Starlight finally has a new model, something more fitting of the most expensive thing you can build. Starlight might see more use as Bantha has received a nerf as a result of free-for-all and endgame feedback. Smaller units have also received attention…

Infrastructure changes include

get latest Zero-K lobby to play

there are no more "springies", instead each battleroom has their capabilities

when hosting, you pick the game type (chickens, teams, FFA etc)

friend and ignore lists are stor…

Three weeks ago we released several small versions, mostly to keep up with engine fixes. However, some features got into these releases and many of the Interfaces features are from this period and I have not written a complete list. The two balance change are from v1.4.7.0.

Spring 102.0 has been released (sort of) and it is well tested so we should be able to stick with it. This comes with a lobby update which allows Spring 102.0 to be downloaded so make sure to update.

The screenshot is showing off the line of sight and radar improvements since Spring 100.0. The LoS and radar updates faster, has higher resolution and is much better at finding cliffs. The interior colour can be set through Settings/Interface/Map/Radar Color.

Balance

Racketeer is a bit of a problematic unit so we’ve reduced its ability to keep two units disarmed. Two raiders fighting a Racketeer tended to be ridiculous.

• Rackteer reload time 5s -> 6s

The Plasma Artillery for Battle Commander was not just working out so it has been removed. Massive earlygame health and a Leveler sidearm remove the usual counterplay to artillery.

• Removed Commander plasma artillery weapon.

Interface

Newton launcher widget:

• Increased accuracy of impact location with interpolation between the impact step and previous step.
• Applied impact prediction to all units launched by Newtons. Not just those affected by firezones.
• Added transport drop location prediction.
• Added menu options for controlling when either type of prediction is displayed.

Other features:

• Added a new Skydust UI. Press B to toggle height mode. C and V change height (much like Z and X change spacing in normal mode). The height selected in height mode is persistent per-unit type. Height does not work with line build.
• Zenith now obeys fire stats. Defaults to Hold Fire for new players. Defaults to Fire At Will for current players.
• Added an option to make clicking on construction tabs activate their hotkeys.
• Added an option to disable Ping and CPU display on Deluxe Player List.
• Added an option to show decloak ranges of units. Configure through Settings/Interface/Decloak Ranges.
• Ferry and Set Retreat Zone now appear as a minimap button. Not on the command menu.

Fixes

• Terraform cost tooltip now shows its estimated cost.
• Fixed a Build ETA bug which can appear while spectating and using /specfullview.
• Energy and metal income graphs now include reclaim.
• Fixed Cloak State hotkey and tooltip.
• Restored marker placement hotkey for German keyboards (dev engine).

With this release the old 1faction branch of CA fullfils one of its major goals, a mere 6 years after creation. Each factory now has a unique constructor, something we wanted to do and never got around to. The Gunship Plant now as Wasp as its constructor. Wasps are slower and more expensive than Cranes but come with much increased build power and more health.

In other news, contrived constructor connotations continue with a newly conforming Constable, err, Freaker. The old name always lacked descriptiveness whereas Constable matches Moderator and the slowbeam theme.

Balance

Gunships now have their own constructor: Wasp. Crane is unchanged and is now restricted to Planes. It compares the Crane as follows:

• Cost 220 › 300
• Speed 180 › 93 elmo/s [?]
• Build Power 4 › 7.5 M/s
• Health 240 › 600

This change fixes the inconsistency dual-factory nature of Crane and is also is meant as a nerf to earlygame Gunships. The new constructor is slower and bulkier so is a better fit to the theme of its factory.

Claws (Wolverine mines) now spawn if their Wolverine died before impact. Previously they did not.

Target Behaviour

There are a lot of target behaviour improvements/fixes in this version so we’ve given them their own section.

• Heatrays now have a significant preference for nearby targets. They previously had a preference but it was weaker than most other factors. Heatrays still target armed units before unarmed ones.
• Gravity guns no longer target nanoframes. Gravity guns never affected nanoframes so this is a fix. Note that gravity guns have never targeted structures, regardless of whether the structure is a nanoframe.
• All weapons now prioritize identified radar dots as if they were a full health unit of their type. Previously all radar dots were given uniform priority.
• Spectre, Annihilator, Penetrator and Impaler now have an additional priority penalty to target radar dots of mobile units.
• Outlaws move closer to their target when firing.
• Slashers now target everything with a fight order. This is to make them stop and fire at things which other units consider not worth stopping for (Razor, Solar and Dirtbag).

Interface

• Tooltips now have an option to make them larger, for larger screen resolutions.
• Many menu categories and subcategories now have icons.
• All menus have a consistent size, left justified category text.
• Changed HUD Skin and Gesture Menu paths.

Misc

• Freaker is now called Constable.
• Improved Crane, Rapier and Vindicator wingtrail and jet effects.
• Fixed CAI artillery production.
• Added startbox to Seth’s Ravine.
• Fixed ATI error with map edge extension.
• Fixed aircraft constructors turning around when construction is initiated.

Highlights from v1.4.5.0

We missed the release notes from the previous version so here are some highlights:

• Swifts now pull up near the end of their strafing run. This is a buff against low ranged ground units, especially those with AoE weapons.
• Smoothing weapons (Quake, Big Bertha etc..) now have smoother terrain at the edge of their smooth radius. This makes tanks more likely to be able to climb a Quake ramp. In addition, Quake impacts now jiggle units and can cause them to fall off cliffs.
• Double pressing ‘L’ with a mixed selection of transports and units will cause the transports to load the units. This command is an action which can be rebound through ‘Game/Command Hotkeys’.
• Right clicking a geothermal vent with only constructors selected will queue a Geothermal Plant.
• Geothermal vents now have a tooltip.
• Added a toggle to make cloaked units (exept Gremlin and Spectre) automatically hold fire when cloaked. [?]
• Endgame graphs now have a toggle between individual players and entire teams.
• Commander initial unit state now works for priority.

Sortale is organizing another tournament with actual prizes: Steam keys, kudos credit, and account trophies.This time the mode is 1v1.Find out more and sign up here.

Muster your AA, Raven has a buff! And Phoenix! Actually, those are the only two balance changes and they should both be minor. The real focus of this release is on the user interface, bug fixes and other improvements.Balance

Phoenix can target gunshi…

New format, new organizers, new prizes.A 2v2 tournament will be held on Saturday 2th April 2016 at 10AM UTC, with steam key and kudos for top three winners.See more at http://zero-k.info/Forum/Thread/22184

The past week has seen nerfs to Warriors, drops, Warrior drops and now drops in general. Valkyrie may need some buffs to make it better in the midgame but we will solve that problem when we reach it. We also have the weapon shiny gadget by Beherith fro…

The community has done great work over the last two weeks exploring the new and improved Warrior. This version has a nerf to Warrior which reduces the previous buff while retaining the unique parts of the warrior; regeneration and damage. We have begun the promised commander weapon design fix with an attempt to equalize their power levels and give each weapon a distinct purpose.

Other nice changes include a fix to the longstanding Slasher overkill prevention issue, reasonable team names and rally points for rearming bombers. Use of rally points should improve bomber turnaround.

In other news ikinz is working on a nice ZK themed Weblobby and the release of Spring 101.0 is looming. The new engine has some nice features but is hampered by ATI graphics errors. Access to ATI testing is stalling our ability to make ZK compatible.

Balance

Nerfs to Warrior as a partial reduction of the recent buff. The aim is to harden the counter by skirmishers and reduce overlap with the Zeus assault role.

• Cost 200 -> 210 (old was 220)
• Range 280 -> 270 (same as old)
• Health 880 -> 820

Commander morphing receives a design pass. Most of the effort was applied to basic weapons.

• Basic weapons are now balanced around 50 cost and have designed strengths and weaknesses[?].
• Commanders can equip duplicates of basic weapons.
• Manual fire weapon reload time increased to at least 25s to reduce their spam annoyance. Some buffs. Costs are normalized to 150.
• Cheapened morph base cost by 50 to level 3 and 100 for higher levels.
• Slightly cheaper drone modules.

Valkyrie can no longer transport Enforcer.

Fixed Slasher overkill prevention.

Djinn weight lowered:

• cost 800 -> 750
• health 2600 -> 2500

Artillery accuracy improved:

• Hammer can no longer miss a Defender [?]
• Pillager can no longer miss a Stinger [?]

Tactical AI:

• Added tactical AI for Ravager.
• More things skirmish Warrior (for example, Ravager).
• Removed broken Scorcher behaviour[?].

UI

Air Repair/Rearm Pad can now have rally points. Aircraft that leave an Air Repair/Rearm Pad or a Airplane Plant with an empty command queue will inherit the queue of their pad. This mirrors the behaviour of factory queues. Reef is unaffected.

Better team names:

• instead of “team 0”, teams now have recognizable names, for example “Team North”, “GBC” or “Team Sprung” [?]
• the game-over screen now tells spectators who won (in the above format; was just “game over” previously).

Other changes:

• Line-move now shows dots for the projected unit positions. This is option is enabled by default for new and current players. We need to know whether it works for all graphics cards.
• Loading progress bar is now more accurate.
• Added a “show always” option for armor and build-priority state icons.

Changed defaults for new players:

• Fight is now hotkeyed under A and Attack is under F. The commands are also renamed.
• Engine info screen hotkey: ‘i’ -> ‘Ctrl+i’
• LoS view toggle hotkey: ‘L’ -> ‘Ctrl+L’
• Default command visibility: always shown for selected units, hold Shift for all units (previously was hold shift for selected units, no way to see all units).

Misc

• The game can now result in a draw in two cases: everyone dies at the same time (eg. two opposing roaches blow each other), or all alive teams are dropped (eg. when the non-dropped team resigns after the other drops).
• Wreckage, rocks, trees etc. no longer disappear without a trace when destroyed/crushed/reclaimed but make a small dirt poof instead.
• Trainer comms default to HMG/radar at level 1 and ablative/regen at level 2.
• CAI no longer avoids linking its fusion reactors.
• Fix CAI having wrong idea about energy economy.