ASHES DEV JOURNAL: August 2017

from AshesoftheSingularity Forums

G'day! 

For the past month, we've been flat out working on the 2.4 update, which is being released later this month and is now available for opt-in. There's not too much to talk about here, since we already went over both 2.4 and and the 2017 roadmap in detail in our July Dev Diary, but we do have one big announcement to make for the 2.5 update.


##New Juggernauts##

We're excited to reveal the two new Juggernauts we're working on that are currently scheduled for 2.5 later this year. Here's a sneak peak!


PHC Agamemnon

Full size concept:

[[..]]
The Agamemnon is designed to complement the Leonidas; it boasts rapid firing Laser Pulse cannons capable of engaging swarms of smaller targets, and devastating Tempest Missile Salvos designed to saturate a wide area with high explosive shells. The rapid firing weaponry and wide area of effect missiles makes the Agamemnon excel against groups of low tier units, while still having some anti-air defense to defend against drone attacks and small air raids.

Due to the rapid firing nature of the laser pulse cannons, and the massive area of effect with the tempest missiles, the Agamemnon is not equipped with high armor piercing and is vulnerable to dedicated Dreadnought destroyers such as the Prometheus or Savager.

Substrate Eye of Darkness

Full size concept:


The Eye of the Darkness is the ultimate manifestation of the Substrate’s technological superiority and is capable of rupturing the fabric of space-time to destabilise targets at the molecular level. Created to combat the growing number of PHC Dreadnoughts and Juggernauts, the Eye excels against heavily armoured units due to having a devastating main weapon that negates any amount of armor. The main weapon has splash damage, making it strong against low tier units, but it is still vulnerable to air units or to being overwhelmed by large numbers due to a low rate of fire.

##Tournaments##

There's been some cool stuff happening in the community; a couple of weeks ago there was a 1v1 Swiss tournament hosted by community member Philothanic. It was a fun a night - congratulations to Amelie, who took first place! There is another tournament scheduled for the 26th of August, which will most likely be just after 2.4 launches. Stardock is keen to work with event organisers to promote and support events.

Tournament Signup and Info

##Official Discord##

There has been an Ashes community discord for some time, but recently ownership was transferred over to Stardock in order to promote and support it as an official channel.  A huge thank you to SchismNavigator for all his work on building the Ashes discord community and his continued work on it. The discord channel is a great place for discussion, questions, advice, sharing content, and keeping up with announcements. I'm very active on there.

If you haven't done so, join the official Discord group.

##YouTube Content##

Lately I've been making some content for the Stardock YouTube channel, in the form of two ongoing video series. If you want to improve your play, you may find these videos helpful.

Fans vs Dev:
GGTheMachine(SS) vs Rebellions(SS) Game #1
GGTheMachine(PHC) vs Rebellions(SS) Game #2

 

Genesis Campaign Playthrough:
Cassiopeia Play Through
Glarus Play Through

I'd also like to thank the community members who have been creating their own Ashes content.

##Feedback##

Let us know what you think of the Juggernauts and what you would like to see next! Personally, I'd love to get some anti-air Dreadnoughts. We also encourage you to check out the 2.4 opt-in and leave any feedback you have about the changes.

Cheers,
Callum.

123,900 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock.net Forums Top

These new juggernauts actually sound even more exciting than the last two. With my Substrate bias I am sure to fall in love with the Eye. The real news this month is of course that massive list of changes for 2.4. Really glad the lobby has gotten some love this time. With these changes I'll be starting events again soon. Probably wait until after the public release and the tournament though.

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Reply #2 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Very good, i have to say. Well i hope to there will be an AA dreadnought too, cause now the PHC only have the Apollo, ok, its devastating against Air units, but a little fragile, so we need a same or somewhat lower fire power but with a massive body to withstand fire from even Strategic Bombers or Harbingers, at least for a while.

As a PHC fan, i warmly welcome the Agamemnon, its really balancing the Leonindas weakness, which is weak against swams of enemy cruisers and frigates, or amassed base defense (because only the Medusa Cannon attacks buildings, but knowing its really low fire rate, not really effective...)

 

Keep up the good work!

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Reply #4 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Isn't the eye just the same unit that the PHC have? I'm not personally a fan as I kinda liked the more divergent units each side have, with the PHC currently having the only juggernaut sized dread killer and the Substrate having the massive juggernaut sized drone carrier.

But that's just me. Fantastic looking models! I just wish I had a PC that could turn the graphics up higher!

Reply #5 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Quoting igncom1, reply 4

Isn't the eye just the same unit that the PHC have? I'm not personally a fan as I kinda liked the more divergent units each side have, with the PHC currently having the only juggernaut sized dread killer and the Substrate having the massive juggernaut sized drone carrier.

But that's just me. Fantastic looking models! I just wish I had a PC that could turn the graphics up higher!

The PHC equivalent doesn't do splash damage, it is exclusively a Dreadnaught/Juggernaut hunter. It also seems to imply the Eye of Darkness will be more delicate than the Leonidas.

 

And same here, hoping Vulkan gives me enough of a boost to turn up a couple more settings.

Reply #6 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

More then once I have seen the Leonidas sweep it's main weapon across an army, killing dozens of cruisers in a single attack. So I wouldn't call it exclusively a Dreadnaught hunter myself.

Reply #7 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

The Juggernaut has secondary weapons which are decent against Cruisers, but I can assure you the main beam only hits 1 unit.

The Leonidas will be able to duel the Eye due to better range and more health. 

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Reply #8 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

To be fair, the beam is more like a gatling shot then a single stream. It fires many shots a second along the same path so that it looks like a beam but in reality it isn't.

But I suppose it's mostly anecdotal as my Leos always get them selves into trouble chasing enemy juggernauts as the AI back peddles when outmatched.

What is the best way of healing them by the way? I stuck one of mine by a couple of healing stations and it seemed to take an age to recover.

Reply #9 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Sweet! These new Dreadnaughts looks awesome! It will be nice that PHC will finally have draughtnaught that shoots air.

Reply #10 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Quoting igncom1, reply 8

To be fair, the beam is more like a gatling shot then a single stream. It fires many shots a second along the same path so that it looks like a beam but in reality it isn't.

But I suppose it's mostly anecdotal as my Leos always get them selves into trouble chasing enemy juggernauts as the AI back peddles when outmatched.

What is the best way of healing them by the way? I stuck one of mine by a couple of healing stations and it seemed to take an age to recover.

Nah, Generals is right: The big beam kills a singular target, it's not like the Ravager's beam. The Cruisers dying would be the secondary weapons.

Yeah, mine has the same issue. Nest of the Queen? Leave her alone and watch her mop up entire armies on her own. Leonidas? Babysit the hell out of him, or he'll get himself killed chasing something he can't get.

Unfortunately, there is no good way of healing him. He just has so much health, that it takes forever to heal the damage. The only practical solution I could see is giving him a regeneration amount per level.