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Check out this topic for a lot of discussion on the same idea:
http://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=164.0

make sure you got chokepoints for them to go through.

I hardly ever use more than 3 or 4 turrets. But they are all strategically placed in the mountain hallways.
Also dont forgot to flank and make use of coverage.

What do you mean by chokepoints? and how do you set them?

This is what he means by "choke point"
http://bit.ly/1a7WKKh

This is certainly an inelegant system, but might be interesting as a mod or somesuch:

You send a party off of the map.  The game freezes the colony and allows you to explore whatever you'd like (however that's generated, etc...).

When your exploration party returns you have the option to
1)  Run simulation (the computer zips through how long you were gone and gives you the result
or
2)  Play as colony.  You begin where the colony 'froze' and just play the game as you would.  However long it you took exploring is how long those characters are gone.  Eventually they return, and your game 'timelines' converge.

This poll isn't run by Tynan though, so the 'official' poll could be a ranked-system of some sort.  Then again this poll does what is should do.  Who knows?

That's a very good point though

Tynan already said

If we did do ammo, the first version would be limited to artillery pieces (which aren't yet in the game, though they were there in a super early prototype last year, with FTL-style direct controls)"

Yes, and if you read OP's post, you see that Gazz quoted that line twice.  Gazz is discussing further implementation some day down the road.  Just because it's not going to happen soon doesn't mean it should be glossed over.  (By that logic there really wouldn't be much to discuss).

No harm in kicking around a few ideas and polishing them in the community's collective mind.  Then if Tynan brings it up ever (not just this, anything we're talking about that is down the road), we already have well formed opinions and reasoning behind them.  (Ideally.  I mean, this is the internet we're talking about...)

Magazines (as you propose) do not make any sense.  They don't magically 'reload' after a cooldown.  And you don't have the ability to 'reload slower' without magazines.

You reload through magazines.  Without magazines you are completely incapable of reloading.  A more sensible way would be that character can carry X magazines, giving them X reloads.  Their reload speed is dependent upon weapon type and skill.

You would then have support colonists who run magazines from the fighters to the colony armory, where a few colonists reload the magazines from the ammo dump.  This could create an interesting system in longer engagements, as you would have to maintain a supply line, but I doubt engagements would ever last long enough.

I agree with most of the people here that ammo is unnecessary, along with any sort of magazine complications.  Weapons should have unique reload speeds (and perhaps increased skill increases reload speed), but beyond that we should leave it be.

Smoke grenades â€" Some means for raiders to obscure their movements and gain ground without getting slaughtered.

Perhaps on this note, flashbangs, etc...

I saw a youtube assault where the raiders just walked through a fatal funnel.  They should have more strategic options.  (Might sound costly, but this game is built on a strategic-shooter framework, no?  So these things should be in already).

Also, less-than-lethal weapons to 'increase recruitment'

I agree this is something that wouldn't get added for awhile (if at all).  But I don't think the idea should be dismissed for that reason.  It's also not a topic that requires "wait until alpha" to see how things are implemented.  It stands alone from other gameplay elements.

There is a functional game-start system, but this proposed system adds to it.  It gives backstory and environment to the game, which is otherwise a random occurrence.  Nor does this system remove the "here's the situation you find yourself in" feel.  You are still crash-landing with not enough supplies, fighting to survive.  Even if some choices were available at start (which we have, as it stands) that doesn't make surviving any easier.  The game also lets you file through an infinite number of "randomized" characters.  Doesn't this backstory explain why we have that option?
Actually for a true "here's the situation you find yourself in" feel, should we have any choices at all?

I understand your concerns that it is overly complicated, so let me draw a comparison.  The FTL New-Game menu sticks you 'in-game' in a hanger.  You can shuffle through ships and variants, but you have something to look at.  The hanger is more atmospheric to the game than a simple "Pick one" prompt.  The current system is a list of stats and words.  There is nothing wrong with that, but I think the proposed system would ease players into the game.  It would also allow for a small tutorial on character and console control before putting players in charge of a colony.

Drop the time limit if it sounds intimidating.  The proposition is the exact same system the current new-game interface has, but with environment and feel.  Like the Call of Duty game where you can get out of the chair and walk around outside of the main menu.  Or Perfect Dark (back to N64 days), the main menu was a computer you could open up; otherwise you were free to walk around the building.

Ahhh, well there's the root of it. We currently are divided on whether FoW or Uncertainty Veil (as it's coined for Rimworld) will be in the game; even as an optional toggle considering the difficulty getting it to work will have [verified by Tynan].

It's worth it. I can't seem to think of any disadvantage. It adds a lot of fun to the game. Searching for resources, patrolling so that pirates can't surprise you. You should not even know that they have landed unless you have a radar or something. It would be very disappointing if it's not at least an option.

Read up on what's been said, and what Tynan has to say on the subject here:
http://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=146.0

I think you guys have to be really careful with overcomplicating things on this thread. The rough idea being developed could be a good start; I don't have an opinion on it, but I'd advise to try and avoid having people injured at the very start of the game or the player not getting what they selected. The rest of the game is for those sort of issues after all.

The player not getting what they selected would come if you let the 2 minute timer go out (or whatever time was decided.  Since it'd be ample to do what needs doing it'd really just be a choice for people who wanted to see what would happen.

I'd imagine that starting with injuries would be pretty toned down, cuts and scrapes.  Maybe the occasional wound.  But the system would allow for increased difficulties/storytellers to make things harder for the player.  Lots of people would appreciate more curveballs.

The default difficulty/normal storyteller would only have it in there as flavor, it wouldn't be set to a level to crank the difficulty.  Plus you could always choose the cryo people who wouldn't have injuries.

Anyway, just ideas.  Open for tuning and discussion of course.

Next thing is to know if this scene would't be requiring excessive programming and artwork from our poor Ty...

Artwork:  Nope, that's what the kickstarter is for!
Programming:  I honestly have no idea, but it seems like it'd just be a few more variables in character generation, and some scripted sequences.  Certainly less work than creating a new system that has to interact with all the systems that are already in game, and then balancing them together...

[From here on out you're "In-game"]

Ok, so fleshing out the idea more (bear with me on this):

You press "New Game"
A menu appears and you get to choose the difficulty as well as the AI Storyteller.

You press "Begin":
Asteroids cross the menu screen as it fades to black.  You hear crashing, impacts, thuds, and screaming.

From here on out you're "In-game"

Fade in to escape pod bay:
"Warning, 2 minutes until hazardous atmosphere entry.  Abandon Ship now."
     There's blood and a few bodies.  You're on the ship which is obviously in bad shape.  The navigation system messed up and sent the ship into an asteroid belt.  You can see that most of the escape pods are destroyed, only four have the green indicator light above them.
     There are 10 survivors in the center sitting on benches.  You have control of a couple of android/robot things.  The game starts paused.  You can click on each survivor and see their stats and traits (as well as any injuries they start with.  Perhaps "Better suited survivors" have a higher chance of having sustained an injury?  Nah, probably better to just have it be random).
     There's also a cryogenic pod stabilizer.  You can send a bot to the console and scroll through available cryogenic tubes.  There's also an equipment rack you can work with.  You get to choose how many survivors to take, as well as what (if any) gear to take.
     Also, some cryo-tubes were destroyed (no gameplay effect, just flavor) and some are damaged (it doesn't display all of the characters trait information).  (Hey look!  An ex-military survival specialist!  Too bad the information that he's a serial killer was corrupted in the asteroid belt...)

     So initial gameplay would be selecting people, and unthawing cryo-tube survivors, as well as loading them and their equipment.  (Do you care more about a gun or a med kit?  More choices, more better!).  Maybe the people not selected would throw a fit?  That could get interesting, although may be more trouble that it's worth...

     I think it'd also be interesting if there were some windows in the background too.  Starts off with some asteroids, about 45 seconds in you can see the start of the planet you're going to land on, and it begins to get larger the longer you wait.  If you wait the full two minutes everyone dies and you lose.  (Granted the time allotted is ample to do the task (doesn't have to be 2 minutes).  More for flavor than anything else.  You also have control of pause and whatnot). 
     Alternatively, if you wait too long the people who are aboard the ship start rioting, and rush for the escape pods.  The stronger/more violent characters then survive because they're the ones who made it to the pods while you were being indecisive.

After loading the tubes a you get to choose where you're going to set down (map/biome selection).  You hit launch, and the tubes drop out of the area.  The people you didn't select start to freak out and it fades out to black again.

Fade in: 
You're outside the ship, you watch the four tubes drop into atmosphere as the ship begins its entry.  The tubes drop safely as you watch the ship catch on fire and get torn apart on entry.

Scene cuts, you watch the four tubes hit the planet, and now you're playing the game.

[Difficulty and AI Storyteller would affect what you have to work with on your ship.  How many injuries, how much data corruption, how soon do people start throwing a fit?  Harder difficulties mean you can choose between people you have assurances about who they are, but are injured.  Or a bunch of uninjured wild-cards.  Basically they'd effect all of the %chances towards things.]

Thoughts?

A way to mix the two:

You're on a long-range transport ship that makes short-range stops on the way to its destination.  So it has a large store of cryo-tubes, but also short-range passengers.  Due to an explosion only 10 people have access to the escape tubes in time, and the limited number of supplies in the room.

However, if you don't like the 10 people you're given to choose from, you have the option to choose from randomized cryo-tube people.  Thereby condemning more of the 10 to death than you would otherwise.

You still get to tug on the heartstrings knowing that the virtual people you don't choose will die.  And if you take the cryo-tubes more of them will experience death (instead of not waking up, like the icy sleepers).

And to give this choice more impact, there could be an artsy cutscene where you see the escape pods leave the ship, and watch them fall while the ship crumbles into a fireball in the background.

Pretty sure that falls into the 'planned but not implemented â€" pre-alpha' line of thought.  I saw a youtuber mention characters get debuffs for nutrient paste, but they hadn't run into any other options.  Indicating that other options will exist, but don't exist yet.

I'm sure there'll be a lot of plant and animal species to complement the game.

Also I didn't know you could go over sandbags, haven't seen it in Alpha footage and don't have Pre-Alpha Access until November 1st 

I don't know if you're basing your sandbag line off of what I said (because I haven't seen anything else along those lines) but I don't know.  I likewise don't have pre-alpha until November.  I was just basing that description off of reality.  But that doesn't always translate to video games, haha.
(I see no reason characters shouldn't be able to vault sandbags...)

But "hardened" and "veteran" don't sound like descriptors of people who would gleefully jump into the morally grey and black.  They'd deal with death and killing better than the average joe, but that doesn't mean they find joy in it.  I haven't read the whole trait list, but things along the lines of 'evil' would be better â€" sadistic, brutal, etc....

And it shouldn't be the lack of a debuff, but instead these traits should gain a happiness buff or something.

It'd be interesting to see colonies with certain kinds of people naturally evolve into a cruel dictatorships because of who is involved.  And to also explore the conflict between different characters with different moral views regarding these topics.  Perhaps even coups.  I know we're in control, but characters can go crazy.  It'd be interesting to see characters change the status quo, and rise up against each other because of their relationships, beliefs, and actions.  The player having no control to make them stop (because they let it get to that point), and would just have to work with the after effects.