February has come and gone and so it's time to update the public build.
As with last month, it has been a mix of content creation + bugfixes + general improvements.
Examples:
Radar now shows enemy gun ranges as red shaded circles and gun directions as thin lines. This is very helpful in gauging how close to enemy beam turrets you are as these turrets are typically deadly. And if you're moving into an area with many overlapping red circles and a lot of lines converging on your position, you can probably expect trouble!
Speaking of hardpoint beam turrets (in hub battles), enemy towers are now tougher and you'd be advised to claim a freed hardpoint as soon as possible.
Additionally, beam tower build time has been shortened for the player and when in control of a beam turret, reload time for the player is shorter.
These changes make building and jumping into beam towers more useful overall and hub battles involving hardpoints are a bit more tactical.
In the Custom Battle screen:
New control allows the player to set initial upgrade points.
A second control sets a multiplier applied to upgrade points earned during a custom battle.
Battles in which red team controls the area selected can not be started until at least one blue team invasion direction is set.
When choosing a mission from the Chapter Select screen, initial upgrade points are now calculated by level number - the higher the level, the more initial points awarded.
Note that a final balancing of upgrade points vs upgrade costs is still needed.
Also need to award points for sucessfully completing missions as it is possible to fail some missions (get caught in a blastwall for example).
Blue powerstations have received a visual upgrade.
Additonal tweaks and content for levels 16-17.
A new intro to level 18 involving a mysterious droid.
Level 20 - the final logic gate - is now playable to completion but missing cutscene images.
LEVEL 10 PLAYTESTING REQUEST ###################
This mission involves opening a logic gate (as per TU1 but without the big capship as battering ram). It's a multi-part mission involving a base assault and then using the jetpack to open the gate and finish the level. Would be keen to hear players' impressions.
Once again, thanks to all those who've supported the game over the years - hope you enjoy this update and that March turns out to be one of the better ones! ːsteamhappyː