Hello warriors!

New load of gameplay improvements and bugfixes just hit the server! Thank you all for helping us finding all remaining issues which made it through our intense internal synchro/controller tests - this patch address many of them, as well as reported balance issues. There’s also a server-side optimization improvement and tweaks done to various systems.

Enjoy and see you in battle!

Changelog v.0.8.1.5.1

Gameplay:

– Synchro tweaks: improved synchronizing players with low and unstable framerate and improved overall synchro, especially when turning
– Improved snaps when a player gets between the client- and server-side position of other player or when player jumped down on client but server-wise they still remain at top of a building – these issues were occuring in case of the server-side lags occur
– Reduced Glory gained for siege events in order to make it more balanced compared to amount of Glory gained for capturing flags
– Added displaying requirements to be included in the weekly Glory count up and get the weekly CP reward in the Glory window
– Added test version of a system which contextually increases the network updates tickrate when specific server isn’t crowded – while the minimal tickrate hasn’t been changed,this change should effect in overall better servers’ performance

Fixes:

– Fixed an issue causing that two players could hit the other one at the same time with full power attack when one of them should be interrupted
– Fixed an issue causing that attacks used to be executed 70% slower when clicking LMB very fast (thanks to MightyKitten and Medller for sending videos showing this issue!)
– Fixed an issue causing glitches in female NPCs movement
– Fixes and tweaks to Sangmarian questlines
– Fixes to experience/chances boost cards

Note:

As we have recently found out that the Steam's Family Sharing feature can be, and most probably already is being used for several exploits meant to workaround several in-game mechanics, which in long-term could lead to serious balance issues, we'll be soon forced to turn it off, for the same reasons for which most of the online games don't support this feature as well.

Just pushed out another patch that fixes some audio and joystick issues.

-- Audio mix is much improved on Vive platforms now.

-- Added support for X56 Rhino sticks and throttle

-- Warthog should now be working properly.

However, we discovered an issue with pedals and standalone throttles that we're investigating. If you use a throttle that is connected to your stick (HOTAS4, X52, HOTASX) you should be fine.

Hello everyone, hope you’ve been enjoying Wulverblade! It’s been a while since we posted something, so we thought it was time to let everyone know what we’ve been up to as we release some of the bugfixes we’ve been working on. Most of what our patch today addresses are issues brought to our attention by the community in either the steam forums or our official discord server. We’re always interested in reading what you have to say, so please stop by.

• Fix to end-level leaderboards invisible text
  
• Change “Call me Vlad” target from 1000 impalements to 250
  
• Fix to “Primus Cades” achievement failing to award if you skip the cutscene
  
• Fix to being unable to rebind “B” button on controller
  
• Fix to player 2 being unable to use keyboard/mouse bindings (Any saved keyboard/mouse bindings may be reset as a result)
  
• Fix to “White squares” bug by adding new image prompts for controllers, keyboard, and mouse
  
• Minor UI fixes
  
• Tons more minor bugfixes and improvements!

Earlier this month we were able to attend PAX East and represent Wulverbade at the Indie Megabooth. It was a blast being able to connect with a few of you and to show off the game to lots of new people, including this awesome cosplayer who stopped by our booth who we swore must have been none other than our brave hero Caradoc.



The centerpiece of our booth was a one-of-a-kind arcade cabinet, built to showcase Wulverblade the way the games that inspired it existed. The cab’s back at the office now; and we’ve all been busy trying to catch up with all the huge scores from PAX (after work hours, of course :B1:).

We’ve had a productive and busy few months after launch and just wanted to thank you all for your support, reviews, and for just playing the game we’ve been working so hard on for the past few years. We’re excited for the future of Wulverblade and want express our gratitude to you all for making it possible with us.

Best,

Darkwind Media and Fully Illustrated
:WulverSigil:

Get ready to blow up some pickups in this week’s live event! Grab your favorite explosives and take out peggie vehicles with a bang. Opt-in to the challenge before you go to earn this week’s community outfit and a brand new car for your garage: http://farcrygame.com/liveevents

Hi everybody!

Now let's move to US. To the North Dakota Indian Reservation known as Standin Rock. Backwater Bridge.
Here a mockup (real background levels - crowd and police drawn as mockup - new vehicles just drawn for this level but put it by hand):

Police, as you can see, is taken from another level.
As it is a mockup, you see it without lighting effects and so on. Water is the graphic base, without any shader yet.

These are pictures from the protest:



From Wikipedia:
"Dakota Access Pipeline Protests
Part of Indigenous rights
Color image of Lakota man locked down to construction equipment at direct action against Dakota Access Pipeline
A Lakota man locks himself to construction equipment in protest
Date April 2016 – February 2017
Location United States, especially North Dakota, the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, the Missouri River, the Mississippi River, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois
Caused by Protection of water, land, and religious/spiritual sites sacred to indigenous peoples of the Americas
Casualties: Injuries 300; Arrested 487+
Part of a series on Indigenous rights Indalo symbol Rights
Ancestral domain Intellectual property Land rights Language Traditional knowledge Treaty rights
[...]

The Dakota Access Pipeline protests, also known by the hashtag #NODAPL, are grassroots movements that began in early 2016 in reaction to the approved construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States. The pipeline was projected to run from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota to southern Illinois, crossing beneath the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, as well as under part of Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Many in the Standing Rock tribe considered the pipeline and its intended crossing of the Missouri River to constitute a threat to the region's clean water and to ancient burial grounds. In April 2016, Standing Rock Sioux elder LaDonna Brave Bull Allard established a camp as a center for cultural preservation and spiritual resistance to the pipeline; over the summer the camp grew to thousands of people.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had conducted a limited review of the route and found no significant impact, but in March and April 2016 the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Interior, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation asked the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a formal Environmental Impact Assessment and issue an Environmental Impact Statement. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed suit against the Corps of Engineers in July, but the motion was denied. In December, under President Barack Obama's administration the Corps of Engineers denied an easement for construction of the pipeline under the Missouri River. An environmental impact assessment was to be conducted by the Army Corps, but many protesters continued camping on the site, not considering the matter closed. On January 24, 2017, newly elected President Donald Trump signed an executive order that reversed the Obama legislation and advanced the construction of the pipeline under "terms and conditions to be negotiated, " expediting the environmental review that Trump described as an "incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible permitting process." On February 7, 2017, Trump authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed, ending the environmental impact assessment and the associated public comment period. The pipeline was completed by April and its first oil was delivered on May 14, 2017.

The protests have drawn international attention and have been said to be "reshaping the national conversation for any environmental project that would cross the Native American land." In September 2016 construction workers bulldozed a section of land the tribe had identified as sacred ground and when protesters entered the area security workers used attack dogs which bit at least six of the protesters and one horse. The incident was filmed and viewed by several million people on YouTube and other social media. In October, armed soldiers and police with riot gear and military equipment cleared an encampment that was directly in the proposed pipeline's path. In November many new participants joined the protest; fluctuating numbers of protesters remained in the thousands. Police use of water cannons on protesters in freezing weather drew significant media attention. Following Donald Trump's approval for the completion of the pipeline the number of protesters gradually decreased and on February 23, 2017 the National Guard and law enforcement officers evicted those that remained."



Here you can find a video of the action we are trying to simulate:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/21/standing-rock-protest-hundreds-clash-with-police-over-dakota-access-pipeline

This is the base layer:


I spent a lot of time collecting all these stuff (more than drawing it!) - it was not clear where the action precisely were. But in the end I found the exact point.

RIOT ON!
Ivan

ps: days... then we'll have the update with Global Mode!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsIMfOo_VO0
Reactor Online. Sensors Online. Weapons Online. All Systems Nominal. BATTLETECH is HERE! Take command of your own mercenary outfit of 'Mechs and the MechWarriors that pilot them, get BATTLETECH right here:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/637090/BATTLETECH/?utm_source=stcom-owned&utm_medium=social-owned&utm_content=post&utm_campaign=batt_bt_2018424_ste_rel

PATCH NOTES:

• Added 1 bonus Tinder item on skillcheck's success when harvesting them on the Tinder Tree.
  
• Corrected a very nasty and stealthy bug that prevented Eustache to trigger most of his dialogs! You should now be able to complete his romance.
  
• Achievement for reaching 100 in a skill corrected: Now triggered when 100 is reached via standard skill XP increase, use item increase and trait increase. It will also be given upon game load if a character has 100, in case it failed to be unlocked prior to that.
  
• Now Angelico's special chain of events will only trigger after meeting with a certain blue goddess, giving a little more respite in the beginning of the game.
  
• Corrected a lot of cases when Solveig/Knut would appear or be mentionned in dialogs even after their death.
  
• Mining camp 3 upgrade could be crafted without having unlocked Tier 2 upgrades.
  
• Corrected Angelico's relationship values bug: Values/effects behind the scenes were working as intended, only the display of "[someone]'s opinion on Angelico" was wrong (always 0).
  
• Reduced chances to have "drought" and "rain" weather after a drought. (Chances were 40% sun 20% rain 40% drought, now 60% sun 10% rain 30% drought
  
• Corrected a bug which prevented to slaughter sheep when they were born in the pens until game was loaded again.
  
• Parvaneh's final romance dialog could be triggered even if she had been rebuffed.
  
• Fixed infinite Stone exploit with the Wall Remains rune.
  
• Fixed infinite Wisdom exploit with the Wolf Statue rune.
  
• Fixed infinite Wisdom exploit with Volcano Cave.
  
• Fixed a bug when a lot of save-scumming the level-up trait list would empty the list and show less than 5 traits (invisible trait bug)
  
• Skills values where not refreshed in the side bar + UI after level up.

What day is it? You know the answer to that!

Today we're sharing a balancing update to the Skaven campaign. And if you're hunting for even more news - we'll be back next week...

https://twitter.com/totalwar/status/988810069348364290

Able to swing its spike-studded tail at a flesh-and-bone-piercing 40 meters per second (~90mph), this reveal is one fierce herbivore. The Stegosaurus is coming to Jurassic World Evolution this summer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dsxe1qJW_o

Hi Galactic Survivalists!

Today, we are very excited to announce the release of the first EXPERIMENTAL version of Alpha 8!

You’ve been patiently waiting for this day, following nearly half a dozen dev blogs and various teasers about the new features coming with Alpha 8.0. Now it is your turn to play and give us feedback! :)

Be aware that this is still a very rough version - so expect bugs and unpolished features. We wanted to release Alpha EXP 8.0 as early as possible to get your feedback!

CHANGELOG: Alpha Experimental 8.0.0 (Build 1591)

MAIN FEATURES:

Instead of detailing all the features, we just highlight the main Alpha 8 features and recommend reading the feedback threads below for more details.

1. Larger Planets:
Increased size from the current 8x4km (32km²) up to 64x32km (2048km²) playfields, i.e. the planets in Alpha 8 will be up to 64x larger than in Alpha 7!

We would like to give you an idea of how big these planets are. Do you see the spire base on the other side?


It looks quite far away - right? However, if you look at the map, it seems to be just in front of you:

- Actual size of a planet will also be reflected in the orbit
- Tilted planet axis so that the day/night ratio depends where you are on the planet (eg longer days and shorter nights on the northern hemisphere and vice versa on the southern hemisphere)
- Improved outside view of the planets in the orbit


2. Random Generation of Solar System:
- Each time you start a new game, a new solar system is generated with a different amount of planets and POIs
- You can control the generation process via a configuration file (number and type of planets, POIs, extension of solar system etc)

The above screenshot shows the new 3d sector map of a random solar system

3. Procedural Terrain Generation:
Procedural terrain generation is back - no fixed heightmap planets anymore


4. More Diverse Biomes:
Realistic biome distribution based on humidity and temperature:


By changing Temperature, Humidity and the Seed, we obtain a very varied biome distribution:


5. Underground Layers and Voxel Mining:
- The 'underground layers' are back. You will have the possibility to set up to 7 different consecutive layers for your planetary playfields
- In addition, the old Voxel mining is back as well

(depending on the resource, a playfield creator can decide whether to use the Alpha 7-style sub-surface rocks or the pre-Alpha 7 Voxel spheres)

6. Removal of Red and Green Wall:
We finally removed the red pole colliders and the green wall so that you can now cross the poles and you do not have to be afraid when you cross the green wall (the current version is still WIP and will be further improved during the EXP phase)

In the above screenshot, we are in the far north (actually the sun never sets here) beyond the former red wall and we are looking north. Pre-Alpha 8, this area was blocked. If you continue in this direction you will actually cross the north pole.

7. Updated Terrain Textures:
We improved the visuals on a planet by replacing almost all terrain textures


8. New Decoration Placement and Rendering System:
We integrated a new system for the placement and rendering of the decoration objects on a planet which allows for a dense vegetation that is rendered very far with little performance impact

9. Own Editor to Generate your Planets and Solar System:
- We developed our own Solar System Generator (SSG) to generate your planetary terrain and whole solar system
- The SSG editor will be distributed with the game on Steam

The editor features a full preview for planets, orbits and the solar system


For example, you will be able to preview the POI and resource distribution in the SSG as well as the NPC spawn points:

Note: You will now also have the possibility to place POIs and Ore Deposits by BIOME

10. New Suit and Survival Mechanics:
- We tried to have a more survival-style game start by giving the player only very basic equipment
- We integrated a very limited "Suit Constructor" (slow, can craft only very basic items like a food item, bandages etc) and a Survival Tent
- Added new Survival Tool for basic defense, rock drilling and deconstruction
- Sleeping in Escape Pod, Survival Tent and Beds in Single Player

11. Improved AI Behavior:
- More realistic behavior of the ground AI (vision sensor, noise system, alert level, fear sensor)


- Added AI bomber drone (it is part of the AI drone waves > currently used on Desert planet)
- New controller for AI Planet Vessel - it now more like a large and heavy ship
- New controller for space drones

12. Repair-to-Template:
Restore your ship to a previously saved Repair Template (feature is still WIP and will be refined during EXP)


13. New Status Effects / Diseases:
Fully revamped Status Effects, medicals and diseases mechanic


14. New Food and Food-item Drop System:
Fully revamped Food templates and Ingredients drop mechanic


15. Updated Models and Consistent Texturing of Old Models
We updated the textures on almost all 3d models to a new unified coloring and metallic workflow in order to have a more consistent look. In addition, we replaced some models such as the thrusters for CV. Here is the M Thruster CV:


... and as a teaser, here is a preview of the XL Thruster CV:


....and much more. For the full changelog, see https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-experimental-8-0-part-i.37392

DISCLAIMER:
When you play Alpha 8.0 the first time, please note that it is now a quite DIFFERENT experience in many game-start related aspects, compared to version 7.6! The distances are bigger, the drops are different, the mechanics got changed, new possibilities added and a lot of stuff got moved around.

This is also relevant for all our server owners and scenario builders: the changes to the planets resulted in a new file structure and a few new definitions, so that most of the playfields you have set up and are using right now, might not work with Alpha 8.0 without making the necessary changes. Please check the SSG Documentation for more details!

Said that, as always with an EXP version, we do NOT recommend to start building scenarios or playfields based on the new version right away, but possibly wait until Phase 2 or 3 when most initial feedback changes might have been integrated. If you want to set up a new savegame for your server for the duration of EXP, we strongly recommend using the Default MP scenarios - as this would also help us to get the maximum feedback out of the new settings.

As a PLAYER, we absolutely RECOMMEND to first read through ALL of the feedback threads posted below to get yourself up to date on the new and changed game mechanics BEFORE starting any new game!

This is true for the new game start in particular, as, due to all the changes on planets, playfields and features, we are basically back at the drawing board in terms of game start balance. Alpha 8.0 is literally throwing a lot (not all!) of the old methods, that worked the same and were never really changed since approx version 2.0 (or even v1.0) and a few things you might have gotten accustomed to, in terms of what happens when and what you get for game start, out of the window in favor of the game now living up to the "Survival" tag in its name a little bit more again.

Changing the game start and trying to give it a improved "Survival Experience" in that early game stage actually IS intentional!

Said that, this will possibly make or let some game elements feel harder in this first Experimental version, until they are fully balanced out and all new features are polished again!

We will do this together in the coming weeks of Empyrion Alpha 8.0 Experimental and, as always, iterate on your feedback for the upcoming 8.x updates!

Both, as a player, creator or server owner, please keep the aforementioned in mind when playing AND while giving feedback. :)

Thanks in advance for your dedicated help, improving Empyrion Galactic Survival! :)

Let’s roll!
Empyrion Dev Team

P.S. Please note that we do not support DX9 anymore with the release of Alpha EXP 8. However, we will leave the last Alpha 7.6 on a separate Steam branch when we officially release Alpha 8.

P.P.S If you are using a custom config.yaml, we recommend removing it before you start Alpha EXP 8.0

================

Bug Reporting:
Gameplay Issues: https://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-alpha-8-0-exp-phase-1.37383/
Solar System Generator Issues:
https://empyriononline.com/threads/bug-reports-solar-system-generator.37387/

================

Main Features and Feedback Threads:
Alpha 8.0 EXP: New Planets
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-newplanets.37161/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Solar System Generator - Doku & Feedback
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-solar-system-generator-doku-feedback.37162/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: AI Behavior
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-ai-behavior.37160/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Repair Template & Repair-to-Template
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-repair-template-repair-to-template.37156/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: Suit- and Survival Mechanics
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-suit-and-survival-mechanics.37159/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: New food and food-item drop system
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-8-0-exp-new-food-and-food-item-drop-system.37158/

Alpha 8.0 EXP: New Status Effects / Diseases
https://empyriononline.com/threads/alpha-experimental-8-0-part-i.37392/