An In Depth Overview of the New Build: 61250

Planetary Annihilation build 61250 has possibly been the biggest update since the release of Beta. Despite how much is included in this build, it is just a sampling of what Uber Entertainment has in store for Planetary Annihilation.

This overview is not intended to cover every single small detail of the build. Instead, it’s meant to be a quick overview of the important changes and provide some insight into how they will likely alter Planetary Annihilation’s gameplay. For a detailed overview of the latest build, check out Build 61250′s patch notes.

Performance
To me, this is the most noticeable and game changing improvement. Planetary Annihilation is now a lot smoother, even with multi-planet systems.

OS X got some attention in particular, so Mac users should see a significant improvement in performance.

However, the (hopefully) next build will have even bigger improvements to game performance. This will be tied into having some of the processing moved from the CPU to the GPU. Or something. I kinda zone out when they start talking about some of those details. Just click on the link if you’re interested further.

Be sure to update your video drivers. Info on how to do so.

New Units
Boom: Bomb Bot
The new Bomb Bot, or Boom, is now playable in game. This fast moving little sucker self destructs next to enemy units and buildings causing 5,000 damage. Unfortunately, it is pretty buggy.

Pelican: Single Unit Transport
The new air transport is a very fast moving aircraft that picks up a single unit and moves it from one place to another. Paired with the new transport area command, the Pelican is excellent for relocating units for raids, quick defense, surprise attacks, and rushes. There’s lots of debate surrounding this unit and we’ll see how it develops.

New Models
Seven units and buildings have new models. (Thanks to raven for the images)


Boom


Pelican


Kestrel


Fabrication Bot Combat


Advanced Combat Fabrication Bot


Inferno


Vanguard


Flak Cannon


Advanced Bot Factory

Pings
Pings are a new feature that makes communicating with teammates much easier. Instead of saying something like, “There was a commander over by that mountain by the small lake. No, not that mountain and lake, the mountain by the smaller lake.” we can just drop a visual indicator with sound notification of what we’re talking about.



Pings show up only for teammates and spectators.

Re-worked Orbital
Orbital has been given (another) major overhaul. This latest update makes the Orbital layer much more important, even for single planet systems. All Orbital units have been given a buff in speed, Radar Satellites provide much greater vision, and the Astraeus can now pick up all units.

The travel time between planets has also been given an overhaul. All units now planet hop faster, though some units move faster than others.

More detail will be covered in the units section below.

Formations
Formations, and other general pathfinding improvements, make attacks much easier. Gone are the days of armies rushing into defensive lines single file. Now ground and air units move around in block formation.

This is very much a first pass at formations, and there is still much to be done. For example, units do not yet order up by importance. We also do not have formation options and there are still further pathing improvements to be made.

But it’s a great first step!

Improved Biomes
There have been many improvements to planet generation. Planets now seem more interesting and terrain plays more of a component in gameplay and overall strategic decisions. It is a great step forward in making planets interesting and game altering.

Improved AI
Solo and casual Planetary Annihilation players rejoice! The AI has been given many fantastic improvements. It is now much more aggressive, both with its attacks and expansions. Don’t be surprised when it drops a moon on your head!

If the AI is too difficult or too easy, be sure to fiddle with the economic scale in the match lobby. Uber will be adding AI difficulties and personalities, but we’re not there yet.

Improved Visuals
Many visual improvements have been made to Planetary Annihilation. The most noticeable, aside from the new models, is the dancing electricity from power plants. This is tied into the improved lighting system, which we’ll see more improvements made to it in the upcoming builds as well.

All factories have had changes made. They now sport a player’s team color quite obviously. This means players can tell which buildings belong to who with greater ease.

Area Patrol for Ground Units
In the previous build, this was bugged to the point of being unuseable. But now it is much more stable, though it still has some issues when units patrol an entire planet.

Twitch.tv Comment Support
Now players who like live casting can chat with their viewers directly through Planetary Annihilation’s chat system.

Weapon Splash Falloff
Area of effect damage now has a damage falloff. A unit at the edge of an explosion will take less damage than a unit at the center of an explosion.

Lots of Bug Fixes
While these aren’t as exciting as a new unit or formations or something, it’s just as important. Each fixed bug takes Planetary Annihilation closer and closer to actual release.

Unit and Building Changes
There have been quite a few changes to many units and buildings. Some more game changing than others.

New Uber Cannon and Commander Changes
The Commander is now a very different unit. Commander wreckage now reclaims for a massive 25,000 metal. This also means that it takes a lot more work to repair a Commander. This machine of war also moves slower now.

Most importantly, the Uber Cannon now behaves very differently. It deals less damage, has greater range, but has an increased area of effect. This makes the Uber Cannon less effective against enemy Commanders, but extremely effective at destroying attacking units. It also now has a unique fire mode that must be manually fired. Finally, it drains your energy with each shot. Run out of energy? No more Uber cannon.

Fabrication Unit Rebalance
Bots and Vehicles
Fabrication Bots and Fabrication Vehicles now cost 200 metal each. This means the obvious choice of a bot factory first is no longer an obvious choice for a first factory. Players have the option of either.

Fabrication Aircraft
Both the Basic Fabrication Aircraft and the Advanced Fabrication Aircraft have had their metal and energy consumption altered. They now build only at a slightly slower rate than bots and vehicles,

Fabrication Ships
Fabrication Ship’s economy drain was reduced to be in line with fabrication bots and fabrication vehicles. That way naval starts are more balanced and viable when compared to a land based start.

Aircraft
Bumblebee
The Bumblebee has been given a buff, mainly indirectly due to Fabricator’s losing health. Bumblebees can now kill fabricators with one bomb, making early Bumblebee harassment a very powerful strategy.

Kestrel (Gunship)
The Kestrel has been given an all around buff. It is much more maneuverable, costs less, and has more hp. It is a deadly aircraft.

Vehicles
Titanium Insect
The
Ant
Pounder, has been renamed to the “Titanium Insect.” I honestly think Uber is trolling us with this name change. Well. I at least hope they are.

Leveler
The Leveler has been given a damage buff. It now deals 250 dps rather than the 25 dps it used to have. Let the Leveler spam return!

Sheller
The Sheller has been given a huge buff by drastically increasing its range. It used to have a range of 160, but now a range of 260. That means it has the same range as a Pelter, over twice the DPS, costs almost a third, and can move. It also doesn’t consume energy to fire. That’s pretty nuts!

Vanguard
Some very interesting changes have been made to the Vanguard. Aside from the double hp, it now has a mobile radar with a range of 150.

Orbital
Avenger and Anchor
The dps and health of orbital units have been changed around quite a bit. Avengers move much faster, and Anchors are super slow. Avengers are now built by the Orbital Launcher, and the Anchor is built by Orbital Fabricators. The Anchor has also been given a huge buff so it can take on more than 10 Avengers and survive.

Astraeus
The Astraeus now costs twice as much and can move any land unit. Due to it’s high cost and the introduction of the Transports, moving combat units with the Astraeus is not a big deal. But the doubled cost is a pretty big game changer.

Orbital Laser
The Orbital Laser is now a lot faster, uses less energy to fire, is more accurate against moving targets, has vision of the ground, and has some splash damage. The SXX-1304 is much deadlier.

Radar Satellite and Advanced Radar Satellite
The Radar Satellites have been given a fantastic buff. Both satellites have been given an increase in radar coverage and direct line of sight. The Basic Radar Satellite costs less energy to run, while the Advanced Radar Satellite has had an increase in metal cost and energy upkeep. But that is just fine with how much of a boost it received. In my opinion, the boost to the Radar Satellites is one of the biggest improvements to Planetary Annihilation’s Orbital layer, making it valid, even on single planet systems.

Naval
In general, Naval units have been given a general buff in one way or another. Particularly, all ships are faster.

Orca (formerly “Bluebottle”)
Yes. Uber has changed a unit’s name on us. Aside from that, the Orca had it’s range reduced and hp increased.

Narwhal
The Narwhal has been given quite the buff. Aside from the hp increase, the Narwhal now has a third weapon: torpedoes. This makes the Narwhal a much meaner ship against other Naval units.

Leviathan
The battleship received a very nice buff. Mainly, it now deals splash damage and received a very nice range bonus. This Battleship is the king of the seas.

Stingray
The Stingray received quite the nerf and is now not as much of a portable Catapult, but rather an anti-air boat with a tactical missile launcher. It’s tactical missile launcher is a lot weaker, but it has a pretty strong anti-air missile, capable of destroying any aircraft in one shot, except thePeregrine.

Buildings
Radar and Advanced Radar
Both ground based radars have been given an awesome buff. They now have a much greater radar coverage. The Basic Radar costs 50 more metal, but half the energy cost. The Advanced Radar costs a lot more in energy upkeep though.

Laser Defense Towers
The Single Laser Defense Tower, Laser Defense Tower, and Advanced Laser Defense Tower all deal a slight amount of splash damage. It’s only a radius of 2 meters, but still.

Metal Extractor and Advanced Metal Extractor
These two structures now cost a lot less. Basic Metal Extractors cost half as much and Advanced Metal Extractors cost almost half as much. This’ll help speed up Planetary Annihilation’s gameplay allowing players to get larger armies faster.

Wrap Up
This was a very impressive update to Planetary Annihilation. Many new features, lots of balance tweaks, and more.

If you want to browse through all of the stat changes of the units and buildings or more details on the new build, check out the Planetary Annihilation Build 61250 notes.

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Brian,
Fantastic as always.

I didn't know about the changes to the Stingray. I'm really excited about the "nerf" because it gives Leviathans a stronger and more distinct role while the heavy AA is a nice addition to a navy.

I'm excited to see how else multiple weapon systems on a single unit will play out in future builds.

Very good read, there were a couple of things in here I didn't know (specifically the battleship buff and the narwhal torpedoes.) Looks like they're trying to divide the ships into main anti-ground and ship pounders and then multipurpose anti-air and sub support boats.

Also, orbital laser buff yay!

Thanks a lot Brian.

I will call them Tinsects, or just Tins.

Orca?
They have a choice between all of the threatening sea creatures, and rather than Jaws or Piranha or even [movie name based on a giant squid], and they go with Free Willy?

Are you kidding? Do you know anything about killerwhales?

Because, believe me, they're a helluva lot more hardcore than some lame *** shark or piranha.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Orca_Schaedel_Senckenberg.jpg

They look cuddly till you can see the skulls without all the panda lookalike skin on them.

lame butt shark ? ... yeahh ... tell that to a great whites face ...

Brian, you missed the tank commander.

My money is on the Orca... It's larger, stronger, and a whole helluva lot smarter too. They can also hunt in coordinated packs or as individuals. They have one of the largest (and most used) brains in the animal kingdom.

https://www.google.com/search?q=great white shark vs orca&espv=210&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=pGUGU_z1DuHQ0wHXooDAAg&ved=0CCkQsAQ&biw=1612&bih=922


edit: found an article about orca vs great white.
http://www.discoverwildlife.com/animals/great-white-shark-versus-orca

Some additions/corrections:

• You missed the new model for the Anchor, because I did too
• Leveler does 250 dps, not 125 (it now fires out of both barrels)
• Leviathan now shoots 12 shots instead of 3. It's rate of fire was lowered though (0.25 -> 0.1 shots per sec) so it's DPS is only a bit more than before. But it's alpha strike is huge (2400 damage)
• Sonar structures are no longer buildable
• Adv. Torpedo launcher buildable by basic fabbers
• A few extra things can now be built on water (Holkins, Catapult, Nuke)

That's a bug, it will be fixed next update.

i dont care about that vs crap ... fact is that beast will screw you up royaly if you are not in a cage ...
and it still looks firggin intimidating ...
i also dont give a damn bout lions vs kodiaks ... a kodiak will still wipe the flor with you

You also missed that the game now understands instant projectile hits.

The Gil-E now is instant hit, the orbital laser is instant hit and I believe the umbrella is now too. Not big, but it is enough of a change that you can tell the difference now and then.

Well, sure, I'm not going to go out and kick a kodiak in the nuts to see what he does, nor am I going to put the slaps on a Great white shark, but I don't weigh 9 tons either... I had to choose I'd rather battle the shark than the orca. Orcas actually hunt great whites because they think they are yummy.

that just reminds me of ...



but enough with the offtopic ...

has there anything been said about buffing the umbrella?

There was at least one mention of it being worked on. I believe they made it more accurate, but I didn't notice it in this list of changes.

Edit: Thank you for the video... I needed that.

Actually nah it won't. Great Whites don't know what the hell you are. If you have a staring contest with them, they actually back off because you aren't behaving like prey, but another predator.


Then they try and ambush you.

As long as you can keep them in vision, they just hang around and eventually get bored and leave.



Not that nasty at all. If you're a human.



On topic - I am not convinced about the vehicle fab.

Total build time is 18 seconds, vs 19 for the bot fab (13;16 fab time; 5; 3 roll off time)


For that extra second, you pay 3 metal per second more to run the factory.

That means by your 5th mex with a bot factory, your profit is 3 per second for 16, 15 per second for 3.

Total:93.

With a vehicle factory, you break even for 13, 15 per second for 5.

Total: 75.

I'm not convinced it's such an equal decision. That 15 per second could have been a bot factory and a third of a fabber, or a third of an air factory.

Even I read these summaries. Nice job!