Yes, I’d love to see more of that. I’m not a fan of current approach with Mind Control being the main tool. It’s 0/1 approach: you either quickly kill/disable enemy and it’s not used, or is used and it mess with you seriously (just like getting hit with acid grenade).
There could have been so many intermediate steps that make it gradually more difficult to deal with pandas.
Like this examples of psionic abilities Pandas could develop as Yuggothian entity presence grows stronger:
Psionic backslash - You hit enemy, you loose willpower
Crushing presence - Closer you get, harder it gets to keep sane (WP/AP lose)
Whispers/Hallucinations - Many variations of AOE attack that lowers speed or accuracy
“Evil Eye” - Psi attack that target max hitpoints (capping it at lower value)
Decay - Target gets -50%/-75%/etc penalty to healing.
Mersmerize - Both you and your enemy are stunned (or get AP heavily reduced): 1on1 is a draw, use only when having numerical advantage.
Paralyze /Immobilize - get a limb taken out temporarily or immobilize person.
Shadows - spawn slow and unkillable (since they are not real) enemies that will drain Willpower on attacks (will dissapear after time or when owner killed).
Despair - target will not regain WP for some time.
Darkness - reduce range of the weapon (if that possible)
Caller - as long as this entity lives it will draw more reinforcements.
Obviously for most of those you could research countermeasures in order to keep up with the Panda evolution. At the same time PP could get research more offensive capabilities too (like chemicals that sever Psi connection or cause rampage, etc.)
I could go on and on with dozens of other examples. The main idea is to give Pandas tools that are not outright aimed to kill players but to make their lives harder and force them to adapt and change tactics.
What @PradBitt proposes is not a rework of the morale system, he is suggesting some new non-lethal ways in which Pandorans can interact with PP operatives.
If this suggestion is to reach the devs, it has to go on Canny. They are very unlikely to spot it here, especially now that there is no UV.
We the players do not dictate the devs what to do, or the schedule according to which they have to do it. Any ideas to the contrary are delusional.
noStas, I know there are things getting lost in translations from English to Russian and Russian to English here.
However…
We (Voland, or noStas, or any other player, or all of us players together and united) have no say in how Snapshot spends its time and resources.
And if you are thinking of the Community Council, it’s a focus group, not a Supervisory Committee.
Conclusion: if a player thinks they have a good suggestion to make, she or he should create a ticket on Canny, see what other players and the devs make of it.
IMO, @PradBitt idea is a very good one and I can’t imagine how any harm can come from posting it on Canny.
In a reasonable society, all subjects have a Right and a Duty.
Games Must go to Release (usually) in a finished form. Even now, after half a year, this is Not a finished product.
I have the Right to offer reasonable solutions to the problem. And the players as a whole, Evaluate the result, comment and disseminate their opinion at the time of release in Steam.
My main goal is to justify my investment of time in a development team led by Julian Gollop and David Kaye with an excellent finished game.
Imo, CC should help the game get more fan approval on Steam. At this point, I see this as helping to create a Good Tutorial and balance the Difficulty Beginner (min / max Veteran) prior to Steam release.
(Imo, Canny will be relevant after balancing the Veteran difficulty, after the release in Steam, and more for Modding.)
I don’t really think they intended to release a finished product by design. I believe they released a playable game with some rough edges. It’s a work in progress, and they are working to improve it. I also feel they plan to add more to the core. But first, they know they have to tackle the major issues many players find that keep the current version from being enjoyable.
@PradBitt All those are brilliant suggestion - that kind of stuff is what I miss in PP. Add more gameplay elements then just “kill” and “more difficult to be killed”.
That is a really good concern, thank you. When designing a skill you can make it as powerfull, or as weak as you want. Here you see just the the idea of the skill, showing interactions and consequences.
Now for actual implementation, we could have for instance something like this (assuming 3 levels of power:)
“Attacker takes 1WP damage for each 10%/20%/30% of your Max HP damage he deals”
Secondly, not every enemy would have such effect. Thirdly PP could research countermeasures (just like when you’re hit by the goo - > examine the goo -> research solution -> get anti goo shoes).
These updates are “kind of DLC” while entering the basic game. Without proper balance and game direction, no DLC will save the day. So in present shape, its a proper direction. DLCs are mainly a content expansions.
All I really want to know is when the Cuthulu update is coming out… firm date because “soon” or “in the near future” will not cut it at this point and I have other games I can give my money and time to. I am not one for ambiguity and that is all I have seen so far so I vote with my wallet… you got me for the game fee, and the first expansion, but you wont get more beyond that no matter what the price point is set at. Game balance should have been worked out prior to release… game direction as well but that is part of putting out a superior product and not having play testing pushed off onto the consumers.
I’m sure they have a target date, but since it looks as it contains major shifts in the game there must be some kinks that need fixing before they can release it. As you stated the original had issues that you felt should have been addressed. The she same applies here. Do you want it released with issues? It will drop when it’s ready.
Phoenix Point v. Cthulhu 1.6 is scheduled for release on the 30th of July.
Some of the changes: ODI replaced with the survival of humanity, reworked exploration, Pandoran research system and tech tree, re-balanced difficulty, changes to base defense, new base activation system, and more.
Due to all these changes, it is highly advisable to start a new campaign to make everything work smoothly. You will still be able to load old saves, but the game experience might be flawed.
