New Features: Act 3 wave set. Planet Destruction & Game over VFX. Turret Balance.
+Planets now have dynamic effects associated with game over mechanics. +Turret stacking has been removed and all bugs associated with it have been fixed. -Upgrading with hot keys caused build panel to disappear but buttons could still be activated without the UI, this is no longer possible. -Turrets that are upgrading can no longer be selected in their previous form during the 5 second upgrade window.
+Fighter Class ships now again appropriately attack the planet before in orbiting range. Fighter fire ranges have been improved. +All ships activated by Formation or Squad mechanics can now correctly switch between Strafe Fire mechanics and standard Orbiting Fire. +Strafe Firing now has more functionality. +Most ships have received significant speed boosts while performing strafe fire runs and in formations.
Planet Shield dissolve effect updated.
Boss Carrier hit locations now read the correct shield values and update each other with the real time value. -This corrects issues with turrets featuring multi targeting mechanics. Destabilized Plasma (I&II) can now correctly fire on non standard hit locations.
Easy difficulty description has been removed from the Level Select menu. Difficulty buttons split from Act buttons.
Fighters T2, T3, and Medium Carrier rejoin the fight over your planet in Act 3.
Known bugs: Audio balance and missing sounds. Overhauling audio is next on the list of updates. In game menu button occasionally breaks and refuses to be clicked. Next Wave UI output can occasionally lose synchronization with its timers by a few seconds. Ion Turret does not work. Rework coming soon. Laser Defense Array (I & II) needs rework.
Turret Balance changes: Laser T1: +Cooldown from 0.6s to 0.4s +Range updated from 600 to 700.
Laser T2-1 {Dual Photon I}: +Cooldown from 0.5s to 0.35s +Range updated from 800 to 900
Laser T2-2 {Rapidfire}: +Damage tool tip updated to 30 +Range updated from 600 to 700 +Internal Cooldown between each shot reduced from .1s to 0.035s. Cooldown between 4 shots is still 0.1s
Laser T3-1 {Dual Quad Photon} + Scrap cost from 60 to 40 +Range tooltip updated to 1000 +Cooldown tooltip updated to 0.2s
Laser T3-2 {Laserized Plasma}: +Damage reduced from 1000 to 600 + Cooldown updated from 1s to 2s + Now fires a variable amount of shots, 1-4. + Range increased from 1200 to 1400
Flak T1: +Cooldown from 4s to 3s +Duration from 4s to 6s +Area damage from 10 to 15
Flak T2-2 {Magnetized Flak}: +Duration from 6s to 8s +Area Damage from 25 to 30
Flak T3-1 {Flak III}: +Cooldown from 5s to 2s +Duration from 15s to 20s +Tooltip damage to 200 +Cloud damage fixed - previously bugged did not test for radius.
Flak T3-2 {High Velocity} + Scrap Cost from 50 to 100 +Base Damage - 50 to 125 +Cloud damage - 15 to 35 +Delay from 0.4 to 0.5 +Updated Cloud VFX +Cloud now has falloff damage over distance.
Plasma T3-2 {Supercharged Plasma} +Tooltip damage corrected to 1000 +Plasma Rate from 1.0 to 0.5s (From 1 to 2 ticks)
Plasma T2-2 {Destabilized Plasma} +Damage from 40-75 to 125-150
Plasma T3-3 {Destabilized Plasma II} +Damage from 100-150 to 225-300
Plasma T3-4 {Reactive Plasma} +Tooltip updated to reflect 10% damage increase +Base Damage from 10-75 to 75-125 +Bounce links now correctly damage both targets +Source beam now correctly aligned with turrets firing socket. +Tooltip updated to reflect that the beam is ineffective against shields.
Patch 1.7: Development Resumed
Some may have noticed development had stalled beyond a few bug fix patches for most of this year. This patch officially kicks off the resumed development over the last 2 months and hopeful outlook that we can continue to deliver more content. Patch 1.7 features many under the hood improvements that further our capability to do more with our resources. The main features of this patch are numerous undocumented & listed bug, crash, performance, and architecture fixes over most of the year. A new level wave set with Act 2 and a rebalanced Act 1. Improved squad mechanics and 4 new bomber types with new art and animations.
Act 3 and 4 out for testing in the next month.
Patch Notes 1.7
New Features: Act 2 has arrived! This wave features 4 newly designed bomber type ships featuring new attack types and art. Act 1 reworked to improve scrap and difficulty curve.
Classic Mode removed: The difficulty scaling on this wave set will come back in another form but we're bringing this back to the drawing board for a future Act.
Unit system code redesigned to allow more flexibility and common behaviors to be generalized to most unit types. Ships re-categorized by type. Four new ship types added: Bomber Tier 2: Rapidly drops bombs in sets of 3. Bomber Tier 3: Unloads arc connected bombs that gain speed and damage as they travel. Bomber Tier 4: Charged bombs with slow reload. Bomber Tier 5: Mini-boss with dual attack type and animation. Attack mode 1: Rapidly drop bombs that increase in damage and size, vulnerable to attack. Attack mode 2: Gains armor and speed while dropping Charged bombs with moderate reload.
Improved squad mechanics. All ship units can now utilize squad gameplay mechanics.
Replaced VFX: Plasma, Concentrated Plasma I, Concentrated Plasma II.
Fixed performance issues with projectiles performing tracing significantly more often than needed against shields. Some projectiles are now instanced to improve performance with many on screen.
Misc fixes: Placement bug causing buildings to no longer be deselected or constructed is now fixed. Corrected wave icons for units with multiple components. Ships could occasionally get stuck moving towards orbit, this should happen at a reduced frequency but is still on the known issue list. Fixed rare issue that could cause the player to experience defeat after they had won the game. Fixed issue causing some projectiles to revert location to origin. Ships should now properly disappear when the game ends. Fixed issue with Concentrated Plasma II not selecting the correct target. Fixed rare issue with beam weapons causing a crash. Fixed issues with some enemy projectiles not using correct planet shield damage interface. Fixed issues with some units teleporting after reaching initial planet destination.
Developer Summary 2019, December Patch 1.6 Notes, State of the game, Future.
Thank you to everyone that has supported the game so far. A lot of progress has been made bringing Exo TD up to higher standards, we still hope to deliver a dynamic and fun game that brings its own style of Tower Defense.
What is the current state of the game?
The game is now very stable, with the release of 1.6 all available turrets and features should be completely functional and better than ever. We have a solid direction to build off of and look forward to sharing more with everyone as Exo TD improves and grows.
Performance was a major goal this year, for several patch cycles our changes introduced a lot of instability in the core game as we ripped out old code and revised our systems to be easier to design on top of and work more efficiently. Exo TD should now perform as expected, when many units, turrets, and projectiles are on screen their may be some minor frame dips, overall these should be mostly unnoticeable and very consistently simulate at 60fps on more systems.
What milestone patches have been released this year?
1.1 (April 2019) – New integrated Build/Upgrade UI, art updates, initial performance improvements, destructible units, more.
1.2 (July 2019) – Power Patch: Power resource integration, power storage, turret power overcharging mechanic, active ship wave icons, ship tooltips, adjusted level balance, UI, more.
1.3 (August 2019) – Balance Patch: Revised power scaling, scrap scaling, turret and ship balance, architecture preparation for performance patch.
1.4 (September 2019) – Performance & Multithreading Patch: Visuals decoupled from data, Multithreading, Instancing, Targeting revisions, all around massive performance upgrades for CPU & GPU. Core UE4 Engine version upgraded.
Where are the Patch notes from this years patches?
December 2019 Patch 1.6 notes are included below, we've also included more detailed notes below those for the previous patches summarized that did not have release notes.
Why were Patch Notes releases stopped?
We wanted to wait until we were absolutely sure we had a stable patch after our performance changes, this took longer than anticipated. Moving forward there will be detailed notes accompanying each new patch and game stability should be solid.
Where does Exo TD go from here?
After a year and 6 great patches we're now able to iterate and add content much quicker.
* 4 new levels to the act sequence will be added between now and end of January 2020.
* We're looking at having 7-9 planets in the game before release, likely introduced in the next few months. Each Planet will have some element of unique dynamic gameplay. 3 additional Planets are currently being worked on in the pipeline for release early 2020.
* Endless mode was removed and will be back, hopefully in the January 2020 patch.
* Some turrets are still missing Tier 2 and Tier 3 upgrade options, we're working on filling those out, likely in the Jan-Feb patch cycle. Later patches may introduce T4.
* Satellites – Planned, will announce specifics after planets are finalized.
* Ship UI is still unfinished after it was introduced, we intent to revisit and release this fully, no timeline. We will implement a way to effectively see what the ships are and what they can do.
* Large Ships/Capitol Ships, New Bosses, Dynamic AI tactics improvements. No timeline, these are coming and actively being worked on.
* New Units types coming. Stealth Fighters, Charge Bombers, Illusion, Warp, Missiles, Repair Bots, improved squads, and more.
* Ship Unit attack types will be greatly expanded.
And Then?
We're open to community feedback and involvement, let us know what you'd like to see! Twitter: @Exo_TD Email: exotddev@gmail.com
1.6 Patch Notes:
*These patch notes are not comprehensive of all changes.*
* New Lobby/Main Menu scene: Available planets Classic and Rocky Lava shown, others to be filled in as content is made available.
* Turret Attack Commands reworked and fixed: Turrets actively selected can once again right click attack enemy ships. For units that have multiple attachments, shields, turrets, hit sockets, etc. Turrets will now have targeting preference for attachments over other units when manually attacking. Selected turrets can activate attack with hotkey T or by selecting the new UI button to the left of the build menu.
* Turret Assist Command: Turrets actively selected can now assist other turrets. Assisting turrets will gain a targeting preference for the assisted turrets target. Turrets actively selected can activate assist with hotkey Y or by selecting the new UI button to the left of the build menu.
* Turret Clear Target Command: Turrets actively selected can have their target manually cleared with hotkey H.
* Control Groups: Turrets can now be placed in control group with CTRL 0-9. To switch to control group selection you must press Tab first. Tab controls switching to control group or build bar hotkeys.
* Multi Select Added: Multiple turrets can now be selected at once with Shift and LMB. Multiple turrets selected and set to manual attack will fire on the same target if available.
* Multi Build added: Active turret will stay in the build placement status if built while holding Shift key. Multi Upgrade NYI.
* New Cursors: Added Default cursor. Added Turret Attack Cursor. Added Turret Assist Cursor. Added Turret Multi Cursor. Shift to activate multi-select or multi-build. Shift activates Multi Cursor.
* Free Camera added!: Can now explore most of the map freely by unlocking camera with hotkey P or selecting the new UI button on the top right leftmost button. Added new controls for free camera. Level bounds restricted to a maximum distance. Space Bar camera up, C camera down, W forward, S back, etc. Mouse usable. Please Note: building from some angles with free camera on may have unexpected results with placement. Recommended that camera is mostly centered facing planet while trying to place structure.
* Hotkeys added, not yet changeable: Key numbers 1-0 are now default associated with each build slot and will activate building that turret when pressed. Shift 1-0 are now default associated with each build slow in row 2. Alt 1-3 are now default associated with each upgrade slot in row 1. 'T' - Turret Attack. 'Y' – Turret Assist. 'H' – Turret Clear Target. Ctrl 1-0 Assign Control Group. Tab controls switching to control group or build bar hotkeys.
* Turrets broken by previous patches have been fixed or replaced.
* New Turret Upgrade: Arc Discharge – An energized projectile is launched at nearest target and discharges an arc hitting nearby units up to 6 times. Persists until fully discharged. Initial target is overloaded and disabled for 5s.
* Turret Changed: Rocket – now Photon Rockets I. New visual aligned ammo. New visual rocket trail. New explosion visual. New targeting effect. Upgrades renamed Photon Rockets II & III. Rocket II and upgrades disabled for redesign.
* New Turret Upgrade: Laserized Plasma – Changed to fire a single charge powerful laser bolt. Slow fire rate, quick moving projectile. 1000 damage, 1200 range. All Flak AOE VFX changed.
* Turret Upgrade Change: Flak II & III – Area of effect behavior changed, new Flak visual now drifts outwards in direction fired for 15s before dissipating. Now fires at nearest target.
* Turret Upgrade Change: Flak Magnetic Shrapnel I & II – Area of effect behavior changes, new Flak visual now closes in on target location.
* Turret Upgrade Change: Reactive Plasma – Now connects itself to a random nearby target within range, will continue to jump connections as long as targets available. Damage increases each jump. All Gauss Ricochet visual effects and bullets changed. All Gamma fixed. Arc Tether turret and upgrades removed.
* New Space backgrounds added, more to come.
* Destruction visuals now disintegrate away instead of disappearing from the field.
* Turrets now have a build time of 5s, upgrades also take 5s: New Construction Visual - Building turrets now have a visual effect. New Deconstruct Visual – Upgrading turrets will simultaneously deconstruct themselves and reconstruct into the desired upgrades.
* Shield Destruction visual: Shields that have an active visual associated with them now have a new shield broken visual instead of disappearing instantly. Includes Shield Generator I, II.
* New Auto Recharge Shields added to Shield Generator I & II: Button can be toggled to automatically regenerate shield when scrap and power are available.
General Changes: * Several turret tooltip corrections. * Menu style buttons visual changed. * Adjusted Plasma I, Concentrated Plasma I & II beam visual * Fixed several selection related issues. * Corrected minor power menu visual issues. * Fixed issue where units visual would appear at origin briefly. * Turret projectiles alignment fixes. * Destruction debris now correctly interacts with planets and shields. * Rocket projectile performance improvements, targeting updated, smoothed out flight. * Spawn Portal now animates while units are spawning as intended. * Lava planet brightness toned down. * Added system to check if units are out of bounds and remove them from the game to prevent end of game sequence from stalling. * Upgrading turrets now disables them while upgrading. * Arc bounce no longer can occasionally penetrate shields. * Fighter III now has blue laser projectile attack. * Control menu updated. * Ricochet performance improved.
1.5 Patch Notes:
*These patch notes are not comprehensive of all changes.*
1.5 Planet Lava testing, New Beta Level: Act 1, New Shader Outlines, Rebalanced level design, Stable Patch, some turrets broken.
* New Planet - Rocky Lava: Planet is lava based with procedural rocks placed around as build area. Lava pools will frequently and semi-randomly appear at intervals around the planet. Turrets caught in lava pools will become Disabled. Lava pool duration, location, and interval are semi-random, frequency increases over time. Can be played with Act 1 or Classic levels for now. *Planet is undergoing testing and may or may not change completely in gameplay and visually in a future patch.*
* New Level – Act 1 (Naming system WIP, may change): Features new balancing: Scrap drops at a considerably increased pace and quantity, enemy ships also will increase health, shields, and damage each wave. New levels will feature this style of balance.
* Original Level and Planet renamed to Classic.
* Revised Level Select UI slightly to accommodate new lava planet and Act 1 level.
* New Feature: Turret Environmental Disable: Environmental effects can now trigger a turret to become disabled and lose ability to rotate and target.
* New Post Processing Shader Outlines: Outlines improved the visual distinction and clarity of much of the gameplay visuals, decided to finally integrate new shader.
* Color Post Processing Shader Tweaks: Additional color correction and lighting changes have been made for better stylized visuals and accommodation of new outline shader.
* Turret Build Placement changes: Formula changed to more accurately place turrets and allow a greater degree of movement in placement. Placement now adjusts for height. Turret Build validation changes. Added system to better validate if area can be built on. Validation now adjusts for height.
* Revised Socket system: Engine Socket system does not work with new instanced mesh system integrated in previous patch. Sockets and attachment points can now be accessed directly from each Unit and Ship Type. All existing sockets moved to new system, several sockets realigned to better reflect the attached visuals, etc.
* Threaded AI Movement is now responsible for adjusting attachments location and rotation. Includes physical shields, health bars, hit locators, and all other attachments.
* Power Status icon over turrets: Displays a color based power icon over turrets. 0 Power: Red, 50% Power: Orange, 200% Power: Yellow, 300% Power: Green Red icon will now display if turret is unpowered, environmental disabled, or other disabled effect.
* Destructible effects now interact with Planets and Shields.
General changes: * Scrap Collection Drone power cost corrected to 0. * Scrap Collection Drone Counter added to build UI. * All Carrier weapons now include plasma beams. Carriers are now armed with plasma weapons, prepare your shields. Carrier I: 2 Plasma I, Carrier II: 4 Plasma I, Carrier Boss: 4 Plasma II, 2 Plasma III. * Shield Satellite Cost added back to UI. * Some units had floating health bars, corrected. * Movement AI corrected for some types of units assigned to other units. * Shield Drones unit occasionally could crash the game fixed. * Shield Drones now have corrected movement after their assigned unit is destroyed. * Shield Generator II upgrade cost corrected. * Rocket projectile performance improved slightly. * Corrected Carrier Boss and Missile Boss health bars. * Tweaked Carrier I destructible debris VFX. * Corrected issue with Carriers spawning multiple destructibles. * Slight turret rotation look adjustments. * Satellite # UI performance issue corrected. * Corrected UI in several incidents with some text occasionally overlapping. * Interceptor I now correctly moves off ramp with new system. Unit now has destructible VFX. * Code tweaks to balance stability of previous performance patch. Game is now very stable, no further crashing issues identified.
- Several turret upgrades were broken by this patch: Flak II & III, Gamma Irradiate, Split Proton Laser, Destabilized Plasma I & II, Reactive Plasma, Comm I & II, All Rockets, Gamma DoT, all Gauss Ricochet, all Arc Tether. T2 & T3 for all other turrets have been rebalanced and made generally more powerful.
1.4 Patch Notes:
*These patch notes are not comprehensive of all changes.*
Performance & Multithreading Patch 1.4:
Feature Highlights: * Multithreading: The single largest usage of CPU was by AI movement, with refinements and relocating it to its own thread CPU performance is now excellent.
* Unit Instancing: Units on screen previously required thousands of GPU draw calls each frame, each Unit Ship Type now acts as 1 draw call/frame.
* Unit Health Bars are now screen aligned textures. Massive performance improvement with many on screen.
* Overall Performance: Many design changes were incorporated that increased efficiency of existing algorithms on top of multithreading and instancing. Splitting calculations and visuals has improved performance drastically.
* Many internal changes were made to the code base to allow easier use of tools to design and implement units, projectiles, turrets, etc. on a much quicker iteration timeline.
* Unit Ship AI consolidated.
* Multithreaded AI: movement and decision calculations have been adjusted for performance. AI is now decoupled from visuals, calculations are made and visuals are adjusted on screen to reflect status. AI uses one additional CPU thread, changes in the future could allow more if required, current benchmarks indicate one is enough to handle all calculations for now.
* Unit Instancing: Ship Units are now instanced drastically reducing draw calls required. Movement system updated to reflect decoupled visuals. Units no longer use Static Meshes. Units with Skeletal Meshes and animations can now accurately hot swap with instancing.
* Unit Damage interface streamlined to allow for a wider variety of gameplay affecting individual and groups of units.
* Turret Targeting: Targeting has been made more efficient, changes to detect when enemies are near or if obstacles are in the way. Can now accurately determine if obstacle other than planet is in the way. Can now discard targets.
* Projectile Targeting: Targeting has been made more efficient, changes to detect when enemies are near or if obstacles are in the way.
* Area of Effect attacks now more accurately capture units in the area that should be effected.
* Slow effects changed to be more reliable and work as intended.
* Unit Health Bars are now screen aligned textures.
- Turret right click attack targeting was broken by this patch. - a few crashing issues were introduced this patch. High performance, low stability.
This patch is Part 1 of 2 planned performance patches. Turrets AI and Projectile system will eventually be modified to work with instancing, multithreading, and several other performance changes made with the groundwork laid this patch.
1.3 Patch Notes:
*These patch notes are not comprehensive of all changes.*
Balance changes Patch 1.3:
* Turret manual attack added Turrets can now right click enemy units to attack them.
* Power Generation changes: Power Generator I: Generates 15 Power every 5s and increases maximum Power Storage by 75. Power Generator II: Generates 50 Power every 5s and increases maximum Power Storage by 250. Power Generator III: Generates 150 Power every 5s and increases maximum Power Storage by 750. New Upgrade: Power Generator IV: Generates 750 Power every 5s and increases maximum Power Storage by 4000.
General Changes: * Destruction tweaked on many ships to have more visual impact. * Many turrets have had their damage and cooldown rates adjusted for overcharging. * Many turrets have received Power cost and consumption changes. * Changes in preparation of starting patch 1.4 performance architecture revisions.
Most of the Patch 1.3 Balance notes details were lost and have been reconstructed from what is available.
1.2 Patch Notes:
*These patch notes are not comprehensive of all changes.*
Power Patch 1.2:
* New Resource - Power: Players start with a base rate of power available to them. Power is added to player Power Storage every 5s. Generate power through new structure: Power Generator and its upgrades.
* New Mechanic - Power Storage: Players are provided with power storage from their base power rate, captures power overflow. Power Storage is increased through Power Generators.
* New Mechanic - Turret Power Consumption: Turrets now require an amount of Power every 5s to continue to operate. If not enough power is stored turret will attempt to function on 50% power & 50% damage. If no power stored turrets will disable and consume power when it becomes available.
* New Mechanic - Power Overcharging: Power Overcharge UI elements added Interactive power slider to adjust Power values. UI display added for multiplier of power for overcharging. UI display added for current Power value as Power Status. Can toggle UI element show/hidden as part of tooltip UI. * Modify turret power usage, can boost power to improve turret performance. 3x Power == 2x Damage 2x Power == 1.5x Damage Half Power added No Power added (Disabled) * Turrets that can't receive enough power to match manual settings will automatically switch to the base power rate or power down if not enough stored power is available.
* New Mechanic - Unpowered Turrets: Turrets can be manually set to consume no power. Turrets will disable while power is not provided. Will automatically draw power if available unless manually set.
* New UI Resource elements: New resource UI is displayed in Top Middle of screen to display current Scrap values, Power storage bar, Power Generation, Power Consumption, and Net Power income. Scrap UI is now located with overall Resource UI. Build UI now displays base Power consumption with Scrap cost. Color coded: Red – Consumption, Green – Generation.
* New Buildings - Power Generator I, II, III: Power Generator I: Generates 10 Power every 5s and increases maximum Power Storage by 100. Power Generator II: Generates 20 Power every 5s and increases maximum Power Storage by 2000. Power Generator III: Generates 50 Power every 5s and increases maximum Power Storage by 5000.
* New Feature: Active Ship Wave Icons UI: Ships now have an associated icon on the top left of the UI. Icon indicates the currently active count of ship type.
Please Note: This feature is incomplete and contains an unfinished draft UI and text elements * New Feature - Ship Tooltips: Hovering over an Active Ship Wave Icon now has a pop out UI associated with it providing a brief description of the ship type. * Ship Stats: WIP, can now see rough stat values for ship types. Health, Shield, Speed, Damage, Armor now display text values. Not always accurate, changes to system are being worked on.
General changes: * Level: Classic Easy and Normal difficulties have had scrap values adjusted to integrate Power resource. * Artillery Explosive Feedback was causing latency and crashing issues – resolved and reworked. * Changes in how some ships calculated armor. Armor changes to be introduced in future patch. * Resolved health UI causing some performance issues. * Resolved build UI causing some performance issues. * Improved Scrap Collection Drone performance, especially with many drones on screen. * Resolved issues of Scrap causing some performance issues with many on screen. * Ion Turrets have received several fixes to allow them to perform as intended. * Internal structure changes to Ship Type classification. * Several internal code architecture changes were made to allow moving forward with code design changes and performance plan.
That's the end of our backlog of notes, thanks for playing and more to come soon!
Thanks to our players for being patient as we continue to develop and update Exo TD. We're passionate that we can achieve a better experience to players and will continue to work hard to deliver on expectations.
Highlights:
- New revised UI. More revisions and additions coming soon.
- Resolved crashing issues.
- Updated Art
- Significant performance improvements across all aspects of the game. More performance updates planned coming soon.
- AI behavior improvements.
- Turret Command Attack.
- Destructibility.
Patch Notes:
- Resolved crashing issues.
- Performance improvements across all areas of the game.
- Gauss Turret performance improvements.
- Revamped UI – Removed the old build & upgrade menu – Now an all-in-one layout.
- Removed build & upgrade icons from center of Planet Shield health UI, center now only contains shield health percentage.
- Revised tooltip menu now gives more information.
- Turret tooltip stats can now be accessed by clicking on an active turret.
- Updated Boss 1 Carrier model and texture.
- Added new attacks.
- Updated Light Carrier model and texture.
- Updated Medium Carrier model and texture.
- Now has 2 new variations.
- Updated Medium Carrier Fighter model and texture. Added wing fold animation on deployment off ramp.
- Updated Spawn Portal model and texture.
- Added Spawn Portal Open an Close animation for wave spawns.
- Added animation to Scrap Collection Drones.
- Improved performance of Scrap Collection Drones
- Scrap piles revised to now only hold 1 scrap value, additional scrap will randomly be distributed nearby.
- Several AI behavior fixes.
- All enemy ships now have visual destruction effects when destroyed.
- Enemy ships will now dynamically fragment into several pieces on destruction.
- Updated Planet ground and water textures effects.
- Updated Communications Tower particle VFX.
- Revised turret accuracy formula.
- Added ability for players to select turrets and right click on enemies to manually select attack target.
- Revised turret placement formula. Formerly placement was constrained to a small window, can now place turret anywhere valid that is currently visible to the player.
Expanded Arsenal Patch 1.0 Released!
Expanded Arsenal Patch 1.0 has been released!
This patch is the first of several major planned content updates. We're introducing 6 new turrets, each with many upgrades options.
- New Game Modes: Endless Invasion
Endless Invasion: Enemy forces will continuously spawn to attack, gradually spawning faster, stronger, and better ships. This mode will keep score and allow you to more easily try out strategies in a faster pacing than the scenario modes.
(Note: This mode is still heavily in balancing, significant performance updates will be included in the next major patch, the performance results will largely dictate overall design balance moving forward.)
- Six new baseline unique attack type towers, each with multiple upgrades.
- Gamma: Focuses strong gamma beams at enemies causing them to accumulate radiation, taking damage over time. Can stack twice, each hit refreshes the effect, deals additional damage and extends the max duration.
- Arc Reactor: Energized particles run through the conduit producing high voltage electrical arcs that can attract and arc to nearby targets. Deals randomized damage, arcs to 2 additional nearby available targets.
- Artillery: Fires heavy ballistic shells that explode on impact dealing additional damage in a small radius. Explosion damage based on distance, fires at random targets.
- Gauss: Rapid-fire rounds, fires at nearest target. Has a 50% chance for projectile to ricochet to a nearby target.
- Rail: Energy is concentrated to propel a specialized heavy projectile to enormous speeds. Deals heavy damage with a 25% chance to ignore armor and shields each shot. Requires a significant cooldown period between each shot.
- Comm: Satellite-ground communication has been established, relays power and provides a bonus to satellites depending on type. Extends shield satellites max duration by 10 seconds.
New upgrades:
-Gamma-
Gamma II: Max radiation upgraded to 3 stacks. Improved recharge rate and damage.
Gamma III: Max radiation upgraded to 4 stacks. Improved recharge rate and damage.
Saturated Gamma: Can fully penetrate ships allowing for an unlimited potential for radiation damage. No stack limit. Each stack increases damage and causes permanent radiation damage over time.
Gamma Burst: Focuses targets already afflicted with gamma radiation. Causes the target radiation effect to burst for damage equal to 2x the total potential remaining damage of the existing radiation effect.
Gamma Burst II: Focuses targets already afflicted with gamma radiation. Causes the target radiation effect to burst for damage equal to 3x the total potential remaining damage of the existing radiation effect.
Irradiate: Intensified beam of radiation that focuses critical ship systems. Enemy ships drop additional scrap after beam duration is completed. Additional scrap based on % health remaining for unit type.
-Arc Reactor-
Arc Reactor II: Arcs to up to 3 additional nearby targets.
Arc Reactor III: Arcs to up to 4 additional nearby targets.
Arc Cannon Tether: Two energized fields are each launched at a random nearby target. When both fields reach their targets they form a connection dealing increasing damage over distance.
Arc Cannon Tether II: Increased damage and fire rate.
Arc Cannon Chain Reactor: Arc fields now briefly chain to all available nearby targets in a small radius from the impact location.
-Artillery-
Penetrating Shells: Increases damage and fire rate, has a 10% chance to deal 2x impact damage to the target. Each additional shot against the same target adds +5% chance.
Penetrating Shells II: Increases damage and fire rate, has a 10% chance to deal 3x impact damage to the target. Each additional shot against the same target adds +10% chance.
Explosive Feedback: Enemies caught in and destroyed by the initial explosion also explode themselves.
-Gauss-
Gauss II: Concentrating fire allows each consecutive shot to deal slightly more damage each hit on the same target. 50% chance on hit to ricochet to a nearby target. Fires at nearest target.
Recoil Rounds: Specialized projectiles that ricochet more frequently. 75% chance on hit to ricochet to up to 2 nearby targets. Fires at nearest target.
-Comm-
Satellite Communications II: Targets satellites and provides a bonus effect. Shield Satellites: Each charge adds 20s to max duration.
Signal Hack: Attempts to hack vulnerable enemy ship systems. Disables flight and forces ship targeting systems to lock on and attack nearby enemy ships.
Many minor bugs and fixes have been addressed this patch.
Whats Next?
Many planned turret upgrades did not make it into this patch, these additional upgrades are coming soon to be delivered by minor patch on a much quicker release cycle.
The next major patch will add many more upgrades and will feature the addition of expanded satellites into the game.
Major performance improvements!
Revised Scenario balance.
and more.
Thank you for playing Exo TD, we look forward to showing you much more of what's to come!
