Chris

We're planning to have both Mac / Linux available on Steam on final release. However, as the Linux port is not native and uses a WINE wrapper it's a bit of a nightmare to set up to work with Steam. It actually may not be possible, but more likely it will just require a lot of work and liaising with Steam's tech guys.

The actual upgrade function is still available - the code was for the new UI background image changing that reflects the increasing tech level of the Xenonauts. However as the actual game code for that hasn't been merged yet, it doesn't work yet.

They'll just have a scanner that automatically scans sites and locates ones that have an out-of-date vBulletin install, then they'll press a button and it'll automatically inject malicious code. We'll have been attacked because their trawler randomly found our site, nothing deeper than that. It doesn't sound like it was particularly challenging for our web admin to correct (or trace), so they're clearly just some bored kids with little actual hacking ability.

Ishantil - how long did it take to turn into that fireball? The spread chance may have to be reduced. It is meant to burn and spread pretty effectively, but not necessarily turn the entire area into a fireball immediately....maybe one tile per turn.

The background art for the screens are quite old and have been updated, although often quite subtly, over the last year. The basic screen layouts are fairly similar. The new screens will be in at some point in the upcoming V20 Experimentals.

Because the 30x30 zone is the area you can deploy the soldiers in and just acts as an overlay on the existing map. There's not much point using drop-pods if you can only drop into a 6x6 landing area.

Mathematically in X-Com you should always burst fire if you can afford it. I didn't want that to be the case in Xenonauts, so the cost is higher per shot but the suppression damage is higher per TU than it is for an individual shot but the damage per TU spent is lower than a single shot. Or that's how it should work.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid it is indeed a bit too late to change how the bases are laid out and function.

OP - thanks for your thoughts. 3 and 4 we're looking at, 2 we're thinking about. 1 is too much of a UI change, I'm afraid. E4D - I suggest you put together a mod with your improved ranges and better accuracy, with buffed alien health etc. I've pretty much set my stall out at this point about how I think the game is best played, so the only thing that would convince me to change it would be actually playing a version that contains all of the changes you're suggesting - longer range, more accuracy, tougher aliens etc. I'm sure after a few iterations you would either be able to come up with something well-balanced or you'd run into so many problems it wouldn't work. If it's the former, maybe it'll inspire us to change it. But even if not, it might get bundled with the game and it sounds like the sort of thing a number of people on this forum would appreciate.

owe166 - are you sure you've updated your copy fully, then?

All the different battery levels should have the same accuracy, which is 80%. If they're not hitting, ever, then it sounds like something is wrong.

I imagine there's just an error in the code that is generating a landed UFO mission instead of a crashed one.

Yeah. Just an out-of-date version of vBulletin at our end and a simple script to use an exploit to change the forum style to something lame about their cause at their end. Other high-profile targets include a website about guinea pig cages. It's fixed now anyway.

The two Canadian nations represent "normal" Canadian names and French Canadian names, which don't really make sense to combine.

It does a flat damage reduction. However, projectiles have up + / - 50% random element in their damage.

No, it wasn't. Those concepts are quite old now, the actual screens do have women on them.

OK. As a temporary workaround I'll change the "destroyed" text to read "recovered" for datacores. The cash you receive after a mission is you selling the recovered artefacts to governments once you have taken what you need.

At the moment, we're planning to try the straightforward option where crash sites can be given to local forces in exchange for some money. These will then be dealt with by the local forces, probably using excessive amounts of firepower. This is going to be reflected by the UFO Crash Site pop-up having an "Assault" button and an "Airstrike" button. That should make the distinction relatively clear to the player (the Airstrike is conducted by local forces). In terms of gameplay effect, the idea is that the player is going to receive more money from the Airstrike option than from an Assault mission, but Assaulting will give soldier progression, researchable technology and alien materials too (plus some cash). If people want to Assault every single crash site, that should work fine for them. It's quite important in my view that the ONLY way the player can gain research artefacts and soldier progression is through the ground combat. If there are systems where you get either of them in another way, I think it'll really undermine the feel of the game. Money in Xenonauts is important, particularly in the early-game, but it will only get you so far. I think this idea will let players who do not want to do every single mission play the game without disadvantage, whilst not really handicapping those that do either. From a lore perspective it makes sense too. I've read the other solutions in the thread but they tend to either break the cardinal rule about soldier experience / research artefacts, or seem to be more complex than my current suggestion for no real gain that I can see. EDIT - also, consider that any way of limiting the number of crash sites (rather than the number a player actually attacks) causes tech tree problems. What if a player is unlucky and doesn't get a Scout crash site for a month? That'll put them way behind other players in research terms at that stage of the game through no fault of their own. Luck isn't meant to be such a major factor in your success / failure than it would be if you're heavily limiting crash sites numbers. Not much of a strategy game if it is.

This may need a nerf. Given that experienced players are just cowering behind the Chinook and newer players are finding it hard, I imagine we'll want to reduce alien numbers a bit.

No, the Alien Power Source is what triggers Alenium. That appears in both the Corvette and the large Scout (it's the animated prop). The datacores just trigger the fluff research description for that particular UFO type.

What's the issue here? Are datacores being listed as destroyed in the mission end screen? They are only ever used once by the game, and are a trigger for the UFO research. They should only be listed on the mission-end screen the first time they are recovered.

Heh. Yes, Elydo, you're right - people have a perception of what radar does that fits neatly with what it does in the game, and I don't want to cause confusion. For the clips / mags, I think there was a sizeable third category of people (myself and Aaron included) who knew the difference and also didn't care. When it got to the point where people were literally drawing me pictures of the difference I thought getting the popcorn out was more amusing. Anyway, it's been updated now....except for the MAG clips, which do still look like magazines but are just called clips. I'm sure people that get that far in the game will forgive me though. The aircraft construction images were indeed a nice touch, I thought. Glad a few people have noticed them. Finally, yes, the differing dropship speeds have been updated already and that will be reflected in the next build when it comes out.

OK, I've just finished the Xenopedia research project descriptions and I'm now starting to write the descriptions for the starting equipment. I've also had a read of the current thread...or at least the points listed on the front page. Here goes: ARDA - No, it's a radar and it'll stay that way. People know what radar does. Changing it doesn't really give any benefit I see, but could cause confusion. Aircraft armour - the two conventional aircraft descriptions don't refer to armour. They just say that the airframe is built out of something resistant to alien weapons...for example building the airframe out of steel rather than glass isn't adding more armour, but still makes it more resistant to combat damage. Would happily have updated any actual reference to "armour" for the first two planes though. I've added the word "safely" to the roll description for the Foxtrot. I think explaining why it doesn't have a cannon even though the MiG-31 did is taking things too far, I don't see that as necessary. Missiles - these descriptions were both old and will be rewritten. I'm not planning to give specifics on range etc in the description because that's still subject to balance, I'll just write vague stuff like "short range" or whatever. Clips / Mags - I suppose at this point I should stop trolling everyone and just change this. Aaron and I both find it amusing quite how worked up people get about it, but with release coming up it's time to correct it. MAG weapons are still going to use "clips", though. I'm not letting the Xenonauts carry a "MAG mag" into battle.

OK - so here's the two fixed soldier name files. Just unzip this .zip to your /assets/ folder and overwrite the existing files: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/26290309/names.zip This will be included in the next update, but is makes the missing nationalities appear and has rebalanced the national soldier distribution a bit so it's more even. Enjoy.

You guys are right, they're still not appearing. There seems to be something else at work, even once the rogue /Nation tags are removed. Let me look into it and hopefully get a fix up for it if possible.