I particularly like the base + refuel station system as it looks to sort of be a hybrid between the original XCOM and XCOM 2. You get this flexibility, as well a sense of having a home base.
Things that could be cool:
-Having missions that are only accessible by the land tank. Were you have to park the air ship and have the squad go the rest of the way by foot/tank/etc.
-Have encounters that keep the squads away from the main base. For example, you could have a story/mission arc that tempts you to move forward (whether your heavily stocked with gear or not)
-Have a mechanic were emergency units are required to deliver fuel to your squad (as opposed to magically being able to refuel…though on 2nd thought, you could imply that somethings actually delivering stuff with the mechanics the way they are.
-Having certain areas in the mist that are ‘no fly zones’, which can result in a chance of losing your ship to something mysterious (could also have anti aircraft weaponry for hostile factions)
-Having certain units or faction abilities that allow you to traverse the ground terrain easier in certain parts of the map (particularly were you might not be able to fly). Examples could the use of those mounts that the ANU have.
Just stuff that might give you that feel of having away teams that go on adventures like in stargate and stuff like that.
As far as I understood, you dont start with flying vehicle and it will be hard to find one. I think exploration will be too fast if (in final release) we get this craft from the very start.
Last I heard, and it was a while ago, the tutorial mission’s plot is going to be your team recovering a drop ship of some sort and bringing it back to base to repair it and to start exploring.
-Having certain areas in the mist that are ‘no fly zones’, which can result in a chance of losing your ship to something mysterious (could also have anti aircraft weaponry for hostile factions)
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Enemy control the seas, Humanity controls the skies; both fighting over the land.
Speaking to your idea about re-fueling, I think that their mechanic could certainly be explained away by saying that someone sent a fuel tanker, or another Haven sold you fuel, or whatever. But I do wonder if we’ll be able to upgrade the transport ships? Maybe research opportunities to increase their fuel capacity, or t’s efficiency, etc…
It’d be neat if your exploration was limited for a portion of the beginning game to add to the sense of progression and novelty of flying around.
Kind of like how in fallout or jagged alliance, were vehicles that allowed faster transport were more a novel thing…Probably not to that extent, but it’d be neat. The theme of it all is nice in that it allows an open endedness to what approach you could take with it (how you’re more of an isolated base that is trying to recontact others).
Yeah, I agree with what folks here have been tlaking about. We’ve started with a flying ship in every other NuCom and OldCom game, I would have enjoyed the novelty of starting out with a slow buggy/transport and working our way up to a flyer.