Steam Marines v0.6.8a is out with Tactical Hijinks and more UI Improvements! news

Hello, fine people.

Please remember to head on down to Steam Greenlight and vote if you enjoy Steam Marines!

This version of Steam Marines is brought to you by the sleepless confines of a bum's brain. In short there is more emphasis no the tactical side of core gameplay. Health points damage have been streamlined to be more mechanically obvious and more in line with the way action points are dealt with. Brutes can pack a surprise in the form of variants that can mash you flatter than a pancake. Not all weapons spawn with special prefixes - no more frozen spamming for you!

But the biggest tactical change is: RANGE

Range is now a dual purpose stat on weapons. It still dictates the farthest you are able to shoot at targets, but it also grants 100% chance to hit if the target is at maximum range. To compensate, monsters have had their evasion stats activated, and weapon accuracy stats have been lowered. Prepare to move around a lot more and get ready for more enemies coming in the next few builds!

People who like clicking buttons instead of using the keyboard will also be happy to know that additional buttons have been added to fire, reload, end the turn, and access squad promotions:

And of course, the full changelog:

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New Features
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• Squad members' weapons' ranges now affect accuracy as well. Targets at max weapon range have a 100% chance to be hit.
• Target indicator now displays 100% accuracy shots In purple.
• Weapon accuracy stat rebalanced to account for new range/accuracy mechanic.
• Enemies now crit for double damage from behind like squad members do.
• Enemies now flank their targets like squad members do.
• Squad member base melee damage is now 1, down from 4.
• Fire, Reload, Promotion, and End Turn buttons have been added.
• Apart from the starting levels of the Command Deck, Brutes have a chance to spawn larger, with more stats and a charge ability. They are marked by slightly larger size and a shade of blue.
• Squad members no longer start equipped with weapons with special prefixes.
• Not all weapons spawn with special prefixes.
• Reduced base item spawn chance and chance for killed enemies to drop items.
• Activated enemy evasion stat (reduced chance to be hit from ranged attacks).
• Target indicator popup now takes enemy evasion into account when calculating accuracy.
• Target indicator popup now includes rounds fire along with damage done per round.
• Adjusted health and damage values downward for easier understanding of mechanics.
• Clamped floating HP and AP text so they don't bounce on update anymore.
• Reduced Mission Objective and Deck Stats font size to be in line with the rest of the UI text.
• Medikits now restore up to 5 health points.
• Canteens now restore up to 2 health points and 2 action points.
• Reduced land mine damage to 10 from 20.

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Bug Fixes
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• Fixed Squad Follow auto-firing not always using the correct weapon range when taking shots.
• Fixed auto-end turn message sometimes popping up erroneously on manual end turns.
• Fixed deck Hostile Control going negative.
• Fixed bug with target indicators not always using the proper damage range.
• Secondary Mission Objective "Use no grenades" now automatically updates upon using a grenade instead of updating on using elevator.
• All unit shadows properly attach on load game.
• Weapon attachments properly orient themselves on squad member weapons and facing on load game.
• Updated Squad Follow message when trying to enter follow mode in improper formation.
• Fixed ranking by level for individual squad members.
• Game state enforcer should synchronize all squad member deaths properly even with fastest enemy turn speed on slow computers.

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Notes
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• Target indicator damage numbers do not take into account target armor or resistances. Unsure as to whether this will change or not.
• When a squad member dies the immediate field of view he/she had turns full black in fog of war. This is unintended.

Happy robot hunting!