Update 1.6.0 for Invasion: Neo Earth now live!

Greetings Neo Earthers! 

 September's update 1.6.0 brings forth some big changes in combat mechanics and balancing plus forcefield animations and a whole host of fixes and is live now on Steam. This could well be one of the last updates before leaving early access on October 7th, however even after full release I will still be addressing any bugs that emerge, with planned new content for things like mission packs and new units also on the cards.

Combat mechanics changes - introducing the 'PWR' stat

Previously the combat system would use the weapon's dmg lo stat to try beat the target's defense, now a dedicated 'PWR' stat is used instead. The PWR stat determines whether a weapon will do only it's minimum damage to a target or do random damage between the low and high range. PWR => DEF = random damaged done (dmg lo - dmg hi). if PWR is equal or higher than the target's DEF then random damage between the lo and hi ranges is deducted from target's HP. PWR < DEF = damage done (dmg lo only). if PWR is less than the target's DEf then only the low damage is done.

Cover bonus system for infantry units:

Due to being able to conceal themselves easier than vehicles, Infantry-type units now get a +2 DEF bonus for moving to a square with terrain that provides cover such as forests, hills, fields of cacti, craters etc. Doing so displays a shield icon above the unit sprite and in the UI bar. Naturally enemies can now do the same.

Fixes:

• Experimental fix for the phase/turn bar and phase cooldown icon appearing too far down the screen on some monitors
• Fix for shadows not appearing on newly risen soldier zombies
• Improved the phase cooldown icon

Forcefields:

Added forcefield animations for when an enemy is hit by an attack that it is resistant against

Balancing: Enemies:

• Alien egg DEF lowered to 3
• Cyber Wasp and Fire Wasp DEF lowered to 12
• removed some enemies from Desert and Floodplain maps to prevent overcrowding

Weapon range adjustments:

• plasma rail cannon range 3>5
• shredder cannon range 5>3
• scatter lance range 4>3
• heavy beamer range 4>3
• gatling cycler range 3>4
• all heavy aircraft weapons set to range 4