The big information update - Early Access Update #7

The Information Update - Early Access Update #7

Update 7 is our biggest one yet and addresses something that a lot of you have been asking for: More information!

DETAILED SINGLE UNIT INSPECTOR

We added a super detailed single unit view, that shows all changes that the currently selected unit has and where they are coming from. This makes it a lot easier to understand some of the interactions or to simply confirm that your build works as intended.

COMBAT PREVIEW

On the reward map (and when you pause the game mid combat) you now get a panel telling you the name of the enemy variant you’re facing, the biome of the map and the landscape generator of the map. This might allow you to pick some things according to what kind of opposition you expect and also allows us to talk more clearly about which enemies are the most fun or where you have encountered an issue.

BALANCE CHANGES

On top of this we have also deployed the first really big batch of balance changes. This should improve some of the more egregious spikes in difficulty. But is is still the first of many to come. So please let us know, when some enemy seems super unfair or so easy, that it is not fun.
We also reworked the mechanic of the Ascension Stage 10 Boss a bit to feel a little more fair and interesting.

NEW CONTENT

And to top this update off, we also have a pretty nice list of new content, that is the starting point for us to add more fodder for different types of builds. We can not wait to see what you come up with.

BE PART OF THE BETA TO GET UPDATES EARLIER

If you want to get all the updates early and help us test out the new changes, you can switch your game to the Beta branch in your Steam library. Right click -> Properties -> Betas and select the beta from the dropdown menu. Of course there also might be a couple more bugs on this, but we usually fix them very quickly on there.

See the full list of changes below.

NEW CONTENT:

• Added “Surface Scan” a pre mission briefing, showing the name of the upcoming enemy as well as the landscape and biome. These unique IDs should make it easier to talk about the different elements of the game. It also contains the run and map id, so if you send us a screenshot of this, it is very easy for us to recreate a game state.
• New Enemy Variant for second Elite encounter.
• Added Oil grenade skill to robo poker.
• New Hack Critical Optics - 10% critical chance for Sniper role.
• New Hack Critical Regeneration - Crits grant regen.
• New Hack Advanced Shields - Shielded get crit chance.
• New Hack Emergency Shields - Battered triggers shields
• New Hack Anti Shield Rounds - attacks remove additional shield charge from target.
• New Hack: Effective Veterans - veterans get turbo on kill.
• New Unit: Flame Arrow
• New Unit: Heavy Machine Gun Truck - ultra long range slow vehicle
• New Unit: Swarmer

GENERAL CHANGES:

• Blueprint Cards now show in detail what effects causes which buffs or debuffs are applied
• In-game card view now shows the current stats of the selected unit (including its active status effects)
• 60 fps is the new default frame rate limit
• Armored Tractor has a new critical modifier against enemy robo targets. The active ability now has a small Area of effect.
• Improved Status effect icons
• Ascension Buttons in Run Setup visible from the start in preview mode.
• Rush Beacons now show charged status on the minimap
• All collectors now trigger the “harvester lost” warning and also signal the position on the minimap.
• Specialists trigger warning and minimap blink when they get killed.
• Slight UI adjustments on the cards for better readability.
• Reworked Mechanics of Ascension 10 Boss. The invincibility mechanic of the PCX Turbines has been replaced by something that is a lot less finicky and hopefully more satisfying to play against.

BALANCE CHANGES:

• PCX slime enemies debuffed.
• CF 3 improved
• PCX Poker debuffed.
• PCX Siege Tower armor added, and HP raised
• PCX Fortress damage raised
• CF Respawn Packs take 25% longer to charge up.
• Commando Mech damage increase 2.4 to 2.8, HP 130 to 150
• Welding Runner - HP raised by 5, skil size .75 to 1.25, production time reduced by 4 sec
• T0 Tank - damage raised 4.5 to 5, weapon range 4 to 4.5. HP 120 to 130, skil duration +5 sec.
• Robo Marine attack cooldown 1.8 to 1.6, factory cap 8 to 10
• Blockade Tank attack size 0.8 to 1.2, production duration 35 to 30, passive heal 2 to 2.5
• Factory Charger - Cost 500 to 400
• Hover Sniper, factory cap 3 to 4, unit cap 10 to 8, weapon range 7 to 7.5, damage 10 to 14
• Little Lighter: Factory cost 360 to 320, damage 2 to 3, burn duration 3 to 4 sec.
• Grenadier 4x4: attack size 1.6 to 2, damage 9 to 12, HP 80 to 60, unit cap 4 to 6
• Ultra Gunbot: cost 160 to 140, factory cost 520 to 480, factory cap 3 to 4
• Ultra Turret: cost 800 to 700, attack type changed to splash with a size of .6
• Claw Bot: damage from 2.4 to 2.6.
• Headhunter: unit cap 3-5, HP 120 to 160, skill size 2 to 2.5, Damage 8-10
• RocketWalker: unit cap 4 to 6, attack cooldown 4 to 3.5
• [1:48 PM]
• Laser Tank: Cost 200 -180, factory cost 500 - 440, HP 120 to 140.
• Sniper Turret: Cost 360 to 320, cap 10 to 12, HP 300 to 400, skill cost 20 to 15.
• Smart Grenade Marine: cap 3 to 4, attack range 4 to 5, attack cooldown 5 to 4, HP 90 to 60, Shield 4 to 5
• Planter Tank: attack cooldown 2 to 1.2, skill cost 20 to 15, MP 30 to 20
• Repeater Turret: HP 270 to 400, skill cost 20 to 15
• Gatling Walker: Salvo shot count 4 to 6, attack cooldown 0.35 to 0.4 sec, production time 45 to 36, HP 320 to 360, factory cap 1 to 2, unit cap 5 - to 4.
• Exciter Beam Cruiser: attack cooldown 0.5 to 0.4, attack range 6 to 7. Production duration 40 to 32. Unit cap 4 to 5.
• Recycler - Cost 120 to 80, production time 18 - 15, attack cooldown 1 to 0.8 sec, Starting relic factory cost reduction 80% to 75%.
• Player - Mine damages increased
• MP Chargebot now applies burning, when the skill is active.
• Robo Micros Factory cap raised to 10
• Ancient Turret buffed
• Explosive Surprise - damage increased to 20 from 10.
• Hack vacancy filler changed to 90% production time reduction instead of 50%.
• PCX Nano Hunter HP reduced, attack speed slightly reduced.
• PCX Poker attack speed slightly reduced.
• PCX Elite Melee Division enemy variant has fewer buildings on start
• some upgrade pricing changes

BUG FIXES:

• Set unattainable Hacks to inactive, so they do not falsely show up in the database.
• Be sure to have camera placed above engineer when level starts
• Prohibit zooming when it is not allowed
• Don’t show in-game-tutorial before player has pressed start button
• Don’t show attack rate for Blueprints that do not attack
• Close button for Profile Select screen.
• Fire Mech Skill can no longer damage your own units.
• Removed unreachable upgrades from the database
• Fire Booster critical passive works correctly now
• fixed that some blueprints could not show up as a reward. (so basically weather tower, Boulder Turret, and Lightning Tower are new blueprints as of this update.)
• Cull Turret cull sound no longer globally audible
• Echo description clarified
• Brood Mech active skill description added
• Tick Walker name inconsistency fixed
• Charge Laser Tank sniper behavior module removed to match description
• Units that respawn via Support Tank’s Respawn Hack or Robo Replicators now count into unit cap correctly, units spawned via drops or unit chest ignore unit cap
• Abrakazoom Hack uses Card Change instead of entity mod for skill range increase
• Overload Specialist Hack now also triggers, if you manage to get Recycler copies as a spawn.
• Enemies attacking their own buildings because of Confusing Panic will stop doing it when panic ends
• Robo Poker now accepts “Range Up” Upgrade
• Bounty Bot now accepts Skill Damage upgrade (the multiplier can now be influenced by relics, upgrades and so on)
• Upgrades CriticalStuns, Slow and ArmoredAttack can only be applied to damage dealers from now on
• Removed duplicate objective from Ascension 7 Boss
• added missing translation for Asc7 boss
• AI no longer attacks unreachable obstacles, which sometimes caused them to get stuck for a while.
• AI no longer attacks crystal towers or chests or neutral buildings that would give them an advantage.
• fixed broken icon for vampirism update.
• fixed units on transporter crash sites spawning with the wrong tag.
• fixed armored tractor skill icon to correct type and it not being able so self target.
• changed CF respawn packs to only work on the original unit.
• fixed PCX Dragon Bug to not hit targets on layers above itself.
• removed inactive sniper tag from Heavy Machine Gun Truck
• callback spire now also teleports spawns
• fixed skill duration upgrade being offered on basis of skill range and not duration
• fixed missing part of the Heal Drop description.
• fixed defender upgrade inconsistency
• don't take over card changes from run into database
• Advanced charging uses card change instead of value change so the change is visible in the card view.