Income multipliers can now be set for each team under Options to serve as a form of handicap. This is a commonly requested feature for coop games, but to take it a step further we're trying it out in a new matchmaking queue.

The '1v1' queue now generates even matches up to a certain skill gap, beyond which it creates unranked games with an income boost for the lower-ranked side. To stick to even games use the new '1v1 Narrow' queue, and for the best queue times use both at once. The '1v1' queue allows a slightly wider skill gap than the previous queue, while '1v1 Narrow' allows a slightly narrower gap.

Handicap and Matchmaking

• Per-team income multipliers can now be set under Options -> Multipliers in battle lobbies.
• Added a '1v1 Narrow' matchmaking queue that creates more evenly matched battles than the previous system.
• The '1v1' matchmaking queue can create either handicap or non-handicap games. If a match would qualify for '1v1 Narrow' then a normal match is played, otherwise the match does not affect ratings and the lower skilled player receives a small income boost.

Behaviour

• Added anti-structure overkill prevention for Lance, Lucifer, Ravager, Crab and Cyclops.
• Reef and Shogun try to stay at max range against all targets.

Other Tweaks

• Added NW vs. SE startboxes for Archsimkats Valley.
• Calayo is back to just being NW vs. SE.
• Tweaked metal spots on Battle for Planet XIV and DeltaSiege Island 8 Way.
• Tweaked the sun and water parameters for a few maps.
• Tweaked welcome text.
• Better support for modding a few things related to the economy (fewer files to override).

Everything should go just a bit smoother with this update. The AFK detector now has a countdown and disables construction, bringing harmony to teams. A number of unruly fonts and boxes have been brought into line, bringing harmony to the interface. The normal difficulty AI has chilled out. Singleplayer and multiplayer can be as one with skirmish and campaign autosaves during matchmaking. Most harmoniously, maps can now (effectively) be nice smooth circles rather than pointy squares.

Balance

Flea has a bit more map presence to make up for the previous Venom nerf.

• No longer slightly leads its target, removing a small retreat disadvantage.
• DPS increased by 7.1%

Conjurer is in slightly more danger from its own cloaked bombs.

• Area cloak and jammer range 192 -> 184

Scorcher is slightly worse at poking other raiders.

• Range reduced by 1.9%
• Projectile speed reduced by 1.9%

Badger is more vulnerable and has a slower rate of attrition.

• Speed 67.5 -> 65
• Reload time 5.5s -> 5.6s

Quill gains more speed advantage.

• Speed 84 -> 87 (2.8 -> 2.9)

Dagger has another range change.

• Speed increased by 0.35% to a round number.
• Range 205 -> 210

Bolas is slightly cheaper and faster.

• Cost 190 -> 185
• Speed increased by 0.53% to a round number.

Mace regains its old range.

• Range 340 -> 345

Halberd has a better matchup vs. Metal Extractors.

• Damage 150 -> 160

Claymore has more burst and has 13.8% more DPS.

• Reload 2.8 -> 3.2
• Damage 400 -> 520
• Increased edge effectiveness.

Singleplayer

• Normal AI is now noticeably easier, with the goal of reducing the jump from Easy to Normal.
• Hard AI is slightly easier. Brutal is unchanged.
• The player has more defenses in campaign mission 2 to give them more breathing space.
• Added a few extra things to destroy in campaign missions 2 and 3.
• Singleplayer games are now automatically saved when a matchmaker match is found, for players that would like to play singleplayer while in the queue.

Unit Behaviour

• Added Anti-Bait toggles for Knight, Dagger, Cutter, Hunter, Blitz.
• Fix Bandit unit AI, it now idle flees itself and Duck.
• Urchin can no longer Force Attack the ground (both on land and underwater).
• Gauss now aims down cliffs properly.
• Units can no longer guard themselves.
• Fixed retreating Attack Move units occasionally returning with Move after being repaired.
• Fix Ronin and Rogue on Attack Move jinking too fast to aim and fire.

AFK Detection

• Renamed the lobby option toggle to "Inactive Player Unit Sharing" and added a default that enables it in PvP while disabling it for Coop.
• Increased AFK threshold from 30s to 40s.
• Added a visual warning that start at 32s of inactivity.
• Fixed typing in chat erroneously not counting towards activity.
• Shared constructors and factories are now given a Wait command, which is removed when they are shared back.

Mapping

• Maps can now define a playable area, restricting unit movement and construction. Circular maps can be created with a config file and functions for arbitrary shapes have been exposed.
• Added a circular playable area to BlackStar.
• Cleaned up metal spot inconsistencies on Pinewood Derby, Archsimkats Valley and Altair Crossing.
• Added startboxes for Stronghold, Throne, Tundra, Rysia, Battle for Planet XIV, Vernal 3-way, and Small Supreme Battlefield Dry/Islands/Original.

Added the following two functions for dynamic start boxes and metal configs, but technically they can be used for all mapping and modding.

• Spring.Utilities.Gametype.isCompStomp() returns true if there is exactly one team that only contains humans.
• Spring.Utilities.Gametype.isTeamFFA() returns true if there are more than 2 teams and at least one of them has multiple players.

Modding

• Added warnings about LaserCannons with ranges not equal to a multiple of their speed. The next release they will get turned into erroring on load
• Script.IsEngineMinVersion returns true correctly on bleeding edge (i.e. versions X.1.Y-Z).
• Projectiles are no longer filtered for spectator widgets.
• Added a detonate command to an unused kamikaze submarine.

Fixes

• Tweaked numerous ingame and menu font sizes and button dimensions for consistency.
• Improved font management to cut down on memory usage.
• Improved the load time of the map list in the game lobby.
• Fixed map and mod downloads occasionally needing to be retried near completion.
• Made cost and time more prominent in construction tooltips.
• Right mouse button now takes precedence over Alt on the factory build queue.
• Fixed large build queues adding units uncontrollably with Alt and some rapid clicking.
• Improved Fusion, Antinuke and Trinity smoke effects and Zenith beam effect.
• Fixed Antinuke and Area of Effect visualisation being slightly off-position when targeting water.
• Fixed a bug with persistent build spacing with non-default settings.
• Fixed how the ingame abuse report window reports FFA.
• Fixed a rare commshare bug that could break team FFA.
• Fixed negative damage showing up in endgame graphs.
• Fixed Strider Hub not aiming correctly.
• Fix the Wait indicator not appearing over factories.
• Fix the Wait indicator not appearing over transferred units.

This is the first big balance patch of the year, just in time for the second tournament series of the year. Shieldbots are better early and have more tools in their arsenal, but the standard shieldball is less powerful. Hover and Tank have buffs for improved unit variety and to bring them up to the power level of Rover. Spider has a few small tweaks to make them less reliant on Venom.

Lobster Roll Series Two

Lobster Roll series two will start on the 17th of April and is open to everyone. There is a round robin warm-up tournament this coming weekend, on the 10th of April. Sign up to the round robin here. Join the Discord server for announcements about the upcoming series.

Map Rotation

The following changes have been applied to the matchmaking pool. The full pool can be viewed here.

• Added - Crubick Plains, Aurelian, Calayo, Red Comet Remake, Fairyland, Sertaleina.
• Removed - Sparkles Reef, Prestige, Otago, Iced Coffee, Ravaged, Mechadansonia.
• Updated - Cobalt Dream, Dune Patrol Redux, Fallendell.

Bot Balance

Shieldbots are the main issue among the bot factories, and it was not just an issue of overall power. Players in the middle of the ladder were having trouble against the Shield midgame, while those at the top found Shield to be at too much of an early disadvantage. To solve this we buffed their early game while nerfing the standard shieldball. We have also tweaked Spiders to make them less reliant on Venom.

Bandit is a bit better to help Shieldbots through the early game.

• Health 330 -> 340
• DPS increased by 2.5%

Convict is faster to assist early expansion.

• Speed 60 -> 61.5

Rogue has a nerf to save some matchups from mass Rogue supported by the buffed Bandit.

• Health 580 -> 540
• Turn rate reduced by 10%.
• Projectile velocity 192 -> 185
• Damage 350 -> 340

Thug regenerates slower to make shield charge more valuable.

• Speed 57.75 -> 57 (what a weird number, now same as Outlaw)
• Shield capacity 1250 -> 1200
• Shield regen 16/s -> 14/s

Felon has 18.8% less DPS and charges slower.

• Shield regen 18/s -> 16/s
• Aim time 0.3s -> 0.166s
• Reload 0.13s -> 0.16s
• Charge per shot 75 -> 80
• Damage 108.4 -> 110

Outlaw takes on more responsibility for riot power from Felon.

• Cost 260 -> 250
• Health 1050 -> 1100
• DPS increased by 13%

Vandal takes on more responsibility for anti-air power from Felon.

• Range 880 -> 900

Racketeer is slightly easier to field.

• Cost 350 -> 340
• Speed 51 -> 52.5

Snitch is slightly harder to position.

• Speed 120 -> 117

Dirtbag is better at spotting and harassing.

• Speed 78 -> 84
• Sight range 560 -> 600
• Reload 2s -> 1.9s
• Damage 45 -> 55

Reaver has a buff to help Glaive deal with Bandit.

• Cost 220 -> 210
• Speed 1.71 -> 1.75
• Reload 0.5s -> 0.466s

Flea is harder to spot when burrowed.

• Decloak Radius 200 -> 160

Venom has less stun uptime, as well as slightly less DPS.

• Reload time 1.1s -> 1.133s.

Hermit is one of the more maligned assaults, so gains some assault power.

• Cost 160 -> 150
• Health 1400 -> 1500

Widow drains more energy to make it harder to field early on.

• Cloak cost 12/4 -> 15/5 (Moving/Static)

Vehicle Balance

Rover is dominating the vehicle matchups, yet there were few complaints about Rover itself. We took this to mean that Rovers feel fun and well balanced, even when losing to them, so opted mostly leave the factory alone. Instead, we took a look at Hover and Tank. Hover has a decent earlygame but a lack of transitions, so we buffed some of their more niche units, while Tank has the opposite problem, so we buffed Tank earlygame.

Fencer is more vulnerable.

• Health 560 -> 530
• Setup time is 6.6% longer

Quill is now only slightly more expensive than a standard constructor.

• Cost 130 -> 125

Halberd can be unleashed now that Anti-Bait makes it less annoying to fight.

• Cost 240 -> 210

Mace is a better riot at the expense of a little range.

• Health 1300 -> 1400
• Range 345 -> 340
• Aims 20% faster
• DPS increased by 10%

Kodachi feels fairer to fight so can afford a buff.

• Cost 180 -> 175
• Health 670 -> 680

Welder is cheaper but also more vulnerable to raiders.

• Cost 200 -> 185
• Health 1800 -> 1700
• DPS reduced by 4%

Ogre needs a buff to fight Mace 1v1 and win.

• Health 1850 -> 1950

Interface

There are now some optional resource panels to enable under 'Settings/HUD Panels/Economy Panel' with Simple Settings disabled. They need to be positioned with Ctrl+F11. There are two panels to track constructor activity, a panel for overdrive, and a panel for wind speed.

Other Changes:

• Added Shield Charge/Maximum to aggregate selection stats and switched some rows to improve order stability.
• Added Avoid Bad Targets toggle for Claw, Ultimatum, Scorpion and Nimbus.
• Nimbus flies a little closer to make it reliably fire at tall turrets.
• Artemis overkill prevention is more careful about wasting missiles.
• Mace skirms more unit types.

Fixes

• Fixed two bugs that caused some terraform shapes to stall at 99% completion.
• Fixed commander drone duplication upon morph.
• Crab is better at uncurling.
• Clear Factory Queue now works with factories set to Wait.
• Fixed Artemis not firing when on land of height zero.
• Landbound Urchins are better at firing into the deep ocean.
• Fixed transports having trouble unloading tall units.
• Fixed some edge cases with antinukes.
• Fixed Ravager suspension.
• Tacnuke sounds now play at higher priority.

The big feature in this update is bait prevention. Units and turrets, such as Artemis, should be significantly better now that they can more precisely obey your wishes. Felon is a beneficiary as it can be told to avoid armoured units, but it may be kept in check by another new behaviour: Most units now fire at the edge of small shields if there is nothing else in range.

There are few actual balance changes to better observe the ramification of the latest advances in unit command. Apart from that there are a few features and fixes, such as the ability to click on names in the endgame stats to highlight a line, and improved map filtering.

Balance

Advanced Radar moves towards justifying its cost, as an experiment.

• Cost 500 -> 400
• Sight 800 -> 1120
• Range 4000 -> 5600

Claymore has a smaller collision volume.

Duck missiles have less fuel, but still enough to hit land targets.

Jugglenaut and Newton now have aim lookahead (aiming towards targets that are about to enter range).

Behaviour

Units and turrets reload time or costly projectiles can now be told to avoid low value targets. This can be configured under Settings/Unit Behaviour or controlled with the Avoid Bad Targets state, which is shown by default. The states are:

• Disabled.
• Free - Avoid light drones, Wind, Solar, Claw (Badger mines), Dirtbag, nanoframes up to 50 metal and armoured targets (except Crab).
• Light - As above, as well as units costing less than 90, Razor, Sparrow and unidentified radar dots.
• Medium - As above, as well as units costing less than 240, except Stardust, with the addition of Raptor.
• Heavy - As above, as well as units costing less than 420.

Some units default to Free and a few default to Light. The behaviour is overridden by Attack Move as well as manual targeting.

Units are also more opportunistic when it comes to fighting shields, now firing at nearby small shields if nothing else is in range. Most non-artillery do this and it is essentially a range buff against shieldballs. This behaviour, called Ward Fire, can be configured in Settings/Unit Behaviour or enabled as a state toggle under Settings/Interface/Commands.

There are also a few improvements to Attack Move.

• Siren brings its main gun into range on Attack Move.
• Most skirmishers and assaults no longer engage drones on Attack Move, however they will still fire at them if nothing else is in range.

Interface

• Individual players can now be highlighted in the endgame graphs by clicking on their name.
• Improved the filter box of the map list.
• Renamed 'Map Selection' to 'Set Map Bans' in the Matchmaker Tab.
• Selecting Puppy, Athena, Caretaker and Strider Hub enables the reclaim highlight overlay.
• Unit info screens now show movement type.
• Clarified Reaver and Hercules helptext.

Fixes

• Greased Tremor rotary drive.
• Fixed Crab curling?
• Fixed Adamantine Mountain team names.
• Fixed newly constructed units sometimes not following factory waypoints.
• Fixed overkill prevention sometimes knowing too much about unidentified radar dots.
• Fixed trouble toggling Puppy Goo.
• Fixed some parts of long terraform queues being cancelled prematurely.
• Removed Leaper Chickens from planets Sapphire and Vis Ragstrom.