#New Units! Update #291.1 (87837) December 22nd, 2025

83 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

worthy crystal
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Big balance changes for Angel. Lots of help from the community here on balance and testing. We slowed down the Sniper attack, but also made it more powerful. It roughly comes out to the same damage, but you get fewer shots. Light units in front of heavier ones? Should be more options to defend against an Angel attack. We didn't just nerf her though--we buffed and reworked the Pistols at the same time. They now fire faster, and do a ton more damage--but they were also give extreme damage falloff. So it's your choice--get close with pistols or stay far away and snipe. We'll continue to see how this goes and continue to make tweaks.

We're also introducing two new units:

NEW! **Bucko **is an "improved" version of Bucky, recently recovered from an abandoned research facility. Apparently Bucky was criticized for not being accurate enough with rockets. The fix of course would be to put guidance systems in, making them missiles. But these systems take up space, which means less room for explosives. The tradeoff perhaps was not worth it, as Bucky seemed to be the more popular one. But still, perhaps <.u>Bucko<> has a use case.

NEW! **Ronin **is another recent discovery found in the remains of Asia. It seems similar in construction to a Butcher, but with lighter armor and energy swords allowing it to move fast. The only comparable we see in the western armies is the Assassin, but Ronin has no cloak ability. Another interesting set of tradeoffs that need testing in combat!

Features:

  • New bindings for Next Loadout and Previous Loadout
  • Ctrl + [Next Loadout key] acts like Previous Loadout
  • mouse wheel zoom in and out (from Wastelands)

Bug fixes:

  • possibly fixed the Unit/AirMech stat flickere issue
  • fix a mispelling of "shield" in some Parts
  • fix replays not saving (meaning Spectate would not populate old games)

Balance:

  • **Angel **range restored to previous range (removed 8% penalty)
  • **Angel **Sniper mode fire rate cut in half (and)
  • **Angel **Sniper mode fire energy doubled (but...)
  • **Angel **Sniper mode fire damage doubled (for real this time)
  • **Angel **Pistol fire damage roughly doubled (but...)
  • **Angel **Pistol range reduced by 25%
  • **Angel **Pistol damage falloff starts immediately (so get close)
  • **Angel **Hyper Rail Overkill damage now +33%, 66%, 100%, 133% (was +50%, 100%, 150%, 200%)
  • **Bombs **build time now 3 seconds (was 4)
  • **Bucky **armor back to 30 (was 25)
  • **T45 **armor is now 50 (was 60)
  • **T45 **piercing is now 50 (was 70)
2025-12-22_18-00-31.gif 2025-12-22_18-18-01.gif
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Note that there are a few buffs to Angel compared to the non-.1 update, they've been all combined here to try and avoid confusion.

sharp token
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I think there’s some kind of mistake regarding Bucky’s armor, though. I remember reporting that it used to be 30 in the unit stats in the previous patch, so it was never really 25 - or was it supposed to be 25? We didn’t even get a chance to test how this 25 armor would work

manic granite
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I think buck's Armour should be buffed more

worthy crystal
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Oh, maybe it was just briefly it was that? Possibly it was just the beta build--but it is 30 now. We should consider Bucky changes alongside Bucko.

sharp token
# manic granite I think buck's Armour should be buffed more

Armor basically affects another stat - Armor Piercing. It’s being adjusted to maintain the correct relationship with other units. Bucky still does decent DPS even against Golie, an auto-attacking unit, and it’s a ranged unit. Basically, nerfing Armor allows it to be countered with cheaper alternatives

sharp token
whole hollow
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peak update

worthy crystal
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I should probably expand on that yes. Getting things together to post a Steam update.

sharp token
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Yeah, I thought it might be somehow linked to the launch of new units, so I wanted to clarify. I guess it will take more time then

vocal yarrow
sharp token
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Ronin is a samurai who has no master over him, basically

vocal yarrow
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It's not something you want to be called

sharp token
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Because of how feudal Japanese society interpreted the loss of a master, in the present world it is associated with a lonely warrior or some sort of mercenary

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@vocal yarrow

IMG_20251223_062659.jpg
amber niche
vocal yarrow
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It sounds like a neutral phrase, but it's a direct insult lmao

onyx delta
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Oh new units that's cool

sharp token
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@vocal yarrow I think that, considering there are many anime about Ronin, it just refers to an outcast; the word itself isn’t offensive, though it could carry a sense of shame. O.o It’s similar to how "otaku"is perceived, or how being a game developer wasn’t considered a cool profession in Japanese society in the past

vocal yarrow
sharp token
vocal yarrow
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How can people be so polite and so mean at the same time D:

sharp token
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Maybe they were joking tho? Metaphorically joking

vocal yarrow
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Yeahhh, nooo :( xD

amber niche
onyx delta
vocal yarrow
# sharp token Maybe they were joking tho? Metaphorically joking

There's an entire category or phrases that are technically casual, but definitely insulting

examples:

"How interesting" That's stupid

"That must be difficult for you" You're an incapable moron

"So independent!" You're a FAILURE xD

"I'll consider it" How about no xd

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They've perfected the art of social murder without even technically insulting you

"Would you like some free tea sir?" they're literally asking you to leave

fervent herald
# onyx delta

Do you just have a bunch of stickers of your pfp character? That’s rlly cool actually(also 🔥 pfp)

onyx delta
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I have a few
But got the stickers before the fursuit was in a good enough state to use in pictures

fervent herald
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Oh nice

onyx delta
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It's still unfinished

worthy crystal
vocal yarrow
fierce sun
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I don't think the name has any problems personally

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Haven't tested the unit out yet but if it has a level unlock like Butcher but speed focused instead of damage, they might be good for setting up ambushes because they would be able to cover a distance quickly and therefore can be deployed more reliably

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But these units might be hard to use if they're expensive. I'm not sure where a third melee infantry fits into the game

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@worthy crystal Actually, what is your opinion on giving this unit a debuff on hit of some kind?

Assassin has 45 penetration and Butcher 55. This unit needs some sort of niche that sets it apart aside from speed. Butcher already has no cloak and requires support to do damage, and so these things will likely need a lot of support as well where speed may not actually give it an advantage in this scenario. I've learned from gameplay that certain speed tiers are marginal or irrelevant altogether and are not worth pursuing, Assassins use numbers usually to make up the fact that they're fragile, but the cost and time to build evens out usually between Butcher and Assassin making Butcher more useful for pure protection. Ronins offensive capabilities need to be slightly less than Butcher but stronger than Assassin and yet not overshadowing Butcher in its niche. A fast moving infantry may be a good capture option, but again, resources and build speed is also given to Assassin in terms of its effectiveness unless Ronin is sufficiently cheap enough.

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Well, in my opinion Ronin needs to be finished off with a bit more...

for it to stand out... why don't you give them "microstatus" attacks where the debuff against a unit stays for only 0.5s? But if it is proccing constantly, then it is irrelevant as to how short its duration is.

The point i want to make here is I want to see how Ronin would do with a 50% speed and DPS debuff to units it attacks. Perhaps make it a more support or utility unit that can enter battle very quickly instead of trying to compete directly with Assassin and Butcher, two already very overlapped units as it is

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So what im recommending is give it the same debuff Tesla Tower has but keep it down to about 0.5-1s in duration so that it only lasts as long as they are actively slashing the enemy

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This way you can also use the Stasis debuff in a way it hasn't been used before and open up a new niche without creating a new mechanic for it

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Assassin, Butcher and Ronin must not overlap too severely or risk making the choice between the three superficial

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The idea was that it was branched technologically from iterations of the Assassin, and so was diverged differently in function compared to the Butcher which was a Western invention

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Ronin might actually genuinely be fine with cloak turned on, to be honest

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Just keep it as the true Tier 2 Assassin we always needed. Even if that means giving it cloak but nerfing its other stats. Maybe you could even adjust Butcher too to make it more tanky but less raw DPS so itd be a more sustain brawler. Then this would enable Ronin to fill the role of the more squishy melee infantry

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Butchers current niche is to provide 120 consistent DPS to anything nearby

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And usually the 55 penetration does the job especially from behind tanks

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But, this is what Ronin is competing with. And its move speed will not be enough to make it stand out in reliability to the current staple unit

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Sad we didn't get our long awaited Tier 2 Flamer

worthy crystal
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The big Flamer from Wastelands was just the normal ones scaled up, super low effort and not worthy of being a new player Unit.

vague herald
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It sounds really good and useful — imagine if it fires and leaves a trail, like a burning line that causes damage, similar to bomber bombs napalm.

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It can apply pressure and, over time, force the enemy to reposition their units slightly.

sharp token
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Honestly, I think FF2000 works great. We should use its present stats as a basis to make it more effective against groups of units, not just single targets

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It should be rebalanced to have high effectiveness against groups of units, not single ones

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A lazy solution would be to just increase its price

fierce sun
fierce sun
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Maybe copy the napalm code from Bomber and put it on a tank that lobs a Morty style grenade?

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Short range though, maybe 10-13

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Like Runner tier

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Could be outranged by some strange things

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So becomes hard to micro except as a shield

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Id like to put some more money into the game, I have more coming but haha, I want BDVIP

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I had a sketch back in 2015 of a flame tank and really wish there was a unit editor nudge nudge

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Imagine an in house unit editor on dev side

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I made my mod a tool myself, do you have template creators?

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Id love to be a dev wink wink

sharp token
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A Spoiler: a flame tank is an OP counter to Armadillo @fierce sun

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Flamer does well too but dying fast so unless armadillo is busy with focusing on something - it wont make a huge impact

worthy crystal
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The main work for Units is modeling/texturing and animating. And any pfx work it might need, and sounds if it needs anything new. Oh, and if there's any new behavior or ability, that becomes a lot of work quickly. Bucko was very easy though, adapted from Bucky of course. Ronin was a bit more work, but still it was started using other infantry bits, and reused the Assassin/Butcher animations with some small tweaks to playback speeds.

fierce sun
# worthy crystal Our system is all text based, no need for a fancy editor. All those editors do i...

Mine are thankfully text based generators really, the tool I got spits out text (template tools) and then i edit it last minute to make something functional. It outputs a txt but gets converted to an .ini file at the end. All the necessary variable defines are at the top and collected in one place which makes producing new things extremely straightforward and streamlined

My first troubles started when I needed certain values to be changed quicker and more fluidly, and not have to be explained from one dev to another dev how to do it. Originally my idea was that I needed more devs on my team and I needed a streamlined way to get them on board by creating units. But I couldn't find anyone who was interested despite searching around. Maybe one day, cause that tool was made in 2024 technically and ive just been sitting on it.

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But thats good to know. Ill look at the git github when I can if I can find it. I'd love to know how AirMech works on the inside

fierce sun