v0.1.5 - Combat Systems Update
This update reworks several of Drone Sector's underlying combat systems, including projectile damage, explosions, and weapon configuration. Explosions can now use separate near and far damage areas instead of relying on a single explosion radius, providing more control over how different weapons deal damage.
Weapon and ammo selection UI has also been expanded to expose more of this information to the player. The new combat system is easier to balance and expand, and serves as an important foundation for more advanced damage behavior and potential weapon-stat modding in the future.
Vehicle movement and pathfinding also received another significant reliability pass. Vehicles should now handle corners more carefully, collide with walls less often, and recover from problematic movement situations much more reliably.
Added
Restart Mission button.
Difficulty information for Career Mode save slots.
"Career Saved" HUD notification whenever the active career slot is saved.
Player and enemy unit health multiplier sliders for Sandbox Mode.
Aim and zoom inversion settings for mouse and gamepad.
Changed
Renamed "Heat" to "Escalation" as it better describes what the system represents.
Firefights between ground squads should last longer.
Structures are more durable.
Combat
Reworked projectile ballistics, ammo execution, and damage systems.
Explosions can now use separate near and far damage areas instead of a single explosion radius.
The new combat system makes weapon balance easier to adjust and provides more room for advanced damage models in the future.
Pathfinding & Vehicle Movement
Further improved vehicle cornering and path-following reliability.
Vehicles should slow down more appropriately before sharp corners, reducing sliding and collisions with walls.
Reduced cases where vehicles get stuck in repeated movement loops or unrecoverable states.
Fixed
Career Hard difficulty now shows the correct hint about friendly fire.
Balance
Career Normal difficulty starts with Thermal Vision unlocked instead of enemy tracking boxes.
UI
Weapon, ammo, and squad selection now uses a two-step selection process. Clicking an option first shows its information in the main panel, after which it can be equipped separately.
Weapon and ammo selection now shows more information about the selected option.
Weapon selection warns if no ammo exists for the weapon.
Ammo selection shows the available amount of the ammo type relative to maximum ammo.
UI view scrolling should no longer be blocked or overridden by selection.
Save Compatibility
Existing Career Mode saves automatically convert to version 2 and gain the new difficulty state variables. This should not break existing careers.
Known Issues
In rare cases, vehicles can still get stuck oscillating near obstacles or repeatedly driving into a corner. Moving the vehicle away from the obstacle and trying again usually helps.
Ammo Manufacturing UI currently shows less information than the Loadout Ammo Selection screen.
Technical
Career save files now contain difficulty variables directly instead of relying on hidden in-game logic.
The "Heat" to "Escalation" rename is visual only. In save files and internal code it is still called heat.
Projectile ballistics and damage code received a major cleanup pass. The previous system was unnecessarily modular in some areas while still making balance changes and more complex damage models difficult to implement.
The new combat system is easier to expand and is a stepping stone toward potentially allowing weapon statistics to be modified through mods in the future.