This update started as a set of small Shieldbot buff but spiralled out of control when I decided to both overhaul a major graphics system and add an almost entirely new unit. The new Magpie replaces the old one and works quite differently, while the recently, and less drastically, overhauled Dante has received some tweaks and buffs. There are a few other balance changes as well as many small fixes.

The other main feature of the update is the replacement of the old distortions system with a more modern one. This puts us beyond the halfway point for our longer-term goal of fully removing our old shader framework, which should come with a significant performance boost as well as much fancier effects. There was also an engine update a little under a week ago to fix a crash and some minor graphical issues.

New Magpie

The old Magpie has been put to rest after many attempts to make it work. But, like a heavy fire bomber rising from the ashes, there is a new Magpie to play with.

The new Magpie is a fighter-bomber hybrid that can slow ground and air targets while dealing a small amount of normal damage. It is meant to support other units, rather than snowball out of control by itself, and uses an ammo system which lets it fire 30 bursts before reloading. The feedback from testing has been generally positive so it is time to unleash it more generally and see how it pans out.

Balance

Dante has more range and less ground fire burn time. The recent range-reducing rework hurt Dante quite badly and the addition of long-lasting ground fire was a mixed blessing. It also has a health buff and some non-salvo rocket buffs to make firing a salvo a more meaningful decision.

• Health 15k -> 16k
• Flamethrower range 320 -> 340
• Rocket ground burn time 15s -> 3s
• Non-salvo rocket range 420 -> 485
• Non-salvo rocket reload time 2s -> 1.8s
• Non-salvo rockets are much more accurate.
• Reduced salvo rocket spread by 40%.
• Technically increased salvo rocket range 420 -> 460, but this is mostly a UI change as salvo rockets previously overshot by about this much.

Bandit lives slightly longer.

• Health 340 -> 350

Rogue is more likely to hit, even when it misses.

• Area of effect radius 37.5 -> 48

Thug can now perfectly keep up with Outlaw.

• Speed 57 -> 60

Outlaw is harder to pick off.

• Health 1100 -> 1200

Puppy is slightly worse at trading with Glaive.

• No longer shoots backwards (a half-circle arc).
• Reduced turret turn rate by 15%.
• Range 170 -> 168

Imp is slightly more effective against tough units.

• Damage 2500 -> 2800

Harpy has lingering slow to match similar slow weapons.

• Overslow 0s -> 2s

Disco Rave Party aims faster.

• Turns roughly four times faster up to about 40% spin.
• Turns roughly twice as fast up to about 85% spin.
• Its AI takes advantage of these buffs by reducing spin by less when told to change target

Unit Behaviour

• Added a new state toggle called Attack Style for Swift, Raptor and Magpie. The Loopback setting causes planes to try to safely loop around at their maximum range. The default is Strafe, which is unchanged from the previous behaviour.
• Fixed Artemis being able to be tricked into shooting at terrain.
• Grizzly now tries to keep Recluse and Rogue at max range when told to use tactical AI.
• Locust target priority is now lower than that of ground-based raiders.
• Impaler now stays primed to immediately fire when not set to Fire At Will.

Graphics

Our previous distortion system has been replaced by a much more modern one originally written for BAR. Aircraft jets have likewise been completely replaced with a new version. Performance should improve on most hardware and there are many more distortion effects. There are too many to list in detail, so here is an overview.

• Placeholder visually sucks in the surrounding space with its black holes.
• Flamethrowers and napalm emit waves of heat distortion.
• Many small explosions hit a bit harder while the large ones are hard to miss.
• Lightning, particle beams and disruptor beams wiggle around.
• Jugglenaut and Detriment footsteps throw up dust and shockwaves.
• Energy structures and Metal Extractors emit heat to indicate activity.

Other changes:

• Tweaked and improved some projectile lights to use new volumetric lighting.
• Fixed Blitz track and wheel spin animations (thanks Rallehop).
• Fixed missing gauss trail in the first segment of the effect, next to the gun.
• Fixed the light rocket trail gap between the projectile and flame.
• Fixed some plasma cannon trails poking out the front of the projectile.
• Tweaked lighting on Titans Folly v1.1 and DownRiver_v1.

Interface

• Allied Retreat Zones can now be set to be displayed and this is enabled by default for spectators (thanks SteelBlueZK)
• Improved Phantom, Emissary, Dominatrix, Recon and Engineer unit icons, mostly by deploying the unit (thanks Rallehop).
• Clarified the tooltip for "Fire at radar dots" (thanks SteelBlueZK).
• Reef description now mentions capture (thanks Rallehop).
• The Engineer blueprint menu now uses the new square unit icons.
• Added the new square icons to the campaign technologies and unlocks screens.

Modding

• Split generic zombie functions into api_zombie_helper to help modders (thanks Stiofan-K)
• Moved light configuration from LuaUI/Configs/UnitLights to LuaRules/Configs/UnitLights.
• Unit and event distortions can be placed in LuaRules/Configs/UnitDistortions.
• Added death_explosion weapon customparam.

Other Fixes

• Fixed aircraft not regaining their speed if slow wears off while on an airpad.
• Fixed Auto Reclaim/Heal/Assist causing incorrect idle constructor count (thanks Petronous).
• Fixed one-pixel gaps in the UI that could be caused by some interface scaling values.
• Fixed missing outline on Scythe halberd from some camera angles.
• Fixed unit colours after loading a saved game (thanks Sprung).