In this new challenging co-op campaign, you'll take off towards the northern parts of Siberia to defend the Motherland. Grab a friend or two, or three (or pick some people up on Discord) and fly the mighty PACT aircraft like the Su-27 Flanker and the MiG-29 Fulcrum into battle.
In this campaign you'll sometimes see a lot more than the usual maximum of 8 aircraft. In the final stage of the campaign, there will be up to 14 aircraft fighting in the skies! It's a bit chaotic but a lot of fun! :)
More stuff in the Custom Co-op Match Toolbox!
For the mission creators out there, I have added three more attributes that you can change for your co-op mission:
Chech out the details about those ones in the documentation.
Please join us on Discord and find some players to try out the new campaign!
Best regards
//Bankler
1.6.2
Added new co-op campaign "DEEP FREEZE".
Added "StartingUpgrades" as a custom co-op match setting.
Added "StartingCredits" as a custom co-op match setting.
Added "DisabledObjectiveAAAs" as a custom co-op match setting.
Adjusted some visuals on the scoreboard to make it work better for 5+ players.
Fixed a bug where you couldn't disable friendly AI in co-op mission when playing on the PACT side.
Fixed a bug where co-op matches defaulted to not allowing reinforcements.
Updated the custom co-op match documentation.
Update 1.6.1 Create your own co-op levels!
Show us your design!
Last update introduced the Co-op game mode, in which you and your friends battle through a campaign of custom rules matches. We're now adding the next layer on this feature, enabling you to create your own custom campaigns, and even share them with other players.
If you feel that a campaign you've built is fun to play, there's nothing stopping you from submitting it to us so we can put it in the game for all players to enjoy! If we think the campaign feels good, we'll be happy to put it in there and credit you for it!
We might even have little treat for you if you choose to share your campaign with the community! :) How does a cool Campaign Builder Medal that you can wear on your pilot portrait sound?
In the game (Battle/Co-op/Use Custom Campaigns), there's a link taking you straight to a step-by-step guide how it's done! The matches are setup using a standard JSON format, which is quite easy and a really useful thing to learn for any aspiring game designer or programmer!
Boom! Client settings nuked!
With this update, the developer company name in the build has been fixed. This causes Windows to save the game's settings in another folder in the registry. Unfortunately this means that locally saved stuff, such as your key bindings, and offline (not online) progress is lost.
In most cases, you don't need to do anything. Just make sure your key bindings are alright and go fly! However, if you really need to revive your settings (for instance, if you only play the game offline and had your save in there), there's a (hack-ish) way to get it back. Just follow this guide closely if you need it.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1624721745
Please join us on Discord to discuss this new stuff!
Best regards
//Bankler
1.6.1
You can now build your own custom matches and campaigns.
Fixed bug where you couldn't hotjoin a game after the game's original host left (causing a host migration).
Fixed bug where bots sometimes stopped spawning after a host migration.
Update 1.6.0 Co-op mode!
New Co-op game mode!
This update introduces a new game mode, in which you take on challenges in the form of matches with customized game rules. For instance, in one match you may be restricted to only flying the F-16 in a 2 vs 4 scenario. In another there may be no enemy aircraft at all, but much more ground threats to worry about.
The co-op challenges are played on the usual maps, but things like number of FOBs, what aircraft types you may use, ground vehicle spawn rates and lots of other things will change between each co-op challenge.
Each challenge has a max player amount (between 2 and 4 depending on the challenge). You can of course play the challenges solo as well (though some of them will be extremely difficult). Each finished co-op challenge rewards the player with a bunch of Wings and Scrap.
Be advised that these are the first baby steps for this feature. There could be a few bugs here and there. Also, for this initial launch, there is only one campaign available, with 8 levels on the Desert Trap map. Be prepared for more to come though, very soon! :)
Finally, big shoutout to TorchedForever, Zeropoint and p0p who helped me out with testing! You guys are the best!
Please join us on Discord to find a good wingman for taking on these challenges!
Best regards
//Bankler
1.6.0
Implemented Co-op mode.
Added first Co-op campaign "Desert Inferno" containing 8 levels.
Fixed bug where other players' aircraft movement sometimes were stuttering.
Season 17 is starting! Free Wings available!
New season! Free Wings!
Season 16 is over, and Season 17 (The big Christmas season!) is now starting! Nice flying everyone and big congratulations to the TOP 10! This season we got three player who reached ACE RANK, generating three 50-wing vouchers that any player may use, so be sure to credit them here on Discord! To use them, enter the code under options/redeem.
These are the codes: * ACE_JARMEN
* ACE_WEW
* ACE_TURAVIS
(Not valid forever, so jump in and claim them right away!)
Season 16 Final Results
1 Jarmen Kell
2 「wew」
3 Turavis
4 Strigon_Actual
5 alumican on the orange
6 TruongBradley
7 Bullet Spongy
8 TorchedForever
9 CoDeViRuS
10 coda777
Update coming soon?
Yes! I'm working on a little larger feature this time around, so can't say for sure when it'll be done. But I'm sure you'll enjoy it when it is!
Since the day of launch, Sky Knights has been locked to 60 FPS. By popular request, I have now provided an option to either set an alternative frame rate cap (25, 30, 60, 80, 120 and 144 is available) or to disable the cap completely.
To be clear, we still recommend using the 60 FPS cap. It will let your computer run cooler and more silent since the fans won't have to cool the graphics card as much. Furthermore, most monitors are running at 60 hz anyway.
If you're running the game on a low end computer, it might even be a good idea to cap the frame rate at 30 FPS, as it's often a better experience to have 30 solid FPS than having a higher but more inconsistent frame rate.
When you're in a match, and enable the options menu, you'll now see a frame rate indicator in the top left corner. You may also toggle this indicator manually with the F2 key.
Bug squash!
Even though it's more fun to create new features, every now and then, I'll spend a week or so just going through the backlog of those small irritating bugs and glitches to keep the game polished. While the game certainly is in a good state already, I'm determined to keep it that way and not accept bugs and hide behind the Early Access label.
Big thank you to everyone who's helping out by posting about issues in the Discord #bugs_and_feedback channel.
Regardless if you want to give feedback, or just hang out and chat about aircraft geek stuff, please join us on Discord!
Best regards
//Bankler
Patch notes
1.5.1 <*> You can now switch region by just selecting a new region from the dropdown, without having to click the "Change" button.
<*> Added season number to the main menu leaderboard.
<*> Added option to change the frame rate cap to 25, 30, 60, 80, 120, 144 FPS or uncapped frame rate.
<*> Changed font on some HUD elements to match others.
<*> Rewritten the netcode for AAA fire, to be much more performance efficient.
<*> Fixed bug where you could get stuck on the runway collider edge in rare cases.
<*> Fixed bug where the wrong traits were displayed in the HUD trait panel.
<*> Fixed bug where the blackout effects were no longer visible.
<*> Fixed bug where the spawn button didn't get highlighted when closing the pause menu if the spawn timer reached zero when the pause menu was open.
<*> Fixed bug where an aircraft could appear to be the wrong type when hotjoining a game.
Update 1.5.0 HUD Redesign
New HUD
This is something I've wanted to take care of for a long time. The original HUD was inspired by a fighter aircraft hud, with bars along the edges, indicating speed and such things. While this certainly made sense, given the theme of the game, it was quite problematic that important elements (such as the health bar and the ammo counters) were located very far from each other. This required the eye to constantly look in different places.
The new HUD is more inspired by a classic RTS/MOBA HUD grouping all the important elements in one place. Hopefully this will be much more efficient.
Since this is a rather drastic change, and it might take a while before things are perfected, I have provided an option to use the classic HUD until we feel completely confident that the new HUD works as well as we intend!
New F-5E Model
The old F-5E model and texture didn't really live up to the quality of the other aircraft models, so I've replaced them with new ones. Hope you like this classic USAF style!
Optimized tree rendering!
This might be less important for people running the game on gaming rigs, but for our laptop gamers every little bit of performance improvement is important. What I've done is that I've batched all the trees in the levels into groups bases on their locations. What this means is that instead of rendering 100 tree models, we're now rendering 1 model with 100 trees, which is much more efficient.
Furthermore, I've added LODs (levels of detail) to these tree batches, meaning that when the trees are seen from very far away, a simpler model with fewer polygons is used, improving performance.
Some results (tested on a three year old laptop with a GT940 GPU)
Average FPS improvement: ~12.7%
Worst case (takeoff with PiP camera) FPS improvement: ~18%
I'm always interested in your feedback, so please leave a comment here and join us on Discord!
Best regards
//Bankler
Patch notes
1.5.0 <*> New aircraft HUD where important numbers are grouped together in one single panel instead of being separated in different corners.
<*> Optimized tree rendering with better static batching and LOD techniques.
<*> Fixed scrolling in the scrapyard, so that it works even if you have lots of modifications.
<*> New F-5E Tiger II model and texture.
<*> Added option to use classic HUD instead of new HUD.
<*> Fixed some smaller issues related to Twitch integration.
<*> Pressing TAB in the post-match screen now toggles between stats screen and scoreboard.
<*> Fixed some collision issues in the race level where you could run through the mountains at a few places.
New AAA models
New AAA models
We've finally put some proper AAA models in there, replacing the old ones. These new ones have rotating turrets and cannons that can tilt upwards. The muzzle flash particle effects should look much better now as well.
Go ahead and bomb them, or just casually fly over and enjoy the tickling feeling of 20/23 mm bullets on your belly!
Shoutout to awesome artist partner .modernator!
Custom game modifications cap
Some people have been setting up organized matches on Discord, which is just awesome. There was a request for a feature to limit modification power in these matches, to ensure a completely level playing field. This made a lot of sense, so now, when you start a Custom Game (previously known as Practice Game) you'll have the option to set a power cap or even disable modifications completely.
Multi-aces and free wings!
Al and Clalaclan did it again! ALCaPWNy is the first player in the game who has managed to become ACE three seasons in a row. Guess we can call that a hat track, right?
To celebrate these accomplishments, we're giving out two coupons worth 50 wings each. Yes, all players can use these codes (Options/Redeem Code), but only for a limited time, so make sure to jump straight in and claim the rewards!
The codes are:
TRIPLE_ACE_ALCAPWNY
DOUBLE_ACE_CLALACLAN
Clan tag tests!
We've put the fundamentals of clan tags in there. While we don't have a full concept of squadrons/clans in the game (at least not yet), we still wanted to make it possible for teams to wear uniform tags without having to change Steam names.
The way you apply for a clan tag now, is by jumping into Discord and contact Bankler about it. You'll need to be a team of at least four active pilots to qualify.
Regardless if you are playing with a team or if you're a lone-wolf, please join us on Discord!
Best regards
//Bankler
Patch notes
1.4.9 <*> Renamed "Practice" games to "Custom" games.
<*> When starting a custom game, you can now set a modification power cap. More powerful modifications will scale down to this value.
<*> Added rudimentary clan tag support. Established squadrons can apply for a tag in Discord.
<*> Replaced AAA models with nice looking ones, in line with the factions (ZSU-23-4 for PACT and M-163 VADS for NATO).
<*> Added black outlines on all name tags.
<*> Added black outlines on FOB health icons.
<*> New IFV muzzle flash particle effect.
<*> Fixed rare bug where you could lose online preferences if losing connection when logging in.
The time has finally come for the PACT faction to get a tool comparable with the recently released AJS 37 Viggen.
Unlocking it!
Finish Race number 4 under the required time. After that is done, you can put the mighty Su-17 in your PACT deck!
What can it do?
The Su-17 shares many of the strengths and weaknesses with the Viggen. They carry similar loadouts and share the power of being able to quickly getting into enemy territory for a quick airstrike and escape!
However, the Su-17 has a unique feature that no other aircraft in Sky Knights has. It can sweep its wings! This changes the aerodynamics in several ways. In general, when you want to go fast, sweep the wings! When you want to turn and dogfight, extend the wings.
And don't try to take-off or land with the wings in the sweeped position. It might not end well... :)
The Viggen might have the stronger engine and a more powerful afterburner. So while a Viggen pilot may be able to kick in the afterburner to outrun a Su-17, the Su-17 is much faster than the Viggen if you're looking at the non-afterburning top speed. This makes the Su-17 much less fuel dependent high speed cruiser than the Viggen.
Press the new Aircraft Ability button to change the wing sweep setting. By default it's Q (mouse/keyboard) or R3 (i.e press down thumbstick, on gamepad).
Su-17 Fitter trailer!
Check out the trailer, demonstrating the Fitter in action! Please leave a like and a comment!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHX1Z9PQEBQ
And hey, don't be shy! Join us on Discord and discuss this update!
Best regards
//Bankler
Patch notes
1.4.8 <*> Added the Su-17 Fitter aircraft.
<*> Added new race track (finish this track under 00:52 to unlock the Su-17!).
<*> Implemented variable-sweep wing mechanic (default key binding is Q).
<*> Adjusted how to aircraft gun auto aims up and down to reduce GUI flickering.
<*> Adjusted gamepad and keyboard reference images to show the new Aircraft Ability button (used to sweep the wings on Su-17).
<*> Slightly decreased slowdown on hard turns.
<*> Added daily task list under scoreboard.
<*> You can now copy your online progress and settings to offline mode. This is done by clicking "Mirror Offline" in the profile page.
<*> In the lobby, if the host changes map during countdown, the match start process is now aborted.
Update 1.4.7 Game Balance
Balance! Tweaks! Fixes!
This was meant to be a small update, adressing some minor balance issues. The more I worked on it, and the more I talked to the player base, the more inspired I got to keep polishing things. In the end the change list got pretty big. Thanks a lot for all the great and constructive feedback. I hope you enjoy the changes!
Shorter respawn times
The increasing respawn times are necessary to make the match end at some point. Sky Knights matches should generally take 10-25 minutes, not longer. However, many player felt that towards the end of the match, it's just too much waiting around. We'll try reducing the respawn time cap by 10 seconds, and the intial respawn time by 5 seconds.
Most importantly, I have now put all these number on the server so it's now very easy to change them again, if it needs some fine tuning (does no longer require patching the game).
Viggen balancing
The Viggen is supposed to be a fast and sturdy ground attacker. Get in, unleash the rockets and get out. It turned out though, that with the Viggen's high hull and large fuel tank, it was just too hard to intercept. The fuel has been decreased (which also makes a lot of sense, as the real life Viggen emptied its tanks pretty fast) and the hull has been slightly weakened (it's still sturdy!).
Furthermore, the Viggen has gotten a little more dependent on the afterburner. The normal (non-afterburning) top speed has been slightly reduced, while the afterburner power has been increased. This will hopefully require players to be careful in their fuel management.
Hotjoiner respawn times
Previously, when you hotjoined a game, you started with the initial 15 seconds (now 10 seconds) respawn timer. This usually worked okay, since you'd be behind on upgrades and credits anyway. However, it turned out that this sometimes didn't play well with the reinforcement mechanic. It was just too easy for a late hotjoiner to take full advantage of the reinforcement and easily turn the whole match around, which didn't feel fair.
Hotjoiners now start with a respawn time equal to the current average of the other players.
New season! Free Wings!
To be fair, it was almost two weeks ago the season ended. Anyway, ALCaPWNy (for the second time) and CLALACLAN achieved ACE rank this season! And it's time to celebrate!
For these these achievement, we're giving out two vouchers, worth 50 wings each (open up Options/Redeem Code and enter the codes in there). Yes, that's right, everyone can use these! (For a limited time though, so jump in right away!)
These are the codes: * DOUBLE_ACE_ALCAPWNY
* ACE_CLALACLAN
1.4.7 <*> Minimum respawn time has been decreased from 15 to 10 seconds.
<*> Max respawn time has been decreased by 10 seconds. It's now 35 seconds in 4v4 games, 30 in 3v3 and 25 in 2v2.
<*> Added option to enable or disable the chromatic aberration camera effect.
<*> When a team gets reinforcements, the morale no longer resets. This will make reinforcements less powerful.
<*> Removed the middle MBT spawn for reinforcements in the Desert Trap map.
<*> Added hint about destroying/defending MBTs to the reinforcements text.
<*> Now triggering PiP camera on the MBTs when they spawn during a reinforcement.
<*> Unguided rockets damage range reduced from 100-120 to 80-100.
<*> Viggen max speed and ideal turn speed reduced from 325 to 320.
<*> Viggen hull reduced from 120 to 110.
<*> Viggen fuel reduced from 16 to 13.
<*> Viggen afterburner power increased from 250 to 255.
<*> Gun fire when there are no targets will now default to firing in a straight line aligned with the aircraft instead of being horizontally aligned.
<*> A/A Gun sight now aims appropriately up and down when the aircraft is ascending or descending.
<*> Fixed bug where a reconnecting player sometimes didn't get the full amount of credits they had before a connection loss.
<*> A hotjoining player will now start with the current average respawn time of the other players.
<*> Match progress is now based on remaining FOB health instead of remaining FOB count. Matches will now close for hotjoining when remaining FOB health reaches 30%.
Update 1.4.6 Viggen and unguided rockets polish
Tweaks and fixes!
With the help of the awesome community, we quickly figured out some details that could use some tweaking, as well as fixed a couple of bugs.
This resulted in this little hotfix! Thank you so much for the help!
If you want to be part of this great community of aviation and gaming enthusiasts, jump on Discord!
Best regards
//Bankler
Patch notes
1.4.6 <*> The aircraft's speed now relates to the throttle setting in a more linear fashion than before.
<*> Replaced rocket explosion particle effects.
<*> Rockets should no longer detonate slightly under the ground.
<*> The aircraft will now start the dive towards ground targets a little later, to better align the rocket sight.
<*> The AJS 37 Viggen's nose is now black, as it should be.
<*> Fixed a bug where rockets could stop working after you fired all the rockets, used other weapons, died and then respawned.
<*> Fixed a bug where the goal waypoint in the races didn't react instantly after landing when using larger aircraft.
