Grey Goo Game Patch for February 23rd, 2016 - Shroud Balance!

By Rebecca Smith,

Hi all! Today's patch focuses on faction balance, specifically the Shroud. We've resolved several pesky new bugs you've submitted to us since the launch of the Shroud (thank you!!).

Once your game's installation is updated, please be aware that it may take a few minutes for in-game features to show the correct status, including leaderboards, replays, etc.

FEB 23, 2016 PATCH NOTES:

FACTIONS

SHROUD

The community has sown that the Shroud suffer from early game rushes while being dominant economically outside of the early game. For the past few weeks we've been discussing various changes to address these issues without making the opposite side worse.

The key changes we've made is that the Shroud Entity (HQ) is significantly weaker with both armor reduction (and eventually health in a future patch). This makes the HQ vulnerable when a player is aggressively taking over the map. Before a Shroud player might welcome an attack on the HQ as it buys more time to build or rebuild other areas of the map. We are hoping that now players can go after the Shroud HQ aggressively and early eliminating the Shrouds capacity to build more buildings.

We do not express that this will have a large negative impact on the Shroud early game because there isn't a lot of armor penetration early and by the time a rusher can target the HQ from a strategic sense, the game is likely already over.

In terms of improving the Shroud in the early game, we've gone back to their Plasma Spike. We've made it easier to get earlier, and slightly more effective once it is created. This puts the risk of a rush back on the rusher. While the rusher can just back off leaving the Shroud player with a sunk investment, the Shroud player still has options that can be explored, including new ones such as quick tech behind the Spike.

We are excited to see what you think! Specific changes can be seen below:

• Entity Armor reduced to 6 (was 10)
• Plasma Spike per tick damage increased to 4 (was 3); overall +2 DPS
• Conversion time for Plasma and Tether spikes reduced to 18 seconds (was 24)
• Conversion time for Perception Spike reduced to 18 seconds (was 32)
• Dirge no longer goes through level up animation after seeking in a replay

HUMAN

The big issue is we lowered the cost of teleporting turrets to allow human players more defensive flexibility early to align with their play style and racial identity. Here are some others resolved:

• Teleport cost for all turrets reduced to 10 (was 30)
• Valiant shields are no longer left behind when a Valiant is pushed by a placed structure
• Valiant no longer pushes Extractors when its Shield is Projected
• Units are now able to be killed with Ctrl+K when under a Valiant shield

GOO

We improved the Goo siphon to help improve Goo versatility in the mid and late game. Here is the specific change:

• Siphon damage and healing increased to 7 (was 6); overall +2 DPS/HPS
• Alt+Q will now select the first Mother Goo if another Mother is already selected

OBSERVER / REPLAYS

• Tech Upgrades now have researched tooltips in Observer mode
• Player view of a defeated player in Observer/Replay mode is now completely visible
• Replays can now be filtered by player name in the multiplayer replay menu

CAMPAIGN

• Enemy bases (AI) now contain refineries on Campaign Mission 14 and 15
• Difficulty now remains on the same setting after Surrendering

UI / MECHANICS

• Encyclopedia scroll bar no longer extends past the boundaries when reaching the top or bottom
• When a Player overrides an unusable save file, the old one is now overwritten
• Completing a loaded skirmish no longer results in Connection Lost on the debrief screen
• Player's ranking now appears accurately in the Recent Matches display
• Player can now see through Fog of War central spigot on Ziggurat when in plain sight

AUDIO

• Added additional German localization audio to the campaign

More Grey Goo stories:

Windows Game Patch

Written by Rebecca Smith

Rebecca is the Newshound Manager at TrueSteamAchievements, TrueAchievements and TrueTrophies. She has been contributing articles since 2010, especially those that involve intimidatingly long lists. When not writing news, she can usually be found sharpening her very, VERY, pointy grammar stick in anticipation of its imminent use. Outside of TSA, TA and TT, she works in an independent game shop so that she can spend all day talking about games too. At home, with a variety of PCs and consoles on hand from which to choose, starting with a ZX Spectrum, games are never far away there either. However, as you're not supposed to have an unhealthy obsession with just a single subject, she also likes to read and dream about owning her own tribe of minions. She'll occasionally go outside.