Patch 025: Remakes and Rerolls
I pushed myself pretty hard to get this update out. I wanted another solid update before going into full "lockdown" (not the covid kind) mode to finish the new boss and zone. This will be the last large patch until that is finished (but small bug/balance fixes may occur).
I've shuffled a few things around as I decide which content is more important to get in the game immediately. The current roadmap for May and June looks like this (but is subject to change):
- 0.25 Remakes and Rerolls (You are here.)
- 0.30 Sectors and Stingers (the new boss and zone). eta: End of May
- 0.35 Symbionics (new class of combination upgrades). eta: First week of June
- 0.40 Augments, Achievements, and Astronauts (persistent upgrades and unlockables). eta: Mid June
New Augment
Artemis gets a new Augment: Spotting Scope
- Every 3 seconds the scope locks on to a target. If Artemis targets that enemy with her light rail, it will instantly fire. This scales with both radar array and heatsink.
- Artemis's faster move speed is now built directly into her kit without taking up an augment space. She can, however, be slowed by EMP's now.
New Utility: Kinetoshield
- As you move around, a shield charges up. At full charge, you gain a stack of armor that blocks the next damage you take and gives you 0.5 seconds of invulnerability. Will not charge if armor is currently active. - Level 02: 15% faster charge - Level 03: 1 second of invulnerability when triggered - Level 04: 15% faster charge
New Feature: Re-rolls
- If you don't like the 3 choices you get, you can roll for 3 more. You start the game with 2 free re-rolls. You earn another after each of the first two boss fight.
- Note: The amount of rolls you get, and how you earn more will likely evolve with the game.
Achievement Remake
- Master At Arms now unlocks from earning 15 weapon upgrades in a single game
- Note: The previous version of the achievement required the kind of luck I'd prefer players save for lottery tickets or Willy Wonka's chocolate bars. This still isn't a guarantee, but is much more attainable.
Bumbler Class Ship Remake
- The Bumbler ships show up twice per game, and function as a sort of mini-boss that launches EMP traps at the player inside a dense asteroid field. I think they function well, but many players struggle to even notice they are there (and the reason traps keep spawning). These updates should make them feel more important and dangerous (and visible). - New Art: A larger, more animated sprite befitting a sub boss - New Behaviors: In the second encounter, the Bumbler gets a new alternate attack - Upon death Bumblers now drop a Gleeming Cube powerup - The first encounter now happens before the 2nd boss fight, instead of after. Asteroids have been drastically reduced during this fight. - Armor: A new mechanism for larger class ships that reduces damage by 5 per instance of damage. You'll see an armor popup when you damage an enemy with this. Note: This will help me balance more difficult enemies around multiple playstyles and build types. I'll likely fine-tune this over time.
Balance
- Raypalm: Got an additional level. At level 4 the area of effect increases by 75%
- The invulnerability window after being damaged has been increased by 25%
- The player hitbox has been adjusted to be more forgiving. Collisions with all types of damage should now be easier to avoid, and narrow escapes more plausible.
- With the increase in invulnerability time, more forgiving hitboxes, the multiple repair drone buffs over the last couple of patches, and the addition of another defensive utility, I've reverted passive regeneration, reducing it by 15%
- Hercules class ships have armor now (see: Bumbler, above]
- The amount of enemies that spawn during the final boss fight has been reduced
- Gleeming Cube now grants 30% experience up from 20%
QoL
- SYNERGIES: The upgrade interface now shows you which upgrade types synergize - Weapons will show other weapons of the same class and upgrades/augments that affect them - Utilities will only show upgrades/augments they directly affect or benefit from
- The ship's glowing outline has been made a bright yellow/orange for better clarity
- Asteroids are slightly darker in color so yellow/orange weapon effects stand out better against them
- It will now be easier to see which upgrade the upgrade beacon affected immediately after collection
- Repair drone is now blue, and all repair effects from repair drone and auto-repair are now blue too.
- Repair drone now has an appearing animation that will also help to alert you to its presence.
- Various text updates to upgrades to make descriptions more consistent
- Railgun is now the Light Rail to keep it more thematically consistent with other beam type weapons.
Bugs
- Stinger Missiles and Butterfly class ships will now only damage your ship once before death. This was always the intention, but in some circumstances they could sneak in extra ticks of damage before they were removed from play.
- Queen health at the end of the game is now evenly divided in the health bar, and both queens now have the proper amount of health.
- Queen damage threshhold while vulnerable has been more strictly enforced. The threshhold is how much damage the queen can take before creating a new shield, and previously if your attacks were fast enough you could sneak in more damage.
- A number of fixes for the final Hive Queen battle have been employed. After about 100 tests, I have been unable to replicate any previously reported issues since these new changes. Let me know if any issues persist.
- Certain powerups could become infinitely stuck on if collected immediately after being EMP'd. A previous bug fix prevented this from happening if you collected a powerup and were then EMP'd after. - Note: Overload will no longer have any effect until the EMP wears off since your weapons are supposed to be disabled, and recharge reduction shouldn't matter.
- The Sidestepper achievement was not showing as unlocked in the achievement viewer