Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector News

We're about to release an update for Battlesector, accompanying the release of the two Elites DLCs.

Not only this update includes the Elites DLCs units to play against to anyone who owns the base game, but it also includes the support to the Slitherine Tournament system.

There is a first tournament open for sign-ups. There are 128 spots available. It is a Swiss system tournament played over the course of three rounds, each round lasting 14 days. You can find the full rules here.
As the first public tournament, we consider this to be an Open Beta. We're looking forward to having a regular stream of online tournaments in 2022.

The Elites DLCs will release at 3 pm GMT. Let us know what you think about the full changelog, which you can find down below.

Last but not least, remember that this is just the beginning for Battlesector. We have great plans to expand the game, and if you want to see what the first faction being added to the game will be, come to our Home of Wargamers Live+ Winter Edition event on December 14.

[h3]Warhammer 40,000:Battlesector Changelog 1.0.11[/h3]

Changes since 1.0.6

Changes
Support for the Blood Angels Elites DLC, which includes Assault Terminators and Sanguinary Guard.
Support for the Tyranid Elites DLC, which includes the Broodlord and Hive Guard.
Support for the Slitherine Tournament system.
In multiplayer games, there is now a discreet scoring phase between rounds, to mitigate first-player advantage in Conqueror and Strategic Command modes.
Implemented an Army Cohesion system. Bonuses are applied to armies created from a diverse selection of units. This mitigates "spam" armies. Multiplayer matches now default to requiring a Cohesive army to play.
Added a Multiplayer "ready-up" phase prior to starting a match.
Updated to the animation system to fix several circumstances of animation "snapping".
Enemies within 7 tiles of the starting zone are now visible during the loadout phase.
Added credit for Verity (which was missing), as well as adding the latest Black Lab Game team members.
Numerous optimizations that increase frame rates, reduce GPU load and reduce memory usage overall.

Balancing
Librarian
Increased HP to 200
Added +20 Evasion bonus to base Wings of Sanguinius
Increased Empowered Wings of Sanguinius Evasion bonus from 20 to 30
Changed Empowered WoS +3 Ranged Armour to +3 Armour

Trygon
Increased base movement to 5
Decrease Massive Scything Talons damage to 120
Increase splash damage falloff
Increased Massive Scything Talon splash targets from 2 to 4

Hormagaunt
Decreased point cost 35
Volitile
Increased splash damage falloff
Inceptors
Increased Health to 100
Increased Cost to 90

Land Speeder
Increased point cost of Land Speeder to 90
Land Speeder Tornado
Increased point cost of Land Speeder Tornado to 130
Venomthropes
Increased Spore Cloud evasion bonus from 15/45 to 25/45
Increased Spore Cloud ranged armour bonus from 1/3 to 2/4
Spore Cloud now has infinite charges
Increased Toxic Lash damage from 30 to 50
Decreased Toxic Lash armour piercing from 5 to 3

Aggressors
Increased melee accuracy from 75 to 85
Decreased AP cost of Fragstorm Launcher from 1 to 0
Flamestorm Gauntlet changed to Pistol type
Increased Flamestorm Gauntlet damage from 2 to 3
Baal Predator
Increased HP from 350 to 365
Assault Marines
Increased HP from 50 to 60
Hellblasters
Increased point cost from 110
Increased Range Falloff of Plasma Incinerator to 15
Increased Range Falloff of Heavy Plasma Incinerator to 20
Increased Supercharge % to self-damage from 25% to 45%

Termagants
Decreased Devourer range to 4
Decreased Swarm Tactics effect from +50% to +25% per stack
Decreased Swarm Tactics max stacks to 4
Increased Fleshborer damage to 5
Decreased Fleshborer Ranged Falloff to 5

Bug Fixes
FIX: [BUG] First unit is always disabled by default in loadout
FIX: Unable to select units near the map edge in Angels Fall with a Gamepad
FIX: Tutorial cannot be completed on Gamepad
FIX: Cooldown for Plasmic Buildup not present in async Multiplayer games
FIX: Multiplayer action flag displays when it should (temporarily removed)
FIX: Intro video does not play for some users
FIX (Visual): Gamepad button confirmation animation never completes.
FIX: Gargoyle's Blinding Venom ability is bound to hotkey 3 instead of 2
FIX: Enemy tooltip will briefly show quick attack stats for primary weapon once attack with secondary or ability once confirmed
FIX: The breakable walls on the Angel's Fall campaign mission are not breaking properly.
FIX: Army Management UI: Army Inspector scroll region does not reset to top when another army is selected
FIX: Units gain Synaptic Leader from dead synaptic leaders after saving and loading
FIX: [BUG] If a unit dies from a reaction attack the tile modifier is not removed
FIX (Visual): Cursor for Gamepad users can be difficult to see
FIX: [BUG] The interact button expands/contracts and sometimes disappears when rotating the camera
FIX: Replay campaign screen jumps to the last object instead of the first in the mission list.
FIX: Campaign "Reinforcements Added to Reserves" notification appears again when re-opening the army management UI.
FIX: Fixed several traversal bugs in Imperial Ruins
FIX: Units that die from poison don't provide points multiplayer modes
FIX: In PBEM the camera gets stuck in the multiplayer camera mode and doesn't revert to the standard camera
FIX: Unit Abilities are not scrollable in the Army Management screen
FIX: Tactical map filters are accessible while inside Unit List.
FIX: Issue with Hand Flamers performing Zone-of-Control attack damaging friendlies
FIX: When a unit is affected by an empowered ability, the regular casting of the ability will refresh it.
FIX (Visual): Baal Secundus textures are very low resolution in Age of Crimson Dawn Mission Information UI

It’s time for the Steam Autumn Sale!

From today until November 30th Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector will be at 15% off.

With the start of the Autumn Sale, players can now vote for the Steam Awards candidates. As those who follow the game would likely know, Battlesector is an open project: the game has already been improved through a number of free upgrades, but that is just the beginning.

Black Lab Games have great plans for the game and will keep expanding it through a combination of free upgrades (not just consisting of fixes and balances changes but also including new content and features available for free for anyone who owns the base game) and paid-for DLCs.

Anyone who is familiar with the developer’s work on their previous game, Battlestar Galactica Deadlock, will remember the stellar work they did on constantly improving and expanding the game.

Therefore, we would like to ask anyone who feels inclined to do so to vote Battlesector for the Labor of Love Steam Award nomination.

Last but not least, we’d like to remind everyone that on December 14th we will be announcing the first new faction being added to Battlesector during a live stream.

It will be part of Slitherine’s Home of Wargamers Live+ live event. You will be able to watch it on our Twitch channel. Stay tuned for more information in the official announcement.

Dev Diary #4 - Battleforged

++Thought of the Day++

Countless lurking shadows stir to contest the glory of the Imperium. Be certain that your own mind is not one of them.

We’ve got a lot of Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector news to cover, so let’s get straight into it!
It’s been a busy month in the Black Lab Games studio. Since the last dev diary, we released a patch that included balancing changes, fixed various bugs that have been reported since launch, and added a number of quality of life improvements.

Console release

We’ve continued to work on getting the game ready for release on consoles. We are asked frequently when the game will be released, and we can now share a release date.

Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector will be coming to Xbox One and Playstation 4 on
December 2.

We are immensely excited to bring Battlesector to consoles. We feel that we’ve maintained the visual fidelity and gameplay pace of the PC version, which is an achievement on previous-gen console hardware.

The only feature that hasn’t been implemented on consoles is the asynchronous (PBEM) multiplayer system. That said, in addition to live multiplayer matches, we feel that the inclusion of hot-seat multiplayer - where two players compete by taking turns to plan and execute their moves on the same console - more than makes up for it. Sitting next to your opponent on the couch as a brutal battle unfolds on the battlefields of the 41st Millennium is a lot of fun!

Windows Store and Gamepass release

That’s not all. Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector is going to be released on the Windows Store on the same day, on December 2.

The same version will be part of the Game Pass, Microsoft’s subscription service for Xbox and Windows.

Tournament System

We’ve recently been beta testing new additions to the game with members of our Discord community, including tournament support and new units.

At the same time as we release the game on consoles, we’ll be deploying an update for PC that includes support for the Slitherine Tournament system. For players that like competitive multiplayer, tournaments will be a feature you’ll love. Tournaments provide a structured way to engage with other players and take multiplayer to a new level. Expect to see a tournament announced soon after this update is released.

New Army Cohesion system

We are also introducing a new Army Cohesion mechanic. Initially, we’ll be introducing this system to multiplayer and skirmish battles. Armies built with a diversity of unit types will gain bonuses to Momentum in battle. When setting up a new multiplayer match, you’ll be able to make using Cohesive armies a requirement to join the match. This system is intended to prevent the use of “spam armies” when they are not welcome.

New DLCs: Blood Angels Elites and Tyranids Elites

In the same update, we’ll also be including support for our first DLC’s. We’ll be releasing two small DLCs that will add units to the existing Blood Angels and Tyranid armies.

In the Blood Angels Elites Pack, you’ll get access to Assault Terminators and Sanguinary Guard. Assault Terminators bear the most highly prized artefacts within the Blood Angels Armoury. Each suit of Terminator armour is a masterfully crafted machine of war, with thousands of battles of wear and tear. Assault Terminators can be armed with Lightning Claws or a Thunderhammer/Storm Shield combination, and feature a game-changing Deep Strike ability.



The Sanguinary Guard are the exemplars of the Blood Angels nobility and skill. Paying homage to the Great Angel Sanguinuis, they quickly traverse the battlefield using their Jump Pack and can be equipped with a variety of ranged and melee weapon options. The Heirs of Azkaellon ability looks to the first commander of the guard for guidance, providing powerful combat buffs - particularly when used near the HQ Command unit.



In the Tyranid Elites Pack, you’ll get access to the Broodlord and Hive Guard.

The Broodlord is a monster from which nightmares are made. They are superior melee warriors with a natural ability for disrupting the minds of nearby prey. Deployed adjacent to swarms, their Evolved Brood Telepathy ability makes the nearby units far more deadly in combat. The Paroxysm ability deploys the malevolent will of the Hive Mind to inflict terrible damage on an opponent, inflicting nerve-wracking agony and making them ineffective in combat.



Hive Guard offers some deadly ranged attacks, wrapped in a heavy armour of lumbering carapace. Shockcannon Spines are especially deadly against vehicles, whilst the Impaler cannon can ignore cover penalties.



These units will be available for in the campaign, and to add to your army lists in skirmish and multiplayer battles.

New Faction announced on December 14th

These DLCs will be a small taste of what’s in store for the future of Battlesector, with new armies, game modes and features all in the works. Keep an eye out for the Slitherine Home of the Wargamers event taking place on the 14th of December, during which you’ll get the first look at the new faction that we’ll be releasing early next year.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1718640/Warhammer_40000_Battlesector__Blood_Angels_Elites/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1793050/Warhammer_40000_Battlesector__Tyranid_Elites/

We're releasing a new update for Battlesector.

It is a sizeable update which contains quite a few important balance improvements (you can find the reasoning for each change in the changelog), some highly requested changes (like displaying Momentum gains as a single figure unit), optimization improvements, and bug fixes.

We'd like to thank the community for all the feedback you've given us so far. Anyone who followed the development of Battlestar Galactica Deadlock throughout the years know that Black Lab Games is the type of developer who keeps improving their games. Please let us know what your opinion on this new update is, it is important for us in sight of future updates.

As you might have heard from the latest dev diary, we'll soon have some very juicy news, so stay tuned.

[h2]Changelog:[/h2]
- Added a visualisation of Tyranid synaptic networks. Mouse over the Connected or Swarm Tactics status effect icon to see the connected units.
- Adjustments to the calculation of low scoring damage rolls. Higher armour units are now more likely to 'Block' low armour penetration weapons.
- Numerous improvements to the decision making of AI units
- Momentum gains are now displayed as a single figure units, instead of 1 new line of text for each momentum event.
- Updated the barks and campaign text for the French language with some minor translation changes
- Numerous optimizations to graphics and AI performance, and reduced memory usage

Balancing
Tyranids

Swarm Tactics:
Swarm Tactics has been skewing the balance of the Tyranid army a bit too far, allowing medium damage units to exceed their potential (i.e. Devourer Gants), but without being of any benefit to the low- and high-damage units. The overall effectiveness of Swarm Tactics has been reduced, which doesn’t have that big of an effect on Genestealers or Hormagaunts, while reigning in the Devourer and Spinefist Termagants.
- Decreased Ranged Damage from 50% to 35% per stack
- Decreased max stacks from 6 to 4

Termagants & Gargoyles:
With the Swarm Tactics debuff, Fleshborers deserve to have their base performance increased so that Termagants and Gargoyles maintain their relevance in singleplayer. Additionally, the maximum range of the Termagant’s Devourer has been reduced to its intended value.
(Note: Only Fleshborer adjustments apply to Gargoyles.)
- Decreased Devourer range from 5 to 4
- Increased Fleshborer damage from 4 to 5
- Decreased Fleshborer ranged falloff from 10 to 5

Trygon:
Successfully using a Trygon to swat an overextended unit of Hellblasters should feel rewarding, especially given the damage debuff the Trygon suffers for the next round. We’ve increased the number of splash targets, and balanced it by reducing the amount of damage done to the secondary splash targets.
- Increased Massive Scything Talons splash targets from 2 to 4
- Decreased Massive Scything Talons damage falloff from 40% to 60%

Venomthropes:
Venomthropes are not currently fulfilling their role as the linebreakers of the Tyranid army. We have upped the defensive effectiveness of Spore Cloud so they have a better chance at closing distance with the enemy. Once they’re in range, their Toxic Lash attack now hits with more raw damage. Combined with lower armour piercing, it means the initial attack may not hit as hard, but the additional follow-up poison damage guarantees the attack will sting more than it used to.
- Increased Spore Cloud evasion from 15 /45 to 25 / 45
- Increased Spore Cloud ranged armour from 1 / 3 to 2 / 4
- Spore Cloud no longer consumes charges
- Increased Toxic Lash damage from 30 to 50
- Decreased Toxic Lash armour piercing from 5 to 3

Blood Angels

Volatile:
The power of Volatile has been a significant factor in the effectiveness of melee swarm units. The ability now uses the splash damage system, and is only able to target 6 models of a unit at most. This still results in a significant amount of damage, but most swarm units will have at least a few models still standing afterwards.
- Changed damage type to splash: 6 splash targets, 60% damage falloff

Primaris Librarian:
The Primaris Librarian has needed a bit of help with survivability, and what better way than to give him a defensive buff while his Wings of Sanguinius is active. This encourages the Librarian to act like a skirmisher, and utilise the ability as often as possible.
- Added effect to Wings of Sanguinius: + ranged armour 1 / 3

Hellblasters:
Hellblasters have been overperforming for their point cost, edging out Intercessors and Inceptors with raw firepower. The increase to their ranged falloff allows them to maintain their role as marksmen, but now requires precision positioning to unlock their potential.
Additionally, there hasn’t been enough risk in using their Supercharged ability. The trigger percentage has been increased so that average damage caused is more closely matched to the potential damage output.
- Increased point cost from 90 to 110
- Increased Plasma Incinerator ranged falloff from 10 to 15
- Increased Heavy Plasma Incinerator ranged falloff from 15 to 20
- Increased Supercharged % to self-damage from 25% to 45%

Assault Marines:
Assault Marines have felt a little too squishy, and have been granted a buff to their health pool.
- Increased health points from 50 to 60

Baal Predator:
Combined with the changes to damage calculation, this health buff helps provide a bit more survivability to the speed-focused Baal Predator.
- Increased health points from 350 to 365

Aggressors:
Aggressors are a staple of single-player armies, but have struggled to find a use for their kit in multiplayer. An increase to their punching accuracy improves their performance as melee armour busters, and making the Fragstorm Launcher a free action gives the Aggressors options to be effective from multiple threat ranges in a single turn, even if they’ve already spent their movement points.
- Increased melee accuracy from 75 to 85
- Increased Flamestorm Gauntlet damage from 2 to 3
- Flamestorm Gauntlets are now considered Pistol type weapons for the purpose of reaction attacks
- Action point cost of Fragstorm Launcher reduced from 1 to 0

Land Speeders:
Land Speeders have been performing very well, but were undercosted for their performance.
- Increased Land Speeder point cost from 70 to 90
- Increased Land Speeder Tornado point cost from 120 to 130

Inceptors:
Inceptors have felt a little too squishy for their role, despite being majorly undercosted for their potential damage output. Both of these issues have been fixed.
- Increased health from from 90 to 100
- Increased point cost from 75 to 90

NOTE: Modified point costs will be reflected in existing campaign, skirmish and multiplayer army lists after the 1.0.5 update is applied.

Bug Fixes

FIX: Saving and loading with Shield of Sanguinius applied applies even more current health.
FIX: Unlimited action points from Empowered Wings of Sanguinius
FIX: Blessing of the Omnissiah persistent effects not working consistently on Lieutenant/Sgt Carleon
FIX: Endless Hunger tooltip is incorrect
FIX: "The Old Ways" HQ upgrade not working
FIX: Exception occurs sometimes during Melee reaction attack
FIX: Flamestorm Gauntlet (Melee) weapon does not have an effect when it hits
FIX: Assaults get placed in reserves after Venomous Corruptions (Added recently kicked units back into the player's army, using veterancy as a tie breaker if there are more recently kicked unit than free spaces.)
FIX: The charge melee line does not appear when melee attacking props
FIX: As the match creator, I can't use the army I just made while waiting for opponent to join
FIX: Post-battle scrollbar handle can only be grabbed at the top of the scrollbar UI element
FIX: Tile status effects do not update when moving after melee charging
FIX: Dialogue is replayed when loading a mid-battle save in Gallians Staff
FIX: Mission Brother Quindar. Intercessor Death From Above skill showing targets in range but not working
FIX: Unit makes double attack when right click is left pressed.
FIX: Gargoyles still using Blinding Venom on units that already have the status effect
FIX: Disconnect dialog prompt disappears if other player goes on to create new live match
FIX: If a health boosting status is removed, don't kill the unit if health drops below zero (have a 1 health minimum)
FIX: Can't skip Intro or Outro video on gamepad.
FIX: The Ghost Land mission objectives don't work when game language is set to Polish