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Hi everyone - time for another monthly update, and lots of tactical combat changes to talk about! The first new thing we've been working on is the art for the modular MARS, and you can see a couple of the concepts below. The in-game models are nearly complete but not yet set up in the game. The MARS is now a vehicle that can use one of three primary weapons (rocket launcher, cannon, machinegun) that are all upgradeable as you research new weapon tiers. The MARS also has heavy / light armour variants (also upgradeable), which allows you to give the vehicle additional HP at the cost of slightly reducing its time units (the concepts above don't show this, but it's reflected on the model - the tracks and body have additional armour, etc). Finally, the chassis itself can be upgraded - once you reach a certain tech level you will be able to upgrade the tracks into a hover chassis which has additional TU and jetpack functionality. This replaces the existing "ARES" vehicle, so the MARS is now the only vehicle in the game - but a MARS vehicle you build at the start of the game can be continually upgraded all the way throughout the game to change from a tracked unit with steel armour and a ballistic weapon into a hovertank with alloy armour and powerful plasma weapons. We're planning to test this is the game to see if its fun. The idea is that your vehicle doesn't become obselete in the same way that a soldier doesn't become obselete; you just keep giving them new equipment throughout the game to keep them relevant. But the alternative setup is to split the hover chassis out into a seperate vehicle called the ARES with improved stats and then force the player to build a new vehicle. It's sometimes kinda fun to get a whole new unit rather than an upgrade, so we'll see how it feels. Secondly, we've been working a lot of things that improve the general look and feel of the ground combat. The first thing is updating the texturing and lighting in our tactical combat maps to be a bit more like the painted style in the original Xenonauts (softer lighting, less visual noise, etc). If you've not been playing the closed beta builds then the need for this visual update may not be obvious (because we don't tend to take screenshots of bits of the game that look bad), but the visual quality of the biomes and the objects within each is currently quite inconsistent. Some stuff looks great, whereas other stuff very much does not. This new approach is giving everything a more consistent level of quality and that means the scenes feel like they join together better. The new Desert and Polar biomes are taking shape nicely; I was hoping to show off some screenshots in this update but sadly we're still not quite there. Hopefully soon. We've also made two code changes that also improve the clarity of the maps. The first is that the shroud now hides objects on hidden tiles - whereas previously a tall tree on a hidden tile could cause a black tree-shaped shadow to rise from the shroud and cover part of the battlefield, now the tree only pops into existence when the tile it stands on becomes visible. This makes a surprisingly large difference to how clear and clean the map feels. Additionally, we've changed the height of our tiles to be 2.25 meters tall instead of 3 meters tall, which means our tiles are now very similar in dimensions to what they were in the first game. When we started development on Xenonauts 2 we decided to make tiles 3m tall because it was a nice round number (especially as tiles are 1.5m wide) and it's actually a more realistic ceiling height than 2.25m in most buildings, but in practice it causes problems because units are only 2m tall and so 3m high walls tend to obscure a lot of the action if you're fighting in tight enclosed spaces - which is a pity, because X-Com games are generally most exciting when you're fighting in relatively tight spaces. People playing the closed beta would probably have noticed that their interior spaces of UFOs feel quite restricted and hard to fight in; this should fix that. One final set of code changes we've made to improve ground combat is to speed things up a bit. We recently increased the run speed of units, and we've now updated the code to remove the pause before units die - they should now start playing their death animation instantly after recieving lethal damage (whereas previously they'd stand still for a second or so before dying). Combat in Xenonauts and original X-Com is actually very snappy - units move quickly, shoot quickly, and die quickly - and getting that snappiness into Xenonauts 2 helps make the game feel more responsive and fun to play. A couple more systems we've been working on but aren't quite yet finished are the new UFOs and the night missions. The night missions are pretty much done, but although the fog of war works correctly the shroud is ignoring lighting and being revealed up to the normal vision range of units, which feels kinda weird. Once that's fixed they'll be playable. The new UFO hull hiding system (i.e. when you see the inside of a UFO, the hull disappears and it turns into a floorplan like in X1) seems to be working well too, and we're in the process of blocking out the hull models and floorplans for the first 4-5 UFOs. Once we've playtested the interior spaces of these UFOs and we're happy with them, we'll do the final texturing on the outer hulls. That's enough from me for now - you can expect another update in four weeks time! Thanks for reading.

I'm kinda sad that with each update, they revert closer and closer to X1. Actually, not sad. Angry. None of the suggestions I put forward were implemented so we couldn't even have a go at playing them to see if they were any good. X2 was meant to be different from X1, and it simply isn't. The orbital bombardment thing sucks; it's just an annoyance rather than a playable part of the game. The missions get really boring as there is basically one tactic-per-map that works well and everything else just doesn't work. There just feels like there is nothing that actually makes a difference in a game other than a bigger gun. I wish the devs had listened to, and acted on, suggestions earlier on. My feeling now is that without a major re-write of the game mechanics, it's going to fall on its face at launch. There, I said it. Sorry

I need to confess I haven't booted up Xenonauts for a few months since Mount and Blade 2 came out so I am out of sync as to changes since then - please don't ban me Some parts of the update strongly remind me of the modular system employed in the X-Com wannabe UFO:Aftershock - especially the hover chassis part. Could I at this late stage suggest a 4th turret type? I am thinking of the Mortar. The main characteristics is that unlike the other turret types, it is a high arc indirect and has the following benefits over the other turret types: a) can theoretically hit targets have a map away so can offer genuine long range support without getting into danger. b) due to the high arc nature of the firing, it can hit things behind or on the roof of buildings and can therefore can theoretically hit enemies you know is there but can't shoot at without putting your soldiers at risk. c) you can target enemies without the enemy getting a lock on where your soldiers are if they are still in cover and haven't revealed themselves. Downside a) Delay between shots for the turret to put a new shell into position to fire. b) Has no back up weapon if attacked at close range. c) Accuracy depends on factors explained below If the target is within visual range of the Mortar MARS, then accuracy of one square either side of targetted square. If the target is not within visual range but has another soldier spotting the target, then accuracy is within 3 squares of targetted square If the target is not visually spotted, and the round is being fired purely on guesswork, then it is accurate with 7 squares of targetted square. The aim will be 100% accurate if your team has developed a hand held laser designator device that is pointing at the intended target. The mortar will be able to fire a range of warheads of which a limited number of any combination can be selected prior to the fight: a) HE round - basically a grenade b) Napalm bomb - less initial bang but does fire damage over several rounds c) Acid Bomb - as per Napalm bomb but burns off enemy armour d) Airburst Bomb - like the HE round but explodes while in the air so AOE is wider but less damage given. e) Smoke Grenades f) Flares - lights up a large area which slowly gets smaller over several turns as the flare on a parachute slowly falls. Once on the ground it has the residing glow of a normal glowstick. g) Flashbangs - aka stun grenades h) ECM round - stun grenades for anything using electronics. Obviously most of these can be upgraded into more powerful forms over time.