This is a pretty significant patch: with the new armor types and alien tech in this release, Xenomarine is now complete with respect to equipment (weapons, armor, items), at least in terms of having all items originally planned (I may actually add one or two more things yet, but these will be a bonus rather than part of the original plan).
In addition this patch adds 7 new perks (special abilities gained through skill progression) to the earlier 5, including such things as auto-reload, and 'push back' abilities - as well as a perk that introduces 'critical hits' to the combat mechanics. There's also a major overhaul of the way knowledge of aliens is gained and used, including new log messages to make this part of the game more accessible to players.
Finally this patch brings a significant adjustment to the difficulty curve that should be directly noticeable by players. While Xenomarine is still very much intended to be a 'hard' and intensely tactical game, the aim of this balance adjustment is to make the ability to get past levels 3-6 less dependent on lucky equipment finds. Instead you should experience a more gradual increase in difficulty as levels progress. However I would welcome further feedback from players on the new difficulty curve!
Overall Xenomarine is now close to being ready to ship: look out for the first 'Beta' release in the coming weeks!
NEW WEAPONS AND ARMOR:
NEW: 'superheavy' armor types
NEW: 'heavy' and 'superheavy' helmet types
NEW: high-level alien tech including 'singularity globe'
XENOBIOLOGY:
NEW: log messages for when knowledge gained about alien species
NEW: +5 to hit bonus for a species earned after killing 20 aliens of same species
NEW: ability to predict presence of aliens after killing 10 of same species
PERKS:
NEW: 7 new perks to be gained through skill progression
GAME BALANCE:
MOD: set trap should be on player square
MOD: replaced 'throwing knife' with '10 powerpacks' in workbench
MOD: number of shells/fuel gained at workbench increased to 10
MOD: minor reduction of number/difficulty of aliens in early levels, minor increase in later levels
MOD: number of alien eggs reduced for early levels, increasing with level number
MOD: limit (skill-dependent) on number of simultaneous drones
BUGFIXES AND MINOR CHANGES:
FIX: bug where neutral combat drones/turrets sometimes attack player at close range
FIX: bug where unable to block when alien attacks from the right
MOD: alien ammo renamed 'alien powerpacks'