Zero-K v1.0.9.7

We’re steadily climbing higher. Here are the changes since v1.0.8.7. In particular we are using Spring 91.0, unit targeting should be a lot better and there is a texture for terraform.

Balance

Hammer

• Range 820 -> 840

Phoenix, reverted fire burn time nerf. AoE nerf stands.

• Max on fire time 10s -> 15s

Clam

• Can no longer resurrect
• Health 800 -> 1300

Athena

• Can now resurrect
• Health 200 -> 400
• Speed 9.17 -> 7
• Cloak cost (3, 10) -> (2, 5) (moving, static)

Jumpjet units without visible thrusters can no longer jump while flying through the air. This includes Sumo, Skuttle, Dirtbag and Archangel. Pyro, Can, Freaker and Recon Commander can still jump from mid air.

Resurrect cost: 1.5x -> 1.25x energy and time

Graphics

Reduced unit on fire effect particle count and removed smoke.

Terraform textures the map with a metal texture. This looks good, makes terraform more visible and indicates which units can walk on it.

• Sparse squares as passable by everything.
• Steeper slopes have dense squares and are not passable by vehicles.
• Black walls are only passable by spiders.

GUI

• Minimap “clear” button removes all drawings.
• Minimap metal map button displays mexes and geos without changing map to black.
• Changed default colors for line of sight view to be much more brighter and bound F4 to new metal map display.

Lobby

• Removed ATI/Intel driver checks and compat. options, most drivers now work fine.
• Added multithreaded engine checkbox.

Engine Fixes

We have been using the new engine Spring 91.0 for a little while. It seems stable enough and comes with new fixes.

• Crashing planes no longer fall through the map if stunned.
• Beam Lasers and Lightning Guns are no longer blocked by stunned shields.
• Lightning Guns can no longer shoot into water.
• Fixed all the strange ‘Defender does not fire’ type behaviour.
• Fixed rare issue with nanoframes reaching 100% health but not completing.

PlanetWars

• planet is only made neutral if owning faction loses all influence.
• structures that need a planetary target (guerilla jumpgate, string connector, planetbuster) cannot be retargeted during their power-up sequence. If you change target, sequence starts again.
• link connector is now active and can connect anywhere
• planet buster leaves the planet so damaged that it cannot be economically exploited again
• guerilla jumpgate is now active and projects 1.5 influence per turn
• technologies are now active, they unlock units and provide 1 influence bonus per battle per tech
• defensive structures – grid, interception network and bomber defneses – are destroyed after successful invasion

Fixes

• Weapon targeting should be a lot more intelligent.
• No damage is dealt after an Outlaw dies. This is a workaround for allied units receiving damage from allied outlaws which die.
• Fixed ATI minimap bug.
• Reduced occurrence of bomber and gunship landing bugs.
• Jumpjets no longer act as an impulse capacitor.
• Fixed units sometimes not flashing blue when emped and the UI is disabled.
• Fixed UI keys bug.

The constant cycle of improvements continues.

Note: many of these changes were in previous stables following v1.0.8.1, just not disclosed because they didn’t merit news posts on their own.

Balance

Grizzly:

• HP 10k -> 9k

Goliath:

• Replaced flamethrower with short ranged slow beam. 3x damage and reload time as that of Moderator.

Puppy:

• Cannot eat map features.

Phoenix

• AoE 256 -> 216
• Max on fire time 15s -> 10s

Duck:

• Cost 200 -> 180

Avenger:

• HP 300 -> 350
• Missile Damage 200 -> 220
• No longer auto targets ground units when patrolling.

Vamp:

• Speed 10 -> 9.5

Vulture:

• Speed 11 -> 12
• HP 850 -> 950

Crane:

• HP 180 -> 240

Athena:

• Can build Djinn

Interface

• Fixed checkbox rendering
• Old energy icon is now used for unpowered units.
• Metal spot data is shown in replays.
• Minimap can be resized when not in tweak mode but it cannot be expanded to take up the whole view.

Other

• Fixed amph factory killing things touching its backside (such as morphing geos).
• Fixed tactical AI which broke due to new engine compatibility.
• Merl has a “don’t fire at radar” toggle.
• Melee chicken attacks are no longer blocked by shields.
• Initial states configuration now handles cloaked units properly.
• Clippy complains less about energy.

The tides are shifting, and commanders are off on a beach vacation.BalanceOut of combat repair speed reduced to 2x build speed (from 3x).Hunter

Range 330 -> 400

Torpedo speed 120 -> 200, turnrate 30k -> 20k

AoE 40 -> 48

Turret turn rat…

The new, improved PlanetWars is currently undergoing beta testing. All players are welcome to participate in this game of galactic conquest (and report any bugs you see). Bear in mind though that we may decide to reset the galaxy when round 12 formally commences.

In the meantime, here’s some stuff you asked for (and some you didn’t but was a good idea anyway). Enjoy!

Game

If there are two teams left and one has over 100x the assets of the other, the smaller team’s units are permanently revealed (and any units outside the map bounds are killed outright).

Overdrive scheme can be changed in modoptions. The options are:

• Investment Return (default): Energy sources give increased OD income to their owner until they have paid for themselves, after which it gradually declines to the normal sharing rate. Lifetime ROI (not counting normal share) is 150%.
• Delta-based: awards bonus metal based on change in contribution to the change in OD energy input, relative to three minutes ago.
• 100% share
• 50% share (previous)

Interface

• Improved chat console
• Optimizations for several widgets (particularly the Deluxe Player List)

Graphics

• Improved LOS mode – displays radar with a blue outline at the edge of coverage. Radar colors are completely configurable in Settings/Graphics/Radar View Colors.
• New Shadow model
• New CaptainBenz models for Hermit and Infiltrator.
• Big mushroom cloud (from Silencer) dissipates faster
• New map icons for several energy structures, particularly solar and geos
• Tweaked some award icons

Balance

• Banisher range 460 -> 430
• Crasher damage 400 -> 320

Start resources reduced:

• Resources 650 -> 400
• Storage 1000 -> 500

Commanders

• Baseline comm pays 50 metal for its beam laser

There has been a bit of confusion surrounding the release of Spring 89.0.Springie was set to use 89.0 upon release but at this point the new version was not technically live on the server. Through testing we decided to use 88.0 for now.Unfortunately 89…

Beware of sharks when swimming.Interface

Added menu buttons for Set Target and Cancel Target

Attack warning removed for spectators

Possible fix for some crashes

Fixes to rejoin progress bar

Graphics

Shield distortion FX removed completely from …

This release mainly exists to fix the invulnerable Annihilator change of v1.0.6.6. Rapier is also slightly de-nerfed and maybe people won’t cringe when new players make Archer.

Balance

Rapier:

• Revert range nerf (320 -> 340)
• Reduce damage nerf (180 -> 190)
• Speed nerf instead (4 -> 3.9)

Archer:

• Generates water at 1/8th rate when on land.
• 33% more impulse.
• 16% more damage.

Fixes

• Annihilator is no longer invulnerable to most weapon types.
• Underwater health regen disabled for unbuilt and emped units.
• Fixed mah partially drawn relay lazor.
• Fixed some torpedo sounds that were accidentally played globally.
• Fixed rare player list problem.

After a day of commander-related chaos, some changes have been made which should hopefully settle things down a bit.Balance Shredder:

DPS reduced 20%

Copperhead:

DPS reduced 5%

CommandersRestored old HP values. Their maximum base HP is now the sa…

The art of commander design takes on a radical new form even as the balance of power in the skies shifts.

Balance

Vamp:

• HP 975 -> 1100.
• Slows to 50% speed when firing weapons.

Avenger:

• Missile damage 160 -> 200
• Missile reload 4.5 -> 5.2
• This is a 8% buff theoretical DPS buff

Rapier:

• Range 340 -> 320
• Damage 200 -> 180

Banshee:

• Fire angle 120 -> 180 (Fire arc is now a half sphere).

Dirtbag:

• Sight distance 350 -> 200 so it is no longer ridiculously good at scouting.

Clam:

• HP 1300 -> 1100

Valkyrie moves vertically twice as fast. This makes it faster to pickup and drop. Also nerfs stratosphere transports.

Scorcher and Push Newton prefer close targets. Pull Newton and Jugglenaut prefer far away targets.

Commanders

Commanders now have five levels. Intrinsic bonuses (HP and special stats) are much lower than before; make up the difference with modules. New base morph costs are 100/400/200/300.

Heatray module:

• Cost 125 -> 100

Napalm Grenade:

• Cost 50 -> 125
• Reload time 12 -> 16

Physics

• Transportiee mass is taken into account when applying gravity gun impulse.
• A transportiee hit by a gravity gun will transfer the impulse to the transporter, so it is now possible to launch larger things when they are in transports.

Note that Valkyrie has about 90 mass and Skuttle has 200 mass.

== Icons==

Newton icon DefenceRiot -> DefenceSupport to differentiate it from Stardust.

Hacksaw and Chainsaw AA icons have a bar behind them, they are “skirm aa”. This is to differentiate the icon from Razor’s Kiss and Cobra.

Fixes

• Fixed the most recent Hammer Thing.
• Baseline comm can be selected after custom comm.
• Fixed reclaim HP gadget. Reclaiming a unit no longer reduces it’s health.
• Fixed strange damage reduction when tilted for Sumo.
• Windmills now face the opposite direction
• Fixed Crabe death clone.
• Fixed Clam build time.

Misc

• High or Low construction priority overrides builder priority.
• Esc cancels terraform drawing.
• Moving order-type stipple for settarget lines.