Hi Executives,

Today's patch is small but should help fix a few important bugs.

• Can now self destruct your self when in a fighter
  
• Docking and taking off bugs have been fixed
  
• Added a docking cone to the front of any docking bay which will now show up on your right panel when you are inside it
  
• Swapping between weapons now resets the next time you can fire
  
• Fixed an issue where you could be stuck inside the fighter as an Executron
  
• Fixed an issue where you could be stuck exiting ExecuDisplay
  
• Extra messages have been added to tell you how to exit direct control or inside a ship
  
• Fixed swapping into wrong team if you steal a ship as an Executron
  
• More Ironite given in the first tutorial
  
• Tutorial level 4 is now working again
  
• Ui fixes in resources menu
  
• Victory text should now fit into the objectives tab
  
• Derelicts now do a broken path check to make sure all areas are accessible
  
• Mechanoids no longer get stuck in door ways when being controlled in FPS

One final important change for mac users, I have had to disable Retina support so that the game works in Catalina, this is a Unity bug and will be addressed at a later date.

Cheers,
Rob

Hello executives,

Mini patch fixing a few issues.

• Robots should move to where you tell them better in terms of accuracy with the mouse cursor.
  
• Ships in Quantum fracture space should no longer show up as being in a star system.
  
• Shored up issues of robots being left outside when a probe explodes.
  
• Switching to mining ship no longer breaks the interface.
  
• Executrons can no longer self destruct RTS units.
  
• Accelerate lasers and ion pulsators are now priced correctly from trader.
  
• Accelerate lasers and ion pulsators now apply as tech from trader.
  
• Self destruct button on outposts now visible again
  
• Mechs will now follow Executrons

Cheers,
Rob

Hello executives,

Today's patch mainly aims at improving the user experience of the game by updating UI elements and helping to bring the game into line with other RTS game, new features include:

You can now select buildings which will then bring up contextual options and information such as shipyards now all have their own design buttons rather than having to try and remember if that was shipyard 1 or 2. You can also now select mining outposts and construct ships directly there instead of making them at your main base and sending them over.

You can now just click on drones to take control of them now.

Money, Ironite and Time now have their own icons with tool tip information now being correct on all screens.

The research tree has been completely changed to help users understand it better and pick a better suited path with some tech having cheaper sub tech. Also added a new tech level which includes 12 new weapons which helps to make Tech 1 easier to understand.

Outposts no longer have upgrade levels and you simply upgrade your company tech level with money, however capturing an enemies research outpost will still let you upgrade to what ever tech they were on, this is all to help streamline the game.

The repair facility has now become the maintenance facility which will now upgrade ships with that a better version of its currently installed gun as well as repair giving you reason to bring them back to get the latest tech.

The AI's strategic scripts have been improved to take advantage of the new tech and attack better for a more fun game.

Rally points have been added to the game so ships and robots will exit to a particular point (may still need more work)

Can now cancel units under construction and get refunded.

In addition to them the following has been changed/fixed:

• Factions are now synced over multiplayer
  
• Allies are now displayed in blue on the galactic screen
  
• Tool tip has been added to the delivery screen
  
• Motion blur has been removed due to horrific FPS drops.
  
• Can now right click on a building to tell a gateway probe to dock with it.
  
• Outpost navigation path has been improved
  
• Ship names are now back on the side of ships.
  
• AI will attack the bridge again when the force fields are up.
  
• Robots should no longer stop following you
  
• Pressing 1 and 2 will not longer reset firing rate.
  
• AI now uses coolant
  
• Spelling mistakes
  
• Improved the weapon targeting when direct piloting star ships.
  
• Added a new super rare asteroid random encounter which gives you about 2-3 minutes to blow it up before it crashes into the bridge.
  
• A docking problem where ships would stop working has been fixed.
  
• Expanded the mapseed to include new planets and star systems however this will break all existing seeds, old ones are fixable and I will do a post on how to do this if it has become an issue for anyone, this patch will also break all existing saves.
  
• New music has been added.

Thank you for all the bug submissions and ideas, as always if you find anything please let me know by submitting a bug within the game.

As always I will be bug fixing and improving the stability of the game, next on my list I will be improving the ground assault and Executron experience. I will also looking at the possibility of making bigger maps, and finally I am well aware that many of you didn't like the fact that the troop transport was removed (reasons I have stated about 101 times) so I will be looking at bringing back a stable version of it which docks at the docking bay as part of the BlackOps tech I am planning on adding into the game.

Please also join the discord for all the latest information and beta testing.
https://discord.gg/ranDWCU

I hope what ever you are doing this month that you have a great one!

Cheers,
Rob

Just a small patch to supplement the last one, fixed the following:

• Tutorial updated so you can build a corvette
  
• Mechanoid factory animation error has been fixed
  
• Multiple gateway probes in multiplayer has been fixed
  
• A slowdown which occurred if your carrier ship was destroyed while the fighters were docking.

Cheers,
Rob

Greetings executives, today you are getting some really cool features.

Thanks to all the feedback I have been getting through the game and on the Discord channel I have implemented the following changes, if you familiar with the game please pay close attention to the concept changes.

A lot of feedback I was getting was that the tech tree was a bit confusing and also despite its size was very much unused. Generally people would go for the laser weapons, a few key buildings and that was it, the new tech level system should help rebalance this and also give a better understanding to how to progress down the tree, this will also stop people reaching higher tier weapons very quickly

In order to upgrade to the next level you need to build and upgrade a research outpost costing money, this important change makes manufacturing goods and trading so much more vital to the game now and also makes it important to defend such a key structure, loosing a research outpost will not lower your tech rating, however if it is captured it will upgrade the tech rating of who ever gets it.

Factions were always a bit confusing as to what exactly they did so this has now been streamlined. A faction will now blow up a deployed outpost if you don’t pay them rent for use of their space with either a planetary defence laser or another type of weapon, so make sure you keep them happy.

All robots, Executrons and CEOs can now pick up and carry crates around, these crates contain either goods such as Ironite and coolant or a deployable object such as a turret. This new content will now give Executrons more to do such as setting up kill zones with traps and turrets, installing new efficiency modules and I’m sure in the future many more things.

To deploy crates you now have a multi tool which when fired at a deployable crate will unpack it, using the right mouse button you can repack it again, the multi tool will also scan crates to show its contents.

Crates can either be found in space floating around, on derelict space stations or processed out of your goods factory in the new packing machine which will turn anything in your cargo hold into a crate, crates can also be inserted back into the cargo hold too from the same factory.

Can now order placeables directly from a delivery company at a much higher price than the trader.

You can now upgrade the efficiency of buildings like the robot factory by buying an upgrade module from a trader and manually inserting it into a slot in the building.
This does the same thing as over charging the reactor but on a permanent basis.

Dauntless class ship - This is a new fast attack starship is great for initially expanding your empire with 4 weapon points and overcharged engines for quick turns and zooming around the cosmos.

Battlecruiser class ship - Not quite as big as the battleship but an excellent cheaper alternative to it.

Z12 Bot - Z11 bots not quite cutting it? Try the new and improved Z12 with extra armour.

Starship machine guns weapons have been adjusted and re balanced as well as graphically altered to look more exciting.

Robot now have Oulsator guns and super heated laser beams which can vaporise robots.

You can now build long glass corridors to help with base design and also for simply enjoying the view, there is a limit to how many you can make to help with game mechanics

By holding down the right mouse button when telling ships to move you can now make them move into formation, also telling a group of ships to move somewhere will now keep them in that formation

Make sure you have defences in your home star system as you never know when you might be hit by a giant asteroid.


Along with these new features there are the usual fixes and changes including:

• New graphics for the raider ships.
  
• Overview screen has been replaced with building controls screen
  
• Can now self destruct segments to help with base design
  
• RTS camera now zooms to the mouse pointer correctly
  
• New music has been added included winning/loosing music
  
• You can now simply click on an outposts roof to bring up its options.
  
• Ships and turrets will no longer try and shoot through shields or your own ships to try and attack another target.
  
• Beam weapons now correctly damage shields over multiplayer correctly.
  
• Level 3 machine guns on spaceships now only launch 3 shots instead of 5
  
• The number of audio sources in the game has been reduced which should help it randomly cutting out
  
• The Ion cloud no longer causes damage to ships but simply drains shields and coolant reserves.
  
• Can now press and hold on certain plus and negative buttons on console to help with manufacturing
  
• Lights on derelict outposts now start off.
  
• You can now stop a ship attacking a derelict
  
• Pressing ‘ when typing will no longer bring up the bug submission form
  
• Improved accuracy on turrets a little.
  
• The unit fabrication screen will now remember your last layout
  
• Health bars are now under the building UI
  
• Can no longer build ships/robots on other people stations
  
• Collisions with other robots is now removed, should help stability.
  
• Ironite now added to unit fabrication screen
  
• Tooltip shouldn’t get stuck any more
  
• Can now bring up main menu when in fighter as CEO or execution
  
• Fixed shields and railings in repair facility
  
• Outpost ships now have a fleet cost of 1
  
• Control panels now update when the research is done
  
• Function keys now work for Executrons when in Excecudisplay
  
• Ships now move fire at structures from a distance
  
• Dragging a box over units will no longer select civilian ships unless they are the only thing in the box
  
• Auto buy Ironite and coolant now off by default
  
• Ships come out of the warp tunnel at the correct y axis
  
• Bribing factions as now been removed as no longer needed
  
• Lighting weapon now works better against shielded units
  
• Feedback from factions no longer needs 2 separate windows
  
• Notification system is now colour coded to help with priority
  
• Mining ships now group up in sensors
  
• Monolith now fires correctly over multiplayer
  
• Ships no longer attack other ships when their health is 0
  
• Health bar graphics now scale according to the zoom
  
• System information bars are now easier to understand
  
• Defence platforms now remember their state after loading
  
• No longer inundated with diplomatic messages after loading
  
• Can now see dropped cargo in the RTS screen easier
  
• Key mapping has been updated

As you would expect with some big changes to the game there will be some balancing issues so please let me know your thoughts on this. Also the new crate system is fairly new so expect even more exciting additions to it.

Thank you all again for your continued support and help in the development of the game, as always please submit bugs through the game.

Cheers,
Rob

Hi executives, small fixes today.

• Improved script efficiency to speed things up even more.
  
• Shields on robots now work.
  
• Added limit to the amount of robots you can build, this is to keep the game running smoothly.
  
• Lights switch off when structure is being made in FPS
  
• Buying tech from a trader should finally work!
  
• Infestors and mechanoids can no longer capture stations.
  
• Star fighters now turn at the correct speeds when things are getting a little intense.
  
• May have fixed not respawning as an Executron
  
• All ships will now aim at gateway probes better.
  
• Hit box around railings on bridge has been improved
  
• Defence outposts will no longer attack probes that are already docked
  
• Explosions area of effect now includes internal turrets
  
• Turning off random encounters now works
  
• Torch will no longer switch on when you are typing
  
• AI CEO now reacts faster to you sending troops through gateway

If the forums are looking a little empty these days its because all the action is now on our official discord server (I sense the death of the steam forums)
https://discord.gg/ranDWCU

Next will be working on a system for Executrons so that turrets can be placed down along with other defensive tech to create kill zones etc.

Goods will also be able to be removed from the cargo hold of one station and transferred to the other in the form of a package so this will be great for things like stealing or scavenging Ironite/tech on abandoned stations.

Eventually this will lead to efficiency enhancements for stations to help boost speed where a module is brought/scavenged and installed into the station.

All this of course while I will be bug fixing.

Cheers,
Rob

Hello executives, today's patch has quite a few things fixed and added focusing on improving the direct control experience on stations.

• Added fighter bay to Executron facility
  
• Rearming stations now heal units.
  
• More obvious where the capture terminal is on outposts
  
• Added green bar to show rearm time of weapons
  
• Weapons now have heat glow.
  
• Added sequential mode in scenario editor.
  
• Tracer fire has been added to weapons so easier to see where shots are coming from
  
• Added hit effect so you know when you have been shot
  
• Added hit direction effect so you know which direction you have been hit from.
  
• Location based damage with headshots doing 3x more
  
• Internal turrets now have a new look
  
• Executrons now have a death camera
  
• Telling a gateway probe to dock will now show a little arrow
  
• Docking bay has now been given more controls such as recalling ships, opening/closing outer doors and preventing takeoff, these controls can be found from the internal subsystem panel (same as turrets and doors)

• Z11 bots and turrets aim has been more relaxed to increase enjoyment of the game in First person mode.
  
• Grouping units is now done with the left control like the manual says.
  
• Hit areas on bots/mechs/executives have all been improved.
  
• Ducking and hiding behind crates now actually helps
  
• Bullet weapon graphics have been improved.
  
• Smaller ships now have flames come out the back when damaged
  
• Ion cloud will no longer damage docked ships when the docking bay doors are closed
  
• Reduced Ion Cloud chance and increased Meteorite for now.
  
• Crates added to ore refinery.
  
• Removed repair button from internal turrets so has to be done now during the upgrade/repair sequence.

• Weapon damage will no longer multiply depending on how many players there are
  
• Starting a new skirmish game after loading an old one no longer breaks the game
  
• Victory conditions are now correctly applied to skirmish saves.
  
• Defence upgrades are now better synced over the network
  
• Fixed robots stopping while trying to move a lot of them.
  
• Navigation stability has been improved.
  
• Text colour in tutorial progression now correct
  
• Shotgun spread has been fixed
  
• Reduced audio issues a little
  
• Brought tech is now properly applied if you have the correct amount to buy it
  
• Cockpit should vanish now when the CEO crashes into something while inside a star fighter
  
• Fixed gateway teleporting into space issues.
  
• Lights now start off on all derelict outposts
  
• Long range load out will now only become available when missles/railgun is researched.
  
• AI now builds better tech
  
• Hovering over and selecting units now showing correct tech
  
• Executrons respawning now get correct system fog.
  
• Ion cloud position now synced over multiplayer
  
• Cockpit now vanishes when game is over
  
• No longer dock rolled over
  
• Fixed issue where direct controlling a robot would cause the hands to vanish.

Adding an executive fighter to the Executron facility really opens up space flight and gives Executrons something to do early on the in the game rather than just waiting for a star fighter to be built, let me know what you think. If you decide to take one out of a spin as the CEO please make sure you have a docking bay built as its a one way launch system.

I will be continuing to improve the Executron experience which will include new buildings to improve defence such as a garrison, an inventory system so that turrets and other devices can be placed down, facility upgrade tech which needs to be installed, damaged systems which need repairing, new models for smaller ships and eventually bring back laser weapons.

A lot of people have been asking for an official discord channel so one has been setup so that you can all chat about the game, organise matches, see where its going and start the formation of an active community. I will also be using it to bounce ideas off you or show any new cool features I am working on.

https://discord.gg/ranDWCU

Thanks for continuing to support the game and thank you for all the bug reports.

Cheers,
Rob

Hello Executives,

Seems the Scenario editor is stable enough to release onto the main branch of the game so if you are on the Experimental branch please switch back to the main one by opting out else you will not get this update.

Along with the release I have also fixed a fair few major bugs.

• Can no longer buy tech for free.
  
• Buying new tech should update the tech tree.
  
• AI now shoots rocket launchers again.
  
• Fighters now shoot at gateway probes.
  
• Tech which you have already researched is no longer applied when purchased.
  
• Light levels on all stations have been increased.
  
• Economy stability has been improved.
  
• Multiple of the same outpost has been fixed on the economy screen, especially when loading from save.
  
• Mining outposts on economy screen now show how many ships are assigned to it so you can see if it needs more cargo/mining ships.
  
• Right clicking on a quick nav system with a mining outpost present while a cargo ship is selected will now make that mining outpost the cargo ships new home base.
  
• Correct amount of ships constructed when taking over an outpost in multiplayer.
  
• Deploying a monolith will now tell you if you have hit your fleet cap and not start constructing
  
• Out of bounds warning system radius has been increased when flying ships
  
• A bug where ships would continue to fly forward after exiting direct piloting mode has been fixed.
  
• Improved AI on stuck robots so they will try and unstuck them selves.
  
• Giant green reflection in defence outpost has been removed.
  
• Wall collides have been thickened to help improve glitching through walls.
  
• Error in outfit screen showing wrong weapon has been fixed.
  
• Factions no longer ask for money twice.
  
• FXAA is now being applied to the game.

I noticed that some of you were constructing extra bits of your base to the side of Research facilities, this was not an intended feature therefor it has been removed. However I actually really like the idea of being able to construct to the side of an outpost especially ship yards as this allowed you to bring your ship construction closer to the front lines. I am going to investigate this and look at bringing it back into the game in a better state.

Thank you again for all the testing help, as mentioned in a few posts I am looking at improving the first person experience of the game next by giving Executrons more things to do as well as looking at adding a fighter bay to the Executron facility so that they don't have to wait for the docking bay to clear and can just dive into a fighter and explore space from the get go.

Enjoy!
Rob

Greetings executives,

Today I have uploaded a copy of the game featuring the scenario editor allowing you to make your own single player campaigns.
It also features a proper single player tutorial for new people to follow so by all means let me know what you think.

I felt that now would be a good time to get feedback about the new features from the community and make sure its going in the right direction, be sure these are not their final versions.

There is also new battle music for you to enjoy.

Since its experimental I highly recommend not putting a too much effort into making campaign just at this moment in time due to the fact that you might loose it if I update certain variables (which I will try and avoid doing)
However the files it outputs are in JSON format so they are most likely fixable if worse comes to worse.
Once out of the experimental phase I will enable workshop support so you can share your campaign with your friends.

This update will be going into a special experimental branch and not onto the main one to make sure its all working first

To access the experimental branch you need to:

1. Right click on the game in the library and click properties
   
2. Click on the betas tab
   
3. Type in iloveexecutiveassault and the click check code
   
4. Select experimental from the list and the special version should download.
   
5. Remember to switch back when the patch comes out officially.

A few bugs have been fixed as been spending most of my time working on this however the game should no longer crash when playing as an Executron in single player mode and taking control of a derelict station, rockets will now fire in the right direction and the monolith should be better synced over multiplayer.

While I await your feedback I will be working on bug fixing again which judging by the bug reports I have been getting mostly happens in multiplayer games especially with Executrons.

If you haven't seen it already here is the road map for the game.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/510500/discussions/0/1639789306558917877/

Thank you again for all the help and I hope you enjoy the new features.

Cheers,
Rob

Evening executives,

The experimental branch is now live for everyone as it fixes a few important issues.

In addition to adding the map editor and everything announced in the last announcement, this patch also fixes the following:

• Infestors should no longer go under the station and crawling around in space.
  
• The spawning of hundreds of protester ships when a faction declares war with you.
  
• When a CEO has been assassinated, all of their assets will self destruct with the station blowing up 2 minutes afterwards.
  
• Buying tech will now instantly be applied rather than having to click a separate button, tech trade will be added at a later date.
  
• Mechanoid navigation has been improved.
  
• The fabrication should no longer break when buying tech from the trader when you already have it researched.
  
• Tier 2 and 3 rocket launchers have been removed from the tech tree.

Please remember if you have been testing the game on the experimental branch to revert back to the standard one else you will not get this update.

Thank you again for all the testing and help.

Cheers
Rob