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Triumph Jordi

Quality Assurance Specialist
Paradox Staff
QA
Feb 18, 2019
4.853
3.892
PatchNote_Dinosaurs_Stegosaurus.jpg


New Features

Feature: Combat Retry
  • You are now able to retry a battle in manual combat once after seeing the results of an auto combat. This can be disabled in the Advanced Setup.
Feature: Orbital Relay
  • Added a new sector Exploitation: 'Orbital Relays'. Orbital relays function akin to teleporters, letting you transport an army through a relay to any other accessible relay in an instant.
  • Forward Bases can be upgraded to Forward Relays, allowing you to connect them to the Orbital Relay network
  • A new covert operation has been added to the 'Insurrection' skill in the cover ops tech tree: 'Relay Disruption'.
  • A new Diplomatic agreement is now available for any (Defensive) Ally with whom you share both an 'Open Borders' agreement: 'Open Relay Agreement'.
Feature: Imperial Defenses
  • Imperial Defenses are no longer destroyed upon exploration, instead, they're turned off so that their combat and world map effects will no longer be active in their sector.
  • Imperial Defenses in a colonized or annexed sector will gain a Garrison Militia of equal strength to the Colony Militia and unlock a sustainable strategic operation, which can target a friendly or enemy colony
Balance
General

  • Units bought from the NPC dwellings will now get production bonuses from the player's HQ, helping to keep NPC units viables in the late game.
  • Cover bonuses are now applied to hit chances after bonuses that make a unit harder to hit, rather than before. This means that stacking evasion mods with cover will be less effective, as will using cover to reduce the effect of Easier To Hit debuffs.
  • Units can now enter melee overwatch after sprinting, allowing melee units to more easily get into position to disrupt enemy lines.
  • Partial Obstacles, such as Dvar Trenches are no longer destroyed by Heavy units. Instead, they are now destroyed by units with the Large and Huge passive abilities, since those are the units that cannot make use of the cover the obstacles provide.
  • Any unit upgrade that adds a status effect on hit to a units attacks now has a higher strength to apply from single shot attacks than from repeating attacks.
Heroes
It was felt that Heroes in vehicles were too weak, mostly because heroes alone are actually more powerful than many vehicles when the game starts. These changes are meant to try and make the investment of getting into a vehicle more worthwhile.
  • Vehicles now give a bonus to armor, shields and/or hit points instead of overwriting those stats on the hero
  • Decreased Advanced Piloting unlock level from level 8 to level 6.
  • Decreased Advanced Piloting costs from 10 points to 8 points.
  • Vehicle Loadout perks now only give Vitality I instead of both I and II
  • Decreased base hero hit points from 60hp to 50hp.
Hero Items
  • Changed Death's Gaze to an AoE ability with a 4 hex radius and a casting range of 5.
  • Changed Life's Grace to an AoE ability with a 4 hex radius and a casting range of 5.
  • Life's Grace now dispels negative Status Effects
  • Increased Bio Launcher Tier from Tier II to Tier III
  • Tactical Aid Rig - Increased heal per Action Point from 7hp to 12hp.
  • Tactical Repair Rig - Increased heal per Action Point from 7hp to 12hp.
Races, Weapons and Secret Techs
Based on the feedback we’ve collected we’ve done a huge range of tweaks to the game’s balance. With these changes, we were mainly trying to achieve the following:

  • Increase compatibility between races and secret techs by allowing unit upgrades to be used more freely
  • Increasing the strength of many tier 3 units which were considered sub standard
  • Reduce the effectiveness of certain defensive mods, which were too powerful (especially those involving evasion and health regeneration)
  • Generally try and balance the strength of units and upgrades across the board, to fix some obvious cases where a unit or upgrade was much stronger or weaker than it’s equivalents elsewhere.
Assembly
  • 'Emergency Quadratic Shielding' Mod now has stagger immunity in the post death effect
  • Disassembler 'Gatling Gun' - Increased damage from 11 to 13
  • Constrictor (Tactical Operation unit) 'Static Crush' - Reduced damage from 25 to 22
  • Cloaking Implants can now be applied to all light, non-mechanical units (was light cyborg and biological)
  • Quantum Support Nanites now heals for 10hp per turn (was 20%)
Vanguard
  • Engineer shotguns now has 1 level of high impact
  • Vanguard 'Gun Turret' (Engineer Summon) - Increased hit points from 20hp to 30hp
  • Laser Tank 'Laser Cannon' - Increased damage from 12 to 14.
  • Laser Tank now has 'Hyper Armor' defense mode
  • Walker - Increased damage of 'Gatling Gun' from 11 to 13.
  • Vanguard Racial Building - Increased experience gain from 'Combat Simulation Center' from 2xp to 3xp
  • Improved Combat Sensors - Decreased harder to hit percentage from 20% to 15%.
  • Improved Combat Sensors Sensors can now be applied on Non-Animal and Non-Ethereal units instead of Light Units only.
Amazon
  • Amazon Defense Turret - Increased damage from 11 to 13 damage
  • Amazon Biomancer 'Scan:Catalogue' - Increased the cooldown from 2 turns to 4 turns.
  • Advanced Instinct Controller - Decreased psionic resistance from 5 to 4.
  • Regenerative Bio Regulator - Decreased biochemical resistance from 5 to 4.
  • Blood Fury Inducers - Decreased the max stacks from 4 to 3.
  • Blood Fury Inducers now gives 4hp per stack (was 10%)
  • Regenerative Bio Regulator Mod now heals for 8hp per turn (was 15%)
  • Grounding Harness Mod can now be applied to all units with Land Movement (previously excluded Mechanical units)
  • Primal Awareness Amplifier Mod can now be applied to all non-mechanical and non-mindless units (was all biological and cyborg units)
  • Reforestation operations will no longer destroy the roads in a sector
Kir'ko
  • Emergent 'Gunk Spit' - Increased the range from 5 to 7.
  • Emergent 'Gunk Spit' - Increased the damage from 7 to 11.
  • Emergent 'Gunk Spit' - Changed from repeating to a single shot attack.
  • Emergent 'Gunk Spit' now has a str 8 chance to apply blind.
  • Frenzied - Increased hit points from 40 hp to 45hp.
  • Frenzied 'Battle Vomit' now has Choking (str 8) instead of Armor Melt.
  • Hidden Units now have Flanker
  • Hidden Rifle attacks now have High Impact
  • Adaptive Carapace - Decreased max stacks from 5 to 4.
  • Adaptive Carapace can now be triggered by melee as well as ranged attacks.
  • Tunneling Claws - Increased damage bonus from 10% to 20%
  • Tunneling Claws can now also be used by the Ravenous
  • Tormented 'Visions of madness' - Changed from once per battle to a 3 turn cooldown.
  • Tormented 'Visions of madness' - Increased Insanity duration from 1 turn to 2 turns.
  • Tormented 'Echoes of Torment' - Increased the optimal range from 5 to 6, meaning it has 60% hit chance at max range instead of 50%.
  • Tormented 'Echoes of Torment' now checks each target individually.
  • Accelerated Healing now heals for 8hp per turn (was 15%)
  • Cloaking Carapace can now be applied to all light, non-ethereal units (was light kirko, animal and mounted units)
  • Adaptive Carapace can now be applied to all non-ethereal units (was kirko, animal and mounted units)
Dvar
  • Explosive Resistant Armor Mod - Increased Armor bonus from +1 to +2
  • Reconstruction Kit Mod - Increased healed hp from 25 to 35.
  • Reconstruction Kit Mod - Increased resurrection hp from 25% to 50%
  • Reconstruction Kit Mod can no longer resurrect tier 4 units.
  • Dvar Excavator now has the 'Hyper Armor' defense mode
  • Dvar Excavator now enters defense mode after using defensive flamers
  • Dvar Rocket Artillery 'Train weapons' now only affects missile barrage
  • Dvar Rocket Artillery 'Mounted Gun' - Increased damage from 9 to 11.
  • Dvar Foreman 'Hand Mortar' - Increased range from 4 to 5.
  • Dvar Bulwark 'Concussive Volley' - Decreased range from 7 to 5.
  • Fortified Trenches now heal for 8hp per turn (was 15%)
  • Advanced Target Recognition Mod can now be applied to all units (was mechanical and infantry only)
  • Illuminator Targeting System Mod can now be applied to all heavy units (was heavy mechanical and cyborg only)
  • Captain's Regalia Mod can now be applied to all infantry and mounted units (was infantry only)
  • Tectonic shift can no longer be cast on water sectors
Syndicate
  • PsiTec Vision Enhancers mod - Increased Shield bonus from +1 to +2
  • Adaptive Camouflage Projector mod - Decreased the harder to hit from 20% to 15%
  • Drive Modulator mod - Decreased heal hp per use from 15 hp to 10hp
  • Overseer 'Cerebral Override' no longer triggers Arc Retaliation Defense
  • Overseer 'Cerebral Override' no longer has damage increased by the Heavy Weapons Factory
  • Wraith 'PsiTec Cannon' - Decreased damage from 13 to 12.
  • Wraith 'PsiTec Cannon' - Removed High Impact.
  • Subjugator 'Project Agony Field' - Increased damage from 12 to 14
  • Subjugator 'Project Agony Field' - Added High Impact
  • Subjugator 'Project Agony Field' - Added Armor Bypass
  • Mirage 'Defense Mode' now grants stagger resistance
  • Guild Assassin 'Pulse Sniper' - Increased damage from 20 to 22
  • Guild Assassin 'Breach Round' now adds 30% accuracy to the next attack
  • Indentured 'Arc Power Blast' now has an inherent +30% accuracy bonus
  • Syndicate Enforcer now has stagger resistance
  • Enforcer 'Defense Mode' - Increased Shield bonus from +2 to +4 to adjacent allies and self.
  • Enforcer 'Defense Mode' can no longer stack.
Firearms
  • Shredder Bomb Operation - Increased costs from 25 energy and 1 operation point to 30 energy and 2 operation points.
Biochemical
  • Ionic Infusion Mod - Decreased chance to apply Electrified from 12 strength to 8 strength
  • Acid Rain Operation - Decreased damage from 8 to 5
  • Acid Rain Operation - Decreased the amount of armor melt from 2 to 1
  • Acid Rain Operation now lasts 5 turns.
Psionic
  • Mantra Of Clarity Mod - Decreased harder to hit from 20% to 15%
Explosives
  • Explosives: Incendiary Mod - Increased strength chance to apply bruning from 4str to 8str
  • Explosives: Electrical Mod - Increased strength chance to apply electerfied from 4str to 12str
Psynumbra
  • Oblivio Mundi Operation (Psynumbra doomsday) - Decreased unhappiness from 40 to 30
  • Amazon Initiate 'Dark Vine' - Increased the range from 5 to 7
  • Amazon Malictor 'Dark Thorns' - Increased the range from 5 to 7
  • Pain Mirror Mod - Increased damage from 6 to 8
  • Pain Mirror Mod - Increased range from 3 to 4
  • Psynumbra Sacrifice to the Abyss - Increased summon duration from 3 turns to 4 turns
  • Psynumbra Sacrifice to the Abyss - All compatible mods are now copied over into the summoned unit.
  • Kir'ko Initiate - Removed Psionic Mastery
  • Kir'ko Malictor - Removed Psionic Mastery
  • Syndicate Initiate - Increased costs from 80 energy and 250 production to 100 energy and 270 production
  • Syndicate Malictor - Increased costs from 120 energy, 400 production and 20 cosmite to 140 energy, 440 production and 25 cosmite
Void Tech
  • Dimensional Cascade Operation (Voidtech Doomsday) - Decreased stolen energy income from 40% to 30%
  • Create Phase Echo Operation - Increased costs from 60 energy and 5 operation points to 75 energy and 7 operation points
  • Dimensional Collapse Operation - Decreased costs from 100 energy and 9 operation points to 75 energy and 7 operation points
  • Phasewalk Modulator Mod - Decreased harder to hit from 25% to 15%
  • Phasewalk Modulator Mod can now be applied to all light units with ground movement (was infantry and mounted only)
Promethean
  • Aegis Tank - Increased movement points from 24 to 32
  • Purification Field Mod - Increased healed hp from 10hp to 15hp
  • Phoenix Bomb Launchers Mod - Increased cooldown from 1 turn to 2 turns
  • Pyrex Absorption Panels Mod now heal for 12hp per turn (was 20%)
  • Pyrex Absorption Panels Mod can now also be applied to Biological units
  • Amazon Purifier - Increased costs from 80 energy and 270 production to 100 energy and 270 production.
  • Vanguard Purifier - Increased costs from 80 energy and 270 production to 100 energy and 270 production.
  • Dvar Purifier now has Entrench
  • Hazmat Protection Mod is now unlocked at tier 1 instead of tier 4
  • Purifiers now have Prime Rank: Critical
Celestian
  • Tenets Of Healing Mod now gives a heal that affects the caster and adjacent units, instead of just a single target.
  • Regenerative Light on the Kir'ko Lightbringer now heals for 16hp per turn (was 30%)
  • Declaration of Truth level 3 now heals for 10hp per turn (was 20%)
Synthesis
  • Guardian Demon Shell Mod - Decreased harder to hit from 25% to 20%
  • Total Network Integration Mod - Increased resurrection health from 15% to 25%)
  • Total Network Integration Mod no longer gives immunity to status effects.
  • Malware Daemon - Increased damage per shot from 6 to 8
  • Malware Daemon can now inherent passive mods from the caster
  • Autonomous Repair Subroutines now gives 6hp per turn (was 10%)
Xenoplague
  • Bloated Pustule is now a Mindless unit
  • Xenoplague Parasite Mod - Increased health bonus from +5hp to +10hp
  • Bio Spore Purification can now also heal mechanical units that have xenoplague mods
  • Bio Spore Hyper Aggression - Changed from a single action to a free action
  • Bio Spore Hyper Aggression - Changed from a once per battle ability to a 2 turn cooldown
  • Bio Spore Hyper Aggression - Now affects air units
  • Bio Spore Hyper Aggression - Can now affect mechanical units with xenoplague mods
  • Parasitic Infection now reduces all damage resistances by 1 point (was biochemical resistance by 2 points)
  • Added a new mod at tier 3 called Xenografted Muscles, that buffs melee units
  • Regenerative Spore Cloud now heals for 8hp per turn (was 15%)
  • Hyperstimulation Beam Operation can no longer target Mindless units
Independents
  • Spacer Hellcopter 'Launch Fire Barrel' Increased range from 5 to 7
  • Spacer Hellcopter 'Launch Fire Barrel' - Changed the name of this ability to 'Spacer Missile' to better match its icon and visual effect.
  • Spacer Mad Preacher 'Effigy Hysterics' - Increased duration from 2 turns to 3 truns
  • Paragon Reactive Shielding Mod - Decreased max stacks from 5 to 4
  • Autonom Network Connector Mod - Increased Armor bonus from +1 to +2
  • Self Repair Systems Mod now heals for 12hp per turn (was 20%)
  • Regeneration Spores Mod now heals for 10hp per turn (was 20%)
  • Growth Seed Cluster 'Regenerative Pollen Deluge' now gives 16hp per turn (was 25%)
  • Wild Shrike - Increased movement speed from Normal to Fast.
  • Wild Harrier - Increased movement speed from Normal to Fast.
Naval
It was felt that too much investment was required to deploy fleets into the oceans, so we’ve made changes to allow players to get to them earlier and deploy them more cheaply.
  • All Tier 2 ships are now unlocked by default and no-longer require research
  • All Tier 3 ships have had their unlock research moved to the location of where the T2 ship research was
  • All racial ships have had their upkeep amount halved
  • All racial ships are now cheaper to produce
Unit movement
There were a number of units that had 24 movepoints instead of 32. These units now have 32mp, and the Cumbersome property, which causes them to move more slowly in tactical combat. The following units are affected:
  • Dvar Earth Crusher
  • Dvar Rocket Artillery
  • Dvar Baron
  • Dvar Sapper
  • Dvar Dreadnought
  • Quartzite Basher
  • Quartzite Crystal Worm
  • Quartzite Worm
  • Quartzite Crystal Basher
  • Autonom Network Controller
  • PsiFish Siren
  • PsiFish Medusa
  • Empire Walker
  • Empire Behemoth
  • Empire Techno Prophet
  • Empire Heavy Trooper
  • Growth Vine Sprout
  • Growth Flowering Node
  • Growth Seed Cluster
  • Amazon Bombardon
  • Amazon Arborian Queen
  • Vanguard Walker
  • Vanguard Drone Carrier
  • Assembly Disassembler
  • Assembly Reaver
  • Kir'Ko Tormented
  • Kir'Ko Barrager
  • Kir'Ko Harbinger
  • Syndicate Subjugator
  • Syndicate Zenith
Updates
Interface

  • Improved the indicators that show when a unit has new mods available
  • Keybinding improvements
    • Added keybindings for accessing the following interfaces: diplomacy, operations, quests, colony overview, military overview and unit template management.
    • Added keybindings for tactical combat abilities
    • Chat (tab) can now be rebound
    • Removed obsolete keybindings
    • Recategorized all keybindings
  • Added NPC faction toggles to the advanced setup world settings
  • Right-clicking dwelling trade items now opens their Imperial Archives page
Gameplay
  • You can now annex a sector to your colonies without having a unit present, if you've already explored and cleared it
  • Infecting units with xenoplague when you are not a xenoplague player can now spawn xenoplague units under the control of a xenoplague player who didn't take part in combat
  • Improved interface of the combat result. Now more clearly shows units changing sides or when units have transformed through metamorphosis or other effects.
  • Applying mods to heroes/commanders now counts towards the Technologist Empire Task.
  • The system can now remove a single mountain hex in order to place a road between two sectors, if more than one mountain hex would need to be cleared, then no road will be placed.
  • Ravaged Worlds Planet Template - Commanders now spawn next to a resource node, which will be the recommended first annexable sector.
  • The strategic AI no longer constantly re-applies mods and now correctly upgrades units when they have access to newly researched mods.
Colony
  • The Cryo-Medical Facility now gives one level of stagger resistance as well to units built in the colony.
  • Your racial colony structure can now be built in colonies not of your own race.
Research
  • Generate Knowledge is now no longer locked behind research, it is available at the start, for every colony.
  • The 'Transit Infrastructure' sub-skill has been moved to tier 3 research
  • The text and name of 'Colony Infrastructure' and 'Anthropologic Research' have been swapped.
  • The 'Xeno-Relations Division' sub-skill has been moved to the new 'Anthropologic Research' skill group.
Imperial Defenses
  • The Targeting Array's combat effect has been changed to no longer make tactical operations cost no operation points. It instead now gives ranged abilities from friendly units +10% accuracy and +1 hex range.
  • The Pulse Defense Turret's combat effect's chance to stun Cyborg and Mechanical units for 1 turn has been changed from strength 8 (arc) to strength 4 (arc).
  • The following Imperial Defenses no longer block regeneration:
    • Pulse Defense Turret
    • Orbital Defense Uplink
    • Aerial Denial System
Diplomacy
  • Trades up to 5 turns ago can now be reviewed by clicking on them in the trade history. Only applies to trades made after this patch.
Tactical AI
  • The AI is more likely to use melee attacks over ranged attacks
  • The AI is less likely to stand units next to enemies that explode when they die
  • The AI is more likely to use staggers against units that have full action attacks
  • The AI will no longer make wounded units run away if they're independent
  • The AI is more likely to use free abilities when available
Fixes
Gameplay
  • Fixed an issue where units in garrisons wouldn't be affected by sector wide effects from doomsday weapons and other operations
  • Fixed an issue where switching your hero's vehicle from a flying vehicle to a land vehicle while above the water would destroy your hero.
  • Fixed an issue where using the Escape Module on a hero would put all unused skills on cooldown when the hero is resurrected.
  • Fixed issue where embarking an army would drain all move points from floating and flying units in the army as well.
Units, Mods & Abilities
  • Dvar Prospector, Dvar Earth Crusher, Amazon Arborian Queen no longer regain Full Move Points after cancelling their Sector Center abilities.
  • Mind Controlled Units can no longer be retreated from Manual Combat as it would allow the owner to keep them.
  • Valkyrie is now correctly listed as a Skirmisher Unit to reflect stats (was Elite)
  • Amazon Lancer vehicle now correctly gives Defense Mode: Shields Up (was Defense Mode)
  • Dvar Trenches now correctly give the 25% bonus to accuracy they always should have
  • Reactive Kinetic battery now correctly states that it can be applied to all heavy units (description before said heavy mechanical only)
  • Subjugator - Control Collars now correctly lists the strength of the mind control check
  • Pain Mirror correctly bypasses armor
  • Malware Daemon - Now correctly lists the strength of the mind control at 8
  • Bio Spore Hyper Aggression - Now correctly describes the size of the AoE it affects
  • Fixed Issue where the Laser Sword couldn't equip the Hallucinogenic Regulator mod
Audio
  • Fixed Dvar Bulwark Autocannons' from being too loud.
  • Fixed Hackers Shoot SFX
 
Great list!
I noticed from the stream that if you kill a stack it will play a death animation on the world map, not in the patch notes but a small detail that's worth mentioning I think :D
I was wondering if the patch will be in steam open beta before it goes live properly?
 
Guys, really :) Its not funny so much - new DLC come out already - can someone asc me?
To host multiplayer game all players must be online at same time to... just 1 sec hit "start"?
Is this realy such a "musthave" for TURN BASED STRATEGY game?
In AoW3 i can start multiplayer session, copy name/pass of the game to my team forum, wait for all players to wake up (yes, few of us have drammatic differences in timezones), and when all ready - START new game. Convenient.

Now you just separate players by they`r way of life :(

Is this a insignificance? Tell me "never! you must play only online! pbem is only for freaks" - sinse i play only classic pbem this is very matter for me :(

p.s. sorry for english - hope you got my idea
 
Guys, I just have to post a serious grievance with this patch:

I stand corrected, the 25% accuracy bonus was already working in a previous patch just wasnt listed in tooltips. Still - please nerf or remove this bonus. It is ridiculously good to be both in cover and recieving aim increases.
 
Well...
Patch is good on the first look, but it's pretty disappointing from the point of view of multiplayer.


Sadly, but Assembly stays as the most inferior race in multiplayer. Why nothing was done to Wrecker? Melee units are already in tight spot in game multiplayer, but Wrecker especially. Also it takes forever to research.

  • Laser Tank 'Laser Cannon' - Increased damage from 12 to 14.
  • Laser Tank now has 'Hyper Armor' defense mode

Unneeded buffs for already fine and useful unit.

Walker - Increased damage of 'Gatling Gun' from 11 to 13.

Even with that change it stays worse than Laser Tank. Less mobility in combat, less defense, less damage on repeating attacks.

Amazon Biomancer 'Scan:Catalogue' - Increased the cooldown from 2 turns to 4 turns.

Why? This debuff is unstackable anyway.

  • Emergent 'Gunk Spit' - Increased the range from 5 to 7.
  • Emergent 'Gunk Spit' - Increased the damage from 7 to 11.
  • Emergent 'Gunk Spit' - Changed from repeating to a single shot attack.
  • Emergent 'Gunk Spit' now has a str 8 chance to apply blind.

Problem of emergent wasn't their power in combat. It was just too expensive to summon. It becomes even worse with its single shot attack.

  • Cloaking Carapace can now be applied to all light, non-ethereal units (was light kirko, animal and mounted units)
  • Adaptive Carapace can now be applied to all non-ethereal units (was kirko, animal and mounted units)

On mechanical too? Really?


General Alert Protocal left untouched...
Prospector infinite movement exploit left untouched and unknown, I guess...

Dvar Foreman 'Hand Mortar' - Increased range from 4 to 5.

Won't help.

Dvar Bulwark 'Concussive Volley' - Decreased range from 7 to 5.

Why?

  • Wraith 'PsiTec Cannon' - Decreased damage from 13 to 12.
  • Wraith 'PsiTec Cannon' - Removed High Impact.

Why? You make less variants to choose the development path: go into secret units or racial units.

  • Acid Rain Operation - Decreased damage from 8 to 5
  • Acid Rain Operation - Decreased the amount of armor melt from 2 to 1
  • Acid Rain Operation now lasts 5 turns.

It becomes a bit expensive for 9 operation pts, imao.

Explosives

Why flash payload stayed on 4 strength? :(

  • Kir'ko Initiate - Removed Psionic Mastery
  • Kir'ko Malictor - Removed Psionic Mastery

Why? You said about variety race + secret tech combo and made it even worse. For now Syndicate + Psynumbra combo became only effective choice. :(

Xenoplague

Nice changes.

Problem of that secret tech is too big dependence on map randomness and map options. Less treasure sites - less units to farm, more mech or robot units on sites - less units to farm. This secret tech needs some reliable ways of getting units in late game, when most of map is cleared or you've failed initial rush.

  • Spacer Hellcopter 'Launch Fire Barrel' Increased range from 5 to 7
  • Spacer Hellcopter 'Launch Fire Barrel' - Changed the name of this ability to 'Spacer Missile' to better match its icon and visual effect.

What about making cooldown for 'Launch Fire Barrel' like other flyer's AoE abilities?

It was felt that too much investment was required to deploy fleets into the oceans, so we’ve made changes to allow players to get to them earlier and deploy them more cheaply.

From the development of AoW3 you should know that such changes don't help. Ships in AoW3 were cheap and superstrong, but most players prefer to play on pangea or surface, because ocean was too empty. I'm afraid without some radical changes for naval gameplay (sea colonies, more sites etc), situation will stays as is.

causes them to move more slowly in tactical combat.

I hope not more slowly than current version?

Okay, most annoying balance issues were unfixed.
'Kirko start mount + regeneration mod = very fast solo leveling' problem stays.
'Guiding Presence for Kirko heroes is OP' stays.
Compelling Presence on Kirko heroes gives you a ton of population on early turns.
OP swarm shield + mass psionic buffs on Kirko.
Prospector infinite movement exploit.
Drone Carrier is unfixed, geez.
 
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Feeling pretty sad at the regen nerfs, and the lack of buffs for Wrecker, Tyrannodon and Amazon Harrier, but at least I'm gonna have quite some fun with Pyrx Absorption on Promethean Kir'ko and Amazon.
 
Any hope for making Debuffs easier to understand? Like it's cool that I have an 8 strength chance to apply electrified or burning or whatever, but what does that actually mean?

It's hard to memorize all aspects of the different debuffs associated with the various damage channels, and with a new damage channel + associated debuffs in this patch/expansion it's only going to get more complicated. Looking a single debuff up in the encyclopedia requires 4 actions: opening the encyclopedia-> clicking the search box-> typing the inquiry -> picking the result from the list. All to get a 10-15 word explanation that could fit in the tooltip, or an adjacent tooltip. You could even make it a toggle in the options for "verbose" tooltips for folks that prefer a cleaner interface.
 
You can check debuff effects via their tooltip on affected units.

Right, but that doesn't really help before you successfully apply the debuff for the first time. It's cumbersome right now to compare debuff effects on the strategic layer. For example, when you're evaluating what combat techs to research or what mods to attach to units, which are essential to a player's overall strategy. Research and Mod loadout decisions need to be made in advance of tactical combat, it should be easier to access information which can inform those decisions.
 
Well...
Patch is good on the first look, but it's pretty disappointing from the point of view of multiplayer.

Sadly, but Assembly stays as the most inferior race in multiplayer. Why nothing was done to Wrecker? Melee units are already in tight spot in game multiplayer, but Wrecker especially. Also it takes forever to research.

Strange, wasn't Assembly with Synthesis called the most OP faction in the game?
 
Well...
Unneeded buffs for already fine and useful unit.

Why? This debuff is unstackable anyway.

Problem of emergent wasn't their power in combat. It was just too expensive to summon. It becomes even worse with its single shot attack.

On mechanical too? Really?

Why? You make less variants to choose the development path: go into secret units or racial units.

It becomes a bit expensive for 9 operation pts, imao.

Why? You said about variety race + secret tech combo and made it even worse. For now Syndicate + Psynumbra combo became only effective choice. :(

What about making cooldown for 'Launch Fire Barrel' like other flyer's AoE abilities?

From the development of AoW3 you should know that such changes don't help. Ships in AoW3 were cheap and superstrong, but most players prefer to play on pangea or surface, because ocean was too empty. I'm afraid without some radical changes for naval gameplay (sea colonies, more sites etc), situation will stays as is.
A bit late, but...

I agree on the Laser Tank buffs, they're a bit excessive, especially since it's less close-quarter than the Excavator and Tyrannodon.

Scan nerf isn't too bad imo since most people don't really use Scan from the same Biomancer twice in most battles, and most big battles with Amazons tend to have a decent number of Biomancers anyway so you can still scan almost all of the enemy army.

The main selling point of Emergent is their ability to evolve, the range buff and Blind are supposed to make them (hopefully) less suicidal in auto combat and provide more of a support to their party before they evolve, plus a 7 base damage isn't going to do a whole lot anyway, repeating or otherwise, unless you heavily invest in high damage mods.

Adaptive Carapace on Mechanical is definitely a weird and kinda un-thematic decision, also makes Reactive Shielding feel less special, though on the flipside, mech units can now use both mods, which is nice... but feels kinda wrong anyway.

Wraith simply went from super good to good.

Acid Rain lasting forever was cheesy for sort of the same reason that "kiting with infinitely-regenerating mounted heroes" is cheesy.

To be fair, Psionic Mastery was a really meager buff, and there's more to Psynumbra than just spamming Malictors. Consuming Gaze and (newly-improved) Pain Mirror anyone?

Good point on the cooldown for the Spacer Heli, I definitely don't want to face range 7 fire barrel every single turn, though it's not the most bs thing imo.

Jokes on you, I only play on Continental maps because they're the most immersive to me, but to each their own experience.
 
Malware Daemon buffs. Was pretty good before. Now it can inherit static module and TNI. *Laughs in 1337*

TNI lost all debuff resist. Got some more health on rez. Necessary nerf. Was way too close to a universal counter. I still don't fully agree with what they did. Would have preferred stagger immune down to stagger res and say 2 or 3 points of status res. This is because of the synthesis tac op that gives a level of stagger res. TNI removes part of the tac ops value. Its an anti synergy within the synthesis kit.

Enforcer got stagger res. Insert ecstatic glee here. Especially with the Melee overwatch after sprint change.
 
Vanguard
  • Engineer shotguns now has 1 level of high impact
  • Vanguard 'Gun Turret' (Engineer Summon) - Increased hit points from 20hp to 30hp
  • Laser Tank 'Laser Cannon' - Increased damage from 12 to 14.
  • Laser Tank now has 'Hyper Armor' defense mode
  • Walker - Increased damage of 'Gatling Gun' from 11 to 13.
  • Vanguard Racial Building - Increased experience gain from 'Combat Simulation Center' from 2xp to 3xp
  • Improved Combat Sensors - Decreased harder to hit percentage from 20% to 15%.
  • Improved Combat Sensors Sensors can now be applied on Non-Animal and Non-Ethereal units instead of Light Units only.

+Nice addition to the Engineers.
+ Gun Turret, i'm happy to see them gain a modest boost to hp, they was always bit too easily destroyed.
+ Vanguard's Laser Tank's "Laser Cannon" buff pleases me.
? Why did Laser tank get Hyper Armor? I would love to hear the input on why this is the case, its really curious change to me. Or is this a hint to the upcoming expansions?
+ Walker, The damage buff pleases me because it felt like a peashooter beforehand.
+ Combat Simulation Center, I will take this buff. It'll allow me to train up my inactives quicker.
- Improved Combat Sensors, I can see why they got nerfed. It's a pity though I would miss that extra 5%.



Promethean
  • Aegis Tank - Increased movement points from 24 to 32
  • Purification Field Mod - Increased healed hp from 10hp to 15hp
  • Phoenix Bomb Launchers Mod - Increased cooldown from 1 turn to 2 turns
  • Pyrex Absorption Panels Mod now heal for 12hp per turn (was 20%)
  • Pyrex Absorption Panels Mod can now also be applied to Biological units
  • Amazon Purifier - Increased costs from 80 energy and 270 production to 100 energy and 270 production.
  • Vanguard Purifier - Increased costs from 80 energy and 270 production to 100 energy and 270 production.
  • Dvar Purifier now has Entrench
  • Hazmat Protection Mod is now unlocked at tier 1 instead of tier 4
  • Purifiers now have Prime Rank: Critical
+ Aegis Tank, ok. I've yet to build this tank because I have yet to fully embrace purifying the world.
+ Purification Field Mod, A pleasant change, I use this mod quite ALOT. A bunch of my stacks would get even more dangerous in manual with this change.
The rest of promethean changes is a question mark for me except for the purifiers. Those guys always felt like naked to me.

Firearms
Shredder Bomb Operation - Increased costs from 25 energy and 1 operation point to 30 energy and 2 operation points.

- http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com/ Why do it have to cost 2 OP points now? ! AIs come at me with many cheaty modules that is supposed to be for lategame and this operation is a balancing factor against their cheated hordes D= I've fought enemy golems in kir'ko celestian ai that had self repair + resurrection + something else that forced me to kill them twice. On like turn 30-40. Often they get lucky and survive with very little hp left so i use shredder bombs to finish them off and maintain the operation points for next fight.
 
Laser Tanks probably got the defense mode buff because Excavator Tanks got it too - now all the tanks have a special defense mode.

edit: and shredder bombs were by far the best 1 cost operation, an AOE that staggers, inflicts a DOT, and did passable damage was well above the power curve.
 
Scan nerf isn't too bad imo since most people don't really use Scan from the same Biomancer twice in most battles, and most big battles with Amazons tend to have a decent number of Biomancers anyway so you can still scan almost all of the enemy army.

I used it in large MP battles. It's shame that scan can't stack, biomancer with it would be very good unit, now it's just normal. :(

The main selling point of Emergent is their ability to evolve, the range buff and Blind are supposed to make them (hopefully) less suicidal in auto combat and provide more of a support to their party before they evolve, plus a 7 base damage isn't going to do a whole lot anyway, repeating or otherwise, unless you heavily invest in high damage mods.

Ability to evolve is thing only in PBEM or SP. Blind is mediocre debuff and possible 21 dmg goes to 11 - it's a big difference. Also for such crappy unit we need to pay too much. Compare it with OWL.

Acid Rain lasting forever was cheesy for sort of the same reason that "kiting with infinitely-regenerating mounted heroes" is cheesy.

There is a difference between OP operation needed adequate nerf and overnerfed OP.

To be fair, Psionic Mastery was a really meager buff, Consuming Gaze and (newly-improved) Pain Mirror anyone?

Great logic. Kirko has at least small thing which makes their Psynumbra special, so lets delete it completely, coz it's meager.

and there's more to Psynumbra than just spamming Malictors. Consuming Gaze and (newly-improved) Pain Mirror anyone?

You're wrong. In MP Psynumbra can't suggest something useful and effective enough as Malictors. That's reality. If you don't build enough malictors, you're doomed (of course if you don't plan to go into racial T3 and further).
  • Pain Mirror Mod - Increased damage from 6 to 8
  • Pain Mirror Mod - Increased range from 3 to 4
Yeah, yeah, great buffs... I'd like to use Pain Mirror right away instead my malictors with 12-15 dmg on 3 targets for 1 salvo *sarcasm*...

Laser Tanks probably got the defense mode buff because Excavator Tanks got it too - now all the tanks have a special defense mode.

This is needed buff for Excavator Tank, because it works on close distances. It will work fine with General Alert Protocol. However, laser tank is much better, coz damage output and range.
 
"
  • You are now able to retry a battle in manual combat once after seeing the results of an auto combat. This can be disabled in the Advanced Setup."
I love that, but I remember Heroes of might and magic 3 showed the results of an auto combat before you actually clicked yes for auto. Wouldn't that be better if implemented on planetfall as well?

Also, this works in multi-player, right? Please, tell me it does. I am always using auto combat in online battles, especially coop.
 
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