Early Access Patch 035: The Midlife Crisis Patch – 17th February 2021
A bunch of small changes in a variety of different areas this patch, from cosmetic changes to the main menu to medium sized changes to the game mechanics like the revised unit health system and the centralization of sound rings.
Gameplay
Meteor Shower Visual Cue – Further testing shows that having a 10 second warning of where the meteors are going to be landing helps with strategic gameplay.
Blizzard – A new weather phenomenon that shows up on snow biomes, this reduces the visibility of facilities and units, and cuts the effectiveness of most recon abilities in half. Units are also slowed down.
Sandstorm – This works similarly to the Blizzard, with the obvious change of it showing up on desert biomes instead of snow.
Sound Rings Centralized – Based on feedback, we’ve changed how sound rings operate. Previously a unit could be anywhere in the sound ring, but now units will always be in the center. Certain abilities that are designed to cause confusion as to the unit’s location will still have unreliable sound rings and units can be anywhere within those.
Tail Compartment – This is a slight redesign of the unit health system. The “Tail” compartment which was always there is now the first to take damage, thus shielding ability-holding compartments somewhat. These now separated compartments cannot hold any abilities, and apply no penalty to the unit when destroyed.
UI
Main Menu change – A cosmetic change, which we think fits our theme and aesthetic well
Tail Compartment –The change to the health system mentioned above is also shown in the ability toolbar when selecting a unit, with a passive icon representing the tail and a health bar above that.
Mining Platform Icon Change – We’ve changed the icon from a train in a mineshaft visual to minerals with the icon color representing which mineral is being mined.
Camera
Toggle Edge Scroll – Requested by Tokyo Dan, we’ve made a toggle in the settings which can remove panning when you bring the cursor to the edge of the screen.
Fixed
A crash when using certain ‘hidden’ internally used hotkeys for other purposes
An issue with the first meteor shower not showing up
An issue with offensive projectile abilities damage being capped at 100
An issue with the destroyed mesh for the artillery and train compartments not being set
An issue with the Repairbots ability not showing up in sync with health increases
An issue with the combat log showing Repairbots were healing for 0/s
An issue with repair aura stopping if the facility wasn’t possessed by the player
An issue with Hecatomb ability not activating
An issue with Last Hope ability not adding a health buff to compartments as intended
Gameplay
Meteor Shower Visual Cue – Further testing shows that having a 10 second warning of where the meteors are going to be landing helps with strategic gameplay.
Blizzard – A new weather phenomenon that shows up on snow biomes, this reduces the visibility of facilities and units, and cuts the effectiveness of most recon abilities in half. Units are also slowed down.
Sandstorm – This works similarly to the Blizzard, with the obvious change of it showing up on desert biomes instead of snow.
Sound Rings Centralized – Based on feedback, we’ve changed how sound rings operate. Previously a unit could be anywhere in the sound ring, but now units will always be in the center. Certain abilities that are designed to cause confusion as to the unit’s location will still have unreliable sound rings and units can be anywhere within those.
Tail Compartment – This is a slight redesign of the unit health system. The “Tail” compartment which was always there is now the first to take damage, thus shielding ability-holding compartments somewhat. These now separated compartments cannot hold any abilities, and apply no penalty to the unit when destroyed.
UI
Main Menu change – A cosmetic change, which we think fits our theme and aesthetic well
Tail Compartment –The change to the health system mentioned above is also shown in the ability toolbar when selecting a unit, with a passive icon representing the tail and a health bar above that.
Mining Platform Icon Change – We’ve changed the icon from a train in a mineshaft visual to minerals with the icon color representing which mineral is being mined.
Camera
Toggle Edge Scroll – Requested by Tokyo Dan, we’ve made a toggle in the settings which can remove panning when you bring the cursor to the edge of the screen.
Fixed
A crash when using certain ‘hidden’ internally used hotkeys for other purposes
An issue with the first meteor shower not showing up
An issue with offensive projectile abilities damage being capped at 100
An issue with the destroyed mesh for the artillery and train compartments not being set
An issue with the Repairbots ability not showing up in sync with health increases
An issue with the combat log showing Repairbots were healing for 0/s
An issue with repair aura stopping if the facility wasn’t possessed by the player
An issue with Hecatomb ability not activating
An issue with Last Hope ability not adding a health buff to compartments as intended