Zero-K News

The general consensus is that the start income increase was a bit much, so it has been refined as follows.

• Start resources 200 -> 250
  
• Commander income +8/+8 -> +6/+8
  

We have also applied an engine update, since the beta branch reports are silent and the closed testing is promising. Please report any issues.

In this update we've taken a look at the economy, with an eye to getting more players through the early game and into the midgame. Several problematic units have also been tweaked and there are some superweapon changes for large games FFA.


Initial incomes are now higher, offset by lower starting resources.

• Commander income +4 metal, +6 energy -> +8 metal and energy.
  
• Start resources 400 -> 200.
  

The change in income and resources approximately corresponds to a free Solar and two Mexes. This change should smooth the start of the game by creating a slightly more economic default start and by making the loss of an early mex less devastating. Further effects, such as the efficacy of Ravens, will require community experimentation.

Constructors no longer generate trickles of resources.

• Everything in the factory tab now has 0.5 metal and energy income (up from 0.3).
  
• All other constructors (besides the Commander) no longer generate resources. Previously, small constructors generated 0.15 metal and energy.
  
• Constructor costs have mostly been reduced by 4 per buildpower to offset the economic disruption. Each unit of buildpower used to generate 4 metal and energy every 2 minutes and 13 seconds.
  

Here is the full list of cost changes. Some buffs or nerfs have occurred relative to the rule of 4 cost per buildpower.

• Caretaker 220 -> 180
  
• Conch 180 -> 150
  
• Conjuror 140 -> 120
  
• Constable 130 -> 120 (a relative nerf of 6)
  
• Convict 140 -> 120
  
• Crane 220 -> 200 (a relative buff of 4)
  
• Quill 150 -> 130
  
• Mariner 220 -> 200 (a relative nerf of 10)
  
• Mason 140 -> 120
  
• Wasp 300 -> 260 (a relative buff of 10)
  
• Weaver 200 -> 170
  
• Welder 230 -> 200
  

The change addresses FFA Conch spam, makes losing an early constructors a bit less game-ending, and should make factories such as Spider, Amph and Tank a little less awkward.



Conjuror

• Cloak drain 0.5 moving 0.1 static -> completely free.
  

Scythe

• Autorepair +20 after 10s -> +10 after 10s.
  

Kodachi

• Autorepair +12 after 5s -> +10 after 10s.
  

Cyclops

• Slowbeam damage 1500 -> 2000
  

Toad now has slightly better HP/cost than Gremlin, since it is slow and relatively short ranged.
Cost 550 -> 500
Health 1500 -> 2000


Hacksaw now reliably protects someone standing right next to it.

• Range 430 -> 480
  
• Projectile velocity 800 -> 600 (high velocity causes misses)
  
• Projectile turn rate increased 22% (low turn rate also causes misses)
  
• Burst delay 0.5s -> 0.2s.
  
• LOS 500 -> 550
  

Cutter

• No longer occasionally fails to move close enough to its target.
  

Seawolf

• Can now fire (and successfully hit) in every direction.
  
• Missed torpedoes no longer fly across the map (also applies to underwater Scallops).
  

Tweaked the costs of some Striders and Superweapons.

• Paladin 10.5K -> 10K
  
• Detriment 24K -> 20K
  
• Zenith 30K -> 32K
  
• Disco Rave Party 32K -> 36K
  

Fixed Detriment overkill prevention, it now only applies to its missiles.

• Added an option 'Settings/HUD Panels/Command Panel/Selection Closes Tab' which sets whether selecting a construction option closes the construction tab.
  
• Made units easier to click on by enlarging their mouse raytrace hitboxes.
  
• Drop detection no longer automatically pauses, because the pause detection behaviour was broken.
  
• Fixed performance issue while not looking at the sharing/scoreboard panel. The performance issue that is caused by looking at the sharing/scoreboard panel remains.
  

There will be a 2v2 tournament at 19:00 UTC on the coming Saturday, February 23rd. Click here to see the tournament thread: http://zero-k.info/Forum/Thread/27799

The server is the focus of this update, with particular attention paid to autohosts and the rating system. Autohosts now automatically ask players to select a new map, replacing the old random selection, and initiate a battle start poll. When an autohost is sufficiently full at the end of a game it will also briefly ask each player whether they want to play a small team game with a subset of the available players.


Autohost voting has now been streamlined to avoid long vote periods:

• Directly after each battle there is a 25 second discussion time with no polls.
  
• Afterwards, a map majority vote is called in which players can pick between some randomly selected maps.
  
• Once the map is selected and if there are more than 6 players a start vote will be called.
  
• If the game hasn't been started, normal votes can now be called as usual.
  

Additionally, if there are at least 12 players in the room at the end of a match then the battleroom will offer each player the chance to play a small team game. This feature uses the matchmaker and will only move players if a reasonably balanced small team match can be created out of the players that accept the offer.

• Ladder ratings are now chosen such that the rating system is 75% confident that the player has at least that rating.
  
• Ratings now have higher variance, meaning they will allow for bigger changes between days.
  
• Ratings will change faster the more games are played.
  
• Fixed an error in the formula to calculate ratings from team games.
  
• Rating uncertainty has been replaced by standard deviation. The +- numbers shown represent one standard deviation.
  

• Fixed some user flags being incorrect.
  
• Prevent users from vandalizing empty autohosts by setting custom maps on multiple of them.
  
• Only count custom matches for Elo if the teams are even.
  
• Spectate afk players on game start.
  
• Allow anyone to call !spec to spectate afk players.
  
• Only allow allies to vote on in-game kicking.
  
• Abort MM battles if a player doesn't load in and temporarily ban that player from matchmaking.
  
• Reduce force start time from 180sec to 160sec.
  
• Fix autohosts getting deleted on every server restart.
  
• Add the logged in player to the end of the ladder if he isn't on it.
  
• Add a searchable ladder page with the full ladders.
  
• Make sure the Space Lobster rank is unreachable.
  
• Prevent an exploit where players could spoof awards and force start games.
  
• Fix XP not being given out for some battles.
  
• Disallow joining matchmaker if the player is still fighting in another battle and that battle has been going on for less than five minutes.
  

• Made individual units easier to select.
  
• Added some development engine compatibility, which should allow us to start wider testing.
  
• Fixed Hunter launch sound.
  
• Improved Shockley impact effect.
  
• Improved Seawolf's ability to hit things.
  
• Disabled Dynamic Water as some ATI users have had trouble with it.
  
• Fixed a time display bug related to the craziness of UTC.
  
• Added a few turrets to Mission 2.
  

After some much-needed life maintenance, the summer (or 'ɹǝɯɯns') Zero-K development break is over. During the break we received a Hunter model and some much improved animations for the Cloakbots. The major changes of this version are to Flea, in the form of a nerf, and Space Lobsters, in the form of a physics tweak.

Flea:

• Range 155 -> 150
  
• DPS reduced by 7.3%
  
• Decloak radius 120 -> 200
  

Other changes:

• Put a cap on Space Lobster by setting a limit on the projected flight time of lobbed units.
  
• Halberd can no longer change armour state while disarmed.
  
• Improved the walk animations of the Cloakbots.
  
• Replaced the Hunter model.
  
• Hid the modoptions window in matchmaker games.
  
• Potentially fixed an undead Outlaw error.
  
• Chicken Queen health multiplier modoption can now be set higher.
  
• Reworked Into Battle startboxes for 1v1.