Alienkiller

That´s good, then you all exactly know what we older Beta-Testers mean for this Project. Fresh Blood is everytime good and new Ideas also. But most of our older Ideas and most your Newbie-Ideas to give the Game internally with small / medium internally Modernisations will come later in the Early-Access-Phase, like Chris already said.

Thanks Chris for the last major Update this year. Sounds good, that some more R & D Descriptions come in and that the Newbies have found Bugs what we older Main-Testers have overseen or not noticed. Thanks to them too that the Game get better with their showup from Bugfix- and Feature-Issues. Keep up the good work Devs and it´s good to have fresh Blood which help to find Issues in the existing and important come-in Features as well as Bugs.

We Main-Beta-Testers know the Game since the first playable Beta comes up and after a long time of playtesting we made Suggestions. We are not perfect too, but many Decissions why that and that is in the Game come from long playtesting. Like the Base-Buildupsystem from X1 and the most Gameparts. Others are complete new for the Newcomers, which they don´t understand. That what I mean. All new Beta-Testers have to make 2 longruns first (180 to 240 Days Minimum) to come in. Evtl. they see something we older Betatesters have overseen. After you get much deeper in the Game than the first 150 Days the Newbies understand what we Main-Beta-Testers mean and why the Devs have done that and that together with us older Main-Beta-Test-Bunnys.

That´s with the manualy save is no Bug, it´s an Feature like in all old Games, where no Autosave were existent. Easy to fix from yourself: Use your Brain, Rename it and Done. The Description-Bug was mentioned in an other Bugfixpost some time ago. There I agree, had thought it´s already done.

Without such Missions it will be an boring 08/15-Game like the Predecessor. Sorry to say it so harsh, but 08/15-Scrap most Gamers can´t see anymore. Therefore many Gamers play instead new XCOM, Phoenix Point, Battletech or some older Games like Star Wolves which have such special Missions integrated. What makes Xenonauts 2 and similar Games such unique: 1. They have limited timed Missions which are not much, but very interessting. The reward for that is differnt, belongs on the Game. 2. Such Missions bring the Player back to concentration. Standard 08/15-Games don´t do that. And there are more then enough from them on the Market since the good old Choose like in the 1970s to mid 2ks come to an End (Buy I that Game or either that). 3. In that Gerne we talking about such Missions are linket to the Global. In Xenonauts 2 and new XCOM it´s Panic, in Phoenix Point to an other Global Part, in the upgraded UFO ET-Series there is no clue yet (in the 2007 / 2010 outdated Part 1 it was linked to the Mothership-Engery-Cells which filled up slowly). You see such Missions and Rewards are important. In Xenouats 2 you get 3 important Cristals and 5 Alien-Alloys per Tube as Main-Reward. The other important Reward is the Global Panic-Reduction up to 10, which is very important. If you don´t do such Missions, you get in about 180 Days: GAME OVER! I have tested it and an Game Over you wont have about saving to less Civilians esp. in such Abduction-Missions. The Description shows you to get 5 Tubes as Minimum. The more the better. And that can be linked to rewards like more worldwide Panic-Reduction or similar. Btw. I managed to get all 10 several times in V.24.7-Beta through my 2 Playtests without difficultys. There the Cleaners make such Abductions. With the Aliens and same Strategy to save Humanity you can manage 8 to 9 Tubes. Short said: Either you make such important Missions or GAME OVER very fast!

Welcome to the Beta-Test-Team. You mentioned the Rotation-System. It come in to bring the Game Up to Date. All Games which belongs on itself in that and similar Gernes have such an System. If they don´t have such an System, they aren´t the Money worth you pay for it. In X1 you saw about the bad Map-System and no Rotation (like in old X-Com EU / TftD) the Enemy to late, dosen´t matter they had an toggle Button or not. That´s why many Gamers switched to the UFO ET-Series, new XCOM-Series and Phoenix Point about such Features which make the Game 1 Million Times better then Xenonauts 1 and all similar Perdecessors. That System is Hardcoded implemented and not to discuss anymore. What there you can Report is if the Degree functions work correct or not (45°, 60°, 90° etc.) on the Maps. And this Hardcoede System helps the Devs as well as us Testers to find overseen Problems, Bugs etc. in the Ground-Missions. What the Toggle-Button and Walls etc. belongs, there the Game is in WIP, because not all Maps are finished yet. The done reworked Maps have to be tested on functionality, missing Tiles etc. We Main-Beta-Testers (now you all new Open-Beta-Testers have the same Job too) have to make the Controll-Work that the Maps are working. There all the Map-Parts have to be controlled (are there Magenta-Tiles come back, etc.). We have done the last Beta-Versions big Steps in that, but fresh Blood is good.

Welcome to the Test-Team. You mentioned about the reward such an Mission gives. And that´s a lot, you will need later on (Alien-Materials you won´t get on Earth). As well as the Panic-Reduction from such important Missions to get the global Panic down, which means you pay Humanity Time to Survive or not slaved etc. until you manage to get Solutions for the End-Game-Finals. That´s the 3rd Reward you get for the Global-Panic-Reduction. You don´t have to forgett that the Xenonauts-Series have the old X-COM Games (esp. the first 3 Games EU / TftD / Apocalypse) as Model with many new Features to keep it Up to Date (like new XCOM, Phoenix Point, UFO 2 ET show already). In the XCOM-Series (dosen´t matter old or new) you need the Alien-Materials as Buildup-Parts from the Storage to Upgrade your Technology, build advanced Technology, upgrade your Buildings and so on. Means in Short: You need all the extra Alien-Materials you get from such important Missions. UFO-Recovery is Secondary about the Decision you have to make between that Missions. Therefore you have the Stress-Level later, which will come in. An similar System which is absolutely nessecarry is successfull implemented in XCOM 2 and Phoenix Point already. An similar System will come up too again hardcoded for Xenonauts 2. What the Ballance between the Alien-Materials, Money, Upkeeps, monthly Payments and later more Features in that belongs should be clear now. If not then I suggest you and the other new Betatesters play up to Day 180 or better 365. Then you all know exactly what all Main-Beta-Testers incl. me mean, which test the Game from beginning on. Then it makes Sense to make Suggestions from the new Betatesters in that Parts. What your Thinkings about Civilans belongs, it´s an nice Idea. But not as Soldier, you don´t need more then 20 if you manage the Game correctly and use the important as well as very cool Support Vehicles. The Jobsites for Civilians can be then: Dismantling UFOs in new Outposts, upgrade Buildings in their Use (more Efficency from Radars / Scanners, Hangars, Test- and Training-Ranges, etc.) and similar.

Chris, you remember correctly. For that Mission we didn´t have an deployment Phase. And I like it how it is with the new Starting Screen.

I like that Missions, because they bring in picancy in the Game. In the new XCOM-Series / Phoenix Point such Missions make the Game 1Million Times more interessting then all Predecessers of that Gerne before. That Missions with Limiters are a must have in such Games. It don´t need much of them. Sadly the UFO ET-Series don´t have such Gruond-Missions yet, which would bring more picancy too in that Series. But therefore it have special UFO-Swarms with rewards (Payment & rare Artefacts), if you manage to shoot down the Swarm-Leader (Payment) and recover the UFO (Artifacts). In UFO 2 ET f. e. I had such Swarms in 1 Year and 8 Months up to my last Save there 5 or 6 Times. Exactly that Missions / Features make such Games interessting, esp. if they are Hardcoded integrated and show up unexpected from time to time.

Hmm, strange. I played too V.25 to day 60 and there the Aliens moved out of the Nebula / Smoke to get better Hit-Chances for firing. But evtl. they are using their special Abilitys (working since V.25), which would explain why they can fire on you through smoke and can hit you with lucky shots.

I personaly haven´t used them yet. But for the MARS I can confirm that they don´t get Medals. Evtl. the Sentry-Guns get only forgotten in the Time where the Devs made the reworked big V.25-Version.

Yes, indeed. You should get 18 Alenium in Total. I will test it too with the new V.25.1b-Update from yesterday. Btw. Very good, in my first V.25.1-Abduction-Site I managed 8 as Maximum.

Kamehamehayes, the reduced Performance which caused from Save-Games I hear for Xenonauts 2 the first time. But I know an Game where such an Problem comes up too. It´s called Battletech (the Strategy-Game von Harebraind Shemes). From what it´s comming nobody knows, but if you delete some older Saves or to much Autosaves the Performance increase again, like the Effect you announce for Xenonauts 2. With the new Abilitys from the Aliens, which work fully since V.25 the first time, I hadn´t an Problem yet.

Hi CasteloBranco, welcome to the Beta-Testers. The Defender-Armour-Suits are not good for all Soldiers, because they are to heavy, what the Researcher-Chief will later explain. Only the Rifelmens, Shotgunners and Heavy (LMGs) will get it from beginning. The others (Shield, Grenadiers and Snipers) get the Armour-Plates instead. I made 2 complete runs with that in V.24.7 without Problems and an 60 Day Run with V.25.0 without Problems. There the Armour didn´t get lost (Wounded, Heavy Wounded, Dead Soldiers). If the others would have the same Problem then it would already show up in the Bug-Reports for Xenonauts 2. Seems that you have that Problem. Should be sovled easyly with an Steam Repair-Search and new beginning of a Campaign. What your Soldier-Dying Problem belongs is the Fact, that the Basic-Armours / advanced Basic Armours / Shields / Protection Plates allone won´t give enough Protection. You have to use every Cover you get (Walls, Trees, big Naturals etc.) the whole Game. The best Basic-Cevlar-Suit and Basic- / Upgraded-Basic-Armours don´t protect you from an Headshot, Explosion etc. Therefore you get the MARS-Assistance-Vehicle too after Research with good Protection, and it can be rebuild after getting destroyed, what an Human can´t in normal Conditions (with and without Protection). Only the UFO ET-Series have such an Rebuild for Soldiers if they have of Chance for Surving about the special Armour-Features to hold some Body-Parts alive for several Rounds if Possible. That Xenonauts 2 only have with the Hospital-Buidlups / Upgrades and about 10% from beginning on. Not to forgett, that such an Rebuild of a Soldier (Healing, Learning several normal Things again etc. [see 6 Million Dollar Men / Bionic Women]) needs a lot of time. Try to avoid such long Healings with the using of every cover you get. As well as good Protection, but not directly from beginning for all Soldiers (Defender-Armour etc.). There the other lighter Protection-Parts will get Upgrades and are more useable for Grenadiers, Snipers and Shield-Specialists, esp. in the long Beginning-Phase. The Tips are good and for new People very helpfull. The only thing is that they must read them. Many of us which make the Beta-Test from Day 1 on played similar Games (UFO ET-Series, XCOM-Series, old X-COM-Series, similar Fan-Projects or the not so good Predecessor Xenonauts 1) don´t need them so often. Only if there are new Features or Parts we have overseen or completely new the Tutorial get read fully.

I haven´t played the V.25.x-Versions yet, because I wanna make fully Beta-Tests like done in V.24.7 with 2 or 3 Playthroughs. Therefore I wait until the first fast Playthrough-Runs get done and Bugfixes get out to make the Version more stabe. Testet out the Main-Version from V.25 until Day 60 or so. It runs good with the first Enemys (Cleaners, Sectons, Psyons, Sebillians, Mentarch, Mantids) in the Scout- / Destroyer-Crashsites, Abduction-Mission, Cleaner-Bureau-Mission, etc. The new Aliens and better Equiped Aliens should come slower there I agree. And an Mix between Mantids, Sections and unarmored Sebillians would be cool, that the Psyions and better equiped Enemys will come later if you think it couldn´t come harder.

Hi, welcome to the Beta-Tests. I can aggree with you fully in the Positive Points. What the Neutral Points belongs: 1. There you do an big Failure to make only Ammo- or Grenade-Specialists. That brings you in the big Problematics you mention in the Bad Points. You can complete avoid that if you Equip your Specialists correctly and give them differnt Roles (Shield, Shotgunner, Sniper, Heavy, Grenadier and Riflemens with Medikts [Shotgunners / Riflemens], Stun Weapons [Stun Rods in the Backpack of the Shields / Stun Guns for the Riflemens], Knifes [Heavy / Grenadiers] and additional Upgrade-Equipment for more Protection / Shooting). I f. e. equip my Soldiers that minimum 4 Pistols (Sniper / Shield), 2 Rifles (Riflemens), 2 Shotgunns (Shotgunner) and 2 LMGs (Heavy) with the Ballistic Main-Weapons. Some of them have Medkits, others additional Save-Equipment and so on like above described. If you let the Basic Adjustment you will win every fight, incl. the very important Timed Missions (Abduction, etc.). 2. Where I aggree is that you can´t throw some of your Equipment to your Comrades, which need it evtl. But that is normaly easy doable like the UFO ET-Series and Phoenix Point from today show already. The same was doable in good old X-COM on the old DOS-Base-Operating System too. But that is an secondary Thing which can be done in between. What the Bad Points belongs: 1. No Game have free aiming. X-Com and UFO ET-Series as well as Xeonauts 1 do it a little differnt like the Xenonauts 2 with the % of Time-Units. New XCOM and Phoenix Point is going an complete differnt way in that! 2. The Tutorial will come as first playable Mission where everything for the Battlefield get announced and explained. That you can read, if you turn on the Tutorial, which is with some Story-Information already implemented (only the Tutorial-Mission is not implemented atm, but get in before Early Access start). 3. The Abduction Civilian-Safe-Mission is easy to handle. And Civilians in Panic don´t do what you tell to them. They will say: "Yes, Yes" and do exactly the different Thing. That the Game is an Homage in most Parts to the Good old X-COM shows that with the Civilians as best example. But evtl. you can give an direction where they have to move (if the Ways to the Transport are clear that way or to an meeting Point in the save and from you already controlled Map Part). 4. The Timed Missions come in to give the Game more picancy. They are not often, but an big must have, before you get tired on the Monitor and oversleep the Main-Parts of the Game. 5. Use maximum the Speed of 2 or 3. Then you can react. With speed 4 you cant. Where I aggree is that the Knife is to heavy, therefore only the Grenadiers and LMGs get it as secondary Weapon. You mentioned the Research. There we had some Discussions already about it. This System (similar get used in new XCOM / Phoenix Point) and the older 1990-System (which get used in UFO ET-Series in an refited Version) have both Advantages and Disadvantages. Evtl. there will come some more as Upgrade with the Ideas in Discussion (Outposts, Countrys etc.) and Beta-tested Features. What the Whish-Stuff belongs: 1. The Crash Site-Damage I miss too. Should be doable, but that belongs on the Devs. In the UFO-ET-Series it get implemented. 2. The Pilot-Picture from the Transport-Pilot. Should be doable too. That´s an Feature, which only have Xenonauts 2 for the Fighter-Pilots and new XCOM for the Transport-Plane. 3. You will see the Reapers soon enough. If they have an Worth for the Player (Upgrading Ammo, Security-Things or similar). I think they will show up in Alien-Bases (very good defenders from the unseen / uncontroled Positions and esp. Alien-Planets. The Reapers are very hard to control, that the Reason why the Aliens don´t use them to often. 4. The Aliens have Grenades and use them. Esp. if they have an tactical / strategical Advantage to hurt or destroy many of your Squad-Members. 5. Some of the Aliens are very good Snipers. Esp. the Cesans / Psyons with the linked PSI-Features or the Robots with the advanced Targeting System. There 2 Cesans shoot down 2 of my Specialists with the Warden Combat-Armour to get dying. 6. To much vertical Maps will destroy the Game. We are not playing Homeworld or Star Wolves, where such Maps are a must have. But for new XCOM, Phoenix Point, UFO ET-Series as well as Xenonauts 2 the 3D Maps we have are more then excellent. 7. You can individulise the Specialists like already explained. There I give them some additional Equipment like Medkits, C4, Stun Weapons or similar, like it´s in Real. An Soldier only as that or that is in such Games your Death Sentence. 8. That we had already, but it was to much. So the individulise System I already explained make your Soldiers Multi-Role-Effective.

Komandos if I read your Idea correctly, you wanna bring in something like in Phoenix Point is implemented with the big seperate Habitats (something similar in XCOM 2) or in Terra Invicta with the differnt Earth-Factions. Sounds interessting and could bring more picancy in the Game.

Komandos, the older Gamer-Generation (most the 1st Gamer-Generation), which played good old X-COM and similar Games in the 1990s as well as new XCOM don´t see that as Problem. Only activate the Brain, make a long-time Strategy and use the Ressources wisely is the Key. That´s all. If the young Generation haven´t learnd that yet from other similar Games, they have to learn it in Xenonauts 2 on the hard way (like we incl. me from first Gamer-Generation in good old X-Com). So easy is it. Now to the Resource-Savings: 1. possible saving: The lesser Soldiers you have, the better it is for your very limited Ressources (Armour-Upgrades, Weapon-Upgrades and so on) incl. the next limited Ressource (Money) for the Specialist-Payments like Pilots, Soldiers, Technicans, Scientists. Esp. the Pilots / Soldiers will take higher Payment later with higher Ranks. Like in real: No Specialist in Security-Duty (Police, Bodyguard etc.) / Military-Duty (Army, Navy, Airforce) will work for the Payment from an Private as Sergeant, Captain etc. 2. possible saving: Use the mobile Defense-Guns in Main- & Secondary Bases as well as build up linked Defensive-Turrets in all Bases (2 of the Defense-Turrets are Minimum)! 3. possible saving: Build up incl. Main-Base 2 medium Secondary-Bases which get the best Radar- / Scanner-Overage (sadly that isn´t possible atm without waste of square)! I do the same and come in the UFO ET-Series, XCOM-Sieres as well as Xenonauts 2 with maximum 20 Specialists through the Game. Mostly lesser about using the Support-Troops (Vehicles or Robots). The Upgrade-Costs from Vehicles / Robots are much lesser then to train an new Soldier form 0 on and esp. the refill from Soldiers after some of them died. If the worst Case comes up (Stress Level to high, Specialists to tiered etc.) then the less important Missions will get done from the Gouvernment-Countrys and only the Main-Important Missions get done from your Specialists and Support Vehicles.

I will have an Eye on it. I play the Airbattles every time manually.

Thanks for the Update Chris. But please get the Tile-Waste for Radars away. The previous System with Upgrades was much better.

Thanks for the explanations Chris. I like the Sentry-Gun Concept for the Bases. I too build up minimum 2 linked Defenses like in good old X-Com and in the UFO ET-Series, with something special in that from 2nd announced one. The Sell-System from not useable Things (like Alien-Weapons) here is an good thing. The same System you have in the UFO ET-Series, sadly there without the Buissenes-Thinking (Supply & Demand). My Idea for that Part is with an Upgrade in that System: We can either sell them to get dismantle them from the World-Industry themselfs to get Ressources for the World-States (like it´s now) or dismantle them themselfs for more Ressources and Upgrades (Magnets, Electronics, Ammo etc.)? Chris, you announced that the Money-System is primarily. Short said means that for the Gamers: They have 2 Options. The Game is making an Reduction for the Sell-Option, until the Supply & Demand is stable again. In that Time you can dismantle such ressources yourself. Or you can make it both parallely to get more Ressources for yourself and for the Founding Countrys. What the Interceptors belongs. There I can understand you and the Team. It is an Idea to make the Fighter- / Transport-Equipment-Part more interessting. That the Pilots need to get the rotation-Option from one to an other Fighter / Transport as well as like Soldiers XPs / Medals etc. is a must have. The Modular-Option is not the only one Thinking-Idea I have for the Fighter-Buildup / Refit. There the UFO-ET-Series bring an very good valuation. In UFO 1 ET Standard / Gold as well as in UFO 2 ET+ the advanced Parts are specials and hard to find which make older Fighters more durable and so on. In Freelancer-Works that advanced Parts (Grayfiends big UNI-Mod) get done buyable. That buyable Option from the UNI-Mod for the older UFO 1 ET brought me to an very easy to implement Idea for Xeonauts 2. What is if we bring in Steps to modernise our older Interceptors with an Engeneering Project if the Researches are there. Like we can do it with the Defense-Buildungs, Armour-Upgrades for Vehicles and similar. Means: You have researched the new Interceptor X-55 after you researched Alien-Alloys and the Alien Cristals. The new Interceptor is good, but have the special Weakness. To modernise the older Interceptors without that Weaknes you have the Upgrade-Project "Modernise X-25 Angel Part I" or something similar. Short explained: You make the X-25 a little bit lighter, manouverable and so on with the Alien-Alloys, but the Engines remain the same until some Problems from the X-55 get solved. That you can do with more advanced Parts (like Electronics, Radar etc. too) to have an better Scanner / Radar-Range on the Geoscape and so on. Other Ideas to Upgrade the Game I have announced already in the other Suggestion-Threat. If I find more of that integrateable Ideas in the Hotfix-Versions (have to come to day 250+ and more again first) and from the direct Rivals I play too, then I will present them. Many of such Ideas the Dev-Team already brought in (Modular-Upgrades for the MARS, Soldier-Equipments etc.). But upgrading the Ammo for ballistic Weapons / Energy-Weapons is nothing new new for that Gerne, which only get in oblivion. That get testet in the UFO ET-Series again, beginning with that what is integrated in UFO 2 ET "Battle for Mercury" already (after about 23 Years of Experimentation in X-COM Apocalypse).

Chris that for the Planes is a good Idea. There the Modular-Buildup I already announced in the other V25-Thinking-Threat would make sense for the Airforce-Refit (Buildup, Repair, Modules etc.). In such an Case you can not only Repair / Rebuild as it´s now, you can deciced to Upgrade the Planes up to an Maximum level. In Case of the X-25 "Angel": a) You can make the Wings lighter and better Armoured with the Alien-Alloys (they are an Changeable Part) b) You can Upgrade the Hull to an lighter Version with the Alien-Alloys (the Hull is not Changeable, but Moderniseable) c) You can Upgrade the Engines to an better Version (they are an Changeable Part with the Fuel-Tanks in the Hull) d) You can Upgrade the internal Electronic to more advanced Electronic on Alien-Standards [Module-Part like the Support Vehicle evtl.?] In that Case you can say, instead an complete Repair I make an Step-by-Step-Upgrade. Similar Refits / Upgrades can be done too for advanced Fighters.

I have an shot down fighter too. Good to know and I will have an Eye on it.

@Wyldefyre_CP For the Radar-Stations I liked the Upgrade-Part with more advanced-Tech. That means you don´t need to waste 2 Build-Up-Slots. You will get later an Quantum-Decoder but Radars can be Upgraded to Scanners or similar very Easy with Research. You still have the 1x1 Radar, but can upgrade it 2 times. What the other new Module belongs (the Tactical Module) I haven´t noticed that yet. Will take a look on it. @Emily_F: Yes, the Repair-Times are still long. There I have an Idea too to reduce it. If you remember the Ant-Base for Xenonauts 2 back (the first testable Betas), then you could use the undeveloped or to much Technicans to help (Radar, Engery etc.). Such an Feature you need again to help in the Hangars, Repairs etc. What the early tactical Mission belongs it´s fully OK. The Aliens and you have only a little Differnce of 2 or 3. That will be much harder later on, if the Difference is 1 (you as player) and 2 / 3 (the Enemy).

Haven´t seen the Alien-Bases yet in my V-25-Game. But yeah, you are in the Ground Floor from the Command-Center. Good Eye, the blotch from the upper Floor shouldn´t be visible from the Ground Floor.