0.12 Update Notes

This update brings the new Module feature for more customization options. They work similar to Abilities, the Active Module can be activated on demand and the Passive ones activate on certain events (which you can customize), but the main point of these Modules is that they have simplier Effect based functions unlike the Abilities which can do all sorts of dashing and teleporting shenanigans. However, the true purpose of this addition is to replace most of the Passive Abilities in the game which are solely Effect based so those Abilities ended up got removed (more detail below). There's also some rebalancing, reworked abilities, bug fixes and improvements too.

My initial plan was to release this update after I add the new map but then I thought that would take too long so I decided to drop this early to test out all these new features. Hope you enjoy this update!

Passive Modules (and the removal of most Passive Abilities)

The idea of Passive Modules popped up a few times during the making of some Passive Abilities. A lot of Passives were just plain "Gain <effect> when <event>" that I could just simply copy-and-paste over and over for each and every effect and each and every event like "Gain Damage when low HP", "Gain Repair when low HP", "Gain Damage when deal damage", "Gain Repair when deal damage" etc. so I thought "If the mechanics are so simple and repetitive why not just let players configure them as they like and need? That way they don't have to deal with a bloated list of abilities they don't want that'd likely be missing ones with a combination of event and effects that they actually want while I don't have to do copy-and-paste work everytime a new Effect or event is introduced into the game", and so Passive Modules are made!

Currently these are the available events for the modules, more will be added in later updates:

• On Active Ability Activation: Gain 2 temporary Effects when activating the Active Ability
• On Damage Dealt: Gain a stack of a Status Effect every 30 damage dealt, gain another Status Effect when 15 stacks is reached.
• On Damage Taken: Like the previous one but replace "damage dealt" with "damage taken"
• On Heavy Damage Taken: Gain a temporary Effect when the damage taken in the last 3 seconds is at least 50
• On High HP: Gain a Status Effect as long as the tank's HP is above 25%
• On Spawn: Gain an Effect immediately when spawned
• Periodically: Gain a temporary Effect every 10 seconds

Because the purpose of these Passive Modules is to replace simple Passive Abilities, and because most of the current Passive Abilities are too simple, as a consequence, most will be removed, in fact, the only ones left are Stubborn (which just got reworked to feel less clunky and managed to be interesting enough to not be removed) and Shattering as it's already interesting and unique enough for the new standard. Due to the lack of Passive Abilities after this mass removal, I've quickly come up with new ones to fill in the gap, see the New Passive Abilities section below for more detail.

Active Modules

Active Modules are similar to Active Abilities (the line between them is pretty thin actually) with the simple purpose of allowing the tank access to almost any Effect in the game on demand (for a short time at least). Each tank can equip 1 of many Active Modules which can be manually activated during battle to gain either a simple Status Effect like Speed or Repair, or special ones like Aegis or Ghost. The module will begin cooling down right after activation, and the cooldown circle under the tank which used to only show the cooldown for the Active Ability will now share it's left half for the Active Module as well.

Some "new" Effects (mostly for the modules)

There will be 2 "new" Effects added: Quick Repair that repairs the tank at a rate of 10 %HP/s and Quick Shield that gives 15 Shield per second, both are stackable. The point of these effects is to mimic the instant repairing and shielding capabilities of the now removed Passive Abilities in the form of Effects so both types of Module can make use of. They're only "new" in the sense that there were no Effect that does what they do before, but in actuality they're just old mechanics in a different form.

New Passive Abilities

A big chunk of the old Abilities were deemed too simple and got replaced with Modules, so I had to brainstorm a lot of ideas for new ones to fill in the space, some were implemented but most are still on paper queued for future updates because I don't wanna rush things (but still wanna rush a little bit so the selection screen isn't too empty). Nontheless, Passive Abilities now have to meet a sort of "higher standard", they have to be unique and interesting, with mechanics un-replicable by simple Effect-based Modules while at the same time stay relatively balanced. This update brings only a few new ones, but they're worth testing out:

• Traditionalist: Gain 60% more HP but the Active Ability is permanently disabled. Only one can be equipped
• Overclocked: Increase Active Ability cooldown speed by 5%
• Overcharged: Increase Active Module cooldown speed by 10%
• Defense Orb: Have an orb that rotates around the tank and blocks bullets with it's own HP

Reworked Abilities

There are some Abilities that I just find really outdated so I dust them off a bit:

• Active Ability Compressor: Now creates an area that deals damage, slows down and pull opponents to it's center instead of the awkward slowdown & damage buff
• Passive Ability Stubborn: Now gives Aegis Effect while the tank HP is below 15% instead of whatever mixbag of gibberish status buffs it gives before

Balancing changes

• Tank HP range during configuration: [100-300] -> [100-400]
• Max possible Piercing: 75 -> 80
• Max possible Resistance: 90 -> 80
• Walls: Speed reduction: -60% -> -50%
• Shattering: Resistance reduction: -45 -> -20

Bug fixes, improvements and other changes

• Fixed a damage calculation error that caused Damage buffs from the Ruined Ruins map to give more damage than it should
• Fixed Damage and Piercing stats being retrieved from the wrong tank
• Added an info dump entry for the mending mechanic that I somehow forgot to do last update
• Optimized Raycast and Laser weapon types
• Changed the sprite for projectiles