Aliens: Dark Descent - real-time squad-based tactical action

[Tyranicon]

Is it beneficial to kill enemies or should you avoid them whenever possible? If the game simply refills all killed enemies it would seem that stealth is always better, but if the games spawns enemies at a constant rate, engaging them could be worth it. Does anyone know which one is the case?

I played at launch and they respawn forever in certain points so unless they changed it, don't try to clear maps.

I'm assuming it was a balancing issue because it was reasonably easy to just turtle up somewhere and kill a ton of aliens.

IIRC killing aliens gets you upgrade materials, so you'll probably want to kill them anyways.

 

[BrotherFrank]

Avoid imo, its fun to kill everything you see but the optimal way to play is to be stealthy so as to keep stress down and do objectives quickly and efficiently, ideally using sniper to kill off aliens when you need to.

That said most optimal doesnt mean more fun.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

So you do have all the time in the world as long as your team doesn't get discovered?

 

[Zewp]

Pretty much, yeah. It's a stealth game first, action game second. Especially on the higher difficulties you want to remain undiscovered for as long as possible. The more often you get discovered, the sooner you have to extract. Some missions also have forced fight sections and you don't want to encounter one of those when your squad is already stressed.

Later on your recons can get a long range silent sniper skill that makes stealth trivial (mostly). You also have unlimited deployable motion trackers (just limited by command point regen) and you should put down as many as possible as you work your way through the map. They're incredibly useful for clearing areas so that you can stealth through them or finish objectives without the risk of aliens stumbling across your squad.

 

[Oropay]

Is it beneficial to kill enemies or should you avoid them whenever possible? If the game simply refills all killed enemies it would seem that stealth is always better, but if the games spawns enemies at a constant rate, engaging them could be worth it. Does anyone know which one is the case?

Really depends. Your soldiers get a lot of XP for killing the big boys, so it's worth it to eventually raise the threat level on a mission, especially if you can use the APC as a murder machine. Mostly you want to do that right before you extract, as lower threat levels mean fewer and IIRC less aggressive enemies. Your stress levels basically dictate you long your squad can stay on the mission, so remaining undetected most of the time is necessary on harder difficulties. I would use mostly stealth (i.e., avoiding combat) or carefully placed turrets until you get the silenced sniper on Recon. At that point, you're still technically stealth but your squad can be a lot more proactive about removing enemies. Protip: fairly regularly, the game will spawn enemies so fast that you pretty much have no choice but to go loud and aggressively clear enemies until you complete your objectives or can shut down the spawn points with turrets. Trying to stealth those sections is an exercise in frustration

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Is it beneficial to kill enemies or should you avoid them whenever possible? If the game simply refills all killed enemies it would seem that stealth is always better, but if the games spawns enemies at a constant rate, engaging them could be worth it. Does anyone know which one is the case?

Really depends. Your soldiers get a lot of XP for killing the big boys, so it's worth it to eventually raise the threat level on a mission, especially if you can use the APC as a murder machine. Mostly you want to do that right before you extract, as lower threat levels mean fewer and IIRC less aggressive enemies. Your stress levels basically dictate you long your squad can stay on the mission, so remaining undetected most of the time is necessary on harder difficulties. I would use mostly stealth (i.e., avoiding combat) or carefully placed turrets until you get the silenced sniper on Recon. At that point, you're still technically stealth but your squad can be a lot more proactive about removing enemies. Protip: fairly regularly, the game will spawn enemies so fast that you pretty much have no choice but to go loud and aggressively clear enemies until you complete your objectives or can shut down the spawn points with turrets. Trying to stealth those sections is an exercise in frustration

I was wondering about xp. My first impression was that only full-filling objectives gave xp. It seems I was wrong about that. The aggression progress bar is also a bit hard to read. Does an event happen when the symbol reaches the middle of the bar or when it reaches the left boundary?

 

[kites]

This game is included in the PS+ December essentials btw

 

[barker_s]

9 out of 10 times avoiding combat is the way to go. I don't think that killed enemies respawn immediately so you might buy yourself a brief moment of respite, but I'm not sure it's worth the resulting stress buildup. Generally, it's better to have some motion trackers in different areas of the map and overload them to lure the bugs from the area you want to explore.

If you really want to cull the herd, then snipers and mines should be your first choice. Leaving some sentry guns in high-traffic areas might also be a good idea, depending on the situation.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

The game is most fun when you play it organically as a hybrid game. Use stealth as long as possible to conserve ressources, health and stress. Inevitably, you will fuck up at some point and shit hits the fan. This is when you blast your way free guns blazing until the situation calms down again. Rinse and repeat.

 

[Fedora Master]

*cough* Boss fights *cough*
Can't stealth those and you better have enough stress and health when they happen

 

[Zanzoken]

Was very interested in this because I've been wanting to play an RTwP squad-based tactics game besides UFO series.

Then I read it's essentially a blobber? WTF? Why can't someone just make a RTwP X-Com clone?

 

[Oropay]

Then I read it's essentially a blobber?

Try not believing everything you read
Or maybe the problem was with the interpretation of what you read

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Was very interested in this because I've been wanting to play an RTwP squad-based tactics game besides UFO series.

Then I read it's essentially a blobber? WTF? Why can't someone just make a RTwP X-Com clone?

EH wtf. Blobber? No

 

[Zanzoken]

The smart squad system isn't very smart. Plenty of times I ended up in a sticky situation because I couldn't position my squad manually.

The blob-type squad mechanics is figured into the difficulty though. Game would be much easier with RTS-type controls.

Yeah, the game would become piss easy if you could micromanage the Recon, it is built around the blob mechanic.

The game is rather unique mechanically with the stress system and the hybrid stealth/action approach. People shouldn‘t hold the squad controls to the same standards as "normal" squad based tactics games, the way it works now is part of the package. No point in changing it.

These are the posts I read talking about how it's essentially a blobber.

Can't position your units individually = blobber. Simple as. It doesn't have to be a first-person game.

Unless you guys are saying they are wrong?

 

[Tyranicon]

These are the posts I read talking about how it's essentially a blobber.

Can't position your units individually = blobber. Simple as. It doesn't have to be a first-person game.

Unless you guys are saying they are wrong?

People are probably thinking of the party-based RPG version of a blobber, what with this being RPGcodex, but yes, the game operates as you being some rather annoying woman on the comms talking to a blob-squad, directing their blob-self through levels.

It works better than it sounds, but sometimes it's frustrating.

 

[Fedora Master]

It works surprisingly well in fact.

 

[Harthwain]

These are the posts I read talking about how it's essentially a blobber.

Can't position your units individually = blobber. Simple as. It doesn't have to be a first-person game.

Blob mechanic =/= blobber. Units simply move as a squad. Think Company of Heroes (or any other RTS equivalent). That said you do have some - limited - degree of control over individuals (versus no control in Company of Heroes).

 

[Blutwurstritter]

The control scheme works well. And it adds to the feeling of commanding a real squad and not a bunch of lemmings, which you can order to do whatever you want.

These are the posts I read talking about how it's essentially a blobber.

Can't position your units individually = blobber. Simple as. It doesn't have to be a first-person game.

Unless you guys are saying they are wrong?

People are probably thinking of the party-based RPG version of a blobber, what with this being RPGcodex, but yes, the game operates as you being some rather annoying woman on the comms talking to a blob-squad, directing their blob-self through levels.

It works better than it sounds, but sometimes it's frustrating.

I think Sgt. Harper gives the commands on tactical missions, not the administrator girl. He comes along in the APC for that reason.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Why can't someone just make a RTwP X-Com clone?

Monkey's paw curls.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Can you snipe Praetorians? I tried it once and it didn't work, but I am not sure if it was because it was one from a cut-scene, introduced when you first encounter it.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

The control scheme works well. And it adds to the feeling of commanding a real squad and not a bunch of lemmings, which you can order to do whatever you want.

These are the posts I read talking about how it's essentially a blobber.

Can't position your units individually = blobber. Simple as. It doesn't have to be a first-person game.

Unless you guys are saying they are wrong?

People are probably thinking of the party-based RPG version of a blobber, what with this being RPGcodex, but yes, the game operates as you being some rather annoying woman on the comms talking to a blob-squad, directing their blob-self through levels.

It works better than it sounds, but sometimes it's frustrating.

I think Sgt. Harper gives the commands on tactical missions, not the administrator girl. He comes along in the APC for that reason.

Yes, it’s harper in the APC, technically you are playing as him giving commands to the squad, like Gorman in Aliens.

 

[Zanzoken]

Why can't someone just make a RTwP X-Com clone?

Monkey's paw curls.

I haven't played this one but I played the sequel UFO Aftershock quite a bit and imo the combat system is decent. The game isn't great overall and the combat has issues too, but they are due to other factors besides RTwP.

Anyway I won't derail this thread any further. Just always struck me as odd that there haven't been more attempts made at RTwP squad-based tactics given RTwP is a common system for party-based fantasy RPGs.

 

[ciox]

While you can play Dark Descent as RTWP, it defaults to a realtime with slowdown mode, and honestly it seems to work a lot better that way than with pause. Slightly more difficult. Slightly more quick to resolve things, one way or another. Probably one of the most interesting things about the game, and made me wonder if the idea has legs beyond it.

 

[Oropay]

Can you snipe Praetorians?

No

While you can play Dark Descent as RTWP, it defaults to a realtime with slowdown mode, and honestly it seems to work a lot better that way than with pause

Slowdown mode is better after you get used to the systems.

 

[BrotherFrank]

The hands off control scheme is the biggest reason i like this game tbh.

Its not for everyone but i have always wanted to larp as a liutenant gorman style dude giving commands from the safety of the apc whilst watching my hapless squad having to try and figure out my orders.
The only other game i’ve played that had sort of gameplay style was Deadnauts, otherwise it’s slim pickings.

It’s also one of the reasons why even though i said stealth is the most meta way to play, i went loud constantly and never avoided aliens because i liked to hear my marines gradually panic and lose their shit, leads to very tense escapes and the choice of ost couldnt be better: