This week's update official starts the 5th Anniversary Event. Launching an expedition between now and August 13th will unlock this year and all previous year's anniversary reward. Completing this year's challenge will unlock a collect of combat-ineffective golden armor plates to adorn your hull and showcase how much more gold you have than synthest.
1.23.10
Major Features
Added gold armor plating unlocked by launching an expedition during the 5th anniversary.
Minor Features
Added a firepower incentive for placing exactly one magnetic mine bay.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a typo on the build boards.
Fixed the sorting of the fixed behemoth flak.
Reduced wind force on mostly destroyed ships.
Moved a spawn point on horizon further out to sea.
Airmen 1.23.9: Single Weapon Firepower Incentive
The firepower incentive system expands this week adding new incentives to two part classes. A single fixed harpoon cannon can now be placed for zero firepower to help combat optimized ships looking to park in the wind or tow a rescue ship. Additionally, a single behemoth cannon will cost half the normal firepower to allow lighter ships to use a mixed loadout and heavier ones to boost the strength of other weaponry when sporting a behemoth cannon.
1.23.9
Major Features
Added a firepower incentive that reduces the firepower of fixed harpoon cannons by 100% when exactly one is placed.
Added a firepower incentive that reduces the firepower of behemoth cannons by 50% when exactly one is placed.
Bug Fixes
Wind forces are no longer applied to AI ships with no propellers.
Fixed puddles lacking ripple animation.
Airmen 1.23.8: Wind Force
Wind receives a mechanical overhaul this update matching it's direction to cloud movement and applying a force to ships at high altitude. Wind force on a ship is amplified by its shape. A long ship will be affected more by a crosswind and a wide ship will receive a bigger boost from a tailwind for example. Wind forces are only applied at high altitude so pilots can modulate the height of their ship depending on wind direction to take advantage of the speed boost of a tailwind.
1.23.8
Major Features
Added a wind force on ships based on altitude and the general dimensions of the ship.
Bug Fixes
Fixed guns getting stuck firing if the orders menu was opened while firing.
Airmen 1.23.7: Hull Mounted Props
Airmen updates return after a one month break this week. Four new variations of the single propeller are now available. Each variation features hull mounting points that enable new lighter weight mountings and tiling patterns.
Along with the return of regular updates, the schedule will be shifting to biweekly updates (1 update every 2 weeks). An individual biweekly update will still target the same size as the old weekly updates.
1.23.7
Major Features
Added 4 new single propeller variations with hull plate mounting.
Bug Fixes
Standardized some synthest plate build colliders.
Update 1.23.5: Cloud Update Part 2
Cloud development continues in this week's update setting them in motion across the map. The cloud changes made also further optimized the system but any gains will likely be lost by moving them. The final part of the cloud update, adjusting the coverage based on weather, will be investigated for next update but is likely impossible due to the massive performance cost of rendering the hundreds of clouds required.
1.23.5
Major Features
Procedural clouds now move across the map.
Minor Features
Clouds now switch between high and low quality in a circle around the player instead of a box.
Optimized the rendering of cloud particles.
Airmen 1.23.4: Cloud Update Part 1
This week's update focuses on overhauling the visuals and systems that represent the clouds in game. Instead of specific locations featuring hand placed clouds, they are now procedural generated across the entire map. Additionally, instead of popping into existence, the new clouds will fade in from the maximum visibility range. The distant clouds will also have a soft edge as terrain emerges from behind them.
Next week's update will tackle new features possible with the procedural system such as mobile clouds and adjustable coverage.
Airmen 1.23.2: Drum Cannons
This week's update adds a new weapon and a firepower mechanic to help support ineffective ship designs. The new Drum Cannon has a unique hull edge mounting but otherwise functions similarly to a battery cannon. The weapon uses a new placement style being easily mounted on the side of a ship and firing out from it rather than most weapons' top mount style or necessity for an interior space.
The Drum Cannon has a limited rotation compared to its battery counterpart so, to help keep it relevant on less mobile ships, the new firepower incentive system has been added. Many of the broadsiding weapons including blast cannons, double auto turrets, and the drum cannon now benefit from the Paired Broadsider firepower incentive. When these weapons are placed with a matching broadside oriented cannon facing the opposite direction, the firepower cost of both will be high discounted. The magnitude of this bonus has been set to near maximum for now and negates almost the entire firepower cost of the second cannon.
Major Features
Added the Drum Cannon.
Added firepower incentives for placing pairs of opposed broadsiding weapons for Drum Cannons, Gatling Cannons, Blast Cannons, and Double Auto Turrets.
Minor Features
Add the ability to cycle the controlled weapon group on a gunner steering wheel with the scroll wheel.
Airmen 1.22.11: Deathmatch Tiebreaker
Deathmatch gains more small improvements this week adding a tiebreak mechanic and a ready-up system. A capture point in the center of each map will distribute points to the team that controls it uncontested. If neither team's ships have been destroyed at the end of the match the team with the most points will win.
Added a capture point to deathmatch used for tiebreaking.
Minor Features
Added a ready up option to the duelmaster. If all captains ready, the match will start instantly.
Bug Fixes
Fixed the artifact being slowed by minefields and dragoon docks.
Fixed AI ships not taking damage when deep underwater.
Airmen 1.22.10: PvE Server
This week's update officially releases PvE mode. PvP is now a server specific setting and is disabled on NA2. Disabling PvP prevents unallied players from damaging each other, stealing ships, stealing cargo, and mounting enemy turrets. Activities function as normal on PvE servers however duels will temporarily enable PvP for participants for the duration of the match. Players can still damage their own ship in PvE mode and can ally other teams to allow them to help with tactical self destruction.
Horizon returns to deathmatch as the second map. As of right now, zero matches have been able start across all official servers.
This week's update brings buffs to AoE weapons, bringing their ability to destroy a cluster of blast resistant parts on par with their non-AoE counterparts. AoE weapons have a lower maximum damage output to compensate for their tendency to overlap hits or hit multiple valuable parts in one blast. When it comes to blast resistant parts, these qualities offer no advantage so all AoE weapons now deal additional damage to blast resistant parts to compensate.
If you are interested in the specific blast resistance damage multiplier values for each weapon, you can find them all in the official weapon spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zRZm1dE7r2YsItZ3jcgyXJn0ZmOY77NwPSKEaQGGnN4/edit?usp=sharing
Major Features
Added Horizon island as an additional deathmatch map.
Minor Features
Weapons balanced around hitting multiple functional components with a single shot deal 1.5-2x damage to blast resistant parts.
Increased flak damage from 200 to 210.
Increased lance cannon damage from 125 to 210.
Reduced lance cannon penetration depth from 6m to 3m.
Increased T3 bunker cannon damage from 190 to 240.
Reduced T3 bunker cannon penetration depth from 6m to 3m.
Increased quad cannon base spread from 5 to 8.
Increased bone cannon base spread from 8 to 11.
Increased T2 bunker base spread from 8 to 11.
Reduced battery cannon firing slow from 40% to 25%.
Reduced pressure cost of magnetic repuslor from 3000 to 2000.
Added a deflection torque that turns approaching ships away to the magnetic repulsor.
Bug Fixes
Fixed the duelmaster being in the wrong location within sewer outposts.
