Game version 3828

This patch provides a fix where in some scenario's an ACU would become invulnerable when recall is initiated.

With gratitude to all those who took the time to report issues,

Jip

Balance

• (#6921) Decrease Salem's anti-torpedo flares' target check interval from 1.0s to 0.4s (the default for anti-projectile weapons). This makes it more likely to detect torpedoes and fire the flares in time, especially against torpedo bombers.

  Salem: T2 Destroyer (URS0201):

  • Anti Torpedo Solution
    • Target Check Interval: 1.0s -> 0.4s

Bug fixes

• (#6919) Fix a recalling ACU to become indestructible when a player disconnects in the middle of the recall sequence.

Other changes

• (#6916) Enable queueing an upgrade to the Tech 2 Aeon shield while it is under construction

This behavior matches the behavior of other shields.

Contributors

With thanks to the following people who contributed through coding:

• Nomander
• Jip

Game version 3827

This patch removes access to a potentially dangerous engine function that was exposed to all Lua environments.

With gratitude to all those who took the time to report issues,

Jip

Bug fixes

• (#6911) Remove lingering print statements that trigger to events of the construction drones from Kennels.

Contributors

With thanks to the following people who contributed through coding:

• @lL1l1
• @4z0t
• @Garanas

And, last but certainly not least - with thanks to those that took part in constructive discussions:

• @MostLostNoob

Game version 3826

Fix an edge case where announcements would break cinematic mode. This caused coop missions to hang.

With gratitude to all those who took the time to report issues,

BlackYps

Bug fixes

• (#6905) Fix an edge case where announcements would break cinematic mode

Contributors

With thanks to the following people who worked out the solution:

• Jip
• Nomander

Game version 3825

Another three months have passed which means it is time for another game patch.

With gratitude to all those who contributed to this patch and/or took the time to report issues,

BlackYps

Balance

• (#6435) Add ability for Soul Ripper weapons to fire at gunships. Gunships can fire at other gunships, so the Soul Ripper should be able to do this too.

• (#6705) Adjust cost of Aeon ACU's first range upgrade so that first range + speed matches the cost of other factions' gun upgrades. Equalize the individual costs of speed and range to make it so one upgrade isn't easier to rush than the other on small maps.

  Aeon ACU (UAL0001):

  • First range upgrade:
    • Mass cost: 300 -> 400
    • Energy cost: 6000 -> 12000 (20 -> 30 energy per mass)
    • Buildtime: 350 -> 400
  • Fire rate upgrade:
    • Mass cost: 500 -> 400
    • Energy cost: 15000 -> 12000
    • Buildtime: 500 -> 400

• (#6843) Reduce the damage of the Cybran T1 mobile anti-air since its projectiles can now retarget, as it no longer needs so much damage to match the AA of other factions.

  Sky Slammer: T1 Mobile Anti-Air Gun (URL0104):

  • Nanodart Launcher (Anti Air)
    • Damage: 16 -> 14 (DPS 32 -> 28)

• (#6870) FAF significantly increased the uniform scales of both the Bulwark and the Mermaid. Overall, these changes were a bit excessive, with both (relatively cheap) units reaching approximately 2/3 to 3/4 the size of their faction's destroyer. Furthermore, FAF reworked the Bulwark to be cheaper but less effective, so from a gameplay perspective, there is no reason for it to be this large anymore. To prevent the already powerful Mermaid from becoming too strong, and to encourage more counterplay, its high HP/mass ratio has been reduced.

  Bulwark: T2 Shield Boat (XES0205):

  • Display
    • UniformScale: 0.135 --> 0.11
  • SizeX: 1.575 --> 1.4
  • SizeY: 1.35 --> 1.3
  • SizeZ: 4.125 --> 3.5

  CI:18 Mermaid: T2 Counter-Intelligence Boat (XRS0205):

  • Defense
    • Health: 1500 --> 1000
  • Display
    • UniformScale: 0.12 --> 0.10
  • SizeX: 1.25 --> 1.1
  • SizeY: 1.5 --> 1.3
  • SizeZ: 3.6 --> 3.2

• (#6877) The Aeon T2 shield can now be upgraded to T3. It has the same 20 buildpower as UEF and Seraphim T2 shields.

• (#6880) Increase the reload time of the Seraphim T1 submarine's anti-torpedo defense so that it is less dominant against other T1 subs. This slows down their snowballing and allows for a transition into T2 counters (T2 subs, Coopers, Seraphim and Aeon destroyers).

  Sou-istle: Seraphim T1 Submarine (XSS0203):

  • Anti-Torpedo Defense reload time: 5 sec -> 13 sec

• (#6894) Nerf the Cybran ACU's Nano-Repair System, as it has proven to be an oppressive tool that causes Cybran ACUs to overperform during the Tech 2 stage.

  Cybran ACU (URL0001):

  • Nano-Repair System
    • Additional Regen Rate: 60 HP/s --> 50 HP/s

• (#6895) Further increase the MuzzleSalvoSize of the Cybran ACU's Nanite Torpedo upgrade to 4, as it still had difficulties penetrating torpedo defenses after (#6476) increased it to 3. Its DPS remains unchanged.

  Cybran ACU (URL0001):

  • Nanite Torpedo Launcher
    • Damage (DPS): 60 (225) --> 45 (225)
    • MuzzleSalvoSize: 3 --> 4

• (#6887) Blocking the ACU with quickly started but unfinished 1x1 structures which decay only very slowly such as T1 point defense, is often considered unfair as the ACU's pathfinding can get ruined to a point where the ACU is completely stuck and effectively unable to move, because of the unbuilt structures. While the mechanic of blocking an opponents movement by quickly starting a building in front of them is a valid strategy, most buildings in the game such as factories or other structures larger than 1x1 leave gaps inbetween them even if built right next to each other, allowing some way to escape while still slowing down movement as the ACU walked around them. As 1x1 structures can completely block movement when built next to each other, their very slow decay makes them far more oppressive when used for such a strategy. To allow some more counterplay, these structures will now decay more quickly when below 10% completion. This means that quickly spamming many barely started T1 PD's for example will now also have them disappear more quickly, making it more difficult to fully trap the enemy, giving them a better chance to escape while still retaining the advantage of slowing the enemy down.

  • When below 10% completion structures with a 1x1 footprint now have the decay rate of walls
  • Structures affected are:
    • T1 point defense
    • T1 static anti air
    • T1 torpedo launchers

Bug fixes

• (#6796) Fix error when lobby rejects a data message with no sender name.

• (#6824) Fix factory upgrades disappearing upon completion.

• (#6830) Fix unit/projectile/weapon debug component logging and drawing causing desyncs.

• (#6835) Revert the change that made factories immediately start building after an upgrade or after cancelling a unit, since it seems to be causing occassional desyncs.

• (#6844) Fix error when eye of rhianne finishes building during an energy stall.

• (#6845) Fix various issues with the new setup for announcements.

  In campaign-like scenario's the interactions with the objectives should now be good again.

• (#6868) Correct ACU threat values after they were accidentally miscalcuated in a previous PR. SurfaceThreatLevel from an average of 765 to 45.

• (#6871) Increase the StrategicIconSize of the Seraphim ACU's OC projectile to match that of the other ACUs.

• (#6879) Fix Cybran engis not turning wheels back to land mode after exiting water.

• (#6884) Fix being unable to build adjacent to the north or south side of an air factory that is building a continental.

• (#6885) Check whether LazyVar.OnDirty exists in case it was destroyed earlier.

• (#6891) Remove a redundant category from the unupgraded Cybran T2 Engineering Station (XRB0104).

• (#6898) Fix a desync-causing error when a player is defeated the same tick a recall vote is started.

Graphics

• (#6763) Introduce a new slider to adjust the rendering distance of shadows

  Strogo made the observation that the extensive (default) rendering distance of shadows can have a significant impact on the framerate. We increased the default rendering distance of shadows in FAForever two years ago. At the time we did not notice this impact. With these changes we turn it into a slider in the graphics options. The default value (260) matches the value used by Steam version of the game.

• (#6851) Push the rendering distance of tree (groups) to better match the values in Steam

  After thorough testing we think it is safe to increase the rendering distance without running the risk to destroying the framerate of the average user.

• (#6858) The water now changes less when tilting the camera on maps using advanced water absorption. The effect was too big before, now it looks more reasonable.

  This change also makes the water appear slightly brighter when viewed from the top. Only the handful of maps using advanced water absorption are affected, and their authors can compensate this by increasing the abyss height. The vast majority of maps are unaffected.

• (#6877) With its new upgrade ability, the Aeon T2 shield has an adjusted model and a new upgrade animation.

AI

• (#6877) Add the now upgradeable Aeon T2 shield to the existing T2 shield upgrade AI behaviors (upgrade templates, platoon templates, builder group).

Performance

• (#6826) Reuse unit categorization table instead of allocating a new one when issuing uncached formation orders.

• (#6853) Reduce conditional table accesses of projectiles when colliding or losing targets

• (#6854) Upvalue and localize frequently used functions and tables in formations

• (#6860) Reduce weapon damage table computations when applying buffs by storing constant data.

• (#6862) Reduce table accesses of projectiles especially on impact.

• (#6864) Remove unused lastAccel field from default projectile weapon salvo data.

• (#6866) Reuse tables when creating beam weapons instead of allocating new ones.

Other changes

• (#6797) Remove the teleport reticle object from the command mode data.

• (#6798) Annotate WorldView control and ping sync data.

• (#6799) Annotate exit callbacks.

• (#6823) Proper type annotation for GetCommandMode.

• (#6828) Update the description of the Aeon ACU's vision upgrade.

• (#6832) Fix most annotation warnings in the new profiler code.

• (#6837) Improve annotations related to Buffs.

• (#6873) Improve singleplayer command line launch by adding a /noAi command line option and adding neutral/enemy civilian armies when launching from the command line.

Contributors

With thanks to the following people who contributed through coding:

• 4z0t
• Basilisk
• BlackYps
• Jip
• Nomander
• Ostrovaya
• RabidPope
• Relent0r

With thanks to the following individuals who contributed through model, texture, and effect changes:

• Saver
• Sting

And, last but certainly not least - with thanks to those that took part in constructive discussions:

• Archsimkat
• JaggedAppliance
• Nomander
• Rhaelya
• Sainse
• Strydxr
• Tagada

Game version 3824

Fixes one particular game balance altering issue. My apologies that this happened.

With gratitude to all those who took the time to report issues,

Jip

Bug fixes

• (#6824) Fix factory upgrades disappearing upon completion.

Contributors

With thanks to the following people who contributed through coding:

• Nomander

Game version 3823

Fixes various reported issues. In particular, campaign/coop should work again!

With gratitude to all those who took the time to report issues,

Jip

Features

• (#6784) Units that are under construction now disperse veterancy when the factory is destroyed.

  A similar behavior applies to the cargo of a transport. The unit that destroyed the transport receives the veterancy value of the cargo of the transport. This behavior is now also applied to units that are under construction by a factory. The unit that destroyed the factory receives the veterancy value of the unit under construction.

• (#6784) Units built in external factories now create a wreck when they are above 50% completion.

  An example of a unit with an external factory is the Fatboy. With these changes the behavior of external factories match those of regular factories.

Bug fixes

• (#6784) Implement proper transfer of unbuilt units in factories.

  Previously, unbuilt units inside factories would be rebuilt on the ground after a transfer, and this would only happen after an army is defeated. It was awkward to finish rebuilding the unit and it could block the factory.
  Now, unbuilt units are rebuilt inside the new factory like with any other factory build, and this happens with all ownership transfers.

• (#6807) Fix an error when units with 0 fire rate are shared.

  This applies for example to the Seraphim Sniper Bot (XSL0305).

• (#6809) Fix the disconnection delay option using the title/description texts of the disconnect ACU share option.

• (#6810) Fix fullshare not working when a player disconnects in matchmaker games

• (#6813) Fix an issue in co-op where the cinematic mode would not exit

• (#6814) Fix air units and structures being attached to transports through scripts causing an error.

• (#6814) Fix transports becoming immobile or moving backwards.

  The cargo of transports slow down the transport. There was no limitation to this slowdown. As a result, the experimental transport of the Nomads faction would have the unusual behavior of moving backwards. Now, all transports will at a minimum have 30% of their original speed,

• (#6816) Fix WrapText not picking up single trailing characters after newlines.

• (#6819) Fix units not pausing after using the assist-to-upgrade feature

  With these changes we revert it to the old duration of waiting 5 ticks before pausing. We can look into it properly with the next major release.

Other changes

• (#6801) Small hotfix for Traditional Chinese translations.

  Fix some incorrect localizations.

• (#6813) Rework announcements from the ground up

  With this rework they become much more easier to maintain. It's now also much easier to make more specific announcements with more rich content such as images.

Contributors

With thanks to the following people who contributed through coding:

• @Yuchenjimmy
• @lL1l1
• @Garanas (Jip)

Game version 3822

We once again have a game patch that is loaded with exciting improvements thanks to our active developers. The most notable feature of this patch is the introduction of the ability for players and observers to paint directly on the map. The brush strokes are shared with allied players. Observers can view all brush strokes, and only share with other observers. All brush strokes made by players are part of the replay.
A brush stroke is limited in length, but here's no limit on the number of brush strokes. This is a technical limitation to handle the network traffic better. Players can create complicated shapes by creating multiple brush strokes.
With thanks to 4z0t for both the assembly implementation to be able to draw lines and the concurrent Lua implementation. Without his time and effort it would not be possible, and it wouldn't be as refined as it is now.

Limitations:

• You can not make a painting when you hold shift.
• You can not make a painting when you have a unit selection.

Controls:

• You can paint by holding the right mouse button.
• You can remove strokes by holding alt and the right mouse button.
• You can mute players by holding ctrl, alt and the right mouse button.

Game options:

• You can enable or disable the feature as a whole. It is enabled by default.
• You can tweak the duration of a brush stroke. The shorter the duration, the quicker it disappears on its own.

With kind regards,

BlackYps

Balance

• (#6414) Adjust the Cooper's stats to compensate for previous changes to its hitbox, which allowed torpedoes to hit it more reliably. This also serves as an additional buff to the Cooper, as it was one of the primary reasons UEF navy underperformed. UEF naval gameplay now relies less on building as few Coopers as you can get away with, and overbuilding them is less punishing. The Cooper is made slightly larger to prevent it from becoming too effective against Exodus in the early Tech 2 naval stage. Its SonarRadius was smaller than its WaterVisionRadius, rendering this stat pointless, the sonar radius is increased so the Cooper can now spot other naval units more effectively.

  Cooper: T2 Torpedo Boat (XES0102):

  • Angler Torpedo

    • RateOfFire (DPS): 10/33 (97) --> 10/32 (100)

  • Economy

    • BuildCostEnergy: 6480 --> 6000
    • BuildCostMass: 810 --> 750
    • BuildTime: 3240 --> 3000

  • Intel

    • SonarRadius: 36 --> 72

  • SizeX: 0.75 --> 0.8

  • SizeY: 0.925 --> 1.0

  • SizeZ: 2.0 --> 2.2

  • UniformScale: 0.065 --> 0.07

  • LifeBarOffset: 0.7 --> 0.8

  • LifeBarSize: 0.5 --> 0.7

  • SelectionSizeX: 0.36 --> 0.4

  • SelectionSizeZ: 1.3 --> 1.4

• (#6481, #6482) Rebalance cost, damage, reload, and accuracy stats of T3 static artillery to make them more equal against heavily shielded targets.

  Costs are now spread evenly across 70-79k mass to fit the varied DPS amounts of different artilleries. Overall they're more expensive, aside from Cybran.
  Accuracy and DPS are adjusted so that artilleries have similar performance for their new costs against heavily shielded late-game targets.
  Damage is adjusted to even out performance against different T3 shields and give UEF some diversity from Seraphim.

  Aeon Emissary (UAB2302):

  • Mass cost: 73200 -> 79000 (+7.9%)
  • Energy cost: 1372500 -> 1481000 (+7.9%)
  • Build time: 120000 -> 129500 (+7.9%)
  • Firing Randomness: 0.35
  • DPS with 4 T3 pgens: 1000

  UEF Duke (UEB2302):

  • Mass cost: 72000 -> 76000 (+5.6%)
  • Energy cost: 1350000 -> 1424000 (+5.5%)
  • Build time: 115000 -> 121400 (+5.6%)
  • Firing Randomness: 0.525 -> 0.467
  • DPS with 4 T3 pgens: 917 -> 980 (+6.9%)
    • Damage: 5500 -> 7840
    • Base Reload: 10s -> 13.3s

  Seraphim Hovatham (XSB2302):

  • Mass cost: 70800 -> 73000 (+3.1%)
  • Energy cost: 1327500 -> 1369000 (+3.1%)
  • Build time: 110000 -> 113400 (+3.1%)
  • Firing Randomness: 0.675 -> 0.560
  • DPS with 4 T3 pgens: 833 -> 935 (+12.3%)
    • Damage: 5000 -> 5800
    • Base Reload: 10s -> 10.4s

  Cybran Disruptor (URB2302):

  • Mass cost: 69600 -> 70000 (+0.6%)
  • Energy cost: 1305000 -> 1313000 (+0.6%)
  • Build time: 105000 -> 105600 (+0.6%)
  • Firing Randomness: 0.75 -> 0.646
  • DPS with 4 T3 pgens: 804 -> 844 (+5.0%)
    • Damage: 3700 -> 3800
    • Base Reload: 7.7s -> 7.5s
    • The DPS isn't increased as much as other artillery due to the large accuracy buff and the large splash.

• (#6522, #6785) In #5725 the number of child projectiles for the Solace was accidentally increased from 2 to 3 resulting in massively increased total damage. This change is reversed only partially as the Solace was underused with the lower damage. In addition, the damage is now properly split from the main projectile to the child projectile, which comes into play when the main projectile falls on top of an enemy.

  Solace: T3 Torpedo Bomber (XAA0306):

  • Damage per volley: 6000 -> 5000
    • Number of child projectiles per torpedo: 3 -> 2
    • Main projectile damage: 400 -> 1000
    • Child projectile damage: 400 -> 500

• (#6623) While the introduction of variable teleport speeds and costs was an overall positive change for the balance of the game, shorter-ranged jumps have become too powerful as a result. The previous minimum teleport time was set at 15 seconds, which was quite short and did not allow much leeway for counterplay. The changes aims to remedy this issue without nerfing the mechanic excessively. The minimum teleport time and minimum energy usage are both increased, alongside the introduction of a new formula for the distance-based variable teleport time and energy usage calculations.

  All ACUs, as well as Aeon and Seraphim SACUs

  • Personal Teleporter
    • TeleportDelay: 15 --> 20
    • TeleportFlatEnergyCost: 75000 --> 100000
  • Introduce a new formula for teleport time and energy usage.

• (#6665, #6743) Air staging now detaches aircraft when killed or ctrl-k'd (to work around an engine bug where aircraft get stuck inside air staging).

• (#6690) The UEF T2 navy stage has been rather weak with their destroyer often losing to other destroyers. To address this, the DPS, speed, and turn rate are increased at the cost of HP. The speed and turn rate should allow the destroyer to take better fights, and the increased damage with reduced HP should encourage more proactive usage while also making shield boats more synergistic.

  UEF Destroyer "Valiant" (UES0201):

  • Max speed/acceleration/braking: 5.0 -> 5.5
  • Turn rate: 50 -> 55
  • Gauss cannon damage (DPS): 275 (275) -> 305 (305)
  • HP: 8000 -> 7200

• (#6728) Improve Othuum's ranged capabilities and pathfinding so that it can better compete with higher range units, particularly Harbingers. Some DPS is shifted from the short ranged weapons to the long range weapon. The muzzle velocity is slightly reduced to encourage occasional dodging. To improve pathfinding the Othuums hitbox is made shorter, this reduces how often Othuums in larger formations bump into the rear of the Othuum in front of them.

  Othuum: T3 Siege Tank (XSL0303):

  • Thau Cannon:
    • Reload time: 4.0 -> 3.4 seconds (DPS 156 -> 184)
    • Muzzle velocity: 40 -> 36
  • Aire-au Bolters (x2):
    • Damage: 64 -> 57 (DPS 256 -> 228)
  • Collision Size Z: 2.3 -> 2.0
  • Collision offset Z: 0 -> 0.2

• (#6738) Various adjustments to TMLs and TMDs to improve their functionality and make it less likely that TML will fly over TMD without being shot down.

  Tactical Missile Launchers (TMLs)

  • The hitboxes of all tactical missiles are increased slightly, to prevent TMDs from missing them by overshooting.
  • Seraphim and UEF TMLs fly lower.
  • The max speed of the Seraphim TML is reduced because it was too fast compared to other TMLs; for example, it was able to reach its target over 10s faster at longer ranges. Additionally, the terminal speed of the missile as it nears its target is also reduced, so that it serves as a more legitimate balancing factor.
  • Nerf the Seraphim ACU TML's oppressive close range combat potential by reducing its speed.

  Tactical Missile Defenses (TMDs)

  • Cybran and UEF TMDs no longer run out of beamlength/lifetime, which could previously cause their projectiles to expire before reaching their target. This change should also ensure compatibility with mods that introduce missiles flying at very high altitudes.
  • Unify the MuzzleVelocity stats of all UEF TMDs.
  • Remove unnecessary firing tolerance stats, which theoretically could have caused TMDs to miss.

• (#6744) Cybran navy's missile deflector TMD has been underperforming. The buff enables it to defend against missile cruisers of other factions. Since deflectors ignore missile HP, they are given less fire rate and range than the gun TMD of UEF and Seraphim.

  Cybran cruiser (URS0202) and carrier (URS0303) Missile Deflectors:

  • Reload time: 4/2.5 seconds -> 1.9 seconds
  • Range: 20/26 -> 44
  • Max target height: 8/10 -> infinite

• (#6745) Reduce the Aeon ACU sensor upgrade's omni radius to make fire beetles a more viable option against Aeon, and to allow more counterplay for cloaked units in general.

  Aeon ACU (UAL0001) Sensor System:

  • Omni radius: 80 -> 36

• (#6749) Fix various gunships and the Dragon Fly being unable to hit units that are directly beneath them. This bug was particularly significant for the Dragon Fly (Cybran Tech 2 Transport), which caused its EMP weapon to underperform considerably.

  Previously affected units:

  Jester: T1 Light Gunship (XRA0105)
  Stinger: T2 Gunship (UEA0203)
  Specter: T2 Gunship (UAA0203)
  Restorer: T3 AA Gunship (XAA0305)
  Soul Ripper: Experimental Gunship (URA...
  

Game version 3821

This release ends the april fools event that introduced the donut texture on Czars and ACU tombstones.

With kind regards,

BlackYps

Game version 3820

This hotfix fixes a free unit exploit and savegames failing to save.
There are also some technical changes to UI and graphics.

With kind regards,

BlackYps

Features

• (#6706, #6708) Make additional information available when an ACU dies.

Bug fixes

• (#6697) Fix saving games failing due to file path length limitations.

• (#6701) Fix an exploit where transferring external factories with unbuilt units would spawn built units instead.

• (#6702) Fix being able to store unbuilt units inside carriers and placing unbuilt units on the ground with the fatboy.

Graphics

• (#6706) Improve the flavor of the CZAR's visuals.

Contributors

With thanks to the following people who contributed through coding:

• @lL1l1 (Nomander)

With thanks to the following individuals who contributed through model, texture, and effect changes:

• @Deribus

Game version 3819

This hotfix removes the newly added textures that were causing problems when rolling out the new patch.

With kind regards,

BlackYps