Greetings Neo Earthers!

September's update 1.6.0 brings forth some big changes in combat mechanics and balancing plus forcefield animations and a whole host of fixes. This could well be one of the last updates before leaving early access on October 7th, however even after full release I will still be addressing any bugs that emerge, with planned new content for things like mission packs and new units also on the cards.

Combat mechanics changes - introducing the 'PWR' stat

Previously the combat system would use the weapon's dmg lo stat to try beat the target's defense, now a dedicated 'PWR' stat is used instead. The PWR stat determines whether a weapon will do only it's minimum damage to a target or do random damage between the low and high range.

PWR => DEF = random damaged done (dmg lo - dmg hi).

if PWR is equal or higher than the target's DEF then random damage between the lo and hi ranges is
deducted from target's HP.

PWR < DEF = damage done (dmg lo only).

if PWR is less than the target's DEf then only the low damage is done.
__________________________________________________

Cover bonus system for infantry units:

Due to being able to conceal themselves easier than vehicles, Infantry-type units now get a +2 DEF bonus for moving to a square with terrain that provides cover such as forests, hills, fields of cacti, craters etc. Doing so displays a shield icon above the unit sprite and in the UI bar. Naturally enemies can now do the same.

___________________________________________________

Fixes:

• Experimental fix for the phase/turn bar and phase cooldown icon appearing too far down the screen on some monitors
  
• Fix for shadows not appearing on newly risen soldier zombies
  
• Improved the phase cooldown icon
  

____________________________________________________

Forcefields:

Added forcefield animations for when an enemy is hit by an attack that it is resistant against


_____________________________________________________

Balancing:

Enemies:

• Alien egg DEF lowered to 3
  
• Cyber Wasp and Fire Wasp DEF lowered to 12
  
• removed some enemies from Desert and Floodplain maps to prevent overcrowding
  

Weapon range adjustments:

• plasma rail cannon range 3>5
  
• shredder cannon range 5>3
  
• scatter lance range 4>3
  
• heavy beamer range 4>3
  
• gatling cycler range 3>4
  
• all heavy aircraft weapons set to range 4
  

______________________________________________________