Update 0.8.4 - enemy radio communications, I-Com, AI changes
[h2]Version 0.8.4 is now live[/h2]
The new patch adds a few new features, as well as a lot of very important fixes to the game.
The thing you might notice right away is that the enemies will now call for reinforcements, and in many cases - coordinate their attacks better. This is because the game now simulates radio communications for them.
Enemy radio calls can be intercepted with the new I-Com vehicle (as long as you have an interpreter to pair it with). It should help a lot with locating the mortar teams, and in general tell you a little more about what the AI is planning.
The other thing I focused on was the balancing. All the basic units now cost less CP, the menu for buying new units will now actually show up even if you have less than 50 points.
The enemy mortars have been nerfed - they will no longer respond to calls from the opposite side of the map, and their accuracy will be much, much worse than before.
[h2]Full changelog[/h2]
* NEW: radio communications - the AI will now send radio messages between it's units. This allows them to coordinate their attacks, request reinforcements from other squads, inform the AI commander about the locations of your troops, etc.
* NEW: a new vehicle - transmissions interceptor (I-Com) - allows you to see where and when an enemy radio transmission happens. For this unit to be doing anything useful, it has to be coupled with a translator (it's enough if one is standing near it). Without one, you won't be able to see the contents of any of the messages it intercepts.
* all the radio messages your translators are able to intercept will be displayed on the left side of the screen.
* NEW: the patrol, ambush and mortar missions have been changed to be able to respond to radio calls, especially the requests for reinforcements.
* FIX: completely rebuilt the enemy mounted patrols script, allowing them to respond to many more things on the map
* NEW: the enemy recon missions (enemy spotter with a radio, hidden on the map) will also generate these radio messages whenever your units are uncovered.
* FIX: changed most of those anemic gun sounds in the game. This is still an ongoing process, but already a big improvement over the old, mushy sfx.
* rebalanced the cost of units (again), to make it easier to buy larger amounts of basic troops and transports
* nerfed the mortar teams, because it was pretty much impossible to find them once they started firing at you from the other side of the map
* the mortar teams will now be much less accurate, and will only respond to firefights close to their location. The longer range engagements can only start if a radio-equipped unit requests their support
* the mortar teams will now be sending a lot of radio messages when firing, so the transmissions interceptor can help a lot with locating them
* enemy spotters on the map now have radios, and will direct patrols to any of your units they're able to spot
* FIX: the units' loadouts sometimes got mixed up, leading to a few random issues
* new unit - MRAP with no turret
* FIX: in some cases the game started lagging when civilians in villages tried farming drugs - the scripts were unable to find the correct origin object for them, causing a very slow bug report to get created over and over...
* the unit buying menu will now show up even if you have less than 50 command points available (because most units now cost much less than that)
[h2]Sidenote - the preview branch contained a serious issue affecting the game's performance[/h2]
If you played the experimental branch recently, you surely noticed a huge FPS degradation after the first half an hour of gameplay. This was caused by the simulation of civilians farming opium (one of the scripts was failing to find an object it was looking for).
The issue is now fixed and will no longer happen in any build of the game.
The new patch adds a few new features, as well as a lot of very important fixes to the game.
The thing you might notice right away is that the enemies will now call for reinforcements, and in many cases - coordinate their attacks better. This is because the game now simulates radio communications for them.
Enemy radio calls can be intercepted with the new I-Com vehicle (as long as you have an interpreter to pair it with). It should help a lot with locating the mortar teams, and in general tell you a little more about what the AI is planning.
The other thing I focused on was the balancing. All the basic units now cost less CP, the menu for buying new units will now actually show up even if you have less than 50 points.
The enemy mortars have been nerfed - they will no longer respond to calls from the opposite side of the map, and their accuracy will be much, much worse than before.
[h2]Full changelog[/h2]
* NEW: radio communications - the AI will now send radio messages between it's units. This allows them to coordinate their attacks, request reinforcements from other squads, inform the AI commander about the locations of your troops, etc.
* NEW: a new vehicle - transmissions interceptor (I-Com) - allows you to see where and when an enemy radio transmission happens. For this unit to be doing anything useful, it has to be coupled with a translator (it's enough if one is standing near it). Without one, you won't be able to see the contents of any of the messages it intercepts.
* all the radio messages your translators are able to intercept will be displayed on the left side of the screen.
* NEW: the patrol, ambush and mortar missions have been changed to be able to respond to radio calls, especially the requests for reinforcements.
* FIX: completely rebuilt the enemy mounted patrols script, allowing them to respond to many more things on the map
* NEW: the enemy recon missions (enemy spotter with a radio, hidden on the map) will also generate these radio messages whenever your units are uncovered.
* FIX: changed most of those anemic gun sounds in the game. This is still an ongoing process, but already a big improvement over the old, mushy sfx.
* rebalanced the cost of units (again), to make it easier to buy larger amounts of basic troops and transports
* nerfed the mortar teams, because it was pretty much impossible to find them once they started firing at you from the other side of the map
* the mortar teams will now be much less accurate, and will only respond to firefights close to their location. The longer range engagements can only start if a radio-equipped unit requests their support
* the mortar teams will now be sending a lot of radio messages when firing, so the transmissions interceptor can help a lot with locating them
* enemy spotters on the map now have radios, and will direct patrols to any of your units they're able to spot
* FIX: the units' loadouts sometimes got mixed up, leading to a few random issues
* new unit - MRAP with no turret
* FIX: in some cases the game started lagging when civilians in villages tried farming drugs - the scripts were unable to find the correct origin object for them, causing a very slow bug report to get created over and over...
* the unit buying menu will now show up even if you have less than 50 command points available (because most units now cost much less than that)
[h2]Sidenote - the preview branch contained a serious issue affecting the game's performance[/h2]
If you played the experimental branch recently, you surely noticed a huge FPS degradation after the first half an hour of gameplay. This was caused by the simulation of civilians farming opium (one of the scripts was failing to find an object it was looking for).
The issue is now fixed and will no longer happen in any build of the game.