Archangel Announcements Sept. - Oct. 2019
This Archangel Announcement covers the updates we've released in preview since last September, and upcoming updates in October.
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Our development in Mission Mode continues. As we have completed the base mechanics and systems, we are focusing on the end-game content.
Each of the factions have a penultimate prestige rank called 'Paragon' which represents the highest respect and trust from that faction. While you can earn prestige by doing normal missions, the final level of Paragon is locked until you complete a final mission for that faction, called a Paragon Mission. These are meant to be challenging missions and may require upgraded equipment (and retries).
As discussed previously in the August issue, these final missions are 'special missions', and thus do not use the standard mission procedural algorithm. They can be retried again and again until completion. Completing the paragon rewards a lot of sols and special cosmetics linked to the faction. (See Patterns section below for some of those possible rewards).
Similarly, the four main factions will also have locked levels of prestige that will require you to complete special missions to move to the next step. They also reward cosmetics and alternative endings to the existing neutral endings.
In the coming month, we will be unveiling the Du Couronne and Sunfield Frontier Final Missions. These two large factions are the main belligerents in the conflict on Baja Secunda, and thus have brought a large chunk of their military assets into the planet.
Choosing either of these two factions will force you to face off with their rivals' fleets in orbit, where you will be tasked to destroy their leadership once and for all. The massive flagships of each faction are battle/mission stages on their own. They will be filled with defense turrets and missile launchers that will do their best to destroy Archangels foolish enough to have ventured into their range.
For today's teaser, we are showing off the flagship of the Du Couronne March : 'La Pucelle'
This massive Montaglione-manufactured battleship is the pride of the March's space forces. Armed to the teeth with cannons, turrets and countless missile launchers, it is a flying fortress of death.
The venerable ship was present in previous battles against the Demiurge, and brought the March victories in each one. Many believe that it is protected and empowered by the legend of its namesake.
Not to be outdone, of course, the energy mega-corporation 'Sunfield Frontier' has acquired the services of their partner Eagle Aerospace. This ubiquitous Prefecture-level mega-corporation not only specializes in building spacecraft, but is one of the top suppliers of arms and mercenary services. Thanks to this partnership, Sunfield Frontier maintains its own Eagle-manufactured battleship and a modest fleet of similar combat craft, which they deploy in coordination with their ally's fleets.
Here is a teaser of what to expect from this union.
Stay tuned for updates to come. You will soon be able to experience a battle on (or against!) these ships in the future!
In preparation for the final missions detailed above, we've added and/or modified maps to offer different experiences and add more flavor to the game.
These can be new versions of existing maps, with different ambient lighting representing time of day or state of decay, or maps with new arena shapes and movement.
Watch a fight in the drift here : https://gph.is/g/4DLrxev
In addition, existing maps such as Carrier, Flotilla, and Lava have had their hazards modified due to the introduction of new mechanics since they were first introduced. Expect to catch fire, or be harassed by defense turrets and missiles!
These maps can currently be accessed in the preview branch of the game.
Finally, a long-awaited feature will now be playable in preview!
Patterns offer alternative color application options for your Archangel, giving you even more power to customize the look of your mech.
More action here : https://gph.is/g/4AQNL6Q
Going above and beyond our original specifications for this color system, there are multiple layers of abstract patterns and textures you can apply to your Archangel, including glowing imagery!
These patterns can be unlocked by achieving officer and paragon in certain factions.
We've made additional penalties and new mechanics regarding Archangel weight limits and their interaction with Overload.
In general, existing penalties for being overweight have been doubled. It is now possible to move at 1% your movement speed, and deal 1% melee damage for going up to double your load capacity.
The Boost Recovery stat now receives bonuses and penalties relative to load. Being under the load limit gives you faster boost regeneration speed. Being overweight gives you penalties.
Your time in Overload is now determined by your Boost Recovery speed. Typically, recovering from Overload lasts 4 seconds if you have an Archangel at 100% load capacity. This can be slower for overweight Archangels and faster for those who have extra load capacity.
In addition, taking offensive actions in Overload will now not only pause the Overload recovery, but give you stacks of the burning status effect.
We hope these additional penalties dissuade people from carelessly going beyond the limits of their Archangels' capabilities!
As part of our ongoing Weapon and Equipment balancing and updates, we've made significant changes to interactions using and fighting against shields.
One of the most significant changes is the unification and standardization of the 'Stun' State, which occurs during parries, guard frames, perfect guards and guard breaks. The stun status immediately puts the victim into full vulnerability and prevents any sort of movement and dodge cancelling for its duration. The only values that will change across the effects that currently cause stuns will be its duration.
The next most significant change is with the Perfect Guard ability of all shields and the shoulder shield. When properly executed and timed against a melee attack, perfect guard will not only deflect 100% of all incoming damage, but reflect a portion of the attack's stability damage back to the attacker. The attacker will suffer a stun if this reflection of stability damage causes them to go into vulnerability. This new reflective effect does not extend to ranged attacks, however.
Finally, Power Attacks from all melee weapon types have been reassigned and defined in the garage listing of melee attack damages. Melee Attacks without the Power Attack tag do not gain the advantage of a melee cancel if they are blocked or hit a guard frame. On the other hand, Power Attacks can be used repeatedly against a guarding opponent. This function dissuades the repeated use of certain fast attacks (or attacks with properties) against a defending opponent. However, Power Attacks that are perfect guarded or parried will still suffer a stun in accordance with those mechanics.
In addition, other minor bugs and mechanics have been fixed to match the implementation of these new features. We hope these changes to shields makes them more exciting to play and fight against!
In addition to the shield changes outlined above, we've been making minor adjustments and mechanics changes to other weapons.
Some significant tweaks are as follows :
- Targe Deflection decreased to 70%.
- Wave Axe Level 2 projectile damage reduced to 120/120 per blade.
- Shoulder Swarm Missiles cooldown increased by 2s.
- Back Homing Lasers cooldown reduced by 1s.
- Burning Status Effect damage increased by 5.
- Emancipator startup frames increased by 3.
We'll be continuing to do such minor changes for the rest of the month.
As part of these mechanics updates and new content, we've continuously been fixing the bugs and revisiting game systems to make sure they run smoothly. Due to more upcoming content and updates, we expect this cycle of adjustments and bug squashing to continue.
We've put out a lot of new content and significant changes to the game system this past month, and there's still more to come. We are coming closer to our goal of completing the single-player campaign and completing Garrison: Archangel. We hope you all continue to support us until full release!
_________________________________________________
As usual, make sure to like/follow us on Facebook and Twitter for news and updates!
We also have a YouTube channel where we post videos of our game's development.
You can also visit our Discord and talk with the devs and players of the game!
_________________________________________________
MISSION MODE UPDATES
Our development in Mission Mode continues. As we have completed the base mechanics and systems, we are focusing on the end-game content.
Mission Mode Update : Faction Paragon Missions and Main Route Special Missions
Each of the factions have a penultimate prestige rank called 'Paragon' which represents the highest respect and trust from that faction. While you can earn prestige by doing normal missions, the final level of Paragon is locked until you complete a final mission for that faction, called a Paragon Mission. These are meant to be challenging missions and may require upgraded equipment (and retries).
As discussed previously in the August issue, these final missions are 'special missions', and thus do not use the standard mission procedural algorithm. They can be retried again and again until completion. Completing the paragon rewards a lot of sols and special cosmetics linked to the faction. (See Patterns section below for some of those possible rewards).
Similarly, the four main factions will also have locked levels of prestige that will require you to complete special missions to move to the next step. They also reward cosmetics and alternative endings to the existing neutral endings.
Mission Mode Update : Du Couronne and Sunfield Frontier Final Missions
In the coming month, we will be unveiling the Du Couronne and Sunfield Frontier Final Missions. These two large factions are the main belligerents in the conflict on Baja Secunda, and thus have brought a large chunk of their military assets into the planet.
Choosing either of these two factions will force you to face off with their rivals' fleets in orbit, where you will be tasked to destroy their leadership once and for all. The massive flagships of each faction are battle/mission stages on their own. They will be filled with defense turrets and missile launchers that will do their best to destroy Archangels foolish enough to have ventured into their range.
For today's teaser, we are showing off the flagship of the Du Couronne March : 'La Pucelle'
This massive Montaglione-manufactured battleship is the pride of the March's space forces. Armed to the teeth with cannons, turrets and countless missile launchers, it is a flying fortress of death.
The venerable ship was present in previous battles against the Demiurge, and brought the March victories in each one. Many believe that it is protected and empowered by the legend of its namesake.
Not to be outdone, of course, the energy mega-corporation 'Sunfield Frontier' has acquired the services of their partner Eagle Aerospace. This ubiquitous Prefecture-level mega-corporation not only specializes in building spacecraft, but is one of the top suppliers of arms and mercenary services. Thanks to this partnership, Sunfield Frontier maintains its own Eagle-manufactured battleship and a modest fleet of similar combat craft, which they deploy in coordination with their ally's fleets.
Here is a teaser of what to expect from this union.
Stay tuned for updates to come. You will soon be able to experience a battle on (or against!) these ships in the future!
NEW AND MODIFIED MAPS
In preparation for the final missions detailed above, we've added and/or modified maps to offer different experiences and add more flavor to the game.
These can be new versions of existing maps, with different ambient lighting representing time of day or state of decay, or maps with new arena shapes and movement.
Watch a fight in the drift here : https://gph.is/g/4DLrxev
In addition, existing maps such as Carrier, Flotilla, and Lava have had their hazards modified due to the introduction of new mechanics since they were first introduced. Expect to catch fire, or be harassed by defense turrets and missiles!
These maps can currently be accessed in the preview branch of the game.
NEW CUSTOMIZATION OPTION : PATTERNS
Finally, a long-awaited feature will now be playable in preview!
Patterns offer alternative color application options for your Archangel, giving you even more power to customize the look of your mech.
More action here : https://gph.is/g/4AQNL6Q
Going above and beyond our original specifications for this color system, there are multiple layers of abstract patterns and textures you can apply to your Archangel, including glowing imagery!
These patterns can be unlocked by achieving officer and paragon in certain factions.
MECHANICS UPDATES : OVERLOAD AND OVERWEIGHT
We've made additional penalties and new mechanics regarding Archangel weight limits and their interaction with Overload.
In general, existing penalties for being overweight have been doubled. It is now possible to move at 1% your movement speed, and deal 1% melee damage for going up to double your load capacity.
The Boost Recovery stat now receives bonuses and penalties relative to load. Being under the load limit gives you faster boost regeneration speed. Being overweight gives you penalties.
Your time in Overload is now determined by your Boost Recovery speed. Typically, recovering from Overload lasts 4 seconds if you have an Archangel at 100% load capacity. This can be slower for overweight Archangels and faster for those who have extra load capacity.
In addition, taking offensive actions in Overload will now not only pause the Overload recovery, but give you stacks of the burning status effect.
We hope these additional penalties dissuade people from carelessly going beyond the limits of their Archangels' capabilities!
MECHANICS UPDATES : GUARDING
As part of our ongoing Weapon and Equipment balancing and updates, we've made significant changes to interactions using and fighting against shields.
One of the most significant changes is the unification and standardization of the 'Stun' State, which occurs during parries, guard frames, perfect guards and guard breaks. The stun status immediately puts the victim into full vulnerability and prevents any sort of movement and dodge cancelling for its duration. The only values that will change across the effects that currently cause stuns will be its duration.
The next most significant change is with the Perfect Guard ability of all shields and the shoulder shield. When properly executed and timed against a melee attack, perfect guard will not only deflect 100% of all incoming damage, but reflect a portion of the attack's stability damage back to the attacker. The attacker will suffer a stun if this reflection of stability damage causes them to go into vulnerability. This new reflective effect does not extend to ranged attacks, however.
Finally, Power Attacks from all melee weapon types have been reassigned and defined in the garage listing of melee attack damages. Melee Attacks without the Power Attack tag do not gain the advantage of a melee cancel if they are blocked or hit a guard frame. On the other hand, Power Attacks can be used repeatedly against a guarding opponent. This function dissuades the repeated use of certain fast attacks (or attacks with properties) against a defending opponent. However, Power Attacks that are perfect guarded or parried will still suffer a stun in accordance with those mechanics.
In addition, other minor bugs and mechanics have been fixed to match the implementation of these new features. We hope these changes to shields makes them more exciting to play and fight against!
WEAPON AND EQUIPMENT BALANCE
In addition to the shield changes outlined above, we've been making minor adjustments and mechanics changes to other weapons.
Some significant tweaks are as follows :
- Targe Deflection decreased to 70%.
- Wave Axe Level 2 projectile damage reduced to 120/120 per blade.
- Shoulder Swarm Missiles cooldown increased by 2s.
- Back Homing Lasers cooldown reduced by 1s.
- Burning Status Effect damage increased by 5.
- Emancipator startup frames increased by 3.
We'll be continuing to do such minor changes for the rest of the month.
BUG FIXING, AI ADJUSTING AND OPTIMIZATION
As part of these mechanics updates and new content, we've continuously been fixing the bugs and revisiting game systems to make sure they run smoothly. Due to more upcoming content and updates, we expect this cycle of adjustments and bug squashing to continue.
DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES
We've put out a lot of new content and significant changes to the game system this past month, and there's still more to come. We are coming closer to our goal of completing the single-player campaign and completing Garrison: Archangel. We hope you all continue to support us until full release!
_________________________________________________
As usual, make sure to like/follow us on Facebook and Twitter for news and updates!
We also have a YouTube channel where we post videos of our game's development.
You can also visit our Discord and talk with the devs and players of the game!
