Vox Machinae News

Our V1.4.0 content update is finally here with the freshly-minted Decked Out Update. Here's what to expect with this (literally) huge update:




[h3]Decker Grinder[/h3]
Decker, aka "Salvage, Dicer, or Last Boss," has been called many things in its various aliases within VOX, but none of those roles were ever player-controllable. That’s about to change with the Decked Out Update, where we’ll put you in the hot seat of this big beauty. Here's a taste of the unique awesomesauce Decker will bring to the table:

• Big Guns: 2 Large mounts and 2 Fixed. Good luck with the bindings!
  
• Humming Shift: This short-duration aerial strafe in any cardinal direction () will have your opponents guessing where you'll touch down next.
  
• Armour+ : This big boi is a damage sponge, as you'd expect.
  
• Big fuel tank Its breadth of reach is surprisingly far, just don't expect to be ascending to any great heights or lifting off again soon.
  
• High Heat Capacity: Gotta be able to cool all them shiny guns down, am I right!?
  

[h3]Campaign Quest Bubbles[/h3]
This feature is all about making intermission quests more clear to follow. We're adding floating bubbles next to character's heads who's conversations progress story threads both critical and minor. There will be bubbles to differentiate between major or minor quests, and ones to show that a character needs an item before the story can proceed.


[h3]Campaign Intermission Skipping[/h3]
This one is for the player who just wants to dive into the action bits of the campaign without all the intermission exposition. While it was already possible to skip intermissions, the option was a bit hidden so we’ll present a clear skip option before each intermission except the 1st one (so players can still learn how to move around for the briefings).


[h3]Mount Damage+[/h3] (only for weapons on swiveling mounts)

While working on rebalancing Decker, We decided to make a set of global changes/improvements to how the swivelling weapon mounts on work:

• Grinder damage readouts screens now show mount health.
  
• Disabled mounts will point down. This is visible from both the cockpit and outside.
  
• Made it more clear to others when a mount has been disabled with additional FX.
  
• Mount health has been balanced across all grinders and mount types.
  

[h2]In Conclusion[/h2]

So another jam-packed VOX release, and that's without even getting into platform-specific features for those "continuing their VOX Quest elsewhere." We're so thrilled to finally be able to round out our original core vision for the grinder roster, and can't wait to hear about all the unique ways Decker is changing the game.


[h2]Full V1.4.0 Patch Notes:[/h2]

[h2]New Stuff[/h2]

New Grinder: Decker

• Giant Heavy Grinder with 2 Large and 2 fixed Mounts
  
• Humming Shift: a lateral short duration jet for additional traversal
  

Singleplayer Campaign QoL

• For players interested in only gameplay bits, intermission skipping options are now presented during titlecard sequences
  
• Campaign intermissions characters show helpful visual thought bubbles near their heads to indicate crucial and optional questlines
  
• Characters that require quest objects given to them will show a unique visual thought bubble indication so player knows their status
  

[h2]Improved[/h2]
General

• New missile trail effects that last longer, look better, and are more consistent on Quest vs. PC.
  
• Mallet missile is more clearly visible as it approaches with a cloud ring after arming
  
• Terrain texture resolution improved on some levels with blurrier patches
  
• Rook/Drill/Decker stat descriptions now to include extra line for clearer descriptions
  
• Updated Pulsar effects to punch through fog better
  
• Many weapon impact effects render more efficiently on Quest Platforms
  
• Skythorn arm effects more visible through fog from the shooter's perspective
  
• Heavy foot impact effect is now much more efficient to render, esp for Quest users
  
• Jumpjet effect visuals improved
  
• Mallet explosion effects more efficient on Quest
  

Mount Damage+ (only for weapons on swiveling mounts)

• Grinder damage readouts screens now show mount health.
  
• Disabled mounts will point down. This is visible from both the cockpit and outside.
  
• Made it more clear to others when a mount has been disabled with additional FX.
  
• Mount health has been balanced across all grinders and mount types.
  

HOTAS

• Added support for VPforce Rhino FFB Joystick
  
• Added support for VelocityOne Flight Stick
  
• Added support for VPC WarBRD[-D]
  

[h2]Gameplay[/h2]
Campaign

• Mission 6: Frank moves quicker through the chase section of the mission.
  
• Mission 6: Frank's health gets boosted to a higher minimum after the base defense.
  
• Mission 6: One less consistent enemy chasing you during the chase section of the mission.
  
• Mission 6: Turret enemies now aim a bit better during chase section to make up for frank moving quicker.
  
• Mission 5b: There are a few less little worms to eliminate during boss battle
  

General

• Updated Pulsar effects to punch through fog better
  
• Grinder Stats visuals in grinder selection menu have been altered to make sense relative to Decker's stats.
  
• Rook's front bars have been reduced in their dampening effect
  

[h2]Fixes[/h2]

• fix for hummingbird jet effect not showing up sometimes
  
• fixed lighting falloff animation on the large cannon impacts so they don't end so abruptly.
  
• Boundaries will no longer be set to an incorrect boundary for training missions
  
• Goldrush laser will now properly shoot people at higher angles
  
• Fixed bug in m5a where jones could constantly be reminding to catach up throughout the mission
  
• Fixed some boundaries having holes in them where you could pass through
  
• fixed an issue where a boundary could appear invisible
  
• Fixed audio issues occurring during higher stages of botstomp
  

[h2]Audio[/h2]

• New Humming Shift SFX Audio
  

[h2]Hostile Conditions Approach[/h2]

Beat the summer heat with today’s release of VOX’s Hostile Conditions Update. Now you’re in full control of where, when, and in what weather condition to battle it out in multiplayer. Sneak through the clouds during an overcast night on Serpent Plains or brave a frigid snowstorm on cryptic tundra. Weather and time of day will play a huge factor in your team’s plans for battlefield dominance, so strap in today and experience VOX like never before. Here are some highlights of what Hostile Conditions brings to the table:



[h2]And the Fun Continues...[/h2]

This update has been very long in the works here at Space Bullet, twisting those virtual knobs to dial things in just right has been a journey. Many core systems were altered to facilitate these dynamic weather changes in this hostile conditions update. So after the inevitable nips and tucks that such big releases demand in their wake, we’ll be ducking our heads back out of the spotlight to tend to some longer term goals for the company. We might even pop onto some matches to see where things are sitting with folks, who knows! Above all we look forward to hearing the reception of these major changes, so be sure to share your thoughts over on our Discord Server.

Balancing:

• Chainstorm: Takes less time to reach full spin-up, and it gains accuracy as it spins up. Heat cost has been reduced slightly, while projectiles were sped up a little.
  
• Aftershock: shells travel significantly faster. Spread has been tightened a bit, and delay between shots fired has been reduced very slightly. Finally, the total reload time has been reduced while the arming distance was increased significantly.
  
• Railgun: Reduced the heat dissipation upon firing.
  
• Mallet: Reduced reload time and heat cost. Projectile now accelerate from slow to fast very quickly, making it a little easier to land targets.
  
• Skythorn: Reduced reload and the projectile's lifetime.
  

Bugfixes

• Changed spawning logic so that bots can pick Rook and Overhauls once again.
  
• Fixed exit screen's "don't show again" toggle to actually work now.
  

Improvements

• Aftershock's audio was remastered to have its timing be dynamic relative to gameplay changes.
  
• Added support for Saitek Pro Flight Combat Rudder Pedals.
  
• Added support for VKBsim Gunfighter MCG Ultimate Twist.
  

• New exit menu encourages players to join our Discord before quitting, and includes a QR code for convenience.
  
• Fixed servers not recognizing comrade/ignore list while in a match.
  
• Pulsar balance tweaks: Reduced heat cost and slightly increased fire rate
  
• Created a new "User Prefs" settings menu for enabling disabling various menu prompts. (eg. new exit menu)
  
• Added a "disable briefings" option in user pref menu to disable starting match briefing animations.
  

[h2]Fixes:[/h2]

- 🔉 Aftershock impact and whirling sound volumes reduced
- Hangar geometry for the platform under grinder lowered on Quest2 so it doesn't clip things
- Chainstorm impact/launch effects performance dramatically improved on Quest2 to reduce framerate issues when firing at nearby enemies
- Accounts server having issues fetching player comrades lists
- Overhaul's Aftershock vertical aim speed and limits now matches other grinders
- Weapon selection menu no longer shows random large icons in the middle of the menu
-💥Weapons with an arming time now play a dud effect when hitting an object under the arm time
- Pressing back while in the What's New menu now correctly returns the player to the multiplier menu.
- Mallet now properly named.

[h2]Improvements:[/h2]

- 📶 Grinder/Weapon menu bars now have a transition animation while swapping between options
- Added support for Winwing Throttle Base2
- Added support for CH Products IP Desktop Controller
- Added a minimum effective range reticle visual that shows when a weapon won't arm within the range that's highlighted. This affects the reticle while using Mallet, Hammer, Skyjackers and Aftershock weapons.

[h2]Balance Changes:[/h2]

- Drill legs more resilient to impacts against terrain
- Dredge's legs are more resilient against both terrain and grinder impacts.

Many Aftershock Tweaks:
- Projectiles land in a tighter formation, their damage and speed were increased, and the delay between each of its 5 consecutive shells was reduced.
- An arming time was added to make it both harder to land point-blank shots, and for fairness if a skyjacker was shooting you while you were firing it.
- Lowest pitch angle limit raised a bit.

Many Chainstorm Tweaks:
- Bullet spread at the beginning increased while the spread once it's fully spun up was reduced.
- Both the damage and heat buildup of each bullet has been reduced a bit, while the overall time it takes to spin up was increased quite a bit.