Gods Against Machines News

Exciting news! A large demo update has just landed on Steam and you can look forward to progressing a little bit further in the campaign and also try new Gaia powers!

Before you do that, we invite you to join our Discord server where you can give us feedback or just ask questions. This stuff is still new to us, so please be patient while we figure it all out.

Join here: https://discord.gg/kyYPRA7hNx




[h2]Extended demo[/h2]

• you can now progress up to level 12 in the campaign
  
• after defeating a level 9 or higher enemy you will be able to activate one of three Gaia powers: Shards of Fortune, Solar Flare or Diamond Core

[h2]Bugfixes[/h2]

• Fixed a bug that allowed Immortal Phoenix to be cast on buildings - this ability now needs to be activated via spell upgrades
  
• Fixed missing description of one of Immortal Phoenix properties
  
• Fixed a bug that caused shields or antimagic zones to be generated away from enemy outposts, thus being useless
  
• Fixed a bug that caused Lion spirit to spawn underwater
  
• Fixed a bug that made it impossible to interact with the Lion spirit in many cases
  
• Minimap now retains its size between regions and playthroughs
  
• Fixed a bug where Star gate had the wrong building definition assigned meaning its properties were incorrectly set (hitpoints etc.)
  
• Added missing Star gate description
  
• Fixed a bug causing capital ships to not shoot from their main weapons
  
• Fixed a bug that caused healthbars to appear for a split second on newly created buildings before their construction started
  
• Fixed damage not working at all in the Spike Field spell
  

[h2]Core[/h2]

• Extended the length of the campaign to 40 regions (was 35) - there likely won't be any more extensions to the regular campaign but stay tuned for our new endgame plans
  
• Reworked random events spawning in such a way that it allows for more variety and bigger impact of the events
  
• Added several new events and created very powerful variants of existing ones (these will be used very rarely, but will have major impact) - examples: Empowered Star Gate (spawning stronger units)
  
• Improved the way enemy builder drones select what to build first - previously on large maps with many islands drones would spend way too much time travelling back and forth which unintentionally reduced the difficulty of the region greatly
  
• Increased the speed of builder drones by 20%
  
• Added a tooltip explaining the minimap can be used for fast travel
  
• Added a new building: Advanced Star Gate which summons stronger enemy units (Heavy tank and Artillery)
  
• Added several new events using the new Advanced Star Gate building
  
• Increased the minimum amount of land a region must have to prevent bad maps from being created where there is almost nowhere to build
  

[h2]Balance[/h2]

• Increased attack power and hitpoints of enemies in levels 30-35 by 3%
  
• Greatly improved the power and speed of Deep sea crab but slightly reduced it's lifetime
  
• Increased the strength of Raven Thief blessing by 20%
  
• Reduced the strength of Golden Acorn and Unstable Energy blessings by 10% and 25% respectively
  
• Reduced the strength of Solar Flare (Gaia power) by a small amount in high upgrade levels as it became too powerful there
  
• Reduced the base amount of corruption bombs (Bomber, Capital ship, Capital fighter, Mobile Artillery) and corruption beams (Corruption satellite) do by 30-40% but made the final amount applied scale with enemy level so that the corruption spread is relevant in all levels (previously, this amount was flat regardless of enemy level, so it made these special units be much more deadly early on but quite weak in later stages of the game)
  
• Increased the attack and hitpoints of a few player buildings and improved their late game scalling to make them more viable
  

[h2]Spells[/h2]

• Added the ability to hit flying units to Rock Spike and Spike Field (Earth spells) - but this ability needs to be activated via spell upgrades (this aims to somewhat reduce the handicap of Urus who has a hard time dealing with flying units - this is not a big deal early in the game but can become extremely problematic later on when none of the chosen spells can hit flying buildings)
  
• Improved the visual appearance of Crystal Spire and reduced it's cooldown from 50 seconds to 30 seconds
  
• Reduced the cost of Stormbreakers hammer by 40%
  
• Reduced the cooldown of Builders Hammer by 20% but increased it's cost by 100%
  
• Reduced the chance to cast stronger spells for all elemental echo's and increased the number of levels for this property to make it a bit more expensive
  

[h2]Powers[/h2]

• Fixed "Shards Of Fortune" Gaia power not triggering in many cases
  

[h2]Other[/h2]

• Added tips to the loading screen explaining random events in more detail
  
• Improved visual appearance of gaia power indicators
  

We plan to update the demo frequently, so rest assured any bugs will be fixed eventually. In the meantime, we will continue to work hard on the game, taking all of your feedback to heart!

Thanks,
Peter

Based on the feedback we received during the Steam Next Fest, we have implemented a variety of changes, some small and some large. You can look forward to improved balance, new spells and blessings, as well as new units and buildings. The UI has also received some improvements. Check out the full list of changes below.

Before you do that, we invite you to join our Discord server where you can give us feedback or just ask questions. This stuff is still new to us, so please be patient while we figure it all out.

Join here: https://discord.gg/kyYPRA7hNx




[h2]Major bugs[/h2]

• fixed a bug where spells would retain upgrades between runs in some cases
  
• fixed incorrect resource cost of one of the machine residential buildings (was 4, should be 3)
  
• fixed a bug that allowed players to have more than 3 mana crystals even without Diamond Core Gaia power
  

[h2]Core[/h2]

• Spirit system has been overhauled to make it more viable and interesting - spirits now offer more consistent rewards, can join you in battle and don't disappear when you decline their help
  
• Improved pathing and targeting logic of units
  
• Reduced the time it takes for a spirit to spawn in the world by 15%
  

[h2]Balance[/h2]

• slightly increased the difficulty in level 7 and bellow
  
• increased the duration of Celestial Vengeance buff from 20 seconds to 30 seconds
  
• slightly increased amount of shards awarded for clearing a region
  
• slightly increased amount of shards offered as regular rewards at the start of the campaign
  
• decreased the cooldown of mana crystal attacks from 4 to 3 seconds
  
• starting from enemy level 15, players will have one mana crystal already active right at the start of the region
  
• reduced the resource cost of destroying residential buildings by 20% but also reduced the corruption output of terraformers by 20%
  
• reduced the resource cost of destroying specialized buildings by 10%
  
• increased hitpoints and attack power of mana crystals and greatly reduced its attack cooldown (30%)
  
• reduced hitpoints of enemy factories by 20%
  
• reduced hitpoints of enemy tanks of all kinds by 10-20%
  
• reduced the corruption resistance provided by mana crystals from 8% / 4% to 6% / 3%
  

[h2]Spells & Blessings[/h2]

• added a new temporary buff (given by Gaia when corruption spreads too much): Celestial Fury (reduced mana cost, cooldown and increased damage for 30 seconds)
  
• improved the description of several spells (Combustion, Fire Eater)
  
• reduced the number of ranks of the Puppet Master blessing from 5 to 3 and increased it's effect
  
• increased the range of Confusion spell from 25 to 30 and made it castable in antimagic zones but slightly reduced initial duration and increased cooldown
  
• added corruption removal capability to the Confusion spell
  
• increased the chance stronger spiders will be spawned by Gaia's power "Webbed Menace"
  
• increased the base range of Lava fissure from 300 to 500
  
• added AOE damage to Vacuum and Whirlpool spells (must be activated via an upgrade)
  
• added the ability for Storm Pillar to summon additional pillars (must be activated via an upgrade)
  
• added frequency improvement property to Builder's Hammer, allowing the players to improve attacking speed of Lava Fissure and Storm Pillar, healing speed of Tree of Life and spawning speed of Spirit Den
  
• most spirit related blessings have been updated to reflect the new spirit system
  
• added four new spells: Immortal Phoenix, Regrowth, Stormbreaker's hammer and Crystal cave
  
• added four new blessings: Swarming hive, Fleeing rats, Golden acorn, Unstable energy
  
• reduced the overall scaling of volcano because it was way too powerful at high upgrade levels
  
• reduced lifetime and damage scaling of Rock Giant in high levels
  
• reduced damage scaling of Tornado at higher levels but added it the ability to hit flying targets
  
• Void Beam can now hit also flying targets
  
• Howl of the Wolf gaia power now applies to units summoned when bellow 80% mana (was above 20% mana)
  

[h2]Units[/h2]

• Added a new machine unit: Mobile artillery, a large heavy vehicle capable of spreading corruption and long range attacks
  
• Slightly decreased the size of capital ships
  
• Addew two new units that can join the player: Wind and Earth spirit
  
• Decreased the corruption output of Corruption Satellite by 20%
  

[h2]Buildings[/h2]

• Added a new building: Crystal cave that summons Crystal golems when destroyed
  
• Decreased the corruption output bonus of large alien drill by 16%
  
• Increased the hitpoints of Tree of life by 30%
  

[h2]Campaign[/h2]

• increased the number of regions in the campaign from 30 to 35, reduced attack/hitpoints scaling for machines above level 30
  
• increased corruption cap from 7000 to 10000
  
• updated achievements for winning with fewest attacked regions from 10, 14, 18 to 12, 16, 20
  
• unlocking spells and blessings is now done after every region, not just at the end of a run, allowing for immediate appearance of unlocked spells and blessings as rewards
  
• at the end of the campaign, additional essences of nature are rewarded to the player regardless of whether they won or not - the amount is based on how far the player progressed
  

[h2]Other[/h2]

• cosmetic change: enemy tanks are now aiming their cannons at the target continuously, not just when they fire
  
• improved the description of several spell properties so that is easier to understand what they do
  
• added indicators of power, critical chance and corruption resistance to the main in-game UI (top panel)
  

We plan to update the demo frequently, so rest assured any bugs will be fixed eventually. In the meantime, we will continue to work hard on the game, taking all of your feedback to heart!

Thanks,
Peter

[h2]Introduction[/h2]

In Gods Against Machines, you are called upon by Gaia to defend the world in which you both live against an invading race of alien machines. To win, you must destroy the machines' capital city. But you can't attack it right away because your powers are still weak. You must first attack small outposts of the machines, increase your power, and then work your way through stronger and stronger enemy outposts until you reach your goal.

[h2]The Regions[/h2]

The regions you attack will initially contain only small machine outposts. But don't underestimate your enemy - even these small encampments can be a challenge for a young god like you.



To increase your power, you must eradicate your enemies as quickly as possible - for their terraformers pollute the world, spreading deadly corruption. If the corruption overwhelms the region and reaches the core of the world, you will lose the game! After each region, you will be able to choose several rewards - their amount depends on how much corruption the region has suffered. Most of the time there are 3 rewards for conquering a region, and you will lose one reward for every 33% of corruption the region has suffered. The number of rewards increases to 4 (or even 5) the more regions you skip, and the threshold for losing rewards decreases accordingly (25% and 20%).



At first, controlling the corruption will be relatively easy, but as you progress through the regions, the machines will use more powerful terraformers and have more of them. This will cause the corruption to spread much faster, and if you don't stop it or cleanse it, you'll soon find your beautiful home transformed into an alien landscape!



[h2]The Campaign[/h2]

Choosing your path through the campaign is crucial. You can attack any of the five available regions, skipping some on your way to the machine capital. Or you can progress from region to region, slowly but surely collecting rewards and increasing your powers. But be careful - every battle you fight means more corruption in the world. And even if you win in every region, the lingering corruption can still kill your home - the world can only take so much destruction before it succumbs to its deadly effects. Of course, there are more and bigger rewards for skipping regions. It is up to you to balance the risks and rewards so that you can reap as many rewards as possible while keeping corruption at bay.



Each region is different, not only in what it looks like on the map, but also in it's climate, which affects your divine powers. For example, snowy regions tend to be difficult for Azzinoth, as the cold temperature reduces the effectiveness of his fire spells. Swamplands, on the other hand, are a challenge for Urus because the constant rain creates swamps everywhere. Another important factor in choosing which region to attack is the type of loot you can find there. Machines only keep valuable items in a few of their outposts, so while in a low-loot region you might only find extra mana for destroying evacuation drones (which can spawn when you destroy a residential building of the machines), in a high-loot region you might find miracle points or even power shards!

[h2]Progression[/h2]

As you progress through the campaign, you will be able to activate more of Gaia's powers. The first time this will be possible is after you have defeated a region with enemies of level 10 or higher, and the second time is after you have defeated an enemy of level 20 or higher. Gaia Powers are relatively weak at first, but once you invest enough Nature Seeds in them, they can be extremely powerful and you can even base your entire build around them! To get more Nature Seeds, skip regions of the campaign as much as possible while progressing as far as you can - the faster and farther you go, the more Nature Seeds you will get!



[h2]Conclusion[/h2]

Gaia Power is a complex system, and as the main meta progression feature of the game, it deserves its own post. Keep an eye out for it in the coming weeks!

We hope you found this short article about the game's campaign interesting. There will be more posts like this - there is a lot to cover:

Azzinoth, god of fire and destruction Nadea, goddes of water and life Urus, god of earth and spirits
Zafira, goddes of wind and fate

We are also preparing a few posts about the mechanics of the game:

Resources & Corruption Spells & Blessings Campaign & Regions
Gaia powers
Machines & Spirits

Thanks for reading,
Peter from Silver Eye Studios

The Steam Next Fest is approaching quickly and we will be there!

Come watch our livestream on Tuesday, 10th of October to see the game in action and don't forget to try the updated demo!

The Steam Next Fest is approaching quickly and we will be there!

Come watch our livestream on Tuesday, 9th of October to see the game in action and don't forget to try the updated demo!