.935 Release Candidate 4 now out.

[x4000]

Release notes: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Bionic_Dues_Alpha_Release_Notes#Alpha_0.935_Release_Candidate_4

Restart steam to force an update if need be.

This is mainly some balance shifts, and a couple of bugfixes.  Also a "New!" icon on new missions and new parts that become available.

[Pepisolo]

Good job, guys. Becoming really polished now. Over the weekend I've watched most of the previews/Let's Plays of the game on youtube and every one has been extremely positive. People seem to be getting into the game within the first few minutes or so. Most like the Bastion-esque voiceover work and the funny bot quips. People seem to like grabbing loot and customizing their exo, too. Generally it seems to be a fun experience from the moment they begin playing, but at the same time they see a lot of depth to the gameplay.

Just glad Cyborg caught that stuttering bug...phew.

Oh, one thing that just struck me that I don't like is the mission complete sound effect. It sounds like an operating system tone or something.

Edit:

Just encountered the first criticisms of the game in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUgBwdMUfF8

He says that the enemy bots should be more distinguishable from each other, and there should be a shorter campaign mode option. Now sure how valid the first criticism is as you only need to hover over the bot to see who it is and what it does. Only other way to help distinguish bots would be to give a separate audio filter per bot -- which as we discussed is practically impossible without a Valve budget. Shorter campaign mode might be good, but I'm not sure if we should be piling too many different options into the game, especially when there is already the facility in the game to get the bots to attack earlier if you so desire.

[keith.lamothe]

Yea, a shorter campaign mode may be a good post-1.0 addition, but as you say there are the Robot Control Center missions so here the problem may be more one of the game's info-sending and the player's info-receiving not really meeting up rather than the game lacking an important feature

[Winge]

One change that I sort of like/don't like is the Sentry ammo change.  I agree that 80 (or w/e they had before) was WAY too much.  However, 10 feels very limited.  I'm curious as to what others think.  To keep this area from being completely cluttered, I opened up a ticket with two ideas: http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=12858.

Of course, you can also tell me to stop whining that my turrets aren't pwning whole floors of robots anymore.  Which was hilarious and overpowered.

[Pepisolo]

Yea, a shorter campaign mode may be a good post-1.0 addition, but as you say there are the Robot Control Center missions so here the problem may be more one of the game's info-sending and the player's info-receiving not really meeting up rather than the game lacking an important feature

I actually quite like the ability to reduce the length of the campaign by doing a Robot Control Center mission rather than having extra options on starting the game. Is it possible that your game will not generate any of these missions, though? If that is the case (I really don't know), a fatigued player is then forced to slog out every single mission with no way to speed things up.

[keith.lamothe]

Yea, a shorter campaign mode may be a good post-1.0 addition, but as you say there are the Robot Control Center missions so here the problem may be more one of the game's info-sending and the player's info-receiving not really meeting up rather than the game lacking an important feature

I actually quite like the ability to reduce the length of the campaign by doing a Robot Control Center mission rather than having extra options on starting the game. Is it possible that your game will not generate any of these missions, though? If that is the case (I really don't know), a fatigued player is then forced to slog out every single mission with no way to speed things up.

There's always exactly 4, allowing an effectively-34-day campaign, if my math is right   I think having it seed one more (in return for 1 less of one of the more common types) wouldn't be a bad idea, though, to bring it down to effectively-30-days.  Though I'm not sure I want the extra legendary loot drops going out there

[Winge]

One thing that would help before I make too many more balance suggestions:  how would you, the developers, rate the difficulty levels in terms of AI War's numbered difficulty?  That would help me know whether I am way off in my analysis of balance...I want Expert to be possible, but I don't want Normal to be too easy either 

There's always exactly 4, allowing an effectively-34-day campaign, if my math is right   I think having it seed one more (in return for 1 less of one of the more common types) wouldn't be a bad idea, though, to bring it down to effectively-30-days.  Though I'm not sure I want the extra legendary loot drops going out there

I have (or had, I just finished one) 5 in my current game--is that a bug then?  I just beat one right on the South edge of the map, but I still see 4 more.  Note that this game is 1-2 versions old.

[Pepisolo]

There's always exactly 4, allowing an effectively-34-day campaign, if my math is right   I think having it seed one more (in return for 1 less of one of the more common types) wouldn't be a bad idea, though, to bring it down to effectively-30-days.  Though I'm not sure I want the extra legendary loot drops going out there

Oh, cool. Sounds good already then. I'd be fine with 4 or 5 per campaign.

[keith.lamothe]

Sorry, my error on the RCC count, it is indeed 5 per map, always

[Misery]

One change that I sort of like/don't like is the Sentry ammo change.  I agree that 80 (or w/e they had before) was WAY too much.  However, 10 feels very limited.  I'm curious as to what others think.  To keep this area from being completely cluttered, I opened up a ticket with two ideas: http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=12858.

Of course, you can also tell me to stop whining that my turrets aren't pwning whole floors of robots anymore.  Which was hilarious and overpowered.

Yeah, that was pretty much the reason for the idea.   With the sentries now balanced out so that their power scales along with trap level, they had become waaaaayyyyyy too easy to use.  Each one being strong on it's own, and they'd get like 80 zillion attacks before going down, AND their range went up as well?   Too much.

There was also the fact that it's actually pretty easy to get a good amount of sentries per mission;  I often have about 20-something myself.  So that's why that idea came about.

They're still very useful, but now you have to be more careful with their placement and how many you use at a time in order to get maximum effectiveness out of them. 

[chemical_art]

My history of changes is that any time something changes more then 5 fold tends to cause violent reactions. I'm looking at you omd

[keith.lamothe]

My history of changes is that any time something changes more then 5 fold tends to cause violent reactions. I'm looking at you omd

There's a difference between pre-1.0 and post-6.0 in a game's lifetime

Also, ammo capacity is not generally as divisive as attack power.  Not that AIW really has a comparable mechanic.

[chemical_art]

Also, ammo capacity is not generally as divisive as attack power. 

I disagree. the only thing worst then a weak gun is one with no ammo. But point taken.