PA Consultants Update #1: Radar Jamming & Competitive Ranks Reset

Greetings Commanders!

There is a great shift in the Galactic Struggle for supremacy. The playing field has been leveled; competitive ranks have been reset! Not only that, but the battlegrounds you will fight over have been greatly expanded, there is more variety than ever before in the 1v1 ranked galaxy. Jump in now and start battling for the top ranks!

But wait, there's more! The Planetary Annihilation Consultants team have been hard at work on balance tweaks, bug fixes, UI improvements AND a brand new unit; a T2 Advanced Radar Jammer structure! It looks beautiful on the battlefield. Such a pity your opponents won't be able to see it before it's too late as it masks your devastating attacks!

You can find the full list of patch notes below.

Happy Annihilating!

Special Thanks:

Jamming Station unit, and other unit model fixes:
Anonymous, Billthebluebot, Taiga

Bug Fixing:
Ferretmaster, billthebluebot, Nik, Luther, Dreadnought

UI Improvements:
Ferretmaster

CHANGELOG

General

- NEW UNIT: `Radar Jamming Station` T2 structure, constructed by Advanced Fabricators added to the game.

- Expanded Ranked map pool to include 56 maps (currently 15)

- Increased maximum number of spectators from 3 to 5

- The changes included in the AI Bugfixes and Enhancements have been added to the base game; the mod is no longer installed by default.

UI

- Added 18 new player colors.
- Adjusted some existing colors to improve readability.
- Removed "web browser" button from the main menu
- Added "System Name" field to the lobby browser

Balance

Commander
- Build range increased from 30 to 45
- Commander torpedoes have higher initial velocity (75 -> 100) when fired from land.
- Added `WL_WaterSurface` to the target layers of `base_commander_tool_weapon`
- Commander’s main cannon no longer works when submerged
- Main cannon ammo `flight_type` changed from `Ballistic` to `Seeking`
- Main cannon ammo `turn_rate` reduced from 180 to 30,
- Main cannon ammo `lifetime` reduced from 2 to 1.25
- Main cannon `spread_fire` added to all all cosmetic variations and will now work correctly

The commander received several quality of life changes that make it more reliable, especially around bodies of water. It will now be much better at retaking shorelines from T1 naval units, and its primary cannon will not miss as often as it used to. Finally, the extra build range will help decrease the time spent walking around and put it in line with other fabricators

Naval

- Kaiju
- Kaiju can now use teleporters
- Fixed minor model bug

- Stingray
- Added energy consumption at 150 per second
- `energy_efficiency_requirement` added and set to 0.9
- anti drop projectile `max_velocity` increased from 200 to 400
- radar and underwater radar now require energy to operate

Similarly to other mobile units that have radar, Stingrays will now consume power to use it.

- Barnacle
- `auto_reclaim` set to `true`
- `move_speed` increased from 12 to 14
- updated description to note auto reclaim of wreckages

Despite being the only mine-laying and mine-detection naval unit, Barnacles don’t see much use. This change aims to make them more in-line with how Mends work as an easy to access source of reclaim

Air

- Angel
- Metal cost reduced from 5000 to 4000
- Fixed wrong tool muzzle and bone assignments
- Fixed minor graphic errors with the unit model
- `UNITTYPE_Offense` tag added

Angels are currently rarely seen on the battlefield despite their unique abilities and exceptional reclaim rate. This change will allow you to produce them a lot earlier in the round to use as a support unit for other T2 Air units.

- Hornet
- `yaw_range` increased from 30 to 120
- `aggressive_distance` increased from 180 to 250
- `attack_range_frac` added and set to 1.05

Hornets walk a thin line between being unusable or overpowered. This update allows them to use their full range and also to shoot back at targets while gliding away, making it a bit easier to avoid some mobile AA. At the same time their low rate of fire and vulnerability to Gill-Es and Hummingbirds should keep them from dominating the skies.

- Bumblebee
- changed `guard_layer` from "WL_AnySurface" to "WL_AnyLayer"

- Wyrm
- Changed `guard_layer` from "WL_AnySurface" to "WL_AnyLayer"

While Bumblebees and Wyrms can attack submarines, they previously didn’t do that automatically. That problem is now fixed.

- Kestrel
- Health increased from 250 to 300

The Kestrel is intended to be a raiding unit, however it’s outclassed by the Horsefly in almost every way. This HP increase will make it easier to build up a critical mass large enough to take out expansions and small raiding parties with some Anti-Air.

Vehicles

- Vanguard
- Added energy consumption at 150 per second
- Removed radar jamming
- updated description to reflect removed jamming
-`energy_efficiency_requirement` added and set to 0.9

With the introduction of the Jamming Structure, jamming has been removed from Vanguards. Vanguard drops were too good at sneaking up on players as jamming would hide escorting air forces from detection. Now they will still be high-reward if they land, but the risk of getting shot down in time will also increase.

- Skitter
- Added a dummy tool that prevents the unit from rushing up close to enemy units when A-Moved
- Added Attack Order to enable A-Move behavior

Quality of life change prevents Skitters from running into enemy units. The skitter does not have an actual weapon.

- Leveler
- Splash damage removed
- Fixed minor model bug with the gun barrels clipping through the box

Levelers that lack sufficient support are supposed to be vulnerable to swarm attacks by units such as Dox and Boombot, the area of effect damage they do reverses that dynamic in the mid and late game and so was removed. This aims to address the dominance of Leveler armies in the late game.

- Stryker
- Updated texture to a higher resolution one

Bots

- Spark
- Added `maintain_priority_target` and set it to `false`

This change removes the bug where if a spark was given a target, it would never forget that target and hold fire forever, even if it received new move orders. Sparks will now only hold fire if the last command they received was a direct attack order.

- Grenadier
- Damage increased from 40 to 60

The Grenadier has been somewhat weak and difficult to justify adding it to an army. As a result, gameplay based around building turrets all over the map has become very common and difficult to deal with. This change will make Grenadiers take out stationary targets much faster and they should feel more threatening against slower units like T2 vehicles and Commanders.

- Boombot

- Vision range increased from 20 to 25
- `break` increased from -1 to 400
- `no_busy_auto_attack` set to `false`
- Added `maintain_priority_target` and set it to `false`
- Added `ammo_capacity` and set to 1
- Added `ammo_demand` and set to 10
- Added `ammo_per_shot` and set to 1
- Added `ammo_source` and set to `energy`

Boombots are the favorite unit of many players, and while they are great at sniping fabs and commanders, they have been nowhere near as useful against armies. These changes improve the Boom’s handling and will also enable them to immediately detonate when they come in contact with a unit. Booms will only hold fire if they are given an attack order or if they are set to the “Hold Fire” stance.

- Stinger
- Health reduced from 130 to 55
- Damage reduced from 15 to 10
- Fire rate increased from 1.0 to 1.5
- Updated model

Since their release, Stingers have had excessively high HP. Combined with their speed, they have become very difficult to kill with Bumblebees, which are supposed to be the main counter to T1 bots. These changes do two things: Stingers kill Icarus slightly faster, and when left without micro, they will die to bombers more reliably

- Colonel
- Build range increased from 30 to 45

The colonel build range increase makes it a bit more flexible and sets it in line with other fabricators

- Slammer
- Modified `assault_bot_adv_tool_torepdo_weapon` to fire different types of torpedoes depending on where the slammer is standing (land/seafloor)
- Added `assault_bot_adv_torpedo_ammo_water.json` and `assault_bot_adv_ammo_land.json` where the land one has 100 initial velocity instead of 75
- increased slammer torpedo turn rate from 120 to 150

Slammers will now be able to use their torpedo weapon effectively from the surface, making them much more capable of retaking shorelines.

Structures

- Unit Cannon
- Metal Cost reduced from 6800 to 5600
- Increased maximum capacity from 12 to 16
- `factory_cooldown_time` reduced from 3 to 2
- `wait_to_rolloff_time` reduced from 3 to 2
- `initial_velocity` increased from 150 to 250
- `initial_velocity` increased from 150 to 250
- `release_payload_on_impact:` added and set to true for all stages of the pod's lifetime

The Unit Canon (UC) is one of the coolest structures in the game, but its current stats and cost make it a very niche ultra-late game option that is overshadowed by other invasion tools such as making teleporters with orbital fabs or sending a Helios.
These buffs have 3 major goals: First, to make the UC viable much earlier in the match. Second, the speed increase of the unit pods only applies to firing a UC at the same planet. This means it will be harder to respond to an un-scouted UC volley with ground forces. Lastly, the increased number of units and the decreased cooldown will make the UC’s efficiency at creating an army a little bit closer to that of regular T2 factories.

- Energy Storage
- Health reduced from 7500 to 3500

- Metal Storage
- Health reduced from 7500 to 3500

Storages have always had a combination of extremely high HP and very low cost so would often be the lowest priority target when attacking a base. It would just take too long to destroy and could easily be rebuilt in seconds somewhere else. This change aims to make them a more attractive target for snipes while still keeping them reasonably durable.

- Umbrella
- Anti-drop projectile `max_velocity` increased from 200 to 400

- Catapult
- Anti-drop projectile `max_velocity` increased from 200 to 400

- Bluehawk
- Anti-drop projectile `max_velocity` increased from 200 to 400

In order to match the increased velocity of the Unit Cannon’s drop pods, all anti-drop weapons have received a speed increase.

- Ragnarok
- Updated model

- Orbital Launcher
- Updated model

Orbital

- Hermes
- `energy_efficiency_requirement` removed
- Vision no longer requires energy to operate

Hermes were generally outclassed by AKRYD radar satellites and were the only mobile unit that required energy to have vision. Now they will be a lot more useful as a cheap and reliable scout

- Artemis
- Updated model and texture

Bugfix

- Galactic War tech not being applied to spawned units e.g. Dox from the Lob
- Uber Orbital assigned the wrong personality

- Added a dummy tool that prevents Skitters from rushing into enemy units when A-Moved
- Changed Spark behavior so that can now properly re-acquire targets

- Correct Air Fabricator `unit_types`
- Hornet `aggressive_distance` and `attack_range_frac` increased to enable them to use all their range

- Fixed a bug where the commanders main cannon would often miss shots
- Fixed a bug where the commanders would not fire at surface ships unless it was also submerged. Now commanders will fire both their torpedo and main canon from shores
- Commander main canon will no longer fire when the commander is submerged
- Slammers will now attempt to fire their torpedoes from shores

- Fixed a bug where Unit Cannon pods would not deploy if shot too close to the Unit Cannon itself
- Remove Use command from the Orbital Fabrication Bot as it can't use it

- Fixed a bug with 16 commanders where their primary/secondary colors would glitch
- Fixed a number of model and texture bugs

- Temporary changes to several units to mitigate an existing bug related to area of effect weapons and trees
- Spark ammo `lifetime` decreased 1 -> 0.5
- Vanguard ammo `lifetime` decreased 1 -> 0.55
- Commander Uber Cannon ammo `lifetime` decreased 5 -> 1.2

AI

- Ensure the AI always has access to the Stinger
- Add minimum threat requirement to titan builds
- Build land titans
- Transfer Kaiju between planets
- AI will build Radar Jamming Stations.
- AI's placement of Radars updated to accommodate Radar Jamming Stations
- Update Queller AI to v5.25.0
- Uber 1v1 starts with a bot factory
- Reduce the amount of orbital defense Uber will produce at one time
- Uber avoids over-investing in anti-orbital defense
- Uber's Commander more willing to contribute towards energy production
- Added Uber Platoon which uses less armies but more units in each army
- Changed how Uber counts fabbers for teching
- All difficulties build land titans
- Fixed Uber producing Imperators in low threat systems
- Fixed Uber's orbital factories sometimes sitting idle
- Uber FFA uses Uber Platoon's approach to armies
- Uber will produce Storms to protect bases under air attack
- Uber will produce Panzers to protect bases under orbital attack
- Fixed issue where Uber might never go advanced on planets it owned
- Loosen restriction on owned planet factory builds when troops are desired elsewhere
- Slow down rate of Uber's light artillery builds