Okay ChatGPT, please write me a summary of this update!... What do you mean it's too long?? Fine, we'll do it ourselves... Welcome, all you lovely AIs out there! This Update may be a longer read, as we've changed how the endless mode works and did some rebalancing of the combat part. We've put most of the detailed explanations into expandable fields, so it's hopefully more readable to you. If you find the time, we'd love to hear your thoughts about these changes on the Steam Discussions or our Discord! Let's get to it:

Features

• Updated Unity to 2022.3.0 LTS - This may fix some reported crashes, please let us know!
• Removed the Railgun + Artillery Event Beacon.
• Small redesign of the savegame selection & Legal Disclaimer.
• Capped Tower stats. (See below for more information).
• Added a new Icon for the TD mode, that you can hover over to see the total enemy values added by the selected beacon and through the new endless mode mutations.
  

Balancing

The main goal was to reduce the need for resource grind a bit and to streamline the whole TD part, so that new users get a smoother experience. If you think some levels became to easy with your existing savegame, please remember that we made this balance with a fresh savegame in mind! Even though we want some levels to be a bit more difficult, to have players playing around with optimizing their gear and setup, we overshot it on some parts and for example increased resistances to early to much. So the main things we adjusted are:

• Enemies now have either more HP or new skills instead of a simple resistance increase.
• Enemies have their exp and drop chances increased and some loot tables were changed.
• The overall Piercing gained from skilltrees has been reeduced and will now mainly be achieved through equipment.
• Piercing and Resistance stats on Equipment and Beacons now add more points to the ItemLevel.
• We've capped some stats for each tower so it can't go above or below a certain amount. (see below)
• Endless mode should be more challenging and random with the new mutations (see below).

More Enemy Skills and Beacon Mutations will come with further updates!

Capped Stats

Since with recipe modifications and the new Alien Orbs you are able to craft very mighty equipment, it was necessary to cap some Tower stats so they can not go below or above a certain value. For example a Reload Time under 0,1s for the Railgun Tower leads to... "interesting" behaviours. Thus there are now some stats that are capped individually for each Tower:

• Reload Speed
• Rate of Fire
• Max. Range
• Ammo

You can find the cap for each stat in its tooltip:

Endless

Endless mode has undergone some changes in how it works. Before it simply increased some stats for each endless level you've reached. Now each time you reach a new endless level the game first picks randomly from a list of possible mutations that may add different kind of stats or even skills. Afterwards the default stats increase is applied like now. (But with some altered values) These mutations are sorted into "Tiers" and inside these Tiers each mutation has a certain chance to be picked. Reaching higher endless Levels means, chances are increasing of rolling more difficult mutations. [expand type=details] For example: You play a Level with a "normal" Beacon, you've won the level and start Endless 1. Because you are on Endless 1, the game only looks into Tier 1 mutations, picks one randomly and adds it's effects. For this example it picks the "+75% HP to all enemies" mutation. Now the total sum of the Level Beacon HP Modification would be: 100% (normal) + 75% (Mutation) = 175%. After adding this mutation the default endless increments are applied, which are:

• Enemy HP * 1.25 (multiplicative so 175% * 1.25 = 218,75%)
• Enemy Resistance Increase + 10% (additive so 100% + 10% = 110%)
• Drop Chance + 2.5% (additive so 100% + 2,5% = 102,5%)
• EP Reward + 10% (additive so 100% + 10% = 110%)

After reaching endless 2, the game now can has a chance of 75% to pick a Tier 1 Mutation and 25% to pick a Tier 2 Mutation. Let's say it's bad luck and you get a Tier 2 Mutation, for this example we pick the "Bulk up" Mutation. This mutation adds the following stats:

• + 50% Enemy HP
• + 10% Resistances
• Adds the Skill "Elemental Shell" with 5 Stacks.
• Increases DropChance by 1%
• Increases EP Reward by 10%

This is now added to the existing beacon:

• Enemy HP + 50% (Additive so 218,75% +50% = 268,75%)
• Enemy Resistance Increase + 10% (additive so 110% + 10% = 120%)
• Drop Chance + 1% (additive so 102,5% + 1% = 103,5%)
• EP Reward + 10% (additive so 110% + 10% = 120%)

Now for the Skill this is a bit different. If an enemy doesn't have this skill yet, it's simply added. If an enemy already has this skill however, the 5 stacks are added to it instead. So if for example the enemy already had Elemental Shell with 15 Stacks, the skill now has 20. This behaviour differs from skill to skill. For example if the enemy has "Regenerates 5% of its maxHP every 3 seconds" and the mutation would add "Regenerates 10% of its maxHP every 10 seconds", the enemy now has both. So some skills "stack", others are just added to the enemy and so on. You may have to click on an enemy to see how a mutation behaves after it has been applied. After adding all this, now the default endless increments are applied again:

• Enemy HP * 1.25 (218,75% * 1.25 = ~335,93%)
• Enemy Resistance Increase + 10% (120% + 10% = 130%)
• Drop Chance + 2.5% (103,5% + 2,5% = 106%)
• EP Reward + 10% (additive so 120% + 10% = 130%)

This whole process repeats for every new endless level you reach. The maximum Tier for mutations is 5, so after endless 5 you won't "unlock" new sets of mutations, but instead from now on the chance of getting a higher mutation increases each time. On Level 3 you have a 50% Chance for Tier 1 and a 25% for Tier 2 and 3 On Level 4 you have a 25% Chance for each Tier 1-4 On Level 5 you have a 20% Chance for each Tier 1-5 From Level 5 onwards the Chances are now shifting towards the highest Tier. This is done by substracting 5% from the Tier 1 and re-distributing it to the other chances, while Tier 5 always get's the biggest "cut". Level 6 chances would look like: 15% Tier 1, 21% Tier 2-4, 22% Tier 5. Level 7: 10% Tier 1, 22% Tier 2-4, 24% Tier 5. This goes on until Tier 1 reaches 0% on endless level 9 and the rest has: 24% Tier 2-4 28% Tier 5. From now on the Chances for Tier 2 are reduced by 8% per Level and redistributed: Level 10: 0% Tier 1, 16% Tier 2, 26% Tier 3-4, 32% Tier 5 Level 11: 0% Tier 1, 8% Tier 2, 28% Tier 3-4, 36% Tier 5 Level 12: 0% Tier 1-2, 30% Tier 3-4, 40% Tier 5 Now the same with Level 3 and 10% steps: Level 13: 0% Tier 1-2, 20% Tier 3, 35% Tier 4, 45% Tier 5 [...] Level 15: 0% Tier 1-3, 45% Tier 4, 55% Tier 5. From here on it goes down in 9% steps until Level 20: Level 16: 0% Tier 1-3, 36% Tier 4, 64% Tier 5 [...] Level 20: 0% Tier 1-4, 100% Tier 5. In other words: From endless 20 on only Tier 5 Mutations will be rolled. Let us know, what you think of these changes! [/expand]

Beacons

[expand type=details] Since the overall drops of enemies were increased, we've slightly reduced drop bonuses for beacons. HardBeacon:

• Reduced max Dropchance from 130% to 120%
• Reduced max DropAmount from 130% to 120%

Iron Beacon:

• Reduced max Dropchance from 155% to 130%
• Reduced max DropAmount from 155% to 130%

Titanium Beacon:

• Reduced max Dropchance from 180% to 150%
• Reduced max DropAmount from 180% to 140%

SilverBeacon:

• Reduced max Dropchance from 250% to 175%
• Reduced max DropAmount from 250% to 180%
• Reduced Max Resistances from 200% to 180%

[/expand]

Towers

[expand type=details] Gun Tower:

• Increased Stacks per "Heating Up" Skill level from 3 to 5
• Increased "Heating Up" Buff duration from 8s to 9s
• Now has a min reload time of 2,5s
• Now has a min Rate of Fire of 0.15
• Now has a max range of 30
• Now has a max Ammo of 120

Railgun Tower:

• Reduced Tier 2 Max. Range from 30 to 28
• Reduced Tier 3 Max. Range from 36 to 32
• Now has a min reload time of 3s
• Now has a max range of 50
• Reduced "Physical Piercing" piercing from 2% to 1% per level, added +5 physical damage per level
• Reduced "Resistance Piercing I" physical/electrical piercing from 2%/1% to 1%/0.5% per level
• Reduced "Resistance Piercing II" physical piercing from 2% to 1% per level
• Reduced "Resistance Piercing III" physical/electrical piercing from 2.5%/2.5% to 2%/1.5% per level
• Reduced "Resistance Piercing III" Range bonus from 2% to 1% per level
• Reduced "A.I. Optimizations" Reloadspeed bonus from 2% to 1% per level

Laser Tower:

• Reduced Tier 1 Ammo from 70 to 40
• Now has a min reload time of 3s
• Now has a min Rate of Fire of 0.15
• Now has a max range of 28
• Now has a max Ammo of 150
• Decreased "Melting Ray" resistance reduction from 2% to 1% per level for skilllevel >5
• Reduced "Frequency Modulation" heat piercing from 1% to 0.5% per level
• "Gamma Ray Optimizations II" now adds +1 heat damage per level

Cryo Tower:

• Increased build cost from 125 to 130
• Now has a min reload time of 3s
• Now has a min Rate of Fire of 0.3
• Now has a max range of 26
• Now has a max Ammo of 50
• Reduced "Aggressive Chemical I" AoE cold damage and piercing from 2% to 1% per level

Artillery Tower:

• Decreased flight time of the projectile by 0.5s, so it should now hit a bit more reliable
• Now has a min reload time of 4s
• Now has a min Rate of Fire of 0.15
• Now has a max range of 100
• Now has a max Ammo of 10

Tesla Tower:

• Now has a min reload time of 2s
• Now has a min Rate of Fire of 0,35
• Now has a max range of 30

[/expand]

Enemies

[expand type=details] Level 1 (Traebis IV) Wave 5:

• Reduced amount of spawned Light Devourers by 2 for each Spawnpoint
• Increased delay before Light Devourers spawn by 3 Seconds

Wave 6:

• Reduced amount of spawned Light Devourers by 2 for each Spawnpoint
• Increased delay before Light Devourers spawn by 3 Seconds

Light Devourer:

• Increased Stone drop chance from 15% to 30%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 15% to 25%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 10% to 20%
• Increased Coal drop chance from 8% to 15%

Stone Golem:

• Reduced Health from 50 to 45
• Increased Physical Resistance from 15% to 25%
• Increased Heat Resistance from 20% to 30%
• Increased Stone drop chance from 25% to 65%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 25% to 35%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 15% to 30%
• Increased Quartz Crystal drop chance from 5% to 10%

Level 2 (Ralvuitov II) Wave 2,4,6,8:

• Increased delay between Stone Golem spawns from 6 to 7 seconds

Light Devourer:

• Increased Stone drop chance from 10% to 30%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 10% to 20%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 15% to 35%
• Increased Coal drop chance from 10% to 18%
• Increased Bauxite Ore drop chance from 4% to 12%

Stone Golem:

• Increased Health from 60 to 65
• Increased Experience Reward from 15 to 16
• Increased Stone drop chance from 25% to 65%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 15% to 25%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 25% to 40%
• Increased Bauxite Ore drop chance from 12% to 22%
• Increased Coal drop chance from 20% to 35%
• Increased Quartz Crystal drop chance from 5% to 10%

Level 3 (Cosuna) Light Devourer:

• Increased Health from 30 to 35
• Increased Experience Rewards from 6 to 7
• Increased Stone drop chance from 10% to 30%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 9% to 16%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 12% to 22%
• Increased Bauxite Ore drop chance from 2% to 12%
• Now has a Chance of 6% to drop Titanium Ore

Stone Golem:

• Increased Health from 60 to 80
• Increased Experience Reward from 15 to 18
• Increased Stone drop chance from 20% to 65%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 11% to 25%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 12% to 25%
• Increased Titanium Ore drop chance from 10% to 20%
• Increased Coal drop chance from 15% to 35%
• Increased Quartz Crystal drop chance from 5% to 10%
• Now has a Chance of 20% to drop Bauxite Ore

Copper Golem:

• Increased Health from 100 to 150
• Reduced Physical Resistance from 70% to 40%
• Increased Experience Reward from 25 to 28
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 12% to 45%
• Increased Titanium Ore drop chance from 10% to 25%
• Increased Bauxite Ore drop chance from 22% to 33%
• Increased Coal drop chance from 20% to 35%
• Reduced amount of Coal dropped from 2 to 1

Blue Ore Dragon:

• Decreased Damage To Base from 10 to 5
• Increased Titanium Ore drop chance from 55% to 75%

Level 4 (Saitoris) Sand Devourer:

• Decreased Health from 60 to 50
• Decreased Heat Resistance from 35% to 30%
• Increased Experience Reward from 10 to 12
• Increased Silica drop chance from 14% to 25%
• Increased Sand drop chance from 18% to 35%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 5% to 15%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 5% to 15%
• Increased Bauxite Ore drop chance from 3% to 13%
• Increased Coal drop chance from 6% to 12%
• Now has a Chance of 20% to drop Stone

Sand Golem:

• Increased Health from 200 to 250
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 45% to 30%
• Decreased Heat Resistance from 60% to 40%
• Increased Experience Reward from 50 to 55
• Increased Silica drop chance from 25% to 35%
• Increased Sand drop chance from 25% to 30%
• Increased Coal drop chance from 10% to 25%
• Increased Bauxite Ore drop chance from 5% to 15%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 7% to 20%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 9% to 20%
• Increased Quartz Crystal drop chance from 8% to 15%
• Increased Titanium Ore drop chance from 3% to 10%

Sand Runner:

• Increased Health from 45 to 50
• Now has the "Quick Adaption" Skill with a 5% proc chance and 10% healing
• Reduced Physical Resistance from 25% to 20%
• Increased Experience Reward from 15 to 30
• Now uses it's own loot table instead of the Sand Devourers

Level 5 (Cetazed) Bio Devourer:

• Decreased Health from 80 to 75
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 25% to 20%
• Decreased Regeneration amount from 6% to 5%
• Increased Experience Reward from 15 to 18
• Increased Tungsten Ore drop chance from 3% to 10%
• Increased Sand drop chance from 18% to 35%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 8% to 15%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 10% to 20%
• Increased Sulfur drop chance from 3% to 10%
• Increased Silver Ore drop chance from 1% to 3%

Bio Runner:

• Increased Health from 50 to 65
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 35% to 20%
• Decreased Max Speed from 33 to 30
• Now has the "Quick Adaption" Skill with a 5% proc chance and 10% healing
• Removed "Regeneration" skill
• Increased Experience Reward from 35 to 50
• Decreased Tungsten Ore drop chance from 90% to 75%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 15% to 30%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 15% to 30%
• Increased Sulfur drop chance from 6% to 20%
• Increased Silver Ore drop chance from 5% to 10%

Tungsten Golem:

• Increased Health from 400 to 500
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 85% to 40%
• Decreased Heat Resistance from 90% to 50%
• Now has the "Elemental Shell" Skill with 10 Stacks and 1% reduction
• Increased Experience Reward from 75 to 100
• Increased Tungsten Ore drop chance from 35% to 60%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 12% to 25%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 12% to 20%
• Increased Coal drop chance from 22% to 30%
• Increased Bauxite Ore drop chance from 9% to 20%
• Increased Sulfur drop chance from 8% to 20%
• Increased Silver Ore drop chance from 8% to 15%
• Decreased Silver Amount fron 3 to 2
• Increased Quartz Crystal drop chance from 6% to 15%

Silver Golem:

• Increased Health from 800 to 1.000
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 55% to 40%
• Decreased Heat Resistance from 100% to 60%
• Now has the "Elemental Shell" Skill with 20 Stacks and 1% reduction
• Increased Credit Reward from 20 to 25
• Increased Experience Reward from 150 to 200
• Increased Tungsten Ore drop chance from 25% to 50%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 12% to 25%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 15% to 25%
• Increased Bauxite Ore drop chance from 8% to 20%
• Increased Sulfur drop chance from 10% to 20%
• Increased Silver Ore drop chance from 30% to 75%
• Increased Silver Drop Amount from 3 to 5
• Increased Diamond drop chance from 5% to 10%

Level 6 (Purtauri) Swarm Devourer:

• Increased Health from 100 to 150
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 100% to 50%
• Increased Experience Reward from 18 to 22
• Increased Stone drop chance from 8% to 15%
• Increased Coal drop chance from 10% to 12%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 5% to 10%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 5% to 10%
• Increased Sulfur drop chance from 2% to 5%
• Increased Silver Ore drop chance from 1% to 3%

Swarm Runner:

• Increased Health from 85 to 125
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 60% to 40%
• Decreased Heat Resistance from 80% to 50%
• Now has the "Quick Adaption" Skill with a 10% proc chance and 10% healing
• Increased Credit Reward from 2 to 3
• Increased Experience Reward from 20 to 50
• Increased Silica drop chance from 14% to 25%
• Increased Coal drop chance from 6% to 15%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 5% to 10%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 5% to 10%
• Increased Sulfur drop chance from 3% to 15%
• Increased Bauxite Ore drop chance from 3% to 10%
• Increased Silver Ore drop chance from 3% to 6%
• Increased Gold Ore drop chance from 3% to 5%

Tungsten Golem:

• Increased Health from 500 to 750
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 95% to 50%
• Decreased Heat Resistance from 95% to 60%
• Now has the "Elemental Shell" Skill with 20 Stacks and 1% reduction
• Increased Experience Reward from 80 to 125
• Increased Tungsten Ore drop chance from 35% to 60%
• Increased Copper Ore drop chance from 10% to 15%
• Increased Iron Ore drop chance from 10% to 15%
• Increased Coal drop chance from 25% to 30%
• Increased Bauxite Ore drop chance from 10% to 15%
• Increased Sulfur drop chance from 5% to 15%
• Increased Silver Ore drop chance from 3% to 8%
• Increased Gold Ore drop chance from 15% to 18%
• Increased Quartz Crystal drop chance from 5% to 15%
• Increased Alien Orb drop chance from 0.02% to 0.05%

Gold Golem:

• Increased Health from 3.250 to 4.000
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 65% to 55%
• Decreased Heat Resistance from 95% to 75%
• Now has the "Elemental Shell" Skill with 25 Stacks and 1% reduction
• Now Regenerates 5% of max hp every 10s instead of 6% every 12s
• Increased Credit Reward from 25 to 30
• Increased Experience Reward from 225 to 400
• Increased Gold Drop Amount from 3 to 5
• Increased Silver Ore drop chance from 25% to 50%
• Increased Sulfur drop chance from 8% to 20%
• Increased Quartz Crystal drop chance from 8% to 15%
• Increased Diamond drop chance from 8% to 15%
• Removed Stone from loot table

Level 7 (Auridian) Swarm Devourer:

• Increased Health from 200 to 300
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 100% to 75%
• Increased Experience Reward from 20 to 30
• Increased Titanium Ore drop chance from 8% to 15%
• Increased Silver Ore drop chance from 2% to 4%
• Increased Gold Ore drop chance from 1% to 2%

Swarm Runner:

• Increased Health from 100 to 200
• Now has the "Quick Adaption" Skill with a 10% proc chance and 10% healing
• Increased Credit Reward from 2 to 3
• Increased Experience Reward from 35 to 75
• Increased Silver Ore drop chance from 6% to 8%
• Increased Gold Ore drop chance from 4% to 5%
• Now has a chance of 20% to drop 1 silica

Tungsten Golem:

• Increased Health from 750 to 1.000
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 95% to 65%
• Decreased Heat Resistance from 95% to 75%
• Now has the "Elemental Shell" Skill with 25 Stacks and 1% reduction
• Increased Experience Reward from 100 to 200
• Increased Tungsten Ore drop chance from 35% to 60%
• Increased Bauxite Ore drop chance from 10% to 20%
• Increased Sulfur drop chance from 5% to 15%
• Increased Silver Ore drop chance from 3% to 8%
• Increased Gold Ore drop chance from 12% to 18%
• Increased Quartz Crystal drop chance from 5% to 15%
• Increased Alien Orb drop chance from 0.025% to 0.05%

Red Ore Dragon:

• Increased Health from 4.500 to 5.000
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 65% to 60%
• Decreased Heat Resistance from 65% to 60%
• Now has the "Reactive Armor" Skill with 30 Stacks and 1% reduction
• Now Regenerates 5% of max hp every 5s instead of 3% every 5s
• Increased Experience Reward from 375 to 500
• Increased Gold Ore drop chance from 50% to 75%
• Increased Silver Ore drop chance from 25% to 50%
• Increased Sulfur drop amount from 3 to 5
• Increased Tungsten Ore drop chance from 15% to 30%

Large Platin Golem:

• Increased Health from 20.000 to 25.000
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 100% to 75%
• Decreased Heat Resistance from 100% to 75%
• Decreased Cold Resistance from 100% to 75%
• Decreased Damage to base from 20 to 10
• Increased Experience Reward from 1.000 to 2.500

Medium Platin Golem:

• Increased Health from 5.000 to 7.500
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 90% to 65%
• Decreased Heat Resistance from 90% to 65%
• Decreased Cold Resistance from 90% to 65%
• Decreased Damage to base from 10 to 6
• Now has the "Elemental Shell" Skill with 25 Stacks and 1% reduction
• Increased Experience Reward from 400 to 500

Small Platin Golem:

• Increased Health from 2.500 to 3.000
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 75% to 50%
• Decreased Heat Resistance from 75% to 50%
• Decreased Cold Resistance from 75% to 50%
• Now has the "Elemental Shell" Skill with 10 Stacks and 1% reduction
• Increased Experience Reward from 200 to 500

Level 8 (Drecanus) Swarm Devourer:

• Increased Health from 450 to 500
• Increased Experience Reward from 40 to 50

Small Platin Golem:

• Increased Health from 2.500 to 3.000
• Decreased Physical Resistance from 85% to 65%
• Decreased Heat Resistance from 85% to 65%
• Decreased Cold Resistance from 85% to 56%

[/expand]

Bugfixes & Misc.

• Fixed spacing errors on Saveslot text.
• Changed the light in Level 8 to make it brighter and added some fluff.
• Possible fix for misplaced healthbars.

That's it for this update, we hope you enjoy it - See you next time!

[ 2023-06-09 11:53:27 CET ] [ Original post ]