Happy 2018 everyone! As this is a big year for AirMech we wanted to kick it off with a "Name Your Price" Bundle to celebrate the New Year!

It's a special bundle with both Diamonds and Kudos and you can set any price you want (dependant on regional currency, usually around $1 minimum) and you get it, but only for a very limited time!

As an extra bonus, beat the AVERAGE price paid (it is updated live) and you will get two exclusive New Year's cosmetics: the brand new Celebration Exhaust effect, and the 2018 Holohat!



Since this bundle lets YOU set the price, it is only available ingame--we'd like to offer it on the main Store page if we could.

Join us in chat for plenty of special rolls and celebrations! We just did a great update with new features, fixes, and balance--we'll post that as a seperate patchnotes post shortly.

Happy 2018 everyone! As this is a big year for AirMech we wanted to kick it off with a "Name Your Price" Bundle to celebrate the New Year!

It's a special bundle with both Diamonds and Kudos and you can set any price you want (dependant on regional currency, usually around $1 minimum) and you get it, but only for a very limited time!

As an extra bonus, beat the AVERAGE price paid (it is updated live) and you will get two exclusive New Year's cosmetics: the brand new Celebration Exhaust effect, and the 2018 Holohat!



Since this bundle lets YOU set the price, it is only available ingame--we'd like to offer it on the main Store page if we could.

Join us in chat for plenty of special rolls and celebrations! We just did a great update with new features, fixes, and balance--we'll post that as a seperate patchnotes post shortly.

Another update! First thing you will notice is a new welcome screen with messages of the day and a quick link to patchnotes:



Last night we pushed AirMech Strike Update #252, Build 69114. The new holiday packs/bundles are also live, and the full Christmas event will be on momentarily. Nicholai has arrived and is regularly gifting players in chat with random rolls. A few more surprises are coming very soon...

The next set of changes for loadouts are in and we are getting close to having this done. Now you can use Tab to cycle loadouts (which you setup in the lobby) instantly. You currently cycle through all of your loadouts, but we will be restricting this to 2 or 3 loadouts which you will choose during the pregame. Currently you can still right-click units on the UI to make individual swaps, but this is just meant as a fallback if there are bugs with Tab. You should arrange your loadouts and name them accordingly so that swapping during the match is what you expect. One loadout could be for early game, one for guardians and ordanance, another for late game pushing. Get creative, and give us feedback on how this feels for competitive play.

About those new bundles! We have a ton of Christmas content, and wanted to combine that with Diamonds and Keys to offer some super values just during the holiday season. These will only be around for a short while, going away just after Christmas. Be sure to take a look at what they contain because the value really adds up for these. They have the same Diamonds as you'd get from a normal bundle, but with bonus Keys and lots of rare holiday pets, heads, and other cosmetics.

We're still on track to close out the year exiting Early Access and launching Season 1 of AirMech Strike! Join us in chat for lots of giveaways and fun.

• New Welcome screen on startup
  
• Tab instantly switches loadouts ingame
  
• Alternates now save in loadouts properly
  
• 3 Special Holiday Bundles added
  
• Do Not Disturb button moved to be easier to access
  
• Mic defaults to push to talk on new accounts (there is a game setting for this)
  
• Move mic status button so you can click on it easier to mute
  
• Gold VIP status now active for anyone with $50 USD (localized) lifetime spend

• various desync and crash fixes
  
• Gold VIP auto-rolling should be fixed
  
• fix camera behavior at end of Salt matches

Another update! First thing you will notice is a new welcome screen with messages of the day and a quick link to patchnotes:



Last night we pushed AirMech Strike Update #252, Build 69114. The new holiday packs/bundles are also live, and the full Christmas event will be on momentarily. Nicholai has arrived and is regularly gifting players in chat with random rolls. A few more surprises are coming very soon...

The next set of changes for loadouts are in and we are getting close to having this done. Now you can use Tab to cycle loadouts (which you setup in the lobby) instantly. You currently cycle through all of your loadouts, but we will be restricting this to 2 or 3 loadouts which you will choose during the pregame. Currently you can still right-click units on the UI to make individual swaps, but this is just meant as a fallback if there are bugs with Tab. You should arrange your loadouts and name them accordingly so that swapping during the match is what you expect. One loadout could be for early game, one for guardians and ordanance, another for late game pushing. Get creative, and give us feedback on how this feels for competitive play.

About those new bundles! We have a ton of Christmas content, and wanted to combine that with Diamonds and Keys to offer some super values just during the holiday season. These will only be around for a short while, going away just after Christmas. Be sure to take a look at what they contain because the value really adds up for these. They have the same Diamonds as you'd get from a normal bundle, but with bonus Keys and lots of rare holiday pets, heads, and other cosmetics.

We're still on track to close out the year exiting Early Access and launching Season 1 of AirMech Strike! Join us in chat for lots of giveaways and fun.

• New Welcome screen on startup
  
• Tab instantly switches loadouts ingame
  
• Alternates now save in loadouts properly
  
• 3 Special Holiday Bundles added
  
• Do Not Disturb button moved to be easier to access
  
• Mic defaults to push to talk on new accounts (there is a game setting for this)
  
• Move mic status button so you can click on it easier to mute
  
• Gold VIP status now active for anyone with $50 USD (localized) lifetime spend

• various desync and crash fixes
  
• Gold VIP auto-rolling should be fixed
  
• fix camera behavior at end of Salt matches

Snow is falling, so it was time to hang the lights up and get ready for Holiday merry making! The lobby has been given a makeover to get ready for our Christmas events. Keep an eye out for us adding more holiday content as we approach the big day!

A really nice fix with some rooms getting stuck with missing players. This gave us quite a headache to try and track down, because we could see players should be matching but would get stuck with players with the wrong state jamming the queue. Things should be running smoothly now, and just ask in chat if you suspect something is stuck.

Due to popular demand, we've made it possible to do 2v3 and 1v3 custom games against bots. You can't do 3v1, this is only for testing to see if you can win against the new awesome bots. It may be possible to 1v3 against the lower level bots (their difficulty is based on the order you unlock them in), but I would be extremely surprised if anyone can win 1v3 against Erik, Goh, and Samson. If you can do it be sure to save the replay, or even better put it on Twitch or YouTube!

Gold VIP changes are upon us! This was discussed a long time ago, and we realize we need to finish it before we leave Early Access. (we have a big checklist of things to do) We are removing the timed/expiring Gold VIP status and simplifying things. This will make it easier to understand, as well as carry over to Wastelands nicer. The "automatic" grant of Silver VIP has always been at $10 USD, and Diamond VIP at $120. We're making Gold VIP now automatic at a total of $50 USD spent over the lifetime of your AirMech account. There are some tweaks to how the bonus rewards stack and that will all be sorted soon, on the generous side.

What about players with a lot of Gold VIP Cubes? Or a lot of Gold VIP time? Most players know about the process to "pull" Gold VIP time off and turn it into Cubes. These cubes were used for various crafting recipes, and they will continue to work for that. And we'll all more that are for Wastelands (mentioning it here since the vast majority of people this applies to also have Wastelands). The Cubes themselves are being renamed to Gold Bars and Gold Coins. There is no conversion process, just their art and names are changing, which makes everything else still work nicely.

• add option for uneven teams for custom games (only for humans vs bots)
  
• show Diamond Rolls (and other rolls) when chat is minimized, and making it roll as you click and open it
  
• Helix gets an additional RPG for every point in his primary ability
  
• effects work for Angel Sniper Stasis shot
  
• Gold VIP Cubes changed to Coins and Bars
  
• Christmas and winter lobby themes

• fix for rooms with AFK players (actually offline players)
  
• VIP Shop Tickets now function properly
  
• various crash fixes
  
• improve reconnect on Login server restart to reduce chance of dropping

Snow is falling, so it was time to hang the lights up and get ready for Holiday merry making! The lobby has been given a makeover to get ready for our Christmas events. Keep an eye out for us adding more holiday content as we approach the big day!

A really nice fix with some rooms getting stuck with missing players. This gave us quite a headache to try and track down, because we could see players should be matching but would get stuck with players with the wrong state jamming the queue. Things should be running smoothly now, and just ask in chat if you suspect something is stuck.

Due to popular demand, we've made it possible to do 2v3 and 1v3 custom games against bots. You can't do 3v1, this is only for testing to see if you can win against the new awesome bots. It may be possible to 1v3 against the lower level bots (their difficulty is based on the order you unlock them in), but I would be extremely surprised if anyone can win 1v3 against Erik, Goh, and Samson. If you can do it be sure to save the replay, or even better put it on Twitch or YouTube!

Gold VIP changes are upon us! This was discussed a long time ago, and we realize we need to finish it before we leave Early Access. (we have a big checklist of things to do) We are removing the timed/expiring Gold VIP status and simplifying things. This will make it easier to understand, as well as carry over to Wastelands nicer. The "automatic" grant of Silver VIP has always been at $10 USD, and Diamond VIP at $120. We're making Gold VIP now automatic at a total of $50 USD spent over the lifetime of your AirMech account. There are some tweaks to how the bonus rewards stack and that will all be sorted soon, on the generous side.

What about players with a lot of Gold VIP Cubes? Or a lot of Gold VIP time? Most players know about the process to "pull" Gold VIP time off and turn it into Cubes. These cubes were used for various crafting recipes, and they will continue to work for that. And we'll all more that are for Wastelands (mentioning it here since the vast majority of people this applies to also have Wastelands). The Cubes themselves are being renamed to Gold Bars and Gold Coins. There is no conversion process, just their art and names are changing, which makes everything else still work nicely.

• add option for uneven teams for custom games (only for humans vs bots)
  
• show Diamond Rolls (and other rolls) when chat is minimized, and making it roll as you click and open it
  
• Helix gets an additional RPG for every point in his primary ability
  
• effects work for Angel Sniper Stasis shot
  
• Gold VIP Cubes changed to Coins and Bars
  
• Christmas and winter lobby themes

• fix for rooms with AFK players (actually offline players)
  
• VIP Shop Tickets now function properly
  
• various crash fixes
  
• improve reconnect on Login server restart to reduce chance of dropping

We've teamed up with ALIENWARE once again to bring a new bundle of goodies with things for both new and existing players! You can get a key from the Alienware Arena Giveaways site, short link for convenience:

http://airme.ch/AlienwareArrival <-- direct to AirMech Strike giveaway

https://na.alienwarearena.com/ucf/Giveaway

The highlight of this pack is the Exclusive new Alienware Head which is the first one to get some nice new material treatment. It's even animated, and has full teamcolor support.

There's a lot of other good things in the pack too that aren't exclsuive, but are very useful for everyone:

• Saucer and Neo AirMech classes unlocked
  
• 500 Diamonds - premium currency
  
• 2000 Kudos - earned game currency
  
• 10 Days of XP and Kudos Boosts (50% increase)

If you do get a code from them (supplies are limited) remember it is NOT a Steam Key, it's an AirMech key that you use inside the game. Click SHOP, then look in the lower left:



And yes, once you have this pack it is applied to your whole AirMech account, so the head and everything else is available to use in AirMech Wastelands if you also own that.

We've teamed up with ALIENWARE once again to bring a new bundle of goodies with things for both new and existing players! You can get a key from the Alienware Arena Giveaways site, short link for convenience:

http://airme.ch/AlienwareArrival <-- direct to AirMech Strike giveaway

https://na.alienwarearena.com/ucf/Giveaway

The highlight of this pack is the Exclusive new Alienware Head which is the first one to get some nice new material treatment. It's even animated, and has full teamcolor support.

There's a lot of other good things in the pack too that aren't exclsuive, but are very useful for everyone:

• Saucer and Neo AirMech classes unlocked
  
• 500 Diamonds - premium currency
  
• 2000 Kudos - earned game currency
  
• 10 Days of XP and Kudos Boosts (50% increase)

If you do get a code from them (supplies are limited) remember it is NOT a Steam Key, it's an AirMech key that you use inside the game. Click SHOP, then look in the lower left:



And yes, once you have this pack it is applied to your whole AirMech account, so the head and everything else is available to use in AirMech Wastelands if you also own that.

We've got a large list of changes to bring over from our work on AirMech Wastelands. Many of these changes directly affect gameplay. Some AirMech abilities have been changed to include a charge up mechanic. A charge bar will appear over your mech's HP bar while charging. All AirMechs can now jump up to higher terrain with Spacebar. Press it twice to boost forward for a quick escape!

Unit deployment has been improved with a 'Deploy to Target' mechanic. Set a rally point for newly built units by pressing E. Press once to set the flag on your AirMech, twice to set it on the ground at your AirMech's location, and once more to clear the deploy to target behavior. Units will also deploy from the nearest friendly structure automatically by default. You can hold Ctrl when giving a build order to keep the unit in queue for pickup later. Veterans probably won't like this behavior, so we've added an option in the Gameplay Settings to swap the Ctrl keybind. This will hold all units in queue unless Ctrl is held when issuing build orders.

The new Jump/Boost system is 95% in place, just needs a little more tuning and tweaking, and then we'll balance it for all the classes so each has its own feel. The Boost is activated by doing a double jump in a direction, and it uses some Energy. If you would rather always Boost on jump, there is a game option to make it default that way. We still have a few bugs related to getting up on things that don't make sense, but we're aware of those and will be fixing it. Already it changes combat a ton and has been fun to play around with.

We reworked Chat a couple patches ago and didn't explain in detail how it works. We probably need to add a Chat tutorial! The main thing we set out to solve was accidentally chatting while ingame, which sucked. So we started fixing that and ended up making a lot of small changes. The most important thing to learn about the new chat is the double-Enter action. Tapping Enter twice will minimize or maximize chat. When chat is maximized, you can type and pressing enter keeps your cursor in chat. If chat is minimized, then every time you press enter the chat will get de-focused.

The intended flow is that most of the time when you are playing, chat is minimized, and if you see something you need to respond to, or want to message your teammate, you press Enter, type your message, and press Enter again and you're back playing. When chat has focus, you can use Tab to switch between channels. And just in case you didn't know, you can right-click their name and it will @name them.

• improvements to Helix grenade targeting and effects
  
• Carbon color Void mechs are now purple because that's cooler than orange
  
• add game option for how Jump/Boost works
  
• press Spacebar to jump while in ground mode, press again to boost forward at the cost of some fuel
  
• press E to set a rally point on your mech, press again to set it on the terrain, and once more to clear it
  
• updates/rework on mouse aiming
  
• units now deploy automatically at nearest friendly structure, hold Ctrl to store in queue
  
• swap Ctrl key behavior in Settings > Gameplay
  
• max build queue reduced from 8 to 6
  
• replaced Angel's Glide ability with Stasis Shot, which temporarily disables enemies
  
• Helix's ground guns replaced with rockets, hold to charge for more rockets
  
• Helix's missiles replaced with grenades
  
• Bomber's bombs now have a charge, level 4 bombs have napalm!
  
• right
• click in ground mode for Warthog's melee
  
• units are highlighted when the mouse cursor is over them
  
• Striker shield absorbs damage at the cost of energy again
  
• Striker sword now drains energy per successful hit
  
• Saucer deathray no longer consumes energy while charging up
  
• updates to Medic Osprey ground mode
  
• updates to some Challenge maps
  
• tweaks to the new player tutorial
  
• pressing Enter now focuses chat, Tab will switch chat channels
  
• added a shortcut to the shop from the lobby
  
• removed unused piercing stat from Whopper

• various desync and crash fixes
  
• List PvP games in Watch tab again
  
• fixed zero Kudos reward on endgame screen
  
• potential long
• awaited fix for repeat Steam achievements
  
• fixed Blaster Guardian not firing while in air mode
  fix fully heal at outpost
  
• fixed a bug that prevented AirMechs from fully healing from an outpost
  
• fixes for main lobby
  
• fixed launching solo custom lobbies for players without server compatibility
  
• fixed missing icons on gamepad build menu
  
• fixed diamond purchases (for Steam users)
  
• fixed a crash when saving maps in the editor
  
• fixed launching published maps
  
• fixed AirMech button in main lobby
  
• fixed overlapping page buttons in AirMech customization UI
  
• fixed Helix's transformation when firing
  
• fixed Paladin AI using the Speed Aura
  
• fixed a desync when inviting players from the Friends window
  
• fixed market listings appearing in the shop after swapping menus
  
• fixed private listing symbol in market list view
  
• fixed Buy Now! button in market list view
  
• fixed spectator minimap sizing
  
• fixed some missing tiles on some Challenge maps
  
• fixed the scaffolding prop on Biohazard so players can walk over them
  
• minor prop fixes for Dust
  
• fixed missing background on password field for new account creation

We've got a large list of changes to bring over from our work on AirMech Wastelands. Many of these changes directly affect gameplay. Some AirMech abilities have been changed to include a charge up mechanic. A charge bar will appear over your mech's HP bar while charging. All AirMechs can now jump up to higher terrain with Spacebar. Press it twice to boost forward for a quick escape!

Unit deployment has been improved with a 'Deploy to Target' mechanic. Set a rally point for newly built units by pressing E. Press once to set the flag on your AirMech, twice to set it on the ground at your AirMech's location, and once more to clear the deploy to target behavior. Units will also deploy from the nearest friendly structure automatically by default. You can hold Ctrl when giving a build order to keep the unit in queue for pickup later. Veterans probably won't like this behavior, so we've added an option in the Gameplay Settings to swap the Ctrl keybind. This will hold all units in queue unless Ctrl is held when issuing build orders.

The new Jump/Boost system is 95% in place, just needs a little more tuning and tweaking, and then we'll balance it for all the classes so each has its own feel. The Boost is activated by doing a double jump in a direction, and it uses some Energy. If you would rather always Boost on jump, there is a game option to make it default that way. We still have a few bugs related to getting up on things that don't make sense, but we're aware of those and will be fixing it. Already it changes combat a ton and has been fun to play around with.

We reworked Chat a couple patches ago and didn't explain in detail how it works. We probably need to add a Chat tutorial! The main thing we set out to solve was accidentally chatting while ingame, which sucked. So we started fixing that and ended up making a lot of small changes. The most important thing to learn about the new chat is the double-Enter action. Tapping Enter twice will minimize or maximize chat. When chat is maximized, you can type and pressing enter keeps your cursor in chat. If chat is minimized, then every time you press enter the chat will get de-focused.

The intended flow is that most of the time when you are playing, chat is minimized, and if you see something you need to respond to, or want to message your teammate, you press Enter, type your message, and press Enter again and you're back playing. When chat has focus, you can use Tab to switch between channels. And just in case you didn't know, you can right-click their name and it will @name them.

• improvements to Helix grenade targeting and effects
  
• Carbon color Void mechs are now purple because that's cooler than orange
  
• add game option for how Jump/Boost works
  
• press Spacebar to jump while in ground mode, press again to boost forward at the cost of some fuel
  
• press E to set a rally point on your mech, press again to set it on the terrain, and once more to clear it
  
• updates/rework on mouse aiming
  
• units now deploy automatically at nearest friendly structure, hold Ctrl to store in queue
  
• swap Ctrl key behavior in Settings > Gameplay
  
• max build queue reduced from 8 to 6
  
• replaced Angel's Glide ability with Stasis Shot, which temporarily disables enemies
  
• Helix's ground guns replaced with rockets, hold to charge for more rockets
  
• Helix's missiles replaced with grenades
  
• Bomber's bombs now have a charge, level 4 bombs have napalm!
  
• right
• click in ground mode for Warthog's melee
  
• units are highlighted when the mouse cursor is over them
  
• Striker shield absorbs damage at the cost of energy again
  
• Striker sword now drains energy per successful hit
  
• Saucer deathray no longer consumes energy while charging up
  
• updates to Medic Osprey ground mode
  
• updates to some Challenge maps
  
• tweaks to the new player tutorial
  
• pressing Enter now focuses chat, Tab will switch chat channels
  
• added a shortcut to the shop from the lobby
  
• removed unused piercing stat from Whopper

• various desync and crash fixes
  
• List PvP games in Watch tab again
  
• fixed zero Kudos reward on endgame screen
  
• potential long
• awaited fix for repeat Steam achievements
  
• fixed Blaster Guardian not firing while in air mode
  fix fully heal at outpost
  
• fixed a bug that prevented AirMechs from fully healing from an outpost
  
• fixes for main lobby
  
• fixed launching solo custom lobbies for players without server compatibility
  
• fixed missing icons on gamepad build menu
  
• fixed diamond purchases (for Steam users)
  
• fixed a crash when saving maps in the editor
  
• fixed launching published maps
  
• fixed AirMech button in main lobby
  
• fixed overlapping page buttons in AirMech customization UI
  
• fixed Helix's transformation when firing
  
• fixed Paladin AI using the Speed Aura
  
• fixed a desync when inviting players from the Friends window
  
• fixed market listings appearing in the shop after swapping menus
  
• fixed private listing symbol in market list view
  
• fixed Buy Now! button in market list view
  
• fixed spectator minimap sizing
  
• fixed some missing tiles on some Challenge maps
  
• fixed the scaffolding prop on Biohazard so players can walk over them
  
• minor prop fixes for Dust
  
• fixed missing background on password field for new account creation