Since receiving intermittent nudges from a few people, I now have a Patreon page. The primary goal is to gain more time to develop Zero-K, however I don't want support to simply go towards "business as usual". If people support me then I should spent at least some of my extra time on tasks that are important but not necessarily the most exciting. To this end, I have decided to put more of a focus on testing and reviewing contributions from the community. A contributor who receives faster and better feedback is more likely to fall deeper into development, strengthening the project. If you like and can support this goal, or just want to support me doing Zero-K development, then I'd appreciate it.

Here is the page: https://www.patreon.com/googlefrog

Some players like parallel build queues, some want more ways to optimise production, and some just think a base with lots of factories looks cool. All these desires are satisfied in this update with the introduction of construction plates - efficient mini-factories that must be placed near a main factory to function. They can be used in the campaign and teamgames to take advantage of allied tech, while in 1v1 they should make it easier for factories access their heavy units.

The rest of the update focuses on the balance of three area; Kodachi, Amph, and dense team games. Kodachi has received nerfs to rein in the range bestowed by the fire prediction AI from v1.8.5.0. Archer takes over the role of sea riot from Scallop, with Archer gaining a sonic blaster and Scallop losing torpedo power. Funnelweb, Lance, Gauss and Big Bertha have various nerfs to open up the options in dense team games.

In other news, there is a 1v1 tournament this weekend. Click here for details and post to sign up: https://zero-k.info/Forum/Thread/31918

Balance

Construction Plates are parallel build queues that offer an alternate method of increasing production. Hover a factory blueprint within 420 elmos of a factory of the same type to place a construction plate.

• Cost 150
• Health 1000 (1500 for Ship)
• Build Power 10

Scorcher regains some of its damage.

• DPS increased by 5.6%

Bolas has slightly more range to help it against Kodachi.

• Range 225 -> 230

Kodachi has a nerf to take fire prediction into account.

• Cost 170 -> 180
• Range 230 -> 215
• Reload Time 0.466s -> 0.5s
• Moved 13% of on-hit damage to groundburn damage.
• Projectile Velocity increased by 117% (reduces prediction overshoot).

Welder is more vulnerable to raids.

• Health 2000 -> 1800

Scallop torpedoes are relegated to sidearm status.

• Range 260 -> 270 (both weapons)
• Can fire torpedoes from underwater.
• Torpedo DPS reduced by 60%
• Torpedo AoE reduced by 62%

Archer takes on the role of sea riot.

• Replaced Water Cannon with Sonic Blaster.
• Can fire into water, must float to fire.
• Reduced Speed and increased DPS.

Lance is easier to catch.

• Speed 55.5 -> 52.5
• Turn Rate reduced by 9.4%
• Range 1020 -> 1000

Funnelweb takes on a tankyness more appropriate for a constructor.

• Cost 3000 -> 3500
• Health 6500 -> 4500

Gauss is worse at tying up artillery.

• Bunker Regen 20hp/s -> 10hp/s

Big Bertha is less generically powerful in dense team games.

• Cost 5000 -> 6000
• Reload 7s -> 8s
• AoE reduced by 8.3%
• Projectile speed reduced by 4.5%

Fixes

• Scouted Caretakers and Strider Hubs no longer radar wobble.
• Fixed metal reserve erroneously disabling repair.
• Fix commander speed when walking in formation.
• Various fixes to shared unit control mode.
• Disabled shift append to groups by default.
• Change disambiguation of space+click context menu.
• Likho is better at avoiding obstructions when aiming.
• Fix Grizzly float-to-fire AI in some edge-of-range cases.
• Fixed manual queuing with Auto Reclaim/Heal/Assist widget.
• Fixed an issue with auto-retreat for planes.
• Fixed repeated screen resolution changes causing some UI widgets to be lost under the minimap.
• Fixed zero volume music logic.
• Fixed rare spectator panels crash.

There will be a 1v1 tournament at 10:00 UTC on Saturday August 29th - Click on the link to see the tournament thread and sign up!
http://zero-k.info/Forum/Thread/31918

After a bit of a break, we have returned with an update based on much of the feedback from the past month. it has been especially nice to see new contributions on the development side from within the community.

In terms of balance, the Lobster nerf is by far the largest. Now that the launching mechanic is polished and usable it is time to balance the unit around its attributes rather than difficulty of use. The next largest changes are some tweaks to vehicle raiders to account for Bolas and the Kodachi changes.

Two notable infrastructure changes are the addition of personal map bans for the matchmaker and an experimental split of the teams host into clan-balance and non-clan-balance. The campaign also has a few more codex entries and there are numerous fixes to the consistency of the interface.

Balance

Repair costs less time and energy.

• 3/4 unit cost -> 2/3 unit cost.

Scorcher regains some of its ability to chew through health at close range.

• Increased DPS by 7.5%.

Kodachi is given the Locust treatment to make it less snowbally.

• Autoheal 10hp/s -> 5hp/s.
• Weapon Velocity 220 -> 240.
• Reduced upfront DPS by 10.7 to partially counteract fire fixes (see below).

Bolas instantly slows the opponent in fewer matchups.

• Slow damage 3x normal damage -> 2x normal damage.

Duck loses most of the torpedo range it gained in a recent experimental buff.

• Health 340 -> 360.
• Torpedo Range 210 -> 160.

Scallop has a bit less range now that it need not worry about Ducks

• Range 270 -> 260 (both weapons).

Lobster is due for some basic attribute nerfs now that the launch mechanic has been perfected. These numbers are similar to its initial implementation, prior to the slew of usability improvements.

• Cost 230 -> 340.
• Health 1040 -> 960.
• Range 680 -> 620.
• Reload 9s -> 12s.

Disco Rave Party is no longer countered by Funnelweb.

• Blue Shocker damage 12k -> 30k.

Cloaking has fewer bugs and inconsistencies, and area-cloaking is now worse than personal cloaking.

• Being hit by pure slow/disarm/capture weaponry now causes units to decloak (just like being hit by regular or EMP damage).
• Personal cloak is disabled for 3s after taking damage or performing an action.
• Personal cloak disabled by enemy proximity lingers for 1.5s.
• Area cloak is disabled for 5s after taking damage or performing an action.
• Area cloak disabled by enemy proximity lingers for 2.5s.

Previously cloak was disabled for 3.5s by most, but not all, actions. Proximity decloak linger has been broken for a while, causing units to recloak immediately upon an enemy leaving range. Units with personal cloak use the improved numbers even when under an area cloaker.

Other mechanical changes and fixes.

• Disarmed transports can no longer pick up units.
• Transports drop their cargo when they start crashing.
• Zenith stops functioning when its beam is blocked, such as by aircraft or water.
• Fixed Dante, Kodachi and Disco Rave Party being unable to set units on fire.

Lobby and Campaign

• Added Codex entries for the quadrants of the galaxy, as well as few for particular planets.
• Added the ability personally ban matchmaker maps (up to six for 1v1, fewer for teams). There is a link via the 'Map Selection' button in the Matchmaking menu.
• Added map size to the tooltip for map selection mult-polls.
• Added network connection settings under Settings -> Game that may be experimented with to fix potential Coop Campaign hosting issues.
• Split the big teams autohost into two hosts. One attempts to put players in same clan or party on the same team. The other ignores clans and parties.
• Increased the maximum Queen Health Multiplier option from 30 to 1000.
• Removed the non-functional play as chickens modoption.

Interface

• Added filter and selection hotkeys for loaded and empty air transports.
• Added a hotkey to select all Athenas.
• Fixed some inconsistencies with the stockpile interface and added initial stockpile to Settings/Unit Behaviour.
• Setting the energy stall minimum to zero or the metal excess warning to maximum now disables the warnings completely.
• Disabled tactical AI for bombs by default.
• Tactical AI now responds to Chicken Leapers.
• Added support that allows map-style mods to override tooltips.
• Fixed using ')' as a hotkey on AZERTY keyboards.
• The COFC camera now uses the usual camera hotkeys.
• Fixed some Global Build AI issues and added a hotkey.
• Cleaned up invalid entries in the cheat menu unit spawner.

Fixes

• Impaler animation matches its reload time.
• Fixed Ultimatium attempting to fire up cliffs from too far away.
• Chickens can no longer be reclaimed.
• Fixed Shieldbot Factory being categorised as 'Other' by endgame stats.
• Constructors count towards 'Economy' instead of 'Army' in endgame stats.
• Fixed a bug with preselection circles.
• Fixed some Gunship Plant geometry.
• Cleaned up the unit replies system.
• Dominatrix leash is no longer obscured by terrain.