Executive Assault 2 News

Greetings executives,

Today I have uploaded a copy of the game featuring the scenario editor allowing you to make your own single player campaigns.
It also features a proper single player tutorial for new people to follow so by all means let me know what you think.

I felt that now would be a good time to get feedback about the new features from the community and make sure its going in the right direction, be sure these are not their final versions.

There is also new battle music for you to enjoy.

Since its experimental I highly recommend not putting a too much effort into making campaign just at this moment in time due to the fact that you might loose it if I update certain variables (which I will try and avoid doing)
However the files it outputs are in JSON format so they are most likely fixable if worse comes to worse.
Once out of the experimental phase I will enable workshop support so you can share your campaign with your friends.

This update will be going into a special experimental branch and not onto the main one to make sure its all working first

To access the experimental branch you need to:

1. Right click on the game in the library and click properties
   
2. Click on the betas tab
   
3. Type in iloveexecutiveassault and the click check code
   
4. Select experimental from the list and the special version should download.
   
5. Remember to switch back when the patch comes out officially.
   

A few bugs have been fixed as been spending most of my time working on this however the game should no longer crash when playing as an Executron in single player mode and taking control of a derelict station, rockets will now fire in the right direction and the monolith should be better synced over multiplayer.

While I await your feedback I will be working on bug fixing again which judging by the bug reports I have been getting mostly happens in multiplayer games especially with Executrons.

If you haven't seen it already here is the road map for the game.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/510500/discussions/0/1639789306558917877/

Thank you again for all the help and I hope you enjoy the new features.

Cheers,
Rob

Evening executives,

The experimental branch is now live for everyone as it fixes a few important issues.

In addition to adding the map editor and everything announced in the last announcement, this patch also fixes the following:

• Infestors should no longer go under the station and crawling around in space.
  
• The spawning of hundreds of protester ships when a faction declares war with you.
  
• When a CEO has been assassinated, all of their assets will self destruct with the station blowing up 2 minutes afterwards.
  
• Buying tech will now instantly be applied rather than having to click a separate button, tech trade will be added at a later date.
  
• Mechanoid navigation has been improved.
  
• The fabrication should no longer break when buying tech from the trader when you already have it researched.
  
• Tier 2 and 3 rocket launchers have been removed from the tech tree.
  

Please remember if you have been testing the game on the experimental branch to revert back to the standard one else you will not get this update.

Thank you again for all the testing and help.

Cheers
Rob

Hi Executives,
I would like to present the beginnings of the map editor for you all to try out.

It can be accessed from the main menu and it will generate a seed which can be shared around or saved/loaded from a game creation screen.

Later more control will be added along with the ability to make scenarios.

This update will be going into a special experimental branch and not onto the main one to make sure its all working first as I had to rewrite most of the map generation code to get it working, testing has shown it works in both single and multiplayer but I want to be extra sure.

To access the experimental branch you need to:

1. Right click on the game in the library and click properties
   
2. Click on the betas tab
   
3. Type in iloveexecutiveassault and the click check code
   
4. Select experimental from the list and the special version should download.
   
5. Remember to switch back when the patch comes out officially.
   

I also wont be giving any instructions on how to use it and want to see how you all get on first and see how intuitive it is.

Also fixed in this patch is:

• Mechanoids hack bug has been fixed by removing the ability to hack doors, this was never meant to happen and is a game play mechanic to encourage players to bring along bots.
  
• Coolant countdown removed from Executron menu.
  
• Ships no long continue to shoot outposts which you have just captured.
  
• Research bugs have been fixed which caused the design menu to break.
  
• Save bug which caused outposts not to spawn correctly has been fixed.
  

Enjoy and let me know how you get on with it.

Cheers
Rob

Hi executives, been working hard on this new patch which I hope you will enjoy with plenty fixed and some new features and a second significant optimisation upgrade meaning higher frame rates:

• Mechanoids now have access to heavy weapons.
  
• Executrons now have access to heavy weapons.
  
• Added new point defence weapon to the support load out which attempts to shoot down incoming long range missiles.
  
• Defence platforms have now been added to the support group for extra strategies to emerge.
  
• Mining ships, cargo ships and star fighters now add to the population cap.
  
• Direct controlled units and Executrons get dealt 50% less damage.
  
• Firing rate on fighters, drones and star ships doubled when direct controlling.
  
• Carriers now rebuild fighters every 10 seconds once all fighters have been recalled.
  
• CTRL + K now self destruct all selected units.
  
• CTRL + K also kills the currently possessed unit except CEO.
  
• Added GUI showing weapons firing on star ships.
  

• Long range missiles now fire less frequently.
  
• Monolith now costs 35000 Ironite and takes 10 minutes to research.
  
• Flak explosive range increased from 20 to 40.
  
• AI will now build better units against outposts.
  
• Traders will now carry up to 5000 Ironite.
  
• A game against 3 AI companies has been removed by default however this can be re enabled in the options screen. Some of you may wonder why this has happened but I have come to the conclusion that most peoples computers based on the logs I have been receiving cannot handle 3 AI's.
  

• Cargo operations screen no longer causes slow down.
  
• Weapons on ships now uses a lot less CPU power to fire to help speed up the game.
  
• Audio priority has changed so that important sounds like announcements don’t get cut off.
  
• Game menu size reduced.
  
• Defences were sometimes not spawning in multiplayer.
  
• Gateway ships should no longer dock with doorways after a building is added to the point.
  
• Executons can no longer access the stations operations using the F keys.
  
• Mining outpost ship fab screen now works over multiplayer.
  
• Mining outpost capturing team now works correctly over multiplayer.
  
• Manually constructed mining ships should now auto take off when idle.
  
• Cargoships now assign outpost when right clicked on.
  
• Monolith construction cap now displays when trying to deploy.
  
• Removed the words tracking from missiles.
  
• Missile 4 was missing from the tech tree.
  
• Ai should build ships with the latest researched weapons.
  
• Defence outpost missiles no longer go mad attacking gateway probes.
  
• Reduced the size of pilot UI.
  
• Telling long range ships to attack a structure should not make them move.
  
• Weapons and specials on defence platform now only activate once deployed.
  
• Flak gun now working.
  
• Lightning weapons now visually work against shields.
  
• No longer kicked out of turrets by the AI.
  
• Subsystem icons sometimes not appearing has been fixed.
  
• Support class should no longer randomly disable.
  
• Fleet cost of a ship shown in the design screen.
  
• Hacked doors will now stay open for 30 seconds when the AI is controlling the building.
  
• Mechnaoids can now open unlocked doors.
  
• Rockets are now more accurate in the direction they fire.
  
• Goods production info now available on resource control screen.
  
• 3rd person view removed from Mechanoid due to camera issues.
  
• Fixed robots trying to hack unlocked open doors.
  

As with all new patches please let me know if it broke something and I will try and fix it ASAP.

One problem that occasionally crops up is finding a Z11 bot or Infestor floating about outside the station, if this happens I would be very interested in a bug report as I am having a hard time trying to locate how this is happening.

Next I will be working on improving the siege mechanics and internal defences and also want to start progressing towards creating a scenario editor in preparation for starting work on the single player campaign.

Have a great week!

Cheers
Rob

Another tiny but important one today.

• Docking bay construction panel now works for executrons on an AI base.
  
• Research outposts now give you high tech when constructed.
  
• May have fixed getting stuck in Direct control mode, I could see roughly where the error was in the code but couldn't recreate so I added extras to stop you getting stuck.
  
• Rearranged some of the doors on the mining outpost so the buttons aren't submerged into the walls
  
• Star fighters now have the correct shields
  
• Star fighters should now turn off shields when docked to allow entry
  
• Missiles are no longer tracking except on the defence outpost.
  
• Defence outpost missiles now fire in multiplayer.
  
• Defence outpost missiles have now been upgraded to level 2
  
• Main menu should now work with ultra wide screen monitors.
  

Thank you again for all the bug submissions and ideas, please remember the more information included in a bug report the more likely it will be fixed.

Cheers
Rob