After more than a decade in development we have finally decided to drop the "Beta" label from major releases. Today's "full" version is the first major release out of beta. This full version features a new scout class, scouting mechanic, faster boltguns, balance improvements and bug fixes.
The ScoutThe major feature of Beta 9 is the Spacemarine Scout whose player model was contributed by Wikkyd and textured by ChromeAngel. The scout is a first tier class, available form the start of each round and has only 90 health, in comparison to most marines 110. The scout makes up for it's low health by having higher speed than the tactical marine, being as fast as a veteran or assult marine.
The Scout has 3 wargear sets:
The Scout's Shotgun set is available for free. The shotgun model was contributed by Clay_more and textured by ChromeAngel, it's sound effects were contributed by DontAsk4470. The Shotgun holds 8 shells, which need to be individually loaded. Each shot fires 10 pellets, which will do 46 damage if they all hit. Secondary attack of the shotgun can be used to tag enemies for targeting by team mates at ranges up to 3012 units to earn more points. The scout will announce the type of target, thanks to Bulkwark for voicing this addiontal scout dialogue and Dontask4470 for editing it. The shotgun wargear set also includes a knife, frag grenades and a bolt pistol that work like their space marine counterparts.
The second scout wargear set is the boltgun set, which swaps out the shotgun for standard space marine boltgun for an extra 5 points.
The third set if scout wargeat is the Sniper Rifle set. The Sniper Rifle model was also contributed by Clay_more and textured by ChromeAngel with sound effects by DontAsk4470. Secondary fire toggles the scope and slows the scout's movement. Sniper rifle cost 25 points and do 50 points of damage per shot (as much as the far more expensive heavy bolter), however the sniper only gets 4 shots per magazine, so he has to choose his targets with more care. Sniper rifles are slow to cycle taking 1.5 seconds per shot and 3 seconds to reload that magazine. Stance greatly effects the accuracy of the sniper rifle, however it can be dead accurate by firing from a static crouched position.
The scouting system has been retrofitted to the secondary attack of the Genestealer's claws, so they can scout for the hive-mind, adding more depth and a use for the genestealer at range.
More FeaturesNew prop models for live and fired Earthshaker shells.
New HUD icons for map votes and objective captures.
The following console variables were added for balance tuning the server: ex_csword_rof,
ex_caxe_rof, ex_caxe_dmg, ex_bolter_range, ex_bolter_actual_rof, ex_bolter_kick1,
ex_bolter_kick, ex_shotgun_dmg, ex_shotgun_pellets
MappingA new map entity
ex_shell_spot (as used on csm_trench) which detect nearby players then
call in a artillery fire on their position (with sound effects, vibration and particles of
fire, dirt and smoke). Shell spots wander around a bit between shots, while saying near
their authored location.
Outputs have been added to the ex_gameplay entity to register kills made by players on each of the teams.
This should allow development of more Team Dealthmatch style maps.
We have also added to the ex_gameplay entity options for mappers to freeze the spawn locations used by teams.
Ammo shrines can now be configured to dispense ammo for free (for use in the lab maps).
csm_trench has been updated to use shell spots and new shell props, added more sound effects,
lights and fixed some player clipping issues in csm_trench.
Moved the garage objective in
ex_bunker to a position where I hope it will be easier to
capture (but not too easy) to prevent further 1st objective stalemates. Turned all
ex_bunker dropzones to face the entrance to their spawn room.
BalanceBoltguns are faster with less recoil and more magazine but weaker to balance them out.
Reduced bolter kick from 0.8 to 0.63.
Player stance now effects spread and weapon kick. Running and jumping increase the spread
of shots, while standing still and crouching decrease the spread. If you want to be accurate with the new bolter it is important that yout not be charging about and pogoing while firing.
Imperial Balance ChangesBolt Pistol combos either shoot or melee attack, you can no-longer do both at once.
Reduced the cost of flamer specialists to 50 points.
Granted the Meltagun back to the Specialist classes at a cost of 75 points.
Buffed Meltagun range from 700 to 900.
Nerfed Meltagun "clip" size from 30 to 20
Buffed Meltagun rate of fire from 0.2s to 0.1s per shot.
Nerfed Meltagun damage per shot from 12 to 8 per hit. Which should kill a terminator at
arms reach with one full tank.
Nerfed Dreadnaught armour resistance to Melta attacks.
Reduced the cost of plasma specialists to 105 points.
Nerfed Plasma bolt size from 8x8 to 6x6 (4x4 for pistols)
Nerfed plasma bolt speed from 4000 to 3500 (fixes a plasmagun accuracy bug).
Chaos Balance ChangesChain axes are now slower, but more damaging than Chainswords.
Nerfed Dreadnaught armour resistance to Melta attacks.
Tyranid Balance ChangesNerfed tyranid weapon combos so they cannot use both attacks at the same time.
Nerfed the tyranid warriors ability to absorb weapon recoil, so stance will have a greater effect on their accuracy.
Buffed Devourer ammo regeneration rate from 0.75 to 0.5 seconds per shot (both warrior and fex versions).
Nerfed Warrior Devourer damage from 26 per shot to 23 per shot. to give the same DPS as the shotgun.
Nerfed Warrior Devourer range from 3000 to 1000 units to match the shotgun.
Tweaked the Warrior Devourer to fire 5 pellets per shot (4 damage per pellet). Making it easier to hit, but less effective against armour.
Buffed Warrior Venom Cannon range and damage by 40%.
Nerfed the Barbed Stangler's accuracy from 4 degrees spread to 40 degrees.
Reduced Carnifex class cost from 250 to 175 points.
Nerfed Carnifex armour so that boltguns can hurt it again.
Decreased Carnifex Screamer Killer wargear cost to 0 points.
Increased Carnifex Devouer wargear cost from 50 to 100 points.
Increased Carnifex Venomcannon wargear cost from 175 to 250 points.
Buffed Biovore spore mine launcher by reducing the spread from 15 degrees to 5 degrees.
Deployed sporemines now home in on players that have been scouted by Genestealers.
TweaksMap vote menu shows how many votes each map has received.
Reduced the subset of options in the map vote menu to a more manageable number.
Map vote notifications show how many votes the map has.
Tweaked imperial space marine, Terminator, Specialist and Assault marine hit boxes to bring them in-line with the CSM hitboxes.
New helmet style for the veteran class (related to IMP texture pack work).
Primary/default weapons are now in slot 1, except for the Narcathium.
Frag Grenades are now in slot 2.
Knives and Narcathium are now in slot 3.
The solo bolt pistol is now in slot 4.
Remove the powerfield effect from the spacemarine powerfist to try and avoid a crash.
Bug FixesCancelling the wargear menu returns you to the class selection menu.
Selecting the team you're on from the Team menu shows the Class menu, but only if you're already dead.
Fixed a crash bug with the Chaos Dreadnaught (actually related to hints for new classes)
Fixed a crash bug relating to notices about objective captures and map votes.
Fixed the chaos havoc crouching with a heavy bolter animation, so he does not appear to levitate.
Future PlansOut of beta. So, is this it? Is its done? Is this the final version of EX?
Nope.
Since we started work on this release the excellent modeller and texture artist Joazzz has joined the EX community and pledged to make
all new spacemarine models from scratch. A monster undertaking. Here are just a few of things he's been working on:
Joazzz did not come alone either, he brought two of his mates with him. Kharos and Warekit are both Source Film Maker animators and have offered to animate all the new models that are being added. This is the first time in the long history of the mod that we have dedicated animators working on EX (you can tell, I know).
Minor versions of EX will continue to be referred to as "Alphas". With all these contributors and more there will be plenty of Alphas to come.
