Xenonauts 2 News

[p]This update is also only accessible by switching to our Experimental branches (instructions on how to do so here) - although please be aware they have slower load times and worse performance than normal builds due to the extra logging they contain![/p][p]As mentioned in the previous patch notes, this update breaks save games. If you want to continue playing your 6.14.0 saves then that build is available on the Experimental Legacy branch.[/p][p]We're not expecting to add any additional content to Milestone 6 at this point, and we're hoping to release this onto the public branch towards the end of next week (assuming we can fix the remaining bugs we're working through, and not too many more bugs are encountered). So please do let us know if you encounter any serious problems while playing![/p][p]Balance Changes:[/p]

• [p]We've made a number of changes to the Doomsday values in Phase 1, which have been aimed at making the early game a little more forgiving and better emphasising success in tactical missions rather than relying on the player assassinating Infiltrators:[/p]
  • [p]Doomsday now starts at 30 (Recruit/Soldier), or 40 (Veteran/Commander).[/p]
  • [p]Infiltrators now generate +0.5 per day rather than +1, but there is now a baseline Doomsday gain of +1 or +2 (depending on difficultly setting). Overall, Doomsday generation per day has been decreased by -1 on all difficulty settings (counterbalanced by eliminating an infiltrator only reducing the Doomsday gain by -0.5 rather than -1).[/p]
  • [p]Winning a Cleaner mission now grants you -25 Doomsday. In some cases this is a significant increase.[/p]
  • [p]Cleaner Data items from Data Raid / Eliminate VIP missions are now worth +5 Operation Points each (not +10).[/p]
  • [p]Extract VIP missions now have the VIP carrying a briefcase item that contains investigative data on the Cleaners. Successfully extracting it grants +50 OP.[/p]
  • [p]Phase 1 Abduction missions now only generate +2 Doomsday for each civilian abducted by the aliens (reduced from +3). [/p]
• [p]The following changes have been made to Supporters:[/p]
  • [p]All supporters now grant -1 Panic in their local region at the start of each month from Phase 2 onwards.[/p]
  • [p]Security supporters grant -1 Doomsday per day in Phase 1, and -1 Panic in each region at the start of each month in Phase 2. This is in addition to the bonus above, and the Elite Security supporter grants -2.[/p]
  • [p]Infiltrators generate +2 Panic per month in their local region from Phase 2 onwards.[/p]
• [p]The VIP in Eliminate VIP missions is now less aggressive, so he will not push forward out of the building he spawned in.[/p]
• [p]We've reduced the number of enemy spawn points near the target soldiers on Rescue Soldiers missions, as it was too common for them to start surrounded by enemies and fighting for their lives.[/p]

[p]Changes:[/p]

• [p]Added the three large Soviet Town terror maps.[/p]
• [p]Updated the destruction states on various Soviet Town tiles to improve their visuals.[/p]
• [p]Units now play their damage animation when hit by a stun baton.[/p]

[p]Bugfixes:[/p]

• [p]Fixed a random crash that could occur during tactical missions on Soviet Town biome.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a crash that could occur on the soldier equip screen when moving items around.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a crash that could occur when arranging soldiers in the mission launch screen (if you clicked the dropship name while on a mission using the teleporter device).[/p]
• [p]Fixed the various tutorial progress issues, which would often also cause crashes when trying to complete the tutorial.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the air combat deployment zone becoming almost invisible at the start of some interceptions.[/p]
• [p]Another attempt at fixing shroud / fog of war not being visible inside UFOs.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the Gemini's max speed incorrectly being reduced after you completed the Angel Engine Upgrade engineering project.[/p]
• [p]Fixed enemy Sentry Guns showing as visually destroyed (but still actually being alive) after taking more than 50% damage.[/p]
• [p]Fixed there being a noticeable delay when units reacted to being hit by a stun baton.[/p]

[p]This update is also only accessible by switching to our Experimental branches (instructions on how to do so here) - although please be aware they have slower load times and worse performance than normal builds due to the extra logging they contain![/p][p]The minimum save version in this build has been increased, but it should not break save games created in the last couple of versions. This is intended to break campaigns started back in around 6.9 that did not survive the move to our more recent patches, as I'm not sure we can keep trying to patch those[/p][p]Please note that the next update we do (probably in a couple of days) will again break save game compatibility, so it's probably not a good idea to start a new campaign in this version![/p][p]Balance Changes:[/p]

• [p]Normal Security Supporters now only grant -1 Panic per month, as previously they gave -2 (which was the same as the Elite). However, there is a bug here that the supporters only grant local panic reduction, not in each region. This will be fixed in the next version (which will break save games).[/p]

[p]Changes:[/p]

• [p]Some more visual fixes for the Soviet Town factory building walls.[/p]

[p]Bugfixes:[/p]

• [p]Fixed shields not blocking shots at all.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the crash when you unassign one of the target soldiers in the Soldier Rescue mission from the dropship (should really be fixed this time).[/p]
• [p]Fixed a crash that could occur at end of turn on the Soviet Town maps.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a crash that could occur when destroying particular walls on the Soviet Town maps.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the weapon tooltip Armour Destruction value being broken.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some of the issues with unrevealed objects inside UFOs partially drawing above the shroud.[/p]

[p]This update is also only accessible by switching to our Experimental branches (instructions on how to do so here) - although please be aware they have slower load times and worse performance than normal builds due to the extra logging they contain![/p][p]Balance Changes:[/p]

• [p]Xenonaut Shields were previously a bit overpowered as they blocked all damage in the frontal 180-degree arc of the carrying soldier. They now only offer 100% protection in the frontal 90-degree arc, and the protection now linearly drops off from 100% down to a minimum of 20% as the angle approaches the edges of the frontal 180-degree arc.[/p]

[p]Changes:[/p]

• [p]Various visual updates to the new ARES model to reintroduce the engine glow and heat haze etc.[/p]
• [p]Soviet Town terror sites now have Alenium Bombs like the Western Town maps do.[/p]
• [p]Updated the "wingover" icon in the air combat interface.[/p]

[p]Bugfixes:[/p]

• [p]Fixed a crash that could occur at end of turn in the tactical combat on the Soviet Town biome.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a crash clicking the supporter regions / supporter icons on the Geoscape if you loaded an old save from 6.10.0.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a crash during the tutorial.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the Cleaners getting stuck while moving into position in the tutorial.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the ARES weapons being invisible.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the MARS tracks flickering during the fire animation, and if the vehicle moved more than one tile.[/p]
• [p]Fixed fire / smoke effects sometimes spawning in the very corner of the map, rather than their intended tile.[/p]
• [p]Another attempted fix for the camera sometimes incorrectly snapping to a moving unit after you've manually taken control of the camera (which should stop any attempted camera tracking).[/p]

Earlier today, we shared our monthly development update for Xenonauts 2, outlining everything we've worked on in the past month. From ongoing updates to the Milestone 6 Experimental branch and a new ending cinematic and to an air combat update and an alternate Soviet Town biome for terror missions, we've been busy!

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[p]Hello everyone - we're now into October, so here's our monthly development update covering everything we worked on over the past month.[/p][h3]Milestone 6[/h3][p]After releasing Milestone 6 onto the Experimental branches last month, we continued to release updates for it this month. Having completed all three of the remaining gameplay tasks on our Early Access roadmap, we're now focused on stability and bugfixes.[/p][p]We're still aiming to have the full release for Milestone 6 in the next two to three weeks - although estimating how many bugs our testers will find (and how long it'll take us to fix them) is tricky, so that date may move if we encounter a lot of problems![/p][h3]Ending Cinematic[/h3][p]The first completed item on our roadmap was the ending cinematic, which is a short epilogue cutscene in the same style as the opening cutscene. This has now been fully implemented in the game and plays after completion of the final mission. There's not really much more to say here, but I hope players feel it's a fitting way to close out a successful campaign.[/p][h3]Air Combat Tutorial & Gemini[/h3][p]Next was the "Air Combat Update" roadmap item, which contains all our previous work on the air combat interface refresh (plus the new side-on art for all the aircraft weapons) and now also contains the air combat tutorial. This has been integrated into the existing tutorial, and is aimed to be a brief explanation of the key interception combat mechanics, giving the player just enough information that they can figure out the rest by themselves.[/p][p]The Gemini interceptor has also had a bit of a refresh over the past couple of months, having morphed from a fighter that simply had better stats than its predecessors to a craft capable of performing some unique combat maneuvers. We recently added the "wingover" manevuer for that aircraft, which flips the plane through 180-degrees and can be rather helpful in a dogfight. This should help keep the tech progression interesting.[/p][p]We'll continue to tweak and refine the gameplay and balance of the air combat in Milestone 7, but we're now relatively happy with the overall state of the air combat.[/p][h3]Soviet Town Biome[/h3][p]The final completed item on our roadmap was the Soviet Town biome - an alternate biome for terror missions that is used in certain parts of the world. Adding a new "town" biome always takes a long time, but I'm pleased with the way it has come out. There's a nice contrast between the Western Town, which is mostly commercial buildings, and the Soviet Town being a mixture of residential, government and industrial buildings. That should help keep Terror missions feeling fresh.[/p][p]At present we've only added the five small Terror maps to the game, but the remaining three medium Terror maps are mostly complete and should be fully finished in the next week or so.[/p][h3]Miscellaneous[/h3][p]We've also added a few other smaller pieces of content this month. There's three extra strategy and three extra tactical music tracks (which almost doubles the amount of music in the game), plus updated models for the MARS and ARES vehicles, and some Xenopedia rewrites to reflect the new mechanics and gameplay changes added recently. And, as always, there's a long list of minor improvements that are too small to be worth mentioning.[/p][p]I think that's everything. Thanks for reading, and I'll be writing another post in a month's time![/p]