Patch Notes - 0.7.93 Auto Connecting Power Wires & Public Beta Changes

After a very long meeting discussing the early-mid game we have come to the following conclusions. Do read and tell us your thoughts in #factions-public-beta-suggestions . We will have this out in its first form this Friday on Public beta as a early test.

Early Game Changes:



First day Chelsey System results (with a lot of civvies as a test, likely more than our engine would generally support at the moment):

-Chelsey limited to a sphere that expands over time. Enter at your own risk. (not shown, invisible ingame right now)
-Chelsey's infectivity way up
-Chelsey's lethality up
-No longer captures territory
-Things she infects in one strike become more infectious than normal

Timelapse GIF to demonstrate!
-Red Sphere means Chelsey infected someone at that location
-Purple Sphere means a victim infected another victim

• Chelsey will no longer capture zones but instead spawn randomly somewhere on the Island(Intent on spreading the Pangu Virus at all costs, goes on a kill spree on civilians)
  
• Infected will grow structures from their bodies when enough have been Infected
  
• They will also mutate to special infected from the ones that are infected during combat from going into hibernation around pods they make
  
• Civilians will now litter the entire map populating the world and providing a constant source for Chelsey to infect
  
• Hordes/Horde timers will be gutted and made more into a dynamic system where zones on the fringes/zones that are under attack would grab infected within a zone and group them up to help defend or attack a nearby point constantly
  
• Winters will no longer start on the top left Island and you'll get to choose your starting Location
  
• Chelsey will be "Zoned" initially as the game progresses she'll gain the ability to explore more around her(You cannot scare her away anymore so encounters will be deadly if you walk into her Hive)
  
• If you Destroy her Hive she will retreat across the map and attempt to start over
  
• Humans when killed by infected will always become infected now
  
• Zones will transition from Green(Safe),Yellow(Signs of Infection, Red(Extreme signs of Infection) as Chelsey spreads to a zone it is possible to own a zone shes spreading within (No more Ninja captures)
  

This will encourage players to explore the map and think about how they can effectively protect the civilians as Chelsey seeks to spread at all costs

Reference on the stages we are aiming for as we expand upon the Early-Mid game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqiTht9iq0k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1eDEhRR_W0


[h2]Patch Notes - 0.7.93 Auto Connecting Power Wires & Public Beta Changes[/h2]



There is an economy rebalance coming soon. Also quite a few refinements are coming to the Worm/Leviathan

As a reminder here is our schedule for the next 3 months of development!
https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/3025827991049876866

Share your feedback here on the Worm/Leviathan
https://steamcommunity.com/app/979640/discussions/0/3113646913571960146/

[h2]Patch notes to the public build[/h2]

• Generators/Power needing structures will now auto connect to nearby power sources(You can also still manually wire them)
  
• All Airborne units have received a higher resistance to Spitter acid
  
• Further refinements/Optimization to Treasure Island and detail work to flesh out the newer zones in the open world map
  
• Discord join url updated on main menu
  
• Gave the Little Buddies a bounty value of 5
  
• Gave the Leviathans a bounty value of 5000
  
• Fixed up sandbags/barbed wire not properly spawning their navigation
  
• Fixed spawn pod respawning if you remove all spawn pods in a zone but leave it uncaptured for roughly an ingame day
  
• Updated it to also allow 'healing' if units allied to the capture point's owner are overlapping the capture zone (instead of only allowing this if no units are, which'd make no sense if only infected are patrolling it)
  
• Adjusted the 'bridge safety' warp volume to not be as big under the destructible bridge segments, so you won't get caught in a 'warp loop' if you fall on a destroyed segment next to a non-destroyed destructible segment
  
• Fixed a performance issue w/ the Horde Countdown Update function in the HUDWidget (used a while loop when simple division would do)
  
• Fixed barbed wire not blocking navigation
  
• Updated audio ocean spline to cover open world shores
  
• Fixed new Command Post Capture Points not reducing capture progress if the progress meter was partially full, but there are no units remaining who are overlapping it
  
• Audio reverb zones setup for the whole map
  
• Fixed some neighboring issues in Presidio (it caused AI to behave oddly as if some zones were adjacent to zones they were not)
  
• Made a single 'GetFootstepEffects' function call that returns by-ref values for FX and Sound, instead of having two function calls for figuring it out (better efficiency)
  
• Started on an 'audio proxy' system for making Turrets or other characters be able to have their AI-related sounds 'eminate' from other actors (like a vehicle's turret's noises being 'blamed on' the vehicle that owns said turrets, rather than the untargetable turret itself)
  
• Fixed 'DamageCharacters' (for buildings, etc.) not properly broadcasting damage-resistance altered incoming damage for things like towers
  
• Moved a spawn pod that was in the center of PRSG1's command post
  
• Improved Turret loading to be more smooth and not look 'misrotated' when animating after loading a save
  

[h2]Patch notes to the public beta[/h2]

• Natalie Faction added - She will attempt to conquer and expand rapidly using poorly armed units and suicides bombers to expand
  
• Pierce's Faction added - he will take enough zones to make a protective buffer then work to vassalize civilian groups in the area that will work with him
  
• Fixed turrets not loading correctly
  
• Auto Wire added to the build
  
• Fixed the 'command post minimap icon' looking really weird if it is owned by a faction, then captured by the player
  
• Fixed player walls not spawning nav
  
• Hooked up 'random secondary zone starts' for the factions, to allow them to start in the Master with a random 'secondary base' on another island landmass (random spots that can be chosen are PRSG1, AIG2, G10Naval, G6Hotels, and G1Military)
  
• Updated spawning logic for squads to work even if the Central Spawner falls
  
• Removed the 'immediately order all squads to return' logic if Central falls
  
• Added logic to make the secondary base as well as all neighbors of selected starting territory be counted as 'core zones' (so factions will try to grab some territory near their start(s) first before going elsewhere)
  
• Added logic to make a secondary squad spawn at the secondary base, as well as a set of initial defenses there, too
  
• Upped the 'order move' frequency for the SquadController to 7.5 seconds (instead of 10.0 seconds)
  
• Fixed the 'capture progress' logic seeking for 'not ally' (which includes neutral) instead of properly seeking for 'is enemy' (which requires hostility in order to take a zone). Without this fix, you could 'take' zones from Factions without declaring hostility, if there were no units present in that zone.
  
• Hooked up healthbars on constructs to not show always
  
• Fixed up dead units counting as valid units for capture points
  
• Prevented factions who lost their Central from being unable to buy structures or order squads properly
  
• Fixed an issue with 'starting money' for Central Spawners not working properly on fresh starts
  
• Improved defense-construct spawning to iterate through all owned zones if risk/high risk zones don't take up all the desired defense spawns for this ingame hour, so Spawners can get spawned even if they're not in a risky place
  
• Hooked up logic to manage the Spawners in the CentralSpawner's array of them (and remove them on their destruction)
  
• Hooked up GetSpawnLerpPos logic for Spawner constructs, to allow Faction-constructed tents to act as spawn locations (with the closest tent to the target squad being used as the spawn point)
  
• Re-added 'stuck fix' to the Squad Leader to help account for units getting stuck on Angel Island terrain
  
• Cleaned up some unit-management for GroupControllers in relation to 'switching squad leader' on death of current leader
  
• fixed failing to move due to move target being blocked by a pod
  
• Fixed up Assault teams 'sweeping zones for pods' behavior failing due to trying to move onto a pod position (instead of 'around' or 'toward' it)
  
  

Cepheus Protocol Novelization is now available on Steam Store!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1387390/Cepheus_Protocol_Novelization

Keep in mind this book takes place before, during and a bit after Pandemic mode and follows dozens of characters around the events of CP. It will hint to our year 2 content(So spoilers if you analyze it close enough). Its not for the faint of heart (Very violent deaths and all that). You can pick it up for $3.99 now!

It will also be available on the Steam Store as an DLC on October 1st if you prefer to get it there! Just keep in mind on our website we make 99% of the sale the rest goes to PayPal

Feel free to use the #💬lore-questions on our Discord to discuss the ramifications of what the book brings to the universe and how it will affect the game as we start to work in story elements presented in the novel