battleMETAL update for 22 September 2023

BIG PATCH NOTES

Almost 2 years in development, not bad for a 1-person team. There's a lot more work under the hood to achieve most of these items, but this is easiest to read highlight. I focused as best as possible on improving the quality of life items for players, smoothing out some rough edges. Content took a bit of a backseat, I did add 3 brand new campaign missions to round out the main campaign to 15 maps finally, but that's about the extend of what I can provide. This is a big enough change to warrant starting your game over from the beginning. Where possible your old save files should be ported to the new save-file format. I've also included a price drop! DEAD_HANDS getting more for less, quite a win-win.

GAMEPLAY

• 3 Brand new maps, and 1 map rebuilt entirely from scratch.
• all original 12 maps overhauled with extra detail and balance.
• Ramshocks - can now hit mechs but will deal feedback damage.
• Player can destory crystal map hazards.
• Crystal hazard now plays particle effect when hitting player.
• Player radar always set to [active] on-spawn.
• Added Headlight for dark places, default bind is 'L'.
• All mechs now have 3 'auto-config' slots. These are auto-populated based on player's CURRENT inventory availability, and split between 3 general roles.
• Auto-configs can still be modified! they just won't save their modifications.
• 'Wreckage' skins for mechs and vehicles to make the destroyed ones easier to see.
• 'Shields active' and 'Shields disabled' particle effects for all units that have shields.

UI

• Hangar menu uses numbers and icons for mech stats, no more bar graphs.
• fixed aspect ratio for 2D elements, no more stretching.
• 3D models for Hangar, Arming, Targeting views.
• Player can toggle between 2D and 3D target armor diagrams.
• Targeting arrow rotates 360 degrees on player's view to show target direction.
• Fixed lock-on indicators.
• Enemy variant abbreviations now show on targeting computer - ENE, BAL, etc.
• Added 'Restart Mission' option to Pause Menu.

BALANCE

• Maps have been rebalanced on a better difficulty curve.
• Rotary Plasma - 2-shot burst. Burn effect now a chance of burning.
• Flak - improved shield damage, and small-target damage buff. 3-rnd burst instead of 4.
• Missiles - all missiles given damage buff against buildings / turrets.
• PAC - increased damage.
• SFGA - damage propagation to adjoining mech part.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Small improvement to mech piece damage algorithm.
• Added 3D clouds and backdrops to every map.
• Better Line of Sight detection for rendering game objects, better overall average FPS.
• Some particle effects changed / enhanced.
• Added rock-column obstacle that matches the biome they're in.
• Better collision detecion on buildings and environment objects.
• Dead units and buildings replaced with non-interactive wreckage, improves FPS and network load.
• AI pathfinding tuned up a little.
• Improved rain/snow particle generation.
• Reduced code and function calls where possible.
• Mech leg direction based on velocity and smoothly rotates to heading.
• Save file format simplified and cleaned up.
• Shield-hit effects cleaner and more readable.

BUG FIXES

• Mech death animations and incorrect blown-off parts.
• that annoying 'floating item' bug when mechs loses components.
• Item divide by zero when running upgrade/downgrade.
• Double-cockpit model issue.
• Repair Bay not restoring player's ability to shoot.
• Repair Bay consistency with functioning and repairing the correct pieces.
• AI muzzle flash offsets.
• Projectile trail offsets when first spawning.
• AI targeting allied units that attacked it.
• Save file unlocks actually fixed.