Playtest 211: New Deck-Picker, New Units, Balance, Active Charms

TreiskTreisk Member, Administrator
edited May 14 in Patch Notes

Playtest 211: New Deck-Picker, New Units, Balance, Active Charms

TL;DR - New Units, Balance Tweaks, Active Charms, New Deck Selection Screen!


New Deck-Picker!

  • The Deck-Picker screen has received a huge visual overhaul! Let us know what you think!

Audio

  • All heroes should now have basic voice-overs! Let us know what you think, who your favorite voice is, and what your favorite lines are!
  • An announcer voice has also been added to alert you to key events!

Active Charms!

  • The Charm shop has returned, and now offers active items! These items, when purchased using Scrap, will be added to your hero's inventory and can be reused!
  • The Items!:

    • Focusing Lens - Activate to give nearby friendly units True Sight for a few seconds, allowing them to see invisible units
    • Vitality Token - Activate to restore health to nearby friendly units over a long period of time. Entering combat ends this effect.
    • Rabbit's Foot -- Activate to give nearby friendly units bonus movement speed for a few seconds.
    • Global Scan - Activate to grant vision of a target area for a few seconds. Does NOT reveal invisible units.

Units


Green

  • Seedbot

    • Movement speed: 4.7 ⇒ 4.5
  • Chain Attacker

    • Movement speed: 5.0 ⇒ 4.9
  • NEW BASIC UNIT: Green Ranger!

    • A basic ranged attack unit. Can root itself into the ground, gaining extended attack range.
    • No relation to Tommy Oliver.
  • Grove Tender

    • Stock cost: 6 ⇒ 5
    • Scrap cost: 75 ⇒ 100
    • Movement speed: 4.1 ⇒ 4.0
    • Unit cap: 4 ⇒ 6
  • Bramblethorn Goliath

    • Has been reworked!

      • Now has two active states.

        • Its default state behaves as before, minus Re-Cycle.
        • It can now enter a Protosynthesis state that gives it the Tree of Life healing aura. While in this state, it also heals itself for a massive amount every second, but cannot move or attack.
    • Stock cost: 10 ⇒ 8
    • Scrap cost: 200 ⇒ 250
    • Movement speed: 4.3 ⇒ 4.2
    • Healing Aura health per second: 4 ⇒ 8
  • Rustborn Rhino

    • Stock cost: 9 ⇒ 7
    • Scrap cost: 175 ⇒ 225
    • Health: 1100 ⇒ 800
    • Trample has been reworked!

      • Now impales units near the front of the Rhino, dealing damage. Deals bonus damage and stuns targets if they hit a wall while being pushed by Trample.
      • Range: 32 ⇒ 16
      • Windup: 0.7 seconds ⇒ 0.6 seconds
      • Will now always travel the full range
  • Abominable Sludge

    • Has a new model and animations!
    • Stock cost: 14 ⇒ 8
    • Unit cap: 2 ⇒ 3
    • Health: 1550 ⇒ 3200
    • Movement speed: 3.4 ⇒ 3.2
  • Toxin Alchemist

    • Stock cost: 6 ⇒ 5
    • Scrap cost: 50 ⇒ 100
    • Movement speed: 5.3 ⇒ 4.5
    • Unit cap: 3 ⇒ 6
  • Bruce the Moose

    • Movement speed: 3.5 ⇒ 3.6
  • NEW ADVANCED UNIT: Trebuchet

    • A very slow, non-attacking unit. Can target a distant area to indefinitely fire repeated mortar barrages at the area until canceled.

Blue

  • Voidling

    • Movement speed: 4.6 ⇒ 4.4
  • Ancient Ice Frog

    • Health: 700 ⇒ 600
    • Damage: 80 ⇒ 60
    • Attack range: 3.4 ⇒ 2.5
    • Icy Breath

      • Range: 8 ⇒ 9
      • Windup: 1.3 seconds ⇒ 0.8 seconds
  • Quadrapus

    • Scrap cost: 50 ⇒ 75
    • Plated Shell

      • Can now affect all units you own
      • Plate granted: 20 ⇒ 5
  • Kingpin

    • Stock cost: 6 ⇒ 8
    • Scrap cost: 75 ⇒ 175
  • Frostcaller

    • Scrap cost: 75 ⇒ 150
    • Frostfall

      • Is now a channeled ability
  • Shadow

    • Health: 225 ⇒ 150
    • Damage: 100 ⇒ 125
    • Attack cooldown: 1.5 seconds ⇒ 1 second
    • Shadow Form

      • Duration: 10 seconds ⇒ 7 seconds
  • Aquadillo

    • Stock cost: 10 ⇒ 7
    • Scrap cost: 150 ⇒ 225
    • Damage: 80 ⇒ 120
    • Movement speed: 4.4 ⇒ 3.5

Red

  • Vex

    • Movement speed: 4.9 ⇒ 4.7
  • Spitfire

    • Movement speed: 4.9 ⇒ 4.7
  • Apocalyte

    • Stock cost: 7 ⇒ 3
    • Movement speed: 4.6 ⇒ 4.5
    • Unit cap: 4 ⇒ 5
    • Destructive Prophecy

      • Radius: 2.75 ⇒ 3.0
      • Delay: 1.75 seconds ⇒ 1.9 seconds
  • Scarab

    • Stock cost: 5 ⇒ 8
    • Health: 700 ⇒ 550
    • Attack cooldown: 2.2 ⇒ 1
    • Movement speed: 5.1 ⇒ 4.6
    • Physical Resist: 25 ⇒ 0
    • Now has Burrowstrike

      • Dashes to a target area, ignoring unit collision.
  • Devilkin Dervish

    • Stock cost: 5 ⇒ 4
    • Scrap cost: 50 ⇒ 75
  • Lavaspitter

    • Stock cost: 6 ⇒ 5
    • Scrap cost: 100 ⇒ 50
    • Movement speed: 5.6 ⇒ 4.9
    • Unit cap: 8 ⇒ 12
  • Pyrosaur

    • Has grown in size by roughly 40%!
    • Stock cost: 5 ⇒ 6
    • Scrap cost: 50 ⇒ 100
    • Movement speed: 5.1 ⇒ 4.6
    • Flamethrower

      • Range: 8 ⇒ 7
  • Ignitor

    • Movement speed: 4.9 ⇒ 4.7

White

  • Purifier

    • Scrap cost: 75 ⇒ 50
    • Unit cap: 8 ⇒ 12
    • Rooted Damage: 100 ⇒ 125
  • Conduit

    • Bounces: 4 ⇒ 7
    • Damage loss per bounce: 33% ⇒ 0%
    • Bounce range: 4 ⇒ 2
    • Damage: 50 ⇒ 25

Neutral

  • Transport

    • Movement speed: 4.4 ⇒ 3.9

Comments

  • AceAlAceAl Member

    Visual and auditory polish is really good. I can't pick a favorite voice, as I haven't tried them all yet, but I have a reason to cycle through them all again.

    Unfortunately I read the patch notes after my games, and so didn't even notice that charms are back. I'll save them for next time.

    One glaring bug, in G3c688f781bb1478797b852471338869a dead deadeyes continued to render their model (unselectable). Look at the top healing tower just after twenty minutes in the referenced game.

    Balance improvements are hard to notice at this time, so no specific feedback there. Except that, also in the above game, mass voidling is the strat du jour (and it feels like a monoculture shouldn't be that good).

  • CohLysionCohLysion Member

    Deck Picker

    Design
    (1.1) - Love the aesthetic you're going for here. I've said it before, but it holds here still. Each time you guys reveal another part of the broader design style and implied lore, the scope of the game gets bigger, which is super cool. Quick note re: big grey planet, though there are lots of generators out there, just in case you happen to be looking for something, Terragen produces some very cool procedurals.

    Voice Packs

    Winner: Grath
    Eris - Sounds brighter, more cheerful than expected, not as much flame in it as I'd expect. (2.1)

    Vex - I like the kind of spartan sound to this one. Definitely matches the character portrait. Kind of wish there was more flame to it, more gravel, but overall good. (2.2)

    Alder - Nailed this one. Good shimmer to it. (2.3)

    Grath - I like this one too. Kind of noble, stalwart. (2.4)

    Hydros - Higher pitched and less undertone (bass?) than I was expecting. I would expect the flanger to be on Ryme, but trying him next. (2.5)

    Ryme - Yeah, I would almost expect Hydros and Ryme's sound to be swapped. (2.6)

    Celesta - Rocks. Love that crystalline, brittle character to it. (2.7)

    Vela - Voice doesn't match design of "face." It fits that it is tonally lower than Celesta, but could use a little ice in it. Slap Alder's FX on it? (2.8)

    UI - Like the name of the planet or whatever it is. Testing all of these sounds, kept being disappointed when I'd hear the announcement of defeat. I think this means it works. :) (2.9)

    UI and In-Game

    Controls
    (3.1) - Hot Keys not saving (at least in bot game).

    (3.2) - Charm Shop does not have a hotkey slot in configuration to match the other three

    Charms

    (4.1) - Like having the actives, think it will be better if you get a few more involved (if that is a consideration). Not sure how often you'd get to filling all three slots, and whether there would be benefit to that, but given how they play, and even their UI location, they feel like picking summoner abilities, and getting access to basically all of them is counterintuitive (at least per this player's game reference pool).

    Extra

    (5.1) - Illuminate, visually is now my favorite ability. Not sure when it got arted, could be really late on this one, but today was the first I actively saw it.

  • wondiblewondible Member

    Deck picker works. Not clear which units can be exchanged, or if there are options for that slot. Perhaps box each group, and have some form of dot for each possible unit in the group.

    Variable unit tech levels can be a bit confusing; I expect to get 'something' for upgrading, but it's now clear what until I memorize the units.

    Hotkeyed buildings are starting to get confusing; Strobe over those 4 keys until I find what I want. The buildings themselves are irrelevant; unlike a base-building RTS, I never look at that part of the map unless the outer spawn towers are destroyed.

    Translucent walrus was not what I was expecting for the sludge ;^)

    I find it hard to plan the scrap for ion cannons when I'm used to spending scrap down.

    Still learning the economy. I feel like I'm back around TW2 where I understand scrap (then gems) is important, but not how to get it consistently. I'm mostly short and burning it down on units, and never get to the upgrades. Then sometimes I have 700 scrap all at once, and I'm not sure from where. Generally eco seems to require a certain amount of preplanning to queue up what you are going to need next round, and make sure you don't get backlogged. It's hard to plan how much you need since the amount per generator cycle varies through the game.

    Having advanced units take longer to build is awkward when you are rebuilding your entire army at once - you either go out understaffed to sit around waiting.

  • VoltzVoltz Member

    Hey! Love all these new changes. One small feedback I would like to give, as I don't know where else to post it,

    I would love if instead of your stock / gems / population being on the left side of your screen, in a column, I would like to see it on the top right of the screen going horizontally, just like minerals / gas / and supply in StarCraft.

    I think it is worth realizing most of the people playing this game probably come from StarCraft 2. Having a similar interface will make the transition much easier, or at least give the community a customization option to put your stock / gems / population in the upper right corner.

    Thanks~

  • The new deck picker screen looks great. The new audio events are informative and non-intrusive.

    There seem to be a lot of interesting changes and additions to the higher tier units, but haven't gotten around to playing with most of them. I did try out the Trebuchet and managed to pick off the middle shield battery. The new Sludge model is cute, but it doesn't fill out the unit radius, and I'm concerned about what its height and opacity mean for readability.

    On Wednesday I had a lot of economic trouble trying mass Scarab strategies, which is interesting because the scarabs were so powerful then. This time I decided to focus on upgrades and only build higher tier units once I had maxed out on physical attack and resist.

    I found that I only maxed those two upgrades as the game was ending, so I never built any higher tier units. I can definitely tell that high tier units are powerful, but the scrap cost of building these units makes them a lot riskier than just investing the scrap into non-perishable upgrades.

    The generator system did not bother me much this time, but only because I hardly touched it. I was never low on stock (might be due to the stock patches), and all I did was queue up some extra scrap in the late game.

    @wondible Its true the buildings have been vestigial for some time. I expect them to switch to "free-standing" menus once the game's build systems are locked down. I think they are just waiting on that before making another pass at the menus. A dev could confirm.

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