The second implementation of the walker legs is now available and equipable on your ship. Walker legs are the first ground-based movement part added to the game. While their relevance on the archipelago will be nonexistent they should at least be a fun addition to watercraft. The walker legs can propel your ship forward and backward, turn the ship, crouch and stand, and even strafe if their assigned weapon group is activated. Just like their miniature counterparts they can stick to surfaces of any steepness. Unlike the small walkers these legs are not able to stand on other ships or jump. Walker legs are unlock by researching "Pressure Actuation".
Two new walker dragoon variants are also available including a vertically mounted guided rocket walker and a requested cargo carrying walker. The rocket walker is unlock by researching "Pressure Actuation" and completing the quest "A Mysterious Weapon". The carrier walker is unlocked by researching "Pressure Actuation".
Future development of Airmen will begin replacing the existing Archipelago with an entirely new map. The size of this project will likely break the weekly update schedule. Each week, in place of the regular content update, the new map will be updated and playable on an independent server. Once the new map comes close to parity with the old one, the old map will be retired. The goal of the new map is to expand Airmen's potential content by creating an environment that can support a wide variety of vehicles beyond airships and boats.
1.17.2
Major Features
Added walker legs for ships.
Minor Features
Added Walker Dragoon Rocket.
Added Walker Dragoon Carrier.
Bug Fixes
Fixed not being able to go back in expedition loading hints.
Airmen 1.17.1: Walker Dragoons
Walker Dragoons climb into the archipelago this week introducing an all new format of deployable vehicle. Walkers, unlike other dragoons, cannot fly, but instead can crawl up and down and underneath the steep surfaces of the archipelago. The walkers arrive with two variants: a plain scout-like setup and a battle setup equipped with a flak cannon. You can unlock the vanilla walker dragoon by researching "Pressure Actuation" and the flak walker by additionally researching "Flak Weaponry".
Piloting the walkers without flipping them over and blocking your only exit hatch will take some practice so be sure to enable tooltips for you first attempt and learn the controls. Knowing when to switch between automatic orientation and aiming orientation can help a lot with navigating difficult terrain. Over the next few updates expect new variants of the walker dragoons and new implementation of the spider leg tech.
Fixed beta ships ignoring changes to their weapon groups.
Fixed the sub parts menu not going away when the parts list is closed.
Airmen 1.17.0: Ship Joints
Ship joints are now available allowing for rigid connections between ships. Ship joints can be placed anywhere on your ship and will automatically link to another nearby joint on another ship. Once joined the ships are linked together at one point but up to three total connections can be made between two ships to form a completely rigid connection perfect for a monstrous combined ship.
The two types of joints, alpha and beta, can be used to propagate steering input across connected ships. When an alpha joint connects to a beta joint, all normal steering input on the ship with the beta joint is ignored and the steering input of the ship with the alpha joint is used instead. Alpha/beta connections are ideal for rigid combination ships and beta/beta or alpha/alpha connections are ideal for non-rigid combination ships like trains or other towing configurations.
Ship joints will snap if under enough force or if a joint ejector is activated. When building combined ships, be sure to spread out the joints for the most stable connection. If the joints are giving you trouble and you suspect a bug to be at play, please be sure to post the ship and a screenshot of the ship along with your report. Remember that joints are simple physics interactions and cannot benefit from the many simplifications applied to ships such as propeller torque reduction and center of lift adjustment. A ship in two parts will behave different than the same ship in one part.
Added beam mounted variants of the flak cannon, lance cannon, and quad cannon.
Bug Fixes
Fixed the connection face cross hatching for the square rudder being wrong.
Fixed weather sometimes causing errors and degrading performance.
Fixed the lever steering wheel not responding to ascend/descend input.
Airmen 1.16.4: Water and Performance Improvements
Late last week the water overhaul arrived unannounced changing the tiled bumps of the ocean into more random and subtle swells and waves. The feature was experimental and came with a big performance hit. This week's update further optimizes that system and more to finalize the new waves and negate their original performance impact.
Notably this update removes the game's launcher, shifting keybinding options, resolution, and window/fullscreen into the settings menu. The new in-game configurable keybindings are built on an entirely new input system so you may notice small changes to your mouse sensitivity and need to rebind any custom controls you set up.
This week's update includes an update to the game engine which may introduce weird new bugs from nowhere. If you notice anything please let me know by posting in the official Discord's #bug_reports channel or leaving a comment here.
Generally improved performance due to engine update.
Minor Features
Removed the old launcher and moved key bindings and resolution selection into the settings menu.
Halved the frequency of ocean swells.
Improved performance while weather effects like rain and snow are active.
Improved the smoothness of depth calculations.
Bug Fixes
Fixed not being able to shoot turrets after firing the first shot.
Fixed glowing parts during light rain at night.
Fixed snow not appearing near ground level in hangar winter mode.
Fixed wave reactions only matching visuals southwest of the player.
Fixed barrel smoke trails for the carbine, lever action, revolver and grappling gun not appearing.
Airmen 1.16.3: Autohammer Coverage Overlay
Airmen 1.16.3 introduces a new quality of life feature in the hangar: the autohammer coverage overlay. Selecting an autohammer for placement will highlight all parts with coverage. This new quality of life feature should save meticulous builders some time and help explain what a repair range of 4 really means.
Parts with autohammer coverage are highlighted in green when an autohammer is selected in the hangar.
Minor Features
Certain resources will be visible in the stockpile even if you don't have any.
Improved the crosshair notes that appear when interacting with cargo pads.
Renamed the Rotate button to "Rotate Ship".
Added painted and unpainted decorative hull trim parts.
Added a sandbox command /weakenall to deal 1 damage to all parts on all ships.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug where dying while being mounted on a dragoon and channeling an activatable would lock the controls.
Fixed being unable to captain up if you select a ship of exactly 30k mass and uncaptain.
Fixed not being able to place some large parts on the hangar floor.
Fixed the black flag waving in the wrong direction.
Fixed pilots sometimes appearing like they are looking up when they are not.
Airmen 1.16.2: Bounty Hunter Coins
The reworked skull bounty system continues expansion this update adding a reward for bountiless victims who fend off aggressive pirates. Destroying a skull bounty ship while lacking one yourself now grants every member of the crew a special new resource called bounty coins. Bounty coins can be exchanged at Tower Reckongale for one of 4 basic resources or Smuggler's Den for one of 4 rare resources.
Bounty coins are rewarded based on the size of the bounty. Every 5 gold of bounty over 15 provides an additional coin on top of a base 1 coin. Ships that fly the black flag however are worth no bounty coins until surpassing 25 bounty at which point the reward scales at a rate of 1 coin per 5 bounty.
While the new system is easily exploitable by colluding captains, hopefully skull bounties can end up rewarding for the bountiless beyond the undeniable satisfaction of dispensing justice.
Added bounty hunter coins. A new resource rewarded for claiming skull bounties when you do not have one. Coins can be exchanged for resources at Smugglers Den and Tower Reckongale.
Minor Features
Added heavy guided and unguided rocket pods.
Added a new challenge and cosmetic for claiming a skull bounty while being the pirate king.
Updated engine version. This may introduce weird new bugs.
Added new reputation levels to smuggler's den that unlock rare resource bounty coin exchanges.
Bug Fixes
Fixed skull bounty ships not placing bounties on their attackers when destroyed.
Airmen 1.16.1: Adjustable Guided and Unguided Rocket Pods
The battery cannon adjustable weapon platform gets its first addition with the guided and unguided rocket pods. These new weapons bring the feel of barrage cannons to the adjustable weapon category with the small scale of the battery. Both weapons match the firepower of the heavy battery cannons.
The unguided rocket pods hit harder than a battery but their low speed and poor accuracy means they'll be most effective at short ranges against heavy ships. The guided rocket pods are far weaker than battery cannons but can be aimed midair.
The guided rocket pods should be much more versatile than their unguided counterpart at the cost of damage when used most effectively. Both weapons are unlocked along with their turreted counterparts as part of Barrage Weaponry Research and the seeker cannon quest "A Mysterious Weapon".
Added adjustable rocket pods and guided adjustable rocket pods unlocked alongside barrage and seekers respectively.
Minor Features
Renamed Seekers to Guided Barrage to match Rocket and Guided Rocket.
Removed placed bounties scaling based on the destroyed ship's bounty.
Skull bounty ships can only have their regular bounty claimed by engine and pressure well destruction rather than engines or weapons destroyed.
A new pirate king will be crowned immediately after the the skull bounty of the pirate king is claimed.
Added small text to the bottom right of the screen in crew orders where you can check if you ship is currently firepower legal.
Anti-personnel turrets will only obey hold fire commands if the ship is controlled by the original creator or an allied team.
Increased the hp of blast cannons from 900 to 1000.
Bug Fixes
Fixed the gunner wheel being able to disable weapon groups with a mouse click release if selecting orders with a click.
Fixed the deployable ladder not fully returning to the home position.
Airmen 1.16.0: Skull Bounty Rework
Everyone's least favorite opt-in pvp mechanic, skull bounties, get an overhaul this update. Skull bounties are now integrated into the normal bounty system and are automatically acquired at a bounty of 15 gold. Ships with skull bounties are marked on the map for all players. As previously, ships with skull bounties can destroy each other for a resource reward based on the build cost of the victim. The new twist comes with the addition of the pirate king. The player with the highest skull bounty becomes the pirate king if there is not already a pirate king. The pirate king gets double rewards for claiming skull bounties but their skull bounty can be claimed by any other crew (even if they lack a skull bounty themselves) and is doubled.
The new skull bounty system aims to improve on the original by removing the hard opt-in mechanic without rewarding pirates for picking on players that don't want to fight. The pirate king mechanic gives a reason for bountyless players to get involved in the fighting and keeps pirates most interested in fighting other pirates. Returning skull bounties to their always visible state combined with the automatic skull bounty at 15 bounty should help pacifist player avoid the most dangerous players on a server.
Ships with a bounty of 15 gold or higher automatically become skull bounty ships.
The general location of skull bounty ships are visible on the map to all players.
The player with the highest skull bounty becomes the pirate king if there is not already a pirate king. The pirate king gets double rewards for claiming skull bounties but their skull bounty can be claimed by any other crew and is doubled.
Reduced the reward for claiming skull bounties from 100% build cost to 75% build cost.
Minor Features
Hunts and rescues will always spawn in open water instead of sometimes spawning at adjacent islands if one is nearby the contract destination.
Added random position fuzzing to hunt and rescue spawn locations.
Reduced the reload speeds of the heavy and ultra heavy battery cannon.
Reduced the traverse speed of the ultra heavy battery. Increased the traverse speed of the light battery.
Adjustable groups with mixed speeds will rotate at their own individual speeds instead of matching the slowest adjustable.
Accepting a contract type for the first time opens its objective explanation window.
Destroying the engines of a capture quarry no longer causes the contract to fail.
Player fort spawns and jet stream spawns will avoid active installations.
Added scrolling to the objectives menu.
Bug Fixes
Fixed sub parts with multiple requirements to unlock being selectable when their additional requirements are not met.
Fixed player ships brought to sieges not being destroyed at the end of the siege.
Fixed the dedicated server causing steam to think airmen is already running, preventing the actual game from launching.
Fixed player join messages appearing twice.
Fixed bounties gained from destroying ships not being placed properly if the destroyer controlled the ship at the time of destruction.
Airmen 1.15.9: Terrain Textures and Proximity Chat
Yet another terrain focused update arrives this week implementing an upgraded shader and hand painted looks for every non-ice island. This update's changes to terrain are intended to improve its look from both far away and close up. You'll notice lots of splotchy dirt peeking through the grass and irregularly trimmed cliff faces as opposed to the geometrically consistent details of the past. The terrain changes are a big step up in level of detail but I expect it to fit considering the massive size of terrain compared to the textureless airmen and airships.
Due to the focused nature of this week's update expect some smaller features, fixes and tweaks to roll out over the weekend. If you've been experience a shaky connection to the servers along with you fellow airmen recently know it is due to instability with the server running for extended periods of time with many players and I am trying to work out a fix as soon as possible.
Updated all non-ice islands with a new terrain texturing.
Minor Features
Added a proximity chat channel. All players within 1500 meters receive each other's proximity chat.
Added small rocks to horizon.
Airmen 1.15.8: New Scrap Box Shapes
The first variants of the scrap box, the scrap shelf and scrap cabinet are now available. Both a smaller and larger variant of the scrap box have been added so scrap can be more easily squeezed into the places its needed most. These scrap boxes are unlocked automatically along with the new tri-barreled ultra heavy battery cannon.
In celebration of the holiday season this year, each of the four contract forts have acquired and hidden their own gift. Snoop around each fort to unbox your presents early and unlock four secret new cosmetics.
