New Mechanics, Re-balance and Ranked Season 16
Updates 124666 and 124667
Greetings Commanders,
Since the release of Co-op Galactic War our primary focus has been on fixing bugs and improving the overall experience. With much of that work behind us, we can finally treat you to a new ranked season and some major balance changes.
We very much hope you enjoy this update and dip your toes back into 1v1 Ranked. Join the PA Discord and let us know what you're enjoying most about this and our recent updates! We'd love to chat!
~ The Community Commanders
Ranked Season 16
This ranked season will run from July to October.
Want to escape Bronze and brag to all your friends how much better of a commander you are? Check out the official guide or get free coaching in the official Discord.
2 New Maps
Outreach by MournfulEagle
Skaro by PhyrricVictory
16 Returning Maps from Previous Seasons
Alloy
Aquilaris
Basilica
Bayrange
Classy barren
Dire strait
Faren
Friction
Lugaan
Molten Fortress
Mukden
Phang Shores
Plenty
Scavanger's recluse
Twin Peaks
Superbowl
Experimental Reworks
Helios — the Helios Orbital Titan now crashes into the ground, dealing damage in a medium area around the crash site.
Icarus — now fires lightning bolts that chain between air targets.
Stinger — now slows down significantly while firing, but moves faster overall and fires high-damage short range missiles.
Dox — can now shoot while transported inside Pelicans.
Bugfixes
Continual shooting at wreckage edge case fixed.
"merged" and "flooded" CSG parameters in the system editor now work correctly.
Fixed an Eradication mode bug where the game won't end after killing all enemies.
The Zeus titan's crash weapon will now trigger at the crash site instead of at the point where the Zeus titan died.
Performance optimisation: the pathfinder algorithm will fail more gracefully when the sim speed is overburdened (fewer units pathing under terrain, teleporting, etc.).
Fixed an issue where you could connect to a game before it was ready to receive connections, resulting in the player getting stuck connecting.
GW Co-Op Fixes
Fixed an issue where surrendering would clear out your data, causing the continue war flow to drop players.
Deleting tech no longer clears your list of subcommanders until a reload of the save is done.
Quality of Life Improvements
Direct Connect button added to help users who struggle to reconnect to a lobby if they crash or briefly lose internet connection. If you are struggling with these issues, ask for help on the Discord!
Mod Support
The death_weapon on flying units gained an additional impact_ammo_spec which triggers in addition to air_ammo_spec when the wreckage hits the ground after dying midair.
Detailed Balance Changes
Commander
Anti-Air Ammo
splash_radius increased from 0.75 to 1.5
initial_velocity increased from 125 to 150
max_velocity increased from 125 to 150
lifetime increased from 2 to 2.5
The commander's AA is meant to be a formidable weapon, but in reality it's relatively weak against T1 air due to its low RoF and significant overkill. This buff should make commanders slightly better at surviving air snipes when the incoming air is clustered too tightly.
Air
Bumblebee
splash_damage decreased from 75 to 50
splash_radius increased from 10 to 12
Trades raw splash damage for a wider blast. Bumblebees keep their area denial against clumped bots while doing less damage to more durable tanks. We will be keeping extra-careful track of this change to make sure it doesn't invalidate T1 air use.
Icarus
build_metal_cost increased from 125 to 150
max_health increased from 40 to 50
aggressive_distance increased from 60 to 90
damage decreased from 25 to 20
ammo_chain_jumps added and set to 3
ammo_chain_range added and set to 30
ammo_capacity decreased from 1500 to 900
ammo_demand increased from 100 to 300
ammo_per_shot increased from 300 to 900
max_range increased from 70 to 105
yaw_rate increased from 180 to 720
target_layers changed to Air only (target_priorities removed)
sim_impact_effect added
Description updated
Icarus have had the unique combination of being cheap and reliable enough to completely shut down early game land-only aggression, especially in 1v1s. In combination with the cheap energy and fab snipe potential they gave, no-air openings are not viable. This rework completely changes the role and playstyle of Icarus: they now fire a medium range anti-air lightning that will jump to up to 3 extra targets. Swarms of Icarus will be particularly effective at zoning-out an airspace, but their low health and move speed make them poor escorts.
Pelican
max_health decreased from 150 to 125
transporter/fire_while_loaded added, enabled for Bot & Basic & Amphibious
transporter/load_range added and set to 20
Dummy targeting weapon added (max_range 75, targets land/sea/underwater)
targeting_move_speed_multiplier / firing_move_speed_multiplier set to 0.75
Pelicans have two major issues: they are extremely durable for their cost, and are very effective at "hot drops" — deploying Infernos, Boombots or Vanguards within AA range. To address that, Pelicans now have less HP and will now lose 25% of their speed when near enemy ground units. This change aims to make them more vulnerable on approach while retaining the ability to move fabs and troops to areas not guarded by AA. As a minor compensation buff, Dox loaded in Pelicans can now shoot while airborne, allowing for some of the gunship functionality of Icarus to be retained, at a higher cost.
Air Fabber
move_speed decreased from 35 to 30
acceleration decreased from 35 to 30
break decreased from 35 to 30
Air fabricators are extremely quick to snatch uncontested metal in the mid and late game. This minor nerf aims to increase the time it takes for them to pay for themselves and increase their window of vulnerability.
Wyrm
damage decreased from 5000 to 2500
splash_damage decreased from 5000 to 2500
ammo_per_shot decreased from 1500 to 750
rate_of_fire increased from 0.4 to 1
maintain_priority_target added and set to false
mesh_bounds updated from \[14, 7.5, 2.6] to \[12, 20, 8]
The Wyrm has always been a bit of a one-trick pony, only ever being used for commander/anti-nuke snipes. This change effectively doubles its rate of fire while halving its damage, making Wyrms waste a lot less of their DPS in overkill and turning them into devastating anti-base bombers.
Zeus
death_weapon changed from ground_ammo_spec to impact_ammo_spec
Death weapon damage_volume/delay removed
Death weapon ignore_shields added and set to true
Death weapon impact_decals added (scorch)
Minor quality of life fix, the Zeus titan's crash explosion will now correctly trigger at the crash site.
Land
Boom
max_health increased from 10 to 20
Over the years the repeated buffs to Strykers and Sparks have left the Boom as a niche snipe unit that rarely sees much use against armies. This change aims to return the boombot back to a more conventional anti-vehicle role.
Spark
splash_damage increased from 50 to 60
full_damage_splash_radius increased from 2 to 5
ammo_demand decreased from 200 to 100
ammo_capacity decreased from 400 to 200
ammo_per_shot decreased from 400 to 200
Minor AoE buff to strengthen Sparks against Dox and Strykers in the mid-late game. Significant decrease to the energy draw should make them less of a burden on the economy in the early-mid game.
Stinger
build_metal_cost decreased from 120 to 110
damage increased from 10 to 30
rate_of_fire decreased from 1.5 to 0.5
max_range decreased from 90 to 75
initial_velocity decreased from 200 to 120
max_velocity decreased from 200 to 120
move_speed increased from 16 to 18
acceleration increased from 120 to 180
break increased from 120 to 180
firing_move_speed_multiplier added and set to 0.45
firing_disable_pushing added and set to true
The Stinger now fires a slow, high damage volley, significantly improving its early game performance against airborne fab snipes. The shorter range and slower missiles are offset by a cheaper cost and better mobility. While firing, the Stinger drops to roughly half move speed and can no longer be pushed, meaning it can no longer reliably dodge bombers forever.
Stryker
move_speed decreased from 15 to 14
acceleration decreased from 150 to 140
break decreased from 150 to 140
In the most recent patches Strykers have been overperforming, at times completely taking over the role of Dox. These minor nerfs aim to limit their offensive potential while keeping them a strong anti-raid option.
Spinner
splash_radius increased from 0.75 to 1.5
Similar to other AA changes, the Spinner will now be slightly more effective against tightly clumped air.
Bluehawk
rate_of_fire increased from 0.3 to 0.35
Minor buff to increase the overall strength of Bluehawks. We will monitor it closely.
Leveler
damage decreased from 300 (600) to 250 (500)
max_health decreased from 1500 to 1300
Levelers have had unreasonably high stats for how long their range is, making them difficult to counter cost effectively. We want to keep their identity as high damage heavy tanks but also to increase their reliance on support units for health padding and destroying structures.
Sheller
splash_damage decreased from 400 to 300
Minor nerf to the ultra-late game use of Shellers.
Vanguard
yaw_rate decreased from 360 to 120
Narrow nerf to decrease the effectiveness of Vanguard drops. Vanguards will now struggle more to retarget units such as boombots up-close.
Nyx
build_metal_cost decreased from 700 to 500
Naval
Typhoon
Squall (Carrier Drone) passive_health_regen decreased from -3 to -5
The lifetime of each drone is decreased from 13.3s to 8s. The Typhoon's sustained DPS will go down, while retaining high burst damage.
Narwhal
Surface cannon max_range decreased from 150 to 140
Minor nerf to make Narwhals more vulnerable to Piranhas and Drifters.
Structures
Lob
max_range increased from 240 to 340
max_firing_velocity increased from 150 to 185
firing_standard_deviation decreased from 3.5 to 2.5
We want to give Lobs a bit more personality beyond being a faster Dox factory. With the extra range and tighter accuracy they can now be used as a genuine siege and flanking tool.
Galata Turret
splash_radius increased from 0.75 to 1.5
Similar to other AA changes, the Galata will now be slightly more effective against tightly clumped air.
Ragnarok
ammo_capacity increased from 56 to 176
ammo_per_shot increased from 56 to 176
Increased the charge-up time roughly threefold (from 60s to 180s) to allow other players to try and snipe or escape the Ragnarok.
Orbital
Orbital Launcher
build_metal_cost increased from 600 to 900
Building an early Orbital Launcher for orbital scouts is now slightly more expensive.
AKRYD
max_health decreased from 1000 to 600
Long overdue HP nerf to bring AKRYD more in line with other orbital units.
Helios
wreckage_health_frac increased from 0.0 to 1.0
physics/radius increased from 10 to 15
physics/air_friction added and set to 0.25
wreckage/collision added and set to \["none"]
wreckage/remove_ground_cost_stamp added and set to true
has_death_effects added and set to true
model/animtree changed to titan_orbital_anim_tree.json (death/dead animations added)
events/died audio_cue and effect_spec cleared (replaced by death weapon)
death_weapon added (impact_ammo_spec)
\ Death weapon:
damage / splash_damage: 5000
splash_radius: 75
full_damage_splash_radius: 30
burn_damage: 200
burn_radius: 75
ignore_shields: true
impact_decals added (scorch)
sim_fire_effect added (ground impact explosion)
Does not damage allies; deals no damage to air or orbital units
Experimental change: the Helios titan will now crash into the ground on death, dealing significant damage to anything it hits. This is a drastic change that significantly buffs the performance of Helios as a snipe / anti-ground tool, we will closely monitor its impact on orbital game balance.