We have another new build of the Unreal Tournament pre-alpha for you to check out and play. This build includes a new warm up mode before multiplayer matches start, lots of movement and weapon functionality and balance changes, a new armor system, significant HUD updates, and a profile and key bindings system refactor.

The HUD now supports a horizontal weapon bar option, in addition to the vertical weapon bar. The new armor/health widget does not include a paper doll, which is obsolete with the introduction of the new armor system. HUD scaling and opacity settings have been adjusted, and new more visible versions of the crosshairs are now standard. Chat message formatting and display has been improved, and we now show an “in combat” icon over the beacons of teammates actively fighting.

With the new armor system, the small armor replaces the thigh pads and gives 50 armor. The medium armor replaces the vest and gives 100 armor. The shield belt still provides 150 armor. Regular armor pickups stack up to a maximum of 100 armor. Armor has 100% absorption from 150 to 100 armor and 50% absorption below 100 armor. Damage impacts on players with any amount of armor will produce a special armor hit effect. In addition, players with over 100 armor will glow with a bright shield belt effect. Players with 51 to 100 armor will have a less bright armor overlay. Last but not least, players now start with 25 armor.

Many weapons were adjusted for this build. We’ll provide an overview here, and you can drill down for more details in the release notes on the Unreal Tournament wiki.

Flak Cannon damage per shard was reduced, and shard damage was further reduced after bounces.

Rocket Launcher grenades were made more predictable and easier to use, but with a shorter fuse time. Also, the Rocket Launcher alt-fire load up can be held for all 3 barrels even if you run out of ammo while loading.

Shock Rifle primary fire damage was increased, and minimum combo damage was increased.

The Stinger Minigun alt fire has been revamped. It now has a much faster firing rate, shooting faster smaller shards that don’t last as long, do less damage, and add no momentum impulse.

The Link Gun primary fire now overheats after shooting a long burst, resulting in a very slow firing rate until it is allowed to cool down. The Link projectile now starts with smaller collision and grows quickly after spawning, so primary fire is less effective at close range.

The alt-fire blob web functionality was temporarily removed from the Bio Launcher until it can be improved.

The Redeemer missile takes a little more damage to shoot down, and plays a hit sound for the driver and the shooter when it takes damage. A shot down Redeemer missile now plays an alarm sound when shot down, and the time to explode after being shot down was reduced. In addition, the missile is outlined through walls for both teams when it has been shot down but has not yet detonated.

Ready players can now enter warm up mode before a multiplayer match starts. If there are players warming up, the server will wait longer to start the match if the game isn’t full.

The new Weapon Settings menu makes it much easier to group and configure your weapons.

This update also includes player movement tweaks, a profile and key bindings system refactor that addresses many issues, and many other game enhancements, bug fixes and updates. You can read about all of the changes on the Unreal Tournament wiki.