Hello! I hope the new year has been going well for you! I was hopeful I would be able to get this out sooner in February but had a family vacation to start the year and then ran into some technical issues that held up everything (updating software tools is fun). Because of this, there isn’t as much included in this update as I was planning, but I’m glad to have got some things out of the way. I’ve been able to absorb a lot of the feedback I’ve been receiving recently and glad to have made some improvements that hopefully will settle some of these issues.

Tutorial: This has fundamentally changed and is now broken into segments. You can now select which section you want to review and repeat, instead of having to listen to the entire tutorial again. The nice thing about this method is it will allow me to add/remove sections as it becomes necessary in the future, without having to rework it again. I also tried to include more detailed explanations to help with some of the more complex sections. Although this isn’t much for the players who’ve been playing for a while, it should help new players understand the key concepts.

Flares and Anti-Air missiles: This system has been reworked and uses a more “realistic” method than the previous. I don’t doubt more tweaks need to be made, but hopefully this puts this mechanic on the right track for now. Basically, missiles will be looking for the “hottest” object in their field of view, so pre-firing flares and/or firing flares early will have a much greater chance of deterring the missile. The closer the missile gets; the less likely flares will be able to affect it.

Collision issues: For quite some time, collisions between infantry and vehicles have been a problem, but that should be resolved now. Additionally, players have commented about infantry clipping into each other (or prior to that, getting stuck on each other), I’ve implemented a small system to prevent these issues. They now run around each other much better than before (at least in my testing).

There are a few other small requests that I’ve been able to deliver on, but that is about it for this update. I have a few more scenarios that I was hoping to drop but decided to spend more time on them. Although, I still want to add a lot more playable content, at this point I’m going to really be focusing on putting out quality – especially as it pertains to scenarios. I know it is annoying from the player’s perspective to have scenarios break down and need to be reset (perhaps as annoying as it is from a dev’s perspective), so I really want to prevent this from happening going forward while giving more engaging scenarios.

Anyways, as always, I greatly appreciate the support and feedback I continually get from people through our discord and steam discussions. I certainly encourage you to reach out if you have anything to say or suggest, because much of those suggestions have led to improvements in the game. Thank you all for everything and I’ll see you in the next one.

Thanks!
-Sklor

Changelog

Bug Fixes

• Fixed some issues causing the vehicles to get stuck in the Raid scenario.
  
• Fixed collisions between infantry and vehicles.
  
• Fixed an issue that wasn't allowing the projectiles indirect damage to apply as intended.
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed AI to target dead infantry.
  

Visual Effects Updates

• Slightly improved the shrapnel FX for the 30mm, 40mm, 105mm, and AGM114.
  

Gunship Updates

• Flares are now limited and counted in the HUD. They also launch more realistically.
  
• Tweaked the audio warning sound ("Flare") to not call out at every flare launch (no more overlapping audio).
  
• Slightly increased the shrapnel range for most munitions.
  

AI Updates

• Slightly decreased the friction value on vehicle's front tires to help them maintain control.
  
• Added more cover points to decrease the chance of infantry moving to the same location.
  
• Added a small collision avoidance system to keep infantry from clipping into each other.
  

UI/Menu Updates

• Added input keys for zooming in and out.
  
• Added a default key reset for controls.
  
• Added a "restart scenario" button in the pause menu.
  
• Separated the friendly and enemy counts in the training options menu.
  

Map/Scenario Updates

• Reworked the Tutorial to be segmented and more informative.
  
• Added a new scenario: OEF COP defense.
  
• Added a new training scenario: OEF Afghanistan Mountains.
  
• Removed some of the chatter and cut down on the initial waiting in the scenario Raid on Ahmed.
  

Other Updates

• Reworked how Anti-Air missiles react to flares.
  
• Updated the MANPAD missile static mesh.
  
• Anti-Air missiles now move faster but are fired slower in succession.
  
• Did a lot of basic housekeeping that was way past due. Should lower overall disk space.
  

Known Issues

• Debriefing menu can has some wonky stats; still working on this.
  
• Visual screen damage from the gunship taking rounds can only be seen on the U and J variant (forgot to add to the others). Will be patched in to include other variants as soon as I can.