Strategic Management
The strategic management layer of Xenonauts is hugely detailed and vital to winning the fight against the aliens. It is here that you control the defence of the planet, recieving alerts as alien activity throws up situations you need to respond to – ranging from the detection of squadrons of UFOs entering Earth’s atmosphere to terror attacks on civilian or military infrastructure!
The fundamental premise of Xenonauts is that you must hold off the invasion for long enough to capture and research enough alien technology to discover what is needed to defeat the extraterrestrials. Each region is a funding bloc that will increase or decrease your funding on a monthly basis depending on your performance at defending them from attack – shooting down the UFOs intruding into their airspace and responding to terror sites caused by alien ground troops. Perform poorly and you will initially find regions starve you of funds, then abandon you altogether and sign a treaty with the aliens. And if too many nations sign treaties with the aliens, it’s Game Over! Expanding to protect new regions or spending your funds on better defending those already protected is a core dilemma in Xenonauts.
This is complicated by the escalation of the alien invasion, with bigger ships and more powerful aliens appearing as time passes. Ground combat missions to recover crashed UFOs or capture alien bases will recover valuable technology that can be researched to unlock new tools to use in humanity’s fight for survival – everything from new base structures and aircraft to ground vehicles and infantry battlefield equipment. Fall too far behind on the research front and the odds will rapidly move from remote to flat-out impossible.
This is all performed by the construction of bases on the strategic map. Bases contain the radar installations which detect UFOs as they fly through the atmosphere, and also house the aircraft, vehicles, soldiers, scientists and technicians that you control in the battle to save the Earth. Each base is fully customisable and can contain up to 49 structures (eg. hangars, laboratories, living quarters, hospitals, radars etc) that benefit the installation in some way. If sufficient funds are available, new bases can be built in any human-held territory in the world – but this represents a significant investment of money and resources.
The aircraft, vehicles and soldiers housed in these bases are persistent. These are the units you deploy in either Air Combat or Ground Combat, but the results of these battles are felt on the strategic map. Play badly and lose an aircraft or a vehicle in battle and you’ve lost it on the strategic map too – you’ll need to buy or build a new one! For soldiers it is even more important you keep them alive, as they level up and become more powerful through combat experience. All three types of unit can be equipped with different weapons or equipment when back at base, allowing you to customise them to suit your battlefield tactics.
