V27.2 Experimental Released (Closed Beta)

[Chris]

This is the second hotfix for V27 and it breaks save games. I've therefore moved the previous hotfix version to the Experimental Legacy branch. 

Changelog:

• Lots of updates and fixes to the Research project preview descriptions and Engineering project preview images / descriptions, which should now cover every project up to day 180 (the actual research reports are still to be written in some cases, but that's next on my list).
• Added some more UFO waves to the Geoscape, as there were some long gaps between UFO waves sometimes.
• There's now a Mentarch in the Scout, rather than it first appearing in the Destroyer.
• There's now a progress tracker for ENDGAME that works much like the one for Cleaner HQ.
• There's now a small yellow stun meter on the soldier health in the minitabs at the top of the screen.
• Robotic units like the MARS are no longer affected by the Psyon Mesmerise ability.
• There's now a talking head popup when reinforcements start arriving on the Cleaner Cell mission.
• Added tooltips to the updated Aircraft screen.
• Fixed completing the tutorial would reset the difficulty setting to Soldier.
• Fixed a crash loading a save game that could be caused by units incorrectly having their equipment destroyed when caught in an explosion that kills an enemy unit.
• Fixed being unable to change aircraft equipment in the aircraft screen.
• Fixed the Cleaner Cell mission not correctly registering the VIP being captured and brought back to the dropship.
• Fixed a crash / lockup that could occur in the AI if an alien was suppressed during their turn by reaction fire.
• Fixed a memory leak in the ground combat that may have caused crashes or performance problems in long missions (it reset with every new mission).
• Fixed the VIP being hyper-aggressive in Cleaner Cell missions. It should now stay in the designated area until it sights a Xenonaut unit.
• Fixed units left outside the dropship being able to survive on evac missions like the Cleaner Cell.
• Fixed the melee weapon crosshair displaying incorrectly in various ways.
• Fixed an issue with the ARES being impossible to build.
• Fixed dead Mantids being stood up after loading a save. If you see this with any other units, please report it.
• Fixed the headlights on the MARS not working upon loading a save.
• Fixed sortable tables on strategy (like the Soldier panel) incorrectly sorting by lowest value first by default.
• Fixed several places on Soldier Equip screen where long soldier / loadout names could cause problems.
• Fixed an issue where the pre-mission Autofill button could assign soldiers to the dropship who were on less than 50% health, which then blocked the dropship from launching.
• Fixed soldiers that survive death on a mission being shown as "Wounded" with no duration.
• Fixed not being able to see through the broken fences on Dockyard maps.
• Armoured Mantids now match the size and colour of their unarmoured cousins.
• Fixed the Cleaner Base awarding an Alien Mainframe to a random base; this is no longer required.

[Emily_F]

Cool, thanks for the update @Chris .  I'm not sure if it's a bug but the Androns seem to have left the game; was that intentional?

[Chris]

Just now, Emily_F said:

Cool, thanks for the update @Chris .  I'm not sure if it's a bug but the Androns seem to have left the game; was that intentional?

Yeah, for now at least. Their models and animations are so janky we're removing them until after Early Access when we can get them redone properly.

[CaptainSPrice]

@Chris I feel like Androns should be separate alien faction like in X1 and being able to hold weapons. When i always see Androns - i always imagine them as pirates - 1 Hand , 1 Hook

[Melee]

I liked the janky unnatural Adron animations. I thought they made the mechanical monstrosities terrifying when they came for you. Pure fearless soulless machine with your death as its primary objective.