[v19 Experimental / Ground combat] Almost impossible to hit aliens inside UFO's

Ever since the aliens started always leaving a couple of guards inside their UFO's, I've noticed this very aggravating issue. Basically, it's almost impossible to actually hit aliens inside UFO's. I've mostly tried light scouts, since it's hard to go far into the game with this issue.

What happens is this: I reach the crashed UFO and park six soldiers in a 2x3 formation right outside the door, two heavies in front and the rest riflemen. End turn.

I open the door and spot one or two aliens. Since it's a small UFO, the distance is about 5 tiles. I target it with a heavy and the accuracy indicator usually says something around 10-20% chance to hit. I fire - every shot misses. I pick the next heavy. Every shot misses. Repeat for all four riflemen - if I get lucky, I hit with one or two bullets. I move them all out of sight to prevent counterfire. End turn.

I move all soldiers back into the 2x3 position in front of the closed door. End turn.

Repeat for maybe six to ten turns until I've hit with enough stray shots to actually kill two caesans. During that time, I've probably fired a hundred bullets or so.

I've even tried running up and standing right next to the targets, firing full auto with both riflemen and heavies. The accuracy indicator at that point usually says 50% or so, but still I usually miss with all bullets. The bullets will literally go straight down into the floor or at a 45 degree angle to avoid the alien.

This happens every single ground mission.

Yes, there is something odd about the accuracy of things inside the UFO.

Getting a step into the craft makes quite a difference.

Pistols do pretty well to supress, and I've had some joy with shotguns.

Snipers from anywhere will also hit (although perhaps not as often as they should as per your post) but you can ignore that 0% that comes up.

In the meantime, if it's causing some frustration...

Get soldier with combat shield to open door. Use pistol to suppress aliens, or throw in a grenade for similar effect.

Once safely suppressed, use other soldiers to lob in grenades until scaly things are dead.

I don't often destroy craft props with the grenades either. Stun grenades are very effective when you get them.

Thanks

I must admit that I've not noticed anything weird regarding this but I tend to open the door and use snipers to kill the aliens hiding behind cover. It stops me from being under reaction fire as the snipers can be a fair distance away and the sniper rifles penetrate most cover as well. If that isn't an option I'll usually try grenades one tile next to where the alien is hiding so that they don't need to try throw over cover.