** RELEASED 5/11/2017 **

Quality of Life

The majority of these Quality of Life changes are aimed at removing frustrating unintended behaviour for new players.

 

• Using shift + Right click will now cancel 5 units at a time

Previously Using Shift + left click would queue up production of 5 units but shift + right click would not. We are fixing this inconsistency to make it easier for players to change their production.

 

• Default Camera controls changed to right mouse button for pan camera & M (Keyboard letter) to rotate camera

Previously the default button for rotate camera was middle mouse button which was frequently hit by accident, resulting in unintended camera angles which players would then have to try and revert revert. The was especially frustrating for new players who might not even know how they rotated the camera in the first place. We are changing the default hotkey for rotate camera to something more obscure so players don’t accidentally hit it. Players can change back via the options if they wish to.

 

• Lock Camera on unit has been changed from Ctrl + L click to Ctrl + Alt + L Click

Players were accidentally locking the camera onto a specific unit and being stuck not knowing how to remove it. We are making the hotkey more obscure so players do not accidentally turn it on. Additionally, scrolling the camera manually removes unit camera lock.

 

• Armies will no longer form by right clicking on units with a selection.

Units would form into an army if a player right clicks a unit when another is already selected. This was very frustrating as this often happened unintentionally, especially with Engineer units. New players not familiar with the army mechanic and the controls often will be stuck not knowing how to split up their army. If players want to form armies, they can use the V key. In the future, we may create a menu option to create army forming with mouse clicks.

 

• New cursor binding option: “Smart Binding”

Enabling Smart Binding allows the mouse cursor to freely roam between Ashes and a second monitor while in menus as if it was running windowed mode, but then when Ashes is launched into a game the cursor is automatically locked as if it was running full screen. Useful for players queueing for a game.

 

• Improved readability of replay interface via better alignment and color coding.
  
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• Observer mode now uses the same interface as replays

The replay interface is much better than the old observer interface. 

 

• Several unit tooltips have been updated to reflect changes since 2.1
• Metaverse button added into the top left corner of the main menu

 

Bug Fixes

 

• Removed max size limit for replays and save games which prevented long games from being saved
• Fixed an issue on the Noctus Campaign mission where the player was not able to save their nexus in time
• Fixed an issue on the Betelgeuse campaign mission where the Gateway was disabled, preventing locking out Dominators which were required to complete the mission.
• Fixed an issue on the Betelgeuse campaign mission where the player was given misleading information about the Harvester
• Fixed an issue where resource deposits would flicker
• Fixed an issue where Amplifiers would not show proper player colours
• Fixed an issue where units were missing or would flicker in the Benchmark.
• Fixed an issue where the Saboteur was not properly targeting units.
• Fixed an issue where Prometheus Draining Beam was not healing the Prometheus

 

Map Updates

Frosthaven

Frosthaven is a nice map but it had a number of issues and being so dense made it look messy. It had far too many relays for a tiny 2 player map which made capturing the territory require too much effort, especially with how creeps spawns would overlap and defend nearby relays. The map was also completely open, with the hills being traversable, so there was absolutely no choke points. The layout of resources was also not symmetrical and thus not properly balanced.

 

Changes Applied:

• Reduced the number of relays and condensed deposits between them.
• Replaced Plateaus with larger Mountains to block pathing and territory connections
• Made the layout of resources and terrain symmetrical and balanced for both spawns.
• Added some mountains on the edge of the map to take up the empty space
• Added Dead zones to the edge of the map to tidy up minimap regions
    

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Crater

Crater suffered from an incredibly low amount of Radioactives deposits and positioned them too close together which limited strategic flexibility. The central crater and resource layout was not symmetrical which looked messy and caused balanced issues, where spawns had access to different amounts of resources.

 

Changes Applied:

• Properly centred the middle Crater
• Standardised all four starting locations
• Made the layout of relays symmetrical and more evenly spaced out.
• Balanced the amount of resources each spawn has access to
• Added additional Radioactives deposits and distributed them more evenly.
• Changed the starting positions to 1-2 Left 3-4 Right to display how map is intended to be played. (With Central Turinium to contest)

 

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Eridon

Eridon is a great 3v3 map but it had a number of issues. The proximity of the two starting relays meant it was possible to double cap, it was not properly centered vertically and the layout of relays looked messy. Eridon also had a very low amount of resources which limited player options.

 

Changes Applied:

• Moved the starting relays away from the Nexus to prevent double capping
• Increased the Metal Deposits on the starting Nexus from 2 to 4
• Added an additional Radioactives Deposit for each player inbetween the base and the centre
• Added more Metal Deposits onto the relay outside the players base
• Moved around some of the single deposit replays for more consistent resource type allocation.
• Spaced out the central relays more evenly
• Made the terrain and resource layout more symmetrical and centred.
• Rearranged starting locations to 1-3 is  top, 4-6 is bottom

 

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Kralon

Kralon was a messy map to play on because all the pathways around the map so narrow, and the abundance of resources meant players were rapidly gathering large armies but having difficulty navigating them around the map. The changes to Kralon are aimed at easing congestion of units to improve pathing as well as improving strategic diversity by making the middle of the map less valuable compared to the sides. Kralon also had a disproportionately low amount of Radioactives compared to metal.

Changes Applied:

• Widened the edges of the map
• Increased the width of all of the paths around the map
• Removed a metal deposit from the four central relays
• Added an additional Radioactives deposit to the corner relays
• Distanced out the corner Radioactives relays from the Turinium Generators to avoid creep overlap
• Disconnected the corner Radioactives relay to the Turinium Generator to make the cut off more meaningful
• Changed the northern and southern low ground to high ground
• Disconnected the lowground relay near the nexus which can’t be pathed to
• Added Dead zones to the edge of the map to tidy up the minimap regions.
• Added an additional relay to connect to the south and north Metal relay so the generators are not required for supply lines

 

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Regulus

 

Thanks to community member, Luxlupus, we have some more improvements to Regulus.  Regulus is gaining an additional pathway throughout the map to make it more interesting. If players want a separate 3 lane layout, they can play Maurn. 

 

Changes Applied:

• Added an additional Metal Relay in the middle north and south of the map
• Connected these additional relays to the the centre of the map

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Espana

Espana had not only too many Radioactives Deposits, it also placed them very close to the player’s spawns, so it was too common for players to float up Radioactives and struggle to spend it. It’s fine maps to have different amounts and ratios of resources, but Espana was taking it a little too far.

 

Changes Applied:

• Swapped the locations of some of the deposits around to place the third Radioactives deposits further away from the spawns.
• Removed a Radioactives deposit from the relay next to the Nexus

 

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Balance

 

Intentions

The massive balance changes in 2.2 were primarily aimed at addressing overperforming or underperforming outliers. For this patch we are doing some more fundamental reworks of the systems in order to allow for more viable strategies and unit compositions. We are shaking up the meta of spamming Athenas and Maulers to give the game more depth and complexity. The majority of the balance changes stem from the following intentions.

 

• Make Frigates fill a bigger role in the counter system

Frigates were made stronger in 2.2, but those changes were still quite conservative. We want to continue to make Frigates more of a factor in the counter system and resource investments, instead of being neglected after the first few minutes. Brute and Martyr now serve as counters to other Frigates, while Archer and Reaper are counters to Cruisers, but are still weak against dedicated anti-frigate units such as Zeus and Avenger.

 

Cruisers now have 20% less health in exchange for 20% armor

This is to make Archers and Reapers  properly counter Cruisers. Some Cruisers have more or less health exchanged for balance reasons.

 

Cruisers have an increased Radioactives cost

This opens up Frigates for use later in the game if players are running short on Radioactives. Currently Cruisers cost negligible Radioactives so it’s not enough to make players think pausing cruiser production.

 

• Metal and Radioactives cost ratios rework

There aren’t many ways to easily spend excess radioactives, which players would often find themselves accumulating. This goes against the intended design where Radioactives are supposed to be more valuable as they are much rarer than metal. Certain units such as air and specific Dreadnoughts were not as much a deliberate strategic investment as they were an eventuality due to needing a way to dump excess radioactives, which was problematic when air units were not wanted due to lots of anti-air on the field.  

 

We want to make Radioactives more valuable by revamping the cost ratios of Cruisers, Air Units, Dreadnoughts and some structures, making more room for deliberate strategic investments instead of being forced into specific units as a means to spend excess of a particular resource type. Overall, the cost ratios rework will make spending one's resources require more management and consideration.

 

Resource Change Summary:
Cruisers: Increased Radioactives cost.

Air Units: Increased Metal cost, decreased Radioactives cost.

Economy  & Tech : Some have decreased metal cost while some have increased Radioactives cost.

Dreadnoughts: Some of the extreme cost proportions are being standardised. 

 

• Dreadnought rebalance

Substrate and PHC Dreadnaughts have hugely different health and armor ratios. This interferes with the counter system and makes units perform too inconsistently against different Dreadnoughts. We are Standardising the survivability of Dreadnoughts, better defining the role of each dreadnought and making them overall more balanced.

 

• Substrate Energy Rework

The Substrate energy mechanic was not very well fleshed out and was extremely inconsistent. Previously Energy drain was completely negligible for every unit other than the Reaper which immediately drained through its low storage.  We want to make energy more of a consideration amongst other units types while it’s less crucial for Reapers so Capacitors have a consistent role to play amongst different unit compositions.

 

We are also standardising the energy storage and energy drain amongst different unit so Capacitors recharge all units at the same rate. While Capacitors will not be essential for all affected units, it would be advised to mix in a few especially as they function as a fantastic meat shield for their low price.

 

• Base defense Armor rework

Base defenses were far too strong against armies, but then were very easy to clear with artillery units. We want to mitigate this discrepancy by removing armor so big enough armies can force their way through base defenses much easier while increasing health on low tier defenses so it takes a bit longer for artillery units to clear.

 

High tier base defenses will not be receiving any more health as they already have large amounts. Instead, high tier base defense have their upgrade time reduced which is their main barrier to entry.

 

General

• Both factions now start with 100 Radioactives

Both factions are getting radioactives at the start of the game to allow for Substrate Assemblies to cost Radioactives.

 

• Combat movement speed penalty has been removed

Since the launch of Ashes there has been a modifier where units in combat have their movement speed heavily reduced. This speed penalty made it practically impossible for units to retreat from a bad engagement because they were slowed and unable to break away from the chasing enemy units. This penalty feels contrived and it slowed down the flow of the game because it made engagements too risky and limited options if units were caught out of position. It was especially frustrating and punishing for new players who were not aware of this penalty.

We are removing this combat slow penalty so that players will now be able to preserve parts of their army if they decide to retreat from a bad engagement. This is a very significant change which we will be monitoring to see how it effects gameplay, but overall it will help make units feel much more responsive.

 

• Turinium Generators no longer spawn Drove Hives

Turinium Generators were often neglected as almost all games are decided by economy and armies instead of Turinium. Turinium Generators shouldn’t be so well defended when they are often less desirable than a regular resource point. Previously, in order to clear Turinium generators, players required specific units to counter the Drove Hives which limited player flexibility and stagnated the game, especially when Turinium generators were connecting important resource points.  

Frigates

 

Brute

The Brute is gaining more DPS in the form of accuracy while losing its armor in exchange for more health to make it effectively counter Archer and Reapers. It also is about consistency and intuitiveness, no Frigate should have armor.

• Accuracy increased from 55 to 100
• Health increased from 90 to 120
• Armor removed

Archer

The archer is gaining accuracy in exchange for a damage reduction to make using the Archer less RNG based as well as giving it an overall buff.

• Accuracy increased from 67 to 100
• Damage reduced from 50 to 40
• Desired attack range lowered to prevent backing away from Martyrs & Zeus

 

Martyr

The slow projectile speed of the Martyr made it overshoot and waste shells on frigates. It is gaining projectile speed to give it more consistent damage output against Frigates. It also looks cooler.

• Projectile speed increased from 100 to 200

 

Reaper

With the buffs to Archer and Brute, we wanted to give the Reaper some love too. It’s getting an increase to its energy storage and decrease to energy drain so it won’t be as reliant on Capacitors. They still run out of energy and benefit from having capacitors mixed in, especially when used as meat shield, but now the ratio is not as demanding as 1 Reaper to 1 Capacitor. The completely reliance on Reapers to have capacitors mixed in was an unintuitive trap for new players to fall into.

• Max energy increased from 60 to 80
• Energy per shot reduced from 10 to 5

 

Capacitor

In order to make the Capacitor feel like less of a necessary burden, we are giving it more utility in the form of mobile radar, something Substrate currently lacks compared to PHC with the Hermes. To offset the advantage of now gaining radar, it costs more metal. The main difference between the Hermes and the Capacitor is the Hermes has more movement speed, a weak weapon and slightly better detection while the Capacitor has far more health.

• Sight range increased from 500 to 700
• Now has 1100 radar range
• Metal cost increased from 52 to 62

 

PHC Cruisers

As part of our cost ratios rework, we are globally increasing the Radioactives cost of Cruisers and equalising their pricing. In order to make Archer and Reaper more potent, we are decreasing cruiser health but giving them armor. There is a lot of individual changes listed here, but they are almost all just health/armor conversions and the resource adjustments.

 

Zeus

The Zeus needed to lose some armor in exchange for heath as heals from the medic were were far too effective compared to other cruisers, given that Medics heal the same flat amount regardless of armor values. It also no longer gets one-shot by the Sentinel and Nemesis.

• Radioactives cost increased from 28 to 58
• Logistics cost increased from 4 to 5
• Movement speed increased from 85 to 100
• Armor reduced from 60% to 20%
• Health increased from 900 to 1400
  
  
  

Athena

• Radioactives cost increased from 60 to 90
• Health reduced from 1200 to 1000
• Now has 20% armor

 

Artemis

• Radioactives cost increased from 38 to 57
• Health reduced from 800 to 680
• Now has 20% armor

 

Apollo

• Radioactives cost increased from 17 to 46
• Health reduced from 800 to 680
• Now has 20% armor
• Logistics cost increased from 4 to 5

 

Nemesis

More than anything else in the game, the Nemesis will greatly benefit from the change to combat slow penalty.

• Radioactives cost increased from 50 to 100
• Health reduced from 500 to 420
• Now has 20% armor

 

Hera

The health and armor reworks of Cruisers will be a direct buff to the Hera as it has a small amount of armor-piercing. While this is welcome as a means to make the Hera more desirable, we are increasing its Radioactives cost to compensate

• Radioactives cost increased from 150 to 200

 

PHC Mobile Nullifier

• Health increased from 300 to 600
• Armor reduced from 60% to 20%

 

Substrate Cruisers

On top of the cost changes and the health and armor rework, the Mauler, Avenger, Eradicator and Destructor are getting energy changes to make energy consumption and mixing in capacitors more of a consideration.

 

Avenger

The Avenger was not able to target buildings which was inconsistent with other cruisers. We are allowing the Avenger’s secondary weapon to target buildings, like most other cruisers.

• Radioactives cost increased from 38 to 58
• Energy storage lowered from 200 to 80
• Energy per shot reduced from 4 to 2
• Logistics cost increased from 4 to 6
• Total health/shields reduced from 800 to 680
• Now has 20% armor
• Secondary weapon can now target buildings

 

Mauler

• Radioactives cost increased from 70 to 90
• Energy Storage lowered from 180 to 80
• Logistics cost increased from 7 to 8
• Total health/shields reduced from 1280 to 1080
• Now has 20% armor

 

Destructor

• Radioactives cost increased from 32 to 56
• Energy storage lowered from 500 to 100
• Energy per shot increased from 1 to 2
• Total health/shields reduced from 1100 to 920
• Now has 20% armor

 

Drone Hive

• Radioactives cost increased from 60 to 90
• Total health/shields reduced from 1000 to 800
• Now has 20% armor

 

Masochist

The masochist was overlapping with the Avenger and being outshadowed by the Drove Hive against frigates. We want to differentiate the Masochist and make it fill a unique role as a heavy anti-frigate unit, especially now as Frigates are being buffed and will be more prominent on the battlefield. PHC don't need a direct equivalent to the Masochist, as they have the Hades and Strategic Bomber for heavy anti-frigate.

• Metal cost increased from 300 to 450
• Radioactives cost increased from 44 to 88
• Total health/shield increased from 1000 to 1250
• Now has 20% armor

 

Eradicator

The high energy pool of the Eradicator meant that the Capacitor was replenishing it far too slowly compared to other units. The energy changes to Eradicator see it drain energy at the same rate, but it now regenerates energy back more rapidly.

• Energy Storage lowered from 500 to 100
• Energy per shot reduced from 50 to 10

 

Caregiver

• Total health/shields reduced from 900 to 750
• Now has 20% armor

 

Substrate Mobile Nullifier

• Total health/shields reduced from 700 to 580
• Now has 20% armor

 

Dreadnoughts

 

Substrate and PHC Dreadnoughts suffered from different survivability ratios. PHC Dreadnoughts had 90% armor but about 10,000 health, while Substrate Dreadnoughts had 40% health with about 14,000 health. While it can be nice for factions be asymmetric, this threw out the counter system and made countering different Dreadnoughts inconsistent and unintuitive.

With only 40% armor, massing Athenas or Maulers was the optimal way to counter Substrate Dreadnoughts more so than dedicated anti-Dreadnought units. Meanwhile, with 90% armor on PHC Dreadnoughts, they were practically unkillable with anything other than specific armor piercing units such as Nemesis and Eradicator.  The Health and armor disparity also made abilities such as Nanite Assassination and Dreadnought Killers  perform to completely varying degrees between Substrate and PHC.

 

Standardising health and armor values has the following benefits:

• Anti-Dreadnought units have a bigger and more consistent role amongst all matchups compared to Athena & Mauler.
• Prometheus and Savager have a consistent potency against Substrate and PHC and are overall better balanced compared to other Dreadnoughts.
• With some damage modifications on top of the survivability rework, Dreadnoughts now have a more consistent and exciting lethality. Previously a Hyperion versus Retributor was a slow and boring interaction.

 

Global Dreadnought changes:

Substrate will still retain lower armor to compensate for their regenerating shields.

• Dreadnought instant Heal upgrade now only heals 5000 health to the Dreadnought
• All Dreadnoughts now have 14,000 total health/shields
• PHC Dreadnought armor lowered from 90% to 60%
• Substrate armor increased from 40% to 50%

 

Experience changes

Dreadnought leveling was very unfair for PHC as experience was only granted by the amount of health destroyed, without factoring in Substrate shields. We also found Dreadnoughts were leveling up far too quickly, as they were able to accumulate multiple levels in a single engagement.

• Substrate shields now also award experience.
• Experience requirements to level up has been doubled.

 

Hyperion

Since the Hyperion is losing its armor, it needs a large bonus to damage output to maintain a similar level of performance.

• Radioactives cost decreased from 2400 to 2000
• Main gun damage increased from 60 to 70
• Main gun cooldown reduced from 2.6 to 1.3

 

Cronus

The Cronus was slightly overpriced for what it offered.

• Radioactives cost decreased from 3200 to 2400

Prometheus

There was a huge discrepancy between the Draining Beam and the Overloaded upgrades which we are adjusting. We are also equalising the pricing for the Prometheus and Savager

• Radioactives cost increased from 1600 to 2000
• Overloaded Quad Pulse Cannon damage reduced from 400 to 300
• Overloaded Quad Pulse Cannon accuracy increased from 90 to 100
• Draining Beam damage increased from 250 to 1000

Retributor

The Retributor was underperforming against Cruisers as it was overshooting them with a long cooldown, but it was able to duel very well against other Dreadnoughts. We are heavily reducing its damage but also lowering cooldown to give it better performance against Cruisers while lowering damage output against other Dreadnoughts.

• Radioactives cost decreased from 2400 to 2000
• Main Gun Damage reduced from 450 to 150
• Main Gun accuracy increased from 90 to 100
• Main Gun cooldown reduced from 6.5 to 3.0
• Impenetrable armor upgrade reduced from +40% armor to +20%

 

Overmind

The Overmind was a bit too cheap and is receiving a cost increase to compensate.

• Metal cost increased from 2400 to 3200

 

Savager

With the health increase to PHC Dreadnoughts, the Savager needed a boost to its damage output. It’s anti-air defense upgrade was also rather lacklustre.

• Metal cost decreased from 8000 to 6400
• Radioactives cost increased from 800 to 2000
• Main gun damage increased from 50 to 60
• Anti-air beam damage increased from 200 to 300
• Anti-air beam damage now has 50% armor-piercing
• Impenetrable armor upgrade reduced from +40% armor to +20%

Air Units

As part of our resource cost rework to make investing in certain units more of a deliberate decision, we are lowing the radioactives cost of Air units while increasing their cost. Air Units will stilll have a much higher proportion of Radioactives compared to land units, but now the disparity is not so huge.

 

Fury

Since the The Fury and Dominator lost their ground target they have felt a bit lacklustre. They are getting an increase to damage output and additional sight range so they are better able to stick on enemy air targets. 

• Metal price increased from 120 to 200
• Radioactives price lowered from 200 to 140
• Build time reduced from 60 seconds to 50
• Sight range increased from 500 to 600
• Atropos Missiles: accuracy increased from 70 to 100
• Atropos Missiles: Damage increased from 75 to 150
• Health reduced from 3000 to 2460

 

Dominator

• Metal price increased from 120 to 200
• Radioactives price lowered from 260 to 140
• Build time reduced from 60 seconds to 50
• Sight range increased from 500 to 600
• Damage increased from 40 to 60

 

Hades

• Metal price increased from 240 to 300
• Radioactives price lowered from 260 to 200

 

Punisher

• Metal price increased from 250 to 310
• Radioactives price lowered from 280 to 220

 

Air Marauder

With the armor changes to cruiser, the air Marauder would be too potent if it kept its armor-piercing.

• Armor-piercing removed

 

Air Rampager

Despite the cost increase in 2.21, the Air Rampager was still a bit too powerful.

• Damage reduced from 350 to 300

 

Harvester
Like the Refinery, we want to make the harvester more Radioactives heavy compared to Metal.

• Metal price reduced from 400 to 180
• Radioactives price increased from 60 to 280

 

Strategic Bomber & Air Harbinger

The Heavy Bombers have been in a weird place because of how limited their role has been due to only being able to target buildings. We want to give players more options and flexibility with how they use the heavy bombers so they are more desirable to be mixed in, instead of being neglected. We are giving them the ability to target all ground units, and to compensate, they are getting a price increase to alongside the damage buffs to the Interceptors.

• Metal cost increased from 400 to 1000
• Can now target all ground units

Buildings

 

Nexus
We wanted to make base sniping more difficult as it could be quite frustrating in team games

• Total Health/Shields increased from 14,000 to 25,000

 

Assembly

The Assembly is a massive advantage over PHC’s production as it shares production of Frigates, Cruisers and Air units. The Assembly being free of any Radioactives cost while the Armory costing 50 Radioactives was unfair and unnecessary.  

• Now costs 45 Radioactives

 

Quantum Relay & Quantum Archive

With the cost ratio rework to air units, we want Quantum Relays to be an easy way for players to spend their excess radioactives. We are lowering the metal cost to allow investing in Quanta to be a reliable radioactives sink.

• Metal cost reduced from 200 to 100

 

Amplifiers

We want to make Amplifiers more radioactives intensive compared to metal.

• Metal price reduced from 240 to 140
• Radioactives price increased 180 to 320

 

Advanced Air Factory

There was a huge health and price discrepancy between the Advanced Air Factory and the Aviary, we are equalising their health and prices.

• Health increased from 3000 to 4000

Aviary

• Total Health/Shields reduced from 14,000 to 4000
• Metal cost increased from 280 to 350
• Radioactives cost increased from 160 to 180

 

Advanced Assembly

There was a health discrepancy between the Dread Launch and Advanced Assembly. We are equalising their health values.

• Total Health/Shields reduced from 12,000 to 8,000

 

Tech Buildings

We are increasing the Radioactives cost of the low tier Tech Buildings as part of our cost ratios rework as well as delaying harassment from the summoning Orbital Abilities.

 

 

Power Regulator & Energy Modulator

• Radioactives cost increased from 80 to 160

 

Orbital Fabricator & Gateway

• Radioactives cost increased from 100 to 200

 

Energy Projector

• Radioactives cost increased from 70 to 140
  
  
  

Orbital Nullifier

Orbital Nullifiers and far too fragile and it was trivial to snipe them with air units, even when covered by anti-air defenses. We want to make Orbital Nullifiers more dependable

• Health increased from 600 to 1000
• Metal cost reduced from 300 to 250
• Radioactives cost increased from 120 to 150

 

Quantum Jammer

• Total Health/Shields increased from 700 to 1000
• Metal cost reduced from 300 to 250
• Radioactives cost increased from 120 to 150

 

Base Defense

Base defenses were far too strong against armies, but then were very easy to clear with artillery units. We want to mitigate this discrepancy by removing armor so big armies can force their way through base defenses much easier while increasing health on low tier defenses so it takes a bit longer for artillery units to clear them out. Artemis and Destructor have 100% armor piercing, so removing armor will not make base defenses weaker against artillery units.

 

High tier base defenses will not be receiving any more health as they already have heaps. Instead we will be lowering build time on upgrading the high tier defenses which is the main barrier to entry for them.

All Base Defenses:

• Armor removed

 

Smarty System

Despite the buffs in 2.2, the Smarty still had underwhelming damage output.

• Health increased from 900 to 1500
• Accuracy increased from 66 to 100
• Damage increased from 30 to 40

Barrager

The damage output of the barrager was still a bit low so we are increasing its accuracy.

• Accuracy increased from 66 to 100
• Build time reduced from 120 to 50

 

Annihilator

• Build time reduced from 40 to 30
• Total health/shields increased from 1500 to 2000

 

Heavy Annihilator

• Total health/shields increased from 2100 to 2500
• Build time reduced from 60 seconds to 40

 

Disruptor Cannon

We are reducing the range on the Disruptor so it doesn’t overshadow the Exterminator.

• Build time reduced from 180 to 90
• Range reduced from 900 to 800 

 

Sentinel

With the armor rework to Cruisers, the Sentinel was able to one-shot athenas. To prevent this, and to remove the the small chance to miss, we are lowering its damage.

• Damage reduced from 1000 to 900
• Accuracy increased from 90 to 100

 

Oblivion Turret

• Build time reduced from 160 to 80

 

Drone MRV

• Total health/shields increased from 1700 to 1800

 

Shredder Turret

• Total health/shields increased from 1700 to 2200

 

Artillery Post

The artillery post suffered from too long of a build time. It’s build time is being reduced in exchange for increasing its metal cost. It’s also receiving some armor piercing as it was underperforming since its harsh nerfs in 2.2. It is worth noting that since Frigates will become a much bigger part of the game, the Artillery Post will have more of a role.

• Health increased from 1000 to 1500
• Metal cost increased from 240 to 320
• Build time reduced from 130 to 70
• Now has 50% armor-piercing

 

Pulverizer

The Pulverizer was incredibly lacklustre compared to the Sentinel or Annihilators. It is receiving a large damage buff on top of the bonuses it will get due to Cruiser armor rework. To compensate it is losing some range so it can no longer out range the Artemis.

• Range reduced from 1200 to 1000
• Damage increased from 84 to 168
• Build time reduced from 120 to 65

 

Exterminator Turret

Like the Pulverizer, the Exterminator was overshadowed other defenses and was weak compared to the Oblivion. To compensate we wanted to lower its range so it’s easier to outrange with artillery units.

• Build time reduced from 160 to 80
• Damage increased from 200 to 300
• Range reduced from 1200 to 1100

 

Air Defense

Like the standard base defenses, all air defenses are losing armor, most in exchange for more health and/or less build time.

 

Constable

• Health increased from 1500 to 2000
• Accuracy increased from 80 to 100
• Damage increased from 100 to 120
• Range increased from 750 to 900

 

Falcon

• Health increased from 2700 to 3500
• Build time reduced from 90 to 60
• Accuracy increased from 80 to 100

 

Air Eliminator

• Build time reduced from 160 to 80
• Health increased from 4000 to 5000
• Can now target radar contacts 

 

Blossom Launcher

The blossom launcher has too much range for a low tier base defense.

• Range reduced from 1200 to 1100

 

Starburst

• Build time reduced from 120 to 65
• Total Health/Shields increased from 3000 to 3500

 

Sky Ender

• Build time reduced from 160 to 80
• Total Health/Shields increased from 4000 to 5000

Orbital Abilities

 

Boost

Boost was incredibly inefficient compared to the PHC equivalent, Optimize. We are removing the diminishing returns to give Boost better value. Boost will now provide a higher bonus at three stacks and can be used when there is not an amplifier built, but it remains considerably more expensive that Optimize. 

• Resource bonus no longer has diminishing returns 

Regenerate

Regenerate was able to rapidly regenerate the entire shield pool of Dreadnoughts. We are adjusting its shield regeneration to better balance it, especially compared to PHC Intensive Care.

• Cost increased from 50 to 100
• Heal rate lowered from 12,500 over 5 seconds to 2000 over 10 seconds

 

Antimatter Detonation

In 2.2 we equalised the damage between Antimatter Detonation and Orbital Strike. This was a large oversight as Antimatter Detonation has a much shorter delay. We are adjusting their damage values back to compensate. We are also removing the ability to cancel Antimatter Detonation and Orbital Strike once they have been cast, which was very frustrating and punishing for new players.

• Damage reduced from 5000 to 3000
• Can no longer be interrupted once cast

 

Orbital Strike

• Can no longer be interrupted once cast

 

Nano-Mesh Armor

Nano-Mesh Armor could be quite exploitative when used on certain units as the armor values could stack up very highly. For example, putting Nano-Mesh Armor on a Strategic Bomber or Dreadnought would give it 95% damage reduction. We are reworking the ability to make it more consistent amongst units which do or do not have any existing armor. To compensate for the change in functionality, its name is being adjusted.

• Now grants +2000 health instead of +40% armor
• Renamed to Nano-Mesh Barrier

 

Carving Turret

The Carving Turret had inconsistent survivability due to 95% armor with such little health making it impervious to regular attacks but destroyed instantaneously against artillery units. We are adjusting health and armor to address this.

• Health increased from 600 to 1000
• Armor removed
• Negative health per second increased from 20 to 30

 

Emergency Turret

The Orbital Turrets are underwhelming and see little to no use. We are increasing the potency of the Emergency Turret and Serpentine Turret so they are a  viable solution to defend against Orbital summons like Sentries and Saboteurs. The Emergency turret is getting its low lethality adjusted so it has less survivability but more damage.

• Armor removed
• Health reduced from 1800 to 1300
• Negative health per second removed
• Damage increased from 5 to 10
• Accuracy increased from 75 to 100
• Range increased from 300 to 600

Serpentine Turret

The Serpentine turret is getting additional survivability.

• Armor removed
• Total health/shields increased from 800 to 1200
• Quanta cost reduced from 70 to 60
• Range increased from 540 to 600

 

Saboteurs

The Saboteur was very limited as it could only target buildings. This felt contrived, was unintuitive for new players and meant the Saboteurs were far too effective against production structures. We are adjusting the Saboteur so it can target all units in exchange for less damage so it’s a general purpose harassment unit.

• Can now target units
• Damaged reduced from 30 to 12

 

Avatar

The Avatar was too good at harassment considering it was also an engineer unit which could  build defenses. We are lowering its combat potential while also putting its armor consistent with other cruisers.

• Range reduced from 700 to 500
• Armor reduced from 40% to 20%
• Total health/shields increased from 500 to 600

 

Legacy Changes

The following change was implemented in 2.2 but it was not documented.

• Fixed an issue with Thuban where two of the spawns has less Radioactives deposits