Voiced Audio Alerts Download

This is a big update over what I originally posted 11 months ago.

-Menu integration and individually toggle each alert.
-100% custom audio files, rephrased lines to better fit Zero-K
-Volume control
-Extra alerts
-Smarter detection
-Audio doesn't overlap, waits to play next until current audio has finished.
-Now works during campaign missions
-Alerts disabled during spectator and replay (except for nuclear launch detected)

I've been using Voiced Audio Alerts for almost a year as my own local widgets. I've gotten so accustomed to having them on that I did a push to get them servicable and bug-free-enough to release here because I felt like I was depriving the community of something useful if I didn't.

If there's a demand for it and positive feedback, I would like to turn this into a Pull Request and get this feature added to the base game.

These are all custom made audio files for Zero-K, so there's no issue with permissions going forward.

I have the extra audio files for the existing voice lines in the game ("command_console_activated" , "warzone_paused") done in this new style to match if this ends up incorporated.

All feedback appreciated as this is still an early build.

There's 2 reasons for including chassis in the audio.

1. To sound more unique so the alert doesn't get mentally glossed over since the other alert is "Commander Taking Fire". I've tried to avoid duplicate words in the alerts while trying to have the first word in each alert generally point the player toward the right awareness. Having 2 alerts that start with "Commander" seems necessary since both alerts are about the commander. A unique word helps the player distinguish that something unique has triggered and those 2 extra syllables make it easier to subconciously latch onto that, even when you're distracted by other elements in the game. I never want a player to look around the battlefield and think "huh, my commander unit is destroyed? when did that happen?" because they didnt catch the single word "destroyed".

2. Lore reasons. I didn't want to contradict the official explanation of what's happening in game. As I understand it, the "Commander" is, in a way, the player who is playing the game. When the chassis is destroyed, the Commander (you) are teleported to safety at the last moment and continue controlling the battle from a starship. That's why the game doesn't end when the Commander unit explodes.

It's also why the announcer says "Congratulations, Commander" for Victory. "Commander Destroyed" implies death of the commander (the player), but that doesn't occur in Zero-K. The unit being destroyed is called a Commander, but when it blows up only the chassis has been destroyed, the Commander survives.

The neatest way for me to shore up all of this is to make "Commander Chassis Destroyed" the alert. I'm open to changing it if my reasoning doesn't outway it just being plain annoying to hear the announcer say "Chassis", which is a reasonable note if it's bothering you.

(You could also bring the audio clip into Audacity and edit out the word chassis and save the shortened audio over the original)