Milestone 2.03 Prototype Test Build Released!

[Chris]

Hi everyone - we've just released an early test build for Milestone 2. The purpose of this build is to get feedback on the gameplay mechanics before we commit to updating all the lore / writing, and adding any new artwork required to support the new features and changes.

We've therefore released the game onto our new Prototype branches rather than our Experimental branches, as we only want people playing the build who have read this post and understand what the build is for! You can access the Prototype branches by using the password "xenonautsproto" in Steam.

Changes:
We've made a lot of gameplay changes since Milestone 1, and quite a lot since we put Milestone 2.02 out for testing two or three weeks back. Here's a few of the key features to look out for:

• The gameplay period is now 200 days instead of 180 days. This increase comes from expanding the opening phase of the game, where the player is taking on the Cleaners. We've involved the Cleaners more in the early storyline, tried to make them more threatening, and added more Cleaner missions.
• The story is now that the previous Commander was sent to present evidence of the alien invasion gathered by the Xenonauts to various world governments, but returns to base with an army of Cleaners and attempts to shut down the Xenonauts (which leads to the events of the tutorial and the loss of the original base). The first mission is now to reclaim the old base for long enough to gather all the research data and supplies needed to continue the fight at the new base. I explain this here because none of this is currently well-explained in the game.
• There's several new types of Cleaner mission, including an Ambush mission where you're attacking a Cleaner convoy and get to set up anywhere in the map prior to the mission, and a VIP Rescue mission where you're bringing a VIP back to the dropship to rescue them. Additionally, the Cleaner Cell and Cleaner Intel Hub missions are now just regular mission types that you may or may not encounter during the game. Note that right now there's only one test map for each of these missions.
• There's a new type of UFO in the early game called the Probe. This is unmanned and doesn't create a crash site, and exists just to give a few relatively easy air encounters before the manned UFOs start turning up.
• Each type of soldier armour now has a Light and Heavy variant, controlled by a checkbox. The heavy variant weighs more but offers more protection. This system replaces the Armour Insert soldier module, and the Defender Armour is now just the heavy variant of the basic Tactical Suit.
• There's now a rebreather module that makes you gas / smoke immune.
• Interceptors now have four Equipment slots that can hold any type of weapon or item, and each plane has a Weight and Weapon Bay limit that governs how much that plane can carry. This gives you more overall freedom about the equipment loadouts you can choose for your aircraft.
  • All equipment (whether weapons or passive items like Armour) have a weight, and the plane cannot exceed their Weight capacity.
  • Weapons fill a certain number of Weapon Bays, and each plane has 4 bays. Cannons and Lances fill two bays, Missiles and Torpedoes fill one bay (passive items don't fill a bay). This is to prevent the player taking more weapons than the UI can support.
• UFOs have been slightly rebalanced, but we'll be doing more of that in the next week or two,
• Monthly funding is tighter overall, as the game now takes longer so there's more monthly paydays given to the player during a campaign.
• Aircraft are more expensive, and their equipment is now manufactured individually rather than being global upgrades.

It'd be great if you could test the game and let us know if you encounter any bugs or major balance issues, and also let us know what you think of the new mechanics. If all goes well we'll then be able to release Milestone 2 onto the Experimental branches and start polishing it up soon!

Feedback should go in this thread: 

 

[Sizaxis]

Thank you very much for your torment and efforts.

[Skitso]

13 hours ago, Chris said:

• Each type of soldier armour now has a Light and Heavy variant, controlled by a checkbox. The heavy variant weighs more but offers more protection. This system replaces the Armour Insert soldier module, and the Defender Armour is now just the heavy variant of the basic Tactical Suit.

Could you open up the thinking behind this change a bit? 

Soldiers have way too much carrying capacity as it is, so removing armour modules make inventory management even more trivial. I would like there to be even more choises to be made what units can carry. You could have each armour have different inventory grid size, but is it a better way to balance it?

[Chris]

2 hours ago, Skitso said:

Could you open up the thinking behind this change a bit? 

Soldiers have way too much carrying capacity as it is, so removing armour modules make inventory management even more trivial. I would like there to be even more choises to be made what units can carry. You could have each armour have different inventory grid size, but is it a better way to balance it?

It's a bit unrelated to inventory size; the reason is so that any soldier can wear the most modern armour in the lightest variant rather than weak soldiers being unable to wear say Guardian Armour in any form. It also avoids the issue where the protection offered by the insert is unrelated to the armour it is placed in, which meant it could be relatively too weak on advanced armours and too strong on basic armour.

It also means we can give the player more overall options with fewer actual suits of armour; having the first 100 days contain the Tactical Suit, Defender Armour, Warden Armour and Guardian Armour was slight overkill. Now it's just Tactical Suit >> Warden >>> Guardian, which is clearer and more manageable.

If carry capacity ends up being too generous as a result I'd have thought we could just make modules larger to compensate.

[Tom Pouce]

16 hours ago, Chris said:

Aircraft are more expensive, and their equipment is now manufactured individually rather than being global upgrades.

Thank you for the nice upgrade. I hope this feature doesn't make budget management too difficult.

[Trasherke]

Played the first two missions so far on commander.

The airplane changes are nice. Have to test further but no complaints.
The first mission with the cleaners is also a very good stat.
The 2nd abduction mission felt overtuned in pace. I play with unlimited turns so it didn't affect me. But I don't think there was any way to get 5 tubes in 5 turns. Since there are 10 tubes I do feel that if you play optimally and get lucky you can get all 10. The civilians in the tubes were replaced with xenonauts skins with purple heads. Not sure if that's a bug or a placeholder.
I lost one soldier during that mission, it showed as killed in action on the end screen. But he was back at my base with 2% hp. Not sure if the end screen was wrong and he survived or it was bugged and recovered my soldier even though he should of died.

[Skitso]

6 hours ago, Chris said:

It's a bit unrelated to inventory size; the reason is so that any soldier can wear the most modern armour in the lightest variant rather than weak soldiers being unable to wear say Guardian Armour in any form. It also avoids the issue where the protection offered by the insert is unrelated to the armour it is placed in, which meant it could be relatively too weak on advanced armours and too strong on basic armour.

It also means we can give the player more overall options with fewer actual suits of armour; having the first 100 days contain the Tactical Suit, Defender Armour, Warden Armour and Guardian Armour was slight overkill. Now it's just Tactical Suit >> Warden >>> Guardian, which is clearer and more manageable.

If carry capacity ends up being too generous as a result I'd have thought we could just make modules larger to compensate.

Thanks for the detailed answer.

Few thoughts:

• Is it actually beneficial for everyone to be able to wear to most modern armour as soon as it comes available? I've felt that the units have already becoming too homogenous after few months in the campaign. Having part of your team wearing older tech (both armor and weapons) gives much needed diversity.
• Armour module buff could be a certain percentage of the armour it's attached to, instead of a flat value?
• Carrying capacity is too generous already - at least for grenade spamming. I can also have most of my troops always carry a medkit without it feeling like I need to leave something out for it.

Edited September 29, 2023 by Skitso

[Trasherke]

Finished the third mission, which was an extraction. My new living quarters just finished as my skyranger got back. If it was not ready, will I lose the soldiers or will it just go over cap?

Fourth mission was a VIP mission. I received no rewards, materials or corpses after the mission.

Edited September 29, 2023 by Trasherke

[Grobobobo]

2 hours ago, Skitso said:

Carrying capacity is too generous already - at least for grenade spamming. I can also have most of my troops always carry a medkit without it feeling like I need to leave something out for it.

I think some part of that is that you almost never need to carry ammo at all - either the magazine size of all non-laser weapons is too big, or the ammo consumption of weapons is too low. I think rifle's burst compared to aimed shot being trash is a good example, I've yet to reload a mag rifle in this game.


On an unrelated note, the rebreather being in the tactical vest feels a bit silly, that's one upgrade I'd rather have a checkbox (and replace the module with the radio)

Edited September 29, 2023 by Grobobobo

[Raffik]

3 hours ago, Grobobobo said:

I think some part of that is that you almost never need to carry ammo at all - either the magazine size of all non-laser weapons is too big, or the ammo consumption of weapons is too low. I think rifle's burst compared to aimed shot being trash is a good example, I've yet to reload a mag rifle in this game.


On an unrelated note, the rebreather being in the tactical vest feels a bit silly, that's one upgrade I'd rather have a checkbox (and replace the module with the radio)

Thats right, the only weapons you actually need ammo for is laser before upgrade and the stun weapons. Ballistic, gauss (not sure how much shots  plasma and fusion will have) have enough ammo to go through most missions.