Stratus — Stability Patch
We have another important stability patch for Stratus, with several key fixes and updates following the latest round of multiplayer play testing.
Major Stability Fix — Main Menu Dropbacks
Over the past few days of play testing, we have been able to track down and fix a major stability issue that was causing some clients to be unexpectedly dropped back to the main menu, both at the start of a game and during active gameplay.
After reviewing the server logs, we traced the issue to a buffer overflow occurring during bridge placement. Bridge placement was generating unnecessary multicast updates to the server, and when players rapidly moved the cursor while placing bridges, these repeated updates could build up and eventually cause the client to be dropped back to the main menu.
This has now been fixed by removing the unnecessary multicast updates.
So far, during the latest play tests, we have had no further reports of players being dropped back to the main menu. For the time being, we are therefore marking this major stability issue as fixed, although continued testing will be important to make sure it remains resolved under larger multiplayer sessions.
Wind Faction Power Fix
We have also fixed an issue with the Wind Temple power table.
The power-producing setting was referencing the wrong class power value for the temple, which meant Wind units were not receiving their initial power requirement correctly when using Wind Generators.
This has now been corrected.
Interface — Minimap Update
The minimap interface has also received a visual update.
A surrounding frame has been added to the minimap to better define it against the grey sky background of the game world, making the minimap easier to identify and read during gameplay.
Thunder Faction — Thunder Fence
The Thunder Fence is now fully constructable and working in-game.
This marks an important milestone for the Thunder faction, as all Thunder faction units now have their core implementation and functionality in-game.
With this milestone reached, development will now begin shifting away from implementing the remaining core faction units and towards tweaking, balancing and further stability testing.
Upcoming Balance & Gameplay Tweaks
Future patches will increasingly focus on refining the existing units and improving game balance, including:
Unit health adjustments
Attack range adjustments
Unit attack damage adjustments
Further attack timing and gameplay balancing
Continued multiplayer stability testing
Fixing bugs reported through play testing
There is still a lot of work to be done, but we have now reached an important point in development where a large portion of the core Stratus gameplay systems are working and playable in multiplayer.
The focus now shifts increasingly towards refining what is already in the game, improving stability, balancing the factions, and continuing to build towards a more complete multiplayer experience.
How to Access the Latest Testing Build
For anyone wanting to try the latest build, simply go to:
Stratus → Properties → Betas → Testing Branch
The latest build is now available to download through the Testing Branch on Steam.
As always, a huge thank you to everyone taking the time to test these new features, find bugs, and provide feedback. Every bit of testing helps us identify problems that would otherwise be difficult to reproduce and brings Stratus one step closer to becoming a fully playable multiplayer experience.
For the Storm!