The Late Game Update
Late matches were dragging on: endless bot waves (that was ridiculous in the last playtest), no real pushes, games running past 30 minutes (ain’t no one got time for that). This update gives every match a clear finish and makes mid worth fighting over. Oh and the volume sliders actually work now =D
At a Glance
- 15:00, Goliath XL Escort: each team’s XL marches on the enemy. Escort yours, stop theirs.
- 20:00, Payload Race: if nobody has won, bot waves stop and it’s a race to push a payload into the enemy core.
- Mid matters now: every capture fires a strike you can see: Orbital Strike, EMP or War Chest.
- Fewer bots late: waves slow down after 15:00, so fights are about players again.
- Auto-reload when you pick up ammo, plus working volume sliders and a new Announcer slider.
How a Match Plays Out Now
- 0:00: Lanes open. Bot waves as before.
- 5:00: Goliaths start showing up in the lanes.
- 15:00: The Goliath XL Escort begins. Waves slow to one every 60 seconds. Mid becomes the Annihilator.
- 19:00: The Payload Race countdown appears on the scoreboard.
- 20:00: Payload Race. No more bot waves.
- 25:00: Sudden pressure: payloads stop rolling back and towers start to crumble.
Goliath XL Escort (15:00)
- Each team’s Goliath XL walks out on opposite lanes. This is the event that should decide the match.
- NEW: Stay near your XL to push it faster. Alone, it walks slowly. Any enemy nearby stops it.
- It still fights, and still takes down enemy towers and then the core, in order.
- NEW: Its health bar shows what’s happening: ESCORTED, CONTESTED, HOLDING (fighting a tower) or UNESCORTED.
- One XL per team per match. It no longer comes back every 5 minutes.
NEW: Payload Race (20:00)
If nobody has won by 20:00, the Payload Race ends it.
- At 20:00 bot waves stop, bot kiosks close, mid shuts down, and each team gets a payload on opposite lanes. Bots already out keep fighting.
Pushing
- Stand in the glowing ring to push. More players push faster, and a Scout counts as 1.5 players.
- Any enemy in the ring stops it.
- Don’t abandon it: after 10 seconds with nobody from your team on it, it starts rolling back. It never rolls back past your last checkpoint.
Towers
- Enemy towers block the payload. Keep pushing at a tower and the payload does continuous damage to it.
- Every tower you get past becomes a checkpoint.
Winning
- Get your payload to the enemy core to blow it up and win. Destroying the core the normal way still works too.
Also
- Ride it: the payload is solid, so you can climb on and ride it down the lane.
- Supply point: standing in your team’s ring heals you 10 health per second and refills 20% of your ammo per second.
- Respawns during the race are about 10 seconds for both teams (not quite 10 seconds because there is a scaling system based on how far the payload is in relation to the cores.)
- The scoreboard shows a live race bar with both payloads, the towers in the way and your last checkpoint.
Sudden Pressure (5 minutes into the race)
- Payloads stop rolling back and creep forward on their own, even with an enemy on them.
- Every standing tower crumbles to 25% health over 60 seconds.
Mid Control Point
Mid used to capture too fast to answer, and its rewards were invisible bot buffs (thats not very fun.) Now every capture is a strike you can see.
Strikes (before 15:00)
Mid shows which strike is up next, and it fires the moment your team finishes the capture:
- NEW: Orbital Strike: a beam hits the enemy’s front tower in each lane for 50% of its health. A lane with no towers left gets a core guard hit instead.
- NEW: EMP: every enemy tower shuts down for 30 seconds.
- NEW: War Chest: every player on your team gets 450 coins.
- Bot damage, health and speed buffs are gone.
- Each team can still capture up to 3 times before 15:00.
Capturing
- NEW: Costs 300 coins, split between the teammates on the point and paid as the bar fills. If you run out, the bar stops. There’s no refund if you lose the capture.
- Takes 30 seconds solo (was 12). More players go faster: about 20 seconds for a Scout alone, about 15 for five players.
Annihilator (from 15:00)
- Capturing it now takes 40 seconds solo (was 15): about 27 seconds for a Scout or three players, about 20 for a full team. There’s time to get there and contest it.
- After it wipes a team’s bots, that team gets no new bot wave for 15 seconds. A wave still walking out when it fires stops and joins the next one.
Bots
Waves
- 0:00–15:00: no change.
- After 15:00: a wave every 60 seconds (was 18) with 2 two small bots and 1 larger bot. No more Goliath in every wave.
- No new waves once the Payload Race starts.
Goliaths
- Max 1 per team per lane. The first one arrives at 5:00.
- When a lane’s Goliath dies, that lane gets no new one for 3 minutes.
- No new Goliaths after 15:00. The XL is the only heavy in the late game.
- Goliaths no longer hide behind a dome shield when their front shield breaks.
Bot Kiosks
- Kiosks close for the Payload Race. The screen shows a red X and the prompt says CLOSED.
Fixes
- Goliaths head straight down the lane instead of wandering back toward their own core or walking in circles.
- Goliaths stop to fight minions and shell towers from further away, instead of marching past them.
- Bots no longer freeze or get stuck under a Goliath XL as it spawns.
Auto-Reload on Ammo Pickup
- Ran completely dry? Picking up ammo from an ammo box, a supply crate or your payload now reloads for you.
- Your other gun reloads too if it’s empty, so it’s ready when you swap.
- Looting ammo from a container reloads you as soon as you close it.
NEW: Audio Settings
- Master volume now works. It controls everything.
- Effects volume now works: gunfire, reloads, footsteps, impacts, pickups, UI and world sounds. Music and announcers aren’t affected.
- NEW: Announcer volume. The casters get their own slider. It goes down to 25% but not off, because they call out objectives you need to hear.
- Sliders preview live as you drag. Backing out without applying puts everything back.