LOUD PROJECT - Ver 5.0Remedy - Notes from Sprouto news

Phew.....

This has been a very busy month since I last posted any news. We've been hard at work finishing our balance work on BrewLAN and getting it integrated into the LOUD AI. Along the way, we've also done dozens of unit fixes, numerous optimizations, some data reduction, and a few mapping repairs. We've seen lots of new players kicking the tires of The LOUD Project and giving us some valuable feedback -- if you haven't joined the conversation on our LOUD Discord (link found in the help tab of the launcher) then now is a good time to do so.

BrewLAN has been the largest integration that we've done for The LOUD Project since going public back at the start of this year. It's brings a great amount of additional depth to the project, and both fills in some unit holes as well as creating some new unit classes to enjoy. While it is still very much a work in progress, there being much AI work to do, and the various sub-mods to examine and integrate, I'm personally very pleased with how it's gone. We're watching carefully as players make use of the new units, with our usual attention to gameplay mechanics and balance, so please, share your observations and favorite moments with us and help the project along.

Obviously, with this work going on, it's been difficult to find much time for other work - but we have. We've continued to find new optimizations and data reductions that will help keep your LOUD game at the level of performance you've come to expect, while still keeping the memory footprint in control so you can enjoy Supreme Commander at the epic scale it was meant to be played at.

If you haven't updated in a while, there is a lot going on - aside from performance. The final stages of our previously announced Shield Theorem changes are in place, and this gives us an excellent groundwork to evaluate and fairly control just how effective shields are, or are not. This means that the once 'grey' area of who has the 'best' shields now has some explanation to it - and the various build and maintenance costs of shields are relative to the performance characteristics of those shields - regardless of faction.

On play balance, as many of you know, the LOUD Project pays particular attention to not only the relationship of one unit to another, but the relationships between tiers, and classes too. Whether it's air to ground, naval to submarines, artillery to shields, whatever - we strive to make the combined arms game a satisfying and more natural experience than it may have been previously. To that end, ALL the unit mods included in LOUD are continually reviewed, revised and updated - so check for updates frequently, as we usually update something weekly. We value all comments on these subjects, and we get a great deal of useful feedback when you, our audience, take the time to let us know what you find useful, and what you don't, so again - please take part in the discussion.

Aside from performance and balance, the LOUD AI is a major part of the Project, and we continue to move it along when we can find the opportunity. This last month, we've further refined LOUD's production focus especially for amphibious situations, and his response behaviors to a wide variety of threat situations. Getting replays from you really helps us analyze and tune his reactions, allow us to improve his platoon compositions, decision triggers and threat evaluations, and continue making LOUD the most dynamic and dangerous AI yet produced for Supreme Commander. As of this writing, the current AI is version 5.0Remedy.

I want to thank everyone who has chosen to take the time to examine The LOUD Project, and provide any constructive feedback, for, without it, we wouldn't be doing it.

Sprouto