Dear Silica community, After a period of radio silence regarding updates, we are introducing a new batch of additions, changes, and fixes to enhance your experience with update 0.8.40. The most significant addition is the long-awaited voice chat and proximity chat, enabling you to easily communicate with all the players on the battlefield. To speak in the game, simply press and hold "V" on the keyboard or button 4 on your mouse. But remember, with great power comes great responsibility, so always be respectful to your fellow players and refrain from offensive behavior. As always, the full changelog is listed below. See you on Baltarus. Full changelog:

• Added: Voice chat including proximity (hold V key or Mouse 4)
• Added: Voice chat volume slider
• Added: Microphone input volume slider
• Added: Toggle between proximity and team voice chat (X key)
• Added: Server Steam ID copied to clipboard on host
• Added: UI indicators for voice chat
• Added: Automatic mic gain
• Changed: Aliens start without Shrimp in Strategy mode
• Changed: BioCache comes with a free Shrimp
• Changed: Humans start with an additional Heavy Quad
• Changed: Increased damage by players in Prospector game mode
• Changed: Decreased enemy damage to players in Prospector game mode
• Changed: Tuned proximity voice FX to be less garbled
• Improved: Overall performance with a number of optimizations (edited)
• Fixed: Flak Truck was missing from Light Vehicle Factory
• Fixed: Proximity voice was always played from first unit
• Fixed: Arena game mode did not have correct processing FX for proximity voice
• Fixed: Fog of War revealed large area around detected targets, where it should have only revealed the immediate surrounding
• Fixed: Research Facility and Quantum Cortex upgrades were not visible
• Fixed: Potential null reference in Voice chat UI
• Fixed: AI sensor system issues resulting in undetected units