Update #10 - random encounters, grid visuals, performance and more

Hey there peeps!

This is an update we're all excited about, not only does it bring an increased number of Random Encounters (from 3 to 9), improved VRAM footprint and better grid cell visuals, it's also full of other notable changes that focus on making the game better such as a re-implemented HP bar which is no longer dependent on the game's resolution, improved visuals/clarity of enemy unit attack lines and tweaks to the map generation logic which will result in more interesting regions being generated and as usual bugfixes.

On top of all that, the update also brings two new audio tracks, one that's played while fighting non-primary bosses and the other you get to enjoy during the rest of the run.

Changelog

• Random encounters

  • Freight Station

    • immediate cargo delivery, modules and scrap

  • Garden

    • healing

  • Hero Statue

    • carriage upgrades!

  • Post Office

    • cargo

  • Rally (the gathering of the friendlies!)

    • cards to spawn friendlies

  • Train Coaster

    • movement cost related options (modules and a bonus)

  • this brings the total to 9, which means you're much less likely to encounter the same one twice!

  • each new random encounter comes with a new selection of rewards, which in some cases includes cards

• Tweaked map generation

  • with the increased number of REs we've also bumped the overall number of REs throughout the region maps

  • fixed issues related to seeding RE progression across segment maps, they will not repeat unless absolutely necessary (running out of the ones you haven't seen yet, in which case they are shuffled and put into a new list)

  • Logs' "Cards" screen remains the most memory hungry due to the large number of illustrations it shows at once

  • regions can no longer get the "No random encounters" modifier

    • the difference between these regions was too great after the map generation changes

• New unit health bar

  • slightly improved performance

  • no more issues related to weird angles

  • more readable and not dependant on the game's resolution (3d resolution mainly)

• Performance optimisation (VRAM and texture memory usage)

  • downscaled textures where it made sense (no loss of visual clarity / quality but a smaller VRAM footprint)

  • improved compression settings of all of the textures the game uses

  • adjusted default settings in order to prevent the game from reserving more VRAM than it needs

  • adjusted the texture size setting of procedurally generated textures

  • note: first time loading of the game after the update may take a little longer due to shaders needing to update for the differently saved textures

  • note2: this change should improve stability especially when hardware was close to maxed out on the VRAM side of things

• Grid visuals

  • when a card is hovered the grid reacts more visually to create a stronger contrast, making it easier to distinguish where a card can be used

  • fixed grid visual issues related to cards that let you choose more than one cell

• Heavily tweaked the visual of enemy attack lines

  • they have an outline now

  • ramming intents only show the arrow

  • this tweak also translates to the arrow coming from 3D cards since they're using the same shader and approach

  • as an added bonus, the current implementation is more optimised, bringing in a (albeit super tiny) improvement in CPU/GPU usage

• Window placement and multi monitor improvements

  • the size of the game's window only changes when you actually change the setting

  • the size of the game's window no longer resets every time you save the same

  • added a setting to force which monitor you want to have the game on

    • the visibility for this setting is checked for during loading, so you might need to restart the game if you connect a monitor midway through a session in order to see it

  • when playing in the "windowed" mode, the game no longer centers in rare situations

• new audio tracks!

  • a new miniboss track

  • a new battle track

• updated localisation for new parts of the game

  • with the exception of the "monitor" setting, this will be ready with the next update

• improved the planning logic of friendly minigun units

• a slight visual tweak to combat announcements

• added HP highlights to HP visualisation in the start run screen

• removed Take Over's pattern mod, since it made the card's pattern worse

• fixed a soft lock related to ram-destroying a module van that only had 1hp

• fixed pluralisation on "Present"

• fixed "Temper" being incorrectly highlighted in card descriptions

• fixed the seed label sometimes not showing up in the pause menu

• fixed env. hazards causing a softlock in certain setups

• fixed ap cost decreasing below 0 in edge case scenarios

• fixed a rare crash that could happen in fights which started without non-support enemies

• fixed issues and a rare crash caused in main stations (related to buyable carriages)

• fixed an issue related to code execution in utility cards endlessly waiting

• fixed YOPO module incorrectly adding / removing the exhaust effect from cards

• fixed issues related to the new health bar's visibility in map preview and devcam toggle

(a view from within one of the new random encounters, "Rally" - a gathering of friendly forces )

(grid now much more visibly shows which grid cells can be used for a selected card)

(re-implemented hp bars retain clarity even in lower resolutions)

(enemy intent lines now also feature an outline, making them easier to see)

(another one of the new random encounters, the Train Coaster)

That's it for this one! We are working on more updates so stay tuned for those!

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