Sep 15, 2023
Axon TD: Uprising - Tower Defense - WindStrike
Open Beta Details
In a few weeks, we're aiming to release Version 0.2.0! Included in it is Endless Survival, the Meta Tech Tree, new Quickplay & Co-op Maps, a boatload of balance changes, and of course, QoL updates and bug fixes.And right now, you can try it out early! Version 0.2.0.preview is available this weekend! To do so:
- Right-click Axon TD: Uprising in your library
- Select Properties
- Go to the Betas tab
- In the Private Betas textbox, enter ReachTheEndless
- Click Check Code
- Click Opt into: endless
Below is an overview of the changes and features in this version. Check it out below!
Endless Survival
Survival is going Endless! Instead of ending on Wave 30, it will now go on... forever! Starting from Wave 31 onwards, the waves will get even longer, and the Axons will get increasingly tougher! This is somewhat exponential.While you are intended to be able to hit the 40s and 50s, eventually, even with the Meta Tech Tree, you're intended to die somewhere around Wave 60 to 70.
Though, if you do get further than that, then congratulations! Speaking of that new Tech Tree...
Survival Meta Tech Tree
You know that useless Meta Progression Tree that reduces your Score Multiplier? We've thrown it out the window and replaced it with something way better and more thought out:
Icons are a bit placeholder, but it should communicate the point!As seen above, you have two choices at any given junction, and you get to select one of them at a time. You get points to unlock Meta Techs after each Survival run. By the time you unlock everything, you'll have a max of 18 Upgrades out of a total of 33 Possible Upgrades. Oh, and these don't ruin your Score Multiplier.
Some of these increase your starting resources. Some affect your Lives. Some buff the damage of your Towers, with some caveats. Some give you benefits when you inevitably leak. There's a ton of possibilities. Choose what fits your playstyle!
New Maps
We also have new maps incoming as well! This includes 3 Quickplay Maps & 3 Co-op Maps! All of these maps will include more waves than the existing maps, offering a longer gameplay experience.
There's some pretty wild maps coming...Score Multipliers
The idea behind the Path Multiplier is to reward you for making a long maze. That's fine, but also, it's cranked way too high. Going foward, it'll have diminishing returns, so instead of hitting upwards of a x10 Multiplier, you're getting more like x1.5, and upwards of x2 at the absolute cap.The Speed Multiplier is also higher than intended. While you should be rewarded for clearing out the wave quickly and efficiently, it shouldn't be as much as x2. We've dialed down the cap to x1.25, and it decays at a slower rate, giving more leeway time to clear the wave with a max multiplier. This should let slower killing builds have a chance at getting a decent score still.
Up next, we're getting rid of the Lives Multiplier for a few reasons:
- If you make a mistake, it penalizes you for the whole game.
- It gives Life Recovery, or worse yet, anything that gives you lives over the cap too much value.
There's also Difficulty Options, which are as follows:
- Easy: 150 Lives. 80% HP. Score Multiplier x0.5
- Normal: 100 Lives. 100% HP. Score Multiplier x1
- Hard: 100 Lives. 120% HP. Score Mutliplier x1.5
How long of a maze can you make on this map?Balance
Stacking Effects
When it comes to individual effects, like Slows and Damage Amps, having just one of each is pretty good, but nothing more than that. But when you start stacking these effects, they start getting out of control. For Slows, it's not as big of a problem, because so many effects in the game counter Slows. Which, in of itself, might be considered a problem, but we'll revisit that in a later version.Damage Amps & Damage Buffs, however, if stacked, can result in upwards of a x3 Damage Multiplier, possibly higher. So to fix that, we're adjusting them to be Additive instead of Multiplicative. For example, if you had 20%, 25%, and 30% Damage Amps...
- Before: 1.2 * 1.25 * 1.3 = 1.95 = 95% Damage Amp
- After: 1 + 0.2 + 0.25 + 0.3 = 1.75 = 75% Damage Amp
Mines
Mines will no longer have limited charges! This means, especially in longer waves, they'll no longer fizzle out well before everything else. Any Upgrade or Tech that previously increased charges will instead buff something else.Towers & Traps
A lot of towers have received buffs, like Pulseray, Blast Cannon, & Sniper. Numerous bad, boring, or redundant Upgrades & Tower Techs have been adjusted or replaced outright.On the flipside, many outliers have been dialed back, like Plasma Vent U2's Damage Amp, which was mistakenly way higher than intended.
Overall, there are more buffs than nerfs, and build variety should be improved.
Axons
The early game was already at a fair balance, and we don't want to make that easier. In order to maintain relative early game balance, we're also buffing the HP of most early game Axons, including Scout, Sentinel, Juggernaut, Berserker, and a few more.A few Axons in particular are receiving nerfs, namely Colossus, and the cursed Hoverjet. It will be moving considerably slower when jumping over Towers.
Other Balance
Lastly, several underwhelming Overloads (like Boost Range) and Techs (like Tower Initial Bonus Damage and Attack Rate on Leak) are receiving buffs. This should help reduce the chance of frustratingly bad choices when they appear as choices in-game.
For the record, that wave number and those resources are no longer possible to reach.Release
Since this update includes more than we initially anticipated, it will take a little longer to actually release. Instead of releasing late this month, it should instead release within the first two weeks of October. Overall, it's roughly a two to three week delay from what was originally planned.If you want to see patch notes of every change so far, we have a Changelog available on our Discord). We'll post full patch notes to here on Steam when Version 0.2.0 releases officially and things are finalized.
Known Issues
First up, Replays on the Quick Play & Co-op Leaderboards will not display correctly. This is due to the large number of balance and mechanics changes between the main and beta versions. Survival Leaderboards will temporarily make use of new leaderboards.Next up, we have a list of issues we're aware of. We're working on fixing them, but in the meantime, the game is still fully playable. Here they are:
- We're aware that unlocking Starting Towers/Overloads in Survival "costs 0 Points". This is temporary; later, we'll remove the need to unlock them at all.
- Sniper's range indicator is incorrect.
- Pressing "Space" no longer starts the next wave.
- Gravity Generator U1 does not consistently EMP targets within range.
- The Meta Tech "Life Insurance" also prevent you from dying to a Boss when leaked above 50 life.
- The "Marked Tile" tech can result in a Null Reference Exception, and is currently disabled from Survival.
- "No Adjacent Tower" bonus damage tech also applies to Mines and Traps.
- In replays, once you've closed down the "Active Techs" menu, it won't come back. This can be fixed by jumping to a different wave.
- In replays, spawned Obstacles often appear in the wrong tile, leading to towers seemingly being placed on top of Obstacles, or the path being erroneously blocked.
- In replays, Credits and Power will sometimes display negative values.
- Hiding the UI does not hide the Damage Graphs or Paths.
- Replicants (Replicator spawns) still give 1 score. Spawned units should no longer give score.
- If you Hide the UI when the level is completed, it cannot be turned back on.
- n the off chance you reach and beat Wave 120 in Endless Survival, the game will break. This is a temporary limitation that we'll be addressing by release.
- Command Link can connect to a Blocker.
Sadly, this does absolutely nothing.
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