Free Content Update 1.4 for Jagged Alliance 3 is Going Live Today!

Sofia, Bulgaria / Vienna, Austria, December 18th, 2023: Today, the free content update 1.4 for Jagged Alliance 3, codenamed "Wolf", is going live on PC and consoles! The update includes numerous fixes and a complimentary DLC for Jagged Alliance 3 owners, introducing a new mid- to late-game questline named "U-Bahn", as well as a new underground transportation system! The team chose the German name "U-Bahn" (EN: subway) as you will get the chance to uncover secrets that have been hidden beneath Grand Chien since WW2. Are you ready to confront the adversaries?

Check out the new trailer here: https://youtu.be/FM5IBAzOnNU

Update 1.4 "Wolf" includes:

• New questline "U-Bahn" (German for subway)
  
• New underground transport system
  
• Seven expansive maps within a laboratory complex
  
• Revamped Conflict Screen
  
• Multiselection in the inventory
  
• Sector stash overhaul
  
• Tweaks to some Operations
  
• Additional fixes and adjustments

Jagged Alliance 3 is being developed by Haemimont Games and published by THQ Nordic. The game is available on PC at an SRP of $ 44.99 / € 44.99 / 39.99 £.

A free playable demo is available on Steam. It allows players to explore Ernie Island, the starting region of the game. Try the demo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2386860

Order Now:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1084160/Jagged_Alliance_3/

For more info check out the following links and/or join the Discord server:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaggedalliancegame/
  
• Forums: https://community.jaggedalliance.com/
  
• Discord: https://discord.gg/jaggedalliance

Enjoy & Stay tuned!

Small update on Chapter 3.

A dialogue option for Ofc. Ronald has changed.
Dialogue that appears when the player chooses to bribe Sgt. Howard has changed.

Got a big one for you all, Empire's first major update!

Added:

A Superboss! Yes, I've finally added what I'd wanted too from the start, a new boss that'll only show up if you manage to defeat the final boss with a score of 1,750,000! (that's basically a 1CC score for this game, or for those not in the know, getting through all the stages without using a continue) It's a tough final challenge with a whopping 8 waves rather than the four of the other bosses as the level 5 miniboss comes back for a rematch!

Extended Level 4 intro. Level 4's old intro throws you right into the fire from the off, throwing a few too many new mechanics at once. It's now gotten an extended intro section that introduces you to them a bit more smoothly.

Changed/Updated:
Intro/outro cutscene timings adjusted. Some of the cutscenes went through a little too quickly, and in one case jumped the gun a little and moved on just a bit too quickly. Timings have been adjusted so this is no longer an issue and you get a little longer to read them.

Bullets redone! While the sprite bullets worked at their intended resolution they didn't scale well. They've all now been swapped out for 3d renders that scale much better and generally look a lot better! They're slightly bigger for the most part though so keep that in mind, some fights have changed very slightly! Additionally on these lines, most (the engine doesn't support it for turrets) enemies with beam weapons have been given a tracer effect that will show where their beams will go and give you a small warning so you're not instantly struck anymore, likewise their beams come out much slower making dodging them possible but not easy.

Controls updated. There's a few things here-for one, those on controllers will now see button inputs for their controls alongside the keyboard ones. Said controls display has also been updated, it now shows (hopefully!) a bit more clearly what each button does and the special weapon indicator has been made a bit more obvious too as to when it's ready.

Player weapon updated. The player's Type 1 has had some updates too! Your primary weapon has gained a small additional weapon, a weaker version of the homing lasers from the final stage! No longer will enemies be able to hide out of your firing arc! Then there's the focused mode. No longer a trio of cannons firing forwards, you've gained a beam weapon instead! It does fractionally more damage than your normal fire and looks a lot cooler! Then, there's the superweapon which was basically fine for most stages but was notably worse on level 5 than your standard fire, it's had the same visual update for it's beam and gained some more damage too! In general you'll find you're dealing a little more damage in every mode now! And speaking of, your bomb's been tuned up too, going from dealing 50 damage to 200, enough to destroy any destroyer class (green) or smaller ship in a single massive blast! It's now a lot better at making openings in a tight situation so make use of them!

Sound pass. I've been through the sounds and (tried at least) to rebalance them a little. You should find that the FX are quieter and the music a bit louder overall. There's also new music, only the first stage boss uses the old boss theme while the other four get new themes and so does the new superboss! And there's even a little victory jingle now!

And a whole host of other minor things that frankly I don't remember at this point, small adjustments to bullet patterns, balance ect! I know the stage 4 miniboss (the spider) has had the heaviest adjustment here, with larger minigun bullets (but they're destructible now), a reworked harpoon weapon and minor other changes too.

Hope you all enjoy it, and feel free to let me know on the BWI Games Discord (https://discord.gg/46nYZEWqkb) if you have any trouble! You *can* also let me know on the community page but Discord is by far the best way to make sure it gets sorted quickly.

Steam Cloud saves are now live! You'll now be able to take your progress with you between computers.

Bugs fixed: 5

New Features

• Steam Cloud saves are now working. They're still compatible between the demo and the Kickstarter beta, and will continue to work with the full version of the game.
  
• The first time you start up the game after updating, your existing profiles will be associated with the Steam account you're logged in as.
  
• Once the Cloud saves are set up, running the game with a different Steam account (or without being logged into Steam) will require you to create a separate profile.

Other Changes

• The Time Wheel now only drops down when the factory is running once you've moved the mouse away from it. This means if you try to change speed just after starting the factory you're not trying to hit a moving target.
  
• Fragile payloads are now visibly damaged at the right moment, and playback stops immediately rather than running to the end of the step.

Bugfixes

• Fixed some transparency rendering issues with payloads teleporting in and falling through burning wooden panels.
  
• Burial payload names can now be seen through glass panels, and also don't sometimes disappear depending on camera angle.

This week brings a lot of new content. There are a bunch of new grenades available to both security officers and syndicate agents. Atmos has been rebalanced in various areas, such as destroying pipes, turning gas into a liquid, and removing the plasma gas miner. New DNA additions have created additional ways to uncover a crime scene, and many more additions, fixes, and quality of life improvements.



- Added Poppy the Safety Opposum!
- Chemistry now has vials, similar to bottles but are much more durable.
- Added brother of cak - bread dog! 5 cognizine, sausage bread, animal heart, cooked spaceshrooms and 15 second in microwave = bread dog.
- A variety of chemicals can now be decomposed via electrolysis or centrifugal force.
- Added 9 new cargo bounties!
- Lawyers, librarians and reporters now spawn with a luxury pen in their PDA.
- Scientists can now fabricate faux grass planet and ice tiles with a tier 2 civilian services research! They're just as good as the real thing, while being removable.
- Added tear gas grenades to the SecTech and security belts, use them to control riots.
- Added smoke grenades to the syndicate uplink for 1 TC, they create a large smoke cloud to provide cover for your heinous activities.
- Smaller explosions now make a distinct sound compared to larger ones.
- You will now hear a reverbed explosion sound effect for explosions that are far away from you.
- Explosion visuals now last slightly longer
- Added 2 new artifact effect: attraction and repulsion
- Added hypodart into uplink. It is capable of piercing armor and injecting up to 7u reagents.
- Added the electrolysis unit and the centrifuge. These will be used for chemistry in the future.
- Chaplains can smack their bible on water to create holy water.
- Added Charges information to action tooltips for actions with charges
- Added commands to upgrade actions.
- Added the Action Upgrade System - used to upgrade specific actions!
- Crusher Glaives can be made with the Salvage Weapons technology.
- Discord bot Changelog now includes hyperlinks to the PRs.
- Extended emergency nitrogen tanks can now be found on the station.
- Added gas condensers. These machines are available at the circuit imprinter and can convert gases into liquids. Tasty!
- Incendiary grenades, Shrapnel grenades, Cluster grenades and the Slipocalypse ClusterSoap are now available in the syndicate uplink, clowns also get a Clusterbanana in their uplink.
- Stinger grenades and ClusterBangs are now available in sectech.
- A new type of grenade has been developed, these grenades release a spray of bullets instead of exploding: Shrapnel grenade, Stinger grenade and Incendiary grenade.
- Added a new "uneven" hair style.
- Ninjas and Nukies now get new sprites for their pinpointers.
- RD now has a custom-made lab coat.
- Added the ability to toggle on and off the Discord Rich Presence.
- Added a General settings tab, and moved a bunch of options into it.
- You can drag items out of the inventory window to drop them on the ground.
- CentCom has begun unceremoniously plucking Mothroaches out of Maintenance and selling them to nearby Space Stations after the discovery that they make decent pets.
- Added the artifact crusher to research! Crush things today!
- Added info to botany guidebook entry.
- Familiar Garbs may now appear as maintenance loot.
- Added yellow tinted jensen glasses that may show up in maints from time to time.
- Beer goggles can now scan solutions.
- Added cosmetic sunglasses to the clothesmate.
- Arrivals is now stationed on a planet.
- Added 4 new HUD themes: Plasmafire, Slimecore, Clockwork, and Retro.
- Hardsuit helmets added to chameleon menu
- Added black gloves to the clothesmate
- Added two eye scar markings for humans and dwarves.


- Opossums have received some new sprites. Old sprites are still available to be spawned in by admins.
- Everyone can toggle fire alarms now, not just atmos.
- Resprited the Kammerer, Double-Barrel, and Enforcer shotguns using sprites courtesy of /tg/station.
- Chefs get black pepper packets in their lockers.
- Crayons boxes now hold a white crayon.
- Chasms no longer spawn on lava expeditions.
- Borgs can wear hats now. Time to get festive!
- Cyborg jobs now start with a positronic brain.
- Artistic toolboxes now have a filled variant that can be found in maintenance occasionally.
- The flare gun now explodes, damages and stuns the player when used with wrong ammo
- Open tanks will no longer make noise at very low release pressure.
- Soap and rags can be used to clean evidence off of items, but leave evidence of their own..
- Melee weapons that deal blunt/slash/pierce damage transfer DNA
- Implanters, syringes, hyposprays, medipens, and cigarettes transfer DNA.
- Gibbed body parts contain their victim's DNA.
- Reptilians no longer innately take 30% less heat damage.
- Mercury poisoning now causes stuttering.
- Acidifier now has a sprite effect.
- Mothroach crates are now twice as expensive
- Explosive banana peels are now more dangerous.
- Plasma and tritium fires spread more slowly and are now more survivable.
- Cybersun and centcom pens can now edit stamped paper.
- Some jetpacks can be now worn in more slots.
- Added fill visuals to Hot Chocolate
- Pill canisters are slightly better than cig packs, go talk to the chemists.
- Sec belt holds sidearms and sidearm ammo.
- The syndie holster now holds the guns you always wanted it to.
- Jar now fills.
- Cig Cartons are slightly smaller.
- Cigar cases can now hold Small items.
- Pipes now have slightly bigger bowls! (30u)
- Long guns are now actually long.
- syndicate pens now come in suitably sized discarding boxes.
- Mops are now larger!
- Defibs are now larger!
- Mayo Jar is bigger (50u)
- Tritium and frezon can once again be sold for profit.
- Removed Senior Researcher, Senior Engineer, Senior Physician, and Senior Officer.
- Pumps, vents, scrubbers, and heaters now work faster.
- Pacified players can no longer throw dangerous objects such as spears, bolas, and bottles.
- Stations no longer produce limitless plasma. Plasma refills can now be ordered at cargo.
- Removed the Handheld Electrical Propulsion technology and its associated item, tasers, from research.
- Syndicate duffel bags heavily protect their items from explosions, and regular bags have minor protection.
- Musician and Bartender now have cosmetic sunglasses.
- The modernized HUD theme has been renamed to "Eris."
- The default HUD theme is now Classic. The old default HUD theme still exists under the name
- The kobold ear marking has received a new sprite.
- Emergency light radius and energy is now much lower.
- Emergency lights no longer make sound
- Pipes now leak their contents when destroyed. Make sure to drain pipes before removing them.


- Ejecting a tank from a canister will now try to put it in your hand first.
- Fix map boundaries not pushing you back.
- The guidebook now shows you if a chemical's recipe needs an alternative mixing method, such as a chaplain's blessing or electrolysis.
- Fixed spray nozzle not getting ammo from the back pack tank.
- A dying person's Last Words can no longer be sent to radio channels.
- Fixed secret doors not requiring metal rods
- Fix arrivals fog not actually blocking, no more free roaming.
- Incapacitated mobs can no longer be shoved for a speed boost.

Today's blog post is going to cover the upcoming Christmas Update, as well as talk a bit about our progress towards online multiplayer, and what you can expect from the next couple of months!

Before Christmas, we'll be launching the GeneRally 2 Christmas Update. This update will include a variety of small features and fixes, but also some themed additions to help you celebrate the holiday season in style.



Most notably, we'll be adding a new track, and a selection of new objects (including static cars, vans and trucks) and some winter-themed variants of existing objects.

Work continues on the online multiplayer feature, which is coming along nicely and is beginning to have all the features and functionality we envisioned it having at its initial release.

At the moment it's possible to race with your friends (or complete strangers) in single races - or in championships - online. We still have some way to go and our focus at the moment is now particularly on the additional functionalities like synchronising tracks between players, and handling mid-race disconnections.

After this, we'll have some UI finalisation to do - and then we hope to conduct a couple of invite-only tests before launching multiplayer sometime after the New Year! Stay tuned here, and on Discord, to find out more about the invite-only tests 📧

We're continuing to follow our roadmap and our plans for GeneRally 2's Early Access period - and we're on-track with where we expected to be at this point. It's our intention to launch out of Early Access within the first half of 2024 🏆

Still outstanding on our pathway towards a Version 1.0 release are the online multiplayer, a couple of cars, improvements to the AI, and a variety of smaller bug fixes and features.

In the year leading up to the launch of Early Access (and for a couple of months afterwards), we were really lucky to be able to have such a large team working on GeneRally 2. Now, our team is much more modest in size (only three of us are working actively on the project) - a result of the basic realities of independent game development.

However, as we saw the possibility of this from afar, we set our Early Access goals conservatively, to ensure we could reach them even with a smaller day-to-day team.

What this means is that prioritisation becomes the most important factor for us in delivering content and feature updates. Right now, our focus is on delivering the online multiplayer, and then we'll be able to turn our attention to the other items on the list!

Of course, this also makes now a great time for us to say thank you to the team members who have helped us along the route, but are no longer working with us on a daily basis: we are so grateful to you guys for your contributions to GeneRally 2 over the past couple of years 😊

• Fixed a bug that was breaking some gamepad-related controls

It seems like some people are experiencing issues with skill usage using mouse. If you have that, let me know what kind of peripherals are connected to the PC and how the issue looks like (can you click on cards, are they marked as proper targets, does the character say something, etc).

Thank you for reporting any issues you find!

Hey hunters,

How’s the hunting?

Welcome to our next instalment of the Return to World community blog! In this week’s post we’re going to be delving into a number of firsts new hunters in Monster Hunter: World will experience - your first hunting location, making your first armour set and weapon, then of course, facing your first Large Monster!

Before we get into that though, just a quick reminder that Steam’s The Game Awards sale ends on December 21st, meaning you only have a couple of days from the time of this post to get World at its lowest ever price on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/582010/Monster_Hunter_World/

Now with that out of the way, it’s time to set out into the Ancient Forest…



Welcome to the Ancient Forest, a lush, greenery filled area that’s as dense as it is tall and brimming with life – from endemic creatures and small monsters, like the Jagras, to a variety of powerful large monsters that lurk in the undergrowth and treetop canopies under the watchful gaze of the King of the Skies…



Heading out from camp!

Stepping out from your camp, you’ll emerge onto the Ancient Forest’s shoreline, giving you the options to travel further along down the coast, head into the surrounding forest or even start your approach to the huge tree that dwarfs the surrounding area.



Talking of exploring and gathering items, it’s definitely worth grabbing anything you come by, but keep a special lookout for:

• Herbs – To craft Potions that heal you!
  
• Honey – Combine with Potions to make Mega Potions, offering much greater healing!
  
• Bone Piles – To aid in crafting and upgrading your gear!
  
• Mining Outcrops – To also aid in crafting and upgrading your gear!

Of course, there’s even more for you to forage and find out there, and if you find your bag full, you can always return to camp to deposit your items for later use.

Talking of your camp, you’re not limited to just the one! The Ancient Forest has four total camps you can make use of, including your starting one.

In order to use the other three, first you’ll need to find the suitable spaces and then rebuild them. That’s where your exploration comes in! The verticality of this region hides many secrets, both above and below you – look out for hidden pathways to crawl through on the ground, as well as potential hideaways up in the branches!



Once you’ve found one of these spaces, you’ll get a notification that a camp can be built. Then you’ll want to head back to Astera and select “Complete Deliveries” at the Resource Center, giving you the option to trade materials for a new, permanent camp to be built. (Which requires resources from the area, so if you’ve been stocking up as you’ve been exploring you’ll probably be able to complete the request immediately!)

Once built, you’ll have a new spawn location you can use when starting a quest in the Ancient Forest, or fast travel to when you’re already there, helping you quickly move through the area!

You’ll be visiting and returning to the Ancient Forest frequently during your questing through the New World, so investing some time unlocking these camps will pay off in the long run, but there’s no pressure, discover them at your own pace!




You’ve been gathering materials, taking down small monsters and settling into the Ancient Forest, but now the time has come for your first major test as a hunter, to hunt Great Jagras!

Now returning and more experienced hunters will be very familiar with Great Jagras and its pack already, so feel free to share your tips for new hunters in the comments section!

For those of you that are new to Monster Hunter, or still tackling this Urgent Quest, here’s a few suggestions of our own too help you slay your target!

Hunt Preparation

Equipment

Your starting leather armour may fit nicely, but it won’t provide much protection from damage! Visit Astera’s Smithy and consider forging yourself some Bone Armor, and possibly even upgrade your weapon, for example, upgrading the Hunter’s Knife Sword and Shield to level two only takes two iron ores! Increasing your defensive and offensive stats will make a big difference, and if you’ve been seeking out both Mining Outcrops and Bone Piles in the Ancient Forest, you should have enough materials to cover your needs here!

With over fourteen different weapon types to choose from, don’t be shy on trying out a range of different weapons! You never know when you’ll find your new favourite!

Items

Despite how nimble you feel, there’s a good chance that you’ll be taking some knocks from Great Jagras, so stocking up on healing items will be a big help! If you’ve been collecting honey, you’ll be able to craft some Mega Potions, allowing you to bring both a stack of 10 Potions and 10 Mega Potions in your item pouch. Don’t be afraid to use your Mega Potions, you’ll be able to make plenty more!

Eat a meal

Before heading out into the hunt, make sure your belly is full! Head over to the canteen and pay the Meowscular Chef a visit to cook yourself up some tasty buffs, including increased HP, Stamina and other useful effects.

Know Your Monster

Great Jagras is a bright yellow monster that commands a pack of smaller Jagras, even summoning them mid-battle at times!

It primarily attacks by biting, charging and swiping at hunters and prey alike, so prepare to evade to the side or block at a moment’s notice. Luckily for us, the Great Jagras isn’t the quickest of monsters, so look out for tells it’s about to strike so you can move to safety.

This monster may be glutenous, but it will absolutely punish a hunter’s greed!


Check out your Hunter Notes to get key information on any Large Monsters you face!

When fighting Great Jagras, it may be safer to fight it from the side and the rear, but you’ll deal a lot more damage by aiming for its weak spots, which consist of its head, stomach and front claws, so try to position yourself in such a way that you can hit those areas, without leaving yourself too vulnerable to attack!

And remember, don’t be disheartened if you don’t succeed first time. Taking on Large Monsters is a learning experience, with carting being part of that journey - we’ve all been there! Besides, it makes your victory all the sweeter!

If you’re feeling like you’d like a little extra help to get you across the line, you can also try using the free and optional “Guardian Armor”, which will give you a solid defence along with useful skills and a Guild approved look!



Once you’ve triumphed over Great Jagras you’ll be able to start crafting Great Jagras armour and weapons at the Smithy! Make sure to check it out to see if there’s any skills or defensive / offensive gains that catch your gaze!

If you find you’re missing a few materials, you can simply repeat the quest and take on Great Jagras again! It’s great practice for what lays ahead, plus you’ll end up being able to make yourself plenty of gear.

Return to World Livestream

The Community Team also took on Great Jagras in their first “Return to World” livestream, so if you’d like to see them in action, you can do so here:



Our next community livestream is on Thursday, 21st December at 9am PT / 5pm GMT / 6pm CET, so whether you want to watch, chat or play with us, you can find us on our official channels below:

Monster Hunter Twitch
Monster Hunter YouTube


That wraps up our latest post!

Thanks for taking the time to check it out, we hope you find these tips and info helpful, we’ll be back again soon with our next post.

See you in the hunt!

- Monster Hunter Community Team

Added/Edited:

-The large chest has joined us. You can now store 24 different items in a single chest.
-Hunger, oxygen and thirst bars have been redrawn and are now better!

Bugs:

-Unfortunately, in previous versions, you couldn't get the achievement you got when completed all the upgrades. Now you can get it.

Fixed: Softlock occurs when using the "Fast Reload+" card with Gamepad input, triggering the draw phase without cards in the Draw pile.