Lots of improvements were made over the month. UI optimizations, bugfixes, a few new features. But not all the changes are good, for there’s something strange in the neighborhood…

New Halloween Ghost Possession gamemode (beta)

A galaxy is in danger, a new supernatural foe, ghosts possessing robots are stirring up trouble for it’s rulers.
In this gamemode, you are required not only to conquer the galaxy, but make sure not to fall to ghost possession and become a sword that kills your own allies!

The rules are simple, damage (lower health to 1/3) or emp (any amount) to unpossess any unit or structure. There are 5 difficulty levels. Just pick up one and play with or against your friends with this supernatural foe that picks neither side!

General

• AFK players transfer metal along with units.
• New set of loading screens.

Commanders

• Peashooter benefits from modules.
• Fixed Bombard Commander build power.

Units

Tick:

• Cost 100 -> 120

Sumo – Weapon replaced:

• Scorpion style weapon.
• 120 dps each
• 320 range

Moderator

• Damage 178 -> 220
• Health 550 -> 680

Outlaw:

• Pulse 8% slower

Stiletto:

• removed stealth

Jumping units retain velocity and trajectory on morph

Merl renamed to Impaler

GUI

• There has been a framework update which should dramatically increase performance. As a side effect some things look a bit different.
• Fixed a major performance leak.
• Set target command uses a circle instead of a rectangle by default.
• Added Newton defense range ring.
• Added persistent buildspacing widget. Buildspacing is now saved on a per-unit basis.
• Reverted A and F hotkey swap.

Fixes

• SetTarget commands are now lost within 10-15 seconds from mobile units which out of LOS/radar.
• Fixed tactical AI failing to jink on approach when set to hold position.
• Fixed Nuke Silo’s lack of self-damage.
• Fixed units getting stuck in factories when queued orders are completed.
• Fixed some labhax cases.

A new commander has been added with model by CaptainBenz. The effect of the energy investment reimbursement system has been reduced.Commanders

New Bombard Commander

Battle Commander damage bonuses halved; removed artillery options.

Strike Commander…

Happy new year!! Jeremy Gooch sent us a new awesome illustration for Zero-K:or if you want to get really high res (30MB) enjoy 🙂

Zero-K review has been published in a printed german magazine “c’t” (-> http://www.heise.de/ct/ ). It’s the second most popular German computer magazine.

You can read the article about us here: http://zero-k.info/temp/zerok_ct_26_colored.pdf

Thanks for the article and your interest!

Merry Christmas! Just a small update to keep your game experience in top shape for when Santa comes. Even for those of you who were more naughty than nice. Enjoy!

Balance

• Flamethrower units do not avoid shooting friendlies (prone to labhax)
• Djinn automatically deploys when idle
• Restore old vehicle slopemods. They are now better at climbing hills.

Graphics

• New heatray impact GFX
• Dante and Bantha have idle anims
• Fixed some irregularities with Dante’s flamethrower

UI

• Unit icons rotate to face camera
• Improved bomber dive tooltip

Misc.

• Optimizations for terraform texture handler and reclaim HP handler
• Image Preloader is always on; disables itself if running after game start
• Units are instantly transferred when a player resigns using the give-when-afk system
• Fix Thug error on death

Lots of small fixes here and a few noticeable changes. Structures have become uncloakable to improve lategame raiding and FFA interaction. Saktoth has crafted a new LLT model and plans to finish a set of turrets. These release notes include changes fro…

We’ve made a cinematic trailer for Zero-K, narrating some of the backstory of the game.
Check it out here:
Be sure to watch in HD!

Zero-K v1.0.10.8

A moment of free time spawns a flurry of much needed fixes. Pathing should be improved. New wreck models by psimyn.

Fixes

• Outlaw decloaks while firing using the on/off toggle.
• Rogue stands higher and is now much less prone to friendly fire.
• Units no longer decloak when they vigorously bump wrecks.
• Fixed bomber jamming.
• Fixed Stiletto aiming AI. It can now be left to it’s own devices if you do not feel the need to specify bombing run direction.
• Blackdawn footprint 2×2 -> 3×3
• Fixed some amphibious unit deaths, they were gibing to easily.

Pathing

Increased Tank, Vehicle, Ship and Hover deceleration. They should become stuck less often.

Increase Tank and Vehicle slopemod to that of Hovercraft. They are now slower when climbing ramps. This change aims to make Tanks and Vehicles avoid areas which they can become stuck.

Applied a fix which should improve global pathfinding and make ramps update faster.

Balance

Detriment:

• Shoulder weapon replaced with old vertical launch missile. The missile smooths terrain.

The changes to Rapier and Gnat are from 6 days ago.

Gnat:

• Cost 70 -> 90
• Speed 8 -> 7.5
• Damage 320 -> 400
• HP 175 -> 300
• EMP time 7s -> 2.5s
• Reduced strafe distances so it is consistently within range
• Dramatically reduced accuracy. It is much worse against small units and turrets.

Rapier:

• Range 340 -> 360

Other

• Added psimyn’s wreck models for Angler, Archer, Duck, Djinn and Racketeer
• Display DPS widget disables on F5 (gui hide).

After much debate, the Impulse Capacitor Restriction Act was passed in Parliament this morning over the vehement protests of the Non-Newtonian Physics Association. Other important changes include several optimizations to the code and a large number of …