[Has the community dragged this back to being X1 with a new coat of paint?]

I think it's best to quote the most recent dev update on this issue.

Quote

I know many people will be delighted to hear that news, but I can also understand if others are starting to wonder why we're bothering to make a sequel at all given everything seems to be changing back to how it was in the first Xenonauts. If you're concerned about this, don't worry - it's mostly a temporary state of affairs. Once the game is playable things will start to diverge again (basically we need a solid X1 / X-Com gameplay base before we can test our planned changes).

V9 will reintroduce the X1 air combat. After that, let's see how the game begins to diverge from the original.

[V8 Balance thread]

The issue here is that you're dealing with soldier equipment, which is limited in terms of what you can take (fortunately, unlike X1). If you're taking the knife, it's at the expense of something else. And from what I see, the knife is far inferior to anything else you could take with you.

[[v8 Ground Combat] LOS not updating]

Update - I sometimes experience this, not necessarily on the first turn. LOS won't visibly update, but a save and reload fixes it. It's not a very common problem, less than 1 in 5 missions. I haven't noticed any pattern that triggers the bug. Could possibly be Linux-related?

[V8 Balance thread]

Melee weapons are incredibly inaccurate. I tried seeing what the combat knife is for, and went to knife a Sebillian, only to see the hit chance was 60%... missed both stab attempts. On another occasion, the stun baton had a 40% hit chance, so even worse. I doubt this is as intended, and it's likely a balance issue even if it is.

And what is the combat knife for anyway, aside from the cool factor? Getting into melee range is always risky, and I cannot imagine why you might ever want the knife instead of a pistol.

[[V8.1 ground combat] Exploded wall still blocking]

I can confirm the issue for the same wall. It's visible after rotating, but invisible from some angles. Also soldiers can walk through the part where it shows as blocking for shots...

[Xenonauts-2 Closed Beta Build V8 Released! (Experimental Branch)]

You've been editing weapon files though. Those are possible to edit as one line, if inconvenient, without extra knowledge.

Save game files are different. The one line is so long that you need an advanced editor or editor plugins to even be able to load and save the file, and if you can figure that out, then you can also unzip a file.

[[v8 Ground combat] Soldiers above camera level are hidden]

I found the perfect place for a screenshot. I hope this makes it clear why the behaviour looks like a bug.

First a cropped view, camera level 1:

Same view with camera at level 2:

The top part of this rock formation is visible at camera level 1, and looks the same on both camera levels. In fact the only difference is that my soldier up there disappears if I move the camera up.

This is in contrast with a nearby regular building, which looks different on different camera levels due to the roof.

[[v8 Soldier equip screen] Minor UI bug - role not getting updated]

If you assign a soldier to a different role, then the soldier list (bottom left) doesn't get updated with the new role until you click on another soldier.

[V8 Balance thread]

Since there was no thread for this, I'm starting one. Current balance issues I've noticed:

• I feel like the 10-soldier squad has a negative effect on balance, but I won't go into detail, I've posted my thoughts in the Skyhawk thread.
• The LMG ammo problem is still there, that is, a reload won't be needed under any realistic circumstances, as the LMG can be fired 10 times. To an extent, this problem exists with the rifles as well, with their 20-round magazines, exactly as in X1. I understand the desire to keep magazine sizes roughly realistic, but I also don't like how ammo isn't a factor for this tier. Wouldn't it be possible to make auto bursts fire twice the amount of rounds (6 for rifle, 10 for LMG) while halving suppression values?
• Local forces are very strong in V8. Perhaps the accuracy is high? In my first three V8 missions, the locals killed four aliens. They shouldn't be that reliable. As a side note, it would be cool to support different stats for local forces on different maps, so sometimes you'd be supported by local military who are visibly superior to armed farmers.
• Grenade throws cost 25 TU instead of being a percentage cost.
• Too many Geoscape missions are spawned. By recruiting a few extra soldiers at the start, I can do enough missions during the first month to staff buildings and keep an income stream. Either reduce the mission quantity, or make some of them require multiple soldiers (though that is the plan I think).

[Xenonauts-2 Closed Beta Build V8.1 Hotfix Released! (Experimental Branch)]

Amazing timing, I was wondering about the ETA on 8.1 because I might have some time to play this evening.

You made the switch back to relative TU costs a few builds ago, but in V8 the costs for throwing grenades (and I think some other special actions like medkits) is still constant. Throws are 25 TU. Is this intended?

[Xenonauts-2 Closed Beta Build V8 Released! (Experimental Branch)]

Alright. I can say that simply 

python -m json.tool save.json > save-pretty.json

works well on saves to get them into a readable format (quadrupling the file size!) for some quick edits. If those prove difficult to load, I should be able to get it back into the ugly format with another Python one-liner.

[Xenonauts-2 Closed Beta Build V8 Released! (Experimental Branch)]

I'm on Linux, and vim can deal with the save files, but it doesn't make that very convenient.

If you're not going to pretty-print, why not just compress the whole thing? With data like what you have, a quick compression is sure to yield at least a 90% ratio. Yes, you could say it's not then human-editable save files, but frankly I would say the current ones aren't anyway. When you need a special editor or plugins to open the file properly, it means at least some level of tech skill is necessary, and in that case you might as well ask the users to decompress the file first.

If I change a save file so it's prettified, should I expect the game to load it properly still?

[Community Discussion - Skyhawk Dropship]

Further on the 10 soldiers issue, it feels a bit bothersome to move and manage so many in the early missions, where the maps are small and where the UFOs themselves are so small that 10 soldiers would just get in the way when storming.

[Xenonauts-2 Closed Beta Build V8 Released! (Experimental Branch)]

One small request for the tech team. Would it be possible to change the JSON serialization for saved games to a pretty-printed format with linebreaks? Currently it's just one ginormous line, which means that many editors have trouble working with the file, and it's also harder to manually edit stuff due to it not being pretty-printed.

[Turn-based all the time - why?]

I find that reaching the UFO with enemies dead only takes a minute anyway. You can move several soldiers at a time, you don't have to wait for the animation to end. Take a soldier, click near the UFO, next soldier, click near the UFO, and so on. Then it takes little time per turn, and you should be ready for the slower UFO breach gameplay in about 2 turns.

[[v8] Crash on loading mission]

There's a repeatable crash when trying to load a particular combat mission.

Crash log:

2019-10-07 00:20:06,997 [FATAL] (D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Screens\XenonautsMain.cs:524) 
[INITIAL CRASH]
Artitas.EntityMutationException: A crash occurred during delayed entity mutation - Mutation [ID: 308, ComponentID: 46, Next: Common.Components.GameObjectComponent, Added: True] ---> System.ArgumentNullException: A fatal error occurred during Update[] -  - Argument cannot be null.
Parameter name: key
Parameter name: key
  at System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[UnityEngine.Material,UnityEngine.Material].ContainsKey (UnityEngine.Material key) [0x00099] in /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Collections.Generic/Dictionary.cs:474 
  at Xenonauts.GroundCombat.Scripts.AActorDataBehaviour.ApplyMaterialPack (System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2 materialMap) [0x00035] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Screens\GroundCombat\Scripts\DataBehaviour\AActorDataBehaviour.cs:514 
  at Xenonauts.GroundCombat.ActorVisualVariationSystem.InstantiateMaterialItemPack (Artitas.Entity actor) [0x00055] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Screens\GroundCombat\Systems\ActorVisualVariationSystem.cs:348 
  at Artitas.Family+<EntityAdd>c__AnonStorey1E.<>m__0 (Artitas.Family family, Artitas.Entity entity) [0x00007] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Artitas\Artitas.Core\Code\Family.cs:841 
  at Artitas.Family.AddEntity (Int32 entityID, Int32 componentID, IComponent previous, IComponent next) [0x00072] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Artitas\Artitas.Core\Code\Family.cs:489 
  at Artitas.Managers.FamilyManager.UpdateComposition (Int32 entityID, Int32 componentID, IComponent prevComp, IComponent newComp, Boolean added) [0x001d2] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Artitas\Artitas.Core\Code\Managers\FamilyManager.cs:344 
  at Artitas.World.MutateComponentOnEntity (Int32 entityID, Int32 componentID, IComponent previousC, IComponent nextC, Boolean added) [0x000d6] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Artitas\Artitas.Core\Code\World.cs:361 
  --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
  at Artitas.World.HandleDelayedMutations () [0x000fe] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Artitas\Artitas.Core\Code\World.cs:310 
  at Artitas.Template.Create (Artitas.World world) [0x0010a] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Artitas\Artitas.Core\Code\Template.cs:617 
  at Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GroundCombatInitialization.SpawnIntoLocation (Artitas.World w, Artitas.Template actorTemplate, Common.Boards.Board b, Address a, Direction d) [0x00003] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Screens\GroundCombat\GroundCombatInitialization.cs:747 
  at Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GroundCombatInitialization.SpawnAICombatant (Artitas.World world, Artitas.Entity player, Common.Boards.Board board, Artitas.Template template, Xenonauts.GroundCombat.CombatantConfig combConf, Address target, Xenonauts.GroundCombat.SpawnRegionAllotment spawnTarget, Int32 combatantsSpawnedAlready) [0x000f0] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Screens\GroundCombat\GroundCombatInitialization.cs:703 
  at (wrapper delegate-invoke) Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GroundCombatInitialization/SpawnCombatant:invoke_Entity__this___World_Entity_Board_Template_CombatantConfig_Address_GroundCombatInitialization/SpawnRegionAllotment_int (Artitas.World,Artitas.Entity,Common.Boards.Board,Artitas.Template,Xenonauts.GroundCombat.CombatantConfig,Common.Boards.Address,Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GroundCombatInitialization/SpawnRegionAllotment,int)
  at Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GroundCombatInitialization.SpawnActorsForPlayer (Artitas.World world, Artitas.Entity player, IEnumerable`1 units, Common.Boards.Board board, System.Collections.Generic.List`1 spawnRegions, Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GenerateSpawnPointRestrictions spawnRequirements, Xenonauts.GroundCombat.PickAddressInSpawnPointRegion addressPick, Xenonauts.GroundCombat.SpawnCombatant spawnCombatant) [0x00262] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Screens\GroundCombat\GroundCombatInitialization.cs:570 
  at Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GroundCombatInitialization.SpawnActors (Xenonauts.GroundCombat.PlayerConfig pc, Artitas.Entity player, Artitas.World world, System.Collections.Generic.List`1 spawnRegions) [0x0008b] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Screens\GroundCombat\GroundCombatInitialization.cs:353 
  at Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GroundCombatInitialization.SetupPlayers (Artitas.World world, Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GCParameters gcsp, System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2 teams) [0x0008b] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Screens\GroundCombat\GroundCombatInitialization.cs:310 
  at Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GroundCombatInitialization.PopulateLevel (Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GCParameters gcp, Artitas.World world) [0x0000e] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Screens\GroundCombat\GroundCombatInitialization.cs:253 
  at Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GroundCombatLogicSystem.SetupGameParameters (Xenonauts.GroundCombat.ParametersSetupCommand command) [0x000e9] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Screens\GroundCombat\Systems\GroundCombatLogicSystem.cs:404 
  at (wrapper delegate-invoke) System.Action`2<Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GroundCombatLogicSystem, Xenonauts.GroundCombat.ParametersSetupCommand>:invoke_void__this___GroundCombatLogicSystem_ParametersSetupCommand (Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GroundCombatLogicSystem,Xenonauts.GroundCombat.ParametersSetupCommand)
  at Artitas.Core.Utils.ExpressionUtil+<ActionFromMethodInfoFactory>c__AnonStorey1`4[Artitas.Systems.EventSystem,Xenonauts.GroundCombat.ParametersSetupCommand,Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GroundCombatLogicSystem,Artitas.IEvent].<>m__0 (Artitas.Systems.EventSystem target, IEvent param) [0x0001c] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Artitas\Artitas.Core\Code\Utils\ExpressionUtil.cs:151 
  at Artitas.Systems.EventSystem.HandleSubscribers (IEvent event) [0x00050] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Artitas\Artitas.Core\Code\Systems\EventSystem.cs:49 
  at Common.FSM.Systems.FSMSystem`3[Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GameState,Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GameTrigger,Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GameStateComponent].Handle (IEvent trigger) [0x0001a] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Common\Code\Concepts\FSM\FSMSystem.cs:124 
  at Artitas.DefaultProcessStrategy.Process (IEvent event) [0x0020c] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Artitas\Artitas.Core\Code\World.cs:928 
  at Artitas.World.HandleEvent[ParametersSetupCommand] (Xenonauts.GroundCombat.ParametersSetupCommand event) [0x000a3] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Artitas\Artitas.Core\Code\World.cs:708 
  at Xenonauts.GroundCombat.GroundCombatScreen+<OnSetup>c__Iterator0.MoveNext () [0x0075d] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Screens\GroundCombat\GroundCombatScreen.cs:338 
  at System.Collections.Generic.List`1[RSG.IPromise].AddEnumerable (IEnumerable`1 enumerable) [0x0001a] in /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Collections.Generic/List.cs:128 
  at System.Collections.Generic.List`1[RSG.IPromise]..ctor (IEnumerable`1 collection) [0x00025] in /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Collections.Generic/List.cs:65 
  at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToArray[IPromise] (IEnumerable`1 source) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at RSG.Promise.All (IEnumerable`1 promises) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at Common.Screens.DataStructures.LoadScreen`2[Xenonauts.GameScreens,Common.Screens.DataStructures.IScreenParameters].CheckLoading () [0x00163] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Common\Code\Lifecycles\ScreenLifecycle\DataStructures\LoadScreen.cs:247 
  at Common.Screens.DataStructures.LoadScreen`2[Xenonauts.GameScreens,Common.Screens.DataStructures.IScreenParameters].Update (Single deltaTime) [0x00002] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Common\Code\Lifecycles\ScreenLifecycle\DataStructures\LoadScreen.cs:96 
  at Xenonauts.XenonautsLoadingScreen.Update (Single deltaTime) [0x00003] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Screens\Loading\XenonautsLoadingScreen.cs:30 
  at Common.Screens.ScreenManager`1[Xenonauts.GameScreens].Update (Single deltaTime) [0x000f3] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Libraries\Common\Code\Lifecycles\ScreenLifecycle\ScreenManager.cs:154 
  at Xenonauts.XenonautsMain.Update () [0x00066] in D:\Jenkins\workspace\X2 (Build)\release-0.52.0\Assets\Code\Screens\XenonautsMain.cs:444 

 

crash.json

[[v8 Ground combat] Soldiers above camera level are hidden]

I see what you mean in some cases, like roofs. With some others, like the rocks on many maps, the terrain seems visible anyway, so it's as if just the soldier disappears. And it really doesn't feel right. I'll get some screenshots in, but seems like some creative UI solution is needed.

[[v8] Some weapons won't work]

Seems like the right-clicking is a problem. If you drag and drop another weapon instead, the ammo gets updated - I was able to fix the HEVY that way. Still doesn't work for the shield, which has no ammo type, so the old invalid ammo stays even if you drag the shield.

[[v8] Some weapons won't work]

I've been having problems with some weapons not working. The HEVY fires but there's no explosion. I can't make a shield soldier fire his pistol at all. After some clicking, I think it's actually a bug in loadout storage in v8.

Notice the rifle mag next to the HEVY. If you create a new role, it starts with whatever the previous role had, such as the basic rifle + mag. But then if you change weapons, you can't get rid of the previous ammo type.

More specifically:

1. Take a soldier with one of the default roles. Observe that the displayed ammo type is appropriate for the weapon.

2. Create a new role.

3. Right click the weapon. It gets removed as it should, but the ammo stays.

4. Right click any different weapon to assign - it will get assigned, but with the old invalid ammo.

Changing soldiers to the predefined loadouts works, but no new loadouts work. This essentially means that only the starting weapons are usable in this version. In conjunction with the other loadout bug I reported yesterday, I suspect it's something like the ammo type not getting stored in the loadout information.

[Community Discussion - Skyhawk Dropship]

Some gameplay feedback from me. I didn't have the time to try V7, so this is based on V8.

The Skyhawk itself feels like I expected, a major improvement over the previous dropship. The ability to get out of it without wasting lots of TUs really makes a difference, and the dropship itself acts as reasonable cover when needed. Getting out can still feel a bit awkward due to not having any extra space to move in, so a width-3 ship wouldn't feel amiss, but it's not as awkward as I expected.

I don't like having 10 soldiers, it feels like too many in several ways. With 8, I always found there's a tradeoff to making one of my soldiers a specialist, like a HEVY carrier - it's a useful weapon but then I lose some more conventional firepower. With 10, at least the early Probe/Scout missions feel like I make no tactical tradeoffs. I can go for a high-suppression squad with two LMGs, or get different extras while still having plenty of soldiers with regular weapons. The whole part with soldiers being fragile also feels less relevant. Psyons kill my guys in one lucky hit, but even losing 2 soldiers doesn't feel like it creates extra trouble. With 8 soldiers, losing 2 was a setback because I couldn't properly cover every direction with just 6. So 10 feels like too many, and that's despite HEVY being bugged in this version.

[[v8] Loadout saving doesn't work]

The "Update" button on the equip screen that's supposed to save loadouts doesn't work. If you click Yes in the dialog, it still stays on the screen. Pressing Esc makes it go away, but the loadout doesn't get saved - can be verified by pressing Equip, which then equips the default loadout.

[[v8 Ground combat] Soldiers above camera level are hidden]

Seems like the current camera controls hide soldiers above the current camera level. So if you send a soldier up on some rocks (level 2) and then move the camera back to level 1, the soldier's model will be hidden from view.

[[v8 Ground Combat] LOS not updating]

You might not be able to reproducing this one, but attaching a save in case it's something to do with this map.

When I started this mission, the LOS wouldn't update on the first turn - black areas remained black as I moved my soldiers. A save and reload fixed the issue.

los.zip

[[v8 real release] Soldiers instantly recruited]

I started a new game, went to recruit a couple additional soldiers - including some low-strength guy called Chris England - and they immediately show up in the equipment menu, and can go on Geoscape missions. The previous 72 hour (?) hiring time doesn't seem to apply.

[You really blew the final mission]

1 hour ago, Doomer said:

I didn't have highest end gear, no Singularity cannon for me. Just mix of sentinel and predator armor, plasma rifles, plasma casters, precision plasma, rocket launchers with fusion rockets..

This definitely makes you underprepared for the mission. Singularity cannon makes the mission much easier, but is still rather optional. Plasma weapons mean you likely don't enough gear - mag weapons are quite necessary, and Magstorms especially are great to have. It should be possible with plasmas if you play aggressively enough, but going in without mag weapons and without singularity cannons really complicates things.