X-division: How the heck do you manage this

[Pondera the Radio Angel]

so, right up front, I am aware of how to play this game. And UFO Defense and TFTD that it was based off of. But there are just so many obstacles to progression!

Specifically, the research tree. I grabbed the monster off the forums and it seems pretty straight forward. In order to unlock Wolf armor and stop getting annihilated by the new and improved crews on board the bomber corvettes (lovely surprise there) I need to have Sebillian Technician, which might not show up on a mission and looks exactly the same as every other red hued Sebillian on the ufo, a Caesan Technician, much more easily recognized due to their theft of Bradford's green sweater, alien alloy manipulation, and Andron disassembly. But I've done all that and still no unlock.

Honestly, I'm getting pretty sick of this. It made a good first impression, but for some reason, this game and it's mod are so niche that there is next to no documentation on it. Even Long War has a wiki. The aliens are unending bullet sponges and even after boosting my rookie's stats to tolerable levels, they still get reaction shots on them if they step a pinky toe into the darkness and can smack them across the map with a tri-burst shot. I witnessed this on my last mission from a Sebillian. Aren't these things supposed to have garbage eyesight? That just sounds like fake news to me.

Help me, people. When does this start becoming fun and not a migraine inducing chore? Does it ever? If not, is there a better mod-pack I can invest my non-working hours in? The research tree was impressive, but I don't see myself surviving long enough to explore it.

[Charon]

Hi Pondera

You need a Sebillian and Caesan Engineer for Wolf armour. There is a tech tree in your main folder called X-Division Tech Tree 0.99.5 yEd.

There are a lot of threads who aim to help you at getting better:

https://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/index.php?/topic/13350-things-i-want-you-to-know/
https://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/index.php?/topic/13425-this-is-sparta-x-division-version/

The most you can learn by watching youtube Lets Play or Twitch Streams:

https://www.twitch.tv/charon117
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJiDtR6YHRDiW4dpa_F-2aQ?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxdQqrdtQiK2BACK2TRrolw
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWzMhaVdcPLYBxA3CNj-haQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcYUnagF-URNISoU9pOItxg
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFR_Y87GHsr8rwVqSRVrT4Q

This game is made for people who are already play XCOM for 20 years and you might need a similar time to get good.

X-Division is for people who can and will put in the time to have an incredible experience. Its a life achievement and says something about you.
Other than that its just git gut and enjoy the gameplay if you are into this kind of game. Its not about winning, its about making the experience.

If you are looking just to fill your evening hours i suggest XCOM 2 Long War 2 on impossible for a casual experience. More fun and more mainstream for a tired brain after a long day of work.

The higher levels of X-Division are for the Best of the Best.

[Pondera the Radio Angel]

Well, Charon, I did what you said. I read and learned and tried to figure this out.

Apparently, it is the engineer that is required from Caesan and Sebillian races, not the technician, so sayeth the tech tree files, to unlock wolf armor, and I don't know where to find those. I've been capturing live specimens left right and center, but research has ground to a screeching halt, just like before. Saw a video of Molnar Paul Lucian's who is running a playlist on this mod and he seems to be further along than I am at an earlier date (he is running early november 1979, and I'm on nov 20th).

Honestly, I'm not sure what else to do and this is getting pretty frustrating. Any amount of serious progression is gated behind things that are not clear, and I'm very close to just going to play something else.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Charon]

Originally posted by Pondera:

Apparently, it is the engineer that is required from Caesan and Sebillian races, not the technician, so sayeth the tech tree files, to unlock wolf armor,

Thats what i said in my post above

Originally posted by Charon:

You need a Sebillian and Caesan Engineer for Wolf armour. There is a tech tree in your main folder called X-Division Tech Tree 0.99.5 yEd.

Originally posted by Pondera:

Honestly, I'm not sure what else to do

Well i dont wanna be picky here, but carefully reading would be a start. If you would do that you could also see that Molnar Paul Lucian has been playing for over 12 months, and the earlier videos are about earlier versions. They have a different tech tree.


It is not like i dont feel you, i also wish for a more documented game for people to play. A wiki was in the progress and a manual for people isnt a bad idea. The bottom line whoever is that if nobody does it, it won´t be done. Any my job was to make a good game, not a good documentation. This leads to people jumping off the train which would get motivated with more information. Nothing we can do about that. I take a fnished game over a finished documentation any day of the week though.

If you want more information you should read the gamefiles, they are in a plain english with a more or less good/self explanatory documentation.

Originally posted by Pondera:

and this is getting pretty frustrating. Any amount of serious progression is gated behind things that are not clear, and I'm very close to just going to play something else.

Thats called discovery, and is part of the game.

However if you wanna play something else just play something else. X-Division lives from people who are not giving up, who take up the challenge of finding new solutions to unknown adversaries, who calculate into the future and take the responsibility of being wrong. The game doesnt hold your hand, doesnt tell you what to do and doesnt pave you the easy comfortable path to victory like other AAA titles. Its just you, your brain, and a game which grotesque adversaries at every corner. Rome wasnt build in one day, and X-Division hasnt been beaten in one playthrough alone. The later phases are more difficult so if you dont feel it right now, you better give up.

[Pondera the Radio Angel]

Oh come on, man. You didnt even answer my question about where to find engineers. Do I just keep shooting down UFOs or do I need to do some specific thing or what?

Please, allow me to drop some Ponderan wisdom upon thine posterior in a fairly simple equation.

Depth encourages experimentation to find the modt optimal combination of battlefield factors, however when it is punished by intended difficulty and an unforgiving nature, multiplied by the time it required to get to that point, frustration will ALWAYS result, especially when the player feels that their experimentation has been curtailed and options to progress removed.

Don’t you think it’s kind of odd that only a few youtubers have picked up on this mod and the only comments over hundreds of videos have been yours? Xenonauts is niche but not THAT niche. Gaming journalism has been rather generous to it thus far. And what you’ve done is one of the most ambitious mod projects that I have ever seen, yet it has hardly any new players. I cite the above equation as to why.

I really wanted to like this mod, man... but my patience has elapsed. For you to put so much effort into such a seldom played thing... Its kind of tragic.

[Charon]

Originally posted by Pondera:

Oh come on, man. You didnt even answer my question about where to find engineers. Do I just keep shooting down UFOs or do I need to do some specific thing or what?

Its time based. Engineers spawn in Phase 2 which approximitely happen 3 months and 10 days into the campaign ( if played correctly, otherwise its sooner ).

Originally posted by Pondera:

Don’t you think it’s kind of odd that only a few youtubers have picked up on this mod and the only comments over hundreds of videos have been yours? Xenonauts is niche but not THAT niche. Gaming journalism has been rather generous to it thus far. And what you’ve done is one of the most ambitious mod projects that I have ever seen, yet it has hardly any new players. I cite the above equation as to why.

The reason X-Division doesnt have that many players is because there is no Xenonauts tutorial. Xenonauts is ok in size but X-Division is gigantic. Having things not explained is a big hurdle because it effectively removes the tools you can play with. In order to understand the game you would need to start modding yourself and have the knowledge to do so. I know about this, yet i cant do anything about it, since it is not my part. There are simply no resources there to do this.

When you say that "even" Long War has a wiki you are making a grotesque understatement. Long War got Firaxis blessing to make money out of their mod, got hired AND payed for Long War 2 and afterwards went professional and started to make their own games. X-Division on the other hand has a handful of passionate players all giving their free time and money for the project ALL UNPAID. If you would even start to hire a professional to make a wiki out of the game files that you can easily go up t o 4 figures, which nobody has to do so. Long War has been blessed with 5 figures while X-Division simply doesnt have the resources to equalise.

I am very satisfied with the state the game came out. At the very least people have one of the best games available, even if isnt that accessible.

[Charon]

So following the feedback i made a mod called Nerf the AI here:

https://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/index.php?/topic/13414-165xce-v0350-x-division-100-beta/&do=findComment&comment=171384

It should decrease the relative aggressivness of the aliens. It is only a prototype from an unoffical version but if you are still interested you can try it out.
If that isnt enough you can change ticker speed, accuracy and damage among other things in the gameconfig.xml file, even during a campaign.
Is the invasion too fast ? Change the <alienTickerSpeedVeteran value="0.9" />
Too much damage ? <alienWeaponDamageVeteran value="1.0" />
UFOs too hard to shoot down ? <ufoHealthVeteran value="1.0" />

X-Division is a platform meant to be played the way you want it to play, so dive in and make the experience worth for yourself.

[cancer352]

As an experienced player of xcom/xenonauts my first try of xdivision in the easy step was catastrophic, because I didn't get new science project and so the enemy's development run away: At last I met only highly advanced andron troops, they shoot and every bullet was a near-deadly hit, you shoot and it did't have any effect !
1.) How do I get new science projects ???
2.) This game needs urgently a sufficient wiki !!!
3.) This game needs a shooting range where you can test your weapons against known and unarmed enemies
I think @Pondera is right: Too much is gated behind things that are not clear and it's frustrating to be urged to begin a new game just because the lack of information and the lack of admittance to new science projects. Permanently meeting advanced invincible androns is no fun and the end of the whole game.

[Charon]

Originally posted by cancer352:

3.) This game needs a shooting range where you can test your weapons against known and unarmed enemies

I think this is a great idea for such a big sandbox game as X-Division.

[cancer352]

I have started a new game and now I had more luck with the science. But now I've another totally unknown problem when fighting a cesarian base:
1.) There are little spider-like creatures moving around but you can't target and shoot them
2.) Why do some of my crew members suddenly change into zombies without any reason ??? If the little spiders are the reason you have no fair chance when you can't shoot them ???? (There were no reapers on the battlefield)

[Alec White]

Originally posted by cancer352:

1.) How do I get new science projects ???
2.) This game needs urgently a sufficient wiki !!!

Did you checked https://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/index.php?/topic/13425-this-is-sparta-x-division-version/ ?
I'm trying to stay as spoiler free as possible but I needed help with the air game and it helped me quite a bit.
Also don't know how much up to date the tech tree is https://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/index.php?/topic/19333-xdivision-technology-tree/

[Manji83]

I agree with the critics here. Too much uncertainty and ambiguousness. On one hand, Charon is talking about these "Engineer" units that open the doors to Wolf Armor. I have never seen the words "Engineer" anywhere in the game. None of the hordes of aliens I've captured (checking stun baton beaten bodies, mission complete body count, or researcher's log of "Know Your Enemy" or "First Contact" category list)... no engineers. I see Technicians and captured all of those a dozen times over if for nothing more than fibers.

On another hand, https://xenonauts.fandom.com/wiki/Wolf says all you need to do is research "Alloy Fabrication" and you'll get Wolf Armor research available after that.

On another hand, https://xenonauts.fandom.com/wiki/Non_Combatant points to any caesan in red and any naked sebillion can randomly be either a pilot, researcher, engineer or maintenance.

On another hand, on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFtScMz5YP8&list=PLVM1qRtVEeEoWPq9wIt_eyN5iAHxcfBr0&index=31, Division X player
BlueAnkylo unlocks Wolf Armor research in his 4/10/2020 video by disassembling his very first green andron in November, 17, 1979. In the video you get to see his X-pedia list of interogations. Just like me, he has ceason and sebillion technicians, chiefs, medics, and more. No "Engineers". I'm seeing "Non-Combatant Analysis" in his X-pedia list, but I don't see that in my list. Well crap, that must be it. Of the hordes of beat up, captured aliens, that must have been randomly overlooked! Of the many red shirt caesans and naked sebillions I've captured, I suppose non of them happened to be a "non-combatant" or WHATEVER is needed to get me to Wolf Armor. Non-combatant is a funny term because everything is trying to kill me.

Come to think of it, when I first started out with this game years ago, all I did was kill everything that looked at me wrong, thinking stun baton was a dumb idea. However, I still got the research logs of "Know Your Enemy" with the inclusion of non combatant caesons and sebillians in my X-pedia. I have the "First Contact" log for alien specialist, but the old "Know Your Enemy" logs never came up for the campaign I'm in now after many game months of play.

Again I repeat, "Know Your Enemy" logs for caesons and sebillians never came up in X-pedia, but it should whether you are capturing everything like a pokemon master or killing everything like a homicidal maniac. I should have this by now with all of the autopsies, vivisections, and interrogations that I have carried out. This is shocking.

I am in January 1980, right after slaughtering a large ship full of blue and pink androns with the most insane weapons in vast varieties. My men all had Fox Armor, might as well have been in tighty whities. Came out of that mission with the longest list of research I've ever seen.... nothing.

What - is - going - on? I'm in phase 2 right now and the non combatant criteria has NEVER come up in the X-pedia. I go into each mission with 3 men with stun batons and shields and triple team beat down as many aliens as I can as they risk getting their heads blown off or eaten. I hope in Phase 2, the alien empire is dumb enough to still send down "non-combatants", apparently one of the most dramatically important things above ALL else you'll need to progress in this game. Or am I wrong and still shrouded in confusion and ambiguity?

[Lil' Lily]

Originally posted by Manji83:

What - is - going - on?

The issue is X-Division isn't very good. People play it simply because they want to play more Xenonauts and, to be fair, X-Division does add quite a lot of stuff.

But its not balanced, or well thought out, or even finished. Its difficult for the sole sake of making it difficult and the only reponse of the mod author is "git gud".

Which is fine, but its akin to playing chess blindfolded - no real reason other than to make it more difficult. At the end of the day, Charon isn't a game designer, and it shows.

Best bet is to forget about this mod, or do what i did - read through the code and alter whatever needs altering.

[Chaos Marine]

My only major complaints are the ridiculous imbalance of sight ranges and how the xenos know exactly where you are at all times. Everything is mostly fair though (and I'm guessing it's not possible due to the engine) but the heavy weapons armour not having the ability to use melee is a more minor annoyance but it'd be nice to have a back up weapon for them to use when they run out of ammo.

[nikitalovygin]

BTW, I used a hack with ammo. Just place the weapon to the backpack and save-load. All weapons and medkits in the backpack is being reloaded :)

I found it when attacked my first base. Had to pick up alien weapons because I was out of ammo and realized soon (not really soon, but in about 10 reloadings) that my weapon is full of ammo again.

From my point of view the game is interesting and challenging. I need to have at least 2 type of weapons for every soldier, or even 3. Androns are so strong, so I needed to give at least a shock pistol to everyone.

Air missions are fun! But yes, you cannot shot down the big UFO wothout losses.

Overall, is's an interesting journey, even without the docs.

[kitkat]

This topic may be long dead and buried, but I just started my first X-div experience. So far so good but I'd like to get my hands om the tech tree. The links I have found are all broken. Anyone who has an old or a new tech tree file to l share?
Cheers