This update includes new content and polish that's been in the works for a long time. Hopefully the game will be ready to go into Beta soon!
Alpha 27 Changelog:
NEW STUFF:
- ONI - Swing-wing Bomber
- L-DRONE - Special - In-flight Launched Drone - Special which launches a friendly autonomous drone
- TAIL-GUN - Special - A tail gun which automatically aims at the closest enemy when you fire it
- FLAK - Turret - Fires flak shells with a long range (1000) and a large area of effect
- FLAK - Weapon - Player-usable version of the flak cannon
- TORO mech has new graphics!
- ZULU aero has new graphics!
- Fullscreen effect when you get hit (disabled when using Low Graphics)
- Sound and animation notification when you detect a new target
- Mission complete screen with a little bit of info: still very much a work in progress
- A special loading screen with progress bar when loading mods
TWEAKS:
- Beginner Controls completely reworked: it's now simply the case where moving left or right will cause you to bank in that direction. The camera never rolls along with the aero, and it will automatically right itself if for example you collide with something that doesn't kill you. I've noticed that the core thing beginners often have an issue with is getting quickly disoriented when they have to deal with all three axes of rotation and losing the frame of reference you get when "up" is always the same direction. The Y axis is also by default not inverted, so up pitches up, which seems a lot more natural for beginners and also for mouse controls. You can still force the invert while using beginner controls in the options menu.
- Co-op mode is now started from the same carrier menu as singleplayer
- AGM-FF - Speed increased x2, Avionics cost reduced 40->20. Players were right that it wasn't worth the avionics cost on a bomber, and was overall not a useful weapon compared to alternatives. This will hopefully change when moving ground forces are implemented. In any case, speed was increased because the missile is intended to take out defenses before they can fight back.
- GB-1 - Avionics cost increased 20->30. Intended to balance it more with the AGM-FF.
- All GUNs (vulcan cannons, not the autocannon) - new sound effects and slightly less damage, with some upgrade paths tweaked.
FIXES:
- Custom missions can have squadrons of size 1