Summertime is almost here and what better way to celebrate summer than with huge Planetary Annihilation battles? Uber Entertainment is happy to announce the return of the Community Dedicated Server. This will allow PA and Titans players to participate in games with up to 32 players. We wanted to let everyone know it's now online!

We're happy to announce that we now included official translations in Traditional and Simplified Chinese. Enjoy!

Balance changes:
Leveler

• Increased Leveler build cost to 800 from 600
  
• Decreased Leveler turn rate to 50 from 60

Polish/fixes

• Fixed sudden death mode not displayed for other players in new game lobby (patched via community mods)
  
• Fixed zoom to celestial for POV camera
  
• Added tooltip for POV camera button
  
• Fixed attack, move attack and area attack for point / follow units to attack from max weapons range instead of rushing into and hugging target eg bots, hornets, etc.
  
• Fixed multiple saves during same game corrupting config
  
• Fixed missing selection_icon_diameter for classic vehicle fabber
  
• Fixed missing selection_icon_diameter for classic tactical missile bot (bluehawk)
  
• Community Servers Support:
  
• Posting community servers beacon
  
• support for 32 players with 16 alliances
  
• command line option --gameover-timeout
  
• command line option --community-servers-url
  
• command line option --community-server-public-host
  
• command line option --community-server-region
  
• added missing help for recently added command line options.
  
• added state to server beacon
  
• added offworld support for AI only (no human players) testing

A host of new custom commanders, free for everyone!

• Added Locust, XOV, Reaver, spz58624, raizell, visionik, tykus24, mostlikely, nagasher, zancrowe, kevin4001, damubbster, commandonut, sadiga, jt00010177, vidicarus
  
• Previews here!

Balance changes:

• Removed friendly commander reclaim
  
• Changed grenadier group preference to back
  
• Changed default bounty to 0.25

POV Camera Mode, Spectator Selection, Holodeck Improvements

• A POV camera mode that follows a unit and watches the action from their perspective! The default keybind for this is Ctrl+Shift+M.
  
• More details can be found on the following thread in our forums: https://forums.uberent.com/threads/new-pov-camera-mode-testing.72119/

Alternative Win Conditions

• Sudden death for teams (protect your weakest player)

Sim Speed Control for Local Servers

• Added sim speed control for local servers with key bindings -/=

AI Improvements

• Added AI shared armies
  
• Added resume anywhere for AI games with no human players

Fixes

• Fixed black screen joining game over state
  
• Added social notifications when uberbar hidden
  
• Fixed broken classic galactic war saves with missing combined unit_list.json for.ai and .player spec tags
  
• Changed handling of look at player for spectators to use units
  
• Changed label for dynamic alliances eco sharing from RESC to SHARE ECO

Modding

• Added Friendly_Commander reclaim type and excluded friendly commanders from default unit reclaim type. Commander reclaim can be enabled again by adding Friendly_Commander to reclaim_types.

With the continued support of some of our most dedicated community members, we've just released a large patch that improves performance across many areas of the game.

Summary of Changes

• Added Multi-threading support to both client and local servers
  
• Tweaked AI
  
• LZ4 compression for server mods
  
• Major rework of the System Editor
  
• Lots of bug fixes and polish

Multi-threading support

• Added option to server settings tab to enable multi-threading for local servers.
  
• Added server command line option "--mt-enabled" which enables server multi-threading if present.
  
• The Nav, Physics, and AI updates are now run in parallel when enabled.
  
• These changes do not affect Uber hosted games, only local and private servers (if configured)

AI changes

• Retrained all AI neural networks.
  
• Made changes to reduce AI baiting
  
• Support for unit restrictions in new game lobby (work in progress)
  
• Added multi-thread safety to the AI neural networks

LZ4 compression for server mods

• Enable LZ4 server mod compression on servers with replay version >= 2, to help reduce client load times on servers with large mods
  
• Added check to enable LZ4 server mod compression only on new servers that can support compression based on replay version sent in login acceptance message.
  
• Currently this also changes replays. Older builds cannot load replays created by newer builds with LZ4 compression of server mods, but newer builds can load older replays
  
• Server version and buildid also sent in login acceptance message will be used for custom server checks in future.

System Editor changes
Refactored system_editor UI, system_editor_view and system_editor_planet

• Fixed issues where CSG would be lost
  
• Fixed lost advanced edits due to events not firing
  
• Fixed resolution scaling not set causing incorrect air zoom calculation
  
• Fixed unnecessary rebuilding when changing planet
  
• Fixed metal spots disappearing when finished editing (invalid placement)

Camera, camera_controller, camera_contoller_planet and camera_controller_space changes:

• Added mouseLocationAsJson
  
• Added toLatLng (was planet private)

System_editor_view and system_editor_planet changes:

• Fixed encodeCSGBrushListJson to encode preview brushes or builder brushes in planet
  
• Fixed addMetalSpot to validate metal spot and any mirror when placed
  
• Renamed senedSelectedPlanetToUI to selectedPlanetChanged and cleaned up usage in view
  
• Renamed sendSystemSpecToUI to systemChanged and cleaned up usage in view
  
• Renamed updateUIPlanetMetalSpots to selectedPlanetMetalSpotsChanged and cleaned up usage in view
  
• Renamed updateUIPlanetLandingZones to selectedPlanetLandingZonesChanged and cleaned up usage in view
  
• Added selectedPlanetCsgChanged to view
  
• Moved terrain editing status from view into planet (it's per planet which fixes lost CSG and unncecessary rebuilds)
  
• Moved UI interaction out of planet world into view
  
• Moved UI planets ready from planet world to view and renamed to updatePlanetsReady
  
• Added arePlanetsReady to planet world
  
• Added basic camera lookAt support for planet mode to view (TODO: space camera)
  
• Added systemEditor.convertSelectedPlanetToAdvanced for advanced editing in UI to view and planet
  
• Added selectedPlanetEditingChanged and selected_planet_editing message for advanced editing in UI to view
  
• Added selectedPlanetEditingAsJsonMessage to view
  
• Added setLandingZoneSize to planet for advanced editing in UI to view and planet
  
• Added camera_movement message for UI to view
  
• Added planent_csg updates for UI with selected planet index and current CSG selection for every change when editing terrain to view
  
• Added selected_csg message for UI when selectected CSG changes to view
  
• Added editing mode and planet status to selected_planet_index message for UI to view
  
• Added mouse location to time message for UI (to avoid spamming another UI message) to view
  
• Refactored state handling to use new engine messages
  
• Added handling to restore editing state when changing planets

System Editor Advanced mode changes

• Changed advanced edit of no preview placeholder to convert with no csg, metal spots or landing zones
  
• Changed advanced edit of terrain preview to convert csg only with no metal spots or landing zones
  
• Disabled advanced edit mode changes while planets are building
  
• Added landing zone rules editor with camera support to look at landing zone when selected
  
• Added landing zone size
  
• Added display of delete key bindings when editing metal spots and landing zones
  
• Added camera location
  
• Added mouse location

System_editor_view / system_editor_planet, csg_brush_preview changes

• Added resetSystem for loading entire system
  
• Added previewSelectedPlanet and updateSelectedPlanet
  
• Added releaseCsg and changed grabSelectedCsg to save original position
  
• Added cameraLookAt with space camera to focus on sun
  
• Added cancel check to release grabbed CSG
  
• Added saveUndoPosition and restoreUndoPosition to CSG brush preview
  
• Renamed buildAllPlanets to previwAllPlanets
  
• Tweaked setLandingZoneSize
  
• Tweaked systemChanged and selectedPlanetChanged from first pass
  
• Tweaked updatePlanetSpec

Additonal changes

• Added basic camera support to planet view in system editor via camera_movement handler and api.camera.lookAt
  
• Added planet selector with sun zoom to celestial (no more accidentally changing orbits trying to select a planet)
  
• Added thrusters required for attack to advanced edit
  
• Added clickable CSG command bar showing key bindings when CSG selected (was key bindings help)
  
• Added api.terrain_editor.releaseCsg with ESC handling to cancel grabbed CSG and restore original position
  
• Added sandbox back into biomes
  
• Cleaned up handling of planetCSG, metal_spots and landing_zones conversion to source > brushes, metal_spots, landing_zones
  
• Cleaned up initial loading of system
  
• Added buildAllPlanets to replace convertAllToTerrainPlanets with checks for existing status to system_editor_view
  
• Added resize handling to system editor when editing controls section overflows screen height eg long landing zone lists
  
• Added key bindings help when editing csg to system editor
  
• Tweaked advanced landing zone size and selected csg updates in system editor
  
• Added api.settings.title
  
• Added systemEditor.set_flooded_csg and systemEditor.set_no_features_csg
  
• Tweaked handling of release CSG
  
• Added hasUndoPosition and checks for newly placed CSG with no undo position
  
• Fixed message spam when planet or CSG grabbed
  
• Fixed csg selection not cleared when ending CSG editing
  
• Fixed selected csg not updated when placing new CSG
  
• Fixed flooded and weight params not preserved in preview CSG

Bug fixes/improvements
Client_connection changes

• Added CONNECT_TIMEOUT of 5 seconds and STATE_INITIALIZED
  
• Added RECONENCT_DELAY of 0.5 seconds and STATE_RECONNECTING
  
• Changed MAX_RETRIES to 2 ( best handled in UI where we can provide feedback)
  
• Fix for change from list to vector in ThreadPool and TaskBatch where mTasks size is 1 (macos crash fix).

Connect_to_game scene

• Added cancel button visible for non Ladder1v1 games after first failure which cancels immediately if no penidng engine connection
  
• Changed DEFAULT_CONNECTION_ATTEMPTS to 5 (now less in engine)
  
• Added DEFAULT_CONNECT_DELAY of 2 seconds when connecting to a new local server (reduces chance of first time fail while server is still starting)
  
• Added DEFAULT_RETRY_DELAY of 5 seconds
  
• Added connection attempts of 15 with retry delay of 10 seconds when loading local saved games (server is non responsive when loading big saved games)

Other fixes

• Updated to FMOD 4.44.64
  
• Attempted fix for AMD green planet bug
  
• Fixed missing build bar images for Enderstryke71 and Nefelpitou commanders.
  
• Fixed incorrect economy rate when new player joins an empty slot cleared by another player leaving / kicked / spectating (or an AI removed) that was an economy rate not 1.0
  
• Fixed long timeouts with many retries when connecting to non existent or stealh blocked servers.
  
• Fixed loading of big saved games
  
• Added cancel button while connecting to server
  
• Fix for planet wide patrol task not getting enough initial patrol points, causing the task to constantly reset itself and cause lag.
  
• Patrol task, auto repair task, and anti entity task now filter possible targets faster. This represents a decent perf boost for later game.
  
• Fixed bounty claimed by ally voice over playing in group for nuclear missle ready.
  
• Removed the ?_? AI name, since it was not displaying properly on at least one platform.
  
• Fixed lobbyId typo in start rejoinGame, lobbyId not set in matchmaking, ko db extender breaking systems and player guide not scrollable
  
• Fixed rejoinGame not settings mods, etc due to consistent use of lobbId vs lobby_id
  
• Fixed lobbyId not saved in matchmaking
  
• Fixed broken systems when not initialised correctly with default value of empty array by ko db extender
  
• Fixed player guide not scrollable due to incomplete white flash fix
  
• Fixed server mods not uploaded during host connect for manually started local server
  
• Changed community mods CDN URL
  
• Removed the Mutex from swizzletree. Instead mEnumerationCount is a std::atomic.
  
• Fix for an uninitialized variable that was preventing users from being able to change the playback rate of replays
  
• Removed a couple of very spammy log messages
  
• Fix for burnables attempting to write out to the burning curve during the shutdown call when the curve was already updated by the call to incinerate on the same tick.
  
• We no longer query the order's unit's position for every pass of (is my fellow unit close enough to me). For area patrols with lots of units, this is a huge perf win.
  
• Fixed the army patrol target cache to work more like it was initially intended.
  
• Added sim performance percentage next to game time in live_game_options_bar.
  
• Fix for agent looking at wrong move type value when determining if it should just steer towards its slot position.
  
• Fix for formation looking at wrong move type value when determining grid and cushion size.
  
• Fix for group moving an agents goal to its slot position when the slot position is not valid.
  
• Fixed nav agent logic regarding when to steer towards their group slot position and when to use their own ground path.
  
• Fix for a nav agent variable getting modified on when it wasn't supposed to be.
  
• Adjusted the logic controlling what nav search spaces get updated per tick.
  
• Minor adjustment to nav to prevent units from remaining stuck due to not having a flow field for an extended amount of time.
  
• Adjusted nav group logic so that slots are not treated as ahead of the group when the group is not moving.
  
• Added gNoMods to startupJS for better handling of --nomods by community mods.
  
• Added cores, memory and nomods to getSetupInfo and UI start scene.
  
• More multi-threading protection for the unit type db.
  
• Fix for Collision Geometry potentially rebuilding its BVH in one thread while another thread is walking the tree. Would only occur if there were multiple AIs and multi threading was enabled.
  
• Fix for uninitialized variable in nav agent.
  
• Adjusted AsyncParallelForDriver to split work more evenly over threads.
  
• Added getVersion to AudioWrapper, NullAudioWrapper, FmodAudioWrapper with decoding and logging of FMOD version.
  
• Added getVersion / getRenderer / getShaderVersion to GLRasterizer, NullRasterizer and Rasterizer
  
• Added fmod_version, opengl_version, opengl_renderer and opengl_shader_version in getSetupInfo for UI
  
• Moved where feature observables are removed to prevent features from mutating the sim history during the retire entities step.
  
• Fix for octree::walk deleting the FindState we are working before we were really done with it.
  
• Fix for failing to parse a unit type string if one of the unit types returned an empty spec set.
• This can happen if a spec string includes one of the Custom unit types, but there are no mods installed that makes use of that unit type.
  
• Added defeated status and AI personality to army replay info
  
• We are no longer allocating a string eveytime we validate a build order. We do this often enough that this is a decent perf improvement.
  
• Added checkboxes for selected CSG pathable, mergable, no features and flooded flags
  
• Added display of selected CSG JSON (temporary until full parameter editing is finished)
  
• Added clearMergableCsg, setFloodedCsg, clearFloodedCsg, setNoFeaturesCsg and clearNoFeaturesCsg to api.terrain_editor
  
• Improved and renamed respondToResize to checkResize with cleaner handling of landing zone and CSG json overflow
  
• Fixed uninitialised weight, weightHard and weightScale
  
• Fixed revert to standard mode while advanced editing with zero CSG, metal spots and landing zones
  
• Fixed remote saved games not showing last saved time and incorrectly sorting to bottom of saved games list
  
• Fixed minor scroll overflow in frame for player guide article
  
• Fixed --nomods handling using new gNoMods in connect to game, new game and replay loading
  
• Fixed api.net.joinGame never returning for invalid lobbyId
  
• Added cancel to join game after waiting 10 seconds

After much work with some of our most prominent community members and modders, we're proud to announce our Community Update!

• Community Mods in-game mod manager
  
• Custom Server support
  
• Server improvements
  
• New modding capabilities
  
• Numerous UI enhancements
  
• Tons of bug fixes

Full changelog below.

No external application required. Uninstall your mods in PAMM first and then reinstall them through Community Mods.

• added community mods in game mod manager to start menu
  
• added auto updating of mods
  
• added dependency tracking to automatically enable and disable dependency mods
  
• replaces PAMM (PA Mod Manager) external application

No mods required.

• added game server browser support for hosting, joining and spectating custom server games
  
• added game invite support for custom servers
  
• added game configuration in new game support for custom servers
  
• added reconnect support for custom servers to start menu
  
• custom servers now advertise max players and max spectators

Applies to Uber and custom servers:

• added metalClusters, metalDensity, landing_zones_count, metal_spots_count and planetCSG_count to game beacons and system info
  
• added support for 32 colours
  
• added support for custom commanders
  
• added support for selecting of AI commander
  
• added server mod identifiers to game beacons
  
• added support for custom servers to advertise max players and max spectators in game config beacons
  
• added --max-players and --max-spectators command line options
  
• added --server-password command line option
  
• added --default-lobby-name command line option
  
• added --default-game-type command line option
  
• added --replay-timeout command line option to set timeout when replay will be written even if clients still connected
  
• added --replay-filename command line option
  
• added UTCTIMESTAMP token for --replay-filename to automatically name replays based UTC timestamp
  
• added support for lobby chat history
  
• added support for lobby custom json messages (will also add to playing)
  
• improved support for server mods status
  
• added support for server mods in replays and saved games
  
• fixed null secondary colour causing server crash when starting game and showing new game commanders cinematic
  
• added validation of secondary colour

General

• added support for Legion Expansion mod
  
• added support for companion mods to reduce the size of large server mods
  
• added game info to session, connect_to_game and various scenes:
  
• serverType / game_server_type (local|uber|custom)
  
• serverSetup / game_server_setup (game|replay|loadsave)
  
• gameType / game_type (Galactic War|Ladder1v1|FFA|TeamArmies)
  
• gameModIdentifiers / game_mod_identifiers (work in progress)
  
• deprecated joinLocalServer / join_local_server in preference to isLocalGame / is_local_game
  
• changed isLocalGame to use the same is_local_game session key everywhere
  
• changed join_lobby helper to use isLocalGame
  
• updated to latest knockoutjs 3.4
  
• added save method to storage extenders

New Game

• added support for model.send_message('set_ai_commander', {id: model.playerId(), commander: commanderSpecString});
  
• fixed empty spectators (playersWithoutArmies)
  
• added spectatorCount observable
  
• added emptySpectatorSlots observable
  
• added serverModsState (uploading/downloading/mounting/mounted) string observable
  
• added buildVersion string observable
  
• added isLocalGame boolean observable
  
• added gameModIdentifiers
  
• added serverMods observable array
  
• added gameCheats observable arary
  
• added localChatMessage(name, message)
  
• added mods lobby chat message type
  
• added registerHoldReady(identifier, info)
  
• added unregisterHoldReady(identifier)
  
• added registerJsonMessageHandler(identifier, handler, priority)
  
• added unregisterJsonMessageHandler(identifier, handler)
  
• added sendJsonMessage(object)

Live Game

• exposed listen_to_spectators in GameOptionModel
  
• fixed lobbyId not set

Build Bar

• improved modability of build bar (wondible)

Icon Atlas / Strategic Icons

• added engine support for server mods and reloading (Uber)

Uberbar

• updated to latest strophe (xmpp used by uberbar and PA Chat)

APIs

• added api.download for community mods manager (Uber)
  
• added api.file.list for community mods manager (Uber)
  
• added api.file.zip for community mods manager (Uber)
  
• added api.memory.remount for community mods manager (Uber)
  
• added api.mods.getMounted (Uber)
  
• deprecated api.mods.getMountedMods (Uber)

Engine

• implemented watcher support for OS X / linux
  
• implemented memory mounted shader reloading

Game Server Browser

• added saving of game server browser filters with reset filters button

Connect To Game

• added status messages when mounting server mods
  
• added busy animation
  
• added mounting of server mods when starting game (moved from new game lobby to fix many UI issues)

Galactic War

• changed default save name to include time

New Game

• added lobby chat history
  
• added planet radius, metal / custom metal, custom landing and custom csg in a tooltip to planets
  
• added halleys required and increased size of planet icons
  
• added highlights to econ rate when not 1.0
  
• moved mounting of server mods when starting game to connect to game

Live Game

• changed default save name to include time
  
• changed global spectator chat default to team chat
  
• added spectator label for spectator chat

Live Game Planets

• added display of metal spots count to tooltip in planets summary
  
• reduced size of planets summary tooltip to minimise overlap with preview
  
• added metal spots count to planet list with localised metal tooltip
  
• reduced height of planets list for large systems with many planets

Live Game Players

• added right click look at player in PIP
  
• added right click track commander in PIP

Uberbar

• added searching by display name
  
• added lobby status to game invites
  
• added cancelling of game invites if full or inviter leaves lobby
  
• improved reconnect handling

Replay Loading

• added support for server mods in replays and saved games
  
• added downloading server mods status

GPU

• fixed windows laptops with AMD GPUs to always use discrete (Uber)
  
• fixed negative output of dither in HDR compose pass... should fix crash on Intel 5xx GPUs (Uber)

Audio

• fixed windows 10 audio issues with updated FMOD (Uber)

Uberbar

• fixed display names not updating
  
• fixed buy missing content dialog description when a classic player is invited to a titans game
  
• fixed a long standing issue where a network / data issue or reloading the uberbar reset the user tag map and killed friends list
  
• fixed the ubernet extender to not lose data or use bad data from playfab or local storage
  
• fixed the ubernet extender to correctly check previous and not update on refresh
  
• fixed long standing issue with large user tag and id to interaction time maps (based on optimise user tag map)
  
• fixed a long standing issue where idToJabberPresenceTypeMap and idToJabberPresenceStatusMap were not written to session storage
  
• fixed long standing issue where searches of existing friends add duplicates to friends list
  
• fixed invites to private games
  
• fixed long standing issue where previously accepted game invite fails then later invite from same person teleports you into new game without confirmation

New Game

• fixed game password lost after refresh, selecting system, settings, etc
  
• fixed cannot join empty slot issue where player disconnects without leaving
  
• fixed the many issues caused by new game lobby loading without server mods ready and the freezes while server mods are uploading and remounting

Live Game

• fixed alt-tab back to PA then backspace with chat window open triggering window back then reload or connecting to server

Live Game Players

• fixed missing look at players for spectators

Game Over

• fixed server freeze 30 seconds after game over while replay is being written which prevents chat, stats, review, etc

AI Changes:
AI will do a better job of keeping the Commander safe.
**Improved the AI's use of Tesla Bots.

Bugfix/polish:
Bolos are now named Ants.
Fix for an error that occurs when reconnecting to a game more than once.
Adding new custom commanders: Raptor Enderstryke71, Raptor Nefelpitou
Fix for audio dropping out in long/big games

You can no longer assist non-friendly units.
Added keybindings for the 'ammo' build group. Added the structure tag to land mines.
Removed the 'basic' type from land mine, so that normal fabbers cannot build it. Also added the naval type, since mines can be build on water.
Fix starting planets not being indicated in the details pane of the server browser.
Improvements to the local server warnings:
1) If you have set the local server setting to OFF, you will no longer see a message warning that your computer does not meet the requirements. It will still warn you that you have to either sign in or change your settings.
2) The local server option in the server browser will be disabled if you have set the local server setting to OFF.
Certain UI elements in the system editor would appear briefly while the JS was loading. They no longer appear before the scene is ready.
Prevent player kill notifications from popping up at the start of a replay.
We now wait to check if the current build version is out of date until after the user has signed in.
Inform Windows that we are "DPI-aware" to fix Windows 10 changing the resolution of the game while in full screen mode

Our ranked match making servers are back!


Thank you for your patience as we worked on this issue. <3

We've updated the game to fix the infinite loading bug.

Thank you for your patience. <3

We've recently updated the game. Here are the build notes for the changes.

AI changes:
AI perf improvement to build location updates.
Reduce how often the AI updates planet army data while not training neural networks.
Added some new inputs to the AI neural networks.
-These new inputs represent a more strategic view of the game. This helps the AI take planet wide information into account when deciding where to attack and when to run away.
More work on rally point placement.
Altered the way the AI chooses rally points.
Improved AI threat responses.
AI will utilize boom bot platoons a bit better.


Bugfix/polish:
Added starting planet indicators to the system indicator in the new game, server browser, and load system scenes.
Fix for case were the connect to game screen would hang indefinately due to getting a PollWaitTimeMS response. The screen will now only try a fixed number of times, then give up.
Bug fix for case where client crashed while in a lobby. The server lobby now correctly handles the case where clients disconnect without sending a leave message.
The AI landing zone policy widget will now appear when using a multiplanet system that was not created using the advanced system editor.
Steam users can now choose to use a display name that is different than the default Steam display name.
Reformat keybinds in action bar, display them within tooltips for idle fab/factories, ping, pip. Also added ability to access game stats from game menu.
Fix for issue where players could not join a lobby where the creator was spectating and all other slots were empty.
AI perf fix for when the AI has a number of fabbers that cannot find anything to build or assist with.
Visual tweaks to the ai landing preferences control.
Units will no longer move extremely slowly when in from of a group that has reached its goal.
Fix for segHitPathablePos improperly returning a voxel when the check failed.
-This is to fix a specific case in factory build task where the rolloff position would be unitialized, causing units to roll off at odd angles and move on invalid terrain and get stuck.
Quick pass on armory tab that upsells titans. Now shows the following:
- price
- video trailer
- description (pulled from steam)
- min reqs (isn't set to display relevant platform yet. added work needed.)