Hello fellow raaaaaaaaats,

I have just updated the game with Road Map Update 4! This update is all about Gear and Special Rats. With... two new Upgrades :D I know I had this update titled as "Gear and Upgrades" but that was before I had Special Rats in the game. And these guys just had to take priority once I started making them. I love these lil guys! And hopefully you will see why having more Special Rats beats just having more Upgrades.

And as always, before we get on to the patch notes: a big thank you to all who's played the game. It really does mean everything to me. And if you've been enjoying the game, please leave a positive review on Steam. It really does help. Even a one word review helps so don't worry if you don't know what to write or think it will take too long!

Ok so full patch notes here:

- 4 NEW SPECIAL RATS -

• New Special Rat: Arty Rat. This Little One will run forward a bit, drop to his knees, and with a flare in each hand, signal an artillery barrage to be fired at his location. Unfortunately he dies in the process. I’m sure you’re very sad. The amount of shells fired is difficulty dependent. Easier = More shells, harder = less shells. Pro tip: Consider the timing of this one when releasing him, as it takes a while from release to the first rounds landing.

• New Special Rat: Medic Rat. This Little One will move forward, healing any OldGuard units nearby. Only once, but to full health regardless of what unit or how much health is left. He moves slowly, so timing this one is crucial! After he walks and heals a bit, he then dies. Because he actually has to use his own blood for this. You monster. But when he dies he drops a health pick up for you! What a legend. Well, it’s not so much he drops it for you but he just drops his own one and you can take it if you want. You really are a monster aren’t you.

• New Special Rat: Bomber Rat. This Little One will run forward and then detonate a large explosive, doing extreme damage to anything caught in the blast. He will trigger the explosive either on first contact with an enemy (any enemy), or after a certain time, whichever comes first. I was gonna call this one Suicide Rat, but then I realised that all the Special Rats are basically suicide rats… Even if it’s not by choice.

• New Special Rat: Mechanic Rat. This Little One will run forward and stop at the first Turrat they come across and start repairing it. Even if the Turrat is at full health! (They are loyal but stupid.) So don't waste him! They will then work themselves to death repairing your Turrats just so you can save a few CHz. Stay classy.

Your Special Rat can be switched out at the Shop. You'll notice him sitting on the counter. Interact with him to bring up the menu. Right now, switching out Special Rats is free, and they are all available from the start, but that might change in the future. For now though, have fun trying them all out!

- NEW GEAR AND DROP RATES -

• New Gear: Ratvolver Auto Kit – while equipped, this allows the Ratvolver to fire in full auto.

• New Gear: Ratvolver Mega Mag – while equipped, this increases the ammo capacity of each Ratvolver magazine to 20 shots.

• New Gear: RatHound Whistle – while equipped, this will increase the attack damage of RatHounds

• New Gear: RatHound Collar – while equipped, this will increase the HP of RatHounds

• New Gear: Fat Rat – while equipped, this will replace the regular Ratzooka rockets with Fat Rats. Which are basically mini-nukes. Nuke em Ratco!

• New Gear: Pulse Blaster Cooler – while equipped, doubles the amount of shots the Pulse Blaster can fire before overheating.

• New Gear: DoeShot Pressurizer – while equipped, increases the range of the DoeShot.

• New Gear: RAR Extended Mag – while equipped, Ratning Auto Rifle magazines hold 30 rounds instead of 20.

• New Gear: Machine Pistol Laser Rounds – while equipped, the Machine Pistol will shoot Laser shots instead of Ballistic shots. These shots do more damage overall in addition to extra Laser damage to targets that are weak to Laser at the cost of 2 ammo per shot instead of 1.

• New Gear: Blast Shield – while equipped, this will reduce the damage you take from Explosions by half.

• New Gear: Big2 Bore Ratshot - while equipped, the Double Barreled Ratgun will shoot more shot with each shot. Clear?

• New Gear: Ratineer Contract – while equipped, will grant 1 extra free Ratineer every wave. Works from the 2nd wave up.

  With these I have doubled the amount of gear in the game! And I have yet more planned, so stick around *throws knife at your chest*. These items have been seeded throughout the game so they drop randomly depending on your progress and/or their rarity.

  Drop Rates Update: I have updated the drop rates for all Gear dropped from enemies throughout the game. Firstly, they are now difficulty dependent. So Easier = higher chance for loot to drop. Harder = lower chance. Secondly, the overall drop rates have been lowered. This was done to increase the value of Gear items in the game and also to stop having the battlefield absolutely littered with Gear. As well as to help balance out the new Special Rats, which are basically free extra bonus abilities.

  And just something to note about Gear: If the description doesn’t specifically say it stacks; then it doesn’t stack.

  - NEW MECHANIC - RAT DEALERS KIOSK -

• Rat Dealer now has a Kiosk! He will randomly appear during Missions around the map (only in the Campaign, so not in Skirmish or New Game +) and offer you a selection of 3 random Gear items to choose from. You can then buy 1 if you want and he disappears. He randomly appears and disappears throughout the course of the mission and he is more likely to appear in easier Difficulty Modes. He does not appear at all in Hairy Rat Balls Mode.

  - NEW TRACK -

• Another awesome music track from Jamie Keen has been added to the game! It is specifically for Mission 1 of the Campaign, and is designed to be a nice introduction piece. So instead of randomly playing one of the heavier later-game tracks as the first level music, it’s a nicer build up. Since Mission 1 isn’t so intense yet in terms of gameplay, it clashed with those pieces of music.

- NEW UPGRADES -

• New Upgrade: Shield Rats Speed. Purchasing this will increase the speed at which Shield Rats move.

• New Upgrade: Special Rat Cooldown Time. This will reduce the cooldown time of your Special Rat ability. Max Tier 3.

- General bug fixes, polish and QoL -

• Some TechnoRat Base Shields were missing some of the new FX introduced in the last update. This has been fixed.

• Radio and Inventory key panels will now display a custom key binding if it has been set to something other than the default keys.

• There was an issue with some Skins unlocking. This has been fixed.

• Added a check so if you already had conquered 20 territories before Achievements were added to the game it will now trigger when loading to the Main Menu.

• Riot Rat shell casings were not ejecting properly. This has been fixed.

• Pistol will now eject plasma casings when Plasma Rounds are fired.

• Pistol will now play a different shot sound effect when Plasma Rounds are fired.

• Special Rats now says things when released.

• Added Extra Nade Damage stat to Inventory screen.

• Limited the number of times a Sentry Gun Damage Upgrade can be purchased to 2. This will only affect you either in a New Game or if you have not yet purchased it.

• Sentry Gun Damage Upgrade Tier 1 cost was incorrectly set at 100CHz. It is now 300CHz. This will only affect you either in a New Game or if you have not yet purchased it.

• Adjusted the drop rates slightly of some higher tier gear to make them rarer in the late game.

• Pistol Extended Mag Gear now increases magazine size to 16. Up 1 from 15.

• When firing the Pistol with the Plasma Rounds Gear equipped, it should no longer be able to go -1 in ammo count.

• Fixed an issue where if the Auto Slinger or Double Barreled Ratgun was unlocked, blueprints might still drop for them after loading a saved game.

• Fixed an issue where after loading a saved game, some gear items would not drop for already unlocked guns.

• Sometimes after loading a saved game, it was possible to equip more than 3 items if there were already items equipped. This has been fixed.

• The Ratvolver now has a very slight Rate of Fire reduction. Probably not even noticeable by most people. Unless you are abnormally fast at pressing the mouse button you won’t notice a difference. This was just done to allow for the Ratvolver Auto Kit gear item.

• Updated various texts that mention “Ratvolver” to say “Starting Weapon” instead.

• Added a couple more Loading Screen tips.

• In the Save Slot info section, I changed “Weapons” to “Guns” to make more space for longer named guns. But if you have 2 long named guns it will still go outside the label. I will update this properly later. For now it’s fine. IT’S FINE!

• Starting Weapon Selection screen now has proper controller UX.

• Added Special Rat selection screen to Shop.

• Updated controller functionality for Skin Selection Screen in New Game Plus.

• It should no longer be possible to accidentally (or intentionally) open the Radio or Inventory screens in the background while looking at the Shop menu.

• Reduced the variety of enemies encountered in each Mission in New Game Plus when playing Ratgular or Hairy Rat Balls modes. This should help with the difficulty curve so it’s not an instant super hard experience but more gradual.

• Added large blast decal for Big Booms.

• Top Hat Top Rat was spawning saying “Rat” (which is my test phrase for unit chatter) He no longer spawns saying that.

• The help text in the Inventory screen was not reappearing if the "No free inventory slots" was triggered. This has been fixed.

• Reduced amount of Speed that Rat Hounds gain when their Speed Upgrade is purchased.

• Rat Hounds now do much less damage against Structures and Shields. (They are now essentially highly specialized anti-infantry units)

• “Throwables” description text in the Codex was old. This has been updated.

• Blunderbuss Accelerator Gear was missing the gear dropping FX. That’s been fixed.

• At Build Sites, the error message for trying to build a CHz Collector if the Front Slot was occupied was incorrect. This has been fixed.

And that covers what's in this update. I hope it is to your liking. And as always, feedback is welcome! Please let me know what you think of everything. Not just the update but the game in general.

Thank you all so much from the bottom of my rat heart!

Regards,

Brian