Update 0.11: Campaign Map

Hi Everyone,

After the last update and having the game on sale we're not slowing down. 0.11 brings another massive change and one that many of you have been asking and waiting for since the beginning: a Campaign Map.


Up until this point, runs were completely linear: you'd fight a battle after another with no choice in the matter. Now, after each battle you'll see the full map with all the interweaving paths to get to the boss - and you get to choose which boss you want to face!

Besides different types of battles, the map features all kinds of rewards: energy, credits, meta-energy and even parts. So, if you see a part you like, you can make your way to it, by you may have to face those annoying Hoppers over there to get to it!



The interface in the campaign map is basically the same as in a battle. You move on a grid, one square at a time, until you reach either of the bosses. But be careful, because you can't backtrack!
After beating the boss you'll advance to the next environment, with new challenges.

Something important to mention is that if you were in the middle of a run in 0.10, you can safely continue using the previous linear structure until the run ends. Your next run will then use the Campaign Map. This applies both to the regular campaign and the sandbox.


Now that the Campaign Map is the landing screen in the Mech Armada Control Center, the screen with your list of Mech Blueprints is gone, and replaced with a view of your real Mechs.

I know that some of you found it a bit difficult to see your Mechs in the pre-battle view, so now you have a much clearer camera and you can switch back and forth between that and the whole-battlefield one.



And of course you can still fully edit your Blueprints at any point (even during battle) using the Spawn panel on the left.


The other noticeable change you'll see is that the Credit Machine will only provide 5 credits (instead of 7) as a baseline. You can now find credits on the Campaign Map and you'll also need fewer as you can also collect parts there free of charge. Besides, you can use meta-energy to improve the Credit Machine and the ceiling has been raised so it can reach 10 (though at a high cost).

The ceiling for the Power Generator and the Starting Energy improvements have also been increased slightly.

Another change I want to discuss explicitly is nerfing the Shield and the Energy Shield. In 0.11 every time you get attacked they will lose 1 armor until the end of the battle. The reason for this change is that shields would provide perfect protection against most of the Swarm, especially at low challenge levels, making the run almost trivial and not very fun. Now you have to worry a bit more about receiving hits, even if you don't suffer damage.

Lastly, a list of smaller fixes:

• Updated Tutorial to teach both Blueprints and Transform
  
• Tutorial will now correctly always use default parts (ignoring Starting Parts)
  
• Settings button moved to the top-right corner in Main Menu for consistency
  
• Fix Echo upgrade formatting error
  
• Bosses now consume meta-energy when walking over it
  
• Energy Pods no longer have a collection animation at the end of battle when empty
  
• You no longer get 1 energy with Harvesting at the end of battle if the Pod is empty
  
• Icon added to the Survive/Defeat text
  
• Salvage no longer affects landmines or drones
  
• Energy wasted removed from stats
  
• Fix number of runs in stats (it wasn't including aborted runs)
  
• Fix cooldown for the second weapon when transforming a dual-wielding mech
  

With every update I feel like Mech Armada is getting better. It's also getting closer to full release and we'll have some exciting announcements soon, so stay tuned.
If you have any feedback about these changes, be sure to join our Discord or hit the forums. I'm always available to chat about the game.
I hope you enjoy this update!

/Sergio

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1389360/Mech_Armada/