Hunters

All Hunters

🛈 Mobility in all of its forms is a core component of Steel Hunters, it is a tool we use to highlight the slow and tactical feel of our game. Whether traversing the battlefield or making a split second decision during an intense firefight we want players to feel the impact of their choices. We believe with the new cooldown of Dash and Jump we can still provide this feeling while reducing the frustrations that might arise due to its long duration.

• Updated Dash/Jump recharge time from 15s → 10s.

🛈We've heard your feedback that leveling up Hunters took too long and it was impacting the enjoyment of playing as characters that aren't your 'main'. As such, we've significantly sped up the process so you should always feel like your making progress. Even as the experience between levels increases, whether you're a level 10 Heartbreaker or a level 30 Weaver, the end should always be in sight.

• Decreased Hunter Progression XP requirements significantly.

Razorside

• Updated Razorside's Hangar Pose.

Gameplay

Colossus

🛈 The primary goal in reworking Colossus is to provide a more balanced and engaging experience. Current gameplay feedback indicates that Colossus is perceived as overpowering at lower levels due to its high durability and damage output, yet underwhelming at higher levels where player's Hunters have significantly grown in power. Additionally, players found the Colossus less engaging to play as compared to other Hunters because it offers limited gameplay opportunities, with a very straightforward weapon and no abilities. We expanded the Colossus gameplay by providing it with tools to catch and surprise enemies. We also want to ensure facing an enemy Colossus to be a challenging but winnable encounter.

• Colossus

  • There is a 5s cast time on activating or deactivating Colossus.

  • If the Colossus is destroyed

    • The Hunter spawns with 25% Structure, 0% Shields and the same amount of ammo that they entered with.

  • If the Colossus is manually deactivated or the timer ends

    • The Hunter spawns with the Structure, Shields and Ammo that they entered with along with extra reserve clips.

  • Cooldowns progress at a slower rate while controlling the Colossus.

• New Weapon: Burst Rocket Launcher

  • Colossus fires a twin burst rocket launcher. This shoots 6 rockets per salvo, 4 salvos per magazine, with a long reload that can be sped up with Quick Reload.

  • Scatter and Recoil increases throughout a burst, making it gradually less accurate.

• New Ability: Spear Throw

  • Colossus throws its spear at enemies. This has different effects depending on what it hits

    • Enemy

      • Knocks enemies back, deals damage and slows, but the Spear is destroyed. 

    • Barriers and Energy Dome

      • Destroys both the Barrier and itself.

    • Terrain

      • Creates an AoE Slow Zone around itself that also prevents enemy dashing or jumping. It can also be picked up again for another use, or destroyed by enemies.

• New Ability: Shield Recharge

  • Colossus recharges its shields to absorb incoming damage. This can create a temporary Overshield, if the amount recharged is over its natural capacity, that diminishes naturally after 4s.

• Melee Attack

  • Colossus knocks back enemy Hunters and drones with a mighty stomp and deals damage in an AoE. This attack deals extra damage to Drones.

Game Modes

General

• Replaced "Ranked" with "Battle Training" on the Game Mode menu.

• Updated Game Mode to auto-select according to the active onboarding mission.

• Updated Results screen to list all drone types under Drones Destroyed.

• Updated Game Mode descriptions to clarify opponent type and feel more in-universe.

Tutorial

🛈 We want new players to have a great introduction to Steel Hunters, preparing them for battle while offering a taste of our universe. To achieve this, we've significantly revamped our tutorial. Hunter Training has been completely rebuilt and now unfolds on a devastated highway, with a companion guiding you through the basics. The experience has been streamlined to get you into the action faster while ensuring you understand how to use your Hunter. Battle Training, a new optional follow-up to Hunter Training, introduces key game mode mechanics.

• Hunter Training

  • Updated Hunter Training to focus on the basics of Hunter movement and combat.

  • Updated Hunter Training to take place in the new Highway environment.

  • Updated Hunter Training to include a fully voice acted Trenchwalker companion.

• Battle Training

  • Added Battle Training. that focuses on game mode objectives, after completion of Hunter Training. This takes place in Maryland Heights.

    • This mode can only be played solo.

  • Added a fully voice acted Trenchwalker companion to Battle Training.

Starfall Harvest

• Updated First Wave

  • 6 Uncommon Towers now spawn, up from 3.

    • Towers spawn between each Team's spawn point.

• Updated Second Wave

  • Tower Rarity has been slightly upgraded.

    • Legendary (Orange) Towers do not spawn.

  • Only Loot, Offensive Buff and Defensive Buff Towers spawn.

• Removed Third Wave

  • Extraction now occurs after the Second Wave.

• Updated Battle Quests

  • Simplified Battle Quest phrasing.

• Updated Tower Wave Quest to only disappear upon wave completion.

• Updated AI Hunters to be able to interact with the Extraction Tower.

• Updated Sentinel drones to actively engage enemies.

• Updated Scout drones to notice other friendly drones being attacked.

• Updated Scout drones to react to Hunters proximity.

Maps

Global Map

• Added new Tutorial Map - Highway.

• Improved vehicles physics.

Crimson Ridge

• Updated Spaceport welcome sign on the control point building.

Quarry

• Improved the variety and number of UK-themed small objects.

Maryland Heights

• Added color variation for trees.

• Improved rock placements on landscape to appear more natural.

Audio

• Updated volume of abilities to be more consistent.

• Added Hunter voiceovers related to Starfall Harvest event for Heartbreaker, Fenris, Prophet, Razorside, Trenchwalker, Ursus, and Weaver.

• Added several new battle music tracks to maps.

• Updated music to change when new Towers spawn on Starfall Harvest.

• Updated music to change when the loading screen is displayed.

• Removed outdated voice lines for Razorside, Heartbreaker, and Weaver.

Other/Systems

• Updated New Player experience.

• Updated Social tab to appear after completion of Hunter Training.

• Updated Hunter Progression screen.

• Updated Account Leveling and Level Up screens.

• Updated Matchmaking to decrease queue time at lower levels.

• Added a button linking to the Patch Notes in the Hanger.

• Updated the Hunter Carousel tooltips to reflect Hunter level, stats and mission data (if applicable) for both unlocked and locked Hunters.

• Improved server stability.

• Updated player-controlled drones to be able to damage neutral ones with rocket barrage, and vice-versa.

• Added "User Interface Language" option to Settings.

• Lowered default mouse sensitivity and adjusted the range it can be set to.

Bugfixes

• Fixed the dropship on Quarry not descending to the extraction point during extraction.

• Fixed location pinging using the Map screen to only ping the Map.

• Fixed the multiple Dash declined HUD notification appearing if players held down the Dash input key.

• Fixed chat messages being invisible, clipping, and stacking incorrectly.

• Fixed Mute/Unmute input triggering multiple times per key press.

• Fixed the Teams and Stats tabs not being disabled when opening the full screen Map in the tutorials.

• Fixed the ping element being shown in the HUD interaction when in the tutorials.

• Fixed damage not being correctly applied due to destructible objects.

• Fixed Login failing if the Login screen is remained on for a long amount of time.

• Fixed a motion blur issue with Hunters.

• Fixed ship thruster animation appearing before the Extraction Event starts.

• Fixed Hunter skins not updating correctly on the Hangar screen.

• Fixed purchasing Mod upgrades occasionally crashing the client.

• Fixed players seeing incorrect rarity for Tag Hunt.

• Fixed Starfall extraction zone tower icon and the corresponding quest notification not updating correctly after multiple captures.

• Fixed players seeing incorrect text for Locked Towers and Supply Pods in Map legend.

• Fixed long Settings text labels not wrapping correctly.

• Fixed Bounty Hunter quests with no description and icon.

• Fixed server crash related to Bounty Hunter contract.

• Fixed infinite quest for 1st tower.

• Fixed trees in the background flickering on low/medium presets.

• Fixed water splashes and sounds occurring on landscape where there is no water.

• Fixed players not hearing incoming shells.

• Fixed Ursus' Missile Barrage not having information about rocket charges deprecation.

• Fixed Trenchwalker's Infection 2nd Active Effect not replenishing Leech Gun Energy.

• Fixed Weaver Damage increase from Energy Barrier not working on Drones.

• Fixed Fenris lacking Projectile Explosion VFX whilst having Claw Mod equipped.

• Fixed Trenchwalker's Painkiller mod increasing shield regen timer.

• Fixed crit zones on a weapon for Scimitar Fenris skin.

• Fixed being unable to Dash as the Colossus when "Press to Dash, Hold to Jump" control scheme is used.

• Fixed text regarding Gear unlocks and Boosters.

• Fixed missing string tables in menus.

• Fixed Gear text being uncapitalized.

• Fixed BattlePass reward preview leading to an empty screen.

• Fixed game crash when logging out while in a squad.

• Fixed teammate's Hunter staying after dissolving the squad.

• Fixed Level Up popup only closing by pressing the Esc key.