Heroes of Science and Fiction News

Hi everybody, the third patch of Silence of the Siren is now live on Steam!

The update brings the usual round of improvements and fixes of issues we gathered from reports on Discord and also here in Discussions.

We're mostly done with our roadmap update, at this point we can tease that you can look forward to more features and big balance changes before holidays, then it will be time for more map content and the first big Early Access expansion/update with UNSS as playable faction #4 and their whole campaign. More details coming soon!


Silence of the Siren version 0b78c099.

[h2]Content and changes[/h2]
- Added a version of the Josefin font that includes Cyrillic characters
- Unified which cursor shows and what clicking on a base does when all commanders are garrisoned: clicking on any tile open the base
- Updated academy ability selection so at least one ability for each skill is ensured at each base, made the academy panel more compact
- Implemented ordering commanders by drag and drop also in the list on the right, cleaned up the prefab a bit
- Implemented canceling unit move by pressing escape in the commander card, commander meeting, neutral army join panel and at bases
- Added close button to both options panels so the reset options button is not the one big thing you're bound to accidentally click on
- Implemented closing of conquest window and its map info panel by pressing escape
- Switched save screenshot background in load dialog so it doesn't show the community translations banner but a 'standard siren logo'
- Added limit to base camera FOV to ensure all buildings stay on screen in 16:10 and narrower aspect ratios, updated all base graphics to correctly fill the screen all the way to ultra-ultrawide (32:9)



[h2]Fixes[/h2]
- Fixed an exploit that allowed unit multiplication by disabling unit movement undo button while moving a unit
- Fixed an exploit caused by the slave camp panel not correctly reset (not for the right base) when switching bases while the panel is still open
- Fixed dismissing war machines from unit info/split panel didn't work
- Fixed integrated Radeon graphics starting with 4K textures by default
- Fixed active commander marker not rendered over bridges, for example at the very start of Fossorian Campaign map 4
- Fixed both levels of pirates mortar building had the same lore text
- Fixed neutral base names not randomized when starting a scenario
- Fixed the "all" filter in inventory not resetting backpack to the default view with empty slots, implemented automatic compaction/removal of empty slots in backpack and consumables when switching between commanders in commander card
- Disabled on hover reactions of skill icons in combat ability book and in the level up dialog

[h2]Audio[/h2]
- Increased overall max audio volume
- Implemented a short audio fadeout when exiting the game to prevent audio from being abruptly cut off, disabled audio when the game window loses focus
- Added a few missing death sounds (Bright ones and Liberators)

Hi everybody, the second patch of Silence of the Siren is now live on Steam!

While this update contains mostly fixes of issues we gathered from reports on Discord and also here in Discussions, the art and design team have also been busy in the meantime, working on content for the upcoming major updates: new UNSS units, Sovereign Fleet campaign and also new skirmish maps.
Also, following feedback we received and some of our own observations, we're also working on a balance update of skills, abilities and items.
Last, but not least, we're preparing a detailed plan for the bigger updates that will arrive during the first stage of the Early Access development. Stay tuned!

Release notes - version 84d98610:

[h2]Features and changes[/h2]
- Implemented selectable starting commanders for all players in custom scenario/hotseat setup, more improvements to come!
- Disabled retreat from bases
- Disabled 'neutral army join' dialog buttons while moving a unit
- Pirates Captain unit: added custom shoot up and down animations
- Blast wave cannon attack now has proper vfx
- Updated Capt. Holester's lore shown in the commander card
- Improved AI estimate losses on enemy turrets and outposts
- Unified how clicking on commander portraits works in the right panel and in the gateway panel
- Added QLoc and QLoc translators to credits/language tooltips, switched Chinese to '简体中文' in the language list in options



[h2]Fixes[/h2]
- Hotfixed a rare crash that happens when showing the tooltip which calculates enemy hazard
- Fixed corrupted save prevents other saves from loading in the load dialog
- Fixed events on commanders not triggered on AI heroes attacking the player, this is a possible cause of some progress blockers reported in the campaign
- Fixed inventory still remembering last consumable slot when a consumable is used on commanders portrait, other items would then be returned to this slot even if they're from another class
- Disabled switching of unit stacks after splitting a stack by dropping one unit by right clicking. This could lead to a situation where the unit on the cursor wouldn't have a place to return to and could cause the player to get extra units when closing the panel while still holding the unit
- Fixed switching from moles' base slave camp to other panels using the buttons/keyboard shortcuts didn't save which units have been hired so allowing the player to hire infinite units
- Fixed admiral's portraits in Campaign 3 and 4
- Fixed 'Lure local beast' bio ability doesn't take into account daytime for monsters that transform
- Fixed lights from turrets stuck on after the turret has been destroyed
- Fixed commander list not scaling correctly with "narrow" resolutions like 16:10 or 5:4 and causing a gap in the panel on the right
- Fixed wrong font used in headings of black market and boot camp
- Fixed unit can sometime move after it is stopped by a turret in siege
- Fixed wrong tooltip on fusion core icon in resources in dialog panel
- Fixed a few reported issues on the following maps: Confluence, Fossorian campaign 3, Bridges too far
- Fixed commanders moved in the campaign via scripted events weren't correctly removed from the base they were visiting
- Fixed heavy turret missing its lore text and had wrong image
- Fixed training commanders were getting selected by the next commander button
- Fixed wrong hit positioning on turrets
- Fixed commanders starting with the collector skill do not have extra equipment slot, fix error when forgetting collector at altar of clean slate
- Fixed broken layout in unit tooltip (the one shown over unit icons under buildings in building catalog)
- Fixed most of unit attribute icons wouldn't show tooltips in the smaller unit hiring panels
- A lot of fixes in English texts (typos, use of elipses, ...)
- A lot of fixes in Hungarian texts

Hi everybody,

First, thanks to all of you who bought the game on launch and also for all the positive reviews, much appreciated!

Today we have the first "regular patch" for you, an update that fixes most of the recently reported issues. We are also updating the Chinese and French texts, especially for Chinese this should mean a big improvement in quality.

Here are full release notes - version 122f5cb3

• [BLOCKER] Hotfixed a rare case of equipment in consumable slots breaking load
  
• Updated Chinese and French translations
  
• Fixed a few typos in the English texts
  
• Fixed list of objectives not refreshed on map load
  
• Fixed campaign music triggered in campaign level start screen not interrupted when going straight to combat at the beginning of a level
  
• Fixed escape not closing slavers panel in Fossorian base but the whole base, making hired units available again
  
• Fixed panels for units without an upgraded version erroring out when trying to open their unit details panel in slavers panel in Fossorian bases
  
• Fixed recently built building stuck highlighted when quickly switching between bases of similar type
  
• Fixed "debug tile" texts showing in the first loaded level until the player moves the mouse (in campaign it was there until dialogs finish)
  
• Removed unclocalized 'consumable' tooltip on empty consumable slots
  
• Fixed garrisoned hero not automatically selected in base item markets
  
• Fixed Worm doesn't get buried if it's upgraded via field promotion
  
• Fixed side quests in Gold Fever and Confluence scenarios
  

Hi everybody, exciting times! Silence of the Siren launches in Early Access on Monday!

For us this marks an important point of a ~4 year development journey and you can imagine how excited we are to finally see our game released into the wild! :)
For all the HoMM fans on the team, this has been a bit of a dream project and we hope you'll enjoy the game, just like we have had a great time working on it and allowing ourselves to get creative with the weird sci-fi settings and related game mechanics.
The development wasn't without its challenges, like running pre-production during lockdown, but that makes us even more proud that we've reached this important milestone.

[h2]What you can look forward to in the EA Build[/h2]
A quick recap:
Three playable factions, one of them, the Fossorians, also come with a story campaign. Then there are 9 custom skirmish maps, lots of buildings, skills, abilities and equipment!
From our testing it looks like the overall playtime is already way over 30 hours (or even more, if you like to explore every nook and cranny like some of us do). :)

Some interesting and helpful features:

• Day-night cycle affecting not only graphics, but also some units
  
• Building mechanics on the map
  
• A lot of useful shortcuts in the UI, like highlighting interactive objects, enemy movement range and more
  
• Orbital layer, dangerous zones, teleports, shortcuts and side quests to spice up the maps
  

More about some of the UI features and graphical features.



[h2]Road ahead[/h2]
From the last few rounds of testing the game looks very stable, but we of course anticipate some rare issues to pop up after release, so we'll pay proper attention to fixing these first.
Then, what you're all looking for, the updates: we have been able to update the game regularly, so this will continue and you'll see the remaining branches of the story campaign arrive, accompanied by the two remaining factions and the main features for the full game, like the map editor and scripting system.
We aim to stay in EA for roughly a year to complete all the content and features on our list:



[h2]Join our community![/h2]
First, let us take this opportunity to thank everybody who joined us in the different testing stages over last year. We can tell how much better the game is and how stable it has become thanks to all the feedback and bug reports.
We're looking forward to listening to and working with you during the Early Access stage to make the game even better as it approaches its full release.

Feel free to join our Discord server!

Also, for any content creators out there, we'd love to see you make videos/stream the game. Feel free to reach out, we are happy to provide keys to reasonably-sized channels aimed at similar games and genres!

Now let us compile one last build of the game with latest fixes and fingers crossed everything goes smoothly on Monday! :)