End of November Update - More Resource Buildings

Hello everyone,

This month was pretty slow, with some real-life issues consuming a lot of our programmers' time, meaning there isn't too much to show in the way of new gameplay features.

We do have some new units and buildings to show off though though.

While each faction has different methods of refining and transporting resources, all sides still ultimately use the same resources. Oil must still be pumped out from oil wells, and transported to refineries via pipelines or transport units.

The NWO faction, having a lot of mobile structures to produce units from, can't really rely on fixed pipelines to move resources around, and so instead will get flying drones to take materials from refineries and move them where they need to go. While individually they do not transport as much per-load as ground transports, their speed and the fact they fly means the player does not need to be as cautious with base layout. 

Also note that, in the above gif, it appears that the flyer clips behind the structure. This is a visual error, and once again, is something that Thomas' upcoming rendering update will resolve.

Warband also still requires power to operate, but given their primitive base structures, requires a lot less of it. Wind turbines can be constructed to add a little extra power generation to your base. While they create substantially less power than the reactors of the Empire and NWO, they operate entirely using the wind instead of needing refined fuel pumped into them to stay active, and so do not actively drain your resources.

We also have a change to the way Warband operates in terms of base construction and resources. Rather than use highly trained engineers, construction vehicles and advanced resource collection methods, heir basic infantry units (essentially expendable raiders) can both construct your buildings and gather and move resources around. While they transport very little and construct very slowly, their low cost means you can use vast hordes of these serf units to build up your base and resource stockpile. Note that Warband will have a few other options for worker units, such as large beasts of burden to move resources from structure to structure, though these haven't been implemented yet.

There has also been the addition of adding the pipeline feature to Warband, though a gamebreaking bug is making getting footage of this difficult. Pipelines work just as their Imperial counterparts, but with the addition of the Warband having a few unique uses for them, such as attaching the pipe network to flamethrowing turrets, which consume oil/fuel as their ammunition.

As for future updates, we have a short-term roadmap of features we'd like to see implemented once Gustas gets some more free time to work on DORF. Note that the cliff-painting editor that was mentioned in past updates ran into some issues; long story short, it will require Thomas' updated render engine logic be implemented first, so for now, cliffs and their relevant map editing tools will be put on hold.

Anyway, the list of features on the short-term roadmap include:

- Spreadable fire. Currently the engine allows for a fire/smoke effect to persist after certain weapons are detonated, however these are purely cosmetic, and have no gameplay implications (they also are currently bound to the center of a tile where they spawn, which looks strange). These would be replaced with an actual deadly wildfire system, where certain weapons/explosions have a chance to spawn fires, with larger explosions and weapons creating larger and deadlier fires. These fires can damage and destroy units that are too close-by, and certain flammable map entities (such as trees and tall grass) can catch fire as well, creating spreading wildfires. 

- Casing ejections. This would be a pure aesthetic detail, but would be fairly easy to implement. Units that fire projectile weapons would include effects for ejected shell casings, and would use existing projectile logic, meaning they can bounce along the ground. This would give a bit of extra punch to battles and weapons fire.

- General projectile logic updates. This would include allowing projectiles to transform into other projectile types, which means we could create things like torpedoes which launch above the water from a surface ship and then travel along the water when they make contact with it. Another inclusion would be allowing for projectiles to fall short of their actual weapon range, which combined with bouncing, could make for things such as non-exploding cannonball weapons (Warband will get a building-destroying cannon that fires a non-exploding ball, able to smash through multiple structures as it bounces along the ground).

- Chemical weapons. It's unsure exactly how these should be approached in technical terms (should they be a type of slow-moving projectile, or an actor spawned from a projectile that randomly wanders around?), but regardless, deadly gas weapons will be part of the Empire's arsenal. These will have some unique properties beyond the obvious, such as killing the crew of certain vehicles while leaving the vehicles themselves intact, clearing the personnel inside of structures (this would be useful for cityfighting), as well as generally flowing towards lower ground, so would be useful for clearing trenches (when we eventually get to including building trench networks, of course). Chem weapons can be countered with certain units immune to their effects, and upgrades to infantry that provide them with chem-resistant gear.

- Projectiles accounting for explosion directions. This is again more of a cool effect and not a gameplay issue (though it could have some gameplay implications in certain situations), but we would want to alter the way projectile physics works to account for the direction of an explosion. What this would be used for is, in the case of an explosion killing an infantryman and launching him through the air, he would be launched in a direction opposite the explosion's position. Currently, while infantry do go flying when killed by explosions, their direction is random, which looks a bit strange. Another similar use would be for vehicles launched through the air due to their movement direction to be taken into account. Right now, light vehicles such as the Warband's weaponized cars and the NWO's hoverdyne and monowheel will go flying when killed by an explosion or when destroyed while in motion, though again their direction is random. With this new feature, a vehicle currently driving would inherit its current trajectory when it dies and is sent flying through the air.

We are also aiming to get some kind of simple demo out early next Spring, which would likely consist of one or two missions featuring basic units and buildings, though the viability of that is dependent on how few real-life interruptions happen in between now and then.

That's all for now. December will also be a busy month for all of us (insofar as we probably won't see a substantial amount of work done on DORF in that month), but early next year we should have much more to show off. 

Thanks again for all your continued support.