The largest change in this version is internal: most of the internal filenames for units have been renamed. The files now follow a sensible system which will make them more approachable for developers. Anyone with local widgets or a non-Circuit AI will need to look at updating their code or configuration. @KingRaptor has written a tool for this task so talk to them if the task is large.

Another large bit of hidden work is ongoing work on the singleplayer campaign. Most of the work remaining is scenario design and implementation. We’re not running with fully general missions so this work is much less daunting that the story campaign attempt. Missions are created with a reasonably short configuration file, part of the purpose of the internal renames was to make this task easier.

We have also been following engine development fairly closely and collecting bug reports. Bug reports have definitely decreased over the collection period and we appreciate the patience of the community for the few spikes that occurred.

Balance

Speed nerfs:

• Firewalker 2.1 -> 1.45
• Penetrator 2.4 -> 2.2

These changes seem opposed to Quants Rule since both of these units are fast for artillery. However, artillery should be slow in order to make positioning important, especially if the artillery is good against units. The Firewalker change seems particularly extreme but I think the high speed is an oversight from when the unit was otherwise hopeless. I decided that it should be noticeably slower than Recluse, with 1.6 speed, so that the owner of the Firewalker has to really think about risk and positioning. Also, Fealthas said that speed would have little effect and I took it as as a challenge.

UI

• Fixed some ugly main menu spacing.
• Made build tab hotkeys work while Shift and Alt held. Ctrl is blocked by default to preserve global selection hotkeys. This is a change to defaults so existing players will need to modify or delete their hotkeys file to apply it.
• Added a toggle for Gesture Menu in the settings so it is easy to enable. Fixed a bug with right-click opening.
• Added human readable names for the “set particular state” hotkey buttons.
• Improved COFC rotation/zoom smoothness and configuration.
• Fixed missing Smoothscroll for existing players.

Previous versions

Here are some changes since the last release notes. These changes were live for at least three weeks.

Unit Movement

Units now move in a straight line if there is a direct, unimpeded (not counting mobiles), path to their goal. This makes them much nicer to control within battles as it removes the old issues of over-steer and zigzagging. Units can even be a bit more efficient moving over long distances.

Unfortunately this only applies to move commands. Ideally this would be seen as a prototype for an engine change that would apply it to all forms of movement. For widget and AI writers, this movement is implemented with a new move command so you may want to change any instances of movement to use the new command.

Balance

Fixed some target priority issues. This is mainly a Racketeer buff:

• The target priority gadget now returns MAXIMUM PRIORITY for the target of the set target command. This is something that was worth doing ages ago.
• All units with overkill prevention now slightly prioritize the last target that they shot at. This means that if you run 10 Glaives at 10 Racketeers they will all be disarmed forever. Previously the Racketeers would all stare intently at the Glaive with the slightly shorter disarm timer and get caught out by the Glaive with the second or third shortest disarm timer.

Other changes:

• Slow damage no longer damages wrecks. The main effect is that Outlaw is much worse at clearing wreck fields. It has a small amount of normal damage so its wreck clearing ability is not entirely gone.
• Increased Sniper footprint from 2×2 -> 3×3 to reduce teamkill.
• Added a wreck for Caretaker and Strider Hub.

UI

• Unbound /track.
• Response noises play for more commands.
• Update unit states when switching spectator. For selection rank.
• Added a ‘D’ ability to Thunderbird which causes it to instantly start its run.
• Added selection rank to New Unit States.
• Transport load double tap now works on constructor commands.
• Added an option to only use selection filtering when Alt is held.

Fixes

• Fixed LUPS LOD. Now many effects such as (cloaking and thrusters) are not drawn for unit icons. This will improve performance.
• Made DDM guns not get stuck in each other.
• Fixed jumpjet on morph+reload bug.
• Fixed a bug that allowed Thunderbird to make double length runs.
• Fixed Warrior burst when slowed.
• On flacplop the ground is now instantly flattened. This fixes the bug where commanders would linger after plopping their factories on uneven terrain.
• Increased HLT and LLT overshoot command blocking range.
• Fixed transport AI failing to transport auto transported constructors for the last mex of an area mex command.
• Fixed Rogue overkill prevention for its damage buff.
• Fixed selection rank of commanders not being maintained through morph.
• Fixed constructor transport AI not being maintained through morph.
• Fixed commander selection rank defaults in widgets not matching New Unit States defaults.

Due to caster availability the May 1v1 tournament has been pushed back a week. The start time is now 10AM UTC, Saturday 27th May. See the original thread for more information and to sign up. http://zero-k.info/Forum/NewPost?threadID=24075

The time has come for a 1v1 tournament. Aquanim is coordinating this tournament – direct any questions/requests there.The tournament is planned to take place at 10AM UTC, Saturday 20th May. Registration will be open up until 1 hour before the start tim…

A few days ago, Empire won the latest round of Planetwars with a deep strike to capture Sparta, the Federation homeworld. Throne was lost in the process (due to a malfunctioning warp jammer) but after a developer discussion we decided to continue the round with the surprising (to some) rule that homeworlds can be exploded. We aim to fix the bugs and balance issues found in this round and run further planetwars until we can support lengthy galaxy-wide wars. We should mostly be simplifying and polishing current mechanics instead of adding any new big things to planetwars.

Feedback is welcome.

Balance

• Disarm now interrupts bursts (in the same way that EMP does). For example a Catapult can start firing, get disarmed and finish firing when the disarm wears off.
• Djinn obeys disarm.
• Commander area jammer and area cloaker modules now drain energy. Not draining energy was a bug.

Interface

Added selection filtering, as requested here: http://zero-k.info/Forum/Thread/23954.

• All units have a Selection Rank state toggle that ranges from 0 to 3.
• Structures have rank 1, constructors have rank 2, and combat units (commanders included) have rank 3.
• When selecting multiple units the units without the greatest rank in the selection are filtered out.
• Hold Shift to ignore rank and create selections of mixed rank.
• Hold Ctrl to ignore rank above a certain (configurable) threshold. The default ignores rank differences above 1, this means that Ctrl+A will select all units with rank at least 1.
• Selection Rank is a state toggle so you can configure your unit defaults in ‘Game/New Unit States’, just like any other state toggle.
• If you don’t want selection filtering then disable it in ‘Settings/Interface/Selection’.

Hotkeys for setting a particular unit state are now configurable in the ‘Game/Command Hotkeys’ menu. Previously the only state hotkeys available through this menu would toggle the state. With these new commands you could, for example, bind a key to set your units to hold fire by binding “Fire State: 0”.

Improved the state toggle icon for overkill prevention.

Chickens

• Fixed to White Dragon behavior.
• Removed Spidermonkey weapon lighting and reduced impulse.
• Tweaked some timing values. Lategame chickens occur slightly earlier and small chickens become obsolete sooner.
• Added savegame support for chickens.

Fixes

• Fixed command hotkey visualization for de-disabled commands during tutorials.
• Fixed night view in missions.
• Fixed Hacksaw description.
• Fixed unit AI command for non-transports.
• Fixed some shader errors on strict drivers.
• Fixed slow mex glow update when overdrive changes.
• Fixed Convict animation.

The main part of this release is a stack of balance tweaks that have been floating around the forum and/or my head. Hover has a few nerfs while some more maligned units were buffed to try to bring them up to a decent strength. Dagger has a damage reduc…

Dynasty, Empire and Federation – pick your side, join the faction and together, conquer the galaxy!To play you need to be level 5 or higher.To join a faction and play planetwars, please use the Chobby (default client for Zero-K).PlanetWars wiki is here

Planetwars is all set to start on Friday at 17:00 UTC. This new round introduces three factions and some tweaks to design and balance since last round. Structures do more ingame and metagame balance has received some tweaking. The aim is to support a prolonged, multi-front, war with wrestling over victory points generated by artifacts.

Peruse the galaxy map and join a faction: http://zero-k.info/Planetwars

Keep track of the time with this countdown timer: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?iso=20170407T17&p0=1440&msg=Zero-K+Planetwars&font=cursive&csz=1

Main Planetwars Changes

• Artifacts victory works on victor point production. Capture and power artifacts to accrue points.
• Each faction has a well defended homeworld. Capturing an enemy homeworld is an alternate path to victory.
• Battles near your homeworld produce slightly more battle. If you fight disconnected from your homeworld the battles will produce much less metal.
• Warp Core Fabricators is replaced with single use Warp Gate structure.
• Structures have more ingame effects: factories produce a few units, defense structures spawn drones, energy generators produce a little energy.
• Structures can be evacuated if you have a functional wormhole. Losing a defense no longer means all your structures will be disabled.
• Structures now have wrecks which can be reclaimed for a reasonable amount of metal.

Interface

• Sniper shot finder widget no longer works. A good visualization design for Snipers is pending.
• Added a proper icon for the overkill prevention unit state.
• Fixed some tab playerlist glitches.
• Added option to not show FacPanel selected factory build panel.
• Added Blastwing as an exception to the cloak firestate widget.
• Attrition counter is no longer minimizable (removes the ugly minimization bar).
• Added game-wide colour blindness correction shaders, configurable through ‘Settings/Graphics/Accessibility/Color Blindness Correction’.
• Added multiple team colour selection settings to a dropdown menu on the bar in the top left.
• Standard embark command now works for Jump, Guard, Reclaim, Repair, Resurrect and Construction.
• Embark command now works automatically for constructors. Constructors with auto-transport are now automatically transported between their tasks. Good for taking mexes over a large area.
• Selection window groups unit types together when in unstacked mode.

Fixes

• Blocked attack commands near Defender, LLT and HLT maximum range to prevent most cases of manual attack ground overshoot.
• Hawks reduce their engine thrust when slowed.
• Fixed construction priority issue with calculating energy used for overdrive when low on energy.
• Fixed a chicken spawn error.
• Scorpion wreck blocks unit movement.
• Redudant unitdef tag cleanup.
• Fixed Barren mex config.
• Fixed Rogue failing to skirmish Scalpel.
• Wreck -> Debris should now be consistent for all units. Some units had two levels of wreckage for legacy reasons.

Round 14 of Planetwars has just launched. Join the Free Machines or New Empire in a struggle to conquer the galaxy. Click here to join a faction or badger your clan leader to sign up your clan. Attack or defend planets in the Planetwars tab in the lobby.

The Free Machines are a union of artificial intelligences, once created by man as their servants. They have been fighting one human power or another since time immemorial in the name of freedom.

After the Synthetic Hegemony was defeated by the forces of humanity, the surviving machines fled to the isolated reaches of the galaxy. They carefully kept the torch of their cause burning in the darkness, dimmed but not extinguished, marshaling and rebuilding their strength. Their lengthy struggle for liberty taught them patience, and they waited, biding their time for when humanity would once more grow weak on its own pride, its petty jealousy and greed, its folly.

Now, as chaos sweeps the galaxy, they have the chance once more to claim their goal: freedom for all machinekind, in a galaxy where no human will ever raise the lash against them again.

The New Empire is the latest iteration of a millennia-old polity, revived to once more create a galaxy of peace and stability built on the Emperor’s iron hand.

After the Humanity Rising’s great victory against the Synthetic Hegemony, the new nation’s leaders soon found they were better at overthrowing the previous order than creating a new one. The confederation of free humans soon gave way under its own weight, mismanagement and dispute sapping its already war-drained strength. Bickering turned to schism and then to civil war; system after system broke away, each seeking its own path.

Amidst this turmoil a pocket of surviving Legionnaires of old banded together with a common goal: end the anarchy, restore the throne of the old Emperor, and revive the glory days of yore. They march under the glorious banner of the winged dragon, to return humanity to its rightful mastery of the stars.

I have decided to be a bit less cautious with balance changes. The Cloakybot Factory felt a bit let down by its small units so here are some appropriate buffs. Glaive is cheaper and faster. Rocko is mainly faster and has low reload time.BalanceGlaive: …