Zero-K News

This update introduces Zeno, the 5th missile for the Missile Silo, which homes onto a target, hits it for a massive dose of slow damage, and then leaves lingering slow in the surrounding area. Another major change is an increase in general unit visibility via a few nerfs for area cloakers. As usual, there are a few months of fixes, features and, contrary to the title, performance improvements.



Added Zeno, a homing slow damage missile built in the Missile Silo.

• Has significant range, equal to Quake.
  
• Homes onto its target.
  
• Deals 10k slow damage to a single target.
  
• Interacts with shields similarly to Eos, as 10k slow damage is 3333 damage to a shield.
  
• Leaves a large area of lingering slow damage for 30 seconds.
  

Many players felt that cloak was a bit too prevalent and that whether to use it lategame wasn't much of a choice. We address this with a few targeted nerfs to area cloak. Most notably, Cornea has a directional cloak field rather than a huge bubble, and larger armies are slower to cloak. The latter is implemented with the new cloak rate mechanic.

• Area cloakers now apply cloak at a set rate, starting with units closest to the centre of the bubble.
  
• Cloak rate is in terms of mass per second, and only spent on units that are ready to cloak.
  
• For reference, Bandit has 90 mass, Lance about 300, Dante about 800, and Detriment about 2400.
  
• Cloak can still be maintained on any number of units.
  
• Units with personal cloak are unaffected. They don't wait to be cloaked, and don't spend cloak rate that could be used on other units. This includes units that cloak while stationary.
  

Cornea cloaks a much smaller area, but the area can be moved with Fire Special Weapon (D).

• Jamming range 550 -> 600
  
• Cloak field range 550 -> 400
  
• Can shift the centre of its cloak bubble up to 200 elmos away
  
• Has a cloak rate of 1200 mass/s
  

Iris has a small range reduction and cloaks at a slower rate than Cornea.

• Cloak field range 400 -> 360
  
• Jamming range 400 -> 360
  
• Has a cloak rate of 800 mass/s
  

Commander Area Cloak loses a similar amount of cloak range and has the same cloak rate.

• Cloak field range 350 -> 320
  
• Jamming range (with cloak field module) 350 -> 320
  
• Has a cloak rate of 800 mass/s
  

Conjurer is the most efficient cloaker in terms of cloak rate per cost.

• Has a cloak rate of 600 mass/s
  

Puppy now leaves wrecks and debris when killed, but not when it hits a target. Previously it left nothing.

Imp now only barely "makes cost" against a lone Scorcher.

• Cost 120 -> 125
  

Snitch costs a bit more to spam.

• Cost 160 -> 170
  

Cyclops slowbeam had a bug that made it do 3x the intended damage to shields.

• Slowbeam damage to shields 2000 -> 666
  

Hercules can reach the ground and lift everything.

• Fixed a weapon bug that caused its laser to not reach ground units while cruising.
  
• Can now transport Shogun and Reef.
  

Advanced Radar is a bit too good after its cost reduction from 500.

• Cost 400 -> 450
  

• Added Zeno to planet Nataa (the Missile Silo mission).
  
• Tweaked planet Mstaras (the Gunship Factory mission) to be a bit easier on difficulties below Brutal.
  
• Added startboxes for Angel Crossing, Calamity v1.1 and Supreme Crossing V2.
  
• The "Sun, Fog & Water" map tweaking tool now loads its defaults from map settings.
  
• Added shadow density to "Sun, Fog & Water" map tweaking tool.
  
• Added compatibility for more metal layout standards.
  
• Removed map fog by default. This is the type that was visible when zoomed out.
  
• Tweaked the lighting and water settings on a few maps.
  

• Reordered battles in the multiplayer lobby to put empty autohosts below running games.
  
• Build spacing UI has more options, found under "Settings/Interface/Building Placement".
  
• Added a contrast adaptive sharpening shader. It can be enabled under Settings/Graphics/Effects with "Sharpening".
  
• Added notable death explosion to ingame unit help menu (accessed via space+click).
  
• Added better support for flipping the minimap, which is useful when used with a flipped camera.
  
• Added a widget that displays map info like a label on a painting. Disabled by default.
  
• Fiddled with the way line of sight adds to radar. This unlocks more ways to customise radar coverage.
  
• Tweaked war and peace detection to spend a bit more time playing peace music.
  
• Fixed slight visual misalignment when Missile Silo launches missiles.
  

• Improved performance of game mechanics that handle orders.
  
• Fixed significant framerate drop (with certain settings) caused by many multi-weapon striders firing at once.
  
• Fixed kicking a spectator sometimes causing a player to resign.
  
• Fixed X-Ray shader issues on some hardware.
  
• Fixed a rare bug with jumpjet behaviour.
  
• Fixed a rare crash in the tab playerlist.
  
• Fixed missing text on shield charge bars.
  
• Blitz description no longer mentions its old EMP death explosion.
  

This patch has an engine update, some superweapon tweaks, and extra gridding. Strider Hub now requires 50 grid energy. This is targeted at rushes in big team games, as every other use of Strider Hub should not have trouble finding 50 energy. The engine update changes how graphics states are handled over multiple games, which should improve load times and performance.

Bertha now requires a grid connection and is a bit better at knocking down walls. Grid for Bertha has been frequently requested for a long time, probably for thematic reasons, as finding 50 energy seems easy for most Berthas. Zenith had a large buff to knocking down walls just over a year ago, which turned out to be too much, so is slightly worse at it. Starlight aims slightly slower to give defenders a little more time.



Strider Hub requires grid to place striders and to spend resources.

• Requires 50 grid energy to function.
  

Big Bertha requires grid and is better at knocking down walls.

• Requires 50 grid energy to function.
  
• Smooth radius 96 -> 120
  
• Smooth effect increased 40% -> 50% (matches Zenith)
  
• Structure smoothing multiplier 0% -> 25%
  

Zenith is worse at knocking down walls.

• Smooth radius 140 -> 120
  
• Structure smoothing multiplier 100% -> 50%
  

Starlight has reduced aim speed to enable a bit more counterplay, and because slow means epic.

• Pitch rate 1.2 -> 0.75 deg/s (37.5% nerf)
  
• Yaw rate 3.5 -> 2.5 deg/s (28.5% nerf)
  

High Density Plating was erroneously applying its improved form to all chassis.

• Health for Strike, Recon, Engineer 2000 -> 1600
  

• Added the lobby option 'Equalize team commanders' under 'Start' to balance uneven custom games.
  
• Improved performance and load times.
  
• Added GameID to game rules params (widgets can read it).
  

• Fixed wrecks dropped by jumping units snapping to the ground.
  
• Fixed commander experience not being updated correctly when upgrading.
  
• Fixed water visuals on some maps (water was a bit too opaque).
  
• Energy content no longer effects reclaim highlight colour (for mixed resource map features).
  
• Ctrl-Click auto morph for structures is now disabled by Shift.
  
• Fixed blast radius indicator for EMP blasts (Imp).
  
• Improved the sun on Delta Siege Dry Deluxe V3.
  

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.
  

We have been testing an engine update since Wednesday, and this time it seems stable enough to adopt. The update corresponds to about ten months of work and mostly involves the graphics backend. As a result, performance has improved for many people and some AMD graphics issues have been fixed, although in testing we found the current beta graphics drivers to be unreliable. Be sure to ask on the forums or Discord if you encounter issues. The engine also has a few new features, with the biggest being the ability to shrink the space factories try to clear of allied units. The update also has some new music tracks from Superintendent and the commander morph rate nerf has been reduced.



Commander upgrade has its recent nerfs reduced, particularly at high levels.

• Morph rate 5/5/7.5/7.5/10/10/10... -> 5/7.5/10/12.5/15/15/15... per level
  

• Performance should be improved for many people.
  
• Allied units can loiter much closer to factories without being told to go away.
  
• The auto assist toggle sends constructors directly sideways, to save time.
  
• Added more tracks by Superintendent.
  
• Show Selection Rank by default.
  
• Improve RoI tracker and add a hotkey to toggled it.
  

Dirtbag cannot go to space, commanders deal a little less damage, and economy coordination is smoother. New music tracks by the player Superintendent are now available ingame in the track list under Settings/Audio. Conjurer cloak has the largest nerfs since its inception, core cloakbots have small nerfs, and the assault vehicles are tankier. Paladin is a little harder to manoeuvre and Krow has a lot more damage, but with Krow being niche for so long it is hard to say how the balance will shake out.



Dirtbag hits slightly less hard and can no longer create very steep terrain.

• Health 580 -> 560
  
• Damage reduced by 13%
  
• Dropped dirt now has a slope limit (5x normal terraform slope).
  
• In particular, maximum thin spike height ∞ -> 700 elmos.
  

Conjurer is easier to find when area cloaking.

• Movement speed reduced to 66% while area cloaking.
  
• Area cloak cost 8 -> 10
  
• Jamming and area cloak radius 184 -> 175
  
• Decloak radius while area cloaking 184 -> 220
  

Ronin has reduced survivability.

• Health 420 -> 400
  
• Turn rate reduced by 15%
  

Reaver is worse at dodging and shooting.

• Turn rate reduced by 10%
  
• Range 270 -> 265
  

Mason is slower to slow down Rover expansion.

• Speed 72 -> 69
  

Ravager is tankier and better at hitting mobiles.

• Health 1920 -> 2000
  
• Projectile velocity increased by 5.7%
  

Minotaur is also tankier and better at hitting mobiles.

• Health 6800 -> 7200
  
• Projectile velocity increased by 2%
  

Krow bombs are easier to target and its laser now demands respect.

• Manoeuvrability while bombing 25% reduction -> 25% increase
  
• Speed while bombing is still reduced by 25%
  
• Reduced cluster bomb spray angle by 6.6%
  
• Increased laser fire tolerance by 10%
  
• Laser range 383 -> 395
  
• Laser DPS increased by 19%
  

Paladin is less manoeuvrable.

• Speed 46.5 -> 43.5
  
• Turn rate reduced by 10%
  
• Torso turn rate reduced by 10%
  
• Head turn rate reduced by 20%
  

Strike chassis gains a unique attribute at level 1.

• Added innate jamming with 175 radius (matches Conjurer)
  

Guardian loses the free battle drone as it is too powerful.

• Removed free battle drone on level 5.
  

Morph is slower but cheaper at higher levels.

• Morph costs 75/100/650/200/300/400/500... -> 50/100/650/200/250/300/350...
  
• Morph rate 10/15/20/25/30/30/30... -> 5/5/7.5/7.5/10/10/10...
  
• Basic weapon cost 5 -> 25
  

The most common weapons mostly have damage nerfs while Flamethrower has a buff.

• Beam Laser DPS reduced by 4%
  
• Light Particle Beam DPS reduced by 8%
  
• Disruptor Beam DPS reduced by 6%
  
• Riot Cannon reload time 1.63s -> 1.8s
  
• Riot Cannon range 300 -> 285
  
• Rocket Launcher projectile velocity reduced by 6%
  
• Rocket Launcher area of effect 96 -> 90
  
• Flamethrower DPS increased by 13.6%
  

Constructing your economy as a team is easier as shared projects now generate shared payback.

• Temporary payback for constructing mexes and energy is now proportional to the amount of resources spent on each structure, rather than only paying the owner.
  
• Mex payback increased 50% -> 80%.
  
• Energy payback increased 50% -> 60%.
  
• Energy maximum payback rate increased by 6%.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the old mex payback to be closer to 35-40%.
  
• Fixed payback sent to AFK players simply disappearing.
  

Some units gain the Ronin Lotus-fighting AI and other units shoot less at hidden mexes.

• Added Lotus and running away on firing to Moderator and Scalpel.
  
• Ogre only shoots at nearby hidden mexes, not though at max range.
  
• Crab doesn't shoot at hidden mexes.
  
• Krow now skirmishes everything to avoid enemies walking under it.
  
• Tweak move clumping to be slightly more lenient for large units.
  

• Added a work-in-progress alternate music track by Superintendent.
  
• It can be enabled ingame under "Settings/Audio/Track list".
  

Zhurou (DRP) is a bit easier on Easy.

• Shifted Detriments later on Easy.
  
• Added an allied antinuke on Easy.
  
• Added a player Fusion on Easy and Normal (for some energy leeway).
  

Hibiliha (Funnelweb) is also a bit easier on Easy.

• Added Ultimatum temporary unlock.
  
• Hampered initial enemy income on Easy by removing backline mexes and the remaining Fusions.
  
• Thinned out initial enemy army on Easy.
  

• Improved Pyro firing animation.
  
• Ctrl+Click formation move now obeys current maximum move speed.
  
• Merged unit spotter widget improvements from rollmops.
  
• Adv Geo blast radius shows while placing Geos.
  
• Tweak the antinuke range lines to be slightly thinner.
  
• Placing a morphable structure with Ctrl held now queues the morph after completion.
  
• Antinuke now gains one level per nuke interception.
  
• The stealth tag is now supported for modding.
  
• Right clicking on a unit in a factory now guards the factory. This avoids accidentally repairing rather than assisting. Queuing a command after guard cancels the guard, so the common use case is preserved.
  
• Self destructing a large portion of your stuff now blocks the command and prints a warning, rather than automatically resigns. Note that resign is bindable for those that want it.
  

• Saved 10% or so of allocated Lua memory.
  
• Limited the commands created by large area attacks for performance reasons.
  
• Reduced the complexity of Dirtbag animation at high unit counts.
  
• Fixed overwriting existing guard commands with Shift sometimes not removing the command.
  
• Fixed Caretaker guard order dropping logic.
  
• Fixed rare build ETA crash for spectators.
  
• Fixed a crash for mods that try to set fractional stun times.
  
• Fixed some changes to the ingame menu for player based hosting (Skirmish and Steam Coop).
  
• Fixed a mixup in skirmish behaviour between 2D and 3D range.
  
• Fixed a value in the terraform raise/lower tooltip.