Milestone 7.15.0 Released! (Experimental)

[Chris]

This update is also only accessible by switching to our Experimental branches (instructions on how to do so here) - although please be aware they have slower load times and worse performance than normal builds due to the extra logging they contain!

As we're now one week out from release, we're going to slow down our rate of updates to Milestone 7 and we'll only be making further changes to fix major bugs or serious balance issues - every change we make runs the risk of introducing a new bug, and we want the launch build to be as stable as possible! All other changes are being rolled into the first post-launch patch, which we're working on in the background and will be releasing onto the Experimental branches shortly after release!

As Milestone 7 seems noticably harder than Milestone 6 was, we've taken a few steps to dial back the difficulty - particularly in the middle of the game where the basic Guardian no longer offers adequate protection and the Exosuit has not yet arrived, where many the aliens can absorb a lot of damage while being able to 1-shot your troops in return. That stage of the game is meant to be challenging, but not quite as challenging as it was!

Gameplay Changes:

• The Guardian Armour protection upgrade engineering project now unlocks earlier: off Alien Electronics (Observer UFOs) rather than Advanced Alloys (Abductor UFOs). The upgraded armour now provides 25/38 Armour (up from 24/36) and has 12 Hardness (up from 10).
• Stalker Armour now offers 25 Armour, but has no heavy variant. This means it offers good protection for 8 Weight (and no Accuracy penalty), although it is not as protective as the heavy variant of the upgraded Guardian Armour.
• Suppression values for all weapons have been unified into a consistent pattern. Previously most Fusion weapons and some Laser weapons were doing less suppression than expected, but the Gauss / Fusion Shotguns were doing far more Suppression than intended (almost 10x more).
• The AI now makes better decisions when the optimal course of action is to shoot from its starting position and then make a move. Previously it would always move first and then shoot.
• Updated the Xenopedia articles for the Stalker and Colossus armours to reflect their updated capabilities.
• The Colossus Power Fist is no longer shown in the Armory inventory, as it's an auto-equip weapon so there's no need to display it.
• Various tweaks to aliens:
  • All non-melee aliens have had their Accuracy stat reduced by 10%, but on Commander the Accuracy multiplier has been returned to 1.3x (up from 1.1x). This means aliens are about 10% less accurate on all difficulties except Commander, where they are roughly 5% more accurate than earlier versions of Milestone 7.
  • Sebillians and Androns now have 35% Energy and 35% Kinetic resistance respectively (down from 40%).
  • There's now a visual difference between Andron Warriors (light blue) and Andron Elites (dark blue).
  • Andron Elites reduced to 45 Armour (from 50), and Andron Praetorians reduced to 60 Armour and 150 HP (from 75 Armour and 160 HP).
  • Mantid Warriors (Observers / Abductors) now use the basic 1-shot Bio-Rifle, and the 2-shot Bio-Cannon only starts appearing with Mantid Elites (generally Cruisers).
  • Reduced the HP of Mantid Warriors from 95 to 80, and Elites from 150 to 120.
  • Reaper Zombies now have +20 Accuracy on their melee attacks.
• Various updates to alien missions:
  • Delayed the first spawn of Cruisers (and all subsequent missions) by 5 days.
  • Removed a Heavy Servitor from the starting aliens on the UOO Bridge mission.
  • Removed one enemy from the Abductor UFO crews.
  • When Phase 5 begins, one Harvester always spawns before the Battleships start spawning - previously if you completed both UOO missions as soon as they became available, you could end up in a situation where you encountered Battleships before Harvesters.
  • The transition to large-scale waves of Battleships during Phase 5 also arrives more quickly than before.

Bugfixes:

• Fixed an AI hang that could occur if an alien mind controlled an armed civilain.
• Fixed another example of the grenade path showing a 100% hit chance (while rendering red) but the throw hitting an intervening object and blowing up the thrower.
• Fixed a visual issue with Sebillians when they fired their weapons.
• Fixed some instances of the crosshatch obstruction shader not correctly drawing over shrouded objects.
• Fixed projects remaining greyed out on the Engineering screen even if you cancelled projects in the queue to free up enough resources to complete them.
• Fixed the capacity bar text becoming misaligned on the Recruit Scientists / Engineers and Transfer Scientists / Engineers screens if you had over 100 scientists / engineers.
• Fixed more minor visual issues on maps / terrain tiles.

[ih8california]

Chris i forgot, was there an update that granted a "point-blank" (read: adjacent) aim bonus

Edited March 26 by ih8california

[Chris]

2 hours ago, ih8california said:

Chris i forgot, was there an update that granted a "point-blank" (read: adjacent) aim bonus

No, the hit bonus still applies equally for each tile closer than max range. We just updated the tooltip for M7 so the Range Bonus line shows the total hit bonus you'll have if you're stood adjacent to the target (so people don't have to do the maths in their head), but the actual numbers haven't changed.

[fusion-waffle]

[ih8california]

On 3/26/2026 at 5:03 PM, Chris said:

No, the hit bonus still applies equally for each tile closer than max range. We just updated the tooltip for M7 so the Range Bonus line shows the total hit bonus you'll have if you're stood adjacent to the target (so people don't have to do the maths in their head), but the actual numbers haven't changed.

I know its been suggested before but i really would like a point-blank/adjacent tile modifier (for at least pistols and shotguns) that guaranteed a hit. This would go both ways (aliens & xenos) and would give a nice incentive to have more dynamic agressive game play versus trying to camp.

[fusion-waffle]

3 hours ago, ih8california said:

I know its been suggested before but i really would like a point-blank/adjacent tile modifier (for at least pistols and shotguns) that guaranteed a hit. This would go both ways (aliens & xenos) and would give a nice incentive to have more dynamic agressive game play versus trying to camp.

to me in 6.x & 7.x, shotguns & pistols are already very effective as-is.  i use & enjoy an aggressive assault-heavy play style. it is a fun way to play the game & it works well enough to win commander campaigns.  my weakness is that i often end up over-extending -- mostly it pays off, aliens efficiently removed from the board, but sometimes it doesn't.  but, how does that quote go? "a ship in harbour is safe, but that's not what ships are built for".

[ih8california]

Every alien back to being a sniper. Im sure this was well-play tested and not just randomly fidgeting numbers on a keypad.

Edited March 28 by ih8california