Started playing the game via steam and mechanically it feels better then X-Com2 now there is just one aspect I feel like as it is still in beta phase: base building
The art is really not keeping up with the graphical qualitiy of the game here or with that of the competitors (Xcom, Xenonauts). Thsi is true also for havens but especially in player bases the overview feels very bland, the rooms are hardly distinguishable rom one another with a very few exceptions. Design wise everything has the same color, there is wasted UI space everywhere + popoup building window with limited space
The entire ide to zoom in on a room that has hardly anything to look at and also making it not reprensentative of what is happening seems very very odd design choice
Please tell, me do poeple like these designg? Is it just a placeholder for a final design?
Here are things I would have expected:
- Rooms colourful enough to be visually pleasing to look at but at least distinguishable from one another
- More props in the rooms to show what is being done there
- Have actual people working in the rooms that are being powered e.g: have some workers assemble stuff in the workshop when building something with sparks flying, soldiers shooting in the training room, there is just so much that can be done
- Zoom out to show the entire room - what is the sense of zooming in? Is it an engine limitation in showing walls?
- Show the actual number and type of planes in the hangar (this was alread a feature in the original)
- Get rid of the yellow dashes and arrow on the bottom: does this represent anything at all?
The base building minigame also feels like a draft: there is almos nothing to be done except for ensuring the 3-4 base buildings are all created and running and the layout doesnt seem to matter (no special tiles, synergy)ā¦ base defenses.
I cna udnerstand why food proudction room was taken out but why not put it back as sometimes existing but non buildable room that gives some base food income for the player and make it look really colorfull and unique to admire. Give us a reason to look at this UI and not jsut skip it ASAP to see soemthing more interesting 
2 Likes
Food production facility is now tied to Anu faction research.
I am not sure it is good to have at buildable at all - I totally agree with taking them out as we can produce this universal currency and buy everyrthign with it.
It could be both thouhg if the research needsto exist: Have a few scattered around in inactivated bases AND allow to build them via research. I think tht some base food porudciotn every 1-2 bases should make sense and allow for larger armies (withouth the research)
As long as it is anu-based, PP bases cannot have it when you activate them.
If it would become PP tech again, it would need to not be behind a research for the same reason, how would they already exist in a deactivated base?
One way to get there:
There are one or more deactivated bases with these facilities but because PP currently donāt know what it is it only shows a ā?ā on the geoscape info. When activating a base with this ānewā facility there would be a new research available and the facility is not usable before the research is finished (it is deactivated and unable to activate as long as the research isnāt finished).
But these facilities are inactive for decades, how would a future technology exist in the far past?
Well, we re-research grenade launchers and shotguns as well ā¦
Many things are forgotten in time, why not also these facilities?
You donāt start with these, though. I guess itās somewhat reasonable but still strange, just as your other examplesā¦
Yes it looks strange on a first glance, but after I played the new Tutorial it is not longer for me. The protagonists are simple PP agents that try to find Symes or at least what he has done. It is somewhat reasonable that they donāt have all the insight, knowing anything what happens in the past, what PP has researched in the time before and so also not what is maybe hiding in some bases. This is for me now pretty clear and Iām not longer dissatisfied with the fact that they also have to āresearchā even pretty old techniques like shotguns.
Easy: Who has seen green (automated crop growing towers) and raise your hand if you know how they work. answering ānoā to both of these questions doesnt mean that they dont exist now (they do) just in very limited number.
If its onyl the lore that is the issue it is easily explained that PP had prioratized the development of self-contained growth chambers and have even managed to build a few before they went under. The new ownership (the player) has not idea how to build them but they can fire up the systems still thats it. When they come across Anu they will eventually find out that the Anu have managed to develop method to grow crops despite the virus and applying their knowhow enables PP to reverse engineer their owne chambers and build them again (and more efficiently then Anu)
Lore is no probā¦ the question is game mechanics: Base building currently lacks visual appeal and hook. We need more (visually appealing and diverse) buildings to actually have a game in this UI. The amount of space available is more then enough for the few stuff you build. In the original we needed to build hangar FOR EACH plane. Now, they come pre-built AND they can host two planes (which are not actualyl shown) this is a heavy cut on the original hook of expanding your bases
Another reason ot introduce buildings that you cnanot build yourself (initially) if to enable larger armies. The food resource constraint is good to prevent playr from buying all the soldiers but it also undercuts large garrisons and large number of fireteams due to constant upkeep need.
You can of course come up with explanations but you then need to present these explanations to the player.
Also, PP has AI to make research, it should know about PPās own technologies. You can argue that PP never developed a shotgun but since itās its own buildingā¦
About base building, I guess the remaining DLCs may bring new buildings and they may be waiting for these to revamp this aspect.
I see that different. Yes, PP uses AI to research anything, but it is not an AI like Synedrion has. Without humans that pull the right triggers this āAIā seems to me pretty thumb. So maybe not every base AI knows anything about other bases, its up to the player to connect them all together (and push them with the Synedrion AI tech). Only problem would be if you have a research lab AND any kind of food production in the same base, THIS AI should know whatās going on there.
This is another inconsistency entirely. Old deactivated bases did not have AI research, I think. It was run by human researchers. So you activate the lab and it becomes useful for the AIā¦ how? Does the AI have robots at its disposal to move things around, mix chemical vials, break and construct things? Or does it just run virtual approximations and then why need the lab?
Ok this one I can ignore because we donāt need that level of consistency 
. However then an old lab together with an old food production facility would be no problem.
This is what falvor text is for 
The entrie concept is three sentences long like I said lore is not a problem: it ceartanly make sense more then why we are researching shotgun
The real reason is game mechanics. The starting bases are way to similar now
Having 1-2 for production facilities scattered around inactviated PP bases is jsut an option of course that would also support larger amounf of soldiers which is also a plus.
If we are looking at facility diversity only there are likely a billion other thigns that cna be done to make base-MGMT more engaging, farms is just an elemtn that is already implemented and easier to manipulate (easieer then creatig new art for a brand new faciltiytype and coding+texting that in)
Maybe it would be the best (budget) solution to replace the curent room models with stylzied 2D depictions instead. No need for poeple running around in the empty oulless models then, no need for special effects and coloring to make them interesting and stand apart AND it would actualyl make the construction/repair progress indicator readablye and be in line with the actual room overlay
Would also get rid of the discrepancy between the rooms and their icon depiction when selectign what to build.
Better get rid of the building selection menu as well: jsut disaply the avaiable rooms on the right hand side and ALL of their stats and have the same art be used to represent them on the base layout
Also get rid of the blocked tiels overlay and replace it with something else that has less of a PPT object wibe