First of All…
We’d like to thank everyone who participated in our first phase of beta testing, we got tons of really useful data and feedback that have informed the changes you’ll be seeing this patch. We look forward to this round of tests and your continued support in helping us keep refining the game through your feedback!
Description
In this patch we’re making a lot of big changes which we’re excited to get your guys feedback on! You’re now only controlling 1 Trooper, we’ve overhauled the gameplay, rebalanced all of the Troopers, there’s a whole new gamemode which is replacing control, and there’s some main menu and matchmaking changes. Let’s get into some specifics.
Then there was One…
Our last round of testing had players controlling 2 Troopers. This was really fun, and incredibly rewarding once you got the hang of it, but we found that a lot of players were not getting to enjoy Super Squad at its full potential as there was too steep of a learning curve when coming up against our seasoned players.
We played around with a couple of different solutions before deciding to run with players controlling 1 Trooper in teams of 5. The reason for this direction is that we found that you could now fully focus on your single Trooper’s mechanics, getting into higher fidelity dog fights, and getting that Trooper combo potential through your team’s synergies and coordination.
The change also allowed us to really lean into the Shoot-em-up aspect of the game, adding in our new dodge mechanic and honing the fast paced and frenetic aspect of the game as your 1 Trooper now has your undivided attention, but we can get more into that during the gameplay overhaul section.
Gameplay Overhaul
Now that some of your brain is freed up from micro-managing those 2 Troopers, we wanted to add in some complexity and fidelity to other aspects of the game and refine some of the old mechanics we found players weren’t really engaging with.
The Dodge
We’ve added a new mechanic – ‘the dodge’ – to the game which is bound to the SPACEBAR. Each Trooper will have a specific number of dodge charges they will be able to use, however, the distance and cooldown is standardised across all Troopers. The idea behind this is to pick up the pace of combat, allowing players to watch for key CC or damage incoming and quickly dodge out of the way of the danger.
Armour and Shield - Cut
Each Trooper used to either have armour, shield, or flat damage and a mix of armour and health, or shield and health as their defensive stats. While this added a lot of high level counterplay potential, even our best players were ignoring this system.
Now Troopers have been simplified, just having health, and allowing for players to stay in the moment and really focus on positioning and potential danger for their target prioritisation.
Removed Empowered Abilities – Cut
Each Trooper used to be able to charge their next ability through landing basic attacks. This would cause their next cast ability to have increased stats and a bigger, more impactful particle effect. While this was cool, we found that most players were confused as to what an empowered ability was and how to use it.
We’ve removed the empowered abilities so that players do not have to wait for the meter to be filled, and can really focus on how to best use their abilities from second to second.
Trooper Rebalancing
As we’ve removed the second Trooper, added the dodge, and cut some of the more fiddley or confusing mechanics, we’ve created the space for the game to be faster, more engaging, and higher fidelity.
- All the Troopers have had their movement and projectile speed increased to lean into the high paced shoot-em-up feel of Super Squad.
- All health values have been reduced and rebalanced to raise the stakes of every fight.
- All abilities stats and travel times have been rebalanced to fit in with the new speed of the game.
- All damage increase buffs now apply to bullet and abilities, where they used to only apply to bullets, to give our supports some love.
For any specifics, go to the Trooper Tab on the Main Menu to learn more about the current state of each individual Trooper.
Missile Strike – the New Control
Now that there’s less mechanically to worry about in controlling your Trooper, we’ve added some complexity back into the gamemode. We’ve introduced a new gamemode ‘Missile Strike’ to replace our old gamemode – Control.
This pits teams of 5 against one another in a battle to launch missiles at each other’s base. To activate a missile a team has to collect keys from pods that drop around the map; once a team has 10 a missile silo will activate on a map for them to defend until launch. The opposing team has to attack power relays around the silo to try and deactivate the missile and abort the launch – all 4 relays must be down at once to abort the launch. Once one team has hit the enemy base twice, they win the game!
Make sure to pay attention to the start a match, as you will be given a short fly through of some key aspects of the gamemode and told how to play. You will also be reminded of what your current objective is in your objective box on the left of the screen.
Main Menu Changes
Our main menu screen has had an overhaul, now featuring a missile site, with the corresponding power relays, as the main feature. If you sit back and watch you can watch one of the missiles launch in the background!
We’ve also added in a rating bar at the bottom of the screen which will pop up after your first game after every patch release. Make sure to give us feedback on the current patch through that star rating as it will help us to track how each patch is generally received by the community.
You can now see the Build ID at the bottom left corner of the window before you connect to the main menu - otherwise right-click on Super Squad, go to properties, click local files, and you should see your Build ID there.
This patch's Build ID is 6330490
Matchmaking Changes
When you press play and the game find’s a match you’ll have to click accept. If you miss the time window to accept you will be put back onto the main menu, so make sure to watch your screen.
We’ve also done a large amount of back-end work on the matchmaking queue to help refine the experience and reduce the amount of bugs that players experience.
Known Issues
- If you find your Trooper stuck, check your keybindings on the options menu using the esc key in game. We’re having an issue where sometimes keybindings reset mid-game – we’re working on it.
- If Xandark backstabs someone inside of poison bomb or Rain of Fire, the DoT effect from the AoE effect persists until death. Please don’t abuse this bug.
- Sometimes when a Trooper dies and drops keys in missile strike their dropped keys are left on the minimap after another Trooper has picked them up.
- Earning TT – The end of match screen ranking is too difficult at the moment and includes old Control parameters. The reward system requires stat rebalancing and integrating with current gamemode objectives.
- Infinite Missiles – There is a rare instance where a game could go on forever, we’ve got some bits to do to catch this case, but they’ll be in for the next patch.