Slitherine

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.

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.

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...
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.
Nowhere is safe from the Headsman!
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.

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!

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.
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):
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.

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.