Turn-Based Thursday Fest and The Apex Update! (0.9.60.00)
Endless Tactics · published · build 18713990
Yes, after a lot of work the Apex Update is finally here! I know this phrase is kind of old by now, but this is the single biggest Update made to Endless Tactics ever, and by far! Or rather, it’s a massive amalgam of features, improvements, and QOL changes that had been building up while I waited for the Apex Waves-related assets to be finished (though a few minor ones are still left to implement).
Since our attendance at Gamescom LATAM (in the Panorama Brazil section), we’ve gathered a massive laundry list of over 50 pieces of feedback — and every single one of them has now been addressed, along with many other small improvements I noticed while revisiting older parts of the game. At this point, we’re nearly done with the (already extended) polishing phase, and many of the new features now being implemented come straight from our post-launch roadmap. Besides all that, expect some UI bells and whistles in the very near future... Plus a few extra Drops, Items, Missions, Artifacts, and Upgrades even!
CHANGES
- Apex Waves - 3 new Enemies from a brand new Enemy class, unique to each Planet! Meet the Swarm Queen (a fearsome Artillery Unit that lays Creature Eggs and Moves freely through ALL Corrupted Tiles), Burrowfang (a deadly sand worm that Tunnels through the map, Devouring all Units unfortunate enough to be within its maw's reach), and the Chimera Tank (a biomechanical walking fortress, that charges up extra Damage whenever it moves, and then Rams directly into nearby Units!)... They spawn during a dedicated wave, which triggers whenever you Escalate your Operation — adding new meaning, and more risk, to your rewards (which have also been generously increased).
- Crimson Moon - Not to leave our beloved (and/or hated) Weather system behind - the Crimson Moon is, much akin to Acid Rain, an event that looms over the battlefield and then takes multiple Turns to leave it. While it's active, ALL Tiles will be treated as Corrupted, and ALL Creatures will also be able to walk on Water tiles (as they turn into literal Blood?)... They’ll also drown if they’re still standing there once it’s over!
- Assist Options - Endless Tactics was always meant to be a more laid-back (or rather, an "easy to learn, hard to master") take on Turn-Based Tactics, however if you still feel like it's too hard or complicated at the moment, you can now simply toggle off some gameplay elements, or even simplify certain aspects of it like Enemy AI! Now of course, this isn’t just an “easy mode” update — you will earn less currency for each of these options you enable... So then you can just turn them off once you feel comfortable enough - or even combine them with Corrupted Upgrades for truly granular difficulty control (while also compensating for the Currency loss).
- Tutorial Videos - Don’t like to read? Not a problem — the tutorial is no longer text-only and now features video popups, indicating exactly what and how to do whatever is necessary - bringing some much needed visualization to the earliest part of the learning curve, which was always, self-admittedly, particularly steep at the first few runs (amongst of course many many other improvements to the beginner UX).
- So much QOL it'd simply not fit into this list - Overhauled Unit selection, Tiles highlighting, better Camera, more dynamic and less obtrusive Lighting, smarter Controls, better UI, better Tooltips, better previews, Fatigue indication, and the list goes on...
- Secret Weather Event interactions - For all of them pretty much, find them out for yourself!
- Major optimizations - Enemy AI, shaders, menus, camera, texture atlases, etc...
- Secret Mechanics - Besides the forementioned Event interactions, many other secret little interactions have been added to mechanics such as Corruption-spread, Water Tiles, and Spawn-blocking!
- Tons of major fixes - All previous softlocks, visual glitches, and similar (that I know of) have been thoroughly fixed!
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Most of the feedback gathered and addressed from our Reddit.
IMPORTANT NOTE: As previously noted, the Apex Update is still missing a few of its assets, such as SFX (for the Apex Units), a few VFX, some exclusive Drops, and UI Art! They’ll arrive soon — everything is already 100% functional and mechanically complete. Still, feel free to provide feedback and suggestions about other aspects like balance, scaling, and whatever else you can think of.
- the_procrastinator