KickStarter Phoenix Point - the new game from X-COM creator Julian Gollop

[cvv]

So it was 20+ jewro on Epic and now they're offering a 10 jewro coupon, so I got the One Year Edition for a little over 10 jewro, which is about the right price point for this game in my book.

 

[ArchAngel]

So if anyone thinks combat movement and animations are too slow, this works: https://cheatengine.org/downloads.php
Just set the speedhack at 2x or faster.

 

[razvedchiki]

this is for combat only right?

 

[ArchAngel]

this is for combat only right?

no, time and flight of aircraft is also faster on geoscape.
It is not a mod, it just tricks the game to think the whole system is faster so game is faster. I probably explained it wrong, there are explanations on the net about how speedhack works.
The most negative thing I noticed is that idle animations are all speed up and it looks kind of funny.

 

[Parabalus]

Any way to move multiple units at the same time like in nu-XCOM2, by tabbing between them quickly? Seems like any movement command locks you out, even if nothing happens.

 

[Jaedar]

Is the flamethrower completely broken?

Sure looks like it. 3000 damage in one shot, and enough dots to deal 500/turn. Meanwhile, a rifle burst where everything hits deal like 200 damage.

 

[ArchAngel]

Is the flamethrower completely broken?

Sure looks like it. 3000 damage in one shot, and enough dots to deal 500/turn. Meanwhile, a rifle burst where everything hits deal like 200 damage.

it is a bug.

 

[ArchAngel]

Any way to move multiple units at the same time like in nu-XCOM2, by tabbing between them quickly? Seems like any movement command locks you out, even if nothing happens.

Install Cheat Engine and use its Speedhack feature, it works well with PP.

 

[7h30n]

Any way to move multiple units at the same time like in nu-XCOM2, by tabbing between them quickly? Seems like any movement command locks you out, even if nothing happens.

Instead Cheat Engine and use its Speedhack feature, it works well with PP.

Yep, I've tried it and even just a 25% speed up makes the game much more pleasent to play.

 

[Jaedar]

Is the flamethrower completely broken?

Sure looks like it. 3000 damage in one shot, and enough dots to deal 500/turn. Meanwhile, a rifle burst where everything hits deal like 200 damage.

it is a bug.

Seems like a pretty serious bug to have in a game that released a year ago.

 

[razvedchiki]

well one heavy with a flamethrower can defend a base alone.
also chirons with fire worms can wipe your team so its balanced!

 

[ArchAngel]

well one heavy with a flamethrower can defend a base alone.
also chirons with fire worms can wipe your team so its balanced!

It is only a bug with a flamethrower.

 

[ArchAngel]

Is the flamethrower completely broken?

Sure looks like it. 3000 damage in one shot, and enough dots to deal 500/turn. Meanwhile, a rifle burst where everything hits deal like 200 damage.

it is a bug.

Seems like a pretty serious bug to have in a game that released a year ago.

This bug was added in the meantime as they were fixing flamethrower bugs. At release flamethrower was useless and could not hit anything.

 

[desocupado]

Is the flamethrower completely broken?

Sure looks like it. 3000 damage in one shot, and enough dots to deal 500/turn. Meanwhile, a rifle burst where everything hits deal like 200 damage.

it is a bug.

Seems like a pretty serious bug to have in a game that released a year ago.

This bug was added in the meantime as they were fixing flamethrower bugs. At release flamethrower was useless and could not hit anything.

I thought the meaning of "fixing" was something along the lines of "have it resolved, working again". It seems I was wrong all this time.

 

[ArchAngel]

Is the flamethrower completely broken?

Sure looks like it. 3000 damage in one shot, and enough dots to deal 500/turn. Meanwhile, a rifle burst where everything hits deal like 200 damage.

it is a bug.

Seems like a pretty serious bug to have in a game that released a year ago.

This bug was added in the meantime as they were fixing flamethrower bugs. At release flamethrower was useless and could not hit anything.

I thought the meaning of "fixing" was something along the lines of "have it resolved, working again". It seems I was wrong all this time.

They had to rework how it works and with fixing one problem they brought another one.

 

[Agame]

People say this new interview with Gollop is good: https://explorminate.co/interview-with-julian-gollop/
Apparently he confirms Behemoths with next DLC.

when is next DLC? May halt my play-through, really want to play with behemoths. Someone could make "The Mist" Mod, although I guess that's what the game is sort of..

Certainly not before end of January, more realistic sometime in February.

I guess I will wait for DLC, this is the last one right? May as well play the game as intended with full 'vision' implemented.

But I still struggle to get past the Nu-Nu-Xcom aesthetic/design. What a disgrace they did not go with all the early design stuff and sold out to chase Firaxis audience.

Could just wait for Xenonauts 2, the actual incline...

 

[Lyre Mors]

But I still struggle to get past the Nu-Nu-Xcom aesthetic/design. What a disgrace

Tone and atmosphere is much better, and the enemy design is pretty damn good overall.

Got the game last night and am very impressed with what I've seen. I don't overly dislike nu-XCOM, but can already tell that Phoenix Point is the better and much more mature take on the formula. Excited to play more.

 

[Agame]

But I still struggle to get past the Nu-Nu-Xcom aesthetic/design. What a disgrace

Tone and atmosphere is much better, and the enemy design is pretty damn good overall.

Got the game last night and am very impressed with what I've seen. I don't overly dislike nu-XCOM, but can already tell that Phoenix Point is the better and much more mature take on the formula. Excited to play more.

I actually like both Nu-Xcom games as a separate entity from original xcom. Was really sad for me to see Gollop give up on his own vision though.

 

[Matalarata]

I decided to pick this up, since in the end I want more games like this to be made, although the bitter taste left by the kickstarter remains. I only went through the prologue and a couple exploration mission, still haven't hired any additional soldier, completed any meaningful research or produced anything of value but I like where this is going.

The first mission I did had me clear out some poison worms (scripted, I think?), since my guys and gals did that with no sweat whatsoever, I decided to detour mid-flight to tackle another one. I like the stamina system they implemented, as it acts as a soft caps on mission duration/frequency, very easy to read but at the same time meaningful.
I'm also positively impressed by the free aim, I like how they give you no % to hit but you can reliably eyeball it just by looking, 100% accuracy at point-blank is an additional nice touch gracing this system, I must say I like it a lot. I suppose there are some circumstances in which it could bullshit you stealing legit hits (I've read ppl had qualms with shot missing due to animatios or unreliable terrain layout) but I can only see it becoming more fun and engaging as bigger monsters are introduced and locational damage becomes more important.

A couple of questions for the more experienced bros itt, my guys got a couple level ups while doing all that, after cautiously pondering, I decided to ignore most low-level skills (except for war cry on my heavy, that looked insta-useful) and went for speed instead. Is there a reason not to max speed on everyone? Maybe I don't fully understand the system but in tactical games such as this increases in movement are extremely good, even for more static units like snipers imho. Since here they also ditched nuxcom's pure 2 action system and went for something much more similar to TUs-but-not-truly, I can only see movement increases becoming more relevant as the game goes, pls correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I can't claim to have had many issues with free aim. It's worked quite well for me. Waiting for the game to be released on Steam before playing it was definitely the right call.

Did my first Lair mission over the weekend. Those screaming pillars are really annoying and make it a slog. My current roster is Heavy/Sniper, Sniper/Infiltrator, Assault/Priest, Assault/Infiltrator, Assault/Berserker and Berserker/Heavy. My Sniper/Inf is a murder machine and I suspect that they'll work better in pairs for guaranteed long-range part breaks, especially against those annoying monsters who lob worms at you from the other side of the map, and Sirens. Kinda sucks that replacing a unit in my squad will set them back by quite a lot of points since you get 8 per mission, but there's nothing I can do about that. At least I had one Infiltrator sit in my main base collecting XP from the training facility so they'll have the perks unlocked, if not the points.
Berserker/Heavy ended up being kinda meh. They hit like a truck once they get close, but I rarely got that chance. The lack of melee overwatch is a big deal as well. My Assault/Berserker is a better "melee" character with a Shotty.

 

[7h30n]

I decided to pick this up, since in the end I want more games like this to be made, although the bitter taste left by the kickstarter remains. I only went through the prologue and a couple exploration mission, still haven't hired any additional soldier, completed any meaningful research or produced anything of value but I like where this is going.

The first mission I did had me clear out some poison worms (scripted, I think?), since my guys and gals did that with no sweat whatsoever, I decided to detour mid-flight to tackle another one. I like the stamina system they implemented, as it acts as a soft caps on mission duration/frequency, very easy to read but at the same time meaningful.

Ehhh, I prefer the Jagged Alliance energy, coupled with various modes (running, crawling...) of travel during combat. Here, stamina is just oh so very simple, as you said, it is just a cap after all.

I'm also positively impressed by the free aim, I like how they give you no % to hit but you can reliably eyeball it just by looking, 100% accuracy at point-blank is an additional nice touch gracing this system, I must say I like it a lot. I suppose there are some circumstances in which it could bullshit you stealing legit hits (I've read ppl had qualms with shot missing due to animatios or unreliable terrain layout) but I can only see it becoming more fun and engaging as bigger monsters are introduced and locational damage becomes more important.

Yep, it's really good, but the most bullshit things happen when your guy is behind full cover, and stepping out of the cover to shoot messes up the trajectory of your free aimed shot. It's very easy to completely miss point blank targets that way, or even hit your own units even though you avoided them completely with free aim.

A couple of questions for the more experienced bros itt, my guys got a couple level ups while doing all that, after cautiously pondering, I decided to ignore most low-level skills (except for war cry on my heavy, that looked insta-useful) and went for speed instead. Is there a reason not to max speed on everyone? Maybe I don't fully understand the system but in tactical games such as this increases in movement are extremely good, even for more static units like snipers imho. Since here they also ditched nuxcom's pure 2 action system and went for something much more similar to TUs-but-not-truly, I can only see movement increases becoming more relevant as the game goes, pls correct me if I am wrong.

Unfortunately, the levels are quite small and that diminishes speed's usefulness. On the other hand, you should not ignore improving will power of your soldiers, because

Spoiler

there's a certain point in the game you will be driven mad (literally and metaphorically)

if you didn't invest in will power

 

[Hobo Elf]

Disagree on speed not being important. The smaller scale maps help make speed that much more important as it just guarantees you greater control over the entire combat zone. Being able to always get into tactical position while having enough points to shoot, and being able to run across to the other side of most maps within a single turn is a big deal. You'll absolutely want more speed for Lairs as well since you're running through a gauntlet with more enemies spawning fast while trying to find a spawner enemy; and the Lair is a bit larger than the typical maps tend to be. The faster you can get it over with the better. I have all my troops at capped speed and things became that much easier once I did so. Will, however, is mandatory as well. Obviously you want to abuse the skills as much as possible. Strength has been the least useful one for me so far. Having everyone at 20-22 seems to be quite enough. With enough speed and will you'll always be in a position to deal with the enemy before they get the chance to shoot at you.

 

[7h30n]

You'll absolutely want more speed for Lairs as well since you're running through a gauntlet with more enemies spawning fast while trying to find a spawner enemy; and the Lair is a bit larger than the typical maps tend to be. The faster you can get it over with the better.

I usually just jetpack couple of guys over there and let 'em deal with the Spawnery.

So, yeah, at least all of the stats appear to be useful in someway in this game offering different playstyles.

 

[Matalarata]

Yes, movement in tactical games is both a +defense and a +offense stat, as it allows you to meaningfully position to increase damage and keep your guys safe. It has a ton of emergent value as you progress on a mission, especially when playing a game blind. I can see experienced players building more static, better optimized soldiers but if you are learning the game as you go I find it invaluable.


I'm not particularly impressed by vehicles, on paper. Are they gud?

 

[ArchAngel]

People say this new interview with Gollop is good: https://explorminate.co/interview-with-julian-gollop/
Apparently he confirms Behemoths with next DLC.

when is next DLC? May halt my play-through, really want to play with behemoths. Someone could make "The Mist" Mod, although I guess that's what the game is sort of..

Certainly not before end of January, more realistic sometime in February.

I guess I will wait for DLC, this is the last one right? May as well play the game as intended with full 'vision' implemented.

But I still struggle to get past the Nu-Nu-Xcom aesthetic/design. What a disgrace they did not go with all the early design stuff and sold out to chase Firaxis audience.

Could just wait for Xenonauts 2, the actual incline...

Next DLC is not last DLC. There are two more incoming but we don't know what they will be about yet.