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For the record, this is an observation first, complaint second. If the devs decided to make xenonauts 2 easier to cater to the lower skill players, that's fine by me, It's a good decision. You're gonna upset a lot of players by making a game uncompromisingly difficult, and most of the time, to appease the """hardcore""" playerbase you just need to make the game appear difficult. The skilled players are probably just gonna make a overhaul mod that caters to them, it's a compromise FiraXCOM went with, and it's a good compromise. I've recently replayed xenonauts 1 on insane, and it hit like a whiplash. The game is so much harder it's really hard to compare. Seriously, playing X2 on Commander is like playing x1 on normal. There are so, so many important mechanical changes between the titles that I've felt like were overlooked, I'm gonna try to list the most important ones from most impactful to least: 1. LOS distance This is by far the biggest fundamental change. Both games have an average effective weapon range of 20, but while in xenonauts 2 the soldier view range is 26, in xenonauts 1 it's 17. On top of that, in xenonauts 1 most of the alien sight range is 18, higher than xenonauts and well within the rifle range. This is massive, especially since the AI often abuses that fact. In x1, getting accurately shot from line of sight is very common, to the point where you have to paranoically smoke every possible angle the enemy can shoot you through. In xenonauts 2, it's switched. unless the aliens came out of a building, you will see them before they become a threat, and now YOU out-LOS them, because of sniper rifles. That makes overwatching in an open field a really effective strategy, especially since SR's no longer have a reaction fire penalty. The longer LOS is a good change, but it heavily benefits xenonauts. 2. LOS Symmetry In xenonauts 1, there were some corners where a unit could see a different unit, but not the other way around. This could be used by both sides, but heavily benefited the aliens, first because of longer LOS, and second because catching an experienced soldier off-guard is a lot more rewarding than catching an alien off guard. In x2 sight is symmetric, which again, makes the game easier. 3. Alien AI I mentioned earlier that in x1 aliens abused the hell out of their LOS advantages, but in general they were a lot more defensive. Alien AI in x1 makes you sometimes think they're cheating (they're not, but their sight advantages make them look like they do), and in general they camp a lot more, making them a lot more difficult to kill. in x2 they practically run in the open. X1 aliens sometimes were suicidal too, but only if they were sure that they could kill at least 1 of your soldiers. This is already in a roadmap to be changed, but it's still currently a significant factor towards a difficulty decrease 4. Alien damage in xenonauts 1, on insane the first enemy you fight deals 66 average damage. In xenonauts 2, the first enemy you fight deals 25 damage. Granted, armor values in xenonauts 1 are higher, but not that much higher. While in xenonauts 2 a soldier can still be one shot, in xenonauts 1 a soldier is usually one shot. Also, alien rifle does not currently have a burst function, meaning that they rarely suppress your soldiers outside of servitors, and making parking ballistic shields at melee range towards them a viable strategy. But even if they had it, burst in x1 is a lot better than burst in x2, but that's another topic. 5. Air game That's a huge topic on its own, but to avoid making an even bigger wall of text, let's just say that with the newest version x1 air game is significantly harder than x2, despite the foxtrot nonsense. UFOS damage your funding a lot more, they outspeed your basic interceptors much faster, and you have to actually sometimes maybe do some maneuvering. In x2 you can just facetank almost everything now with basic angels. 6. Cover destruction It's a lot easier to destroy cover in x2 than it is in x1. Too easily in my opinion, the aliens just can't hide from you at all. This is also a good place to mention that throwables in this game cost less to throw, and can be thrown further, and more accurately. 7. Training center Xenonauts 1 units were deceptively not that replaceable. If your soldier died, you had to replace it with a private, and privates freaking sucked, sometimes weren't even able to carry the full gear. (until you get predator armor, which is a win condition) In xeno 2, you can easily train your soldiers up so they catch up to your own guys. Too easily too be honest, I think the training is too effective at its job, by mid game you have many 90-100 TU monsters. I think the diminishing returns from the training center should be increased. 8. Shot preview This can appear as just a QOL, but being able to triangulate reliably if a shot from that position has clear LOS or not makes you significantly more lethal against aliens, In xenonauts 1 you had to practically guess, and a lot of times you were wrong, and when you were wrong you paid for it dearly. Sometimes you thought you were safe behind cover when it turned out the alien had a flanked shot, and sometimes you thought that position was a flank, when it actually wasn't. Now you don't have to take a risk like that. 9. Vehicles Xeno 1 vehicles sucked, MARS is amazing, and you can have TWO of them mid game. Enough said. 10. Alien abilities I know that xeno 2 has a lot more alien abilities, but nothing it has compares to xenonauts 1 psionics, not even the new wraiths. To make it fair, there are areas where xeno 2 is harder: 1. Higher enemy count In xeno 1 the first mission contains 3-5 aliens, it's much more in xeno 2, but it doesn't compensate for the difficulty because they are a LOT less threatening individually. 2. Timed missions A common complaint, but once you get used to it, the significantly longer LOS distance allows you to move quicker without being shot to death, so they're still more than manageable. It's also worth noting that just because a game is more difficult, it doesn't mean that it's better. Xenonauts 2 is an overall better title than Xeno 1 despite the major difficulty drop, a lot of difficulty Xeno1 wasn't designed that well, and made the game tedious to play on insane. Xeno 2 is a lot more fun in its gameplay, it's just that a lack of challenge takes away a lot of spice from the game. A lot of the changes that make the game easier make the game better, but if the game is intended to be about as hard as xeno 1, It should have a bunch of balance passes.

Giving First aid doesn't currently have much gameplay depth and lacks interesting choices to make. There's two main issues: -Firstly, first aid kits are too small, weight too little and have infinite capacity, so almost everyone can carry one into a battle and heal as much as needed with it. -Secondly, TU cost of giving first aid is set too low, so even critically wounded units can be healed quickly while surrounded by enemies. My suggestions: -Make first aid kits heavier and larger so carrying one is a clear choice. I'd love to have to make a separate medic role. -Make stabilizing bleeding more demanding. Like 30TU per bleed wound or similar. (It'd be cool to have like multiple medics trying to stabilize a badly wounded soldier before bleeding to death.) -Make healing and stabilizing bleeding wounds separate actions. -Make healing cost more TU's. Like 1HP per 1TU. -Let me choose how much I want to spend TU's when healing. (If I remember correctly X1 had this already) -Receiving first aid should cost the same amount of TU's that giving it takes. -First aid kits shouldn't be infinite. (Another good reason for a medic role that could pack multiple first aid kits. One first aid kit should be enough for healing like 120HP. Removing one bleed wound would cost 30HP. So with one first aid kit one could for example remove 2 bleed wounds and still heal 60HP. Or remove 1 bleed wound and then heal 90HP. -Maybe add a separate small medkit that can only be used to remove one bleeding wound. (Single use)

Having higher ground is one of the most basic advantages one can have in combat. As far as I know, it's not simulated in this game at all. As you can see in the (amazing) image below, the unit on the roof has 50% cover just by being higher, while at the same time having a 100% vision to the unit on the ground level. Being higher up should also reduce the amount of cover smaller props like rocks and fences provide on lower levels.

I think you missed the last spot by a hair's margin(one of your soldiers was almost directly looking at it), which tbf it is easy to miss if you're on the default perspective. Regarding the suggestion about alien counts, I'll bring this up to the team and see what the other people think. Thanks!

Yeah, my thinking (and what I tried to draw in that image) was that the edge of the roof is the "intervening object" you mention. Anyways, hope you find a way to make higher ground units be a bit more safe than they are now.

1. by splitting Emergency status removal (bleed, stun, unconscious, shock, etc.) from HP heal will make usage of medkit more TU hungry, that is right. On the other side, it adds new level of strategy - do I press the task (release abduction tube, capture VIP, etc.) OR do I take care of healt of soldiers ? Currently medkits are lightweight and endless usage, which means everyone (nearly) can have it. Perhaps make change in few steps. 1st phase : - add medkit more weight - add medkit capacity - add medkit feature of: "weight is based on capacity" (basicaly same as weapons should use with ammo clip, weapons should get lighter after every bullet shot) - add 1 medkit capacity = 1 HP - add one emergency status removal (bleed, stun, etc.) costs 20 medkit capacity - TU usage stay as now Example: New Medkit has capacity 200 HP weight 25 units. When depleted to 100/200 capacity it weights 13 units. Idea is, giving Medkit large capacity but make it heavy means, player will make dedicated Class Medic with lighter weapons loadout. >> Weight management in action.<< Current status when every soldier is basicaly his own medic wierd. After proposed update above, lets beta playtest. Based on feedback then 2nd phase : - split actions Emergency status removal and heal HP - make heal HP gradual, heal over time. After heal several rounds healing effect is applyed. Avoid Dungeon&dragon instant heal spell. 2) after tuning of medkit for organic soliders, then add a medkit for robotic soldiers, with same game mechanics Make things complicated is easy, but makes it fun to use is a challenge.

I'd say replace healing with an option to remove stun damage, then add a healing option to an advanced tech kit that needs to be researched. Ohhh and don't forget to give them all limited uses.

1) by settiing MedKit heavier you basically created the dedicated Medic already. Lets use weight management to let player create a role. I would not recomend to add skills like : medic, sniper, runner. Adding more skills means soldiers are less versatile AND player have to keep attention to more numbers. I would rather see Xenonauts 2 be a number low system but interesting choices&consequences. 2) yes, the emergency status ( bleeding, poisoning, burning, acid, shock, ... ) removal should be one action. Then healing HP should be another one. However, for sake of simplicity lets make it so, that Medic always remove emergency status first. It is also logical, that medic takes care about critical status first like artery bleeding , then takes care about blister on your little finger. Regarding healing HP it should rather be "healing over time" than an instant spell. For sake of reality feeling, apply HP heal, then each round soldier gets 5HP until healing effect is depleted. 3) Althou it sounds reasonable it would require additional dialogue in the combat UI. Combat is turn-based and slow already, adding such level of control would make it overly complicated. So not recommend. Simple UI is key to success. Check gamee : Trader 40K by Owlcat games. They made so precise and overcomplicated battle UI that is unbearable. 4) Medic should be able to resolve various emergency statuses AND shock statuses (low blood pressure, shell shock, hazard inhalation, unconscious, ...) these shock statuses means, target is TU limited or even zero. So Medic emergency action can only consume medics own TU. However, medic healing HP action could require coordination. So target will consume same TU as medic. Which means, target can not shoot while he is receiving HP healing, that makes sense. 5) yes, Medkit should have a capacity. Similar to shield mechanic. So Medkit 82/120 HP capacity means it has 82 points of 120 maximum. Also, weight management is important - each point of healing capacity has certain weight. So Medkit 60/120HP has half of the original weight.