Starship Troopers: Extermination News

Our game has friendly fire, which is a core concept of the game and the IP. Having friendly fire in a game comes with an added bit of realism and adds tension into the world but it also comes with consequences. That main drawback being when bad actors come into the game and decide to grief their fellow teammates by killing them over and over again. This is not a fun experience for anyone, and while we’ll continue to address these players through the reporting system, we also wanted to put the power back into the hands of our loyal Deep Space Vanguard!

What Inspired our Design Team? “The idea came from the community earlier on after early access launch, when people were labeling team killers as those under influence of control Bugs. This concept is incredible and true to the lore so the question was how do we lean into this while still accomplishing the goal to address aberrant behavior.

The thoughts were that the Federation would not tolerate traitors and would execute them. Whether they have been insidiously corrupted by Control Bugs at some point or have willfully turned their backs on their fellow citizens, these Traitors are high-priority targets that risk the safety and security of humanity if they were ever able to make it off planet. It's your job to execute them for the good of the Federation.”



[h2]Traitor Impacts[/h2]

• Players who kill any number of teammates or deal a certain amount of team damage during a game will be marked as a traitor to the Federation. (Server tunable)
  
• They will no longer be able to deal friendly fire damage
  
• They will lose the ability to use their build tool
  
• They will have a mark above their head visible to all other players marking them as a traitor
  
• A marked player will take full friendly fire damage
  
• Will no longer be able to receive healing from players
  
• Players will be marked as a traitor until the end of the match or until they are kicked from the current match by a loyal Federation Trooper shooting them!
  
• Traitors cannot rejoin the same match they were kicked from
  

[h2]Loyal Troopers Role[/h2]

• Hunt down the traitors and kill them with extreme prejudice
  
• Marked players can be killed freely by other players without any negative consequences.
  

Troopers, brace yourselves for an update of galactic proportions! It's time to lock and load, as we proudly unveil the latest and greatest coming in Update 0.6.0 - Battle of Agni Prime as it releases on Thursday, December 7th.

Stay on high alert, troopers! More intel will be transmitted in the coming week. Until then, we'll share the brief we received from command on what you can expect in the upcoming update.



New Planet - Explore the untamed world of Agni Prime. This is no ordinary planet, that is for sure. A fire-lit land where survival is an art, and only the most battle-hardened troopers can endure the scorching heat that awaits.

New Bugs - Agni Prime has fallen under the Arachnid horde, and one should be prepared as these Bugs have adapted to the smoldering lands and boast a new set of traits adapted to cause havoc. Stay frosty, trooper.

New Customization - Your battle-worn outfit is about to get a splash of style. Your Federation-issued uniform isn't just for protection; it's a statement, a symbol of your unyielding dedication to the Mobile Infantry and its cause. We’ve added new colors, decals and more to the Federation armory.

More Progression - For the most dedicated of troopers, elevate yourself to new heights as we increase the Career Rank Progression to 100, featuring new milestones rewards to obtain.

Communication Enhancements - Troopers can now communicate beyond the radio as we introduce Text Chat as well as Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text options to ensure your comms cut through the chaos of battle.

But that’s not all! We've listened to your feedback and made a slew of other tweaks and improvements as well as a Federation-approved alternative to deal with the traitors you have come across in this Arachnid war.

This battle will test the mettle of every trooper, but remember, in the face of overwhelming odds, the Mobile Infantry perseveres. Onward, soldiers, reclaim this fiery planet from the clutches of the Bug menace in the Battle for Agni Prime.

Troopers, listen up! Pyre Actual here. The Federation has been investigating and we’ve received this intel hot from the front! Transmitting the message now.

[MISSION CRITICAL: NEW PLANET: AGNI PRIME]

Troopers!

We've just pinpointed a new hostile planet, where the landscape itself is as lethal as the Arachnids that dwell there. The air crackles with the unending heat of perpetual flames, casting an eerie glow across the landscape like a volcanic volcanic ballet, a spectacle of otherworldly devastation.

We’ve found the Bug menace has not only survived but thrived in this primeval crucible. We’re facing fresh, relentless breeds, reducing everything in their path to smoldering ash. These new Bugs boast heat-resistant exoskeletons and flaming appendages, turning the very fires they live in into a weapon of destruction. It's a force we can't afford to underestimate.

These Bugs operate with a level of strategic chaos, seamlessly moving through the immense lava flows that stream through every inch of this hostile rock we call Agni Prime.

In addition, the Federation has received reports on encounters that stain the honor of humanity. That being traitorous individuals who, for reasons unbeknownst to us, have turned their backs on the Federation. These turncoats, driven by twisted motives or misguided ideals, have etched a dark chapter in our battle against the Bugs.

Let it be known that in the face of betrayal, we stand unyielding. Our history is not solely defined by the shadows cast by the treacherous; it is illuminated by the resilience of the loyal. The consequences of betrayal are severe, and we will ensure that those who stand against these traitors receive the full support of the Federation.

Troopers, together we shall emerge triumphant from the ashes. Gear up! For in the face of adversity, we find our strength. Our mission is clear, our purpose is unwavering. Let's make these bugs regret ever crossing paths with the Federation!

Onward, troopers, to glory and victory!

[END OF TRANSMISSION]

That's all we got on from HQ. We’ll be getting more commands soon but you heard them get prepped and ready! We’re taking the fight to them.

Pyre Actual Out.

…What was that? The Valaka caves… new threat? no survivors… we should pull the others out now. I’m not broadcasti-

We have the 0.5.2 Patch coming at 10:00 AM PT (GMT-7) on November 21st, 2023

This patch will fix a large number of issues along with a few improvements and adjustments to Starship Troopers: Extermination.

[h2]New Features[/h2]

• Epic Game Store support
  
• Crossplay with Steam players
  

[h2]Balance changes[/h2]

• Hive Hunt: Increased XP gained from destroying eggs from 1 to 10
  
• Hive Hunt: Increased XP gained from destroying a Hive Core to 50
  
• Speed Stim: Decreased speed boost from 1.5x to 1.15x, increased duration from 7.5s to 10s
  

[h2]Notable Gameplay/Quality of Life Improvements[/h2]

• Hive Hunt: Players can now respawn at the built resupply points (flags)
  
• Hive Hunt: Tweaked the number of enemy spawns, too many enemies were spawning sometimes
  
• Hive Hunt: Time limit extended to 20 minutes
  
• Watkins Trigger can now be manually detonated (hold interaction button when you are incapacitated)
  
• Friendly Fire is disabled during Extraction in all game modes
  
• Added next/previous screen buttons to the match results
  

[h2]Notable Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Bug Unburrow FX were playing in locations that bugs wouldn’t actually spawn
  
• Fixed the Sandstorm mutator not appearing for all players
  
• Trooper names were not appearing consistently on the HUD, only the class icon
  
• Bugs now deal damage to the Deployable Shield utility
  
• First person view was not fully aligned to the trooper model, making other troopers appear shorter than yourself
  
• Hive Hunt: a bubbling sound effect was playing after a hive core was destroyed
  
• Sentry (tower) MG was not running out of ammo
  
• First person weapon audio was sometimes disappearing if too many sounds were playing
  
• Morita XXX was a bit quiet compared to other weapons
  
• Ultrawide monitors: The trooper model was stretched in the mission results screen
  
• A beep sound sometimes kept playing after returning from a match
  

Hello Troopers! It's time for the November Community Q&A. Thanks again for all the great submissions, as always we decided to select questions from a range of topics to answer. This will be the final Q&A for the year, our goal is to continue this initiative in the new year.

[h2]Questions[/h2]

Are there plans to create more communication lines between player characters, like shouting quotes from the movie?
Yes, we will be looking to add more voice overs into the game post 1.0 and are exploring a robust Emote system for players to communicate with each other.

Will there ever be more Grenade variants added to the game?
We definitely want to add more grenade types into the game. Nothing is planned short term, but new grenade types are in the works.

Will there be customizable Troopers in Game?
A big thumbs up to this. Not only will there be customization for you to earn through progression, you will be able to customize three different areas on your trooper. The exciting news Trooper customization will be coming in the December Update! Stay tuned for more info!

Will you consider adding a third-person camera mode?
Not at this time.

Was the performance and stability impact from the Unreal Engine 5 upgrade expected?
As a team we decided that if we were going to upgrade the engine we needed to do it sooner than later. The more we continued to add features to the game the more complicated it would be to upgrade the engine, as more systems would have to be verified and integrated and eventually the ROI would not be there for the team. So we decided to do the upgrade when the game was still relatively small and had a smaller set of features, maps and game systems to upgrade.

There was expectation that there may be some short-term performance degradation after the update, but the goal was to have performance parity with UE 4.27 or close to. Since the upgrade was also mixed in with feature updates, it became very hard to keep track of the performance across the engine upgrade and new features.

In the end, some upgraded settings and changes slipped past that severely degraded performance, specifically on our server-side. The worst of which did not appear until our production servers were put under load.

Although we did hot-fix the major issues, future updates will further improve performance as we use the new tools available to us in UE 5.2.

What steps are taken to deal with player griefing through Team Killing? Can we have a vote-kick option?
Since our game has friendly fire, we need to make sure every report and individual case is handled with as much due diligence and investigation as possible. We all understand this is a serious issue and we look at every player report that is generated when players behave this way.

We are actively managing this through our player support operations and are actively actioning accounts that have been engaging in this behavior. We have acted on over 1000 accounts since Early Access began.

With all this being said in our December update we will be releasing an in-game system that will hopefully put the power to deal with this traitorous behavior back into the hands of all you loyal members of the Deep Space Vanguard. We have codenamed this system Shoot to Kick!

Will there be a Morita Mk3 in the game?
Yes, down the road we want to have as many of the weapons from the movies in the game.

When do we get our Text chat to communicate with each other?
Text chat will be added in Game Update 6.0. We will also be adding more accessibility features around communication such as Text to Speech and Speech to Text options during this update.

When are you going to introduce weak points on Bugs?
We are hoping to introduce this feature around the 1.0 launch of the game.

How do the developers intend to monetize the game in the long term?
We have no plans to move away from a buy to play model. Our goal is to offer cosmetics through skins for both Weapons and Troopers. We will NEVER sell POWER!

If this game takes place after the events of the CGI films, why do we have lower grade gear?
Our game takes place 25 years into the future from the first live action movie. More upgraded tech and weapons are coming to the game over the next few years, we have just started!

What is/will be the difference in difficulty levels?
Currently right now the only difference between difficulty levels are the following:

Recruit

• HP/sec = 3.6
  
• Bonus Health = +45
  
• Revive Speed = 80% faster
  
• Bug Health = - 50%
  
• Bug Damage = -25%
  
• Threat Events = Every 720 seconds (12 minutes) starting at 8 minutes into the game, they last 8 minutes
  
• Decrease Bug Speed = -20%
  

Trooper

• Hp/sec = 2 per 5 (0.4 per sec) 37.5 seconds from 0 to full basically
  
• Bonus health = None (Base health is 90 for Hunter + Op, 180 for Bastion)
  
• Threat Events = Every 720 seconds (12 minutes) starting at 8 minutes into the game, they last 5 for minutes.
  

Veteran

• Hp/sec = No Regen
  
• Bonus health = none
  
• Bug Health = +50%
  
• Bug Damage = +50%
  
• Increased Threat Event Frequency = Every 180 seconds (3 minutes) starting at 2 minutes into the game, they last 5 for minutes.
  

We are planning on updating our approach to mode difficulty over time. The first one is rewarding players who choose to take the fight to the Bugs in harder difficulties. In update 0.6.0 with Trooper and Veteran difficulty levels now having a bonus XP amount per game mode. This new XP reward table will be outlined in the 0.6.0 patch notes.

In a future update, we will offer different enemy challenges and scenarios per difficulty level. So that people who chose to play on higher difficulty tiers will have new interesting game mechanics. More to come on that closer to the design being finalized.

Powersuits/armor?
They are on the roadmap to come to the game in the future. Our hope is to get some of this into the game post 1.0. We do not have an exact timeline but we want to include powered armor into the game eventually.

The good news is we have concepts and high level designs on these important aspects of the universe. We also need to ensure the current gameplay balance is not impacted by introducing this impressive tech into the game.

Will it be tied to classes? Will it be world drops akin to power weapons, or will it be tied to base building? All of these scenarios are being discussed internally by the design team. The good news is that everyone at the studio is very gung ho about this feature.

Below are some very early concept images:



Is it possible to change the mutator for different servers?
No, currently right now it is a global system, though as we move to the Bug War (Galactic War) we will be adapting and curating the mutator system around the missions you go on.

Are you thinking about a solution for the dropship camping "problem"?
Yes, nothing we can share yet, but our designers are working on something.

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Check out our last Q&A for October.

Thanks again for supporting Starship Troopers: Extermination!