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This version of Xenonauts 2 is a free public test build only available on GOG Galaxy, released free because it is still an early build and we don't yet think we can justify charging for it; full details on where to get the build can be found in this thread. We're expecting to release an updated build in two weeks, on Tuesday 27rd March. We're expecting this map / mission to be the one we use for our Kickstarter build in the near future, so if you want to make sure you hear about our Kickstarter plans as soon as we make them public (shouldn't be long now) then please sign up for our mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/4FKe9 CHANGELOG: New Map - there's a new map in the game now, one which I think is a step up in terms of quality from our earlier work. It does not yet support destructibility on most of the assets, but that will arrive in the next build. Smoke & Fire - explosives now produce smoke and fire when they go off. These apply damage / stun damage if you walk though them, but smoke does not yet reduce accuracy. New Gun Art - we've got some fresh weapon art in the game to better represent the weapon archetypes: The Ballistic Sniper is now an AWM. Relative to X1 it has the same stats but magazine size has been reduced to 5; potentially it will get a damage boost too. The Ballistic LMG is now a M249 Para rather than a M240, as the M249 better matches the stats of the in-game LMG (no balance changes from X1). The Ballistic Rifle is a more modern variant of the M16, although for balance reasons it is still using the old 20-round magazines. The Grenade Launcher now has some proper art based on the Milkor MGL. Multiple Ammo Support - we've fixed up a bug where weapons started unloaded and automatically sucked in the first clip from a soldier's loadout at the start of each mission, but our chosen solution has a cool side-effect. All weapons should now be able to support multiple types of ammo with different stats, with you cycling between different types carried by the soldier by right-clicking on the ammo quickslot. We'll probably only use this for the grenade launcher and maybe the shotgun, but I suspect modders will get good value out of it! Randomised damage - weapons now do anything from 50-150% normal damage when they hit something Game Options now correctly affect the ground combat, so the sound sliders etc work properly Moved the in-game UI elements up a little so they should no longer draw under slightly raised areas of terrain (like concrete pavements etc) Soldiers now aim at a target's upper body rather than their feet Soldier portrait now displays their equipped armour Soldiers are now appropriately orientated in the dopship Shotguns and other pellet-based weapons now display "20% x 3" etc in the same way that burst weapons do Alien plasma bolts no longer hover in the air for a second or two after killing someone Empty weapons now display their ammo capacity in red at all times Corpses should no longer display damage numbers from explosions Highlight shader no longer displays the underground elements of rocks etc when they are tagged as intervening cover objects Fixed a bug where units would take a hit and be suppressed, causing them to go into a crouched state - but would not crouch visually due to the injury animation interrupting the crouch animation Fixed an issue with the move path end tile not being displayed if you were only moving to an adjacent tile It's a decent changelog and I hope people enjoy the new map. Progress towards our short-term goals has been a bit slow over the last month because we made some big changes to the way maps are saved / loaded, which spawned a huge number of problems we then had to fix up - but the work was necessary and I think we're over the worst of it now. We've been gearing up for some concrete announcements on the strategy layer and the Kickstarter for some time, but fighting all the fires over the last three weeks meant I've made little progress on that front so I'm very keen to start pushing that forward again. I won't say any more than this - the strategy layer is shaping up well; make sure you sign up for our mailing list if you'd like to hear the major announcements we have coming. Let us know what you think of the new map and if you encounter any bugs in it!

From memory the UFOs you can attack on the ground in X1 are the Light Scout, Scout, Corvette, Landing Ship, Cruiser, Carrier and the Battleship, so I think there's seven in total. But yes, the experience of attacking them could certainly be made less "samey". However even if UFO assault missions were made more exciting, I don't see how the logic follows that UFO assaults should therefore be added onto Terror missions - improvements to Terror missions should ideally try and make them more distinct and unique from the other mission types, rather than more similar.

Building and Salaries Overhaul.zip