Milestone 2 (Prototype 1) - Balance Thread / Discussion

[Alienkiller]

Baldusi,

yeah, with the Cleaners and more Missions against them I confirm 100% with you. I like that 2nd Enemy, since it come in the Beta-Tests. The Car / Van-Option could be evtl. integrated as Special-Events for such Missions (like in Stellaris / new XCOM), but Ingame playable like you whish, it´s not doable.

The Idea with more interactions with sightet & landed UFOs sounds nice. That could bring in more interessting Missions too or starting Special-Mission-Events (like in Stellaris / new XCOM).

The existing Interceptors and Helicopters / Transports belong on real Facts with Range, Armement, Transport-Capacity etc. The Devs have done it correctly and make already an advanced "Skyhawk" from the so called "Banana-Transport-Helicopter". The same from the best old Interceptor with not to much electronics, the "MiG-25".

Evtl. with more Research & Development you can make the existing Interceptors from the Founders lighter, give them a little bit more Range, Speed, Durability, Electronic-Safety against EMP and similar against the Aliens. For your Angels you could make evtl. evtl. an Refit to make it lighter, give them a little bit more Range, Speed, Durability and similar to the exsiting cool Weapon- and Armour-Upgrades.

What the Missles and Torpedos belongs, you need them both, esp. when you encounter the first UFOs, which are very Dangerous after the Destroyer (f. e. Fighters, Abductors, Cruisers). There is no Change needable.

Like said, the Interceptors have an limited range, dosen´t matter what you do. Therefore I make the Suggestion with the Outposts (little Bases with not big Buildup-Options), where such Interceptors are stationed. The Devs had an similar Plan for the Game [see Kickstarter-Plan from the Devs]. The Reality brought the Devs back down to Earth, so that some of that Ideas tried to get back in in the existing stable running Game.

Normaly you don´t need big 6 Bases about the Fact, that you can´t finance them, if you play without Cheating. 1 Main-Base and 5 smaller ones with limited Buildup-Options are enough. The smaller ones could be like in Phoenix Point, old X-COM: Apocalypse or like Chaos Concept is doing limited Buildings for the Secondary-Bases (Workshops, Hangars, Defenses, Radar / Scanners, Power-Stations and for Xenonauts 2 Storages and the Decission that the Secondary Base could be an Research or Production-Base).

Edited September 15, 2023 by Alienkiller

[euanPC]

On 9/6/2023 at 11:21 PM, Komandos said:

What you need to do:

          1. The construction (birth) of new bases costs the player very cheap.

          2. The production of fighter planes is very expensive.

Total: Progress in the game is measured not by the number of bases, but by the number of fighter planes.

Thus, the player can transfer fighters from a base located in regions with low panic to a base located in a region with high panic.

Instead,: The player has a limit in the game - 6 bases.

To appear: The player has a limit in the game - 6x3 = 18 (as an example) fighter planes.

you can have more than 3 planes in a base, I know in one of my runs I had a base that was purely for planes and had about 12

[Komandos]

On 9/11/2023 at 6:56 PM, zzooman said:

A concept that may be interesting to play with is the elasticity between panic and funding. You have tried two passive options. 1. Increased panic decreases funding; 2. Increased panic does not change funding.

I would suggest this option: And the game has a "pool" (maximum list size) for hiring soldiers.

Let's say that each region provides 5 soldiers for recruitment. There are 6 regions in total. In total, there will be 30 soldiers on the list for hiring personnel. (5*6=30). With the increase of panic in the region, the number of soldiers on the recruitment list (from the specified region) will decrease in proportion to the level of panic. 

For example:

If in one region the Panic level is 20%, and in other regions the Panic level is 40%, then the size of the list for hiring soldiers will be equal to:

1 region (1-0,2)*5=4

2 region (1-0,4)*5=3

3 region (1-0,4)*5=3

4 region (1-0,4)*5=3

5 region (1-0,4)*5=3

6 region (1-0,4)*5=3

Total: the size of the list for hiring soldiers is 19 (4+3+3+3+3+3=19)

 

[Crolynx]

On 9/7/2023 at 4:54 PM, Chris said:

It's interesting reading people's abstract thoughts on the changes, but I'd really like to hear from people who have actually played the new version

I've had a chance to load and play the 2.0 version. So far, I'm loving the weapons upgrade for the ballistic weapons. Being able to upgrade the laser weapons to have batteries has been great as well. The costs are a bit high, but I'm working with it. 

The armor system upgrades have been awesome for me. I love the drop down for the modules, although I wish the menu didn't hide the popup information about the modules. I saw you were saying the modules would get artwork if you moved forward with this system, it would be cool so see that.

My only other functional critism would be on having duplicate engineering projects for the same upgrades involving the new alloys for aircraft and armor. They're the same thing according to the lore on the upgrades. So I'm curious, why're we having to pay for this one twice?

For the Cleaners maybe having more cells with smaller amounts of research earnable or having a cap based on how many cells you have cleared from the map. I tend to just do one of the 2 cells to get the research percentage started and let the time run out while dealing with the aliens to find their base. Then when I'm done with whatever alien missions I have queued I knock out the last cell and the main base back to back. The group just kind of feels like an afterthought to me.

Hope this helps you guys.

[SoftwareSimian]

I tried continuing my v2.02 playthrough this morning... and found the prototype branch has been reverted to v1.33B so savegames no longer work for now. In case anyone else runs into this.

[Alienkiller]

Nope, about reading the Infos first. So I knowed that the Milestone 1-Saves won´t work there about big Refits / Reworks / Upgrades & Changes in Milestone 2.

But I did an similar Failure in Hoi 4 long time ago, which had the Outcome to install everything from it completely new. You see we all aren´t perfect, me included.

[Pietje666]

3 hours ago, Alienkiller said:

Nope, about reading the Infos first. So I knowed that the Milestone 1-Saves won´t work there about big Refits / Reworks / Upgrades & Changes in Milestone 2.

But I did an similar Failure in Hoi 4 long time ago, which had the Outcome to install everything from it completely new. You see we all aren´t perfect, me included.

SoftwareSimian meant he wanted to load his v2.02 savegame but prototype branch was reverted to v1.33b 

At least that's how i read it

[Trasherke]

I have intentionally not looked at other feedback regarding milestone 2, to not have my opinions skewed, so forgive me if I'm repeating already brought up issues.
As feedback should be important, allow me to give feedback as far as I'm able.

The first thing I want to bring up is the different versions. The stable version I understand which is baseline for anyone who wants to just play the game which they paid for in the most stable and tested enviroment.
The experimental I understand is valuable to help test issues which is always the latest version with new features and off course bugs.
The "milestone" branch I don't understand at all. It's targetting the same audience as experimental, with the downside that if you don't see this thread or the one announcement it is linked, you don't even know it is excisted. Dividing your playerbase between three versions. Nothing is mentioned in patch notes and it has been brought down for further developement after very few feedback in my opinion. Obviously I don't know the metrics, so I can't say what percentage of people gave feedback on this thread compared to the players that played the milestone 2 build.

So now to the actual game. I think I was around day 90 yesterday, with now the build not available anymore which is rather annoying, but it's a risk playing something that is still under heavy development. So anything late game I can not comment on. I only play on commander (not ironman).

Panic
I did 3 playthroughs before milestone 2 and did not perceive it as an issue. Slight tweaking seemed more in order. I might have a different style which I will explain so it might affect me different. In short I build as many workshops as possible and don't make or research anything that I'm not going to use. The tanks are a huge money sink not worth it.  So the workshops are my main source of income after a few months and it snowballs. So early game it's a little harder trying to save anything, but if you have 2 extra bases with full workshops money isn't an issue. So getting 6 bases later in the game (after what was playable) and cover the entire globe is pretty easy.

With the new system it's pretty easy to just skip mission you don't feel like, which I do not agree with. There should be a penalty and not just be mitigated at the end of the month, not even slightly.

Funding
As you stated it has to do with features not in the game yet, so I can't comment on it. But getting again no penalty for panic makes the whole panic system pointless in my opinion. So not a fan of this change as a concept.

Mission order
I liked the cleaner deathmatch mission. In general I would like the whole cleaner storyline to take longer. You can be done with the whole system in month two. It's a nice change of pace then the normal alien missions. Unless you are bringing in other storylines after the cleaners are done. As an idea I would not have the progress bar tick by with time. Capturing cleaner data is good but slow it way down. Have different types/ranks of cleaners and advance it faster (if you want) with interrogation of live cleaners. So you some risk/reward and you also get opportunity for lore with every interrogation.

Tech Tree/Item Upgrades
Accelerated weapons were definitly a trap, but mainly because you go down the tree too fast in my opinion. There are better research options available and go straight into laser. It's min/maxing, and has both upsides and downsides. Having choices is nice, but having content which you develop and then can just skip is maybe also not the goal. Slowing down the evolution of aliens and technology makes it more worth it.
Warden Armour, before it was a research for around 8 days I think, and then 10 or 20k per armour, which was around 100k for your squad. Not sure on the numbers but I think it's close. Now the research is gone I think (not sure). But the cost is way higher. If you read my playstyle above, in my opinion now not worth it anymore.
For the same reason I don't invest in laser and guardian armor early. Increased funding is number one priority for me. You can win every mission without them in the first two months and most difficulty can be mitigated by money. I was just about to go for lasers and armor so cannot comment further on it.

Soldier module system
Extra armour was not possible on the first armour (tactical something). Before I def gave them the upgrade. Overall the change is fine, but you check the box once and never look at it again. Why have the module at all then, but it's a small detail.
Armour module. You just pick accuracy and never look at it again. The other modules are not worth it. This might change later down the line and can be balanced and expanded. Normally you will always take a benifit that always counts over a benifit that is situational. Unless the benifit a certain role more then the other (increased hp, dodge change, increased TU/strength, ...)
Jetpack, didn't get there. But in concept it would be more usefull if you can go up roofs, containers, ... that you can not by walking. That way it gives more options then just a TU saver that it is now.
All in all I prefered the previous system. But I can live with either. The backpack was a natural limit to the amount of modules, but if you add a lot more modules you can have nice combo's for different playstyles.

The automed project was only 20k, I think this was a mistake and should of been 200k. Just wanted to report that in case nobody else did.

[FNGPliskin]

I played the 2.0 update until something happened, I cannot load any of my saves without a crash to desktop, even ones I previously played past. Been playing X-Com since UFO defense, and loved Xenonauts one (also loving two so far!). I've played through the stable campaign twice, once within the last two weeks, once significantly earlier (I cannot recall the specific dates).

I enjoyed the new cleaner mission as a middle mission between the tutorial and the first cleaner data raid. Solid addition to the game.

I didn't notice a large difference in research pacing, it's still very easy to jump straight to lasers, which is what I felt inclined to do after the early funding increase research topics.

The module system was the most noticeable change, and it was a mixed bag. I really enjoyed the armor -- it feels more natural and realistic. Sliding a plate into your carrier doesn't take up backpack/chest pouch space, it just adds weight. For the other modules, I preferred the old system which allowed me to stack as many as I had room/strength for. I liked the addition of the communications and gas mask modules, but it feels strange that I can't use them with other modules. The square inventory system feels realistic and intuitive, the "pick one from a drop down list" feels arbitrary.

I'm looking forward to seeing more development and giving more feedback as things progress!

[Alienkiller]

Tresherke, I wanna try to explain the Versions:

The stable Version is the Version for normal Gamers, which belongs on the best outtested stable Game-Version. That´s was in the Beta-Branch 1 to 2 fully Versions to the latest Beta, now it´s 1 Version (Upgrade / Patch) to the unstable Version.

The unstable Version was the prevoius Beta-Version, which only can play Founders as Main-Beta-Testers and from later on after several years additional Beta-Testers. The unstable and stable Versions base on the latest stable Base-Game-Version, which is "Milestone 1" about the last Beta-Test-Years to make it Stable the fully Early-Game and half of the Mid-Game-Process.

The Devs still make Bugfixes for Milestone 1 to give the playerbase there an stable playing Platform with everything the Game have atm. included.

Milestone 2 is the new big Beta-Prototype-Version with more Improvements, Refits, Reworks, Upgrades etc. to the existing "Milestone 1, which get build up over Years". That new Beta-Version can only be played, if you are willing to risk for going back to an Prototype-Stadium and leave the Comfort-Zone from the stable "Milestone 1".

It´s mentioned in the Patch-Notes that Milestone 2 is an new Prototype. All other Patches are for Milestone 1 stable / unstable, which get announced too. The difference is to read the Pachtnotes / Dev Dirays correctly and not only overflow them.

 

Now to your Points:

Panic: Yeah, that´s an big Problem, we have and had in the Betas since Xenonauts 2 is playable. The first 50% of Players find it to hard, the other 50% find it to easy. To find an middleway for both Playergroups esp. Ingame in that isn´t easy and there were a lot tested and experimented already from the Devs and her Beta-Test-Helpers. The best compromise what could be done is that Panic get already adjusted to the Difficulty Settings / Ironman-Setting as fix Point and in the Gameplay for the biggest Challange at the End [like it´s in new XCOM / Phoenix Point / UFO ET-Series].

For the adjusted Panic-System in Milestone 2 you have to find new Ways to increase / decrease Panic. It´s an very good Indicator-System to see what´s going on. But an Solution for the Ingame-Part there is not easy and a lot get tested out to increase / decrease Panic. Evtl. such cool tested Features / Contents come back [like special Operations from the Enemys to increase the Escalation between NATO and East-Block-Pact, enemy Agents which make Propanda to incerase Panic as well as as reduction Panic use special trained Agents, help the Founders with Outpots etc.].

Some of that Contents / Features were tested in the Beta-Versions already and give some more Geoscape Action too (like fight together with Founder Aircrafts against UFOs which attacking an Outpost and similar).

Founding: Haven´t played the Milestone 2 much, but the Founding is an very important Feature / Contnent. No Building, Workshop, Laboratory etc. works with Money. You have to pay your Soldiers, Researchers, Workers etc. as well as have your Upkeep-Costs. That the Panic-System get Changed to bring in new Content / Features as well Reworks & Upgrades for the existing Panic-System and the Founding-System have to be adjusted for that to get the correct ballance again is clear after reading the Feedbacks from the Players which can make an comparision between Milestone 1 and 2.

I personaly find it interessting in all Games of that Gerne, that reduced Panic increases the Founding and increased Panic reduces the Founding. Additonal the Upkeep-Costs for Personal and Buildings, which have to be included in that Calculation too.

It will be very interessting to see what have done in the Panic- & Founding-System from the Refit of UFO 1 ET "Battle for Esperanza", when it comes out in about 1,5 Weeks.

Mission Order: Yeah, the Cleaners are very cool. More of such Enemys or Special Missions would be very cool. That I like in the new XCOM-Series and Phoenix Point, where you get more Allies and Enemys later on, which give you more Missions / Specials to choose from. 

Sadly such Allies / Enemys and Specials get missing in the Xenonauts-Series as well as UFO ET-Series. The Allies could be other Alien-Races which are not influenced from your Enemys and more Enemys could be after the Cleaner-Thread Mercenary-Teams which get orderd from Alien-Influenced-Industry-Boses to fight your Xenonauts.

Your Idea with the different Ranks & Specialisations from the Aliens / Cleaners get were already integrated in Beta-Versions and seem to be in an Refit / Rework. I liked them very too in the Tests, but that have to be integrated in the Interrogations and R & D-Part as well as evtl. in the Storyline too. It would give the Game an great Boost, there I agree to 1.000.000 %.

Tech Tree / Item Upgrades: For Milestone 1 I give you right. There that Part going to fast and your Workshops couldn´t produce the new researched Items / Upgrades for Planes, Vehicles and Specialists. With the Milestone 2 you have more cool R & D-Content / Features and a lot ther got straightend. As well as the Feedback from us Beta-Testers / Prototype-Testers get in at least now.

The Tech Tree and Item- etc. Upgrades isn´t finshed yet and there will come a lot more Refits / Reworks / Changes etc. to them. The Milestone 2 in this regard with the Parts we can test out with the Feedback from beginning on Beta-Testers and other additional invited Testers from the Community is only the first Step.

Where I give you right, is that the Game-Fun is with only 360 Days to short, there I agree with your Statement to raise it minimum to 720 Days (like UFO 1 ET and other Games of the Gerne are doing it) or better raise the Game-Fun to 2,5 Years (900 Days). Atm. it´s only an run through Xenonauts 2 to see if the Game is acceptalbe for the Public. But to give the Public an great Game the Ingame-Time have to be raised to 2 or 2,5 Years. But for the R & D-Part as well as buildup Part on the Geoscape [Bases / Outposts incl. Buildings-Upgrades] the 1 Year limit is to short.

Soldier Module System: There the Meanings are differtent too. The new System which we have in Milestone 1 at the End was come up from the revert system you can test in Milestone 2 again. With that older System the from beginning on Beta-Testers made together with the Devs the stable Milestone 1. But only 1 System isn´t good, it could be devided in 2 Systems like the Devs have in Mind:

1. Suit- / Vest- / Armor: there the old System with the changeable Coursers for either Plates, Gas Mask or something similar are great. That brings more space in the Backback again.

2. Weapon- / Special-Modules: there the new System is good, because to integrate an 3rd System with the Arrows for the Suits / Vests / Armours will be to much for the existing System. Therefore I think the Belt have to come back for more Space for the Soldier again to get Ammonation / Grenades on the belt back and therefore get for an second Special or Weapon Module more Space in the Backback.

When the automated Module is then as an last Advancement for the Medicine boxes there, I could befriend with that System and it would be an big posthob for the direct Rival "UFO ET-Series" which have an Live-Support-System in the Armours, but not an automated healing System for the Soldiers later on, which could be an great advancement to the upgraded medicine boxes.

[Alienkiller]

21 hours ago, Pietje666 said:

SoftwareSimian meant he wanted to load his v2.02 savegame but prototype branch was reverted to v1.33b 

At least that's how i read it

Yeah, the 2.x-Version can only be played with the described Prototype-Announcement. All other chooseable normal playable Versions [stable / unstable / older] are in the 1.2.x / 1.3.x-Versions. That the Comrade maybe have forgotten.

Edited September 19, 2023 by Alienkiller

[Trasherke]

1 hour ago, Alienkiller said:

Yeah, the 2.x-Version can only be played with the described Prototype-Announcement. All other chooseable normal playable Versions [stable / unstable / older] are in the 1.2.x / 1.3.x-Versions. That the Comrade maybe have forgotten.

the prototype branch is also 1.33b for now.

[Alienkiller]

Trasherke, yeah now I know what you mean. Tested it out yesterday evening.

[Graj]

I bought the game after the release date, but once in a while, when I load the game it states that it is still Alpha, in the game I get research notes stating that the text will be added in Milestone 2. Ok, My save games state a version ID of 1.33b, indicating beta?  I get that the game was incomplete at the release date, that was kind of a crummy thing to do, but it is what it is.  How do we update to milestone 2 when it becomes available?  Will my 1.33b saves still work.  I AM greatly enjoying the game as is, thanks.

[Raffik]

48 minutes ago, Graj said:

I bought the game after the release date, but once in a while, when I load the game it states that it is still Alpha, in the game I get research notes stating that the text will be added in Milestone 2. Ok, My save games state a version ID of 1.33b, indicating beta?  I get that the game was incomplete at the release date, that was kind of a crummy thing to do, but it is what it is.  How do we update to milestone 2 when it becomes available?  Will my 1.33b saves still work.  I AM greatly enjoying the game as is, thanks.

the game is in early access, it is still being worked on. The current build is 1.33b, while the Milestone 2 has been introduced as prototype and later reverted back to 1.33, as there were many bugs reported. As far as I know, the saves from previous builds will not work in future milestones, so you will have to start the game over again after Milestone 2 is introduced.

The milestones are introduced by the devs first as prototyes, then experimental and later on as stable builds. We do not have to update ourselves, we just need to wait until that happens. In the meantime we discuss the game, provide the devs with feedback and ideas and kind of test the game during playthroughs.

[Daniel Moody]

On 9/7/2023 at 10:54 PM, Chris said:

Regarding the Cleaners - they exist to keep the alien invasion secret. If you've followed their story you'll know the world governments actually already know about the aliens, and have already had some contact with them. Governments just don't realise that Earth is effectively already under attack because the organisation tasked with protecting Earth against invasion (EXDEF/ the Cleaners) is under alien control and is telling the various governments that everything is fine, while in the background quietly eliminating anyone who tries to say different or organise any kind of resistance to the invasion. And if they can stir up panic so the world governments are more concerned with fighting each other than paying attention to alien activity, so much the better.

This story works, but I'd like to see more emphasis on it in the game. The origin story of the current Xenonaughts isn't currently explained, could it be played out as a violent split from EXDEF (a tutorial to steal a dropship and flee to a new base could have drama).  I'd love to see missions where you aim is to disrupt EXDEF black ops against governments (border attacks to prompt a war etc.) I'd also like to see a mechanic where anti EXDEF actions can bring regions back into the fold (missions to unmask EXDEF politicians).

[Dren608]

On 9/15/2023 at 6:33 AM, Alienkiller said:

Baldusi,

yeah, with the Cleaners and more Missions against them I confirm 100% with you. I like that 2nd Enemy, since it come in the Beta-Tests. The Car / Van-Option could be evtl. integrated as Special-Events for such Missions (like in Stellaris / new XCOM), but Ingame playable like you whish, it´s not doable.

 

I don't see why we can not have new playable missions, You have the biomes (with more coming I believe), need to change the Enemies to Cleaners. Editing on the Mission objectives and it should be playable just like any other Tactical mission. That is not a huge hurdle to give people more variety of tactical missions and rewards for success (and penalties for failure).

[Ziggy played heavy plasma]

Hi folks.
Late to the party. I kickstarter'd, but have not played until now as I was waiting to see what happened and more content before spolier'ing myself by playing too much.

• Cleaners are an interesting arc that does need more side missions. "Kill the boss," and "steal the data" are good starts, but how about "Stop the payload?" Whether the payload is a bomb (boring) or an terror mech that is being powered up but delays when you blow up an alenium reactor, do them all in 10 turns and then you get a free "stopped terror invasion" reward, if not, you have a terror site shortly after. Or defend against a base invasion. Something like that. Variable based on your performance. Things that are region specific - panic or undermining your budget.
• Would be nice to be able to manufacture and send aircraft, rather than having to have an empty hangar (at 100k+operating expenses) just for that.
• Slightly disappointed at the lack of varied stat differences between weapons other than damage. The accuracy perk on laser weapons quickly becomes moot unless you're treating your troops as disposable. Glad there is a bit more of a time gap between laser and plasma research, but lasers still quickly become useless. However, my biggest gripe is that the stun weapons are awful. Not too fussed about not getting gas grenades straight away (I overused those in Apocalypse,) but a pistol with 6 range, terrible stun, and terrible accuracy? A melee stick which requires 3 hits? Risk vs reward, please.
• Still can't deal with the base box room with shelves costing 100k and taking 15 days Also upgrading to Ele, sorry, Alienium reactors I'd like to have a minor upgrade the base's stock energy cap so at least you can fit in a decent defence battery.
• Aircraft cannons are lacking a rate of fire or DPS stat (e.g. laser lance) for us to be able to decide whether a weapon is worth the effort or not.
• The alloy plate upgrade should be single, cheap, but require you to refit some equipment, e.g. aircraft. Warden was an alloy upgrade to defender anyway.
• "Friendly" NPC AI really needs to stop running into UFOs and getting turned into gibs. And stop trying to cuddle those nasty green orbs on terror bomb missions. They literally make a beeline for them. Unsettling.
• Except from my time in the original UFO series, it wasn't immediately clear that corpses and weapon parts can be sold after research is complete. Newer games required you to hold onto weapon parts (or bodies) to make things - please pick one, and let us know clearly.
• Would still like aimed accuracy at adjacent enemies in the case of weapons designed for it to be an almost guaranteed hit, regardless of accuracy stat. Watching two out of three shotgun pellets, or pistol fire, missing something next to you, which still happens a lot at 80+ percent, is still a "why?" moment.
• Like UFO, I would like to recruit scientists/engineers into the base to coincide with the opening of the labs/workshops, and not have to wait 3 extra (unproductive) days after it is complete.
• The bleed notification happens twice. Once when the soldier is hit, once when the turn starts. Second one only would be my preference. Also, how can we tell if a soldier just got wounded rather than killed (35%)? An armour perk (or module) that has a chance of invoking incapacitate/slow bleedout, so giving you a chance of rescuing them from death with a medkit. Which you might research into a capped HP regen perk later.
• The amount of ankle or knee high structures that cause 40% or more block are...well, there's just a lot of them. Big stuff like cars? 60%, is fine. Waist high? Sure, 40%. Not ideal for cover, but there we go. Lower? should be 20%. Not sure if crouching behind each cover height is already factored in? Speaking of which seems crouching no longer affects accuracy? Does it still affect reducing hit chance

Financial balance seems okay if the aim is to stop you having too many bases too early. Unlike the original, there aren't huge spates of 5 UFOs every couple of days that mean you lose regions for reasons that, even if you shot them all down and airstrike'd the wrecks you didn't recover, are unclear.

Not sure how it affects the late endgame - at the moment I'm loathe to play through too much of the game as doing that spoiled Phoenix Point for me.

Still, sometimes keyboard snappingly frustrating accuracy lies nothwithstanding, it is looking good so far.  Keep up the good work!

Edited September 28, 2023 by Ziggy played heavy plasma

[Chris]

I'm now locking this thread as there's a new thread for the new Milestone 2 Prototype build (v2.03), which you can find at the link below. Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on this!