Ashes of the Singularity v0.94 Changelog

from AshesoftheSingularity Forums

The v0.94 update for Ashes of the Singularity is now available. Check out the latest updates:

 

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Gameplay Balance Changes

  • Engineer group orders

  • Stability & Bug fixes

 

Gameplay
  • Engineers can be grouped together to build buildings in a queue using the Army system
  • Balance Changes
    • PHC Scout build time reduced from 15 to 14
    • PHC Scout cost increased from 50 to 72
    • Substrate Martyr cost reduced from 100 to 90
    • Substrate Martyr time to build reduced from 28 to 23 seconds
    • Substrate Reaper max energy increased from 60 to 75
    • Substrate Reaper build time reduced from 24 to 20 seconds
    • Substrate Capacitor max energy increased from 300 to 500
    • Substrate Sky Cleaner build time increased from 18 to 28 seconds
    • Substrate Sky Cleanser logistics increased from 2 to 3
    • Substrate searcher radioactive cost reduced from 12 to 10
    • Falcon AA reload time reduced from 2 seconds to 1.8 seconds
    • Apollo flak cannon damage increased from 15 to 20
    • Apollo flak cannon reload time increased from 2.5 to 3.2 seconds
    • Fury cannon reload time decreased from 1 to 0.8 seconds
    • Fury cannon shots per volley increased from 9 to 16
    • Fury cannon shot damage increased from 10 to 20
    • Substrate Sky Cleanser weapon shots per volley reduced from 10 to 6
    • Substrate Sky Cleander damage reduced from 25 to 20
    • Drone Auto cannon shots per volley increased from 6 to 7
    • Drone auto cannon damage reduced from 3 to 2
    • Drone auto cannon cooldown reduced from 3.5 to 2.2
    • Substrate Drone bolt cooldown reduced from 3 to 2.8
    • Substrate Drone bolt shots per volley increased from 3 to 4
    • Substrate Drone bolt damage per hit reduced from 6 to 5
    • Mauler Hyena Cutting Array cooldown increased from 2.2 to 4.8s
    • Mauler Hyena Cutting Array duration decreased from 1.9s to 1.6s
    • Mauler Hyena Cutting Array damage per hit reduced from 200 to 120
    • Mauler Hyena Cutting Array energy required per volley reduced from 80 to 60
    • Archer acceleration reduced from 200 to 90, top speed changed from 105 to 100.
    • Brute top speed increased from 110 to 118.
    • Artemis mobility reduced slightly.
    • Apollo top speed decreased from 100 to 85.
    • Nemesis acceleration reduced from 70 to 60.
    • Zeus top speed reduced from 100 to 95.
    • Centaur top speed reduced from 85 to 80.
    • Prometheus top speed reduced from 90 to 85 to give slightly more time for ranged T1s / T2s to work on it (i.e. to kill it).
    • Martyr top speed increased from 110 to 180.
    • Reaper acceleration reduced from 200 to 100 and top speed reduced from 106 to 97.
    • Sky Cleanser acceleration reduced from 194 to 90 make it a bit less nimble.
    • Capacitor top speed increased slightly
    • Avenger acceleration increased from 100 to 250.
    • Mauler acceleration reduced from 200 to 77. However, it's max acceleration is increased from 98 to 120.
    • PHC T1 energy regen increased from 0.5 to 1 so to make leveled up T3s more powerful.
    • Medic heal range increased from 200 to 250 to make it more effective in battle.
    • Medic radioactive cost increased from 18 to 54.
    • Overmind (Brain Whale) HP reduced from 3000 to 2000. Shields increased from 7000 to 8000. Shield regen increased from 5 to 8 per second.
    • Substrate energy recharge rate increased from 0.5 to 1 to make Level abilities more potent.
    • Avenger HP decreased from 500 to 400
    • Avenger shields decreased from 400 to 200
    • Avenger shield recharge rate increased from 4 to 6 units per second (i.e. a single squad of brutes will never actually damage an Avenger)
    • Drone hive shields increased from 200 to 400
    • Mauler HP decreased from 200 to 50
    • Mauler shields decreased from 900 to 600
    • Mauler energy recharge rate increased from 0.5 to 1
    • Martyr HP decreased from 100 to 80
    • Martyr shields decreased from 50 to 25
    • Reaper HP reduced from 20 to 10
    • Reaper energy storage reduced from 75 to 10 (its weapon uses a lot less energy now)
    • Reaper energy recharge increased from 0.5 to 1
    • Reaper shields decreased from 180 to 100
    • Reaper cost/build time increased (its weapon got a major buff)
    • Capacitor radioactive cost reduced from 26 to 18
    • Capacitor build time reduced from 26 to 18
    • Brain Whale plasma bolt reload time reduced from 2 to 1.9s
    • Brain Whale plasma bolt no longer pierces armor
    • Brain Whale plasma bolt volley count reduced from 5 to 4
    • Brain Whale plasma bolt accuracy increased from 60% to 75%
    • Medic heal ray range increased from 250 to 300, tracking increased from 300 to 500
    • Medic heal rate reload time increased from .25s to 1.3s.
    • Martyr drone reload time reduced from 4 to 2.1
    • Martyr drone count decreased from 8 to 3
    • Martyr drone weapon range increased from 250 to 300
    • Martyr drone weapon accuracy increased from 70% to 90%
    • Martyr damage increased from 3 to 4
    • Archer rocket accuracy increased from 60% to 67%
    • Scout autocannon volley increased from 6 to 7 shots
    • Brute reload time decreased from 2.8 to 2.6 seconds
    • Brute volley increased from 3 to 5
    • Brute damage per shot reduced from 2 to 1
    • Reaper reload time reduced from 2.8s to 1.06s
    • Reaper weapon beam time increased from 1.9 to 2.4s
    • Reaper armor piercing increased from 2 to 4
    • Reaper damage reduced from 20 to 15
    • Reaper energy requirement reduced from 30 to 10
    • WMC (Savager main gun) reload time slightly increased
    • WMC No longer targets T1s
    • WMC damage increased from 40 to 50 per hit
    • Kill global ability damage reduced from 20000 to10000 (no longer enough to kill a T3 that has player upgrades)
    • Martyr Bolt weapon added (not used)
    • Reaper cannon renamed to Reaper Scythe
    • Buildings:
      • Quantum jammer HP reduced to be similar to the PHC Orbital Nullifier
    • Orbitals
      • "Kill" Orbital Ability from 200 to 300 quanta
      • EMP Pulse orbital ability now starts at 100 Quanta (changed from 50)
    • AI
      • Difficulty: Easy is easier
      • Difficulty: Normal and above AI react faster
      • minor tweak to substrate ai to get Kill online a little quicker
      • have some units rush buildings more often
      • drone hives and brainwhales hang back in fights more
      • have Martyr steering make better use of new found mobility
      • have archer leash loosened since it is no longer as mobile
    • Maps
      • Proving Grounds: Victory Point requirement increased

Art & Graphics
  • Reduced Turinium specular
  • Scorpio lighting tweaked
  • Martyr drone bomb made brighter

UI
  • Allow building rally points to be set in passible, but black-fogged areas
  • Don’t deselect a building for construction when player attempts to click in invalid location
  • Adjusted colors in the Game Summary screens
  • Updated to new icon
  • For-real level up indicator in empire tree for tiny pip icons
  • Changed the MP Icons to match the faction symbols used in the rest of the game
  • Benchmark BG changed to a planet screen
  • Reorganizing end game screens, and adding score to one of the new summary tabs
  • Adding limit to camera pitch so you can’t peek under Fog of War (potential stability improvements here too)

Stability Fixes
  • Fix for hang where a client crashes well the server is waiting for them to catch up
  • reinforcement requests sent to a factory that is set to infinite repeat will no longer send an infinite number of reinforcements to the army
  • Game Hangs Moving Destination to Edge of Map
  • fix crash related to reforming armies and asking for reinforcements
  • Catch catastrophic Audio error, panic
  • Handle case where Map fails on ReadBackResource DX11.

Bug fixes
  • Multiplayer
    • Construction effects now appear on clients
    • fix for client not getting message that removes dead Orbital Jammer/Nullifiers
    • have Scan use air visiblity so it doesn’t get blocked by terrain elevation
    • have host register for KillBuilding messages in mp
    • Fixing star change deduction code to get rid of accidental +3 and -2 star messages, after clarifying behavior with Tachyon
  • Gameplay
    • Disable reinforcement buttons with a note in the tooltip if the metaunit is too full to fit the reinforcement
    • fix for units that won't move after an attack move order
    • Tutorial polish & fixes
    • Map bounds for camera anchor
    • Amplify tooltip text clarification
    • Fixed bug with control groups being lost when Army is disbanded
    • Canceling some units in a queue will no longer possibly reset current unit’s progress
    • fix for AI sometimes ignoring orbital jammer
    • fix for AI sometimes starting missions before map is ready
    • fix for AI economically stalling out in some cases
  • Graphics
    • Addressed graphics artifacts in some VFX
    • Fixed bad looping on Reaper laser
    • Fixed Credit button appears to be cut off
    • Removing old "AO Blob" from Hercules
    • Fixed ground decal showing up during destruction sequence on Substrate Seed
    • Fixes flickering when under construction building is killed
    • Fixing sizing of small empire tree pips
    • Fixed Amplifier UI portrait not showing up
  • Misc
    • Initial spelling/grammar update
    • Updated credits
    • Fixing cursor and edit box bg not showing up on certain UI scales
    • Fixed first saved settings not saving device and vendor ID, causing settings to be ignored on next load
    • improved terrain hugging behavior for camera
    • Stupid hoops to prevent dx11 from attempting to process alt-enter
    • More testing for valid building in Construct and Repair order updates
    • Clean up main menu tutorial popup
    • Created a martyr bolt weapon sound group
41,268 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Any chance of getting a quick summary of Mauler re-balance? Seems like a lot of drastic changes on paper (200 to 50 health?). I count 7 nerfs to it in this changelog. I thought the issue was that its weapon damage was being applied 4x instead of 1. Was there any testing of how it performs now in its role?

Reply #2 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Mauler damage is 1/4 what it was.

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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 2

Mauler damage is 1/4 what it was.

OK, as needed - but why also reduce its health by 75% plus reduce its shields by 33%? 

  • Mauler HP decreased from 200 to 50
  • Mauler shields decreased from 900 to 600
Reply #4 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Quoting Ekko_Tek, reply 3


Quoting Frogboy,
reply 2

Mauler damage is 1/4 what it was.



OK, as needed - but why also reduce its health by 75% plus reduce its shields by 33%? 

 

    • Mauler HP decreased from 200 to 50

 

    • Mauler shields decreased from 900 to 600

 


Because it was OP.  I did extensive balance testing.  A single Mauler can still take out 3 Artemsis's on its own as well as kill a Nemesis.  

Compare the Mauler to other units.  Also, look at the Mauler recharge rate.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 4
Because it was OP.  I did extensive balance testing.  A single Mauler can still take out 3 Artemsis's on its own as well as kill a Nemesis. Compare the Mauler to other units.  Also, look at the Mauler recharge rate.

I'm honestly not trying to be annoying and have not played the new patch yet but was this testing with whole armies? I have no doubt it can still take out 3 Artemis or a Nemesis in a vacuum but with whole armies, it has to be able to close the gap without getting shot down on approach and:

  • Mauler acceleration reduced from 200 to 77. However, it's max acceleration is increased from 98 to 120.

Would you mind explaining this difference in 120 vs 77? I thought you were planning on nerfing its damage but increasing its ability to close the gap and get in range. Anyway, definitely will test out how it plays in real games.

Reply #6 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Quoting Ekko_Tek, reply 5


Quoting Frogboy,
reply 4
Because it was OP.  I did extensive balance testing.  A single Mauler can still take out 3 Artemsis's on its own as well as kill a Nemesis. Compare the Mauler to other units.  Also, look at the Mauler recharge rate.



I'm honestly not trying to be annoying and have not played the new patch yet but was this testing with whole armies? I have no doubt it can still take out 3 Artemis or a Nemesis in a vacuum but with whole armies, it has to be able to close the gap without getting shot down on approach and:

 

    • Mauler acceleration reduced from 200 to 77. However, it's max acceleration is increased from 98 to 120.

 


Would you mind explaining this difference in 120 vs 77? I thought you were planning on nerfing its damage but increasing its ability to close the gap and get in range. Anyway, definitely will test out how it plays in real games.

No problem my friend.

So its top speed has increased from 98m/s to 120m/s so it's much better at closing the distance than it was.

The Mauler is still very lethal.  If someone masses Artemsis's, the Mauler is the unit to build.

Reply #7 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Engineer group orders is a good idea. Can we reduce the diminishing returns on assists though? I'm not asking to eliminate them entirely. If diminishing returns is 50% productivity for each additional engineer, the most you can get is double (1+sum (n=1 to n=Inf, 0.5 ^n) = 2. I think a better number is 75%. At most you can get 4 times the build rate (1+sum (n=1 to n=Inf, 0.75^n) = 4. But at a more reasonable number, say 5 engineers, your build rate is 3.05. 3 engineers is 2.3.

I think 0.75 offers more strategic and tactical options for how someone chooses to run their economy. It will open up several viable "builds". It will make the storage techs more enticing as people will have more opportunity to burst build as needed. It will better allow radical shifts in strategy to changes in map conditions, it will allow a player to set up defensive stands better if they find they have neglected a part of the map. The streaming economy still limits how fast you can do things.

Perhaps let us play around with 0.75 in patch 0.95 so we offer feedback. Thanks for your consideration.

Reply #8 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Wow. I missed out the patches 0.91-0.93. Logged on with 0.94 yesterday evening and I am amazed! Its a new game. Really fun to see how the game shapes up. It is still possible to look under the fog of war but way better than before. The game is really smooth now.

s.

 

Reply #9 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

I approve of this update. Mauler still deals the damage, but it's not as insane as before.

 

Can't wait to test out Nvidia+AMD tomorrow when my Nano arrives!