OUTBREAK Update: A New Co-Op Roguelike RTS Campaign Mode
Author: indiefoldcreator
Date:
Fri, 08 Nov 2024
Genre:
Strategy
Developer: Grab Games
Release Date: Tue, 03 Mar 2020
Developer: Grab Games
Release Date: Tue, 03 Mar 2020
Introducing Outbreak mode, a roguelike RTS campaign mode that can be played solo or co-op with up to two friends!
In an Outbreak campaign, you will traverse a randomized microscopic world with dynamically generated missions. These missions award resources that are used to unlock persistent upgrades that carry over from mission to mission. Outbreak is designed to have endless replayability, and no two campaigns will ever play out the same!
This patch is just the beginning though - we hope to update Outbreak continuously with more content for the foreseeable future to keep it fresh and interesting!
Please note: Outbreak mode is currently only available in English and has limited controller support at this time. We are sorry for the inconvenience and will remedy this as soon as possible.
Outbreak can be played solo or co-op with up to two friends. Each party for Outbreak has their own save file so you can play solo, then save and exit to play with a friend in a different campaign! Outbreak also features the usual four difficulties so you can play a Veteran solo campaign and then switch to a Casual Outbreak campaign with your friends.
Outbreak is a non-linear, roguelike style campaign mode where you can choose what missions to undertake and what locations to visit. Each location has a mission that gives rewards on completion. Explore locations as you wish, but be careful! The outbreak will be following close behind and if you are caught at an infected location and lose, the entire campaign is lost and you will have to start over!
Amoeba Battle's unique gameplay allows us to do what few RTSes can - roguelike campaign missions. Each location on the map has a mission you can attempt with a randomly chosen objective that gives randomly generated rewards. The mission takes place on a randomly selected map with a randomized start point and randomized resources with randomized hazards... you get the idea! The combination of random variables yields thousands of possible mission combinations - and we plan to add even more!
Unlike the story campaign, Outbreak allows you to collect resources and use them to improve your amoebas from mission to mission. You spend DNA resources to unlock traits on the trait board - the trait locations are randomized for every playthrough so like any roguelike, you'll have to adapt. Additionally, some traits are special traits that give your amoeba a powerful ability!
Your AI assistant AMI is a big part of Outbreak mode - you can acquire a variety of AMI modules that give you unique benefits like starting with more amoebas, giving an advantage in a particular environment, or even modifying your probes! AMI has specific systems and each system has a limited number of slots so you will have to choose wisely. But don't worry - AMI's systems can be upgraded with more slots using the Tech resources you acquire!
To acquire the more powerful traits and modules, you can spend Data resources to unlock a discovery. A discovery gives you a choice of three powerful options that are randomly chosen from the pool of discoveries. Make your choices wisely and build around your discoveries to maximize your effectiveness!
Since Amoeba Battle launched, we've heard a ton of feedback from our players, but the requests we heard most often were more campaign content and PvE co-op missions. We made Outbreak mode to fulfill these wishes and plan to keep building on it to make it even better! As always, thank you for playing Amoeba Battle, and stay safe in the microscopic world!
One more thing! Along with Outbreak mode, we've also updated the balance of our Battle Royale skirmish and multiplayer. While most of the update is dedicated to the PvE Outbreak mode, we didn't want to forget our PvP amoeba battlers!
Balance Patch Notes 1.04.7
Locust:
- Replicate cost increased to 3 from 2.
-- Developers' Note: Mass Locusts tended to smother most amoebas other than Alphas. This change will make it much harder for a Locust player to lock down the enemy by simpling surrounding and replicating.
Shark:
- Pack Tactics upgrade: Increased bonus damage to +3 from +2. Duration decreased to 2 seconds from 4 seconds.
-- Developers' Note: Pack Tactics was good, but Sharks could never stand up to higher tier units so hopefully this gives them more of a fighting chance.
- Base line of sight range increased to 8 from 4.
- Blood in the Water upgrade: Sight range bonus reduced to +4 from +8.
-- Developers' Note: We wanted to give the default Shark more utility so we took some of the increased sight range from its upgrade and built it right in, so it can act as a scout.
- Blood in the Water upgrade: Enemy vision time reduced to 10 seconds from 20 seconds.
-- Developers' Note: While we like that players can do an early Shark strategy to try and devour everyone else before they can get higher tier units, the vision time was so long that enemy players didn't have any options to disengage or hide from the Sharks. This upgrade is intended to make it hard (but not impossible) for enemies to disengage so we're toning it down.
Stingray:
- Base health increased to 120 from 110.
-- Developers' Note: The Stingray needed a little more staying power in prolonged battle so we gave it more health. This change also makes it more resilient against Alphas in particular, usually requiring an extra attack to kill the Stingray.
Rhino:
- Reduced attack to 8 from 10.
- Base health increased to 220 from 180.
-- Developers' Note: The Rhino wasn't as sturdy as we wanted compared to the Viper, and being an omnivore, sturdiness should be built into its DNA. We traded some of its damage for a big boost in health.
- Heavyweight upgrade: This upgrade is being replaced with Stop Poking Me!.
- Stop Poking Me! upgrade: When an enemy amoeba attacks the Rhino in melee range, the attacker takes 3 damage for each enemy amoeba surrounding the Rhino.
-- Developers' Note: The Rhino was a little weak in its intended role which was to get in the thick of the battle and wreak havoc. The Heavyweight upgrade was just too slow at dealing damage and didn't help against their primary target. The new Stop Poking Me! upgrade means the more the enemy surrounds the Rhino, the angrier it will get and the harder it will hit.
Viper:
- Increased attack to 20 from 16.
-- Developers' Note: The Viper needed a small buff, and since carnivores are noted for their ferocity, we decided to give the small bump to their attack.
Alpha:
- Bloodlust upgrade: The Bloodlust buff now only lasts 5 seconds before it disappears.
-- Developers' Note: The Bloodlust upgrade is intended to shine in bigger battles in mid-combat, but the unlimited duration made it easy for players to hunt weaker amoebas in skirmishes to "charge" the ability, then bring that big advantage to the very start of the fight. This change forces Alpha players to work a little for that advantage, rather than having it handed to them.
- Base food cap increased to 700 from 500.
-- Developers' Note: The Alpha is incredibly powerful once well fed, being able to one-shot Locusts and trigger any upgraded abilities. It was a little too easy to feed the Alpha so this change will make well fed Alphas a little harder to come by.
Herbivores:
- Algae Grass damage bonus increased to +100% from +50%.
- Algae Grass healing bonus reduced to +4 from +10.
-- Developers' Note: Herbivores could retreat to grass to heal, but the grass didn't do enough to let the herbivores fight back any invaders. Enemy armies could still surround them and either stalemate or slowly whittle away at the herbivores' health; the extra health regen just made death slower. With this change, our hope is to let herbivores, who already have low attack values, have enough damage to force invaders to disengage or take heavy casualties. To compensate, their health regeneration was lowered, and coupled with the damage change, should make grass battles shorter and more decisive. Note that this change is also an indirect buff to the Go Green herbivore upgrade which we felt was a little underpowered.
- Bug Fix: Go Green should no longer increase well fed damage.
Omnivores:
- Natural Highway upgrade: Movement speed bonus increased to 100% from 50%. Speed buff duration after leaving undergrowth reduced to 2 seconds from 4 seconds.
-- Developers' Note: Natural Highway was an "okay" upgrade but felt a little underpowered compared to others, especially since it was tied to specific areas of the map (and useless otherwise). This should make it feel a lot more impactful and fun to use.
Carnivores:
- Feeding Frenzy upgrade: Whenever you kill an enemy amoeba, adjacent carnivores also gain +10 health.
-- Developers' Note: Feeding Frenzy was a little weak so this buff should make it more desirable and allow Sharks to better handle mass Locust armies (which they sometimes struggled with).
General Upgrades:
- Salvage upgrade: Destroying an enemy Gather Probe now grants +120 Energy. Gather Probe costs are no longer discounted.
-- Developers' Note: This upgrade was intended to focus on hunting down enemy Gather Probes but the passive cost decrease was extremely powerful on its own. These changes should bring the upgrade back into its intended role.
- Amoeba Antibiotics upgrade: Purify Probes now refund 95% of their cost if used on a wild amoeba. Purify Probes are no longer discounted.
-- Developers' Note: Most players were picking this upgrade primarily for the cheap Purify Probes that allowed them to shut down other players' high-tier amoebas very cheaply. These changes should bring the upgrade back into its intended role, as a way to turn the wild to your side.
Extinction Upgrades:
- Developers' Note: Most of the extinction upgrades were too weak to bring a player back into contention aside from the Chaos Amoeba, which many players enjoyed using. We want to bring all the weak extinctions up to the level of the Chaos Amoeba so players can have more variety.
- Probe-lem Solved!: Probe costs now also reduced by 50%.
-- Developers' Note: This extinction upgrade wasn't very useful unless the player had big energy reserves and a player who earned an extinction is already in a tough spot. This change should massively increase the effectiveness of this upgrade, especially since it also affects Gather Probes for even more energy gain.
- Armageddon: Increased number of meteor waves to 5 from 3.
-- Developers' Note: This extinction upgrade was fun but not very effective at hurting higher tier armies because most of them could take a meteor or two. This change should wreak more havoc all around.
- Call of the Wild: The wild amoebas will paradrop in at a much faster speed, paradrop in waves, and paradrop in a more concentrated area. They will also act as a cohesive army, defending each other.
-- Developers' Note: This extinction had minimal impact if you wanted to deal damage to a player and instead became a way to get more amoebas with the Amoeba Antibiotics upgrade. With these changes, you should be able to use this extinction to ruin someone's day (or at least try to).
Other Changes:
- pointsUnitReplicator: Changed to 33 from 50.
-- Developers' Note: Since the Locust is the easiest unit to make, most weak players will probably have it so this change increases their chances of getting an extinction. At the same time, this change reduces the chance an extinction upgrade is given to players with strong armies (because of Locust score inflation).
In an Outbreak campaign, you will traverse a randomized microscopic world with dynamically generated missions. These missions award resources that are used to unlock persistent upgrades that carry over from mission to mission. Outbreak is designed to have endless replayability, and no two campaigns will ever play out the same!
This patch is just the beginning though - we hope to update Outbreak continuously with more content for the foreseeable future to keep it fresh and interesting!
Please note: Outbreak mode is currently only available in English and has limited controller support at this time. We are sorry for the inconvenience and will remedy this as soon as possible.
BATTLE THE INFECTION... WITH FRIENDS
Outbreak can be played solo or co-op with up to two friends. Each party for Outbreak has their own save file so you can play solo, then save and exit to play with a friend in a different campaign! Outbreak also features the usual four difficulties so you can play a Veteran solo campaign and then switch to a Casual Outbreak campaign with your friends.
TRAVERSE THE WORLD.... WITH PERMADEATH
Outbreak is a non-linear, roguelike style campaign mode where you can choose what missions to undertake and what locations to visit. Each location has a mission that gives rewards on completion. Explore locations as you wish, but be careful! The outbreak will be following close behind and if you are caught at an infected location and lose, the entire campaign is lost and you will have to start over!
DYNAMICALLY GENERATED RTS MISSIONS
Amoeba Battle's unique gameplay allows us to do what few RTSes can - roguelike campaign missions. Each location on the map has a mission you can attempt with a randomly chosen objective that gives randomly generated rewards. The mission takes place on a randomly selected map with a randomized start point and randomized resources with randomized hazards... you get the idea! The combination of random variables yields thousands of possible mission combinations - and we plan to add even more!
SPLICE DNA TO IMPROVE AMOEBA TRAITS
Unlike the story campaign, Outbreak allows you to collect resources and use them to improve your amoebas from mission to mission. You spend DNA resources to unlock traits on the trait board - the trait locations are randomized for every playthrough so like any roguelike, you'll have to adapt. Additionally, some traits are special traits that give your amoeba a powerful ability!
AMI JOINS THE BATTLE
Your AI assistant AMI is a big part of Outbreak mode - you can acquire a variety of AMI modules that give you unique benefits like starting with more amoebas, giving an advantage in a particular environment, or even modifying your probes! AMI has specific systems and each system has a limited number of slots so you will have to choose wisely. But don't worry - AMI's systems can be upgraded with more slots using the Tech resources you acquire!
WHAT'S SCIENCE WITHOUT DISCOVERY
To acquire the more powerful traits and modules, you can spend Data resources to unlock a discovery. A discovery gives you a choice of three powerful options that are randomly chosen from the pool of discoveries. Make your choices wisely and build around your discoveries to maximize your effectiveness!
GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT
Since Amoeba Battle launched, we've heard a ton of feedback from our players, but the requests we heard most often were more campaign content and PvE co-op missions. We made Outbreak mode to fulfill these wishes and plan to keep building on it to make it even better! As always, thank you for playing Amoeba Battle, and stay safe in the microscopic world!
BATTLE ROYALE BALANCE UPDATE
One more thing! Along with Outbreak mode, we've also updated the balance of our Battle Royale skirmish and multiplayer. While most of the update is dedicated to the PvE Outbreak mode, we didn't want to forget our PvP amoeba battlers!
BATTLE ROYALE BALANCE PATCH NOTES - PATCH 1.04
Balance Patch Notes 1.04.7
Locust:
- Replicate cost increased to 3 from 2.
-- Developers' Note: Mass Locusts tended to smother most amoebas other than Alphas. This change will make it much harder for a Locust player to lock down the enemy by simpling surrounding and replicating.
Shark:
- Pack Tactics upgrade: Increased bonus damage to +3 from +2. Duration decreased to 2 seconds from 4 seconds.
-- Developers' Note: Pack Tactics was good, but Sharks could never stand up to higher tier units so hopefully this gives them more of a fighting chance.
- Base line of sight range increased to 8 from 4.
- Blood in the Water upgrade: Sight range bonus reduced to +4 from +8.
-- Developers' Note: We wanted to give the default Shark more utility so we took some of the increased sight range from its upgrade and built it right in, so it can act as a scout.
- Blood in the Water upgrade: Enemy vision time reduced to 10 seconds from 20 seconds.
-- Developers' Note: While we like that players can do an early Shark strategy to try and devour everyone else before they can get higher tier units, the vision time was so long that enemy players didn't have any options to disengage or hide from the Sharks. This upgrade is intended to make it hard (but not impossible) for enemies to disengage so we're toning it down.
Stingray:
- Base health increased to 120 from 110.
-- Developers' Note: The Stingray needed a little more staying power in prolonged battle so we gave it more health. This change also makes it more resilient against Alphas in particular, usually requiring an extra attack to kill the Stingray.
Rhino:
- Reduced attack to 8 from 10.
- Base health increased to 220 from 180.
-- Developers' Note: The Rhino wasn't as sturdy as we wanted compared to the Viper, and being an omnivore, sturdiness should be built into its DNA. We traded some of its damage for a big boost in health.
- Heavyweight upgrade: This upgrade is being replaced with Stop Poking Me!.
- Stop Poking Me! upgrade: When an enemy amoeba attacks the Rhino in melee range, the attacker takes 3 damage for each enemy amoeba surrounding the Rhino.
-- Developers' Note: The Rhino was a little weak in its intended role which was to get in the thick of the battle and wreak havoc. The Heavyweight upgrade was just too slow at dealing damage and didn't help against their primary target. The new Stop Poking Me! upgrade means the more the enemy surrounds the Rhino, the angrier it will get and the harder it will hit.
Viper:
- Increased attack to 20 from 16.
-- Developers' Note: The Viper needed a small buff, and since carnivores are noted for their ferocity, we decided to give the small bump to their attack.
Alpha:
- Bloodlust upgrade: The Bloodlust buff now only lasts 5 seconds before it disappears.
-- Developers' Note: The Bloodlust upgrade is intended to shine in bigger battles in mid-combat, but the unlimited duration made it easy for players to hunt weaker amoebas in skirmishes to "charge" the ability, then bring that big advantage to the very start of the fight. This change forces Alpha players to work a little for that advantage, rather than having it handed to them.
- Base food cap increased to 700 from 500.
-- Developers' Note: The Alpha is incredibly powerful once well fed, being able to one-shot Locusts and trigger any upgraded abilities. It was a little too easy to feed the Alpha so this change will make well fed Alphas a little harder to come by.
Herbivores:
- Algae Grass damage bonus increased to +100% from +50%.
- Algae Grass healing bonus reduced to +4 from +10.
-- Developers' Note: Herbivores could retreat to grass to heal, but the grass didn't do enough to let the herbivores fight back any invaders. Enemy armies could still surround them and either stalemate or slowly whittle away at the herbivores' health; the extra health regen just made death slower. With this change, our hope is to let herbivores, who already have low attack values, have enough damage to force invaders to disengage or take heavy casualties. To compensate, their health regeneration was lowered, and coupled with the damage change, should make grass battles shorter and more decisive. Note that this change is also an indirect buff to the Go Green herbivore upgrade which we felt was a little underpowered.
- Bug Fix: Go Green should no longer increase well fed damage.
Omnivores:
- Natural Highway upgrade: Movement speed bonus increased to 100% from 50%. Speed buff duration after leaving undergrowth reduced to 2 seconds from 4 seconds.
-- Developers' Note: Natural Highway was an "okay" upgrade but felt a little underpowered compared to others, especially since it was tied to specific areas of the map (and useless otherwise). This should make it feel a lot more impactful and fun to use.
Carnivores:
- Feeding Frenzy upgrade: Whenever you kill an enemy amoeba, adjacent carnivores also gain +10 health.
-- Developers' Note: Feeding Frenzy was a little weak so this buff should make it more desirable and allow Sharks to better handle mass Locust armies (which they sometimes struggled with).
General Upgrades:
- Salvage upgrade: Destroying an enemy Gather Probe now grants +120 Energy. Gather Probe costs are no longer discounted.
-- Developers' Note: This upgrade was intended to focus on hunting down enemy Gather Probes but the passive cost decrease was extremely powerful on its own. These changes should bring the upgrade back into its intended role.
- Amoeba Antibiotics upgrade: Purify Probes now refund 95% of their cost if used on a wild amoeba. Purify Probes are no longer discounted.
-- Developers' Note: Most players were picking this upgrade primarily for the cheap Purify Probes that allowed them to shut down other players' high-tier amoebas very cheaply. These changes should bring the upgrade back into its intended role, as a way to turn the wild to your side.
Extinction Upgrades:
- Developers' Note: Most of the extinction upgrades were too weak to bring a player back into contention aside from the Chaos Amoeba, which many players enjoyed using. We want to bring all the weak extinctions up to the level of the Chaos Amoeba so players can have more variety.
- Probe-lem Solved!: Probe costs now also reduced by 50%.
-- Developers' Note: This extinction upgrade wasn't very useful unless the player had big energy reserves and a player who earned an extinction is already in a tough spot. This change should massively increase the effectiveness of this upgrade, especially since it also affects Gather Probes for even more energy gain.
- Armageddon: Increased number of meteor waves to 5 from 3.
-- Developers' Note: This extinction upgrade was fun but not very effective at hurting higher tier armies because most of them could take a meteor or two. This change should wreak more havoc all around.
- Call of the Wild: The wild amoebas will paradrop in at a much faster speed, paradrop in waves, and paradrop in a more concentrated area. They will also act as a cohesive army, defending each other.
-- Developers' Note: This extinction had minimal impact if you wanted to deal damage to a player and instead became a way to get more amoebas with the Amoeba Antibiotics upgrade. With these changes, you should be able to use this extinction to ruin someone's day (or at least try to).
Other Changes:
- pointsUnitReplicator: Changed to 33 from 50.
-- Developers' Note: Since the Locust is the easiest unit to make, most weak players will probably have it so this change increases their chances of getting an extinction. At the same time, this change reduces the chance an extinction upgrade is given to players with strong armies (because of Locust score inflation).
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