• Reduced Moon Disk HP by one third.
  
• Moon Disc Fragment Chamber now requires you to destroy a Moon Disque before you can build it in strategic mode.
  
• Halved building accuracy bonus.
  
• Fixed crash in strategic mode caused by loading save games with different mods than the enabled ones.
  
• Fixed crash when tentacles grab gargoyles.
  
• Fixed gargoyle animation viewer crash.

Things have been a bit quiet because I've been taking a break, but new things are coming. The next release, due next month, is going to focus on user interface improvements. After that, I'll be working on the previously described long-term improvements to conquest.

Meanwhile, it's time for the Steam Awards again. Airships has never won an award. You could help it win an award. "Most Fun with a Machine" seems appropriate, doesn't it?

I bring you a seasonally appropriate monstrous update!



Gargoyles have started to nest in abandoned churches and factories throughout the land. These aerial predators nest in large swarms and defend their nests with acid spit.



What's more, strange giant red disks have been spotted hovering above the landscape, exuding a noxious yellow gas that is causing sickness and suffocation.



Defeating monsters can offer a new type of reward, a sudden leap ahead in your research. And with the new and improved Monster Hunter heraldic charge, you get one and a half times the research and money from defeating any biological monster.

Finally, there's also some nice new decorative windows you can use, and for modders, the ability to use frame-based animations instead of skeletal animations for crew.

• Most decals and some module externals can now have custom colours.
  
• You can place decals underneath the ship by holding space while you click.
  
• Modules no longer take an absurd amount of damage from nearby modules being destroyed. This should make bigger ships more viable.
  
• If you're getting invaded from multiple places at once, the GUI now tells you this.
  
• Fixed long-running display bug in coats of arms on modded ships.
  
• New, more informative explosion damage overlay.
  
• Overlays now update correctly when you go out of the overlay, replace a module, and go back in.
  
• Settings screen now correctly handles windowed fullscreen.
  
• Fixed a bunch of rare crashes.
  
• Can no longer set Suspendium cannon to rapid fire for extra DPS.

And yes, of course you can add support for module and decal recolouring to your mods. :)

• The game no longer pauses for several seconds before exiting.
  
• Fixed issue rendering modded armour.
  
• Fixed sawblade damage.
  
• Added recoil to imperial cannon and decreased its accuracy again.
  
• Fixed angle calculation for weapons. Barrels should now actually align with where the shot is going.
  
• Still working to track down and fix this desync bug. Maybe I got it this time!

Quick performance/bugfix/balance release.

• Better performance in conquest mode, especially in single-player. Running multiplayer at max speed may still not be advisable depending on map size and your computer.
  
• You can now put decals on external modules.
  
• Potential fix for a rare desync issue.
  
• Shot speeds vary less by default.
  
• Cockpit is more expensive now, but bridge is a bit better.
  
• You get a bit of extra cash to build a ship with on difficulty levels that don't have a starting one.

Version 1.0.3 brings a whole bunch of fixes and balance changes.

• You can now view your empire's current bonuses in the Empire window.
• Weapon accuracy of buildings doubled.
• AI should no longer constantly re-conquer war-torn towns and cities.
• Indicator for incoming enemy fleets.
• Slower conquest speed by default and options for half and quarter speed.
• Cleaned up landscape editor panel.
• Rapid-firing and melee weapons like gatling guns, flamethrowers and buzzsaws no longer change reload and accuracy based on fire mode.
• The AI no longer surrenders in pivotal battles.
• No starting ship for the player on higher difficulties.
• Hid (broken) editor buttons in conquest spectate mode.
• Boarders-only ships are now counted as still in-combat as long as there's boarders alive and able to perform their duties.
• Dust tank endcaps now gain increased lift from the Suspendium Specialists bonus.
• Crow's Nest, Telescope, and Targeting Computer accuracy bonuses work again.
• Rivets and masts courtesy of Faffywaffy on Discord.

In summary:

• Armour is better
• Acid spitters do a lot more damage
• Tracks and legs are more expensive
• Keels are more expensive but more effective
• Massive weapons are cheaper or better
• Small weapons have decreased accuracy against boarders and planes

In detail:

• Increased HP from 18 to 24
• Increaded piercing damage absorb from 1 to 2

• Decreased weight from 4 to 3
• Increased blast damage absorb from 1 to 2
• Increased piercing damage absorb from 3 to 4

• Decreased weight from 30 to 18
• Increased blast damage absorb from 3 to 4
• Increased piercing damage absorb from 6 to 9

• Decreased weight from 20 to 16
• Increased blast damage absorb from 12 to 16

• Decreased cost from 16 to 14
• Decreased weight from 50 to 30

• Decreased cost from 5 to 4

• Decreased cost from 10 to 8

• Decreased cost from 20 to 15

• Decreased cost from 9 to 7
• Increased lift from 22 to 25
• Increased blast damage absorb from 2 to 4
• Increased piercing damage absorb from 2 to 4

• Increased top speed from 150 km/h to 250 km/h
• Reduced delay between launches from 400 ms to 100 ms
• Increased piercing damage from 17 to 24
• Increased reload time from 1.7 seconds to 2 seconds

• Increased cost from 100 to 160
• Increased reload time from 2 seconds to 3 seconds
• More than doubled accuracy
• Increased direct damage from 7 to 30
• Decreased max range from 114 m to 85 m

• Decreased HP from 1200 to 800
• Increased cost from 200 to 400
• Increased coal reload interval from 8 to 12 seconds

• Increased cost from 20 to 30

• Decreased weight from 100 to 40
• Decreased HP bonus from 150 to 110

• Decreased weight from 200 to 70
• Increased cost from 80 to 90
• Decreased ship HP bonus from 300 to 250

• Decreased weight from 300 to 140
• Increased cost from 140 to 200

• Increased cost from 15 to 40

• Increased reload time from 3 to 3.5 seconds
• Increased piercing damage from 40 to 50

• Decreased HP from 60 to 50
• Decreased weight from 60 to 50
• Decreased cost from 80 to 50
• Decreased reload time from 2.1 to 2 seconds
• Decreased accuracy by 30%

• Generally reduced weight and cost

• Increased cost from 120 to 150
• Decreased reload time from 4 seconds to 3 seconds
• Decreased accuracy by 25%

• Decreased cost from 120 to 100

• Decreased accuracy vs troops and planes

• Reduced cost from 800 to 500

• Increased HP from 3000 to 4000
• Decreased weight from 4500 to 3000
• Increased cost from 300 to 360
• Decreased ship HP bonus from 7000 to 6400

• Introduced 100 m max range
• Decreased piercing damage per shot from 12 to 10
• Decreased accuracy vs troops and planes

• Increased accuracy by 25%

• Decreased weight from 1400 to 900
• Increased cost from 80 to 110
• Incresed HP bonus from 1400 to 1750

• Decreased HP from 1200 to 600
• Increased weight from 1000 to 1200
• Increased cost from 140 to 450
• Increased propulsion from 1.4 to 4
• Decreased coal reload interval from 6 seconds to 5 seconds

• Increased HP from 350 to 480

• Increased HP from 220 to 300

• Decreased cost from 500 to 400
• Increased blast splash radius from 8 m to 11 m

• Decreased HP from 400 to 300
• Increased cost from 80 to 130
• Increased propulsion from 0.38 to 1.1
• Decreased coal reload interval from 15 seconds to 12 seconds

• Decreased reload time from 2.3 to 1.5 seconds
• Increased accuracy by 20%
• Increased clip size from 12 to 16
• Decreased accuracy vs troops and planes

• Increased cost from 15 to 20
• Reduced clip size from 20 to 16
• Decreased accuracy vs troops and planes

• Increased blast damage from 30 to 40

• Increased cost from 30 to 50
• Decreased weight from 750 to 400
• Increased ship HP bonus from 400 to 700

• Increased cost from 30 to 70
• Increased propulsion from 0.3 to 0.4
• Decreased coal reload interval from 30 seconds to 20 seconds

• Reduced HP from 400 to 300
• Increased cost from 50 to 160
• Increased coal relaod interval from 25 seconds to 30 seconds

• Decreased HP from 1200 to 800
• Increased weight from 800 to 1500
• Increased cost from 150 to 900
• Decreased propulsion from 25 (!?) to 8
• Decreased coal reload interval from 5 seconds to 4 seconds

• Decreased reload time from 4 seconds to 3 seconds
• Doubled accuracy

• Increased HP from 120 to 150
• Increased lift from 250 to 280

• Increased HP from 75 to 100
• Increased lift from 180 to 200

• Decreased cost from 200 to 120

• Decreased weight from 150 to 140
• Increased cost from 120 to 150
• Decreased reload time from 4.5 to 3 seconds
• Decreased accuracy by 25%

• Increased HP from 80 to 120
• Increased propulsion from 0.07 to 0.14
• Same proportional increases for double and triple versions

So I've been chewing at game design to figure out how to best improve the game and address the issues in the previous post. So here's the basic plan for getting the game into a good final state.


Not only is this the top requested item, it should also stop everyone being constantly at war with each other a little bit, engaging in little back-and-forth battles. Diplomacy needs to have concrete gameplay effects, though. If all you did was declare war when you wanted to fight and sue for peace when you didn't, that wouldn't actually be any different from what we have now. So diplomacy has to be about agreements, promises, and trust.



Right now, espionage is a bunch of nice ideas that aren't very satisfying. Why spend cash burning down a building when you could just build a ship and use that instead? I'm still working on the details of it, but the idea is that espionage is something you can concentrate on if you like, and that will deliver results that you can't just get some other way.



AI fleets are meant to be varied in their appearance, strengths, and weaknesses, but this has led to some fleet designs being way better than others. The AI is also bad at fleet composition. I'm going to go over the designs and make them more even in overall power level while preserving and enhancing what makes them unique.



Right now, you can just send your fleet to zoom around the map, blowing stuff up. This is not how an actual war works, and it makes geography pretty irrelevant. I'm working on mechanisms to make fleet positioning and movement more restricted and more meaningful.

After those four items are done, I'll have another look at resources and city upgrades. Apart from that, I'm also working intensely with a number of players to improve the balancing in combat, and there will be some new modules and monsters coming your way.

All of this will take a while, of course! Right now, I'm working on an update that fixes the "low hanging fruit" of balance, gameplay, and user interface issues. Then I'll be working up to diplomacy and the required AI changes.

(Slightly wonky illustrations brought to you by my attempts to learn a new drawing program. Not representative of some new art direction.)

It's been a few weeks since the release. I've squashed the immediate bugs, and while I'm generally very happy with the state of the game, it's clear that the conquest mode needs improvement.



I've gone through hundreds of recent reviews and forum threads and collected all your feedback about the conquest mode. Reading through everything that's wrong with my game was a bit... emotionally draining, but I got through it and have put together a list of the biggest issues that I think I need to address:

• Conquest starts out hard, with lots of opponents to fight, and then becomes very easy once you have a big enough fleet to steamroll everyone.
  
• Some enemy ship designs are very weak, and once you do have a big enough fleet, your ship designs don't matter very much.
  
• The mechanics around attacking, intercepting, and fleeing cause a lot of back and forth with little progress for either side in a war.
  
• Town defenses and counter-espionage are both expensive and not very fun.
  
• It doesn't really matter where you attack because all cities just give you extra income.

I have a whole bunch of ideas for how to improve all this, but I want to avoid just making a pile of additional features that buries the underlying game design flaws. So I'm now going through these ideas and figuring out how they can fit together to address the points above. I'll be making another post soon detailing my plan.

In the meantime, do give me additional feedback and suggestions. Do note that there's a lot of different things I need to balance, and that your game experience may be different from others'. :)

The latest Airships update fixes a bug in the combat AI for ships. It was a rather weird and stupid bug, and so I'd like to tell you about it. I hope to entertain you and also give you a view into the game development process.

There were a lot of reports of the combat AI being very incompetent when trying to attack buildings, especially from close range. Ships would just float around unmoving instead of closing in and bringing their weapons to bear.

So I set about reproducing this problem, which turned out to be rather easy. I set up a combat of an AI grenade bomber versus a building, and the bomber completely failed to position itself.



I will explain the cause of this in a moment, but I first have to get into the detail of how combat AI works. Its main function is to evaluate possible positions for the ship to move to. For each position, it looks at how much damage it can deal from there and how much enemy fire it's exposed to. Some positions it can't get to, because something's in the way, or because they're above its service ceiling.



The other mildly confusing thing I need to mention is how the y-axis in the game's coordinate system works. It points downwards, so ships with a higher y-coordinate value are further down. And the zero point is at about 70 metres above ground. Not the most sensible way of doing things, but it just evolved that way.



I have a convenient debug view in the game that lets me see the combat AI's evaluation of all the positions it considers. In the case of the combat of the bomber versus the building, I could instantly see that it marked all the positions near the ground as unreachable. All the positions with y-coordinate greater than zero.

At this point I had a pretty good idea of what was going on. The culprit was an obscure module type value called aiMaxY. This value is used to tell the monster AI to not move too far down, because it looks weird. For example, it prevents the Aerial Jelly, which is meant to hover above your ships and attack like that, from moving all the way to the ground.



aiMaxY is set to 10000 by default, going all the way into the ground. But by looking at the debugger, I could see that the bomber's aiMaxY was actually set to 0. So the AI considered all positions where y was greater than 0 as invalid.

Now I just needed to figure out why the value was at 0 instead of 10000.

The culprit there turned out to be flipped modules. The information for flipped versions of modules is derived automatically from their un-flipped counterpart. The game does this by copying all the information and adjusting it where needed, making firing arcs point the other way, mirroring the graphical appearance, and so on.



But I had forgotten one line in this code. It didn't copy over the aiMaxY value, and instead left it at 0.

So all flipped modules would tell the combat AI to not take the ship beyond y = 0. Any airship with a flipped module had broken AI. Which was many but not all of them, making the bug appear inconsistently.

The fix was painfully easy: add that line to copy over the aiMaxY value for the flipped module. And with that one change, the AI started behaving much better!