Zero-K v1.14.4.0 - New Music and Brawny Dante

This release includes an amazing new soundtrack by Vladislav Lapochkin (D.700). It is the new default, and all previous soundtracks can still be selected ingame under Settings/Audio. Big thanks to everyone who contributes music, eventually we will have enough to give each factory its own theme.

The contributions don't stop with an hour of new music. This release also has some Gunship tweaks by Ixzine and a Dante rework based on a mod by StiofanKingofAwoo. The Dante changes are designed to turn it into a brawler, rather than a standoff missile platform, and will require feedback. There are even a few Planetwars balance changes that have come out of our ongoing live testing.

This release also includes an unknown number of unintentional balance changes. It all started when some units were found in violation of a few subtleties of weapon design, which let them fire early at targets entering their range. This was hard to overlook because triggering this behaviour involved a bit of fighting the UI. The fix resulted in general aim improvements, might affect some unit interactions. Please report any issues.

Balance

Dante is better at brawling and leans less on the range of its rockets.

• Health 11k -> 15k
• Speed 52.5 -> 57
• Flamer burn time 15s -> 37.5s
• Rocket effective range A Lot -> about 400
• Rocket AoE 228 -> 168
• Rocket direct damage 120 -> 150
• Rocket burn time 37.5s -> 5s
• Rocket sets the ground on fire in much the same way as Firewalker.

Constable is slightly more efficient.

• Cost 140 -> 135

Fencer no longer responds to Set Target or Force Fire commands near the edge of its range. To compensate it now targets the edge of units, rather than their centre.

Stinger also now targets the edge of units, giving it slightly more effective range.

Locust can see a bit further and is easier to use.

• Sight range 500 -> 560
• Fire arc 150 -> 180

Harpy survives more Tarantula shots.

• Health 1200 -> 1250

Nimbus is better at using its range.

• Sight range 660 -> 740

Planetwars

Planetwars is undergoing live testing, which has revealed a few issues to do with units and systems that are relatively new to Zero-K. The balance changes are aimed at bringing Odin in line with other means of rushing the secondary objectives. This update also has some interface tweaks, and the match aborting and excess player count issues have been resolved server-side. We expect to make a server update and unpause the current round within a few hours of this release.

The command structure is much cheaper so that it can be repaired at a faster rate. This lets it survive an Odin shot provided there is 10 BP nearby.

• Cost 1000 -> 150
• Drone count 6 -> 4

Each side now has two command structures.

• Both have to be destroyed to receive the influence bonus.
• The extra structure has around 60% the health, cost, and size of the main structure
• The extra structure only spawns two drones.

Increased to health of some structures so that they survive an Odin rush.

• Wormhole Generator health 12k -> 15k
• Improved Wormhole health 15k -> 18k

Generally reduced planetwars structure cost by around 25%, to make them a bit easier to repair.

Targeting Behaviour

Units are now better at leading their shots. This is a new engine feature that uses precise calculations rather than a rough approximation. Units would previously predict how long it would take to hit their target at its current distance, then project the position of the unit, without taking into account that the projected location could be closer or further away.

Most units with homing weapons no longer lead their shots at all. Leading causes units to shoot before their target enters range, which for homing units can cause them to hit units that never entered range. Homing weapons were always designed to not lead, but many weapons slipped through the cracks.

• Some of the most balance-sensitive units already had no target leading: Duck, Scalpel, and Ogre.
• The change may noticeable affect a few units: Puppy, Fencer, Harpy, and Magpie. Previously these units would gain some range against approaching targets, but lose it against fleeing ones.
• Some weapons had the capability to lead their target, but it was rarely relevant: Racketeer, Reef missile, Zeno, and Paladin missiles.
• Many mobile anti-air units are affected: Vandal, Angler, Tarantula, Crasher, Flail, Zephyr, Trident, and Swift. These units should be barely affected due to rarely triggering the condition required to gain extra range (see target acquisition below).
• Multiple turrets are affected: Claw, Picket, Urchin, Chainsaw, Artemis. These were even less likely to trigger the condition as they would require a manual attack command from players.
• Units with very limited homing, e.g. Revenant, still lead their target.

Units are now better at acquiring targets beyond their weapon range. This is useful for units that lead shots, because they can shoot as soon as the projected position of the enemy is in range. We thought this was capability working correctly, but certain commands were found to boost target acquisition range significantly, while particularly long ranged units (mostly anti-air) required manual Force Fire commands to acquire targets beyond their range. Locking smart unit behaviour behind specific commands is bad, so the general target acquisition range has been boosted.

Features and Fixes

• Embiggened Duck, Ronin, Rogue, Mistral, and Dante missiles.
• Added a bindable clear selection hotkey to the ingame menu under Hotkeys/Selection.
• Readded the battle autostart chat warning.
• Fixed damaging a commander sometimes being worth too much experience.