Hi, everyone!
This is the very first community update for MERCS! (I only recently learned I could do this... oops. lolːsteamfacepalmː) The game has seen a ton of progress and improvement since the store page went up. Speaking of the store page, that's an area I need to flesh out as well. I'm hoping to be able to find time for this as well as some marketing in the coming months.
MERC-CYLOPEDIA
As for the game itself, where to begin? I guess the first big feature might be the new in-game help file that I'm calling the Merc-cyclopedia:
This help file contains all sorts of information about all aspects of the game, including lore, help for each screen, and detailed equipment/trait information. It will be accessible from any screen in the game by pressing the [?] button in the bottom left.
CAMPAIGN PROGRESS
The next big thing would be the campaign. The overwhelming majority of my dev time for the last little while has been creating the campaign missions. Obviously I can't show too much here, but there's a new campaign map where you can choose which mission node you'd like to play next. There will be story missions (gold pins) and side missions (grey pins). The campaign features a branching storyline which is affected by decisions made by the player.
MISC IMPROVEMENTS/ADDITIONS
This list is by no means exhaustive, but here's just some of the things that have been added in the last little while:
- Tons of bug fixes
- Visible merc names above vehicles
- Customizable merc behaviour (auto-attack hit chance thresholds)
- Volume controls
- New options menu to set these things
- New combat actions (hold fire, aimed shot, rapid fire, dual fire)
- Numbers on each navigation node to see how many turns until you arrive there
- Ability to "hold" for a turn while setting a nav path to co-ordinate synched arrivals of units
- Tons of new gear, including missiles, half-tracks, CSVs (support vehicles.. more below), new weapons, gear, abilities etc.
- Ability to dock the various UI panes
- New stat readouts for your units/squad
- New waypoint-based nav system for easy deployment
- Mechs! (more below)
- Salvage mechanics (more below)
- Multiple ammo types for kinetic weapons (armor piercing, high explosive, smoke)
- Deployable mines
- New dialogue system for the campaign
- Improved map sprites/lighting effects
- Basic tutorial
COMBAT SUPPORT VEHICLES (CSVs)
This is one of the new game systems that I'm most proud/happy with. A CSV is a special pre-designed support unit. They have no direct offensive capabilities, but they can help out your squad in various ways. At the time of writing there is 3 CSVs but I will of course be adding more.
FIXER CSV
The "Fixer" CSV (name pending) is, as you can probably guess, a healer type unit. It has 2 systems - a repair laser than can repair small amounts of damage at long range - and a set of repair arms that can repair a large amount of damage at close (melee) range. These are very useful at keeping your squad in fighting shape.
SKULKER CSV
The Skuker is an electronic warfare unit. In addition to having an advanced sensors array which allows it to see further, detect mines and see vehicles through smoke, it has a comprehensive electronic warfare suite. This equipment allows it jam the targeting of nearby enemies, thus lowering their probability to hit. It also acts as a fire control centre for nearby friendlies which gives a bonus to their targeting.
HAULER CSV
The hauler CSV is essentially a flat-bed truck. It has no combat capabilities at all, so why would you want one taking up a slot in your squad? Once the mission is over, for each hauler that you brought with you, you can recover 1 wrecked vehicle to sell for salvage. It plays a similar role to the "Vestal" in Darkest Dungeon - not helpful in a fight, but nets you more loot in the end.
MECHS!
A much desired/requested feature. Been wanting these in for a while and now we finally have them! Mechs (actual name pending.. we'll see) are light scout vehicles. They are more nimble/dodgy that regular tanks, but also more lightly armored. Mechs have the unique ability to climb up hills, which gives them a tactical advantage as attacking from elevation grants you a to-hit bonus and imposes a to-hit penalty on anyone shooting at you from below. It's also very helpful for quickly covering the map to get to an objective or getting a nice view of the land. Mechs will have more functionality in the future.. but more on that later ːsteamthumbsupː
Well, I'd better leave it at that for now. This update is getting rather long. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you made it all the way to the end, thanks for reading!
I'll try to post more frequent updates in the future, now that I know this is a thing. In the meantime, feel free to follow me on my socials and join the Discord! I post frequent updates on Discord, occasional updates on Twitter and I post my devlogs on YouTube. Infact, here's the latest one!:
SOCIALS:
See you in the next one!
Meneliki