5.800 Modern War

Full release notes here.

This includes a number of updates from Badger, but also a few from me this time around. Badger in particular has fixed a number of multiplayer bugs that neither he nor I had been able to find for years.

I've upgraded the game to run on a newer version of unity (the same one that Heart of the Machine runs on), to hopefully improve loading times for the game when it hasn't been run recently. I also finally fixed the issues with my camera zoom code so that when you zoom in it doesn't jolt forward anymore. I also added extra support for an obscure screen resolution based on a player's request.

There's also a new mod by Erenussocrates.

And then Badger has a whole other list of stuff!

Main Game

• Fix a bug where Viral Swarmers weren't being spawned by Plaguehost Elderlings. This was affecting units that used Build Points gained from doing damage, where the weapons systems used Fusion or Corrosion.

• Added support for 1000x600 resolution for cases when a desktop resolution is set to that, but the OS is not properly reporting through unity that this is one of the resolutions it supports.

• Fix a bug where opening the tracing menu would cause null reference errors.

• Fix a bug where sometimes visual effects would not play

• Recompiled the main asset bundles to not include some extra file tree information that could in theory make them load slower.

• Upgraded the game to run on Unity 2021.3, up from 2020.3. This should make the loading of the game faster when the game is loading cold. When loading hot, it's the same speed as before, so it's not any worse at least. Improved the code for when the camera zooms in so that it no longer jerks forward. It's now smooth the entire way.

Multiplayer Bugfixes

• Fix a bug where GameCommands might not be serialized/deserialized properly, potentially leading to commands being dropped.

• Fix a bug where the client would not correctly clean up already dead ships, leading to fleets of ghosts.

• Fix a bug where we were sync'ing ships too quickly in small galaxies; this should make the game need less bandwidth for galaxies with < 10k ships.

• Some improvements to the FastBlast networking code; cap the size of messages, and be extra careful not to send shots that have already despawned. This should also decrease the amount of networking traffic.

Forge of Empires

• Add a 'More ARS and TSS options' option to the Balance Galaxy options for Forge of Empires.

• Make Dyson Empire Spheres a bit tankier.

Coprocessor Rebalance mod by Erenussocrates

• It always bothered me how the Coprocessors' net AIP reduction is the same as claiming a Major Data Center, when it requires much more setup and effort to take them all out, and also it's always riskier to achieve too.

• So this mod addresses that by reducing the AIP cost of destroying an individual Coprocessor from 20 to 15, and decreases the AIP reduction you get when you destroy all of them from 140 to 130. This increases the net AIP reduction from 60 to 70 when you destroy all of them, and also the decreased AIP cost makes it a somewhat less risky venture too.

Heart of the Machine 1.0 Is Out Now!

https://steamcommunity.com/games/2001070/announcements/detail/538879349212841215 https://steamcommunity.com/ogg/2001070/announcements/detail/503978984819654662

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2001070/Heart_of_the_Machine/