I`ve only had one battle, but the combat was far better. Soldiers shooting long distance actually missed every now and then where normally my men would`ve been wiped out. I noticed there was more dodging than i`ve seen before - I see dodging as `missed` now. It felt more like I was fighting Humans not robots.

But from this battle, it was a lot better and just felt more `realistic`.

Early days, but so far, so good.

On Medium, Ironman.

Ironman? So I guess your better combat mainly comes from you learnt the retreat, when to shoot or to actually hide.
Sure the patch helped you too.

I certainly know to get out if things go bad. Definitely. You do not stay and fight a losing battle on Ironman with your main character. You can kinda get away with it with others unless they bleed out and die.

And I`ve of course learnt to used smoke when I can and sticking my men against full cover out of sight whenever possible.
I still ended up having to restart because of the weird way combat worked. Ironman is why I haven`t gone that far.

This is like my 5th restart because I got wasted due to these weird rules before this patch. I just don`t like Reloading and prefer learning the tough way.

p.s. Was it you that requested a Friend request?

You must actually be completly out of sight, retreating to reload (ammo/concentration), then come back to the front.
By telling this, I think you're right: our step should only be if we have shot the turn before.
p.s. Nope, was not me.

Well prepatch it`s very hard to do since your character, I`ve learned, has that `area` around him. But if you get to a corner (without a window) and shut the door - ALWAYS shut the door, then you can get a turn`s breather. But they will move and get a bead on you impossibly by the next turn- and that usually mean 3-5 soldiers all shooting you at the same time even from the other side of the map!

But I do PLAN. I have an exit strategy always so as soon as it goes wrong my people are out the window and halfway to the evac zone. I`ve tried to risk it by staying just one turn longer- and yea, my people are wiped out. So I stopped doing that.

Played a mission after the patch. My spotter placed to spot the room with the enemy agent in it, two big windows and no obstacle along the way,he was not able to scout the room. Another one, my agent in cover behind a big fucking container got shot by an enemy who, by all rules and laws shaping our world, could never have LoS or take a shot on my agent.
Closed the game...

Nope, combat is still shit.

Glad you're enjoying the game much more after the changes.

I guess one of the reasons we messed up the weapon ranges initially was that the game was originally supposed to take place almost exclusively indoors. When we started we actually did not have any range mechanics whatsoever because we assumed that the combat would be entirely close quarters combat like, say, in SWAT 3 and 4, where the distances are always below the effective range of pretty much any firearm. Level design-wise we gradually went for larger distances, introduced effective and max weapon ranges but clearly didn't keep up with the balancing of those. I hope those are pretty much okay now, although I'm sure that we will continue to tweak those.

Not 100% sure, but it was probably me. Sometimes I throw some random friend requests among forum users. It's not that I want to stay in your house on holidays or something like that :P

Oh yes it was you.

Sorry, but I don`t accept random friend requests. I need to know the guy a little in someway (played a game or had a good conversation, etc). Someone I basically know a little.

Appreciate the requeest though.

No problem. I should stop asking for strangers' friendship :D

You never know, maybe we`ll become good friends by an act of fate somehow! Oh forgot to respond.

Thanks for the small improvements. Hope to play some more so I can keep updating. But good show!

Btw, Ironman? Wow, you're my idol. I reserve that setting for my second playthrough, once I know what to expect... You must be having a real hard time now.

Yeah I noticed that combat made a lot more sense now - I haven't recently gone "How the F!@?>@#? did he get me from all the way over there?!? Through the wall?!"

Played on hard, but NOT ironman (though I've only restored in combat a few times when I did something stupid due to not knowing what was going on, e.g. the first time I had one of those cell clearing missions and the reinforcements were added to the targets to take out (which BTW still doesn't really make sense to me)).

Now that I know how the combat works, it's become a tad easy now though. I once played through a level without even thinking about strategy, just firing at whoever I happened to see while picking up everything then heading to the exit, and although every agent was injured, I didn't have to revive anyone (one guy even got shredded by a chopper's minigun - IMO those things should be deadlier, since if someone got hit by one of those IRL (even behind light cover), it'd take hours to find where all the body parts ended up. This applies even more for the rockets.). Having said that, those guys will be out of action a LONG time.

Well looks like I`m out for a couple of days. My graphics card just died, this not only affects gaming but my work, so while that`s away on RMA and I order a temporary one, I bid you all well.

You guys are the best! Did so well with Hard West too even tho in that game there wasnt much to fix and more something players wanted badly, manual saves. That went against your intention for what you guys wanted but you did it anyways. Just dont throw out all design decisions please because some players can also get whiny and want things that make the game less fun for others.

Keep up the good work! <3