Executive Assault 2
The faction update - v0.435.30
I am excited to finally release the Faction patch for everyone to enjoy, it has been a very long and trying few months but it has been well worth the wait.
The new patch includes loads of new ships, tech, buildings, music and play styles including:
Industrial: Cannons, nuclear power, clones, large powerful ships, these are for the companies who like to crush anyone standing in their way.
High Tech: Lasers, fusion power, robots, sleek expensive ships for those who prefer a balanced clean way of winning.
Spy: Pulse energy, solar power, cyborgs, stealthy ships, spy plants, teleportation, for those who prefer to undermine from the inside rather than full out assaults.
The patch also adjusts some of the gameplay mechanics such as how the power works, how to assault stations, patrols, shields etc so please read the in game help and tool tips too although no need to do the tutorial again as that only shows the very basic concepts of the game.
The reason for the patch was to not only to open up the tech tree as there didn’t seem to be much point for example having 3 different versions of the same weapon if everyone just went for the lasers or missiles, but also it opens up so many possibilities in terms of gameplay, ideas and not having everything look the same.
There is of course a lot more to do and plenty of balancing with the new tech which I hope you will continue to help me with not to mention the bugs that need fixing. Current known issues are the loading and saving is still experimental, some buildings still need updating to the new look, handling low quality network connections during multiplayer games,some path finding issues in regard to sending units around the base and the AI doing some strange things, all of which I will address in the near future.
Once things are settled again I hope to give Executrons more things to do, an in-game encyclopaedia of all the units and buildings, continue work on the protester mode, add even more tech and hope to eventually add a single campaign if people still want one.
Please feel free to join the Discord channel which is a great place to chat about the game, find people to play with and make new friends, the full change log can be found there in the Announcements section.
Join Executive Assault 2 Discord
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Thank you again for choosing to support the game and its continual development.
Cheers,
Rob
2nd faction progress update.
Just an update on how things are getting on:
- Most of the buildings have been updated to now match the faction you play.
- Construction animations have been added.
- Dynamic backgrounds have been added.
- AI strategies have been improved and use the faction play styles.
- All new units including the Z11, Z12, Cyborg, Infiltrator, spy plants and clones have been added.All new spaceships for the Industrial and spy factions.
- All the new faction updates now work over multiplayer.
- New music.
- Mass teleporter super weapon is in the game.
Still to be done:
- Super weapons need to be added in, so far the Monolith and Decimator ships are in, but the building versions still need to be added. I have made the Transgalactic laser and Nuclear missile, but still need to add the asteroid nudger.
- Executrons need to be added back in.
- Map editor needs to be added back in.
- Scenario editor needs to be added back in.
- Loading/Saving needs to work with the new factions.
Big thank you to all those testing the game on Discord, if you fancy giving it a go and help test please follow the link below, remember its still under heavy testing so features are still shaky and unbalanced, however with the excellent beta testing from the group it has been proceeding faster than anticipated so I can't imagine it will be too long before it comes onto the main branch.
Join Discord channel
Discord faction beta update
Below are a selection of images from the latest update.
Cheers,
Rob.
Faction update progress (don't worry its good news)
Sorry this new update is taking so long so just thought I would keep you all updated on how I am getting on, the following has been done:
- Each factions differences has been defined and are in the game such as the the different ways they gather money and research.
- Research is now instantaneous using research points which are gathered differently based on the faction you are playing, they are also a commodity which can be sold or stolen.
- Each faction now have their own power station and way of boosting output.
- Each factions unique units in the game
- Each factions unique starships in the game.
- Each factions tech tree has been designed and is in the game such as new weapons and upgrades
- Each faction have a faction variant of their shipyard, robot factory and new power plant.
Still to be done
- Unit construction animations need to be added
- All buildings for a faction need their unique look added
- Super weapons and structures still need to be added
- Clouds and nebular need to be added (important for mining)
- The AI needs to be taught how to use the new faction system
- Weapons, armour, research points etc need all balancing out
- Needs testing over multiplayer - although there is very little new code, most of this is just concept, number and graphic changes.
Initially all this will appear in the beta branch and then once happy with it all I will then release onto the main branch.
Thank you for your continued patience and understanding, as you can imagine adding a whole new faction system to the game takes a bit of time, unfortunately I cant give an estimate as to when it will all be done however you can see that it is progressing well as I am working as the foundations were already laid down and tested well by everyone.
I am usually around in the discord chat if you fancy asking anything and I sometimes post teasers and update progress images in there.
Below are some selected pictures from the update (subject to change)
All the best to you all
Cheers,
Rob
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Version 0.433.65
- Defence station missiles now do damage again.
- Rocket launchers should now fire forward more often.
- Door hacking over multiplayer should work better.
- Easier for AI to reach tech 3 and beyond.
- Defence platform opening animation now synced over multiplayer.
- Defence platform now generates turrets over multiplayer.
- The delivery ship now deducts money properly.
- Cargo dropped in space is now synced correctly especially when retrieving.
- Taking control of ships mid jumping no longer causes the background to go black.
- A problem where you could no longer click on units if you pressed ESC to exit a screen has bit fixed.
- Can no longer ask troops to follow you when they are sitting in the troop transport
- Will no longer break the game if the troop transport explodes just as you are getting into it
- Troop transporter now syncs better over multiplayer.
- Outpost missiles should no longer shoot docked gateways.
- More robot navigation fixes.
- AI no checks to make sure it doesn't build hundreds of troop transports.
- Fixed a camera error if crouching as an Executron and then switch back to 1st person mode.
- Can no longer self destruct your self when captain of star ship.
- Trading menu now scrolls.
- Fixed problems with ships trying to dock and opening/closing the docking bay doors.
- Fixed a problem with diplomatic messages going mad and freezing the game.
One thing that has been bugging me for a while is the current state of the tech tree which I am still not happy about. Even though I have tried to make the torpedoes and cannons do more damage against buildings I still don't use them and instead I just make a bigger fleet. Also it didn't make sense to me having both gateways and troop transports as they were very similar to each other.
After discussing the issues with the community I am going to look at implementing a faction system in the game which will really help bring the tech tree alive. It will also result in companies looking graphically different to one another and this will be determined by which branch of the tech tree you choose. This is a very similar concept to other games so it seems about time I bring it into mine.
So for example there will be a dirty tech faction who loves machine guns, bullets, mass drivers, nuclear power, missiles, rockets, troop transports with big rusty but functional ships and cloning vats for their cheap but weak troops. There could also be a more high tech faction who has shields, fusion power, lasers, gateways and robots with expensive but powerful ships and finally there could be a more sneaky faction who has stealth tech, stealing, spying, sabotage, solar power, assassination, cyborgs and teleportation, the sky's the limit really.
This will obviously take some time to make including planning it all out, hiring artists for all the new graphics and making sure the asymmetrical tech is balanced, however I will keep all this on a separate development branch while I keep the game maintained on the main branch so please don't stop playing and reporting issues/bugs.
Cheers,
Rob
Hotfix v0.433.601
Have a great weekend!
Patch V0.433.60
On the plus side upgrading to 2019 has allowed me to access some more fancy graphical features so enjoy a new main menu as well as improving stability and compatibility on macs and should have also improved the frame rate across the board.
New Features
Troop transporter is back
As requested I have brought back the troop transport in a more stable state which docks at the docking bay and can be upgraded, let me know what you think.
Large maps
Maps are now twice as large to help with space battles, plan your strategies and stop the Monolith looking like a whale in a goldfish bowl.
Fog of war
Any systems you dont have any units in are now covered by a fog of war, this allows for new strategies such as spying with probes and even the new spy plant, just sneak it onto a station and you should be able everything thats going on, in later releases the spy plant will be able to interact with enemy station systems, this new feature is optional.
Improved door hacking
The robots running up to the door and trying to pry it open never really worked so now I've rewritten the script and made it easier to see what is going on and also more stable.
Weapon Balances
The torpedo tree weapons damage has been reduced a bit however they now do x3 more damage to buildings, also the long range weapons now do extra damage to shields, this is to encourage full use of the tree and have a more varied army and more interesting strategies.
Fixes and improvements
* Yellow team is now Red so they are easier to spot
* You can now see the health of units you shoot at in FPS mode
* Artillery units now maintain a set distance when attacking other units.
* Speed of ships have increased to help cater for the large system
* Cruisers now take 2 minutes to construct and not 3
* Cheap research times have been reduced from 1:30 to 1 minute.
* Home button now also flashes red if there is an issue
* The first person UI has been updated
* Target health text in drone fighter has been made larger.
* Issue when structure exploded while being repaired has been fixed
* Allies now have the same access as executrons
* Defence platforms can be optionally upgraded via the same defence screen
* Executrons can now order things from the delivery company.
* Damage done by longe range weapons have been increased a little
* Multiplayer sync stability has been improved.
* Coolant warning text will flash up when in Direct control mode.
* AI has been improved
* Clicking on an icon in the galaxy map while in FPS mode no longer breaks the game
* The 3rd person camera on the star fighter is now a bit closer.
* Clicking on robots should display their name correctly
* Cursor issues why flying
* If robots happen to fall out of gateways when they are disconnecting you will now die
* Can no longer break the game when at warp speed and switch the 3rd person camera
* Building panel should vanish now when accessing other menus
* Mining beams shouldn't stretch any more
* Hacking doors should work a bit better
* Gateways navmesh system has been improved to stop units getting stuck
* General doorway unit navigation has been improved.
* Teleport console and cargo console no longer show redundant information
* LOD on weapons have been improved when playing the game on a potato
* Unarmed units on the fabrication screen should no longer show the cost of weapons
* The cost of applying shields to bots is now shown correctly.
* New sound FX for robots
* Secondary bounce on electric weapon now does more damage
* Icon sizes are now larger when zoomed out
* you can now see the health on ships you attack when in pilot mode
* Troop transport info display now fits more text
* AI should no longer construct buildings overlapping
* Robot detection on outposts being destroyed have been improved.
* Attempted to stop robots not being killed when outposts explode
* Made robot pathfinding even more robust
* The design menu should bring up the correct menu for the selected outpost
* Goods show now show text again
* Probe number is no longer hidden
* Warning message added to monolith
* Fixed an issue loading from saves where non of your units would spawn
* When constructing buildings at red alert they will active their defences too
* Fixed a very rare bug where if you are just getting into a vehicle as it was exploding caused the game to crash
* Increased the repair rate on ships and stations
* Larger ships now find it harder to take out fighters.
* Decimal place on DPS is now 0
* Mini guns are now removed to come back as CEO/Executron exclusive
* Randomized Mechanoid feet noise
Thank you all to the experimental testers who help get this patch out, however there might still be some things that we missed. On the Mac it might have reset your settings so I am afraid you'll have to apply them again, however the black screen problem should have been eliminated.
A poll I conducted on the discord recently showed that the next lot of updates should add more content and more things for Executrons to do, I also want to work to improve network stability as this is where most of the bugs happen.
Thank you again for your continued support of the game and if you find an issue please use the in game bug submission form to let me know.
Don't forget to join our discord chat which is usually quite active and lively.
https://discord.gg/ranDWCU
Cheers,
Rob
Version 0.433.41
Today's patch is small but should help fix a few important bugs.
- Can now self destruct your self when in a fighter
- Docking and taking off bugs have been fixed
- Added a docking cone to the front of any docking bay which will now show up on your right panel when you are inside it
- Swapping between weapons now resets the next time you can fire
- Fixed an issue where you could be stuck inside the fighter as an Executron
- Fixed an issue where you could be stuck exiting ExecuDisplay
- Extra messages have been added to tell you how to exit direct control or inside a ship
- Fixed swapping into wrong team if you steal a ship as an Executron
- More Ironite given in the first tutorial
- Tutorial level 4 is now working again
- Ui fixes in resources menu
- Victory text should now fit into the objectives tab
- Derelicts now do a broken path check to make sure all areas are accessible
- Mechanoids no longer get stuck in door ways when being controlled in FPS
One final important change for mac users, I have had to disable Retina support so that the game works in Catalina, this is a Unity bug and will be addressed at a later date.
Cheers,
Rob
Version 0.433.39
Mini patch fixing a few issues.
- Robots should move to where you tell them better in terms of accuracy with the mouse cursor.
- Ships in Quantum fracture space should no longer show up as being in a star system.
- Shored up issues of robots being left outside when a probe explodes.
- Switching to mining ship no longer breaks the interface.
- Executrons can no longer self destruct RTS units.
- Accelerate lasers and ion pulsators are now priced correctly from trader.
- Accelerate lasers and ion pulsators now apply as tech from trader.
- Self destruct button on outposts now visible again
- Mechs will now follow Executrons
Cheers,
Rob
Version 0.433.38
Today's patch mainly aims at improving the user experience of the game by updating UI elements and helping to bring the game into line with other RTS game, new features include:
You can now select buildings which will then bring up contextual options and information such as shipyards now all have their own design buttons rather than having to try and remember if that was shipyard 1 or 2. You can also now select mining outposts and construct ships directly there instead of making them at your main base and sending them over.
You can now just click on drones to take control of them now.
Money, Ironite and Time now have their own icons with tool tip information now being correct on all screens.
The research tree has been completely changed to help users understand it better and pick a better suited path with some tech having cheaper sub tech. Also added a new tech level which includes 12 new weapons which helps to make Tech 1 easier to understand.
Outposts no longer have upgrade levels and you simply upgrade your company tech level with money, however capturing an enemies research outpost will still let you upgrade to what ever tech they were on, this is all to help streamline the game.
The repair facility has now become the maintenance facility which will now upgrade ships with that a better version of its currently installed gun as well as repair giving you reason to bring them back to get the latest tech.
The AI's strategic scripts have been improved to take advantage of the new tech and attack better for a more fun game.
Rally points have been added to the game so ships and robots will exit to a particular point (may still need more work)
Can now cancel units under construction and get refunded.
In addition to them the following has been changed/fixed:
- Factions are now synced over multiplayer
- Allies are now displayed in blue on the galactic screen
- Tool tip has been added to the delivery screen
- Motion blur has been removed due to horrific FPS drops.
- Can now right click on a building to tell a gateway probe to dock with it.
- Outpost navigation path has been improved
- Ship names are now back on the side of ships.
- AI will attack the bridge again when the force fields are up.
- Robots should no longer stop following you
- Pressing 1 and 2 will not longer reset firing rate.
- AI now uses coolant
- Spelling mistakes
- Improved the weapon targeting when direct piloting star ships.
- Added a new super rare asteroid random encounter which gives you about 2-3 minutes to blow it up before it crashes into the bridge.
- A docking problem where ships would stop working has been fixed.
- Expanded the mapseed to include new planets and star systems however this will break all existing seeds, old ones are fixable and I will do a post on how to do this if it has become an issue for anyone, this patch will also break all existing saves.
- New music has been added.
Thank you for all the bug submissions and ideas, as always if you find anything please let me know by submitting a bug within the game.
As always I will be bug fixing and improving the stability of the game, next on my list I will be improving the ground assault and Executron experience. I will also looking at the possibility of making bigger maps, and finally I am well aware that many of you didn't like the fact that the troop transport was removed (reasons I have stated about 101 times) so I will be looking at bringing back a stable version of it which docks at the docking bay as part of the BlackOps tech I am planning on adding into the game.
Please also join the discord for all the latest information and beta testing.
https://discord.gg/ranDWCU
I hope what ever you are doing this month that you have a great one!
Cheers,
Rob
Version 0.433.26
- Tutorial updated so you can build a corvette
- Mechanoid factory animation error has been fixed
- Multiple gateway probes in multiplayer has been fixed
- A slowdown which occurred if your carrier ship was destroyed while the fighters were docking.
Cheers,
Rob