Executive Assault 2 News

Hello executives,

Mini patch fixing a few issues.

• Robots should move to where you tell them better in terms of accuracy with the mouse cursor.
  
• Ships in Quantum fracture space should no longer show up as being in a star system.
  
• Shored up issues of robots being left outside when a probe explodes.
  
• Switching to mining ship no longer breaks the interface.
  
• Executrons can no longer self destruct RTS units.
  
• Accelerate lasers and ion pulsators are now priced correctly from trader.
  
• Accelerate lasers and ion pulsators now apply as tech from trader.
  
• Self destruct button on outposts now visible again
  
• Mechs will now follow Executrons
  

Cheers,
Rob

Hello executives,

Today's patch mainly aims at improving the user experience of the game by updating UI elements and helping to bring the game into line with other RTS game, new features include:

You can now select buildings which will then bring up contextual options and information such as shipyards now all have their own design buttons rather than having to try and remember if that was shipyard 1 or 2. You can also now select mining outposts and construct ships directly there instead of making them at your main base and sending them over.

You can now just click on drones to take control of them now.

Money, Ironite and Time now have their own icons with tool tip information now being correct on all screens.

The research tree has been completely changed to help users understand it better and pick a better suited path with some tech having cheaper sub tech. Also added a new tech level which includes 12 new weapons which helps to make Tech 1 easier to understand.

Outposts no longer have upgrade levels and you simply upgrade your company tech level with money, however capturing an enemies research outpost will still let you upgrade to what ever tech they were on, this is all to help streamline the game.

The repair facility has now become the maintenance facility which will now upgrade ships with that a better version of its currently installed gun as well as repair giving you reason to bring them back to get the latest tech.

The AI's strategic scripts have been improved to take advantage of the new tech and attack better for a more fun game.

Rally points have been added to the game so ships and robots will exit to a particular point (may still need more work)

Can now cancel units under construction and get refunded.

In addition to them the following has been changed/fixed:

• Factions are now synced over multiplayer
  
• Allies are now displayed in blue on the galactic screen
  
• Tool tip has been added to the delivery screen
  
• Motion blur has been removed due to horrific FPS drops.
  
• Can now right click on a building to tell a gateway probe to dock with it.
  
• Outpost navigation path has been improved
  
• Ship names are now back on the side of ships.
  
• AI will attack the bridge again when the force fields are up.
  
• Robots should no longer stop following you
  
• Pressing 1 and 2 will not longer reset firing rate.
  
• AI now uses coolant
  
• Spelling mistakes
  
• Improved the weapon targeting when direct piloting star ships.
  
• Added a new super rare asteroid random encounter which gives you about 2-3 minutes to blow it up before it crashes into the bridge.
  
• A docking problem where ships would stop working has been fixed.
  
• Expanded the mapseed to include new planets and star systems however this will break all existing seeds, old ones are fixable and I will do a post on how to do this if it has become an issue for anyone, this patch will also break all existing saves.
  
• New music has been added.
  

Thank you for all the bug submissions and ideas, as always if you find anything please let me know by submitting a bug within the game.

As always I will be bug fixing and improving the stability of the game, next on my list I will be improving the ground assault and Executron experience. I will also looking at the possibility of making bigger maps, and finally I am well aware that many of you didn't like the fact that the troop transport was removed (reasons I have stated about 101 times) so I will be looking at bringing back a stable version of it which docks at the docking bay as part of the BlackOps tech I am planning on adding into the game.

Please also join the discord for all the latest information and beta testing.
https://discord.gg/ranDWCU

I hope what ever you are doing this month that you have a great one!

Cheers,
Rob

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