Empires News

We're happy to announce version 2.28.3 which is live on Steam right now. Changes include:

• Fixed a server bug relating to angle modifier that caused a crash on servers.
  
• Fixed a typo on the new commander health text, added a space between the display and player name.
  
• Fixed an issue with NF repair station's collision mesh being offset slightly as of last patch.

• Squad artillery changes:
  
  • Moved spawn position from slightly below skybox to 4000 units above target, so it's a lot more consistent to use.
    
  • Damage per shell 100->150
    
  • Damage type : KineticArt -> SquadArt (This change means only walls and non-CV vehicles will actually take 50% more damage.)
    
  • Explosion force : 2000->20000

[h2] Glycencity [/h2]

• Tweaked first BE spawns so players face the vehicle factory
  
• Added two level 2 ML turrets defending each vehicle factory
  
• Non-essential capture point resource gain reduced from 1.0 to 0.8 per second
  
• Fixed displacement seam in C2
  
• Minor displacement adjustments around middle NF spawn
  
• Fixed power line connections around NF 2nd flag
  
• Restored missing overlays from a structure in B5
  
• Fixed lighting origins on building flag icons
  
• AI-related optimisation

We're happy to announce version 2.28.3 which is live on Steam right now. Changes include:

• Added a new map-specific loading screen. When loading an official map there will be an image of the map displayed.

• Fixed a bug where vehicles were not being destroyed properly when killed.
  
• Fixed a crash relating to the voice status HUD element.
  
• Fixed a bug where bullet tracer effects wouldn't happen if they didn't hit anything.
  
• Fixed a bug which would cause missiles to explode when colliding with each other.
  
• Fixed a few typo's in the squad point changes introduced in 2.28.1
  
• Fixed a bug where if you were using two grenades on an apc, it would only fire one.
  
• Fixed machine gun muzzle flashes facing the wrong direction on NF heavy tank.
  
• Fixed a visual bug where there was a client/server mismatch when firing within the first 3 seconds of vehicle creation.
  
• Fixed vehicles being able to fire weapons whilst under water.
  
• Fixed vehicle machine guns ignoring armor angle modifiers. (Deflective armor)
  
• Fixed an issue with the NF repairpad. The root bone wasn't centered meaning the building placement could clip into other things when rotated.

• Tweaked some building placement values to allow for easier building placement as commander.

• Changed the bullet tracer particle effect. It previously travelled slow enough for players to assume they had to lead their shots for them to hit.

We're happy to announce version 2.28.2 which is live on Steam right now. Changes include:

• Fixed a bug where vehicles were not being destroyed properly when killed.
  
• Fixed squad targets being able to target projectiles.
  
• Fixed a few missile icons having no transparency.
  
• Fixed a bug where the cursor would sometimes disappear if you had net_graph displayed.
  
• Ammo/health crates now use client-side animation instead.
  
• Changed water rendering to hopefully remove artifacting at the intersection between water and displacement.
  
• Changed the health thresholds for building smoke/fire effects:
  
  • Yellow 'unbuilt' smoke stays visible until the building is fully built. (Fades the more HP the structure has)
    
  • Building has over 80% health = 0 smoke/flame particles
    
  • Building has between 60% - 80% health = 1 smoke/flame particles
    
  • Building has between 40% - 60% health = 2 smoke/flame particles
    
  • Building has between 20% - 40% health = 3 smoke/flame particles
    
  • Building has less than 20% health = 4 smoke/flame particles

Mvalley

• Small bug fixes, like holes in displacements.

• Fixed a floating smoke particle attachment on NF barracks model.
  
• Added imperial and nf model folders to the default sv_pure config.
  
• Increased Brenodi barracks level of detail model (LOD4) distance from 400 -> 600 (To be consistent with NF)

We're happy to announce version 2.28.1 which is live on Steam right now. Changes include:

• Players now gain points for damaging buildings rather than destroying them. (1 point every 200 damage)
  
• Rifle NPCs now have a 50% chance to run at you whilst shooting instead of being stationary
  
• Squad heal costs now scale, costs from 3-6 squad points depending on the amount of health lost
  
• Commander health status has been enhanced, now showing hull HP and armour separately
  
• Vehicle damage reworked to use floating point numbers instead of integers, this will be most noticeable for low-damage per hit weapons
  
• Extended squad armour and damage to affect vehicles now

• Changed guided/homing missiles to become "dumb" missiles when out of guided/homing range, reduces load on server.
  
• Corrected smoothscrape sounds to play the correct audio, instead of roughscrape.
  
• Fixed "start locked" spawn flag from func_rot_button.
  
• Fixed a bug preventing vehicles from getting overheated.
  
• Fixed a bug where vehicles would be tagged as being killed twice if they died by decon/drowning damage. Awarding players 2 points not 1.
  
• Fixed a bug where vehicles would try to check and stop vehicle MG firing sounds even if there were none playing.
  
• Fixed two crashes in the class loadout VGUI panel.
  
• Fixed a crash in the commander's research VGUI panel.
  
• Fixed crash related to ragdolls.
  
• Fixed crash when drawing debug circles.
  
• Fixed crash relating to the mini-map.
  
• Fixed homing sound spamming every tick on clients instead of looping.
  
• Fixed HUD missile lock-on icon positioning overlapping the ammo counter.
  
• Fixed smoothing groups not working on detail brushes.
  
• Fixed some issues were a hit-tick would display even if no damage was done. (Damage to buildings)
  
• Moved cursor to text field when editing chat rather than random spot on screen.
  
• Optimised some of the client-side code for drawing missile lock-on.
  
• Reduced the explosion force of squad artillery, should better allow for consecutive hits on parked vehicles.
  
• Fixed turrets not shooting at all types of NPCs
  
• Fixed roadkills not crediting NPC kills correctly
  
• Fixed a bug regarding hitboxes. Headshots wouldn't register if the shot player was crouching.

• Squad Charge cost 3->2
  
• Armor regeneration delay reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds.
  
• Fixed a typo that may cause bugs in the vehicle_armors.txt script introduced in 2.27.1
  
• Fixed default vehicle presets which no longer work because of changes in 2.27.1
  
• Rifleman HMG FalloffEnd 2500->5000. It will do 0~2 more damage within 5000 range, starting from 0 at 0 range, around 2 at 2500 range and back to 0 at 5000 range.
  
• Increased effectiveness of Sticky grenades vs walls, 2 sticky grenades will now take down a fully built wall.
  
• Reduced Grenadier Mortar explosion radius 210->200
  
• Removed unused aircraft resist values in building scripts.
  
• Restructed cost of artillery tanks, cost is now based more on the equipped weapon:
  
  • Base chassis cost 725->375
    
  • 180mm Artillery Cannon cost 60->250
    
  • 203mm Artillery Cannon cost 80->350
    
  • HE Artillery Cannon cost 90->600
    
  • Ranged Artillery Cannon cost 100->750
    
• .50 cal MG weight 50->40
  
• Medium Chain Gun weight 65->60
  
• Buffs to Plasma MG and plasma HMG:
  
• Plasma MG
  
  • Damage 5->7.5
    
  • Falloffstart 5000->0
    
  • Falloffend 10000->7000
    
  • MinimalDamage 3->4
    
• Plasma HMG
  
  • Damage 6->10
    
  • Heat 1.4->2.2
    
  • Clip Size 30->35
    
  • Heat To Target 2.3->2.5
    
  • Falloffstart 5000->0
    
  • Falloffend 10000->7000
    
  • MinimalDamage 4->5
    
• Increase the weight of standard weapons to discourage chassis rush:
  
  • Standard Cannon
    
  • Weight 50->65
    
  • Standard ML
    
  • Weight 30->35
    
• BE AFV
  
  • Base Weight 634->614
    
• NF LT
  
  • Base Weight 523->503
    
• Slight buff to Homing missiles:
  
  • Homing ML
    
    • (Base) Lock-on time 0.55->0.25
      
    • Lock Range Modifier 0.0005->0.00055 (Lock-on timer increases by this multiplied by distance to target)
      
  • Improved Homing ML
    
    • (Base) Lock-on time 0.3->0.1
      
    • Lock Range Modifier 0.00045->0.00048 (Lock-on timer increases by this multiplied by distance to target)
      
• Players will now gain an additional quarter of the recycled resources from vehicle carcasses as wages.
  
  • Vehicle recycle amounts have been tweaked to reflect this change.
    
• Vehicle armor skill damage reduction reduced from 15% to 12%
  

• Mvalley
  
  • Raised crates clipping into the floor in dam building
    
  • Readded missing brush in B4
    
  • Fixed floating rope in D4
    
  • Fixed texture seams in D4, B1, and D1
    
  • Adjusted displacements around the map
    
    • It is now easier to see which slopes are climbable and which aren't
      
    • Several previously climbable spots are no longer climbable
      
    • A few climbable spots were widened and visually adjusted
      
    • Vehicles may still make it up the slopes with enough speed and/or mines
      
  • The connector areas in B4 and D4 are no longer climbable by vehicles
    
    • The only access points are now the infantry-only bridges
      
    • This change is meant to incentivise infantry attacks to and from north
      
  • New dam doors override mechanic
    
    • Each pillbox at the top of the dam now has a button
      
    • When both pillbox buttons are pressed, every door in the dam building changes its current state (from closed to open OR from open to closed) and all buttons lock down for 60 seconds
      

• Added .vmt files required for glow outline effects.
  
• Altered the wording of some squad powers to make it easier for players to understand what they do and if they should use them.
  
• Max setting for 'emp_sv_vehicle_fadeout_time' reduced from 500 seconds to 400 seconds.
  
• Removed 'emp_sv_player_revive_penalty' and 'emp_sv_player_revive_stamina_penalty' cvars.
  
• Removed unused cloaking parameters from various .vmt files.
  
• Removed zoom_sensitivity_ratio default setting in infantry.cfg
  

We're happy to announce version 2.27.1 which is live on Steam right now. Changes include:

• Reverted the feature that would swap to engineer tool when pressing use on building.
  
• Added volume control command for voices "snd_voicevolume".
  
• Grenadier bots now aim at the correct position on tanks.
  
• Re-added main menu button sounds, courtesy of Universum.
  
• Added a max travel time in seconds before missiles will explode.
  
• Added an anti-grief feature that blocks 4th vehicle creation within 2 minutes (Vehicle factory only, maps with vehicle spawners are unaffected).
  
• This feature is turned on by setting "emp_sv_antigrief_build_vehicles 1" on the server.
  

• Fixed players being able to press use on map spawned entities when dead.
  
• Fixed two crashes caused by the vehicle HUD.
  
• Fixed two crashes in the vehicle customization menu.
  
• Fixed a crash relating to engineer turret health displayed on the HUD.
  
• Fixed a texture seam in the empsky_sunset1 skybox texture.
  
• Fixed a bug which made players appear to be standing when they first enter a jeep.
  
• Fixed an auto-balance bug preventing players from joining specific teams/spectator.
  
• Altered the NF jeep collision model to be more accurate.
  

• Cyclopean
  
  • New skybox, tweaked lighting
    
  • Added 3D skybox fog gradient texture
    
  • Added vehicle clip ramps to roadsides in the south and east, and in city center
    
  • Fixed texture and brush seams in C5
    
  • Slightly adjusted terrain at the ends of bridges
    
  • Added bollards to bridge sidewalks
    
  • Moved railings on the southern bridge to match the setup of the eastern bridge
    
  • Adjusted misaligned fence in eastern city
    

• Simplified vehicle weapon script by removing missile variables from non-missile weapons.
  
• Increased RPG damage against building by 40% (about 2.5hp/shot)
  
• Bio Diesel Heat Capacity 125->130
  
• Changes to sticky grenades:
  • Reduced Sticky & Stun Grenade's Grenade's damage against buildings (except walls) and infantry by 40%.
    
  • Increase Sticky & Stun Grenade's damage against walls by 285%. (1 sticky grenade will take down an unbuilt wall, 4 sticky grenade will take down a fully-built wall.)
    
  • Capacitive Armor will receive 8% more damage from Sticky Grenade and Stun Grenade, this is to ensure that no vehicle except for Commander Vehicle will survive 4 sticky grenades on one side.
• Max missile travel time changes:
  
  • Infantry RPG -> 5 Seconds
    
  • Upgraded ML -> 5 Seconds
    
  • Heavy-duty ML -> 5 Seconds
    
  • ML turret -> 10 Seconds
    
  • Nuclear Missile -> 20 Seconds
    
  • All other missiles - > 10 Seconds