News

Achron version 1.4.0.1

Released 2013/02/23

Summary: This release fixes numerous bugs, especially for assassin mode and single player campaigns, and also features minor balance changes to resource processing and Grekim healing.

Achron changelog:

fixed bug: player without any attack/production wouldn't be defeated if Achron is alive in Assassin Mode
fixed bug: C1L4 start units didn't appear
fixed bug: updated info popup in C1L6 regarding cloakable units
fixed bug: removed (unused) energy attribute from ATHCs
fixed bug: bug in C1L10 made end-level situation difficult
fixed bug: oasis demo level was broken due to increased vis and attack ranges
fixed bug: playing in assassin Mode would change the color of the fog in a level
fixed bug: clone challenge level was unplayable
fixed bug: edited replay view snaps to present after several minutes of gameplay
increased RP process rate, decreasing process time down to 12 seconds for LC and 15 seconds for QP
increased Reaph heal energy consumption by 3x
reduced visibility for some buildings
reduced heal range of Reaphs to not work on targets at edge of Reaph's visibility
fixed several bugs where errors in multiplayer pre-game lobby would move players to quickplay lobby
fixed surrender heuristic to ignore non-players

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where units were not detectable on the south and east edges of the playable map (and same with terrain objects on the visible map) for most spatial index cache values
damage dealt and received on timeline now are measured in HP as opposed to attack counts, for better relative comparisons
weapons with no additional attack delay no longer update total action time (formerly problematic when a unit attacks with a zero-tick attack when performing another action)
fixed bug where scenario monitor accessing player data via -> command in Rescript would not work if unless the variable "player" was the same player being accessed
fixed bug where an action by the scenario on an invalid target would overwrite the fog color to white
bloom filter now downsamples the screenbuffer for increased performance and blur quality

Achron version 1.4.0.0

Released 2013/02/15

Summary: This release contains assassination mode for multiplayer, major improvements to pathfinding performance, increases to unit visibility, improvements to balancing, and numerous minor improvements and bug fixes.

Achron changelog:

increased visibility area and attack ranges of all units by an average of 33%
significant increase in path-finding strength (1.5-2x) on all single player levels
changes in prices for most units due to the updated attack ranges and visibility changes
added Assassin Mode for multiplayer where each player has a non-attacking Achron unit
fixed bug: teleporters would ignore units not in direct line of sight (most notable with infantry)
fixed bug: damaged open CESO and Grekim RPs would not stop blinking on the minimap
fixed bug: C1L10 was very hard to beat with the given units after previous balance changes
fixed bug: C3L8 locked screen if killing off all enemies prior to 'protecting' objective
fixed bug: newly deployed units rallying on attack-moving commanders wouldn't actively follow the commander's objective
fixed bug: using $GO_ATTACK macro in a scenario monitor would prevent hierarchies from speed matching smoothly
fixed bug: Idle Octos would move close to but not attack enemy Macrofabs
fixed bug: units would try to attack indestructable enemies
changed base multiplayer scripts to turn losers into spectators
merged absolute and relative time displays
changed "Timewave Colors" option into "Advanced Timeline UI". This setting enables timewave colors and the merged absolute and relative time display. When off, only absolute time display is shown
fixed many tooltips to keep the text within the boxes on Linux
tweaked profile creation menu to be easier to use
changed "Save Replays" setting to be on by default
made spectator statistics display grey out player stats when they have lost

Resequence Engine changelog:

major improvements in spatial index algorithms via caching. Added configuration parameters UnitSpatialIndexCacheBlockSize and TerrainObjectSpatialIndexCacheBlockSize to tune performance. Values closer to 1 rely more on CPU cache and will likely yield better performance on higher-end CPUs. Larger values will use less CPU cache less intensely and will recompute more often. Values between 1 and 30 are recommended, and the optimal value will depend on your particular computer. Defaults to 6.
improvements in pathfinding core algorithms (~2-4% reduced CPU cost for scenarios with a large number of units moving)
upgraded FreeType library to 2.4.11
removed FreeTypeFonts from configuration.ini
added casting to int & float in Rescript: trunc and to_float functions
removed dependency on OpenGL DisplayLists and custom line widths which have been deprecated by OpenGL (may improve compatibility on certain video cards)
fixed bug where sharing vision with another player would allow an opponent to see a nonally's visibly-ranges (e.g., teleporters' source range)
split point_width into normal_line_width and indicator_line_width in skin language
added timeline_statistic_image to skin language to allow custom texturing of timeline statistic bars
added UNDO_UNIT_COMMANDS to Rescript
Resequence no longer opens up a server port if the command line port is 0; useful for running automated testing in parallel on machines with prompting firewalls.
holding in the enqueue commands key now shows amount of time to complete current actions on timeline
added flags for players having unit controls and timeline controls.
added PLAYER_ENABLE_UNIT_CONTROLS, PLAYER_DISABLE_UNIT_CONTROLS, PLAYER_ENABLE_TIMELINE_CONTROLS and PLAYER_DISABLE_TIMELINE_CONTROLS PERFORMs to change the unit and timeline controls flags. These PERFORMs take a player bitmask as parameter.
added GET_UNIT_CONTROLS_PLAYERS and GET_TIMELINE_CONTROLS_PLAYERS PERFORMs to get a bitmask of players with unit and timeline controls enabled.
added StartScenario skin variable for creating a pregame lobby for quickplay, while SpawnScenario simply starts the game with the StartScenario-loaded scenario.

Achron version 1.3.0.1

Released 2012/11/12

Summary: This release includes a number of map and balance improvements, as well as a number of bug fixes.

Achron changelog:

fixed Vecgir vehicle chronoporting costs to account for the pilot, average of 9 QP increase
fixed starting unit rotations on some SP levels
increased capacity of crates
removed artillery damage reduction for ATHCs
fixed bug: species selector remains after choosing a species
modified MAR and TwinMar:
- MAR's ground attack is now a direct projectile and NO anti-air weapon
- MAR's speed increased by 16%
- Merge time increased back to 10 seconds
- TwinMAR is now long range artillery with large AOE (splash)
- TwinMAR's speed reduced by 16%
- TwinMAR's ground attack DPS reduced from 218 down to 191
added new pre-game lobby option to clear order queue after chronoport
fixed bug in pre-game lobby for non-widescreen monitors that displayed 'toggle AI' buttons during the settings view
Fixed a bug in multiplayer pre-game lobby where the initial settings weren't always displaying properly
Fixed a bug where choosing Grekim would make an invisible and selectable "Species Selector" unit remain
Fixed a small bug with win handling in the tournament statistics display
Changed crates to 120 energy for LC, 100 energy for QP, and 400 energy for large QP
Proper set of multiplayer maps included
Minor improvements to single-player level environment settings and ice/snow textures

Resequence Engine changelog:

ResetCameraOrientation in skin no longer lowers camera to default height
energy field is now set to max > 255 if set to -1 or 255 in editor (previously could not have been set higher than 255, even though 1023 was allowed as max)
fixed if_indextoname error on some configurations of Windows XP
Improved Bloom efficiency

Achron version 1.3.0.0

Released 2012/10/26

Summary: This release includes numerous improvements to graphics, pre-game lobby, game balance, as well as a number of important bug fixes. Special thanks to Dominic "Shadowfury333" Renaud for his coding efforts contributing to this release!

Achron changelog:

lowered HP of buildings:
Macrofab 1200->1000
Factory 1000-> 700
Armory 900-> 800
Importer 450->300
Reaph 900->800
reduced cost CESO units as follows: SOP by 2LC, all air units, MAR, Tank, and MFB by 3LC
moved Cloak from ATHC to Blackbird
changed ATHC to be a cloak Detector and reduced cost by 4LC
doubled MFB repair/heal rate
increasee Octo RP morph time to 8s
increased cost of all RPs to 80LC
decreased RP processing cycle for LC by 3.3 seconds and QP by 4.2 seconds (increasing rate)
derceased cost of Importer down to 50LC
decreased Importer Reserve Soldier capacity to 3
changed Grekim Chooser to start Grekim with 1 RP and 1 Sepi
fixed bug: Mar tanks would ignore the merge order when in a hierarchy during an attack
improved hierarchy skip teleport to reduce unnecessary skips by subordinates when close enough
updated grekim units to ignore commands from Arcticus while moving to make building and to disconnect on morph
updated teleportation to not depend on the unit's sight radius, only on that of the gate's
updated Slipgates to properly repel units near the map border, flipping the repel direction if necessary
updated Slipgates to not consider dead units possible targets
updated Slipgates to ensure that they repel outside their sphere
updated unit description and tooltip text
added more configurable graphics settings to settings menu
added community chat to level editor
updated unit textures and models, improving visual differentiation in Vir and other vecgir models
updated hierarchy line visual
Increased visibility of in-game community chat
Added UI hiding functionality to level editor, defaults to ';'
Added in-progress advancements to advancements display, icons are halved diagonally when in-progress.
Opened control flags to be editable in editor. First three control flags have set meanings, last three are script configurable
Set up lobby settings to be visible to all clients
Added ability to toggle AI in lobby

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where replays could not be unpaused
fixed bug where cached timeline data would not be flushed immediately in certain rare cases when total damage was reduced
fixed bug where Resequence would repeatedly send world state data to Achron clients prior to game start (would sometimes clog up connections on slower machines and slower network connections, causing a variety of issues)
added LevelEditorBrushIgnoreCollisions to skin language
added screen (S - occludes unit vision but not space) and nonblocking (N - occludes neither vision nor space, but still selectable and effectable) location attributes to collision maps. NOTE: Requires all previously custom models to be recompiled
fixed bug where jumping to a new spot on the timeline would not always synchronize all units properly
fixed primary bug where replays were corrupted
added synchronized modifier to skin variables to synchronize variables across the network
skin variables now populated with scenario properties when player enters the multiplayer lobby
added PlayersConnected to skin language
upgraded miniupnpc to version 1.7.20120830
resetting the camera now also recenters the camera over the mouse position
improved gracefulness of failure when OpenAL cannot be initialized - will continue to read in proper skin data
Added new shader effects for construction, birth and morphing actions
Added more detailed configuration options for graphical effects
Added Depth of Field blur effect. 0 is off, 1 is on, 2 (in game settings as "HQ") is on and maintains sharpness of in-focus objects.
Reduced strength of fullscreen sepia effect when away from present
Changed fog to have a maximum height, defaults to the maximum height level the camera can reach
Increased strength of specular highlights by a factor of 5
Increased strength of bloom on bright areas, but increased the brightness threshold for blooming
Added Bokeh-respecting Bloom when looking at bright blurry areas.
Changed cloak effect to be more visible when detected
Added and tags to select effects for ACTION_CREATE actions and actions with MorphWithActionParameter set
-Vertex Shader Effects are:
NONE: no shader effect (best for when there is a custom build animation).
CUBE_CLAMPED_SCALE: Object grows out in all directions, but is softly clamped by a growing cube. This was the old effect for all units.
XZ_PLANE_CLAMPED_VERT_SCALE: Object starts as a flat plane and grows upward, clamped by a rising plane parallel to the ground.
INV_QUADRATIC_SCALE: Object grows uniformly in all directions proportional to the square root of the current progress [0,1].
-Fragment Shader Effects are:
NONE: no shader effect (best for when there is a custom build animation).
TELEPORT: Same effect as teleportation and chronoportation.
TELEPORT_BUILD: Similar effect to teleport, but rises from the ground over time. Works best with XZ_PLANE_CLAMPED_VERT_SCALE.
BEIGE_TO_COLOR: Object starts out as a semi-transparent beige and transitions smoothly to its own colours. Works best with INV_QUADRATIC_SCALE.
Added Bloom and DepthOfField as skin variables for runtime configuration
Added PlayerCustomControls variable for in-progress advancement display
Added ScenarioFogHeight and ScenarioPlayerControlFlags variables for editing

Achron version 1.2.0.1

Released 2012/5/16

Summary: This patch release fixes an important bug in level 2, as well as two other bugs and includes additional sandbox levels. A video highlighting the changes for 1.2.0.0 can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny5YRJiwjD0.

Achron changelog:

fixed C1L2 vecgir skip timing, previously affected by improvements to skip logic
fixed default keybinding for Dome's Fire Beam
included additional sandbox levels courtesy of Shadowfury333

Resequence Engine changelog:

improved resiliance against disconnects in pre-game lobby

Achron version 1.2.0.0

Released 2012/5/15

Summary: This release improves balance, improves unit aesthetics, and fixes numerous issues including the font loading issue. A video highlighting the changes can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny5YRJiwjD0.

Achron changelog:

fixed bug: game crashes due to unsupported font usage for users without Anklepants font
fixed bug: self-skipping units would not continue skipping after using a teleporter/slipgate
fixed bug: self-skip with some Vecgir vehicles wouldn't show objective line to destination
fixed C4L5 bugs preventing end level and speeds remaning locked out in specific situations
fixed several minor keybindings
fixed bug: ACC would not enable air units in adjacent Depots during auto-defence attacking
fixed bug: slingshotted units would automatically return back to slingshot after the teleport
fixed bug: some air units wouldn't attack ground units while patrolling
fixed bug: Level Editor clone brush wouldn't set destination if minimap was clicked first
updated main menu skin layout with an always displayed community chat window
updated repair script to repair any damaged unit, even if it's only 1 hp of damage
decreased creation time of all Grekim base units progenerated by Arcticus by 7 seconds (down to 9 sec)
decreased range of Sepiligo weapon by 2
increased range of anti-air weapon by 1 for Mech,Sepi,T-Vir,T-Pulser and by 2 for Heavy Tank, Octoligo and T-Halcyon
changed right-click to auto-select target only for normal units right-clicking on other allied units
changed unit creation buildings to produce units on button release instead of button press
changed single-unit progen to take destination, unit automoves then morphs; group progen works as before
improved RP movement logic when approaching crates for processing from the right side
increased speed of Grekim RPs by 22%
updated closed RPs to allow conversion of resources
changed RPs' Move shortcut to R (Relocate) to be consistent with other buildings
added display of outline at destination for RP relocate and teleport controls
updated RPs to not auto-close when attacked until they have less than 60% health
increased RS import time from 39 to 47 seconds
increased LC and QP Crate capacity by 50%
decreased RP process yield by 20% from 10 to 8
increased RP process time by 11%
lowered HP of large buildings:
Spyre 800->600
Annex 1200->900
Armory 1400->900
Reaph 1000->900
Factory 1200->1000
Depot 1600->1200
Macrofab 1700->1200
increased cost of CESO SOPs and Marines by 2 LC and piloted CESO vehicles by 3 LC
included improved unit texturemaps (and one terrain texture), courtesy of Shadowfury333
updates and changes to included community map list

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed PERFORM GET_ENABLED_PLAYERS to return correct mask for enabled players (previously returned all as active players up until max player number)
changed gloss mapping from linear on 0-255 texturemap values to quadratic on 0.5-255.5 to make the most widely used glossmap region
minor improvement to bloom filtering
updated FreeType to 2.4.9
fixed bug where if one player shared vision with another, but the first player was allied with a third player, the second player would not see allied units within visibility range of the first player's units
global time rate changes stored in replays are now ignored when viewing replays
updated to TinyXML 2.6.2
added SelectTarget control property - selects target of control only if checked. now programmable instead of just automatically selecting if right-clicked on allied unit.

Achron version 1.1.1.0

Released 2011/12/15

Summary: This release improves balance and fixes a number of minor bugs in Achron and Resequence Engine.

Achron changelog:

fixed bug: units going into progen in a heirarchy would order additional unecessary units to go into progen
fixed bug: armories and factories attempted to acquire reserve soldiers from chronofrozen importers
fixed bug: removing hierarchy on cancelled out of progen units would attack-move old rally point
fixed bug: no achievement in C3L7/L8 if death of guards fell off timeline
fixed bug: incorrect ETAs for Grekim base-class unit creation
fixed bug: incorrect weapon damage multiplier for Shin Tercher caused it to be too strong vs air units
removed Marines' weapon damage multilpier as counter to the MAR
made fast hovercraft (ATHC & Z-Tercher) counters to Long Range Artillery units (MAR & Z-Pulser)
reduced MAR vs Ground weapon strength by 13% and removed multiplier vs Octos (Octos now soft-counter MAR)
increased Sepi vs Air weapon strength by 21%
increased Sepiligo into Gargantuan morph time from 10 to 20 seconds
increased price of all air units (except carriers) by an average of 15%
changed Human and Vecgir buildings to gain HP during construction instead of starting with full HP
improved key binding configuration in main menu settings
updated Level Editor to respect custom UI key bindings
decreased creation time for base Grekim units by 20% (down to 16 seconds)
decreased creation time for Arcticus and Spyre by 50% (down to 5 seconds)

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where chatting in the pre-game lobby would sometimes cause a crash
fixed bug where PERFORM ENQUEUE_OBJECTIVE would exit a script early
fixed bug where engine would not save current level when writing out a save for levels that start at time other than t=0
improved internal timing code and consistency of replays
hash marks in Steam user names now converted to underscores to prevent errors
fixed bug in Rescript compiler where an error message on a line > 512 characters long would cause a crash
replays no longer re-save games
fixed bug where cinematic sounds could be disabled in certain cases
fixed bug where chronoports would be achronally undone if the destination time was changed (required time progress to be paused)

Achron Demo and Reduced Price

Tuesday Nov 15, 2011 by Chris Hazard

The public Achron demo is finally out! If you've been waiting to give it a try before you purchase, download the Windows demo here: torrent (fast), http(slow). The demo includes two levels. One is a longer tutorial level that introduces much of the time manipulation mechanics, including a time traveling adversary. In the other, you send units back through time to reinforce their previous selves to destroy a much larger army.

Along with the demo, we're dropping the price of Achron to $19.99, and with your purchase you get a code to give a full copy of Achron to a friend.

Achron version 1.1.0.0

Released 2011/11/6

Summary: This release includes a prehosting multiplayer chat, ability to change game and replay speed, a performance improvement for long games, and numerous bug fixes and balance improvements.

Achron changelog:

changed hierarchy attack-move to break formation if issued order is to a nearby destination
added toggle to pre-game lobby: subordinates can chronoport with commander using hierarchy
added toggle to pre-game lobby: morphing during rechronport delay
added toggle to main menu graphics settings: os-drawn mouse
added toggle to in-game settings and main menu gameplay settings: unit gages display values
increased range of chronofreeze area of effect from 13 to 17
reduced cost of all comm center/hub/mound buildings by one third
reduced cost of Sepi by 3LC and Pharo by 9LC
fixed bug: Octo would make RP on edited timeline if given cancel-progen-for-all order in original timeline
fixed bug: RPs approaching crates from the diagonal would not move 1 space closer to automatically start processing
fixed bug: subordinates continued to stutter-move after arriving at destination if ahead of commander during attack-move
fixed bug: chronobombing a research building mid-upgrade would leave the building stuck in upgrade mode
fixed bug: reaphs and foundations would attempt to repair TSSd units
fixed bug: HELP window keybindings did not update when user changed the key bindings
minor fixes to incorrect tooltips and keybindings
minor fixes to campaign levels
removed weapon damage multipliers for Shin Vir vs Zayin Pulser and Octo vs Zayin Pulser match-ups
added built-in community IRC chat for multiplayer
added game speed slider to replays and single player
added visible placement outline to the move command for mobile buildings
included additional maps and tile sets (courtesy of Shadowfury333)

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where sound effects would not be set to proper speed on reloading a save or reconnecting to a server
added DefaultGlobalTimeRate to configuration.ini, GlobalTimeRate to skin language, and PERFORM SET_GLOBAL_TIME_RATE and GET_GLOBAL_TIME_RATE to Rescript
file lists now sorted case insensitively across all platforms (also fixes unsorted issue on Linux)
fixed minor memory leak when reloading engine configuration settings
fixed bug where overriding the window opacity would not change the color of fonts to white
removed redundant command tracking history (no longer needed since replays were introduced) which saves 2-5% basis memory in the server for a typical 20-30 minute game, and accompanying minor performance improvement
improved accuracy of core timing code
added PERFORM GET_CHRONAL_FIELD and SET_CHRONAL_FIELD to Rescript for 4 global chronal fields (selected via target variable)
fixed Rescript compiler bug where chronoenergy retrieval performs were not properly specified as floats (were attempting to set integers instead)
Apostrophes in name in Steam are now changed to underscores in multiplayer for compatibility
added EngineReady indicator to skin language
double-click selection now includes all units that match type, rank, and highlight (instead of only exact class)

3D Models in DLC

Monday Oct 3, 2011 by Chris Hazard

Today we've released the 3D models, image files, etc. for all the units, terrain objects, and weapon effects in Achron. To create an importable model, follow the instructions in the model compilor document in the Achron release. You'll need to generate a .robj file for all of the 3D modelers before you can import them though (outlined in the instructions); we didn't include them because the intermediary .robj files would have made the download huge and would need to be regenerated anyway for any mod. There are many in the community who want to start making some serious mods to Achron, and we want to enable that as best we can!

We've also released an example mod template which we call "Kinablu". It's perhaps the simplest template for a 2D d-pad like game. There are a lot of things that could be done to improve it, such as making the controls much more responsive by using a set of flags to indicate the movement of the character and having the scripts set and clear those flags (rather than just changing scripts as it does now). We kept it simple for instructive purposes. Remember to extract the XML from kinablu.ocs by dragging and dropping kinablu.ocs onto ResequenceXMLCompiler.

If you already have a copy of Achron, you can download the DLC here.

Achron version 1.0.2.0

Released 2011/9/26

Summary: This release significantly improves pathfinding performance and improves a few balance and usability issues.

Achron changelog:

changed Octopod's weapon ranges: vs ground: 15->19, vs air: 18->17
increased Octoligo's anti-air weapon strength by a factor of 2.67
increased Octoligo's price by 16.7%
lowered cost of Reaph from 7LC to 2LC
changed chronobombs to ignore units during their rechronoport delay
changed Reaphs and Foundations to repair units of any species
added behavior: commanders will slow down when in front, until at least half of subordinates move ahead of them
changed behavior of grounded air units to auto-rise up when attacking an enemy
fixed bug: Octos would not attack foundation-based buildings unless manually moved closer
fixed bug: commjammed and frozen teleporters were not ignored when trying to teleport
fixed bug: damage multiplier between shin tercrher and sepiligo
fixed bug: Level Editor crash when switching between opening files of different types
fixed bug: 0-hp vecgir vehicles could jump into Depot to be repaired instead of blowing up
marines and SOPs now exit a tank and join in battle if the tank fires an attack
numerous campaign fixes and improvements

Resequence Engine changelog:

significant improvement in pathfinding efficiency
improvements to pathfinding heuristics
fixed bug where could sometimes see enemy units' objectives, etc.
increased number of achronal fields in Rescript to 4096
added unit->ClosestPosition to Rescript
improved random number source for rendering effects (eliminates patterns sometimes observable on large units' active camo)
improved double-click unit selection logic (only counts as double-click if on same unit, and less stringint criteria on selecting units outside of hierarchy)
changed cursor clipping code to attempt to reduce situations where cursor can move outside of window
mouseover now shows unit highlight
added ignore_collision_with_unit to Rescript
added WindowOpacity and WindowColoredByPlayer to skin language
removed dependency on ALUT for Windows and Linux platforms
improved edge of fog of war rendering for slopes

DLC and Source Code for 1.0.1.0

Sunday Sep 18, 2011 by Mike Resnick

Summary: The free DLC for 1.0.1.0 is now available or download.

This DLC includes all the source code for Achron unit AI scripts as well as the source code for the original 5 demo tutorial levels and the user interface skins. The ResequenceXMLCompiler that comes with the base release can be used to de-compile the official Achron object set file into the full source XML file (on a command prompt> ResequenceXMLCompiler achron.ocs).

The full XML with the unit AI source code from the DLC provides modders full access to all the source code behind the game enabling creation of total conversion mods. If you already have a copy of Achron, you can download the DLC here.

Achron version 1.0.1.0

Released 2011/9/5

Summary: This release improves pathfinding considerably, contains numerous improvements to the single-player campaign, and fixes many bugs.

Achron changelog:

added cinematic volume toggle to volume settings
added toggle to enable/disable autosaves for single player levels
disabled quick (radial) controls by default
changed guards to be a little looser (campaign 3)
improved scrimmage AI start game logic
fixed bug: Clone Challenge would not unlock Achievement when condition was met
fixed bug: in main menu, immediately changing profile post menu load would return to active profile the first time
fixed bug: Loading save games would play start-level cinematic
fixed bug: moving Slingshot did not stop properly
fixed bug: tooltip for weapon strengths for Incepter and Carrier
fixed bug: Incepter creation would not account for missing foundation Power amount
fixed bug: teleporting Vecgir RPs long distances would not work via Slipgates
fixed bug: exploding Vecgir air vehicles could get stuck in permanent explosion if pilot failed to eject out
fixed bug: performance degredation on some C3 levels when controlling a lot of units in proximity of main character
fixed bug: incorrect unit is created in a progen triad where one of the triad is low on energy
fixed bug: autohierarchy would create circular heirarchies
fixed bug: skip torpedo could get stuck perma-teleporting if it couldn't get to destination
fixed bug: grekim units would ignore initial arcticus dispatch after setting the arcticus as commander
fixed bug: Incepters would not attack air units directly above them
fixed bug: RPs wouldn't auto-process large QP crates when approaching from certain directions
fixed bug: Incorrect logic to set speed key bindings for Steam install
numerous campaign improvements

Resequence Engine changelog:

major performance and behavioral increase on pathfinding
added AdditionalParameters 3 & 4 to Rescript
stop action step now clears target's current action
fixed bug where private game servers would frequently say that files are mismatched
added goal_distance to Rescript for BESTMOVE queries
BESTMOVE query now sets perf_ret to goal position as packed position
improved bloom filter

Achron version 1.0.0.0

Released 2011/8/29

Summary: Achron!

Achron changelog:

Campaign 4 included
campaign improvements
fixed chronoclone challenge to disallow stasis
Mac & Linux builds no longer enable antialiasing with different graphic settings (due to driver issues)

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where levels would sometimes be skipped
added CinematicVolume and SetCinematicVolume to skin language
manual rotating the camera with the mouse now centers on the location last pointed to before rotating began
added MoveCameraMouse to skin language

Release v0.9.7.0

August 21, 2011 by Chris Hazard

This release fixes some bugs and adds some minor features to the Resequence Engine. Other than Campaign 4 and minor multiplayer coordination improvements, this is a release candidate for 1.0.0.0.

If you have already preordered Achron, you can download it here.

Achron changelog:

fixed bug: chronofreeze vertical range did not match Pharoligo's vertical range
fixed bug: placing Foundation with Vir could display "can't build" error instead of the correct "use nearby foundation"
fixed bug: idle subordinates would walk away from commander after a fight with nearby enemies
fixed bug: performance drain when attempting to place buildings on nearby blocked off areas
fixed bug: performance issues when idling near walls with enemies on the other side
changed foundations to repair all mechanical units, including human units
improved consistency in campaign cutscene visuals
campaign improvements

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where saved games would not always remember campaign information to resume campaign
added EnginePlatform to skin language
clone brush now clones terrain blending
added MostRecentVersion to skin language
added PERFORM IS_REPLAY to Rescript
replays now show non-allied units through fog of war

Release v0.9.6.0

August 14, 2011 by Chris Hazard

This release contains rendering improvements, numerous bug fixes, and improvements to single-player campaigns.

If you have already preordered Achron, you can download it here.

Achron changelog:

updated the model for Teth Halcyon
changed Undo functionality to be tied to a single button, defaulted to Z.
changed slipgate repel animation from using a light sources to an animated gate
slight improvement of performance on levels with a lot of air units
added toggle for Terrain blending to level editor, can blend and layer two terrains on top of each other
added ability to set default player profiles in main menu, skips profile selection screen
fixed bug: repairing a commander unit inside a Depot would cause subordinates to move far away
fixed bug: MFB wouldn't automatically heal biological units
fixed bug: hover units on non-ground terrain would not be fired on because of incorrect air-ground weapon assignment
fixed bug: hitting the hideUI key while typing on the console would hide the UI after exiting console
fixed bug: making RP when not enough resources with Grekim triad caused waypoint for triad to reset to failed RP location
fixed bug: Closed RPs would not always auto-move/teleport towards manually selected different resources
fixed bug: Arcticus leaders that weren't subordinates themselves wouldn't speed match with the rest of the hierarchy
campaign improvements
included more rock terrain objects

Resequence Engine changelog:

improved team color rendering visuals. team colors may need to be adjusted to improve visibility (don't use too dark team colors or team colors that have extremely low values for any channel, like 0,0,255 - use something like 10,10,255 instead)
streamlined terrain shaders and removed alpha channel (reduced VRAM usage)
added overlay terrain channel and added LevelEditorEnableTerrainOverlayPaint to skin language
fixed bug where OpenProfile, when passed a string, would not use the correct profile name
progress bars of units are now shown when being carried or selected
fixed bug where progress bars and animations would not be updated properly for long actions when jumping back in time

Release Date, PAX, and Anachronism

August 9, 2011 by Chris Hazard

We have three exciting pieces of news today!

First is we have finalized a release date of August 29th for Achron.

Second is that I will be speaking at PAX on Saturday, August 27th at 9:00pm in the Raven Theatre. I'll be talking on strategic thinking in gaming, from game theory, to foundations of trust and reputation, to strategic revelation of information, to how others' beliefs affect your best strategy.

Finally, we have a new anachronism story up. Check it out!

Are you going to PAX? Thoughts on the new anachronism? Discuss on our forums: http://www.achrongame.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=3691.

Release v0.9.5.0

August 7, 2011 by Chris Hazard

This release contains campaign 3, bug fixes, decreased jostling during group pathfinding, unit-specific chronoportation costs, and increased range for anti-air units.

If you have already preordered Achron, you can download it here.

Achron changelog:

changed chronoporting costs to be custom per unit
changed Domes to have individual Beam upgrades to enable Beam firing
added animation to Dome and Turret upgrades
reduced cost of Arcticus generating each base class by 25LC
changed Grekim to start with 2 RPs
changed stop/activate control in mobile buildings to take a position w/ building's outline where it should activate
reduced fall-off rate of splash damage of Tornade, Pharopod and Shin Tercher's weapon
increased ground-anti-air units' anti-air weapon range
changed progen units to use 50% more energy per unit for progeneration
fixed bug: carrier capacity was being miscalculated when picking up tanks carrying troops
fixed bug: keyboard shortcuts displayed in campaign tutorials tooltips did not reflect customized keyboard bindings
fixed bug: changing the status of species selector would cause errant behavior when making a selection
fixed bug: slipgate could get stuck in a state where it won't chronoport units
fixed bug: Teth Vir's weapon impact damage was mistimed
fixed bug: human and Vecgir builders wouldn't move to far away build locations on levels with high pathing values
fixed bug: performance degredation caused by blocked locations for Grekim morphing on levels with high pathing
fixed bug: foundations could ignored order to make building without erroring
updated minimap appearance in LevelEditor to match in-game minimap
added warning to loaded Replays if the current game files do not match original Replay files
added Hide UI shortcut, hides the entire UI while the key is being held down
improved weapon lighting effects
minor tweaks to Vecgir team color maps
campaign improvements

Resequence Engine changelog:

enhanced functionality of OpenProfile in skin language to be able to open profile names from string
updated library versions: Freetype to 2.4.6, libogg to 1.3.0, and libvorbis to 1.3.2
improved pathfinding in groups; reduced amount of back-and-forth jostling
fixed bug where levels with apostrophes in the name would not load properly
added Warning to skin language
added check for engine version mismatches for replays
fixed bug where saved games would not show up in list if had previously played multiplayer game

Release v0.9.4.0

July 31, 2011 by Chris Hazard

This release contains a number of unit behavioral improvements, improvements to the single-player campaigns, numerous bug fixes, and new Resequence Engine functions.

If you have already preordered Achron, you can download it here.

Achron changelog:

improved autohieararchy selection to reduce the number of heirarchy levels
changed behavior of idle units under attack - will return to their original spots after attacking
tightened up formations, units will try to catch up to commander if lagging behind earlier
fixed bug: idle damaged MFBs would not repair themselves
fixed bug: subordinates may behave oddly if commander was first to teleport and immediatelly changed objectives
fixed bug: creating an Annex or Depot earlier than original creation created different orders for that structure
fixed bug: Grekim units' remove from hierarchy control did not disconnect from non-Grekim subordinates
fixed bug: responder air units would sometimes land on the ground when responding to repair/recover/break tss requests
fixed bug: skip torpedo wouldn't skip en route to target
fixed bug: destruction of original Annex could cause incorrect power consumption
fixed bug: missing morphing animation for Spyre->Pharo and Loligo class split down
fixed bug: teleporter wouldn't teleport units on the edge of teleport radius if teleporting into a crowd
fixed bug: subordinates of a patroling commander would attempt to teleport without a teleport order
fixed bug: carriers can't fit inside other carriers
lowered energy consumption by Clear Nanite so it can be used 5 times by a clear-nanite unit
added option to display chronoport alerts to multiplayer, global alerts of arrivals and departures at player's time
updated ai surrender heuristic with current balance values
improved single-player campaign levels
tweaks to octoligo collision map

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where config_property_int and config_property_float would crash when used on an uninitilaized variable
fixed bug on Win32 platform where replays would not work if hosted on a different drive letter
improved random number generator
fixed bug in computing distance for vertical movements (on rare occasions, air units would bounce vertically)
fixed bug where extremely fast units visible behind fog of war would skip as they moved
team color rendering improvements
added HideUI to skin language
players that nanite infected others' units now have access to all of the capabilities of the nanite-infected unit
vision sharing and nanite infection now properly show hierarchy and objective information; hierarchy and objectives are now only shown with vision sharing, not just an alliance
server network code is now more robust against sending messages to closed connections
added say_from_config to Rescript
added get_player_name to skin language

July Tournament

July 31, 2011 by Chris Hazard

The Achron Beta Tournament was a success and a lot of fun. The champion was Kytin, but there were many fascinating strategies employed. Commentated video casts of the final games on July 17th are now all available to watch online here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=FF40C181F3D00A60, courtesy of Shadowfury333.

Also, our winner of the "guess 3/4ths of the average guess in the range of 0 to 100" bonus competition was Neveras, who guessed 32. There were two others who guessed 32 as well, but Neveras was the first. Information about your opponent is a major component to the game Achron, and this challenge was for people to try to figure out what is going on in the heads of other strategic thinkiers.

More Achron tournaments are on their way through the upcoming launch! Check them out on the Achron forums.

Release v0.9.3.1

July 22, 2011 by Chris Hazard

This release fixes a few important bugs from the 0.9.3.0 release.

If you have already preordered Achron, you can download it here.

Achron changelog:

fixed bug: self skipping units would desert the rest of the skipping group if hierarchy-skipping into a battle
fixed bug: medium and large sized units may get stuck if enqueueing coordinates on the edges of the map
fixed several bugs in C1l8 related to achronal commands and air units getting stuck
fixed crash on C1L8
Included credits on main menu

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where air units at maximum height could try to go up, receiving corrupt map position data

Release v0.9.3.0: Campaign 2 Beta Preview Released

July 21, 2011 by Chris Hazard

This release contains campaign 2, as well as numerous bug fixes, improvements to campaign 1, and balance improvements.

If you have already preordered Achron, you can download it here.

Achron changelog:

hierarchy groups no longer retain formation when told to move to a location within the hierarchy
changed behavior of Arcticus chronoport dispatch, ignores older subordinate chronoclones, prevents auto-clone-reinforcement
changed behavior of Arcticus chronoport dispatch, no longer creates self-contained stable-loop chronoclones
added green highlight circle to display range for progeneration control
added auto-resuming of current objective to cloak/uncloak, works like priority dispatch
added splash damage to Tornade and Shin Tercher
increased splash damage of Zayin Halcyon by 2x
reduced fall-off rate of splash damage of Marine's weapon
fixed bug: patrol would hold position if enquing two spots next to each other
fixed bug: teleport-skipping subordinates could skip to incorrect location if commander attacked a target mid-skip
fixed bug: pilots of skip-upgraded vehicles would retain their skip upgrade when switching into a different vehicle
fixed bug: grekim units wouldn't clear commander after morphing into a building
fixed bug: modifier keys (e.g., shift, ctrl) would not be cleared at the same time as chat console was enabled
fixed bug: units in hierarchy wouldn't switch to attack commander's target
fixed bug: shooting a mid-construction Grekim or Vecgir RP would insta-interrupt construction, creating a completed RP
fixed bug: carrier commanders wouldn't speed match with their subordinates
fixed bug: chronobombing Importers would not consume and return Reserve Soldiers correctly
fixed bug: chronobombing Vecgir building would not consume and return Power correctly
fixed bug: destroying an Annex after a power upgrade would not consume correct Power amount
fixed bug: display continuous errors when enqueing units in a factory that can't deploy due to lack of space
fixed bug: chronoclone challenge wouldn't work
changed Grekim and Vecgir RPs to start in closed mode and with non-zero fuel/teleport energy
improved autodefense capable foundation heal+attack logic, will heal units between attacks
improved Sepiligo's Gargantuan position-creation logic
increased range of Nanite Infect casting by 23%
reduced Dome's beam: range from 250 to 100, damage from 150 to 110, recharge rate by 12.5%
reduced price of TSS to be 34QP, but increased energy usage to 110
reduced Mar merge time into Twin Mar down to 5 seconds
updated unit rotation speeds to match speed and size of unit
fixed bug: 0-HP chronofrozen upgraded Vecgir buildings would not die
included campaign 2 and campaign 2 heroes and tile sets
minor improvements to some terrain alpha channels

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where PERFORM SET_OTHER_OBJECTIVE and SET_OTHER_OBJECTIVE_PARAMETERS could be called on enemy units
changed ENQUEUE_OBJECTIVE parameters and added ENQUEUE_OTHER_OBJECTIVE, DEQUEUE_OTHER_OBJECTIVE, and CLEAR_OTHER_QUEUE to Rescript
added AllowActionWhenStopped attribute to Action in Resequence OCS XML
units that have a progress bar are not included as active units when box-selecting
changed BESTMOVE query to expect distance squared rather than distance
numerous pathfinding performance improvements
added unit->NextUnitOfSameName to rescript
added AlwaysHighlightUnit flag to Resequence OCS XML (to better find hero units)
fixed bug where terrain objects that were partly off of the playable map area would sometimes allow units to pass through them
fixed bug that could cause Achron.exe to crash when sending a message to a recently disconnected network connection (e.g., chatting in pre-game lobby)

Release v0.9.2.0: Campaign 1 Beta Preview Released

July 17, 2011 by Chris Hazard

This release contains a beta version of campaign 1 of single player, improved sound effects, balance improvements, bug fixing, and improved fog of war rendering.

If you have already preordered Achron, you can download it here.

Achron changelog:

incorporated new weapon and non-weapon sfx
added toggle do show/hide subtitles in main menu settings
added minus icon to minimap in place of plus when the map is expanded
fixed bug where Cruiser wouldn't die as expected during nuke deployment
fixed bug where a builder in motion would delay changing direction if directed to build elsewhere
fixed bug where Carrier units would land to unload cargo if there was an air unit in the way
fixed bug where Chronobomb wouldn't dissapear if it didn't send something
fixed default values in LevelEditor's reset-to-default buttons
fixed bug where some control icons that did nothing consumed chronoenergy when clicked
fixed bug where recover units would ignore buildings
fixed bug where progen units wouldn't enqueue while in pause-time
added species-specific tech tree images under Help for all three species
updated vecgir multiplayer to start with 1 of each type of Vir unit
increased price of ATHC by 9%
decreased price of power upgrade by 12.5%
decreased price of Foundations made by Foundations and by Shin Vir by 2LC and 5LC respectively
added Stop control to teleporting Vecgir RPs. All species' closed RPs can re-open by Stopping
updated Sligates as the only gate to teleport carrier-type units (unlike Slingshots and Teleporters)
decreased price of Teleporter by 35.5%
decreased price of Slingshot by 10%
changed self skip-teleport upgrade to take 30 seconds and costs 25LC/10QP but is available from the start
changed all Vecgir vehicles to automatically enable self-skip when gatetech is upgraded
fixed bug where progen units would not properly display available units for progeneration
included campaign 1 and removed demo campaign

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where Resequence would crash on load from saved state where players are moving through time other than normal speed
fixed bug where saved player times would not always be loaded correctly
added version checking so that differences in maps or object sets will be caught
added PERFORM GET_MAX_NUM_COMMANDS_IN_PAST and GET_PLAYER_CHRONOENERGY_SPENT to Rescript
added ability to zoom on minimap
fixed bug where units with 0 visibility (e.g., target locations) would still see through a point of fog of war
fixed rendering bug where double-sided projectiles would not return rendering state after rendering was completed (caused flickering tree shadows during shots)
improved fog of war rendering

Release v0.9.1.0

June 30, 2011 by Chris Hazard

This release contains bug fixes and balance improvements, as well as new terrains.

If you have already preordered Achron, you can download it here.

Achron changelog:

fixed bug where chronobomb would not dissapear after it hit
fixed bug where sometimes grekim units wouldn't morph into buildings
fixed bug where Reaphs would try to heal TSSd units
fixed bug where teleporters/slipgates could get stuck in permanent spin mode
fixed bug where troops could get stuck inside their deployment structure
fixed bug where air units would repeatedly bounce-land when targetting blocked-off ground targets
updated some unit creation contrtol icons for Vecgir and Grekim
decreased HP of ordinances and area of affect strength
removed visibility from ordinances
added 3 second delay to nuke drop
set advancements to always be visible and removed display advancements toggle from settings
added cloak detection to basic Foundations
merged Shadowfury333's observer stats into the baseline multiplayer UI
included new tile sets Asteroid_Mining_Vessel and Drasil_Forest_Valley, and a couple updated textures
included Naomi Winters hero model

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug in Rescript where scenario monitor saying to a nonexistant player would sometimes cause a crash
fixed bug where camera would sometimes jump high above terrain objects
fixed bug where loading saves would sometimes not yield a playable game
added level name to autosaves and removed recursive timestamps in file names
loading a save game now restores players' time positions
upgraded miniupnpc to version 1.5.20110618

Release v0.9.0.0

June 19, 2011 by Chris Hazard

This release contains some important bug fixes, balance improvements, general polish, core functionality for in-game scripting, and skin sources.

If you have already preordered Achron, you can download it here.

Achron changelog:

improved Bastion's anti-ground by 15% and target acquisition logic
changed Zayin Vir weapon to be more effective against Octos
reduced Pharopod's HP by 7.5%
added toggle to settings to display player's tech advancements in the UI
changed grekim units to not allow morphing during rechronoport delay
increased cost of chronporting upgrade for all species
reduced un-upgraded Domes' anti-ground strength by 20%
fixed tooltip for Dome's Break TSS
improved RP move-to-resource crate logic
fixed bug where Grekim RP could delay starting to process once it was close enough
fixed bug where Arcticuses wouldn't relay orders from other Arcticuses in a hierarchy
fixed bug where RPs could process resources that are picked up by a carrier unit
fixed bug where Vecgir RPs sometimes wouldn't use nearby teleporter gates
fixed bug where Arcticus wouldn't enqueue dispatch of multiple buildings to be morphed
fixed incorrect attack range highlight for autodefense buildings
added 'cancel progen for all' control when multiple progen units are selected
fixed bug where triad setting a rally point after completed unit creation would still order it to attack-move
fixed bug where progen units would select closest match vs one that's already connected to a third
Changed setting rally point on Arcticus for triad to also change commander to that Arcticus
fixed bug where a destroyed Reaph mid-upgrade prevented other upgrades for that player
fixed bug where Foundations got locked in a mode where they wouldn't make any more Foundations
fixed bug with single player in-game menu that displayed menu when game was unpaused
fixed bug in level editor where save as wouldn't always set the directory it was displaying
added display replay's filename when mouse-over the edit replay button
updated L-Crystal and empty LCrystal models
full multiplayer UI (skin), Main Menu (skin), and LevelEditor (skin) sources available as free DLC
updated main menu backgrounds
changed costs of sepipod, frigate, teth tercher: decreased QP, increased LC

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where engine would freeze on rare conditions of jumping to a new point in time
fixed bug where zero-tick actions would make an action seem like it had just completed to action preconditions
fixed bug where cloaking capability would be ineffective when fog of war was disabled
changed paging down behavior such that scrolling past edge of list is disallowed
reduced CPU utilization of Resequence Engine when game is paused
fixed bug where air position would be erroneously considered touching the ground on certain occasions for action preconditions
added ReplayFileName, PlayerGlobalFlags, and PlayerAdvancements to skin language
fixed bug where action timing would sometimes be cut short when under heavy attack
added PERFORM CREATE_SAVE_POINT to Rescript
added config_property_int and config_property_float to Rescript
added error handling for missing replay or scenario files
minor bug fixes related to game server list (fixed minor rendering and skin variable updating bugs, disallow joining an in-progress server through double-click, etc.)

Release v0.8.5.1

May 27, 2011 by Chris Hazard

This release contains some important balance improvements, as well as a couple minor rendering and visual improvements.

If you have already preordered Achron, you can download it here.

Achron changelog:

fixed bug where recover units with commanders would not auto-recover hindered units while idling
fixed bug with several units not able to clear nanites
fixed bug in level editor that would display waypoint line for placed buildings
increased capacity of Depots by 40%
reduced cost of Shin Vir placed Foundations by 70 LC
increased cost of nukes to 150/150
changes to the chronobomb:
- requires chronoporting upgrade
- doesn't discriminate among enemy/friendly units
- reduced active radius by 1/8th
fixed collision map for Shin Pulser
updated unit projectile effects
reduced cost of Foundations by 8LC, changed cost of Bastion to be 9/27

Resequence Engine changelog:

projectile shader updated to make polygons on depth-blended models now fade out when turned toward a steep angle
improved terrain blending algorithm

Release v0.8.5.0

May 25, 2011 by Chris Hazard

This release contains some important bug fixes, balance improvements, and other unit functionality improvements.

If you have already preordered Achron, you can download it here.

Achron changelog:

updated Macrofab and Lancer models
added ability to join a multiplayer game by double-clicking it
changed alliance creation in multiplayer games to automatically share vision
added sliders to control strength of team-color and active-camo to in-game and in-leveleditor settings
fixed bug where unit controls icons would spill over onto gauges on certain resolutions
fixed bug where unit deployment would restart when interrupted by a pre-upgraded upgrade
fixed bug where foundations sensed cloaked units
fixed bug where failure to enqueue a second unit could prevent the first unit's deployment
fixed bug where resources were not consumed for foundations built via ACC or other foundations
fixed bug where the Reaph could get stuck with the upgrade controls greyed out
fixed bug where Slipgates could teleport buildings
changed Spyre: reduced time to morph by 50%, reduced cost by 35%
changed Grekim Advanced Structures upgrade: reduced time by 25%, reduced cost by 37%
increased cost of Grekim Chronoporting upgrade by 15LC 10QP
increased prices of most air units by 2-8%
increased rate of self-healing for progen units
reduced Shin Tercher's and Tornade's attack range to 15
added automated-defense firing to pod-class when in progen-mode
added autohierarchy to Grekim; will connect to nearby similar ranks that have a commanding Arcticus
added auto-beam fire to Domes: will automatically attempt to beam-snipe strong nearby targets
changes to the chronobomb:
- Reaph can launch 2 chronobombs at full energy charge
- reduced cost by 40%
- does not require Chronoporting upgrade
- sends units 90-105 seconds into the future
- only sends enemy units
remastered music tracks

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where nanite infected units would not clear surrounding fog of war
fixed bug where units would sometimes be erroneously chronofragged when they tried to walk into the position where a unit was being built
added TeamColorAmount and ActiveCamoAmount to skin language

Achron Beta Tournament Sign-Up

May 23, 2011 by Chris Hazard

Want to participate in our Beta Tournament? Sign up here: http://www.achrongame.com/site/achron-beta-tournament-rules.php

Release v0.8.4.2

May 16, 2011 by Chris Hazard

This is a patch release that fixes a critical balance issue for the Vecgir species. It also contains new models for the Human factory and macrofab, and other minor fixes. Note that 0.8.4.1 was released on May 15th and had a flaw from the release process, so we fixed the release and updated it to 0.8.4.2.

If you have already preordered Achron, you can download it here.

Achron changelog:

updated Macrofab and Factory
fixed bug with vecgir pilots charging incorrect prices for vehicles while listing correct prices in tooltip
fixed a multitude of typos, incorrect or missing information in control tooltips and unit tooltips

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where client would not be updated with a new unit number in certain rare circumstances involving a timewave overtake and new unit creation

Release v0.8.4.0

May 13, 2011 by Chris Hazard

This is release is primarily to fix balance issues, but also includes a number of bug fixes, the ability to override a command without resetting a command queue, improved unit visible distinguishability with team color pseudo-outlining, and added two new tile sets.

If you have already preordered Achron, you can download it here.

Achron changelog:

updated in game HUD interface to be less bright, bigger speed buttons and separate containers for the windows
updated several old control icons
fixed bug where smart idle recover responders would attempt to recover TSS'd units
fixed bug where making an Incepter did not consume power
fixed bug where Incepter displayed an unnecessary attack-unit control with missing icon
fixed bug where pilots ejecting from self-skipping vehicles would try to teleport
fixed bug where reserve soldier incorrectly errored when making multiple units at once
fixed bug where RPs would point to incorrect units when processing resources
fixed bug where Shin Halcyon would lower itself unnecessarily before nanite infecting
fixed bug where some Vecgir vehicles wouldn't blow up when they reached 0hp during mid-attack
fixed bug in Level editor where default path to Save-As was missing a /
fixed bug where TSSd units could click the chronoport control
fixed bug where turrets coludn't break TSS of enemies on edge of vision
changed enemy finding behavior to ignore enemies out of weapon range on the edge of visibility
changed Grekim species selector to place starter Sepi further from the resources than RPs
added ability to preserve current order queue by holding 'insert' (eg: issuing priority during a queued move)
added default parameters for creating new levels in level editor
added ability to set rally point for Depot when in vehicle selection mode
added light to slipgate chronoport
changed base and pod class progen units to have 2x HP and 1.5x HP respectively
reduced prices for almost all high-tech (some 'tier2' and all 'tier3' ) units across all species
multiple balance changes to the following units:

included Drasil Human City and Human Capital Ship tile sets
included new Boreal Cliffs and Shooting Range levels from mods (props to Shadowfury333)
removed multiplayer Iced levels

Resequence Engine changelog:

fixed bug where Resequence would sometimes crash when a unit was created at the very front edge of the time window
increased resolution of statistics on timeline by approx 17%
added PreserveCommandQueue to skin language
attacks received and dealt out are now normalized to same relative magnitude on timeline
if object is visible through fog, it is now shown on map
added PERFORM SELECT_ADDITIONAL_UNIT to Rescript
fixed bug where timeline would shift over and be misaligned in certain rare situations
improved units distinguishability with team color pseudo-outlining
fixed active camo bug where high-resolution surface normals were ignored on high rendering settings

Balancing Fixes

May 10, 2011 by Chris Hazard

We've really appreciated all the feedback we've gotten on balancing since the 0.8.3.0 release. Performance improvements in the engine allowed us to increase the visibility and attack range, which by itself didn't introduce any new balancing issues, it did emphasize existing issues.

The good news is that this focus on balance has unearthed a number of bugs in our balancing process. One of the many benefits of treating balancing as a scientific process is that once you fix an issue once, it's usually fixed forever (unless you do something to change that part of balancing). Also, it helps us find the root cause of balancing issues. When we hear about the issues, we can then focus on exactly what is wrong rather than try some things and see what happens. This saves us a ton of time balancing the game. Sometimes it is a bug in the balancing algorithms, sometime it is a design flaw that we made when laying out units' strengths, weaknesses, etc.

The Grekim octo was the unit with the biggest balancing issue. When we ran the octo in our balancing tests, we did it in such a way that the octo's extremely short range was downplayed in the validation. The octo appeared far stronger in simulation runs than it really was in practice, which threw off its balance. Whenever there's a mismatch between the model and the actual game, that's an issue that must be addressed. However, because it was a flaw with the evaluation that we tuned the unit to, we didn't notice it until recently. This goes to show how validation is always important. The octo's HP has been bumped up. The Vecgir foundation healing rate was also improved to help early-game balance in the interrelated tangle.

The next biggest issue was the Human lancer. It was a bit too strong for its own good, which was more a design-level issue than a bug in the balancing, but the nuance was between upgraded and nonupgraded lancers. This issue is now fixed as well.

We also found some bugs in the way resources were related economically. There was a mismatch between the model and the actual game as to how quickly a resource processor or importer begins production. The balancing framework had the implicit assumption that a resource was produced instantly upon creation, which was only true for the importer. Now the balancing algorithm is correct and we changed the game so that the importer does not produce an RS immediately. This bug caused some units' prices to be off by about four percent. A four percent error in unit price of many human units may not seem like much, but when you combine it with other balancing bugs, it adds up.

While we are fixing the balance issues, we've also been doing another pass on emphasizing unit roles. For example, the tornade is now weaker versus air units to better fill the role of antiground air unit, and turrets in general are stronger against air units.

Because balance is such an important part of the game, we're planning on releasing a new build, v0.8.4.0, in the next couple days with these balance fixes. Before recently, we'd been spending most of our balancing efforts concentrating on mid and late game economies, because they're tractable for analytical techniques, versus early game where combinatorics is more prominent. Now we're putting more effort into the early game.

We've also noticed that there aren't many big maps out there yet. That affects balance as well, especially when teleprotation becomes important.

We're well aware of the balancing issues mentioned here and those previously mentioned on the forums. Have you seen any other potential balancing issues that haven't been mentioned yet? Discuss on our forums: http://www.achrongame.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=2827

» Archived News
» Archived Blog posts