More strategic xcom-like game?

[Battler]

I like the idea of developing a base, studying alien technology, and extracting resources for resistance, but the tactical battles in xcom are not particularly interesting to me. Is there any game with more emphasis on strategic part of this thing?

[Akameka]

If you want something like Xcom, xenonauts - and xenonauts 2 (in development) are the closer ones I can think of.

It is way less spectacular than the modern xcoms in terms of graphisms, music & cinematic effects, but in a tactical and strategical plan, it is superior.

what changes between xcom - xenonauts :

> World wide base planning.
You build as much base as you need/can afford the maintenance, and place them where it can cover important territories. Then you build the needed infrastructures inside those. Hangar bays, barracks, labs, workshop... and recruit the personnel you can afford too. then you build planes in each bases so they can protect humanity.

> Air game & air superiority.
UFOs will attack in waves. Most of them won't ever land and will just wander around, striking randomly at military or civilian targets, crippling the countries until they collapse and surend. To stop that from happening, you'll need to win the air superiority. That means, intercepting the UFOs with aircrafts, with carefull planning of where your radars/bases are placed, what kind of craft you have ready and what kind you will send to each threat. Then, you have to give orders to your aircrafts in real time (pause is always available), to beat the technological advantage of UFOs with your tactical abilities.

> there are lots of different UFOs, each with their own objectives - light scout and scouts cause minor damage but increase the alien tech the more they are allowed to roam freely - fighters will attack aircrafts and cripple world economy - corvettes and cruisers will bomb cities and bases, can assault your own bases or start leveling cities, which will hurt economy tremendously if not stoped - carriers will launch cities assaults/terror missions which will result in nuking to avoid parasitic monsters to reproduce and become rampant if not stopped by your men. - supply ships will develop alien bases.... and so on. Each ship has different size, shape and abilities, and will fight differently. It also means that the breaching fight on the ground won't be the same. Huge ships on several floors are on a whole other level to assault.

> fighting forces and civilians.
There are civilians and some soldiers/armed civilians on each map. They can and will fight with you if possible, can even kill several aliens by themselves but they most likelly be anihilated if you do nothing. It add some life to missions. Also, military forces deployed in terror missions will be numerous and will fight besides you. they will also rank up their gear as your technological level increase, using laser weaponry for exemple later in the game.

> ground fight & breaching.
Besides bases raids and city & base defenses, most of the game is based on breaching mission (more variety of missions in xenonauts 2)
Basically you reach a crashsite / landing site, and your goal is to reach the UFO, breach it and gain its control. Easier said than done, especially for larger UFO models. Then you either keep control for 5 turns or clean up the aliens who scatered in the vicinity (towns, villages, farms, military buildings, arctic bases, wildlands...)
Your goal is to secure alien materials/bodies, so of course, rockets and grenades are efficient beyond measure, but unrecommended to keep up on the strategical and technological plane.

> Combat
unlike xcom, units have TUs, up to 105. all actions use them, from walking to opening a door, turning, crounching, shooting, reloading... when out of TUs, the unit cannot act anymore. If you have enought TUs, acting is way more flexible than in xcom. You can get out of cover, shoot at and exposed alien, then go back in cover, or shoot, reload, then shoot again, or shoot several times rather than moving... and so on.

> Units leveling
unlike Xcom, there are no perks. that means, unit are more disposable than in xcom where your perks matter way more than your gear. Here gear is more important. That being said, units wil increase their basic stats when doing actions in fight. Shooting from afar ? +1 accuracy. running around overloaded ? +1 strenght. Running a lot ? +1 TU. getting supressed/panicked ? +1 courage. triggering reaction fire ? +1 reflexes.
Thoses will stacks from one mission to another, so veterants that survive lots of missions are way more usefull than rookies.

> Looting & gear
Nothing stops you from grabing the aliens weapons on the ground to use it against other aliens. You'll also have to manage your soldiers gear. Ammo aren't unlimited, but can be shared between soldiers if needed. Of course more ammo means giving up weight for something else - grenades, rockets, heavier armor/weapons, medkits - It will all depends on how you want to equip your soldiers. Wanna give a rocket launcher to every soldier as a side weapon ? you can. A medkit for everyone ? doable. Stun batons to everyone ? Also feasable. Your call.

> Ballistics and damage
Unlike xcom, the game use a ballistic simulation. that means that's it's not just hit or miss, bullets still travel and will hit things. A miss will actually scatter and travel until either hitting the ground or a wall/unit. That means that unlike xcom, shooting point blank will always result in a 100% hit chance, as the missing bullets cannot scatter anywhere else without crossing the unit you're shooting at. So the games relies more on tactic rather than luck. On the other side, that means that a full cover is always a 0% chance to hit, as it will intercept any bullets.
Also, bullets lose damage over distance, so shooting pointblank or short range is always better than from far away.

> Targetting
You can target anything with any weapon. Meaning that you can shoot at the ground near an ennemy if you only want to supress him. Or you can shoot at a wall until it is destroyed to create a new path or expose an enemy. Or you can even wallbang an alien if you shoot directly at a wall and he is standing right behind, some of the bullets will get through and hurt him with reduced damage.

TLDR : It's a way more tactical game than modern xcoms, but less spectacular in terms of graphisms & animations. Xenonauts 2 is cooking and already looks way better in terms of animation and gameplay diversity, but the 1 is still a good game.

[Hydra_360ci]

Disgaea series
Agerest of War series
Valkiria Chronicals series
Mechcommander
Front Mission series
Growlanser series
BoF: Dragon Quarter
Radiata Stories
UFO series
Fallout 1 & 2
Parasite Eve original
Dino Crises original
Jagged Aliance series
Wasteland series
Darklands
Planescape Tormented
Baldur's Gate series
Dragon Age series
Star Wars Old Republic series
Jade Empire
Rensonance of Fate
Poison Pink/Eternal Poison

[Battler]

Originally posted by Hydra_360ci:

Valkiria Chronicals series
Baldur's Gate series
Dragon Age series

Yes... I forgot how cool it was to explore reptilian technology in Dragon Age! Blasters, laser guns, fireballs. A full cocktail.

[mk11]

Are you after
- base building
- research
- resource management

Those are the staples of most 4x games. So what sense is something like "Shadow Empire" not what you are after?

[Dragon32]

Maybe "Terra Invicta"?

[Selmo]

Yes those are mostly 4X games. Or simulator/builder games like Stellaris, Tropico, Settlers, Surviving Mars etc.

[Jenny Chance]

You should give Phoenix Point a try. The only area where I feel it is really lacking is the soldier customization. Its geoscape, the free aim mechanic, and vehicles are all pretty great improvements or additions to the XCOM 2 formula. There's also a mod called Terror from the Void that's kind of like a Long War mod that adds a lot.

[TheOrangeBox]

Cannot recommend Xenonauts, extremely basic gameplay and mostly repetitive with 2D sprites that's very buggy. An ok attempt but far from what people make of it.

[TheOrangeBox]

Battlestar Galactica Deadlock

[WillieSea]

Xenonauts was very good, not buggy at all and a lot of fun. No more 'repetitive' than the original X-Com games. But Xenonauts is X-Com plus, because it is so much more.

[Fluffy Newfoundland]

Phoenix Point, cheap when on sales, great games and good content.

[Hammer Bear]

1. base building
2. research tree
3. resource management
4. tactical combat

yeah, as far as i know
i think phoenix point and xenonauts
are only two game that fits all the requirements

[Battler]

Originally posted by Hammer Bear:

1. base building
2. research tree
3. resource management
4. tactical combat

yeah, as far as i know
i think phoenix point and xenonauts
are only two game that fits all the requirements

Hmm, I tried xenonauts, and although I liked some of the mechanics, there are enough problems in the game, so I decided to wait for the second part.

But what about Phoenix Point. A lot of people mentioned it. Is PP more strategically and less tactically oriented than XCOM or what specifically with this game?

[mk11]

Originally posted by Hammer Bear:

1. base building
2. research tree
3. resource management
4. tactical combat

yeah, as far as i know
i think phoenix point and xenonauts
are only two game that fits all the requirements

With just those there are loads of games. Total War, Conquest of Eo, Humankind, etc. Still not clear to me what OP is after.

[Battler]

Originally posted by mk11:

Originally posted by Hammer Bear:

1. base building
2. research tree
3. resource management
4. tactical combat

yeah, as far as i know
i think phoenix point and xenonauts
are only two game that fits all the requirements

With just those there are loads of games. Total War, Conquest of Eo, Humankind, etc. Still not clear to me what OP is after.

You can study alien technology in Total War? Or resist them?
Seriously, if I were just looking for a game with a research tree, I would just take absolutely any strategy