Silica News

Dear Silica Community,

Last week, we shared our development roadmap for this year. If you missed it, you can find it here. Today, an update for version 0.8.23 landed on Steam, introducing several balancing changes and finally bringing the long-awaited Hover Bike for faster transportation of human infantry units.

Don't forget to give us feedback on our social media or support the development by purchasing our merchandise.

And, as always,
See you on Baltarus!

Full changelog:

• Added: Support for projectile raycast radius
  
• Added: Support for projectiles to ignore impact and/or damage based on hit object type
  
• Added: Railgun Tank projectile ricochet effects Added: Skipping of navigation mesh updating
  
• Added: IK to human characters (face watches view direction, feet and hands for vehicles)
  
• Added: Support for characters in vehicles but visible and hittable
  
• Added: Support for character weapons to be mounted on vehicles when visible
  
• Added: Driver animation setup for Hover Bike
  
• Added: Hover Bikes spawned in the Barracks for FPS players, with timeout
  
• Added: Hover Bike deleted when unclaimed for more than 15s
  
• Fixed: UI elements blocking out some particle effects
  
• Fixed: Collision damage from vehicles could destroy construction sites easily
  
• Fixed: Boarded units were not destroyed when the vehicle was destroyed
  
• Fixed: Long AI navigation mesh update after large matches in Strategy
  
• Changed: Railgun Tank projectile may now ricochet and deal less damage
  
• Changed: Pulse Truck projectile ignores friendly fire for AI
  
• Changed: Colossus projectile range from 1800m to 500m
  
• Changed: Colossus eye weak point multiplier from 10 to 5
  
• Changed: Pulse Tank projectile speed from 50 to 75
  
• Changed: Pulse Tank projectile raycast now evaluates the whole radius not just point
  
• Changed: Crab damage reduction from 10 to 5 Changed: Impaler damage reduction from 10 to 5
  
• Changed: Hunter damage reduction from 15 to 10
  
• Changed: Hunter health increase from 3000 to 6000
  
• Changed: Enabled Incremental Garbage Collection
  
• Changed: Increased graphical UploadBufferSize from 16 to 512
  
• Improved: RTS camera may now go up to 300m (was 200m)
  
• Improved: RTS camera adjusts pitch better zooming in
  
• Improved: NavmeshRecalculator now lightweight and merges several requests together
  

Dear Silica Community,

First of all, we’d like to wish you all a happy 2024, and thank you for your constant support and feedback last year. During that time, Dram was able to address many issues and bugs, and also managed to implement new features which were highly appraised.
Silica was announced on April 6th, 2023 as the first game under our renewed Bohemia Incubator. It entered Early Access on Steam less than a month later. So far it’s been a pretty wild ride.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Over the past year, we’ve delivered nearly 25 updates, ranging from simple hotfixes to the reworking of entire features like:

• Improving harvester pathfinding
  
• Adding outposts and turrets to better defend your base
  
• Significantly increasing performance in the later stages of matches
  
• Balancing gameplay
  
• Playing with the attributes of various units and structures
  
• Adding 9 air units to the game
  
• Dedicated servers
  

That’s what 2023 looked like. Now let’s discuss what comes next – a.k.a the Road Map for Silica in 2024!
The original plan was to release 1.0 and exit Early Access in May 2024. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of things we’d like to finish before that happens. We want Silica to be in the best condition possible, so we’ve decided to push the release date back to Q4 of 2024.
In the meantime, we'll be focusing on:

• AI Units
  
• Balancing and the game‘s performance, which is our community’s biggest pain point
  
• Introducing VoIP, including proximity chat
  
• Hover bikes for human infantry units (our main focus in Q1 as a much-needed way to cover large distances)
  
• The Alien Queen – representing the main unit for the alien race
  
• Respawn mechanics
• Reworking or adding maps, including capture points such as bunkers, new maps, and adding new biomes
  
• Implementing quality of life improvements
• Adding new features, like further enhancements in the RTS part of the game (e.g. adding an attack move)
  
• Revamping the UI to improve its usability
  
• Improving the multiplayer matchmaking system (based on player skill and rank)
  
• We also plan on providing tutorials to help new players
  

Following that, Q3 and Q4 will be dedicated to the full release of Silica 1.0!
As you can see, there’s a lot to do and much to look forward to. If you‘re interested in a more detailed description of the roadmap, check out the video made by Dram. And if you want to show off that you’re a part of the Silica community, check here.
Finally, to show you that work on Silica never stops, here’s the changelog for the latest game update v.0.8.22:

• Added: Server list now uses info from game servers API rather than lobbies
  
• Added: 'FPS' console command to get current FPS
  
• Added: 'ServerFPS' console command to get current FPS on server (even on client)
  
• Added: Join command to join a server based on ID
  
• Added: Logging of network upload/download rates
  
• Added: NetRate and ServerNetRate console commands to get upload/download rates
  
• Added: Hit effect to Colossus' eye weak point
  
• Improved: Debug logging includes timestamps
  
• Changed: Debug logging moved from 'C:\Users\USER\AppData\LocalLow\Bohemia Interactive\Silica\Player.log' to 'C:\Users\USER\Documents\Silica\Game.log'
  
• Changed: Only HQ is a major structure now
  
• Changed: Colossus' eye weak point is active only when shooting
  
• Changed: Colossus' eye weak point damage multiplier from 2.5 to 10
  
• Changed: Hunter health from 4500 to 3000
  
• Fixed: Hotfix for 'Error executing m_dryGroup->getWaveData' spamming console
  
• Fixed: Long AI response wait time on Strategy match restart as navigation data is reloaded vs rebuilt
  
• Fixed: Hovered vehicles' rotation used wrong axis causing instability
  
• Fixed: All details correctly sent to dedicated server commander
  

We look forward to having you with us in 2024, and hope that Silica 1.0 will meet your expectations.
Thank you for your support and see you on Baltarus!

Dear Silica Community,

A hotfix was just released addressing the issues mentioned in the changelog below.

See you on Baltarus!

Full changelog:

• Added: Indication of dedicated server in server list
  
• Fixed: Assign admin role on admin-authorized player join
  
• Fixed: Null reference on change map without game mode
  

Dear Silica Community,

As we approach the year's end, we'd like to extend our thanks for your ongoing support and feedback.
The latest update for this year has just landed on Steam, bringing various changes and fixes. Additionally, it introduces the long-awaited Silica Dedicated Servers. Take a look at the complete changelog below and explore the detailed information on how these servers operate right under it. As always, your insights on the game's current state are appreciated—feel free to share them through our social channels and Discord. Your feedback continues to be an essential part of our journey.

See you on Baltarus!

Full changelog:

• Added: Initial daytime selection (random at first) to Strategy game mode
  
• Added: Storing of host/server settings
  
• Added: Selection of play mode (HvH, HvA, HvHvA) via vote to Strategy game mode
  
• Added: Admin (standard and root) support, with command relay to the server
  
• Added: Ban player support including duration
  
• Added: Ban, Kick, EndRound, PlayerInfo commands for admins
  
• Added: AddAdmin, AddRootAdmin, RemoveAdmin, RemoveRootAdmin, etc. commands for admins/host
  
• Changed: Alien players spawn as Horned Crabs instead of Wasps in Strategy
  
• Changed: Human players spawn as Scouts initially in Strategy
  
• Fixed: Dark screen on clients when switching maps in multiplayer
  
• Fixed: Daytime was not set correctly on match start in Strategy
  
• Fixed: FPS player tags sometimes did not show the correct name
  

Dedicated servers quick guide:

Support for Dedicated Servers has been released via the 'Silica Dedicated Server' tool on Steam. Notably, an associated application can pair with the server itself and issue commands via the console. The application, named 'SilicaServerCommander.exe,' resides in the same folder as the server application, currently called 'Silica.exe.' However, it is not necessary for functionality; it is solely for issuing instructions to the server without joining it via the game.

Server settings are stored in 'Documents/Silica/ServerSettings.xml,' encompassing all server setup-related settings: settings per game mode, the current map, maximum players, bans, and admins. This file is automatically created if absent and updated when settings are changed. Please note that currently, the game also uses this file for hosting, though this might change in the future. Upon starting the server executable, it automatically hosts a game on Steam.

Administration of the server can be done directly via the aforementioned application or by assigning specific players as Admins. There are two access levels: Root and Standard. A Standard Admin can perform actions like kicking, banning, ending the round, changing the map, enabling cheats, etc. A Root Admin can additionally assign and remove Standard Admins. However, only the server itself can grant Root Admin privileges, which must be done on the server side (via XML edit or via the console in the application).

Commands are issued to the server through the in-game console (opened via the ~ key, below the ESC key) and are relayed if the player is an Admin. These commands can also be sent via the aforementioned application.

Console commands:

• playerinfo - Prints the name and Steam ID of all players to the console (useful for getting the ID for kicking/banning)
  
• kick PLAYER - Kicks a player (PLAYER is either a case-sensitive name or Steam ID)
  
• ban PLAYER DAYS REASON - Bans a player (PLAYER is either a case-sensitive name or Steam ID, DAYS is the duration in days (0 or less for permanent), REASON is a one-word reason, e.g., 'Abusive')
  
• unban PLAYER - Unbans a player (PLAYER is either a case-sensitive name or Steam ID)
  
• addadmin PLAYER - Assigns Standard Admin privileges to the player (PLAYER is either a case-sensitive name or Steam ID)
  
• addrootadmin PLAYER - Assigns Root Admin privileges to the player (PLAYER is either a case-sensitive name or Steam ID)
  
• removeadmin PLAYER - Removes Standard Admin privileges from the player (PLAYER is either a case-sensitive name or Steam ID)
  
• removerootadmin PLAYER - Removes Root Admin privileges from the player (PLAYER is either a case-sensitive name or Steam ID)
  
• endround - Ends the current round in the current game mode, if applicable
  
• map MAP GAMEMODE - Loads a new map (MAP is the name of the map, e.g., GreatErg, GAMEMODE is the name of the game mode, e.g., MP_Strategy)
  
• cheats - Turns cheats on or off for ALL players
  
• resources TEAM AMOUNT - Adds resources to a team (may be negative to remove), where TEAM is the team name (e.g., Sol), and AMOUNT is the quantity
  

Dear Silica Community,

A hotfix has just gone live online, addressing the issues mentioned in the changelog below.

See you on Baltarus!

Full changelog:

• Improved: Infantry falling damage algorithm, now more forgiving
  
• Fixed: Infantry falling damage sometimes did not register when falling from high heights
  
• Fixed: Infantry sometimes remained in falling/jumping animation after landing on ground
  
• Fixed: GetLineOfSightClear null reference issue causing AI to stop shooting