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Build 115444-dev Update

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Greetings Commanders,

Its been a while.

The wars fought across the galaxy have been plentiful and continue inexorably from the present into the future. But in war, one must adapt!

Our best Commanders and their internal processing units have run their neural network subroutines, testing time and again the performance of their unit blueprints in different scenarios; continually evolving and improving the combat-readiness of their armies.

Their computations have concluded and the technical alterations are being rolled out, with a wave of updated units flooding onto planets across the stars!
Now get back out there and learn how best to annihilate your foes with these evolved mechanisms of war.


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Balance Changes

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[u]Vehicles[/u]

Stryker

• Speed reduced from 18 to 17
• Range reduced from 80 to 75
  

Strykers beat almost all T1 units in a direct flight and were too similar in role to the Dox. With a minor speed and range reduction, they have a harder time raiding and kiting the Spark, while still excelling defensively against other raiders.

Ant

• Fire rate increased from 0.5 to 0.55 shots/second
  

Ants are meant to be the main battle tank of PA, yet they have been outperformed by other more niche units. This increase in rate of fire buffs their overall damage output.

Drifter

• Damage reduced from 125 to 120
• Range reduced from 115 to 110
  

Drifters have dominated the meta with their high range and ability to kill most tanks in two shots. A slight decrease in both range and damage will stop them from outranging dual laser turrets and give Ants a fighting chance.

Leveler

• Range reduced from 140 to 130
  

Ever since their range increased, Levelers have dominated almost every other land unit. Reducing it will make dealing with them more manageable.

Vanguard

• Range increase from 30 to 50
• Fire rate increased from 0.5 to 1 shot/second
• Damage reduced from 2000 to 1000
• Splash damage reduced from 2000 to 1000
  

While their stats might initially seem impressive, Vanguards struggle to get in range of their targets and have a disappointing impact versus armies. The range increase improves their zoning ability, and the new rate of fire will make them more effective against T1.

Manhattan

• Speed increased from 7 to 10
• Turn speed increased from 45 to 60
• Turn acceleration increased from 15 to 30
  

Manhattans have serious issues with navigating, especially with getting out of bases and passing quickly through teleporters. These changes improve that handling and increase their chance of making it to their target.

[u]Bots[/u]
Dox

• Speed increased from 19 to 20
• Acceleration reduced from 190 to 50
  

Dox are meant to be the primary raiding unit in the game. A speed increase helps them move around the map quicker, while the acceleration change improves their handling when dodging.

Spark

• Range reduced from 70 to 65
  

Sparks have proven too good against Dox and Strykers. Reverting the range allows for more diverse unit compositions again.

Grenadier
Firing deviation increased from 1 to 1.5
Splash damage REMOVED
Splash radius REMOVED

Grenadiers are intended as long range support units, but overperformed against mobile units. Removing the area of effect of their weapons will make them a lot less reliable against armies, while still countering static defenses.

Stinger

• Speed increased from 12 to 16
  

Increasing the Stingers speed allows them to keep up with bot raids and expanding fabbers, as well as dodge bombing runs. They remain significantly weaker than other T1 AA so will need higher numbers to reliably escort your units.

Slammer

• Fire rate for torpedo increased from 0.25 to 0.75 shots/second
  

The Slammers torpedo weapon is rather lacklustre in practice. This increase in rate of fire significantly improves their performance against naval targets.

Mend

• Health increased from 150 to 350
  

Mends have always been too fragile to warrant the 1000 metal investment. With their increased durability they can now take a shot or two and continue providing frontline support.

Colonel

• Metal cost reduced from 7000 to 6000
• Health reduced from 8000 to 6000
• Build range increased from 20 to 30
  

The Colonel proved too expensive for what it offered. It is now cheaper to make it more viable, while its health has been reduced to compensate. Handling is also improved.

[u]Air[/u]

Hummingbird

• Health reduced from 150 to 120
  

The HP reduction reduces the snowball effect of air superiority giving players a better chance to come back and contest the air layer via ground AA.

Icarus
Target priorities changed:

• Fabber
• Air Defence
• Mobile & (Land|Naval)
  

Icarus targeting priorities have been updated to help them single out fabs and AA.

Phoenix

• Health reduced from 300 to 240
  

As with Hummingbirds, this is to reduce the snowball effect of air..

Kestrel

• Health reduced from 300 to 250
• Range reduced from 80 to 60
• Damage increased from 15 to 20
  

The Kestrel will be able to do slightly more damage while putting itself in more danger to do so.

Hornet

• Health increased from 200 to 600
• Metal cost increased from 1500 to 3200
• Fire rate increased from 0.25 to 0.5
• Range increased from 180 to 190
• Missile velocity increased from 80 to 160
• Speed reduced from 40 to 30
  

The Hornet has been modified to better suit its role of picking off high priority targets from afar.
Naval

Piranha

• Range reduced from 120 to 105
  

The Piranhas current relatively long range made them immune to all static defences and highly effective at denying shorelines. This reduction will solve that problem.

Orca

• Torpedo weapon REMOVED
• Updated buildbar and strategic icons accordingly
  

The removal of the Orcas torpedo weapon aims to make them a more dedicated destroyer.

Narwhal

• Torpedo weapon ADDED (250 damage every 2.5 seconds, 100 DPS)
• Updated buildbar and strategic icons accordingly
  

To achieve a slightly more complex naval balance, the Narwhals dedicated torpedo weapon from classic PA has been restored.

Barracuda

• Removed radar stealth
  

The Barracudas radar stealth turned them into a hard counter for torpedo launchers. Removing this improves the options available to players.

Barnacle

• Speed increased from 10 to 12
  

Increases the Barnacles speed to the standard for T1 ships, improving their viability.

Stingray

• Tactical missile weapon can now target air targets, prioritising Hornets and Wyrms
  

Enabling the long-range tactical missile of Stingrays to target Air units significantly increases their survivability and zoning potential against T2.

[u]Orbital[/u]

Solar Array

• Energy production increased from 2500 to 3200
  

This production buff makes the Solar Array better than Advanced Energy Plants, making it worth building.

Omega

• Side cannons can now also target Land, Air and Surface targets
• Side cannons damage reduced from 2x65 to 2x30
• Side cannons fire rate increased from 1 to 2 shots/second
• Side cannons pitch range increased from 60 to 180 to allow them to targets units right bellow
  

Despite costing half a titans worth in metal, Omegas have proven lackluster. They are now better at destroying Avengers and can clear out heavily fortified planets.

[u]Titans[/u]

Atlas

• Health increased from 40,000 to 60,000
  

For such an expensive unit they don't tend to live long enough to get a shot off. A health buff allows them to shrug off a lot more damage.

Ares

• Health reduced from 80,000 to 50,000
• Close range aoe stomp attack removed
  

This reduction to health, along with the removal of their stomp, means the Ares will be punished if an army can close the distance.

Zeus

• Health increased from 10,000 to 12,000
• First rate increased from 0.5 to 0.55 shots/sec
• Energy draw increased from 5000 to 5500 energy/sec
  

Multiple consecutive buffs to anti-air have made the Zeus much weaker. These changes compensate for this.

[u]Economy[/u]

Advanced Metal Extractor

• Health reduced from 5000 to 3000
• Metal production increased from 16 to 18
• Metal cost reduced from 2000 to 1800
  

T2 metal was rarely worth the massive investment for a lackluster reward. Now with its reduced cost and increased production, the transition to T2 economy is smoother. Health has been lowered to make them a juicier target for raiding.

Energy Storage

• Storage amount increased from 100,000 to 300,000
  

Compared to metal storage the energy storage has not provided much value and was rarely built. This storage capacity boost makes it a useful buffer for your economy.

Jig

• All resource storage REMOVED
• Energy production reduced from 7000 to 3750
• Explosion on death changed to only damage structures

Jigs did pretty much everything: provided metal, energy, storage, and a nasty explosion to take out whatever just killed them. These changes are so players must rely more heavily on planets and make Gas Giant control a choice instead of a requirement.

[u]Defenses[/u]

Single Laser Tower

• Health increased from 350 to 400
• Yaw rate increased from 60 to 90
• Damage increased from 40 to 60
  

Improves effectiveness for cost in relation to the Laser Tower and against Bots..

Advanced Laser Tower

• Hitbox adjusted
• Range increased from 120 to 130
• Rate of fire increased from 3 to 5
  

Improved cost effectiveness and compensation for the range increases seen in the units it is meant to destroy.

Lob

• Fire rate increased from 3 to 4.5
• Metal cost per shot reduced from 60 to 50
• Ammo capacity reduced from 500 to 445
• Ammo demand reduced from 15 to 13
  

Improves the viability of The Lob and the diversity of possible opening builds..

Unit Cannon

• Added Storm to the buildable units
• Can now be built on water
• Metal cost reduced from 10,000 to 6800
  

The unit cannon was underused due to its high cost and difficulty invading fortified planets. The cost reduction and addition of Storms make it a viable choice in games. The ability to build them on water is a quality of life change.

[u]Maps[/u]

The maps from the 1v1 pools now have descriptions on the nature of the map, and 50 of them now support multiplayer game set-ups beyond 1v1s

A list of the updated maps is here:

• Alloy
• Amadeus' Rift
• Angels Causeway
• ASAT
• Ashworth's Garden
• Backbone
• Bulkhead
• Canals
• Canyon
• Castle
• Clutch II
• Current
• Diahydri
• District
• Echo
• EVAK-TWO
• Forager
• Fossil
• Fulcrum
• Gargantuan LE
• Haze
• Headwind
• Hemlock
• Hopper
• Line
• Moment
• Pax Frontier
• Plenty
• Riddler
• Riptide
• Scarred Sands
• Shackle
• Shard
• Snowball
• Surface
• Threshold
• Trench
• Turnpike
• Ulmost
• Undergrowth
  

Below is a reminder of the current 1v1 ranked map rotation:

• A-SAT
• Alloy
• Amadeus Rift
• Angels Causeway
• Ashworths Garden
• Backbone
• Bulkhead
• Canals
• Canyon
• Castle
• Centax-3
• Clutch II
• Complaint Department
• Current
• Diahyrdi
• Disparity
• District
• Echo
• Enfer
• EVAK-TWO
• Forager
• Fossil
• Fulcrum
• Gargantuan LE
• Haze
• Headwind
• Hemlock
• Hopper
• Line
• Maginot
• Moment
• Niflhel
• PAX Frontier
• Plenty
• Riddler
• Riptide
• Roc
• Scarred Sands
• Shackle
• Shard
• Snowball
• Spindel Range
• Surface
• The Ardennes
• The Marne
• Threshold
• Trench
• Turnpike
• Ulmost
• Undergrowth
  

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Bug Fixes

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• Advanced Laser Tower can no longer be shot over the top of walls by direct fire units
• Gil-E delay in intercepting missiles corrected
• Galata can now damage Astraeus
• Storm can now damage Astraeus
• Colonel turns changed to avoid them getting stuck
• `turn_in_place` set to true
• `turn_speed` increased from 90 to 180
• Commander turns changed to avoid them getting stuck
• `turn_in_place` set to true
• `turn_speed` increased from 90 to 180
• Kestrel guards properly
• Ant, Inferno, Boom, Drifter, Leveler, Locust, Vanguard guard layers fixed to be have properly when patrolling and attack-moving
• Beam weapons no longer stopped by water surfaces
  

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Additional Improvements

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• Some under the hood changes have been made for more optimal server startups.
• A rendering/startup issue with Linux based systems using Nvidia cards has been addressed.
• Updates to some single player maps, to make the also viable as multiplayer maps, have been included.
• A new chat mod, to replace the now defunct existing chat system has been included in the default mod list.
  

[ 2022-04-11 17:17:18 CET ] [Original Post]