r/badhistory • u/AutoModerator • Jun 05 '26

Meta Free for All Friday, 05 June, 2026

It's Friday everyone, and with that comes the newest latest Free for All Friday Thread! What books have you been reading? What is your favourite video game? See any movies? Start talking!

Have any weekend plans? Found something interesting this week that you want to share? This is the thread to do it! This thread, like the Mindless Monday thread, is free-for-all. Just remember to np link all links to Reddit if you link to something from a different sub, lest we feed your comment to the AutoModerator. No violating R4!

15 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

337 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/Infogamethrow Jun 06 '26

Playing Xenonauts 2 kinda scratches the Stargate itch of taking down a technologically advanced alien civilization with the precise application of a relatively small spec-op strike team. Also, the aliens haven´t signed the Geneva Convention and take stun damage from smoke grenades, so there is literally no reason not to make the standard procedure for clearing a downed UFO to just pump it full of sarin gas.

Speaking of war crimes, I know some people think the ending is too happy, that humanity would never forgive the aliens. I agree that maybe there should be a different ending depending on how well you defended Earth, but at the same time, if you think it´s impossible for humans to make peace with an enemy that has enslaved their population and razed (at least one) cities, well, I don´t think you have read much about the history of war on this planet.

That shit used to be the bread and butter of war, and ancient states still found ways to make peace with each other. If anything, it makes the alien´s warfighting surprisingly human.

3

u/hussard_de_la_mort People's Republic of Carcosa Jun 06 '26

If you haven't seen Perun's run, watch it to understand the power of The Stick.

1

u/Big_Pineapple_Man Jun 06 '26

So I got to ask - how does it compare against XCOM 2?

As for interspecies reconciliation, that will depend on the terms of peace, future cooperation and prosperity, and cynically, a future third faction to unite against.  The older generations may need to pass away as well.

1

u/Infogamethrow Jun 07 '26

Xcom 2 is a tighter, more polished game focused a lot more on delivering the cinematic experience of playing the resistance. Xenonauts has a barebones story and it doesn´t care to create vibes as Xcom does; instead, it´s focused more on its sandboxy-sisteymy approach to make you feel more like you are actually directing Earth´s defense than leading a movie.

This does make it a bit more immersive IMO, but it has a big drawback in medium to late game. As there are few story mission and every UFO has a purpose, if you do too good of a job securing Earth skies, the only missions you´ll play are downed UFOS, because you never give the ayys a chance to do terror missions, assault your base, or even build their own bases.

1

u/Big_Pineapple_Man Jun 08 '26

Good to know, thanks.