Axon TD: Uprising News

The next version is here! Version 0.6 includes New Defenses & Axons, reconnect support for Co-op, new Co-op maps, more Qol, a bunch of balance updates, fixes, and more. Check out the 0.6 Overview for the fancy nutshell; full notes are below!

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[h3]New MegaCorp Tower: Discharge Blaster[/h3]

Uses a battery to overcharge its attacks. Starts at a low cooldown, but the cooldown increases by 0.05 for every attack, until it hits the upper cap.
After 3 seconds of not attacking, the cooldown is reduced by 0.1 per second, until it hits the attack speed cap.

Stats:

• Cost: 100
  
• Range: 2
  
• Damage: 18
  
• AoE: 1.5
  
• Attack speed: 2.5 to 0.42
  

Upgrades:

• Upgrade 1: Stuns all Axons hit for .25 seconds.
  
• Upgrade 2: While it is attacking and has battery charge left, increase adjacent Towers’ attack speed by 15%.
  
• Upgrade 3: Damage is doubled, no longer has an AoE. Now prioritizes support units.
  
• Global Upgrade: The battery recharges twice as fast.
  

[h3]New Vex Industries Tower: Axon Factory[/h3]

Spawns a radioactive Replicant that paths from the placement location to the nearest spawn point. Explodes upon collision with an Axon and leaves a pool of radioactive waste on the ground dealing damage per second through Armor & Shields. Pool lasts for 4 seconds.
Spawned units have a lifespan of 10 seconds, then they self-detonate.

Stats:

• Cost: 100
  
• Range: N/A
  
• Damage: 125 + 8 area damage per second
  
• AoE: 1.5 + 1
  
• Cooldown: 15
  

Upgrades:

• Upgrade 1: Instead spawns 2 Boosters over 3 seconds before it goes on cooldown.
  
• Upgrade 2: Radioactive pool lasts longer but deals less damage, and applies a 20% Damage Amp on passing Axons for 3 seconds.
  
• Upgrade 3: Spawns in a phased out Booster that passes through Axons until it expires, slowing them by 20% for 2 seconds.
  
• Global Upgrade: Every 15 seconds, EMP an Axon adjacent to the factory for 4 seconds.
  

[h3]New Astrosys Labs Tower: Duplicator[/h3]

Transforms into a Tower that can deal damage, dealing 160% of the original tower’s damage.
Once a Tower has been copied, it cannot be copied again for 60 seconds. Transformation lasts 12 seconds.

Stats:

• Cost: 100
  
• Range: 5x5
  
• Damage: N/A
  
• AoE: N/A
  
• Cooldown: 20
  

Upgrades:

• Upgrade 1: Transformation lasts 3 seconds longer.
  
• Upgrade 2: Increases range of the transformed Tower by 0.5. Does not work with area towers.
  
• Upgrade 3: Transformed Towers costing 75 Credits or less instead deal 225% damage.
  
• Global Upgrade: Casting an Overload on a Duplicator Tower casts the same Overload again on the same Tower 10 seconds later for free.
  

[h3]New New Frontier Mine: Catapult Mine[/h3]

Directional Mine. Throws an Axon on the mine 3 tiles in the aimed direction. If it collides with a tower, the Axons are stunned for 0.5 seconds. If they’re thrown towards an empty tile and have less than 10% HP, they fall off the map and are destroyed. Otherwise Axons are slowed by 40% for 3 seconds after landing.
Cannot throw Colossus, Juggernaut, Vanguard, Marauder or Architect.

Stats:

• Cost: 75
  
• Range: 3
  
• Damage: N/A
  
• AoE: N/A
  
• Cooldown: 20
  

Upgrades:

• Upgrade 1: Increases throwing distance by 1.
  
• Upgrade 2: Deals 40 damage in a 1.5 AoE around where the thrown Axon lands.
  
• Upgrade 3: Temporarily removes Armor and Shields from thrown Axons. Duration of 10 seconds.
  
• Global Upgrade: Mini-stuns Axons passing under a thrown Axon for 0.2 seconds.
  

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[h3]New Axon: Skipper[/h3]

Ignores Mines and Traps.

• HP: 100
  
• Move speed: 1.2
  

[h3]New Axon: Reverser[/h3]

Starts at the exit and leaks at the entrance. Every 10 seconds, it phases forward, healing all the damage it has taken in the last 3 seconds. If it passes any other Axon, that Axon gets a 100% speed boost for 3 seconds.

• HP: 170
  
• Move speed: 1.8
  

[h3]New Axon: Architect[/h3]

Every 15 tiles traveled, the Architect stops where it's at and adds a new temporary tile to the grid for 8 seconds.

• HP: 250
  
• Move speed: 1.2
  

[h3]New Axon: Marauder[/h3]

Every 10 seconds, the Marauder goes debuff immune for 4 seconds and gets a 100% move speed boost.

• HP: 240
  
• Move speed: 1.2
  

[h3]New Axon Boss: Creator[/h3]

Every 10 seconds, it spawns 6 Axons depending on its current stage.

• Stage 1: Berserker Mk II
  
• Stage 2: Booster Mk II
  
• Stage 3: Replicator Mk II
  
• Stage 4: Armored Infector Mk II
  
• Stage 5: Shielded Teleporters Mk II
  
• Stage 6: Marauder Mk II
  

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[h2]General[/h2]

• Axon TD now supports Steam Rich Presence, displaying your in-game Status in the Steam community.
  
• Drag-selecting Defenses no longer include Defenses that are unable to target.
  
• You can now set a targeting priority while having multiple Defenses selected.
  
• Added the ability to select all Defenses that can target by pressing 'H'.
  
• Added a Contextual Warning message for when you first encounter Architects and Hover Jets/Carriers. This is to warn newer players about their abilities.
  
• Adjusted Tutorial mission 3 to include a mention of Recycles and their new functionality of being able to remove Obstacles.
  
• Adjusted attacking towers to say "attack speed" instead of cooldown.
  
• In Campaign, you can now rewatch unlocked cutscenes in your Journal.
  
• EMP is now indicated by a magenta-colored bar on top of the HP bar.
  
• Axons that are debuff immune now have a distorted HP bar indicator.
  

[h2]Co-op[/h2]

• A new Co-op Survival Map has been added called Big Platforms, based on the Platform map from singleplayer Survival, but without checkpoints.
  
• New 2-player map: Across.
  
• New 3-player map: Freehold.
  
• New 4-player map: Roundabout.
  
• Co-op solo is now played offline.
  
• Co-op sessions can now be restarted from in-game after passing a vote.
  
• You can now resume a Co-op game from a checkpoint as long as you don't lose from the Co-op menu.
  
• You can no longer pick up more than one Tower, Upgrade or Tech in one wave in solo Co-op.
  

[h2]Survival[/h2]

• Added 6 new end waves to the wave 30+ list featuring the new Axons.
  
• Blank Canvas
  -- Reduced the HP multiplier for waves 30+.
  -- Slightly increased the HP multiplier for waves 80+.
  
• Platform
  -- Reduced the 30+ waves HP scaling.
  -- Reduced the amount of tiles on the map.
  
• Each Survival map now has a rotation of 3 Bosses after wave 30 instead of being random. However, the wave 120 Boss will always be either the Goliath or Creator.
  • Blank Canvas
    – Revenant → Guardian → Iron Centipede → repeat | Final Boss is Goliath.
    
  • Islands
    – Guardian → Iron Centipede → Goliath → repeat | Final Boss is Creator.
    
  • Platform
    – Creator → Revenant → Goliath → repeat | Final Boss is Goliath.
    
  • Divider
    – Goliath → Revenant → Creator → repeat | Final Boss is Goliath.
    
  • Big Platform
    – Revenant → Guardian → Iron Centipede → repeat | Final Boss is Creator.
    
• Added descriptions to the Survival maps in the Survival and Lobby menus.
  

[h2]Map Editor[/h2]

• Added a tutorial video for the Map Editor.
  
• Added tooltips to most of the value boxes.
  
• Added the ability to press Tab to cycle through value boxes.
  
• Made various UI adjustments, most notably in the Axon and Tech selection screens.
  
• You can now simulate the player count when testing your map.
  

[h2]Visuals[/h2]

• New death visual
  
• Updated Reaper Tower attack visuals
  
• Updated Seeker Drone Tower attack visuals
  
• Updated Orbital Cannon Tower attack visuals
  
• Updated Plasma Cannon U2 & U3 attack visuals
  
• Added a Debuff Immunity visual for Purger & Lifter
  
• Various tweaks to backgrounds
  

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed Bosses giving almost no additional score.
  
• Fixed an issue where Command Link wasn't buffing the range of Electron Launcher.
  
• Fixed a visual issue where the Command Link "link" would remain after selling a Tower connected to it.
  
• Fixed an issue where Mass Driver was hitting twice on every shot.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Temporal Mine Global Upgrade was triggering multiple times per activation.
  
• Fixed an issue where Siphon Cannons couldn't target Axons with Seeker Drones attached to them.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Colossus frontal shield was blocking multiple effects that it wasn't supposed to be blocking.
  
• Fixed an issue with Hover Jet pathing.
  
• Fixed an issue where the "Place a Tower on a Blocker to gain Credits" Tech was causing your Blocker count to go negative.
  
• Fixed an issue where the UI cost display didn't update on wave reset with the Mega Expansionist Survival Upgrade.
  
• Fixed an issue causing you to stay connected to Co-op lobbies you had left.
  
• Fixed an issue in Survival where you could get stuck with only 7 Defenses in your loadout.
  
• Fixed some Techs accidentally being removed from the Survival Tech pool.
  
• Fixed Blockers having a target priority setting.
  
• Fixed an issue where some parts of the descriptions got cut off in the tooltips.
  
• Fixed an issue where the UI got cut off at higher resolutions.
  
• Fixed being able to click a spawn point through UI elements.
  
• Fixed various issues with Co-op lobbies.
  
• Fixed various tooltip errors.
  

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[h2]Balance[/h2]

• Added Architect and Lifter to the Smart Targeting support priority list.
  
• Smart targeting has been updated for single-target towers to more reliably target down high priority support units.
  
• Defenses on Default targeting will now prioritize Bosses that are close to leaking.
  
• Drilling Laser now also prioritizes support units.
  

[h3]Axons[/h3]

• Carrier base HP reduced from 160 to 150.
  
• Lifter adjusted:
  -- Now Lifts an Axon for 10 seconds then drops it. Cooldown of 3 seconds.
  -- Lifters can no longer Lift Medivacs.
  
• Mass Teleporter:
  -- Now has a max cap of 15 Axons it can teleport at once.
  -- Cooldown increased from 10s to 12s.
  

[h3]Defenses[/h3]

Artillery

• U3 adjusted
  -- Power cost increased from 25 to 30.
  -- Damage reduced from 15 to 13.
  -- Cooldown reduced from 2 to 1.5.
  

Blast Cannon

• U2 Power cost increased from 25 to 30, and slow reduced from 40% to 35%.
  

Cryo Beam

• Slow per stack reduced from 20% to 15%.
  

Drilling Laser

• Range increased from 2.5 to 3.
  

Electron Launcher

• Damage increased by 1 for the base tower and all upgrades.
  

Energy Saw

• Base damage increased from 5 to 6.
  

Frag Hammer

• U3 damage reduced from 65 to 50.
  
• Stun duration reduced from .8s to .7s at base, U3 from .4s to .3s.
  

Gravity Trap

• Passive slow now automatically applies to all upgrades.
  
• Passive slow reduced from 25% to 20%.
  
• U1 stun reduced from 2.5s to 2s.
  
• Global Upgrade replaced:
  -- Old: Increases passive slow rate to 30% and the passive slow applies to all upgrades.
  -- New: Increases passive slow rate to 25% and slow linger duration to 2 seconds.
  

Mass Driver

• Base damage increased from 60 to 65.
  

Missile Launcher

• Base damage increased from 18 to 22.
  
• U1 damage increased from 13 to 16.
  
• U2 stun duration increased from .5s to .7s.
  

Nuclear

• Repair debuff increased from 35% to 50%.
  
• Base damage increased from 5 to 6.
  
• U1 cap increased from 12 to 15.
  
• U3 Power cost increased from 35 to 40.
  
• U3 damage increased from 50 over 10s to 64 over 8s.
  

Orbital Cannon

• U2 damage increased from 36 to 38.
  

Plasmathrower

• Now resets its remaining salvo count when not firing continuously.
  

Plasma Cannon

• U2 EMP duration increased from 4s to 6s.
  
• U3 Amp increased from 25% to 30%.
  

Portable Generator

• Base cost reduced from 40 to 30.
  
• Credit cost now increases by 2 for each Portable Generator you build, with a cap of 50.
  
• U2 Power Cost increased from 30 to 35.
  
• Global Upgrade damage bonus reduced from 25% to 20%.
  

Radiation Vent

• Global Upgrade amp per debuff type increased from 3% to 4%.
  

Siphon Cannon

• Global Upgrade replaced:
  -- Old: Increases the range of the Siphon Field by 0.5.
  -- New: Increases the damage of adjacent Defenses by 15% for 4s when firing.
  

Temporal Mine

• Credit cost increased from 50 to 75.
  
• Upgrade costs increased from 25 to 30 for all upgrades.
  
• Global Upgrade damage increased from 75 to 90.
  

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[h3]Overloads[/h3]

• Compound Rounds has been reworked:
  -- Is now called Shredder.
  -- Removes Armor and Shields from Axons in an AoE of 3 around it for 10 seconds.
  -- The Shredder Overload Tech increases the duration of this debuff by 5 seconds.
  
• Nuke damage reduced from 50 + 10% to 75 + 6%.
  
• Amplify base Amp reduced from 50% to 40%.
  

[h3]Techs[/h3]

• Power On Leak Power bonus increased from 10 to 15 in Quickplay and Co-op.
  
• Wave End ADD now has a minimum wave of 10 and gives an ADD every 3 waves instead of every 2 in Survival.
  -- Getting this one early pretty much ensured you were good with ADDs for the rest of the game.
• +1 ADDs if you don't pick an ADD from the end of wave reward now has a minimum wave of 20.
  -- Combined with the Tech above, this resulted in an insane abundance of ADDs.
• Interest per wave reduced from 15% to 10% in Survival.
  -- Another source of free income that was too easy to just get every wave and fed into itself.
• Global Credit Cost reduction reduced from 10% to 8% in Survival.
  
• Global Power Cost reduction reduced from 10% to 8% in Survival.
  -- These techs stack up too much in late game Survival.
• The Nuke Overload Tech has been adjusted to instead give +1 AoE.
  -- The high HP damage in an AoE scaled disproportionally well in late game Survival.
• The Amplify Overload Tech Amp bonus reduced from 25% to 20%.
  -- This has a very high value in late game Survival.
• +5% Damage for all Defenses for the next 5 waves now has a minimum wave of 10 in Survival.
  
• Deployment Aura no longer deactivates from selling.
  
• Big Spender reworked:
  -- Old: +1 ADD when spending 100 Credits or more in one wave. Can only trigger once per wave.
  -- New: +1 ADD at the start of the wave when spending 150 Credits or more without selling.
  
• Lone Tower replaced:
  -- Old: +1 ADD when placing a Tower with no adjacent Defenses. Selling deactivates this Tech for the duration of the wave.
  -- New: Renamed to Hard Materials: +1 ADD when Recycling an Obstacle.
  
• Sweeper reworked:
  -- Old: +1 Recycle when placing a Defense within 3 range of the exit. Selling deactivates this Tech for the duration of the wave.
  -- New: +1 Recycle if you place down a damage dealing Tower within 3 range of the exit during the wave.
  
• Buy Low, Sell High reworked:
  -- Old: +10 Credits when selling a Defense costing 50 Credits or less.
  -- New: +30 Credits when selling 3 or more Defenses in one wave.
  
• Power Build reworked:
  -- Old: +3 Power per adjacent empty tile when placing down your first Defense in a wave.
  -- New: -8 Upgrade cost for the first Defense you build this wave. Selling deactivates this Tech for the duration of this wave.
  

[h3]Survival Upgrades[/h3]

• "Mega Kill" reworked:
  -- Now gives a constant 10% damage bonus to all MegaCorp Defenses that cost 50 Credits or less.
  

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As usual, with a major update that adjusts balance, Leaderboards have been wiped. Experiment at will with the new Defenses, and look forward to more updates as we near our Official Release!

Let's start off with the good news: Version 0.6 is releasing next week on Friday, July 26th! Included in it will be:

• New Defenses
  
• New Axons
  
• New Co-op Maps
  
• And the usual fixes, QoL, & Balance
  

With our final preview, we're showing off the last two New Defenses!

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[h2]Duplicator Tower[/h2]
Don't mind the off-screen Snipers, I was securing Generators.

From Astrosys Labs, the Duplicator is capable of cloning other Towers within a 5x5 area. This clone has a limited duration but deals increased damage. And with its upgrades, you may be able to increase its damage further or even increase the clone's range!

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[h2]Catapult Mine Trap[/h2]
I wonder what would happen if it was aimed into the void...

And from New Frontier, they have a trap capable of launching Axons! Choose your direction, and launch at will! It won't launch over Towers/Blockers, but it will launch over gaps, at up to 3 range away. And, if their HP is low enough... it is possible to yeet the Axons into the hole.

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That's it for our final preview! Look forward to trying all this out and more in next week's big update!

Relax, these tiles it places are temporary. Wait... Axons can place tiles?

Another preview, another Defense and Axon to showcase. And you can try it out right now! See the bottom of the post for details.

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[h2]New Defense: Axon Factory[/h2]
New tower for Vex Industries, this one manufactures its own Replicants and launches them down the path towards the spawn. These Replicants can travel pretty far, and when they reach an Axon, they explode and leave a pool of radioactive waste, dealing a DoT for a short duration.

Those Axons seem to be coming from the wrong direction... or are they?

[h2]New Axon: Marauder[/h2]
A bulky bipedal Axon. It periodically leaps up and jets forward. During this time, it has increased speed and ignores debuffs.

Did it just jump past the other Axons?

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[h2]0.6 Open Beta[/h2]

Interested in trying the new Defenses out? Follow these steps:

• Right-click Axon TD: Uprising in your game library
  
• Select Properties
  
• Select Betas
  
• From the Beta Participation dropdown menu, select "alpha - Public testing"
  

You can find a full list of changes on our Discord in the #axon-patch-notes channel. Try it out and let us know what you think of it!

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Version 0.6 will be releasing later this month. Full details of what it entails will be shown in our next and last preview, so look forward to it!

Coming in Version 0.6 is New Defenses & New Axons! And we're showing off a few of them today!

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[h2]Discharge Blaster[/h2]


A new tower for MegaCorp, it attacks quickly out the gate but loses charge over time. Break up the wave to give it some time to recharge!

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[h2]Reverser[/h2]


It's not a bug. The Reverser Axon spawns from the exit. On top of that, it moves faster than normal, can take a beating, and it speeds up Axons it passes.

It even teleports forward every so often. Is there anything it can't do?

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That's it for today's preview! Next time, look forward to more of our New Defenses & Axons!

Over the next month, we'll be dropping little previews for our next patch, Version 0.6. Check out our mini-showcase below!

[h2]New Co-op Survival Map[/h2]
It feels a bit familiar...

Like our third solo Survival Map, it's a procedurally generated map that's largely filled in. However, instead of checkpoints, two path cross each other. And of course, its difficulty has been cranked up.

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We're also in the process of updating some of our VFX:
Reaper now looks like it actually shoots something. And explosions are cooler!

Look forward to another preview in the coming weeks! Maybe there'll be a new Defense or Axon...