TOP DOG News

This is most likely the final update before the imminent release out of Early Access

Thank you for sticking by all these months 🙏 I wish I could have handled better the development between version 0.97 and 0.98 (almost a year gap): at that time I had a bit of a middle-age crisis regarding the game and spent a lot of time changing and trying new things that were taking the game too far from its core. Hopefully I learned my lesson for future projects

Changelog below 👇

[h3]Operations[/h3]

• 'First Strike' turned into a proper operation: 5 stages long and with the smoothest difficulty curve of all ops
• Increased a bit 'Hostile Territory' score/intensity: which now sits between the new 'First Strike' and 'Endgame'
  
• Removed any daily gating to operations: you'll need unlock them only once (as before)
• Space Elevator stage difficulty tweaked to be on par with Space Station stage
  

[h3]Missile System[/h3]

• 'Premium' upgrade will now add a baseline missile refill: similar to how it was before the 'FAFO' update
• Tweaked some missile refill stats
  

[h3]Miscellaneous[/h3]

• Added 3 simple tutorial screens to teach game's basic mechanics
  
• Defeat/Victory screen updated with some daily stats: total time + sessions
  
• Fixed a bug with the "Space Dog" achievement stats (Menu > Achievement screen): progress was not properly saved

[h3]That's it! 🫡[/h3]

Quick but important update that should address most of the hot issues caused by the new missile system

[h3]Game Start[/h3]

• Improved stats for base jet: you can dare to delay mobility upgrades now
• Improved accuracy and damage for base gun and AC-30
  

[h3]Missile System[/h3]

• You now start with a full reload ready to drop
  
• Tweaked refill rates + made structure/frigate hits refill missiles regardless of damage type
• Removed 'Premium+' upgrade
  
• 'SWRM-6' refill rate adjusted
  

[h3]Scoring[/h3]

• Stage bonus is now shown all the time under the score, then becomes effective on stage end (as before)
  
• Testing a mechanic where stage bonus decays only when firing: I'm not 100% sure to keep this but if someone wants to stress-test it I will appreciate the report 🙏
  

[h3]That's it! 🫡[/h3]

Title explained: F*** around (change the score system) and Find Out (that missiles are broken)

This updated started (with v0.98G) as a simple tweaking pass and later become a rework of the missile system and a final pass on the new scoring

[h3]New Missile System[/h3]

• Missiles are now refilled by gun kills: adds a new tactical layer to the gameplay
• Missile count is now carried over stages: no more free-lunches
  
• Premium upgrades have been adjusted accordingly
  
• Tweaked capacity of all missile types: 12 for Base and PRDTR-4, 24 for SWRM-6
  
• Known issue: SWRM-6 should be refilled at twice the rate of PRDTR-4
  

[h3]Final Scoring[/h3]

• Nuked the accuracy bonus: it's an all you can shoot buffet now
• Added back a time-based bonus ('Stage Bonus') but much more contained than the old combo system: it is given at the end of each stage and you'll briefly see it under the score before the stage ends
• Stage bonus is scaled with stage total wave(s) size
  

[h3]Structures & Pickups[/h3]

• Pickups from Ground Outpost, Space Station and Space Elevator will spawn before complete destruction
• All structures will now block the next wave until their pickup is spawned
  
• Removed 'Repair & Reload' from the pickup random pool: it is now a simple coin-toss between 'Extra Life' and 'Extra Upgrade'

[h3]General Tweaking & Controls[/h3]

• Elites damage reduced by 16%
• Frigate (engines), Sky Tower and Heavy Turrets health reduced by 33%: made consistent with the other capital ship weakpoints
• Base regen bumped from 4% to 5% per scrap
  
• 'Mechanic' regen bumped from 8% to 10% per scrap
  
• 'Mechanic+' regen bumped from 12% to 15% per scrap
  
• Added 'Stick Strafe Assist' option (Menu > Controls): on by default (current behaviour)
  

[h3]That's it! 🫡[/h3]

This is the last major update, lots has changed on the wave/enemy balancing so bear with me a little: v0.99/1.0 will be for the last balancing/polishing touches

A lot of effort has been spent on making each run as unique as possible with varied and interesting waves and no biome repetitions. Also the duration of the average run have been shortened: v0.97 runs were becoming a bit of a chore towards the final waves

There is some new content in this update but it is probably less than what you were looking for and I apologize if I gave wrong expectations: I thought I could do more with it but TD's dev cycle have been quite long and I felt it was more important to improve on the game strengths instead of adding things just for the sake of it and risk to ruin the game

Enough talking, changelog follows 👇


[h3]New Structures & Pickups[/h3]

• Added Space Elevator
  
• Added Ground Outpost (WIP)
  
• Updated Space Station with the new heavy turrets
  
• When a structure is fully destroyed a random pickup will spawn: Extra Life, Extra Upgrade or Repair & Reload
  

[h3]New Scoring[/h3]

• Combo system removed and replaced with an accuracy bonus for each enemy damaged/killed event: reason for this change is to give more freedom of action, reward all play styles (not only aggressive) and have a tighter, more competitive leaderboard
• HUD updated accordingly
  

[h3]Upgrades[/h3]

• You can now call for an upgrade as soon as the tech level increases: added new input mapping for it
  
• Reroll system replaced by a single reroll option that will work like any other upgrade: reason for this change is to make each run more unique and encourage different approaches
• 'Armored': back to max hull increase only (extra life is part of the pickups)
  
• 'Scavenger': bumped scraps tech increase from 33% to 50%
• 'Adrenaline' changed: time-dilation when locked by enemy missiles

[h3]Enemy Tweaking & Balancing[/h3]

• Rogues are now aces (hexagon on the HUD)
  
• No more invulnerability window for Rogues and Wing Leaders
  
• Enemies are a bit more aggressive in general
  
• 'Viper Elite' renamed to 'Elite' and will appear in more biomes (not only space)

[h3]Operations & Misc[/h3]

• Back to 3 lives from start and changed the HUD representation: 1 triangle = 1 extra life
  
• 'Endurance' renamed to 'Endgame': made it shorter (3 stages) but more intense and with an extra upgrade at start
• 'Hostile Territory' is now a daily gateway to 'Endgame'
  
• Retry/New buttons on defeat screen: except for 'Endgame' which uses a daily seed and will show only the retry button
  
• ⚠️'First Strike' progress will be reset and everyone will have to replay it: needed to gauge how difficult it has become
• Visual improvements and tweaking for all biomes
  

[h3]That's it! 🫡[/h3]