Feature Requests for TA

[slayernz]

Okay, I've gotten back into TA with a vengeance ... it's such a good game! here are some thoughts that I have that would improve my (and hopefully by extension others) experience. This is above/beyond what is in the HUD thread that Fallen started.

Also, I think I've mentioned one or two in the past, but I'm re-experiencing the game so bear with my ramblings

[/b]
[li] Would be really cool if there was a motion tracker type equipment (ala Aliens). If you could select it for one turn, it will highlight the locations of the aliens within x radius (maybe 20 squares)
[/li][li] Sniper weapons - high range (6sq), high damage, low ammo capacity
[/li][li] Changing the Neptune type weapons to be slightly more area affect - it's a blimmin HMG that gets bolted to the ground for a particular turn. You'd think that it would be an effective area suppress weapon Alternatively, the damage could be higher. The stock standard one is 4DP. the best is only 6DP. Heck, the devastator's are 7DP and you get to move around with them after shooting.
[/li][li] Grenades for the off-hand. If selected, the templar gets to throw a grenade up to 5 squares away. Blast radius one or two squares from target square.
[/li][li] Laser class weapon. You should be able to fire this puppy and hit everything within a straight line (if there are 3 aliens, all three get hit). You wouldn't be able to fire around another knight, and you should only be able to fire it once per turn just due to the recharge/heat. You should be able to switch to your off-hand weapon for the rest of the turn.
[/li][li] Proximity mines ... takes 2AP to set a charge, and the cheaper versions cannot determine friend or foe. Damage similar to grenade.
[/li][li] Any chance of a rear-firing weapon? Very useful when you are trying to get to an extraction point. Turning around costs 2AP, then firing even once means you almost certainly don't get a chance to move forward much more than a square per turn. Alternatively, you have to walk backwards all the time, and maybe you can get 2 squares per turn.
Game Play
[/li][li] Would be awesome to be able to have an inventory per knight of one or two items. For example, carrying around the extra ammo equipment thing, and only using it if you need it would be awesome.
[/li][li] On that note, you should be able to carry one weapon in your inventory too. It would take a whole turn to swap your weapon for another one, but most soldiers should be able to carry more than the weapon they hold in their hand.
[/li][li] Any chance that the 6AP limit would be increased? When you whack on a really heavy duty armor, you find yourself with only 4AP ... that doesn't give you enough time to get around a corner and ready to fire. You have to rely on your single remaining AP will allow you to have an accurate shot at your enemy.
[/li][li] Hydras are great, but as an operator, you shouldn't ever find yourself surrounded by flame if you pull the trigger. Damage should always be forward of yourself, even if a xeno is right in front of you - unless, of course, the xeno sticks its finger into the nozzle and causes the hydra to squirt sideways ....
[/li][li] Shooting sideways should be possible - albeit at a reduced accuracy. When walking down a hallway, you should be able to shoot down the side corridors without having to turn your entire torso to face that direction.
[/li][li] Definitely still after an "undo" to your last movement within a turn. Should not be able to undo an attack, but sometimes with existing UI, you accidentally move when you want to fire.
[/li][/ul]
I think I've got my thoughts down ...

[slayernz]

Hee hee, responding to my own thread.

Adding another one to the list.
It would be great if you got bonuses to attack and defense if you didn't move the turn before. That would mean you took the time to hunker down and get yourself ready for the onslaught.

Oh oh and another two ...
1. A decoy piece of equipment. You drop it on the battlefield, and after a turn, it activates and attracts the xeno's that are near-by. It has, say, 20 HP and Armor 8 Plate, 5 Shield. That way xeno's can destroy it after a few turns.

2. A tracker station. When the knight places this device and enables it, it detects all lifeforms within 20 squares radius. It's small enough that it doesn't block corridors (Knights/xeno's can go past it). It does have some armor plating, but it can be destroyed. the enemy human forces would be able to destroy it if they found it.

[Cory Trese]

Dec 17, 2012 22:04:44 GMT -5 slayernz said:

Hee hee, responding to my own thread.

Adding another one to the list.
It would be great if you got bonuses to attack and defense if you didn't move the turn before. That would mean you took the time to hunker down and get yourself ready for the onslaught.

I think you do, but it is probably undocumented. Just like the penalties from being attacked from behind or the side.

Great list of suggestions ... they are being split up by Andrew and I ... some going into TA ... some going into ... something else ...

[ncaoa]

[quote author=admin board=tatalk thread=3101 post=34324 time=1355800103

Great list of suggestions ... they are being split up by Andrew and I ... some going into TA ... some going into ... something else ...[/quote]

!!!!!!!!!!!!

[janek]

I'll add my requests here just to keep thread counter low.

Game is very good, but fights in tight corridors are too easy (missions on space vessels where Neptune blocks corridor and blasts everything). IMHO levels needs more 2-tiles width corridors and vast, open spaces where enemy can attack from several places.

I'd like to have status screen with stats, armour ratings, equipped weapons and so on during mission.

I think this is bug, but I'm not sure. When I have melee weapon and enemies are in front and on sides of my templar and I'm unable to rotate - I got "out of range" message.

It seems, that basic fist weapon is treated as ranged weapon with range 1 - it can attack diagonal tiles. Any better fist cam attack one enemy in front - this is rather downgrade.

For rear guardians armours with "agility" would be great. Agile armour allows each round one step backward for 1AP and on turn for free.

Best regards
Janek

[ncaoa]

The "out of range " message may be part of a feature. If a Templar sees an enemy he wont turn. I believe this was implemented to prevent accidental turning, which would waste the AP you would use for defence. Tap one square beyond your turning arrow to override it.

Great list!

[janek]

after playing some skirmishes with defence objective I've got some thoughts about xeno movement:

* It's too predictable - they always choose shortest path to closest templar and if path is blocked they pass turn. If you place Neptune at the one side of big room and xenos spawn at the other side there is great chance that all enemies will form a line and never overwhelm templars. Solution is simple: add some randomness to movement - sometimes move one field sideways or prefer to end movement outside of templars gun range.
* Xenos prefer frontal assault then to encircle templars. AI chooses closest path to templar even when longer path would allow attack to side or back of soldier.

also:
* It seems that Neptune can shoot only in straight line but soldiers and scouts can shoot diagonal up to their range, so in best case scenario (shooting 4 tiles diagonal) their real range is almost 6 tiles (4 * sqrt(2)). In several situations (room with two corridors, one in top left corner, other in bottom right) this make Neptune useless while soldiers are untouchable as long they have ammo left.

[Cory Trese]

Thanks for the post. We are working on new AI for the TA engine for upcoming games and releases.

Appreciate the input!

[Lt. Hathaway]

With the recent influx of new new, more powerful weapons and changes to targeting for veterans and scouts, the Hydra, Neptune, and Captain have been left behind a bit.

Before the targeting changes, it made sense to lead with your Captain, but now that a Veteran with an upgraded weapon can clear a 3x3 room from a doorway in "defense mode", it's just silly. If swords and gauntlets could cover the three front squares, then a Captain with a Veteran in tow could almost do the same trick.

The new targeting rules have played a similar trick on Neptune troops. In the same doorway to a 3x3 room full of Xenos, a Neptune can kill three Xenos in a line across the room where a Veteran can clear the room. My beloved Neptune troops have been reassigned to rear guard now.

The Hydra .... Well, I'm pretty clearly on the record about its uselessness, but once again, where a regular veteran can clear a 3x3 room, the specialist Hydra, the "master" at clearing area spaces, cannot easily do the same, and is likely to burn himself and his mates trying.

I like the new targeting and weapons, but I think there need to be some small adjustments for our specialists. Swords at least should be able to cover their entire front 3 squares, although it would be cool and make sense for swords to target a 5, 7, or 8 square arc (it's really 2, 4, 6 or 9, counting Xenos that spawn under the captain.) Improved gauntlets should probably have at least the same arc as a stock gauntlet.

Neptunes need to have a regular firing arc like other weapons. I actually disagree that Neptune damage needs to go up, because the point of the Neptune isn't that you can shoot something once and see it explode. The point of a Neptune is that if it doesn't explode, you can shoot it again until it does! If I were going to adjust the weapon itself, I'd only suggest that in the real world, machine guns have better range than other squad weapons.

As far as the Hydra goes, --naw, that's another note.

[fallen]

@lt. - thanks for the detailed feedback. Cory and I will go back over the range and weapon balancing again and make sure we are happy with it after the release of the Narvidian Dawn campaign! thanks for the great details.

[slayernz]

Neptunes should certainly have an arc fire angle (shoot on diagonals). I've stopped using my Neptune in favor of a 3rd scout (in addition to the captain) because of the diagonal firing.

Hydra's - yeah, I've found they don't kill nearly as effectively as any other ranged weapon, and cause damage to your own templars in return.

Also - you can buy extra ammo (+6 and +12). For me it would be better if they were a % increase on existing ammo (eg +25% and +50%). You could then also have a +100% upgrade for a higher price too ... reason for the relative increase rather than absolute increase is because some guns have smaller ammo capacity, and +12 is almost doubling their ammo, whereas other weapons, +12 is only a small increase.

Finally, my captain has been running around with a Devastator Gun and a Force Gauntlet rather than his traditional sword, because the gauntlet does 8 damage, and the very best sword (Devastator) only does 6 damage. Now my captain can have great range capabilities as well as his usual short-range efficiency.

[Cory Trese]

It is going to look like I did *Exactly* what you suggested in this post when the next release comes out.

But honestly, this was already in the works

[slayernz]

Great minds think alike - although in my case, I have a couple of weeks lag after you come up with a great idea

[Cory Trese]

Neptune gets firing arc, adding new swords, fixing gauntlet ranges, switching to percentage ammo, etc.

[janek]

during Narvidian Dawn I desperatly need one thing: grenades. Each templar may choose one grenade per mission, using it costs 1AP and it has targeting arc of 180 degees and range, lets say 3 tiles. Grenades would be rather defensive weapon and I'd like to see three kinds of them:
- shockwave grenade - if possible pushes both templars and enemies adjacent to targeted tile one tile away.
- plasma grenade - creates plasma flame with 1 tile splash
- nanofiber grenade - creates smoke on tile that last for one turn. You cannot shoot thourgh or inside smoke, enemies must stop when they enter smoke, templars must use 2AP to enter smoke and cannot turn when in smoke. At the beginning of new turn smoke disperses.

Proposed rules of smoke also make possible creating puzzle mazes with permament smoked tiles.



Also I wonder why there is no "survival" maps where templars face waves of xenos with increasing difficulty and may escape any thime they want.
Best regards