Spring Info

May’s first stable version brings with it both gameplay and interface improvements.

== Gameplay ==
* Added a resurrection award
* Added rising lava, controllable with modoptions

== Units ==
Slasher
* Cost 125 -> 140 (12%)
* HP 500 -> 560 (12%)
* Damage 32 -> 50 (56%)
* Speed 2.5 -> 2.8

Angler
* Missiles fire over 2.8s instead of all at once (Shadow will drop its bomb before being killed)
* Reload time 8 -> 10

Bantha
* Missiles are exclusively EMP; can be fired in a volley
* Loses the super optic blast

Leveler
* Doubled terrain smoothing effect

Dirtbag
* Leaves a smaller mound

Felon
* Range 450 -> 440

Licho
* Missile slower, turns better

All vehicles, tanks, hovers and ships accelerate 3x faster

Fixed some building yardmaps

Terraform costs half as much

All units prefer not to fire at unarmed targets (including Dirtbag and Razor’s Kiss)

== Graphics ==
* Changed comm teleport effect
* Tweaked sumo texture

== Interface ==
* Added progress bar for midgame join/rejoin
* Fixed a bug where mexes could be placed off their spots
* Float and Fire at Radar can be hotkeyed
* Pause screen no longer closed with right-click; Space-click for options instead
* Kamikaze units aren’t counted for resign on self-d
* Minimum weapon reload time for healthbar display can be changed
* Build ETA can be set to display only on holding down Shift * Fixes to pylon circle drawing

Metals spots has been tweaked slightly for automatic compatibility with more maps. In some cases a map was too broken for this so an override has been added.

Anti-gunship AA has been nerfed slightly in the continued attempt to make gunships more useful. Jethro is now a cloaky AA unit and hopefully some sort of Veh AA can fill Jethro’s old role.

The main UI changes are grid hotkeys for factory units and Outlaw has a button to constantly fire as well as an improved effect.

=== Metal Spots ===

UI:
* Size of minimap circle now independent of map size.
* By using larger metal icons the income visualisation can handle income up to 1000.

There are now configs for:
* Azure Rampart
* Charlie in the Hills v2.1
* EE-RiverGlade-v02
* Lava And Two Hills
* Porky_Islands
* TheBeachBeta

Fixes:
* May have fixed desync in finder algorithm.
* Fixed metal mult modoption.
* Slightly reduced spot merge detection range.
* Mexes with less than 0.2 income are discarded.

=== Balance ===

Jethro (cloaky AA):
* Now cloaks (0.1 static, 0.5 moving)
* Cost 100 -> 150
* DPS increased 50%
* Range 760 -> 700
* Speed 3.5 -> 2.9

Archangel (Jump AA):
* EMG dps is back to what it was before the XP change. This is a reduction of 30% from last version.

Cobra and Copperhead (flak cannons):
* DPS reduced 10% (to try and make Gunships better).

Quake (seismic missile):
* Cost 500 -> 400

=== UI ===

Factory build options now have grid layout hotkeys. These work a bit differently to structure grid hotkeys.
* Unit creation only requires one key press.
* The hotkeys are always active when Units tab and a factory is selected.
* Modifiers Shift (5x) and Alt (insert at start of queue) modifiers work with these hotkeys.
* These may conflict with how some current people like to use the UI so there is an is an option “Settings/Interface/Integral Menu/Disable Units Hotkeys” to turn it off.

Set Target and Cancel Target are now bindable through the menu Game/Commands tab.

Outlaw can be toggled on/off to constantly fire. Improved weapon gfx to be cleaner and more accurately depict the AoE speed.

=== Fixes ===
* Fixed some wreck names.
* ‘Anti-Armor’ units are now called ‘Anti-Heavy’ * Gauss now shoots through wreckages (it was suppose to and has done so in the past).

Today we throw off the shackles of broken metalmap layouts and confusing extractor incomes. No more will otherwise good maps be unplayable and no one can miss the clearly displayed power of super mexes. Mex placement now has a UI, is limited to specific spots and is entirely configurable game side on a per-map basis.

As far as balance goes Gunship roles have been extremified and Tremor has received quite a buff.

== Mex Placement ==

Mex placement is now limited to specific locations on the map.

Interface:
* Mex placement snaps to mex spots.
* Spot line width and I-Beam count indicates income.
* Spot colour indicates whether the spot is under allied control.

Mechanic Changes:
* Mex constructor no longer receives 5% extra base income.
* Metalmap view cannot be used to increase scout view range.
* Mexes now start as soon as they are built (previously there was a 3s delay to gather resource data).

Compatibility:
* Cloud metal maps with large extractor radius are not supported. Examples are Bazillion Battlefield and Castles.
* Those with small extractor radius still work. For example Duck and Speedmetal.
* Game-side configs can be added to completely replace a metalmap. This can be used to fix the few liked cloud metalmaps and to fix maps that look good but have broken metalmaps.

Widgets:
* Area Mex, Mex Snap and Prospector have been removed and partially merged into a single widget.
* If you disable this widget you’re stuffed.

== Communism/economy change ==

Base income of metal extractors is now 50% private and 50% shared when mex is built.
This ratio falls down to 0% private and 100% shared over 5 minutes.

== Ready behaviour change ==

Start location can now be chosen at any time and there is no ready button. The game with start 4s after every player has chosen a start location.

== Balance ==

Tremor:
* AOE increased 11%
* DPS increased 23%
* Impacts smooths terrain.

Weapononised terrain smoothing is reduced for mid air explosions (as in when projectiles impact a shield high above the ground).

Seismic missile can shoot underwater.

Brawler. It should emphasise range and not being hit by most land units.
* Speed 4.7 -> 4
* Uses more of it’s range while strafing.

Blackdawn. Should be hit and run with ground interaction.
* Speed 4.65 -> 4.5
* Health 2900 -> 3400
* Cruise Altitude 210 -> 150 (to compare Banshee is at 100)
* Range 450 -> 300

Rapier. If it is going to defend other gunships it needs to be able to keep up
with them and deal reasonable damage.
* Speed 3.8 -> 4
* Health 1300 -> 1100
* Damage 150 -> 200 (1 shot better vs Vamp)
* Range 300 -> 340

Banshee. This just needs to be a bit better.
* DPS increased 5%
* Range increased by 20

Gnat. Needs to be less extreme “completely win or die”.
* Health 90 -> 120 (This is over the Defender boundary, am I mad????)
* Range increased by 20

Strider Hub:
* Costs 550 -> 600m (for consistency)

Bantha:
* Added laser overcharge special weapon.

== GUI ==

Structures in the build menu are ordered by cost.

Geo hightlight activates when build geo is selected. Geos are now drawn on the minimap with a big X.

Bombers now require repeat enabled to retain an attack command.

Lobby now contains “safe mode” switch that should be ultra safe even for ultra crappy video cards.

== Fixed ==

* Rector repair speed was too high.
* Mex, wind, carrier, HLT, defender, LLT aimvolume tweaks. Allied units are better at shooting past them.
* Fix Dante script error.
* Initial state “hold position” preset should work reliably. * Fixed Archangel DPS

= v1.0.4.9 =

== GUI improvements: ==

* new keyboard controlled main menu
* new button under minimap to turn on simplified color scheme (all alies blue, all enemies red)
* default interface skin is now carbon (you can change that in settings)
* game treats placing start position as ready -> its enough if people place start position, no need to click ready. When all people place position, game starts.

Minor GUI changes:
* removed “gesture menu” interference – added option to enable it for groups of units – default off
* scrolling with smoothscroll off is “apple style”
* there is now option to remember minimap mode (LOS/radar views etc)

== Gameplay: ==

* all “teams” hosts now balance clan-mates together. Join same planetwars clan to play with your friend there.

== Balance: ==

* Tremor has extra 100 range

== Fixes: ==

* default LOS/radar display has nicer colors
* units no longer fire at targets they cannot see