This weekends update is the first update of the new year, and it's a significant one!
In addition I've started a new contract job. Work on Frontiers Reach will slow down a bit, but the March 1st release date is still a go! I'm taking on the contract because I need the additional funds to help pay living expenses in my new location. It's a fair bit more expensive than my previous living arrangement but is more stable. That aside, everything is in place for the release. While I expect there to be bugs and negative feedback I also feel confident I can address anything that comes up and will spend the days immediately following release watching the social platforms for the game to ensure I catch as much as possible.
PRIMARY NOTES
Warmap Scenario Overhaul
- This is perhaps the bulk of the changes for this update. Many of the scenarios have been touched up in one way or another. New scenarios have also been added. And what scenarios are made available and when they are made available have changed. For instance, each faction now has faction specific scenarios.
Incursion - A new scenario! Available only on Confederacy and Independent nodes, this mission requires the player to enter a sector, travel to a town/station and to destroy all of that town/stations fuel tanks. This scenario along with others takes advantage of a new tool I've added to the scenario manager. This tool allows a town/station to be set as the mission or objective Focus at random and for that Focus to be checked against objective requirements.
Spec Ops Hunt - A new scenario! Only available on Republic and Independent planetary nodes. Three teams of special operations forces have landed in the sector using DG-11 Manta drop gliders. Find and eliminate them.
SAM Killer - A new scenario! Only available on Confederacy and Independent held planetary nodes, this scenario requires the player to hunt down and eliminate 4 sites containing a new enemy launching a new type of missile. The Sol Confederacy M-535 Jaguar Mobile Surface to Air Missile Launcher.
Squadron Ambush - A new scenario! Only available on Confederacy and Independent held nodes. The Sol Confederacy has stationed a group of fighters at a town/station in the sector in preparation of a major assault elswhere. The Republic has requested assistance in ambushing and destroying the fighters while they are on the flight line waiting to start their mission.
Orbital Missile Complex - A new scenario! Available only on Confederacy held space nodes, this mission requires the player and their wing to stop an orbital launch facility from launching a guided interplanetary ballistic missile.
Patrol Sector - Now only available for Republic nodes. This scenario has been modified to focus on moving through the level and stopping small incursions.
Gather Intel - Available for all factions but varying in spawns and difficulty depending on who owns the node. When played on a Republic node, it is akin to free flight having no enemy spawns at all.
Extraction - Only available on Independent and Confederacy held nodes. This scenario along with others takes advantage of a new tool I've added to the scenario manager. In this case, the tool allows a Town (mechanical term for how the game handles stations/settlements/bases) to be set as a Focus for the scenario for spawning too. Doing this allows spawn points to be randomly set at the beginning of each mission as each town has its own spawn points for NPCs.
Escort VIP - This is now called Cargo Escort and is only available on Republic and Independent held nodes. It has also been adapted to use the new focus system to randomize spawns where using that tool makes sense.
HuntVIP - Now called Takedown, this scenario exists for all factions and has been adjusted in a number of ways. Key among them is that the Republic version of this scenario features a new enemy variant and is not timed like the others despite following a similar format.
Furball - This is now akin to a proper wave based combat mission where the player, their wingmen if they brought any, and some friendlies spawned into the map and take on increasingly numerous wave of enemies until a final round with an elite target.
Sector Battle - This mission is available for all factions but differs depending on who owns the node. When a node is own by the Republic, a Confederacy task force enters the map and begins to wreak havoc on friendly towns/stations until the flagship is destroyed. When a node is owned by the Confederacy or Independents, a Republic task force enters the map and the player is expected to defend the flag ship until all town/stations are destroyed.
Bomber Escort - Bombers now have ability to engage ground targets with guided bombs. With this new capability the mission will be structure differently depending on which faction owns the node. On Republic and Independent nodes the bombers will be sent on a path towards outside the map. On a Confederacy owned node the bombers will be set on a path to bombard every settlement.
Bomber Intercept - This scenario is basically the opposite of Bomber Escort. However the old mercenary bomber is no longer used and the Sol Confederacy now has a proper bomber in the form of the B-39 Tiger Shark Variable Altitude Bombardment Platform.
Heirophant Attack - This fight has had it's F-88 spawns reduced in count as well as vital components. This was part balance and part optimization. Nothing else has changed.
Fleet Fight - Now only available on Confederacy and Republic held space nodes. Nothing else has changed.
NEW ENEMIES
- B-39 Tiger Shark : A new bomber for the Sol Confederacy. This bomber will now actually engage targets on the ground.
- M-535 Jaguar Mobile Surface to Air Missile Launcher : Has almost double the range of a regular launcher and deals 3x the damage.
- F-88 Make Ace : An ace variant of the F-88. Has a much more aggressive behavior pattern and red paint markings.
OTHER CHANGES
- Briefings and First Mates Notes for the WARMAP scenarios have all been updated.
- Modified WARMAP logic. This is a simulation change that affects the Republic only. When Republic commanders take actions on a node their logistics chains are now calculated with regards to the DefCon condition of their adjacent allies.
Nodes in Standown will now give a 1.1x modifier to their logistics bonus to commander actions on the node and in adjacent nodes.
Nodes in DefCon1 will now give a 0.9x modifier to their logistics bonus to commander actions on the node and in adjacent nodes.
Nodes in DefCon 2 will now give a 0.8x modifier to their logistics bonus to commander actions on the node and in adjacent nodes.
And lastly nodes in DefCon 3 will now give a 0.7x modifier to their logistics bonus to commander actions on the node and in adjacent nodes.
The idea here is to encourage the player to work the frontline nodes down in DefCon to ensure logistics chains are at their maximum bonus so that commanders in adjacent nodes have more impact when they take action.
- Many of the WARMAP scenarios have had their access to mid mission resupply changed.
- Most of the WARMAP missions are now voiced. The only ones that do not have voice over are the distress beacon missions as I am still working on those.
- Adjusted some audio based instrument warnings.
- Adjusted Hit, Miss, and Collision warning text for all fighters.
- Modified camera distance for the EF-18 Kruk.
- Continued optimizations on artwork. Targeting most critically affected areas first.
- Republic bombers will now engage targets on the ground.
FIXES
- Fixed an issue that could cause floating point math errors depending on how the currency system of a country is managed at the OS level.
- Fixed performance based issues with lighting in Bleakers Folly and other locations.
- All missile and rocket munitions have had their engine power increased.
- Greater accuracy in munition collisions with terrain and other objects.
- Target marker text should now correctly render over top of things.