Turn-Based Tactics Phantom Doctrine - "tactical Cold War conspiracy thriller" by Hard West devs

[veevoir]

I barely had fight except for scripted missions, stealth > combat especially considering enemy has advantage. So interrupting ops is wasting a chance for xp and loot.

As for other actions - it is good to leave one cell with not bad effect alive. There is a max cells on map limit and you can spam both with "get intel" action as well as tail agents from cell to see where they go.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Do you guys really use two agents in disguise and all? One guy even without actor is seemingly enough provided he has high health.

 

[Jinn]

The degree at which your danger meter increases does seem a little too severe at times. There are ways to mitigate that through upgrades via the workshop, but I can agree it would account for a lot of the "repetitive mission" complaints occurring, simply because people are doing as many missions as they can to make sure their danger doesn't rise. That being said, I appreciate the intensity it lends to the overworld map gameplay. Learning how to efficiently manage your agents is definitely a part of the fun for me. Also, while going into a mission I might feel fatigued, I usually end up having fun anyway with the mix-up of guards, security stations, and loot. It hasn't gotten stale for me in the 35 hours I've played mainly because I feel a sense of investment and progression every time I finish a mission.

Once you know the game, the wise decision seems to be to go for story missions as immediately as you can, which makes sense in the context of the story. A lot of people complain about a lack of urgency in their gameplay for a main quest, but this game encourages the players to keep moving along in a good way. You'll get bogged down with way too many side missions if you keep dilly-dallying trying to grind XP or quiet your danger meter so you can do so. I respect this design decision, though a little more varied mission type would greatly improve it.

Do you guys really use two agents in disguise and all? One guy even without actor is seemingly enough provided he has high health.

Disguise needs to be nerfed, which has been acknowledged by Kacper Szymczak in this thread. I try to use it minimally in its current state. A great nerf for it would be a time limit in which an agent can stand next to a guard, or a radiance limit of some sort. That would keep the situation rewarding, while making it non-OP. Same thing with entering via a window. If glass breaks, anyone in a 4-5 tile radius should be alerted.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

If glass breaks, anyone in a 4-5 tile radius should be alerted.

Actually having different alarm states would be nice. Compared to the quiet-agent alerted-full combat states we have now.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[veevoir]

I always take enemy agents first. Unless they are entrenched, then I lure them away with quiet alert.

As for actions against cell - if it is a weak one, like -income.. no harmnig leaving it to block a slot. Better to have a known cell you can assault at any moment than suddenly get a +danger cell that you need to find.

Checking where agents go reveals their missions on map. So you can always react andd know which signals are actually needing an agent. And you can kidnap them there, but control phase in. Rinse, repeat, tehn assault cell where all enemy agents flip to your side, recruitment run :p

Or simply threat it as a spawn point for enemy agents where you always know where they go so you can pokemon them.

 

[Jinn]

And 1.0.4 patch is live!

https://steamcommunity.com/games/559100/announcements/detail/1689300456345588849

Phantom Doctrine Patch 1.0.4 + Dev Stream

AUGUST 23 - CFG_HITCH

Greetings, Agents!
A lot has happened since the launch of Phantom Doctrine last week, but one important thing can, and definitely should be said - we wouldn't have made it without your endless support, trust and positivity! For that, the entire CreativeForge Teamwants to wholeheartedly thank you! You're incredible!

Patch 1.0.4 deployed!
We believe that with Patch 1.0.4, the significant majority of LoS/LoF, animation and combat system issues should now be solved. If necessary, we will keep further tweaking it to provide you with the best possible experience.

Major improvements:

• weapon ranges and viewing distances rebalanced
  
• new visualizations for characters leaning out of full cover (increasing visibility for the full cover sidesteps)
  
• improved AI behaviors
  
• revealing an enemy attacker in Fog of War for the duration of the attack
  
• characters no longer perform unnecessary sidesteps

Bug fixes:

• fixed a continuity issue with the Omikron Detention mission under specific circumstances
  
• fixed a continuity issue with the Locate Lamster mission under specific circumstances
  
• fixed an issue with icons disappearing from the world map in specific conditions
  
• solved an issue where occasionally the campaign could be continued after failing a story mission
  
• fixed an occasional issue caused by an operative shooting from within a gas cloud
  
• numerous fixes to minor issues with collisions/visibility caused by objects on maps

Developer Livestream
Since from the very beginning our goal has been to stay as transparent with you as possible, we decided to organise a Dev Stream explaining and showcasing all the changes that we've made to the combat system in patches 1.0.3 and 1.0.4

Please, feel invited to tune in for a chat either on our Steam Page or Good Shepherd Entertainment Twitch Channel[www.twitch.tv]. The stream will take place today at 19:00 CEST.

Again, we truly appreciate your feedback, and we promise to keep supporting Phantom Doctrine, as we have so far.

CreativeForge Dev Team

Was very glad to also see that they have finally achieved a "Mostly Positive" rating on their steam page as well. Well deserved!

 

[Stavrophore]

1.0.4 made the game even easier with combat changes. And ai behaviour didnt improve one bit, they still move mindlessly around, between same places, and then overwatch. AI and reinforcements dont advance on player positions aggressively. Its the same or even worse than before 1.0.4. Why nerf the vision ranges? It was a simple rule that when you had a vision, you could see as far as the map end, given no obstacles. Right now you can't. This greatly diminishes the value of LMGs,ARs, Sniper rifles and other long range weapons.

 

[ArchAngel]

1.0.4 made the game even easier with combat changes. And ai behaviour didnt improve one bit, they still move mindlessly around, between same places, and then overwatch. AI and reinforcements dont advance on player positions aggressively. Its the same or even worse than before 1.0.4. Why nerf the vision ranges? It was a simple rule that when you had a vision, you could see as far as the map end, given no obstacles. Right now you can't. This greatly diminishes the value of LMGs,ARs, Sniper rifles and other long range weapons.

You could not do this in Xcom or JA2. They can just implement squad sight like in Xcom and that can work.
But like you said, AI probably should start patrolling around the map if none of their units see the enemy.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Stavrophore]

1.0.4 made the game even easier with combat changes. And ai behaviour didnt improve one bit, they still move mindlessly around, between same places, and then overwatch. AI and reinforcements dont advance on player positions aggressively. Its the same or even worse than before 1.0.4. Why nerf the vision ranges? It was a simple rule that when you had a vision, you could see as far as the map end, given no obstacles. Right now you can't. This greatly diminishes the value of LMGs,ARs, Sniper rifles and other long range weapons.

You could not do this in Xcom or JA2. They can just implement squad sight like in Xcom and that can work.
But like you said, AI probably should start patrolling around the map if none of their units see the enemy.

Vanilla XCOM2 enemy AI cheats; They know where you are and the game "upthrottles" them toward your "line of play" if you meet certain conditions. No-cheating LW2 enemy units generally don't have squad sight, but their AI is given info on the last known position of your squad, and under red alert conditions they will converge on that location. If they arrive there and still don't see you, they run around trying to find you.

That should be in PD.

 

[Brinko]

Are all the campaigns basically the same? Got through the CIA campaign where I felt nothing really was explained motive wise, and am now running through the mossad campaign. Outside of the first chapter I seem to be doing the same shit and this is on the extended but after 6 hours I'm already on chapter 3. Did I fuck something up or is this intentional?

 

[Stavrophore]

Are all the campaigns basically the same? Got through the CIA campaign where I felt nothing really was explained motive wise, and am now running through the mossad campaign. Outside of the first chapter I seem to be doing the same shit and this is on the extended but after 6 hours I'm already on chapter 3. Did I fuck something up or is this intentional?

I heard mossad is just copy paste of CIA pretty much, try KGB their campaign is different.

 

[Lhynn]

I heard mossad is just copy paste of CIA pretty much, try KGB their campaign is different.

From what i heard, CIA and KGB start different but become the same. Mossad has many new missions and events that help you fully understand the story.

 

[veevoir]

It may be that or just people play Mossad campaign as the extended version, as both unlock after finishing for the 1st time.

 

[Lhynn]

A dude that 100% the game on steam told people that.

 

[Brinko]

Is there a better way than utter luck getting that isn't more potential candidates for my group or a way to heavily influence it? I'm at chapter 6 in my mossad game but I had this problem in my CIA game where I am now holding off on doing the mission in chicago so I can hopefully get more training options, more equipment, or anything other than more goddamn people. Like I see the gyrojet pistol, AAR, and some other shit I've never used because I either never got it or I was rushed through the game at chapter 7 so I never get to experiment and see if it is even worth my time.

Also having now dumped about 50 hours I can say that combat is still in this weird spot where most of the abilities you get from training are fucking worthless, the most effective one I found was the one that lets me restore all my action and fire points for killing a stunned enemy. So now I just get an M82 with tranq darts and rush a spaz with a shotgun and expert marksman and laugh. With 4AP and 3 FP on both I can paint hallways red. But in the early game I still feel as if I am scraping barbed wire across my taint.

 

[Jinn]

And we got another patch. Looks like some good changes to balance.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/559100/announcements/detail/1691553523716905564

Phantom Doctrine Patch 1.0.5 + Dev Stream
AUGUST 29 - CFG_HITCH

Greetings, Agents!
We're reporting back to let you know that Patch 1.0.5 will be deployed by the end of the day (CEST). It's been another busy week for us, but we're extremely happy with all the feedback you've been sharing and your ongoing support.

Patch 1.0.5 details
This patch brings important progression-related fixes, changes to the Actor Perk, AI, XP gains, and many more.

Improvements:

• the Actor perk decreases the range of recognition while in disguise (before: could never be revealed with said perk)
  
• the Agent Overview window (before: Background) in the Crew Quarters facility now displays all abilities, including passive ones
  
• improved generation of Hideout Candidate locations (prevents a selection of only the most expensive options, possibly leading to a bakruptcy loop, and other tweaks)
  
• secret documents are only visible in the deployment phase after conducting Reconnaissance of the location
  
• improvements and balancing of AI
  
• experience gains balance
  
• miscellaneous tweaks and improvements to animations

Bugfixes:

• fixes an error which could lead to a progress block during the Undertow-related events (doesn't resolve the issue for save files with blocked progress)
  
• fixes an error leading to icons on the World Map disappearing
  
• fixes wrong damage values (and sometimes blocks) which could occur while shooting from overwatch mode beyond a weapon's range
  
• fixes an issue which could lead to the disappearance of the top status bar in the strategic view after clickling Background in the Hire tab in the Crew Quarters
  
• fixes an error which could under specific circumstances lead to a block when entering an enemy's overwatch area
  
• fixes an error which could lead to a block when attempting to move in the area of effect of Blister Gas
  
• fixes an issue with saving the game when a player ends the turn with a hotkey while aiming
  
• fixes an error in Danger generation for agents captured by Beholder
  
• fixes an error with previous abilities not being removed after changing Training
  
• key bindings for alternative keys are working correctly
  
• dodge cost modifiers now update correctly in the Crew Quarters interface
  
• fixed an issue with launching the game on the main monitor on multi-screen setups
  
• the misplaced M-16 weapon is back in the game
  
• various minor tweaks and fixes

Developer Livestream
It's becoming sort of a tradition now, but once again some of us will be compromising their identities to play Phantom Doctrine live for you, walk you through the latest changes, anwer your questions, and attempt to influence you with some we've been practicing lately in the shadows of our office.

Please, feel invited to tune in for a quick brainwashing session chat either on our Steam Page or Good Shepherd Entertainment Twitch Channel[www.twitch.tv]. The stream will take place today at 19:00 CEST.

If you can't make it, remember we're always there for you on our Official Discord Server[discord.gg].

Again, thank you very much for giving our work a purpose.

I look forward to checking out the changes tonight. Also, come back and talk to us sometime, Kacper Szymczak!

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Lhynn]

Mkultra becomes good when you get the upgrade that eliminates danger from having captured them. To me this should be an upgrade available as soon as you get MKultra.

Actually most updates should be available at the start and probably only gated behind information gathering. Gating shit behind story missions, other than the MK ultra is inane. Also level scaling is retarded in this game, be fine if you found a level 15 enemy agent, be forced to use actual tactics or retreat. Also would be good to be able to hire either very experienced agents or completely inexperienced ones from the start, the inexperienced ones being blank slates and the experienced ones having pre selected shit.
Also statistically speaking CIA agent is better than the other backgrounds
Another idea, leave actor as it was before, but have it be ineffective if your enemies suspect you are there. Which should force some strategical thinking.
Allow the player to go into manual movement instead of leaving the pathfinding for the computer
Talents are useless unless its talent at using comms, only useful talent in the game. Redo the whole thing for them to actually matter.


Finally character creation should be a thing, you have tons of agencies with their bonuses, let us pick and offer a default background in which you are brought into the cabal as an independent. And the base statistics of your character can offer some potential for actual character building so let us pick that.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Lhynn]

its useful as it lowers time. If interrupt ops was making mission faster it would also be nice.

Crafting talent is useless as you never really need a craft in a hurry. For all kinds of operations gaining 20 xp instead of 10 is completely irrelevant.
Comms talent actually cuts down the time it gets to get new info so it is very handy (too bad in my game i only got it with 2 capable agents so i could never actually use it.
The training talents impact is next to non existant too.

Why is that? did you have problems with hp stacking? Or are you talking about combat situation? High awareness enemies need to be suppressed(unless ofc you cant due to talent). THere are also talents that ensure hit on next firing action

i dont have problems with anything in the game. Why im saying giving it more randomness in the enemies you fight would be better, facing monsters many levels above your agents would be fun and it would make me maybe think twice about how i go about an operation. Combat scaling makes sure i always fight enemies in my level range, which is boran.