WAR RATS: The Rat em Up News

[p]Hello fellow rats![/p][p] I've updated the game with a small patch.[/p][p]As always, thanks for playing the game! And please leave a positive Steam review if you've been enjoying it. It really helps a lot :)[/p][p]Here are the patch notes:[/p]

• [p]Damage Numbers In Horde[/p][p]Flipped damage numbers for units in Horde coming from the Left so they are now reading properly.[/p][p][/p]

• [p]NEW UNIT: Supply Dratnes[/p][p]These are unarmed transport units that the TechnoRat use to ferry supplies across the battlefield. They have a chance (which is difficulty dependent) to randomly appear during missions across the Campaign (except mission 1), New Game + and Horde and will fly from one side of the map to another up in the sky. If you shoot them down a crate will drop from them that holds plenty of supplies: ammo, health, nades and CHz. Keep an eye out for them! They may just come in clutch.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Leaderboard Scores Backend Implementation[/p][p]Added Leaderboard score calculation in the backend (This should all be retroactive so your score is based off of your existing stats in your Stats book.) The things that affect your score are how many times you’ve beaten the Campaign. How many territories you have conquered in both regular and NG+. How many horde mode waves you’ve survived. How many Skirmish battles you’ve won. And also the difficulty setting you play on while doing those things. Save slot doesn't matter. It all counts. This is purely in the backend for now. Meaning you won’t see them yet, either yours or other people's. It's just so I can start collecting scores and testing behind the scenes. But feel free to Rat em Up extra hard knowing your scores are being saved from now on for future rankings. Coming very soon! In the next patch probably. If it all works. And everything does to plan. And the rats don't devour me and my soul for all eternity.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Gameflow Improvement[/p][p]Removed “Main Menu” and “Restart” buttons from the Campaign Death Screen. Now the only option is “Continue”. This was done to emphasize the roguelike nature of the game and help with first time players who may think that dying means a Game Over fail state completely. Other game mode death screens remain the same.[/p]

[p][/p][p]That's all for now. Happy rat killin![/p][p]Regards,[/p][p] Brian[/p]

[p]Hello fellow rats![/p][p]I have just updated the game with Road Map Update 5: HORDE MODE! This is by far the biggest update yet, it's basically an entire new way to play the game. And I know I said that when I added New Game Plus, but trust me, this is waaaay more so. In fact I regret even using that phrase with New Game Plus cause that doesn't even cut it now.[/p][p][/p][p]And of course I gotta start by saying thank you to everyone who's bought and played and enjoyed the game! It really means the world to me. And if you have been enjoying the game, please consider leaving a positive Steam review, it really does help! Not just with the algorithm but also helps other people decide if they want to try the game. [/p][p][/p][p]Anyway, let's dive in to the full patch notes. It's gonna be a long read so grab yourself a nice drink and settle in. Or just start playing right now and learn as you go![/p][p][/p]

• [p]HORDE MODE[/p][p]This is the main addition of this update. A brand new mode, complete with a brand new map! In Horde, you are not on the attack this time. Instead, you must defend your base from BOTH sides as endless waves of TechnoRat terrors try to destroy it. Your base has 3 lives, and each enemy (not just Ratineers) that enters the base will remove 1 life. If your base lives reach 0, it's game over, and you have to start over. If you die however, you can continue from the last completed wave.[/p][p]You do not have your regular Troops to recruit in Horde, instead, you have stationary defensive units that can be teleporatted in at specific locations. They can be healed, and it always costs half the CHz to repair rather than recruit, so try to keep them alive if you can. [/p][p]In addition to these new Troops, you can also build walls, campsites and minefields, but instead of the usual Build Menus, you can only build them on specific locations called Emplacements. These are specific builds and you must hold down the Interact button to build them. Each one, including the Troops, takes a different amount of time to activate. So plan ahead as you have a limited amount of time between each wave. There will be a preview image of what it is that will be built when you enter the build area.[/p][p]Each wave will spawn a certain amount of enemies that will come from both the left and the right side of the map. The number of enemies will increase with each wave, and after a certain wave more enemy types will come. Every 10 waves, all the enemies will increase in attack and health. [/p][p]Once each wave has been defeated, you will have a brief time of rest called the Prep Phase and a CHz Chest reward will spawn near your base. The amount of CHz in this chest will increase with each wave cleared. You can use this Prep Phase to repair, build, resupply, gather CHz and loot and all that. I mean, you can do that stuff during the waves too, but you'll probably be busy trying to survive.[/p][p]After each Prep Phase, all Gear left on the battlefield will be cleared, the cost of all Emplacements will go up slightly and a new wave will begin.[/p][p]The game will track your Highest Cleared Wave depending on the difficulty you've chosen for your current Ratty. This will be shown both in the Horde Menu and in the HUD during Horde games (As well as the Stats book in the Shop) and will also be added to the Leaderboards once those are added in a later patch. [/p][p]The game will also save after each successful wave is cleared, so you can continue later or if you die. Dying in Horde does NOT remove your gear. And you do NOT gain XP or new Blueprints while in Horde, but you can always return at any time after playing the other game modes to upgrade your Ratty.[/p][p]There is a new HUD feature during Horde: The Proximity Meter. This will alert you to when enemies are approaching your base and from which side. There's 3 levels of warning, which show roughly how near they are. [/p]
• [p]NEW UNITS[/p][p]There are two new units in the game: Machine Gun Teams and Mortarat Teams. These are exclusive to Horde mode and are recruited by using Emplacements rather than the Radio. The Radio is actually disabled during Horde. Machine Gun Teams are rapid fire, direct line of sight units. Mortarat Teams are long range indirect fire units that cannot attack when enemies are in close range, so plan accordingly.[/p][p]These units can be upgraded via Terminals on either side of your Base in Horde. These upgrades do not carry over to other saves or game modes.[/p]
• [p]NEW MAP[/p][p]There is a new Map in the game: Ratharan Desert. At the moment, it's exclusive to Horde mode, but I will be adding it to Skirmish in a later patch. I will also be adding more Horde maps with different layouts and enemy wave compositions at a later date.[/p]
• [p]Other[/p][p]Just a couple bug fixes/QoL/polish in this update, as the bulk of my time was taken up with all the Horde mode stuff.[/p]
  • [p]Golgus shots were not damaging Walls. This has been fixed.[/p]
  • [p]TR Ratineers blood splats on the ground will now fade away after a time.[/p]
  • [p]Added a Loading Tip[/p]
  • [p]You can now go to the Shop at any time. You can go there via the Horde screen. [/p]

[p][/p][p]And that's it for this update! It's a massive one, I hope you all enjoy it. I actually find I like playing Horde more than the base game now haha. Although that's probably because I've played the base game for countless hours at this point. Please let me know your thoughts! As always I welcome all feedback, good or bad (as long as it's constructive please) so don't be shy. You can write in the Steam forums or join the Discord! Or message me on my social medias (wootusart)[/p][p]Every time I add stuff to the game I think of even more stuff to add haha. I have so many ideas for Horde mode now, so stay tuned for more content in the coming weeks![/p][p][/p][p]All the rat love in the rat world![/p][p]Regards,[/p][p] Brian[/p]

[p]Hello fellow rats![/p][p] I've updated the game with a small patch.[/p][p]As always, thanks for playing the game! And please leave a positive Steam review if you've been enjoying it. It really helps a lot :)[/p][p]Here are the patch notes:[/p]

• [p]New Head Slot Skin[/p][p]A baseball cap has been added to Skin Selection. There's no unlock condition for it (for now, but there probably will be in later patches). [/p][p][/p]
• [p]Mission 6 (Chit Chit Jungles) Balancing[/p][p]This mission during the Campaign will now spawn 1 additional Rat Trooper each wave. Applies to all difficulties.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Rat Dealer's Kiosk FX[/p][p]There is now a puff of smoke particle effect when Rat Dealer's Kiosk spawns in or out.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Rat Dealer's Kiosk HUD Icon[/p][p]There is now a little icon in the HUD that will appear whenever Rat Dealer's Kiosk is around.[/p][p]Top right corner of the center panel.[/p]

[p][/p][p]Stay tuned for Road Map Update 5 (Horde mode) coming soon![/p][p]Regards,[/p][p] Brian[/p]

[p]Hello fellow rats,[/p][p] I have updated the game with the following stuffs:[/p][p][/p]

• [p]Added Icons to the Shop Menu and Starting Weapon Selection screen to indicate the projectile type being fired by the gun. So you can just quickly see without having to read the description how the gun plays. I hope the icons are self-explanatory. [/p][p][/p]
• [p]Grenade throwing has been changed. It no longer relies on movement momentum to add distance or change trajectory. As much as I loved this mechanic (and yes I am aware some people did not like it, even hated it) I had to change it to a more “traditional” way of throwing: where the grenade is thrown at a certain distance and height each time, regardless of your own movement, position or speed. The reason I have done this is while getting ready for Horde Mode, I found that when facing left and throwing grenades I could not get it to function the same way as when facing right. I don’t know why, I spent hours trying to figure it out but couldn’t so I just said fuck it, let’s just do it live and throw nades like all the other games. I guess another bonus to having it this way is I can now add Gear or Upgrades that will increase or alter the throw distance and/or height.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Arty Rat’s Barrage now has a wider area to land shells on. The amount of shells and damage per shell has not changed. But this was done to better differentiate Arty Rat from Bomber Rat. So Arty Rat is more of a large AoE attack where the damage is spread out and Bomber Rat is more of a concentrated big attack.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]The minimum amount of shells fired during Arty Rat’s Barrage is up 1 for Cheasy and Ratgular Difficulties. Total shells remains the same.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Flrat Cannon shots were passing through the Shooting Range Targets. This is now fixed.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Flrat Cannon was OP. I have nerfed the impact damage (the direct hit damage) of its shells by half. Their shrapnel damage is unchanged.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Discovered that buildings were still being built even if the game was paused (like if you were in a menu) and have fixed that. So hopefully that finally puts an end to any issues related to the game unpausing while in menus. Because once a building is finished the game will unpause itself and if you were in a menu that meant it would unpause in the background and you'd be stuck in the menu cause the menu functionality is tied to the game state being paused. Yes is all very convoluted I'm just a noob at coding ok? OK?![/p][p][/p]
• [p]Special Rats will now emerge from your special place facing the direction you are facing and move and do their things in that direction. So you can send them to the left if you're facing left.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue when starting a New Game while you have an existing game going, that sometimes the warning pop-up would not display, leading to possible unintentional overwriting of saved games.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Updated Stick Grenratters to not explode on contact with friendly troops or world items like Crates or Barrels. Please note that they will still damage or kill those things if they are caught in the explosion.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]There will now be an additional RAT RAT Walker spawning each wave on Mission 7 (Tundrata) when playing in Hairy Rat Balls mode.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Updated the Tips in the Play Guide.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Updated “Wipe Game Stats” warning text. Game Stats wipe will now also reset your New Game Plus progress. [/p][p][/p]
• [p]The pre-mission "Lil Ratty Prep" scene and the post-mission "Marching Old Guards" animations now will show a "Press \[Space] or (A) to skip" message. (I plan to have these buttons change dynamically with any custom keys in a future update.)[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Shooting Range now has a little score board and destroying targets increases your score.[/p][p][/p]

[p]And that's that for this patch. Thanks as always for your feedback! It really helps me make the game the best it can be. And thanks for your patience as I make this game too![/p][p]And of course I gotta say this: If you are enjoying the game please leave a positive review on Steam! It really does help. Even a one word review counts so don't worry about writing any beautiful words of poetry or anything.[/p][p][/p][p]Regards,[/p][p] Brian[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]Hello fellow raaaaaaaaats,[/p][p] I have just updated the game with Road Map Update 4! This update is all about Gear and Special Rats. With... two new Upgrades :D I know I had this update titled as "Gear and Upgrades" but that was before I had Special Rats in the game. And these guys just had to take priority once I started making them. I love these lil guys! And hopefully you will see why having more Special Rats beats just having more Upgrades.[/p][p][/p][p]And as always, before we get on to the patch notes: a big thank you to all who's played the game. It really does mean everything to me. And if you've been enjoying the game, please leave a positive review on Steam. It really does help. Even a one word review helps so don't worry if you don't know what to write or think it will take too long! [/p][p][/p][p]Ok so full patch notes here:[/p][p][/p][p] - 4 NEW SPECIAL RATS - [/p]

• [p]New Special Rat: Arty Rat. This Little One will run forward a bit, drop to his knees, and with a flare in each hand, signal an artillery barrage to be fired at his location. Unfortunately he dies in the process. I’m sure you’re very sad. The amount of shells fired is difficulty dependent. Easier = More shells, harder = less shells. Pro tip: Consider the timing of this one when releasing him, as it takes a while from release to the first rounds landing.[/p]
• [p]New Special Rat: Medic Rat. This Little One will move forward, healing any OldGuard units nearby. Only once, but to full health regardless of what unit or how much health is left. He moves slowly, so timing this one is crucial! After he walks and heals a bit, he then dies. Because he actually has to use his own blood for this. You monster. But when he dies he drops a health pick up for you! What a legend. Well, it’s not so much he drops it for you but he just drops his own one and you can take it if you want. You really are a monster aren’t you.[/p]
• [p]New Special Rat: Bomber Rat. This Little One will run forward and then detonate a large explosive, doing extreme damage to anything caught in the blast. He will trigger the explosive either on first contact with an enemy (any enemy), or after a certain time, whichever comes first. I was gonna call this one Suicide Rat, but then I realised that all the Special Rats are basically suicide rats… Even if it’s not by choice.[/p]
• [p]New Special Rat: Mechanic Rat. This Little One will run forward and stop at the first Turrat they come across and start repairing it. Even if the Turrat is at full health! (They are loyal but stupid.) So don't waste him! They will then work themselves to death repairing your Turrats just so you can save a few CHz. Stay classy.[/p]

[p] Your Special Rat can be switched out at the Shop. You'll notice him sitting on the counter. Interact with him to bring up the menu. Right now, switching out Special Rats is free, and they are all available from the start, but that might change in the future. For now though, have fun trying them all out![/p][p][/p][p] - NEW GEAR AND DROP RATES -[/p]

• [p]New Gear: Ratvolver Auto Kit – while equipped, this allows the Ratvolver to fire in full auto.[/p]
• [p]New Gear: Ratvolver Mega Mag – while equipped, this increases the ammo capacity of each Ratvolver magazine to 20 shots.[/p]
• [p]New Gear: RatHound Whistle – while equipped, this will increase the attack damage of RatHounds[/p]
• [p]New Gear: RatHound Collar – while equipped, this will increase the HP of RatHounds[/p]
• [p]New Gear: Fat Rat – while equipped, this will replace the regular Ratzooka rockets with Fat Rats. Which are basically mini-nukes. Nuke em Ratco![/p]
• [p]New Gear: Pulse Blaster Cooler – while equipped, doubles the amount of shots the Pulse Blaster can fire before overheating.[/p]
• [p]New Gear: DoeShot Pressurizer – while equipped, increases the range of the DoeShot.[/p]
• [p]New Gear: RAR Extended Mag – while equipped, Ratning Auto Rifle magazines hold 30 rounds instead of 20.[/p]
• [p]New Gear: Machine Pistol Laser Rounds – while equipped, the Machine Pistol will shoot Laser shots instead of Ballistic shots. These shots do more damage overall in addition to extra Laser damage to targets that are weak to Laser at the cost of 2 ammo per shot instead of 1.[/p]
• [p]New Gear: Blast Shield – while equipped, this will reduce the damage you take from Explosions by half.[/p]
• [p]New Gear: Big2 Bore Ratshot - while equipped, the Double Barreled Ratgun will shoot more shot with each shot. Clear?[/p]
• [p]New Gear: Ratineer Contract – while equipped, will grant 1 extra free Ratineer every wave. Works from the 2nd wave up.[/p][p][/p][p]With these I have doubled the amount of gear in the game! And I have yet more planned, so stick around
• throws knife at your chest*. These items have been seeded throughout the game so they drop randomly depending on your progress and/or their rarity.[/p][p]Drop Rates Update: I have updated the drop rates for all Gear dropped from enemies throughout the game. Firstly, they are now difficulty dependent. So Easier = higher chance for loot to drop. Harder = lower chance. Secondly, the overall drop rates have been lowered. This was done to increase the value of Gear items in the game and also to stop having the battlefield absolutely littered with Gear. As well as to help balance out the new Special Rats, which are basically free extra bonus abilities.[/p][p]And just something to note about Gear: If the description doesn’t specifically say it stacks; then it doesn’t stack.[/p][p][/p][p] - NEW MECHANIC - RAT DEALERS KIOSK -[/p]
• [p]Rat Dealer now has a Kiosk! He will randomly appear during Missions around the map (only in the Campaign, so not in Skirmish or New Game +) and offer you a selection of 3 random Gear items to choose from. You can then buy 1 if you want and he disappears. He randomly appears and disappears throughout the course of the mission and he is more likely to appear in easier Difficulty Modes. He does not appear at all in Hairy Rat Balls Mode.[/p][p][/p][p]- NEW TRACK -[/p]
• [p]Another awesome music track from Jamie Keen has been added to the game! It is specifically for Mission 1 of the Campaign, and is designed to be a nice introduction piece. So instead of randomly playing one of the heavier later-game tracks as the first level music, it’s a nicer build up. Since Mission 1 isn’t so intense yet in terms of gameplay, it clashed with those pieces of music.[/p][p][/p]

[p] - NEW UPGRADES -[/p]

• [p]New Upgrade: Shield Rats Speed. Purchasing this will increase the speed at which Shield Rats move.[/p]
• [p]New Upgrade: Special Rat Cooldown Time. This will reduce the cooldown time of your Special Rat ability. Max Tier 3.[/p]

[p][/p][p] - General bug fixes, polish and QoL -[/p]

• [p]Some TechnoRat Base Shields were missing some of the new FX introduced in the last update. This has been fixed.[/p]
• [p]Radio and Inventory key panels will now display a custom key binding if it has been set to something other than the default keys.[/p]
• [p]There was an issue with some Skins unlocking. This has been fixed.[/p]
• [p]Added a check so if you already had conquered 20 territories before Achievements were added to the game it will now trigger when loading to the Main Menu.[/p]
• [p]Riot Rat shell casings were not ejecting properly. This has been fixed.[/p]
• [p]Pistol will now eject plasma casings when Plasma Rounds are fired.[/p]
• [p]Pistol will now play a different shot sound effect when Plasma Rounds are fired.[/p]
• [p]Special Rats now says things when released.[/p]
• [p]Added Extra Nade Damage stat to Inventory screen.[/p]
• [p]Limited the number of times a Sentry Gun Damage Upgrade can be purchased to 2. This will only affect you either in a New Game or if you have not yet purchased it.[/p]
• [p]Sentry Gun Damage Upgrade Tier 1 cost was incorrectly set at 100CHz. It is now 300CHz. This will only affect you either in a New Game or if you have not yet purchased it.[/p]
• [p]Adjusted the drop rates slightly of some higher tier gear to make them rarer in the late game.[/p]
• [p]Pistol Extended Mag Gear now increases magazine size to 16. Up 1 from 15.[/p]
• [p]When firing the Pistol with the Plasma Rounds Gear equipped, it should no longer be able to go -1 in ammo count.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where if the Auto Slinger or Double Barreled Ratgun was unlocked, blueprints might still drop for them after loading a saved game.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where after loading a saved game, some gear items would not drop for already unlocked guns.[/p]
• [p]Sometimes after loading a saved game, it was possible to equip more than 3 items if there were already items equipped. This has been fixed.[/p]
• [p]The Ratvolver now has a very slight Rate of Fire reduction. Probably not even noticeable by most people. Unless you are abnormally fast at pressing the mouse button you won’t notice a difference. This was just done to allow for the Ratvolver Auto Kit gear item.[/p]
• [p]Updated various texts that mention “Ratvolver” to say “Starting Weapon” instead.[/p]
• [p]Added a couple more Loading Screen tips.[/p]
• [p]In the Save Slot info section, I changed “Weapons” to “Guns” to make more space for longer named guns. But if you have 2 long named guns it will still go outside the label. I will update this properly later. For now it’s fine. IT’S FINE![/p]
• [p]Starting Weapon Selection screen now has proper controller UX.[/p]
• [p]Added Special Rat selection screen to Shop.[/p]
• [p]Updated controller functionality for Skin Selection Screen in New Game Plus.[/p]
• [p]It should no longer be possible to accidentally (or intentionally) open the Radio or Inventory screens in the background while looking at the Shop menu.[/p]
• [p]Reduced the variety of enemies encountered in each Mission in New Game Plus when playing Ratgular or Hairy Rat Balls modes. This should help with the difficulty curve so it’s not an instant super hard experience but more gradual.[/p]
• [p]Added large blast decal for Big Booms.[/p]
• [p]Top Hat Top Rat was spawning saying “Rat” (which is my test phrase for unit chatter) He no longer spawns saying that.[/p]
• [p]The help text in the Inventory screen was not reappearing if the "No free inventory slots" was triggered. This has been fixed.[/p]
• [p]Reduced amount of Speed that Rat Hounds gain when their Speed Upgrade is purchased.[/p]
• [p]Rat Hounds now do much less damage against Structures and Shields. (They are now essentially highly specialized anti-infantry units)[/p]
• [p]“Throwables” description text in the Codex was old. This has been updated.[/p]
• [p]Blunderbuss Accelerator Gear was missing the gear dropping FX. That’s been fixed.[/p]
• [p]At Build Sites, the error message for trying to build a CHz Collector if the Front Slot was occupied was incorrect. This has been fixed.[/p]

[p][/p][p]And that covers what's in this update. I hope it is to your liking. And as always, feedback is welcome! Please let me know what you think of everything. Not just the update but the game in general.[/p][p][/p][p]Thank you all so much from the bottom of my rat heart![/p][p]Regards,[/p][p] Brian[/p]