May 14, 2018 4:44:00 AM from Ashes of the Singularity Forums

This Update provides Substrate with more anti-air tools, features Substrate King of the Hill and launches ladder season 3

Update also includes new Retributor audio, improvements to campaigns, balance, economy and movement speed

For a detailed list of updates, view the changelog at the bottom of this post.

Update Highlights:

Substrate Anti-air

Substrate mobile anti-air is now more flexible with new late game options. The Overmind and Nest of the Queen will help clear the skies with their new anti-air drone swarms in place of some of their ground damage. Economy Changes

We are making some changes to the economy in order to make defensive play styles more viable. Substrate King of the Hill

King of the Hill is one of our most popular Scenarios, and now it’s playable as Substrate! King of the Hill has also received a number of improvements aimed at balancing the difficulty curve. How long can you hold out for? Balance Changes

Many balance changes improve strategic diversity and refine unit roles. Anti-air defenses are tougher, and higher Quanta costs on many Orbital Abilities means players have to think about where and when they use these powerful abilities. Ladder Season 3

Players will have a fresh new chance to climb the leaderboards with the launch of ladder season 3. Also featured is an updated map pool for automatch. Retributor Weapon Audio

The Retributor has new and improved audio to better reflect the power of this Substrate Dreadnought!



The v2.75 update is ready and waiting for you in your Steam client!



www.ashesofthesingularity.com



v2.75 Changelog:

New Scenario - King of the Hill (Substrate)

The King of the Hill scenario which is receiving some further tweaks this update, is now available to be played as Substrate.



Audio

The game found notification for automatch was not as obvious as it needed to be, as some players were missing it while doing other activities waiting for a game. To make it easier to notice, we are increasing the notification to a longer sound that includes a voice line "Consciousness Expanded." (Their expanded consciousness allows them to connect to the distant world where the battle is taking place. We're also updating the Retributor weapon sound effect as it was quite lacklustre.

Changed automatch game found notification from a chime to a sound followed by a voice line



New and improved audio for Retributor!



New Maps

We have taken some of our best team game maps and converted them to be suitable for 1v1 play.

Mirach 2p, Merga 2p, Ross 128p, and Delta Serpentis 2p are can be played in skirmish and multiplayer games



Ladder Season Reset

Alongside the release of 2.75 is the launch of the season 3 ladder season, the leaderboards have been reset giving everyone a fresh chance and getting to the top. Congrats to Amelie for winning the season 2 ladder!



New Automatch Map Pool

To complement the season 3 ladder reset, we are updating the map pool for automatch. Most significantly, we're removing most of the tiny and small maps and replacing them with larger ones. The game has evolved a lot over the past year, and now with Juggernauts, the late game is a lot more fun which bigger maps help field. Below is the list of new automatch map pool:



• Seginus

• Mirach 2p

• Merga 2p

• Europa

• Delta Serpentis 2p

• Ross 128 2p

• Atwater

• Italia

• Espana

• Ulrich

Economy Changes

We are making some changes to the economy in order to make defensive play styles more viable and encourage some strategic diversity. Contesting resources out on the map should be crucial for success in order to create proper game flow and player interaction, but currently defensive strategies were too weak and aggression overly important. Turinium Generators were providing too much of a resource bonus, despite also accruing victory points, so the player who controlled the Turinium could generally just overpower their opponents with superior economy. Resource Deposits also granted too much base income which meant mass early capturing was crucial even if regions didn't gain Extractors.

Turinium Generator bonus resource income decreased from 10% to 5%

Resource Deposit gain reduced from 0.5 to 0.25

Resource Extractor gain increased from 1.5 to 1.75



Map Changes



Seginus

The bottom spawn had a small advantage due to the direction of of the starting Metal Deposits in relations to the Engineers spawns.

Balanced starting Metal Deposits



Italia

We are incentivizing more control of the sides by moving out one of the base deposits.

Replacing central mountains with hill

Moved a metal deposit from the base to the sides



Merga

Moved starting Generators further away from Nexus to prevent double capping or Nexus weapon engaging creeps

Added additional high ground on starting bases to compensate



Mirach

The Southeastern battlegroups had multiple regions that acted as single region cutoffs, which meant players had to prevent Orbital spawns on multiple regions from having a devastating effect. The bottom left was also so far away from the main battle in the centre, that it was often neglected. We are adding an additional lane from to connect to the bottom left to player's bases to alleviate the severity of the multiple cutoffs and to make the bottom left more active.

Added additional laneway on the bottom of the map

Moved Deposits on starting regions closer to Generator to make capturing while building Extractors easier







Regulus

The strategic diversity of the top left spawn is lowered because there was no metal deposits close enough to the Power Generator to capture while building an Extractor

Moved metal extractors of the top left metal region closer to the Generator



Gamma Draconis

The cutoffs were too brutal in Gamma Draconis given the map size and how a single region could cutoff so much. Cutting off the base resources will be more difficult.

Added additional pathway between each teams two bases

Fixed missing Metal Extractor







Safiere

Added an extra region connecting the players base to the resource regions

Moved a Radioactives region from the corner to the center near the players base

Added a metal extractor in the corner



AI

The Insane AI is supposed to ridiculously overpowered, but it took it a bit too far. Many players are incapable of taking it out even along side 5+ other team mates. It doesn't need to be THIS hard, and it just means players are using other means to make the AI easier, like giving themselves bonus resources or disabling air units. We are lowering the resource bonus of the AI so it is now only insane and not turbo insane.

Insane AI resource bonus reduced from 5x to 4x



Balance



Brute

The Brute is getting a buff so it has more of a role to fill in the late game as a counter to mass and Archers.

Health increased from 120 to 125

Damage increased from 2 to 2.5



Archer

The Archer was still underperforming

Health increased form 70 to 90



Medic

Armor removed



Atlas

Removing the armor-piercing on the Atlas makes it less powerful against Strat Bombers and Harbingers, while the aoe nerf will make it slightly weaker against drones.

Health reduced from 350 to 250

Armor-piercing removed

AOE reduced from 50 to 40

Attack range reduced from 1200 to 1100



Tormentor

The Tormentor was overperforming, in particular against enemy frigates.

AOE reduced from 60 to 40

Minimum range increased from 100 to 300

Energy consumption increased from 6 to 10

Health reduced from 230 to 130



Reaper

The Reaper was slightly over performing.

Damage reduced from 15 to 14

Total health/shields reduced from 200 to 180



Sky Cleanser

Health/shields reduced from 320 to 280



Capacitor

The Capacitor was far too tough.

Total health/shields reduced from 330 to 130



Zeus

The Zeus was overperforming against other Cruisers in large battles due to its heavy splash damage. It’s main gun weapon is getting a huge damage reduction to make it weaker against other Cruisers, but without affecting its performance against most frigates as it still one-shots them. Zeus is also losing health in exchange for a better rate of fire on its main weapon and a damage increase on its secondary to give the Zeus more consistent performance, there was too much variance on how the Zeus performed depending on if it would live long enough to fire an additional volley off. The Secondary weapon buff also will grant better damage against structures.

Zeus Main weapon damage reduced from 400 to 130

Zeus Main weapon cooldown reduced from 8 to 5

Zeus Secondary weapon cooldown reduced from 3.5 to 2.5

Zeus Secondary weapon damage increased from 75 to 145

Zeus health reduced from 1400 to 1100



Avenger

The Avenger is getting a small buff to its secondary weapon which will give it a large increase against buildings but little bonus against frigates.

Avenger secondary increased from 15 to 50

Avenger secondary weapon can now target cruisers and dreadnought



Caregiver

The Caregiver had too much health.

Total health/shields reduced from 1650 to 1350





Apollo

The Apollo and the Artemis are too weak for big PHC cruisers. Increasing their health will see them survive a shot from a Nemesis, on top of receiving a buff to its single target damage output.

Health increased from 680 to 820

Metal cost increased from 290 to 310

Flak Cannon range increased from 800 to 1200

Point Defense Lasers damage increased from 40 to 60

Point Defense Lasers cooldown reduced from 5 to 3



Artemis

Health increased from 680 to 820



Hera

The Hera and Eradicator were too versatile as they had excellent range, could target buildings and were strong against other cruisers and dreadnoughts. We are lowering the range to weaken its performance and prevent it from making the Artemis and Destructor obsolete.

Main gun attack range reduced from 1200 to 1100



Mobile Nullifiers

Mobile Nullifiers lacked the range to comfortably cover an entire army. We are increasing their range to prevent players from needing to manually position their Nullifiers, but increasing their cost to compensate.

Mobile Nullifier range increased from 1000 to 1250

Mobile Nullifier cost increased from 700/400/40 to 800/500/50



Eradicator

We’re increasing the projectile speed of the Eradicator to match the power of its weapon and to lower the amount of overkill for multiple shots firing at the same target. We are also lowering the damage of its secondary weapons to ensure countering it with frigates is more viable.

Main gun projectile speed increased from 700 to 1100

Main gun attack range reduced from 1200 to 1100

Secondary weapon damage reduced from 6 to 4



Experience requirements

Dreadnoughts were leveling up too quickly, which could be frustrating when unlocking multiple instant heal upgrades during a single engagement

Dreadnought & juggernaut experience requirements increased by 50%



Hyperion

The Hyperion’s self healing hull regenerated health far too quickly.

Self healing hull heal rate lowered from 0.25 to 0.125

Autocannon range reduced from 800 to 400 and removed air attack

Autocannon damage reduced



Prometheus

We are giving additional health to the dreadnought destroyers to compensate for their higher costs compared to other classes of dreadnoughts.

Health increased from 14,000 to 16,000

autocannon range reduced from 800 to 400 and removed air attack



Substrate Dreadnoughts

Substrate Dreadnoughts were still to vulnerable to mass Athena or Mauler. We want to encourage people to rely on Nemesis and Eradiactors for countering Dreadnoughts.

Armor increased from 55% to 60



Retributor

Since the Overmind and Cronos are getting more dedicated anti-air attacks, the anti-air capabilities of other dreadnoughts is being removed. It's also losing some of its cooldown on the main weapon so it's better and rapidly switching fire between low tier units.

Main weapon cooldown reduced from 5 seconds to 3

Retributor autocannon range reduced from 600 to 400 and removed air attack

Autocannon damage reduced



Savager



The Executor upgrade was not strong enough given it's the Savager's only primary weapon upgrade and it comes at lvl 4. For comparison, the default weapon does 60 damage.

Total health/shields increased from 14,000 to 16,000

Executor damage increased from 75 to 90



Overmind

The Overmind and Nest of the Queen had potent anti-air damage, but were easily shut down by Strategic Bombers due to the splash damage knocking out all of the drones. To give more consistent anti-air and to further refine the role of these units, the Overmind and Queen are losing one of their Drone Swarms in exchange for a set of invulnerable Anti-air drones, whiletThe Overmind is also being made more vulnerable to anti-drone units and losing some secondary damage. The movement speed increase of many cruisers such as the Nemesis will also be an indirect nerf to the Overmind's anti-ground performance as it will have more difficulty evading backwards out of range.

Loses one its drone swarms in exchange for an anti-air drone swarm which is invincible.

Time to replace lost Drone swarms increased from 0.5 to 2 seconds

Secondary weapon damage reduced from 20 to 10

Secondary weapon accuracy increased from 75 to 100



Cronus

The Cronos is underused compared to the other PHC Dreadnoughts and as a result is getting a bigger role to fill. It’s receiving a large buff to its secondary weapons, which are rail guns rather than autocannons, and they’re being able to target air. The Cronos will now also provide a soft anti-air role, albeit not as strong as the Overmind as it the railguns have a limited firing arc. The large increase to the railgun damage also buffs its anti-ground damage, so to compensate the primary missile attack is losing its armor-piercing to lower the performance against dreadnoughts but while still retaining the same power against buildings.

Cronus Railguns damaged increased from 20 to 60

Cronus Rainguns accuracy increased from 80 to 100

Cronus Railguns now has 20% armor-piercing

Cronus Railguns can now target air

Cronus Primary missile attack armor-piercing reduced to 20%



Agamemnon

The Agamemnon was being neglected in the late game over the Leonidas, so it’s receiving a health buff to match the Leonidas.

Agamemnon health increased from 50,000 to 60,000





Nest of the Queen

Removed one drone swarm and two repair drone swarms

Now has two anti-air drone swarms which are invincible.

Nest of the Queen health/shields increased from 40,000 to 45,000



Leonidas

As difficult as it is to test late game balance, it become clear the Leonidas was over performing and which gave PHC an edge in the very late game situations. The Leonidas is intended to dual any other Juggernaut, but it wasn’t weak enough against the unit types designed to counter it. We are removing its anti-air capabilities and weakening its secondary weapons to make overwhelming it with air or low tier ground units is more viable, which also makes the Agamemnon more desirable to complement it.

The Leonidas is also receiving a cost increase to match the Eye of Darkness, but retains the devastating range and damage advantage since the Eyel area of effect damage. There’s also a number of other changes which indirectly will make countering the Leonidas easier, such as the Fury nerf, changes to Nukes and the cruiser speed adjustment which makes the anti-Leonidas unit mixes more effective.

Leonidas Autocannon air attack removed

Leonidas Secondary weapon cooldown increased from 2 seconds to 8

Leonidas Autocannon damage reduced from 14 to 7

Metal cost increased from 20,000 to 22,000

Radioactives cost increased from 7000 to 8000

Quanta cost increased from 1000 to 1200

Logistics cost increased from 250 to 300

Build time increased from 800 to 900



Searcher

There’s no gameplay reason for this change, it just was weird having a unit with only a single health point. This makes it more consistent with other Substrate units.



Health increased from 1 to 125 in exchange for 125 shields



Fury

The Fury was overperforming a bit compared to the Dominator since its missile attack allowed it to fire even when it wasn’t facing the enemy target.

Fury Atropos Missiles Damage from 75 to 65



Hades



Due to the movement speed bonuses of Frigates and many cruisers, the Hades is getting a projectile speed buff so it isn’t made relatively weaker.

Projectile speed increased from 50 to 60



Air Marauder

The Air Marauder was a good unit for harassment of extractors and buildings, but lacked the punch against units. We’re giving it a small amount of armor piercing to grant better performance against units but without making it too good for harassment.

Air Marauder now has 20% armor piercing



Air Rampager

The Air Rampager was far too powerful, and was dominating the battlefield. It is receiving some heavy nerfs to put its performance in line with other aircraft and make countering it easier.

Total health/shields reduced from 1700 to 1200



Max speed reduced from 500 to 450

Cooldown increased from 0.5 to 0.65

Shield regeneration reduced from 12 to 4



Air Harbinger

Damage increased from 250 to 300

Attack range reduced from 900 to 800



Strategic Bomber

Area of effect reduced from 300 to 250



Nexus

It as possible to cheese your opponents on some maps by spawning in an Engineer/Avatar next to their nexus and build a hidden armory. The sight range increase on the Nexus will make it more difficult to this on certain maps.

Sight range increased from 1000 to 1500



Dreadlaunch & Advanced Assembly

The dreadnought production structures had a negligible cost but were vulnerable to being sniped with only 10,000 health which could be frustrating due to the cost of juggernauts.. We are increasing their health and cost to make it more difficult to snipe a Dreadlaunch part way through building a juggernaut.

Health increased from 10,000 to 15,000

Cost increased from 300/320 to 500/420



Smarty

Basic defenses were too cheap and quick to build for how much value they provided. Rushing these defenses on key choke points could lock down the map. Increasing their cost will make early frigate aggression more viable, while the Smarty is receiving a damage buff to be stronger against cruisers but not stronger vs frigates due to overkilling.

Damage increased from 80 to 100

Metal cost increased from 150 to 200

Build time increased from 28 to 35



Annihilator

Build Time increased from 35 to 38

Metal cost increased from 200 to 230



Artillery Post

The performance of the Artillery post varies depending on the map, but in some situations massing them was too effective and frustrating to play against.

Radioactives cost increased from 240 to 340



Barrager

Priorities changed to put Cruisers and Dreadnoughts above Frigates



Sentinel

The Sentinel and Pulverizer were overperforming against Dreadnoughts due to their high armor-piercing which discouraged people from upgrading to the Oblivion and Exterminator turrets, resulting in them being neglected.

Armor-piercing reduced from 40% to 20%



Drone MRV

The range and AOE on the Drone MRV made it far too effectively against frigates.

AOE reduced from 100 to 60



Pulverizer

The Pulverizer and Exterminator had too much rangem making countering them with artillery difficult. The Pulverizer range was noted to be reduced in 2.71 but was unintentionally left out. It was also over performing against Frigates due to its continuous beam, so it’s getting a cooldown in between shots to make it weaker against frigates.

Pulverizer range reduced from 1000 to 900

Armor-piercing reduced from 100% to 20%

Cooldown increased from 0.16 to 1.5

Priorities changed to put Cruisers and Dreadnoughts above Frigates



Exterminator

Exterminator range reduced from 1100 to 1000



Constable

The Constable and Blossom launcher were documented in the 2.71 update as receiving an increase to their damage, but these changes were unintentionally left out. The basic anti-air defenses will now perform better for their cost.

Damage increased from 60 to 75



Blossom Launcher

Damage increased from 20 to 24



Falcon

The Falcon was underperforming

Damage increased from 20 to 26

Health increased from 4000 to 5500



Air Eliminator

The Air Eliminator is receiving a reduction in its cooldown to give it better performance, in particular against light aircraft.

Cooldown reduced from 5 to 2

Health increased from 7000 to 7500



StarBurst

Cooldown increased from 0.5 to 1

Total health & shields increased from 4000 to 5500



Sky Ender

Damage increased from 50 to 60

Total health/shields increased from 7000 to 7500

Emergency & Serpentine Turret

These Orbital turrets scale poorly into the late game as army sizes become large, so they are receiving a reduction in their Quanta ramp up so they have more of a role to fill outside of just the early game.

Quanta cost increase per cast decreased from +25% to +15%

Nano-Mesh Barrier

Nano-Mesh Barrier also didn't scale well into the late game because the +2000 health is fixed and not a percentage that increases with Quantum Upgrades. It's ramp up is being lowered to give it more usability as the game progresses.

Quanta cost increase per cast decreased from +25% to +15%



Intensive Care

Intensive Care (PHC) heals 2400 health over 30 seconds, compared to Regenerate (Substrate) which restores 2000 shields over 10 seconds. In almost all cases, the quicker heal per second of Regenerate is beneficial, so we are increasing the amount provided in Intensive Care but increasing their Quanta cost given the amount of value they can provide.

Total healing increased from 1200 to 2400

Quanta cost increased 100 to 125



Regenerate

Quanta cost increased 100 to 125



Carving Turret

Quanta cost increased from 150 to 180

Quanta cost increase per cast increased from +10% to +25%

Cooldown increased from 10 seconds to 15



Incursion

Cost increased from 150 to 200



Plasma Storm

Quanta cost increased from 250 to 300

Quanta cost increase per cast increased from +25% to +30%



Nanite Assasination

Quanta cost increased from 200 to 250



Orbital Strike & Antimatter Detonation

The “Nuke” abilities were far too powerful, and would often determine how games are decided. They are getting a cost increase to justify their ability to decimate entire cruiser armies or lines of structures. Orbital Strike costs more since it has a large radius, despite having slightly less damage.

Antimatter Detonation Quanta cost increased from 600 to 900

Orbital Strike detonation Quanta cost increased from 600 to 1000

Quanta cost increase per cast increased from +25% to +30%



Movement Speed Changes

We are increasing the movement speed of many units to make it more consistent among unit tiers and for the game flow better. Increasing the movement speed will also make it easier to evacuate Orbital Abilities such as Plasma Storm, "nukes" and to evade Strategic Bombers. Frigates, in particular, are getting a large speed boost to allow them to better out maneuver tougher cruisers and be more viable for harassment.

Brute max speed increased from 120 to 150

Archer max speed increased from 110 to 150

Medic max speed increased from 120 to 150

Martyr max speed increased from 130 to 150

Reaper max speed increased from 110 to 150

Sky Cleanser max speed increased from 110 to 150

Sky Cleanser acceleration increased from 180 to 400

Capacitor max speed increased from 110 to 150

Tormentor acceleration reduced from 400 to 180

Apollo max speed increased from 84 to 100

Destructor max speed increased from 78 to 100

Drone hive max speed increased from 70 to 100

Drone Hive acceleration reduced from 120 to 70

Artemis max speed increased from 78 to 100

Nemesis max speed increased from 72 to 100

Nemesis acceleration reduced from 120 to 70

Caregiver max speed reduced from 150 to 120

Mauler max speed reduced from 125 to 100

Avenger max speed increased from 100 to 100

Masochist max speed reduced from 150 to 100

Hera max speed increased from 60 to 72

Eradicator max speed increased from 60 to 72

Prometheus max speed increased from 68 to 72



Campaign



Yorkshire

Yorkshire was introducing too many things at once to new players. It will be less overwhelming without the Sky Factory. Mac was also too powerful in this mission and would carry the player too much.

Removed access to Advanced Sky Factory

Lowered the AI "Difficulty" level of Mac on all campaign difficulty levels.



Calethaon

Due to the move speed changes, the waves of enemy units will arrive faster. We are delaying the first wave in order to prevent this mission from becoming more difficult

Delayed started wave by 10 seconds



Decanus

To compensate for Incursion cost increased

Starting quanta Increased from 150 to 250

Fixed issue where Atlas was not buildable



Silgul (Legacy Change)

Silgul received some changes in the 2.71 update aimed at making it more difficulty, but was not documented in the change log.

Increased number of starting buildings the enemy AI receives when playing on hard and expert



Auctor (Genesis mission 6)

Some of the mountains were causing pathing issues

Replaced some mountains with hills



Scenarios



Oblivion

Increased AI difficulty when playing on hard and expert



Implosion

Changed move order of starting engineer so it doesn't end on top of a region



Mountaintop

Added additional Radioactives



King of the Hill

One of our top players was able to “beat” this mission by holding out for long enough that the mission stops becoming more difficult. We are adding additional challenges for players who manage to last over an hour, and removing one of the huge early difficulty spikes.

Can now be played as Substrate

Removed Victory Point win condition

Fixed issue where Metal Extractor wasn’t belonging to the Generator it was closest to.

Delayed first enemy wave by 10 seconds

Added several waves of Air Harbingers and Strategic Bombers that spawn at a random location on the map starting at 46 minutes and ramp up in intensity over time.

Added a hidden unkillable Sensor Tower with unlimited range to ensure enemy units can attack up the high ground at 75 minutes

Added additional weapon upgrades to player 3 at 75 minutes (The one who gets the Experimental Eye of Darkness Juggernauts)

Removed waves of furies

Removed two of the Cronos and Prometheus spawns from their 4x spawn



Bug fixes