Greetings, Commanders!
A new challenge has arrived. Empyrean Defense has been updated with an entirely new mission: Highpoint Station. High above the frozen valleys, General Zharos has launched an all out aerial assault against a vital radar network.
Mission Overview:
Highpoint Station takes the battle into a snow covered mountain range where three radar installations provide critical early warning against enemy air attacks. General Zharos has deployed aircraft from multiple directions in an attempt to destroy the network and blind the surrounding regions. All three radar installations must survive. If even one is destroyed, the mission is lost. With no ground forces approaching, your defenses must be built entirely around controlling the skies.
Tactical Intel:
Protect the Network: Three radar installations are positioned across separate mountain peaks. Divide your defenses carefully and keep every installation operational.
Airborne Assault: Highpoint Station features an entirely airborne enemy force. Flak Cannons, Missile Launcher Sites, and other anti-air defenses will be essential from the opening wave.
New Enemy - Tactical Support Jet: This heavily armored aircraft is equipped with a powerful forward-mounted rotary cannon. Its durability allows it to draw defensive fire while other aircraft advance behind it.
Multiple Approaches: Enemy aircraft will converge on the radar network from different directions. A strong defense around one installation may leave another dangerously exposed.
Emergency Repairs: Make sure to equip the Repair ability before the mission to restore damaged radar installations during the assault.
✨ New Features
Added Highpoint Station, an entirely new campaign mission set high in the snowy mountains
Added the Tactical Support Jet, a heavily armored enemy aircraft equipped with a forward-mounted rotary cannon
Added the Assassinate ability, a Tier II single target attack that instantly eliminates an enemy (excluding high value targets)
Added the Bounty Contract skill, which guarantees two larger credit drops from enemies eliminated with the Assassinate ability
Added the Silent Blade achievement for eliminating 100 enemies with the Assassinate ability
Added the Restoration Protocol skill, which upgrades the Repair ability, restoring 50% more hitpoints to sites and 100% more to landmarks
Added the Clear Signal achievement for defending Highpoint Station without any radar installation taking damage
Added the Phase Disruptor equipment which increases the armor piercing of all military sites by 8%. Available on the Market for 50,000 tokens or craft at the Foundry using:
Heavy Alloy x250
Energy Cells x40
Void Resonator Core x1
Ammo estimates on the mission select panel. A new section shows roughly how many rockets, flak shells and sniper rounds a mission needs, for the sites you've unlocked. Hover an icon for details
Added Enemy Breaching warnings. A new on-screen warning appears when an enemy is about to reach the end of its path
Produces and Drops icons in the Armory. Site tooltips now show what each economy site produces. Enemy tooltips now show what each enemy can drop
Market item tooltip update: resources that production sites can make now tell you where, e.g. "Produced at: Fabrication Facility, Refinery (Volatile Compound Synthesis)"
🔧 Improvements
In the site menu, items that need a site upgrade are grayed out until you buy it. Hover one to see which upgrade it needs. The icons light up as soon as the upgrade is bought
Missions can now have more than one landmark. Losing any of them fails the mission
Mission flags on the campaign map now show each mission's own landmark icon
Market items of the same type and tier are now sorted by price
Achievements that can't be earned yet in Early Access now say so in their tooltips
Crafting components for the Ballistics Solver and Overcharge Module are now listed in a more consistent order in the Foundry
Update the Acid Rain Ability icon
Deployment warnings now appear in the full game too, and only warns about abilities when you have one unequipped and an empty slot to put it in
Ability tooltips in the Abilities menu and Market now show the rank an ability needs, highlighted in red when you haven't reached it yet
⚖️ Balance Changes
Significant price reduction for Tier II and III sites:
Machine Gun: 2,000 → 1,400
Missile Launcher: 2,400 → 2,000
Flamethrower: 2,400 → 1,800
Tesla Coil: 2,800 → 2,000
Plasma Gun: 3,200 → 2,400
Ion Cannon: 4,000 → 2,600
Core Reactor: 3,000 → 2,000
Research Center: 2,400 → 1,800
Production Site Drop Amounts
Fabrication Facility
Scrap Metal: 15-25 → 15-30
Propellant: 3-8 → 14-22
Engine Components: 2-4 → 4-8
Heavy Alloy: 1-4 → 2-4
Explosives (requires upgrade): 1-4 → 2-4
Electronics (requires upgrade): 1-4 → 18-24
Refinery
Oil Barrel: 1 → 1-3
Propellant (requires upgrade): 4-8 → 12-20
Scrap Metal: initial market supply raised from 1000 → 1500
Engine Components: initial market supply raised from 100 → 300
Electronics: initial market supply raised from 300 → 500
Significantly increased drop rates of items from High Value Targets
🐛 Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue with the loading screen that occasionally caused a crash or prevented missions from starting properly
Fixed issue where the Assault Rifle was providing 3% damage boost instead of 5%
Fixed the Founder's Pack popup not closing on a new save slot
Fixed issue with Missile Strike and Bombing Raid abilities taking longer to hit on high elevation maps
Fixed the "Show On-Screen Indicators" setting showing the "Show Item Drop Indicators" label and tooltip
Fixed "Credits" currency tooltips in non-English languages
Fixed the Gold medal name, which showed the word for the gold resource instead of the medal color in some languages
Added missing translations for "SELECTED" in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Russian
Fixed the Korean translation of "Gold"
Fixed an inconsistent Chinese translation for "Sites"
Fixed several English typos
Fixed a sizing issue in the Market center panel to prevent action buttons from being pushed off-screen
Fixed an issue with Steam Rich Presence in missions
Jump Back In
If you have already played through the available campaign, this is a great opportunity to jump back in, play the new mission, and unlock the new Assassinate ability. More missions, improvements, and refinements are still in development as Empyrean Defense continues through Early Access.
Found a bug or have feedback? Join our community and help us shape the future of Empyrean Defense.