Almost three months later, and Version 0.4, our most expansive content update, is finally released! New Defenses, New Axons, Co-op Survival, Chapter 3 and updates to the Campaign, improved performance, some much requested QoL features, updated balance, fixes, and more!
In fact, like we did with 0.2, we've got a handy dandy video that shows off all the major features. Check it out!
And now, for yet another giant changelog of doom, behold: endless scrolling.
General
- Major performance optimizations have been made.
- Campaign and Survival save systems have been overhauled to be less error prone and to better prepare for future additions. Please report any issues to us!
- Hard Difficulty is now a 25% HP increase, up from 20%.
- There's now a popup for when a Meta Tech triggers.
- You can no longer change the timescale in between waves, it automatically resets to x1 during wave breaks, and reverts to what you had it on when you start the wave again.
- You can now hover over your Credits and Power to see how much you've gotten from different sources.
Campaign
- Chapter 3 of the Campaign has been added!
- Chapters 1 & 2 have been revised both in story and gameplay. Go replay those missions!
- Some of the levels in each chapter now have challenges in them, marked by a green star, granting an extra tech tree point when completed.
- The Tech Tree has been reworked to be a bit more straightforward.
- Your Defense Upgrades are now directly tied to your progress on the Campaign Map.
- Added the Journal! This is a place to see notes from Patricia and Omni to offer more context as you progress through the story.
- Patricia now has a few different expressions.
Quickplay
- Just about every single map has had their wave compositions adjusted for the updated balance sandbox.
- Added one more wave to Isolation.
- Slightly adjusted the map layout for Matrix.
- Adjusted resource scaling on Comms Centre.
- Added two more waves to Relic.
- Added three more waves to Arrival.
- Added one more wave to Duality.
- Updated the map layout for Foundry07 and added two more waves.
- Updated the map layout for Lost Sectors and added two more waves.
Survival
- You now need to place down an Expand before you start the next wave.
- The Survival Upgrade icons have been updated with a cleaner style.
Co-op
- Survival Co-op has been added with its own leaderboard!
- You can now fast-forward at x2 in Co-op any time you want during the waves!
- Added notifications for when someone sends you Credits or Power.
- You can now see which map category the host has selected in the Co-op lobby.
- Map wave counts is now displayed in the Co-op lobby.
- Just about every map has had their wave compositions adjusted for the updated balance sandbox.
- Added three more waves to Redirection.
- Updated the map layout for Overlap.
Achievements
- Added 16 new achievements!
-- You Know Nothing | Complete the Tutorial.
-- Learning from the Best | Watch a Replay from the Leaderboards.
-- Look Ma! | Place in the top 25 on any Leaderboard.
-- Isolated the Problem | Complete the Quickplay map "Isolation" on Hard difficulty.
-- Broke the Code | Complete the Quickplay map "Matrix" with a path length of at least 120.
-- Iconic | Complete the Quickplay map "Relic" with a score of at least 18000.
-- Going it Alone | Complete a Co-op map Solo on Normal difficulty.
-- Don't Need Your Help | Complete a Co-op map Solo on Hard difficulty.
-- No Going Back | Complete Chapter 3 of the Campaign.
-- "All Decked Out | Spend 540 Upgrade Points in the Survival Upgrade Tree.
-- Seen it All | Beat wave 66 in any Survival map on any difficulty.
-- We live | Finish wave 30 of Co-op Survival on Normal difficulty.
-- We really lived! | Finish wave 30 of Co-op Survival on Hard difficulty.
-- Epic Survivor: Blank Canvas | Finish wave 30 of Survival Blank Canvas on Hard difficulty.
-- Survivor: Islands | Finish wave 30 of Survival Islands on Normal difficulty.
-- Epic Survivor: Islands | Finish wave 30 of Survival Islands on Hard difficulty.
- Your achievements now level you up. This level is displayed in Co-op lobbies as a prestige number.
- Fixed multiple bugs preventing achievements from being completed and reduced some of the requirements to make them less grindy.
Audio
- 2 new music tracks have been added to the game.
- Upgrades are now a 3D sound, meaning you can't hear them from across the map in Co-op.
- Added ambience tracks to several of the biomes.
- Removed sirens from certain ambiences
- Lowered the volume on certain ambiences
Visuals
- Icons have been updated across the game. No more placeholders!
- Added a Shield Hit visual
- EMP Lightning Tech now has a visual
- Updated the VFX for EMP effects, including EMP Gatling, EMP Mine, Gravity Generator U1, and EMP Blast Overload
- Blast Cannon VFX is a bit snappier, and the projectiles no longer phase through certain Axons
- Various VFX cleanup, should be slightly more performant and have less clutter
- Added more variations to the various biomes. As a result, every Mission in Campaign now has a unique background.
- Shields & Armor now consistently show up on all Axons. Previously, there were cases it didn't show up properly.
- Adjusted the scale of Shields on some Axons, should look a little less cluttered
New Defense and Axon Additions
Added 4 New Defenses
Siphon Cannon, a new MegaCorp Tower:
- Cost: 125.
- Damage: 175.
- Range: Global.
- Cooldown: 20 seconds.
- Effect: Emits a siphoning field. Each Axon within the field reduces its cooldown every second.
-- Upgrade 1: Each Axon within the field adds 3 damage to the main cannon.
-- Upgrade 2: Slows Axons within the Siphoning Field by 10%.
-- Upgrade 3: The Siphoning Field now deals 3 damage per second to all Axons within its field.
-- Global Upgrade: Increases the AoE of the Siphoning Field by 0.5.
Nanite Nest, a new Vex Industries Trap:
- Cost: 100
- Drone Damage: 3.
- Range: 1.
- Drone Range: 2.5.
- Cooldown: 1.
- Effect: 2 Nanite Drones reside within this Trap. They attach to passing Axons and deal damage over time. If the Axon has Armor or Shields, they are removed while the Nanite Drone is attached to it. Only one Nanite Drone can be attached on each Axon. When the target dies, it finds a new target within its range or returns to the trap.
-- Upgrade 1: The target is slowed by 20%.
-- Upgrade 2: Adds another Nanite Drone.
-- Upgrade 3: Each Nanite Drone also deals 4 damage within 2 AoE of the target it is attached to every 3 seconds.
-- Global Upgrade: Applies a 30% Damage Amp for 6 seconds to its target each time it jumps to a new Axon.
Electron Launcher, a new Astrosys Labs Tower:
- Cost: 125.
- Damage: 9 per second.
- Damage Buff: 20% for 3 seconds.
- AoE: 1x5.
- Cooldown: 6.
- Effect: Directional. Fires an energy orb in a straight line. Damages hostiles and empowers allied Defenses it passes through.
-- Upgrade 1: Increases damage per second.
-- Upgrade 2: Reduced damage. Applies a 1 second EMP to Axons it passes over.
-- Upgrade 3: Extends the duration of the damage buff on allied Defenses from 3 to 5 seconds.
-- Global Upgrade: Increases range by 1 tile for each Tower the energy orb passes through.
Plasma Saw, a new New Fronter Tower:
- Cost: 100.
- Damage: 5/7/9.
- AoE: 3x3.
- Cooldown: 1.
- Effect: Deals continuous plasma damage to Axons within its AoE. Every 3.5 seconds of continuously being active, it reaches a new damage stage, increasing its damage by 2. Maxes out at the third stage. Every 2 seconds of inactivity slows it down again.
-- Upgrade 1: Adds another damage stage.
-- Upgrade 2: No longer deals plasma damage, cooldown reduced to 0.7.
-- Upgrade 3: Reduced base damage. Applies a 20% damage amp to all Axons within its AoE.
-- Global Upgrade: Adds another damage stage.
5 New Axons
Spectre
- HP: 80.
- Move speed: 1.2 (Standard).
- Effect: Reassembles itself on death after 3 seconds, with 75% of its Max HP.
Lifter
- HP: 140.
- Move speed: 1.8.
- Effect: Is Debuff immune. Picks up the first Axon it passes and brings it along with it at its own speed. During this time, the carried Axon cannot be damaged, but continues to cast its abilities.
Disruptor
- HP: 160.
- Move speed: 1.7 / 0.
- Effect: Has two modes. Switches mode every 7 seconds.
-- Mobile mode: Moves faster and takes 25% reduced damage.
-- Stationary mode: Stops moving and raises itself up above the platform on its long legs, reducing the attack speed of all Defenses within 3 AoE by 25%.
Vanguard
- HP: 250.
- Move speed: 1.2 (Standard).
- Effect: Taunts Defenses within 5 range to attack it for 6 seconds. Ends if the Vanguard goes out of range. Cooldown of 10 seconds.
Guardian (New Boss)
- Base HP: 700
- Base move speed: 0.7/0.6/0.5.
- Effect: On each stage transition, it drops a protective field behind it that persist through waves until it dies. The Boss and Axons within it take 30% reduced damage.
Balance
Survival
- Reduced the resource caps of end of wave rewards. The caps are now 100 Credits, 45 Power, 5 ADDs and 3 Recycles.
- Reduced Credits per wave from Axons between waves 1-10 from 50 to 40, and waves 30+ from 100 to 90.
- Fixed an issue where you occasionally got disproportionate amounts of Blockers with the ADDs choice.
- Increased the amount of early ADDs from end of wave rewards early to better match the other rewards.
- Reduced the scaling of some of the Techs in Survival specifically since there's way more waves.
- Reduced the spawn time of Waves 1 to 30 significantly and tweaked just about every wave. Overall, it should be easier and faster to clear wave 30.
- Reduced the spawn time of all the endless waves by about 5-10 seconds each, in some cases more.
- Rescaled the HP multiplier of Survival across the board, making it easier to break into the 40s, but harder to go past 60.
It is our continued goal to get more builds into the 60s and 70s, and at the same time hit the outliers that go way past.
- Reduced the number of Armored and Shielded support Axons in the endless waves, making it easier for most builds to deal with them.
Axons
Colossus
- HP reduced from 400 to 375.
Mass Cloaker
- HP increased from 130 to 140.
Scout
- HP increased from 40 to 45.
Purger
- Range decreased from 4 to 3.
- Cooldown increased from 6s to 7s.
Squadron
- HP per unit increased from 20 to 27.
- Warden Boss has been renamed to Revenant, and now serves more as a support cloaker than something that would actually leak in Survival. Moves slower but has more HP.
Defenses
Arc Reactor
- Attacks now apply a debuff to Axons that reduces healing from all sources by 25% for 6 seconds.
- Damage reduction per bounce reduced from 15% to 10%. (U3 unaffected).
- Base damage increased from 16 to 18.
- U3 base damage increased from 7 to 9.
Artillery
- Base Impact Damage increased from 7 to 8.
- Global Upgrade range bonus reduced from +2 to +1.
Blast Cannon
- Base damage from 14 to 12
- Cooldown reduced from 2s to 1.7s.
- U1 and U3 have been flipped.
- U1 no longer increases AoE, instead increases range.
- U1 damage cap reduced from 100% to 70%.
- U3 damage per stack reduced from 6 to 5, and explosions no longer ignore Armor with the Global Upgrade.
Drilling Laser
- Base damage increased from 6 to 8.
- U1 base damage increased from 8 to 10.
- U2 slow increased from 30% to 40%.
- Damage cap increased from 24 to 26.
EMP Gatling
- Damage increased from 1 to 2.
EMP Mine
- Cooldown increased from 15s to 20s.
- U1 Cooldown increased from 10s to 15s.
Frag Hammer
- Damage increased from 55/27 to 90/45
- Axons hit in the primary tile now always get stunned for 0.7 seconds.
- Cooldown increased from 3.5 seconds to 4 seconds.
- U1 replaced:
-- Old: Deals triple damage if there's 2 or less Axons hit.
-- New: Side tile damage increased from 50% to 75%.
- U2 replaced and Power cost reduced from 35 to 30:
-- Old: Stuns all targets hit for 0.6 seconds.
-- New U2: If it hits a single Axon, reduce the cooldown of the next attack by 2 seconds.
- Global Upgrade replaced:
-- Old: +10 Damage. In addition, +10% attack speed if there are no adjacent Defenses.
-- New: Deals 50% increased damage when hitting an Armored Axon.
Gravity Driver
- Base range increased by 1 (U3 unaffected).
- U1 damage increased from 3 to 4.
- Global Upgrade threshold increased from 80% to 70%, and the bonus slow has been increased from 10% to 15%.
Gravity Trap
- Global Upgrade slow reduced from 40% to 30%.
- U3 cooldown increased from 10 to 15.
Inertia Blaster
- U2 damage cap increased from 45 to 55.
Link Blaster
- Damage reduced from 12 to 10.
- Cooldown increased from 1.2 to 1.5.
- U3 damage reduced from 16 to 12.
Mass Driver
- Base range increased by 1.
- Base damage increased from 55 to 60.
- U3 damage increased from 40 to 45.
Orbital Cannon
- Base damage increased from 24 to 26.
- U2 damage increased from 30 to 32.
- U3 replaced: This tower and towers adjacent to it ignore Shields.
Plasma Cannon
- U1 DoT damage increased from 16 over 8 seconds, to 18 over 6 seconds.
- U2 EMP cooldown decreased from 8 to 6 seconds, and duration reduced from 6 seconds to 4 seconds.
- Global Upgrade bounce cooldown decreased from 8 to 6 seconds.
Plasmathrower
- Damage increased from 6 to 12.
- Cooldown increased from 0.5 to 1.
- U1 bonus Fire Arc removed.
- U2 Damage per second increased from 5 over 5 seconds to 8 over 4 seconds.
- U3 damage reduced from 12 to 10.
Plasma Vent
- U1 DoT increased from 6 over 3 seconds to 8 over 4 seconds.
Portable Generator
- Credit cost increased from 30 to 40.
- U1 cap per wave reduced from 20 to 10.
- Global Upgrade damage bonus reduced from 30% to 25%.
Proximity Mine
- U2 Damage reduced from 120 to 110, and AoE reduced from 0.6 to 0.4.
Pulseray
- Cooldown reduced from 1.5s to 1.4s
- U1 Damage increased from 12 to 13.
- U1 Cap attack speed cap decreased from 0.25 to 0.4.
- U2 replaced:
-- Now applies a 100% Damage Amp on an Axon until it gets hit again by anything that deals more than 10 damage.
- U3 cooldown increased from 1.4 to 2 seconds.
- U3 bonus damage increased from 32 to 48.
Radiation Vent
- Base damage increased from 20 damage over 10 seconds, to 24 damage over 8 seconds.
- U2 Damage per second increased from 6 to 8 and duration increased from 5 to 6 seconds.
Seeker Drone
- U3 Damage reduced from 6 to 5.
Sniper
- Base damage increased by 5.
- Now ignores Armor by default.
- Global Upgrade damage bonus increased from +5 to +10.
Target Marker
- U2 percentage damage increased from 60% to 120%.
Temporal Mine
- No longer works on Bosses.
World Engine
- Range Damage tiers now scale with Range buffs.
- Base damage increased from 11 to 14.
- U3 damage increased from 9 to 11.
- U1 Slow reduced from 40% to 20%, and duration increased from 1.5 to 3 seconds.
- Global Upgrade replaced: Now unleashes a second shockwave every 3 hits that deals 6 damage in 3 AoE.
Techs
- "Recycle Over Time" wave count reduced from 5 to 4, and minimum wave set to 10 in Survival.
- "Power on Build" Power bonus increased from 2 to 3.
- "ADDs on Wave End" reduced from 2 every 3 waves to 1 every 2 waves in Survival.
- "Blockers on Wave End" reduced from 2 every 3 waves to 1 every 2 waves in Survival.
- "Recycles on Wave End" reduced from 1 every 3 waves to 1 every 4 waves in Survival.
- "Sells on Wave End" reduced from 2 every 2 waves to 1 every 2 waves in Survival.
- "Foundation Tile" discount reduced from 15 to 10.
- "Astrosys ADD under Towers" Power cost reduced from 10 to 5.
- "Resource Package" ADD reward reduced from 4 to 3.
- "Path reward Credits" Credits bonus reduced from 5 to 2 to match up with the value of its power equivalent.
- The Manufacturer Techs requiring a % of Defenses from a specific manufacturer on the field now won't show up unless you have two of that manufacturer in your loadout.
- Reduced the Meta Tech "Expansionist" from a 10 Credit reduction to 8.
- Reduced the Meta Tech "Mad Science" from a 5 Power reduction to 4.
Miscellaneous Fixes
- Fixed an issue where Axons that are spawned or split from other Axons didn't have Armor or Shields if the "parent" had it.
- Fixed an issue where you got too much Credits from various sources.
- Fixed an issue where sending more than certain amounts of Credits or Power per wave to another player in Co-op causes some resources to disappear.
- Fixed multiple causes of desync, both in replay and in Co-op.
- Fixed an issue where a cap was applied incorrectly if you were playing Co-op solo.
- Fixed an issue where Stasis wave permanently froze some Axons, and in some cases, caused Desyncs in Co-op.
- Fixed an issue where Blast Cannon projectiles weren't clearing properly.
- Fixed an issue where the Mass Driver didn't refresh when you removed an Obstacle.
- Fixed an issue where trying to place a Defense towards the outer bounds of a map would throw an error.
- Fixed an issue with the "Mega Expansionist" Meta Tech resulting in getting more discounts than intended.
- Fixed an issue where the "Less Obstacles" Meta Tech gave a walkable tile in the place of the removed Obstacle rather than an empty tile.
- Fixed an issue where the free Global Upgrade recieved from the "Locked In" Meta Tech didn't appear as unlocked in the UI.
- Fixed an issue where the "Path Power Reward" Tech gave Credits instead of Power.
- Fixed an issue where the "Nuclear Blocker" tech wasn't always detecting nearby Axons.
- Fixed an issue on the Quickplay map Foundry07 where tiles that were supposed to be unlocked weren't.
- Cleaned up multiple tooltips and fixed some errors.
How to Reset Campaign Progress
If you're interested in redoing the Campaign from scratch to experience the updated story and gameplay revisions, it's quite simple! First, go to this file location:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\LocalLow\Element Studios\Axon TD_ Uprising
Find the file CamProg.save, and remove it. There you go, progress reset! Again, this isn't mandatory. It's just you might be a little confused if you simply continue from where you left off.
Congratulations, you've reached the end of the post! As usual, Leaderboards have been reset. If you want other players to try Co-op Survival with, tag yourself in #roles with @LFG-Axon, and ask away.
We hope you enjoy trying out the new Defenses and the many strategies they've opened up, as well as everything else in the game!