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Xenonauts-2 Closed Beta Build V19 Released! (Experimental Branch)


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Closed Beta Build V19 has now been released on Steam and GOG. Note that this build is only available on our Experimental branch so you'll need to switch over to get this update (instructions on how to do that here).

This is our first major update for about two months, as I've had to take some time off due to a recent death in the family. I returned to work earlier this month and have been working hard on playtesting and balancing the game - doing campaign run-throughs and changing the game balance / iterating the mechanics after each one. The result is that the gameplay in the early game is now properly starting to take shape. The downside is that I added / changed a few new game mechanics as part of my playtesting and these are not currently very well explained, so you may not really know what's going on!

I've made so many changes that I've not kept track of them (there's been literally hundreds of them), so instead this post will just give an overview of some of the largest changes.

Key Highlights:

  • Gameplay Rebalance: I've probably played 20 campaigns of Xenonauts 2 since the last build was released, and I've been fixing gameplay issues and iterating the game balance with each one. The first campaigns would only last two or three missions before the game would crash or become unplayable, whereas the more recent campaigns are 10+ mission sessions that probably cover at least a third of the game. The early game is therefore now much better balanced than in previous builds. Not perfect, but I think it's playable now.
  • Systems Temporarily Disabled: I've temporarily disabled some of the new systems to make gameplay balancing easier, making the game more like the classic X-Com experience. The disabled systems are:
    • Orbital Bombardment
    • Soldier Stress
    • Geocape command centers (scientists / engineers are now hired in the same way as they were in X1).
    • These systems will be re-enabled and properly evaluated once it's possible to play a 20 mission campaign, as that way we can judge what sort of effect they have on the gameplay and strategy.
  • Weapon Components: you no longer recover alien weapons from combat (because they self-destruct), but instead you recover components that can be spent on upgrades or constructing advanced weapons - if you've played XCOM it's a similar system to their "weapon fragments". As alien weapons can't be used by humans anyway, I think this works well to give the player a reward after each battle (as you always get some components, even if you don't get alloys or alenium) and makes some of the engineering choices in the early game a bit more interesting.
  • Cleaners: we've added a new "alien" race to the start of the game. The Cleaners are a shadowy organisation of gas-mask wearing humanoids that have been working to assist the aliens (and foil the Xenonauts) for some time prior to the start of the game. The idea is that they'll cause the Xenonauts problems in the early game, but the player can complete a short research chain and a few tactical missions to remove them as a threat so they can concentrate fully on the aliens.
  • Separated Base Stores: each base now has fully independent storage space, as they did in X-Com or X1. This means the process of moving from the single-base design to the multi-base design is now fully complete.
  • Aircraft Power System: aircraft equipment now has power requirements, which makes equipping your aircraft a bit more interesting.
  • Sentry Guns: we've added Sentry Guns to the game. These are cheap robotic turrets that can be built in your workshop that can only be used on base defence missions, where they can be used to fill your squad up to the 16-soldier cap. These turrets have wheels so can move around the base and fight like a MARS, but they're much cheaper and more expendable. Note that the 3d model hasn't yet been updated to have wheels, so it still looks kinda weird when the unit moves. These are unlocked by doing an autopsy on the Sentry Guns in the Cleaner base mission.
  • Recoil & Burst Fire: we've added Recoil to the game, which is expressed as a % and represents the accuracy loss for each subsequent shot in a burst (e.g. shots at 10% recoil would be at 100%, 90%, 81% accuracy etc). Recoil is partially mitigated via strength. We've therefore added longer bursts as an optional fire mode to the LMG and Rifles.
    • Note that the hit chance for burst fire is shown as the average across the whole burst. A 3-round burst where the shots were at 25%, 20% and 15% hit chance would display to the player as "20% x 3" hit chance.
  • Research Funding Bonuses: certain research projects now boost your regional funding on completion, specifically any plot research and any autopsy / interrogations.
  • Autopsies / Interrogations: these are no longer autocomplete projects, and now provide damage bonuses against that race (as in X1) as well as the funding bonuses listed above. They no longer accelerate the speed of Training, as that will instead be done by constructing more advanced Training buildings in future.

Balance Changes Summary - Quick Summary:

  • The game now starts after a tutorial mission that is not yet implemented which introduces the player to the Xenonauts and the Cleaners (which is why you start with Cleaner Autopsy unlocked). The idea is that a player plays this once to learn the controls and the basic story, and then all future games they can just go straight into the action. Obviously this will all make more sense once the tutorial mission is added!
  • I've tried to make the game more lethal. The Skyhawk can now take 10 soldiers into battle, but the aliens are more lethal than before. I've spent some time balancing the damage so that upgrading your armour is definitely worthwhile, but even soldiers with high tier armour still have at least a 20% chance of being instakilled if hit by a reasonably powerful alien weapon. Early missions are frequently a complete bloodbath and your losses become less frequent as the game goes on and you develop better armour, but even at the end of the game your troops are still at risk on every mission.
  • The addition of Weapon Components makes the decisions about what weapons / armour to upgrade in the early game a bit more interesting. Unlike Alloys / Alenium, you get more Components after every mission so they provide a steady stream of (minor) rewards.
  • The armour worn by a soldier is now lost if that soldier is killed. This means you need to keep building new armour if you lose a lot of soldiers. In practice, it means I find myself making interesting decisions about rationing armour that I never had to do in X1.
  • Burst fire weapons now have the ability to fire more shots at the cost of a few extra TU. However the decreasing Accuracy of each shot means it's only generally worth it if a unit is strong enough to compensate for at least some of the Recoil. Weak soldiers probably shouldn't use burst fire at all.
  • Grenades are now much better at removing cover and destroying walls. This isn't very realistic but does make the gameplay much more interesting because it opens up a lot of options for quickly demolishing walls to open up new firing angles etc.

As always, please let us know if you encounter any bugs by posting them up on the Bug Reporting subforums, as we'll release a hotfix if necessary.

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On 5/25/2021 at 11:56 PM, Chris said:

I've tried to make the game more lethal. The Skyhawk can now take 10 soldiers into battle

Is that really necessary? I've found that against crashed scouts even 8 was overkill, you really didn't need that much versus like 6 aliens on a barren map. most of the soldiers just ended up doing nothing, and managing them in tactical became a tad tedious. Of course once the maps gets more populated with aliens things change. Then again, that's why the cleaners got introduced, right? if you have to fight the scout aliens AND cleaners on the same level the initial maps become a lot less empty

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23 minutes ago, RWDE said:

Is that really necessary? I've found that against crashed scouts even 8 was overkill, you really didn't need that much versus like 6 aliens on a barren map. most of the soldiers just ended up doing nothing, and managing them in tactical became a tad tedious. Of course once the maps gets more populated with aliens things change. Then again, that's why the cleaners got introduced, right? if you have to fight the scout aliens AND cleaners on the same level the initial maps become a lot less empty

Depends when you last played the game, really. The damage on aliens has been tuned higher because I found it's relatively rare a soldier gets hit more than once by alien fire unless it's a difficult mission, and with most armour previously protecting against at least one hit casualties seemed a bit low in the early game. Now unarmoured soldiers usually die when hit by enemy fire, and though the early-game armour gives them a chance of survival but it's still a coin flip whether they live or die. In that situation you need more soldiers to soak up the extra deaths. The AI is still rather primitive but I still had missions where I lost 6+ soldiers in the current build.

The Cleaners don't currently mix with the aliens, they're just in the tutorial and they have a base you can knock out early game to unlock some plot research and sentry guns. I might experiment with mixing them in with the early-game UFOs until their master base is destroyed, but I'm not completely sure yet.

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First awesome work and I'm sorry for the loss of your loved one.

I don't see a reason to limit troops we can deploy, if the aircraft can fit 12 then fit 12, some missions should have 4 or 6 aliens and some should have 30. If the player doesn't want to bring more troops then they shouldn't, but don't make the aircraft seating unrealistic because some don't like it. Maybe make the beginning aircraft a short-range helicopter and let us work our way up to affording a ch-53 or ch-47.

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9 hours ago, Chris said:

I found it's relatively rare a soldier gets hit more than once by alien fire unless it's a difficult mission

That's the thing, if you get barely hit by enemy fire in the first place, won't increased alien damage keep the easy missions easy, and already decently hard missions even harder? Seems like buffing the alien resiliency, or number of encounters in one map would be better for the gameplay flow.

 

6 hours ago, Acosta said:

don't make the aircraft seating unrealistic

The realism argument does not seem convincing, Unless that's what the developers are trying to go for. I didn't get the impression that X-2 was trying to be a simulator though.

 

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2 hours ago, RWDE said:

That's the thing, if you get barely hit by enemy fire in the first place, won't increased alien damage keep the easy missions easy, and already decently hard missions even harder? Seems like buffing the alien resiliency, or number of encounters in one map would be better for the gameplay flow.

I think you'll just have to play it, really. I've made so many changes I can't actually remember if there's more aliens in the starting missions compared to the last public release, so I don't think you can discuss one change in isolation like you perhaps could in earlier patches.

All I can say is the number of soldiers feels appropriate to me right now based on my playtesting, but if people want to give their own thoughts based on their own experiences of playing the game I'm happy to listen.

7 hours ago, Acosta said:

First awesome work and I'm sorry for the loss of your loved one.

I don't see a reason to limit troops we can deploy, if the aircraft can fit 12 then fit 12, some missions should have 4 or 6 aliens and some should have 30. If the player doesn't want to bring more troops then they shouldn't, but don't make the aircraft seating unrealistic because some don't like it. Maybe make the beginning aircraft a short-range helicopter and let us work our way up to affording a ch-53 or ch-47.

Thanks, I appreciate that. But yeah, the number of soldiers you take on a mission has to be somewhat proportional to the difficulty of the mission or the game stops being a challenge. Realism is nice where possible but if it makes the game less of a strategic / tactical experience then it becomes a bit self-defeating.

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Thanks for the new Version and nice finished / further developed / more integrated missing Parts.

Sad to read that the cool Stuff like Bombardement is disabled for a while. That’s what makes the Game interesting.

The new implementations are cool too read and are a consolation plaster for the atm already integrated disabled Cool Features.

I will give it a test until UFO 2 ET comes out to have an direct comparison.

 

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Wow, that is a lot of new changes. 

I think that the appearance of these new "cleaners" is a welcome addition to the enemy variety. It also nice to get some more variation to the missions as well considering that the majority of missions are crash sites. Increasing the skyranger compacity and making alien weapons more lethal are an interesting decisions. It looks like a lot more soldiers are going to die, especially in the early game, which is good because it shows how far the aliens are ahead of humanity. I'm not sure how much this would unbalance the game, but we'll see. 

I definitely agree with disabling a lot of the features so you can focus on the lots of new stuff that could be very unbalanced and broken. 

I've noticed over the last few updates that you guys seem to be taking some inspiration from the Firaxis Xcom. Is this a coincidence or a conscious decision?  

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That new Stuff is coming in was very long announced after the first playable Beta-Versions.

The first one (Bases not linked together incl. Storage) are done fully yet.

Where I agree is that’s the new implementations are nice. I like much of them, but the Test Fun for this Version is not there. Cool action-Things get missing. The other 2 Versions before had more action.

The cool Stuff from the previous Versions (like already done R & D-Infos) are not there and get missing too. For a short Test the new Version is good, but after yesterday’s Testing not for a long run.

It’s more an downgrade than an upgrade in many things. Some have we discussed to refit / upgrade and that’s fully OK (like the Outpost). Otherwise the cool working must have ones (Bombardment) are not there atm, which downgrade the Game to 08/15 in Playstile.

Hopefully the cool Stuff are deactivated only a short time and the cool already done working Stuff comes back again.

Otherwise Testing make no Sense for the next Time.

That Xenonauts 2 bring in the announced Specials (like Human Traitors, more Enemy’s, more R & D) as well as get first Refits / Reworks Step by Step are very good news. And that Xenonauts 2 is a Mix from old / new XCOM as well as UFO ET / UFO 2 ET looks very cool. The full Team from Goldhawk understand exactly what my Idea for the Game is.

That‘s the good and bad Things I saw in the last Versions incl. the latest one.

@Kamehamehayes

Ufos will not play a major role in Xenonauts 2. That’s good, otherwise it would be an 08/15 Clone from the Original.

If you wanna have UFO Chrashsites on Mass there is UFO ET Gold, Xenonauts 1 and the old X-Com-Series.

The in short upcoming UFO2ET have many Crashsites too and like new XCOM / Xenonauts 2 a very interesting Storyline.

The Difference between new XCOM / Xenonauts 2 and UFO 2 ET and the above announced are that above announced haven’t Specials and are boring through the 08/15-Playstile after a short or medium while.

How much Crash-Sites the new DLC for Phoenix Point have I don’t know.

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16 hours ago, Kamehamehayes said:

Wow, that is a lot of new changes. 

I think that the appearance of these new "cleaners" is a welcome addition to the enemy variety. It also nice to get some more variation to the missions as well considering that the majority of missions are crash sites. Increasing the skyranger compacity and making alien weapons more lethal are an interesting decisions. It looks like a lot more soldiers are going to die, especially in the early game, which is good because it shows how far the aliens are ahead of humanity. I'm not sure how much this would unbalance the game, but we'll see. 

I definitely agree with disabling a lot of the features so you can focus on the lots of new stuff that could be very unbalanced and broken. 

I've noticed over the last few updates that you guys seem to be taking some inspiration from the Firaxis Xcom. Is this a coincidence or a conscious decision?  

Yeah, I've intentionally been looking at both classic X-Com and modern XCOM for some inspiration, so the gameplay feels a bit different from X1 even in places where the systems haven't fundamentally changed. The additional lethality and larger squad sizes in this path is inspired by the original X-Com, as is the fact that armour is destroyed when troops are lost. The effect is subtle but I think it works well so far.

XCOM has plenty of good ideas we can borrow too, although it's a different kind of game and you can't just transplant stuff across. But that game is very good at giving the player interesting choices to make and I think stuff like the weapon fragments do make the game much more engaging (given alien weapons were only useful for selling in X1 anyway). I'm trying to give the player more small decisions to make about equipment and upgrades after each mission, and ideally also we'll be able to give the player more interesting choices within missions too (it'd be good for example to move the accuracy bonus sniper rifles get for not moving to be an activated ability, so it becomes a decision for the player when a sniper scopes in on a target).

We are indeed trying to break up the mission monotony a bit too. Crash sites remain an important part of the mission mix but we're aiming for them being about half the missions, and hopefully the player won't play more than two of them consecutively before getting a mission of a different type. The Cleaners are a good addition partly because it means we can use the Xenonaut Base tiles in some other missions beyond just the rare occasions where you bases get attacked, which again helps with the variety.

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Any news on the open beta?

I've been playing a couple of missions and just two things: The tooltips are a bit annoying since they can block other elements of the UI you can need. I changed the tooltip mode from timer to action and it fixed it (btw, the graphics quality option is labeled as tooltip). The other thing is a bug the LMG. The soldiers start the mission with the LMG unloaded but I'm not sure if this only happens with soldiers who were a different role before being changed to heavy.

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7 hours ago, geno said:

Any news on the open beta?

I've been playing a couple of missions and just two things: The tooltips are a bit annoying since they can block other elements of the UI you can need. I changed the tooltip mode from timer to action and it fixed it (btw, the graphics quality option is labeled as tooltip). The other thing is a bug the LMG. The soldiers start the mission with the LMG unloaded but I'm not sure if this only happens with soldiers who were a different role before being changed to heavy.

We will prob be getting new about the open beta in the monthly update, which should come out in 2 or 3 days. 

Bugs are best reported in the bug reporting section because it just gets lost in other topics and it is much easier to sort and acquire bug topics there. Everything you need to include and where to get them are found at the top of the bug reporting section in the pinned topics. Happy alien hunting. 

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On 5/26/2021 at 12:56 AM, Chris said:

The game now starts after a tutorial mission that is not yet implemented which introduces the player to the Xenonauts and the Cleaners (which is why you start with Cleaner Autopsy unlocked). The idea is that a player plays this once to learn the controls and the basic story, and then all future games they can just go straight into the action. Obviously this will all make more sense once the tutorial mission is added!

Good idea with a training fight.

But it is wrong to bring unlock for the cleaner's base mission through a study of the cleaner's corpse. This does not make sense. The location of the base should be revealed to the player through the study of a live cleaner (or other alien)

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2 minutes ago, MrAlex said:

Good idea with a training fight.

But it is wrong to bring unlock for the cleaner's base mission through a study of the cleaner's corpse. This does not make sense. The location of the base should be revealed to the player through the study of a live cleaner (or other alien)

Chris said that it would be unlocked through a short research chain, not directly from studying the cleaner's corpse. So it is probably a combination of cleaner autopsy, cleaner interrogation, and maybe cleaner officer interrogation or maybe some piece of communications technology. The post the you quoted said that you start the game with Cleaner autopsy available. 

On 5/25/2021 at 2:56 PM, Chris said:

Cleaners: we've added a new "alien" race to the start of the game. The Cleaners are a shadowy organisation of gas-mask wearing humanoids that have been working to assist the aliens (and foil the Xenonauts) for some time prior to the start of the game. The idea is that they'll cause the Xenonauts problems in the early game, but the player can complete a short research chain and a few tactical missions to remove them as a threat so they can concentrate fully on the aliens.

 

On 5/25/2021 at 2:56 PM, Chris said:

The game now starts after a tutorial mission that is not yet implemented which introduces the player to the Xenonauts and the Cleaners (which is why you start with Cleaner Autopsy unlocked).

See how the first post says it is a research chain and the second says that you stat the game with it researchable? I do not blame you for confusing it though; it is a pretty long update with lots of new stuff. 

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I'm sure the player's first ground missions are best done to clear the area after a crash site. Sudden ground tasks are best added in the middle of the game. When a player has good radar coverage and he successfully intercepts UFOs, then the game should be complicated by the appearance of sudden ground missions. At the beginning of the game, the player should be given the opportunity to deal with base management, instead of constantly responding to sudden missions.

Now the first game mission begins with cleaners base attack and the second mission of terror and only then the interception of the first UFO. I think that's wrong. It is better to return to the classic order of missions. You need to start with the interception and gradually complicate the game with new types of missions.

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9 minutes ago, Kamehamehayes said:

Chris said that it would be unlocked through a short research chain, not directly from studying the cleaner's corpse. So it is probably a combination of cleaner autopsy, cleaner interrogation, and maybe cleaner officer interrogation or maybe some piece of communications technology. The post the you quoted said that you start the game with Cleaner autopsy available. 

Have you already played this version of the game? It seems that no. I'm talking about the real facts, how it works now. Based on real experience, I offer an alternative.

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Just now, MrAlex said:

Have you already played this version of the game? It seems that no. I'm talking about the real facts, how it works now. Based on real experience, I offer an alternative.

No I have not played it (due to not owning a copy of the closed beta), but I am pretty certain that it is a temporary change as the devs slowly add more and more research required to attack the cleaner base. Based on quotes given by the devs, my evidence suggests that this change will be temporary and that an alternative is not needed as of now. 

5 minutes ago, MrAlex said:

I'm sure the player's first ground missions are best done to clear the area after a crash site. Sudden ground tasks are best added in the middle of the game. When a player has good radar coverage and he successfully intercepts UFOs, then the game should be complicated by the appearance of sudden ground missions. At the beginning of the game, the player should be given the opportunity to deal with base management, instead of constantly responding to sudden missions.

Now the first game mission begins with cleaners base attack and the second mission of terror and only then the interception of the first UFO. I think that's wrong. It is better to return to the classic order of missions. You need to start with the interception and gradually complicate the game with new types of missions.

I do not if it is wrong honestly. It would be nice to start the game with a bang because it really is a powerful first impression. The aliens are threatening and they mount an attack on the base, causing the player to always be on edge as their base could be attacked at any time and the player does not know what other things the aliens have in store. After these beginning sequences, I agree that the missions should be scaled back to allow the player to get used to base and soldier management. 

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On 5/28/2021 at 10:29 PM, geno said:

Any news on the open beta?

I've been playing a couple of missions and just two things: The tooltips are a bit annoying since they can block other elements of the UI you can need. I changed the tooltip mode from timer to action and it fixed it (btw, the graphics quality option is labeled as tooltip). The other thing is a bug the LMG. The soldiers start the mission with the LMG unloaded but I'm not sure if this only happens with soldiers who were a different role before being changed to heavy.

I think the problem is actually the tooltip delay. There's a bug that's fixed in the hotfix where it's set to zero if you've previously played the game, if you press Reset to Default for the settings then it'll give it the intended values.

Can you create a bug report for the LMG issues, if you haven't already? I've not seen that one happening.

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9 hours ago, MrAlex said:

I'm sure the player's first ground missions are best done to clear the area after a crash site. Sudden ground tasks are best added in the middle of the game. When a player has good radar coverage and he successfully intercepts UFOs, then the game should be complicated by the appearance of sudden ground missions. At the beginning of the game, the player should be given the opportunity to deal with base management, instead of constantly responding to sudden missions.

Now the first game mission begins with cleaners base attack and the second mission of terror and only then the interception of the first UFO. I think that's wrong. It is better to return to the classic order of missions. You need to start with the interception and gradually complicate the game with new types of missions.

I tend to research the upgraded armour first, actually, because that way my soldiers are better protected for the first mission (the Abduction site). Then I do the Cleaner Base after that and the crash site third.

UFOs contain Alenium and a bunch of important tech, so it makes sense to have them as the third missions because otherwise the full tech tree is available right from the start.

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5 hours ago, Chris said:

the full tech tree is available right from the start.

And this is a problem. The research tree needs significant correction. Too many branches of projects lead nowhere (a waste of scientists' time). This significantly delays the development of new players. Research needs to be adjusted.
Here is an example:
In the first mission with the cleaners, I put a lot of effort into taking their brains alive (mentarch). After his research, large research project was opened (Alien Origins), which took 21 days of scientists time. And I was very disappointed when its completion gave me absolutely nothing.

I'm lucky to be familiar with similar problems in the reserch so i just rewound the game until the study is complete to see the result. Otherwise, it would be a significant problem.

Maybe you could publish a research tree so that we don't spend too much time on projects that are not yet fully implemented?

Something like THAT

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On 5/26/2021 at 12:56 AM, Chris said:
  • Research Funding Bonuses: certain research projects now boost your regional funding on completion, specifically any plot research and any autopsy / interrogations.
  • Autopsies / Interrogations: these are no longer autocomplete projects, and now provide damage bonuses against that race (as in X1) as well as the funding bonuses listed above. They no longer accelerate the speed of Training, as that will instead be done by constructing more advanced Training buildings in future.

It will be great if you add some reports of increased funding and damage after completing the research.
For example: 1) Sponsors appreciated your progress in the study of aliens and they decided to increase funding.

2) After a detailed study of the alien, we better understand his vulnerabilities. This will allow our Soldiers inflict more damage to them.

3) After a detailed study of the UFO Hull, we better understand its vulnerabilities. This will allow our Fighters to inflict more damage on them (increase damage to UFO ships).

I also really liked the idea of buying a basic fighter and helicopter instead of manufacturing. It would be great if they could also be sold instead of disband.

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I think the cost of maintaining fighters and dropship is too high ($ 500,000). I think $ 100,000 will be enough. It will be much more interesting and realistic to add an additional fee for the repair of fighters (if it posible).
For example $ 100 for the repair of 1 armor (50 armor = $ 5,000), $ 500 for the repair of 1 HP (200 HP = $ 100,000)

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On 5/26/2021 at 12:56 AM, Chris said:

Autopsies / Interrogations: these are no longer autocomplete projects, and now provide damage bonuses against that race (as in X1) as well as the funding bonuses listed above. They no longer accelerate the speed of Training, as that will instead be done by constructing more advanced Training buildings in future.

This is great. But you need to change the research menu. Because to study an alien corpse they need to have this corpse.

This update has divided stores between bases, but the study is still common to all bases. So scientists can study a corpse which is not even on the base.

It is necessary to change the menu of research similarly to engineering. In order for research on different bases to be done separately (like engineering), and research required the availability of material in stock.

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I like to build the Fighters instead. The Reason is easy: They are a long R & D-Project only from Xenonauts, which aren´t of interesst from the Founder States. And more important: That´s your only Special on the beginning.

There you have much cool things you can do:

1. You can sell self produced Fighters to the Founder states for a high price (50 % to 70 % Win to the Costs) to get more money and give the Founder states an upgraded Airplane.

2. You make a Lend-Lease with your Founders, which means they get the Plans for their first Fighter-Upgrades.

3. You get the old Mig-25s from Russia for a very low price and upgrade them to the X-25 yourself.

The Transport comes from the American or Russian Military, belongs you build the base in the West incl. South America / European or East incl. full Asia / African States.

The same with the first upgraded Weapons.

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On 5/30/2021 at 9:47 AM, MrAlex said:

And this is a problem. The research tree needs significant correction. Too many branches of projects lead nowhere (a waste of scientists' time). This significantly delays the development of new players. Research needs to be adjusted.
Here is an example:
In the first mission with the cleaners, I put a lot of effort into taking their brains alive (mentarch). After his research, large research project was opened (Alien Origins), which took 21 days of scientists time. And I was very disappointed when its completion gave me absolutely nothing.

I'm lucky to be familiar with similar problems in the reserch so i just rewound the game until the study is complete to see the result. Otherwise, it would be a significant problem.

Maybe you could publish a research tree so that we don't spend too much time on projects that are not yet fully implemented?

Something like THAT

Yeah, you're encountering some systems that aren't fully explained in the game at the moment there. Those are plot-related projects and those plot projects increase your funding significantly when completed, although the game doesn't tell you that yet. Doesn't the Mentarch capture give you the Quantum Decoder though?

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