Artificial Difficulty ruining tactics

[Dr.Kuhn]

The latest Dev diary inspired me, purely out of frustration, to create this account and voice these concerns. As someone that played Ja2, both 1.12 and 1.13, I'd like to think I have a strong grasp of the fundamentals of the both the genre and Jagged alliance as a whole.

 

First, this snip got me particularly upset:

"In Jagged Alliance 3 in made sense to grant the first turn to the player team – mercs usually have the initiative in engagements anyway and it never feels good to lose a merc character before you have chance to act at least once in the battle. However, this granted a bit too much advantage to the player – some combat encounters may become too easy when you are able to focus-fire on critical enemy units before they act or take the most advantageous positions before them.

To mitigate this advantage, enemies receive a short reposition phase when they become alert (unless they are Surprised – but I’ll get to that later). During the reposition phase they are allowed to move a short distance, or very rarely execute a single attack instead of moving. Note that these reposition actions are constrained by a much smaller AP limit that the enemy max AP and in no way equally powerful to an entire combat turn."

 

This is straight up trash and invalidates the idea of tactically and strategically positioning your mercs to get the advantage on the enemies, whether it's though position or timing. I hate this to the core and is the most xcom-y thing about this game. It literally needs to go. I knew something was wrong from the first game play trailer when you could just KNOW where the enemies were without line of sight at all times in a sector and gave me x-com vibes instantly. I was like "nothing about this is jagged alliance. Knowledge and positioning are literally everything in combat and they're just giving out a godlike level of awareness...just because?" The omniscience and beginning-of-battle scramble MUST go. They actually ruin a core and vital part of Jagged alliance's combat system. Do I think it'll ruin the game over all? I sure hope not, having pre-ordered the game already, but it certainly drives a lot of doubt when the dev team just unanimously agreed this was good for the game, OR necessary for the game to sell to it's core audience (pro-tip: absolutely not and feels like some slimy x-com employees snuck into Haemimont and just pushed their agenda's).

 

Secondly, why did this idea even get past the table:

"If you equip night vision goggles, you may gain the upper hand at night, but is it worth it to give up the opportunity to protect your merc with a heavy helmet?" "Nightvision goggles are equipped in the head slot and currently they are an alternative to equipping an armored helmet."

Did a Dark Souls employee also sneak into the studio as well? The mercs all suddenly lost the ability to do something they were able to do in Ja2? The Dev team SERIOUSLY thought having a helmet on and wearing NVG's was....too strong? That's the impression I'm being given and I'm blown away by that being the case. 

 

I can only hope the overall game play is good, even with some of the strange, glaring design flaws being forced into the game. The fact that on other dev diaries and THQ insider clips explicitly stated they had to fight tooth and nail, and got into heated arguments, to get hit chance removed in the studio, DOES IN FACT tell me a bunch of greasy xcom devs got into their studio and tried to push agenda's.

 

 

[GODSPEED]

5 minutes ago, Dr.Kuhn said:

To mitigate this advantage, enemies receive a short reposition phase when they become alert (unless they are Surprised – but I’ll get to that later). During the reposition phase they are allowed to move a short distance, or very rarely execute a single attack instead of moving. Note that these reposition actions are constrained by a much smaller AP limit that the enemy max AP and in no way equally powerful to an entire combat turn."

 

This is straight up trash and invalidates the idea of tactically and strategically positioning your mercs to get the advantage on the enemies, whether it's though position or timing. I hate this to the core and is the most xcom-y thing about this game. It literally needs to go. I knew something was wrong from the first game play trailer when you could just KNOW where the enemies were without line of sight at all times in a sector and gave me x-com vibes instantly. I was like "nothing about this is jagged alliance. Knowledge and positioning are literally everything in combat and they're just giving out a godlike level of awareness...just because?" The omniscience and beginning-of-battle scramble MUST go. They actually ruin a core and vital part of Jagged alliance's combat system. Do I think it'll ruin the game over all? I sure hope not, having pre-ordered the game already, but it certainly drives a lot of doubt when the dev team just unanimously agreed this was good for the game, OR necessary for the game to sell to it's core audience (pro-tip: absolutely not and feels like some slimy x-com employees snuck into Haemimont and just pushed their agenda's).

I've been on this forum since nearly day 1 of its inception.

I voiced many of these concerns very early on. I was met with mostly arguing that x-com was a great game and it was okay to follow it's path.


I personally don't understand the point of making Jagged Alliance 3 and then changing it's core mechanics. Removal of the RPG stats and how they functioned in unique things like Interrupts.


Now...

...we have Overwatch.

Perks.

Weapon perks even.


I don't care how much they wave around the idea that Ian Currie worked with them.. nowadays, it's common to have popular figures show up just to attract customers. I put no faith in such marketing.

[Dr.Kuhn]

21 minutes ago, GODSPEED said:

I've been on this forum since nearly day 1 of its inception.

I voiced many of these concerns very early on. I was met with mostly arguing that x-com was a great game and it was okay to follow it's path.


I personally don't understand the point of making Jagged Alliance 3 and then changing it's core mechanics. Removal of the RPG stats and how they functioned in unique things like Interrupts.


Now...

...we have Overwatch.

Perks.

Weapon perks even.


I don't care how much they wave around the idea that Ian Currie worked with them.. nowadays, it's common to have popular figures show up just to attract customers. I put no faith in such marketing.

See, my thing is, I don't necessarily have an issue with introducing NEW mechanics that could fundamentally be possible, or were likely impossible to implement back in 1999. I totally get trying something new. I don't mind the idea of perks and overwatch. I have to see what weapon perks are....that sounds weird.

However, that being said, when they literally take 10 steps back from an established position from their previous golden title, THAT makes literally no sense and gives the impression the dev team is nowhere near as unified as they'd like us to believe. I'm not one of the diehards I see on the forums that thinks they should literally make jagged alliance 2 with updated graphics; while I'm certain that'd be fun, I DID want something different, but different didn't need to translate to "your mercs forgot how to wear a helmet and nvg. Also, the enemy ALWAYS gets to respond to you ambushing them with superior positioning, which of course you can determine because you have total omniscience of where all the enemies are regardless of line-of-sight".

[GODSPEED]

25 minutes ago, Dr.Kuhn said:

See, my thing is, I don't necessarily have an issue with introducing NEW mechanics that could fundamentally be possible, or were likely impossible to implement back in 1999. I totally get trying something new. I don't mind the idea of perks and overwatch. I have to see what weapon perks are....that sounds weird.

I'm more of a die-hard. I would much rather a new scenario/story than a simple Remaster.

But there is a line that is drawn for myself. Some of the things that were unique to JA2 (interrupts, roleplaying stats and the way they merge seamlessly into all actions taken by mercs), seem to have been replaced or removed in favour of a more modern twist on Turn-Based gameplay.

For myself, Interrupts were a core of JA 2, removing it was just one among many signs that they were heading in their own direction. Same thing Back in Action did. It also had its share of defenders and those who wanted to keep the core intact. No one listened.. and that game is far from feeling like a Jagged Alliance game.

I guess, I was hoping for Jagged Alliance 3; new graphics engine, new scenario, new landscape. Not a re-imagining or reboot. Not a twist on the Jagged Alliance franchise, not new mechanics (JA2 was already unique enough among it's peers, why scrap that uniqueness?).

So far, JA3 looks like a more polished version of a mix between Jagged Alliance Flashback and Jagged Alliance Rage!

Not really the direction I was hoping for. But hey! Who knows, I might be pleasantly surprised. I'm just not holding my breath.


With all that said...
I would rather a remaster of JA2 1.12 than another failed attempt at reviving a series that doesn't even ring a bell for anyone within the new generation that this game seems to be aimed at.

[Dr.Kuhn]

8 minutes ago, GODSPEED said:

But there is a line that is drawn for myself. Some of the things that were unique to JA2 (interrupts, roleplaying stats and the way they merge seamlessly into all actions taken by mercs), seem to have been replaced or removed in favour of a more modern twist on Turn-Based gameplay.

I can SOMEWHAT understand why they might've been against the "interrupt" system, as is wasn't a perfect science to calculate and perhaps they thought it was too random. It'll remain to be seen if "overwatch" is the appropriate answer to that though, as it's like taking full control over "interrupt" and allowing both the player and the enemy to just force what would be "interrupt" situations, with significantly less options available (can't just shoot a shot and run, or throw a mustard grenade and dip, etc.).

[Solaris_Wave]

X-COM (the original series) had/has some great ideas and should be the inspiration for turn-based squad games, just like it was inspired by those games before it.

XCOM (the reboot) had some stupid ideas, simplified gameplay and got rid of excellent features for the sake of 'streamlining' and 'modernising' for 'today's generation of gamers'. It was highly regarded, seen as revolutionary by games journalists and for some reason, gave the impression that every squad game before it was somehow crusty, convoluted and only liked by bearded, pipe smoking, middle-aged men called Humphrey.

 

I played and loved the original (along with the sequel and to a lesser extent, X-COM: Apocalypse, which I would have enjoyed more if it had a totally different art direction and not gone with a mix of Flash Gordon and assorted Pick n' Mix sweets). The reboot I tried to like but quickly found it lacking and decided to quit before long, due to its simplicity.

And yet, it is the reboot that seems to inspire other games more than the original trilogy. That I don't get. I don't know if it is a case of jumping on the bandwagon and trying to get the same profits and glory.

JA3 doesn't seem to be following the reboot as inspiration too closely, thankfully. However, there are design decisions that really don't make sense, such as the shared inventory system and weightless items. The redeployment of enemies sounded really bad (and if people do like the XCOM reboot, they often say they don't like the redeployment of aliens as soon as you spot them). I believe that Haemimont have said that that occurs only when your mercs have been spotted, not if you start combat with the initiative in your favour. I did suggest a randomiser being added so that not every enemy gets to react and some enemies could be caught not paying attention. This randomiser would have greater or lesser effect depending on whether enemies are well trained, are wearing headsets, are in close proximity to one another, are hearing a loud base alarm go off and what the weather is like. Thunderstorms, rain and dust storms would muffle such things.

My suggestions were met with positivity but I think that they will only get added as a mod. Whether the redeployment of enemies is moddable or hard coded, I don't know.

 

 

And no, my real name is not Humphrey. Nor do I smoke or have a beard.

[GODSPEED]

17 minutes ago, Solaris_Wave said:

The redeployment of enemies sounded really bad (and if people do like the XCOM reboot, they often say they don't like the redeployment of aliens as soon as you spot them). I believe that Haemimont have said that that occurs only when your mercs have been spotted, not if you start combat with the initiative in your favour.

Thanks for you comment Humphrey! 🤣

But yeah, this is a glaring issue with the game (JA3) in my opinion.

From the gameplay I've seen so far, it seems to play out just like Xcom, in the sense that enemies get a deployment phase, even if you manage to get your first shot on target. Combat seems to be by very small section. Meaning, I don't think you will combat against enemies that will have reinforcements from further away.

This is a balancing act and difficulty padding so that they don't need to create a "sandbox" world with re-inforcements to different locations like JA2 did.

Not sure if this is what Haemimont wanted, or if this is what was forced on them so that the release is generally acceptable to most people who've played modern turn-based games. It is probably much easier to control things this way, also probably easier to control small scale confrontation on consoles as well.

[Raeven]

11 minutes ago, GODSPEED said:

 🤣
From the gameplay I've seen so far, it seems to play out just like Xcom, in the sense that enemies get a deployment phase, even if you manage to get your first shot on target. Combat seems to be by very small section. Meaning, I don't think you will combat against enemies that will have reinforcements from further away.

This is a balancing act and difficulty padding so that they don't need to create a "sandbox" world with re-inforcements to different locations like JA2 did.

Jagged alliance 2 had no reinforcement mechanic.... Unless you mean enemies from within the same sector coming over to investigate?

nuXCOM was all about popping "pods" of enemies that all saw you at once, in isolation from the other "pods". JA3 does not seem to work this way, for which I'm grateful.

[GODSPEED]

9 minutes ago, Raeven said:

Jagged alliance 2 had no reinforcement mechanic.... Unless you mean enemies from within the same sector coming over to investigate?

nuXCOM was all about popping "pods" of enemies that all saw you at once, in isolation from the other "pods". JA3 does not seem to work this way, for which I'm grateful.

What!?!

That's exactly how the game seems (anyways, to what I've seen) to play out. All the combat sections I've seen in the gameplay videos seem to be small pods of enemies that don't react to one another. I might be mistaking on that, or maybe the way I saw the ones play it played it like that.. but it seemed to me to be by small "pods".


Also, JA2 has Reinforcement mechanics!
Enemies that are close enough to the sound will come and investigate and join in the battle, even if far away. Enemies in adjacent sectors will come to investigate after battle, or even within battle if it goes on long enough.


Some of these more advanced options were disabled for the game to be easier.
1.13 simply "unlocked" those modes and let us enable them. The 1.13 .ini editor is a great example of everything in JA2 that were under the cover in the system, but the devs decided to not complete or disable for ease-of-play.

I suggest you take a look at the reinforcement settings like:
 

Quote

REASSIGN_PENDING_REINFORCEMENTS
After the sector is taken by the player, the game will check to see if there are any pending reinforcements for this sector. If REASSIGN_PENDING_REINFORCEMENTS is set to TRUE then their orders will be cancelled and the group reassigned. This is a feature that *dumbs* down the AI, and was activated (set to TRUE) in original to make the game easier.

 

[Raeven]

2 minutes ago, GODSPEED said:

What!?!

That's exactly how the game seems (anyways, to what I've seen) to play out. All the combat sections I've seen in the gameplay videos seem to be small pods of enemies that don't react to one another. I might be mistaking on that, or maybe the way I saw the ones play it played it like that.. but it seemed to me to be by small "pods".


Also, JA2 has Reinforcement mechanics!
Enemies that are close enough to the sound will come and investigate and join in the battle, even if far away. Enemies in adjacent sectors will come to investigate after battle, or even within battle if it goes on long enough.


Some of these more advanced options were disabled for the game to be easier.
1.13 simply "unlocked" those modes and let us enable them. The 1.13 .ini editor is a great example of everything in JA2 that were under the cover in the system, but the devs decided to not complete or disable for ease-of-play.

I suggest you take a look at the reinforcement settings like:
 

 

I am aware of the 1.13 mod. I have played it and tweaked those same settings.

1.13 is not JA2. 

As I understand it, yes enemies from within the sector will be alerted and come over. Just like JA2 (vanilla).

Although encounter spaces may be smaller, which is unfortunate. Not certain about that.

[Tuckus]

Reinforcement from adjacent sectors is in 1.12. You might not see it with your playstyle, but it’s there

[GODSPEED]

Just now, Raeven said:

I am aware of the 1.13 mod. I have played it and tweaked those same settings.

1.13 is not JA2. 

As I understand it, yes enemies from within the sector will be alerted and come over. Just like JA2 (vanilla).

Although encounter spaces may be smaller, which is unfortunate. Not certain about that.

1.13 is JA2.

1.13 can be used to simply open up new resolutions, or access functions that were disabled by the devs, or to add new functions as well.

Most functions in 1.13 that pre-date 2014 1.13 are all core features of the game. 1.13 simply "unlocked" our ability to enable/disable those functions and easily tweak the numbers.

1.13 isn't some revamp of the game you know. Sure, the more recent 1.13 offerings give options of things like zombies, food, etc.. but those are jsut additive features I also don't care about.


Original JA2 1.00 - 1.12 have reinforcement features. Those are hidden in the system. When you reach a certain % of the game, the "queen" (Ai) sends re-inforcements to locations.

But I know what you mean, you are talking about reinforcements during battles. Well, what I mean by the word reinforcement is in a very organic way. You will battle some enemies and within a few turns a few new enemies that started further away will have been alerted or called for backup.


1.13 even unlocked the ability for the player to call Militia as re-inforcement. That feature was already standard for enemies in sotck 1.00 - 1.12. When in a battle, some enemies would instead look like they are calling on a radio.. that is them calling reinforcements from further away on the map that weren't yet alerted.

[D13]

16 minutes ago, GODSPEED said:

That's exactly how the game seems (anyways, to what I've seen) to play out. All the combat sections I've seen in the gameplay videos seem to be small pods of enemies that don't react to one another. I might be mistaking on that, or maybe the way I saw the ones play it played it like that.. but it seemed to me to be by small "pods".

I also noticed this in the previews videos. In the first village, you're having a firefight against three enemies. Then you get on the other side of the building, where one enemy is casually patrolling the street and two others are chatting about graffiti.

In JA2, engaging the first enemy felt like poking a hornet's nest. You had to make sure to be in a good position. There may have been some static enemies that would not come to investigate, but they were configured as such.

[Raeven]

Ok.

I have played 1.13. I beat 1.13, once.

I'm not going to continue this line of conversation, as we have different points of view that are not compatible.

What I will say, is that to my understanding and what I have seen so far, JA3 is different than XCOM in that enemies do not solely consist of isolated "pods" from one another. They appear to behave much more like JA2, where when something happens, they will come over to investigate / attack, or increase their alertness status and hunker down in some way. They do not come from other sectors during battle, sure, but this was also not the case in JA2 (vanilla).

In my mind, this is a major improvement over the nuXCOM games that makes me very happy. Up there with true ballistics modeling. 

Therefore to critique the game for lacking this design feature is misinformed, to my understanding.

[GODSPEED]

4 hours ago, Dr.Kuhn said:

To mitigate this advantage, enemies receive a short reposition phase when they become alert (unless they are Surprised – but I’ll get to that later). During the reposition phase they are allowed to move a short distance, or very rarely execute a single attack instead of moving. Note that these reposition actions are constrained by a much smaller AP limit that the enemy max AP and in no way equally powerful to an entire combat turn."

This is straight up trash and invalidates the idea of tactically and strategically positioning your mercs to get the advantage on the enemies, whether it's though position or timing. I hate this to the core and is the most xcom-y thing about this game. It literally needs to go. I knew something was wrong from the first game play trailer when you could just KNOW where the enemies were without line of sight at all times in a sector and gave me x-com vibes instantly. I was like "nothing about this is jagged alliance. Knowledge and positioning are literally everything in combat and they're just giving out a godlike level of awareness...just because?" The omniscience and beginning-of-battle scramble MUST go. They actually ruin a core and vital part of Jagged alliance's combat system. Do I think it'll ruin the game over all? I sure hope not, having pre-ordered the game already, but it certainly drives a lot of doubt when the dev team just unanimously agreed this was good for the game, OR necessary for the game to sell to it's core audience (pro-tip: absolutely not and feels like some slimy x-com employees snuck into Haemimont and just pushed their agenda's).

I think we slightly twisted the point of the original post.

But the OP issue is a very valid one in my opinion. Also one of the major things that 'bugged' me while watching the previews of the game.



Maybe this can be some form of comfort for OP?;

This was also the original issue with JA Back in Action. After lots of requests, they later issued an update/patch that removed enemy visibility if your mercs didn't see them.

While this didn't "fix" the full issue and core game, it was very helpful. I also don't think a game like JA should have enemies visible on the map, you should have to walk to them to see them.

[D13]

Being able to see all enemies regardless of LoS would be a major issue for me. A key element of JA2 tactics is having to figure out how to mitigate the possible risks of not knowing where danger might come from, or if an enemy is sneaking up on you, and in what order to explore a sector to allow for retreat in case of unpleasant surprises.

[GODSPEED]

4 hours ago, Dr.Kuhn said:

weapon perks are....that sounds weird.

What I meant by that:

 

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by GODSPEED

[Dr.Kuhn]

5 hours ago, GODSPEED said:

What I meant by that:

 

 

Yeah these do seem a bit odd. It's almost like they're taking the natural state of the guns, plus the normal attachments on it and trying to break it down to a really technical degree. Maybe it's just me, but it's hard to imagine they didn't waste a lot of time on those features and they could've better spent the time else where improving the game.

[Dr.Kuhn]

6 hours ago, Raeven said:

Ok.

I have played 1.13. I beat 1.13, once.

I'm not going to continue this line of conversation, as we have different points of view that are not compatible.

What I will say, is that to my understanding and what I have seen so far, JA3 is different than XCOM in that enemies do not solely consist of isolated "pods" from one another. They appear to behave much more like JA2, where when something happens, they will come over to investigate / attack, or increase their alertness status and hunker down in some way. They do not come from other sectors during battle, sure, but this was also not the case in JA2 (vanilla).

In my mind, this is a major improvement over the nuXCOM games that makes me very happy. Up there with true ballistics modeling. 

Therefore to critique the game for lacking this design feature is misinformed, to my understanding.

There's still the issue of line of sight being entirely irrelevant. It changes the A.I. logic completely and the player's as well I'd hope for obvious reasons. There was a literal cheat code for ja2 1.12 that allowed you to see enemies through the walls. It was a cheat. It was broken because constant awareness shouldn't be possible and gives you an insane tactical advantage because the A.I. has to operate by the rules limiting them to at least pretending they don't know where you are. You could argue that because they get the awareness as well that it just evens out right? Wrong. The overall gameplay is functionally different from a Jagged alliance title then. You're just solving a puzzle for a different game in an entirely different way.

Will it still be fun regardless with that feature? I really don't know and I certainly hope so but constant awareness for you or the enemy is just such a bummer of a concept. It just wasn't necessary to make Jagged alliance fun and they forced it in.

[5Cents]

Maybe the problem with this reinvention of this game, that its idea was created almost 30 years ago.

You couldnt expect, Jagged could be same or been an renewed retail-Version of 1.13.

The development was created in another time, from a team on another continent. The market and the targetgroup changed.

The problem of some fans, i think, are their pent up expectations. Metavira is history, arulco is over..

I wouldnt swap roles to devs. It seems some guys here and there would never been satisfied, most parts that they have seen (mentionable: not played) they only criticise.
Instead of being thankful for dev diaries or Ian Curries involvment, they just behave like some trolls, they are sceptical, pessimictic and overcritical, like they were hired from deidranna. I dont get it. Nobody is forced to like or buy it.

Yes, its not the old Jagged. Yes, i think there are some issues. But Hey! im glad, having survive till now, to play another Jagged-title game.

There are other genres of games, where fans dont behave like children;
didnt like what they get, before it even was given to them;
instead looking forward an game.

Someone watched Twin Peaks? Born in the 1990s. Rebirth 25 years later; same director, almost same actors; similar story; completly different adventure,..but also lot of fun to me.

 

[Dr.Kuhn]

39 minutes ago, 5Cents said:

Maybe the problem with this reinvention of this game, that its idea was created almost 30 years ago.

You couldnt expect, Jagged could be same or been an renewed retail-Version of 1.13.

The development was created in another time, from a team on another continent. The market and the targetgroup changed.

The problem of some fans, i think, are their pent up expectations. Metavira is history, arulco is over..

I wouldnt swap roles to devs. It seems some guys here and there would never been satisfied, most parts that they have seen (mentionable: not played) they only criticise.
Instead of being thankful for dev diaries or Ian Curries involvment, they just behave like some trolls, they are sceptical, pessimictic and overcritical, like they were hired from deidranna. I dont get it. Nobody is forced to like or buy it.

Yes, its not the old Jagged. Yes, i think there are some issues. But Hey! im glad, having survive till now, to play another Jagged-title game.

There are other genres of games, where fans dont behave like children;
didnt like what they get, before it even was given to them;
instead looking forward an game.

Someone watched Twin Peaks? Born in the 1990s. Rebirth 25 years later; same director, almost same actors; similar story; completly different adventure,..but also lot of fun to me.

 

Willing to bet money you cried up a storm on the forums, both on steam and here, about losing your change to hit percentage. You have xcom fanboy vibes all over you.

[Raeven]

18 hours ago, Dr.Kuhn said:

There's still the issue of line of sight being entirely irrelevant. It changes the A.I. logic completely and the player's as well I'd hope for obvious reasons. There was a literal cheat code for ja2 1.12 that allowed you to see enemies through the walls. It was a cheat. It was broken because constant awareness shouldn't be possible and gives you an insane tactical advantage because the A.I. has to operate by the rules limiting them to at least pretending they don't know where you are. You could argue that because they get the awareness as well that it just evens out right? Wrong. The overall gameplay is functionally different from a Jagged alliance title then. You're just solving a puzzle for a different game in an entirely different way.

Will it still be fun regardless with that feature? I really don't know and I certainly hope so but constant awareness for you or the enemy is just such a bummer of a concept. It just wasn't necessary to make Jagged alliance fun and they forced it in.

I don't understand what this refers to. Are you referring to the ability see the battlefield from the perspective of your Merc in JA3? Because I'm pretty sure there is still fog of war in JA3...

[Dr.Kuhn]

4 minutes ago, Raeven said:

I don't understand what this refers to. Are you referring to the ability see the battlefield from the perspective of your Merc in JA3? Because I'm pretty sure there is still fog of war in JA3...

I've watched multiple german uploaders gameplay videos where they have constant awareness of where the enemies are in a sector with zero line of sight.

It actually plays into the live stream they did today. When Brad mentioned the difficulty in balancing out stealth combat...I bet! lol When you have total awareness, you aren't really taking "risks" anymore. On top of how powerful knife combat already looks, I'm almost shocked they wanted to include melee combat. It made sense to me why the one dev saying they needed to nerf melee after he solo'd the game with 1 mercenary and just doing knife combat. I'm almost curious what the pre-nerf state even looks like.

[Raeven]

I'd be shocked if there's no fog of war in a sector at all. I *highly* doubt that is that case, but would defer to the devs to answer that.

Perhaps it is just not as tight and small as JA2.

[5Cents]

38 minutes ago, Dr.Kuhn said:

Willing to bet money you cried up a storm on the forums, both on steam and here, about losing your change to hit percentage. You have xcom fanboy vibes all over you.

Äh. Well. Never played XCOM. Maybe the first one, cant remember. Never posted in steam anyway.
But well, if you think so, im okay with that, whatever that is. 😁