Zero-K v1.10.12.1 - Commander Characterisation

Commanders are more diverse and generally a bit cheaper to morph. On top of this, each chassis has more effective versions of modules that align with the speciality of the chassis. Weapon and upgrade costs have been reworked at level 4 to make more sense.

Modules were tweaked to buff most types of commander, with nerfs for builds that stack range and speed, as those were a bit too strong. Repeat modules are now limited to 5 rather than 8, and many have chassis-specific buffs. Range and speed modules are more expensive, eating into the cheaper morph cost at level 4, while other modules have the same or greater effectiveness.

Campaign commanders can still stack 8 repeat modules, and gain the benefit of most speciality buffs, because that just seems like fun. There are some non-commander changes too, such as nerfs for Cloakbots, buffs for Spider, and greater restrictions on gunships leaving the map.



Weapon and upgrade costs were shifted around to make a bit more sense. Level 4 is up to 200 metal cheaper than before.

• A "Beam Laser" option is now available at level 2, replacing "No Weapon"
  
• All weapons at level 2 are now free (cost 25 -> 0)
  
• Level 4 base cost 650 -> 150 (now base cost always increases by 50 per level)
  
• Picking "No Weapon" at level 4 actually results in no weapon
  
• Basic weapons at level 4 cost 25 -> 350
  
• Advanced weapons at level cost 100 -> 400
  

Generic modules now have a limit of 5, rather than 8. Commanders will generally be a bit more powerful earlier as many modules were buffed in some way, however, a few were nerfed. The module limit in the campaign is still 8.

[h2]Module Changes[/h2]

Speed penalties for modules are now a percentage of speed - after flat bonuses - rather than a flat penalty. Overall this increases the speed penalties for commanders that stack High Powered Servos, while often buffing other builds.

Damage Booster is more effective and usually costs less speed.

• Damage boost 10% -> 15%
  
• Speed penalty flat 1 -> 2% of total speed
  

High Density Plating costs much less speed.

• Speed penalty flat 3 -> 2% of total speed
  

High Power Servos is denser but slightly less efficient.

• Cost 150 -> 200
  
• Speed boost 3 -> 3.5
  

CarRepairer's Nanolathe is also slightly less efficient, but now it is nice and round.

• Cost 150 -> 200
  
• Build power boost 4 -> 5
  

Adv. Targeting System costs more metal and speed.

• Cost 150 -> 200
  
• Speed penalty flat 1 -> 3% of total speed
  

Personal Cloak usually costs less speed.

• Speed penalty flat 8 -> 12% of total speed
  

[h2]Chassis Changes[/h2]

Some modules are more effective on appropriate chassis. The specialisation bonuses listed below are relative to the newly tweaked modules.

Guardian gains 25% more health from modules.

• Ablative Armour health 600 -> 750
  
• High Density Plating health 1600 -> 2000
  

Strike gains more regeneration from modules but loses the buff by level 6.

• Autorepair regeneration boost 10 -> 12
  
• Rescaled innate regeneration 5/5/10/16/25/35 -> 5/8/12/16/20/25
  

Engineer gains more buildpower from modules, turning the module tweak into a buff.

• CarRepairer's Nanolathe buildpower boost 5 -> 6
  

Recon gains more speed and can lower its jump cooldown, at the cost of poor buildpower.

• High Power Servos speed boost 3.5 -> 4
  
• High Power Servos reduces jump cooldown by 1 second
  
• CarRepairer's Nanolathe buildpower boost 5 -> 4
  

Campaign Chassis is generally more powerful, as that seems fun.

• Gains all the module specialisation bonuses listed above, except for buildpower.
  
• Gains 5 buildpower from CarRepairer's Nanolathe, to keep its numbers round,
  
• Now has Strike-level innate regen (up from 5 at all levels)
  
• Removed Strike innate jamming, as it was added accidentally.
  

[h2]Weapon Changes[/h2]

A few less popular weapons have been buffed. A bug that caused Shotgun, Flamer and Heatray to only benefit from every second range module has been fixed.

Shotgun regains the range it lost for technical reasons, and fires faster.

• Range 264 -> 285
  
• Reload 2s -> 1.8s
  

Cluster Bomb has more damage in the form of an extra projectile, and more spread.

• Projectiles 8 -> 9
  
• Spray angle increased by 20%
  

Concussion Shell deals a bit more damage.

• Damage 750 -> 850
  

Ronin is slower when in battle and a little easier to kill.

• Health 400 -> 380
  
• Moves at 80% while reloading
  

Reaver cares more about incidental health loss.

• Regeneration rate 20 -> 15 health/second
  

Flea is more dangerous.

• Damage increased by 14.3%
  

Venom now has an Avoid Bad Targets toggle.

• Aircraft that go too far off the edge of the map are now "gently" pushed back in.
  
• Shotgun, Flamer and Heatray now gain range correctly.
  
• Fixed Recon's shaky aiming while walking.
  
• Players and AIs that fail to place a start position are now cycled through defaults, rather than selecting the first.
  
• Fixed a few outdated module tooltips on the campaign UI.
  
• Renamed "Save / Load" in Campaign to "Profile".
  
• Improved the AI's commander morph choices.
  
• Speed is now displayed with a decimal place in Space+Click menu, as many units have increments of 0.5.