#XENONAUTS BASE LAYOUTS MANUAL#

However they are very very fragile, especially in the early part of the game. While Firaxis' XCOM focused on small squads of up to six, here you can take 10 soldiers into battle (less if you plan on taking ground vehicles with you). If you simply charge around trying to find your foes, you're going to end up with a big pile of dead soldiers. The time units system of the original is retained meaning you have limited movement and opportunities to shoot within a single turn and need to be very careful about how far you move. X-COM was ever a tense game, where the death of a unit was only ever a turn away and that's true here too. The ground combat is where Xenonauts really comes into its own and where its faithfulness to the source material pays off. It's nice to have the option to fight these battles, but obviously it's not as central to the game as the ground based combat and I suspect most people will simply choose to skip these battles. If you find this an unnecessary distraction, you can simply auto-resolve. This time around you manoeuvre individual craft and tell them when to fire their missiles, with range indicators and aircraft's differing speeds coming into play.

#XENONAUTS BASE LAYOUTS MANUAL#

The original amounted to clicking on different icons (which in an era before tool-tips required a manual on your lap or a good memory to decipher) as your aircraft attempt to take down the UFO's foolish enough to invade your airspace. Other updated features include a much expanded version of the Interceptor mini-game. The global map remains your base of operations as you track and intercept UFO's It's a relief and shows that the team behind Xenonauts were not just blindly recreating X-COM or reverently duplicating the flaws. This is automated now and you simply set a soldier to one of your saved roles and they're re-equipped between missions, while basic ammo is essentially infinite. For instance in classic X-COM you were required to equip each of your soldiers manually, ensuring you have enough ammo for their weapons at all times - even going as far as ordering bullets on the strategic map. Perhaps the best thing about Xenonauts is the work it does in cleaning up the awkward and unnecessary complexities of the original.

Eventually you'll be able to kit your soldiers out with advanced armours, plasma guns as well as build more efficient interceptors and even ground vehicles that can be sent into the turn-based tactical game. In terms of the research tree it's a huge branching thing (over 100 techs in all) and until you've explored all the options, there's an element of guess-work involved as to exactly what benefits you'll get. This doesn't fundamentally change the game a huge amount, as you'll still be researching alien technology and upgrading your own arsenal accordingly, but it does allow for some nice period-style art. In terms of what has changed from X-COM - UFO Defense (the game on which Xenonauts is modelled) we have a new setting in the form of the cold war, which pares down any sort of future soldier aesthetic, replacing it with nostalgic artwork and including weapons of the era. Multiple bases can be constructed and potentially be invaded, retaining the layout you see when building new areas Xenonauts takes the other approach, retaining the complexity, depth and isometric perspective of X-COM while overhauling the aged interface and pixel sprites with sleeker versions. Firaxis' XCOM was a flashy re-imagining, with cinematic cameras, a simple but elegant cover system and a stream-lined strategic meta-game. It has only made its way to release finally thanks to a Kickstarter campaign that backed it to the tune of $150,000 - back in the days when we weren't all completely sick of Kickstarter campaigns. A remake of X-COM that emerged before remakes of X-COM were cool.

That's pretty much what happened with Xenonauts. Your response may resemble 'Gosh darnit!' though doubtless ridden with expletives, written in all caps, and followed by half a dozen exclamation marks. Then imagine that half-way through your tortuous development cycle the game serving as your inspiration is revived to critical acclaim and commercial success. Buoyed by the support of a fervent if niche community you plough your time and resources into making something that can match the experience you recall from all those years ago, allowing a new generation to experience that same thrill you once did. That project is to revive and remake a classic game from 15 years ago, one that remains beloved by gamers, yet ignored by the major studios and in danger of fading into obscurity. Imagine if you will that you're an indie developer who has decided to quit your previous career to embark on a passion project.

Xenonauts base layouts