Open Beta Patch v1.26o2 (12 may 2025)

[Mechasaurian]

Oh, hey, you adjusted the QMGs. Nice.

When you come back from your break, maybe consider looking at Ornithopters and their relation to other aircraft, especially helicopters? Helis occupy a rather odd space, in that once helicopters are researched, Thopters tend to not be far behind. And Thopters just completely outmode Helis at the VTOL niche.

Overall, I like the design changes a lot. Nice work, Vic.

[mattpilot]

Once thopters become available they become my go too for everything - attack, fighter, transport .. they just do it all better, and dont even need a high level airport. I hate that, because thopters are inherently unrealistic & i wish they wouldn't replace all other types of aircraft.


As for artillery - Other than reduced ammo consumption & cheaper production, there is no benefit to designing lighter artillery, right? I wish the 25mm option would represent a 'mortar' and the next two a 'infantry field cannon', not suffering from the 'artillery' move penalty the bigger guns should. It just makes siege infantry so useless as they only ever move 1 hex unless strat-moved.

[Soar_Slitherine]

Heavier artillery actually does get increased move penalties in recent versions. They apply even when transported by trucks or APCs.

[solops]

Heavier artillery actually does get increased move penalties in recent versions. They apply even when transported by trucks or APCs.

I would assume that bigger trucks move bigger artillery faster than smaller trucks would, at the cost of increased purchase cost and fuel usage, but I have never tested the premise. (edited)

[mattpilot]

Heavier artillery actually does get increased move penalties in recent versions. They apply even when transported by trucks or APCs.

Yea, but that only applies to trucks/apc.

I'm thinking of making a light artillery, comparable with mortar or infantry guns, that can move at the same 'foot' pace as regular infantry .. similar as in AdvancedTacticsGold. I really need this for 'siege' infantry to be useful.

[grime]

Some notes from midway through my most recent game:
1) I have 7 fate points. I only have 4 fate points worth of cards (three cards in total). Instead of budgeting my fate points for cool perks, they're just sitting unused. I'll never ever have to play the Mission Impossible card (this is on very slow development speeds, so tech level changes happen very rarely). Maybe this needs to be balanced vs development speed?
2) For some reason, and I don't know if this is by design or not, my zones connected via sea transport links refuse to send any of their zone inventory back to their SHQ apart from doing it manually. It makes sense that it's done by design as to not use precious transport points -- but it's not consistent with how air bridges work.

[Soar_Slitherine]

I would assume that bigger trucks move bigger artillery faster than smaller trucks would, at the cost of increased purchase cost and fuel usage, but I have never tested the premise. (edited)

I believe it just adds up the movement modifiers of the trucks and artillery.

[zgrssd]

Heavier artillery actually does get increased move penalties in recent versions. They apply even when transported by trucks or APCs.

I'm thinking of making a light artillery, comparable with mortar or infantry guns, that can move at the same 'foot' pace as regular infantry .. similar as in AdvancedTacticsGold. I really need this for 'siege' infantry to be useful.

While not "Small Arms", Mortars are generally still classed as light weapons.
So I guess they are just assumed to be part of the basic troops?
Or maybe since medium and heavy MG are also "light weapons", maybe they are part of the MG team?

Given that 100 people are the smallest unit of measurement an 10 units is the smallest regular formation, I would not be sure where to put them.

[mattpilot]

While not "Small Arms", Mortars are generally still classed as light weapons.
So I guess they are just assumed to be part of the basic troops?
Or maybe since medium and heavy MG are also "light weapons", maybe they are part of the MG team?

Given that 100 people are the smallest unit of measurement an 10 units is the smallest regular formation, I would not be sure where to put them.

Point taken - so lets just call them 'tiny field guns' instead of mortars. Surely 100 men would be able to 'run' faster with a 25mm gun than with a 180mm Behemoth. I just really want a smaller gun that moves at 'foot' pace instead of 'artillery'

[zgrssd]

While not "Small Arms", Mortars are generally still classed as light weapons.
So I guess they are just assumed to be part of the basic troops?
Or maybe since medium and heavy MG are also "light weapons", maybe they are part of the MG team?

Given that 100 people are the smallest unit of measurement an 10 units is the smallest regular formation, I would not be sure where to put them.

Point taken - so lets just call them 'tiny field guns' instead of mortars. Surely 100 men would be able to 'run' faster with a 25mm gun than with a 180mm Behemoth. I just really want a smaller gun that moves at 'foot' pace instead of 'artillery'

The gun would be so small, it would not have the range to fire into another hex.
So you really just invented another non-backline troop.

[mattpilot]

The gun would be so small, it would not have the range to fire into another hex.
So you really just invented another non-backline troop.

25mm is the smallest option you can choose when designing an artillery

[tikhun]

Thank you Vic for all ongoing changes, the game has improved a lot. So many issues are fixed, and a lot of new interesting features that make different planets play differently.

I would however double pleas to do something about thopters. They come at the same research group as VTOL jets, and a little bit later than helicopters, but they are totally superior to both in almost every aspect, except they are a bit more expensive in machines (but this is still not enough to seriously consider not using them in favour of heli/VTOLs/normal planes). Very often, developing helicopters and VTOL aircrafts is just a waste of research and resources because of that.
Maybe they could be pushed down in the research three, or receive some specific weaknesses/limitations, or add HiTech costs to them? Not sure, but I think any of these would help.

[Daza99]

Thank you Vic for all ongoing changes, the game has improved a lot. So many issues are fixed, and a lot of new interesting features that make different planets play differently.

I would however double pleas to do something about thopters. They come at the same research group as VTOL jets, and a little bit later than helicopters, but they are totally superior to both in almost every aspect, except they are a bit more expensive in machines (but this is still not enough to seriously consider not using them in favour of heli/VTOLs/normal planes). Very often, developing helicopters and VTOL aircrafts is just a waste of research and resources because of that.
Maybe they could be pushed down in the research three, or receive some specific weaknesses/limitations, or add HiTech costs to them? Not sure, but I think any of these would help.

Why not make thopters weaker in terms of armor, where they will likely lose if attacked by enemy air fighters or AA fire. I cant recall if they have a max carry limit, but that is another area they could be limited is their fuel tank size? Like they could be compared to a modern day Little Bird heli. I like your idea of having HiTech costs as part of their build.

Helicopters wouldn't these (ignoring thopters for a moment) be the main air choice on a planet with a very low mbar? in terms of getting a descent range and for air bridges with a larger helicopter?

[Uemon]

Been playing last 2 patches extensively.

Im not sure what happened with combat, but i feel like something is definitely changed.

Combat feels a lot more catastrophic now. An attack that would previously lead to maybe 2 or 3 subunits destroyed, now ends basically wiping or nearly wiping out an entire formation.

For example my 5 light tanks attack enemy infantry x 10. Previously i would kill 2, 3, maybe 4 infantry. Now i either completely just straight out wipe them out as a formation. Or like only 1 infantry remains.

I have very mixed feelings about this. I feel like infantry out in the open is basically useless now. Any enemy that has highly mobile vehicles will just drive around battlefield and pick off your infantry and just devastate them with each attack.

Is this just confirmation bias?

[Magirot]

Been playing last 2 patches extensively.

Im not sure what happened with combat, but i feel like something is definitely changed.

Combat feels a lot more catastrophic now. An attack that would previously lead to maybe 2 or 3 subunits destroyed, now ends basically wiping or nearly wiping out an entire formation.

For example my 5 light tanks attack enemy infantry x 10. Previously i would kill 2, 3, maybe 4 infantry. Now i either completely just straight out wipe them out as a formation. Or like only 1 infantry remains.

I have very mixed feelings about this. I feel like infantry out in the open is basically useless now. Any enemy that has highly mobile vehicles will just drive around battlefield and pick off your infantry and just devastate them with each attack.

Is this just confirmation bias?

What is the Hazard Exposure Level on your planet(s)? You can see it in REP -> Help -> Planet Statistics -> Exposure Hazard. That seems like the most likely cause since that definitely has changed.

-Hazard Exposure Level is now generated. Based on the level of biohazard, toxicity, temperature, air pressure.*
-Hazard Exposure Level determines exactly how dangerous it is to be exposed to the Planet’s atmosphere. On high exposure levels much more engineering attention has to be taken to prevent envirosuits or domes (or any pressurized environment) to have fissures, break downs or what-not. This results in a Hazard Surplus Cost … which is higher IP cost for envirosuits (& personal armour), Assets construction and vehicle construction. *
-Hazard Exposure Level increases Trooptype construction cost with 3 * SIZE/2 * Hazard Level , in IP. * And for “Infantry” just Hazard Exposure Level in IP increase.
-Hazard Exposure Level increases Asset construction cost per round with (max(20,Metal+Rare)/10) * Hazard Level, but reduced for really high metal Assets (as at some point the basic measures are in place) in IP. *
-Hazard Exposure Level causes more KILLs during combat. If any non-kill hit placed and rnd ( hazard level * 10) > (rnd (armour mm) + 20) then a potentially lethal puncture / pressure loss has been suffered and the individual subformation will be killed unless it rolls a successful save roll. (40% save chance for regular/militia, 60% for seasoned, 80% for veteran). Any minor aliens, arachnids, mutants, alien critters do not suffer these risks as they are well adapted to the environment.*
-Hazard Exposure Level causes more Population, Worker and Free Folk losses when structural damage is inflicted in Hex where they live/work. Can go upto 50% loss at Hazard Exposure Level 10 (rare!!!) *

[Thrake]

Why not make thopters weaker in terms of armor, where they will likely lose if attacked by enemy air fighters or AA fire. I cant recall if they have a max carry limit, but that is another area they could be limited is their fuel tank size? Like they could be compared to a modern day Little Bird heli. I like your idea of having HiTech costs as part of their build.

Helicopters wouldn't these (ignoring thopters for a moment) be the main air choice on a planet with a very low mbar? in terms of getting a descent range and for air bridges with a larger helicopter?

Thopters have max carry limits but it's big enough to reach maximal range without sacrificing on equipment. It's only a limit, in my experience, to design massive transports.

[Uemon]

Been playing last 2 patches extensively.

Im not sure what happened with combat, but i feel like something is definitely changed.

Combat feels a lot more catastrophic now. An attack that would previously lead to maybe 2 or 3 subunits destroyed, now ends basically wiping or nearly wiping out an entire formation.

For example my 5 light tanks attack enemy infantry x 10. Previously i would kill 2, 3, maybe 4 infantry. Now i either completely just straight out wipe them out as a formation. Or like only 1 infantry remains.

I have very mixed feelings about this. I feel like infantry out in the open is basically useless now. Any enemy that has highly mobile vehicles will just drive around battlefield and pick off your infantry and just devastate them with each attack.

Is this just confirmation bias?

What is the Hazard Exposure Level on your planet(s)? You can see it in REP -> Help -> Planet Statistics -> Exposure Hazard. That seems like the most likely cause since that definitely has changed.

-Hazard Exposure Level is now generated. Based on the level of biohazard, toxicity, temperature, air pressure.*
-Hazard Exposure Level determines exactly how dangerous it is to be exposed to the Planet’s atmosphere. On high exposure levels much more engineering attention has to be taken to prevent envirosuits or domes (or any pressurized environment) to have fissures, break downs or what-not. This results in a Hazard Surplus Cost … which is higher IP cost for envirosuits (& personal armour), Assets construction and vehicle construction. *
-Hazard Exposure Level increases Trooptype construction cost with 3 * SIZE/2 * Hazard Level , in IP. * And for “Infantry” just Hazard Exposure Level in IP increase.
-Hazard Exposure Level increases Asset construction cost per round with (max(20,Metal+Rare)/10) * Hazard Level, but reduced for really high metal Assets (as at some point the basic measures are in place) in IP. *
-Hazard Exposure Level causes more KILLs during combat. If any non-kill hit placed and rnd ( hazard level * 10) > (rnd (armour mm) + 20) then a potentially lethal puncture / pressure loss has been suffered and the individual subformation will be killed unless it rolls a successful save roll. (40% save chance for regular/militia, 60% for seasoned, 80% for veteran). Any minor aliens, arachnids, mutants, alien critters do not suffer these risks as they are well adapted to the environment.*
-Hazard Exposure Level causes more Population, Worker and Free Folk losses when structural damage is inflicted in Hex where they live/work. Can go upto 50% loss at Hazard Exposure Level 10 (rare!!!) *

Ahhhhhhh that would certainly explain it. I play mostly on volcanic planets so it would be the worst possible exposure level i think.

[Uemon]

Still i think this mechanic should be toned down or if we can have an option to turn its effects off that would work too. I really dislike it to the point where ill have to go and switch the planet type, its that unpleasant. Damage (that you both deal and take) is just horrendous.

[fibol]

I also like to play on extreme planets and the new lethality is very much a game changer. Artillery barrages and bombing runs are devastating when troops die instead of retreat. It's a very different way of fighting.

[Vic]

New subversion Q posted. New Graphics for Leader Portraits & some small fixes.

Starting to focus on Battle Reports now.

And I am still judging the balance of earlier changes as well and I can say I am not super happy of the side effect that tank vs infantry is more skewed to tanks on early tech High Hazard Level worlds. On the other hand did you notice the cost of producing those tanks on high hazard level worlds is also a lot higher?

best wishes,
Vic