Zero-K v1.14.5.0 - Planetwars Playtest Command Tweaks

Planetwars is live right now. The second open playtest is in full swing, with 240 invasions launched in the past 26 hours. We designed the round to last the weekend, although it is hard to dial in, although we are considering pausing it during the week. This forum post summarises the changes since the last test.

This patch makes command structures easier to kill, which is the main secondary ingame objective of Planetwars. This objective only occured in 6% of the games so far, so representatives from each of the factions agreed that it was worth trying a change to make things more interesting. The patch also has a few smaller features and fixes, we have notable changes in the works, but they will get their own release.

Command Structures

Main Command is weaker and harder to repair.

• Health 10k -> 8k
• Cost 150 -> 350
• Repair health/BP while under fire 25.25 -> 8.65
• Now requires 40 nearby BP to out-repair an Odin.

Extra Command is just harder to repair.

• Health remains at 6k
• Cost 100 -> 250
• Repair health/BP while under fire 22.73 -> 9.09
• Now requires 50 nearby BP to out-repair an Odin.

Command structures now spawn further from each other and closer to the enemy, on average.

• They now avoid spawning in the back 40% (the safest part) of their structure spawn box.
• They now spawn at least 1200 elmos away from each other (ally and enemy).

Features and Fixes

• Scouted command structures radar dots no longer wobble around like units. They are treated like normal structures.
• Added all Planetwars structures to the unit marker system, ingame under Settings/Interface/Unit Marker.
• Added categories and more presets for the unit marker settings menu.
• Scylla now stows its tacnuke correctly (thanks Stiofan).
• Improved Wind Generator performance.
• Fixed pew-pew laser trail offset for the new engine.