Treacherous Tyrants! We’ve had our heads down in all things Combat these past couple of weeks and we’re finally ready to release our first pass at it. The previous version was something thrown together early-on and we were never all that happy with it. There was a lot of ship power spamming, no real sense for strategy beyond ‘biggest fleet wins’ and it never really felt like a well thought out aspect to the game. So – we’ve set about changing that. And I must repeat, what we’re putting up today is our first pass at it. There are bound to be aspects that aren’t working quite right or need ‘the knob’ turn a little to the left or right. It’s always that way. We’re also asking that people try to approach it objectively. That’s a difficult one and something we struggle with a lot while working on the game, but pretending you haven’t played any previous versions and just having a fair look at the new stuff is important in the process. I mean, all commentary is worthwhile to us, but we do love those FRESH EYEBALLS. Here’s a list of the new additions to Combat:

• One Special shot per ship: Ships now get one special shot per instance of Combat. Their energy won’t refill automatically, so you’ll need to be more careful and deliberate about where you focus the added firepower. They’ll still fire the usual volleys of shots, but for that extra kick, you get just one per ship.
• Tactics: At the start of Combat, you get to choose from one of 3 random Tactics. The one you choose will sit to the upper left of your fleet and it’s a button you can hit at any time during gameplay. Sometimes you’ll want to hold out for just the right moment, sometimes you’ll want to hit that sucker right away. We’re still brainstorming different Tactics that could be fun, so please let us know if you’ve got any wild ideas.
• Breaches and Crits: There is a chance in the heat of Combat that you or the enemy will get a Crit (Critical Hit) and it will cause a Breach. The Crit does a bit more damage than the average shot and the Breach it causes will do a small amount of damage over time. It will also disable the special shot on your ship unless you repair it. Repairing it costs one bolt of energy, so it’s not that hard to shut down a Breach – you just have to be on the lookout. There is also a Tactic you can use to seal all Breaches at once, if you decide to use it.
• Weather: Oh man, space weather is now a thing. It’s an equal opportunity damage inflictor, but it’s one you can capitalize on as well as defend against. More often than not, we find it tipping the scales in your favor, but sometimes… well, you know… it will rain on your parade. But as with some of these other new and threatening aspects to Combat, you’ve got Tactics you can play to get the upper hand. And we know you like the upper hand, all Tyrants do…
• Ship Balance Pass: Some of these new additions required us to do a slight balancing pass on all of the ships. They’ll fire a little faster than they used to, some of them have slightly different weapons – it’s all fairly subtle, but helped to balance out the changes.