(backer build4)My personnal Feedback

Phoenix Point Game Feedback
1

First, i’ll start by saying that im a veteran of xcom EU, UW and xcom2+ dlc expansion.
I did play ironman at highest difficulty and i did finish the game each time.

Im saying this only to state the fact that im use to this kind of game.

So i gotta say im a bit dissapointed with the strategies in the game so far. I did love in theory the concept of action point and willpower. But what i did experience is more of a shoot as much as you can, as fast as you can and more precise as you can kind of game.

At the moment the only problem i have is my munitions, maybe im blind but i think manufacturing is the way you get your munitions and right now it doesnt seem to work so i guess it will be in the next phase.

Right now being able to wipe like 10 ennemie on first turn feel a bit too easy, and giving more hp to monster wont make it harder, it would make it dull. and basicly the best way to play right now is to ignore cover and just go strait to shooting position.

right now skills that use willpower and willpower itself are the best stats and skillz to spend point in, the 2 others stats doesnt make a big impact.

You can shoot 4 time with a soldier if you dont move and you have 10 willpower,
If you go heavy and mix it up with a solider you can jumpback to where you wanna go, get 50% of ur action back and shoot on first turn. after you just have to rest 1 turn to do it again.
Sniper class can shoot like 10 time if you have 12 will power, and a reload for ur pistol in ur hands.

the only class that feel really bad right now are the technician, their gun arent really precise, they can shoot 4 time but usually if they are not close it will hit 1time out of 4. and their melee stun is useless. When you hit at melee and you do 0 dmg and the monster does hitback you dont wanna redo this experience.

Blue zone that give willpower are kinda weird, most of the time going for them are stupid but if they are in ur way its a good boost.

So basicly i don’t have to think at all to win my missions, i just shoot whatever i have in sight, when all in sight are dead i run to get in shooting range and shoot again all in sight. no need for cover, no priority target, no real treat.

For someone who like to make hard choice for strategie like losing a squad member just to win the mission ect. i dont feel that kind of challenge right now.

Monster upgrade look interesting but a bit random but still nothing to worry really.

So making cover feel useful, making start of mission a bit less random and more strategic maybe. making monster also use cover would make that more interesting than shield(with is really easy to beat when you use aim correctly) reducing the amount of attacks both monster and the player can use would make this more interesting for strategies and less straight forward. Mini boss or variety of monster would make it more interesting. right now the litle fire worms and mindcontroller arent really a problem.

In any case im just making suggestion because right now i dont really feel that i have to think to win missions.

So am I the only one who feel that way?

2 Likes
2

Also, i think defensive skills would be interesting. right now you cant duck for cover or use smoke or anything that coul help you survive an attack when you know you can’t hit right now but you need to get close and you dont wanna die going so having some defence mechnism would be a good idea i think.

2 Likes
3

oh and i did find out how to make munitions.

4

What I know is that you shouldn’t base on the alpha code which is backer build because game right now still lacks a lot of gameplay elements and other will be fundamentally changed. There is no much balance in BB4, not even attributes or UI are final. And every next backer build is very different from previous one which also means something.
Still, even in backer builds I don’t rush on my enemies: as in other similar games it is better to approach to enemy to have better hitting chances. Shooting from greater distance often ends with misses. Another thing is that in BB4 shooting range and visibility range of both soldiers and aliens is unlimited: you can simply see what’s at the other side of map (and shoot at it) unless some wall standing in way. This will never happen in final release.

1 Like
5

well i sure hope so, im just making my experience feedback form what i did play up to now. and of course some movement are useful to help with aim but most of the time i find myself not moving just to get extra attack round and its way more effective to kill than to try to survive. so basicly right now shooting is the way to go.

6

The structures don’t have the final endurance value in BB4, they will have in BB5, so we have to wait a few more days to say if cover behind a massive wall will be more useful or not.

The weapon of the technican is kinda meh, yeah, but if you can mange to hit with it, it’s still great. The good thing is, you can just use another weapon if you like! (2nd class)

I really love my soldiers with good movement, personally I do like 50/50 WP and movement, only sometimes a point in strenght if needed.

Last but not least you should think about BB4 as an very early alpha build, near to nothing is really optimised. I do not understand why people are still giving feedback on BB4 when BB5 is about to be released.

1 Like
7

Hi, welcome

You should try this…
First, you need a heavy with rally (level 6).
Have everybody (except your heavy) move, do exertion, kill everybody, until they have no more willpower.
Try to reach the blue zones with some of them (adds willpower to all soldiers).
Now use rally ith your heavy…
… and start again move, exertion, kill everybody else (your heavy might assist this time).

Yes, BB4 has some balance issues, but those builds are not a final game. So many things can still change so they would need to do it again later.

It was a cakewalk … and I play XCOM games on veteran, save-scumming once in a while. So not the greatest player there is.

1 Like
8

The only problem with suggestions is …

They are already doing the game their own way.

I am glad there will be fixes and expansions, and I hope someone is taking notes :slight_smile: At least to introduce some things as HC options.

9

Great feedback, but little bit too late and at the same time little bit too early. Too late because build 4 which you have played is quite old and definitely doesn’t correspond to current state of development. Developers probably have changed a lot until now. And too early as next build will be in next 8 days, so then you will be able to give more accurate feedback about the gameplay. Devs even told lately that they will welcome balance suggestions. There will be even option to send statistical data to help them judge how game is working.

But nevertheless let me answer some of your thoughts.

Game is not balanced right now as bartekb8 said. There is only few systems in BB4 and they mainly focus on manual aim. There are only ranged weapons available (projectile and explosive), so melee combat is not advised. There is only medkit from any optional equipment so you can’t utilize anything else beside shooting enemy from where you are. :slight_smile: This is also backed by lack of stealth and shadow elements.

I think that it will be ballanced by innacurate explosive weapons, fog of war, and even maybe less accurate projectile weapons. Well I can comment all your feedback just with words “there is no ballance”. This build was to show us some new weapons, fire mechanics, some other special attacks like poison, acid, goo, etc, and show some more enemies than crabmen, mindfraggers, sentinels and queen.

Try to combine such technician with 2 turrets and Turret Combo skill. I think that you will change opinion. :smiley: And actually he is the only soldier which can use Mech Arms. So basically only one who can heal crippled limbs which is invaluable when you encounter strong enemy forces. Combine him with any other class and then use any other weapon of your choice and forget about main technician weapon.

I hope they will have some other meaning rather than +3 willpower.

Alien progression was not implemented in build 4. And I think it may be not implemented even in build 5 to avoid spoilers.

Cover will be more durable, and enemy AI will improve, so you will be able to rate it in next few weeks. :wink:

Is it really? :slight_smile: I suppose that Backer Build 5 will be the one which will really differ from previous builds. But all those which we have seen until now were just showcasing of some mechanics.

  • build 1 was to show shooting, cover and map generation mechanics
  • build 2 was to show vehicle and turret, ability to heal soldiers, different times of day (different light on the maps), that queen will also have mutations
  • build 3 was to show geoscape with first travel system (better than in bb4 IMHO) which was quite big change compared to BB2, but still something fundamental and expected in the game, so same soldiers were used between missions, new mission types and cover was shown as durable environment, new enemies beside crabmen (who were also altered to have different posture), mighty “fumble” showed its claws, decrease of inventory size, skills were made more easy to use (more uses per turn, less willpower etc.), equipment become less durable, and we were able to recruit predefined soldiers which looked like on level 4 or something like that
  • build 4 introduced few things, but I suppose they are not so big changes: up until this moment crabmen were formidable enemy, now they are grunts to vanish in one turn, geoscape has different travel mode and there are events, enemy bases have another level, haven maps can generate Anu slums, recruitment of soldiers was moved from our bases to havens, better base inventory (same items combined, ammo counting after mission), salvage of items, haven defence missions have optional objective (save civilians or structures), new mission type to defend our bases, destruction physics working in quite funny way, phoenix project as playable faction with its own vehicle, 3 new aliens and many new attack and effect types (fire, acid, poison, etc.), soldier leveling and multi-class feature thus quite many new, mostly passive skills, perception and stealth in really basic form

Hmm ok I admit that builds 3 and 4 were not so small changes and I probably forgot about something.

Shooting range is not limited but visibility range is. Of course if you have sniper with Eagle Eye perk then well, yes you can see whole map with him well placed. It will be probably ballanced, but I wouldn’t say that it won’t happen in final release. Maybe we will have proper equipment to spot most of enemies on the map?

10

I hope visibility range will be much reduced. I don’t know, maybe visibility isn’t any better than in other similar games, maybe these small maps give me that feeling. I’m waiting for the vision cones, too :slight_smile:

1 Like
11

I thought BB5 wasn’t available yet?

12

it s not in gonna change it that why the “?”

13

I was reading the topic it seems to be about BB5. It’s not out yet though is it? Nevermind I see the topic has been edited. to reflect BB4.