Invasion Postponed Until 2012

[Space Voyager]

they need to go on kickstarter and raise billions of dollars, that should get the game out on time, for sure!

He he he!

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

No one wanted this game or "series" to begin with. Can we be honest for once in our lives?

[Space Voyager]

This is not completely true. I did play no. 1 and found it ok, compared to X-COM. But, as X-COMs, I wouldn't be able to commit myself to spending all the time units again.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

Clearly it's Jman's fault!

[Thorondor]

 

Are strategy games with strong RPG elements your cup of tea? Did you enjoy games like Xcom: UFO Defence, the Fallout series, the Civilization series, the Heroes of Might and magic? And now you are looking for something new to satisfy your craving for turn-based fun?

 

::

 

UFO2: Extraterrestrials so makes itself known on Steam with release to be expected "in a few days". I bet you didn't see this one coming!

[Space Voyager]

I sure did not see this coming.

[Zombie]

I have it on my Steam wishlist, but I'm not holding my breath. You have to be a little realistic when it's been constantly pushed back year after year for almost a decade.

 

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

I have it on my Steam wishlist, but I'm not holding my breath. You have to be a little realistic when it's been constantly pushed back year after year for almost a decade.

 

- Zombie

THIS. Probably a game more for true enthusiasts. I'm too old for this.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

Hmm, the first day of summer this year is June 20th. Ergo, they have 27 days (as of this post) to release the game. I think this and the remake of System Shock are two games as Thor said above ^, I won't be holding my breath on.

 

-n0x

[Thorondor]

 

::

 

June 15th is the day UFO2: Extraterrestrials will finally make its "slightly" overdue landing on Steam!

[Space Voyager]

I'll believe it when I see it. But if it does happen, congratulations, Chaos Concept!

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

I dare you to buy it! You're such a mark SV, lol. I preordered this game back in 2012.

[Space Voyager]

I shall not be dared into this. I bought many games just to help the company, rarely did it make any difference. I also bought no. 1 even though I knew I won't really be playing it. I've done my part.

[Thorondor]

 

::

 

UFO2: Extraterrestrials is now actually out there and available on Steam.

[Zombie]

Thanks! Purchased and just started my first game. Seems like ages ago when I played UFO:ET so it's taking me a little bit to get acclimated again. Got past my first landing site ok, there were a couple instances where an alien was camped out and Rx fired on a soldier, but luckily the armor sopped it up. My only issue at the moment is trying to figure out how to get more scientists. If I remember the first game correctly, then I think I need to build another lab (once I get enough space bucks that is).

 

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

I checked the gameplay vid. Very X-COM, I'm willing to bet it is far better than the originals. The first game was, too, in a way. That said, I wouldn't be able to play it for the same reasons as I wouldn't be able to play X-COM again; the damn time units (here action points I presume) optimization. This system is just so time consuming I ditched my last few attempts at X-COM. I do wish UFO2 all the best, naturally.

[silencer_pl]

Thanks! Purchased and just started my first game. Seems like ages ago when I played UFO:ET so it's taking me a little bit to get acclimated again. Got past my first landing site ok, there were a couple instances where an alien was camped out and Rx fired on a soldier, but luckily the armor sopped it up. My only issue at the moment is trying to figure out how to get more scientists. If I remember the first game correctly, then I think I need to build another lab (once I get enough space bucks that is).

 

- Zombie

 

Is it worth the price? Judging by the visuals and the reviews it's a pass.

[Zombie]

I have about 40 hours in so far, so that should say that it's worth something. Your mileage may vary though.

 

My issues with this game so far are quite a few:

1. Soldiers say things in pop-up bubbles between rounds like they did in the first game (exact same wording btw), but I find that annoying. You still cannot turn these off.
   
2. Research/game progression seems scripted with very few (if any) side topics.
   
3. I'm still using the standard rifles (albeit with upgraded ammo) but there aren't any better guns yet. I did research photon beamers (alien equivalent to plasma pistols in UFO Defense) but those aren't exactly accurate and their power is limited to aliens which are resistant (but not completely immune) to upgraded human ammo.
   
4. Soldier pictures are still Godawful and there aren't a huge variety of them either so everyone begins to look the same after a while.
   
5. With 2 labs and 20 scientists I occasionally research all the available topics, and then they sit idle until the game progresses enough to spawn bigger UFOs.
   
6. There isn't much variation in terrain or landing zones. If you down a UFO in farm terrain, the landing zone around your ship almost always looks the same. The UFO will always be as far away from your dropship as possible which makes missions a slog/grind. If your dropship is at the edge of a map you can guess the UFO is going to be clear across the map. Gone are the days of your ship spawning next to a UFO.
   
7. Aliens inside buildings can throw grenades at your soldiers outside. Yet you cannot return the favor. You may be able to see an alien but if there is anything between you and the alien you can't target it. You have to target the obstacle first to destroy it, then you will get a clear LOF. Even your own soldiers kneeling down are an obstacle.
   
8. Seems like the same ultimate strategy for upgrading soldiers: in the beginning, keep dumping points into firing accuracy, agility, vitality and strength. Once FA, TUs and Health are in the 80s, dump points mainly into strength (first) and bravery with any other points going into maybe reactions or something. You need a lot of strength for the better armors otherwise you'll end up wearing something less than ideal. Alien weapons weigh a lot.
   

To me it seems like it's just a reskin of UFO:ET. It took how many years to do a reskin with no significant Quality Of Life improvements? Yeah. If you already own UFO:ET, go play that instead. It's far cheaper and basically the same game. If you don't own UFO:ET, well, it's not on Steam anymore (might be a temporary thing) so you either have to buy a physical copy or try Green Man Gaming (still there for $14.95 USD which is a hell of a lot cheaper than $34.99 for UFO2:ET).

 

To answer SV's question, UFO2:ET is not better than UFO:EU or X-COM: UFO Defense. I'm sorry, it's just not. It's not even better than UFO:ET (so far). There is just so much customization and variability to X-COM which makes it more interesting to play. At least gimme something different. More gun types like in Silent Storm would go a long way. Gimme options to spread research, manufacturing and soldiers between different bases. Cramming that all into one base is a nightmare, and that reduces all other bases to detection and interception.

 

- Zombie

[silencer_pl]

Thought so as much. What about bugs? Any game breaking or annoying? CTDs? Stuff like that.

[Zombie]

No crashes to desktop or blue screen of death, not sure about bugs though. The only issue I had so far was the inability to save for a bit. I was nearing the end of a mission and clicked save because I needed to stop for a while to eat. When I came back and tried to save again after a couple turns the game allowed me to click the button, but as soon as I did the aliens started their turn in the background. While not game breaking, it was kind of a ironman type of scenario as I had to finish off missions in one sitting without saving. Back in the Geoscape, the game refused to save again but I did notice the auto-save feature was still working as the time stamps were updating. It eventually went away after I rebooted so maybe it was a glitch on my end.

 

- Zombie

[silencer_pl]

Well then off to the 75% wait.

[Space Voyager]

Well then off to the 75% wait.

I see the damage I've done.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

I don't think this game was made by the original developers. They clearly died and their children made this game. 2012. 2021.

8 Years.

 

- n0x

[Zombie]

I've been playing this game on and off for the last few weeks or so. One new thing is "floating bases". To get to this I just saved the game and rushed ahead in research till I got the topic while making sure to shoot down all the UFOs I detected to keep my score up. Floating bases are a misnomer. It's technically a aircraft carrier. Well, there's elements of both, but more aircraft carrier than anything else.

 

So you need to actually manufacture the floating bases first. Once built, they occupy a base slot so you have to remember that. They have 3 hangars like a normal base but you can also build a selection of base facilities (I think you have 8 slots available). Mostly you'll want a detection station (aka radar) and a bunch of defenses so that UFOs don't get too close. I have a limited selection of defensive facilities but dual photon defenses along with dual heavy missile defenses seem like a good pairing. And then make sure you have the best aircraft you can build with the best armor, missiles and cannons. Goes without saying because of the limited number of hangars.

 

You can move these things around by clicking on them in the geoscape and selecting move. They kinda take a while to get where you want them to go though, so it's not like you can instantly move them to help out shooting down a UFO somewhere. But you can launch your interceptors from them. I'm honestly not sure how useful they are in the grand scheme of things. Land based bases have a huge advantage in that they are customizable and have a lot more slots for hangars and defenses. Possibly another advantage is for funding as a land-based CAF base automatically raises the funding cap of that region from ~400k to 780k. I guess the advantage for the floating bases are the ability to move them around to where your detection coverage is lacking or where there is a large amount of UFO activity.

 

That's the lowdown of floating bases in case anyone is wondering about them.

 

- Zombie

[Zombie]

I haven't played UFO 2:ET lately as I've been busy at work and also after work because I took on a painting/repair project for a friend. But I fired up the game the other day to see what I could accomplish. For starters, let's take a peek at the stats screen.

 

 

This screen isn't exactly accurate as you can totally "game" the numbers just by reloading. Those 4 planes lost? Nah, I was just doing some tests. I haven't lost any yet, thankfully. Got extremely close to losing a soldier last mission which was quite harrowing. It was also the mission I almost lost everyone but somehow pulled it off in the end.

 

So here's what happened: my interceptors (and base!) recently shot down a swarm UFO leader. Got a cool million space bucks for it which was cool. But if I eliminated the UFO via a ground mission I'd get a bigger payout. Hmmm, I didn't really want the cash as I was set, but I just hired a few new recruits who needed the training. Why not, right? So off they went. My first issue was this UFO had those 5 AI cannons mounted at the corners and the center and it was right next to the LZ. A hot landing zone is a big problem in this game as there are no such things as smoke grenades to conceal your movements.

 

I did the only thing I could which was offload everyone into a room filled with high explosive fuel drums and such. I tried to keep everyone from standing directly next to the explosive drums, but it wasn't a big room. Everything was fine until an alien opened the door and spotted my men. It must've relayed my position to the UFO cannons as they started firing at the walls of the room. Once that was breached, it was only a matter of time until an errant shot detonated a barrel and caused the entire place to be leveled. Now my men were sitting ducks as the remaining cannons opened up and rained down pure hell. Nobody died, but at least half my team were heavily injured and on top of this I still had to contend with the aliens milling about the area.

 

Somehow my injured people were able to mop up the visible aliens on that turn and my sharpshooters took out three of the UFO AI cannons. The remaining people played medics and patched up the wounded. Four of my soldiers lost all of their shields from the bombardment and explosion so they were going to be pretty useless - I set 3 of them up as a perimeter below with one healthy soldier as a meat shield. The last soldier without armor I sent with two experienced troopers for UFO breaching duty. She would play backup/open doors and perform as medic. No harm in this, so I thought.

 

My two main UFO breachers went upstairs to clean out a lift room while she remained below as a lookout/overwatch. Wouldn't you know it but an alien dropped down from above on the outside, opened the door and shot her 3 times point blank until... unconscious. She had one of the only Medkits left with doses on it, so one of my guys upstairs had to grab the kit and revive her (she had 39 wounds in the gut alone with who knows how many critical wounds). Once she was stabilized the lone guy upstairs came down to kill the last alien point blank. EOM report:

 

 

Now those 14 days in the hospital are really going to cut into her training. 32 aliens is quite a lot for 8 people to handle (plus those dangerous cannons). The payoff was worth it:

 

 

The only issue is that half of the high-level soldier shielding modules are gone forever due to sopping up all that damage. I'm now hurriedly manufacturing a new batch of them (they take a long time to produce) and in the mean time I'm using some of the older shields which I forgot to sell. Lucky I kept them!

 

My revamped squad just finished a mission with Nh'Minol aliens (they are pseudo-Sectoid-ish without the MC... so, total pushovers). I knew one of the Steam achievements was called Firestarter: Burn area of 150 fields during one mission. Had no idea how big 150 "fields" were so I decided to just toss some incendiary grenades at hay bales, shrubbery, aliens and around the UFO itself. These grenades actually aren't that bad against the Nh'Minols as they do some decent damage. In fact, caught an unlucky hidden alien in the blast by accident.

 

 

And not only that, but caught it in a weak spot. The icing on the cake was that I got the achievement too.

 

So my focus right now is just training up my recruits, remanufacturing some soldier shielding, ammo, incendiary grenades, and maybe some MedKits. I have handpicked my "Commander" (Colonel in this game) and he is well along in the XP department so I'm hoping to train him up to that soon. Once all of that is done, then I can continue manufacturing new interceptors and selling off the old. I'd like to have a couple extra interceptors stashed away so that when I research the floating bases and build one, I can station a couple ships there right away. The saga continues.

 

- Zombie