Alpha Update #14 - Next stop Beta!

June 22nd is the release of the new AirMech soundtrack created for Wastelands. It is titled WarMech as a compliment to the original, and referencing the WarMechs that are encountered in the Wastelands campaign. We'll do an update when that is live, as there is a bunch of new exclusive content that is unlocked if you buy the album on top of hearing the amazing new music created by Front Line Assembly.

With the release of the soundtrack we also plan to switch from "alpha" to "beta". This means all the major systems will be in place and we move into the mode of finishing the game as we envisioned it. The Alpha Pet will be retired, and a Beta Pet will be the new bonus, and that change will happen soon.

From finishing the game, we can see how much we want to expand it from what players are interested in. What is more important--more missions or more Parts? The dynamic raids are intended to be the dynamic endgame even to keep things interesting. Or should we add the (completely unbalanced and uncontrolled) PvP Arena? Maybe crafting should get a lot more focus for creating new parts and benefits. We're interested in putting more time into things we see players spending time with while playing.

WHAT'S NEW

• Added New Audio for Missions

• Added New End of Game Sequence and Quest rewards

• Added New Wasteland specific Quests and Achievements

• Added Paladin Aura part icons

• Added Lucky Coin legendary Pilot item

• Added Skull Ring legendary Pilot item

• Added Armored Vest legendary Pilot item

• Added Defensive Colossus units near Wave Cannon on "Death March"

• Adding red cape color for pilot customizations

CHANGES

• Clean Up of Mission and Story text

• Update Shop level allocation and available Items

• Update Shop content lists to match new max level

• Update AirMech class filter style in hangar

• Lots of small Timing Fixes for Missions with Enemy Waves

• Adding Support for Pilot bombard ability

• Quick sell configuration cleanup

• Rework hierarchy of Commander pilots skills page

• Remove leader boards button from bottom bar in Wastelands

• Normalize stats for legacy themed Items for wastelands

• Adding more intro cameras for missions

• Add additional mechs to enemy AI selection for variation when playing coop

FIXES

• Tweaks to the new hangar

• New latency check for Hong Kong region, should help players there

• Fix group members showing up in the basecamp

• Fix for "continue" button not working on a pilot mission

• Update player starts on missions so players aren't spawning on top of each other

BALANCE

• Jumper HP decreased from 300 to 225

• Jumper armor decreased from 35 to 25

• Bomber melee armor piercing increased from 30 to 50

• Reduce stat buffs from some of the Commander pilot skills

Wastelands Update #13 - Looking for a Group

We've been working hard on the latest Wastelands patch and have a lot of new features, bug fixes and even a few easter eggs for you.

Check out the new LFG mode to speed up the grouping process and find new people to stand with you against The Iron Hand. Once the group leader has initiated a mission, group members will now have an accept dialog for coordinating the start of the mission. Give it a try and let us know what you think.

The Wastelands have expanded! There's a new area to the far right of the overworld that caps off the end of the first campaign, something to suit the mood of the final missions.

Below are some of the changes that have been made since our last patch, you can also see detailed notes while in game - click on the version number or the patchnotes button in the pause menu.

See you in the Wastelands!

Changes:

• Add pilot abilities to Warrior skills panel

• Add 'Neo Stasis Blast Armor Piercing' property to parts that buff Stasis blast damage

• Add support for fuel consumption on usage of Helix grenades ability and guided airmode missiles

• Add support for energy use on Blade Guardian hits

• Add preplace Skyeye units to "Black Hat" mission

• Add new line of Plating Structural Parts

• Add intro cinematic for acquiring Striker AirMech

• Add Northeastern map art

• Add Skull Pets

• Add Book and Helmet Recipe Icon

• Add Pilot animations and model update

• Add icons for Stasis Ammo, Saucer Crystals, Saucer Beam and multi-launcher parts

• Add Loadout options while in basecamp

• Disable in game unit restocking from earned Salvage

• Updating VIPShopTicket icon art

• Add New 'Craftable' icon in inspector UI

Balance:

• Add hp and energy drain back to Osprey on it's drain beam ability usage

• Buff enemy AI AirMech unit building speed in higher difficulty levels

• Slightly increased the time between enemy unit spawns in "Last Run" mission

• Update kudos level up cost for AirMechs

• generally reducing at higher levels

• Update 'Rapid Missile Loader' legacy parts missile fire speed (mk4 +500% -> +200%)

• Increase unit restock price 20%

• Increase per player enemy unit buffs in online games

• Increase kudos costs required to upgrade the basecamp Hangar

• Implement per player enemy unit difficulty scalars in coop games against ai

• Give helix grenades the same missile damage buffs that the rockets/missiles have (multilauncher projectiles)

• Don't apply difficulty salvage bonus to destroyed allied units

• Buff allied and enemy fortress HP in higher difficulty levels

• Add an "Epic" repair tool part at L60 for Osprey

• Gorgon attack range decreased from 22 to 17

• Don't allow Angel's sniper stasis ability to charge up more than 1 shot

• AirMech Boost energy use increased from 1.0 to 2.5

• AirMech Boost cooldown increased from 0.21 to 0.42

• Blade Guardian energy drain from 0.1 -> 0.3

Bugfixes:

• Fix issues with Helix grenade damage calculation and rebalance DPS per council feedback.

• Fix persistence of pilot point allocation

• Fix angel sniper stasis shot ability not triggering correctly on F3/keyboard activation

• Show "watch" ui when clicking on the "BaseComms" structure in the basecamp

• Refresh lobby unit supply count after restocking

• Fix visibility issues for simple group members in lobby

• Fix terrain tiles on "Black Hat" that would sometimes have a black line when flying around

• Fix unit stack count display not updating in multiplayer games

• Fix unit selector in loadout customization UI in Wastelands

• Fix team color mapping on the minimap in coop games (allied outposts sometimes shown as red on the minimap)

• Fix pilot portrait getting into a bad state when you leave lobby

• Fix loadout selection/customization in Wastelands lobby

• Fix loadout loading on "Strike Force" mission

• Fix for potential game desync on death with scrappers active

• Fix for "Running on Fumes" sometimes not appearing as completed after a Victory

• Fix floating assets near southern Outpost on "Sierra Pass"

• Fix end game defeat messages spamming if fort is destroyed on "Iron Duel"

• Fix bug report ui from popping behind the pause menu

• Fix blank button when in a group and you hover over an sg member card

• Potential fix for stuck unit recycling state

• Fix display on minimap of neutral outposts to be grey

• Added missing Gothic Saucer and head to the Collection Sets

• Add terrain height tracking on Bomber Mantis strike projectile to improve it's usability on sloped terrain

• Add Fall Crate to Crates Inventory Set

• Timing fixes for the "Boss Unit" spawns on "Shoulders of Giants"

• Timing fixes for TankHeavy spawns in "Snowfall"

Misc:

• Swap bunkered Brutes in Angel of Death mission for Butchers

• speed up selection of explosive vs bombard skill usage

• Space out Vulcan spawn times on "Crossroads", so they don't spawn ontop of each other

• Remove outposts form Scrapyard. Improves friendly AI logic.

• Reduce the HP Bonus for new StrPlt parts, removed Armor Bonus, added DamageReduceBonus

• Reduce Service Level of themed shops to a max of 10

• Potential fix for inactive AI on "Shoulder of Giants"

• Pilot can no longer boost. Only jump

• Move bug report button into settings menu

• Fixing timing of first outpost captured story bits in "Strike Force" mission

• Adding pilot cape customization slot

• Adding sun rays to shop selection, removing outlines

• Add Camera intro transitions

• update FX fire direction for non-airmech collision targets when firing. Makes fire tracer fx look more connected/to their target being damaged

• Tweak AI to not get stuck trying to select units. Don't sit there trying to build defenses for the outpost when it have nothing valid to build.

• make airmech grenades (helix) properly scale their blast damage against various target type (mult modifiers)

• fix stasis shot chance on by default (was on in testing, should have been removed)

• Don't aim while transforming. Fixes some animation jitter when tranforming.

• cleanup and reduce multilauncher use fuel consumption rates

• Adjust sniper shot to not shoot over outposts and forts.

• Adding Void Recipe Icons for airmechs

• Add scissors plans

• Add recipes/plans for fine scrap and alloy so new craftable ui will trigger on them

• Add recipes for econ/tax books

• Add recipe/plan for void eagle

• Add plans for hellstorm brute and devastator

• Add Memo pad Plans

• Add Kettle corn recipe setup

• Add Hellstorm Hatty and Haat recipes

• Add crafting recipe for Void skull

• Add clickable version number to open Patch notes

• Angel's stasis shot now effects flying units

• Stubbing in display of more info on unit mouse over

AirMech Strike Review

Those crazy (some might say MAD) gamers over at Mad Download took the time to write up a review of AirMech Strike. It gives a bit of history of the game and how it evolved to where it is today, so it's a bit of a history lesson too for anyone new to AirMech.

https://maddownload.com/games/strategy/airmech-strike/

We don't normally link to specific reviews but the team over there reached out to us and when we saw they took the time to do a proper write-up it seems only fitting to help them get their new site going. A bit of games, a bit of movies, nice site actually. And no they didn't pay me to say that! I see a lot of gaming sites these days go political or wander way off topic--it's nice to see a new site that can just do simple (but real) reviews again. Kudos to them.

It does mix up a little bit some of the features (parts customization) from Wastelands here, but that's understandable. Hopefully we'll see a full AirMech Wastelands review in the future...