You might wonder what happened for v3.0 – v3.3 .. Heh, funny story about that. SVN had some conflicting issues that I had to resolve before I could release. Unfortunately it took several tries before I finally fixed it. Moreover I discovered a little “gotcha” the other day.
Well, discovered is the wrong word. Remembered would be a bit more accurate. There is a data file that holds all GUI information. This data file is updated every time you run the game. I used to delete this file upon every game start, but a while back I change it so that there was no need (or so I thought).
Then I changed the GUI defaults again. Unfortunately because the old data file is still around you wouldn’t see any change. I have since changed this behavior and submitted the change to Desura, so you should see the new GUI changes in a day or so.
I discussed the new balance changes some time ago, but I feel that some rehashing would be beneficial:
Evolution RTS has been completely rebalanced using a new formula that makes much more sense. The units still do the same job as before, but now it has been balanced according to the way it was already set up. The end result is that the game is a lot more clear cut and easy to understand.
Lets just do a really quick rundown:
Piercing Damage: Now does a lot less damage to more lightly armored units. This is based on a semi-realistic principle and an armor piercing round would punch a hole but not necessarily do any real damage. Thus it is scaled as such. The deviation is of course economy structures, but that is based upon the idea that an armor piercing round going through delicate equipment would cause no end of damage.
Light Damage: Now light damage is actually predictable. It does 1:1 vs light armor and degrades vs heavier armor. As you can see from the chart, it is also rubbish vs buildings.
Medium Damage: Also much more predictable. Puts the hammer down on light armor, does 1:1 vs medium armor, and half damage vs heavy armor. Not much good for destroying buildings.Note: Light and Medium damage suck vs buildings, but obviously if you level enough firepower at something it will fall eventually.
Explosive Damage: Explosive damage only takes a 50% deduction when impacting light armor. Based upon the theory that an HE round might penetrate light armor enough to do some damage. Predictably degrades vs heavier armor. From looking at it’s damage vs buildings, and simply the word ‘explosive’ denotes that explosive damage will be good vs buildings.
This is MUCH easier to understand and to explain.Relevant wiki article (Notice the new damage chart): Wiki.evolutionrts.info
Spreadsheet for this chart is here: Goo.gl
Then moving further, there is the addition of the custom rings widget:Thanks to CarRepairer, Regret, and Niobium, I have a new widget that allows me to display ranges of things. So the ORB’s repair graphic will be replaced with a simple green ring. This is good because no more massive lag when you select 5 or 10 of them. Additionally, things such as buildrange and Energy Core collection range are defined, and a TON of other stuff.
Enjoy!
