Welcome Back Pilots!
It has been 1 week since Drop Command launched, and we have a patch ready to fix several unexpected game issues which became evident with so many thousands of new players trying the game.
I want to thank you all for your tremendous patience as we worked on getting this ready. There are many fixes and improvements in this patch, and there is more we will need to address in future patches. The full patch notes are below, but first I want to address a major issue which is not fixed in this patch.
Void Spawning
Our absolute highest priority right now is a wide spread 'void spawning' bug which causes player units to be stuck in the air or underground and unable to complete the mission. This issue is difficult to replicate and the cause is still unknown. It appears to occur at random, regardless of mission type, mission location, or player units. It does not occur at all on some computers, and happens significantly more often on others.
We have managed to reduce the frequency of this issue by updating Dropship spawn behaviour. However, the bug in general persists. We have added an 'Unstick Unit' button to the escape menu, which may help in some situations. I am very actively working to fix this bug, and would appreciate feedback on whether the void spawning is happening less often for you and also whether the Unstick Unit button helps for you when the void spawning occurs.
What's Next
Asides from fixing bugs, we have been taking notes for the upcoming Quality of Life (QoL) patch.
The biggest change which will be coming is the ability to choose the drop location for your first dropship or VTOL wing. Many of you have asked for this, and we all agree that it will be a significant improvement.
This patch included weapon group persistence, so that campaign units keep their assigned player weapon groups between missions. This was a precursor adding the scaffolding necessary for a weapon group assignment UI which is coming in the QoL patch.
There will be plenty more in the QoL patch. We will be aiming to have it ready soon, but expect at least 1-2 weeks depending on any issues we encounter on the way.
Full Patch Notes
Updated Dropship spawn behaviour (reduces frequency of void spawning)
Added an 'unstuck' button to escape menu (use this if your unit gets stuck)
Fixed a collision issue causing the Kraken Mk1 to sink into buildings and terrain
Fixed auto-battle percentage bug (empire fleets were using max CV instead of current CV when calculating win percentages, this led to many knock-on effects such as 0 CV fleets attacking planets)
Fixed an issue causing save file meta data to become unlinked from save file data
Pirate bases with 0 CV after pirate raid or base assault are now correctly disbanded
Fixed AI reinforcements spawning at edge of map and far from target drop zones
Garrison missions no longer show pilot experience rewards
Reaching the Raid Defense mission waypoint is no longer a mission requirement
Drop Command now runs while minimized, allowing missions to load in the background
Campaign units now save player assigned weapon groups
Fire Viper no longer continues to fly after losing both rotors
Empires no longer consider a fleet to be trespassing if the fleet empire controls a planet in the same system
Empires will no longer purchase neutral planets when player or non-treaty empire fleets are present in system
Empires will no longer take neutral planets with over 50% player support unless at war
Non-Aggression pacts now prevent empires from invading neutral planets with player influence over 10%
Alliance Treaties now prevent empires from invading neutral planets with player influence > 0