Ascendancy v1.1.5 - Veterancy Released news

Hello everyone! It's been a couple months since the release of 1.1 for Ascendancy, so we wanted to take this opportunity to release a patch before jumping full-on into the development of the next faction, the Hapes Consortium. This isn't a huge update, but it does make some fairly impactful changes. For a full breakdown of what this patch does (and doesn't) do, we've provided a full video and text breakdown. The content is the same, so choose whichever medium you prefer.



First, here's the patch notes with all major changes in this version:

Quote from: 1.1.5 Patch Notes

- Ships now display their cost per second, but drain rate adjusted to one tick per five seconds.
- Implementing veterancy buffs
- Reducing PA supply lines effectiveness
- Adding supply lines research for Thrawn/Pellaeon research
- Flak abilities re-added to Vigilance, Asdroni, Lancer, CR90, Raider
- Altor self-destruct replaced with persistant AoE heal (10/11/12/14 hp every 6 seconds for 10/12/14/16 targets)
- All Altor ability ranges buffed (3200/4200/5200/6200 from 2200 at all levels)
- Escape pod credits raised from 50 to 100, hull from 250 to 450, fighter supply from 12 to 24
- Fixed broadcast research for IR having 2 levels for no reason
- Fixed NR access to Arbitrate Tariff, Democratic Peace Theory
- Skipray front bank damage reduced to 80 from 110
- SPHAT ability cooldown increased from 40 to 120 seconds (PA Venator)
- Venator slotcount 8 from 6.
- Skipray added to Secutor
- Syndic health/shields increased to 4800/4800
- Phalanx health/shields increased to 6100/6100
- Fixed mole miners being able to capture heroes
- Fixed PA supply line tech granting significantly more supply restoration than intended

There are still some known bugs we're working on fixing for the next major version, but we decided it was more important to get some of the balance changes out, and start getting feedback on some of these changes as we start breaking things again and head into the next major build. The major addition here is the new Veterancy system, wherein some frigates and cruisers are able gain stat buffs by participating in the destruction of enemy ships. This stacking buff can go up to 50% damage reduction and 100% bonus damage for any given ship, so there is significant incentive for players to keep their ships alive (and thereby indirectly buffing the New Republic and Empire of the Hand, who tend to want to keep their ships alive more as it is). The other focus was reigning in some of the excesses of the Pentastar Alignment, nerfing the Venator which had proven itself to be far more powerful than it should be through its efficient slotcount and ability, and buffing the Secutor a little bit, which was underperforming because it lacked the Skipray.



Before we get into what's coming up next, here's the download link:

Corey will be running more community matches through his Youtube \ Twitch channel, Corey Loses, and there's also a Discord server which includes official channels for the Thrawn's Revenge mod series where you can discuss strategies and feedback, and the official forums exist for that as well. Click the links below to see any of those. The first community match will be held Thursday December 7th at 5pm EST, and different matches will be held at different times to accomodate as many timezones as we can. We'll try to plan the schedules out in advance and post them in the image gallery on ModDB.

As we wrap up development on Imperial Civil War 2.2, our mod for EaW, we'll be shifting out focus back to a more 50/50 approach between the mods (or 33/33/33 when FotR gets going) and we'll have more Ascendancy stuff to show. So please, keep the balance feedback coming! We likely won't be doing another balance patch like this before the 1.2 release adds the Hapans, however any feedback we do get will be taken into account as we develop that version. We'll have some more news updates covering the specific things the release will cover, but as it stands, the rough breakdown of planned content is as follow:

1. Hapes Consortium faction added,
2. Expanded selection of random events and encounters,
3. 5+ new techs for existing factions to fill any lacking slots,
4. Expansion of diplomatic tech options,
5. Some updated art (Lucrehulk, MC80, MC90, MC40a, Home One already finished),
6. Expanded militia (more than just Imperial forces everywhere),
7. Reworked shipbuilding economy.



As ever, priorities can shift as development goes on and as different needs become more evident and as feedback from 1.1.5 comes in, however the primary focus will remain getting the Hapans in, and that will be the primary benchmark for release. Their faction breakdown should be coming soon, so stay tuned. Also, it's currently Mod of the Year time, so if you're so inclined, we'd appreciate your support by voting for us on the main mod profile page!