Phoenix Point - new Julian Gollop turn-based strategy game

RNG died. Nothing of value was lost. :)

I agree that it’s new, but I don’t think it’s good. The difference between this and Combat Mission is that in CM, you have the ability to move a tiny bit over if the shot can’t be made – it’s a full 100% simulation. Same as when playing a shooter. You don’t have that ability in a turn-based game with discrete steps. Instead, you’re at the mercy of the abstraction, animation choices and positioning the developers baked in. This mechanic would have worked well had PP been a realtime with pause game, or WEGO (with some way to jump in and do the shooting). As it stands, it’s emulating the older style games (old x-com, Jagged Alliance, Xenonauts) that did things better than modern XCom in this regard, without getting the full benefit of their trajectory systems that were properly designed for the abstraction of turn-based games.

Well, I’ve done the string thing, but it was never “I can draw the string from my pinky to your big toe” level stuff. More like “I can draw the string from the center of my tank turret to the center of your tank turret.” I think the weirdness people are bringing up comes from the degree of specificity in the de-abstraction attempt. It’s a messy place to jump into, because both extremes–fully abstracted and full-on FPS–are well done many other places, and the middle ground is murky.

I think the ‘innovation’ is fine, I get where you are coming from though.

For me what really makes the game remarkable is how the battles and mechanics tell stories that ‘feel’ authentic. I find great cover and engage but it disappears around me as the aliens advance with superior bio and equipment tech.

My battles often have a ebb and flow to them. pulling back as i take too much damage or my squad is mentally exhausted.

Or the time i raided the cult and my sniper noticed that most of the cultist were armed with swords and hammers. So my squad retreated to a billboard walkway and sniped them away as they tried to charge my positions. Then a few cultist decided to hide behind cover, and i got to experiment just how much penetration my weapons had with free aim (which was a more than i thought getting the chance to test it was nice).

Each battle is filled with stories as the battles come to life for me, which is really what i appreciate and love about the game more than any feature!

That the strategic game has a little of this (more than any of the newer xcoms for sure) is just icing on the cake.

The testament of my love of the game, is that i play despite the bugs, or that i had a team wipe and realized i was in a hole that i couldnt get out of and had to restart a new game and didnt rage quit, is evidence of that.

I’m still on my second playthrough. I’m pretty sure that I’m not winning this one. But that’s okay. I’m considering it a roguelike. Even with the bugs, it’s a great game. I’ll wake up from a dead sleep and the first thing I think is that I could just get up and play for a while.

Edit: I keep hearing one of my guys sounding like Chekov. And I am sure that the aliens occasionally say ‘fuck you.’

Huh, i swear I heard that to! Ok, not in my head…

ok here is a question. I noticed a requirement for building a secondary bases, I’m not sure how to fulfill that requirement. Any ideas?

Build or find?

I’m currently looking for the abandoned base in Australia. I’m guessing I’ll need to rebuild it when found?

Fun watch https://www.twitch.tv/videos/519904367

I told you aliens say fuck you.

So, I’m playing this now, for the first time.

In the tutorial you can lose units, which sucks going forward.

My first impression is that everything feels clunky and requiring many clicks.

It’s not smooth.

First “real” mission was a bunch of fireworms. Shooting them seemed to miss, then I figured out grenades would do a much better job. Shoot once to alert them, so they come running to me, then grenade them.

That was a satisfying tactical puzzle to figure out.

So far, it feels like a more advanced, less cartoony version of X-Com.

I think I like it, an hr in.

I like having more action points, cones of overwatch with variable lengths, ammunition etc.

In situations with fireworms I like to have one guy with a handgun. Three shots, three dead worms.

You find bases that are already on the map. It’s not like XCOM where you build them wherever you want.

Keep in mind that your soldiers at your new bases won’t rest or heal unless there are rooms for resting and healing. You might want to build those if they aren’t there.

-Tom

Yes, thanks Tom! In my first play through I found like 6 bases, and you can repair damaged sections, but building new sections requires you have a operational value (or something like that) of 2 to 4 depending on the base. I got operational value of 2 in my first game, but I have no idea HOW lol! Any ideas?

Hmm, you have me stymied here, because I’m not sure what “operational value” even is. As near as I can tell, every game has eight bases somewhere on the map waiting for you to find them. Your bases determine soldier and vehicle capacity, equipment storage, manufacturing and science production, area scans, healing, resting, and other stuff you’ll discover further into the story line. The only limit is the rooms you’ve built in your bases, which is in turn limited by the number of base spaces you’ve discovered, the resources you’ve spent building rooms, and the energy provided to power rooms in any given base. I don’t know of anything called an operational limit, but maybe I haven’t discovered it yet?

EDIT: Ah, I see now! It’s the term used for powering the room. You can toggle rooms on and off, but it takes energy. “Operational” is just the term for how much energy it needs. Build moar generators!

-Tom

Ok, maybe i’m seeing a bug because all the rooms including energy are greyed out, except in my last play through

I think when you repair a generator, the default state for rooms is still “off”. You might have to press each room’s button to toggle it?

-Tom

That’s correct. They do not automatically turn on.

Thanks guys, i was low on the first resource, which was greying out the ability to build anything. Duh!