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Outdated This is an old build of NS2

It may not represent the current game.

Date: April 23, 2019

Patch 327

Highlights

Blog Post

Changelog

Gameplay

  • New map - Unearthed (by community member Kasharic)
    • Descend into Neo-Caligo, a former mining facility that is now a high security research and harvesting base for a rare and mysterious newly discovered crystal compound with anomalous mutagenic properties. Even more ominous, a possible Kharaa outbreak was reported in the area… What lies in wait? What exactly has been Unearthed?
  • Ranked Server requirements have been lowered to a maximum of a 10 v 10 playercount (to include reserved slots)
    • The goal with this is two fold: First, to provide a better gameplay experience with the new balance changes, as we feel both game and map balance are improved with these numbers. Secondly, it will by proxy reduce stress on servers and net performance gains and a smoother experience for all players.

Aliens

  • Tunnels
    • Moved Gorge tunnels to Commander.
    • 1 set of tunnels per hive.
    • Tunnels require infestation to be dropped (but do not take damage off-infestation)
    • Tunnels are purchased for 6 t-res per entrance
    • Tunnel entrances cannot be echoed by a shift, but can be relocated for 6 t-res
    • Tunnel entrances no longer spread infestation by default.
    • Added a Infested Tunnel upgrade:
      • Costs 6 T-Res per tunnel
      • Both entrances of a Infested Tunnel spread Infestation
      • Increases the entrances hitpoints to 1250 health / 200 armor (1400/250 fully matured)
  • Skulk
    • Floor jumps grant a slight speed boost similar to wall jumps. However wall jumping is still more efficient and faster.
  • Gorge
    • Gorge tunnel slot removed
    • Has now more control over their movement while belly sliding.
    • Increased belly slide’s base speed to 9.6 m/s (from 8.9)
    • Can now use abilities while belly sliding (except for dropping gorge structures)
    • Increased cost to 10pres
    • Gorge structures cost no p-res anymore.
    • Lowered base air friction to 0.18 (was 0.2). However you will gain more air friction the faster you move (e.g 0.28 at 12 m/s without celerity)
    • Hydra:
      • Now fires constantly every 0.8 seconds (did fire randomly between 0.5 - 1.5)
      • Hydras are more accurate close distance
      • Hydras now auto-build
      • Decreased growth time to 8 seconds (from 13)
      • Decreased hp by about 66%
      • Increased energy costs to drop a hydra to 40
      • Hydras no longer stop bullets (soft targets) so gorges can’t hide behind them.
      • Now gains 16 health per biomass level
    • Web
      • Reduced hp to 25 (from 80)
    • Babbler
      • Increased base hp to 12 (from 10)
      • A Babbler spawns now every 2 seconds on the back of the gorge while it’s not under fire and still has place for additional babblers.
      • Attaching babblers to another alien transfers ownership to them
      • Removed the Babbler lifetime limit (was 5 min)
      • Babblers die together with their owner (attached unit or mother gorge)
      • Idle Babblers will return to the mother gorge and attach to it if possible
      • Nearby unattached babblers attack any target hit by the mother gorge’s spit
      • Remove damage taken limit. Babblers now take full damage
      • Now gains 2 health per biomass level
      • Attached Babblers now act as full body shield. So no matter if a babbler gets hit or not they will protect you. The Babbler shield has the following values for each life form:
        • Skulk: 5.83 hp per Babbler
        • Gorge: 7.5 hp per Babbler
        • Lerk: 7.5 hp per Babbler
        • Fade: 15 hp per Babbler
        • Onos: 25 hp per Babbler
      • Detached Babblers now die after 18 seconds
    • Babbler Egg
      • Doesn’t spawn Babblers anymore
      • Renamed to Bile Mine
      • Detonates when Marines get close or it’s hit by Spit and deals corrosive (armor only) damage (15 dmg/sec) over 3 secs
    • Clog
      • Now gains 4 health per biomass level
    • Spit
      • Fixed that Focus didn’t increase Spit’s damage
      • Increased spit’s projectile velocity (travel speed) by 25%
    • Healspray always extinguish fires instead of only 50% of the time
  • Lerk:
    • Carapace upgrade
      • Increased the armor gained by 15
    • Movement:
      • Fixed flying animation (by Dragon)
      • Improved taking off and landing mechanism (by Sweets)
    • Spikes:
      • Reduced spread to 3.1 degree (from 4)
      • Lowered damage to 6 (from 7)
      • Doubled the projectile’s size
    • Umbra
      • Increased the time umbra sticks to aliens after they moved outside the umbra cloud to 2.5 seconds (from 0.25)
    • Now also lowers damage from grenades (excluding nerve gas grenades)
  • Fade
    • Swipe
      • Changed damage type to puncture (-50% damage against structures)
    • Added slide movements when landing on the ground with a high momentum
    • Added auto-crouch to blink (by Nin):
      • Fades will automatically crouch after blinking until they touch the ground again without holding jump. If a fade player taps the crouch key auto-crouch will end until the fade blinks again
  • Onos
    • Boneshield (by Steelcap)
      • Doesn’t consume energy anymore. Instead Boneshield is now bound by endurance
      • At max endurance Boneshield will last for 8 seconds
      • Recovering max endurance from none takes 16 seconds
      • You need at least 15% endurance to activate Boneshield
    • Charge
      • Lowered cooldown to 0.5 second (from 1)
  • Upgrades
    • Adrenaline
      • Flat energy regeneration rate increase tailored per life form. Powerful enough to support different energy-heavy combat play-styles as opposed to celerity. Current rates:
        • Skulk 50%
        • Gorge 30%
        • Lerk 60%
        • Fade 80%
        • Onos 50%
    • Vampirism
      • Doesn’t restore armor as much as health anymore and uses eHP (2 eHP = 1 armor) values now:
        • Skulk: 6.66% of max eHP per Shell
        • Gorge: 2.67% of max eHP per Shell
        • Lerk: 2.67% of max eHP per Shell
        • Fade: 3.33% of max eHP per Shell
        • Onos: 1.83% of max eHP per Shell
  • Support structures:
    • Crag:
      • Reduced base heal amount by 33%
      • Removed the heal target limit (was 3)
    • Reduced Shade, Shift, Crag HPs by 20%
    • Increased alien structure move speed to 2.5 (was 1.5)
  • Cysts:
    • Disconnected cysts slowly die.
    • Cyst chains auto-grow 50% faster.
    • Infestation spreads now sequentially. Previously it spread for any fully build cyst even if the parent cyst didn’t have any infestation yet.
    • Infestation spreads twice as fast
    • Increased placement range by 33%
    • Decreased base hp of cysts to 50 and the mature maximum to 350
    • Decreased maturity time to 20 seconds (from 45)
    • Increased armor to 1 (from 0). So that nerve gas grenades uncloak cloaked cysts.
    • Added passive upgrades for each hive type
      • Carapace (Crag Hive): Adds 25 armor
      • Cloaking (Shade Hive): Turns invisible unless attacked, disconnected or touched
      • Celerity (Shift Hive): Increases growth speed by 25%
  • Nutrient Mist:
    • No longer usable off-infestation
    • No longer stops alien structure from taking damage off-infestation
    • No longer heals hurt cysts
  • Harvester
    • Increased the time it takes for a Harvester to die off Infestation to 90 seconds (from 60)
  • Added a maximum heal limit:
    • If an Alien structure or player is healed by more than 14%/sec any additional healing is reduced by 66%
  • Drifter
    • Increased drifter structure growth rate by 25%
    • Added passive abilities for each hive type:
      • Camouflage (Shade Hive): Drifters turn invisible when they are idle
      • Regeneration (Crag Hive): Drifters regenerate 3% of their max hp every 2 secs while not at full health
      • Celerity (Shift Hive): Drifters move 18% faster

Marines

  • Shotgun:
    • Lowered pellets pellets fired per shot to 15 (from 17)
    • Increased base damage of each pellet to 11.34 (from 10)
      • So max damage per shot is still the same
    • The spread figure is now a truncated cone (instead of a cone) and slightly tighter. This should make hitting close targets easier.
    • Added a damage falloff starting at a distance of 7 meters maxing out at 14 meters with a base damage reduction of 60% (4.5 damage per pellet)
  • Grenade Launcher
    • Decreased base damage to 90 (from 145)
    • Increased damage multiplier against structures to 5 (from 2)
    • Grenades glow now and bounce a lot less (by Nin)
    • Grenades now always detonate on enemy impact. Before they didn’t detonate for 0.15 seconds after getting fired.
  • Marine movement:
    • Marine backpedal speed penalty reduced to 40% (from 60%)
  • Hand Grenades:
    • Research time reduced to 25 seconds (down from 45)
    • Pulse Grenade
      • Increased the detonation radius to match the cluster grenades
      • Doesn’t bounce anymore at low velocity
    • Cluster Grenade
      • Doesn’t bounce anymore at low velocity
  • Armory
    • Reduced health to 1500 (from 1800) and armor to 200 (from 300)
    • Advanced armory values are still the same
  • Robotic factory
    • Reduced health to 2500 (from 2800) and armor to 400 (from 600)
    • ARC factory values are still the same
  • Phase Gate
    • Added a 300 ms phase cool-down
    • Decreased armor to 600 (from 800)
    • Added the ability to reverse phase gates direction as commander
  • Added Advanced Support Research
    • Available at the Command Station
    • Unlocks Nano Shield, Power Surge and Catalyst Packs
    • Costs 20 team resources and takes 90 seconds to research
  • Nano Shield
    • Decreased costs to 3 team resources (from 5)
    • Reduce duration to 3 seconds (from 5)
  • Catalyst Pack
    • Decreased duration to 5 seconds (from 12)
    • Decreased costs to 1 team resources (from 3)
    • Decreased catalyst effects (additional move and reload speed) by 50%
  • Power Surge
    • Decreased cost to 3 team resources (from 5)
    • Decreased duration and cool-down to 10 seconds (from 20)
  • ARC
    • Increased health to 4000 (from 3000)
    • Increased supply cost to 35 (from 15)
    • Increased splash damage to 675 (from 450)
    • Increased build time to 10 seconds (from 7)

Tweaks/Improvements

Unearthed Commander Skins

Unearthed Commander Skins

  • Added Unearthed Commander skins! You can obtain these after you play at least six rounds that are at least five minutes long on the new map!
Status Icons

Player Status Icons

  • Player Status Icons
    • This should assist new and veteran players with knowing how they are being affected by multiple game events at once, especially during chaotic moments. Or learning the impact of specific mechanics, as well as their range.
    • These are tied to two separate in game options: Hints On (for a few mechanics that newer players may not understand just yet) and High HUD Detail for the rest.
327 Skill Tier Badges

New Skill Tier Badges

  • New Skill Tier Badges
    • Rantology felt it was time to update these badges to something more appropriate for the NS universe, and at the same time make them more readable so that the uninitiated could instantly recognize which is better. We love em, and we think you will too.
  • Added a new amazingly detailed model for the HMG with default skin and Catalyst skin. (Thanks Vlaad!)
  • Infestation should no longer “streak” and appears more crisp than before.
  • Map Decals no longer streak
  • New Alien Health and Energy HUD. They are clean and fresh, easier to read and have better fidelity!
  • Improved Lerk and Gorge hitboxes so there are less gaps. The proportion or size of the hitboxes remain unchanged, we just felt that there’s nothing worse than shooting at a target and having your bullets go through them.
  • Tweaked how reflections are used, to ensure that rough surfaces do not appear shinier than they should.
  • Commander toggleable friendly health bars for structures. Default is off, and default binding is H key.
  • Marine commanders can now see what location an Observatory will beacon the team to when placing a ghost structure, or even after it is built.
  • Phase Gates and Tunnels now show a destination nameplate without having to look directly at them.
  • Reverted the Axe animation to the one that existed for years prior. Instead of jabbing, you will slice again!
  • Added higher quality Marine weapon world models as well as commander dropped Jetpack models. (Thanks RuneStorm!)
    • In addition to being higher quality and more closely matching the first person model, this change also makes skin creation for said models much more straightforward. (Also no more upside down, stuck in the ground Jetpack model!)
  • Improved Welder target prioritization. You can now more accurately weld the target you are aiming at (Thanks Katzenfleisch!)
  • Drop and Pickup keys for Marine weapons are now separate keys. Pickup is now the Use key, and Drop is kept the same.
    • This means the Drop key auto picks up whatever is beneath you as it is now, but the Use key picks up whatever you are looking at regardless of what is beneath you. Let the piles of weapons commence!
  • Marines spawning on Infantry Portals now show their model and skin variant
    • Because you know you’re pretty and you want others to know too.
  • Improved Damage Trigger Feedback. (See Editor section below)
    • Lava now sets a player on fire, Marines cough when in gas, electricity effects will show on Alien view models, etc.
  • The Bloom graphics option is no longer over exposed, and is now slightly faster due to elimination of an extraneous framebuffer. Bloom is now pleasant to have on and we recommend trying it out.
    • It is no longer akin to viewing the world through a greasy sauna window.
  • Ghost players who crash no longer remain in the server for ~2 minutes, but instead are removed in 15 seconds. This should help players get back into the action if something unfortunate happens.
  • You can now reverse Phase Gate directions by selecting any Gate and clicking the Reverse button!
    • This can be used to help counter base rushes if timed correctly, and allows for the Marine team to be more adaptable on a quickly changing battlefield.
  • Added Team Join bindings for Marines, Aliens and Spectate. Default keys are F5, F6 and F7 respectively.
    • No longer are veterans the only ones with this classified binding knowledge
  • Added Request Structure binding (No default key). You can open the Request Menu in game as well and select Request Structure. The commander should get a sound alert like normal, as well as a new alert icon that states a structure is being requested.
  • Changed Marine Commander Observatory motion sensor “blips” to be red colored so that they are more visible on most surfaces. (Thanks Nin!)
  • Improved Skulk Xenocide implementation to be more reliable.
    • Instead of line of sight being from skulk feet to marine feet, it’s from engagement point to engagement point. This generally means if you can see the marine’s center of mass, you will deal damage. Additionally, delayed the Skulk from dying slightly to prevent various errors.
  • Reduced some Lua GC spikes that could occur from the atomic GC phase checking many userdata finalizers.

Fixes

  • Fixed crash on client start-up due to late sound system initialization
  • Fixed an issue that caused important emissive elements to be refracted by things behind them (e.g. welder display being refracted by water).
  • Fixed an issue where a new Command Station being built would be stuck closed, preventing marines from ever using it.
  • Fixed a bug with Marine dropped weapon physics which made them behave inconsistently. All dropped weapons now behave the same.
  • Fixed an early-game hitch caused by lights, reflection probes, and emissive props not being properly cached.
  • Fixed Round Start Music not playing
    • Added four short music tracks that play at random and are more exciting
    • The music now fades out quickly so as not to interfere with gameplay
  • Lowered the “Danger Music” volume when a techpoint is low.
  • Danger Music now only plays on the last Command Chair or Hive
  • Mute Text or Voice icons on the scoreboard no longer overlap with skill tier badges
  • Fixed that alt-tabbing out of the game while a sound was playing could sometimes make it loop indefinitely until you leave relevancy or the entity was killed.
  • Fixed Discord Invite link in main menu
  • Fixed an exploit allowing a low population server (seeding) player to successfully Votekick another player if they left the server, preventing a server from seeding.
  • Fixed negative player count numbers being shown in the server browser.
  • Fixed that the Exosuit with dual miniguns showed a description for minigun and claw
  • Fixed that Focus did not work for Gorge Spit
  • Fixed that Whips would sometimes not attack Phase Gates (Thanks Katzenfleisch!)
  • Fixed Babblers not being able to be attached to lifeforms again after losing them in specific edge cases. (Thanks Katzenfleisch!)
  • Default option for menu background will now select the most recently added menu instead of duplicating the Random option.
  • Fixed Arcs shooting outside of their max range, if a structure was moved during the wind up phase of the Arc firing animation. (Thanks Katzenfleisch!)
  • Fixed exploit with Catpacks and Axing that allowed an insane DPS to occur if the player knew how to time their attacks just right.
  • Fixed incorrect Biomass Scaling calculation to be more accurate
  • Fixed exploit with Axing that allowed you to attack faster than intended.
  • Fixed Mod textures not being unloaded when a Mod was unmounted.
    • This caused players to carry over custom server player skins from one server to the other, often in a broken state.
  • Fixed Line of Sight calculation causing ambushing Aliens from being detected on the map or minimap when being too close to a Marine, even if they did not actually see them.

As a result, if an Alien is behind a somewhat transparent prop such as grating where a Marine may see them, they still will not be “spotted” on the map until an unblocked Line of Sight is achieved.

  • Fixed some wstring Lua objects leaking memory when they are destroyed.

Sounds (by Sweets)

  • New HMG deploy, reload, and firing sounds.
  • Added new ambient sounds for Unearthed such as the laser scanner, mining buckets, furnace fire, broken door and more.
  • Continued minor optimizations and improvements in all sound areas (too many to list here and are minor changes that will not impact gameplay).

Maps

ns2_tram (by pSyk)

  • The goals of the new Tram changes are to improve Shipping as an Alien Start location, make it harder for Marines to lane-block Aliens and to improve gameplay in certain locations.
    • Moved res node in Ore Extraction more into the middle. Harder to arc from Hub / North Tunnels, out of Observatory range.
    • Added a little flanking corridor in Ore Extraction coming from Warehouse.
    • Added more obstacles around Northtunnels and a little wall hole next to the tram door to make it harder to arc Warehouse.
    • Moved res node in Server more into the middle of the location. Harder to arc from Mezz, out of Observatory range.
    • Moved the power node in Observation around the corner out of LOS of the vent exit.
    • Added a vent between Elevator Transfer and Mezzanine.
    • Added more obstacles around the Elevator-Hub area to make it harder to arc Elevator Transfer.
    • Added a little vent from South Tunnels to Observation.
    • Added a vent from South Tunnels/Hub to Repair entrance (door).
    • Added a vent from Shipping (exit) to Logistics.
    • Added more obstacles and cover to Logistics.
    • Tons of QOL changes to improve gameplay and movement in certain locations.

ns2_veil (by pSyk)

  • The goals of the new Veil changes are to improve Pipeline as an Alien Start location and at the same time make it easier for Marines to hold Pipeline against an Alien Subsector Start. Also to make Nanogrid **easier to hold for Aliens in the early game or re-take in the late-game, and to make System Waypoint less powerful when Marines are holding it.
    • Moved Pipeline and Neck closer to the center of the map (removed Utility location).
    • Removed vent exit into pipe (next to the res node).
    • Lowered the vent entrance leading from Pipeline/Dome to Cargo.
    • Created more space in Dome to the north to improve that PG position compared to System.
    • Lowered the entire half ring around the C12 res node area to improve that area for Marines.
    • Added and moved Crates/Containers in Cargo to improve gameplay for both teams.
    • Moved res node location in Cargo.
    • Made the Cargo vent exit less powerful for bile bombing Gorges and added a ladder for Marines to enter the platform and vent.
    • Added more cover in Sub Sector.
    • Added and moved crates in Overlook for better Tunnel spots and defense.
    • Added a vent from System Waypointing to Overlook.
    • Changes to System Waypointing geometry and more Terminals on upper level for cover.
    • Lifted the upper floor in Y-junction more to be on level with System Waypointing, which enables Gorges/Oni to jump onto the platform in System.
    • Added a new corridor from Y-Junction to System/Sub connector. Improves cysting to Sub and combat around Y-junction/System.
    • Increased space in Skylights and slightly moved the res node .
    • Added crates below Skylights vent exit to improve Marines boosting each other into the vent. This improves Skylights against being endlessly harassed by a powerful Alien Subsector Start.
    • Added a straight connection from east to west vent below the Nanogrid floor.
    • Added a middle platform into Nanogrid for cover.
    • Changed the two-door entrance into Nanogrid into a 4-door entrance.
    • Tons of QOL changes to improve gameplay and movement in certain locations.

ns2_docking (by Kash)

  • The goals for the docking changes are to make Generator less Grenade Launcher friendly without making them useless and make holding generator naturals less frustrating for aliens.
    • Increased height in the Pressure Control to Stability Monitoring vent to prevent marine rotation.
    • Added a Generator entrance to the Pressure Control to Stability Monitoring vent.
    • Relocated the entrance from Stability Monitoring to Generator to the lower floor with the intention of making that area more alien friendly to defend.
    • Added 3rd pipe in Generator as ceiling cover to make utilizing them for cover more user friendly.
    • Moved the Generator RT slightly north towards the back wall, due to the new pipes making its previous location unusable.
    • Fixed the Ladders from Generators lower floor to be more user friendly.

ns2_descent (by Zavaro)

  • Fixed all locations to remove areas without power
  • Also fixed light in the SW of Plaza between both upper and lower level
  • Updated reflection probes
  • New Plaza based on community feedback and testing, including removal of upper level
  • Minor changes to Plaza-Club entrance, reversed wall inclination, now slopes northward to help prevent ridiculous tunnels
  • Added some visual-physical obstructions from west Grav entrance to Grav-Shipping vent
  • Added some obstructions to south Hydro-Shipping hallway for lifeforms
  • Added “scrubber” machine to Security-Plaza hallway
  • Added “clean” terminals (now with red dots!) throughout the map
  • Increased Club visibility by lowering reflecting probes and removing one of the woman holograms at the Plaza entrance
  • Untied lights outside the Launch Control window, Shuttle Bay window, Observation window, and Satellite Relay window from being power controlled
  • Set miniature globes in Launch Control hologram to be the correct aspect ratio
  • Added reflective glass in Drafting hallway
  • Added collision and pipes to Shipping-Hydro room
  • Added a ton of railings throughout the map and tables in Club to have their emissives not tied to power. This means that they’ll be visible in the dark

ns2_caged (by Zavaro)

  • Added additional collision geometry to fix multiple stuck spots

Tools

All Tools

  • Fixed a crash caused by moving panels in all tools

Viewer

  • Fixed that editing an enum-type animation input would cause it to appear duplicated in the list of inputs.
  • Added Render Stats to provide a means to examine the render-time cost of the viewed asset.

Editor

  • Fixed a crash caused by right clicking while resizing a decal.
  • Fixed crash on start-up due to sound system late initialization
  • A new damage type option is now available on damage triggers and you can specify the type. “Normal”, “Fire”, “Gas”, and “Electric”.
  • Added map occlusion geometry group for sound occlusion. This gets rid of sounds being muffled by small/medium obstacles within maps that are covered with occlusion geometry. Fmod will fall back using the normal occ-geo group if there is no special sound occ-geo group, to remain backwards compatible.

Cinematic Editor

  • The Preview pane now has some rendering statistics (similar to r_stats) available to help optimize cinematics. Click the top left portion inside the window pane.
  • Fixed multiple crashes associated with opening a cinematic.

SDK

  • Added all of the previously unreleased Discovery art assets to the build.
  • Added “asin” and “acos” intrinsics to hlsl parser.
  • Color cdata objects can now be multiplied together (performs a per-component multiplication)
  • Added two new functions for Dynamic Physics Body models.
    • Model:SetModelMass and Model:GetModelMass provide a means to set the mass of a dynamic body that is factored along with its velocity. This provides a means to have better control of dynamic physics objects in script.
  • Improved rendering console command usage. (commands starting with “r_”)
    • They no longer require parameters to be toggled. You can type r_wireframe to toggle it on or off, for instance.
    • r_stats improved to be better formatted and now displays more specific data, to include the number of occluders shown.

Known Issues

  • You cannot enter a Hive until the deploy animation has completed, despite the prompt to utilize the Use key. This is a byproduct of fixing the closed Command Chairs. It’s planned to be fixed in the next patch.
  • “r_lights” and “r_decals” are currently disabled, for now. They’re used to visualize all Lights and Decals respectively in-game.
  • Some damage trigger types are not yet set up for both teams. For instance, Gas effects have Marines cough, but Aliens do not. Electrical damage will show up on the viewmodel for Aliens but not for Marines.
  • Status UI icons have some lingering issues in regards to specific resolutions, sorting position bugs (which can occasionally make an icon appear not ordered to the left side of the screen) as well as not showing Lerk Gas or Gas grenades. This will be improved in the future.
  • Occasionally the Marine spawning on an IP will not display the proper “filling in” shader effect that shows a Marine being “built” from nothing. This was a result of showing the skin variant, but we are looking into a way that may preserve the old visuals.
  • There is a benign script error that will occur when playing the Alien Commander tutorial.
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