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]This is our first release candidate build - if no further major fixes are needed for this build, it will be the build we use when we launch on 2nd April. We'll run the standard experimental version of it for the next 24 hours and then we'll be switching it to the normal version that will actually be released (so without all the extra experimental logging) to ensure there's no unexpected bugs lurking in that version of the game![/p][p]Gameplay Changes:[/p]

• [p]Endgame part 1 now gives the player 1 extra turn before the enemy reinforcements start spawning.[/p]
• [p]Further localisation updates.[/p]

[p]Bugfixes:[/p]

• [p]Fixed a crash that would occur if a UFO filled its charge meter and escaped, but was then destroyed in the 2-second period before the air combat actually ended.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the heavy armour tooltips claiming to cause -100% Accuracy (instead of -10% Accuracy).[/p]
• [p]Fixed the Fusion Lance aircraft weapon not appearing on the aircraft paperdoll when equipped. [/p]
• [p]Fixed being unable to manually put clips into guns by dragging the ammo over the weapon in the inventory.[/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]As we're now one week out from release, we're going to slow down our rate of updates to Milestone 7 and we'll only be making further changes to fix major bugs or serious balance issues - every change we make runs the risk of introducing a new bug, and we want the launch build to be as stable as possible! All other changes are being rolled into the first post-launch patch, which we're working on in the background and will be releasing onto the Experimental branches shortly after release![/p][p]As Milestone 7 seems noticably harder than Milestone 6 was, we've taken a few steps to dial back the difficulty - particularly in the middle of the game where the basic Guardian no longer offers adequate protection and the Exosuit has not yet arrived, where many the aliens can absorb a lot of damage while being able to 1-shot your troops in return. That stage of the game is meant to be challenging, but not quite as challenging as it was![/p][p]Gameplay Changes:[/p]

• [p]The Guardian Armour protection upgrade engineering project now unlocks earlier: off Alien Electronics (Observer UFOs) rather than Advanced Alloys (Abductor UFOs). The upgraded armour now provides 25/38 Armour (up from 24/36) and has 12 Hardness (up from 10).[/p]
• [p]Stalker Armour now offers 25 Armour, but has no heavy variant. This means it offers good protection for 8 Weight (and no Accuracy penalty), although it is not as protective as the heavy variant of the upgraded Guardian Armour.[/p]
• [p]Suppression values for all weapons have been unified into a consistent pattern. Previously most Fusion weapons and some Laser weapons were doing less suppression than expected, but the Gauss / Fusion Shotguns were doing far more Suppression than intended (almost 10x more).[/p]
• [p]The AI now makes better decisions when the optimal course of action is to shoot from its starting position and then make a move. Previously it would always move first and then shoot.[/p]
• [p]Updated the Xenopedia articles for the Stalker and Colossus armours to reflect their updated capabilities.[/p]
• [p]The Colossus Power Fist is no longer shown in the Armory inventory, as it's an auto-equip weapon so there's no need to display it.[/p]
• [p]Various tweaks to aliens:[/p]
  • [p]All non-melee aliens have had their Accuracy stat reduced by 10%, but on Commander the Accuracy multiplier has been returned to 1.3x (up from 1.1x). This means aliens are about 10% less accurate on all difficulties except Commander, where they are roughly 5% more accurate than earlier versions of Milestone 7.[/p]
  • [p]Sebillians and Androns now have 35% Energy and 35% Kinetic resistance respectively (down from 40%).[/p]
  • [p]There's now a visual difference between Andron Warriors (light blue) and Andron Elites (dark blue).[/p]
  • [p]Andron Elites reduced to 45 Armour (from 50), and Andron Praetorians reduced to 60 Armour and 150 HP (from 75 Armour and 160 HP).[/p]
  • [p]Mantid Warriors (Observers / Abductors) now use the basic 1-shot Bio-Rifle, and the 2-shot Bio-Cannon only starts appearing with Mantid Elites (generally Cruisers).[/p]
  • [p]Reduced the HP of Mantid Warriors from 95 to 80, and Elites from 150 to 120.[/p]
  • [p]Reaper Zombies now have +20 Accuracy on their melee attacks.[/p]
• [p]Various updates to alien missions:[/p]
  • [p]Delayed the first spawn of Cruisers (and all subsequent missions) by 5 days.[/p]
  • [p]Removed a Heavy Servitor from the starting aliens on the UOO Bridge mission.[/p]
  • [p]Removed one enemy from the Abductor UFO crews.[/p]
  • [p]When Phase 5 begins, one Harvester always spawns before the Battleships start spawning - previously if you completed both UOO missions as soon as they became available, you could end up in a situation where you encountered Battleships before Harvesters.[/p]
  • [p]The transition to large-scale waves of Battleships during Phase 5 also arrives more quickly than before.[/p]

[p]Bugfixes:[/p]

• [p]Fixed an AI hang that could occur if an alien mind controlled an armed civilain.[/p]
• [p]Fixed another example of the grenade path showing a 100% hit chance (while rendering red) but the throw hitting an intervening object and blowing up the thrower.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a visual issue with Sebillians when they fired their weapons.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some instances of the crosshatch obstruction shader not correctly drawing over shrouded objects.[/p]
• [p]Fixed projects remaining greyed out on the Engineering screen even if you cancelled projects in the queue to free up enough resources to complete them.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the capacity bar text becoming misaligned on the Recruit Scientists / Engineers and Transfer Scientists / Engineers screens if you had over 100 scientists / engineers.[/p]
• [p]Fixed more minor visual issues on maps / terrain tiles.[/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]Bugfixes:[/p]

• [p]Fixed the mouse cursor being hidden on the load screen, which prevented players from starting tactical missions unless they had the "begin mission automatically" checkbox enabled.[/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]Gameplay Changes:[/p]

• [p]Added a settings option for locking the mouse cursor to the gameplay window (unless alt+tabbed). This setting is on by default.[/p]
• [p]Commander difficulty no longer prevents the player from using Air Combat autoresolve, as the autoresolve rarely outperforms human players and this was making the Commander experience more repetitive rather than more difficult.[/p]
• [p]Engineering upgrade projects now have more informative descriptions that provide specific numbers for what is being upgraded.[/p]
• [p]Engineering weapon upgrade projects will now show the stats tooltip for both the upgraded and unupgraded weapon.[/p]
• [p]Sniper Rifle cheapest fire mode reduced in cost from 52% TU to 48%, but Accuracy of that fire mode has been reduced from 100 to 80. This is is an overall buff to the Sniper Rifle, as it permits the weapon to be fired twice in a turn if a soldier has enough Accuracy to make effective use of the cheaper fire mode.[/p]
• [p]Upgrading weapons now always add ~15% to their damage. Upgraded Gauss weapons now do slightly more damage, and a few of the upgraded Fusion weapons have had their damage numbers slightly tweaked upwards or downwards to better fit the rule.[/p]
• [p]Tier 1 Psyon terror sites (about day 180) now have one fewer Cyberdrone in them on Veteran difficulty and above.[/p]

[p]Bugfixes:[/p]

• [p]Fixed a crash that would occur after running the Laboratory / Workshop upgrade engineering project.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an AI hang that could occur if the alien mind controlled an armed civilian.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a crash that would happen if the game tried to load a particular VIP Extraction map in the Arid biome.[/p]
• [p]Fixed visual errors on water tiles and other lowered ground tiles on night missions.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the Servitor enemy not showing the crosshatch obstruction shader.[/p]
• [p]Fixed various commercial kitchen props in the Western Town restaurant not having proper destruction states.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the helmet for the upgraded Guardian armour always appearing, even when using the light variant.[/p]
• [p]More map / terrain fixes.[/p]

[p]The 7.13.0 build recently released on the Experimental branch suffered from an issue that prevented the game loading, so we've temporarily rolled it back to 7.12.1 while we find and fix the issue.[/p][p]7.12.1 is a stripped down version of the 7.13.0 update that contains only the essential fixes, which includes a fix for the crash that was blocking Geoscape progress in 7.12.0.[/p][p]However, it's not a proper Experimental build and lacks the extra logging and automatic end of turn tactical saves - this shouldn't really affect gameplay, I'm just noting it here so regular testers aren't confused![/p]