Sandbox Skirmish - Player vs. AI campaign

[toadfather]

Updated to version 3.3

Enhancements:
- Add unit type bias in regards to placement depth of AI units at start of battle
Fixes:
- Fix rare bug where Kustom Force Field may incorrectly activate for a unit that doesn't have the ability
- Update Air Support and Kill Everything (Barrage) for Castellan:
-- Lowered Air Support cooldown to 4 (was 5)
-- Increased Air Support Hellstrike strike damage slightly to 70 (was 60) to bring in line with other Hellstrike missiles
-- Updated AI to evaluate an area of units rather than focusing on a single unit to maximize Air Support damage
-- Updated AI to prioritize damaged units when considering an Air Support attack
-- Tightened spread for Kill Everything to increase probability of striking closer to center target
- Update Eternal Warrior and Machine Spirit:
-- Restore 50% health back when activated (was 33%)
-- Restore full morale when activated
-- Play appropriate sound effect when activated ("You dare attack me?! or "Machine Spirit assuming control")
- Fix Ragnar is not gaining bonuses from Wolf Tooth Necklace
- Fix Upgraded Valkyrie has incorrect max HP and appears to be damaged at start of battle
- Fix Ave Dominus Nox! rally icon does not match ability icon
- Fix scenario type not restricted to Symmetric without Center Objectives after reload of Total Annihilation battle
- Fix English grammar for Retaliatory Strike and Warp Speed
- Fix upgrade description text missing for Eternal Warrior and Machine Spirit


Sandbox: sandbox_ai_release_3.3

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There are a couple of items in this patch to point out:

The first is a change to how the AI places its units pre-battle. With this change we should see fewer soft targets scouting ahead and getting wiped out after the first turn while doing very little damage in return. Instead the AI is going to try to organize its unit placement to bring its heaviest hitters to the front lines and come out swinging. Still potential for future tweaks.

The second is a couple of changes to Air Support and Kill Everything for the Castellan. I always felt like these abilities underperformed so I bumped them up a bit (arguably could stand another bump). Specifically the Air Support cooldown was lowered from 5 to 4, and the missile damage was increased from 60 to 70 which is the normal Hellstrike missile damage. Not a huge change, but I also gave the AI a boost to find the best tile to concentrate on to maximize its damage when using Air Support.

Kill Everything also seemed like it missed its barrage target more often than not, so a change was made to treat the targeted area more like a bullseye rather than a grid, with a decreasing chance of hitting tiles the farther from the center they are. So it will still bombard the target area, but the spread will be tighter.

Eternal Warrior and Machine Spirit also got more polish after further playtesting.

Other misc fixes are mentioned in the release notes above.

[toadfather]

Updated to version 3.3.1

- Lower default Enemy AI Buff Level to 1 (was 2)
- Fix Ceramite Plating bonus was not applied to Chaos Knight of Tzeentch or Knight Warden
- Fix certain bonus damage modifiers that ignored Blessing of Mork
- Fix units with Bait ability were incorrectly taking reaction fire damage from AOE ammo (Metal Storm Ammo, etc)
- Tweak AI frontline unit placement during setup to better position units
- Fix AI units should wait until they have attacked or moved before using grenades that make tiles toxic (from radiation, etc)
- Improve enemy detection for units in extreme corners of the map
- Change Chaos Lord: Field of Blood to gain an extra attack (was: stun nearby enemy infantry)
- Fix AI Goo and tanglefoot:
-- should not use on VPs that are controlled by the enemy, but strategically goop VPs owned by the AI
-- should not waste on enemy skimmer or jump units
- Fix AI healers and buffers would not seek out targets more than 1 tile away
- Add healers and buffers will now initially hang back to let the some of the army move ahead to allow them to better use their support abilities
- Fix AI healers:
-- should not try to heal units that have lost men but have no other men in the squad damaged.
-- should prioritize closer units and units that have the most potential to heal
-- sometimes would not heal adjacent units after moving
- Fix AI buff selection:
-- Do not buff units on the first turn
-- Prioritize units that did not yet attack
- Fix units should not pop smoke if under fog of war
- Fix missing Talent For Murder attack summary tooltip text
- Increase Basilisk damage to 50, shock to 20 (was 30 and 5)

Sandbox: sandbox_ai_release_3.3.1

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Patch release mostly focused on units that heal and buff other units. Now they actively seek out wounded units nearby instead of only passively healing units adjacent to them.

Changed Chaos Lord: Field of Blood to give a bonus momentum attack after destroying a unit instead of stunning nearby infantry. This bonus can be chained until no more units have been destroyed that turn.

I also bumped the Basilisk as it's an under performer in this game. It still doesn't match tabletop RAW, but it brings it better in line.

More AI tweaks and misc bug fixes, more to come.

[toadfather]

Updated to version 3.4

Enhancements:
- Add Headsman to Night Lords
- Add Chaos Biker Scout Sergeant to Night Lords
Fixes:
- Fix randomized forces should be better balanced to prevent irregular or weak army composition
- Fix guardsman with medipack should be considered a healer unit
- Adjust random map parameters to minimize inaccessible areas and chokepoints
- Fix gretchin losses on the battlefield should not impact ally morale
- Improve initial AI deployment of Leaders, Healers, Buffers and Heavies
- Fix AI units can be loaded onto multiple transports during deployment phase
- Fix Night Lords Biomancer is not moving to heal friendly units
- Fix missing text for Nostraman Chainsword in non-english language files
- Fix units should not rotate when throwing smoke grenades on their own tile
- Limit random dedicated transports and gunships when randomizing an army during force selection
- Lower the cost of Chaos Storm Eagle to 650 and Upgraded Chaos Storm Eagle to 850 (was 900 and 1100)
- Fix AI certain ranged units should better position before attacking
- Fix AI may incorrectly throw the same grenade multiple times
- Fix AI Fast Attack units should make better use of hit and run
- Fix AI should not use tanglefoot or goop on a single minor unit or one that is nearly dead
- Rename Night Lords "Aura of Night Terror" to "Aura of Terror"
- Increase Big Bomb and Melta Bomb tile damage to 250 (was 40 and 80)
- Adjust cost of Night Lords Aura of Terror to 5 (was 10) and Talent for Murder to 10 (was 15)
- Adjust Night Lords Stealth cost down to 5 (was 10)
- Fix Knight Warden has Ceramite Plating bonus without gaining the ability
- Fix AI if a unit unexpectedly fails to move after calculating a valid route, reposition and attempt to find a new target or route

Sandbox: sandbox_ai_release_3.4

Installation: Brief Install Guide

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This patch brings two new units to the Night Lords: the Chaos Biker Scout Sergeant and the Headsman.

The Scout Sergeant is an inexpensive infiltrating unit that costs 80 points. He's a single biker with increased morale and melee combat, and his armaments include a melta bomb, tanglefoot grenades to impede enemy frontline advancement, and smoke grenades if he gets caught in the open. Baffles on his exhaust allow him to take advantage of the Night Lords +10 stealth bonus. His light armor provides a boost to his movement, giving him one of the farthest ranges available of any unit (10 tiles).

Here he is, hidden in smoke, ready to make his next move...

scout_sergeant_smoke.jpg (151.56 KiB) Viewed 8972 times

The Headsman is also low cost at 60 points. He carries a Headsman's Axe and is a basic telekinetic psyker. He has the ability to draw enemy infantry towards him into melee range. Once they are near, and because he is a Night Lord, he uses his Talent For Murder trait to gain a +10 damage, +20 melee bonus to hit pinned victims with his axe. He also bears the Night Lords standard, and can provide a morale boost to nearby allies.

headsman_pic.jpg (352.29 KiB) Viewed 8972 times

Nowhere is safe from the Headsman!

headsman1.jpg (212.97 KiB) Viewed 8972 times

Along with these new units, there are AI and other fixes, as well as changes related to force building. With those changes, when you randomize an army it will be better balanced to make sure the army is an interesting enemy to fight. Balancing also happens when you build your own army, so you can cherry pick a couple of units you want for certain, then randomize the rest and now you won't end up with multiple transports or other undesirable unit combinations.

Another change relates to the map themselves. I've modified the parameters used when creating random maps to give us a map variety that will lower the chance of chokepoints or blocked areas which helps with AI pathfinding. Further playtesting may lead to more tweaks in this area.

Finally, many of the the Night Lords units have dropped in cost by lowering the ability tax of Aura of Terror, Talent for Murder and Stealth to reflect their actual impact in gameplay. A side effect of this change is it rounds off many of the individual units to be divisible by 10, which makes building a full point army easier and also gives greater flexibility when creating the army.

Also Storm Eagles have been adjusted downward as they were much too high.

[toadfather]

Updated to version 3.4.1

Fixes:
- Fix missing "Shield Disabled" tooltip for Night Lords Knights
- Fix Headsman will use Wardraw on adjacent enemy after moving adjacent
- Fix allow unloading units from transports during deployment phase
- Fix AI only 1 leader should be loaded into any single transport
- Fix AI to discourage units from turning away and moving into enemy reaction fire when pathfinding
- Fix Ion Shields are not always disabled when heavily damaged
- Fix Ion Shields can be damaged and taken offline multiple times in a single round, with potentially less downtime than the initial amount
- Add AbilitySlot_EnhancedIonShield.dds texture
- Fix Enhanced Ion Shields to use new AbilitySlot_EnhancedIonShield.dds
- Fix Enhanced Ion Shields to use the correct tooltip
- Adjust random force composition:
-- Randomize for only 1 Rune Priest
-- Randomize for only 1 Whirlwind
-- Add tuning for 3000 point army
- Decrease Whirlwind splash damage to 33%
- Fix AI is not using Night Lords Talent For Murder or AI Buff in routing calculations
- Fix blast damage does full shock to each man in a squad instead of only to the squad as a whole
- Fix AI: during initial deployment, certain buffing units should prioritize the strongest single unit to buff
- Fix AI: units should avoid bunching together to prevent AOE damage
- Fix AI bouncing between two points when trapped
- Fix gretchin losses on the battlefield should not impact ally morale (broken in 3.4)

Sandbox: sandbox_ai_release_3.4.1

Installation: Brief Install Guide

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Patch with a mix of fixes.

Added a couple of changes to the AI to keep it from making itself an easy mark in certain situations:
- spread out more on the battlefield to avoid preventable AOE damage
- think twice before turning its back and walking into reaction fire

Also Ion Shields were not working as advertised.

Other fixes listed above, however, my favorite is this one:
- Fix allow unloading units from transports during deployment phase

For me, not being able to change my mind after loading up a transport during deployment has been a burr in my saddle since day 1 of playing this game. Finally was able to fix it!

[toadfather]

Updated to version 4.0

Enhancements:
- Add Salamanders legion
- Add Night Lord squad names to leveled units
Fixes:
- Improve distribution of heroes and leaders when building a random army
- Fix missing after battle Seneschal bonus ability text for Space Wolves
- Remove unusable ammo upgrades for Space Wolves Scorched Knight
- Fix some Night Lords bonus abilities no longer work after unloading from a transport
- Adjust incorrect points cost for Chaos Terminator Bolter to 340 (was 240)
- Adjust incorrect points cost for Chaos Terminator Flamer to 280 (was 340)
- Fix some Daemon weapons are missing from Heat Weapon List: Coruscating Flames, Flickering Flames, Slayer Sword, Ichor Cannon
- Fix flamer tooltip incorrectly displays autocannon stats for Night Lords
- Fix Move! Move! Move! and Warp Speed to calculate double movement points based on potential starting movement rather than remaining movement
- Fix Night Lords do not receive healing with Blood Rage ability
- Fix AI: increase negative bias for unreachable melee targets
- Fix AI: prevent edgecase where action points will go negative, giving the AI free movement
- Fix AI: prevent overuse of secondary flamers for non-optimal attacks
- Rename Night Lords Helbrute to Chaos Dreadnought

Sandbox: sandbox_ai_release_4.0

Installation: Brief Install Guide

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This update brings us the Salamanders as a playable legion.

salamander_army.jpg (701.27 KiB) Viewed 8371 times

These are the current units (along with their upgraded versions):
Scout Bolt Pistol
Scout Bikers
Biker Scout Sergeant
Tactical Bolter
Tactical Meltagun
Tactical Flamer
Assault Squad
Terminator
Terminator Bolter
Terminator Flamer
Devastator Heavy Bolter
Devastator Missile Launcher
Devastator Lascannon
Dreadnought
Venerable Dreadnought
Land Speeder
Rhino
Land Raider
Predator Destructor
Whirlwind
Drop Pod
Knight Paladin
Scorched Knight
Imperial Freeblade Knight

The only leader available right now is the Biker Scout Sergeant and is similar to the Night Lords version but instead uses the Salamander's special rules.

The special rules for the Salamanders are:
1. They get access to "Promethean Ceramite Plating", which is a reinforced version of ceramite armor. Note that any Knights fighting with the Salamanders do not share in their unique tech.
2. The infantry all have "Blood of Fire", which gives them a natural resistance to heat. This will lower heat based critical hit chance damage by 20%. This also makes them nearly immune to shock damage from enemy flamers.
3. All flamer units gain "Flamecraft", which is an enhancement to their flame based weapons. This gives them the ability to burn through and go around low cover terrain. Normally flamers cannot damage terrain (at all), and are completely blocked by it. Again, Knights are only equipped with standard heavy flamers.

This screenshot shows how the flames will now reach over the short rubble piles (first pile next to the marines), but still be blocked by larger rubble (the pile to the far right is blocking the flames from reaching the next tile). However, terrain can now be damaged and destroyed (only by Salamander flamers):

salamander_flamer_example.jpg (626.99 KiB) Viewed 8371 times

There were a few more AI fixes, small performance optimizations and fixes to the Night Lords faction. I also added improvements to the army randomization to better distribute heroes and leaders.

The next step will be to add more leaders to the Salamanders, although they can ally with Astra and use their leaders for now. The AI can also be further improved, and there will almost certainly be tweaks and fixes to the Salamanders faction as they get more playtest time.

[toadfather]

Updated to version 4.0.1

Fixes:
- Fix Deff Dred will not make full use of its flame attack
- Roll back breaking change for calculating AI melee target priority
- Fix missing aggression modifier config option for Salamanders
- Adjust Salamander special rules:
-- Decrease chance of shock from flamers to 15% (was 30%)
-- Increase critical hit chance to 30 (was 20)
-- Increase flamer power to +30 (was +20)
- Fix AI:
-- Improve target selection for bombard attacks to minimize hitting friendly units
-- Strongly bias knights towards melee if target is nearby
-- Improve reaction threat map for squads vulnerable to deadly fire
-- Increase negative bias for weak attacks against energy shields

Sandbox: sandbox_ai_release_4.0.1

Installation: Brief Install Guide

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This is mainly released as a quick hotfix for a breaking bug I introduced in 4.0 which can lead to the AI standing around and not attacking. Also includes a few other AI fixes and tweaks to the Salamander special rules.

[toadfather]

Updated to version 4.1

Enhancements:
- Add Dark Apostle to Night Lords
-- Vox Daemonicus (25 morale loss to any enemy, even vehicles)
-- Midnight Veil (20% cover bonus, nearby units cannot be targeted by artillery)
-- Banestrike Ammo
-- Knit Wounds (Healing Balm for Dark Apostle - was biomancer skill
-- Prey on the Weak (+50% damage to units at < 50% health)
-- Force of Night (50% reduction of incoming damage for one ally)
-- Domination
-- Banestrike Bolter (+1 range)
- Update Night Lords Biomancer:
-- Swapped Knit Wounds for Inner Pain (Heals only Chaos Sorcerer - can't heal others)
- Add custom background to campaign screen
Fixes:
- Tweak AI Buff interval levels to 7% and + 3 (was 10% +5) , default to 14% gain, +6 damage (level 2)
- Enforce minimum map size for larger armies to prevent randomized units from spilling off the map
- Fix AI:
-- Improve target priority for debuffs and special grenades
-- Improve decision logic for Retaliatory Strike
-- Add Force of Night to deployment buff checks
-- Remove bias for AI to prioritize enemies camped on a VP
-- Improve Knight melee attack to prevent needless prancing around an enemy.
-- Make better use of Meltabombs, demo charges, etc
-- Add additional negative bias against weak units targeting Knights
-- Add negative bias against attacking units that have been blinded

Sandbox: sandbox_ai_release_4.1

Installation: Brief Install Guide

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This patch brings in a Dark Apostle for the Night Lords. He plays as a support role mostly, with low offence capabilities - although he does have a Banestrike Bolter/Ammo which packs a good punch if he needs to use it.

I wanted to round out the Night Lords with the Dark Apostle, but Salamanders still need a number of leadership units as well. Stay tuned.

There are also a few more AI improvements which should continue to edge the computer to be a better opponent.

[toadfather]

Updated to version 4.2

4.2
Enhancements:
- Add Firedrake Captain to Salamanders:
- Add Forged Resolve to Salamanders Heroes and Leaders (morale can't be < 26)
- Add Unbroken to all non-leader Salamander units (except knights) (morale can't be < 10)
- Add Fires of Battle (improved rally) for Salamander Captain
- Add Firedrake Lieutenant to Salamanders:
- Add Salamanders Standard ability
- Add Unbroken ability
- Add Drakefire Aegis ability
Fixes:
- Fix AI:
-- Increase bias towards melee if unit is a strong close combat unit
-- Flamers will sometimes not use primary weapon after throwing a grenade
-- Improved Rally is never triggered
-- Guardsmen Flamers sometimes will not attack
-- Prevent overuse of secondary flamers for non-optimal attacks (Elite Deffdred)
- Fix Flashy Bomb doesn't always explode on impact
- Change Combat Teleporter cooldown to 3 (was 5)
- Swap Meltabomb with Unbroken ability for Salamander Biker Scout Sergeant
- Fix UI does not show correct Power value for units with Flamecraft
- Replace Ave Dominus Nox icon with AbilitySlot_NightLordsStandard
- Update AbilitySlot_Flyer with new graphic

Sandbox: sandbox_ai_release_4.2

Installation: Brief Install Guide

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This update adds 2 new leaders for the Salamanders:

1. Drakefire Captain: Level 4
- 3 actions
- Drake-Smiter: Powerful hammer with +20 fire damage
- Combat Teleporter (can teleport up to 8 tiles away)
- Storm Shield (+10 armor in the direction he is facing)
- Blood Rage (regains health from melee kills)
- Forged Resolve (morale can never go below 26)
- Fires of Battle (improved rally to boost morale)
- Eternal Warrior (50% of surviving a fatal blow)


2. Drakefire Lieutenant: Level 3
- 2 actions
- Drake's Maw Flamer: Custom flamer with additional armor piercing, shock and damage
- Radiation Grenade
- Salamanders' Standard (rally to boost morale)
- Forged Resolve (morale can never go below 26)
- Drakefire Aegis (protective shield, chance to ignore damage)

Visually Salamanders aren't known to use markings to indicate rank, but in this case the crossed skull on their left pauldron has been painted black set on a field of yellow to help make them stand out in the battlefield.

salamander_captain_lieutenant.jpg (1.05 MiB) Viewed 2314 times

For the Captain, his Drake-Smiter will not add fire damage to units equipped with ceramite type armor. Regardless, he still can hit pretty hard though - as you can see here he took out the knight's shield in a single blow.

salamander_captain.jpg (1.22 MiB) Viewed 2314 times

In addition to the new leaders, now all Salamanders can no longer lose enough morale to become "broken" (unable to attack). All leaders will never lose morale to become broken or panicked.


Also includes additional misc. AI and other fixes as well.

[toadfather]

Updated to version 4.3

4.3
Enhancements:
- Add quick deploy (optional) of player's army after force selection is complete.
- Add Night Lords specific icon to skirmish map, battle results screen (was Chaos icon)
- Add Salamander Librarian Forgepriest with abilities:
-- Purifying Flame (5x5 AoE flame attack)
-- Healing Balm
-- Thunderclap (melee attack)
-- Runes of Protection
-- Runes of Destruction
-- Drakefire Aegis - protective shield, chance to ignore damage
- Add Chimera: Mobile Command to Astra Militarum with abilities:
-- Bring it down (ranged unit gains +40 AP, +15 damage)
-- Suppressive Fire (all infantry within range get free shot at -20 accuracy)
-- Get Back in the Fight! (units within range gain +50 morale)
-- Heavy Bolter (Bonus Weapon)
-- Transport (16 units)
-- Firing Deck (bonus damage when units loaded inside)
Fixes:
- Fix commander does not participate in suppressive fire with his men
- Fix camera oscillate around stasis fields at beginning of each turn
- Fix potential enemy unit not placing during initial deployment
- Update points cost of Salamander Captain to 680 (was 420)
- Update points cost of Salamander Lieutentant to 300 (was 360)
- Add Promethium Grenade to Firedrake Captain
- Add Promethium Grenade to Firedrake Lieutenant
- Add back Melta Bomb to Biker Sergeant
- Fix Healing Balm icon for Space Wolves Upgraded Wolf Priest
- Fix attack icons are missing from Attack and Defend skirmish briefings
- Fix deploy message text overruns UI bounding box
- Fix incorrect scale for Night Lords and Salamander Predators
- Update Night Lords and Salamanders faction icons to better match original game
- Add config option to roll up selected unit tooltips during battle
- Save max missions (3 battle campaigns, etc) between sessions
- Give AI units earned XP bump in next battle if faction was reset during campaign
- Fix AI ScoreSuppressiveFireTarget incorrectly mixes target and allies abilities when finding a valid target
- Fix Suppressive Fire missing AoE graphics on participating units
- Update Firedrake Captains thunder hammer damage:
-- Physical damage 65 (was 100)
-- Fire damage 20 (no change)
-- Armor Piercing 90 (was 100)
-- Add AoE per strike (was single target)
- Update Astra Militarum officer abilities:
-- 'Suppressive Fire' should include scions anywhere on the battlefield. Increase range to 2 (was 1). Reduce cooldown to 3 (was 5)
-- Increase 'Forwards for the Emperor' range to 2 (was 1). Reduce cooldown to 3 (was 5)
-- Increase 'Bring it Down range' to 2 (was 1)
-- Increase 'Move Move Move' range to 2 (was 1)
-- Increase 'Take Aim range' to 2 (was 1)
-- Increase 'Rapid Fire' range to 2 (was 1)

Sandbox: sandbox_ai_release_4.3

Installation: Brief Install Guide

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This update started out focused on doing a bit of housekeeping, but ended turning out to be fairly large. A few of the highlights:

1. Adds a Librarian Forgepriest to the Salamanders, level 4:
-- Purifying Flame (5x5 AoE flame attack)
-- Healing Balm
-- Thunderclap (melee attack)
-- Runes of Protection
-- Runes of Destruction
-- Drakefire Aegis - protective shield, chance to ignore damage

salamander_forgepriest.jpg (1020.29 KiB) Viewed 1790 times

The Forgepriest is somewhat similar to the Space Wolves Runepriest, but has the ability to heal and does an AoE fire attack. Plus he has the usual special army rules of the Salamanders (Blood of Fire and Forged Resolve).

2. - Add Chimera: Mobile Command to Astra Militarum:
-- Bring it down (ranged unit gains +40 AP, +15 damage)
-- Suppressive Fire (all infantry within range get free shot at -20 accuracy)
-- Get Back in the Fight! (units within range gain +50 morale)
-- Heavy Bolter (Bonus Weapon)
-- Transport (16 units)
-- Firing Deck (bonus damage when units loaded inside)

The Chimera: Mobile Command is inspired by the TT rules of having an embarked commander (in this case a Tempestor Prime) issue orders from within the Chimera. In this case it's meant to be an abstract concept, not an exact replica of the rules. So the officer never disembarks (nor does he take up room), but his presence is reflected in the points value of the Chimera.

Along these lines, several of the Astra Militarum officer abilities were bumped to make them more useful. For example, Suppressive Fire now allows the Tempestor to command units up to 2 tiles away (was 1), and Scions at any distance as they can receive order via Vox. The catch is all of the units fire at -20 accuracy (as usual), but they also need to be within range and have a decent line of sight to the target to participate.

This picture illustrates how this looks in practice. The green area shows which nearby guardsmen will receive orders. The yellow boxes show the units that will participate. The Scion squad on the top of the green area is near enough to receive orders from the Tempestor, but they lack range and/or line of sight.

suppressive_fire2.jpg (407.16 KiB) Viewed 1790 times

The idea behind the small range bump for the Guard officer orders is Guardsmen units are extremely soft, and keeping them clumped together is just asking for them to become a prime target for an artillery strike (or stray rocket). There is a lot of splash damage in this game, and it generally isn't worth keeping units too close together just to gain a small benefit from an officer.

So far in play testing these changes seem to be useful and not overpowered, but testing is ongoing.

The Salamander Drakefire Captain also changed some - his custom thunder hammer was nerfed to be closer to the thunder hammers used by upgraded Terminators, but now he does AoE damage + fire damage to an entire tile. This makes him deadly against squads, but not as good 1v1 against other skilled warriors or heavily armored (especially ceramite) enemies. He might need a small bump, but overall he seems to be in a good spot.

I also finally got around to fixing a number of UI issues (saving config values, etc), and added a "quick deploy" checkbox to the prebattle screen to help with setting up your army on the battlefield. If you select this (before hitting "Force Selection Done"), it will randomly place your units for you. The placement won't necessarily be optimal, but it will kick-start your deployment to help get you into the game faster. Also look for your officers on the bottom right after quick deployment. The game is going to place them in the lower right quadrant so they are easy to find - then you can move them to where it makes sense.

quick_deploy1.jpg (213.33 KiB) Viewed 1790 times

Finally, I was thinking I might like to spin up another faction. To help decide, I set up a quick poll to take a pulse on what other people might like to see for the next addition. It needs to be a Space Marine chapter as custom models can't be added to the game, and only the textures (painstakingly) can be modified. This still gives us a lot to choose from, and even though I included all 18 of the original Legions (minus the 3 already included), some will be more challenging to actually incorporate, and others might not bring enough strategic variety to the table to make them worthwhile. It might also be interesting to throw one of the more obscure successor chapters into the mix, but even without them there are more than enough to choose from.

Here is the link to the poll: Poll Closed*

It takes a few hundred hours to make each faction, so honestly, the chances of me making any more is getting slimmer, but I've had fun and I find myself still playing a ton, so who knows!

I'll leave the poll open for 2 - 3 weeks and post the results here.

*Update: I closed the poll after 3 weeks, the results were inconclusive due to lack of participation.

[toadfather]

Updated to version 4.3.1

Fixes:
- Fine tune AI units to further look for VP opportunities
- Add better AI handling of wrecks on objective markers
- Fix units with bonus flamers sometimes only attack once
- Add Salamanders Forgepriest to AI Healer role
- Add back IgnoreThreat flag for certain units when pathfinding
- Flag Invulnerable units to IgnoreThreat
- Fix HasBait to IgnoreThreat properly
- Bump MAX_VP_OFFENSE_TEAMS to 8 to match editor
- Fix AI oversaturated bias when selecting targets for certain ranged attacks
- Fix AI can sometimes get into loop attempting to attack an unreachable target

Sandbox: sandbox_ai_release_4.3.1

Installation: Brief Install Guide

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