[p]Hi all, [/p][p]Here's some AI improvements for 0.2 (experimental branch).[/p][p]Should make them behave themselves more and shoot you in the back less.[/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/40992535/9057602a469d43fc43528968296953d859829b68.png"][/p]
Changes
[p]AIs now check their line-of-fire for friendlies.[/p]
[p]AIs now avoid driving into other tanks. This uses an in-house system more suitable for vehicles than the avoidance used in 0.127.[/p]
[p]Fixed custom battle setup freezing when starting up under certain conditions.[/p]
[p]Fixed the fire-group selection GUI overlapping with the battle overlay tip. [/p]
[p]Faces with zero thickness or area are no longer visible or included in the damage model, for technical reasons.[/p]
[p]General stability improvements.[/p]
[p] - Hamish[/p]
0.2.37.0 - Fixes (Experimental)
Hi all,
Here's some more fixes for the experimental branch.
Fixes
Fixed instability caused by removing cannon recoiled segments.
The firegroup select GUI is no longer visible if the vehicle only has 1 firegroup.
Fixed part moves triggered by hotkeys bypassing restrictions, allowing you to rotate the tracks (resulting in instability).
Fixed certain graphics settings not applying in the main menu.
Fixed certain graphics settings not applying automatically when loading-in.
Fixed unattached parts being included in the damage model.
Updated the main menu alpha notice.
General stability improvements.
Changes
The current selection is no longer cleared when exiting the vehicle editor.
Undo/redo is no longer cleared when exiting the vehicle editor.
The destruction of uninstalled parts when exiting the editor can now be undone upon returning to the editor.
- Hamish
0.2.36.0 - Fixes (Experimental)
Hi all,
Here's some quick fixes for the 0.2 beta.
This update's for the experimental branch.
Fixes
Fixed freeform structures sticking around in vehicle save files when unused.
Fixed turrets not being correctly destroyed when undoing their placement.
Stopped returning to editor while in photomode after winning a scenario from throwing the game into unknown state.
Stopped text inputs into the armour overlay config from triggering editor hotkeys.
Fixed cannon blueprint loads rendering the cannon uneditable.
Fixed duplicate vehicles spawning when rapidly exiting and returning to the editor in sandbox.
Fixed engine ignition constantly turning the engine off and on again when held.
Fixed plate structures with degenerate faces having NaN mass, resulting unexpected physics behaviour out of editor. +
Fixed screen resolution potentially defaulting to 320x200 when switching from 0.127 to 0.2.
Fixed the custom battles start button being clickable when the configuration was invalid, resulting in a crash.
Fixed custom battles without any enemies resulting in an instant victory.
Fixed undo failing when reverting a pick-up and destroy of a mirrored part with symmetry enabled.
Removed an enemy spawn outside of the map bounds in the railway scenario.
Fixed mass budget not being shown on 'Silent Border' and 'No Tank's Land'.
Fixed muzzle brakes turning transparent when changing between models with the interior overlay active.
Fixed the firegroup GUI not showing.
General stability improvements.
Changes
Removed non-functional battle size setting in gameplay settings.
Removed non-functional grass distance setting in graphics settings.
The exterior and interior overlay hotkeys (1 & 2 respectively) now work during part placement.
Placing fuel tanks, ammo racks and crew now switches to the interior overlay. All other parts switch to the exterior overlay.
Unattached parts which aren't being actively placed are now seethrough. This better shows which parts will be destroyed when exiting the editor.
Starting on some bigger fixes now, which might take a bit longer.
- Hamish
0.2 Alpha - Beta Transition
Hi all,
As mentioned in Tuesday's patch, 0.2 is at target feature parity with 0.127. So all work will now go into fixing bugs, improving stability, and refining the new 0.2 features.
0.2 is moving to the 'experimental' branch and the '0.2-alpha' branch will eventually be closed. Version 0.127, which is currently on the experimental branch, will move permanently to the new '0.127' branch.
So to participate in this 0.2 beta, you'll need to opt-in:
Recap
For those who are just joining us in 0.2 and haven't been following development, here's a summary for you:
Volumetric to geometric internals
Components (Engines, crew, fuel, etc) are now 3D objects which need to fit inside the vehicle. The internal space based system has been removed entirely.
This removed need to measure internal space combined with the new 3D armour plates allows you to make open topped vehicles.
Editor
Fully rewritten, it's now a more stable and intuitive experience.
Part editing UI has changed from switching between tabs, to simply right-clicking on the object you want to edit.
The editor now has a more thorough reload when switching designs and eras, often providing a quick fix should you run into any stability issues.
Undo/redo is much more dependable now.
Cleaned up the GUI and made it more sleek.
Select-ability and visibility of types of parts can now be configured in the new overlay configuration panel.
Freeform
Rewritten from the ground up, freeform is now an in-house system tailored for tank design. All armour plates now have physical thickness. Overall it's much more stable and comes with a few more quality-of-life features, though this is still only the beginning.
Riveting is now integrated with freeform directly, with generation that allows entire vehicles to be rivetted at the press of a button. Update post
Deletions, fills and extrusions all now support mirroring. There's also few new selection methods: full plate select, box select, radial select, linked select and invert select.
Colson (aka The Wonder Waffle) has made an excellent tutorial covering the new freeform and a few useful building techniques: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8BBezsBxBo
Damage model
The damage model received a full rewrite, to work with the 3D plates. It's now semi-volumetric, so thicknesses will be different when shooting down the length of plates, or through their corners.
The simulation is far more realistic now, with improved ricochets, spalling, de-normalization and overpenetrations.
The new system is fully exposed through the armour overlay, allowing you to run your own simulations and see exactly what would happen in battle.
Crew no longer have an efficiency value which affects how quickly they perform tasks. Instead, they always perform 100% (at full health) but can only do one task at a time with each limb.
E.g. a gunner can control elevation with one arm, azimuth with another and the trigger with a foot pedal. Should you assign them to loading, which uses all limbs, they will have to take some time to switch to the new task before they start.
This lets small crews work better and more realistically.
Other changes
There were quite a few changes, so I'll keep this to the most notable:
Crewmen are now placed manually, fully posable to allow you to squeeze them into tight spots.+
The scenario framework has been rewritten to allow far more flexibility and interesting scenarios.
And much more under the hood! These two years have primarily been paying off tech debt and prepping the game to be able to handle everything on the roadmap.
Regressions
Some features have taken a step backwards since 0.127. I'll list them here so you know that they're being kept in mind and are planned to be improved in the beta:
AI decision-making and collision avoidance
AIs not checking their line-of-fire for friendlies
Cannon barrel editing
Thank you for the endless support, kind words and constructive feedback guys. Always inspires me to work hard and do my best by you.
Here's the final major 0.2 alpha patch before it enters beta. We'll move to the experimental branch in the next few days, where 0.2 will be stabilized and polished. 0.127 will be moved to its own dedicated branch where you'll be able to continue playing it.
Battle Interior Overlay
Added an in-battle overlay (O by default). This shows the health of every part in the vehicle in a more readable fashion than the GUI readout. It also shows how much ammo each rack has remaining.
Turret Decoupling
Turrets can now pop-off if sufficient pressure builds within the vehicle from ammo rack detonations.
Other Changes
Reworked armour overlay module shader to be more clear.
Significantly increased track resistance to piercing damage.
Steering assist is now disabled when one or more tracks are destroyed, making tanks veer more when one track is destroyed.
Spare tracks and wheels moved from 'Tracks' to 'Other' category in overlay filtering.
Raised the minimum damage required to be delt to ammo racks for them to detonate.
Redid cannon traverse health icon.
Fixes
Fixed rebinds not working for vehicle controls.
Fixed parts in the damage model being incorrectly sized.
Fixed turret traverse motor health being shown with the engine icon.
Hatch doors now disappear after ammo rack detonations.
Once 0.2 is stable, an updated roadmap will be released and we can continue on with the exciting features that the 0.2 rewrites laid the groundwork for.
- Hamish
0.2.34.2 - Detracking & Multi-Cannon Fire Delays (0.2 Alpha)
Hi all,
Continuing the implementation of missing features from 0.127 to 0.2.
Cannon Linking
Cannons can now have their firing mechanisms linked, allowing one gunner to fire multiple cannons at once, or with a delay between them. Fire delay has been changed from a constant timing, to a percentage of the reload of the linked cannon. This lets you stagger fire more effectively, as the delay will adjust depending on the load time of the rack that's currently being loaded from.
Track Armour & Health
Track roadwheels, idlers and sprocket wheels now provide a small amount of armour. Shooting these will damage the track and, eventually, destroy it. The belt will disappear when the track is destroyed. No further drive or brake forces can then be applied to the track.
Fixes
Fixed multi-cannon fire group label showing '0' instead of 'Fire group'.
Fixed AI thinking the player vehicle was knocked out if there was a partial ammo-rack detonation, but the hatches weren't blown.
Fixed a small memory leak.
Working on an in-battle interior overlay next. This should show component health a little better, as well as how much ammunition you have remaining.
- Hamish
0.2.33.2 - Scenarios Reimplemented (0.2 Alpha)
Hi all,
This one reimplements all missing scenarios from 0.127 over to 0.2 - with a few tweaks to take advantage of the flexibility added by the rewrites.
This update's for the 0.2 alpha, you'll have to opt-in to play it:
Changes
Reimplemented all missing scenarios from 0.127.
Made fuel tanks require larger hits to be set on fire. This should stop light spalling from creating fuel fires.
Ammo rack cookoff damage now scales with the quantity of propellant in the vehicle.
Fires now deal less damage the more extinguished they are, making them easier to put out.
Significantly increased the radius illuminated by muzzle flashes.
Lowered the brightness of muzzle flashes.
Halved the length of the light flash from muzzle flashes.
Shell impacts now apply force to the hit vehicle.
Replaced all scenario splash images.
Added separate splash images for custom battles map selection.
Fixes
Spare wheels now default to the air tyre model if the vehicle has no powertrain.
Scenario Tweaks
No Tank's Land
Objective changed from 'Destroy 75% of enemy artillery' to 'Cross no man's land'.
Moved the vehicle editor closer to the front.
Moved artillery back by several kilometres to more realistic ranges.
Removed allied artillery.
Removed crossing boards from the enemy trenches.
Replaced enemy AT guns with designs more suitable for the era. Designed by Nirrti from the community.
Taiga
Objective is now to get past several well-concealed AT guns.
It's now a solo mission, you're limited to one vehicle.
It now has a heavy fuel requirement, with a long distance travelled since the last refuel.
Ambush
The ambushers no longer drive into the convoy. Instead, they'll maintain the high-ground.
Improved graphics of the background mountains.
Moved the escape point closer to the start position.
The Crossroad
Allies will now dive to cover on first contact.
Allies will wait until the whole convoy is in cover to begin their assault.
Silent Border
Objective changed to 'Get three vehicles across the border'.
Moved the ambushing AT gun inside the barn, instead of next to it.
Significantly reduced the surface area in contact with the tracks required for mines to detonate.
Made mine damage more consistently deadly.
Doubled the density of mines.
Sandbox
Overall map polish.
Removed the runway, as it felt out-of-place (the flat is still there)
A copy of the editor vehicle now spawns 150m away.
A neutral heavy from the Defence scenario now spawns 300m away.
Removed the beach. Replaced with continuous cliff.
Improved ocean visuals.
Just a few features remaining until 0.2 goes into beta:
Multiple cannons per gunner, with a potential fire delay.
Internal overlay in battle, to better show component health and remaining ammo.
Track armour and health.
Part and turret decoupling on ammo rack detonations.
- Hamish
Development Resumed
Hi all,
Just letting you know I've finished my much needed break.
Back to work!
- Hamish
Development Break
Hi all,
Feeling a bit burnt out. Taking some time off to recharge, until I can be productive again.
A few quick and very needed quality of life freeform features for you.
For the 0.2 alpha branch:
Additions
Freeform: Added ability to select all connected geometry. (L) by default.
Freeform: Added a circle selection tool (C key by default). Left click adds to the selection, middle mouse removes from it, scroll changes the circle radius.
Freeform: Added a box selection tool (B key by default). Left click adds to the selection, middle mouse removes from it.
Freeform: Added ability to invert the current selection. (Ctrl+I) by default.
Fixes
Freeform: Switching to corner mode from face mode will no longer select corners that weren't part of selected faces.
