V2.75

V2.75 Update New Scenario - King of the Hill (Substrate) The King of the Hill scenario which is receiving some further tweaks this update, is now available to be played as Substrate. Audio The game found notification for automatch was not as obvious as it needed to be, as some players were missing it while doing other activities waiting for a game. To make it easier to notice, we are increasing the notification to a longer sound that includes a voice line "Consciousness Expanded." (Their expanded consciousness allows them to connect to the distant world where the battle is taking place. We're also updating the Retributor weapon sound effect as it was quite lackluster. Changed automatch game found notification from a chime to a sound followed by a voice line New and improved audio for Retributor! New Maps We have taken some of our best team game maps and converted them to be suitable for 1v1 play. Mirach 2p, Merga 2p, Ross 128p, and Delta Serpentis 2p are can be played in skirmish and multiplayer games Ladder Season Reset Alongside the release of 2.75 is the launch of the season 3 ladder season, the leaderboards have been reset giving everyone a fresh chance and getting to the top. Congrats to Amelie for winning the season 2 ladder! New Automatch Map Pool To complement the season 3 ladder reset, we are updating the map pool for automatch. Most significantly, we're removing most of the tiny and small maps and replacing them with larger ones. The game has evolved a lot over the past year, and now with Juggernauts, the late game is a lot more fun which bigger maps help field. Below is the list of new automatch map pool: Seginus Mirach 2p Merga 2p Europa Delta Serpentis 2p Ross 128 2p Atwater Italia Espana Ulrich Economy Changes We are making some changes to the economy in order to make defensive play styles more viable and encourage some strategic diversity. Contesting resources out on the map should be crucial for success in order to create proper game flow and player interaction, but currently defensive strategies were too weak and aggression overly important. Turinium Generators were providing too much of a resource bonus, despite also accruing victory points, so the player who controlled the Turinium could generally just overpower their opponents with superior economy. Resource Deposits also granted too much base income which meant mass early capturing was crucial even if regions didn't gain Extractors. Turinium Generator bonus resource income decreased from 10% to 5% Resource Deposit gain reduced from 0.5 to 0.25 Resource Extractor gain increased from 1.5 to 1.75 Map Changes Seginus The bottom spawn had a small advantage due to the direction of of the starting Metal Deposits in relations to the Engineers spawns. Balanced starting Metal Deposits Italia We are incentivizing more control of the sides by moving out one of the base deposits. Replacing central mountains with hill Moved a metal deposit from the base to the sides Merga Moved starting Generators further away from Nexus to prevent double capping or Nexus weapon engaging creeps Added additional high ground on starting bases to compensate Mirach The Southeastern battlegroups had multiple regions that acted as single region cutoffs, which meant players had to prevent Orbital spawns on multiple regions from having a devastating effect. The bottom left was also so far away from the main battle in the centre, that it was often neglected. We are adding an additional lane from to connect to the bottom left to player's bases to alleviate the severity of the multiple cutoffs and to make the bottom left more active. Added additional laneway on the bottom of the map Moved Deposits on starting regions closer to Generator to make capturing while building Extractors easier Regulus The strategic diversity of the top left spawn is lowered because there was no metal deposits close enough to the Power Generator to capture while building an Extractor Moved metal extractors of the top left metal region closer to the Generator Gamma Draconis The cutoffs were too brutal in Gamma Draconis given the map size and how a single region could cutoff so much. Cutting off the base resources will be more difficult. Added additional pathway between each teams two bases Fixed missing Metal Extractor Safiere Added an extra region connecting the players base to the resource regions Moved a Radioactives region from the corner to the center near the players base Added a metal extractor in the corner AI The Insane AI is supposed to ridiculously overpowered, but it took it a bit too far. Many players are incapable of taking it out even along side 5+ other team mates. It doesn't need to be THIS hard, and it just means players are using other means to make the AI easier, like giving themselves bonus resources or disabling air units. We are lowering the resource bonus of the AI so it is now only insane and not turbo insane. Insane AI resource bonus reduced from 5x to 4x Balance Brute The Brute is getting a buff so it has more of a role to fill in the late game as a counter to mass and Archers. Health increased from 120 to 125 Damage increased from 2 to 2.5 Archer The Archer was still underperforming Health increased form 70 to 90 Medic Armor removed Atlas Removing the armor-piercing on the Atlas makes it less powerful against Strat Bombers and Harbingers, while the aoe nerf will make it slightly weaker against drones. Health reduced from 350 to 250 Armor-piercing removed AOE reduced from 50 to 40 Attack range reduced from 1200 to 1100 Tormentor The Tormentor was overperforming, in particular against enemy frigates. AOE reduced from 60 to 40 Minimum range increased from 100 to 300 Energy consumption increased from 6 to 10 Health reduced from 230 to 130 Reaper The Reaper was slightly over performing. Damage reduced from 15 to 14 Total health/shields reduced from 200 to 180 Sky Cleanser Health/shields reduced from 320 to 280 Capacitor The Capacitor was far too tough. Total health/shields reduced from 330 to 130 Zeus The Zeus was overperforming against other Cruisers in large battles due to its heavy splash damage. It’s main gun weapon is getting a huge damage reduction to make it weaker against other Cruisers, but without affecting its performance against most frigates as it still one-shots them. Zeus is also losing health in exchange for a better rate of fire on its main weapon and a damage increase on its secondary to give the Zeus more consistent performance, there was too much variance on how the Zeus performed depending on if it would live long enough to fire an additional volley off. The Secondary weapon buff also will grant better damage against structures. Zeus Main weapon damage reduced from 400 to 130 Zeus Main weapon cooldown reduced from 8 to 5 Zeus Secondary weapon cooldown reduced from 3.5 to 2.5 Zeus Secondary weapon damage increased from 75 to 145 Zeus health reduced from 1400 to 1100 Avenger The Avenger is getting a small buff to its secondary weapon which will give it a large increase against buildings but little bonus against frigates. Avenger secondary increased from 15 to 50 Avenger secondary weapon can now target cruisers and dreadnought Caregiver The Caregiver had too much health. Total health/shields reduced from 1650 to 1350 Apollo The Apollo and the Artemis are too weak for big PHC cruisers. Increasing their health will see them survive a shot from a Nemesis, on top of receiving a buff to its single target damage output. Health increased from 680 to 820 Metal cost increased from 290 to 310 Flak Cannon range increased from 800 to 1200 Point Defense Lasers damage increased from 40 to 60 Point Defense Lasers cooldown reduced from 5 to 3 Artemis Health increased from 680 to 820 Hera The Hera and Eradicator were too versatile as they had excellent range, could target buildings and were strong against other cruisers and dreadnoughts. We are lowering the range to weaken its performance and prevent it from making the Artemis and Destructor obsolete. Main gun attack range reduced from 1200 to 1100 Mobile Nullifiers Mobile Nullifiers lacked the range to comfortably cover an entire army. We are increasing their range to prevent players from needing to manually position their Nullifiers, but increasing their cost to compensate. Mobile Nullifier range increased from 1000 to 1250 Mobile Nullifier cost increased from 700/400/40 to 800/500/50 Eradicator We’re increasing the projectile speed of the Eradicator to match the power of its weapon and to lower the amount of overkill for multiple shots firing at the same target. We are also lowering the damage of its secondary weapons to ensure countering it with frigates is more viable. Main gun projectile speed increased from 700 to 1100 Main gun attack range reduced from 1200 to 1100 Secondary weapon damage reduced from 6 to 4 Experience requirements Dreadnoughts were leveling up too quickly, which could be frustrating when unlocking multiple instant heal upgrades during a single engagement Dreadnought & juggernaut experience requirements increased by 50% Hyperion The Hyperion’s self healing hull regenerated health far too quickly. Self healing hull heal rate lowered from 0.25 to 0.125 Autocannon range reduced from 800 to 400 and removed air attack Autocannon damage reduced Prometheus We are giving additional health to the dreadnought destroyers to compensate for their higher costs compared to other classes of dreadnoughts. Health increased from 14,000 to 16,000 autocannon range reduced from 800 to 400 and removed air attack Substrate Dreadnoughts Substrate Dreadnoughts were still to vulnerable to mass Athena or Mauler. We want to encourage people to rely on Nemesis and Eradiactors for countering Dreadnoughts. Armor increased from 55% to 60 Retributor Since the Overmind and Cronos are getting more dedicated anti-air attacks, the anti-air capabilities of other dreadnoughts is being removed. It's also losing some of its cooldown on the main weapon so it's better and rapidly switching fire between low tier units. Main weapon cooldown reduced from 5 seconds to 3 Retributor autocannon range reduced from 600 to 400 and removed air attack Autocannon damage reduced Savager The Executor upgrade was not strong enough given it's the Savager's only primary weapon upgrade and it comes at lvl 4. For comparison, the default weapon does 60 damage. Total health/shields increased from 14,000 to 16,000 Executor damage increased from 75 to 90 Overmind The Overmind and Nest of the Queen had potent anti-air damage, but were easily shut down by Strategic Bombers due to the splash damage knocking out all of the drones. To give more consistent anti-air and to further refine the role of these units, the Overmind and Queen are losing one of their Drone Swarms in exchange for a set of invulnerable Anti-air drones, whiletThe Overmind is also being made more vulnerable to anti-drone units and losing some secondary damage. The movement speed increase of many cruisers such as the Nemesis will also be an indirect nerf to the Overmind's anti-ground performance as it will have more difficulty evading backwards out of range. Loses one its drone swarms in exchange for an anti-air drone swarm which is invincible. Time to replace lost Drone swarms increased from 0.5 to 2 seconds Secondary weapon damage reduced from 20 to 10 Secondary weapon accuracy increased from 75 to 100 Cronus The Cronos is underused compared to the other PHC Dreadnoughts and as a result is getting a bigger role to fill. It’s receiving a large buff to its secondary weapons, which are rail guns rather than autocannons, and they’re being able to target air. The Cronos will now also provide a soft anti-air role, albeit not as strong as the Overmind as it the railguns have a limited firing arc. The large increase to the railgun damage also buffs its anti-ground damage, so to compensate the primary missile attack is losing its armor-piercing to lower the performance against dreadnoughts but while still retaining the same power against buildings. Cronus Railguns damaged increased from 20 to 60 Cronus Rainguns accuracy increased from 80 to 100 Cronus Railguns now has 20% armor-piercing Cronus Railguns can now target air Cronus Primary missile attack armor-piercing reduced to 20% Agamemnon The Agamemnon was being neglected in the late game over the Leonidas, so it’s receiving a health buff to match the Leonidas. Agamemnon health increased from 50,000 to 60,000 Nest of the Queen Removed one drone swarm and two repair drone swarms Now has two anti-air drone swarms which are invincible. Nest of the Queen health/shields increased from 40,000 to 45,000 Leonidas As difficult as it is to test late game balance, it become clear the Leonidas was over performing and which gave PHC an edge in the very late game situations. The Leonidas is intended to dual any other Juggernaut, but it wasn’t weak enough against the unit types designed to counter it. We are removing its anti-air capabilities and weakening its secondary weapons to make overwhelming it with air or low tier ground units is more viable, which also makes the Agamemnon more desirable to complement it. The Leonidas is also receiving a cost increase to match the Eye of Darkness, but retains the devastating range and damage advantage since the Eyel area of effect damage. There’s also a number of other changes which indirectly will make countering the Leonidas easier, such as the Fury nerf, changes to Nukes and the cruiser speed adjustment which makes the anti-Leonidas unit mixes more effective. Leonidas Autocannon air attack removed Leonidas Secondary weapon cooldown increased from 2 seconds to 8 Leonidas Autocannon damage reduced from 14 to 7 Metal cost increased from 20,000 to 22,000 Radioactives cost increased from 7000 to 8000 Quanta cost increased from 1000 to 1200 Logistics cost increased from 250 to 300 Build time increased from 800 to 900 Searcher There’s no gameplay reason for this change, it just was weird having a unit with only a single health point. This makes it more consistent with other Substrate units. Health increased from 1 to 125 in exchange for 125 shields Fury The Fury was overperforming a bit compared to the Dominator since its missile attack allowed it to fire even when it wasn’t facing the enemy target. Fury Atropos Missiles Damage from 75 to 65 Hades Due to the movement speed bonuses of Frigates and many cruisers, the Hades is getting a projectile speed buff so it isn’t made relatively weaker. Projectile speed increased from 50 to 60 Air Marauder The Air Marauder was a good unit for harassment of extractors and buildings, but lacked the punch against units. We’re giving it a small amount of armor piercing to grant better performance against units but without making it too good for harassment. Air Marauder now has 20% armor piercing Air Rampager The Air Rampager was far too powerful, and was dominating the battlefield. It is receiving some heavy nerfs to put its performance in line with other aircraft and make countering it easier. Total health/shields reduced from 1700 to 1200 Max speed reduced from 500 to 450 Cooldown increased from 0.5 to 0.65 Shield regeneration reduced from 12 to 4 Air Harbinger Damage increased from 250 to 300 Attack range reduced from 900 to 800 Strategic Bomber Area of effect reduced from 300 to 250 Nexus It as possible to cheese your opponents on some maps by spawning in an Engineer/Avatar next to their nexus and build a hidden armory. The sight range increase on the Nexus will make it more difficult to this on certain maps. Sight range increased from 1000 to 1500 Dreadlaunch & Advanced Assembly The dreadnought production structures had a negligible cost but were vulnerable to being sniped with only 10,000 health which could be frustrating due to the cost of juggernauts.. We are increasing their health and cost to make it more difficult to snipe a Dreadlaunch part way through building a juggernaut. Health increased from 10,000 to 15,000 Cost increased from 300/320 to 500/420 Smarty Basic defenses were too cheap and quick to build for how much value they provided. Rushing these defenses on key choke points could lock down the map. Increasing their cost will make early frigate aggression more viable, while the Smarty is receiving a damage buff to be stronger against cruisers but not stronger vs frigates due to overkilling. Damage increased from 80 to 100 Metal cost increased from 150 to 200 Build time increased from 28 to 35 Annihilator Build Time increased from 35 to 38 Metal cost increased from 200 to 230 Artillery Post The performance of the Artillery post varies depending on the map, but in some situations massing them was too effective and frustrating to play against. Radioactives cost increased from 240 to 340 Barrager Priorities changed to put Cruisers and Dreadnoughts above Frigates Sentinel The Sentinel and Pulverizer were overperforming against Dreadnoughts due to their high armor-piercing which discouraged people from upgrading to the Oblivion and Exterminator turrets, resulting in them being neglected. Armor-piercing reduced from 40% to 20% Drone MRV The range and AOE on the Drone MRV made it far too effectively against frigates. AOE reduced from 100 to 60 Pulverizer The Pulverizer and Exterminator had too much rangem making countering them with artillery difficult. The Pulverizer range was noted to be reduced in 2.71 but was unintentionally left out. It was also over performing against Frigates due to its continuous beam, so it’s getting a cooldown in between shots to make it weaker against frigates. Pulverizer range reduced from 1000 to 900 Armor-piercing reduced from 100% to 20% Cooldown increased from 0.16 to 1.5 Priorities changed to put Cruisers and Dreadnoughts above Frigates Exterminator Exterminator range reduced from 1100 to 1000 Constable The Constable and Blossom launcher were documented in the 2.71 update as receiving an increase to their damage, but these changes were unintentionally left out. The basic anti-air defenses will now perform better for their cost. Damage increased from 60 to 75 Blossom Launcher Damage increased from 20 to 24 Falcon The Falcon was underperforming Damage increased from 20 to 26 Health increased from 4000 to 5500 Air Eliminator The Air Eliminator is receiving a reduction in its cooldown to give it better performance, in particular against light aircraft. Cooldown reduced from 5 to 2 Health increased from 7000 to 7500 StarBurst Cooldown increased from 0.5 to 1 Total health & shields increased from 4000 to 5500 Sky Ender Damage increased from 50 to 60 Total health/shields increased from 7000 to 7500 Emergency & Serpentine Turret These Orbital turrets scale poorly into the late game as army sizes become large, so they are receiving a reduction in their Quanta ramp up so they have more of a role to fill outside of just the early game. Quanta cost increase per cast decreased from +25% to +15% Nano-Mesh Barrier Nano-Mesh Barrier also didn't scale well into the late game because the +2000 health is fixed and not a percentage that increases with Quantum Upgrades. It's ramp up is being lowered to give it more usability as the game progresses. Quanta cost increase per cast decreased from +25% to +15% Intensive Care Intensive Care (PHC) heals 2400 health over 30 seconds, compared to Regenerate (Substrate) which restores 2000 shields over 10 seconds. In almost all cases, the quicker heal per second of Regenerate is beneficial, so we are increasing the amount provided in Intensive Care but increasing their Quanta cost given the amount of value they can provide. Total healing increased from 1200 to 2400 Quanta cost increased 100 to 125 Regenerate Quanta cost increased 100 to 125 Carving Turret Quanta cost increased from 150 to 180 Quanta cost increase per cast increased from +10% to +25% Cooldown increased from 10 seconds to 15 Incursion Cost increased from 150 to 200 Plasma Storm Quanta cost increased from 250 to 300 Quanta cost increase per cast increased from +25% to +30% Nanite Assasination Quanta cost increased from 200 to 250 Orbital Strike & Antimatter Detonation The “Nuke” abilities were far too powerful, and would often determine how games are decided. They are getting a cost increase to justify their ability to decimate entire cruiser armies or lines of structures. Orbital Strike costs more since it has a large radius, despite having slightly less damage. Antimatter Detonation Quanta cost increased from 600 to 900 Orbital Strike detonation Quanta cost increased from 600 to 1000 Quanta cost increase per cast increased from +25% to +30% Movement Speed Changes We are increasing the movement speed of many units to make it more consistent among unit tiers and for the game flow better. Increasing the movement speed will also make it easier to evacuate Orbital Abilities such as Plasma Storm, "nukes" and to evade Strategic Bombers. Frigates, in particular, are getting a large speed boost to allow them to better out maneuver tougher cruisers and be more viable for harassment. Brute max speed increased from 120 to 150 Archer max speed increased from 110 to 150 Medic max speed increased from 120 to 150 Martyr max speed increased from 130 to 150 Reaper max speed increased from 110 to 150 Sky Cleanser max speed increased from 110 to 150 Sky Cleanser acceleration increased from 180 to 400 Capacitor max speed increased from 110 to 150 Tormentor acceleration reduced from 400 to 180 Apollo max speed increased from 84 to 100 Destructor max speed increased from 78 to 100 Drone hive max speed increased from 70 to 100 Drone Hive acceleration reduced from 120 to 70 Artemis max speed increased from 78 to 100 Nemesis max speed increased from 72 to 100 Nemesis acceleration reduced from 120 to 70 Caregiver max speed reduced from 150 to 120 Mauler max speed reduced from 125 to 100 Avenger max speed increased from 100 to 100 Masochist max speed reduced from 150 to 100 Hera max speed increased from 60 to 72 Eradicator max speed increased from 60 to 72 Prometheus max speed increased from 68 to 72 Campaign Yorkshire Yorkshire was introducing too many things at once to new players. It will be less overwhelming without the Sky Factory. Mac was also too powerful in this mission and would carry the player too much. Removed access to Advanced Sky Factory Lowered the AI "Difficulty" level of Mac on all campaign difficulty levels. Calethaon Due to the move speed changes, the waves of enemy units will arrive faster. We are delaying the first wave in order to prevent this mission from becoming more difficult Delayed started wave by 10 seconds Decanus To compensate for Incursion cost increased Starting quanta Increased from 150 to 250 Fixed issue where Atlas was not buildable Silgul (Legacy Change) Silgul received some changes in the 2.71 update aimed at making it more difficulty, but was not documented in the change log. Increased number of starting buildings the enemy AI receives when playing on hard and expert Auctor (Genesis mission 6) Some of the mountains were causing pathing issues Replaced some mountains with hills Scenarios Oblivion Increased AI difficulty when playing on hard and expert Implosion Changed move order of starting engineer so it doesn't end on top of a region Mountaintop Added additional Radioactives King of the Hill One of our top players was able to “beat” this mission by holding out for long enough that the mission stops becoming more difficult. We are adding additional challenges for players who manage to last over an hour, and removing one of the huge early difficulty spikes. Can now be played as Substrate Removed Victory Point win condition Fixed issue where Metal Extractor wasn’t belonging to the Generator it was closest to. Delayed first enemy wave by 10 seconds Added several waves of Air Harbingers and Strategic Bombers that spawn at a random location on the map starting at 46 minutes and ramp up in intensity over time. Added a hidden unkillable Sensor Tower with unlimited range to ensure enemy units can attack up the high ground at 75 minutes Added additional weapon upgrades to player 3 at 75 minutes (The one who gets the Experimental Eye of Darkness Juggernauts) Removed waves of furies Removed two of the Cronos and Prometheus spawns from their 4x spawn Bug fixes Fixed targeting issue with Athena main gun Fixed a bug where upgrading Smarties and Constables would be instantly destroyed when taking damage. Fixed an unbuildable Metal Deposit on Nightshade Fixed an error in the DPS tooltip calculations. Many DPS tooltips will change despite their actual damage remaining the same. Fixed a bug where the Carving Turret didn't have an explosion or SFX upon death Other Resources V2.75 Forum Post