This patch is a minor update that adds a new crash reporter, resolves two crashes, has several class balance updates, and includes a number of other minor server manager and UI updates.
NOTE: If you are hosting your own dedicated server, your server will stop appearing in the server list until you shut it down, let Steam patch Formicide, and restart the server.
General Updates
- A new crash reporter window will display if either the client or server manager crash. Clicking the submit button in this window sends anonymized information about the crash to us, which will help in diagnosing and fixing issues.
- Point rewards for capping have changed. Instead of it being (your beacons - enemy beacons) to calculate your point addition per tick, you now receive 1 point per tick if you own 2 beacons, and 2 points per tick if you own all 3.
General Bug Fixes
- Fixed a client crash that occurred in some situations when playing with the game muted or the volume set to zero. One case this crash would consistently happen was when the "game starting in" countdown timer reached zero.
- Fixed a server crash that could occur if a projectile or object a player owned got a kill after a player left their team.
Server Updates
- Launching the server through the client now happens much more quickly, and no longer disables all controls in the server list while launching.
- Separated the server manager console output out from the main window into its own window. The window can be accessed from a new "View" menu. The main purpose of this change is to improve server performance when hosting on a single core machine.
- Reduced the max number of lines to display in the server manager console output from 400 to 300.
UI Updates
- Added a sound and visual effect when attempting to dig next to rock.
Class Updates
Soldier
- Shotgun damage increased to 24 from 22 per bullet.
- Shotgun overcharged damage increased to 36 from 30 per bullet.
Hunter
- Bloodseeker slash lifesteal reduced to 30 from 40.
- Bloodseeker slash only heals a maximum of 30 per slash, regardless of how many targets are hit.
Developer Comments: In certain situations, the Hunter's lifesteal allowed him to simply tank massive amounts of damage, without taking advantage of his mobility skillset. The lifesteal is still significant, but stacked enemies no longer allow him to just sit there and left click.
Sniper
- Mass Motion Sensor now also provides a 150% damage buff to the Gauss Gun's standard left click attack.
- Mass Motion Sensor cooldown reduced to 26.6 seconds from 30.
- Mass Motion Sensor duration reduced to 6 seconds from 12.
- Mega Cannon firing delay increased to 1.3 seconds from 0.6 seconds.
Engineer
- Removed Repair Gun.
- Added Repair Blast to Pulse Cannon (right click).
- Repair Shield duration increased to 6 seconds from 1.
- Repair Shield cooldown increased to 5 seconds from 0.5.
- Repair Shield provides a heal over time, 25 health/sec.
- Repair Shield provides energy over time, 10 energy/sec.
- Repair Shield damage reduction improved to 60% from 40%.
- Turret Hit Points reduced to 1800 from 2200. (A shielded turret effectively now has 2880 hit points, previously had 3080.)
Developer Comments: Engineer changes were meant to address a few points. First and foremost, there's no more need to sit there and repeatedly shield a turret to stop it from dying quickly. Instead, the Engineer is able to shield his turret and blast his enemies. To balance this, turrets have been given less HP overall, and a fairly significant reduction when unshielded. The energy regeneration also is an effective reduction, which results in lower damage output in an extended fight.
We have not forgotten about the black screen or "device mode unavailable" error that several players have reported experiencing when launching the game. A fix for this will be coming in a future patch. Apologies to those who are affected.