Executive Assault 2 News

Hello Executives,

Today I am releasing a patch to the beta branch, the reason for this is because I have made a minor adjustment to the economy to make things more fun and easier to understand however despite plenty of testing I am quite sure that some things still need some balancing.

As of of this patch all asteroids are infinite to mine and you only get half the yield from smaller asteroids, it should help with the Industrial faction as they had to research infinite mining first which was strange as mining ships would fly off and then fly back again, also it helps with the Spy faction as they were unable to mine an asteroid once it had ran out which didnt help late game at all, the Science faction generally didnt need any tweaking as their economy was pretty infinite already.

The main aim is that the new infinite system should allow for a more stable economy meaning you concentrate on it less especially towards the end of a match, as there's nothing more frustrating than 55 minutes in and your having lots of fun but wondering why you have no Tritanium and realise the asteroid ran out and I am quite certain you would be rather spending your time blowing up the computer than twiddling your economy.

The other important thing to note is that with all this you shouldn't be able to just live off the home system mid/late game if you want a decent sized high tech fleet, if you play a game against someone who does expand into other systems then you should be at a disadvantage for not doing so, thats the theory anyway, let me know if its working or everyone is now going to turn into Turtles.

I also want to clamp down on run away economies which having a system like this will make it easier for me to work out whats happening.

While doing all this I am pleased to say I have also been on a good dig through the code and game and managed to get the frame rate up quite a bit especially late game with 4 CEO's so you should now see things run smoother, as ever this will continue to improve as the game is optimised.

Here are the following tweaks to the economy to help keep things balanced:

• Only one ship can mine an asteroid at a time.
  
• The Tritanium refinery now needs 200 raw metal instead of 100 to work.
  
• The mining rate on large asteroid miners have been moved from 4 seconds to 8 seconds.
  
• All tier 2 units and weapons now require Tritanium to build and all tier 3 units and weapons require Xeo gas and Tritanium.
  
• Outpost cores have been relabelled and are their own separate thing unrelated to Science tech now.
  
• New advanced outpost core added which can only be found inside Colony command outposts or searched for.
  

Along with the new economy changes the following has been added:

• You can now choose start positions on maps.
  
• You can now choose teams before a game starts including teaming up the AI.
  
• Added categories to the trade screen.
  
• Choosing a new ship hull will assign it the latest researched tech.
  
• Added new economy information to the overview screen.
  
• Added more graphs to post game screen.
  

Also the following has been fixed:

• Hit box on lines in the map editor are now a bit wider
  
• Stop button has been added back again when mass electing units.
  
• Fixed a bug which would cause a match not to start due to not being able to put enough colonies down
  
• Fixed a docking issue on outposts and derelict ships
  
• Fixed an issue wit the Executron being killed in a personal drop pod
  
• Added a moment pause before the tool tip appears
  
• Fixed an issue flying fighters in a system with no QT points other than a wormhole
  
• Fixed bug with having more than 1 outpost command producing too many ships
  
• Fixed an issue setting units to patrol stations where they would run into the corner
  
• Fixed space walking being super sensitive.
  
• Transport info is now more useful
  
• Fixed issue with matter beams and deflectors where the ship would be damaged anyway.
  
• Raised the health on Bane and Mechanoid to 1000
  
• Being killed while in the outfit machine will no longer break the game
  
• Being killed while operating a turret will no longer break the game.
  
• Fixed issue with goods fabricator being used to cheat
  
• Infesters will now wonder a bit from the trading ship.
  
• Raised dropped cargo limit to 2000
  
• Can now spawn up to 3 colonies again.
  
• Can now fire nukes over multiplayer again from the target panel.
  
• Monolith turning is now smoother over multiplayer
  
• Executron on the monolith can now see the countdown
  
• CEO can no longer direct control a ship which already has an Executron on board
  
• AI no longer queues up loads of ships.
  

Let me know what you think in the Forums/Discord or through the games feedback system.
Please note that previous saves aren't compatible with this version of the game and also this beta test is currently not available for the mac, although I dont intent to keep this branch active for long.

After this patch it out I intend to work on an overhaul of the Spy faction as they aren't very spy like and their super weapon sux so I will be giving them a large injection of alternative tech focusing on stealing, espionage, sabotage and mis-direction and be less like the other 2 factions.

Also based on some fantastic feedback I intend to give the first-person aspect of the game a bit more love an attention, its actually load of fun right now to play as an Executron but the quality of the experience can certainly be improved.

To access this branch please use the code balancetestingfun

Cheers,
Rob

Hello Executives,

Small bug fixes today.

• Adjusted random resource placement so they dont spawn near wormholes.
  
• Transgalactic laser works again.
  
• Fixed issue where sometimes cargo/mining ships would stop and not dock.
  
• Shooting a building or a tank now brings up the health wheel.
  
• Can now see blue docking effect on unfriendly outposts and derelicts.
  
• Added sound FX to when you pick up a crate from space.
  
• Bots can use the tank gateway again.
  
• Can no longer inter-bridge teleport to an allied that doesn't have a telepad.
  
• Security station fighter launch panels no access screen now covers the whole terminal.
  
• Inside turrets now deal with sneak attacks better.
  
• Fixed defence sat error when joining game.
  
• Flaks will no longer interfere with manual aiming.
  
• Fixed issues with building outlines blocking weapon fire.
  
• Fixed the AI sometimes being able to launch a super weapon without line of sight.
  
• Fixed a bug where hundreds of clones would come out of one troop transport.
  
• Added indicators to show which way to fly if you are out of bounds.
  
• Fixed muti-tool not showing info about doors.
  
• Fixed issue with drop ships and personal drop pods not navigating wormholes correctly.
  
• Fixed nuclear waste storage not reducing capacity once destroyed.
  
• Fixed issue where if the CEO was direct controlling a Robot and an Executron got into a shuttle it was break the game for the CEO.
  

Cheers,
Rob

Hello Executives,

Today you are getting an upgrade to the map editor! This will allow you to decide how many resources each system has and also place your own wormhole lines too including having separated systems that are only connected with a wormhole opening up some interesting map ideas.



With this in mind wormhole tech has been added to all 3 factions research trees.

It also has a basic mode too if you just want to build maps how you did before and let the computer place the rest, I've kept the interface as easy as possible leaving more fun for you to be creative.

The downside to all this though is the way the map seeds work has had to change so I'm afraid all previous seeds will no longer work (not that its too much of an issue as maps usually took under a minute to make), however I have added in a method which will hopefully allow you to continue old saved games but you might notice some issues with mini maps until you start a game with the new seed system.

I've also added in a reference guide for Executrons too similar to what CEO's have so if you are unsure what to do or what something is then you can find it in the menu.

Certain core scripts relating to units and weapons have been optimised so you should notice late games running faster, there was also a big issue relating to joining a game which had been going on for a while where it would kick you out instantly, this was mainly down to too much traffic being sent over at once so have I reduced this significantly. These 2 changes were massive in terms of coding so you may notice something broken which was working before this patch, please let me know through the bug reporter in the game and I will get onto it.

Along with all that the following changes have been made.

• Ships set to defend a system will no longer attack allies.
  
• You will now be kicked out of the weapons booth if the building gets destroyed.
  
• Decimator and Monoliths cruise plane are now higher.
  
• Made it easier for bots to aim at Infestor nests.
  
• When joining an MP game the emergency desk forcefield will now be synced.
  
• Fixed a floor issue in the trading port.
  
• Shift left clicking the fabricate button will now make +5 of that design.
  
• Left Clicking on the design its self will now add more constructions to it along with shift clicking too.
  
• Shift right clicking on a design will now remove 5 constructions from it.
  
• Added min and max height bounds to all player controlled fighters.
  
• If you move out of bounds you will now have 10 seconds to get back in.
  
• Ai Spy now mines metal again.
  
• Fixed a few spelling mistakes.
  
• Fixed looping error script with a shipyard blowing up slowing things down a bit.
  
• Executron count is now correct when joining a game.
  
• Teleprobe information now correctly describes whats happening when mining a nebula.
  
• Teleprobes can now mine large asteroid mining bases again.
  
• AI now researches or buys wormhole tech.
  
• The power screen now syncs over correctly when an Executron first joins.
  
• Fixed issue where the room code wouldn't appear in game menu.
  
• Super weapons at low power will now stop charging.
  
• Mining ships will no longer go after and attack other ships if set to defend system stance.
  
• Fixed an issue with fighters docking with a starship sort of bouncing about.
  

Cheers,
Rob

Hello Executives.

Small but important patch being released today to fix a few exploits and niggling issues with the AI.

• Industrial AI now correctly generates 140 power instead of 120.
  
• AI now manages its power better especially Industrial.
  
• Added distance info for unknown system QT points.
  
• Fixed exploit moving Energen between crate and ship giving more Energen.
  
• Fixed an issue where a nuclear warhead would remain after the facility was destroyed.
  
• Fixed exploit building more than one super ship where cancelling a construction allowed the construction of another.
  
• Decimators and Monoliths now require 100 Tritanium and 50 Xeo gas.
  
• Cancelling a ship construction will now refund the Tritanium and Xeo gas as opposed to taking more.
  
• Fixed an issue where if the security station was destroyed it would close the game to new Executrons.
  
• You should now be able to see how many Executrons are on each time when you join.
  
• When joining a company as an Executron you can now see if its an AI ran company.
  
• Executrons should now be able to see the asteroid base on the galaxy map when first flying into a system.
  

Cheers,
Rob

Hello Executives,

I've decided to put the new asteroid bases on hold while I improve what is already in the game with quality of life upgrades and balancing economy problems since it already has more than enough fun and exciting things to do in it.

• AI difficulty terminology has been changed to make it easier for players to find the difficulty settings.
  
• Fixed the tele-port panel not selecting targets.
  
• Select all combat ships in a sector with Q.
  
• Select all combat ships across the galaxy with CTRL+Q.
  
• Updated key binding panel to show all the short cuts in the game.
  
• Set rally button removed and replaced with simply right clicking with the factory selected where you want to set the point to be, works with multiple factories selected.
  
• Double tapping a group number now zooms into that groups leader.
  
• Fixed a bug where ground units would sometimes stop while running past a door.
  
• Fixed door on troop factory where sometimes units wouldn't use it.
  
• Problem controlling Gigantilator head has been fixed.
  
• Fixed some ground weapons going through shields.
  
• Hit info now appears when attacking a unit with a shield.
  
• Fixed an issue where you could sometimes get into both starfighters at the same time.
  
• Fixed an issue where you could sometimes teleport back to your starfighter pressing E.
  
• Trading port power reduced from 5 to 1.
  
• Buildings now take 1 minute to reboot after switching off.
  
• The reboot button on the building status panel has now been replaced with a power button.
  
• Mining ships no longer return unless there is a powered facility.
  
• If the power is switched off while a ship is docked it will undock.
  
• Removed dragging resources off mining and cargo ships.
  
• Increased Deep core mining plants power demand from 10 to 20.
  
• Tele-miner now pulls in 150 Energen and 35 of other resources as used to be 150 on everything.
  
• Reduced power capacity from 5000 to 1000 on HQ's.
  
• Given protestors another level of attack damage.
  
• Up promotion 3 threshold from 200 to 300.
  
• Up promotion 4 threshold from 500 to 600.
  

The power capacity reduction was in response to 5000 max power being far too generous based on the feedback I've been getting, 1000 seemed like a good number as many people didn't even know this existed till the lights went off half way through the game so I feel its important people know this is a feature and 1000 excess power seems to be a good buffer. But lets see how this goes, remember we're still in development so happy to make adjustments to these things.

Thanks again for all the support and look out for more improvements over the coming weeks.

Cheers,
Rob