Alpha 7 is now available in the main branch. In this update we focused mainly on making combat more interesting with more tactical choices, including new mechanics, smarter enemy AI, balancing changes, and new combat-related content.
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Main changes
Melee weapons became a much more important part of the game. They receive bonuses when attacking ranged units, and ranged units receive penalties when attacking in melee distance.
Enemy AI has been improved, and will now make better use of tactics such as flanking, cover, and the new melee vs ranged bonuses/penalties.
Base attack difficulties have been tuned down to compensate. You can take a bit more time in advancing, and you will need it, choose your battles wisely since they are now more difficult.
New combat consumables such as grenades and voodoo dolls have been added. These items provide new tactical possibilities in combat.
New infrastructure for status effects - temporary bonuses or penalties, usually granted by using a consumable in combat.
Release the hounds! Hellhounds will now roam the apocalypse. This new enemy unit has low health, but is very fast and vicious. Don't let them get near!
Sometimes when rescuing a survivor, you will may find unique, stronger survivors that will be of great assistance.
Performance improvement for large populations and large combat.
New content - items, research, traits, etc.
Full change list
<*> Mechanics: Ranged units receive penalties in close range, and melee units receive bonuses when attacking ranged units.
<*> Mechanics: Unique, stronger survivors can be rescued.
<*> Mechanics: Units can now be affected by temporary status effects, providing bonuses and/or penalties.
<*> Mechanics: Better enemy AI that uses tactics such as flanking and cover.
<*> Usability: More information is shown when hovering usable items.
<*> Usability: Display bonuses and penalties in combat (such as flanking or status effects).
<*> Usability: Performance improvements with large populations.
<*> Usability: Show ability range when selecting target for abilities (such as healing or grenades)
<*> Usability: More info when selecting enemy.
<*> Usability: Autosave games can no longer be overwritten.
<*> Usability: You can now load saved game when in combat, it's no longer required to quit to main menu or finish the combat first.
<*> Usability: Now showing item description when hovering equipped item in survivor profile.
<*> Usability: You can now see which survivors are tired/hungry from the mission launch window
<*> Content: New consumable items used in combat.
<*> Content: New enemy unit: Hellhound
<*> Content: Added new traits, some are less common than others.
<*> Content: New stronger equipment that can only be scavenged.
<*> Content: Added new research subjects.
<*> Balancing: Slower enemy progress to make up for smarter AI.
<*> Balancing: Lower difficulty setting of time between attacks now also lowers awareness increase rate, so it doesn't end up with stronger attacks.
<*> Balancing: Scavenging enemies & loot levels increase less steeply as distance from base increases, so there are more viable options available in each stage of advancement.
<*> Balancing: Natural heal rate is now lower (using medicine remains the same)
<*> Balancing: First base attack is now guaranteed to be easier.
<*> Balancing: Time spent sleeping in order to replenish energy is a bit longer.
<*> Balancing: Survivor skill levels increase a bit slower, and the difference in production efficiency (crafting, gathering, farming, research) between lower and higher skill levels is a bit smaller. Combat has skill effects have not been touched.
<*> Balancing: Research is a bit slower now.
<*> Visual: Some new research icons.
<*> Visual: New models for occult weapons when equipped.
<*> General: Added links from game to read latest patch notes, and to subscribe for updates.
<*> Fixed Bug: Custom difficulty settings were not applied correctly.
<*> Fixed bug: sometimes (after loading a game) crafting window would not update as raw materials became available.
<*> Fixed bug: removed "not enough resources" error when SHIFT+Crafting multiple items, as long as there are enough materials for at least one.
Mod Support
We are currently working on adding mod support to the game. How elaborate, will depend mostly on how large and active the modding community turns out.
If you think you would want to mod this game and would like to help us define our modding infrastructure, please contact us at contact@suncrash.com. We would also be willing to give some modders access to our modding tools before we make them public, so their mods will be available as soon as we release our first build with mod support.
You're also welcome to let us know your thoughts or suggestions regarding mods in this thread.
Alpha 7 patch 1 on beta branch
Alpha 7.1
Since the release of alpha 7 on the beta branch, we have encountered some subtle balancing issues, so we decided to release a patch on the beta branch before making alpha 7 available on the main branch.
These are the changes in alpha 7.1, mainly more balancing to support the slower pacing that was introduced in alpha 7.
<*> Balancing: Scavenging enemies & loot levels increase less steeply as distance from base increases, so there are more viable options available in each stage of advancement.
<*> Balancing: Natural heal rate is now lower (using medicine remains the same)
<*> Balancing: First base attack is now guaranteed to be easier.
<*> Balancing: Time spent sleeping in order to replenish energy is a bit longer.
<*> Balancing: Survivor skill levels increase a bit slower, and the difference in production efficiency (crafting, gathering, farming, research) between lower and higher skill levels is a bit smaller. Combat has skill effects have not been touched.
<*> Balancing: Research is a bit slower now.
<*> Usability: You can now load saved game when in combat, it's no longer required to quit to main menu or finish the combat first.
<*> Usability: Now showing item description when hovering equipped item in survivor profile.
<*> Usability: You can now see which survivors are tired/hungry from the mission launch window
<*> Performance: More optimizations for large populations
<*> General: Added links from game to read latest patch notes, and to subscribe for updates.
<*> Fixed bug: there were too many leather jackets around in scavenge missions
<*> Fixed bug: sometimes (after loading a game) crafting window would not update as raw materials became available.
<*> Fixed bug: removed "not enough resources" error when SHIFT+Crafting multiple items, as long as there are enough materials for at least one.
After almost a month working on alpha 7, it is now available on the beta branch. In this update we focused mainly on making combat more interesting with more tactical choices, including new mechanics, smarter enemy AI, balancing changes, and new combat-related content.
Reminder: To play on the beta branch, right click the game in the steam client, select properties, and then select "beta" from the betas tab.
Melee weapons became a much more important part of the game. They receive bonuses when attacking ranged units, and ranged units receive penalties when attacking in melee distance.
Enemy AI has been improved, and will now make better use of tactics such as flanking, cover, and the new melee vs ranged bonuses/penalties.
Base attack difficulties have been tuned down to compensate. You can take a bit more time in advancing, and you will need it, choose your battles wisely since they are now more difficult.
New combat consumables such as grenades and voodoo dolls have been added. These items provide new tactical possibilities in combat.
New infrastructure for status effects - temporary bonuses or penalties, usually granted by using a consumable in combat.
Release the hounds! Hellhounds will now roam the apocalypse. This new enemy unit has low health, but is very fast and vicious. Don't let them get near!
Sometimes when rescuing a survivor, you will may find unique, stronger survivors that will be of great assistance.
Performance improvement for large populations and large combat.
New content - items, research, traits, etc.
Full change list
<*> Mechanics: Ranged units receive penalties in close range, and melee units receive bonuses when attacking ranged units.
<*> Mechanics: Unique, stronger survivors can be rescued.
<*> Mechanics: Units can now be affected by temporary status effects, providing bonuses and/or penalties.
<*> Mechanics: Better enemy AI that uses tactics such as flanking and cover.
<*> Usability: More information is shown when hovering usable items.
<*> Usability: Display bonuses and penalties in combat (such as flanking or status effects).
<*> Usability: Performance improvements with large populations.
<*> Usability: Show ability range when selecting target for abilities (such as healing or grenades)
<*> Usability: More info when selecting enemy.
<*> Usability: Autosave games can no longer be overwritten.
<*> Content: New consumable items used in combat.
<*> Content: New enemy unit: Hellhound
<*> Content: Added new traits, some are less common than others.
<*> Content: New stronger equipment that can only be scavenged.
<*> Content: Added new research subjects.
<*> Balancing: Slower enemy progress to make up for smarter AI.
<*> Balancing: Lower difficulty setting of time between attacks now also lowers awareness increase rate, so it doesn't end up with stronger attacks.
<*> Visual: Some new research icons.
<*> Visual: New models for occult weapons when equipped.
<*> Fixed Bug: Custom difficulty settings were not applied correctly.
Alpha 6 patch 1 live
Alpha 6 patch 1
Our first patch for alpha 6 includes a few fixes and improvements, and as usual a bit of blanacing.
We also fixed a large issue where saving/loading many times would cause your saved game file to be huge and cause the game to lag a lot.
The patch is now available on the main branch.
Changes
Mechanics - you can now configure priority of crafting items. Click the "Priorities" button in the "Crafting" panel.
Mechanics - when a task is far and the survivor needs to eat/sleep soon, they will instead eat/sleep right away and only then do the task.
Mechanics - guard towers no longer provide cover against melee attacks. You will need to block enemy access to the towers with barricades to defend from melee attacks.
Visuals - notifications now appear in a different, smaller background.
Visuals - occult weapons now have their own in-game models.
Usability - when switching between base, map or combat, the last camera position and zoom will be remembered.
Usability - when equipping survivors for a mission/defense, the list is now sorted by combat skill, and then by weapon dps.
Usability - changed usage of medkits so it is more straight forward. Equipping a medkit now removes it from inventory, and does not require a medkit in the inventory when actually using it. After using in combat, a new one will replace it if avialable, otherwise it will be unequipped.
Fixed bug - dragging to set task priorities would sometimes not follow the mouse cursor in lower resolutions
Fixed bug - when a survivor is attacked and then retreats, the next attack on a new target would still hit the retreating survivor.
Fixed bug - order of survivors in the HUD would sometimes change randomly.
Fixed bug - when using mouse scroll in keyboard configuration panel the camera would zoom in/out.
Fixed bug - when loading, then saving a new save, then loading that new save and so on, there was a leak causing the save file to grow and the game to lag after many iterations.
Alpha 6 patch 1 on beta branch
Alpha 6 patch 1
Our first patch for alpha 6 includes a few fixes and improvements, and as usual a bit of blanacing.
As usual, the patch is available on the beta branch for a few days before we integrate it to the main branch.
Changes
Mechanics - you can now configure priority of crafting items. Click the "Priorities" button in the "Crafting" panel.
Mechanics - when a task is far and the survivor needs to eat/sleep soon, they will instead eat/sleep right away and only then do the task.
Visuals - notifications now appear in a different, smaller background.
Usability - when switching between base, map or combat, the last camera position and zoom will be remembered.
Usability - when equipping survivors for a mission/defense, the list is now sorted by combat skill, and then by weapon dps.
Usability - changed usage of medkits so it is more straight forward. Equipping a medkit now removes it from inventory, and does not require a medkit in the inventory when actually using it. After using in combat, a new one will replace it if avialable, otherwise it will be unequipped.
Fixed bug - dragging to set task priorities would sometimes not follow the mouse cursor in lower resolutions
Fixed bug - when a survivor is attacked and then retreats, the next attack on a new target would still hit the retreating survivor.
Fixed bug - order of survivors in the HUD would sometimes change randomly.
Fixed bug - when using mouse scroll in keyboard configuration panel the camera would zoom in/out.
Alpha 6 live
Alpha 6
We are happy to announce that Alpha 6 is now available in the main branch.
Our main objective in this update was to improve game balancing. Our goal was to keep the game challenging, but make it a bit more forgiving, less repetitive, and less frustrating.
We changed how the base attacks happen, so they are less frequent and annoying, but still keep the player on edge, knowing that the base is never really safe.
We also tried to make the game more forgiving, so that losing a fight or a few survivors would not mean that all hope is lost.
Other than that, our priorities were adding more content, fixing bugs, and improving usability.
While loading saves from previous alpha versions is possible, due to the many balancing changes, we strongly recommend to start a new game instead, specially with high survivor counts.
Main Changes
New defence mechanic - Awareness Level. As time goes by, the demons become aware of your base. The larger your population, the faster it happens.
The frequency of attacks on your base now depends on the awareness level.
Once the attack happens, the difficulty of the attack is determined by how long since the invasion started (how many game days have passed), and also on the awareness level. On higher awareness levels even early game attacks can be devastating.
Priorities Summary Panel - the panel for setting survivor task priorities has changed so that you can see all the survivors in one place, sort them by their skills, and see how good they are at each task.
Key Binding - you can now configure keyboard controls.
Scavenge loot - the way scavenge loot is calculated has changed to make scavenge more worthwhile. Beware, though, as scavenge missions now increases enemy awareness.
New creature - Fallen Angel - if you thought you can just hide behind cover and the enemies will come to you - think again. Although they deal lower damage than some of their counterparts, their long range and high accuracy make them the deadliest enemy we've seen so far.
New Research - a few new research subjects were added, and a few coming soon were implemented. Mostly, we've added research that provides passive bonuses, and new research to support new mechanics/items.
New Items - a bunch of new items were added to the game, including a rare weapon that can only be found in scavenge, if you're lucky.
Larger expeditions - you can now research "Logistics" which will increase the size of your taskforce to 6 survivors.
Full list of changes
Mechanics: New Awareness Level mechanic, determines strength and frequency of enemy attacks.
Mechanics: Enemy attacks on base are sometimes split into several groups, coming from different directions.
Mechanics: Enemy attacks may now happen even before the craft weapons quest is complete.
Mechanics: Survivors no longer start walking to far away tasks, if they will become hungry/tired before reaching them.
Mechanics: Can no longer set "Needs" priority. It is always highest priority.
Content: Several new items were added to the game.
Content: Several new research subjects were added.
Content: Coming soon research subjects were implemented.
Content: New rare weapon that can only be found in scavenge.
Content: New random event: Scouting Party (affects awareness)
Content: New enemy creature: Fallen Angel.
Content: Combat maps are now selected in a way that reduces the chance of getting the same combat map again and again.
Content: Repel evil ritual now reduces awareness instead of cancelling an incoming attack.
Content: New building - lookout post, patrolled to reduce awareness growth rate.
Visuals: added a few more variations for the dead bodies in combat maps.
Balancing: Changed the way enemies are split into groups in combat, so that the groups are more evenly balanced.
Balancing: Changed enemies in hellgate, added fallen angels, and increased difficulty due to increase of max survivor team size.
Balancing: New loot generation algorithm.
Balancing: Changed costs of many research subjects.
Balancing: Changed costs of several items.
Balancing: Difficulty of rescue survivor mission is now less dependent on time and more dependent on number of survivors.
Balancing: Holy equipment now requires "Holy Words", can be scavenged (rare) or obtained by killing fallen angels.
Balancing: Made summoning imps a bit more expensive.
Difficulty: Added new "Casual" difficulty level
Difficulty: Added new "awareness rate" difficulty setting in cusotm difficulties, that determines how fast awareness level grows.
Difficulty: Added new "attack frequency" difficulty setting in cusotm difficulties, that determines how often the base is attacked. Works in conjunction with awareness growth, since attacks are more likely when awareness is high.
Difficulty: Changed "Normal" difficulty name to "Challenging", to more accurately describe the challenge level. It is still the default and recommended difficulty level.
Difficulty: Changed "Beginner" difficulty name to "Forgiving"
Usability: New priorities panel shows all survivors and can sort by skill.
Usability: Can configure keyboard controls.
Usability: Added zoom keyboard controls, for laptops without mouse wheel.
Usability: Selecting values in settings panel is no longer cycling, so it's easier to determine which is higher/lower.
Usability: When alerted of an incoming attack, survivors will remain in their position if you manually send them somewhere, until after the attack.
Usability: New keyboard control to open help panel (default "H")
Usability: Removed "Best" resolution option ins graphics settings, instead it defaults to highest resolution and remembers whatever has been set manually.
Fixed bug: Enemies stuck inside walls and cannot be killed.
Fixed bug: Base attack enemies would only spawn on top/right edges.
Fixed bug: 4:3 lower aspect ratios would not see the entire tech tree.
Fixed bug: Loading a game with the "Scavenge" quest active would always spawn a new rescue mission.
Fixed bug: Some maps had too little clay/stone.
Fixed bug: Selecting multiple survivors and clicking retreat would not work.
Fixed bug: Entering a non-numeric value in map seed would crash the game.
Fixed bug: Right clicking an already selected target would reset the attack timer.
Fixed bug: Animations when using medkit would not play when performing survivor was crouching near cover.
Fixed bug: When multiple workstations were available, such as beds or workbench, survivors would only consider using the closest one.
Fixed bug: Survivor skills appearance was bad in lower resolutions.
Fixed bug: When using a medkit, health bar in portrait would not update.
Fixed bug: Scrollbar in survivor HUD was not clickable.
Fixed bug: Clicking on the keyboard shortcut for combat ability (heal/retreat) would always use the last ability (heal)
