ALLIANCE GAZETTE VOL.2

Greetings Fellow Sky captains and Crews!

Week 2 begins with an eclipse.

We just released a hotfix to address a lot of the feedback we have received.  You can find all the notes here. While we squash bugs though production is not slowing down on new content and exciting features for the game!

We are now streaming our internal testing sessions (no commentary) and you’ll be able to watch them at twitch.tv/gunsoficarus make sure you follow to see when they appear! It’s normally Tuesday and Thursday at 11 am eastern, but times are subject to change depending on the team’s needs. The only way to stay up to date is to follow!

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Alliance Gazette Vol.1

Greetings Fellow Sky captains and Crews!

Congrats to the first leaders of the Icarus Faction War!
New titles have been granted to honor this historic event. The title of First Leader has been granted to all four factions’ leaders, and the title of First Grand Leader has been granted to all four faction’s overall leaders.

First lore entry commemorating the first week of war is coming shortly, and so is a new leadership emblem to be worn on costumes. Stay tuned!

In addition to fixing bugs critical and small, brewing in our lab today are a number of exciting things.

New Game Mode: Ambush
We are set with the mechanics of Ambush, where ships work together to intercept and ambush enemy airships making bomb runs to bases. These bomb carriers would be supported by other enemy ships and even a boss. You need to race to intercept and kill them in time before they destroy your base. If you kill enough of them, you win. If your base gets bombed into oblivion, you lose.

Mechanically, the mode is playing pretty well. It’s intense under fire and also a race against time. It takes coordination to see who chases down what.

But as typical in any testing, things break! Somehow, we managed to spawn into the matrix today…

Next up in this mode, we’re starting to make the first map for it!

Muse MKII Program:
In our weapons lab (Eric’s desk), we’re prototyping new faction MK2 guns, and here’s a glimpse:

The goal of the MKIIs are to create vastly different versions in how they play and work, but still maintain that consistency with faction technology and theme. The Gas Mortar MKII is a rapid fire, multiple canister launcher, but the gas dissipate much more quickly.

With the Lens Array MKII, think shotgun laser.

Next week we’ll preview the Coil and the Missile MKIIs, so stay tuned!

Updated Stormbreaker:

The Stormbreaker will be retrofitted with a heavy gun slot, so you can mount the Cavitation gun!
In today’s testing, the retrofitting was deemed satisfactory by us, and you shall see it in Dev App to test drive soon!

Also, we are testing quite a few client side fixes that we’ll deploy asap, and these are the things we made fixes for.
– Fixed several memory leaks that eventually led to crashes on all platforms
– Handled some previously unhandled NULLs that could cause crashes on Linux
– Improved visibility and added distance counter to objective indicators on Assault
– Fixed missing event leaderboard title text
– Corrected some text referencing “Preorder Alliance” to “Buy Alliance”
– Fixed a music playback error caused by attempting to seek to an invalid time

Once we run through these fixes, we’ll deploy a new client build (no server restart required), and announcement will follow.

What’s on the docket next week:

Endless Seek & Destroy
Single Ship Infiltration
Missile Circus MKII
Coil MKII
Yeshan Ship

Thanks everyone and stay safe in the treacherous skies!

-Bubbles

Guns of Icarus Alliance 2.0.0 Release Notes

Guns of Icarus Alliance and its glorious co-op is finally here with lots of contents and meaningful factional warfare!

Inside, you’ll find 5 completely unique game modes, 7 maps covering numerous biomes, and 14 different enemies with specialised strengths and weaknesses for you to learn and overcome.

This has been a long long road, and we thank you for your support from the bottom of our hearts. Through the hurricane, the fire, the ddos attack, the server malfunction, seeing our AI planes crash into mountains, rough balances in early testing, you’ve been with us through thick and thin, and it means the world to us. Also want to thank everyone who helped us, from translations, building websites and wikis, to traveling with us at shows, donating equipment, and giving us invaluable feedback, we could not have gotten anywhere without you. This ambitious project was all consuming for nearly the last 3 years, and we poured everything we had into it, building complex AI combat and director from scratch.  We’ve definitely made a bunch of mistakes and learned a lot along the way.  We’re really proud of the work, and we think you will be as well.

Below is all the amazing contents you can play TODAY!

Factions with New Ships and New Guns!

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Many new ways to experience the game, many new ways to take control of the skies.

When you turn on Guns of Icarus Alliance, you’ll find your chance to earn new tools of destruction and new ships to put them on. You’ll unlock your factions ship and weapon first through your faction reputation. You can unlock ships and weaponry of all remaining factions by joining them or staying put with your own faction, which will take a bit longer.

The Fjord Baronies bring the stalwart Crusader and Seraph Tempest Missile Launcher, capable of firing off a devastating swarm of missiles.

The Order of Chaladon created the speedy, yet deadly Shrike and the Kalakuta Gas Mortar, able to disable multiple enemies in a suffocating cloud.

The Mercantile Guild put their graceful sails to the sky with the Magnate and harness the sun’s wrath with the Aten Lens Array.

The Anglean Republic offers a beast of a ship – the Corsair – and the Februus Weaponized Coil that turns multiple ships’ components to slag.

You’re Special and Now You Have the Abilities To Prove It!

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Like specials, especially super violent ones?

In the heat of combat and in the most dire of situations, every player, every crew member, would have the chance to be the hero and save the day.  In Guns of Icarus Alliance, you can unlock and equip special abilities as you gain personal progression. Once you earn them, you can unleash them in any mission.  To name of few of the awesome powers you get to unlock use via player progression:

Oversurge Ram Ability
Speed forward with a massive surge and demolish enemy ships with a powerful ram. Take reduced damage as you shred your foes!

Air Horn
Draw attention from all the enemies around, saving vital objectives and valued allies. Extremely valuable for clutch situations to change the enemy forces’ plan.

Cataclysm Rounds
Double your damage and blow apart your enemies in a concentrated
volley. Now’s your chance to focus fire and cause extreme damage.

Static Turret
Deploy a weapons turret that demands enemy attentions and puts out damage. Nows your chance to even the odds with your own deployable weapons platform.

The Factions Fight!

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Choose your side

The battle is being waged right now! As soon as you turn on Guns of Icarus Alliance, you are taking your first step into a war that spans a million players. Take your time to choose your side from the scheming Merchants to the scientific Angleans, honorable Baronies, or ecological Chaladons.

Each side has different objectives and provides a different challenge on the map. You’ll need to get your resources, take control of the map, and conquer the world!

Complete Contents List:  

Ships:

Unlockable through faction progression/reputation.

  • Baronite Crusader: It supports 2 heavy and 4 light weapons onboard and great for broadsides.

  • Chaladonian Shrike: If features a streamlined layout capable of carrying 2 heavy and 2 light weapons. It is also maneuverable and versatile.

  • Mercantile Magnate: It supports 2 heavy and 4 light weapons and can charge or broadside.

  • Anglean Corsair:  It is a hulking beast of a ship carrying 3 heavy and 3 light weapons. It is highly durable and powerful but with a more complex layout.

Weapons:

Unlockable through faction progression/reputation.

  • Seraph Tempest Missile Launcher (Baronite):  Capable of firing off a devastating swarm of missiles. Once you fire the missiles, you can move your mouse to guide them.

  • Kalakuta Gas Mortar (Chaladonian):  Capable to disable multiple enemies in a suffocating cloud.  Mouse to fire, then right mouse to detonate the cloud at anytime.

  • Aten Lens Array (Mercantile):  Hold down mouse to fire it.  The longer you can train and sustain fire on a target, the more damage it does. Once you start firing though, the gun is locked into place, so you’ll need to communicate with your pilot in order to deal maximum damage.

  • Februus Weaponized Coil (Anglean): It is capable of turning multiple ships’ components to slag.  If there’s a cluster of enemy ships or planes nearby, the lightning from the coil would strike a primary target and then scatter to hit multiple components and targets.

Game Modes:  

  • Infiltration (2-4 ships): In this asymmetric game mode, one ship is designated as the VIP, and it CANNOT die! If the team can escort the VIP ship to infiltrate and destroy all the enemy outposts and then escape at the end, it wins.  If the VIP dies, the match is lost.

  • Defense (1-4 ships): Go out into enemy territory to destroy 3 enemy advance drills while keeping your base alive against enemy assaults. After all 3 enemy drills are destroyed, then survival against the final onslaught for 5 minutes for victory.  If the your base is destroyed at any point?  Defeat.

  • Assault (1-4 ships): Locate and destroy enemy outposts and a final base (3 objectives total) for victory.  The entire team shares a pool of lives, and if that runs out the match is lost.

  • Search & Destroy (1-4 ships): There are 5 waves and an objective to complete for each wave. Complete them all to win.  The entire team shares a pool of lives, and if that runs out the match is lost.  Beware of the boss!

  • Intercept  (2-4 ships): Chase down the enemy convoy ships that are carrying cargos before they destroy all your outposts.  Grab the cargo that you wrestled from them and deposit the cargo back at any of your outpost.  Deposit all the cargos to win. If the enemies destroy all your outposts, the match is lost.

Maps:  

  • Defense: Devil’s Eye, Voyager’s Cove

  • Search & Destroy: Drowning Wastes, Burning Valley

  • Assault: Parous Glen, Seas of Alleron

  • Intercept: Thornholt Crest, Oblivion Approach

  • Infiltration: Blood Narrows

Special Abilities:

These are unlocked through player personal progression:

  • Piloting:

    • Oversurge Ram: Remove engine safety mechanisms for an intense boost in forward speed causing your ship to slice through unarmored enemies like a hot knife through butter while taking less damage yourself.

    • Engine Stabilization: Install temporary stabilizers on engines that repairs them over time for 15s.

  • Tar Bomb: Unleash a plume of highly caustic gases behind you to damage enemies.

  • Air Horn: Draw aggro from enemies, except for highly determined convoys, within 500m radius, for 2 min.

  • Enhanced Envelope: Balloon will heal over time, resist flechette and fire damage, and have reduce vertical drag and increased vertical speed.

  • Rushing Drift: Ship will gain increased movement abilities to help travers great distances and side drift around enemies at the cost of less fine control.

  • Gunning:

    • Concussive Blast: Unleash supercharged balloon gases in the direction you are looking to push enemies that are within 600m back with extreme force.

    • Proximal Detonation: Reload all weapons with specially outfitted rounds that have 3x AoE burst size and will automatically detonate when near an enemy. Shoot into groups for maximal effect.

    • Cataclysm Rounds: Engage auxiliary power to all guns and double their damage output for 18s.

    • Lightning Draw: Activate rigged ship mechanics to quickly reload all guns with 75% increased clip size.

    • Mine Ejection: Hoarded mines are hurled out from the ship in the direction you look at, 400m away. Mines will automatically detonate after 2m.

    • Gigaton Blast: Deploy devastating fiery burst that will melt the armor of enemies that are in your line of sight and within 500m of your ship.

Engineering:

  • Component Disruption: Unleash a massive energy burst in the direction you’re looking that will disable the components of enemies within 600m.

  • Salvo Neutralizer: Generate a field in the direction that you are looking that will neutralize all incoming fire and prevent harm to the ship for 60s.

  • Static Turret: Deploy an unmoving weapons platform in the direction you’re looking that will target enemies. Drone will last for 90s.

  • Combustion Dampener: Release fire dousing chemicals from rigged valves to extinguish all fires, and apply fire immunity and 15% damage reduction to all components for 30s.

  • Mechanized Rebuild: Engage special machinery to instantaneously rebuild all components and repair them for 375 health over 30s.

  • Advanced Dynabuff: Special machinery automatically applies standard, but 15% more powerful, Dynabuff enhancement to all components for 2m.

Player Progression:

Players will be able to unlock all new powerful Special Abilities to use in Alliance via the Old Dog achievement tracks.  We know that dealing with hordes of enemies is a new and exhilarating experience that will put you on the edge of your seat, so we created ways for you to deal with the increase in enemy targets.

By playing winning matches as each class, you will begin to unlock the abilities for each class.  You will be able to activate a powerful ram with your ship, increase the power of your guns, and even create protective barriers around your ship.

Play.  Experiment.  Find what works best for you and your crew!

Faction Progression:

Joining a faction means you will be fighting for what your faction believes in, whether it be scouring the lands for ancient technologies or reclaiming promised lands.  Your chosen faction will reward you with elaborate costumes, hats, weapons, and airships themselves for your undying loyalty.

You can switch between factions whenever you choose, at the cost of losing 20% of your current reputation, in order to unlock each faction’s unique items.  Or, if you absolutely cannot betray your chosen faction then there are ways to unlock these items and still stay with your original choice.

Prestige System:

Our player level cap is 45, but that doesn’t mean it stops there any longer.  After surpassing level 45, you will be automatically entered into the Prestige system where you will be rolled back to level 1.  You will gain additional signifiers to let others know that you completed player progression once, twice, or even three times over so that your time spent in the game is not forgotten.

Newly Added Steam Workshop Items:

  • Raider Mask, Goggles M/F

  • Whisker’s Beard, Goggles M

  • Masque Mortuaire, Goggles M/F

  • Boiler Hat for the Industrious Chap, Hat M

  • Compass Rose, Decal   free to all players

  • Stray Dagz, Decal

  • Passionate Cake, Decal   free to all players

  • Dapper Dame’s Top Hat, Hat F

  • Boiler Hat for the Enterprising Lass, Hat F

  • Mantis, Decal

  • Mutton Chops, Goggles M

  • Frostflake, Decal  free to all players

  • Golden Earings, Goggles M/F

  • Posh Penguin, Decal   free to all players

  • Mark of the Reaper, Decal

  • Gear Logo, Decal   free to all players

  • Spiderpunk, Decal

  • Crowned Tyrant, Decal   free to all players

  • Skull and Crossbones, Decal   free to all players

  • Top n’ Skull, Decal

  • Internal Clockwork, Decal   free to all players

  • Satanic Gears , Decal

  • Steampunk Clock, Decal   free to all players

  • Steampunk Pirate, Decal   free to all players

  • Icarus Ex Machina, Decal   free to all players

  • The Gentlemen, Decal   free to all players

  • Steampunk Squirrel, Decal   free to all players

  • Lily of the Valley, Decal   free to all players

  • Sky Queen, Hat F   free to all players

Soundtrack:

The Guns of Icarus Alliance soundtrack is now available here:  

http://store.steampowered.com/app/616130/

And you can also access it through the Guns of Icarus Alliance store page.

There are 24 new tracks and 1hr 40min of new music, including the Guns of Icarus Alliance main theme, all the faction themes, and all in-game battle tracks.  All the Guns of Icarus Online tracks are also included in the package.   Enjoy!

Changes:

Skirmish Balance

  • Heavy Clip: -90% jitter (from -70%), -20% Rate of Fire (from -25% Clip Size)

  • Heavy Carronade: Upward arc 30 degrees (from 20), yaw arcs 35 degrees (from 25)

  • Light Harpoon: 250m/s muzzle speed (from 120), projectile drop 12m/s2 (from 6), vertical arcs 40 to -20 (from 25 to -45), reload speed 10s (from 16), range 600m (from 800), 135 flechette (from 70) and 80 piercing (from 60), 6s attachment time (from 8s)

Post February Guns of Icarus Alliance Test Session:

  • Rename/finalize Alliance mode names from prototype names.

    • Retrieve is now Intercept

    • Survival is now Search & Destroy

  • Lowered smoke stacks on mobile drill

  • Objective icon consistency across loading, lobby, and in-match displays

  • Particles repositioned on base weak points

  • Faction Leader Buff Display on World Map

  • Tweaked boss smoke from having sharp edges in particles

  • Alliance menu music updated

  • Added missing 4-ship map configurations to Search & Destroy

  • Ashen Scuffle added to practice maps

Fixes:

General

  • Loading Screen fixes and adjustments

  • MK 2 Flak particles

  • Fixed Artemis reload animation when clip gets empty

  • Heavy flak’s barrel lids pop up without animation

  • Fixed other characters not being animated while on helm

  • Main screen logo and alliance prompt fixes

  • Fixed repeating sound at helm when descending

  • Spire: fixed rubberbanding in ladder well

  • Junker: fixed rubberbanding between helm platform and engine catwalks

  • Connection screen style fixed to be more consistent

  • Fixed some memory leaks that could cause crashes on 32-bit systems or after long sessions

  • Linux: Fixed several errors that would sometimes cause crashes

  • Linux: Fixed draw order of practice arc indicator (no longer renders behind clouds)

  • Linux: fixed browser links not working

  • Linux: mouse cursor is no longer locked to the center of the screen when switching to other windows

  • Fixed missing screen raindrops on some platforms (DX11 and some OpenGL)

  • Fixed pipe wrench twitches after swing

  • Fixed an issue that could cause two copies of a ship to appear at match end screen

Fixes Post February Guns of Icarus Alliance Test Session:

  • Assault: Fixed the base you just killed sometimes remaining marked on the map, while the next active base did not show up on map or HUD

  • Fixed Aten Lens Array “impact” sound ignoring SFX setting

  • Fixed rebuilding with the Fail-safe Kit starting a repair cooldown

  • Fixed match end not transitioning to “team” panel

  • Fixed lights and halo misplacements on master bases

  • Boss lightning gun muzzle flash sound fixed

  • Fixed reflections not actually disabling on some maps

  • Textures for the ooze cloud particles on the Shrike smoothed out

  • Fixed weird collision FX occurring on the ground after boss dies

  • Fixed generic particles that were rotated the wrong way the on Mobile Drill

  • Fixed special ability projectiles remaining visible for too long

  • Fixed bug in Alliance Training where restarting the barge carrier state would spawn another carrier

  • Fixed Faction Leaders being mispositioned in the rankings

  • Thornholt Crest: fixed flying through the train tracks on Intercept (formerly Retrieve)

  • Tutorial fixes and adjustments

  • Fixed missing spawn animation on Mobile Drills

  • Fixed Infiltration end-match timer freeze

  • Fixed rare case of AI crew not spawning

  • Fixed victory banner incorrectly showing on match end in personal tab

  • Fixed particles glitch with boss missile launcher

  • Parous Glen – Fixed outposts showing transparent in some areas when viewed from beneath on low settings

  • Defense – Fixed AI ships and planes not making lane progress under some circumstances

  • Fixed dying after killing the boss in Search & Destroy (formerly Survival) counting as a loss

  • A player’s war chest does not have a deduction from the cost of using ‘Marching Band’ on the World map interface

  • Fixed offset Baronite Carrier missile trails

  • Fixed balloon paints not working on Crusader

  • Match list shows correct match difficulty

  • Fix Baronite Carrier main gun animations

  • Attached equipment cleanup sound is cut off too early

  • Fixed inconsistent numbering of gun slots’ in ship customizer/preview

  • Fixed a bug that caused out-of-sight AI ships to not be recycled properly

PvP:

  • Fixed a random-seeming crash in Skyball maps

  • Fixed a social tab malfunction

  • Fixed class ‘covers’ on the search for lobby menu opening and closing very briefly when moving the cursor over them

Alliance Releases this Week!

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March 31st marks the release of Guns of Icarus Alliance! Expect a complete and staggering amount of content, explosive AI, and tactical choices. The battle starts day one so be prepared this Friday for the biggest thing to happen in Icarus.

What to expect:

At 12 pm Pacific the build goes live and if you pre-ordered, which you can do at a 25% loyalty discount here, you’ll see the Guns of Icarus Alliance app in your steam library. Act quick though, the loyalty and pre-order discount is a limited time offer!

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Brand New Release

Guns of Icarus Alliance will be a completely new release, with a new store page!  We were working within Steam’s constraints earlier and had to go the DLC route, and we worked Steam to find a way to make this a brand new release. If you wish-listed the old DLC page, it’s been removed in place of the new Guns of Icarus Alliance page, so remember to wish-list the new page!

 

In Guns of Icarus Alliance, you can play both PvE and PvP games, so do not worry about being split up from your friends. Simply turn on the game and enjoy all the steampunk airship combat!

Note to Guns of Icarus Online Owners

If you did not pre-purchase it, you’ll still use the Guns of Icarus Online app to play the game. You’ll be able to gain coins and faction progression from skirmish battles, and you are able to spend them and unlock faction rewards once you purchase Guns of Icarus Alliance.

All Guns of Icarus Alliance costumes and cosmetics can be used in both PvE and PvP, so enjoy any rewards you get and flaunt them against your opponents!

Learn more about what you’ll see in-game after the jump. (more…)

3/31 Alliance Release & Charity War!

Hello everyone,
We’re happy to announce the release of Guns of Icarus Alliance is happening this month! After years of waiting, it’s ready and you can go to the store page now! We just released the final trailer above so check it out for everything including a sneak peak of the FINAL faction player ship!

 

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Our release marks our first Alliance event with a real prize pool. Streamers will become champions of their faction and charity fighting for $10,000 to a noble cause.

For two days, a private server will house a battle between streamers.

Their battles will affect the map and the real world! Viewer donations will turn into in-game resources to give their faction the edge.

So tune in for 48 hours of airship explosions, strategy, and good causes, cause we’re causing a bit of commotion in the skies!

The cutthroat Mercantile, facing a plague in their own lands, lend their support to the Doctors without Borders, the ecological Chaladon, always looking to the world of medicine, with the Game-Changer, the Noble Baronies, with their knights fighting for honor, put their swords to Stack-Up to help soldiers, and last the resilient Anglean Republic, wanting to save the world with technology, join forces with Save the Children.