Balance, bugfixes and a few new skulls. There are some larger Strike features in development, including a rework to the team queuing systems and being in game together while looking for a group. Some of those changes were available for preview in the last few Canary builds, but need significantly more work, so for this update they are disabled while we work out the bugs.

• Make faction discord links clickable
  
• Adding Void Skull
  
• Adding Prismatic Skull
  
• Adding Black Diamond Skull
  
• Adding Black Diamond Dice Pet
  
• Adding Book Recipe Icon
  
• Adding Helmet Recipe Icon
  
• Update surrender timer clock: 20s -> 10s
  
• Add new VIP Shop Ticket icon
  
• Add support for fuel consumption on usage of Helix grenades ability and guided airmode missiles
  
• Add support for energy use on Blade Guardian hits
  
• Add info tab log on crate open events
  
• Add hp and energy drain back to Osprey on it's drain beam ability usage
  
• Add counts to market items, automatic listing for things with multiples

• Don't issue blade guardian damage if AirMech doesn't have enough energy for the hit
  
• Don't allow Angel's sniper stasis ability to charge up more than 1 shot
  
• Jumper HP decreased from 300 to 225
  
• Jumper armor decreased from 35 to 25
  
• Gorgon attack range decreased from 22 to 17
  
• Bomber melee armor piercing increased from 30 to 50
  
• AirMech Boost energy use increased from 1.0 to 2.5
  
• AirMech Boost cooldown increased from 0.21 to 0.42

• Update "LobbyTransformPanel" position if in a 3v3 custom lobby
  
• Fix version number size when language set to Chinese
  
• Fix rarity color for mini inspect dialog
  
• Fix player status bars not showing up in game
  
• Fix name when inspecting a bundle item
  
• Fix custom game ready/start
  
• Fix "LobbyTransformPanel" RTT in practice lobby mode
  
• Clear "try on" head when changing team colors
  
• Some layout fixes for faction chat ui
  
• Potential fix for stuck unit recycling state
  
• Fix material for "Beta Bomber"
  
• Fix display on minimap of neutral outposts to be grey
  
• Fix discord link display in faction ui
  
• Fix collision on some mountain tiles
  
• Add Fall Crate to Crates Inventory Set

We're rolling out some matching and ranking changes which go along with the new Season which just ended, this was part of some changes and improvements we are making to matchmaking and we wanted to have a clean break. We're currently debating doing 2 or 3 months for Seasons, and I'm personally leaning toward 3 so it can match the "seasons".

We wanted to intoduce a new lower priced way for new players to get VIP status, as the previous Starter Pack has a lot of currency in it but almost has too much if you are not sure what you need. Combined with the many requests to have another way to get the Nexus Warthog , and the Warthog being a new player favorite, this seemed like a great pacakge. So for $5 (USD, local currency may change) you get the Nexus Warthog (which means you can use Warthog), 1000 Diamonds, lifetime Silver VIP, and Boosts. Plus it doesn't overlap with the old Starter Pack, so anyone can pick it up and it's still a great piece of kit.

Lots of bug fixes and getting things in place for our new Tournament system, Diamond Roll improvements, etc. Read all about it below!

• Renaming "Void Crate" to "Void Plans Crate"
• Jammer move speed increased from 3 to 6
• New Starter Pack with Nexus Warthog and 1000 Diamonds
• Rename old Starter Pack to Strike Pack , nothing else changed
• Adding Black Diamond Roll effects
• Show total units next to upkeep on spectator hud
• Show player credits on spectator hud instead of ping
• make minimized chat window take the same number of characters as the big one, should always be the same
• let everyone autoroll in diamond raffles if they are in game and not AFK
• don't allow q-heal/repair to start while the AirMech is transforming
• Added Void Shot Tracers to Void Collection Set
• Updates/bugfixes to Touranment system
• Show player status bars while in the Pit
• Temporarily remove player count, as it was wrong (didn't refresh right, didn't show players per game type)

• Fixing transition from black -> normal rolls for materials and diamond lobby panel
• Fixing overlap on locked cosmetic hover for new craftable icon AM-10934
• Fixed a spot where units could be dropped in the trees on Duel
• Fixed a spot where infantry could be dropped in the rocks on Storm
• Fix right clicking on the bracket button to load the tournament editor (AM-10822)
• Fix ready button for unfair teams in lobby (AM-10828)
• Fix positioning for "InLobbyMenuPowerButton" (AM-10916)
• Fix overlapping text in tournament brackets ui (AM-10783)
• Fix Honor tooltip display (AM-10924)
• Fix Honor badge messages not displaying when clicking on them in Chat
• Fix "TournamentMasterRefresh" symbol not getting set when viewing the tournament list
• Fix "no show" red bar for winners in tournament brackets ui
• Don't show tournament "Go" button if not active
• Don't allow you to spectate a no-show match and update tooltip to match
• Don't allow players to change loadouts while playing a challenge map (AM-10921)
• Blocked units from being dropped on cliff edges behind the fortress on Twin Peaks
• potential bug fix for Neo EMP triggering cooldown but not EMP attack/effect on triggering close to transform transition
• Fix honor badge trailing space (AM-10917)
• fix angel sniper stasis shot ability not triggering correctly on F3/keyboard activation
• Don't toggle chat box if pressing enter while writing a mail message (AM-10835)
• Clear mini inspect dialog when you try to market list something (AM-10827)
• another potential fix for fog display issue when using spectator freecamera
• add terrain height tracking on Bomber Mantis strike projectile to improve it's usability on sloped terrain
• hide XP tip on player card

Big balance and bugfix patch! Along with the ongoing improvements below, initial features are in place for running our automated tournaments, and testing will begin this week. In fact, we have already run a few small tests, logged bugs, and will be making smaller incremental patches that focus on getting this brand new system working well.

• remove blast damage from Helix Rockets in Strike
  
• adding welcome panel back to lobby
  
• Adding red void tracer effects
  
• adding Void Eagle nanoforge formula
  
• Improved Chinese localizations
  
• fix some cases where part gambling might not return an item
  
• reworking Helix homing missile fire in air (was stacking too many missiles)
  
• hide seller name in player market items unless focused
  
• Updating DeepSea Osprey description text
  
• update helix rocket blast damages
  
• don't draw fortress line state (area restriction) when in free camera mode
  
• Display sg banned message if you're in a group and get banned (AM-10576)
  
• Color tweaks to VoidTracers and adding gameTime to stop anims in pause
  
• adding RocketsLifespan setting for helix
  
• Adding purple, green and blue versions of void tracers
  
• adding airmech dmg -> airmech ground/air mult dps scalars
  
• Adding "noScrap" flag to PetTawnyEagle and VoidEagle, as part of changes for AM-10581
  
• Added dialog box message for when you're sg banned and try to create/join a group (AM-10577)
  
• Add promos for void tracers
  
• Add permanent sg ban message (AM-10577)
  
• Add option to disable mention sound (AM-10617)
  
• Add right click on market item to list all of that type
  
• Add a list on the side of sell UI that shows current prices of item on market (AM-10573)
  
• Moved rank/season numbers into actual leaderboards ui
  
• Hide rank info when in "Faction Rank Wins"
  
• Tweak "Faction Rank Wins" tab width in rankings menu
  
• Remove "Hammer Throw Enabled" text from ABHammerThrow ability tool tip (AM-10318)
  
• Additional cleanup of Ability tool tip text (Google translate non-sense)
  
• reenable game balance sheet parsing in AMS

• Gangster HP decreased from 1600 to 1375
  
• Gangster upkeep increased from 1 to 2
  
• clean warthogs' dmg increase at range ranges, since they will cause extra work for no effect now
  
• set AirMechGndMultDPS to 1.15 for all mechs except for warthog, which is still just 1.0
  
• buffer paladin hammer base damage 60->80 to compensate for fixing [type]MultDPS application
  
• buff missile homing damage (50->100) to make up for fire count change (max charge of 1 projectile)
  
• adjust base helix fire rate periods for missiles
• 1 -> 1.2 s for grenades, 0.666 -> 0.75s for rockets
  
• council balance update of: RocketsDamage = 142.5, 71.25, 47.5, 35.625, 28.5
  
• reworking Helix ground rockets damage formula to be more consistent with damage output prior to autofire changes
  
• reduce helix ground rockets range
• equal to Bomber Mantis strike now
  
• helix guided missile buf
• +25% base damage, +18% missile speed, with the same range
  
• make warthog and neo melee attack damage subject to target MultDPS modifiers
  
• buff warthog and neo melee to compensate for MultDPS against units (so the effective damage should be the same)
  
• buff striker and bomber melee to compensate for MultDPS against units (so the effective damage should be the same as it was before)
  
• give warthog it's own melee projectile type to differentiate from a2g for stats and target calculation checks

• Set "TournamentMasterRefresh" symbol when tournament list is shown (AM-10596)
  
• Hide "BracketsButton" when the daily rewards menu is loaded
  
• Fix wrong map being selected if you lose/quit out of a practice map
  
• Fix up display of qualifying/round start and end times in tournament list ui
  
• Fix spectator tournament title/subtitle getting cut off (AM-10583)
  
• Fix up display of countdown timer in spectator lobby (AM-10583)
  
• Fix right click on shop items (AM-10645)
  
• Fix overlapping mode labels in lobby (AM-10641)
  
• Fix mode when changing custom room from 1v1/3v3 to 2v2(AM-10643)
  
• Fix "LobbyMenuReady" menu position for spectator lobby (AM-10584)
  
• Fix reclaimable body destruction piece for Gangster/Jackal (AM-10595)
  
• Fix horns on Blue Skull pet (AM-10619)
  
• Fix crash when deploying a unit without a fort/outpost (AM-10193)
  
• Update display of rank to show 1v1/2v2 based on what rankings tab you're in
  
• Fixup naming of Bomber Variants set
  
• fix target damage scaling for Airmech ability damage output (Mantis Strike, Bombs, Power Sword, Bomber Melee)
  
• fix so 'show tooltips in game' option won't also turn off tooltips in the menus
  
• fix damage scaling to target for Paladin Hammer
  
• fix damage scaling against units for Saucer Deathray
  
• fix damage scaling against units/forts/outposts for Helix missiles and rockets
  
• Open the simple group if you kick a player while in a ranked 2v2 lobby (AM-10625)
  
• Quit out of a simple group if you kick a player or an invite is declined while in the limbo state
  
• Fix "BikeSideCar" tire z-spin (AM-10547)

Mostly incremental balance and bugfixes involved in the overhaul of how Helix uses Rockets. What seemed like a simple change on the surface snowballed into a lot of unintended stacking of damage and projectiles. Along with some other balance tweaks this should be a most welcome hotfix. :)

• reworking Helix ground rockets damage formula to be more consistent with damage output prior to autofire changes
• rework Helix Missile Launch ability to auto fire on chargeup. Consistent fire rate
• buff to higher level Missile Launcher ability
• Paladin hammer damage 45 -> 60
• Paladin hammer armor piercing 50 -> 70
• fix target damage scaling for Airmech ability damage output (Mantis Strike, Bombs, Power Sword, Bomber Melee)
• fix damage scaling to target for Paladin Hammer
• fix damage scaling against units for Saucer Deathray
• fix damage scaling against units/forts/outposts for Helix missiles and rockets
• Paladin Hammer stasis is now level based. 2s -> 2s, 2.5s, 3s, 4s at Hammer ability level 1->4
• reworking Helix homing missile fire in air (was stacking too many missiles)
• adjust base helix fire rate periods for missiles
• 1 -> 1.2 s for grenades, 0.666 -> 0.75s for rockets
• adding RocketsLifespan setting for helix

• Fix crash when deploying a unit without a fort/outpost (AM-10193)
• some of the Helix balance changes could be considered bugs, but are listed in the other section

Officially we'll call this a half-patch since it's focused on bugs, balance, and general quality of life improvements. Work on the Tournament system continues with it intending to be the main feature of the upcoming patch. We will be publicly testing that with trial Tournaments, so if you see one pop up you are welcome to enter it but expect there could be some bugs while we finish things up.

Note that you will need to have played several Ranked 1v1 games to even join the queue to try and play a Tournament! The first test will be 1v1 Tournaments with 2v2 coming a bit later. Most of the initial testing will be in 1v1 since 90% of the systems are needed for that and we can just focus on team tournaments as phase two.

Note that the changes to Helix had a ripple effect that make it hard to keep it the same for total DPS and it probably feels a bit high right now. Expect that to be toned down shortly pending feedback from the Council.

• Allow players to opt-out of new player flow early if they are ready (set once per game launch)
  
• More updates to Power Shield ability text
  
• rework Helix Missile Launch ability to auto fire on chargeup. Consistent fire rate buff to higher level Missile Launcher ability
  
• Change how collision works for Helix missiles (half change, half bug fix)
  
• Updating tooltip for Hammer Throw to include new stasis property
  
• Hide "power button" when not in fullscreen (Esc key for ingame menu)
  
• Updating Power Shield tool tip to use Damage Elimination text and replacements
  
• Update text for "Dialog Message Nanoforge Not Owned"
  
• Text updates for Power Shield ability text
  
• Setup new AirMech class variant sets
  
• Add AirMech Head Collection Sets
  
• add 'Hammer Stasis Time Bonus' property
  
• add 'EMP Stasis Time Bonus' setting for Neo EMP/stasis blast to boost effect duration
  
• continue Tournament work (not player facing yet)

• update power shield ability (Warthog & Paladin) to be straight damage elimiation: 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%
  
• Paladin hammer damage 45 > 60
  
• Paladin hammer armor piercing 50 > 70
  
• Paladin Hammer stasis is now level based. 2s > 2s, 2.5s, 3s, 4s at Hammer ability level 1>4
  
• Helix changes above could affect balance (though were not done for balance reasons)

• Fix Kudos gear being hidden from Shop sometimes (after using filters on the Market)
  
• Some checks before showing head icons for purchasing on endgame screen
  
• Fix overlapping "Get More Diamonds" button
  
• Fix market items showing up in the shop
  
• Fix "invite bot" option showing up in 2v2 when switching from 1v1
  
• Cleanup some faction symbols when doing a logout

Launching out of Early Access has been amazing so far. We've spent less time with servers on fire than we expected after the initial weekend, and were very happy to be able to focus on more minor bug fixes and balance issues. We'd like to celebrate this by doing one of the most popular types of bundles from the past--a "Name Your Price" Bundle just for launch! Click the banner, pick a price (the minimum price varies according to payment options on platform/country) and pay what you want for 2000 Diamonds. Only have a dollar in your Steam wallet? No problem! No strings attached, this is a great way to get a few extra Diamonds to do whatever you want with.

Did I mention the Nexus Warthog yet? Well now I did, and this is a skin I've wanted to add for a long time. Something about mechs in white looks great to me, and there's nothing in the Warthog wardrobe that looks anything like this. We're not selling this one for Diamonds. It is the "Beat the Average" reward for this Name Your Price bundle. When you are picking your price, pay special attention to the current average. All you have to do is beat that average price by a penny and you'll get the Nexus Warthog. Don't have a Warthog yet? Owning any skin grants you instant access to the class. Since the Warthog is a great mech for starting out (even with the minor balance pass you'll see below) it felt like the perfect match for this event.

Please note! You can only buy this bundle ONCE, since obviously the fact you can set any price would make it very farmable. So first consider if you want the Nexus Warthog or not, because if you pay under the average price, there is no option to then add it. We have no plans to sell this unique skin for Diamonds in the future, so this is the best way to add it to your collection.

• NEW Nexus Warthog as reward for beating the average in NYP Launch Bundle
• don't show 'bad ping' indicator in games using the fallbehind networking model
• make the 'falling behind' tip take priority over the 'bad ping' tip, rather than the other way around
• only show 'badping' state if the simple group is configured as a LockStep game (which is NOT the default anymore)
• bug fix for Angel triggering loop cooldown state without loop actually happening when done during transformation to air mode
• lower requirement to get out of new player flow

• update Warthog gunstrage damage bonus per council feedback: 15%, 30%, 45%, 60% (from 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%)
• Rocketeer move speed increased from 3.5 to 5.0
• Rocketeer HP decreased from 500 to 350
• Gangster carry weight increased from 710 to 1100
• Moneymaker build time decreased from 8.0 to 5.5 (Council request)

• Fix for being put on opposite teams with your friend in unranked games
• Fallback method for pinging servers to fix "no ping data" cases
• Make Ultimate Moneymaker match base unit build speed

Launching out of Early Access has been amazing so far. We've spent less time with servers on fire than we expected after the initial weekend, and were very happy to be able to focus on more minor bug fixes and balance issues. We'd like to celebrate this by doing one of the most popular types of bundles from the past--a "Name Your Price" Bundle just for launch! Click the banner, pick a price (the minimum price varies according to payment options on platform/country) and pay what you want for 2000 Diamonds. Only have a dollar in your Steam wallet? No problem! No strings attached, this is a great way to get a few extra Diamonds to do whatever you want with.

Did I mention the Nexus Warthog yet? Well now I did, and this is a skin I've wanted to add for a long time. Something about mechs in white looks great to me, and there's nothing in the Warthog wardrobe that looks anything like this. We're not selling this one for Diamonds. It is the "Beat the Average" reward for this Name Your Price bundle. When you are picking your price, pay special attention to the current average. All you have to do is beat that average price by a penny and you'll get the Nexus Warthog. Don't have a Warthog yet? Owning any skin grants you instant access to the class. Since the Warthog is a great mech for starting out (even with the minor balance pass you'll see below) it felt like the perfect match for this event.

Please note! You can only buy this bundle ONCE, since obviously the fact you can set any price would make it very farmable. So first consider if you want the Nexus Warthog or not, because if you pay under the average price, there is no option to then add it. We have no plans to sell this unique skin for Diamonds in the future, so this is the best way to add it to your collection.

• NEW Nexus Warthog as reward for beating the average in NYP Launch Bundle
• don't show 'bad ping' indicator in games using the fallbehind networking model
• make the 'falling behind' tip take priority over the 'bad ping' tip, rather than the other way around
• only show 'badping' state if the simple group is configured as a LockStep game (which is NOT the default anymore)
• bug fix for Angel triggering loop cooldown state without loop actually happening when done during transformation to air mode
• lower requirement to get out of new player flow

• update Warthog gunstrage damage bonus per council feedback: 15%, 30%, 45%, 60% (from 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%)
• Rocketeer move speed increased from 3.5 to 5.0
• Rocketeer HP decreased from 500 to 350
• Gangster carry weight increased from 710 to 1100
• Moneymaker build time decreased from 8.0 to 5.5 (Council request)

• Fix for being put on opposite teams with your friend in unranked games
• Fallback method for pinging servers to fix "no ping data" cases
• Make Ultimate Moneymaker match base unit build speed

The previous patchnotes were accidentally deleted, sorry about that, so this is a repost plus a few fixes. A new update should be coming later on Friday.

We survived the weekend! Launch is going well, and after fixes this weekend things seem to be in a more reliable state. Chat has been good since Sunday night and Market has been good since Monday. We've been gathering feedback from the large influx of new players and very carefully planning out the next changes--unlike normal, we're a bit more nervous about wanting to upset things when we have so many new players joining us. So this patch focuses on bug fixes and tweaks to the user experience.

New players are strongly encouraged to play the pilot missions under Training. They start out easy and get harder, and have really nice Quest rewards tied to them. The Challenges are super quick to do and also give good reward. You should level up super fast by starting there instead of focusing on Quickplay. We have also reduced the level requirement to get out of the "new player flow", but please do practice the basics first or get a friend to join you before you go full PvP. Once you are level 4, use Custom Games to setup whatever kind of practice environment you want.

We've finished the core of the new automated Tournaments system and will start to test this on the live server. Most of the bits are a bit temporary looking, and hidden unless there is an active Tournament, so you won't see anything at first. But if you do, know we are testing things and it might have some bugs. The plan is to have tournaments for various skill levels and sizes weekly in every region with some nice rewards for everyone.

• Balance pass for Warthog (more details next full update)
  
• Stubbing in map selection for tournaments (preparing for testing)
  
• First pass on new watch/spectate ui
  
• Added spectator server flag on watch ui
  
• Moneymaker build time decreased from 8.0 to 5.5 (Council request)
  
• Setup collections button in lobby
  
• Replacing temp map preview for storm
  
• Removed Facebook quest (since we removed our Facebook page)
  
• lower requirement to get out of new player flow
  
• update display requirements for promo tabs
  
• Added bottom gradient for mini inspect dialog to indicate more text
  
• Added a longer version for the descriptions on the mini inspect dialog if there aren't any buttons

• Fix for being put on opposite teams with your friend in unranked games
  
• Fallback method for pinging servers to fix "no ping data" cases
  
• Stability fixes for Market and Chat servers
  
• Hong Kong server should be back online
  
• Fix for joining queue after setting up team using the bottom menu shortcuts
  
• Fix quit from tutorial
  
• Some tweaks for new watch/spectate menu
  
• read market 'error' result on myandavail and make it available to script
  
• Modify "no game to spectate message" on watch menu
  
• Keep top container in spectate menu ui visible when no match is selected
  
• Fix size of player names when inspecting a match to spectate
  
• Fix overlapping text in spectator menu
  
• Fix not being able to click "P" to switch to party chat (AM9773)
  
• Small tweak for AirMech class selector in hangar
  
• Added "disabled minimap" ui state
  
• Updated some challenge maps that were hiding minimap to use new disabled state
  
• Add 'DeployAutoSwitch' symbol to saved settings

The previous patchnotes were accidentally deleted, sorry about that, so this is a repost plus a few fixes. A new update should be coming later on Friday.

We survived the weekend! Launch is going well, and after fixes this weekend things seem to be in a more reliable state. Chat has been good since Sunday night and Market has been good since Monday. We've been gathering feedback from the large influx of new players and very carefully planning out the next changes--unlike normal, we're a bit more nervous about wanting to upset things when we have so many new players joining us. So this patch focuses on bug fixes and tweaks to the user experience.

New players are strongly encouraged to play the pilot missions under Training. They start out easy and get harder, and have really nice Quest rewards tied to them. The Challenges are super quick to do and also give good reward. You should level up super fast by starting there instead of focusing on Quickplay. We have also reduced the level requirement to get out of the "new player flow", but please do practice the basics first or get a friend to join you before you go full PvP. Once you are level 4, use Custom Games to setup whatever kind of practice environment you want.

We've finished the core of the new automated Tournaments system and will start to test this on the live server. Most of the bits are a bit temporary looking, and hidden unless there is an active Tournament, so you won't see anything at first. But if you do, know we are testing things and it might have some bugs. The plan is to have tournaments for various skill levels and sizes weekly in every region with some nice rewards for everyone.

• Balance pass for Warthog (more details next full update)
  
• Stubbing in map selection for tournaments (preparing for testing)
  
• First pass on new watch/spectate ui
  
• Added spectator server flag on watch ui
  
• Moneymaker build time decreased from 8.0 to 5.5 (Council request)
  
• Setup collections button in lobby
  
• Replacing temp map preview for storm
  
• Removed Facebook quest (since we removed our Facebook page)
  
• lower requirement to get out of new player flow
  
• update display requirements for promo tabs
  
• Added bottom gradient for mini inspect dialog to indicate more text
  
• Added a longer version for the descriptions on the mini inspect dialog if there aren't any buttons

• Fix for being put on opposite teams with your friend in unranked games
  
• Fallback method for pinging servers to fix "no ping data" cases
  
• Stability fixes for Market and Chat servers
  
• Hong Kong server should be back online
  
• Fix for joining queue after setting up team using the bottom menu shortcuts
  
• Fix quit from tutorial
  
• Some tweaks for new watch/spectate menu
  
• read market 'error' result on myandavail and make it available to script
  
• Modify "no game to spectate message" on watch menu
  
• Keep top container in spectate menu ui visible when no match is selected
  
• Fix size of player names when inspecting a match to spectate
  
• Fix overlapping text in spectator menu
  
• Fix not being able to click "P" to switch to party chat (AM9773)
  
• Small tweak for AirMech class selector in hangar
  
• Added "disabled minimap" ui state
  
• Updated some challenge maps that were hiding minimap to use new disabled state
  
• Add 'DeployAutoSwitch' symbol to saved settings