Version 4.2 and 4.2.1 - Patch Notes!

Edit: included version 4.2 patch notes!

A small patch to fix up some bugs with a couple balance changes.

General Changes

• Roguelike
  • Improved RNG algorithm
• Double Trouble
  • Duplicated blocks will no longer be stacked on top of each other
  • Now increases summon density of bosses

Balance Changes

• Roguelike
  • Jester
    • Can now only be picked once
    • Jester was easily the best rare card in the game, and having it be repickable made it extremely overpowered.
  •  4-leaf Clover 
    • Luck bonus reduced +2 → +1.5
    • 2 extra luck was extremely unnecessary, so dialing this down a bit.
• Towers
  • Freezer
    • x5x Avalanche cost increased $1,000 → $1,500
    • x5x Avalanche now gains a passive ability: freezes the entire map every 30s, and affected by crosspaths
    • After the addition of crosspathing had settled down and gotten fine-tuned, Avalanche was in clear need of a rework. It was just too clunky to work in most strategies, and other freezers didn't need the extra freeze duration, range or attack speed. Avalanche's new ability will be monitored closely over the coming balance patches.
  • Light Keeper
    • xx5 Avada Kedavra cost increased $7,200 → $7,201
    • xx5 Avada Kedavra damage increased 40 → 50
    • 205 Avada Kedavra damage increased 50 → 60
    • Avada Kedavra was one of the few towers to be fairly untouched during v4.2's buffs to expensive towers.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a crash when DNA has no valid cards to duplicate
• Fixed a softlock with placing towers when reloading a save and then selling a tower
• Fixed infinite HP planet in Sandbox mode contributing to Gridpedia unlocks
• Fixed 5xx Ultimate Frisbee mini-frisbees' max seek angle being too high

Version 4.2

A quality of life update with some experimental features!

New Stuff

• New map: Yin Yang!
  • This 3-lane map requires a well balanced defense... and maybe some unbalanced towers too.
• New game mode: Double Trouble!
  • It's been way too long since a new non-boss mode. Doubles density of rounds and reduces income from blocks to compensate.
• New galactic: Freezer!
  • The Age of Glaciers has returned. Freezes anything and everything in range.
• New galactic: Hangar!
  • The Unidentified Celestial Deployment shoots... vibrant cubes, missiles and spheres? Hey, that's not so bad...
• Roguelike
  • Added a skip button!
  • New card: Air and Sea!
    • Common card. Placement and upgrade cost of Hangars and Ships reduced by 8%.
  • New card: Shrinking!
    • Uncommon card. Reduces health of all elites excluding planets by 10%, and their speed by 5%.
  • New card: Reroll!
    • Uncommon card. Allows you to reroll once for free every card pick.
    • @Mini-ISAB for the idea of a reroll system in roguelike. Having it as a card fit the theme, and allows for fun synergies with DNA and Aleph-null.
  • New side menu in-game: Cards!
    • Cards picked this run have been moved from the pause menu to here, and you can now hover over them to view their effects!
• 5 new powers and puzzle challenges!
• Added 60 fps toggle!
  • Will affect gameplay and performance due to how collision detection is coded, but enable this to enjoy a smoother Blocks TD!
• Added more controls to sandbox mode!
• Games now use a unique seed to determine luck-based outcomes
  • The game seed can be found in the advanced menu, and you can input a game seed before starting to play a rewardless run.
  • Experimenting with this to make "random" Power Challenges predictable and not completely RNG.

General Changes

• Misc
  • Modified order of projectiles spawned from splitting and explosions
  • Sub-projectiles are now affected by lifespan and range buffs
  • Seeking projectiles seek distance is now affected by range buffs
  • Seeking projectiles now retarget immediately if their original target is destroyed
  • Seeking projectiles no longer retarget if they hit any target
  • Towers' damage count now abbreviates correctly between 100-1000 M, B, T, etc
• Power Challenge
  • Now separated into Powers and Puzzles
  • No longer contributes to unlocks
• Bosses
  • Boss summons no longer cause a loss if they remain on screen in overtime
  • Boss defeat animations no longer cause a loss if they go into overtime
• Sandbox
  • Infinite HP planet now actually has (almost) infinite HP
• Roguelike
  • Cards now have coloured descriptions because why not
  • All discount cards and Global Refridgeration now stack additively with each other instead of multiplicatively
• Acid Launcher
  • Spawn position of acid bullets moved to just in front of the tower

Misc Balance Changes

• Late-game towers have been inefficient for their cost, so are receiving massive buffs; to compensate ramping has also been increased in deep lategame.
• Power Challenge
  • Power 4 elite speed increased 50% → 75%
  • Power 4 elite health reduced 100% → 75%
  • Puzzle 1 now has a max tower cap of 2
  • Power 4 has been brought up to be too challenging due to the Regens. Puzzle 1's change doesn't affect how it plays out, but should help nudge players to the solution faster.
• Rounds
  • Rounds 11-15 block bounty increased 0.3x → 0.4x
  • Rounds 16-20 block bounty increased 0.275x → 0.35x
  • Rounds 21-25 block bounty increased 0.25x → 0.3x
  • Rounds 26-30 block bounty increased 0.225x → 0.25x
  • Rounds 46-50 block bounty reduced 0.08x → 0.075x
  • Rounds 81-100 health ramping increased +30% → +50%
  • Rounds 101-150 health ramping increased +50% → +100%
  • Rounds 151-200 health ramping increased +50% → +150%
  • Rounds 201-300 health ramping increased +100% → +200%
  • Rounds 301+ health ramping increased +100% → +300%
  • More income is being distributed into earlier rounds to make the first 40 rounds easier.
• Blocks
  • Blitz
    • Minimum round 6 → 7 in random mode
  • Aerial Fast
    • Maximum round 35 → 32 in random mode
  • BlueSkull
    • Minimum round 20 → 25 in random mode
  • Changing the round requirements for certain block types spawning to make random mode fairer and less frustrating when you realise 6 BlueSkulls are on round 20.
• Bosses
  • Shield Prime
    • Tier 1 health reduced 5,000 → 4,250
    • Tier 2 health reduced 20,000 → 17,000
    • Tier 3 health reduced 110,000 → 93,500
    • Tier 4 health reduced 650,000 → 550,000
    • Speed increased 2.4 → 2.76 units / sec
    • Shield regeneration rate increased 0.5% → 1% / sec
    • A needed buff to Shield Prime, as currently it is not much stronger than other bosses and lacks the dangerous abilities of, say, the Red Diamond.
• Roguelike
  • Residual Explosion
    • Damage multiplier on explosions reduced x5 → x4
  • Chicxulub Event
    • Planet bonus increased +2 → +3
    • Boss bonus increased +2 → +6
  • DNA
    • Can no longer duplicate itself or other DNA cards
  • Residual Explosion was way too strong for an uncommon after its recent buff. DNA triggering on itself was funny but not practical in regular gameplay, and ridiculously overpowered in lategame roguelike. Chicxulub Event has been one of the weaker cards in general.

Tower Balance Changes

• Galactics    
  •  Cash required per power reduced $(galactic cost)/25000 > $(galactic cost)/40000
  •  Power per upgrade reduced 100 > 50
  • Simply spamming low tier towers allowed for an easy level 20 galactic, while the later levels were extremely difficult to obtain due to how inefficient cash power is.

• Basic
  • 1xx cost reduced $15 → $10
  • 3xx Critical Hit cost increased $120 → $130
  • 5xx Psuedo-Conjurer cost increased $1,500 → $1,600
  • x1x cost reduced $20 → $15
  • x3x Multi Shot cost reduced $85 → $65
  • x4x Pentashot cost reduced $240 → $200
  • xx1 cost reduced $25 → $20
  • xx3 Blast Cannon cost increased $100 → $105
  • [bugfix] xx5 Instability mini explosion pierce reduced 5 → 4
  • Unstable Conjurer of Hell attack speed increased 0.4s → 0.35s
  • Unstable Conjurer of Hell galactic bolt speed increased 360 → 540 units/sec
  • Basic's early upgrades have been subpar, which is not the intention for such an early-game centric tower, so these prices have been eased up. Critical Hit and Psuedo-Conjurer are in a strong state so will be receiving price hikes, while Multishot and Pentashot are outclassed by them.

• Cannon
  • 1xx bomb size reduced 15 → 13
  • 1xx bomb pierce reduced 15 → 13
  • 1xx bomb blast radius reduced 60 → 52
  • 2xx frag size reduced 5.25 → 4.55
    • [bugfix] 3xx, 4xx and 5xx secondary and tertiary bomb stats are now nerfed to their intended values due to these changes
  • 3xx Clusters cost reduced $170 → $140
  • 4xx Triple Chaos cost reduced $600 → $500
  • 5xx Blitzkrieg cost reduced $3,500 → $3,200
  • x3x Array cost reduced $120 → $110
  • xx4 Flash Bomb attack speed increased 1.736s → 1.4063s
  • 104 Flash Bomb size reduced 15 → 13
  • 104 Flash Bomb pierce reduced 23 → 20
  • 104 Flash Bomb blast radius reduced 60 → 52
  • 204 Flash Bomb now creates frags
  • xx5 Smoke Blasts attack speed increased 0.86933s → 0.84375s
  • 105 Smoke Blasts size reduced 15 → 13
  • 105 Smoke Blasts pierce reduced 30 → 26
  • 105 Smoke Blasts blast radius reduced 87.5 → 71.5
  • Flashing Rain main bomb damage increased 10 → 25
  • Flashing Rain stun-bomb attack speed increased 0.75s → 0.625s
  • Flash Bomb and Smoke Blasts have become largely obsolete as other stalling towers outclass them. Top path is getting a bug fix with reduced bomb, frag and explosion size, and less pierce, but greatly reduced costs for later tiers.
• Splitter
  • 4xx Oven Breakdown damage reduced 4 → 3
  • 4xx Oven Breakdown attack speed increased 0.72s → 0.5s
  • 5xx Meteor Shower ring attack speed remains at 0.1s
  • 5xx Meteor Shower ring damage reduced 10 → 9
  • 5xx Meteor Shower meteor impact planet bonus reduced +100 → +0 (200 → 100 total)
  • 5xx Meteor Shower explosion now applies burn effect
  • [bugfix] 5xx Meteor Shower explosion pierce reduced 7 → 6
  • 501 Meteor Shower ring damage remains at 12
  • 502 Meteor Shower ring damage increased 14 → 15
  • Restricted Zone ring damage increased 80 → 100
  • Restricted Zone nail damage increased 10 → 20
  • Restricted Zone nail elite bonus reduced +5 → +0 (15 → 20 total)
  • Restricted Zone nail planet bonus increased +10 → +20 (25 → 40 total)
    •  previous value was intended to be +15
  • Restricted Zone meteor attack speed reduced 4.5s → 5.5s
  • Restricted Zone meteor explosion now applies a 500d/s burn effect for 5s
  • Restricted Zone razor damage increased 30 → 45
    • planet bonus remains at +45 (75 → 90 total), previous value was intended to be +30
  • Restricted Zone razor lifespan increased 1.5s → 2s
    • Meteor Shower is seeing a rework to make it stand out as a powerful crowd control option rather than a mediocre generalist, and also to synergise better with cards like Chemical Combination and Third Radian Burn. Oven Breakdown and Meteor Shower are also getting crosspath changes to incentivise the bottom path.
• Flamethrower
  • 1xx cost reduced $70 → $65
  • 3xx Special Flames elite bonus increased +4 → +6 (6 → 8 total)
  • 3xx Special Flames pierce reduced 3 → 2
  • 4xx Blockrangs elite bonus increased +10 → +15 (15 → 20 total)
  • 5xx Ultraviolet Rangs damage increased 15 → 25
  • 5xx Ultraviolet Rangs elite bonus increased +30 → +75 (45 → 100 total)
  • 5xx Ultraviolet Rangs planet bonus reduced +20 → +0 (65 → 100 total)
  • 5xx Ultraviolet Rangs stun now affects Purple and BlueSkulls
  • x5x Infernal Inferno damage increased 12 → 15
  • x5x Infernal Inferno explosion damage increased 12 → 15
  • x5x Infernal Inferno pierce increased 6 → 8
  • x5x Infernal Inferno burn damage increased 32 → 60
  • 250 Infernal Inferno damage increased 24 → 30
  • 250 Infernal Inferno explosion damage increased 24 → 30
  • xx4 Megacolossal Sphinx cost reduced $6,000 → $5,000
  • xx5 Paragon of the Underworld now gains another tier of tributes at $15,000
  • 205 Paragon of the Underworld now grants +1 damage to main attack
  • 205 Paragon of the Underworld no longer reduces spread of main attack
  • Special Flames and Blockrangs are receiving changes to encourage crosspathing with the middle path, as well as making them more... well, specialised!
• Ship
  • Base cost reduced $75 → $70
  • 402 Battleship now gains +1 aerial damage to all attacks
  • xx1 pierce increased 4 → 5
  • Silver's Return range increased 85 → 90
  • Silver's Return fruit attack speed increased 0.35s → 0.3s
  • Silver's Return bomb attack speed increased 0.95s → 0.85s
  • Silver's Return plane seek angle increased 170-180 → 180
  • Silver's Return missile lifespan increased 1s → 2s
  • Silver's Return now grants the 5xx Ace Carrier buff to the Unidentified Celestial Deployment
  • Bottom path still remains as the inferior crosspath for Military Boat, and is even worse as a standalone. Base ship itself is getting a price drop to make its earlygame more viable. xx2 will no longer be completely useless for Battleships and higher.
• Hangar
  • 3xx Advanced Biplane missile lifespan increased 1.1s → 2s
  • 4xx Military Jet missile lifespan increased 1.5s → 2.5s
  • 5xx Prototype B missile lifespan increased 1.5s → 3s
  • x3x Omni-Gun radial bullet lifespan reduced 1s → 0.5s
  • x4x Bullet Storm all attacks aerial bonus reduced +1 → +0
  • x5x Festive Delivery all attacks aerial bonus reduced +2 → +0
  • More reliability buffs to Hangar's top path. Middle path is receiving some nerfs, as the tier 4 is a top midgame option with a very simple transition to lategame, remaining powerful even with little micro.
• Acid Launcher
  • x3x Rotor Sabotage aerial removal duration increased 1s → Permanent
  • Dissolving Gambit random pool range increased 45 → 50
  • Rotor Sabotage is still too unreliable to be a competitive alternative to buffers.
• Friskus
  • 3xx Targeted Discs cost reduced $200 → $175
  • 4xx Weapons Upgrades cost reduced $400 → $350
  • 5xx Ultimate Frisbee cost increased $3,300 → $3,400
  • 5xx Ultimate Frisbee split now triggers on first hit instead of expiry
  • x5x Golden Alloy cost reduced $3,250 → $3,000
  • xx5 Grim Reaper damage increased 2 → 20
  • Alternate Trio range increased 80 → 84
  • Alternate Trio base pierce increased 20 → 40
  • Alternate Trio transformation pierce increased 30 → 40
  • Alternate Trio super pierce remains at 40
  • Alternate Trio projectile speed increased 405 → 607.5 units/sec
  • Golden Alloy got overnerfed in the last update, so its increased price has been dialed back slightly. Ultimate Frisbee anti-synergised with pierce buffs which was absolutely unintended; now the mini-split triggers on the first hit instead of when the main projectile expires. 3xx and 4xx continue to underperform
• Light Keeper
  • Base cost reduced $110 → $100
  • 4xx Solar Power now gains extra pierce from charging, up to x2
  • 5xx Hadron Collider now gains extra pierce from charging, up to x4
  • x3x Lazar Power cost reduced $150 → $135
  • x4x Ray Burst cost increased $450 → $465
  • xx3 Manual Control cost increased $180 → $190
  • xx4 Optical Focusing cost increased $800 → $850
  • xx4 Optical Focusing and higher now keeps targeting options from xx3 Manual Control
  • xx5 Avada Kedavra cost reduced $8,200 → $7,200
  • Optical Focusing has been brought up to be fairly overpowered. Adding targeting options to this tower made it even stronger from testing, thus it'll receive a slight price increase since it still requires micro to fully maximise its potential. However, other paths have been underperforming especially on harder maps, so are seeing buffs.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed v4.1 xx5 Elite Halt nerf not applying and buffing xx3 Extreme Ice's slowdown instead
• Fixed 102+ Acid Launchers return of the sprite bug 
• Fixed Roguelike popup appearing when it shouldn't
• Fixed Chicxulub Event affecting projectiles with 0 damage, e.g. ice balls
• Fixed issues with Power Challenge saving incorrectly with save codes
• Fixed Power Challenge Puzzle 8 having incorrect cash requirements for medals
• Fixed money making towers in Power Challenges increasing their total cash counter by the wrong amount if income is not set to 1x