When will be the next release?

[H-Hour]

We have quite much plans for 2.4 already and we also want shorter release cycle.

Are these spelled out anywhere? Or just in the devs heads for now?

[BTAxis]

Q1: how do I get it on board of a dropship ?

For some time there has been a mockup for assigning units to craft. It's probably not going to be quite like that, that's mostly up to geever and bayo_O, but that was the basic idea. Essentially, it comes down to "soldier space" and "UGV space" in a dropship, which are mutually exclusive.

Q2: how will I control it in battlescape ? Is it the 9th soldier (UI work) or does it replace the 9th soldier ?

Remember that the amount of soldiers will eventually be increased (this means UI work as well as other code changes, mattn wasn't clear about this). The largest amount of soldiers that can be in a dropship (the Herakles) is 12. The largest amount of UGVs (again the Herakles) is 3. So you would have a maximum of 15 units on a mission. However, in base defence missions this might be even more.

[MCR]

However, in base defence missions this might be even more.

The most logical thing for basedefend should be that ALL available soldiers should fight, but we could make a upper limit of 15 soldiers fighting @ the same time there & add reinforcements automatically if soldiers die & additional soldiers are still available...

[Silversnow]

Excuse me for the newbie question, but where can we see what remains to be done?
Just in case we may have the skills to help 

[BTAxis]

What exactly do you mean? You want to know what remains to be done on UGVs/2x2 units, or what remains to be done until the game ins finished? If you meant the former, Duke and I intend to update the TODO for this, will probably have to discuss it first. If you meant the latter, there is no clear answer I can give you, only "a lot of everything". If you want to help, I suggest you take a look at the sticky thread.

[Silversnow]

I meant both actually, thanks for the tip 
I guess I'll start with those and see what I can do to help.

[!!nibiruplanetx]

This is going to be so awesome!

[Marte]

The most logical thing for basedefend should be that ALL available soldiers should fight, but we could make a upper limit of 15 soldiers fighting @ the same time there & add reinforcements automatically if soldiers die & additional soldiers are still available...

HI! just my 2 cents: why this limit? If soldiers are in a base, they all should be fighting, otherwise player maybe needs some kind of explanation for this limitation..

[Jarkill]

Several reasons, I'd suspect. Game balance for one thing, GUI as another. System resources, turn length, etc.

Given that my main method of selecting units is currently pressing 1-8 on the keyboard, I don't think I'll ever take more than 10 units into battle myself.

Microing 16+ units would get dull very quickly. It'd stop being squad based combat and start being platoon based combat.

Mostly WMG here though.

[Duke]

Several reasons, I'd suspect. Game balance for one thing, GUI as another. System resources, turn length, etc.

You're right on the money with that list. However, there are plans to increase the number of actors to control.

btw you seem to have a good grasp of the implementation of the game. Are you a coder ?

[Marte]

Several reasons, I'd suspect. Game balance for one thing, GUI as another. System resources, turn length, etc.

Given that my main method of selecting units is currently pressing 1-8 on the keyboard, I don't think I'll ever take more than 10 units into battle myself.

Microing 16+ units would get dull very quickly. It'd stop being squad based combat and start being platoon based combat.

Mostly WMG here though.

thanks for explanation, i suspected that were reasons.. but player (not coder or hard-player) need a reason for this limitation, what do you think?

[Duke]

Number of seats in the dropship maybe ?

[MCR]

Number of seats in the dropship maybe ?

A logical explanation for the missions & there the number of soldiers should be limited to the space available in the dropship, as this should also be additional motivation for the player to get new dropships with more seats...

But how does this influence the number of soldiers fighting in the base ? They do not need a dropship to get there...

[Marte]

maybe aliens uses soporific gas to get soldiers sleeping?

[Duke]

But how does this influence the number of soldiers fighting in the base ?

Only 8 soldiers are on duty at a time. The others are sleeping, taking a shower or in hospital etc., far away from their combat equipment. So they are *ordered* not to participate in the combat and hide instead.