Metal Factions

[raaar]

new version out with a small fix. Same links as the one before.

2019/08/04 ------------------ NOTES v1.111 ----------------------

- fixed an error on the custom formations widget which was triggered by shift-queuing multiple line formations



..........and another fix

2019/08/05 ------------------ NOTES v1.12 ----------------------

- fixed problem which prevented several aircraft from firing
- improved CLAW "Spotter" model (rounder)
- slightly increased the model size for GEAR "Harasser" and SPHERE "Trike"
- modified AVEN "Geothermal" model slightly

[raaar]

new version out with more bugfixes and some rebalancing.

same link as before

2019/08/08 ------------------ NOTES v1.13 ----------------------

--- Balance / Mechanics

CLOAK
- fixed cloak delay after building,firing,etc. not being applied (set to 5s)
- fixed cloak not draining energy
- units will now decloak when capturing, taking damage and moving on water

AIMING
- GEAR "Igniter" no longer tries to target air units
- fix some units not completing their aim animation and not firing (units with special aim poses and static defenses with pop-up and open animations)
- increased range and cost by about 5-10% on AVEN "Trooper", "Warrior", "Bold" and "Wheeler"
- increased range and cost by about 5-10% on GEAR "Aggressor", "Box", "Instigator" and "Raider"
- increased range and cost by about 5-10% on CLAW "Dizzy" and "Grunt" and now it has lasers on both arms
- increased range and cost by about 5-10% on SPHERE "Bit" (slightly reduced speed), "Crustle" and "Slicer"
- made AVEN EMG weapons more precise

OTHER
- fixed air transports not lowering their altitude to load/unload units
- fixed wind generators still generating some energy while partially reclaimed


EDIT: +bugfix

2019/08/10 ------------------ NOTES v1.14 ----------------------

- fixed GEAR "Toaster" still sometimes not firing after opening up

2019/08/10 ------------------ NOTES v1.142 ----------------------

- same as the previous version, but released to try to work around a sychronization issue on multiplayer battles
(deployed to springfiles only)

[raaar]

new version out!

here

Also available through the "metalfactions:stable" rapid tag, and by joining the nebula game rooms on the official server.


2019/09/01 ------------------ NOTES v1.15 ----------------------

--- Engine

- changed the recommended engine from "104.0.1-1327-g315b3fd maintenance" to "104.0.1-1382-gc0c48fc maintenance" or later
(lobby clients should auto-download the correct version after joining the nebula hosts on the official server)


--- General

- fixed issue where UI wouldn't load and game would sometimes crash at start with out of memory error

- improved models and build pictures for various AVEN and GEAR aircraft

--- Balance / Mechanics

- fixed units getting stuck in factories if a large unit starts being built before they exit

- fixed GEAR incendiary commanders not recloaking while the fire area effect is active

- fixed AVEN "Dervish" sometimes not fully opening its arms when aiming, reduced its aim setup time and enabled smooth aiming
- fixed AVEN "Ranger" missile firing positions (to use all holes)

- AVEN "Kit" no longer tries to hit enemy aircraft

- fixed air transports not taking into account speed upgrades or zephyr's boost when loaded

- fixed cloakable units not being uncloaked by enemies within radius

--- UI / Widgets

- added map icons for most combat unit types
(check the website for details http://www.metalfactions.pt/icons.html)

[raaar]

new version out!

here

Also available through the "metalfactions:stable" rapid tag, and by joining the nebula game rooms on the official server.





2019/09/24 ------------------ NOTES v1.16 ----------------------

--- Engine

- changed the recommended engine from "104.0.1-1382-gc0c48fc maintenance" to "104.0.1-1404-g47794d1 maintenance" or later
(lobby clients should auto-download the correct version after joining the nebula hosts on the official server)



--- Balance / Mechanics

- made GEAR "Reaper" use smooth aiming

- fixed CLAW "Hazard" and AVEN "Raptor" rockets diving into the ground when firing at higher targets

- reverted building's collision volume growth to always cover their footprint and fixed being able to stack construction towers in some situations

- fixed AVEN "Turbulence" not firing from the main rocket turret (oops)

- fixed AVEN "Bass" firing too early (before reaching the proper aim alignment)

- fixed AVEN "Ghost" decloaking while flying over water

- CLAW "Flail" now has two shotguns instead of shotgun/cannon. Slightly increased is range and energy cost to fire.
- AVEN "Stalker" side missile launchers are replaced with higher dps light lasers with same range as the main weapon.
(these help make the units role clearer and avoid aiming issues)

- SPHERE "Moth" has slightly improved maneuverability, dmg/s, aiming tolerance and projectile turn rate but reduced projectile speed
(it should be much less likely to miss nearby targets)


--- Sounds

- made unit selection and movement sounds more noticeable (they've been too muted on the latest versions unless the player zooms in)
(use +/- to adjust global volume ingame)
- added distinctive sounds for CLAW and SPHERE robots and commanders
- added generic "tap" sound for area metal extractor and line formation movement orders

--- UI

- adjusted icon for GEAR "Heater" and "Cube" robots, AVEN "Albatross", Zephyr and various radar/jammer units
- settings widget enforces "grounddetail" and "icon distance"
(to avoid people with default values not seeing icons or having visually distorted map height profile when zooming out)

--- Animations / Visuals

- slightly improved textures on several CLAW robots

[raaar]

new version out with some improvements to balance, sounds and UI.


same link as before


2019/10/06 ------------------ NOTES v1.17 ----------------------


--- Balance / Mechanics

- about 2% cost reduction in units with bursty L damage weapons and relatively low dmg/s, namely light missile launchers
(as a side effect there's also a slight reduction on cost of buildings that explode violently when destroyed)

- increased collision sizes for various flying spheres, namely "Comet", so they're less likely to dodge heavy cannons and rockets

- morphed commanders' wreckages metal amount reduced to 500 from 1000 (same as basic forms)

--- Sounds

- modified sounds fx volume to fade out more with distance and to make weapon sounds relatively louder than other sounds
- modified "arrived" sounds for some units to be more quiet and lower pitched
- modified unit sounds for several aircraft, AVEN and GEAR robots

--- UI

- fixed CLAW "Flail"'s build picture
- settings widget enforces hardware mouse cursor mode
- scale the font sizes up to make text more readable on 1440p and higher resolutions
- added minimap events widget to signal when units are damaged

[raaar]

new version out with some improvements to balance and a few bugs fixed.


same link as before


2019/10/30 ------------------ NOTES v1.18 ----------------------

--- Engine

- changed the recommended engine from "104.0.1-1404-g47794d1 maintenance" to "104.0.1-1429-g1add37c maintenance" or later
(lobby clients should auto-download the correct version after joining the nebula hosts on the official server)


--- Balance / Mechanics

- let GEAR heat rays slightly lead their targets and slightly reduced the beam duration
(this to avoid them wasting most of their damage when firing at fast targets moving sideways)

- fix GEAR Knocker not firing against elevated targets, namely flying spheres

- slightly increased collision size of SPHERE "Comet"
- slightly increased costs of flying spheres by 15% for "Atom" and "Comet" and about 5% for the others

- slightly increased the dmg/s of level1 medium and heavy laser towers and adjusted the costs by about 5%

- reduced the cost of GEAR units with heat ray weapons by about 5-10%

- reduced speed of CLAW "Assassin" Form commander by 5%

- increased the energy drain from metal makers from 300 to 360 E/s

- attempt to fix units with two different weapons on the same torso sometimes not firing

- increased GEAR "Canister"'s range from 600 to 640 and increased cost by 7%

- increased fire rate and dmg/s for land-based level1 missile units and adjusted costs (+5-15%).
(CLAW "Jester" gets a higher dmg/s and cost boost because its weapons look bigger)

- increased AVEN "Duster"'s dmg/s by about 10% and cost by about 5%

- increased GEAR "Thud"'s dmg/s by about 20% and cost by about 10%


--- UI / Other

- no longer trigger collision sound when airplanes land
(it was too similar to missile explosions, but this may be changed in the future)

- made flying sphere map icons a bit bigger

- fixed errors that appeared ocasionally when issuing area-metal-extractor commands

[raaar]

new version out with buff to t2 factories and nerf to commanders.


same link as before

2019/10/31 ------------------ NOTES v1.19 ----------------------

--- Balance / Mechanics

- standardized level2 unit production factories to have 4500 HP and cost about 20% less (about 1550m)

- increased cost of upgrade centers from 750m to 900m

- increased GEAR light laser tower's range and cost by 6%

- increased costs of advanced metal extractors by 5% and exploiters by 10%

- increased commander morph costs from 1000m to 1200m
- increased commander respawn times by 25% (about 40s)

(the goal of these changes is to incentivize more level2 factories and units and less morphed commander rushes)

[raaar]

new version out!

here

Also available through the "metalfactions:stable" rapid tag, and by joining the nebula game rooms on the official server.


AVEN Scopers scouting a hill where an enemy SPHERE commander landed and is doing nasty stuff...




2019/11/17 ------------------ NOTES v1.20 ----------------------

--- New units

- added "Scoper" aircraft for all factions : they target units or ground up to 1200 distance units away and reveal a 200 radius area around it
(the way it works allows it to be used to scout enemy positions on top of cliffs by targeting the cliff wall)


--- Balance / Mechanics

- AVEN "Kodiak" : allow it to fire the missiles without interfering with the aim of the main gun

- GEAR "Infernal" form commander : increased range of weapons by about 20% and decreased speed by 10%
- GEAR "Marauder" : increased range by 10%, reduced fire rate by 7% and adjusted cost
(modified model to slightly increase the height of the firing position)
- GEAR "Thud" : made it a bit stronger, with 20% increased range, improved accuracy and dps and adjusted cost (+30%)

- CLAW "Roller" : increased range and cost by about 20%

--- AI / MFAI

- will try to keep 1 scoper moving along with the main ground army

--- Other

- Added downward thruster on SPHERE "Tycho"

[raaar]

new version out with fixes to game-breaking bugs on the previous version


same link as before


2019/11/18 ------------------ NOTES v1.21 ----------------------

- fixed two bugs with the previous version
(one would trigger auto-resign and the other would mess with the damage and cloak handler)

[raaar]

new version out!

same link as before


2019/12/08 ------------------ NOTES v1.22 ----------------------

--- Balance / Mechanics

- modified SPHERE "Magnetar" :
. increased damage, area of effect and pull strength of the aura, but increased cost by 20%
. the pull aura is now much more effective at catching medium and heavy units
. aura drains 200 E/s when active
. it's now disabled by default to avoid damaging your own units after getting out of the factory
. updated radar icon

- fixed lua error that sometimes happened when scoper aircraft were destroyed

- increased collision volume size for AVEN "Dazer" and "Stasis"


--- UI

- tooltip shows that units that deal paralyze damage also deal 33% normal damage
- tooltip shows E cost per shot for weapons with reload time > 5s

--- Visuals

- modified AVEN "Zephyr" aura effects to be teal instead of green

[Noruas]

Keep up the hard work, quality of life changes are equally important and i like it. :)

[raaar]

new version out!

same link as before


2019/12/25 ------------------ NOTES v1.23 ----------------------


--- Balance / Mechanics

- on team games, players are no longer set to "dead" even if they lost all units as long as allies are still standing
(this is to allow the other teammates to give a them a commander pad and get them back into the game)

MOVEMENT
- make units overlap and clump together less when moving but also be slightly less efficient at moving around
- make non all-terrain ground units slide down slopes they can't walk or drive through
- relatively fast units will generally make sharper turns and bump into terrain or get stuck less, but also lose some speed while turning

--- UI

- fixed icon for commander respawners
- when single units are selected or mouse is over them, show owner name on the bottom-left tooltip
- fixed ctrl-c focusing on but not selecting the commander
- added button to change the chat type above the players list

--- AI / MFAI

- AI will ignore walls
(sometimes its raider or aircraft groups would get distracted by a lone wall section somewhere on the map)
- fix AI not choosing start locations properly on some maps

[raaar]

new version out!

same link as before


2019/12/28 ------------------ NOTES v1.24 ----------------------

- fixed chat type button overlapping the players list when spectators are present

- removed debug messages indicating that AI start position was selected successfully

[raaar]

new version out!

here

Also available through the "metalfactions:stable" rapid tag, and by joining the nebula game rooms on the official server.


Stuff happening...




2020/01/10 ------------------ NOTES v1.25 ----------------------

--- New units

- added SPHERE "Double" : level1 Raider Vehicle

- added CLAW "Ringo" : level1 Raider/Skirmisher Robot equipped with an energy ring launcher


--- Balance / Mechanics

- increased GEAR "Kano" range and cost by about 15%
- GEAR light plant can now build "Igniter" incendiary raider vehicles
- renamed GEAR "Raider" to "Assaulter" and increased its speed by about 6% and cost by about 3%

- increased CLAW "Knife" HP by 16% and cost by 8%

- SPHERE "Gaunt" : increased damage per shot and reload time but decreased dmg/s by about 10%, speed reduced by 16%, cost reduced by about 10%
- SPHERE light plant can now build "Gaunt"

- further general cost change of up to about -5% to +5% penalizing relatively strong or long-ranged units (mostly level2)
(short ranged level1 units should be relatively cheaper now compared to the other options - this is applied on top of the previous cost changes)

--- Sounds

- modified sounds for some of AVEN and SPHERE light vehicles
- modified sounds of some large explosions to differentiate them from long range plasma cannon explosions

--- AI / MFAI

- modified AI to use the new build options
- AI Light factories will sometimes build a set of half a dozen raiders and then restore the normal queue

[raaar]

new version out!

same link as before


2020/01/12 ------------------ NOTES v1.26 ----------------------

--- Balance / Mechanics

- reduced range of SPHERE "Gaunt" from 680 to 670
- increased the range of level1 missile units to 680
(this is to ensure they outrange Gaunts and counter them properly due to the damage types)

- fixed issue with collision volumes for fortification gates after they open/close

- SPHERE "Gaunt"'s body no longer instantly "snaps" to walking pose after aiming while moving

[raaar]

new version out!

same link as before


2020/01/23 ------------------ NOTES v1.27 ----------------------

--- Balance / Mechanics

- slightly increased cost of units that have relatively short range weapons with relatively low projectile velocity
(they're likely to shoot over each other and still hit their targets)
- slightly decreased the cost of units with relatively short range lasers (< 450)
- slightly reduced the cost of units with relatively high durability/cost
- slightly increased the cost of units with relatively high speed
- slightly reduced the discount units get from having energy-intensive weapons

- slightly increased the cost penalty for relatively high HP air units (including flying spheres, which are about 5% more expensive)
- slightly decreased cost on units with weapons which have significant aiming angle restrictions
(mostly aircraft, this compensates the previous cost increases and even makes many of them slightly cheaper)

- increased AVEN "Warrior" HP from 1380 to 1480 and adjusted cost
- increased AVEN "Bold" HP from 1350 to 1450 and speed from 1.9 to 2.0 and adjusted cost
- increased AVEN "Kit" rockets' speed by 33% and adjusted cost

- increased GEAR "Box" HP from 1500 to 1650 and adjusted cost (still cheaper than previous version despite the HP increase)
- increased GEAR "Canister" range from 640 to 660 and adjusted cost
- increased GEAR "Barrel" range from 650 to 720, reduced speed from 1.4 to 1.2 and adjusted cost
- increased GEAR "Instigator" speed from 2.05 to 2.15 and adjusted cost

- increased CLAW "Boomer"'s rockets' speed by about 15% and adjusted cost
- increased CLAW "Boar"'s movement and projectile speed by about 10% and adjusted cost (it's significantly more expensive now)

- increased SPHERE "Crustle" movement speed from 1.9 to 2.0 and adjusted cost
- increased SPHERE "Stout" dmg/s by about 10% and adjusted cost
- SPHERE "Hanz", "Charger" and "Golem" require a bit more energy to fire their weapons

- reduced start velocity and increased turn rate for AVEN and GEAR fighter aircraft's missiles
(to avoid them overshooting their targets)

- increased AVEN, GEAR and SPHERE level1 bomber aicraft bombs' damage by 10% and adjusted cost

- energy storage buildings are now about 20% cheaper

- reduced the threshold for relatively heavy units to be push-resistant

- adjusted commanders weapons to improve consistency on the relative strength of surface weapons and the water weapon
. CLAW "Slayer" form gets about 20% increase in laser cutter dmg/s but torpedo reload time increased from 3 to 3.5s
(the laser cutter visual effects are also more intense)
. GEAR "Devastator" form gets about 5-10% damage nerf on the energy bolt and laser
. CLAW "Grinder" form gets 10% less range on the torpedo
. AVEN "Omega" form gets about 10% more dps on torpedos and double energy cost on the disruptor

- removed ON/OFF button from SPHERE "Tick"

- increased cost by 25% of "cheap" AVEN, GEAR and CLAW mobile radar jammers that can become fully invisible when cloaked
- increased the energy costs per second to maintain cloak from 30-75 to 50-105
(also added a hint about their invisibility potential on the unit tooltip)

[raaar]

new version out!

here

Also available through the "metalfactions:stable" rapid tag, and by joining the nebula game rooms on the official server.

Heat Rays!



2020/02/09 ------------------ NOTES v1.28 ----------------------

--- new units

- added GEAR "Blazer" commander form : skirmisher form with dual heat ray weapons. Hits hard but moves relatively slowly.


--- Balance / Mechanics

- reverted the change that made heavy units push-resistant to avoid an issue where units can get stuck on each other

- CLAW "Mega" should no longer target air units if there are nearby ground targets

- SPHERE "Gazer" now explodes more violently when killed

- increased the footprint of CLAW "Ringo" so they clump together less

- walls are no longer automatically targeted by enemies when being built or after changing ownership
- fixed fortification gates sometimes still blocking unit movement when they're open

- reduced the amount of vertical range increase for laser beams to avoid them shooting at targets they can't reach
(this is a workaround for a springRTS engine issue)

- armed units which have open/close states will now close in less than a second if set to "hold fire" regardless of their attack orders

- slightly increased the speed of open/close animations on GEAR pop-up towers (namely light and medium laser ones)

--- UI

- hide checksum messages when players connect to the game

--- Visuals

- slightly improved the 3d model textures and walk cycles for GEAR commanders
- slightly improved the fire point texture and effects for GEAR Heat Ray weapons (they how glow after firing)

--- AI

- MFAI commander will patrol and assist its factory early in the game and make less defenses in easy and normal modes
- MFAI will set builders to high priority when building economy or factories

[raaar]

new version out!

same link as before


2020/02/23 ------------------ NOTES v1.29 ----------------------


--- Balance / Mechanics

- increased ranges of light laser towers and CLAW "Drill" from 520-550 to 560 and slightly increased their costs (up to 10%)

- CLAW "Thumper" : reduced range and cost by about 10%
(this means it no longer slightly outranges medium laser or missile towers which cost more than twice as much)
- CLAW "Nucleus" and "Mega" projectiles explode mid-air when targetting air units
- CLAW "Nucleus" can use high-trajectory mode

- AVEN and GEAR adv. torpedo launchers have their range reduced from 1500 to 1000 but have tracking torpedoes and a 20% cost reduction
- normalized max water depth for non-amphibious units at 35
(this allows them to cross shallow water more consistently)
- units will not be set on fire and stop burning if they're mostly submerged
- AVEN and GEAR adv. construction submarines have their armor type changed from L to M and cost adjusted (+17%)
- reduced SPHERE "Oyster" range and cost by about 25%
- slightly increased maneuverability of AVEN hovercraft


- made SPHERE "Banger"'s rockets deal 20% more damage with 10% more reload time and 5% more range and has a 10% cost increase
(the rockets are now visually different from the "Lancer" ones)
- increased SPHERE "Tycho"'s acceleration and brake rates

- AVEN "Javelin" has a slightly bigger footprint and its missiles have a slightly higher trajectory to avoid hitting friendly units
- increased AOE of AVEN rapid disruptor projectiles from 48-64 to 96 and made them explode mid-air when used against aicraft
(this makes them a bit more effective against air targets)
- reduced cost of units with disruptor projectiles by about 10% (the cost increase from the AOE increase compensates for this though)
- AVEN "Weaver" missiles follow a slightly higher trajectory to better avoid terrain obstructions
- AVEN "Stasis" cost and range reduced by 10%
- AVEN "Omega" form commander now has twin disruptor cannons instead of the secondary EMG weapon and has a shorter range torpedo launcher with higher dmg/s


- up to about 5% cost reduction for relatively expensive units
- reduced cost of units with weapons with large area of effect unless they have particularly long range
(this also makes GEAR "Grenados" significantly cheaper and buildings with large death explosions slightly more expensive)

- 7% fire rate increase on SPHERE "Nova" and GEAR "Infernal" commander forms

- 20% fire rate increase on SPHERE "Meteor" and AVEN "Icarus" heavy bombs, set range to 480 and adjusted cost (it ends up being about the same)

- 5% damage increase on GEAR "Blazer" form commander

- All-terrain units now have an 80º blind spot in a downward direction to avoid them firing through their body when targetting units on cliff tops from cliff sides
(this restriction should be barely noticeable and may be increased in the future)

- tough GEAR units with relatively short range fire attacks can no longer be set on fire (they still take direct and area fire damage, though)


--- UI

- added widget to show metal/energy amounts within the selected area when area-reclaim commands are used
(widget from Pendrokar/Janis Lukss)

--- visuals

- slightly improved the visual effects of big explosions happening underwater (from fusion reactors and such)

[raaar]

new version out!

same link as before


2020/03/08 ------------------ NOTES v1.30 ----------------------

--- Balance / Mechanics

- GEAR "Box" had dmg/s increased by 10% but drains 20 E/s to fire and had its cost reduced by 6%
- GEAR "Barrel" is about 10% slower and costs 80% more, but gets a secondary incendiary missile weapon

- AVEN commander cannon shots explode mid-air vs air targets

- AVEN "Bass" had its waves' area of effect doubled so it's much more effective against swarms of light units and aircraft
(the damage per tick was reduced but the overall damage each target takes should be about the same: 250 to 1250 L disruptor damage and a third as normal damage)

- commanders lose 10% of their experience whenever they're destroyed

- increased collision size for Hanz, Charger and Golem
- restored shielded units' collision volume adjustment to match the shield unless it's depleted
(this also makes shielded spheres easier to hit with artillery)

UNDERWATER
- made all torpedoes tracking, namely the ones shot from unmorphed commanders and l1 submarines
- increased Dmg/s of torpedo bomber aircraft (mostly through reductions in reload time), slightly reduced range to lower cost on SPHERE and GEAR torpedo bombers
- increased SPHERE "Clam" range from 500 to 630
- changed ground units' speed when they move underwater : they'll all slow down beyond a certain threshold (speed = 27), extra speed is halved. So a unit that'd move at 27 keeps its speed, while a unit with max speed = 54 will move at about 40 distance units/s. This means that the relative speed penalty is higher the faster the unit is (in practice relatively fast commanders will go from about 20% penalty to about 40% if they got full speed upgrades).
- increased footprint of submarines to avoid clumping and friendly fire when moving in groups
- reduced the inherent discout weapons with relatively slow but tracking projectiles get
- CLAW "Sinker" is now similar to AVEN and GEAR t1 torpedo launcher floating turrets
(the above changes also make the affected units cost about 10-40% more, excluding commanders)


AIR
- make AVEN, CLAW and SPHERE heavy bombers shoot in 360º and fly higher (they get slightly more expensive though)
- improved maneuverability of some aircraft, namely SPHERE "Moth" which had particularly less acceleration that similar aircraft

DRONES
- all drones are now relatively cheaper to build (discount increased from 30% to 50%)
- "Light drones" upgrade now costs 1000M but increases the limit to 3 drones instead of 2
- reduced the self-build times on light/medium drones from 4/12s to 2.5s/11s
(fixed the self build times on light drones which were wrongly using the medium drone build times)


--- AI

- lowered the threshold for MFAI to morph its commander from 30m/300E to 20m/200E per second
- AI will no longer area-patrol with its commander unless it has factories nearby

--- Visuals

- modified the models and sounds of torpedo projectiles
- make resource multiplier show on the player's list next to the players' name
- made build points glow effect also show up when they're underwater
- modified firing sound of missiles from fighter aircraft

[raaar]

new version out!

here

Also available through the "metalfactions:stable" rapid tag, and by joining the nebula game rooms on the official server.





2020/03/17 ------------------ NOTES v1.31 ----------------------


--- Balance / Mechanics

- fixed a major bug that could allow players to spawn multiple commanders

- reduced the amount of vertical range boost given to very short range cannons (< 380 range)
(this is to make fast level 1 units like wheelers, doubles and boars less able to hit air units)

- increased HP by up to 50% and reduced reload times by about 10-20% for level 2 heavy bomber aircraft and slightly increased costs (up to about +50%)
- increased HP by about 10-20% of fighter aircraft that use strafing attack runs and adjusted costs (+5-10%)
- increased flight altitude by about 10-15% for level1 and 2 fighter aircraft that use strafing attack runs
- very slightly increased the discount such strafing aircraft get from not being able to avoid closing range with their target (<3% effect on cost)
- slightly reduced the speed of non-strafing heavy bombers (5-10%)
- heavy bombers explode violently when destroyed (but AOE and damage is about half than what CLAW "Havoc" had on the previous version)
- reduced the range of GEAR "Stratos" weapons from 550 to 480 to lower the cost a bit (~15%)

- reduced range and cost of SPHERE "Gazer" by about 10%
(this brings them deeper into artillery range and closer to the range of other heavy fire support units so it's easier to hit)

- increased the footprint of CLAW "Halberd" and "Armadon" to prevent them from clumping when moving in groups
- made CLAW "Halberd" amphibious

- SPHERE "Gazer" form commander : 2.5% reduction in range and 5% reduced reload time on the laser weapon

- slightly reduced the projectile speed of very long range plasma cannons other than CLAW "Longhorn"


--- UI / Visuals

- CLAW level 2 aircraft plant now looks significantly different than the level 1 and also has a bigger footprint
- CLAW "Havoc" had its model slightly improved
- fixed some CLAW factories not emitting "glow" from their construction towers
- area shield generators should show info on tip about sharing and E drain
- updated the engine compatibility recommendation to "104.0.1-1464-g4f428c8 maintenance"