there with shorter research trees. I suppose most of us modders like a longer story arc. I never liked the original game in which I could assign 100 scientists and clear out the research tree before I had even met the last aliens.
-pointless research topics. Why does alloy ammo need to exist in this mod? Its benefits are marginal at best and laser weapons are just simply better.
There is some feature bloat, but I've tried to cut it down where possible. Alloy ammo has several minor uses:
- It is a stepping stone to lasers, and can be researched sooner.
- Once you have alloy weapons, you can put laser research on the backburner (if that's what you want to do).
- I've had at least two people struggle to find the laser research option. While it isn't my intent for it to be hard to find, having backup weapon upgrades helps ensure your power will not stagnate.
- It penetrates armor quite well, and for that reason is good against armored opponents such as the Cyberdisc.
- Some people might prefer keeping their old guns rather than building new ones.
A lot of the extra bits are just there to fill a hole that you could easily miss. But I try not to have anything be completely useless. I disliked having research projects in the original which served no purpose beyond filling your UFOPedia with information that often lied to you anyway.
- the craft upgrade systems are very confusing and feature craft modules that dont need to exist. Like...really? Alloy fuel tanks? Alloy jet engines? Alloy armor plating? Really? It feels really redundant.
-upgrade packages are not well explained as to how you equip them onto your craft.
I've used all of the upgrades in my own play. Alloy fuel tanks probably gets the least use out of me, but I love me some alloy engines. I think what I am struggling with most here is communicating to the player how to use these modules effectively. They are very strong once you know how to take advantage of them.
I've used a simple system for sizes: small, medium, and large--also certain items are specific to aircraft (which use free fuel) or to spacecraft (which use manufactured fuel). All medium weapons/equipment are mounted in a medium pylon.
Defense modules do best when min-maxing for greatest effect: armor plating is particularly strong against UFOs that deal low damage, while evasion airframes are particularly good against UFOs that have a low accuracy. You can check their attributes in the UFOPedia after you have researched their datacore (landed) or gotten it via an alien engineer.
Any advice you have on better ways to communicate this info would be much appreciated! I also recognize that I may be tossing too many options at the player all at once. I am also considering ways to space the options out further.
