A few tweaks to help new players ballooned into several major efforts aimed at improving the new player experience. As is often the case, I couldn't add a piece of UI without making it extra smart and configurable, so the result is a cleaner and more powerful interface for everyone. Once you see the cleaner command panel you won't want to go back to the full messy version, although you may want to go into the settings to unhide your favourite advanced unit states.

In other news I (GoogleFrog, writing this) have a Patreon. It is new, since the last release, and the aim is to free up a bit more time to support Zero-K.

The map above is a new version of Twin Lakes Park by TheMooseIsLoose.

Idle units now give up and return to their old location if they move too far while chasing enemies (previously they could be baited across the whole map). This can be disabled by setting a unit to Roam. Raiders and riots are also a bit smarter about how they react to enemies while idle.

• Idle raiders move to stay out of range when approached by riots or most other raiders.
  
• Idle riots perform similar behaviour against skirmishers and against riots with greater range.
  
• Units that have been pushed back in this manner only move a short distance. When pushed too far they will turn and attack.

While some attempt was made to generate good chase and push distances, there are around 100² unit matchups so the configuration is a little rough. Expect tweaks and improvements in future patches.

Also, drones now return to their host if they stray too far away.

The command panel has a simple mode so as to not overwhelm new players with esoteric commands. I liked it so much that I added configuration options, to give even those that was a few more commands a nice clean panel.

• Replaced the icons for Repeat, Movestate and Firestate.
  
• Command and state position/ordering is now stable and consistent.
  
• Simple mode has slightly larger state toggles, large enough to show hotkeys. The old size can be enabled under Settings/HUD Panels/Command Panel (with Simple Settings disabled).
  
• Dual-toggle Hold Fire and Hold Position states replace Movestate and Firestate by default. Under the hood they toggle Hold Fire/Fire At Will and Hold Position/Maneuver. The full triple-toggle states can be enabled under Settings/Interface/Commands.
  
• Added the hotkey 'H' to toggle movestate.
  
• Approximately one third of the states and command are now hidden by default. The visibility of each command or state can be toggled under Settings/Interface/Commands.
  
• The position and order of the commands/states cannot be configured ingame. This requires a local configuration file found here.

Many games have save/recall camera hotkeys, and it is an easy enough widget to write, so there was no reason not to add it.

• Added bindable camera save/recall position hotkeys, and more control over alerts and transition times. These can be bound under Hotkeys/Camera/Camera Position Hotkeys.
  
• Added the option to remove most advanced features from Combo Overhead/Free Camera, which can be enabled and configured under Settings/Camera with Simple Settings disabled. It can now be made to ignore shift, ctrl or alt, and can be permanent set to a particular tilt.

There is now an interactive ingame guide that appears in your first non-campaign game. It is enabled by default to catch those who might need it. Experienced players can simply disable it with the X, and it can be enabled via Help.

• Added Scalpel to Fencer unit AI.
  
• In the lobby, watching a game or playing singleplayer no longer removes you from matchmaking queues.
  
• Command queue transparency can be configured in the main menu under Settings -> Game.
  
• The main menu settings menu now informs people that most settings only take effect upon entering the next game.
  
• Improved metal and energy image extended economy tooltips.
  
• Area Mex now queues one Solar with ctrl held, two with alt, and four with ctrl+alt. Previously it would queue four with alt.
  
• Missile Silo no longer repeatably fires with repeat enabled. This frees up repeat to be used to loop the build queue. An attack command may be repeated by issuing it with ctrl held.
  
• Added an experimental overlay that summarises visible reclaim. It can be enabled with 'Toggle Field Summary' under Settings/Interface/Reclaim Highlight (with Simple Settings disabled).
  
• Added selection hotkey settings for Swift, Thunderbird and Athena. They can be set under Hotkeys/Selection.
  
• Improved a few tooltips so that they are more descriptive. Move suggests line move. Reclaim/Repair suggests area reclaim/repair.
  
• Added more icons for the menu entries.

• Fixed command tooltips defaulting to those set by the engine instead of being overridden.
  
• Added startboxes for Supreme Crossing.
  
• Fixed terraform height presets being unable to make walls around structures with ctrl held.
  
• Terraform structure height no longer lets you try to make land-only structures underwater.
  
• Fix factory plate UI on unit transfer within team.
  
• Added Construction Plates to the cheat sheet unit spawner.
  
• Fixed Merlin firing issues with save/load and improved walk animation.
  
• Removed Misc Priority from units with shields that do not drain energy.
  
• Optimised the defence range indicator.
  
• Optimised the metal spot visualiser.
  
• Fixed a performance issue in a piece of code that was meant to be disabled.
  
• Fixed a bug with Zenith.
  
• Fixed some incorrectly displayed rank icons in the extended player list.
  
• Removed Dante lookahead as it seems to interact poorly with multiple weapons.
  
• Dual wielding commanders now prefer to aim with their shorter ranged weapon.
  
• Fixed a chicken spire error caused by there being no burrows.
  
• Fixed a minor bug with AFK sharing.
  
• Fixed Gauss localisation.

This is a quick patch to fix a few lingering issues with some of the Construction Plates, as well as to fix a few other bugs. The largest change is the application of aim lookahead to most raiders and riots. Units such as Glaive, Scorcher, Dagger, Mace and Redback now turn to aim at their targets before they enter range. The units that had the most to gain from lookahead, such as Kodachi, already had it, except for Archer, which gains lookahead in this patch.

• Applied lookahead aiming to most remaining raiders and riots.
  
• Slightly increased Dirtbag mound so that it blocks bots consistently.
  
• Worked around rare Widow misses.
  
• Improved and fixed effects for sonic blasters.
  
• Fixed Shieldbot Plate yardmap not quite being a rectangle.
  
• Fixed Jumpbot Plate icon.
  
• Fixed Amphbot Plate underwater placement (the mouse traces were colliding with the sea).
  
• Fixed Hovercraft Plate not letting units pass its open areas.
  
• Fixed custom HUD panel placement breaking with UI scaling.
  
• Blocked NaN command params from widgets.
  
• Fixed Crab helptext regarding its armour.

Some players like parallel build queues, some want more ways to optimise production, and some just think a base with lots of factories looks cool. All these desires are satisfied in this update with the introduction of construction plates - efficient mini-factories that must be placed near a main factory to function. They can be used in the campaign and teamgames to take advantage of allied tech, while in 1v1 they should make it easier for factories access their heavy units.

The rest of the update focuses on the balance of three areas: Kodachi, Amph, and dense team games. Kodachi has received nerfs to rein in the range bestowed by the fire prediction AI from v1.8.5.0. Archer takes over the role of sea riot from Scallop, with Archer gaining a sonic blaster and Scallop losing torpedo power. Funnelweb, Lance, Gauss and Big Bertha have various nerfs to open up the options in dense team games.

In other news, there is a 1v1 tournament this weekend. Click here for details and post to sign up.

Construction Plates are parallel build queues that offer an alternate method of increasing production. Hover a factory blueprint within 420 elmos of a factory of the same type to place a construction plate.

• Cost 150
  
• Health 1000 (1500 for Ship)
  
• Build Power 10

Scorcher regains some of its damage.

• DPS increased by 5.6%

Bolas has slightly more range to help it against Kodachi.

• Range 225 -> 230

Kodachi has a nerf to take fire prediction into account.

• Cost 170 -> 180
  
• Range 230 -> 215
  
• Reload Time 0.466s -> 0.5s
  
• Moved 13% of on-hit damage to groundburn damage.
  
• Projectile Velocity increased by 117% (reduces prediction overshoot).

Welder is more vulnerable to raids.

• Health 2000 -> 1800

Scallop torpedoes are relegated to sidearm status.

• Range 260 -> 270 (both weapons)
  
• Can fire torpedoes from underwater.
  
• Torpedo DPS reduced by 60%
  
• Torpedo AoE reduced by 62%

Archer takes on the role of sea riot.

• Replaced Water Cannon with Sonic Blaster.
  
• Can fire into water, must float to fire.
  
• Reduced Speed and increased DPS.

Lance is easier to catch.

• Speed 55.5 -> 52.5
  
• Turn Rate reduced by 9.4%
  
• Range 1020 -> 1000

Funnelweb takes on a tankyness more appropriate for a constructor.

• Cost 3000 -> 3500
  
• Health 6500 -> 4500

Gauss is worse at tying up artillery.

• Bunker Regen 20hp/s -> 10hp/s

Big Bertha is less generically powerful in dense team games.

• Cost 5000 -> 6000
  
• Reload 7s -> 8s
  
• AoE reduced by 8.3%
  
• Projectile speed reduced by 4.5%

• Scouted Caretakers and Strider Hubs no longer radar wobble.
  
• Fixed metal reserve erroneously disabling repair.
  
• Fix commander speed when walking in formation.
  
• Various fixes to shared unit control mode.
  
• Disabled shift append to groups by default.
  
• Change disambiguation of space+click context menu.
  
• Likho is better at avoiding obstructions when aiming.
  
• Fix Grizzly float-to-fire AI in some edge-of-range cases.
  
• Fixed manual queuing with Auto Reclaim/Heal/Assist widget.
  
• Fixed an issue with auto-retreat for planes.
  
• Fixed repeated screen resolution changes causing some UI widgets to be lost under the minimap.
  
• Fixed zero volume music logic.
  
• Fixed rare spectator panels crash.

After a bit of a break, we have returned with an update based on much of the feedback from the past month. it has been especially nice to see new contributions on the development side from within the community.

In terms of balance, the Lobster nerf is by far the largest. Now that the launching mechanic is polished and usable it is time to balance the unit around its attributes rather than difficulty of use. The next largest changes are some tweaks to vehicle raiders to account for Bolas and the Kodachi changes.

Two notable infrastructure changes are the addition of personal map bans for the matchmaker and an experimental split of the teams host into clan-balance and non-clan-balance. The campaign also has a few more codex entries and there are numerous fixes to the consistency of the interface.
Repair costs less time and energy.

• 3/4 unit cost -> 2/3 unit cost.

Scorcher regains some of its ability to chew through health at close range.

• Increased DPS by 7.5%.

Kodachi is given the Locust treatment to make it less snowbally.

• Autoheal 10hp/s -> 5hp/s.
  
• Weapon Velocity 220 -> 240.
  
• Reduced upfront DPS by 10.7 to partially counteract fire fixes (see below).

Bolas instantly slows the opponent in fewer matchups.

• Slow damage 3x normal damage -> 2x normal damage.

Duck loses most of the torpedo range it gained in a recent experimental buff.

• Health 340 -> 360.
  
• Torpedo Range 210 -> 160.

Scallop has a bit less range now that it need not worry about Ducks

• Range 270 -> 260 (both weapons).

Lobster is due for some basic attribute nerfs now that the launch mechanic has been perfected. These numbers are similar to its initial implementation, prior to the slew of usability improvements.

• Cost 230 -> 340.
  
• Health 1040 -> 960.
  
• Range 680 -> 620.
  
• Reload 9s -> 12s.

Disco Rave Party is no longer countered by Funnelweb.

• Blue Shocker damage 12k -> 30k.

Cloaking has fewer bugs and inconsistencies, and area-cloaking is now worse than personal cloaking.

• Being hit by pure slow/disarm/capture weaponry now causes units to decloak (just like being hit by regular or EMP damage).
  
• Personal cloak is disabled for 3s after taking damage or performing an action.
  
• Personal cloak disabled by enemy proximity lingers for 1.5s.
  
• Area cloak is disabled for 5s after taking damage or performing an action.
  
• Area cloak disabled by enemy proximity lingers for 2.5s.

Previously cloak was disabled for 3.5s by most, but not all, actions. Proximity decloak linger has been broken for a while, causing units to recloak immediately upon an enemy leaving range. Units with personal cloak use the improved numbers even when under an area cloaker.

Other mechanical changes and fixes.

• Disarmed transports can no longer pick up units.
  
• Transports drop their cargo when they start crashing.
  
• Zenith stops functioning when its beam is blocked, such as by aircraft or water.
  
• Fixed Dante, Kodachi and Disco Rave Party being unable to set units on fire.

• Added Codex entries for the quadrants of the galaxy, as well as few for particular planets.
  
• Added the ability personally ban matchmaker maps (up to six for 1v1, fewer for teams). There is a link via the 'Map Selection' button in the Matchmaking menu.
  
• Added map size to the tooltip for map selection mult-polls.
  
• Added network connection settings under Settings -> Game that may be experimented with to fix potential Coop Campaign hosting issues.
  
• Split the big teams autohost into two hosts. One attempts to put players in same clan or party on the same team. The other ignores clans and parties.
  
• Increased the maximum Queen Health Multiplier option from 30 to 1000.
  
• Removed the non-functional play as chickens modoption.

• Added filter and selection hotkeys for loaded and empty air transports.
  
• Added a hotkey to select all Athenas.
  
• Fixed some inconsistencies with the stockpile interface and added initial stockpile to Settings/Unit Behaviour.
  
• Setting the energy stall minimum to zero or the metal excess warning to maximum now disables the warnings completely.
  
• Disabled tactical AI for bombs by default.
  
• Tactical AI now responds to Chicken Leapers.
  
• Added support that allows map-style mods to override tooltips.
  
• Fixed using ')' as a hotkey on AZERTY keyboards.
  
• The COFC camera now uses the usual camera hotkeys.
  
• Fixed some Global Build AI issues and added a hotkey.
  
• Cleaned up invalid entries in the cheat menu unit spawner.

• Impaler animation matches its reload time.
  
• Fixed Ultimatium attempting to fire up cliffs from too far away.
  
• Chickens can no longer be reclaimed.
  
• Fixed Shieldbot Factory being categorised as 'Other' by endgame stats.
  
• Constructors count towards 'Economy' instead of 'Army' in endgame stats.
  
• Fixed a bug with preselection circles.
  
• Fixed some Gunship Plant geometry.
  
• Cleaned up the unit replies system.
  
• Dominatrix leash is no longer obscured by terrain.

Here is a small update with a few fixes.

• Fixed a problem with the tutorial button.
  
• Venom 1-shots Flea.
  
• Transports cannot be Lobstered.
  
• Added a more generic attributes system to fix Zero Wars.
  
• Fixed patrol orders being forgotten when given as part of a factory queue.
  
• Added Tweak Defs modoption.
  
• Added nine more Tweak Units and Tweak Defs modoptions for use in battlerooms (they are not on the UI).

With an expanded narrative for the campaign, numerous balance tweaks, AI fixes, and improved latency, this update has something for everyone.

The campaign codex has been added, ready to be filled with history and rumours from all over the galaxy. As you explore, you'll learn about its inhabitants, the events that transpired, and how it relates to you. The codex entries for already explored planet are added to ongoing campaigns, or you might prefer to start afresh (perhaps on a higher difficulty?).

The balance tweaks are focused on toning down Bolas and on evening up the relative appeal of Planes and Gunships in the early to mid game. Dominatrix has been moved back towards the anti-heavy role, submarines have better behaviour, and Merlin may be less dominant late game. There are also some changes to move transports away from bomb tossing and to make the prefire widget obsolete.

Other notable changes include a new Hunter model, polish for the main menu, and configuration changes that should result in reduced latency. Report changes in latency so we can assess their effectiveness.

Some units now aim and fire when their target is predicted to be within range. The affected units are Reaver, Pyro, Venom, Recluse, Dart, Ripper, Kodachi, Blitz, Ogre, Nimbus, Dante, Stardust and Faraday. This is a cheap and seamless replacement of the prefire widget and will affect balance, so further tweaks will be required.

Dagger is slightly slower.

• Speed 4.8 -> 4.75

Bolas is slightly worse at combat.

• Health 780 -> 720
  
• Range 230 -> 225

Ronin can lose a hindrance now that Cloaky is not so powerful.

• No longer slows down after firing (was slowing to 80% speed).

Dominatrix is now much better against heavy units. This is likely to need walking back.

• Doubled damage.
  
• Doubled the fixed capture buffer intrinsic to all units.

Blastwing is better at scouting.

• Sight radius 450 -> 500.

Locust requires more infrastructure to repair and reuse.

• Regen 10/s -> 5/s

Transport carry speed no longer depends on mass. This is a relative nerf for their ability to throw bombs.

• Charon speed 321 -> 345
  
• Charon transports at 70% speed. This is about how fast it moved while transporting Reaver/Ravager weight units.
  
• Hercules transport light units at 100% speed.
  
• Hercules transports heavy units at 50% speed. This makes it a bit slower for transporting Grizzly/Dante weight units, but about twice as fast for Detriment.

Raven can be cheaper now that energy drain for rearming has proven to be so effective.

• Cost 320 -> 300

Raptor is more manoeuvrable.

• Acceleration increased 10%.
  
• Aileron increased 33%.
  
• Rudder increased 33%.
  
• Elevator increased 50%.

Merlin no longer has above-average health/cost for artillery.

• Health 4000 -> 3140

Submarines (Seawolf and Scylla):

• Dive deeper in open water, reducing their depth when the sea floor requires it.
  
• Can traverse shallower water, but become vulnerable to surface weaponary.
  
• Take full damage from all weapons.

• Added the codex, a repository of logs uncovered as you explore the galaxy.
  
• Added 40+ codex entries. The plot thickens.
  
• Added a friendly Stinger to Cygnet as this planet is a bit of a difficulty jump.
  
• Added tips to Kirdipan regarding the heavy turrets.
  
• Added more Thunderbirds to Fel Diacia.

• Updated font.
  
• Added icons for friend invites.
  
• Fiddled with and fixed the campaign planet window to display better on smaller screens.
  
• Added a brief loading delay so that the menu does not try to draw without textures.
  
• Added an incomplete language selector.
  
• Fixed popup clickthrough.
  
• Added a tutorial prompt that prompts newcomers start the campaign in a single click.
  
• Applied some network settings that show result in much better latency.
  
• Fixed a bug with loading multiple save files.

• Remodeled Hunter.
  
• Damaged underwater units bubble instead of smoke.
  
• Removed grass.

• Added hotkeys for state toggles to command tooltips.
  
• Lobsters set to block attack commands can now only be fired with their special weapon.
  
• Updated commander chassis descriptions.
  
• Optimised some widget that draws state (health, selection etc...) on units in worldspace.
  
• Fixed Cutter build icon.
  
• Added Bolas translation support and help text.
  
• Area cloakers that are enabled by default now default to medium priority.

• Fixed raider tactical AI attempting to avoid factories.
  
• Tightened velocity prediction for Scorcher.
  
• Tweakunits can now propperly change factory build options.
  
• Possibly fixed a rare terraform bug.
  
• Fixed Chainsaw animating while reclaimed.
  
• Fixed an error with repair pads.
  
• Fixed Chicken-related awards performance.
  
• Fixed Strike chassis centre of mass.

The engine developers are looking to drop support for the 32-bit builds so, after some testing and profiling, this update applies the 64-bit engine to everyone with a 64-bit system. Previous attempts to do this hit bugs and performance issues, but none of those were found this time around. The 64-bit build appears to be faster and able to run larger and longer games without apparent issue. Be sure to report any if you find them.

Lobster has been the focus of much experimentation in the past few days so it is time for some changes. The biggest issue is the lack of counterplay against units that spend all their time in the sky. To address this Lobster can no longer fire mid-air, removing self-sufficient clouds and flying Lobster abduction. They can still steal enemy units when on the ground, and have received a few more tweaks and consistency improvements. Related to the rise of Lobster is Scallop, which has been nerfed a little while its intended counters have received tweaks.

This patch also include a fix for campaign savegames and a tweak to energy distribution that makes make storages less bad in large teamgames. There are small nerfs for the Hover and Gunship raiders, Raptor is a bit more responsive, and land units are less slow in shallow water.

• Further improved terrain rendering performance.
  
• Fixed a save/load bug that is especially relevant for campaign missions.
  
• Fixed starting construction inside unseen enemy units and structures.

Storages no longer preferentially 'drain' energy shared from other players. The energy redistribution system treats everyone as having at most 300 free energy storage, provided that no energy would be excessed under this assumption.

Scallop:

• Range 285 -> 270
  
• Shotgun damage reduced by 11.5%

Lobster

• Only able to fire when on the ground or in water.
  
• Reload Time 8.5s -> 9s
  
• Increased aim speed.
  
• Simplified some flight logic.

Dagger

• Cost 75 -> 80

Bolas

• Slow damage 140 -> 105

Claymore

• Health 1320 -> 1260
  
• Damage 600 -> 620
  
• Speed 2.5 -> 2.35
  
• Range 280 -> 300
  
• Fixed tactical AI.

Siren

• Health 3750 -> 4000
  
• Range 355 -> 360
  
• Fixed tactical AI.

Locust

• Health 860 -> 800
  
• Range 270 -> 260
  
• Aim Tolerance 180 -> 150
  
• DPS reduced by 2.5%

Raptor

• Combat speed 50% -> 35%
  
• Combat turn speed 200% -> 286%
  
• Slowdown restore delay 250ms -> 150ms
  
• Acceleration increased 10%

Land units are faster in shallow water:

• Depth 3, 0.82 -> 0.92
  
• Depth 6, 0.70 -> 0.82
  
• Depth 9, 0.61 -> 0.71
  
• Depth 15, 0.49 -> 0.52
  
• Depth 21, 0.40 -> 0.38

• Cerberus no longer fires through terrain.
  
• Cockatrice spores no longer ignore shields.
  
• Fixed the values in the space+click information for shield damage boosters.
  
• Fixed Z-fighting on Gunship Plant.
  
• Moved the rotation-centre of most models to make them rotate around their centre of mass (instead of their feet) when flying through the air.
  
• Fixed Ripper suspension becoming confused while flying through the air.
  
• Fixed units repairing launched Missile Silo missiles.
  
• Fixed the sun on SailAway. Added support for overriding sun direction.

Recent engine development focused on a single number - the CPU usage of terrain rendering - and a new version is ready for release. The old renderer was quite expensive when zooming around, even lategame, whereas the new one is barely noticeable. For the best results consider tweaking your map detail settings.

Along with the engine update we have fixed a few issues from v1.8.4.0. The elo options in !proposebattle now work and there is a larger teams matchmaker. Lingering Lobster bugs are gone and Crab has some additional fixes.

• Map rendering is much faster. This should be especially noticeable on lower-spec computers.
  
• Nanoframes no longer decloak. As a side effect terraform construction points are no longer placed far underground.

• Fixed the minelo and maxelo options in !proposebattle.
  
• Split the 2v2 - 4v4 matchmaker queue into 2v2 - 3v3 and 4v4 - 6v6.

• Fixed Lobster throw bugs and unreliability. The improvements of v1.8.4.0 are now properly live.
  
• Hacked around Crab uncurling issues to make the bug less common.
  
• Units no longer run away from economic structure AoE if the structure is in a hole.
  
• Fixed some map trees having unintentionally low energy values.
  
• Added compatibility for some maps that set the energy values and reclaim time of trees too high.

This is a patch of tweaks and systems. The main balance tweaks are nerfs for Shieldbots and Hovers, while Crab and Lobster have been buffed in the form of fixes. Sea battles are easier to track with much more visible torpedo effects. Bolas is in the campaign and can be found on planet Falloway.

The patch boasts two new systems. The first is a battle proposal system which aims to solve many of the coordination issues involved with hosting a game. The second is a terraform keybinding system to make terraforming easier than ever. To counterbalance it there are some tweaks that make it easier for units to shoot into holes.

Sometimes you may want to organise a battle but find the public hosts a bit chaotic and the matchmaker a bit impersonal. To address this there is a new battle proposal system that combines the coordination of a matchmaker and customisation of a room. If there is enough interest we might even write a proper UI.

• Type '!proposebattle' anywhere in the lobby to propose a battle.
  
• Other players can click the text to accept the proposal.
  
• When enough players accept the proposal a game is hosted and the other players automatically join.
  
• '!proposebattle' can be followed by the parameters minelo, maxelo, minsize and maxsize. For example '!proposebattle maxelo=1600 minsize=6 maxsize=6' would propose a six player game for players with rating (maximum of teams and MM) below 1600.
  
• The host of the battle can use commands as usual. '!password' can be used to make the game public and !type' can be used to select different game modes.

Glaive:

• DPS increased by 2%.

Thug:

• Cost 170 -> 175

Outlaw:

• Damage 30 -> 25
  
• Slow damage 90 -> 75
  
• No longer fires underwater.

Recluse:

• Speed 48 -> 45
  
• Turn rate reduced by 12.5% (still 5% more than pre-Superfluid)

We are leaning into the low-manoeuvrability aspect of Hovercraft now that there is more room at the low end of the scale.

• Dagger turn rate reduced by 20% (still 28% more than pre-Superfluid)
  
• Scalpel turn rate reduced by 20% (still 28% more than pre-Superfluid)
  
• Mace turn rate reduced by 6% (still 7% more than pre-Superfluid)

Dagger:

• Range reduced by 1.4%
  
• Reload increased by 1.2%

Crane:

• Health 240 -> 260
  
• Build Power 4 -> 5

Normalised constructor vision ranges.

• Crane 380 -> 375
  
• Wasp 350 -> 375
  
• Mariner 325 -> 375
  
• Weaver 380 -> 375
  
• Quill 325 -> 300
  
• Mason 273 -> 300

Other changes:

• Lobster now lobs units directly upwards and adds the horizontal velocity over half a second. This prevents Lobster lobbing lobs into itself.
  
• Crab no longer stops shooting under heavy fire. It can now fire while curling and uncurling (this was always the case yet nobody seemed to notice).
  
• Drones now heal at 10 hp/second after 10 seconds of inactivity.
  
• Metal Extractors and Caretakers are a bit taller and units aim at them higher up.
  
• Metal Extractors can no longer be built on steep cliffs.

Terraform tends to be more common after interface improvements. Some issues with the current system have been fixed:

• Most units, including vehicle raiders, can shoot into terraformed holes.
  
• Walls that block particular unit types (bots or vehicles depending on height) are more expensive and look more substantial.
  
• The area to be terraformed is now marked while constructors spend the base cost of terraform.
  
• Unburrying enemy units is feasible with overwhelming buildpower.

The details of the fixes are as follows:

• Terraform near an enemy is now 20x slower instead of 50x slower. A bug that caused enemies to fully block terraform has been fixed.
  
• The angle of terraform supports is now 74 degrees (from 75 degrees).
  
• The angle of the outer edge of the terraform supports is limited to 22.5 degrees. This raises the height required to block vehicles.
  
• The angle of the inner edge of a subractive terrafom support is limited to 45 degrees. This rounds the base of terraformed holes, giving units the space to peer into the hole and shoot whatever is at the bottom.
  
• A small amount of terrain deformation occurs while the base cost of the terraform is being spent.

There is now a keybind system for issuing Level and Raise terraform commands with preset heights.

• Navigate to Hotkeys/Construction/Level or Hotkeys/Construction/Raise in the ingame menu.
  
• Set the parameters (height and culling) for one of the ten terraform presets.
  
• Click 'None' and press a key combination.
  
• Press the key combination to issue a terraform command that is executed after the drawing step - no height selection required.

Ctrl-Click can now be used on the selected unit panel to filter selections in a new way. To use it:

• Select some units.
  
• Hold Ctrl.
  
• Left click on some unit potraits (Shift+Click to select all units of a type).
  
• Release Ctrl.
  
• The units clicked on while Ctrl was held become the new selection.

• Underwater wreckages bubble instead of smoke.
  
• Torpdoes and depth charge projectiles are now much easier to see. Hunter was feeling particularly lackluster due to the difficulty in discerning its targets.

• Fixed some technology descriptions in the campaign.
  
• Fixed Placeholder overkill prevention.
  
• Djinn no longer teleports units to terrain with an impassible movement modifiers.
  
• Removed Seawolf impulse. This prevents it from pushing ships out of the water and carrying them on its back.
  
• Tweak collision volume for Minotaur wreckage and Tidal Generators.
  
• Envoy and Emissary avoid shooting into terrain (this was intended, the theory being that their cratering was sufficient to break down walls).
  
• Optimised some parts of healthbar drawing. Fiddled with the settings and made the text fade out at lower zoom levels.
  
• Fixed Scylla firing more than one tacnuke when the intention was to only fire one.
  
• Fixed cloak ranges widget crashing when an unseen enemy unit is selected.
  
• Fixed a crash in the construction height widget related to clicking outside the map.
  
• Fixed areamex construction ghost positions in the sea.
  
• Fixed Crane nanospray.