It's finally time, here's a new version of Empires, featuring...
Script Changes including: Normalising melee damage, tweaks to infantry rifles and vehicle engine fixes.
Some notable Bugfixes: Correct shooting at players in vehicles, shells working properly with artillery feedback and homing missiles now hit repair stations properly.
With Map Updates to: Coast, Crossroads, Cyclopean, District402, Duststorm, Escort, Glycen City, MValley, Palmbay, Streets Of Fire and Urban Chaos.
And some new Features: Spanish language support (provided by Joy), basic NPCs and bots and updated research item descriptions.
This is just a small selection of the full changelog so update the game and find out what else changed!
This update includes several new features and updates that we have been working hard on over the past few months. The new features were focused on making our existing missions more enjoyable and re-playable, while the major updates focused on improving the UI and UX. We hope that you all find them as enjoyable as we do, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.
In addition to the aforementioned changes, we have been simultaneously been working on developing two new levels. While they are not currently shippable, they are heading into their final stages of development and will be released in our next update. Below are a few screenshots to give you an idea of what is in store.
A note to WMR users: We are aware that there are various rendering issues that occur when playing our game using some WMR headsets. These bugs appear to have been resolved in Unreal Engine 4.19; however, when we originally attempted upgrading to UE 4.19, we encountered a number of game-breaking bugs that prevented us from being able to incorporate it into this update. Now that Unreal Engine 4.20 has been released, we will be once again attempt to upgrade our game to be compatible with the newest version of the engine, with the hopes that the WMR issues and game-breaking bugs we previously encountered have been resolved. We appreciate your patience and hope we can get the update out to you soon.
New Features
Mission Variants:
When playing a mission variant, players will find themselves rediscovering missions with new and exciting modifications.
Mission variants are unlocked by finding and acquiring the hidden objects that represent them.
Currently, there exist three mission variants:
It’s Gon’ ‘Splode: Ballistic weapons deal no damage; the player’s only chance of defeating their enemies is to use explosives.
Weightless World: Dropped objects and annihilated enemies float through the air in zero-gravity.
Glass Cannon: The player is equipped with the new Arc Launcher… but so are their enemies.
New Weapon: Arc Launcher
The Arc Launcher is an energy-powered, projectile-based weapon.
When fired, the gun heats and a projectile is launched that explodes upon impact.
If the trigger is held, the Arc Launcher builds up charge, increasing the damage dealt and the explosion radius of its projectile, while reducing its speed and causing the Arc Launcher to accumulate more heat.
Once overheated, the player must wait for the Arc Launcher to cool down before being able to fire it again.
Perks:
In the Blitz challenge level, the player now has the ability to use the points they have acquired in combat to purchase perks.
Perks give the player the upper-hand in combat by upgrading their weapons and their GravSuit.
Perks can be purchased at perk stations, which are dispersed throughout the level and can be found in multiple rooms.
Major Updates
Oculus Control Mapping Change:
Due to the recent discovery of a game-breaking bug, the control scheme for triggering a dash or a gravity shift has been changed.
Previously, the player would dash or shift by pressing forward on the right thumbstick to select the target location, and release it to perform the movement.
However, due to the implementation details, if the player was attempting to shift to a Shift Pad while simultaneously performing artificial locomotion with the left thumbstick, they would miss the Shift Pad and fall through the level.
Thus, players now have two options for performing a dash or gravity shift: pressing down on the right thumbstick, or pressing the ‘A’ button.
While the button is pressed down, the player is able to choose the target location.
When the button is released, the dash or gravity shift is performed.
UI Improvements:
Added a shield indicator to the player’s HUD.
The shield indicator is faded when the player isn’t taking any damage.
Once the player begins taking damage, the shield indicator becomes opaque and flashes.
When the shield breaks, the indicator begins flashing red to warn the player that they have no shield.
When the player is near a payload, the shield indicator becomes green to inform the player that the payload is boosting their shield.
Added UI for the player’s holsters.
When no items are being held by a holster, a circular icon identical to the holster itself appears in the bottom corner of the player’s view.
If a holster that isn’t holding anything is overlapped by a piece of equipment held by the player, the icon will become larger.
If a piece of equipment is placed in the holster, an icon representing that equipment will take the place of the circular holster icon.
Overlapping a holster that is holding equipment with a hand will cause the holster’s equipment icon to become larger.
Added objective text to aid the player in completing the mission.
This currently only applies to the Leap of Faith and Blitz levels.
New Comfort Option: Smooth Turning.
Players now have the option to choose between smooth-turning and quick-turning (also known as snap-turning).
Each turning mode has its own turn rate associated with it, which can also be adjusted in the Game options menu.
The turn rate for smooth-turning refers to the turning speed, which ranges between 0.2 and 2.0.
The turn rate for quick-turning refers to the turning angle, which ranges between 45° and 90°.
Minor Updates
Added a checkpoint to the beginning of Leap of Faith.
This checkpoint is located at the hacking panel at the start of the level.
Improved appearance of Shift Pads and Shift Ramps to make it easier for the player to tell if they are on or off.
Unpowered Shift Pads and Shift Ramps will now turn red when they are off, and they will turn blue when powered on.
In addition, unpowered Shift Ramps will have “No Power” banners preventing the player from walking over them.
Added a confirmation menu for menu options that affect the game state (i.e. loading the last checkpoint, restarting the game, returning to the main menu).
Added spacing between menu elements to make it more difficult to accidentally press the wrong button.
Added a circle representing the center of the player’s play space for HTC Vive users.
Changed the default movement acceleration mode to instant acceleration in the comfort settings.
Renamed Experimental menu to “Challenges”.
Moved the Blitz level into the Challenges menu, since it is not a mission.
In addition, the description has been updated to indicate that the level is infinite.
Changed the sniper fire sound.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug that was causing the kill box to not work consistently (i.e. it was possible for the player to fall out of a level and continue falling forever without dying).
Fixed a bug that was causing piston-driven crushers to kill the player when retracting.
Fixed a bug that made it possible to throw a weapon through a wall if it was originally thrown while time was slowed.
Fixed a bug that prevented grenades from generating impact sounds.
Fixed a bug that caused the sniper scope blackout effect to become stuck if they player dropped the sniper while looking through the scope.
Fixed a bug that prevented grenades from having a pickup line indicator placed on them when they are placed in the environment.
Fixed a bug that made it possible to shoot through the side panels of Shift Ramps.
Fixed a bug that caused equipment in the environment to become outlined, indicating that the player can pick them up, while the player’s hand was overlapping a holster.
This was confusing as it indicated to the player that grabbing would cause the equipment in the environment to be picked up, when really it would pick up the equipment in the player’s holster.
The collision of the stairs in various levels has been fixed, and the player is no longer lifted up before descending them.
Known Issues
Sentinel body parts occasionally get stuck in walls/floors.
The shield doesn’t block incoming fire if held too close to the player’s body.
Sentinels do not always successfully navigate over shift ramps.
Drones are unable to navigate through small areas.
The player doesn’t take lethal fall damage if they pause the game before hitting the ground.
Equipment state is not saved (e.g. if the player dies while holding a gun with low ammo, they will respawn with a gun with full ammo).
Drones spawn too often in Blitz.
Drones still occasionally cause performance hitches.
This is due to the drone’s navigation module, which we are still in the process of improving.
The location of the player’s holsters feels too low.
Sentinels occasionally float on the floor.
The assault rifle’s red dot sight does not work through the weapon gaps in the shield.
The player can walk on surfaces with a slope greater than 45 degrees.
Battery holders play no haptic or force feedback when the player overlaps it with a battery.
Sentinels have difficulty patrolling on walls.
Occasionally, when walking over shift ramps slowly, the player “vibrates” or moves in discrete rotational jumps.
It is possible to walk through walls and other objects in room space while the game is paused.
Stealing a sniper from a Sentinel causes them to get stuck in their weapon-holding pose.
The grenades in the grenade tutorial spawn twice.
The player sinks into the airship’s Shift Pad when it is moving.
DCS: F/A-18C Hornet, DCS: Persian Gulf Map, and Su-33 for DCS World Bundle Pack!
Lasting only until October 21st, 2018, purchase the DCS: F/A-18C Hornet, the Persian Gulf map, and the Su-33 together for just $89.99! This bundle has an almost $150.00 value. The Persian Gulf map was in large part chosen to act as the setting for DCS: F/A-18C Hornet combat operations. Operate from numerous, detailed airfields in the UAE and Oman or from the deck of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. Conduct air-to-air and air-to-ground operations over a huge, detailed portion of southern Iran and many of the Persian Gulf islands. New additions coming to the map in time for the pack include the SA-2 and Rapier surface-to-air missile system, the HY-2 Silkworm anti-ship cruise missile, the Aldar Headquarters building, the Sheikh Zayad Grand Mosque, and oil platforms. More map items like new airfields, unique buildings, and weapons will be added after the Pack. The Su-33 adds a great adversary aircraft for the Hornet.
Don’t miss out on this great savings, and experience these three great modules together!
The rights to this project were transferred to another publisher. Now we will track all complaints and suggestions of the community! We will try to fix all the shortcomings of the projects in the shortest time, we expect your feedback.
- DRAGONS! 4 types of them actually! - Invisible Cloak! Hide yourself from everyone! - Balance. Not so exciting, though really useful. - Fall location ("Fallen leaves, fallen leaves, fallen leaves on the ground" (c) Billy Talent) - Overall fixes, problem with Michel Jackson's style spawning angle fixed Soon I will update you on our next moves.
