Xenonauts-2 Closed Beta Build V9.2 Hotfix Released! (Experimental Branch)

[Chris]

Today we're releasing a large hotfix for the Beta Build V9 that we released on the Experimental Branch last week. This is an unusual hotfix because it adds and changes some content as well as fixing bugs and usability issues - I sat down and spent a couple of hours playing the game over the weekend and I've made quite a few changes as a result (although these lean more towards usabiltiy changes and balance tweaks than adding new content).

Much of the new content is still rather placeholder; I've been layout the skeleton of the early game research tree and in the next update I'll try to flesh it out a little more.

General Fixes:

• I've updated the layout of the Load Game screen so there is now enough space to read the names of the available save games.
• The Bomber UFO no longer crashes the game on spawn.
• Building a Skylance missile in the workshop no longer crashes the game.
• Fixed an AI hang that was occurring on Terror missions where Androns were involved.
• Laser LMG construction now works again; the weapon is now called the "Laser LMG" rather than the "Scatter Laser" (which is a recently added aircraft weapon).
• The black pop-up messages now use the new font and are thus no longer always in ALL CAPS.
• Geoscape:
  • You should now always get a pop-up after completing a research project that informs you about any new research projects unlocked as a result - previously this only appeared if a new project was unlocked (this matters because this pop-up contains the "Go To Research Screen" button that reminds you to set a new research target).
  • The pop-ups for unlocked research and engineering projects were formerly linked together, but now they've been seperated out into different pop-ups that appear in sequence.
  • You no longer recieve out-of-sequence popups if you recover an item that unlocks an instant completion research (e.g. an Autopsy) that itself unlocks new research projects.
  • The Launch Interceptors panel now shows a preview of the aircraft you are launching.
  • When viewing the info of a squadron in-flight, the aircraft images now correctly reflect the aircraft type.
  • Fixed an issue where relocating an interceptor would not immediately update its position, causing it to launch from its old base on the next mission it flew.
  • Crash sites now have an increasing number appended to their name (e.g. "Crashsite-3")
  • The multi-selection pop-up on the Geoscape no longer appends the word "activity" to the Crashsite names.
  • The air combat result text has changed from "UFO Shot Down" to "Interception Successful", and from "UFO Escaped" to "Interception Failed".
  • Gun Drone / Cyberdrone now have autopsy projects.
  • Reaper autopsy now autocompletes like all the others.
• Aircraft:
  • This screen now shows explanatory text (and shows the plane faded out) if the plane is airborne, under construction, destroyed or relocating to another base.
  • Fuel / HP statbars now work correctly, including when the aircraft is at 0% Fuel / HP.
• Main Base:
  • Interceptors that are airborne, destroyed or under construction are now shown faded out.
  • There is now a line that shows the Power consumption of the selected building in the construction list.
  • Power Capacity statbar is now hooked up and functional.
  • Hangar Capacity statbar has been added.
  • Other statbars now work correctly when they are zeroed out.
  • Clicking the name of the selected building in the construction list now correctly deselects it and cancels construction.
  • Hangars now have the same construction label text as other buildings, rather than using the old red text style.
• Armory:
  • The text label that shows the TU penalty suffered by any soldier carrying excess weight is now enabled again (it only appears if a soldier goes over their weight limit).
  • The names of newly-created loadouts should now appear correctly in the bottom-left soldier browser.
  • The screen should no longer break if you exit the soldier role selection menu by pressing Esc.
• Engineering:
  • The preview image / information should no longer display the Plasma Rifle information if nothing is selected.
• Soldiers:
  • If a soldier is wounded, their HP % is displayed after their name as "(X% HP)" rather than just "X%" as before.
  • Expanded the width of the Name, Loadout and Status columns.
• Air Combat:
  • Air combat now ends correctly when your interceptors retreat from battle.
  • Weapon ammo levels are correctly being communicated back to the strategy layer (so your aircraft do not magically re-arm themselves between battles.)
  • Additional interceptors (beyond the first interceptor) should now behave correctly when ordered to retreat from battle.
  • Combatant move paths are MUCH smaller than before.
  • Weapon slots on each interceptor now have optional lateral offsets, so shots can be spawned from under the wings instead of just from the middle of the aircraft. This means weapons firing at the same time will no longer stack on top of each other and look as if only a single weapon is present.
  • The Missile Lock element is now hidden when the correponding missile has already been fired.
  • Fixed the Foxhound interceptor not displaying its damaged images in the air combat UI.
  • The source weapon images are now greyscale, which means the disabled red versions of those images display much brighter than before.
  • Air Combat autoresolve formula now takes the time required to achieve Missile Lock into consideration when calculating damage, as well as the travel time of missiles.
• Ground Combat
  • We've temporarily disabled the wall hiding on everything except the alien base until we can get it working better.
  • Fixed the UFO exterior doors having black sections as a result of bad interactions with the fog of war system.
  • Civilians are now called "Civilian" instead of "John Doe", and local forces are called "Local Soldier" instead of "John Smith" - so it will now be less confusing when you get a notification about them suffering a bleeding wound, etc.

Balance Changes:

• There's been a significant (but still incomplete) rework of the starting tech tree.
• Base structure power generation / consumption rebalanced.
• Combat Armour is now a starting item, and the Rifleman and Assault classes use it as starting equipment.
• Alien Invasion project now takes about a day to complete rather than completing instantly after placing your first base.
• You now start with 4 Scientists and Engineers, and each Strategic Operation grants only 1 of either type when completed.
• Strategic Operations now give +$250K rather than +$500k if you choose the cash.
• Reduced Alloy gain from UFOs by roughly 50%.
• Soldiers gain Time Units in combat at twice the previous rate.
• Foxhound now only has two missile slots instead of four.
• Probe UFO is now a little slower in combat so your aircraft have a better chance of retreating, should they wish to do so.

Please post up any bugs you encounter. We'll be releasing more patches for bugs and adding more content in the near future, although I'm not completely sure about the timescales quite yet.