Really big "fine-tuning" patch released. I don't have time to really play it, but I'm really keen on the direction of the changes - a lot of tweaks to make a planet's atmosphere play a larger role in how the game actually plays, so not all planets will feel the same. Some of that comes from e.g. increased lethality in combat on hostile planets, some comes from e.g. nerfing Demetalization. Ammo factories are finally a thing too. It seems like it may slow things down a bit, which could have the unintended consequence of making nukes more decisive, though. OTOH, it'll take longer to advance to new tech fields, and there's an even-slower development speed available, so...
FIXES + FINETUNINGS VARIOUS
-Fixed glitch with Organic Furnace disappearing when mothballed.
-Fixed a couple of glitches in the river/isthmus connecting system between lakes/seas. Should get slightly better results now.*
-Fixed a glitch causing dissatisfied leaders (non-MTH) to happen a bit too often
-Fixed a bug in a PBEM game where a crash occurred during processing of a defunct Major Regime (Harald)
-Governor Admin Skill increases Hidden Economy Credits (if roll>70) + Increased Private Credits production of Assets (if roll>100)
-The bottom Asset Tab now correctly uses the “delegated Assets” sorting sub-tab.
-Perma snow is now better, not perfect yet, but better modeled. Fact there is hardly any rain currently, present time, in some areas doesn’t mean there wasn’t any rain/snow millions of years ago. Except for really young Planets and really dry Planets, on cold planets there tends to be snow/glacier everywhere now in permafrost conditions. *
-Fixed UI Map Glitch if moving units and inspecting Assets at the same time
-Improved Farm placement algorithms a lot as well as preview production by farms a bit.
-Fixed issue with Air Bridge logistics if bridge was only one Hex away. (not 100% sure this does not have any side-effects.. Please keep close eye on air bridges this beta version)
-Fixed glitch where you got empty air units on some vacuum-like (or other extreme) Planets because no viable Air Model could be found.
-Low Air Pressure ensures certain RHL Levels. Below 100mbar always RHL level 4. At very low levels it doesn’t matter anymore if there are toxic gasses, its just vacuum that will kill you.
-Fixed issue with depleted Asset & Vidcom screen
COMBAT + MODELS
-Added vehicle sheer size hitpoints (not hitpoints vs infantry) positive modifier from size 6 onwards.* to give a nudge to the medium and heavy tanks (and others). Up to +50% for size 10 and higher. *
-With new Model creation Trucks (and to lesser extend APC) get some simulated weight in their engine power calculations so that their eventual cargo is taken into account as well as making playing around with engine size make some more sense gameplay-wise. *
-Population, Workers & Free Folk can now suffer casualties due to structural damage in their hex. It is max 5% if full structural damage. (but this can be much higher with higher Hazard Levels. “Don’t fire a gun when there is vacuum outside”)
-Unit gets extra Hide Points after 1000mm precipitation in a Hex.*
-The extra HP coming from the AT-Guns protective sloping armored plate (which is bigger and more sturdy with bigger guns) has been overdone (thank you discord) and is now calculated based on the callibre mm value of the gun for HP and half that for HP versus Infantry. *
-AT-Guns are now artillery movement, it made little sense they were foot movement as they will always have to be pulled along rather slowly. (even allowing artillery movement for at/art is already a bit of a gameplay service) *
-I am keeping AT-Guns as rear area, but they can now be attacked or counterAttack if they have fired in the current Combat Round. Subformations can now attack rear area attackers but there are chances it is not possible (1) if (Landscape Hide Points * 1.5) < 1d100 OR (2) if random roll dth(currentEntrench) is higher than 50. (means that AT-Guns will be strongest in Hexes where they can hide or are well entrenched & of course with adequate screening force as was already the case). Note that the attacking side has Landscape Hide Points / 2 and no entrenchment roll applied. *
-Models that are stronger in defense than in attack have more ammo expenditure in defense. Like Infantry, Bazooka, MG. Since these are the postures where they’ll have optimal rate of fire (due to less moving around to advance)
GENERAL HIGHER COSTS
-Solar Panels produce optimal upto 1000mm rain due to cloud cover blocking the sun. They take -25% at 3000mm, -50% at 6000mm and -75% at 10000mm rain. Maximum penalty -75%. *
-Hazard Exposure Level is now generated. Based on the level of biohazard, toxicity, temperature, air pressure.*
-Hazard Exposure Level determines exactly how dangerous it is to be exposed to the Planet’s atmosphere. On high exposure levels much more engineering attention has to be taken to prevent envirosuits or domes (or any pressurized environment) to have fissures, break downs or what-not. This results in a Hazard Surplus Cost … which is higher IP cost for envirosuits (& personal armour), Assets construction and vehicle construction. *
-Hazard Exposure Level increases Trooptype construction cost with 3 * SIZE/2 * Hazard Level , in IP. * And for “Infantry” just Hazard Exposure Level in IP increase.
-Hazard Exposure Level increases Asset construction cost per round with (max(20,Metal+Rare)/10) * Hazard Level, but reduced for really high metal Assets (as at some point the basic measures are in place) in IP. *
-Hazard Exposure Level causes more KILLs during combat. If any non-kill hit placed and rnd ( hazard level * 10) > (rnd (armour mm) + 20) then a potentially lethal puncture / pressure loss has been suffered and the individual subformation will be killed unless it rolls a successful save roll. (40% save chance for regular/militia, 60% for seasoned, 80% for veteran). Any minor aliens, arachnids, mutants, alien critters do not suffer these risks as they are well adapted to the environment.*
-Hazard Exposure Level causes more Population, Worker and Free Folk losses when structural damage is inflicted in Hex where they live/work. Can go upto 50% loss at Hazard Exposure Level 10 (rare!!!) *
-Changed the advised Development Speeds. Normal has become Fast, Slow has become normal, Very Slow has become slow, +a new (even slower than epic before) Very Slow-Epic level has been added. *
-You need 4 techs researched (instead of 3) in a research group now in order to master it (or all of them if less than 4 in group). *
-Linear Tech research is now a bit slower for the first 33 points, after that it follows the existing curve. (resembles more of a hockey stick curve now - feels more realistic) *
-Added flatline metal cost (10 metal) to vehicles for structure & frame construction. (reduces difference between light equipment and heavy equipment) * Truck only gets half this flatline (5 metal), Motorbike no extra costs introduced. *
-Added flatline oil cost (1 oil per 10AP) to vehicles. (reduces difference between light equipment and heavy equipment) * Truck is cheaper only +0.5 oil, Motorbike no extra oil costs. *
-Ammo quantities needed have been multiplied by x1 (for gas powered), x5 (for rifles), to x10 (mg) to up to x15 (for guns). *
-Ammo factory is now available. It produces ammunitions at approaching half the cost of artisanal workshopping. (close to fourth the cost with Industrial Robotization OR Ammo Printing) (close to one eight of the cost with both Ammo-Printing AND Industrial Robotization) * (however keep in mind that ammo consumption has been increased a lot, so the early net result is still that it is more expensive)
-Effect of the Ammo revisions is that it makes simple infantry more attractive in quite a lot of specific cases. Gas powered rifles are also now much more interesting. But more importantly in general you’ll need good logistics & serious ammo production to keep an offensive war going. *
-Free Zone Ammo Stockage increased by x20, Initial Ammo increased by x8 *
-AI does not build Ammunition Factories (yet), but gets a discount if it has relevant Techs (yes this gives the AI a small advantage => should be added to the advantages list )*
-Soil Demetallization Asset production has been much decreased (it was actually much overpowered considering it could work anywhere and was more meant as an emergency mining option than the real deal). On top of this Soil Demetallization Tech has been moved one tier higher. Also regular mining resources have been increased a bit. *
BIG PUSH TO MAKE WATER + FOOD (DIRECTLY/INDIRECTLY) MATTER MORE ON SOME WORLDS
-Salinity levels are being calculated now. The more mountain (and less water) the more salinity. Lifeforms will reduce salinity by absorbing it to build skeletons and shell-like structures. Oceans and closed lakes (no outflow) have the highest salinity. Rivers have negligible salinity and (often) so do lakes that have an outflow. Salinity is kept track of on a hex-by-hex basis. *
-Soil dissolved Heavy Metal PPB , Ocean dissolved Heavy Metal PPB, PH levels are now being calculated *
-Salinity + Snow can be inspected in S.MAP > STATS *
-Snow levels are being calculated now *
-Frozen Rivers now give 50% free water compared with non-frozen (due to liquid water far below often; yes at some point i still have to avoid rivers all together in very permafrosty areas)
-Rain collection (for farms or for zone free water) now impacted by rain water acidity *
-Ice mine collection snow from surface now impacted by rain water acidity *
-Ice mine collection ice from glacier now impacted by sea acidity & dissolved heavy metals*
-Ice mining of underground water (actual water drop icon) now impacted upto 66% by dissolved heavy metals in soil*
-Zone free water rules from river + sea/lake now impacted by acidity, salinity and dissolved heavy metals *
-Zone free water collection has been nerfed (halved, and repetitive sources impact reduced) *
-Free Trader Water also impacted like above *
-Water filtration now impacted by quality of river/sea water around it (takes best) *
-Agri Dome consumes double the Energy now if out of Terran agriculture temperature range. (it gets a rebate if temperatures are good-ish) *
-Hex Radiation reduces open farming due to accumulation of radioactive in the plants *
-Hex Radiation reduces water income from rain, sea, river, snow, wind traps, but not from Glacier (can mine deep) and underground Water deposits. *
-Earth Plant Life taking root on a Planet now impacted by dissolved heavy metals in soil and rain PH and can cause the bigger plants not to grow (well). *
-Edibility of alien plants and animals (ANTL) now impacted by dissolved heavy metals in soil. They might not mind, but human consumers would. *
-Ice Mining Asset no longer uses Mining Techniques linear tech, but still uses Ice Mining Economization + Mining Robotization, bringing it in line with the tech modifiers of the other mines. *
-Ice Mining base water income -40% compared to previous *
-Water Purification base water income halved (& energy cost halved as well though) compared to previous, but it negates up to 25% of the water quality penalties (salinity,ph,dissolved metals,rad) *
-Added Tech Water Detox Optimization for Water Purification Assets that allows negating up to 75% of the water quality penalties (instead of the 25% base). *
-Hydroponics Food production halved, Worker requirement doubled. (but keep in mind it is still good and can be 4x better than at start with its 2 linear techs). *
-You can mouse over Water Q(uality) or Rain in the Hex info panel to get detailed info on Water/Glacier/River/Ice/Snow/Underground Water Quality. *
