Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation News

Stardock is such a fun place!

We love it here, but our lead designer for Ashes: Escalation has put some of that excitement and appreciation into words in his latest dev diary. Check it out!

https://www.stardock.com/games/article/487697/

Callum's monthly Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation update is here and ready for you to read!

Version 2.75 is on the horizon and brings a lot of exciting changes with it. Check out the dev diary to learn more!

https://www.stardock.com/games/article/487904/

Support for the DLC and additional fixes and changes available in the free v2.7 update today.
See the changelog at the bottom of the post for all of the details.

https://youtu.be/qISZZPmTya8

Exciting new scenarios, new units, and huge maps await you in Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation’s largest DLC yet! Take on the role of a PHC leader and conquer dangerous missions where the odds are stacked against you, or join with the Substrate to repel your PHC oppressors.



PHC Atlas
This anti-air, anti-drone frigate is an excellent line of defense against Drone Hives. Since it only costs metal and doesn't require radioactives, the Atlas is a less powerful, but inexpensive, alternative to the Apollo cruiser.


Substrate Tormentor
This indirect fire frigate is capable of saturating an area with artillery shells, causing damage to anything in its radius of attack. Although it lacks accuracy and direct single target damage, the Tormentor is at its most powerful against groups of units rather than structures.




Ascension | The Substrate have developed a prototype experimental Eye of Darkness. Defeat it before you’re wiped out.

Battleline | Push out strong units, maintain your resource levels, and survive against a large Substrate army.

Carnage [PHC] | In the biggest scenario to date, face down 7 enemy Substrate opponents while also helping your 6 allies stay alive long enough for you to claim victory.

Carnage [Substrate] | In the biggest scenario to date, face down 7 enemy PHC opponents while also helping your 6 allies stay alive long enough for you to claim victory.

Deadlock | Build up your forces and fight off the Substrate before they reach critical mass or overrun you.

Entropy | The PHC are attempting to overrun your Substrate base before you gain a critical mass of Turinium. Hold them off.

Incursion | The PHC have launched an attack on Substrate territory. There is no one around to help - you will have to defeat them on your own.

Influx | Ventrix has tainted the name of the PHC for long enough. Overcome the scarcity of resources and take him out with vicious orbital attacks.





Nashira | Enormous symmetrical 14 player map designed for standard 7v7 games

Entropy | Large asymmetric 1v3 map

Osiris 5 | Large 2v2 with limited choke points through the center

Pallavia | Medium 2v2 with limited choke points through the center

Battleline | Medium 1v1 map

Battleline Frenzy | Medium, single lane 4v4 for combined defenses and huge clashes of forces

Galatea | Large symmetrical 10 player map designed for standard 5v5 games

Caldera | Large symmetrical 12 player map designed for standard 6v6 games



The new Secret Missions DLC is now available for $3.99

http://store.steampowered.com/app/757510

www.ashesgame.com

v2.7 Changelog:

Audio
Lowered volume of Agamemnon weaponry
Lowered volume of Substrate Regenerator. (Also affects Overmind and Queen)
New and improved Air Marauder Audio

Maps
Balanced the Radioactives between North and South teams on Rigel
Moved starting location of Nexus and added additional Radioactives on Walbright

Bug Fixes
Fixed Targetting issue with Reaper and Saboteur
Fixed an issue where Juggernaut weaponry was lowering the volume of other sounds
Fixed some tooltip errors

For a detailed list of updates, view the changelog at the bottom of this post.





Quality of Life Changes
Fans of multiplayer are going to love this one! Regions owned by players who disconnect during a multiplayer match can now be claimed by others. Additionally, damage status updates for Dreadnoughts, Juggernauts, and the Nexus will always play immediately so that you can respond to an attack right away.

Campaign Improvements
Changes in recent updates have caused us to re-evaluate some of our campaigns and how they flow. To ensure a more balanced and intuitive campaign experience, we've made several adjustments, including adding some advanced defenses to certain missions, updating grammar to fit with the voiced dialogue, granting access to certain units, pacing changes, and more.

Map Updates
The call for more strategic diversity in our maps was loud and clear! We have made adjustments on certain playing fields that fix the proportion of Radioactives, which was previously too low. We also fixed some of those pesky spawn points and areas that were unbuildable on some maps.

The v2.65 update is ready and waiting for you in your Steam client! www.ashesofthesingularity.com

v2.65 Changelog:

New Scenario Splash Art

We have updated the thumbnails for most of the Scenarios so that each one now has their own unique image, instead of having a few shared among them.

New Benchmark Screen

We have improved the layout and appearance of the pre-benchmark screen.

Quality of Life

• Regions can now be claimed from players who have disconnected from a multiplayer match
• Damage status updates for Dreadnoughts, Juggernauts and the Nexus will always play immediately

Balance

In 2.5, we reduced the health of the Assembly to make it weaker than the PHC Counterparts to compensate for its versatility. Since it can no longer produce air units, we are restoring some of that health. 

• Increased Health of Assembly from 1200 to 1600 
• Orbital Nullifiers (Structures) will no longer block capturing of regions

 Campaign Changes

• Avatar and Sapper advanced defences now available in most missions
• Juggernauts and Nexus Health upgrade now available on King of the Hill scenario

Imminent Crisis

• Fixed some inconsistent grammar between the audio and text in Deneb
• Medic is now available in Deneb
• Falcon is now available from the beginning of Calethaon
• Removed Dialog about Smarties in Calethaon as it felt abrupt and out of context. (Due to lacking another now obsolete line to preface it)
• Delayed the arrival of the Overmind on Artorius when playing on lower difficulties, to varying degrees
• Barrager is now available on Roceda & Silgul
• Increased starting Quanta on Decanus to compensate for increased cost of Incursion 

Escalation

The changes to Substrate air production in 2.6 created some issues in the Escalation campaign which we are now addressing. We are also removing some outdated dialog that now provides incorrect information.

• Aviary is now buildable in Betelgeuse and Rosette with Pan, Dominator and Punisher unlocked
• Removed obsolete dialog about Harvesters in Betelguese
• Removed obsolete dialog about Saboteur in Rosette
• Removed obsolete dialog from Lagoan revealing the Brute Mk2 and Hera 
• Removed confusing and misleading mention of Harvesters from Leo

Map Changes

We're fixing some map issues and changing a few maps that had too low a proportion of Radioactives, which limited strategic diversity.

• Fixed unbuildable Radioactives Deposit on Lyra
• Fixed unbuildable Metal Deposit on Aenghus
• Added additional Radioactives Deposits on Shredded
• Added additional Radioactives Deposits on Manannan
• Added additional Radioactives Deposits on Anishanaa
• Balanced all 6 spawns on Anishanaa
• Fixed a disconnect between two regions in "Crack the Shell"
• Adjusted Turinium requirements on several team game maps to reduce outliers that were set too high or too low

Bug Fixes

• Fixed several tooltip errors
• Fixed a bug where "Turtle Wars" Scenario had invulnerable turrets. 
• Fixed a bug where Medics were still running towards buildings, despite no longer being able to repair them
• Fixed a bug where multiple Engineers were losing their build speed bonuses after the first structure
• Fixed a bug where hotkeys weren't showing up on Quantum Upgrade icons
• Fixed a bug where pending Logistics warnings were not showing up for peers in a multiplayer game.
• Fixed a bug where the Pan didn't have an icon on the Empire Tree
• Fixed an issue where holding down the mouse click when using attack move would instead box select 
• Fixed a bug where Juggernauts would do low damage after obtaining huge amounts of levels and upgrades
• Improved the visual weapon alignment of the Sentinel, Carving, Falcon, Serpentine, Starburst and SkyEnder turrets. 
• Fixed a bug where Nano Mesh Barrier could be cast on dead units which would then lock out the ability

Legacy Changes

• The following was implemented in 2.6 but was not documented in the changelog
• Disruptor Tower can no longer target air units.

https://youtu.be/HJk2D-WhJe0

Updated Tutorial
We're retiring our old tutorial and replacing it! Concise and fun, it will pack in more important information for new players and provide a better overall learning experience.
UI Improvements
The unit panel for the UI will be condensed to display information more efficiently and will provide bigger icons for changing panels. Changes to the Observer Mode UI will let spectators easily compare the resource income between players, among other things.
New Quantum Upgrade
In order to offer more opportunities to protect your Nexus, we've added an optional upgrade that will increase the building's health, making it more difficult to destroy.
Quality of Life
Several changes aimed at improving the user experience and game readability will make the game more accessible to new players.




Production Scaling
Multiple engineers can now boost the production of units and structures without any diminishing returns. The Sapper and Avatar units can now build advanced defenses without having to manually upgrade basic defenses first.
Repair Rework
Engineers will now repair at a much faster rate, but are no longer able to repair units - only buildings. The same goes for Medics - they will be able to heal units, but can no longer restore health to structures. This gives each unit a much more distinguished role.
Air Production Rework
The production of all Substrate air units is moving from the Assembly building to the Aviary. This makes air strategies more of a deliberate investment that enemy players will need to scout and adjust to accordingly.



Get Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation today!

View the full changelog here.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/507490