Today we are launching a preview of our upcoming version 1.6 update. This includes a new map ‘Power Plant’, two new weapons (the Tavor 7 and ACE 52), ingame mod support, new cosmetic options, and more!

This content is now playable on the Community Test Environment. However please remember this is a preview build, so some issues are expected (see ‘Known Issues’). If you encounter any problems or have feedback for the development team please respond in the CTE sub-section of the Steam forums or use our 1.6 CTE Feedback Survey.Our team will be monitoring feedback during the CTE and aim to push this update to players on the live version of Insurgency: Sandstorm soon.

You can find some of the key new features and known issues below:

• New map “Power Plant”
  • Playable in Firefight, Push, Domination, Checkpoint, Hardcore Checkpoint, and Frenzy Checkpoint.
• Tavor 7 battle rifle for the Security Advisor class.

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• Replaces the Mk 14 EBR

ACE 52 battle rifle for the Insurgents Advisor class.

• Replaces the SVD

Mod support for community created content on community servers

• Mod submenu on the main menu will allow you to browse and subscribe to download mods
• Joining a modded community server will prompt you to download required modded content or cancel joining
• Community Server Browser will allow filtering modded servers

Improved Spectator Camera

• Improved spectator camera after being killed to point in direction of killing shot or explosion
  • Player can either click to skip or after a period of time will be forced into regular spectator mode
  • Players can turn this feature off for themselves under Game settings
  • Community Server Admins can turn this off for the server
  • Disabled in Competitive and Hardcore Checkpoint playlists
• Implemented toggleable x-ray trails from thrown projectiles and fire support and a beam indicating the direction a player is facing
• Implemented controller support for spectator mode

New Security Cosmetics

• Compression Shirt
• Headset with various Headgear

New Insurgent Cosmetics

• Leather Jacket
• Smooth Mask

Community Feedback Improvements

• XP Boosts will be listed on playlists
• Selecting Random during a map vote will no longer result in replaying the current scenario
• Players cannot be autobalanced during the last two minutes of a match or during the Last Stand in Push/Frontline
• Added some spawn protection in Versus modes to prevent the Attacking team from being wiped when they are spawned in on final waves

Main Menu Improvements

• Updated the Review pane of the main menu to accept and display dynamic messages
• Added a banner message area for displaying short text messages

Insurgent Fire Support Improvements

• Doubled the number of rockets in the Rocket Barrage and added a delay between each volley
• Doubled the duration of the Chemical Mortar fire support’s smoke clouds to remain after exploding
• Doubled the duration of the Smoke Mortar fire support’s smoke clouds to remain after exploding
• Increased the duration of Explosive Mortar fire support by 50%

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• Adjusted AI so they will no longer attack players in spawn areas in standard and Hardcore Checkpoint scenarios (they will attack in Frenzy
• Removed insertion and drivable vehicles from all Checkpoint levels to improve level flow and performance

• Replay Improvements
  • Improved reliability of replay recording
  • Improved replay control reliability
• Improved Gamepad Support
  • Implemented multiple sensitivity curves which can be selected from the settings menu
    
  • Implemented Per-Axis Controller Sensitivity
    
  • Updated Controller Button Mapping
    
  • Adjusted Gamepad Weapon Recoil and Sway Modifiers
    
  • Improved aim dampening implementation
    
  • Improved Default UE4 Deadzones
    
  • Added gamepad support most menus
    
  • Implemented Dual Shock 4 controller support

• Updated the lighting in the main menu
• Updated the look of magazines for the Mk. 18 CQBR and Alpha AK
• Visual optimization pass on Hideout
  • Increased performance in troubled areas of the map
• Improved the flashbang effect to reduce the performance cost when used

• Moved Steam notification to stop blocking important UI elements
• Added clock icon to indicate that fire support is on cool down to binocular view for Commander
• Made Preview Selection of Items and Cosmetics consistent between Appearance Screen and Loadout Screen
• Improved visibility of HUD markers and provided multiple preconfigured color schemes
• Improved how HUD markers are anchored to the screen they represent objects outside your field of view (Objectives, Supply Crates, Friendly Players)
• Improved UI hint when close to doors that can be kicked open
  
• Improved tutorial hints for the ADS Focus ability
  
• Updated icons for scoreboard to indicate columns are hidden while player is alive
  
• Added a consistent Apply button to all Settings screens
  
• Improved the visibility of the Find Match button and added a sound for when it is clicked
  
• Improved the visibility of damage indicators
  
• Added a contextual hint to the screen when players are in the spawn or close to resupply crates to indicate they can Change Class or Change Loadout

• Removed unintended exploitable rooftop access from various maps
  
• Fixed exploitable capture zones in some Domination layouts
  
• Fixed Farmhouse Checkpoint map to correctly display the supply crate location
  
• Fixed bullets not showing up in the 3rd person reload animations on rifles with stripper clips
  
• Fixed crouched and prone reload animations in 3rd person for some rocket launchers
  
• Improved consistency of Lesson popups

• [Tavor 7] Textures for the Tavor 7 are not final
  
• [Tavor 7] Some animations may clip through player models
  
• [Tavor 7] In the Loadout menu, the magazine is in the incorrect position
  
• Some menus are not accessible using a gamepad
  
• X-ray trails from projectiles and fire support will not display in Replays
  
• Summit Domination still has a placeholder tactical map
  
• The extraction vehicle in the tutorial level will get stuck shortly after you enter it
  
• Spawning a vehicle in the Shooting Range will not work correctly
  
• The new cosmetics are not yet available in the Appearance menu
  
• Localization of new content has not yet been implemented
  
• Power Plant image is missing for map vote screen
  
• Some scenario name strings are being shown instead of game mode in various maps
  
• In the Coop New Map: Power Plant playlist, scenarios are not being properly labeled with Frenzy and Hardcore

It's been a couple of hectic weeks, but we're happy to be bringing some of the communities most requested features with this patch. Which sees the rosters and player (and their teams) stats getting fully updated to reflect the 2019 / 2020 season (though no doubt some of you will still be demanding that your favorites get a higher rating ːsteamhappyː). We've also got improvements to the online stability and a number of other changes, so read on for the full patch notes:

• Updated rosters of following teams:
  • France 
    
  • Italy 
    
  • Ireland 
    
  • Scotland 
    
  • Wales
• Changed the look of some players
  
• Updated the stats of all players and teams to reflect the current Rugby season
  
• Backup mechanism implemented for corrupted save files 

• Holding B to add 2 players into the ruck takes effect faster (0.25s, down from 0.6s) 
  
• Sprinting when there is no stamina left is faster 
  
• Tackle distance has been slightly reduced 
  
• Players now have a "blind spot" behind them from which they cannot tackle 
  
• User-controlled players in defense are now facing the opponents when running (whenever possible) 
  
• Simplified the inputs for sidestepping. One "tap" of RS to the left or the right initiate a sidestep. Fending is done by holding RS in the wanted fend direction (360 dodge input for back players is unchanged) 
  
• Players now reposition faster between phases, causing less defensive gaps after a fast played penalty 
  
• Slowdown on some free ball pickup animations has been reduced
  
• It's been made easier to introduce the ball in scrums and throw the ball in during line-outs
  
• Added haptics 
  
• Added horn sound at end of regulation time, and music at intro / halftime / outro

• AI always kicks into touch when winning to end the game
  
• AI performs more offloads 
  
• Reduced time for AI to choose an action after rucks 
  
• AI ruck tuning (slightly easier on Pro difficulty to turn a ruck over) 

• Added a progress bar for challenges during a match 
  
• The score panel timer goes red at end of regulation time, and now displays seconds 
  
• The score panel in Online mode is used to display running advantages

• Clearer stamina display in management and training menus 
  
• The experience and rewards formula has been changed (lowered required XP with faster level-up on low levels, but greater rewards at higher levels) 
  
• Fixed booster content disappearing after video ends 

• Improved network gaming experience

 

• Fixed a possible bug where no one caught the ball during a line-out
  
• Fixed line-out AI not selecting the right jumper when reacting to a fake or jump 
  
• Fixed an issue where a tackle near the try line sometimes leading to the player getting up slowly while others waited. Ball is now dropped, leading to faster play.
  
• Fixed fast played penalties sometimes causing softlocks
  
• Fixed the scrum extractor sometimes not coming to extract the ball
  
• Fixed AI players sometimes running straight, even when colliding with an opponent 
  
• Fixed referee not whistling foul when players offside at breakdown perform a tackle 

DEFENDERS,

It’s another patch. Are you surprised? You shouldn’t be, we’re working as hard as possible to get everything in tip top shape, fix any issues that are risen, and make the DD:A experience the best it can be. Your feedback has been incredibly helpful, so we’re getting some more fixes out to you. Let’s get into it!

• Fixed an issue that was causing players to lose gear. If you run into this issue, please let us know and submit feedback.
  
• Fixed an issue with Overcharge causing Arcane Surge to do full damage to every enemy hit, without dropping off based on distance.
  
• Fixed multiple issues that were causing crashes.
  
• Fixed an issue on the Dark Elf Warrior when they try to target the Crystal Core.
  
• Fixed an issue with currency collection.
  
• Improved how inventory systems are logged on our backend.

Our main focus currently is going to be watching this patch and for any users that may be running into any continued inventory issues. We believe this patch should solve the vast majority, but we want to be sure. Make sure to throw us any feedback should there be any continued issues, as soon as possible, and we’ll follow up.

With that out of the way, this is an exciting month! We’re going to be releasing a Mid-Update patch next week (we’re aiming for Tuesday). This patch will have updated hero models and animations for the Huntress and Monk (based on community feedback from the beta!), additional Inventory UI features and functionality, as well as Bug Fixes. This is not the big update shown on the Road Map, but more a halfway point to get some improvements that we’re ready to release. This is something we messaged previously and are wanting to live up to.

Thank you all for your support so far, keep throwing all the feedback you can at us, and we’ll keep working hard! :)

To get reliable updates on the future of DDA make sure to follow us on all our social media platforms:

• Discord
  
• Twitter
  
• Facebook
  
• Instagram
  
• Twitch
  
• Forums

Keep an eye out for more info!

For Etheria!

Chromatic Games

Join us in Wave this weekend for the first Resident DJ Festival of the year! This is the 3rd Anniversary of the GROUNDSWELL festival, and it will last from Friday through Sunday night. Every night has 4-5 back to back shows mixed live by our Resident DJ's. Each show will feature custom art and venues and its own unique sound.


5pm - 6pm DJ Glitch Euphoria - Melodic Dubstep, Psy Trance, Dubstep
6pm - 7pm DJ G-Dub - House, Deep House, Future House, Electro House & Progressive
7pm - 8pm DJ Jason Daniels - Melodic House/Techno, Trance
8pm - 9pm DJ DJ Scott Marshall - House
9pm - 10pm DJ Ru - Trance



Glitch Euphoria kicks off Saturday night's Groundswell parties! They perform once a month, every fourth Thursday! Typically Glitch Euphoria plays Melodic Dubstep, Psy Trance, Dubstep, Trance, Midtempo.



G-Dub's bringing their Flow States into Groundswell! Their shows are usually every two weeks, starting late Friday nights (depending on your time zone!). Their Flow State is described as a series of live DJ sets designed to evoke states of flow through dance, fueled by various sub-genres of house music combined with audio-reactive effects & visuals synced live by a VJ in the Wave app.



Jason Daniel is coming in hot from Miami! One of our newest Resident DJ's, he'll be performing his first RDJ Festival. His monthly show can be described as a journey through an audio and visual experience with the newest in melodic techno, tech house, electro, trance, and hardstyle.



Leader of the Resident DJ's, Mr DJ Scott Marshall's House music will give you a reason to stand up and dance! Almost every Saturday Scott Marshall lights up Wave with his custom nightclub and festival venues, bringing the best of House, Future House, and Future House Dark.



Ru, Wave's Queen of Old Skool has transformed into Trance Royalty. Her Transverse show can be found in Wave every other Saturday night, bringing the hottest and sexiest of Trance music with appealing graphics you'll never forget. Say goodnight to Groundswell's Saturday night with Ru's hypnotizing allure.






Wave can be launched via VR or Desktop mode. Open Wave from your Steam Library and select which option you'd prefer. (We have unofficial support for the Index and Quest Link!)

Upon first login, you may have a tutorial to go through- it takes roughly 2-3 minutes. When the tutorial is complete, you can go to "Explore Waves" to join the parties!

The Expanse is our social lobby, open to everyone. There will be show posters in the Expanse with the Groundswell poster and DJ name. When that particular show is open, you can teleport into the poster to join the party.

Alternatively, you can open the Menu and navigate to the "Parties" or "Shows" tabs, and select the current party from there.

You will be transported to the party host's Loading Area. There will be a large black portal while the party loads. Depending on how complicated the venue is, it may take a couple minutes to load- please be patient!

Once loaded, the black portal will display a glowing green grid pattern- teleport through it to join the venue and enjoy the show!



| Website | Google Calendar | Discord | Reddit |

| RDJ's Twitter | RDJ's Twitch |

We are happy to announce that we've just publicly revealed our most recent game on steam, System Invaders!

It's a game where you experience waves upon waves of viruses that have infected your computer. 5 Chapters with over 125 Waves of enemies! Play with your friends in local or online co-op! Can you destroy all the viruses?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1253110

Hello Admirals,

We would like to share information about the upcoming major update of Ultimate Admiral: Dreadnoughts. Here is what is included:

• Major improvements in ballistics: Repaired issues that made shells to travel at unusual wide arcs or at inconsistent speeds. Shells now can hit other vessels except the ship you target, making cluttered ship formations more vulnerable to shell fire. Friendly fire can happen if ships fire too close to each other.
  
  Previous ballistic system had some omissions that were needed to save game performance. After latest game optimizations we added more calculations into the model addressing the following:
  • Shells fly-through other ships: Completely fixed. Please report inconsistencies if you face them in battle.
    
  • Unusual wide arcs from guns of the same turret: Not completely fixed, but it should be barely noticeable now and very rare.
    
  • Shells that seem to follow targets during evasive maneuvers: It should be completely fixed and more improvements will follow to address any related issue.
    
  • Even more detailed calculations for effective armor thickness, based on heel/trim motions, hull sections, belt wideness etc: Improved but still work in progress.
• Improved damage system: Damage is now using a more natural probabilistic model, causing less random and more consistent damage to ships according to the damage power of shells and torpedoes. This new system will simulate better the rare critical hits that happened in history.
  
• Gun visual variance: Guns differ in appearance,depending on gun technology, nation and class of the ships. Britain, USA, Germany, Austria, Italy and Japan have currently the more diverse visualization. As we add more 3D model assets, more special visual characteristics for each nation will become available. (Note: All previously saved designs will be incompatible due to this new feature and it is advised to clean them up. Nation flag will be saved for any newly created design in Naval Academy.)
  
• Ramming damage: Finally, ships receive damage when they collide with each other. There is not a special visual effect yet but you will hear a distinctive sound effect after the collision. Known issues of inconsistent ramming damage will be addressed in a next update. (Note: Damage will happen against hostile ships only).
  
• Influx of new ship models: Many new ship types are now available in the custom battle system and Naval Academy, covering a wide range of cruisers of the World War I and later era, as well as several new modern battleships and battlecruisers. In particular the following are added:
  • Detailed model of the Italian Heavy cruiser “Trento” of the 1920s.
    
  • Detailed model of the British Armored cruiser “Warrior”.
    
  • 2 new light cruisers of the dreadnought era, special for Germany, based on the Light Cruiser “Emden”.
    
  • 7 new heavy cruisers distributed for all nations.
    
  • 5 new modern light cruisers distributed for all nations.
    
  • 1 French super battleship.
    
  • 1 French modern battleship.
    
  • 1 new USA Battleship hull type: a smaller version of modern BB that can represent South Carolina and South Dakota battleships.
    
  • 1 new Italian Modern Battleship hull type.
    
  • 1 new UK Battleship hull type: It can represent a variant of HMS Nelson and generally the N3/G3 class.
    
  • 6 new Battlecruisers designated as "Large Cruisers" distributed for all nations except Britain.
    
  • Improved a late UK Battleship with modern towers (The model that appears in mission “German Pride”).
    
  • 1 new Russian modernized Battleship.
    
  • 1 new generic modernized Battleship.

Italian Heavy Cruiser belonging to "Trento-class"

• German Raiding Squadron: Your light cruisers must sink several cargo ships defended by a British armored cruiser. An enemy Battlecruiser approaches so you need to act fast.
  
• Dreadnought vs Modern Cruisers: Powerful modern cruisers with state of the art fire control and devastating torpedoes should have no problem sinking a dreadnought of older technology. You can prove the opposite, either by enhancing your battleships with equipment of advanced technology, or investing more money for building more ships.
  
• Wounded Beast: Your German battleship is damaged from a previous engagement and is hunted by the British fleet. Reinforcements are on their way to help you out.
  
• Cruisers needed: An Italian Battleship is chased by a French Super-Battleship and your cruisers must rescue it.

• Operational Range is locked in “Medium” for Naval Academy (it will work fully in campaign). The player will no longer exploit the system by setting it at minimum range and create overpowered ships versus the AI.
  
• Several improvements/fixes in weights/costs of ship assets.
  
• AI will design more effectively the ships allocating weights for guns and speed in a more balanced manner. AI will increase Turret armor over technology era and this will be a necessity for player too, for reducing the chance of ammo detonations and main gun destruction. (Note: in late era battles, the maximum armor setting will usually correspond to the turret armor now. We will improve UI to be more specific).
  
• Auto-Design (for player and AI) is now smarter, since it realizes which technologies are better to use according to year. For example, you will no longer see ships auto-designed with full coal engines in the 1920s or with weak torpedoes. PS.The initial technologies will be set up according to tech era, so that player designs the ship from scratch with less micromanagement.
  
• Various improvements/fixes to hulls according to player reports.
  
• Deceleration of ship is now properly affected from various ship design decisions. (Previously it was only affected by ship’s size and weight).
  
• Turbo Electric Drive auxiliary engines now offer a significant boost to acceleration/deceleration, making them really effective for initiating sharp maneuvers and dodging torpedoes. One more upgrade (Turbo Electric Drive II) is available with stronger effects.
  
• Light Cruisers’ maximum gun size is now 7-inches (from 8-inches) so that we reflect better the class distinction between Light and Heavy Cruisers.

• Damage fine tuning according to the new ballistics/damage model.
  
• Smoke from funnels obstructs directionally the gun aiming. Accuracy penalty is received if the smoke emitted from the ship’s funnels interferes with the target at some angle.
  
• Reduced target signature of guns. It is now more balanced the effect of ship size and targeting, while player should no longer be able to exploit Naval Academy battles by over-reducing the target signature with less secondary guns.
  
• Torpedoes can now cause ammo detonation, if they penetrate the hull. Torpedoes of large diameter will be extremely dangerous, even to large and well protected battleships.
  
• White powder shells rebalanced (removed shell weight loss, because it made shells too ineffective with bad ballistics at medium range).
  
• Lyddite I shells penetration penalty reduced (They could become too weak).

• Fixed a rare crash issue after exiting battle.
  
• Fixed a sound bug (it caused only a console report during battle).
  
• Fixed bug not allowing to set up target for individual ship of a division.
  
• Fixed an issue that could cause lag after exiting a custom battle.
  
• Fixed bug that could desync damage of gun & barbette, making them become destroyed independently.

• Transport ships became available in custom battles. You can now set up convoy missions as you please (Note: Transports will still be uncontrollable).
  
• Improved ship floatation motions. Ships should not pitch/roll so much as before, especially the heavier ships.

Today, we will make the internal test version, and if all is fine, we will release on Monday. We shall keep you updated!

Join Frank "Firefly" Lucas for the Angeldust badge lottery, tips, tricks and developer commentary:
YouTube—https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIjxdq-oVPg
Twitch—https://www.twitch.tv/AngeldustLive

Angeldust website: http://PlayAngeldust.com

App Store: https://appstore.com/angeldust
Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nl.metagaming.angeldust
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/488440/
Itch.io: https://metagaming.itch.io/angeldust
Mac App Store: https://appstore.com/mac/angeldust

Official merchandise: https://www.redbubble.com/people/MetagamingBV/shop/recent
Soundtrack (OST): https://timbeek.bandcamp.com/album/angeldust-soundtrack

© Frank Lucas, Metagaming B.V.

It's been nearly 3 years since I started working on the first prototypes with tiny little blocks called voxels. To be honest, it was a long and stressful journey. For us indie teams there are so many challenges besides just making the game. But we can finally reveal that Cloudpunk will hit Steam on




There is not much else to say other than that we're really happy to soon let you guys experience the game yourself. We're using the remaining weeks for QA, localization and adding last bits of polish.

Let us know what you think in the comments below.

-Marko

Hello dear friends!

Some time ago, we published our plans for the future of the project, in which we said that we decided not only to finalize the game but also to partially rework some of the existing elements of the game. You can read in more detail about it HERE

All was fine and dandy, but after releasing the game into the early access we realized that finding game bugs was a bit more complicated than we could imagine, partly because our team is quite small and we physically cannot do it all by ourselves. To avoid this in the future, we have the courage to ask you for help in this difficult matter.

We will be very grateful to everyone who responds and decides to join our small but very ambitious, goal-oriented and friendly team, thereby becoming one of us to work on the Highly Likely project together.

We will be very gratefulːsteamhappyː

In order to join us and get access to the test build of the game, just add Mikola as your friend and write him a message!

Best regards,
Mikola Games team 

The moment has finally come! We are ready to announce the date for our next beta weekend!

The beta will happen from March 19th to the 22nd of March! We know that "early 2020" might be a bit of a stretch, but hey, it's still the first quarter!

Everyone who has signed up for the beta will receive a key, so sign up and tell your friends if you want to challenge them, compete with them for the highest score in singleplayer or just want to chat with them about the game (Signup link).

If you already have a key from the last beta, you are all set! No need to sign up again.

We will not talk too much about what exactly was added since the last beta so you can discover it on your own, but we are really happy with how things have turned out in the last months.

Fabian, Jelde and me are really looking forward to see you in-game soon!