From The Depths News

2.2.0 Has been released onto the dev test server, and will be releasing soon.
Here is a sneak peak of a few new features.

The water graphics change -


The new waves -


The patch also includes a ton of behind the scenes changes, ACB updates, and some adjustments to the balance of weaponry, as well as a few new additions. All of that will be posted when 2.2.0 is officially released.

If you want to keep up with the updates more closely, you can visit http://fromthedepthsgame.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=4

Excited to release this fantastic new patch. It has lots of cool new things such as pistons and the ability to place turrets, spinners and pistons on other turrets, spinners and pistons. There are also a lot of quality of life and fine tuning options added. Note that a lot of mods may need updated after this release so if you are having issues then try uninstalling any mods that add code. Please check out the full change log below:



[added] Support for pistons (1x1x1 and 1x2x1)

[added] Support for spinners, turrets and pistons on other spinners, turrets or pistons (limited to 25 levels, including the MainConstruct)

[added] it is now possible to set the idle azimuth and elevation for turrets

[added] it is now possible to set the idle azimuth for APS (not CRAM due to some technical problems)

[added] spinblocks and pistons can now be locked via their GUI, so the ACBs won't be able to move them

[added] elevation only turret (1x1x1 version only)

[added] ACBs can now be turned on/off by using their GUI or another ACB (an ACB cannot turn itself on/off automatically)

[change] ACBs can now be placed on SubConstructs

[change] The Aimpoint card can now be configured, the maximum time before targeting another block can be configured, and it can be set to target Mainframes and ammo storage as usual or any random block

[change] Shields can now have their color changed using directly their GUI, no need to use the shield projectors anymore (but they still work)

[improved] it is now possible to choose between local and global field of fire restrictions for weapon and turrets

[improved] It is now possible to manually control the SpinBlocks using their GUI

[improved] copy/paste feature for ACBs, LWCs and AMCCs

[improved] if you look at an airpump with leaks, the leaks will be indicated by small red squares

[improved] ACBs input values now have different decimal places depending on the type of the input

[improved] ACB input for control key stimulus now display the actual key instead of a number

[improved] GP PID altitude test values can now be set between -1000 and +3000

[improved] 'Clear clips' button added to the APS firing piece

[improved] 'Access to intakes' button added to the APS firing piece (exiting that GUI will return to the APS GUI)

[improved] When clicking on the selected ammo controller in the ammo intake GUI, the ammo controller GUI is now displayed (exiting that GUI will return to the intake GUI)

[improved] It is now possible to slow down the rotation speed of the turrets (using a percentage)

[improved] Optimization of the fuel engine power creation when using turbos or exahusts

[improved] a LWC can now control weapons on all the stacked children SubConstructs, including pistons or spinblocks

[improved] the LWCs now aim x40 times per second, which will make targeting a lot more efficient

[improved] the LWC on the MainConstruct are executed before the ones on the first level of SubConstructs, which are executed before the ones on the second level of SubConstructs, which are executed before the ones on the remaining levels of SubConstructs

[improved] the LWC can now control a turret (or stacked turrets) which have no weapons (so, you can place a radar 90 on a turret controlled by a LWC in order to rotate the radar toward the target)

[fix] When a shield projector is placed next to a shield color changer, it now connects the shield color changer automatically

[fix] When loading a blueprint and after having taking hits, the shields are now returning to their specified color

[fix] The external venting of turbos is now displayed correctly in the cylinder's tooltip


[lua] Due to the extensive modification on the SpinBlocks, the functions related to the Spinners and turrets have been largely modified (old functions still there, but shouldn't work for stacked SubConstructs)

[lua] SubConstructs now have a unique Id, such an Id will never be reused in the same blueprint. The turrets, pistons and SpinBlocks are now accessed using that unique Id

[modders] The blocks array have been removed, blocks are now accessible in 'ElementStorage' using the Local Position coordinates

[modders] It is now possible to mod the constructs thanks to the introduction of 'Modules' that are attached to the constructs (most of the existing modules can be replaced)

[modders] It is now possible to add new audio assets (they will now be loaded correctly even if not in the FtD directory)

[modders] it is now possible to add new types of turrets by naming its parts ' Turret' and 'Turret Block ' (case and spaces are mandatory)

Hope you'll enjoy the new stuff- and wishing you a fantastic 2018,

Thanks for your continued support,

Nick and the FtD team

FTD has been updated to the latest version of the Unity3D game engine (Unity 5.6, we were on Unity 4.7) and we've also incorporated a HUGE balance patch and a lot of new features. I know you've been waiting a long time for an update but hopefully this one will be worth the wait! The migration to the new engine took a long time but opens up a lot of new doors for development and I believe FTD is running better than ever.



Game Engine updated from Unity 4.6 to Unity 5.7
Added - 1m wood block variants that were previously only available by toggling F10 now available from build menu under wood block
Added - Mock wheel items
Added - Laser 3m laser pump
Added - APS 6m and 8m recoil absorbers
Added - APS EMP,HE,Frag APS shell heads
Added - Circular weather vane variant
Added - Circular propeller variant
Added - Jet and ion Circular variants added
Added - Aero rudder and Aero elevator components added to use with (or replace) the tail plane component
Added - 3mx3m and 5mx5m turret prototype sub-constructs added
Removed - Old engine items removed
Mechanic - Armor layering bonus changed from 0.8, 0.6, 0.4, 0.2,0.1,0.1 to 1.0,0.85,0.7,0.55, 0.4,0.25,0.1,0.1
Mechanic - Maximum volume option (For battles) in campaign increased from 50k to 200k
Mechanic - Oil refineries now slightly more tolerant of altitude
Mechanic - Fragmentation (All variants) now results in the expected angle of fragmentation, not a distorted cone
Mechanic - Armour calculation for projectiles and hitscan weaponry changed from ((AP / AC) 0.45) + 0.05 = Effective damage multiplier To ((AP / AC) 0.50) = Effective damage multiplier
Mechanic - Armour for Partial blocks (Slopes, Triangles) Apply partial reinforcement bonus (Equal to block type, triangles are 1/4, slopes are 1/2)
General - Many blocks visually re-modelled
General - Textures mid/part way reworked for better visuals
General - Fastest video quality setting will now display half texture resolutions and highest will turn on soft shadows
General - Some optimisation on simple projectile models
General - APS shells bugging out with no gunpowder and one of the player skills (railgun only shells) bug fixed
General - Wireless receiver ACB options fixed
General - Spinblock controller and fortress controller model updated
General - Simple weapons trails
General - Huge ion thruster realigned
General - Grenade launcher normal map
General - Pistol duplicate material removed and redirected to the original
General - Nuclear engine textures removed from resources and reference pointed to mod directory
General - Steam engine mesh normals fixed (improved quality)
General - Last of the texture import settings set (improved quality)
General - Light block now using distortion shader (same as aps fire distortion or warp effect distortion)
General - Wedge volume factor fixed
General - Various particle effect improvements
General - Shield visuals updated
General - CRAM models re-exported with smoothing groups for proper lighting with the shader
General - Minor mesh export fixes
General - Re-exported missile blocks to fix smoothing map issues (also large reduction in verts)
General - Missile parts excess vertices removed (some were 10x the required verts)
General - Ricochet chance curve evened out so armour vs penetration is taken more into account
General - Local weapon controller made more lenient for range of speed to engage
General - sailing blocks updated
General - spin block model/texture updated
General - 'Lasers' build menu tab renamed to 'Energy Weapons'
General - Min view distance from block decreased so you no longer look through walls walking around
Stats - Wood HP buffed to 180 (From 120)
Stats - Stone buffed to AC 7 (From 5). HP buffed to 300 (From 220)
Stats - Metal buffed to AC 15 (From 10). Health buffed to 350 (From 280)
Stats - Alloy buffed to AC 13 (From 7). Health buffed to 260. (From 140) Cost increased to 5 (From 4)
Stats - Heavy armour cost reduced to 25 (From 40)
Stats - Light block cost reduced to 20. (From 100) Health reduced to 50 (From 75)
Stats - Surge Protector cost reduced to 20. (From 25) Health increased to 250 (From 150) AC buffed to 5 (From 1)
Stats - Rubber cost reduced to 3. (From 5) Health buffed to 100 (From 75)
Stats - Glass cost reduced to 1. (From 2)
Stats - Lead cost reduced to 3 (From 5) Health buffed to 300 (From 200)
Stats - ERA Armour is now a structural component. (Full block only, not the slope)
Stats - Ram cost increased to 25. (From 15) AC buffed to 20 (from 10) Health increased to 1000. (From 400)
Stats - Standard Door AC buffed to 15. Health increased to 250. Now a structural block
Stats - Fuel Engine Hull Pipe AC buffed to 15. (Was 3) Health increased to 300 (From 160) Weight increased to 40. (Was 30) Cost increased to 10. (Was 1) Now a structural block
Stats - Steam Engine Hull Pipe AC buffed to 15. (Was 10) Health Increased to 300. (From 280) Cost increased to 10 (Was 6.5) Now a structural block
Stats - Deck Port Now has identical stats to 1x1x1 metal block. It is also now a structural block. Cost is (5), Same as metal
Stats - Smoke Generator Now has identical stats to 1x1x1 metal block. It is also now a structural block. Cost is (5), Same as metal
Stats - APS Firing Piece AC buffed to 20. (Was 15) Health buffed to 350 (Was 300) Weight reduced to 40. (Was 70)
Stats - APS Ammo Ejector Cost Reduced to 20 (Was 50)
Stats - APS Belt Fed Autoloader Cost reduced to 35 (Was 40)
Stats - Firing Piece – CRAM AC buffed to 20. (Was 5) Health buffed to 350 (Was 150)
Stats - EMP Pellet (CRAM) Cost reduced to 30
Stats - CRAM Gauge Increaser (All Variants) AC Increased to 15 (Was 10) Health Increased to 350 (Was 200) Cost reduced to 25 (From 35)
Stats - CRAM Autoloader (Both Versions) Cost reduced to 25 (From 35)
Stats - CRAM Hardener Pellets Cost reduced to 20 (From 25)
Stats - Fragmentation Pellet (CRAM) Cost reduced to 30
Stats - Range Finder 5m AC Buffed to 10 (Was 7) Health Increased to 750 (Was 375)
Stats - Range Finder 7m AC buffed to 10 (Was 7) Health Increased to 1125 (Was 562.5)
Stats - Range Finder 9m AC buffed to 10 (Was 7) Health Increased to 1500 (Was 750)
Stats - Armoured Range Finder 5m AC Buffed to 20. (Was 12) Health Increased to 1500 (Was 600) Cost increased to 70 (was 50)
Stats - Armoured Range Finder 7m AC Buffed to 20. (Was 12) Health Increased to 2100 (Was 840) Cost increased to 100 (Was 70)
Stats - Armoured Range Finder 9m AC Buffed to 20. (Was 12) Health Increased to 2700 (Was 1080) Cost increased to 125 (Was 90)
Stats - All standard Detection Equipment (Everything in the Detection tab except ; Wireless Snooper, Missile Radar Buoy Holder, Missile Sonar Buoy Holder) AC buffed to 15 (Was 10) Health increased to 300 (Was 200)
Stats - Spinblock, One Axis Turret, Two Axis turret; AC Increased to 15. (Was 10) Health Increased to 800 (Was 150)
Stats - Sky Fortress Turbine AC Increased to 15 (Was 10) Health Increased to 1000 (Was 500)
Stats - Missile Controller AC buffed to 12 (Was 10) Health increased to 300 (Was 100)
Stats - Missile Gantry AC buffed to 8 (Was 3) Health increased to 150 (Was 100)
Stats - Strategic Antenna + Dish Piece AC buffed to 15 (Was 10) Health increased to 250 (Was 150)
Stats - Docking Station AC buffed to 12 (Was 1) Health increased to 600 (Was 100)
Stats - Sub-vehicle spawner AC buffed to 12 (Was 1) Health increased to 250 (Was 100)
Stats - Vehicle blueprint spawner AC buffed to 12 (Was 10) Health increased to 250 (Was 150)
Stats - Small Propeller AC buffed to 15 (Was 10) Health increased to 300 (Was 150)
Stats - Huge Propeller AC buffed to 15 (Was 10) Health increased to 2700 (Was 600)
Stats - Small Jet AC buffed to 10 (Was 5) Health increased to 200 (Was 100)
Stats - Huge Jet AC buffed to 10 (Was 5) Health increased to 1800 (Was 600)
Stats - Small Ion Thruster AC buffed to 10 (Was 3) Health increased to 200 (Was 75)
Stats - Huge Ion Thruster AC buffed to 10 (Was 3) Health increased to 1800 (Was 450)
Stats - Wing + Aileron + Tailplane Health increased to 100 (Was 50)
Stats - Jet Stabilizer AC buffed to 12 (Was 5) Health increased to 250 (Was 150)
Stats - Heat Decoy AC buffed to 10 (Was 3) Health increased to 200 (Was 85)
Stats - AI mainframe Cost reduced to 50 (From 100)
Stats - Radiator AC buffed to 10 (Was 3) Health buffed to 200 (Was 100)
Stats - Large Radiator AC buffed to 10 (Was 3) Health buffed to 1800 (Was 900)
Stats - Ammo Storage + Ammo Parts box Weight reduced to 40 (From 45), volume factor reduced for same overall buoyancy
Stats - Laser Munition Defence – AC buffed to 10 (Was 4) Health increased to 300 (Was 100) Cost reduced to 30 (Was 100)
Stats - Laser Optics & Steering Optics – AC buffed to 8 (Was 4) Health increased to 250 (Was 100) Cost reduced to 20 (Was 50)
Stats - Tactical Nuke – Cost reduced to 50 (Was 100) Weight increased to 40 (Was 4)
Stats - RTG (All types) Cost reduced by 50%
Stats - Small turbine AC reduced to 6 (From 46)
Stats - APS Barrels (All types); AC buffed to 15 (From 12) HP increased to 350 (From 200/225/250) Weight reduced to 40 (Was 50)
Stats - CRAM Barrels (All Except bomb chute.); AC buffed to 15 (From 10) Hp increased to 350 (From 150)
Stats - Bomb chute; AC buffed to 15 (From 5) HP buffed to 350 (From 150) Weight unchanged (5)
Stats - CRAM - Recoil Suppression Barrel; Muzzle velocity factor increased to 0.95 (From 0.9)
Stats - Railgun Magnet Attaching Fixture Health increased to 300 (Was 200)
Stats - Railgun Barrel magnet AC Health increased to 350 (Was 200)
Stats - APS 3x3 Omni mantlet AC buffed to 28 (Was 20) Health Increased to 5000 (Was 3150)
Stats - APS 1x1 Omni mantlet AC buffed to 20 (Was 15) Health increased to 500 (Was 350)
Stats - APS 1x1 Elevation Mantlet AC buffed to 20 (Was 12) Health Increased to 500 (Was 300)
Stats - APS 1x3 Elevation Mantlet AC buffed to to 20 (Was 15) Health increased to 1500 (Was 900)
Stats - APS 1x2 AA Mantlet AC buffed to 20 (Was 12) Health increased to 750 (Was 450)
Stats - Drill (Controller) AC buffed to 15 (Was 5) Health increased to 500 (Was 300)
Stats - Extension AC buffed to 15 (Was 8) Health increased to 300 (Was 150)
Stats - Verical/Horizontal Splitter AC buffed to 15 (Was 8) Health increased to 300 (Was 150)
Stats - Small Drill Bit AC buffed to 25 (Was 15) Health Increased to 700 (Was 200)
Stats - Large Drill Bit AC buffed to 25 (Was 15) Health increased to 6300 (was 1800) Cost increased to 100 (Was 60)
Stats - Power Input AC buffed to 10 (Was 4) Health increased to 300 (Was 150)
Stats - Torque Amplifier AC buffed to 10 (Was 4) Health increased to 300 (Was 150)
Stats - Wing force per speed increased from 0.05 to 0.1. Cost increased to 5
Stats - Aileron force per speed increased from 0.1 to 0.2. Cost increased to 5
Stats - Aero Rudder, Aero Plane, Tailplane force per speed increased from 0.2 to 0.4. Cost increased to 5
Stats - Simple Laser cost from 40 to 100, Ammo usage from 10 to 40
Stats - Spinblock, One Axis Turret, Two Axis turret; AC Increased to 15. (Was 10) Health Increased to 800 (Was 150) (For 1x1x1)
Stats - 3x3 One Axis Turret; 7200 Health
Stats - 5x5 One Axis Turret; 20,000 health
Missile - Interceptor kill strike range increased and damage increased
Missile - HE warheads no longer detonate other missiles and instead push them away
Missile - Thumper head Effective AP 6 > 10
Missile - duration reduced to 30 seconds (From 1 minute)
Missile - Torpedo HE bonus damage reduced from 4x to 3x
PAC - Impact effective AP 10 > 15
PAC - Pierce effective AP reduced 20 > 15
PAC – Explosive Shock damage percentage changed from 10% to 100%
PAC - EMP, Damage reduced by 50%
Ram - (Simple Weapon) Frontal drag reduced to 0.3
CRAM – Duration before projectile deletion increased from 20 seconds to 30 seconds
APS & CRAM – “Heavy” Basic barrels added: AC 25, HP 900, Weight 200, Cost; 70
APS & CRAM – beamed(4m) barrels added, Heavy and normal variants
APS – Flak Radius increased to 6x HE Radius (Was 2x), Damage reduced to 30% of HE (Was 50%) (APS)
APS – Accuracy penalty removed from Disruptor shell caps
APS - HEAT and HESH now explode on impact, and cannot ricochet
APS - HEAT Air gap pen metric drain increased to 60. AP 6 from 10 (molten metal isnt known for its AP)
APS - HESH cone angle 60 from 30
APS - HESH will also create spalling at 5 other airgaps randomly selected from the forwards hemisphere
APS - Squash head thump effective AP is now 10
APS - Hollow Point Effective AP 6 > 10
APS - Hesh frag number divided by the square rooted AC of the armour it passes through instead of the raw AC. (HA=6.3, Metal = 3.6)
APS – All fuse module kinetic stats increased to; (Excluding Inertial Fuse)
APS – Shell health factor – 1.0 (Was 1.0), Kinetic damage factor – 2.5 (Was 0.5) , Armour Piercing factor – 1.5 (Was 0.2), Speed factor – 1.1 (Was 1.0)
APS – Stabilizer Fin Kinetic stats increased to; Shell health factor – 1.1 (Was 0.95), Kinetic damage factor – 3.0 (Was 0.7), Armour piercing factor – 1.5 (Was 0.5), Speed factor – 1.0 (Was 0.95)
APS – Super Cavitator Base Kinetic stats increased to; Kinetic damage factor – 1.5 (Was 0.6), Armour piercing factor – 1.5 (Was 0.4), Speed modifier – 1.0 (Was 0.9) Now has a maximum length of 100mm
APS – Grav. Compensator stats increased to; Shell health factor – 1.1 (Was 1.0), Kinetic damage factor – 1.5 (Was 0.6), Armour piercing factor - 1.5 (Was 0.4), Speed modifier – 1.0 (Was 0.9) Now has a maximum length of 100mm
APS – Reduce propellant burn barrel length requirement from 12*(Shell length)^0.75 to 6*(Shell length)^0.75
APS - Autoloaders start loaded; inputs start at max count down so they immediately load
APS - Clips HEAT Vulnerability, 3m is now 33% (Was 0%), 6m is now 16% (Was 0%), 8m is now 13% (Was 0%)
APS - 8m Autoloader, removed health loss from HEAT penetration (To match the rest of them)
APS - New APS recoil absorber system; now has total recoil capacity which refreshes over time. Smaller absorbers refresh faster but have lower capacity
RTGS - Produce energy 5 times a second rather than once a second (same total per second)
Batteries - start full rather then empty
Lasers - less engine power usage while game is slowed down bug fix
Lasers - Wavefront no longer pierces multiple layers of smoke with its full potential, its now iterative per smoke as per the laser shields
Lasers - frequency doublers AP bonus now scalar with pumps: 0.5AP per pump at 10 pumps scaling to 0.005AP per pump at 100
Lasers - Storage Laser Cavity health loss from HEAT penetration reduced to 40% (Was 100%)
Lasers - Q Switch EMP Susceptibility Reduced to 40% (Was 60%), This now matches other laser components
Laser - Steering optics & regular optics, removed health loss from HEAT penetration
AI - General Purpose Processing Card, added EMP Susceptibility of 60% With protective drainage of 10
AI - Laser Warner EMP Susceptibility reduced to 40% (Was 60%) Health increased to 200 (Was 100)
AI - Smoke Dispenser – Removed health loss from HEAT penetration
Propulsion - Jet Engine (Small) & Jet Engine (Large) Removed health loss from HEAT penetration
Propulsion - Ion Engine (Small) & Ion Engine (Large) Health loss from HEAT Penetration reduced to 50%
Propulsion - Propellers speed cap increased to 100 (Was 50)

Really pleased to be releasing steam engines today along with a multitude of other features changes and fixes. Hope you like the new changes and we will be responding to bug reports posted on the offical bug report forum over the next few days and releasing and required hot fixes.


[New feature] Steam engines added

[New Feature] Active Radar Missiles are decoyed by Radar Buoys

[New Feature] Active Sonar Torpedo Seekers are decoyed by Sonar Buoys

[New Feature] Multithreading of many complex game calculations to improve frame rate

[New Feature] Fuel engine exhaust is bi-directional and can be fed combined from many engines.

[New feature] Steam cloud activated for your entire From the Depths folder. Let me know if it creates any issues.


[Addition] new light and smoke emitter deco blocks

[Addition] Copy/paste, copy to all Added to Missile winches, Belt Feb autoloaders, laser colorer

[Addition] Easy, Medium, Hard, Very Hard difficulty preset buttons added


[Change] Prefabs and Sub objects are all loaded in a second thread (removes the delay before accessing the inventory screen). Load is done when profile loaded. Permanent inventory prefabs also loaded in second thread.

[Change] Textures are now loaded from resources to speed up game boot time. The textures the vanilla game uses are still available in the modding folders if you want to modify them and override them.

[Change] The naming convention for mod files has changed. They are no longer numbered (which led to a lot of annoying version control issues).

[Change] Tips of the day; spelling/grammar and general wording updated.

[Change] Vehicle select in qualification mode now has test vehicle height heading for altitude buttons

[Change] New campaign options text updated

[Change] Adventure mode spawn height 50 instead of 100 (less chance of falling into the ocean, less awkward green from no heatstone)

[Change] Missile menu -left +right swapped to correct sides

[Change] Simple Tutorial now has a seat bit so players dont fall out

[Change] Tutorial vehicles now have seats for players to start on or spawn location lowered

[Change] Notice that saved games are world specific on load game menu

[Change] Story missions default to 'Player' tab if nothing selected (looks really odd if nothing selected)

[Change] Laser colorer secondary return updated to say if connected

[Change] Laser wavefront secondary return updated

[Change] Missile carry across all settings on assign. Ejection angle etc.

[Change] Ammo processor sub meshes now carry with main block

[Change] APS trail set to diameter with a minimum of 150mm (the old default)

[Change] APS ammo component spelling fixed

[Change] Missile trail slider in options now

[Change] Visible tracer color customise actually show colour in description

[Change] Inventory layout for structural blocks moved around a bit slightly so blocks no longer over checklist

[Change] Blueprint Spawner block max range now 100 from 30


[Improvement] All in all the game should now be back to booting up in about 30 seconds or less and will not pause when you access the prefab or sub object inventory tabs or when you click the multiplayer button.

[Improvement] APS trail shorter, wider and now scale with gauge from a minimum of 150mm (Easier to see, especially the light blue tracers)

[Improvement] All trails optimised for better performance

[Improvement] Particle effects redone for most emitter (missiles, jets,smoke etc) to not be so wasteful (and hopefully look better)

[Improvement] Pulse lasers now have the full effect set and a nice fade

[Improvement] Toon ramp and Outline standardised between all game materials (0.009 for components and 0.02 for structural blocks)

[Improvement] Block information popup standardised between all blocks.


[Bug fix] Space designer platform now has required down thrusters

[Bug fix] Tutorials updated for changes in game

[Bug fix] Heli tutorial never actually ended – fixed now

[Bug fix] 1m omni mantlet texture fix




Dangerous Waters:
-All ships have been updated to give a more enjoyable, faster, and controlled battle experience.
-All ships converted to Metal with Alloy only used for balance and flotation boost
-All Cannons standardized and made more powerful. Now, ships can actually hurt each other.
-Strength of the cannons are properly reflected by their gauges. No more will a 100mm cannon beat a 200mm cannon.
-Ammo stashes that were spread around the ships sabotaging the ships have been removed. Now the ships dont kill themselves, your cannons do.
-Ships will no long run from each other. All ships have the same engagement range and will turn to broadside instead of one always running away to maintain a further distance.
-Weapon controllers set so big guns shoot further
-Torpedoes made awesome. Now having a torpedo ship is worthwhile
-AA made better. Planes are no longer safe. Its not great, but better.
-Ally descriptions "one liners" changed to reflect the exact weapons the ships have so the player can make a more educated choice about what they build
-Planes updated a bit, Axis planes now blow up when they fly into space.

Ashes of the Empire
-Tanks updated some to improve sensor detection. Some designs have been update to survive better or be offensively stronger.
-New DWG Tank "Taipan" Designed to be a Tank destroyer.
-The DWG copperhead has been reworked so it never gets stuck under ground. It now has missiles instead of APSs. It is no longer a sub-spawn on all DWG designs (on a few) and it can now freely spawn independently.
- New SE Tank added "Scarab"
-DWG design "Sand Viper" has been replaced
-New WF Tank "Slayer"
-All Faction designs have been limited to only spawn 2-3 copies per fleet. This should encourage more diversity and higher chances of Elite tanks spawning in large fleets.
-DWG will now ALWAYS declare war on the player at the 1 hour mark. Other Factions still have a random chance to also declare war.
-Elite tanks spawn chance has been increased
-All tanks have had their FPs reduced, including Elites. Expect to see more tanks per fight now.
-Player starting base has been updated to have its old tents, campfires and random junk laying around.
-Fixed various other annoying issues and stuff ive forgotten about.
Neter:
-Typical design updates and OW beaming.
-Easy OW designs have been Nerfed
-GT Tribe of the Iron Storm overhauled thanks to the GT crew
-DWG Generic Fleets severely changed and im not sure how they will behave. Now fleets will be grouped by "Pirate Lords" following that lords style
-4 new DWG Airships added to the game for the new pirate lord "Sven Kno"
- DWG "Pendragon" deleted from game
-4 hour Grace period is dead
I have removed the entire concept. There are no more super noob designs. They have been rolled into Easy difficulty or removed.
There is no more pre-made attack fleets.
Now, DWG will declare war on you after 2 hours. If you dont want to wait, declare war on them right away.
Intent of this change is too allow those who want to play their difficulty to do so right away and those who want to build in peace to be able to do so.

-Now when you defeat a faction there will be a chance of all other factions having a change of relationship status with you. For example, killing WF has a 70% of making LH immediately hate you and SS 30% chance of gain +10 in relations. This is untested and i have only a vague idea of what will happen. Also, when a Faction is defeated a pop up message will appear about their deaths (7 out of 8 factions so far)

-DWG garrisons around the player have been increased in strength slightly

Glao
-HQs moved off land so they will produce water units in addition to their air units
-Hauler Design replaced
-Broken SD event fixed and changed

Really pleased to be pushing this huge series of development branch patch to the stable branch tonight. There are three main areas of focus here:
1) Detection mechanics (radar, sonar, IR, visual, retroreflection, wireless signal detection). Vehicles must now detect and track each other and can be designed with stealth in mind. All the new components are AI components although missiles have got some new components too (radar active seekers, radar and sonar buoys).

2) Usability improvements: prefabs in the inventory to speed up building for new and old players alike. A checklist in the inventory to help new players get to grips with the game and help old players remember the basics. A new weapon aiming system that turns the avatar in to a serious threat and adds a lot of gameplay options for those wanting to control their own weapons.

3) A single raw resource (called Material) replaces the natural, metal, oil, scrap and crystal raw resources. This doesn't involve much, if any, redesigning of your vehicles but it makes the game far more streamlined, balanced and understandable. Scrap smelters and crystal farms are now for decoration only but fuel refineries and ammo production still works as usual. Spare parts are no longer in the game at all.

Here is the full change log although I think we've forgotten a few things..

[Change] Detection equipment now available and necessary

[New Feature] Sonar Active / Passive added for detecting submarines and other ships

[New Feature] Radar Active / Passive added for detecting above water targets

[New Feature] Visible cameras and coincidence range finders added for detecting above water targets

[New Feature] IR Cameras added for detecting above water targets

[New Feature] Retroreflection sensors added for detecting targets with visible band optical systems

[New Feature] Wireless snooper added for detecting systems with wireless transmission and reception

[New Feature] Range finders added for tracking detected targets and delivering range estimates

[Change] Natural, Metal, Oil, Scrap and Crystal have been replaced with a single Material

[Change] A 'none' weapon slot has been added

[Change] a simple two slot weapon system is now the default for new players- you can select which you prefer in the options menu

[Bug fix] AI weapon control is no longer overrriden when you are using a UI

[Change] you can begin building on a force when it is out of play by using a new button on the UI or by looking at it and pressing B

[Change] You can begin building on a force or vehicle by looking at it from a distance of up to 1km, rather than 30 metres

[Change] the fleet info tooltip has been revamped

[Change] your player's position is clearly marked in the fleet control UI and the map UI

[Addition] new exhaust pipe added

[Addition] 2m and 3m beams/slopes added

[New Feature] Player aiming of weapons is now far more accurate and allows pin point accuracy of all weapons under your control

[New Feature] A checklist has been added to the inventory to help new players figure out what is needed

[New Feature] Prefabs are now in the main inventory tabs to help players quickly assemble fuel engines (more to come)

[New feature] Radar guided missiles added

[Change] Passive sonar can detect sonar torpedoes and LAMS can engage them

[Change] Passive radar can detect radar guided missiles and LAMS can engage them

[New feature] Missile radar buoy, Missile sonar buoy added

[New feature] Reverse fire missile launch pad added