Last patch broke things? A message from the developer
Hi everyone! I spent a few hundred hours a month or two ago to create a big new patch with tons of improvements. Many things have gotten a lot better, but it does seem like the testing I did back then wasn't thorough enough: I have had a few reports and negative reviews which I assume are directly related to those changes/that patch.
I am still gathering more information, but I have worked around the clock the last few days to figure out the main issues and I have addressed all the issues that could be identified. I hope this covers most of the negative community pushback, and I also added a bunch of new things to improve quality of life features. Hopefully this made the experience for everyone who had a negative experience a lot better from here on out!
I dont have all the information yet, but if I did miss anything caused by the latest changes that is causing a negative experience please let me know via discord https://discord.gg/ymfJPRF6jx or the steam community forum https://steamcommunity.com/app/1113030/discussions/2/ so that I can address and improve these issues.
Orbit cam
If you are not already using it, please consider switching to 'Orbit cam' in the settings, since that will be our new normal. We will leave the old camera system for those who dont want to switch, but I do recommend switching to orbit cam and then doing the few orbit-cam related tutorial items to get familiar with it.
Spacebar alerts
You can also press spacebar now to jump to the latest alert, the multiplayer lobby got an upgrade, and tons of other thins have been improved. So without further ardue, below you'll find what I did these last few manic days:
This update focuses on improving skirmish setup reliability, AI 2.0 behavior, multiplayer region selection, UI clarity, loot interaction, balance, and localisation quality.
This Update Highlights
- Fixed Excessive AI Turtling
- Defenses cost more so that spamming defenses no longer invalidates building ships
- Added a new multiplayer region selection flow before entering the multiplayer lobby.
- Added a worldwide room list that can scan available rooms across supported regions.
- Improved AI 2.0 lobby synchronization so map, spawn, color, and match settings carry into games more reliably.
- Improved AI 2.0 building behavior, defense limits, resource handling, upgrades, and late-game escalation.
- Improved map previews with clearer spawn/resource information.
- Fixed several UI masking issues where tactical icons could show through panels.
- Improved loot and minimap right-click behavior.
- Added Spacebar camera-jump alerts for important events.
- Added ally minimap pings from middle-clicking the minimap.
- Updated many localisation strings, especially for Chinese and Mission 8 interference text.
- Adjusted building costs, superweapon cost, and several balance values.
AI 2.0 Excessive turtling fix
- Added defense limits for AI 2.0 players to prevent excessive turtling
- Normal AI 2.0 players are capped around 12 defense buildings.
- Turtle AI 2.0 players are capped around 25 defense buildings.
- Normal AI 2.0 players are capped around 4 overshields.
- Turtle AI 2.0 players are capped around 10 overshields.
- AI 2.0 building count is limited relative to the largest human player.
- Turtle AI no longer waits for NanoDistributor before starting normal defense construction.
- AI 2.0 can build extra limited defensive structures around resource Zabus where valid build support exists.
- AI 2.0 Storage Stations now provide 1000 metal capacity and 1000 power capacity.
- AI 2.0 can build a limited number of Storage Stations and NanoDistributors beyond the normal building limit.
- NanoDistributor construction is delayed toward richer/later AI states instead of blocking early defenses.
- Reduced Matter Refiner / Energy Synergizer spam behavior.
- Rich AI 2.0 players can now build super ships beyond only The Unmaker.
- Rich AI 2.0 players can build limited ReinforcementBeacons.
- ReinforcementBeacons do not duplicate super ships.
- Damaged AI 2.0 ships can retreat, seek repair, and return to combat when recovered.
- AI 2.0 grouped ships now spread out more during attack preparation.
- AI 2.0 can upgrade shipyards over time.
- Rich/capped AI can sell weak defenses and replace them with stronger defenses.
- AI 2.0 CPU colors are handled more reliably per slot.
- AI 2.0 score screens now better include human and CPU participants.
- AI 2.0 match start is blocked when there are no enemies.
- AI 2.0 no longer instantly wins before enemy shipyards have existed.
- Added readable debug/Inspector directive states for ships so AI 2.0, automation, and manual orders are easier to inspect.
Gameplay and Balance
- Added shipyard self-repair as a separate behavior.
- Shipyards now self-repair for 10 HP every 2 seconds while out of combat, without overhealing.
- Shipyard self-repair stacks with existing building regeneration upgrades.
- Adjusted multiple building costs.
- The Unmaker now costs 4000 metal and 4000 power.
- Shield Generator build time is set to 20 seconds.
- Moltario damage was reduced while fire rate was increased.
- The Unmaker targeting can now be cancelled with right-click.
- Fixed targeting after cancelling The Unmaker so enemy buildings can still be targeted normally.
- Jump Command and Jump Beacon behavior is kept separate from The Unmaker targeting.
- Added room-rule handling for enabling/disabling The Unmaker and Moltario.
Loot, Minimap, and Object Commands
- Right-clicking loot tactical icons now sends selected ships to the loot.
- Right-clicking ship-frame techprint tactical icons now sends selected ships to the techprint.
- Right-clicking loot minimap markers now sends selected ships to the loot.
- Loot targeting now resolves real loot/collectible roots instead of collider helper objects.
- Right-clicking enemy minimap markers continues to issue attack/focus-fire commands.
- Right-clicking friendly/allied minimap markers continues to issue protect/follow commands.
- Right-clicking asteroid and neutral minimap markers continues to move or harvest as appropriate.
- Shipyard rally commands through minimap targets remain supported.
- Middle-clicking the minimap now sends a ping to allies.
- Minimap middle-click pings no longer accidentally start camera rotation.
- Important alerts now create minimap pings so players can see where the event happened.
- Fixed loot-found sound so it plays when the loot screen opens, not again when closing it.
- Reduced energy gain sound volume.
- Improved handling for nearly simultaneous projectile shot sounds.
- Improved cleanup around targets destroyed by direct-control ramming.
Camera and Alerts
- Spacebar now jumps the camera to the most recent important alert.
- Supported alert targets include units under attack, buildings under attack, completed buildings, and newly constructed ships.
- Under-attack alerts are suppressed when the event is already visible and close to the current camera view.
- Building-complete camera alerts are also suppressed when the completed building is already visible and close.
- Under-attack voice lines now use the shared alert path for buildings, harvesters, and combat units.
- Middle-mouse/orbit camera rotation now restores the cursor to its previous position when rotation ends.
- Cursor locking during camera rotation remains separate from normal cursor confinement.
UI and Visuals
- Tactical icons are now masked behind the minimap, loot window, automation panel, bottom-right control panel, and win/loss banner.
- Win/loss messages are more reliably drawn over other UI.
- Fixed the Leave button after win/loss so it can be clicked and open the score screen.
- Fixed unit tooltips showing only Health instead of the intended Kills field.
- Improved options menu scroll behavior.
- Adjusted in-game options scroll behavior.
- Updated minimap visuals and icon sizing.
- Reduced camera marker size.
- Improved AI 2.0 map-preview resource markers so they are easier to see.
- Improved rank-up/veterancy promotion effect naming and reset behavior to reduce icon offset issues.
Localisation
- Added translations for the new multiplayer region selector and worldwide room list.
- Improved Chinese and other non-English localisation where accidental English gameplay terms remained.
- Standardized several lore/gameplay terms such as Zabu, The Light, and Lightist.
- Updated Mission 8 interference text to localized indecipherable style text.
- Kept appropriate brand names and common acronyms in English where that is clearer for players.
Maps and Tutorial
- Improved AI 2.0 map preview spawn/resource display.
- Retired old pirate challenge maps from normal AI 2.0 dropdown selection while keeping them resolvable for older references.
- Added checks/fixes around AI 2.0 map movement and vertical bounds so taller resource layouts are reachable.
- Tutorial guide slide readability and localisation key correctness were reviewed as part of the UI pass.
Notes
- This patch is focused on reliability and usability rather than new content.
- Please report any remaining lobby setting sync issues with exact mode, map, region, and whether the match was singleplayer or multiplayer.
- Please report any remaining loot/minimap command issues with the object type and whether the click was on the world object, tactical icon, or minimap marker.
Multiplayer Lobby and Region Selection
- Multiplayer now routes through a fullscreen region selector before entering the multiplayer lobby.
- Region switching is no longer shown inside the lobby, because Photon region switching requires disconnecting first.
- Added a Change Server Region button that disconnects and returns to region selection.
- Added translations for region selection, region names, connection/loading states, and worldwide room list text.
- Added a worldwide room list flow that scans each region one at a time and lets players join rooms in other regions.
- Added reconnect/restore blocking overlays so players cannot enter rooms before reconnection is complete.
- Improved joining-room overlay coverage and readability.
- Improved lobby start reliability by waiting briefly for lobby settings to settle before loading a multiplayer AI 2.0 match.
- Fixed several cases where spawn/color/map preview changes could be overwritten by stale Photon room-property refreshes.
- Fixed AI 2.0 spawn selection by dropdown and by clicking unoccupied spawn markers in the lobby preview.
- Improved lobby map previews for AI 2.0 and legacy modes.
A note for the community / feedback
I am still gathering information on why players have gone from having an overall good experience to having an overall negative experience recently, but after playing multiple games myself I hope the above addresses a lot of these issues.
However I am only human. So if there is anything else I missed that drastically needs improvement and is ruining the gameplay experience for people, please feel free to reach out via discord https://discord.gg/ymfJPRF6jx and or community forum steam bug reports and suggestions https://steamcommunity.com/app/1113030/discussions/2/ so that I can fix whatever issues there are as soon as possible. Of course I can't give any guarantees when it comes to new features, but everything that is currently working should be working well and if not I'd like to know about them so that I can fix them you know?
Either way, I think everyone will be happy with the new AI changes in particular as well as the spacebar quality-of-life upgrade and I'll keep adding more and more improvements as we go!
A new weapon damage-boosting module, "Weapon Overload," has been added. For each unit of this module installed on your ship, it will receive +15% weapon damage but lose -20% of its total health points. Players who love their glass cannon builds will surely find this module interesting.
Share your ideas!
We also want to give you guys the opportunity to contribute to the project by sharing your ideas. Feel free to make a community post on the discussion boards with the title prefixed with 'Idea:' + your idea. You can then share your ideas for new ships, missions, weapons or modules. We'll go over each of the submissions there and see if we can pick up an idea or two and implement those for you guys.
More coming, cheers!
