Executive Assault 2 News

Just a small patch to supplement the last one, fixed the following:

• Tutorial updated so you can build a corvette
  
• Mechanoid factory animation error has been fixed
  
• Multiple gateway probes in multiplayer has been fixed
  
• A slowdown which occurred if your carrier ship was destroyed while the fighters were docking.
  

Cheers,
Rob

Greetings executives, today you are getting some really cool features.

Thanks to all the feedback I have been getting through the game and on the Discord channel I have implemented the following changes, if you familiar with the game please pay close attention to the concept changes.


A lot of feedback I was getting was that the tech tree was a bit confusing and also despite its size was very much unused. Generally people would go for the laser weapons, a few key buildings and that was it, the new tech level system should help rebalance this and also give a better understanding to how to progress down the tree, this will also stop people reaching higher tier weapons very quickly

In order to upgrade to the next level you need to build and upgrade a research outpost costing money, this important change makes manufacturing goods and trading so much more vital to the game now and also makes it important to defend such a key structure, loosing a research outpost will not lower your tech rating, however if it is captured it will upgrade the tech rating of who ever gets it.


Factions were always a bit confusing as to what exactly they did so this has now been streamlined. A faction will now blow up a deployed outpost if you don’t pay them rent for use of their space with either a planetary defence laser or another type of weapon, so make sure you keep them happy.


All robots, Executrons and CEOs can now pick up and carry crates around, these crates contain either goods such as Ironite and coolant or a deployable object such as a turret. This new content will now give Executrons more to do such as setting up kill zones with traps and turrets, installing new efficiency modules and I’m sure in the future many more things.

To deploy crates you now have a multi tool which when fired at a deployable crate will unpack it, using the right mouse button you can repack it again, the multi tool will also scan crates to show its contents.

Crates can either be found in space floating around, on derelict space stations or processed out of your goods factory in the new packing machine which will turn anything in your cargo hold into a crate, crates can also be inserted back into the cargo hold too from the same factory.


Can now order placeables directly from a delivery company at a much higher price than the trader.


You can now upgrade the efficiency of buildings like the robot factory by buying an upgrade module from a trader and manually inserting it into a slot in the building.
This does the same thing as over charging the reactor but on a permanent basis.


Dauntless class ship - This is a new fast attack starship is great for initially expanding your empire with 4 weapon points and overcharged engines for quick turns and zooming around the cosmos.

Battlecruiser class ship - Not quite as big as the battleship but an excellent cheaper alternative to it.

Z12 Bot - Z11 bots not quite cutting it? Try the new and improved Z12 with extra armour.


Starship machine guns weapons have been adjusted and re balanced as well as graphically altered to look more exciting.

Robot now have Oulsator guns and super heated laser beams which can vaporise robots.


You can now build long glass corridors to help with base design and also for simply enjoying the view, there is a limit to how many you can make to help with game mechanics


By holding down the right mouse button when telling ships to move you can now make them move into formation, also telling a group of ships to move somewhere will now keep them in that formation


Make sure you have defences in your home star system as you never know when you might be hit by a giant asteroid.



Along with these new features there are the usual fixes and changes including:

• New graphics for the raider ships.
  
• Overview screen has been replaced with building controls screen
  
• Can now self destruct segments to help with base design
  
• RTS camera now zooms to the mouse pointer correctly
  
• New music has been added included winning/loosing music
  
• You can now simply click on an outposts roof to bring up its options.
  
• Ships and turrets will no longer try and shoot through shields or your own ships to try and attack another target.
  
• Beam weapons now correctly damage shields over multiplayer correctly.
  
• Level 3 machine guns on spaceships now only launch 3 shots instead of 5
  
• The number of audio sources in the game has been reduced which should help it randomly cutting out
  
• The Ion cloud no longer causes damage to ships but simply drains shields and coolant reserves.
  
• Can now press and hold on certain plus and negative buttons on console to help with manufacturing
  
• Lights on derelict outposts now start off.
  
• You can now stop a ship attacking a derelict
  
• Pressing ‘ when typing will no longer bring up the bug submission form
  
• Improved accuracy on turrets a little.
  
• The unit fabrication screen will now remember your last layout
  
• Health bars are now under the building UI
  
• Can no longer build ships/robots on other people stations
  
• Collisions with other robots is now removed, should help stability.
  
• Ironite now added to unit fabrication screen
  
• Tooltip shouldn’t get stuck any more
  
• Can now bring up main menu when in fighter as CEO or execution
  
• Fixed shields and railings in repair facility
  
• Outpost ships now have a fleet cost of 1
  
• Control panels now update when the research is done
  
• Function keys now work for Executrons when in Excecudisplay
  
• Ships now move fire at structures from a distance
  
• Dragging a box over units will no longer select civilian ships unless they are the only thing in the box
  
• Auto buy Ironite and coolant now off by default
  
• Ships come out of the warp tunnel at the correct y axis
  
• Bribing factions as now been removed as no longer needed
  
• Lighting weapon now works better against shielded units
  
• Feedback from factions no longer needs 2 separate windows
  
• Notification system is now colour coded to help with priority
  
• Mining ships now group up in sensors
  
• Monolith now fires correctly over multiplayer
  
• Ships no longer attack other ships when their health is 0
  
• Health bar graphics now scale according to the zoom
  
• System information bars are now easier to understand
  
• Defence platforms now remember their state after loading
  
• No longer inundated with diplomatic messages after loading
  
• Can now see dropped cargo in the RTS screen easier
  
• Key mapping has been updated
  

As you would expect with some big changes to the game there will be some balancing issues so please let me know your thoughts on this. Also the new crate system is fairly new so expect even more exciting additions to it.

Thank you all again for your continued support and help in the development of the game, as always please submit bugs through the game.

Cheers,
Rob

Hi executives, small fixes today.

• Improved script efficiency to speed things up even more.
  
• Shields on robots now work.
  
• Added limit to the amount of robots you can build, this is to keep the game running smoothly.
  
• Lights switch off when structure is being made in FPS
  
• Buying tech from a trader should finally work!
  
• Infestors and mechanoids can no longer capture stations.
  
• Star fighters now turn at the correct speeds when things are getting a little intense.
  
• May have fixed not respawning as an Executron
  
• All ships will now aim at gateway probes better.
  
• Hit box around railings on bridge has been improved
  
• Defence outposts will no longer attack probes that are already docked
  
• Explosions area of effect now includes internal turrets
  
• Turning off random encounters now works
  
• Torch will no longer switch on when you are typing
  
• AI CEO now reacts faster to you sending troops through gateway
  

If the forums are looking a little empty these days its because all the action is now on our official discord server (I sense the death of the steam forums)
https://discord.gg/ranDWCU

Next will be working on a system for Executrons so that turrets can be placed down along with other defensive tech to create kill zones etc.

Goods will also be able to be removed from the cargo hold of one station and transferred to the other in the form of a package so this will be great for things like stealing or scavenging Ironite/tech on abandoned stations.

Eventually this will lead to efficiency enhancements for stations to help boost speed where a module is brought/scavenged and installed into the station.

All this of course while I will be bug fixing.

Cheers,
Rob

Hello executives, today's patch has quite a few things fixed and added focusing on improving the direct control experience on stations.

• Added fighter bay to Executron facility
  
• Rearming stations now heal units.
  
• More obvious where the capture terminal is on outposts
  
• Added green bar to show rearm time of weapons
  
• Weapons now have heat glow.
  
• Added sequential mode in scenario editor.
  
• Tracer fire has been added to weapons so easier to see where shots are coming from
  
• Added hit effect so you know when you have been shot
  
• Added hit direction effect so you know which direction you have been hit from.
  
• Location based damage with headshots doing 3x more
  
• Internal turrets now have a new look
  
• Executrons now have a death camera
  
• Telling a gateway probe to dock will now show a little arrow
  
• Docking bay has now been given more controls such as recalling ships, opening/closing outer doors and preventing takeoff, these controls can be found from the internal subsystem panel (same as turrets and doors)
  

• Z11 bots and turrets aim has been more relaxed to increase enjoyment of the game in First person mode.
  
• Grouping units is now done with the left control like the manual says.
  
• Hit areas on bots/mechs/executives have all been improved.
  
• Ducking and hiding behind crates now actually helps
  
• Bullet weapon graphics have been improved.
  
• Smaller ships now have flames come out the back when damaged
  
• Ion cloud will no longer damage docked ships when the docking bay doors are closed
  
• Reduced Ion Cloud chance and increased Meteorite for now.
  
• Crates added to ore refinery.
  
• Removed repair button from internal turrets so has to be done now during the upgrade/repair sequence.
  

• Weapon damage will no longer multiply depending on how many players there are
  
• Starting a new skirmish game after loading an old one no longer breaks the game
  
• Victory conditions are now correctly applied to skirmish saves.
  
• Defence upgrades are now better synced over the network
  
• Fixed robots stopping while trying to move a lot of them.
  
• Navigation stability has been improved.
  
• Text colour in tutorial progression now correct
  
• Shotgun spread has been fixed
  
• Reduced audio issues a little
  
• Brought tech is now properly applied if you have the correct amount to buy it
  
• Cockpit should vanish now when the CEO crashes into something while inside a star fighter
  
• Fixed gateway teleporting into space issues.
  
• Lights now start off on all derelict outposts
  
• Long range load out will now only become available when missles/railgun is researched.
  
• AI now builds better tech
  
• Hovering over and selecting units now showing correct tech
  
• Executrons respawning now get correct system fog.
  
• Ion cloud position now synced over multiplayer
  
• Cockpit now vanishes when game is over
  
• No longer dock rolled over
  
• Fixed issue where direct controlling a robot would cause the hands to vanish.
  

Adding an executive fighter to the Executron facility really opens up space flight and gives Executrons something to do early on the in the game rather than just waiting for a star fighter to be built, let me know what you think. If you decide to take one out of a spin as the CEO please make sure you have a docking bay built as its a one way launch system.

I will be continuing to improve the Executron experience which will include new buildings to improve defence such as a garrison, an inventory system so that turrets and other devices can be placed down, facility upgrade tech which needs to be installed, damaged systems which need repairing, new models for smaller ships and eventually bring back laser weapons.

A lot of people have been asking for an official discord channel so one has been setup so that you can all chat about the game, organise matches, see where its going and start the formation of an active community. I will also be using it to bounce ideas off you or show any new cool features I am working on.

https://discord.gg/ranDWCU

Thanks for continuing to support the game and thank you for all the bug reports.

Cheers,
Rob

Hello Executives,

Seems the Scenario editor is stable enough to release onto the main branch of the game so if you are on the Experimental branch please switch back to the main one by opting out else you will not get this update.

Along with the release I have also fixed a fair few major bugs.

• Can no longer buy tech for free.
  
• Buying new tech should update the tech tree.
  
• AI now shoots rocket launchers again.
  
• Fighters now shoot at gateway probes.
  
• Tech which you have already researched is no longer applied when purchased.
  
• Light levels on all stations have been increased.
  
• Economy stability has been improved.
  
• Multiple of the same outpost has been fixed on the economy screen, especially when loading from save.
  
• Mining outposts on economy screen now show how many ships are assigned to it so you can see if it needs more cargo/mining ships.
  
• Right clicking on a quick nav system with a mining outpost present while a cargo ship is selected will now make that mining outpost the cargo ships new home base.
  
• Correct amount of ships constructed when taking over an outpost in multiplayer.
  
• Deploying a monolith will now tell you if you have hit your fleet cap and not start constructing
  
• Out of bounds warning system radius has been increased when flying ships
  
• A bug where ships would continue to fly forward after exiting direct piloting mode has been fixed.
  
• Improved AI on stuck robots so they will try and unstuck them selves.
  
• Giant green reflection in defence outpost has been removed.
  
• Wall collides have been thickened to help improve glitching through walls.
  
• Error in outfit screen showing wrong weapon has been fixed.
  
• Factions no longer ask for money twice.
  
• FXAA is now being applied to the game.
  

I noticed that some of you were constructing extra bits of your base to the side of Research facilities, this was not an intended feature therefor it has been removed. However I actually really like the idea of being able to construct to the side of an outpost especially ship yards as this allowed you to bring your ship construction closer to the front lines. I am going to investigate this and look at bringing it back into the game in a better state.

Thank you again for all the testing help, as mentioned in a few posts I am looking at improving the first person experience of the game next by giving Executrons more things to do as well as looking at adding a fighter bay to the Executron facility so that they don't have to wait for the docking bay to clear and can just dive into a fighter and explore space from the get go.

Enjoy!
Rob