[p]The scorching rays of Dan’s Star seared my face as I watched the lumbering beast make its way across the chasm, a testament to human ingenuity. On Baltarus, even the evening sun is torture.
My guard up I stood fast as the final Harvester screeched to a halt and lowered its bucket-wheel mining apparatus, preparing to excavate. The day was long and arduous, just like the one before it. The unforgiving sands swept across my visor, etching wide contours akin to the abundant dunes beyond.
The Barracks provide a brief but welcome respite from this hell before once more heading into the fray. But I am lucky, my deployment concludes this solar cycle, and I shall once more walk the green grasses of the Grand Capital. I am ready to leave this place.[/p][p] -- Final Entry, ‘A Tour of Duty’ by Elite Captain Brenn of the Heavy Ordnance Unit[/p][p][/p][p]Summer greetings from the dev team![/p][p]Today’s update introduces an overhauled main menu, vastly improved respawn screen and revamped in-game map with panning and zooming. Most importantly though, this update features the first implementation of collision avoidance for vehicles, preventing Harvesters from making love. This turned out to be a massive task and the AI overhaul continues, with quality-of-life improvements to RTS mode on the way as well. [/p][p]We are also excited and looking forward to releasing the next major update soon, featuring the Sol/Centauri split, which will see distinct units and structures between both human factions, as well as a pleasant surprise to be announced alongside the update.[/p][p]A lot to look forward to as we steadily progress towards 1.0 and as always, your feedback is incredibly valuable. [/p][p]Thank you, take care and see you on the surface![/p][p][/p][p]Silica V0.8.143:[/p][p][/p]

Code

Gameplay:
Added: Placeable unit generator/spawner to Sandbox for constantly spawning units
Added: Heavy Tank and Strike Tank to Arena
Fixed: Select main building keybind
Fixed: Start Sandbox in Playing state instead of Staging, to avoid confusion
Fixed: Building icons incorrectly rotated in small minimap
Fixed: Unclickable save scenario UI in Sandbox
Improved: Better gamepad support for in-game map and Respawn menu
Improved: Rift Basin Human spawn point moved up from South-West corner
Improved: New access routes down into center of City of Naraka

AI:
Added: Collision avoidance to all land vehicles

UI:
Added: Gamepad support for main menu
Added: Faction status added to in-game map
Added: Player list for Gamemaster in Sandbox
Added: Object Settings Screen in Sandbox
Added: Talker info to dialogues in Prospector and Intro missions
Improved: Overhauled main menu UI
Improved: Overhauled respawn menu
Improved: Overhauled map (M key) with zoom and pan support
Improved: Centauri RTS UI
Improved: Sandbox Gamemaster and BuildMenu UI
Improved: Ignore whitespaces in Build menu search box

Technical:
Added: Dynamic Placement in Sandbox which allows placing any object anywhere (and attaching to other objects)
Improved: Reworked the controls action map system
Fixed: Added Construction Sites to saving
Fixed: Missing directory when opening load screen the first time
Fixed: Update Position of Respawn Options in Sandbox when Spawnpoint is on moving objects
Fixed: Infantry could friendly fire each other

Multiplayer:
Fixed: Several issues in Sandbox Objective syncing
Fixed: Players in Sandbox are sent back to respawn menu when GameMaster deletes their unit
Fixed: Eject Player Units in Sandbox when deleting Vehicles

Balancing:
Changed: Starting locations in City of Naraka
Changed: Balterium/Biotics balance in City of Naraka

Visual:
Improved: Completely new main menu scene
Fixed: Documented holes in Rift Basin
Fixed: Documented holes in Monument Valley
Fixed: Volumetric fog quality

Audio:
Improved: UI button highlight and click sounds
Fixed: Death music no longer plays when direct controlled unit is destroyed

Units/Structures:
Added: Sol Hover Harvester (cheat-spawn only for now)
Added: Sol Ultra-Heavy Vehicle Factory (cheat-spawn only for now)
Added: Sol Light Vehicle Factory (cheat-spawn only for now)
Added: Sol Barracks (cheat-spawn only for now)
Added: Sol Refinery (cheat-spawn only for now)
Added: Sol Radar Station (cheat-spawn only for now)
Added: Sol Silo (cheat-spawn only for now)
Added: Centauri Strike Tank (cheat-spawn only for now)
Added: Centauri Heavy Tank (cheat-spawn only for now)

[p]
We’d love for you to jump in, test things out, and share your feedback. Let us know if you encounter any issues—your input helps shape the game!
See you on the battlefield!

[img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/43915158/29ad759ca45448a2c98557c681097743362d3665.gif"][/img]
Or join us on our other social media:

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