Mech Engineer News

Hello fellow Mech Engineers!

Welcome to the final update for 1.0!
Yes, you have read it right. We have finally made it to 1.0 and I am hugely grateful to everybody who followed and contributed to this incredible adventure.

Thank you so much for playing the game, sharing your feedback, and supporting Mech Engineer, it means the world to me.

Let’s take a look at this month's changelog, it’s definitely a lot:

[h3]M:\Modding[/h3]

• Added sprite_collision_mask function
  
• The following LUA functions are available within obj_battle_map

  battle_end_default_mechs_dead 
  battle_end_default_win
  battle_end_scout_mechs_dead
  battle_end_scout_win
  

• Make your own custom map with the help of an example mod that has been published to the workshop

[h3]I:\Interface[/h3]

• Following an interface overhaul Mech Engineer has been localized into French, German, Polish, Portuguese Brazilian, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish
  
• Save slots from the main menu have taken on the appearance of punchcards
  
• Mouse over an installed mech, reactor or weapon when using the construction table to view a tooltip message
  
• Updated the image for the error message that appears when attempting to place a reactor that has not been properly tuned to better prompt players to assemble and ignite their reactors
  
• Turn on the testing chamber for a weapon or mech to hear the pleasant sound of a cathode-ray tube
  
• The sound of cogs quietly rotating plays when switching between artillery and order mode during a battle
  
• Added an effect for when a module is taken away from the construction table
  
• The reload stat in a mech's information sheet will take into account the processor program for accelerated reloading speed of kinetic weapons from available energy (press middle mouse button over a mech to bring up its paper information sheet)
  

[h3]B:\Balance[/h3]

• ///Buffs
• Improved the slow effect of projectile weapons equipped with the slowdown mod on Aries by about 25%
  
• Doubled damage from rockets and explosions, but scaling has been lowered to keep explosion size the same
  
• Nuclear missile resource cost reduced from 400 Bjorn to 200 and 600 Munilone to 500
  
• Increased Toxin Sprayer base damage from 4 to 6
  
• Doubled the ammunition capacity of thermal-type weapons
  
• Doubled the health of Fulgur
  
• Watch out: the purple sword boss Titanus Monstrum has increased turn rate speed while each phase time has been increased by 15%. Caecilia will periodically spawn in when the boss enters its regeneration phase.
  
• ///Nerfs
• Increased the cost of ammunition to go into battle by 10%
  
• Doubled time between orders for pilots with low reaction stat
  
• Reduced chance of lightning appearing from 75% to 50%
  
• Reduced chance of tornadoes from 95% to 75%
  
• Reduced the frequency of Fulgur appearance
  
• The purple sword boss Titanus Monstrum has also received some nerfs: Colubras and tentacles spawn further away from the head, enemy artillery is less frequent during the scorching gaze phase, missile firing speed has been reduced by 30% and boss health has been cut from 1 million to 500 thousand.
  

[h3]E:\Engineering[/h3]

• Excessive use of capacitators to get temperature resistance over 100% (this previously allowed you to freeze your reactor by firing lasers) now has diminishing returns with each subsequent capacitor
  
• Cheesing additional resources from disassembling weapons when large weapon creation mode is enabled has been nixed
  

[h3]H:\Hangar[/h3]

• Brief descriptions of enemy abilities have stopped disappearing on the global map
  
• Increased the passive income of free nuclear warheads from 1 to 2 per week
  
• Tired of moving your mechs to the engineering section when you have enough Metallite? Use the quick repair button in the Hangar to fix any amount of damage
  

[h3]C:\Combat[/h3]

• All pilots have their own personalized fully-voiced phrases and will scream horribly when you fail a mission
  
• Pilots will be more scared when if one of them dies
  
• Very high and very low values of stress resistance have less effect on stress during battle
  
• Pilots with high free will values will more frequently try to find the best position to shoot from
  
• Fixed inconsistencies in some messages when swapping between normal and fullscreen mode during battle
  
• Pressing the escape button during battle will pause the game
  
• Increased size of missile collision box so they stop flying through small targets at high speeds
  
• Operarius scatter around the battlefield when enemy artillery shots land
  
• Removed volcanic areas from underground bases
  

[h3]O:\Other_changes[/h3]

• Added 15 achievements - can you take out one million Operarius?
  
• The number of underground bases that have been destroyed during a mission is properly reflected in the post-mission statistics
  
• Interface lightning supports different screen resolutions
  
• No more weapon card pop-ups overlapping when mousing over mech weapons
  
• Nuking a map cell adjacent to your city previously blocked the player from moving to that cell - you no longer have to skip a day, move elsewhere or capture a different cell to then move into the nuked cell
  
• Frequent alt-tabbing in and out of the game during battle should no longer result in the textures for red-colored slowdown zones taking on a weird appearance
  
• The crash bug involving empty pilot portraits after a victory has been fixed
  
• There used to be a rare game freeze when installing a city for the first time, but it's gone now
  

If your save files are not working correctly or something has broken with this update, please use the oneversionback branch, leave a message in the forums or join the Mech Engineer Discord to get support in the #bugs channel.

Again, let me share with you my enthusiasm and my gratitude for supporting me all along these wonderful years of development of Mech Engineer.

We can now enjoy the full Mech Engineer experience, together!

Hello!

Today we have some incredibly exciting news to share with you and our amazing Mech Engineer community worldwide.

It gives me so much joy to announce that Mech Engineer will be leaving Early Access on May 21st, 2024!
Thank you for all of your amazing support, constructive feedback and energy. The road to 1.0 has been a long one and after many new features added from your feedback, now including 64 large game updates – my vision for the full game is nearing completion.

I also wish to express my gratitude to our supportive and eager Beta test players, who have been jumping in early to test out the new features coming to the game on May 21st for everyone.

The key updates planned for 1.0 include:

• Fully voiced Mech Pilots
  
• In-game localisations added to our existing English + Russian language options.
  
  • Simplified Chinese
    
  • German
    
  • Brazilian Portuguese
    
  • Polish
    
  • French
    
  • Spanish
    
• In-Game Achievements
  
• Various Quality of Life updates to the interface and more we’ll reveal on May 21st in our full patch notes.
  

Here are some quick screenshot previews showing off the exciting localisation work, to ensure more players worldwide can jump in and experience the game at it’s best.









Thank you again so much for the continued passion and support as we move to this next phase in our journey. Keep your feedback coming and don’t forget to leave a message in the forums or join the Mech Engineer Discord to get further support.

Hello!
Thank you for playing the game and leaving your feedback.

Here is this month's changelog:

[h3]M:\Modding[/h3]

• The game can now load multiple mods at the same time and the loading of LUA states has been optimised
  
• Because of the updated system, you can't use the live_path variable to get the path. Now the path is stored in mod_info[v_modid]. v_modid is the second argument in every create() function.
  
• Removed the create function for obj_pilot_item.lua
  
• Removed the shoot function for test_mech.lua
  
• test_mech will use the shoot function from obj_ally.lua
  
• The maximum amount of Fulgur can be changed with a new parameter in the balance file
  
• Fixed a crash related to the presence of the Create function in the Draw event obj_test_mech
  
• Fixed copy/paste crash for mod id when updating mod
  

[h3]I:\Interface[/h3]

• Resource numbers will start to abbreviate 1000s to a K if they get too high so as to prevent overlaps
  
• Tutorial message window increased in size to better fit large texts
  
• If the build days in the Production tab are impacted by a debuff, an animated flashing light appears to highlight its importance
  

[h3]B:\Balance[/h3]

• ///Buffs
• The purple sword boss has been made more dangerous: its health has been doubled, its armor increased by 5 units, its turning speed upped by 33%, and its missile fire rate is 25% faster. However, the cost of spawning the purple sword boss has been increased from 600 to 650 biomass.
  
• Watch out: Fulgur’s AI and spawn rules have been redesigned.
  
• The Sagittarius is more likely to hit you as it will reposition better to avoid walls in its line of sight
  
• ///Nerfs
• Mech dig speed reduced
  
• Reduced biomass multiplier for infested zones from 5 to 4
  
• Reduced the cost of spawning the red sword boss from 300 to 250 biomass
  
• Mech stability is 20% less affected by storms in deserts or map cells inside the mega storm meaning you will not need as much impact resistance to enter a storm
  

[h3]E:\Engineering[/h3]

• Bonus fire rate for kinetic weapons from the CPU program has been fixed and works as intended
  
• Remove all modules from a mech with one click via the button located on the bottom-left of the construction table
  

[h3]H:\Hangar[/h3]

• At the start of the game, a zone of infested cells appears around the golden sword boss, so the red sword boss won't head in its direction
  
• The rules dictating the spawning of the sword bosses at the start of a new game have been changed to make it less possible for them to spot your city early
  
• See all city locations on the global map at any time
  
• Enemy pool rotation updated to change every in-game week, which will lead to players encountering more monsters that they don’t kill frequently (and fewer monsters that they do kill frequently)
  
• Cyborgs will remain in the city after completing the endgame mission
  

[h3]C:\Combat[/h3]

• When fighting Flos, mechs are less likely to avoid its attacks if they have enough energy shield
  
• Fixed kinetic ammo not creating fragments with fragmentation mod during actual battle
  
• Mechs stop avoiding Colubra's beam if given a new command, allowing for better control of them
  
• See bosses' health all the time in underground bases
  
• The Caecilia snake monster can appear in underground bases making for a harder encounter
  
• Reduced collision size for missiles, which should reduce the chance of them hitting walls at launch
  
• Team up pilots with higher relations in order to improve the ally drone repair perk during combat
  
• Ally drone repair no longer repairs all mechs at the same time; they only repair one mech at a time
  
• Tornadoes should no longer appear on top of your mechs, but it is still possible to appear right next to them, so be careful
  
• Enjoy ten new map variations for each of the ten terrain types, increasing the total of regular maps available to 220.
  
• Watch out for the return of enemy turrets: maps with shuttle parts will contain 15 turrets whose type depends on the map terrain
  

[h3]O:\Other_changes[/h3]

• Improved descriptions for the processor programs
  
• Fixed a bug with mechs disappearing when dragged from the battle preparation screen to the engineering menu
  
• Storm effects should no longer mysteriously appear in underground maps
  
• Fixed missing text popup in the underground base about nearby bosses
  
• Removed the ability to re-launch the shuttle for the endgame cutscene
• Removed the appearance of Titanus Centipeda in the underground base when re-entering the cell where it was destroyed
  
• Lowered the amount of effects generated from dealing high damage to Titanus Centipeda to reduce lag
  
• Fixed FPS drops in some rare situations like when too many enemies are grouped together behind a wall and a mech is trying to find the nearest visible target
  
• Removed the ability for red sword bosses to spawn on top of special missions and fixed the additional biomass coming from these cells even if the player already cleared them
  
• The global map should display coordinate numbers on the global map properly instead of shifting about
  
• Pilots should appear on the correct visual layer when clicked and dragged about the screen
  
• Alien cults should stop appearing in your city after completing the endgame
  
• Updated Castle mech texture for both its research node and combat
  
• Updated leg animations for mechs in combat
  
• Added four-legged animation for the Castle in combat
  
• Fixed red lines of the nuclear strike going outside of the global map screen
  

If your save files are not working correctly or something has broken with this update, please use the oneversionback branch, leave a message in the forums or join the Mech Engineer Discord to get support in the #bugs channel.

Hello!
Thank you for playing the game and leaving your feedback.

Here is this month's changelog:

[h3]I:\Interface[/h3]

• The repair minigame has been given icons that represent each pip of damage that needs repairing
  
• Increased the visibility of the "Do not show again" checkbox for tutorial popups
  
• Mouse over buttons in the post-battle statistics menu to highlight them
  
• Banner art showing the terrain of your next battle deployment will look more distinct since the blue-colored animated overlay has been removed
  

[h3]B:\Balance[/h3]

• ///Buffs
• increased frequency of enemy artillery by 20%
  
• Operarius health value increased from 12 to 13
  
• Biomass growth on map cells with enemy bases increased by 25%
  
• Increased the explosive area of effect of enemy missiles by 70%
  

[h3]E:\Engineering[/h3]

• Mouse over buttons when configuring a weapon for tooltip descriptions
  
• The fragmentation weapon module has been reworked. It no longer reduces the weapon's armor penetration stat. Projectile speed is reduced by 30%. Kinetic projectiles will no longer ricochet with this module if they fail to penetrate enemy armor. If kinetic projectiles penetrate, they will be destroyed to create fragments. Fragments have the same armor penetration as the projectile, instead of half the value as before.
  
• Placing wires in the power circuit menu plays a satisfying sparking sound
  

[h3]H:\Hangar[/h3]

• Updated stats for the starter set of mechs in the Hangar to make fresh campaign runs slightly easier
  
• A new giant boss called Monstrum has appeared; it has its own purple sword icon on the world map
  
• Deploy up to eight mechs on missions – scroll through tabs with the wheel on the left in the battle preparation menu.
  
• A sound effect will play when dragging and dropping mechs into battle preparation slots
  
• Don't be reliant on your favorite squad – some pilots may take the weekends off forcing you to use crew that might not be as experienced
  
• When a district gets damaged, it also can kill pilots since they now travel across districts in real-time
  
• Always have some components for your city on hand – damage to your city is doubled when you have none
  
• Overall game time has been extended to make it more likely to visit unique map cells and encounter bosses. Each new space shuttle part will spawn further away from you.
• If you manage to reach the endgame by launching the shuttle, and you wish to keep playing, the following happens: scientists are capped at 999, engineers are capped at 25 (or in the form of robots if created beforehand), modules will no longer take up more than one slot in the production queue, and population from the city stats is removed.

[h3]C:\Combat[/h3]

• Tornadoes disappear after reaching the edge of the map during battle
  
• Destroy tornadoes with artillery or missiles – a tornado has a 50% chance to disappear upon contact with an explosion
  
• Tornadoes change the flight direction of projectiles they come into contact with instead of shifting them
  
• Objects will no longer move inside a tornado when the game is paused
  
• The C-RAM aux module for mechs will no longer target enemy missiles behind walls
  
• Enemy missiles will create an explosive effect upon contact, much like player missiles. This effect can damage walls, mechs, aliens and tornadoes. They deal less damage underwater.
  
• Doubled the duration for how long battle screen notifications stay on screen
  
• Stealing resources from Colubra is harder because they only drop them on death, instead of at spawn
  
• Maps that start with 50 Ovum will try to maintain that number if the number of Ovum drops below 50 – another Ovum will spawn every three seconds if there are fewer than 50 of them.
  
• Underground enemy bases have been updated. You can instantly teleport to another cell if there are no enemies on the map and no bosses near your map cell. In addition, killing the equivalent of the purple sword boss in the center of the labyrinth will be considered a win condition. Doing so will clear this cell on the world map.
  

[h3]O:\Other_changes[/h3]

• Robotization research node overhauled: instead of consuming 20% of the city's energy, you are given the ability to manually create engineers in Production
  
• Various spelling corrections and grammar changes in the base manual
  
• Added a mention of the weapon testing chamber in the base manual
  
• Fixed an issue where pilot cabin toy arrangements would disappear after reloading the game
  
• Gibs will have different flight speeds when created rather than a default value across the board
  
• Clicking RMB to clear away notes from after battle or inspecting pilots should no longer unintentionally leave exclamation marks on the world map
  
• For modders: function create() for obj_battle_map script has been moved to the last line, creating the opportunity to change starting values
  
• Empty slots between mechs in battle will no longer break the stats interface of all further slots
  
• The graphical bug associated with repeatedly saving a mech's paintjob has been squashed
  
• Incorrect text alignment issue when exiting from battle to the main menu has been resolved
  
• Select single mechs during battle by shift+number – this feature now works as intended
  

If your save files are not working correctly or something has broken with this update, please use the oneversionback branch, leave a message in the forums or join the Mech Engineer Discord to get support in the #bugs channel.