Game version 3825 (15th of August 2025)

Another three months have passed which means it is time for another game patch.

With gratitude to all those who contributed to this patch and/or took the time to report issues,

BlackYps

Balance

  • (#6435) Add ability for Soul Ripper weapons to fire at gunships. Gunships can fire at other gunships, so the Soul Ripper should be able to do this too.

  • (#6705) Adjust cost of Aeon ACU’s first range upgrade so that first range + speed matches the cost of other factions’ gun upgrades. Equalize the individual costs of speed and range to make it so one upgrade isn’t easier to rush than the other on small maps.

    Aeon ACU (UAL0001):

    • First range upgrade:
      • Mass cost: 300 -> 400
      • Energy cost: 6000 -> 12000 (20 -> 30 energy per mass)
      • Buildtime: 350 -> 400
    • Fire rate upgrade:
      • Mass cost: 500 -> 400
      • Energy cost: 15000 -> 12000
      • Buildtime: 500 -> 400

  • (#6843) Reduce the damage of the Cybran T1 mobile anti-air since its projectiles can now retarget, as it no longer needs so much damage to match the AA of other factions.

    Sky Slammer: T1 Mobile Anti-Air Gun (URL0104):

    • Nanodart Launcher (Anti Air)
      • Damage: 16 -> 14 (DPS 32 -> 28)

  • (#6870) FAF significantly increased the uniform scales of both the Bulwark and the Mermaid. Overall, these changes were a bit excessive, with both (relatively cheap) units reaching approximately 2/3 to 3/4 the size of their faction’s destroyer. Furthermore, FAF reworked the Bulwark to be cheaper but less effective, so from a gameplay perspective, there is no reason for it to be this large anymore. To prevent the already powerful Mermaid from becoming too strong, and to encourage more counterplay, its high HP/mass ratio has been reduced.

    Bulwark: T2 Shield Boat (XES0205):

    • Display
      • UniformScale: 0.135 –> 0.11
    • SizeX: 1.575 –> 1.4
    • SizeY: 1.35 –> 1.3
    • SizeZ: 4.125 –> 3.5

    CI:18 Mermaid: T2 Counter-Intelligence Boat (XRS0205):

    • Defense
      • Health: 1500 –> 1000
    • Display
      • UniformScale: 0.12 –> 0.10
    • SizeX: 1.25 –> 1.1
    • SizeY: 1.5 –> 1.3
    • SizeZ: 3.6 –> 3.2

  • (#6877) The Aeon T2 shield can now be upgraded to T3. It has the same 20 buildpower as UEF and Seraphim T2 shields.

  • (#6880) Increase the reload time of the Seraphim T1 submarine’s anti-torpedo defense so that it is less dominant against other T1 subs. This slows down their snowballing and allows for a transition into T2 counters (T2 subs, Coopers, Seraphim and Aeon destroyers).

    Sou-istle: Seraphim T1 Submarine (XSS0203):

    • Anti-Torpedo Defense reload time: 5 sec -> 13 sec

  • (#6894) Nerf the Cybran ACU’s Nano-Repair System, as it has proven to be an oppressive tool that causes Cybran ACUs to overperform during the Tech 2 stage.

    Cybran ACU (URL0001):

    • Nano-Repair System
      • Additional Regen Rate: 60 HP/s –> 50 HP/s

  • (#6895) Further increase the MuzzleSalvoSize of the Cybran ACU’s Nanite Torpedo upgrade to 4, as it still had difficulties penetrating torpedo defenses after (#6476) increased it to 3. Its DPS remains unchanged.

    Cybran ACU (URL0001):

    • Nanite Torpedo Launcher
      • Damage (DPS): 60 (225) –> 45 (225)
      • MuzzleSalvoSize: 3 –> 4

  • (#6887) Blocking the ACU with quickly started but unfinished 1x1 structures which decay only very slowly such as T1 point defense, is often considered unfair as the ACU’s pathfinding can get ruined to a point where the ACU is completely stuck and effectively unable to move, because of the unbuilt structures. While the mechanic of blocking an opponents movement by quickly starting a building in front of them is a valid strategy, most buildings in the game such as factories or other structures larger than 1x1 leave gaps inbetween them even if built right next to each other, allowing some way to escape while still slowing down movement as the ACU walked around them. As 1x1 structures can completely block movement when built next to each other, their very slow decay makes them far more oppressive when used for such a strategy. To allow some more counterplay, these structures will now decay more quickly when below 10% completion. This means that quickly spamming many barely started T1 PD’s for example will now also have them disappear more quickly, making it more difficult to fully trap the enemy, giving them a better chance to escape while still retaining the advantage of slowing the enemy down.

    • When below 10% completion structures with a 1x1 footprint now have the decay rate of walls
    • Structures affected are:
      • T1 point defense
      • T1 static anti air
      • T1 torpedo launchers

Bug fixes

  • (#6796) Fix error when lobby rejects a data message with no sender name.

  • (#6824) Fix factory upgrades disappearing upon completion.

  • (#6830) Fix unit/projectile/weapon debug component logging and drawing causing desyncs.

  • (#6835) Revert the change that made factories immediately start building after an upgrade or after cancelling a unit, since it seems to be causing occassional desyncs.

  • (#6844) Fix error when eye of rhianne finishes building during an energy stall.

  • (#6845) Fix various issues with the new setup for announcements.

    In campaign-like scenario’s the interactions with the objectives should now be good again.

  • (#6868) Correct ACU threat values after they were accidentally miscalcuated in a previous PR. SurfaceThreatLevel from an average of 765 to 45.

  • (#6871) Increase the StrategicIconSize of the Seraphim ACU’s OC projectile to match that of the other ACUs.

  • (#6879) Fix Cybran engis not turning wheels back to land mode after exiting water.

  • (#6884) Fix being unable to build adjacent to the north or south side of an air factory that is building a continental.

  • (#6885) Check whether LazyVar.OnDirty exists in case it was destroyed earlier.

  • (#6891) Remove a redundant category from the unupgraded Cybran T2 Engineering Station (XRB0104).

  • (#6898) Fix a desync-causing error when a player is defeated the same tick a recall vote is started.

Graphics

  • (#6763) Introduce a new slider to adjust the rendering distance of shadows

    Strogo made the observation that the extensive (default) rendering distance of shadows can have a significant impact on the framerate. We increased the default rendering distance of shadows in FAForever two years ago. At the time we did not notice this impact. With these changes we turn it into a slider in the graphics options. The default value (260) matches the value used by Steam version of the game.

  • (#6851) Push the rendering distance of tree (groups) to better match the values in Steam

    After thorough testing we think it is safe to increase the rendering distance without running the risk to destroying the framerate of the average user.

  • (#6858) The water now changes less when tilting the camera on maps using advanced water absorption. The effect was too big before, now it looks more reasonable.

    This change also makes the water appear slightly brighter when viewed from the top. Only the handful of maps using advanced water absorption are affected, and their authors can compensate this by increasing the abyss height. The vast majority of maps are unaffected.

  • (#6877) With its new upgrade ability, the Aeon T2 shield has an adjusted model and a new upgrade animation.

AI

  • (#6877) Add the now upgradeable Aeon T2 shield to the existing T2 shield upgrade AI behaviors (upgrade templates, platoon templates, builder group).

Performance

  • (#6826) Reuse unit categorization table instead of allocating a new one when issuing uncached formation orders.

  • (#6853) Reduce conditional table accesses of projectiles when colliding or losing targets

  • (#6854) Upvalue and localize frequently used functions and tables in formations

  • (#6860) Reduce weapon damage table computations when applying buffs by storing constant data.

  • (#6862) Reduce table accesses of projectiles especially on impact.

  • (#6864) Remove unused lastAccel field from default projectile weapon salvo data.

  • (#6866) Reuse tables when creating beam weapons instead of allocating new ones.

Other changes

  • (#6797) Remove the teleport reticle object from the command mode data.

  • (#6798) Annotate WorldView control and ping sync data.

  • (#6799) Annotate exit callbacks.

  • (#6823) Proper type annotation for GetCommandMode.

  • (#6828) Update the description of the Aeon ACU’s vision upgrade.

  • (#6832) Fix most annotation warnings in the new profiler code.

  • (#6837) Improve annotations related to Buffs.

  • (#6873) Improve singleplayer command line launch by adding a /noAi command line option and adding neutral/enemy civilian armies when launching from the command line.

Contributors

With thanks to the following people who contributed through coding:

  • 4z0t
  • Basilisk
  • BlackYps
  • Jip
  • Nomander
  • Ostrovaya
  • RabidPope
  • Relent0r

With thanks to the following individuals who contributed through model, texture, and effect changes:

  • Saver
  • Sting

And, last but certainly not least - with thanks to those that took part in constructive discussions:

  • Archsimkat
  • JaggedAppliance
  • Nomander
  • Rhaelya
  • Sainse
  • Strydxr
  • Tagada