The next version is getting closer and with it many new things and improvements. That’s why we are looking forward to some changes in advance. Today, we dedicate ourselves to the gameplay.

After the release of Alpha 0.51 we received a lot of feedback with the desire to make life easier for the aliens. We are starting to address that. Among other things, the Granger possesses a lethality more appropriate to its cuteness.

Easier evolving

Aliens had the limitation so far that they could not evolve near humans, which led to problems on smaller maps. In the future, the presence of humans alone will no longer be enough to interfere, instead the probably shy aliens will be prevented from evolving by the visual connection to enemies and their buildings.

An exception applies to alien bases and outposts. Once more alien buildings are present than human players (50% more to be exact), the class can be changed without restriction.

Devolving

Near the Overmind, aliens now get the opportunity to switch back to smaller classes. The previously used morph points are also partially refunded. This is a maximum of 90% depending on how badly you are injured. From the pool of returned morph points you get 0.4 back per second. With death, all morph points still in the process of returning expire. Or in short:

Credited MP = Spend MP * 0.9 * percentage of health
Return Rate = 0.4 / s

Sticky Granger Spit

The spit of Advanced Granger now gets even stickier and acts like a weaker version of the trapper. As before, battlesuits are slowed down, all others get stuck for two seconds. Skilled grangers get with that more opportunity for escape and supporting their teammates, but most importantly, the chance to dance around their stuck victims.

Acid Tube Zone Damage

Contributed by afontain: Acid Tubes have now a wider range where they deal higher damage. This makes them much more dangerous; to balance this a bit, the maximum damage was lowered.

Smarter Bots

We have also small improvements for our artificial players.

• Human bots are now able to repair damaged buildings again.
• Alien bots know how healing works.
• All bots value their own lives more than before and retreat if they have the chance.
• On the map Vega tyrants are no longer blocked in their base.
• Bots are now named Bot if they are unnamed or there is no other name available.
• Improved aiming for human bots contributed by bmorel.
• Better flamethrower handling contributed by afontain.

Feedback

Beside our  forums for Feedback and Ideas & Suggestions we have now a separate issue repository specifically for gameplay feedback. There, you can share your experiences in the game, create issues for problems you have with our game design or post ideas for new changes.

Release Candidate and Mods

Our second release candidate is now accessible to everyone for testing. Pay attention to the instructions since configuration files will be changed.

Even without downloading the 0.52 preview client, it’s possible to experience a few of the upcoming changes on the [DoH]Experimental server, which runs a partial backport of our release candidate along with other modifications that might make it into future releases.

A completely different game mode can be found on the Any Teams server. In the eponymous mod it’s possible to play as Aliens against Aliens and Humans against Humans.