Ask the devs: Future plans for biters/aliens/enemies?

[axefrog]

In the late game, the game surrounding the enemies becomes kind of monotonous, like mowing the lawn. Yeah you gotta do it, but it's repetitive and a chore that you just gotta do.

Is there any talk in the office, even just throwing ideas around or whatever, about future plans for making enemies more interesting? I know plenty of people turn them off, but for those who don't, they're an essential part of the game, and maintaining that challenge, and avoiding late-game monotony as far as enemies are concerned, seems like something worth thinking about.

Can you tell us anything at all? Even the fuzziest, non-quotable, non-set-in-stone info would be cool. I just want to know how the devs feel about this aspect of the game. Particularly interested if there are any plans to go beyond just making the existing ones tougher and tougher and instead expand to new depths. Stuff like fortified hives that you don't find until a long way out from the base, flying aliens, "intelligent" aliens that are less frequent but more challenging to deal with, alien attempts to infect player structures and use them against the player, stationary/static alien defenses (organic turrets and the like), etc. Seems like a lot could be done to make the experience of seeking out the enemy more rewarding, other than just as a way to scrub the surface of resources clean, ready for mining.

[Frightning]

In endgame it's possible to completely automate your defenses, including repairs, ammunition resupply (if applicable), and replacement of any destroyed buildings. Literally once it's all set up, you don't have to think about the biters again (until you want to expand, but even that isn't hard to deal with, the one part not really automatable is removing the existing biters from the area you want to expand into).

[AileTheAlien]

You could also just play in Friendly mode, or use this mod which makes the aliens easier when you kill more of their bases. Since science is getting reworked, interacting with the aliens should be irrelevant to your main research and factory work. :)

[NorwegianBlue]

With 0.15 late game we can clean up biter infestations with tactical nuclear hellfire. Should make expanding nice and efficient. Get rid of those annoying trees too.

[Hannu]

With 0.15 late game we can clean up biter infestations with tactical nuclear hellfire. Should make expanding nice and efficient. Get rid of those annoying trees too.

I hope that they make nuclear weapons effective enough. They should clear for example area with a radius of 200 m. It sounds overpowered, but it would still need about 10 bombs per square kilometer. First detonations will be certainly fun but it will be boring grinding after 10 square kilometer expansion.

[Kelderek]

From xterminator's twitch stream a dev said the radius is 35 tiles. That is big enough that it will be a challenge to not blow yourself up in the process.

[Hannu]

From xterminator's twitch stream a dev said the radius is 35 tiles. That is big enough that it will be a challenge to not blow yourself up in the process.

It means almost 260 to cover one square kilometer. Practically maybe around 100-150 if the area is filled with mature end game colonies. It does not sound much more efficient labor wise than running around with the flame thrower and swarm of destroyers.

[Kelderek]

From xterminator's twitch stream a dev said the radius is 35 tiles. That is big enough that it will be a challenge to not blow yourself up in the process.

It means almost 260 to cover one square kilometer. Practically maybe around 100-150 if the area is filled with mature end game colonies. It does not sound much more efficient labor wise than running around with the flame thrower and swarm of destroyers.

Perhaps, but it will be one-hit kills for the entire area it hits and it will be WAY more awesome to watch. Also, the flamethrower looks like it will be less effective with some nerfs and buffs to alien and nest resistance to fire.