RTS

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ZeroK: Zero-K v1.8.9.1 – Control Cleanup and Idle Improvement

A few tweaks to help new players ballooned into several major efforts aimed at improving the new player experience. As is often the case, I couldn’t add a piece of UI without making it extra smart and configurable, so the result is a cleaner and more powerful interface for everyone. Once you see the cleaner command panel you won’t want to go back to the full messy version, although you may want to go into the settings to unhide your favourite advanced unit states.

In other news I (GoogleFrog, writing this) have a Patreon. It is new, since the last release, and the aim is to free up a bit more time to support Zero-K.

The map above is a new version of Twin Lakes Park by TheMooseIsLoose.

Idle Behaviour

Idle units now give up and return to their old location if they move too far while chasing enemies (previously they could be baited across the whole map). This can be disabled by setting a unit to Roam. Raiders and riots are also a bit smarter about how they react to enemies while idle.

  • Idle raiders move to stay out of range when approached by riots or most other raiders.
  • Idle riots perform similar behaviour against skirmishers and against riots with greater range.
  • Units that have been pushed back in this manner only move a short distance. When pushed too far they will turn and attack.

While some attempt was made to generate good chase and push distances, there are around 1002 unit matchups so the configuration is a little rough. Expect tweaks and improvements in future patches.

Also, drones now return to their host if they stray too far away.

Command Panel

The command panel has a simple mode so as to not overwhelm new players with esoteric commands. I liked it so much that I added configuration options, to give even those that was a few more commands a nice clean panel.

  • Replaced the icons for Repeat, Movestate and Firestate.
  • Command and state position/ordering is now stable and consistent.
  • Simple mode has slightly larger state toggles, large enough to show hotkeys. The old size can be enabled under Settings/HUD Panels/Command Panel (with Simple Settings disabled).
  • Dual-toggle Hold Fire and Hold Position states replace Movestate and Firestate by default. Under the hood they toggle Hold Fire/Fire At Will and Hold Position/Maneuver. The full triple-toggle states can be enabled under Settings/Interface/Commands.
  • Added the hotkey ‘H’ to toggle movestate.
  • Approximately one third of the states and command are now hidden by default. The visibility of each command or state can be toggled under Settings/Interface/Commands.
  • The position and order of the commands/states cannot be configured ingame. This requires a local configuration file found here.

Camera Controls

Many games have save/recall camera hotkeys, and it is an easy enough widget to write, so there was no reason not to add it.

  • Added bindable camera save/recall position hotkeys, and more control over alerts and transition times. These can be bound under Hotkeys/Camera/Camera Position Hotkeys.
  • Added the option to remove most advanced features from Combo Overhead/Free Camera, which can be enabled and configured under Settings/Camera with Simple Settings disabled. It can now be made to ignore shift, ctrl or alt, and can be permanent set to a particular tilt.

First Game Guide

There is now an interactive ingame guide that appears in your first non-campaign game. It is enabled by default to catch those who might need it. Experienced players can simply disable it with the X, and it can be enabled via Help.

Additional Improvements

  • Added Scalpel to Fencer unit AI.
  • In the lobby, watching a game or playing singleplayer no longer removes you from matchmaking queues.
  • Command queue transparency can be configured in the main menu under Settings -> Game.
  • The main menu settings menu now informs people that most settings only take effect upon entering the next game.
  • Improved metal and energy image extended economy tooltips.
  • Area Mex now queues one Solar with ctrl held, two with alt, and four with ctrl+alt. Previously it would queue four with ctrl.
  • Missile Silo no longer repeatably fires with repeat enabled. This frees up repeat to be used to loop the build queue. An attack command may be repeated by issuing it with ctrl held.
  • Added an experimental overlay that summarises visible reclaim. It can be enabled with ‘Toggle Field Summary’ under Settings/Interface/Reclaim Highlight (with Simple Settings disabled).
  • Added selection hotkey settings for Swift, Thunderbird and Athena. They can be set under Hotkeys/Selection.
  • Improved a few tooltips so that they are more descriptive. Move suggests line move. Reclaim/Repair suggests area reclaim/repair.
  • Added more icons for the menu entries.

Fixes

  • Fixed command tooltips defaulting to those set by the engine instead of being overridden.
  • Added startboxes for Supreme Crossing.
  • Fixed terraform height presets being unable to make walls around structures with ctrl held.
  • Terraform structure height no longer lets you try to make land-only structures underwater.
  • Fix factory plate UI on unit transfer within team.
  • Added Construction Plates to the cheat sheet unit spawner.
  • Fixed Merlin firing issues with save/load and improved walk animation.
  • Removed Misc Priority from units with shields that do not drain energy.
  • Optimised the defence range indicator.
  • Optimised the metal spot visualiser.
  • Fixed a performance issue in a piece of code that was meant to be disabled.
  • Fixed a bug with Zenith.
  • Fixed some incorrectly displayed rank icons in the extended player list.
  • Removed Dante lookahead as it seems to interact poorly with multiple weapons.
  • Dual wielding commanders now prefer to aim with their shorter ranged weapon.
  • Fixed a chicken spire error caused by there being no burrows.
  • Fixed a minor bug with AFK sharing.
  • Fixed Gauss localisation.
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ZeroK: GoogleFrog has a Patreon

Since receiving intermittent nudges from a few people, I now have a Patreon page. The primary goal is to gain more time to develop Zero-K, however I don’t want support to simply go towards “business as usual”. If people support me then I should spent at least some of my extra time on tasks that are important but not necessarily the most exciting. To this end, I have decided to put more of a focus on testing and reviewing contributions from the community. A contributor who receives faster and better feedback is more likely to fall deeper into development, strengthening the project. If you like and can support this goal, or just want to support me doing Zero-K development, then I’d appreciate it.

Here is the page: https://www.patreon.com/googlefrog

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ZeroK: Zero-K v1.8.7.0 – Lobster Nerf and Map Bans

After a bit of a break, we have returned with an update based on much of the feedback from the past month. it has been especially nice to see new contributions on the development side from within the community.

In terms of balance, the Lobster nerf is by far the largest. Now that the launching mechanic is polished and usable it is time to balance the unit around its attributes rather than difficulty of use. The next largest changes are some tweaks to vehicle raiders to account for Bolas and the Kodachi changes.

Two notable infrastructure changes are the addition of personal map bans for the matchmaker and an experimental split of the teams host into clan-balance and non-clan-balance. The campaign also has a few more codex entries and there are numerous fixes to the consistency of the interface.

Balance

Repair costs less time and energy.

  • 3/4 unit cost -> 2/3 unit cost.

Scorcher regains some of its ability to chew through health at close range.

  • Increased DPS by 7.5%.

Kodachi is given the Locust treatment to make it less snowbally.

  • Autoheal 10hp/s -> 5hp/s.
  • Weapon Velocity 220 -> 240.
  • Reduced upfront DPS by 10.7 to partially counteract fire fixes (see below).

Bolas instantly slows the opponent in fewer matchups.

  • Slow damage 3x normal damage -> 2x normal damage.

Duck loses most of the torpedo range it gained in a recent experimental buff.

  • Health 340 -> 360.
  • Torpedo Range 210 -> 160.

Scallop has a bit less range now that it need not worry about Ducks

  • Range 270 -> 260 (both weapons).

Lobster is due for some basic attribute nerfs now that the launch mechanic has been perfected. These numbers are similar to its initial implementation, prior to the slew of usability improvements.

  • Cost 230 -> 340.
  • Health 1040 -> 960.
  • Range 680 -> 620.
  • Reload 9s -> 12s.

Disco Rave Party is no longer countered by Funnelweb.

  • Blue Shocker damage 12k -> 30k.

Cloaking has fewer bugs and inconsistencies, and area-cloaking is now worse than personal cloaking.

  • Being hit by pure slow/disarm/capture weaponry now causes units to decloak (just like being hit by regular or EMP damage).
  • Personal cloak is disabled for 3s after taking damage or performing an action.
  • Personal cloak disabled by enemy proximity lingers for 1.5s.
  • Area cloak is disabled for 5s after taking damage or performing an action.
  • Area cloak disabled by enemy proximity lingers for 2.5s.

Previously cloak was disabled for 3.5s by most, but not all, actions. Proximity decloak linger has been broken for a while, causing units to recloak immediately upon an enemy leaving range. Units with personal cloak use the improved numbers even when under an area cloaker.

Other mechanical changes and fixes.

  • Disarmed transports can no longer pick up units.
  • Transports drop their cargo when they start crashing.
  • Zenith stops functioning when its beam is blocked, such as by aircraft or water.
  • Fixed Dante, Kodachi and Disco Rave Party being unable to set units on fire.

Lobby and Campaign

  • Added Codex entries for the quadrants of the galaxy, as well as few for particular planets.
  • Added the ability personally ban matchmaker maps (up to six for 1v1, fewer for teams). There is a link via the ‘Map Selection’ button in the Matchmaking menu.
  • Added map size to the tooltip for map selection mult-polls.
  • Added network connection settings under Settings -> Game that may be experimented with to fix potential Coop Campaign hosting issues.
  • Split the big teams autohost into two hosts. One attempts to put players in same clan or party on the same team. The other ignores clans and parties.
  • Increased the maximum Queen Health Multiplier option from 30 to 1000.
  • Removed the non-functional play as chickens modoption.

Interface

  • Added filter and selection hotkeys for loaded and empty air transports.
  • Added a hotkey to select all Athenas.
  • Fixed some inconsistencies with the stockpile interface and added initial stockpile to Settings/Unit Behaviour.
  • Setting the energy stall minimum to zero or the metal excess warning to maximum now disables the warnings completely.
  • Disabled tactical AI for bombs by default.
  • Tactical AI now responds to Chicken Leapers.
  • Added support that allows map-style mods to override tooltips.
  • Fixed using ‘)’ as a hotkey on AZERTY keyboards.
  • The COFC camera now uses the usual camera hotkeys.
  • Fixed some Global Build AI issues and added a hotkey.
  • Cleaned up invalid entries in the cheat menu unit spawner.

Fixes

  • Impaler animation matches its reload time.
  • Fixed Ultimatium attempting to fire up cliffs from too far away.
  • Chickens can no longer be reclaimed.
  • Fixed Shieldbot Factory being categorised as ‘Other’ by endgame stats.
  • Constructors count towards ‘Economy’ instead of ‘Army’ in endgame stats.
  • Fixed a bug with preselection circles.
  • Fixed some Gunship Plant geometry.
  • Cleaned up the unit replies system.
  • Dominatrix leash is no longer obscured by terrain.
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