Rogue Command News

This is mostly an update full of smaller fixes.
One to highlight is that we improved the attack behavior of *Bomb* units. So going for builds featuring swarms of self-exploders should be a lot more fun now... and enemies featuring bombs a bit scarier...

More new features are currently in the work and should be coming soon.


[h3]BE PART OF THE BETA TO GET UPDATES EARLIER[/h3]
If you want to get all the updates early and help us test out the new changes, you can switch your game to the Beta branch in your Steam library. Right click -> Properties -> Betas and select the beta from the dropdown menu. Of course there also might be a couple more bugs on this, but we usually fix them very quickly on there.


See the full list of changes below.


[h2]BALANCE CHANGES:[/h2]

• PCX Brood Mech skill warning persists a little longer before the skill hits.
  
• Some Drop prices increased to adjust for power.
  

[h2]BUG FIXES:[/h2]

• Prohibit opening in-game menu while playing win/lose sequence to prevent exceptions
  
• Win/lose Sequence: auto scroll and zoom again
  
• Sniper Range can now also be applied to RoboPoker
  
• Allow combat engineer's missiles to live longer to reach far away targets (when using the growing reach hack)
  
• Make it more unlikely for units to get stuck on layer borders
  
• Let melee units move closer to the building when attacking it
  
• No (invisible) rally points for harvester factories
  
• Engineers shoot automatically on enemies in their weapon range while standing
  
• All Bomb units should hit their targets more consistently now.
  
• PCX Bomb units should behave more consistently with the triggering of their explosion state.
  
• PCX Brood Mech skill description fixed. Can no longer summon when stunned
  
• Core Harvester RushBeacon teleport exploit fixed.
  
• Stun more robust in how it handles buildings
  

[h2]PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATIONS:[/h2]

• Draw entity stats widget only one time when selecting several units at once
  

Update 7 is our biggest one yet and addresses something that a lot of you have been asking for: More information!

[h3]DETAILED SINGLE UNIT INSPECTOR[/h3]
We added a super detailed single unit view, that shows all changes that the currently selected unit has and where they are coming from. This makes it a lot easier to understand some of the interactions or to simply confirm that your build works as intended.



[h2]COMBAT PREVIEW [/h2]
On the reward map (and when you pause the game mid combat) you now get a panel telling you the name of the enemy variant you’re facing, the biome of the map and the landscape generator of the map. This might allow you to pick some things according to what kind of opposition you expect and also allows us to talk more clearly about which enemies are the most fun or where you have encountered an issue.



[h2]BALANCE CHANGES[/h2]
On top of this we have also deployed the first really big batch of balance changes. This should improve some of the more egregious spikes in difficulty. But is is still the first of many to come. So please let us know, when some enemy seems super unfair or so easy, that it is not fun.
We also reworked the mechanic of the Ascension Stage 10 Boss a bit to feel a little more fair and interesting.

[h2]NEW CONTENT[/h2]
And to top this update off, we also have a pretty nice list of new content, that is the starting point for us to add more fodder for different types of builds. We can not wait to see what you come up with.

[h2]BE PART OF THE BETA TO GET UPDATES EARLIER[/h2]
If you want to get all the updates early and help us test out the new changes, you can switch your game to the Beta branch in your Steam library. Right click -> Properties -> Betas and select the beta from the dropdown menu. Of course there also might be a couple more bugs on this, but we usually fix them very quickly on there.


See the full list of changes below.



[h2]NEW CONTENT:[/h2]

• Added “Surface Scan” a pre mission briefing, showing the name of the upcoming enemy as well as the landscape and biome. These unique IDs should make it easier to talk about the different elements of the game. It also contains the run and map id, so if you send us a screenshot of this, it is very easy for us to recreate a game state.
  
• New Enemy Variant for second Elite encounter.
  
• Added Oil grenade skill to robo poker.
  
• New Hack Critical Optics - 10% critical chance for Sniper role.
  
• New Hack Critical Regeneration - Crits grant regen.
  
• New Hack Advanced Shields - Shielded get crit chance.
  
• New Hack Emergency Shields - Battered triggers shields
  
• New Hack Anti Shield Rounds - attacks remove additional shield charge from target.
  
• New Hack: Effective Veterans - veterans get turbo on kill.
  
• New Unit: Flame Arrow
  
• New Unit: Heavy Machine Gun Truck - ultra long range slow vehicle
  
• New Unit: Swarmer
  

[h2]GENERAL CHANGES:[/h2]

• Blueprint Cards now show in detail what effects causes which buffs or debuffs are applied
  
• In-game card view now shows the current stats of the selected unit (including its active status effects)
  
• 60 fps is the new default frame rate limit
  
• Armored Tractor has a new critical modifier against enemy robo targets. The active ability now has a small Area of effect.
  
• Improved Status effect icons
  
• Ascension Buttons in Run Setup visible from the start in preview mode.
  
• Rush Beacons now show charged status on the minimap
  
• All collectors now trigger the “harvester lost” warning and also signal the position on the minimap.
  
• Specialists trigger warning and minimap blink when they get killed.
  
• Slight UI adjustments on the cards for better readability.
  
• Reworked Mechanics of Ascension 10 Boss.
  The invincibility mechanic of the PCX Turbines has been replaced by something that is a lot less finicky and hopefully more satisfying to play against.
  

[h2]BALANCE CHANGES:[/h2]

• PCX slime enemies debuffed.
  
• CF 3 improved
  
• PCX Poker debuffed.
  
• PCX Siege Tower armor added, and HP raised
  
• PCX Fortress damage raised
  
• CF Respawn Packs take 25% longer to charge up.
  
• Commando Mech damage increase 2.4 to 2.8, HP 130 to 150
  
• Welding Runner - HP raised by 5, skil size .75 to 1.25, production time reduced by 4 sec
  
• T0 Tank - damage raised 4.5 to 5, weapon range 4 to 4.5. HP 120 to 130, skil duration +5 sec.
  
• Robo Marine attack cooldown 1.8 to 1.6, factory cap 8 to 10
  
• Blockade Tank attack size 0.8 to 1.2, production duration 35 to 30, passive heal 2 to 2.5
  
• Factory Charger - Cost 500 to 400
  
• Hover Sniper, factory cap 3 to 4, unit cap 10 to 8, weapon range 7 to 7.5, damage 10 to 14
  
• Little Lighter: Factory cost 360 to 320, damage 2 to 3, burn duration 3 to 4 sec.
  
• Grenadier 4x4: attack size 1.6 to 2, damage 9 to 12, HP 80 to 60, unit cap 4 to 6
  
• Ultra Gunbot: cost 160 to 140, factory cost 520 to 480, factory cap 3 to 4
  
• Ultra Turret: cost 800 to 700, attack type changed to splash with a size of .6
  
• Claw Bot: damage from 2.4 to 2.6.
  
• Headhunter: unit cap 3-5, HP 120 to 160, skill size 2 to 2.5, Damage 8-10
  
• RocketWalker: unit cap 4 to 6, attack cooldown 4 to 3.5
  
• [1:48 PM]
  
• Laser Tank: Cost 200 -180, factory cost 500 - 440, HP 120 to 140.
  
• Sniper Turret: Cost 360 to 320, cap 10 to 12, HP 300 to 400, skill cost 20 to 15.
  
• Smart Grenade Marine: cap 3 to 4, attack range 4 to 5, attack cooldown 5 to 4, HP 90 to 60, Shield 4 to 5
  
• Planter Tank: attack cooldown 2 to 1.2, skill cost 20 to 15, MP 30 to 20
  
• Repeater Turret: HP 270 to 400, skill cost 20 to 15
  
• Gatling Walker: Salvo shot count 4 to 6, attack cooldown 0.35 to 0.4 sec, production time 45 to 36, HP 320 to 360, factory cap 1 to 2, unit cap 5 - to 4.
  
• Exciter Beam Cruiser: attack cooldown 0.5 to 0.4, attack range 6 to 7. Production duration 40 to 32. Unit cap 4 to 5.
  
• Recycler - Cost 120 to 80, production time 18 - 15, attack cooldown 1 to 0.8 sec, Starting relic factory cost reduction 80% to 75%.
  
• Player - Mine damages increased
  
• MP Chargebot now applies burning, when the skill is active.
  
• Robo Micros Factory cap raised to 10
  
• Ancient Turret buffed
  
• Explosive Surprise - damage increased to 20 from 10.
  
• Hack vacancy filler changed to 90% production time reduction instead of 50%.
  
• PCX Nano Hunter HP reduced, attack speed slightly reduced.
  
• PCX Poker attack speed slightly reduced.
  
• PCX Elite Melee Division enemy variant has fewer buildings on start
  
• some upgrade pricing changes
  

[h2]BUG FIXES:[/h2]

• Set unattainable Hacks to inactive, so they do not falsely show up in the database.
  
• Be sure to have camera placed above engineer when level starts
  
• Prohibit zooming when it is not allowed
  
• Don’t show in-game-tutorial before player has pressed start button
  
• Don’t show attack rate for Blueprints that do not attack
  
• Close button for Profile Select screen.
  
• Fire Mech Skill can no longer damage your own units.
  
• Removed unreachable upgrades from the database
  
• Fire Booster critical passive works correctly now
  
• fixed that some blueprints could not show up as a reward. (so basically weather tower, Boulder Turret, and Lightning Tower are new blueprints as of this update.)
  
• Cull Turret cull sound no longer globally audible
  
• Echo description clarified
  
• Brood Mech active skill description added
  
• Tick Walker name inconsistency fixed
  
• Charge Laser Tank sniper behavior module removed to match description
  
• Units that respawn via Support Tank’s Respawn Hack or Robo Replicators now count into unit cap correctly, units spawned via drops or unit chest ignore unit cap
  
• Abrakazoom Hack uses Card Change instead of entity mod for skill range increase
  
• Overload Specialist Hack now also triggers, if you manage to get Recycler copies as a spawn.
  
• Enemies attacking their own buildings because of Confusing Panic will stop doing it when panic ends
  
• Robo Poker now accepts “Range Up” Upgrade
  
• Bounty Bot now accepts Skill Damage upgrade (the multiplier can now be influenced by relics, upgrades and so on)
  
• Upgrades CriticalStuns, Slow and ArmoredAttack can only be applied to damage dealers from now on
  
• Removed duplicate objective from Ascension 7 Boss
  
• added missing translation for Asc7 boss
  
• AI no longer attacks unreachable obstacles, which sometimes caused them to get stuck for a while.
  
• AI no longer attacks crystal towers or chests or neutral buildings that would give them an advantage.
  
• fixed broken icon for vampirism update.
  
• fixed units on transporter crash sites spawning with the wrong tag.
  
• fixed armored tractor skill icon to correct type and it not being able so self target.
  
• changed CF respawn packs to only work on the original unit.
  
• fixed PCX Dragon Bug to not hit targets on layers above itself.
  
• removed inactive sniper tag from Heavy Machine Gun Truck
  
• callback spire now also teleports spawns
  
• fixed skill duration upgrade being offered on basis of skill range and not duration
  
• fixed missing part of the Heal Drop description.
  
• fixed defender upgrade inconsistency
  
• don't take over card changes from run into database
  
• Advanced charging uses card change instead of value change so the change is visible in the card view.
  

The changes and improvements keep on rolling in.
On top of the changes in the long list below we have done a lot more work behind the scenes to get a better picture of where we are in terms of difficulty and balancing. This will allow us to make very targeted changes in the coming updates and make the experience of playing through a run and fighting your way up the Ascensions more satisfying, with less arbitrary spikes.

[h2]No more unfun hunt for chests:[/h2]
If the map contains something that would give you a persistent benefit for the rest of the run and not just for the level, then it will be revealed on level start. So there are no longer chests with coins, drops or start crystals. While these were fun, they also set an incentive to not end the battle and scout the map until you are certain nothing is left, which is really unfun.

[h2]Beta updates[/h2]
If you want to get all the updates early and help us test out the new changes, you can switch your game to the Beta branch in your Steam library. Right click -> Properties -> Betas and select the beta from the dropdown menu.

See the full list of changes below.

[h2]GENERAL CHANGES:[/h2]

• Changed text element in run result screen, so it should not break in languages with wide letters.
  
• fixed some texts being in the wrong language in the reward map tooltips.
  
• removed the chance of burning spawning a fire.
  
• second chances upgrade reworked to give a chance to ignore damage instead of temporary armor.
  
• Removed Chests that have run persistent effects, so there is never reason to delay a win to hunt down chests.
  
• Crashed PCX Transports will be revealed on level start.
  
• Introduced system word for pure damage and clarified core sniper skill with it.
  
• Rocket Marine Skill changed to location AoE, projectile hits faster to make up for the loss of tracking.
  
• Added Version Number to Main menu
  

[h2]BALANCE CHANGES:[/h2]

• Callback Spire, cost and skill cost reduced and skill size increased.
  
• Robo Grenadier - range increase, AoE increase, cost reduced
  
• cf05 hp reduced
  
• pcx poker hp reduced
  
• Many changes to the Enemy Setups, to make difficulty curves more even.
  
• PCX Tunnelers start with empty MP
  
• PCX Siege Armor production duration raised to 180s
  
• Mantis mech: cap changed to 3.
  
• Mantis mech: temporary movement speed effect removed from skill.
  
• Mantis mech: slight attack speed increase
  

[h2]BUG FIXES:[/h2]

• don't throw exception if trail of projectile vanishes before impact
  
• fixed: some languages showed a broken text on level start and objective.
  
• Sniper Racer passive no longer triggered by Crystals
  
• added shot audio to beam spirits
  
• incendiary hovercraft hover effect no longer wrong scale on card preview
  
• bomb bike and robo bomb correctly have the melee tag and will benefit from hacks and upgrades that are tied to melee.
  
• mantis mechs should no longer be able to all eat the same unit.
  
• Headhunter skill now also affects buildings.
  
• Landscaper upgrade: trees no longer count as friendly.
  
• AI is now more capable of clearing obstacles on paths they want to follow
  
• Don't let stealthed buildings be chosen as attack target by the ai
  
• Turret Drops on small plateaus spawn turrets outside the plateau if necessary.
  
• Mantis Mech: skill cannot be applied to Mantis Mechs, Spawns or Engineers.
  
• Robo Warlock attack could not hit obstacles.
  
• PCX Cocoons now correctly teleport to a random obstacle on spawn.
  
• AI can no longer attack its own buildings to clear up paths.
  
• Fixed possible critical exception error caused by the PCX Crashed Transport event.
  
• Rush Beacons can no longer trigger their charged state message, if they can not actually spawn another Extender.
  
• Fighting Rush Hack now works as expected
  
• Heavy Slow Hack effect more reliable
  
• Reworked several Hacks that rely on Status Effects to trigger dynamically to be more reliable.
  
• Passive effects, MP charge bot and Heavy MG Tank reworked to be more reliable.
  
• Spawn Crystal fields correctly on the map even if player start area is separated by obstacles.
  
• Fixed a lot of the upgrades that falsely could or could not be assigned to certain blueprints.
  

While there is not a lot of new content in this one, there is a huge amount of work behind the scenes to make the game more stable and more fun.



The new upgrade Echo does allow for some neat shenanigans though, so be sure to pick it up, when you encounter it.



[h2]Beta updates[/h2]
If you want to get all the updates early and help us test out the new changes, you can switch your game to the Beta branch in your Steam library. Right click -> Properties -> Betas and select the beta from the dropdown menu.

[h2]Read the full patch notes below: [/h2]

[h2]Version 0.6.24[/h2]


[h3]NEW CONTENT[/h3]

• New Upgrade: Echo
  

[h3]GENERAL CHANGES:[/h3]

• Added some analytics events for balancing
  
• Option for frame rate limit added (if Vsync is off)
  
• Game waits for a manual confirmation on level load.
  
• Higher resolutions for all fonts (especially relevant for Chinese, Korean and Japanese)
  
• Status Effect icons show the status under the health bar.
  
• Decoration in main menu slightly reworked.
  
• Custom keyboard layout is now the preset keyboard layout
  
• VSync off is now the default value
  
• Automatic attack behaviours optimized (especially for melee units)
  
• Core Harvester rate slightly increased, Stealth on deploy added.
  
• Benevolent Armor Hack changed to heal relative to the current armor amount.
  
• Mantis can no longer eat itself or engineers.
  
• Mantis: slightly improved VFX for eating effect.
  

[h3]BALANCE CHANGES:[/h3]

• Landscaper upgrade now spawns trees.
  
• PCX Tacticonnection calls slightly less units on Reinforcement skill.
  
• PCX Basetank damage and HP slightly reduced.
  
• Tier0 Tank Factory cost reduced
  
• Protective plate pile, cost reduced, skill duration doubled.
  
• necro field generator - skill duration
  
• Landscaper upgrade now spawns trees.
  
• PCX Tacticonnection calls slightly less units on Reinforcement skill.
  
• PCX Basetank damage and HP slightly reduced.
  
• Tier0 Tank Factory cost reduced
  
• Protective plate pile, cost reduced, skill duration doubled.
  
• necro field generator - skill duration
  
• Refurbisher now also has a passive respawn chance for allies. Cost reduced and cap raised.
  
• Bomb Bike rebalance. More damage & cheaper
  
• Bounty Bot cost reduced. Attack rate and damage higher. Skill does more damage and has greater range and costs less.
  
• Silver Arrow attack rate up and costs down.
  
• Hover Mine Layer - costs down, range up
  
• Recycler Hack effects now include production time reduction.
  
• Recycler unit cap raised to 6, cost and mana reduced.
  
• Recycler now spawns 3 Zombos on death by default.
  
• Vampirism heal is now 40% of damage.
  
• PCX Scout Cruiser, slow shot removed. Skill description fixed
  

[h3]BUG FIXES:[/h3]

• mantis skill description corrected
  
• Don’t show health bars in cards (bug introduced in last patch)
  
• Hopefully fixed the bug in which the reward map is empty and the run cannot be started (due to a bad written tutorialState file)
  
• Chests should no longer be able to be triggered multiple times.
  
• Korean, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese: added missing characters to the font map
  
• Attack of Mantis is a bit more reliable
  
• Advanced load distribution fixed
  
• Flame Walker can no longer stack burrow Armor effect.
  
• Drop effects on factories now stack correctly.
  
• Anti Burn coating does what it says.
  
• Show only up to 1 decimal for the values in the skill section on the card to prevent wrapping
  
• Capitalized some upgrade names
  
• Prohibit the rare event of spawning an object outside the map (which led to an exception)
  

[h2]TUTORIALS[/h2]
SMART TUTORIALS:
Our tutorial system is designed to be as unobtrusive as possible. Almost every action that has a tutorial will automatically be marked as done and not pop up, if you have already performed it. This way we hope newcomers will not get stuck trying to figure out the basics of RTS controls, while more seasoned players should not be bombarded with tutorials for things they already know.
The system is not perfect yet but it should be a big step towards making the game more approachable for new players and we would love your feedback on it.

[h2]NEW SPECIALIST - MANTIS MECH:[/h2]
The Mantis enters the battle as our first new specialist.
Devour your own units to focus combat power on your specialists and overrun the enemy with raw melee power.
The specialist hacks allow you to stack even more ridiculous effects on the feeding. We can't wait to see the builds you come up with for this one.



[h3]BETA UPDATES[/h3]
If you want to get all the updates early and help us test out the new changes, you can switch your game to the Beta branch in your Steam library. Right click -> Properties -> Betas and select the beta from the dropdown menu.


Read the full patch notes below:


[h2]Version 0.6.18[/h2]

[h3]GENERAL CHANGES:[/h3]

• TUTORIALS! - Still a bit rough, but in general a pretty cool system, that we will iterate on as needed.
  
• New specialist: Mantis Mech
  
• Ascensions called ascensions everywhere instead of sometimes being called mutation.
  
• Crystals on the map gain +100 HP for every second Ascension, so +100 in A2, A4, A6 etc.
  
• Added Skill Description to CF2 Firebomb
  
• Ancient Crystal Altar visual changes
  
• Added PCX Voicelines when attacking
  
• Starter Blueprints can only appear in the first blueprint selection
  
• Teleport Spire now shows the range for the teleport radius when selected.
  
• changed some names for more clarity or preventing mix ups.
  
• build-unit-tutorial now also auto-finishes
  

[h3]BALANCE CHANGES[/h3]

• Reduced player and PCX harvest rates.
  
• Ascension 10: PCX build time reduction 5% instead of 20%
  
• Rocket Marine: Skill range and Area size increased. Attack cooldown reduced.
  
• Robo Marine Skill range increased, attack cooldown reduced.
  
• PCX Big Hunter: more powerful but takes a lot longer to build.
  
• PCX has slightly raised build times for cf05, cf1, Nano Hunter.
  
• removed some starting factories for later ascension enemy bases
  
• CF2 slightly higher damage and lower fire rate, reduced duration of Firebomb.
  
• PCX SiegeTower Fire spawns duration halved.
  
• Monster Mode Ray slightly changed to make stacking less exponential.
  
• Drops: Precision Strike and XXL Bomb damage increased.
  
• RoboZombos attack damage increased to 3,5, attack cooldown reduced to 1.8
  
• Crystal mill now always spawns with 5 robo harvesters and 3 small crystals when there is no other Crystal mill in sight. The idea was for this refinery to be the one that rewards expansion, which this should reward more.
  
• Factory Charger starts with MP only half charged.
  
• Robo Recycler now reduces cost and HP of units.
  
• Core Harvester rate reduced, price and production duration increased.
  
• Accelerated growth now applies a percentage change.
  
• Crystal Fields slightly less frequent.
  
• Kill Charge upgrade MP charge reduced to 2 from 3.
  
• Vampirism heal effect decreased.
  

[h3]BUG FIXES:[/h3]

• Typos in Resilient Hacks and PCX Missile Launcher
  
• BladeBot skill type correct
  
• Crystal field increase via Ascension do not all trigger at A2.
  
• Core Harvester Deployment can no longer be abused to infinitely heal the crystals
  
• Capitalized some upgrade names
  
• Prohibit the rare event of spawning an object outside the map (which led to an exception)