Ashes of the Singularity ReadMe Alpha 49

 0.49

/READ.ME

By

Brad Wardell

© 2015 by Stardock Entertainment and Oxide Games

Introduction

Welcome to the Ashes of the Singularity, Alpha 0.49 build. I would like to apologize in advance for the damage this game will almost certainly do to your PC, household plants and pets.

This build is the Preview Benchmark build we gave to the tech media recently so that they could test DirectX 12 out. In turn, that build was based on a milestone build from late July. We expect to release an update in the next week or two.

A long list of things that don’t work

1. The map editor won’t work in DirectX 12 yet. If you want to make maps, use the DirectX 11 version.

2. Lots of visuals aren’t in so don’t bother to report them (map thumbnails, etc.).

3. Gameplay is not even remotely complete. THIS WILL NOT BE FUN TO PLAY.

Launching the game

You will be greeted with the choice to launch the normal game (DirectX 11) or the DirectX 12 version. If you’re running Windows 10 and have DirectX 12 drivers then by all means, use that version. If you don’t know if you have DirectX 12 then use the DirectX 11 version.

You can learn more about your video card by running dxdiag and going to the display tab. If the Driver Model is WDDM 2.0 then you probably have DirectX 12.

Performance

In the video options menu there are a lot of settings. Please make sure you have the latest video drivers. If you haven’t updated them within the last 5 minutes, they’re probably not up to date.

Some video options will have a lot of impact on performance. Below is what we have found in our testing:

• Temporal AA quality can affect performance a lot but looks really cool when you move the camera.
• Shadow quality can have a significant impact on performance if you go above Mid level. We recommend not going about mid-level in general.
• Terrain Shading Samples can affect performance if your video card doesn’t have a lot of RAM on it (a lot being >=4GB).

The Benchmark

We recommend that before you go into the benchmark mode you first set the visual options to Medium as your baseline. Visit www.ashesgame.com to discuss benchmark results.
 

Setting up your game

If you choose to play a single-player game you will be given the option to play against the AI on an assortment of maps. Right now, we are only supporting up to 4 players but we do intend to increase this number dramatically as we go through the betas.

Playing the game

The basic game mechanics of Ashes of the Singularity are fairly straight forward:

The world is broken up into regions. Your job is to capture these regions and acquire the resources therein. You use these regions to build up your forces to destroy your opposition.

Some regions are powered by a Turinium Generator. Controlling those regions will allow you to win the game if you can hold onto them long enough.

The Resources

Below is a list of the primary resources in the game.

Metal. Metal deposits are scattered across the world. If they do not already have metal extractors on them, you will need to send an Engineer unit to construct one on it to acquire the resources. In addition, you can only acquire resources from regions whose power generators are connected to your Seed.

Radioactives. More advanced units and structures require radioactives to power them. Like metal, they are spread across the map.

Power. Your buildings require power. They gain power from power generators in regions connected to your Seed.

Logistics. Your units require logistics to operate. You gain logistics by constructing Logistics Arrays.

Victory. On the map are Turinium Generators. These generate victory points for the player that owns them.

The Units

The PHC (Post Human Coalition) has a bit over a dozen different units in this build. Part of the job of the Founders is to work with us to make sure each of these have distinct jobs. Think of them as pieces that you combine together to form “Meta” units.

We specifically do not want to create units that are simply better versions of other units. Each one should have a distinct purpose in the game.

Scout. The Scout unit is a fast, lightly armed unit that also has radar on it. This will be important because many units can fire beyond their line of sight and target radar signatures.

Archer. The Archer is a ranged unit that fires rockets. Its primary strength is that it can strike at a distance at the cost of doing a lot of damage. Its mission is to hang back and take out smaller units.

Favorite target: Smaller units that are at a distance.

Weakness: If units get within its firing arc it can’t attack back.

Brute. The brute has a very short range on its weapons but it is both rapid firing and does a lot of damage. Its mission is to get in there and attack smaller units.

Favorite target: Smaller units that are nearby.

Weakness: Very short ranged.

Energizer. This unit is still a work in progress. Its purpose will be to provide energy to other units so that they can make use of their special abilities.

Artemis. This unit acts as a long-range artillery unit. It has twice the range of the Archer and sends out volleys of missiles. Its mission is to help hold a position with long-range bombardment.

Favorite target: Anything that gets in range.

Weakness: Slow and relatively vulnerable to short ranged units.

Apollo. This unit is your primary anti-air unit. While the Archer can defend against air attacks some, the Apollo is specialized at it. Its mission is to defend against drones and aircraft.

Favorite target: Drones and aircraft.

Weakness: Relatively defenseless against other ground units.

Thantos. This is essentially a sniper unit. Its primary weapon is a very nasty, slow firing plasma bolt that does massive damage. Its mission is take out capital ships.

Favorite target: Capital ships.

Weakness: Very lightly armored, very slow firing. Useless against masses of units.

Zeus. This unit does massive area damage to nearby units but has a very short range. Its mission to destroy lots of nearby weak units.

Favorite target: Nearby smaller units.

Weakness: Very short range, does little damage to heavily armored units.

Centaur. This capital unit is designed to obliterate enemy positions from afar. It has 4 missile arrays that have the same range as the Artemis. It moves very slowly but for taking out enemy bases.

Special abilities: Scan (scans an area of the map). Devastate (send out a huge burst of destruction on a target). Death Blossom (take out lots of units swarming it).

Favorite targets: Enemy Structures.

Weakness: Vulnerable at short-range. Slow moving.

Hercules. This capital unit is designed as your primary assault weapon. It is deadly against other capital ships.

Special abilities: Protection field (temporarily makes other units nearly invulnerable), Heal Projector (does rapid repair of nearby units).

Favorite target: Other capital ships

Weakness: Easily flanked, can only fire forward.

Prometheus. This capital unit is designed to hold a special position. You place this unit somewhere that you absolutely positively must not lose. It is very slow but bristles with fire power.

Special abilities: Overload cannon (devastates a nearby target), Swatter (sends out EMP to knock out enemy drones).

Favorite target: Mid-sized units and smaller units.

Weakness: Not equipped to go head to head with other capital ships.

Fury. This is your air dominance units designed to take out enemy bombers and drone swarms.

Hades. This is your primary bomber. Its job is to attack ground units.

Pan. This is your primary air scout. It provides radar coverage as well.

Capturing Regions

To capture a region send units to the region’s power generator (or Turinium Generator). When it gets close enough, the unit’s capture beam will be sent out overriding the protocols of the power generator causing it to become your power generator.

Region Connectivity

A region is of no value to you unless it can be connected to your Seed (your starting building). You will see on the mini map a line of connections (by your opponent and by you). Those lines must ultimately connect to your seed in order for those resources to be collected.

User Interface

• The ALT key will display the weapon ranges of different units.
• The SHIFT key will display all the paths of current units
• Hold down the Right mouse button to drag the map.
• Use the middle mouse button to zoom in and out on the map and to rotate the camera.
• You can hold down the SHIFT key while rotating the camera to change the camera angle.

We want your help

We are excited to have you involved in the development of this game. We look forward to reading your feedback and ideas on the game!

Features that will be added between now and the beta

Below is an incomplete list of features that are not in this build:

1. Global Abilities. You will be able to act directly onto the battlefield.

2. Heat Map. You will be able to get a view of the full map that shows you the world hotspots and action.

3. New Resource: Noble Gases. These will power your global abilities.

4. Direct Transport. You will have the ability to move an army from one point of the map to another rapidly through some type of air transport mechanism (implementation will depend on what is the most “fun” and balanced).

5. New Mini Map and updated UI that is more polished and useful.

6. Automated matchmaking.

We expect the BETA to be ready by the end of October.