Vox Machinae News

It’s that time of year once again, so Vox Machinae is back and spookier than ever with our wormageddon update! As some of you may recall, last year we debuted our spooky week content which added giant death-dealing worms in Blast Chamber and featured our skull achievement hat for a very limited time. Well let me tell ya, this year we’re taking things even further with the following appropriately spooky additions:

Worm Hunter, a new limited time offering:



We like to call it Skull 2.0, but essentially we’ve added a new way to get an even more exclusive spooky week hat, so get to unlocking before spooky week ends! Note that the original Skull hat achievement is once again enabled for the taking, so don’t miss it this time around.

Wormageddon remix mode

You asked for it (again and again, you know who you are!), so we went ahead and did the unthinkable. With the new wormageddon remix mode enabled, worms will now spawn on any level of your choosing and in any mode. What’s more, they come out even more often than before, sometimes several slithering around at the same time! So better brush up on your dodging skillz, because those worms are out to get you!

Dust ON those old cobwebs, plus green goop too

We thought our old spooky week decorations could use some more… spookiness. That’s why we spared no expense and imported only the finest earth spiders to populate your hangar with webs. Also, someone must have left the green smoke machine on for far too long and flooded the hangar with an eerie green glow.

Wait, where'd TT3 and Modules go?

I knew someone would ask us that, so here’s the long and short of it. We wanted to put in all sorts of crazy awesome new stuff for this update. As we piled on the features though, it became abundantly clear that we had too much stuff to lump together with the spooky content. So we split them up, with spooky content heading out the door very soon, and a much more ambitious update following at a later date.

Last but not least, the patch notes:

• Wormageddon has arrived. This new Remix option will frequently spawn worms on any level.
  
• Spooky Week runs from October 26 to November 2.
  
• Spooky Week: Earn a spooky new hat for giving the worms a good thrashing.
  
• Spooky Week: Dedicated servers will have Wormageddon enabled from October 29 to November 1.
  
• Scramble Teams option is now more scramblier.
  
• Fix some Index controller buttons stopping working after opening the Steam overlay.
  
• Fix networking issue that could cause the master server to not return the server list in some rare cases.
  
• Fix intermission length on dedicated servers being 75 seconds instead of the intended 60 seconds.
  
• Add support for Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS.
  
• Add support for MFG Crosswind V2 pedals.
  
• Fix incorrect lighting on worms.
  

Boo!

- Team Space Bullet

• Show countdown timer on intermission.
  
• Fix Overhaul having one stuck reticle quadrant.
  
• Randomize teams now evenly distributes human players.
  
• Fix performance issue related to tessellation quality setting.
  
• Fix missing detail geometry on terrain.
  

Now do like Arnold says and stay cool!

Greetings and salutations! Prepare for incoming patch... oh no too late, it's already here -- AAAGH *static*.

That's right, we've been tinkering away on lots of little fixes and changes. It's a real grab bag, so check out the patch notes below to find out all them lil bits. Also, get hyped for the next update that will have some Big Things™.

Vox Machinae's birthday is coming up, too. ːcleancakeː It's been almost a year in Early Access. We still have many things we want to jam in there before we let it escape, so don't think we're gonna leave you hanging; there are lots of updates to come.

0.34.0 alpha

• Fix bug that caused projectiles to not hit Drill's upper leg, making them very difficult to destroy.
  
• Fix Drill sometimes falling at extreme speeds when using the drill/downward jets.
  
• Add support for CH Pro Pedals USB.
  
• Voice chat screen shows correct reflections on pilot depending where they are instead of where you are.
  
• Fix voice chat screen incorrect pilot shoulder poses when more than one person is talking.
  
• Balanced the difficulty on Convoy co-op mode.
  
• Turning jets now have their own unique sound effect and do not trigger the regular jump jet effects and vibration.
  
• Objective screen now shows up to 4 player/team scores and has a new layout.
  
• Fix bug which could cause effects to not appear if they were in the zoom scope view, but not the main/eye view. This mainly occurred when using the Hammer missile cam.
  
• Improved "commit" effect for Hammer missile.
  
• Network bandwidth optimizations.
  
• Improved smoothness of rotations on GDRs.
  
• Added support for UPNP protocol on the server, improving the odds of successfully connecting to a player-hosted game if the host's router supports the feature.
  
• Improve networking ability to handle corrupted or invalid messages.
  
• Four new hats added. A new matching achievement exists for each hat.
  
• Cooling geysers have erupted on Cryptic Tundra. Jump in and beat the heat!
  
• Reduced CPU load by approximately 10%, improving framerates on CPU-bound systems and reducing the chance of missed frames in VR.
  
• Added "Scramble Teams" option under the Teams menu in the match config.
  
• Grinders now have different radar ranges, with lighter classes having higher range than before, and heavier classes having lower range than before. The radar range is shown on the radar monitor.
  
• Fixed hands being rendered with one frame of delay. This fixes problems such as the jumpjet stick intersecting the hand and makes the hands feel more responsive in VR.
  
• Greased lightning! No one is going to make you drive 55, because being struck by lightning now refills your fuel.
  
• Added different briefing for deathmatch with no teams (free-for-all).
  
• Fix bug that caused starting a training mission to fail if you are currently hosting a match.
  
• New sound effect when hammer commits to its target, audible to those around it.
  
• Stockpile scoring system changed to award points after holding for specific amounts of times, capping off once full. Points are also awarded for neutralizing an enemy factory.
  
• Salvage spawning location rebalanced for more fair locations.
  
• Salvage respawn penalty to defending team now reset once new Salvage has spawned.
  
• Increased health on Hopper's arms to be able to survive one railgun hit.
  
• Fix bug which caused Drill's main weapon aim to be very slightly off target.
  
• Fix bug which prevented FreePlay dedicated servers from restarting themselves automatically and causing server performance issues.
  
• Fix hand pose when grabbing the throttle.
  
• Drill downward jets now have no fuel cost and propel straight down instead of trying to assist towards the nearest enemy.
  
• Fix controller vibration playing when a detached limb impacts something.
  
• Fix controller vibration playing when an enemy shoots your detached limb.
  
• Add "-platformmic" launch argument to use experimental platform-provided mic input. Oculus Store = Oculus SDK. Steam = Oculus SDK for Oculus VR Mode, otherwise Steam SDK.
  
• Reduced respawn time in Convoy mission.
  
• Remix options can now be used on Convoy mode. Beware, enemies can benefit too!
  
• Fix glowing paint on Grinder cockpits on some video cards.
  
• Fix microphone cutting out after switching audio output while the game is running.
  
• Lasers now count a hit if the laser touches an enemy at any point of the beam's duration instead of only at the start. (for accuracy tracking purposes)
  
• Enemy factories that show up in Convoy mode now capture by proximity, consistent with Stockpile mode.