AI War Beta 7.036-7.041 "Sanding Before The Storm" Released!

[keith.lamothe]

(Crossposted from this blog post)

This one is more bugfixes and balance work.  Important stuff, especially the metal/energy-related changes, but just polish.

What's more than polish is the upcoming expansion, which we'll announce with actual details tomorrow (Thursday, probably noonish eastern time).

We'll be doing a closed beta that will run until the expansion's official release (alongside the 8.0 offficial release) in early August.  If you're interested in being part of the beta please PM me (keith.lamothe) on the forums.

Update: 7.037 is out with some text updates specific to the new expansion.

Update: 7.038 is out to hotfix some problems with unlocking the mkII/III versions of the bonus ship types from the new expansion.

Update: 7.039 is out to fix several bugs discovered early in the new expansion's beta, so the testers can proceed without them in the way.

Update: 7.040 is out with another batch of fixes for the new expansion's beta.

Update: 7.041 is out with yet another batch of changes for the new expansion stuff, buut also some fixes/balances fixes for the base game (including matter converters not consuming any metal for the past few patches, heh, whoops).

Update: 7.042 is out just to hotfix an issue in the last release where loading an MP game could do... "strange" things with the number of metal deposits.  Bear in mind that if you have a save from 7.041 with 300 metal deposits on a planet, it will still have that, but a save from earlier will have the right amount.

Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the  in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time.  If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.

[Wingflier]

Damn those nitpicky players giving you extra work for nothing. Thanks Keith, been waiting for this one

[tadrinth]

Just to check, can area mines (and other area damage, like Flak Turrets) hit a single carrier multiple times?  What about Lightning Turrets? I assume they can't concentrate their full firepower on a single carrier. And for beam weapons, I assume the carrier takes full damage from the beam if it is in the beam the entire time, but it doesn't take a multiple of the damage as if it were multiple targets. 

Will Widow mines attempt to hit carriers? I would assume not, since they're immune to paralysis and engine dmg. 

Hurray for new hacking device icons!  Can't wait to get in-game and look at them.

[keith.lamothe]

Just to check, can area mines (and other area damage, like Flak Turrets) hit a single carrier multiple times?

Carriers have the "moves like a cow" flag that basically makes it hit the entire minefield as it touches it. 

What about Lightning Turrets?

Generally speaking a carrier is treated as a single unit, but its shots-per-salvo goes up with the strength of its held units, and when it takes damage that is passed on to its held units.  So lightning turrets just hit a carrier as if it were a single unit (so up to 4 times, iirc).

And for beam weapons, I assume the carrier takes full damage from the beam if it is in the beam the entire time, but it doesn't take a multiple of the damage as if it were multiple targets.

Right.  Basically just think of it as a really big ship.  All those HPs mean they're great targets for photon lances and whatnot because you'll get good time-on-target vs t hem.

Will Widow mines attempt to hit carriers? I would assume not, since they're immune to paralysis and engine dmg.

Widow mines do damage the ship that touches them, so they trigger on anything not immune to mines.

In general the AI will have faster stuff in a wave that will hit the mines first.  Once the carriers start plowing through it gets ugly.

[TechSY730]

Same questions as above, but for warheads (especially the rather complicated rules regarding how their damage is spread and their limits)

[vigilo confido]

I am glad that widow mines are a lot clearer. They were not stopping units immune to paralysis and I thought it was a really bad bug. It was so frustrating doing a game and seeing EMP mines not working.

[Coppermantis]

Widow mines, eh. Watch out for Starcraft II players coming in and complaining that they're OP. 

[keith.lamothe]

Widow mines, eh. Watch out for Starcraft II players coming in and complaining that they're OP. 

Oh, they have a unit of the same name?  We could perhaps pick something different to avoid confusion.

[Coppermantis]

Hah, yeah, it's...frequently complained about on the forums. Though Protoss seems to be the new flavor of the week for whining. I don't think you need to change it. Highly doubt that Blizzard's going to come in and sue you for anything, haha.

[keith.lamothe]

Hah, yeah, it's...frequently complained about on the forums. Though Protoss seems to be the new flavor of the week for whining. I don't think you need to change it. Highly doubt that Blizzard's going to come in and sue you for anything, haha.

I wasn't concerned about the legality, just want to avoid confusion or someone's having starcraft flashbacks in the middle of a game

Though if Blizzard can ever design a game where the player makes progress by complaining, they've got it made.

[Aklyon]

A bunch of SC2 Widow mine stats, for comparison:
Terran unit from Heart of the Swarm. Pretty quick. Not that durable. Can dig into the ground, cloak, and ruinate a worker line if a successful medevac drop happens with them. I think they do area damage? Has a cooldown between triggerings.

[Coppermantis]

Hah, yeah, it's...frequently complained about on the forums. Though Protoss seems to be the new flavor of the week for whining. I don't think you need to change it. Highly doubt that Blizzard's going to come in and sue you for anything, haha.

I wasn't concerned about the legality, just want to avoid confusion or someone's having starcraft flashbacks in the middle of a game

Though if Blizzard can ever design a game where the player makes progress by complaining, they've got it made.

Yeah, I know, I was just joking around. I don't know a whole lot about copyright law, but I doubt that that name is something they can or would go to court over.

A bunch of SC2 Widow mine stats, for comparison:
Terran unit from Heart of the Swarm. Pretty quick. Not that durable. Can dig into the ground, cloak, and ruinate a worker line if a successful medevac drop happens with them. I think they do area damage? Has a cooldown between triggerings.

Basically, it's a cheap unit that can be made two at a time with a reactored factory. Once it's burrowed, it will be invisible and launch a super-damaging rocket at short range every so often. Does enough damage to one-shot basically any low-mid tier unit that it directly targets and does indeed do area damage. Can absolutely massacre groups of swarmy units or workers, but is totally useless if the enemy is prepared.

Cue loads of QQ.

[Wingflier]

Widow mines in SC2 are indeed incredibly powerful if utilized correctly. They seem particularly powerful against Zerg who likes to use swarms of cheaper units. One widow mine hit into a group of banelings can change the entire fight. One widow mine hit into a group of Mutalisks can be absolutely devastating.

In short, widow mines seem much easier to use than to defend against, which is why they're such a powerful tool especially against inexperienced players.

[keith.lamothe]

Update: 7.037 is out with some text updates specific to the new expansion.

[keith.lamothe]

Update: 7.038 is out to hotfix some problems with unlocking the mkII/III versions of the bonus ship types from the new expansion.