Btw. I promised to post changes between BB 3 and BB 4, but forget about that. I have seen some players still doing some things according to what they knew in BB 3. Those are my observations from gameplay, so can be not always accurate. Now here it is:
Backer Build 4 (version 0.4.38238) 28/03/2019
geoscape systems:
Removed need for refueling stations and emergency refuel - now aircraft refuels in every place where it goes (but it looks like temporary system, and probably old system will come back maybe with some changes)
radars - we now need them to discover new sites, because visiting POI in most cases won’t reveal to you any new POIs, radars no longer reveal nature of place (haven, scavenge site or our base) just show that there is something, and they no longer detect alien bases
Phoenix Project bases (and other POIs) are no longer clickable and don’t have their own UI icons, instead there is separate base screen accessible by menu on the bottom of the screen, they also don’t generate food anymore
alien lair after merging nests has range of 1500 km from the beginning up to 4500 km, and it looks like needs only 2 nests, there is also alien citadel which require merging lair with other alien place, starting range is 4500 km up to 13500 km.
site encounters / event system - while you get to new the sites on geoscape you can find new options of interacting with those places, sometimes they let you decide about something and this gives you different output
recruitment of soldiers and vehicles is not so random and is not done in base anymore but in havens where you can get NJ soldiers or Armadillo - they cost some amount of all 3 resources, and if we temporarily decline there will be again an option to rectuit them on haven interface (you still need space in dropship)
team roster and base inventory:
changes in inventory system - auto sorted and stacking items
storage has a limit of space (currently not working)
there is indicator if we have spare ammo in storage
possibility to salvage spare items for resources
magazines after mission - looks like game is counting used ammunition and is showing only full magazines in base inventory, also refills magazines/weapons in soldier inventory after mission and items are still repaired for free, medkits or grenades used on the mission are not restored to soldier inventory
new missions types:
protect civilians - it is still haven defence mission but with additional objective, try to save as many civilians as possible to get more experience (they can all die if you are worried)
protect key structures - it is still haven defence mission but with additional objective, try to save as many structures as possible to get more experience (all can be destroyed while still winning)
capture/defend resources - on scavenge maps now you protect crates with resources, those have replaced crates with items
defend base - defend your own base when aliens will discover its presence (they make some small discovery after each fight with you?), loosing mean destruction of base and if it is your last base, then end game
new environments for the maps:
3 scenarios from games convention (with special config file)
Phoenix bases - your base currently randomly generated
Anu slums - 8 different map plots with 2 for each sub type: factory, food production, training, residential (resitential is with defending civilians objective, other are with structures)
NJ idustrial district - hard to say how many new plots but i think that at least 1 more energy, 2 more factory and 2 research subtypes are available (all are structures)
NJ residential district - i think that I saw at least 1 more map plot (all are civilians)
Alien base 3rd level - Citadel with queen, but remember if you will kill her during haven defence mission citadel will become nest
Environment physics - changed to produce more realistic interactions with gunfire and explosions but currently they give some funny and unrealistic effects
environment durability was switched back to the one from Backers Build 2 where single bullet was leveling anything on the map - this is probably for testing purposes again
equipment crates now only can be found on haven defence missions
environmental effect - fire (lasts 3 turns, deals up to 6 damage when unit enters or stays in fire tile - at the start of turn, prevents from crossing unless unit is frenzied) and goo (lasts 3 turns, prevent any movement of creatures caught in it, you can’t enter it, also extinguish fire)
new or changed units:
Phoenix Assault - actually works the same as New Jericho version, but by default has more accurate assault rifle designed for more light enemies than New Jericho version
Phoenix Sniper - slower, slightly better armored than NJ, by default more accurate gun with less damage than NJ, but still deadly vs single enemies
Phoenix Heavy - with worse protection he has better mobility and accuracy, also he holds more accurate gun by default which gives him some advantage in dps compared to New Jericho Soldier, but again he doesn’t come with rocket launcher
Phoenix Scarab - APC of Phoenix Project, without Ram ability and with rocket launcher (brings limited but powerful punch to the battle), doesn’t require driver
NJ Civilian - they have stats like non armored 1 lvl soldier, but act like stupid
Fireworm - suicide bomber exploding with fire, slow, easy to kill when you hit him… what is not easy
Fireworm egg - eggs with above creature
Crabmen - spits poison with spitter head, they prefer this attack on close range, which is quite powerful in long run
Siren - tougher melee enemy, has 2 variants, one is boosting allied alliens, second is screaming horror reducing willpower in all units around (also aliens), both can have powerful melee attack and infect with virus (but require both different arms for that - looks then quite silly) which effectively turns your soldiers in units controlled by enemy and also slowly killing them, requres lair nearby to spawn in battles (mutually exclusive with chiron), but then you can find more than 1 copy during battle, they prefer to spit acid, then scream, then do melee where infecting is more important than melee damage
Chiron - mobile artillery, has 3 main variants, one is crowd controlling (glueing to ground), second is attention controlling (launch suicide units which you need to get rid off unless you want your team to be heated a little bit), third is crowd killing (mortar), 3 times more healthy than crabmen, and mortar version is deadly, but quite inaccurate at long range, has also 3 leg variants (runner, armored melee, or stun), requires lair nearby to spawn in battles, behave like small boss, can go through objects and buildings, run from battle when heavily damaged (or his abdomen is damaged), but when killed doesn’t reset alien base to lower tier.
Queen - Goo Spitter (she can glue your soldiers to the ground if they stand in straight line - horrific if you try to escape her), Sonic Blaster (ranged stun), and now we can see more variants with previous and new body parts, require alien citadel to spawn in battles, when she is killed in haved defence mission then alien citadel become nest.
soldier systems changes:
character experience and progression - experience granted from mission and received 200 points for killing all enemies and portion of that for protecting crates, portion of 150 for defending structures or civilians (so when 50% remain after mission you will get 75 XP), 100 general - which is after that distributed between soldier based on damage and kills they have done or damage they have taken, and also there is general skill points pool which is XP for mission divided by 100 and rounded to full number, levels (7 levels, so 6 to gain), skill points (50 for each level acquired by soldier), 3 attributes, multi-class training with different passive perks and activated skills (see below)
some weapons and abilities do stun damage along with normal damage
new damage types and effects coming from various sources as addition to bleeding and panic - fire (up to 6 HP damage to all body parts / turn - in fire and 1 turn after leaving fire, ground effect last 3 turns), poison (does 6 damage to the main HP pool leaving body parts intact / turn stronger at the start and decreases by 1 per turn, initial value is reduced by armor), frenzy (25% TU and 50% WP boost for 2 turns), acid (1 damage to armour or HP if lack of armour / turn on each affected body part, with counter of 4 turns), slash (additional bleeding effect to normal attack), virus/infected (WP damage / turn similar to poison damage, when reach 0 then become zombie, see other effect description), zombiefied (enemy is controling unit and that unit looses 10% of HP / turn), stun (instead of completely disable enemy like in previous builds here target looses 75% of TU for 1 turn), goo (immobilized in current place for 3 turns)
introduced perception - actually it was in previous build but there were no modifiers to it, so soldiers typically spot at 35 squares, but now sniper can have it doubled with proper skill, so he effectively spots enemies on the whole map even while standing in the map corner
introduced stealth - which I am not so sure what is doing, but maybe it modifies perception enemy needs to spot such unit and probably affects return fire range of enemy
inventory trade between 2 soldiers got improved
magazines can be stored in ‘ready items’ but cannot be held in arms as active item, there is a bug where after the mission they disappear (also when their weapon wasn’t used even for one shot just to be sure) so keep attention what you have in ‘ready items’ just before mission end
new items:
Phoenix Assault Rifle ‘Ares’ - works like NJ Assault Rifle from previous build but with accuracy between NJ Assault Rifle and NJ Sniper Rifle
Phoenix Sniper Rifle ‘Firebird’ - weaker than updated NJ Sniper Rifle, but with better accuracy
Phoenix Heavy Cannon ‘Hel’ - quite powerful gun able to flick crabmen from the ground with one shot with doubled range of machine gun, pierce through enemies and alien base walls, also brings stun damage to ranged fight
PX Assault armour set ‘Odin’ - works the same way as NJ version, just looks differently
PX Sniper armour set ‘Banshee’ - gives slightly better protection than NJ version, but slows down soldier almost the same as heavy armor, but at least incease other stats
PX Heavy armour set ‘Golem-B’ - worse protection than NJ version, but also costs like 35% ot its counterpart and doesn’t hamper movement and accuracy so much
NJ Incendiary Grenade ‘Purity’ - grenade which can set enemies and ground on fire, great in tight spaces
NJ Flamethorwer ‘Dante’ - heavy and short range weapon, works in similar way to grenade but area covered in fire is smaller and is harder to operate (you need to pay attention how you sprey that fire and it has minimum range), but it holds 3 shots and can be reloaded
many items got names instead of codes so now we have for example “Bulldog AR-50” instead of “NJ-AR-50” or “Odin Grenade” instead of “PX-01 Grenade”
new skills/abilities:
3 attributes - 1) Strength responsible for health, weight carrying limit (before becoming encumbered) and grenades throw range, 2) Willpower responsible for soldier’s willpoints which are spend for special skills (crucial for most powerful attacks or abilities) or just protect soldier from panic, 3) Speed responsible for soldier move range (crucial for tactical engagement, especially with heavier armors), all are also prerequisites for the skills
Bash - melee attack with currently held weapon which every soldier can perform, damage goes up with weapon weight, but heavier weapons become damaged in the process, does stun damage along with normal, great for protection when you are out of ammo and enemies are close
Retrieve Turret - finally Technician can pick up turret and relocate it during the mission or take back to base (but remember to do it before mission end, because game still doesn’t collect anything for you from the ground when mission ends)
Ready for Action - passive skill, where assault can perform inventory actions and reload without TU cost
Grenade Spam - assault throw grenades 50% further with no TU cost in this turn, combine it with above and you can throw even 7 granades (2 from belt, 5 from backpack) in 1 turn
Overwatch focus - sniper overwatch has bonus of 50% to accuracy
Eagle Eye - sniper double range of perception (makes sniper perfect spotting machine - he can spot enemy standing in the opposite corner of the map)
Master Marksman - sniper accuracy increased by 25%
Heavy Lifter - heavy double weight limit before being encumbered, it really helps him to carry his stuff
Body Slam - heavy charge on enemy dealing damage based of weight carried (half of that weight will be damage), modified by enemy armor, also stun damage
Restore Body Part - new technician skill separated from previous one, this skill only restores body parts and heals them little bit, but can be used many times even if soldier’s main health is fully restored
Turret Combo - technician enable all deployed turrets to shoot alongside him at single target
Personal perks - at least 22 passive skills from which 7 different are randomly selected for individual soldier, assigned when you recruit soldier, can give stat boost, weapon proficiency, increase weapon range, weight carried, damage or healing done
UI changes:
geoscape haven description is now shown after hovering above that haven and can have information of potential recruit or vehicle there
HP indicator - represented by number instead of dots
sound indicator of unseen enemies
weapon icons in mission inventory shows how full are their magazines, but after mission those magazines doesn’t stay that way, see point in team roster and base inventory
balance changes:
Radar Station cost in tech changed from 10 to 0, and it detects only human settlements
recruitment cost is more random and class based instead of 100 food
new AI - it is supposed to be more challanging with better tactics and setting secondary objectives (I don’t know all mechanics to be able to see real difference, but they definitely prefer to take away your xp point instead of killing you - they shot civilians and structures instead of your soldiers)
soldiers don’t stop moving when they spot enemies (bug)
new soldiers are far more weaker than those in BB3, but with progression they become more deadly than previously
most items weight have decreased, but all armors now have weight and NJ armor parts cost went up, but I won’t list all these changes
overall all armors modify soldier stats in different ways, they are no longer just the visual change between Assault, Sniper and Technician version
all classes except Assault lost proficiency with grenades (but currently it doesn’t change anything)
Overwatch - revised to work in smaller cone area selected by player, really helps to defend against specific enemies and not waste bullets, max range of 45 squares, cone can be modified
Return Fire - revised to work in shorter range, helps to not waste bullets, looks like range is based on weapon type held by soldier and stealth (or something) of enemy
Rally the Troop - moved from Technician to Heavy skill tree
Technician Heal - now heals 8 HP instead of 6, but it doesn’t restore damaged body parts anymore, you need another skill from 6th level for that
Electric Strike - was split into two skills, one is simple action doing stun damage granted by item, but only proficient soldier can use it (still only technician at lvl 1), and second as class skill of technician (lvl 5) which adds electric damage to stun damage
Jet Jump - now cost 75 instead of 100% of TU, so you can land and do some small action
fumble affects now also Fire or Jet Jump actions
NJ Sniper Helmet - armor changed from 2 to 1, gives 5% stealth and 10% accuracy
NJ Sniper Body Armor - now reduces speed by 1, gives 10% stealth and 5% accuracy, it’s arms have changed armor from 2 to 1
NJ Sniper Leg Armor - armor changed from 2 to 1, gives 5% stealth and 5% accuracy
NJ Heavy Helmet - gives -10% accuracy
NJ Heavy Body Armor - speed reduction changed from -1 to -3, gives -20% stealth, it’s arms have changed armor from 3 to 4
NJ Heavy Leg Armor - armor changed from 3 to 4, speed reduction changed from -2 to -3, gives -10% stealth and -10% accuracy
NJ Technician Helmet - now reduces speed by 1, gives 10% accuracy
NJ Technician Body Armor - now reduces speed by 2, gives -20% stealth
NJ Technician Leg Armor - now increases speed by 2, gives -10% stealth and -10% accuracy
Vanadium and Odin Grenades effective range label changed from 10 to 12, but it looks like since BB3 effective range is equal to soldier’s strength and now their range can be also altered by disabling body parts, also changed blast radius from 3 to 2.5
Trident Stun Rod damage changed from 8 to 12, strike cost in TU changed from 25% to 50%, doesn’t end turn (but I’m not sure if we can find it in this build)
Cypher Handgun effective range changed from 27 to 20
Iron Fury Handgun effective range changed from 13 to 15, damage from 4 to 6, ammo (and number of shots) from 8 to 10, it lost armor penetration property
Bulldog Assault Rifle effective range changed from 18 to 20, damage from 3 to 4, ammo from 30 to 24, burst size from 6 to 4, number of bursts from 5 to 6
Defender PDW effective range changed from 13 to 16, ammo from 28 to 32, number of bursts from 7 to 8
Mercy Shotgun effective range changed from 5 to 6, pellets in shot from 10 to 8, shots from 4 to 5
Cyclops Sniper Rifle damage changed from 7 to 12, ammo (and number of shots) from 5 to 6, it lost armor penetration property
Deceptor Machine Gun ammo changed from 50 to 40, number of bursts from 5 to 4
Turret weight changed from 5 to 4, It is one part item right now, so second part won’t affect it’s durability
Turret now aim correctly at mind fragger attached to soldier instead of soldier
Medkit HP changed from 3 to 5, healing changed from 2 uses for 4 HP to 1 use for 8 HP, after that Medkit disappears (it became one time use expendable and medkid charges were removed from the game)
Goliath Grenade Launcher rebranded from Firecat, damage changed from 6 to 8, blast radius changed from 5 to 3.5, fire TU cost changed from 50 to 75%, weight from 3 to 5
Fury-2 Rocket Launcher damage changed from 7 to 12, blast radius changed from 5 to 3.5
VVA-2 Mech Arms damage changed from 12 to 18 and initially it is only stun damage, infinite ammo changed to hold 6 charges (used only for attack, healing and repairing is not draining it despite their description), can now attack sentinels and crabmen spawning pool
crabmen machine guns again spit 6 bullets in burst - incredible deadly on short range, also looks like they have ammo limit
crabmen return fire is limited to some range (like 12 vs heavy weapons, 9 vs medium weapons, 7 vs handguns - or this can be stealth factor included so heavy, assault and sniper provoke fire from that range respectively) - they don’t shoot through whole map even when they have clear line of sight
when crabmen deploy shield it again prevents them from returning fire
crabmen melee attack in not ending their turn (they can attack 4 times, so it went from 0 TU cost to 25 TU), damage changed from 6 to 5
crabmen grenade attack in not ending their turn (they can attack 2 times), damage changed from 5 to 4, also looks like they have grenade limit
quite many changes to crabmen durability, I won’t list all, but overall they lost 1 point of armor on every part of the body (where it was possible) so on average armor has changed from 2 to 1 and they gained 50% more HP so average HP changed from 9 to 13, so overall it is easier to kill them, but they are definitely far more deadly if allowed to attack
mist sentinels will spawn mist after few (random?) turns even while not being hit
aliens loose (and soldier gain) different amount of willpower when their kin dies, still 1 when it is mindfragger or fireworm or their eggs, 2 for crabmen and sentinels, 4 for sirens, 5 for chirons, 8 for queen
bug fixes:
you no longer can equip more than one 2-handed weapon
Not to mention about catching so many bugs out there. 