Dogs Of War Vu

Sim/Strategy/War => Games Discussion => Topic started by: Asid on October 11, 2019, 04:00:09 PM

Title: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on October 11, 2019, 04:00:09 PM
(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/964650/header.jpg?t=1570710205)

Modern-warfare RTS/sandbox game inspired by the real conflicts in the Middle East. Fight a counter-insurgency war, protect the civilian population, casevac your wounded and decide how the world sees your struggle. And remember - no one gets left behind.


Home page (https://invasionmachine.com/)
Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/app/964650/Invasion_Machine/)
Forum (https://steamcommunity.com/app/964650/discussions/)
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA9gVK8ox42KtWhv0U9sISw)


Single-player


INVASION MACHINE | Official Reveal Trailer

https://youtu.be/maTn_sSy-cI



About

Introduction
Invasion Machine is a blend of a sandbox manager and RTS. Your goal is to command troops in an occupied province, in an effort of bringing back peace and order. Kill your enemies, help the civilian population, preserve the resources and the lives of your own soldiers.

 
The Setting
What led to our recent occupation of this land is still at the center of a heated political debate.What followed the invasion, was the worst scenario we may ever have imagined - we hoped we’d be able to instill better leadership and let this country rebuild itself. But that’s not what happened, though. Our toppling of the local government created a power vacuum in the area - which is now quickly leading to an unprecedented rise of new powers - the druglords, locally known as Guerrillas. If we don’t stop this transformation, this entire country is gonna explode. We were not preparing for this kind of wae, and it seems it’s the last moment when we can still turn things around.

You, as the Commander of this Peace Force are tasked with restoring order and preparing ground for a new, legitimate government.

The Mission
If we’re to ever leave this land, we must first win over the hearts and minds of the local population. The locals think we’ve ruined their lives and quite frankly - most of them hates us. In order to win their trust - we must do our best to push out the criminal element, neutralize the remaining opposition and offer humanitarian help to them.

The Real Mission
Politicians run wars, and politicians only care about one thing - getting re-elected. In other words - your real job as the Commander is to make this war look good to the folks back home. Don’t get your soldiers killed, don’t lose too much equipment, and most importantly - don’t let the press see anything that would contradict the official story. And the official story? It’s obviously that we’re winning.

The Campaign
Divided into 8 chapters. The game takes you through the entire story of the invasion, starting right after the main battle of the war ends. At the beginning you are given just a handful of troops and old, derelict equipment. Unarmored, soft-shell transporters on the frontline? Check. Woodland camo in a desert country? Check. The army wasn’t really prepared for a long invasion, and yours is just one of many missions in this conflict. So if you want better resources - you’re gonna have to prove to your superiors that you’re worth them. The campaign ends once you manage to secure your province and hold elections. When a new government can be trusted with taking the country over, we finally get to go home.

 
What will you be doing in the game?
•   Killing your enemies (car ragdoll, shoot, turret)
•   Using progressively better equipment
•   Arresting those who you don’t kill
•   Disrupting the drug trade
•   Driving cars and leading convoys through conflict area
•   Evacuating the wounded
•   Hiring translators
•   Retrieving damaged vehicles
•   Getting ambushed
•   Completing side tasks, crucial to keeping your bosses happy
•   Sending out patrols
•   Providing security in key locations
•   Searching for contraband
•   Controlling how the press sees this conflict
•   Gaining intel on enemy forces
•   Maintaining your relations with the locals

 
At the same time, your enemy will be:
•   Trying to gain intel about you
•   Patrolling
•   Assassinating your VIPs
•   Kidnapping your VIPs
•   Retributing against locals who cooperate with you
•   Ambushing your patrols
•   Setting off IEDs
•   Making money off contraband sale
•   Trying to push you out of the province

What sets this game apart?
You’re supposed to preserve your units - your enemy might not treasure the lives of his soldiers, much - but you don’t have that luxury. This means casevacing the wounded and using tactical advantage when possible.

Your units are not mindless robots - kill their friend, and they may enter frenzy. Hurt them, and they’ll quickly start bleeding out.

Your enemy has no satellite overview of the battlefield, like you do. To fight your forces, they first need to find out where you are. This means the AI will send out recon missions of their own - and if the scouts find high value targets - they’ll report the findings back and call for bigger operations.

The locals don’t really have the option of being completely neutral. If the enemy presence is strong in the province, they’ll start cooperating with them, instead of helping you out.

Although inspired by real wars fought in the past decade, this game depicts a completely fictional conflict and is not an attempt at social commentary. The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious and any resemblance to the names, character, or history of any person is coincidental and unintentional.


Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:
This game is serious in tone, and attempts to depict the despair of a modern armed conflict. You can expect to see gory violence, death, drug trade and mistreatment of non-combatant civilian population. When shot, your wounded units bleed out and there's sometimes nothing you can do about it.


(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/964650/ss_d639f800c39785ed232d431a3f2e552c78149e6d.1920x1080.jpg?t=1570710205)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/964650/ss_b682318985a095a4b8002d41cc5c028ced607c1c.1920x1080.jpg?t=1570710205)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/964650/ss_b89ed715a3cc8422f073e1f61de2b3ca37b57450.1920x1080.jpg?t=1570710205)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/964650/ss_37e0790f7b266958cfd89dec90f85fc8f283f931.1920x1080.jpg?t=1570710205)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/964650/ss_b396b543bd0330c35717de0e35c7e0909a687a19.1920x1080.jpg?t=1570710205)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/964650/ss_d44b2e37641f7f4743c664894db79548b17ba0a1.1920x1080.jpg?t=1570710205)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/964650/ss_a18168e87d49d9fc7ea026136701cc5aeb978526.1920x1080.jpg?t=1570710205)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/964650/ss_481a3fdb499fdf5cffc4c31302df36aa33d11259.1920x1080.jpg?t=1570710205)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/964650/ss_44028f383ddb018e3cdb96a40bca1d99f2d53b89.1920x1080.jpg?t=1570710205)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/964650/ss_225614789bda8fa751ff1a2a312e81d1cf420dd8.1920x1080.jpg?t=1570710205)


Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on October 21, 2019, 07:56:10 PM
Release Day (small) Delay and the Confusion

Let me try to explain, I haven't been clear enough about this.

I've created some confusion with the release date. The store page states that the game launches tomorrow, but unfortunately this isn't the case. I've decided to delay the release for 4 weeks - till November 6th.

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/3c627a9d14792bf7c7d6b50156940cd8c191942b.gif)

The reason for this is because lately more people started playing the open alpha version of the game - and pointed me to some still-prevailing bugs that I find unacceptable to launch the game with. You might have seen the recent coverage on Youtube, where the guys reviewing the game infallibly get overwhelmed with the chaos in the gameworld. And, although they're funny and chill about it - makes the game barely playable for them.

So - I will fix all that, while also adding more tutorial messages to the game and make the learning curve a bit less brutal, but I need a bit more time.

And because recent changes on Steam make it harder to adjust the already-published game release date, I'm still in the process of properly updating that, and this is why the page still shows the wrong date.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on November 08, 2019, 12:47:06 AM
I need to delay the release to December
Thu, 7 November 2019

...and I know how this makes me look.
I feel like I'm really testing everybody's patience with this, but the game needs to be delayed again - the build that I currently have as the alpha still just isn't ready to go to the early access, yet.

I still plan on releasing before the end of the year, but've been (reasonably) asked by Steam to stop changing the release date all the time, so for now it's displayed as "coming in Feb 2020". But this is the worst case scenario, and I will soon update you all with the actual date.


I have a number of issues that need addressing, among them:
1. Some major issues with pathfinding
2. Enemy AI tends to clump all together into one big easy target for you, on every engagement. This is boring, too simple and provides little tactical challenge. I'll be making some major adjustments here.
3. Any interactions with the locals (stopping vehicles, searching the houses) completely block the rest of your gameplay, and need reworking.
4. other, general look & feel things that will be very awkward for new players. In the past, this for example included no simple way of giving the move/ engage orders to your troops, but a recent update already fixed this. When I say look & feel, this is the sort of issues I'm trying to address.

So in the end, I could release the game already, but it wouldn't still be a good representation of the future finished products.

Sorry again, the game still gets updated daily, and
the Open Alpha is still available and downloadable, from the game's Discord server: here https://discordapp.com/invite/G4zX63s . The project isn't canceled and nothing's really changed - I'm working on it same as before, I was just bad with my planning.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on February 14, 2020, 01:26:44 AM
As of today, the Open Alpha has concluded
February 12th, 2020

The alpha is no more, but it's a good thing.

In preparations to the proper early access release, I've just closed down the open alpha section of the Discord. The interest in it has been and continues to be greater than I anticipated, so once the game is available - I will start preparing the Closed Beta program. More information, as always, available on Discord.

tl;dr; The alpha is done. Next up is the Early Access, and closed beta within it.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on February 16, 2020, 11:13:50 PM
The invasion begins on February 26th
Sun, 16 February 2020

The machine is about to get started
Invasion Machine is almost here. There's been delays, but every on of them meant more time for the crunch (yay) and more fixes.

https://youtu.be/FDqTaqGvSl0


The first build to be publicly available will feature a single game mode - the sandbox/freeplay, where you don't try to complete a specific mission, but rather keep your AO in check.

You can expect some major limitations at first, though:

•  saving/ loading will be disabled
•  the UI lacks many quality of life features, but I'm adding them one by one
•  the AI is sometimes dumb, but also is getting improved with every patch
•  the general roughness of interaction

In general, if you feel that an early access game isn't for you - that's fine. You can let it mature a bit before you get invested, just maybe wishlist if you haven't already. I'm not your usual gamedev studio - I've been here a while, and I'm not going anywhere. The project will be progressing.

What you can expect of me - is a lot of attention to realism, dillemas of a modern conflict and depth of the simulation, and I don't mean it as in marketing-talk. This isn't your usual RTS, will never be, and will look into areas probably no other game in the genre ever does.

tl;dr; I haven't been updating this page lately, mostly because I've been keeping busy with the development. But the big news is here - the game launches into early access on February 26th.


tl;dr; Early access means in this case the same thing it usually means - the game will start out as an incomplete product, with big (and sometimes much needed) updates planned for the next few months.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on March 10, 2020, 12:07:01 AM
Future of the project, the roadmap
Mon, 9 March 2020

What can you expect of me in the coming months

After Action Report

Let me start off by thanking each on of you who already decided to support the game. The current build stresses the "early" part of an early access, and what you're playing right now is just a fraction of the game's future content. I know it has it's problems, and I'm working on them.

I've been saying before that this game is not a typical RTS title, and thankfully pretty much all of you understand it and are on board with my ideas. That's great, and now that the first week after the release is behind me - I'm ready to move forward with the project.

Updates and common Issues

Some of you are reporting commonly occurring issues, some of them rather severe, so at this point I'm focused almost exclusively on bugfixing. There's already been one release since the update, with the next one coming this week (most likely on Thursday evening CET).

If you already have the game in your Steam library, please make sure you have the auto-updates enabled for it (right-click on the game title and select game settings). This game will be updated a lot, and you'll want to play the latest version of it.

Of the worst still outstanding issues we have:

•   car pathfinding (often failing to find the quickest route, as well as getting stuck in the far village)
•   unreadable UI (too much transparency, not enough contrast, overlapping windows)

Both will be addressed in the coming weeks. I won't even be mentioning game crashes and smaller usability issues, missions getting stuck, etc. - because all those things have been brought to my attention and are being worked on as well.

Roadmap

I will be working on a nicer, a little more interactive roadmap in the coming days, but before it's ready, let me just list the nearest term plans here, so you're not kept completely in the dark until it's up.
Note: I know not everyone has Discord, but if you do, and are interested in this game, you can join here: https://discord.gg/G4zX63s - we discuss the game daily, probably most of it will never end up on Steam until I create the next update.

Having said that, here's the steps:

Bugfixing

I cannot continue adding more layers of complication into the game until I fix some blocking issues. I think the most important one here is the car pathfinding (I'm actually working on it right now) - at times it's plain pitiful. Before I continue adding more features and complications - I need to bring it up to a more acceptable state.

Soldier specializations and loadouts

Basically, the game's right now missing both the marksmen (for both you and your enemies), and the machinegunners for some more effective suppression. I consider both those roles essential for the game. Along with that, I'd like to add a first layer of troop customization, where you'd be able to select the general loadout of your men (the weapon, and therefore the role; med supplies; additional ammo). Along with it, the unit dispatch menu could use a do-over, because right now it's unnecessarily complicated.

Garrisoning/ destructible (and rebuildable) buildings

Right now neither your troops nor the enemy can shoot from within the buildings. Also, right now, even if you drop your CAS directly onto a building - it won't touch it, or the people inside.
With the update, you'll be able to take over buildings (after first breaching and searching them), even with civilians inside (they'll hate you for it). Your men will be able to use the openings as firing positions, and explosions will be able to collapse the whole structure.
Demolished building will be rebuildable for both the civilians and your men (to their previous shape and function), with the use of a new resource - the building materials.

More densely populated map, more POIs

With the map being a rather desolate place right now, it will be time to add more unique (and functional) structures. There's gonna be at least one more village, inaccessible to vehicles, located on high ground.
There's gonna be new unique structures, serving as possible social projects for you to develop - a water distribution center, a power station, a factory, farmland and cellular network infrastructure. All destructible. All rebuildable, each with it's own effects on the local life quality.

Politics

Both your faction and the enemy will be able to send political figures on campaign trails. This will mean a constant political tug of war between the factions, causing you to more rapidly lose civilian support if your only strategy is a military domination.

Saving the game

I know many of you consider it an essential feature (I also think it's understandable), so while I had my reasons to delay it as much as possible (both because along with future game updates, your saves are gonna keep getting broken, and because it's such a heavy task that as I work on it - it will pause other progress on the game), due to popular demand - I'll be adding it sooner. You win :)

Structure Building

Because it should be a big part of a more permanent presence of your units on the map, you should be able to build various defensive structures. Sandbags, machinegun nests, traffic checkpoints.
In the end, I'd like the player to be able to build a permanent combat outpost of sorts, which he'd later have to re-supply using his convoys.

Smoke cover, explosives and APCs

Right now your enemies are somewhat powerless against you. With their rusty AKs and the occasional technical, your men completely dominate the map most of the time, so in this update I'll introduce RPGs, mortars, more technical units and some old APCs for your enemy.

Your men will get access to smoke cover, AT weapons and new MRAP units.

Long-term goals

The points I described above are just the first steps. For one - the community is constantly feeding me with ideas, and I haven't yet added any of them to the list. On top of that, there's some bigger projects planned, which will change the game quite a lot.

Special Forces

SF units with their own, new missions. Recon, snatch and grab, and anything we come up with together.
I don't want them to become just infantry with beefier stats, but rather another flavor for the game.

Helicopters

Troop transport for your own men, as well as a quick means of casevac. Will be a scarce resource, with big penalties for your relations with the high command, if lost.

PJs - an additional unit you won't get direct, full control over. Similar to fire support, you'll be able to call them in, and will be tasked with preparing and keeping a secure LZ for them.

Tanks and other mechanized units

This game is mostly about infantry. I want it to always be a story of a handful your men, having to deal with an overwhelming task given to them. Tanks and other advanced units will never play a major role in the game, but I'm open to adding them as additional fire support units, in limited quantities.

The enemy will also get their own tanks, in even more limited quantities.

tl;dr; this is the list of _some_ of the things coming to the game. Because many of you've been asking where is this project going - I tried listing the features that I think will affect the gameplay most.

This is not a complete list, nor does it mean that I will stop accepting your ideas. Think of it as the starter roadmap, with more to come later.


Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on April 20, 2020, 02:10:01 PM
Update version 0.3.4
03/16/2020


* fixed: units exiting your vehicles will no longer bump into other cars or flip them around. If a unit doesn't have enough space to dismount - it might remain in the car.
* fixed: units hovering in the air after leaving their vehicles near the Quasir village.
* fixed: cars randomly stopping in the middle of nowhere in certain parts of the map. Was caused by invisible colliders left over from a legacy vegetation system (invisible trees). With those invisible trees now gone, there will also be less strain on the physics system.
* fixed: wrong troop positions when leaving houses in the Quasir village, and in all other parts of the map with high elevation - the height test looking for a free spot for them was working wrong if the terrain was too high
* fixed: the vehicles waiting for the rest of their convoy will no longer block traffic. this should fix the traffic jams caused by enemy convoys getting mixed up with the civilian traffic
* fixed: the translators were unrecruitable in the villages
* fixed: as you reset the game map, your previously earned command points will now get reset to the default value
* fixed: as you reset the game map, your previously developed social projects will now be reset as well
* fixed: as you reset the game map, your CAS assets will be reset as well
* fixed: car engine sound will no longer be played for wrecks
* fixed: cars being far away from their convoy will no longer beeline straight back to it, cutting through the obstacles. Instead, they'll try to navigate back to the convoy using the same methods other traffic works on.
* fixed: cars would previously sometimes drive straight into a stopped vehicle in front of them, as if the AI didn't see it (it actually didn't)
* fixed: cars will now also detect when they get stuck as driving in reverse, which will cause them to look for a different path
* fixed: if you try to link up the convoy on itself (link the convoy lead vehicle back to it's child), the game will no longer crash.
* fixed: in some cases the car wasn't effectively trying to steer away from head-on obstructions
* optimization: vehicle pathfinding was doing excessive calculations (not actually leading to any better results), overwhelming the nav system. This has been fixed, and should result in a massive reduction in CPU usage for pathfinding
* fixed: cars would before try to drive, even while still waiting for their path to get calculated. This caused them to drive in a circle for some time.
* fixed: the cars can now reverse to their destination instead of always trying to do a three-point turn every time you order them to move to a nearby location behind them
* fixed: cars will no longer kill civilians when reversing into them
* fixed: flattened the road to the border village (Quasir, the "far village"), because civilian cars were getting stuck on it all the time
* fixed: game crash when an enemy patrol couldn't engage your troops
* fixed: you can no longer try to inspect cars belonging to the high command
* fixed: as you attempt to remotely control a convoy, the lead vehicle will now always be selected for you
* fixed: the lead vehicles in convoys will now be less likely to drive away far from their immediate convoy child. This should reduce the convoy rubberbanding
* fixed: it was previously possible to order cars to drive to point above ground, because of a bug in the order-issuing UI
* your cars placed on the main roads will now block the traffic. this means you can use them for making a barrier between your men and oncoming traffic, as long as the vehicle has occupants or there's at least one of your men near it. Drivers stopped this way will over time get impatient, however, causing you to lose relations points with the locals.
* if the player hits his own units with CAS, it's gonna cause much more stress for all his units, as well as more severe penalties.
* increased penalties for attacking civilians with CAS
* CAS can be temporarily disabled if used ineffectively by the player (if spammed left and right, with no valid targets in range)
* CAS now costs command points
* (tiny little surprise. if you've been around on the Discord server, you'll recognize it)
* changed the player evaluation scores, so that any attacks against the local population will be more severely punished (this will still need more balancing)

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on April 20, 2020, 02:10:49 PM
Update version 0.3.5
18 April 2020


* NEW: both sides of the conflict now have their own machine guns and sniper rifles
* NEW: units firing the new sniper or MG weapons will only have about 70% accuracy, unless they have a relevant perk (marksman or machine gunner)
* NEW: units will now have their individual, customizable loadouts. This is a first version of the system, and for now it's only useful for selecting the weapon for your soldier. I will be using this a lot in the future, though, for defining that kind of special equipment a soldier can use.
* fixed: better models for the existing rifles
* NEW: some weapons now have an "optics" parameter, changing the awareness radius of the soldier using them (as long as he's actually aiming through the scopes)
* NEW: enemy cars will now spawn from a second location (behind Shatra). In the future I will of course add a few more locations, for now this is a test.
* NEW: when idle, units with scopes on their weapons will now start scoping their surroundings, from time to time
* NEW: there's now both a proper sniper unit in the game, as well as regular rifleman with a designated marksman role. Both are using appropriate weapons.
* NEW: proper use of the Buddy Medical Aid - from now on, for the buddy aid to be performed, the victim must have their medikit on them. If they don't, the soldier performing the action will use his own medikit, which may later be a problem if he himself gets shot. This is marked in the action's label, before you decide to issue the order.
* cars with turrets mounted on top now get a big accuracy penalty if they're driving fast. Before, it was way too easy to just drive the car at speed at shoot at stuff.
* fix: the previous updates caused your cars to drive into the location of the "Drive here" button, instead of the place where you opened the splash menu. Fixed now.
* fix: multiple changes to the sniper-engage action. Fixed the aiming time (longer), accuracy (more realistic - stationary targets easier to hit, very high accuracy on the first shot at the target). The sniper might now also reveal his position if he misses his shot.
* fix: snipers will now track the vehicle their target entered
* fix: the enemies will now recognize when they're being overpowered with a longer-range weapon, and instead of running into the shooter blindly, trying to close the distance (and getting mowed down easily), will at least try to suppress their attacker, even when outside of effective range.
* fix: there was a bug previously, where the units were incorrectly calculating their line of sight, causing them to see enemies they normally shouldn't at all be possible to (this caused them to attack enemies hidden entirely behind the terrain or buildings)
* when you randomize (reset) the game map, enemy snipers will now also be created
* fix: previously in an engagement, your units would try to re-acquire a target which has already left the scene, causing them to never disengage even if the target was actually already too far to present any danger
* changed the traffic stop action. Previously, your men would only stop some of the cars, based of a calculated "suspicion level". But since this wasn't clear enough, it's now been changed and the unit of traffic duty will now stop every passing car, unless it belongs to bluefor.
* increased the artillery damage radius
* fixed the vehicle and passenger scroll lists to always be starting at the top, instead of the middle of the list
* you can now see the unit's loadout details when you open the selected unit's details window
* adjusted the farming action, so that the villagers will no longer try to farm a field in another village, cause this caused too long trips
* the second gas station is now active (the one in a village near the map's border), it should work the same way the previous one does
* you can have multiple wreckers now, if you buy an additional one using the Command Rewards window. Also fixed an issue which would let you make a wreckerception (pick up a wrecker with a wrecker, then pick up that wrecker with a wrecker, then...)
* fix: enemy convoys of more than 3 cars would previously always get stuck when getting spawned. fixed now.
* fix: multiple fixes to AI convoys spawning, it's going to be must more solid now. Previously the convoys would get all tangled up, with the lead vehicle spawning behind it's followup cars, often causing them to immediately get stuck.
* fix: AI convoys used to get tangled up together if two AI missions were getting spawned at once. This is fixed now.
* fix: after a long gameplay, sometimes new AI missions would stop getting spawned if you didn't clean up the wrecks and dead enemy units

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on May 14, 2020, 11:10:16 AM
Invasion in May - what to expect
Tue, May 12, 2020

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/bec6fb1ec97fe54911b204ab02fb003127b4ef4e.png)

A little summary of events

What is happening with the project

The last post I made was about the development roadmap, and I've gone radio silent. At least that may have been the impression if you're not on the game's Discord (you don't have to be there if you don't want to, I'm just trying to say that Discord is to me a much more immediate form of interaction, so I'm mostly posting the updates there). So, for all those of you who want to see the updates here - this is a summary.

What happened recently

The last update introduced many under-the-hood changes to the game's mechanics. It allowed me to make custom loadouts and weapons for your troops (even if it's not yet used to the full capacity), added new, random loadouts for the enemy and introduced some new weapons. It may or may not look like much. On the tech side - it was required to prepare the game for the more interesting updates in the future, like equipment tech tree.

And what about the roadmap? What's happening now?

It's still valid. I'm actually beginning to work on garrisoning + destructable buildings, which will be another one of those big (and long?) developments, but will transform the gameplay quite a lot. Enemies will be hiding in buildings and shooting out of them. You'll be able take structures over. It's gonna be fun.
Nothing changes in terms of the plans for the projects.

Nearest update - next week

Because garisonning will be a big update, I'm first preparing something smaller, to tide the active players over. Next week I will release version 0.3.6, containing multiple bug fixes, some major changes to the map, and a more complicated mechanic for building Social Projects (you'll now need to stockpile and guard construction materials to move your projects forward).
With that released, I'll be back to working on the planned roadmap step, as described above.

And what about the bugs?

There's now a couple of places where bug can be reported - here, on Discord. But in the end, I'll be gathering them all in a publicly visible bug list, where you can see what's been noticed, what's been fixed and what's about to get released in the nearest patch. The list is here:
https://trello.com/b/BQiZ1I7t/invasion-machine-bug-tracker

If you don't see a bug there - it might not have been reported, yet.

When will I be able to save the game?

After garrisoning, I'll start working on game saving. I wanted to wait longer, for technical reasons mostly, but it's the most often requested feature, so - you (will) have been heard. It's gonna be the next priority.

tl;dr; I'm still not posting updates to Steam forums often enough, to the point where some people thought the project's been abandoned. That's not the case - the daily updates are always posted to Discord (cause it's a much more immediate form of discussion, so it captures attention more). I will update more often here as well, from now on.

tl;dr; Next week there's an intermediary update planned - it's gonna introduce many changes on the game map, take care of some of the often-reported bugs and make some larger changes to how you build Social Projects on the map


Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on May 23, 2020, 12:28:22 AM
The "intermediate" update is out now.
Fri, 22 May 2020

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/964650/ss_d639f800c39785ed232d431a3f2e552c78149e6d.1920x1080.jpg?t=1583336875)

This one is about the long standing gamebreaking bugs, and the promised change in developing the social projects

This week's news

The minor update I promised recently is now out - bumping the game to version 0.3.6.
The goal of this one was to give you some of the patches for long standing bugs, because I didn't want you to be forced to wait for them until I'm done with the nearest big roadmap development (the garrisoning).

So, to keep things short, the most important changes in this one are:

•   You can no longer develop social projects if you don't have construction materials stockpiled near it (or just loaded intoa car parked near it). You can choose the cargo your car leaves with in the dispatch menu, similarly to how it was done before.
•   Your dispatch will no longer get broken after a longer playthrough (this was actually caused by civilian vehicles entering your unit roster by mistake). This bug was in the game since the beginning, but I only recently was able to reproduce it myself, after I got a game log from one of the players.
•   There is new areas on the map. A new town and a farmland area.

The game's bugtracker is now publicly visible, and you can always see what I'm currently working on, and which of the issues have already been reporter. Link here: Invasion Machine Bug Tracker https://trello.com/b/BQiZ1I7t/invasion-machine-bug-tracker

What's next?

I will now start working on the next step of the roadmap - the garisonning in buildings/ destructable buildings. This will be a big undertaking, again requiring me to write quite a few new systems and interactions, so you can expect this update to take a while. I will keep posting updates about it. By "take a while" I mean 3 weeks, or so.
tl;dr; there is an update out, with changes to the game map, bugfixes to the most annoying bugs (well, sans pathfinding) and a new "stockpiling construction materials" mechanic, now required for developing the social projects. Next update will be the garrisoning in buildings / destructable buildings, but it will arrive in 3 weeks or so.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on June 01, 2020, 11:51:55 PM
Nearest planned updates (and when are the game saves coming)
Mon, 1 June 2020


You've been asking about the game saving - so when it's coming to the game?

What about the game saving?
In short - I'll be working on it after the nearest updates. Truth be told, this is a feature I was always going to delay as much as possible, because for me to add it into an incomplete game means I will have to be tweaking and reworking it with every future upgrade I do.

To say even more - making the game saveable is probably the single biggest task in the entire project.
But having said that - this is also the single most requested feature for the game, so - you (will) have been heard. Once I finish the nearest updates - I will begin implementing the saves.

So what comes before it?
I'm currently working on making the buldings destructable. This is the first part of the "garrisoning update", planned to come out in a few weeks. When the entire feature is complete, you'll be able to raze entire buildings with CAS (though it definitely will not be encouraged), rebuild the demolished structures to regain lost support, as well as use the buildings as protection for your troops. The same goes for the AI units, who in turn will start using the buildings for their ambush missions.

Before the big update is out, I'll also deploy a small bugfix-only build (bug tracker: https://trello.com/b/BQiZ1I7t/invasion-machine-bug-tracker).

tl;dr; you have been consistently asking for the save games, so I'm gonna be working on it soon.

The current near-term roadmap for the game updates is:
Destructable + Rebuildable buildings >> Units garrisoning in buildings >> MAKING YOUR GAMES SAVEABLE


Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on July 02, 2020, 11:41:22 PM
Update: the buildings on the game map are now destructable
Thu, 2 July 2020

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/2cfc7f0828dda2c8024aabefcfc5947aba402dce.png)


What's happening to the game lately
The last time I posted here, I laid out a near-term roadmap for the game.
In the nearest future, there was supposed to be 3 major developments:
1. Buildings should become destructable and vulnerable to explosions and CAS.
2. Units should be able to garrison in the buildings.
3. Add the game saves.

I've just completed and released the first step of these - the buildings on the map are now destructable, and you can flatten them with badly placed CAS. Be warned, though - doing so will devastate your relations with the locals. Neither any surviors of the damaged house, nor their neighbors are ever likely to work with you again.
If you happen to destroy a building, you can order it's reconstruction, though. The mechanic for it is identical to opening the social projects - you order some of you units to work on the project, and need to provide the construction materials from your HQ.

Other news
The newest build of the game features automatic (and anonymous) bug reporting. It's capable of notifying me of the crashes and fatal errors in the game (exceptions). It will not notify my about any content issues, like flying cars or stupid AI, so I still do appreciate those reports, but it definitely will let me catch those worst cases easier. You can opt out from the reporter in the game settings, if you really want to. The reporter's been up since yesterday, and it already caught 1,500 instances of (mostely the same, repeated) errors.
I've already started patching them and will release a hotfix in a couple of days.

What's next
The garrisoning. It's gonna be a big update, affecting the gameplay in many different ways. No longer will the AI always lay out in the open. They'll be trying to setup new forms of traps, using the cover of buildings.
I'm also considering adding ammo limit and enemy weapon stockpiles in the same update, but will need to flesh the idea out if I do.

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/6cd1d7192f095492f0d852c2aca52b1b7a5f46c7.gif)


Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on July 05, 2020, 01:18:26 AM
New hotfix build released
Sat, 4 July 2020

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/4db0180e68fd4780644bc6fae7520843ea3390fc.png)

I've just released a hotfix build, addressing the most common bugs I got reports for

Hotfix release
I just released a new build of the game, fixing all of the most common errors I got reports for,
There's no new features here, just a bunch of fixes.

As new reports continue to flow in, I will keep on patching any of the reoccuring issues.

Release Notes
* optimization of smaller on-map object physics settings
* optimization of the terrain renderer
* fixes to the foliage rendering system
* fix: previously it was impossible to reset the map with stockpiles present.
* fix: exception when using the same unit to inspect traffic for the second time in a row
* fix: in various cases, enemy AI was getting confused when some of it's actors died after getting shot in the vehicles
* fix: AI ambush mission getting stuck
* fix: AI patrol mission getting stuck
* fix: game crash when trying to cancel a breach of a building
* fix: exception when delivering enemy prisoners to HQ
* fix: SSE4 requirement, coming from an external library mistakenly trying to run SSE4 code on a SSE2 processor.
* fix: the game was trying to update inactive command missions, causing excessive error logging
* fix: sniper trying to rotate to non-existent enemy, causing exceptions
* fix: exception when AI was trying to confirm locations of no longer existing actors
* fix: error when trying to find the drivers of certain cars
* fix: error when trying to unpack a car that's no longer around
* fix: intel window being visible for a AI mission that no longer exists

What's next
The nearest big step in the update roadmap is the garisonning. Right after it - saving the game.


Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on September 06, 2020, 11:50:27 PM
New update pending: garrisoning will come out this week
Sun, 6 September 2020

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/964650/ss_d639f800c39785ed232d431a3f2e552c78149e6d.1920x1080.jpg?t=1583336875)

I'm almost done working on the garrisoning update, the new game build will be released this week

What is happening
I've pretty much finished the garrisoning update - in the new build, which I'm about to release in a couple of days, both your units and the enemy will be able to use the houses for shelter and ambushes.
Before I release it, however, I still need to do a lot more testing - it's gonna take me a couple of days, so I don't have the specific release date, yet.

Why it took so long?
The previous versions of the game had no concept of targetting buildings, or shooting out of them. The only valid targets used to be the game "actors" - cars and people, and changing this was a rather complicated process. Actors generally only do one thing at once - either they are engaged, or are doing anything else. For the buildings - you can have both civilians and enemies inside, with player units trying to breach at the same time, and other units shooting at them. In other words - it's not as easy to develop.

So when do you release it?
This week. But I don't know the exact day, yet - I'm still testing.

What will you work on next?
Due to popular demand, the next update will be the game saves. I have a lot of updates planned for the gameplay itself, but people are invariably disappointed when they realize the saves don't yet work in the game, and this is the feedback I get the most often. So, here we go - once the garrisoning is out, I'm beginning work on the saves.

tl;dr; there will be a new build of the game out this week. once it's out, I'm starting to work on game saves.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on September 13, 2020, 01:42:52 PM
Garrisoning Update is now in the game
Sun, 13 September 2020

The units on the map can now use buildings for cover

What's in the newest update
The units on the map will now use buildings for cover. This is both for the AI (you can now never be sure how much opposition awaits you in the village you're about to roll into) and your own.

Units can shoot out of houses, but only if there's a shot line from any of the house's opening to their target. More powerful weapons, like the .50cal, can shoot into the houses through walls, but doing so will not be very effective (except for damaging the house itself).


Here's the changelog:

version 0.4:
* NEW: both your units and the enemy can now garrison in the buildings. This provides extra protection (it's not fast or easy to take down a determined shooter hiding in the structures)
* NEW: before your units can garrison in an unknown building, they'll first breach and clear it. This is similar to the "house searches", but will not reveal any weapons or drugs caches. Immediately after the breach is over, the units will take firing positions inside.
* NEW: you can now shoot at houses, and out of them. Shooting at enemies hiding in structures will also engage any civilians stuck there along with the enemy.
* NEW: the units inside structures now observe the world outside, which lets the AI engage your units from within structures, or try to lure your men closer (wait with opening their fire until your units are within range).
* NEW: each building on the map got hand-placed firing positions, more or less aligned to it's windows. There may be less positions than actual windows (due to optimization concerns), but in general - the units inside will only be able to shoot from the side of the building which isn't solid wall.
* NEW: heavy weapons, like te 50cal, can still fire at buildings through solid walls, but the effectiveness of this fire will be rather low.
* NEW: snipers are a bit more effective at picking off targets in houses, but they need to be placed in a position that gives them clear view into one of the building's windows.
* NEW: you can now select houses, the same way you select your units.
* NEW: CEASE FIRE order for all your units. You can now tell your men to stop firing and don't try to engage new targets in their current engagement.
* NEW: additional UI for the selected houses, showing you the lines of fire / line of sight from the closest window to the point under your pointer. This should help you realize which sectors of the map are covered by your garrisoned troops.
* NEW: AI will try to hide in buildings, if engaged by overwhelming force
* NEW: AI will garrison in villages you have no presence in
* fix: the "house details" window is now much more mouse-friendly - you no longer need to have the camera focused entirely on the house to get it to open
* changes the max passenger count for all the troop carriers to 5
* optimization to the actions splash menu - will now be opened faster

Why it took so long?
No part of my game scripts was ready for this change - in the previous versions, the houses were completely ignored in engagements, and the game had no idea how to target them or use them for cover.
I had to rebuild all that, step by step.

What's next?
Save games. Pretty much everyone's asking about saves these days, so I'm making them my immediate next priority.

tl;dr; Garrisoning in buildings is now possible in the game. The next update will be the save games, I'm starting to work on them now.


Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on September 26, 2020, 02:46:50 AM
Invasion Machine | Live Stream #1
25 September 2020

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/e03e64ac6d3c70f3bb24d345352a041e16c42523.png)

Join Invasion Machine Staff for an official live stream.

https://youtu.be/Zp7Q2ui-X18


The Network Moderation Team & Network Development Team will be live streaming Invasion Machine #1 on the 25th September 2020 at 15:00 EST/20:00 BST. The Live stream will share some insight into the development of Invasion Machine and future updates including building update, vehicle update and the Invasion Machine community outreach programs. There will be several discussions happening and you can ask any questions to the EN Manager of Invasion Machine.

Happy Commanding!
¬ Game Moderation Team


Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on December 10, 2020, 02:34:50 AM
Update 0.5 Progression
Thu, 10 December 2020

Hello,

The Invasion Machine Team understands that some players would like updates and announcements on steam, as a result, we will be providing more announcements on the steam forums in the future.

Currently, update 0.5 is in the closed testing phase and the Game Development Team is working extremely well in fixing the issues (bugs) our beta testers are providing us. In the near future, we will be releasing an open testing branch for everyone to test the saves and provide feedback on the forums. The Game Development Team has not yet provided any dates for update 0.5 release or the open testing branch.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on December 17, 2020, 12:14:32 AM
Plans for the rest of 2020. When are saves coming to the game.
Wed, 16 December 2020

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/fee66e6898917110a95b3912f0d9566f2ad95ab7.png)

There's been a long radio silence on my side, it's time I gave you an official update on the further plans

The game's still moving forward as before (just behind the scenes, for now)

Once again I went radio-silent on you all (at least all of you who haven't joined the Discord). From my perspective, it always seems like it's better to wait till I have some more major news, but after such a long break - I do understand that the game might look a little bit abandoned. So, to say in two words - it's not.

Why isn't there an update up, yet?
I'm finishing work on the saves. It's about 95% done at this point, but the nature of this update is - so far, when testing with some of the players, we realized that sometimes the game doesn't save correctly and all the player's progress gets lost. There's been no public updates to the game in the past months, but internally - we've tested about four different builds with the community, making progressive changes.

So, until all the little but disastrous bugs are taken care of - I cannot go public with the build. I understand there's nothing more infuriating than saving your game, just to realize later that the save got corrupted and all your progress lost for good.

Why so long?
This was the absolute worst part to develop in the project. The amount of interactions between the actors on the map, their plans and intentions, their state, ... All of these just kept on mounting up, and having them figured out, one by one, just took an enormous amount of time.
The good thing about it, is - it only had to be done once, so there's no reason for the future updates of the game to take this long.

tl;dr;
So - when will the update finally go live?
Before Christmas. It's literally in the last stages of testing right now.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on December 26, 2020, 01:38:00 AM
Saves will remain as an optional beta branch till the second week of January
Fri, December 25, 2020

Some players were having issues with the saves, so until January the update will remain as an optional beta branch

Saves will only be available as an optional update until January
It turns out some of the testers have experienced issues with their savegames, and some of those issues I wasn't yet able to reproduce. Because of this, I need to delay the official launch of the game-saving update, and for now keep them as an optional branch, only available to those of you who would like to test it and maybe help me find any remaining issues there.

If you want to get involved, you can switch to a beta branch of the game to enable saves.
All the issues will get resolved soon, but the more people join in and help me - the sooner this will happen. The update was scheduled to go live today, because I wasn't able to find any major problems in my own tests anymore, until some of the testers started reporting them to me.

...and if you find any issues, please report them
If the game crashes for you, or you save file no longer works - please report it, either in the forum or by emailing me at pixelmachinegames+bugs@gmail.com, including the player log from the game and the save file itself.

The log files can be found under C:\Users\[your user name in windows]\AppData\LocalLow\Pixel Machine\Invasion Machine\[any logs that you have here].log

The save file is in the same folder, and has a filename that ends with the extension .sav (for example, 1_12309.sav).

How to switch the game to a beta branch in Steam?
1. Right-click on Invasion Machine in your steam library page.
2. Select "Properties..." from the dropdown menu.
3. In the Properties window that will show up, select "BETAS" in the menu on the left.
4. Switch to the branch named "public-testing - Open testing for the saves feature".
5. That's it. Wait till Steam downloads the new branch and switches to it.
6. Now, when you open the game for the next time - it will be in version 0.5.1, and the load/save buttons will be enabled.

tl;dr; Saves are delayed till the second week of January, and will for now remain in a test branch, available for any of you who'd like to try it out and maybe help report any bugs. I'm sorry for the delay, but I was made aware of some major issues that slipped through and would corrupt your save files, if left unfixed.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on January 17, 2021, 01:06:06 AM
Your gameplay can now be saved.
Sat, 16 January 2021

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/7fb9a0924204c66fb5f98ebb62121ee0b6e50f00.png)

The saves are in.

Finally. The saves are in the game.
I'm releasing a new build of the game to the default, public branch. From now on you'll be able to save your progress. With the help of community's testing I'm now reasonably sure the mechanisms work as intended. So - you can save the entire state of your gameplay, as long as you don't have any CAS deployed on the map, or the units on map are not engaged.

Any other changes?
Beacuse this development took so long, I've also added countless small fixes to the game. Most of them related to scripts and AI getting lost in it's little plans, but also a bunch of optimizations to game behavior and physics calculations.

version 0.5.1:
* NEW: the game can now be saved/ loaded. You can have any number of saves you want.
* NEW: a summary window for all the people you arrest and transport off the map in your cars. You'll gain/lose relations points depending on if your arrests are legitimate.
* the screen resolution and other display settings were all moved to the settings menu of the game. No more launcher screen.
* optimizations: much less calculations needed for the cars' pathfinding (with exactly the same results as before, wether that's good or bad)
* optimizations: a huge reduction in CPU usage for the actors' actions and the way the actors on map scan their surroundings.
* fixes to the UI windows, sometimes ignoring the ESC key
* fixes to unnecessarily huge memory usage of some of the objects on the map
* switched to a more effective physics calculations solution
* optimizations of the objects' physics calculations
* updated to a more recent game engine version, which will translate into multiple fixes and optimizations under the hood

So what is next and will it take a year to materialize?
Next - I'm gonna add a first batch of persistent, player-buildable structures. I'm thinking of some MG nests, sandbags, watch towers, some better traffic control checkpoints.
No other development in this project should ever take _this_ long to materialize. Saves were horrible to do, but they're now in. I will be adding new features to them every time I update the game in the future, but the bedrock of saving is now here, and thankfully will never have to be re-done again.

Also, some other changes I will work on
The AI is very disappointing, oftentimes. Trying to fight almost face to face, and too weak to really be a threat to your units. I will work on various ways of fixing this, from giving your enemies better weapons, to make sure they hide from you a bit more effectively.

Other priority will be adding political elements to the village management. Local leaders, both aligned or opposed to you, and some more interesting interactions there.

tl;dr; You can now save the game.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on January 31, 2021, 04:24:16 AM
The AI enemies will get new weapons soon, to make them more challenging
Sat, 30 January 2021

I'm testing smaller improvements in the development branch, before moving on to the next major update. Currently in testing - RPGs

I'm pushing a small intermediary update to the dev branch ("public testing", you can switch to this branch whenever you want in Steam client settings page for the game, but you need to be aware it's sometimes gonna be broken, more or less. this branch is always updated first) - adding RPG launchers for the enemy units.

The game has a long-standing issue - your units are overpowered in comparison to the enemy's. The 50cal armored transporters, the generally better quality of your weapons, and the CAS - it all adds up and often makes it way too easy to completely dominate the map.

I will keep on implementing ways of mitigating this, from making the enemy setup ambushes and IEDs more often, to giving them some new toys.
Note: weapons are assigned at random, so you might sometimes not get too many enemies equipped with the specific one you wanted to see.

So - meet the new RPG launcher. A couple of thing to know about the RPG, is:
* they are not especially effective at disabling infantry, save for a direct (or almost direct) hit, but are very effective at suppressing them.
* they are very deadly against any of your vehicles, but again - will need to score a direct hit to actually cause damage.
* they damage buildings
* they are notoriously inaccurate, especially against moving targets.
* the game will simulate the basic mechanics of a rocket, as in - arming the rocket at a certain distance
away from the shooter, it's max range, and also - whatever it hits on it's way to the target (which could be an innocent civilan vehicle, or a house on the other side of the map, if the shooter misses badly)

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/0665826d3b33a235630887f97603a6f89b9305e0.png)

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/ad3b1e0e432b379c9e2e311d427cbe3dd205d0bc.png)

tl;dr; RPGs are coming to the game soon, to make the enemy units more dangerous. For now the update will only be available in the test branch of the game ("public testing"), until it's somewhat sufficiently tested.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on March 02, 2021, 12:53:21 AM
About the next update - when can you expect it, what's in it
Mon, 1 March 2021

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/964650/ss_d639f800c39785ed232d431a3f2e552c78149e6d.1920x1080.jpg)

It's been a while since the last public announcement, so here comes.

What am I working on currently?
I'm still in the process of adding the player-buildable structures. This involves making the UI for selecting them, making the UI tools for placement/rotation, adding the "build this structure" orders to your units, allowing you to later cancel or destroy existing structures, making the AI see them as threat, saving/loading the changes on the map, etc.

At the moment, I have the system fully working with the first sample structure (a guard tower), and I'm finishing work on the saving/loading part. Once this is ready, the feature will go public in the test branch.

Other than that, the test branch also contains a first draft of the RPGs and a MLRS technical, as described in the previous update. Those still need a lot of balancing and for now exist as a preview only.

When will all this be released?
The plan is to release all these in about 2-3 weeks. Once I'm done with the updates to the buildable structures save system, I'll get back to more intensive testing. In three weeks at most all this should be done, ready and playable.

And what comes after that?
More buildable structure selection. More units for you. More options for interactions with the population (this system is way too basic for now, and all the updates so far were mostly concentrated around combat). When? TBA.

tl;dr; the next update, containing new features (RPGs, buildable structures), is planned to go public in about 2-3 weeks.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on May 03, 2021, 11:52:43 PM
Buildable structures are now in the game
Mon, 3 May 2021

You can now place some of the first buildable structures on the map

The player can now place his own structures on the map.
Among the first ones I'm making available is the bunker, a better traffic checkpoint and guard towers. For now this is just a basic set of buildings that will help give your units better shelter on the map. In a future update, I will also add different, more specialized structures. The goal is for the player to eventually be able to build some sort of a FOB on the map, with resources management (food, ammo), and being able to run patrol missions from it.

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/a0c39c09810380c47ff88320015d71c99c9d55cf.png)

So what changed, exactly?
You have a new menu in the top left corner of the screen, allowing you to select a structure to build (or rather plan) on the map. Once you have a layout planned, you can order your units to start construction.
Hint: to actually be able to build anything, your units need to have access to a stockpile containing Construction Materials. You deliver those from your HQ, as selectable cargo for any of your vehicles.
Once constructed, the buildings can be used the same way any other structures on the map are (as shelter/ firing positions), and may also get overran and used by the enemy the same way.

Other important news
There's been a bunch of long-running bugs that some of you reported to me. Most annoying of those, was some of the vehicles getting stuck at the edge of the map, and corrupted save games. Those are now fixed.
You can now also rotate the camera by holding the right mouse button, instead of having to hold left alt on your keyboard. A small change, but feels much more natural to use.

What's next
I'd like to focus on a couple of things, next.
First of all, it's time to add more interactions between your units and the locals. The goal would be for you to be able to build lasting relations with the people living in the area, and implementing some sort of "local leaders" (be it aligned with you, or actually working against you).
The other thing would be to make the enemy think more globally - if you attack one group, they should be able to call for reinforcements. This means adding communication devices to the units, as well as some sort of I-Com equipment for you.
Finally, I'm thinking of adding proper resource management, with ammo count and rations your units would be using up.

Those will most likely get divided into smaller, or much smaller updates, this time.

Changelog
* NEW: This is the big new thing: the player can now build permanent structures on the map. Stuctures can be placed pretty much anywhere outside of main roads. Any structure ordered by the player has to actually be built by the units on the map, using construction materials delivered from HQ.
* NEW: enemy units will now get equipped with RPGs sometimes
* NEW: MLRS technical
* NEW: revised the engagement ranges again, all weapons can now be fired from farther away
* NEW: the camera can now be rotated with right mouse button (hold, instead of clicking). This is much more natural than the previous system, and just feels better.
* FIX: more than one shooter can now engage from a given building at once, if there's multiple occupants inside
* FIX: shooters in houses would previously share the same burst/ cooldown timer, causing them to only shoot one bullet and then stop firing for a long time
* fix: the player vehicles will no longer get completely stuck at the edge of the map
* fix: when you deliver prisoners to your HQ, the prisoner processing window will now show up, again
* fix: save/load fixes for the civilian farming actions (previously they sometimes failed)
* fixed the readability of some of the transparent UI icons. Much more will be done to this, soon
* fix: the player units will no longer get stuck at the edge of the map

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/8eb2f89ea5302b089dc474b536808776ec20f77b.png)


Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on July 24, 2021, 11:18:41 PM
What's happening these days? What about the next update
Sat, July 24, 2021

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/ce087e0d007bb377bd007a40e956649b1c6e1d52.png)

I'm working on some major technical changes in the game, that's why there's no content updates these days

What's with the updates
The last time I spoke here, I promised to focus on developing a more fleshed out hearts and minds interaction for the game (more social projects, political leaders, more lasting consequences to how you interact with the villages). This hasn't changed, and will still remain the main task for the nearest future.

I have, however, reached a limitation in how the AI brain works. I initially made a somewhat simple system, where each actor senses the events around him, and tries to pick the most suitable action for his current mission. This works fine, but the problem is - the more complicated a mission is, the more unreadable the code that manages it becomes. For example, if the enemy units are doing a foot patrol, their goal is to move from point to point, looking for anything interesting they might wanna check out. So far, so good. But, what if they should check out a village, instead of a random map point? What if they stumble upon and unguarded enemy car? What if they get enegaged in an unexpected place? What if their allies need help? What if they're in cars themselves? They then need to stop, exit them and continue the mission.

All these things are being tracked by the mission script, making it more and more hellish to manage and read. I cannot continue writing the AI this way, cause it completely discourages me from making any more complex interactions (whenever actors leave their cars, I need to remember why - is it the location they were going to, are they stopped in traffic, is it something else), and in general - if at any point the AI gets engaged by your troops - it has to abandon the original mission completely, because it has no way of remembering what it was trying to do.
The solution I'm currently working on, is switching to a more modern and robust way of writing this code - a node based system, similar to a behavior tree. The AI will now always remember at which stage of it's mission it is, and after I'm done writing the "nodes" for various interactions, I can start making really complicated plans for it.

The same system will be used for other parts of the game, starting with behavior in combat, to the in-game politics.

How will the AI be different when I'm done

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/1e845e8e19fa4dbe96c3adfd3eb6a69a790aa413.png)

This is a sample view of an AI mission, where instead of a single monolith of unreadable code, I now have a structure I can track, and think of as "point to point" interactions for the AI. This lets me plan entire behaviors, like: 1) go to an area 2) exit cars 3) enter a building 4) if engaged, abort and return to this plan later 5) etc.

What does this mean for the game
The AI will get smarter, and I will again start making new interactions for it. The first thing I'll do will be adding political leaders to the game. The leaders would be moving from village to village, changing the civilian sentiment in favor or against you, promoting their local allies, maybe organizing protests. As the player, you'll be getting new missions related to them, new demands to meet, and so on.

This sort of complicated interaction would be impossible to make with the old system.

What's coming next
The next big update will add politics and more hearts and minds strategies for the player, like new social projects for you to develop, and more interesting interactions with the locals.

When is it coming
With the summer season in full swing, I'll take two weeks off by the end of August (gonna be my first time getting any downtime since 2019). Before I leave, I plan on finishing the switch to the new system for all existing AI missions. This might not be immediately visible for the players (after all you rarely see what the AI is planning to do, and why), so I also plan on implementing smaller, unrelated changes as well. Expect new units, as well as some QOL improvements.

Planned release date - end of September.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on September 20, 2021, 11:34:09 PM
What's in the next update, and when?
Mon, 20 September 2021

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/340010c99fe445739251cf596742b9b37c19168e.png)

I'm currently working on adding more interactions with the civilians to the game. Progress ongoing.

What is happening with the development this month?
The last time I wrote an update, I said there were major changes being made to the AI. That's still the case, the development is still in progress, and the first batch of these changes is already live in the current game build (some of you noticed that the enemy became more aggressive - this is because the enemy can actually see you better now, in some cases).

The update in AI will be noticeable in your engagements with the enemy units, but I also need it to finally start building more interesting interactions with the civilians. Why don't the locals remember the troops you post in front of their houses? Why don't they expect compensation when you damage their property? Why don't they have leaders? These are examples of things I'd like to start simulating a little better in the future, starting with the nearest update.

Planned new features
In other words, I will soon be adding various new interactions with the civilians and villages. The idea is to let you work on a longer term hearts and minds campaign, and be able to see how the locals are affected by your actions.

Some of the new things that will soon appear in the game:
* a proper statistics window for the entire villages (as opposed to specific houses) - showing you all the major events, what the people think of you, and what their leaders think of you.
* a new UI section, letting you track the requests and promises you've made to the locals (similar to the missions you get from your command). If you work with the civilians, you'll eventually gain their trust
* a new order (and lots of new UI) for the interpreters, allowing you to organize meetings (you might know them as "shuras") with the locals. Here's where grievances and issues will be solved, and maybe new relations built.

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/4f36ba26ee48a6ccaaad50076215aca88fcbb72d.jpg)

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/513e546bfa2c1e77f773a583583582f1474e2ee9.jpg)

This is just a start, this entire "nation building" aspect of the game should eventually become a big part of what you do in Invasion (talk to locals, find out what they need, provide security, build infrastructure) in the future. However, since this entire new feature will take a lot of dev time, I plan on rolling it out in phases. First, the new stats windows and the shuras. Then, new social projects. Then, political leaders. Then, something else, and so on.


Bonus - the MRAP is now in the game
I know many of you asked for the MRAPs, so finally - I added one to the game. Just a note, though - you don't get to have it in your default roster, when starting a new game, because this is the most powerful land unit you can get. If you want one - you'll have to spend Command Points on it (it's available from the unit buy menu).

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/32736685c6a5137328d258a3e246722dd8c1f153.jpg)


tl;dr;
There will be a new update in about two weeks, adding new interactions with civilians. You'll be able to better track the progress of your hearts and minds efforts. You'll also be able to organize meetings ("shuras") with the locals.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on November 21, 2021, 04:10:32 PM
Plans for the upcoming month, what will be added in the next update
Sun, 21 November 2021

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/964650/ss_d639f800c39785ed232d431a3f2e552c78149e6d.1920x1080.jpg?t=1610813931)

The nearest update for the game will add more complicated mechanics for interacting with civilians

What's happening with the next update?
My current big development task in the game is adding politics and more interactions with the civilians. This is a long and somewhat tedious development, so far this is proving to drag on for much longer than I thought it would.

Which is why:
1) the most recent update to the game has been released silently
a week ago. It includes a new feature where you can set up meetings with the locals ("shuras") in the villages. I chose not to advertise the change publicly, because for now it's just a single part of a much bigger, still not finished feature. The meetings do already work, and you can get a nice boost in relations with the civilians if you organize them, but I plan for them to be of much more consequence in the game world once I'm done with the rest of the changes around them.
2) the rest of this "project" will keep on coming in parts as well, with the immediate next one being the addition of politicians ("local leaders") to the game. The politicians will travel the map, observe your actions and possibly make your life more complicated if they don't like what they see. The civilian relations will now depend on them as well. Later, I will also add new buildable structures (and probably change the build menu a bit), so you can start creating your own infrastructure projects in the villages.

But for this entire feature to make some sense, I need to finish adding a lot of new systems and interactions. For example, you cannot have a local politician struck with CAS, and the locals ignoring the incident. You shouldn't also be able to stop and arrest a politician for no reason, either. And the people should listen to what a leader thinks of you, maybe he should be able to rouse them against you... and so on, and son on. All these small details keep on adding up, so in the end - I'm still not yet close to being able to release the feature.

Currently, I plan to have all this finished and tested in the next 2-3 weeks.

And afterwards?
After the politicians are added to the game and the new build released, I will dedicate some time solely to improving quality, with no new features at all. I will (again) look into pathfinding, quality of life changes and performance.

All in all, I probably keep doing the same mistake - I try not to post news here until I have something big to share, but at the same time I'm probably creating the impression that the game is dying. Let me say this clearly, then - the project is not dead and not abandoned. It's just that I'm trying to add an ambitious feature, and the time needed to finish it keeps mounting up.

pixel


Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on February 06, 2022, 04:38:08 PM
Testing a new pathfinding system in an experimental build of the game
Sun, 6 February 2022

There's a new game build available in the test branches, featuring a completely new pathfinding system for all the units I'm testing a new pathfinding system

If you switch your game to the testing branch (you can do it in the "properties" tab of the game in your Steam client app), you'll be able to play with a _completely_ rebuilt pathfinding system.

The original pathfinding in the game had numerous issues, with the most annoying of them - being the units walking directly into parked cars, and failing to see many other obstacles on the map. The system I've been using was a closed library, built into the game engine, and was very cumbersome to work with and try to extend. This meant I had to basically live how it worked, and very little I could change when it didn't.

In the new build, I'm using a different, custom solution. All the human units in the game now use it, and from what I was able to test so far - it makes them much smoother, and they generally choose their paths in a much smarter way.


What changed:
* you'll no longer have to wait for a few seconds on a crowded map, before your unit decides on a path to take (before, there was often a lag in between your move order, and the unit starting to move. this was because the pathdinging system was calculating the path for your unit, first)
* the system is multithreaded, and can handle hundreds of units
* local avoidance is much better, the human units should no longer walk right into parked cars, like they often used to do, before

Changes for vehicle units:
The new system also supports the cars (to some degree), and it means they should also get improved pathfinding as well, but there's still a bunch of issues with them.

The main thing that got improved already, is that the cars now are able to navigate crowded spaces better. It's still not a perfect solution, though. Cars are harder to tune than people, because of the turning radius they need, and generally much more awareness around them because of the higher speed they move at.

So - it's still a work in progress, but it's gonna get better.


What's next
After the new pathfinding is finished and moved to the main build of the game, I will continue making other quality improvements. I'd like to take the nearest month and make as many fixes to the existing gameplay as I can, before continuing with adding more, original content.


Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on March 13, 2022, 04:38:47 PM
New patch - dedicated to addressing the gameplay and QoL issues
Sun, 13 March 2022

I'll be focusing on improving the gameplay for the next few weeks, addressing the issues the community raises

There's a new patch out in the main branch

Over time, I've received a bunch of requests from the community, most often related to the quality of life and game breaking issues, along with a lot of useful feedback. I'll be focusing on addressing these, in the coming weeks.

I'm releasing the first (of a number of) quality-improvements-only patch today, containing a collection of assorted fixes.

Pathfinding
I've decided to replace the pathfinding system the game originally shipped with (which is the one built into the game engine), because it never let me optimize it enough, or expand it for all the special cases I needed.
In this patch, all units are now using the new system. It should fix a bunch of the problems the old one had, at one:
* actors should no longer try to walk into each other
* actors will no longer wait a couple of seconds before reacting to your "move" orders (the old system was too slow to calculate their path, and was forcing the unit to wait for the calculation to complete, first)
* actors will no longer be walking into parked cars

Traffic
* following the feedback I got from some of you, I've decided to disable all unnecessary collisions between vehicles and parts of the environment. The cars will still try to avoid their surroundings, but in case they fail - they'll just be able to pass through any decorations on the map, freely. This might sometimes look silly, but at least allows for smoother gameplay. As a bonus - it's faster on the CPU, because that's fewer layers to test collisions on.
* cars will now be able to turn more aggressively, letting them avoid more obstacles in narrow areas
* cars will now take more direct paths to their destinations

UI
* added the "Order of Battle" window (can be toggled with the TAB key or a button in the top left corner of the screen), showing you the entire roster of the units in your possession. You can see which units are on the map, ordered by their distance from the current camera position, as well as some basic status of each soldier (wounded, in combat, in transport, etc.).
* added the Minimap - the minimap will show you the locations of all your units on the map, as well as the locations of all _already identified_ enemies. You can zoom it in (using the small button with the magnifying glass icon).
* more fixes to be added in the next patch...

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/6a7f2d432588481550a0134e57817949d4ffbe0b.jpg)

Fixes
Along with dozens of assorted fixes in the UI and the behavior of all the units, we have:
* fixed the stupid behavior of enemy soldiers trying to run right in front of your riflemen, when looking for a house to hide in.
* fixed the "Possible IED Location" markers. Previously it was sometimes impossible to remove them with your EOD unit, once placed.
* pathfinding now runs on multiple threads, and supports calculations for many more agents at once
* optimizations to physics

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on April 17, 2022, 07:51:22 PM
A small hotifx - fixing the issue with units stacking up in front of the houses
Sun, April 17, 2022


Small hotfix
In same cases, the units were indefinitely getting stuck in front of buildings, when trying to stack up.
This was caused due to a way too rigorous check for their current locations, making the game think they were always too far away from the building's entry. This is now fixed.

Also, there was still a single type of decorations on map, unknown to the pathfinding system and also, in some rare cases, causing the units to get stuck. This is now fixed, as well.

What's coming in the next version
I will soon be releasing a content update - adding the fog of war to the game. You will no longer be able to see and target units from the other side of the map, unless you have your own men prepositioned in the strategic areas. The fog of war will work the same way for your own men, as it does for the enemy AI. This is my attempt at letting more enemies sneak by you, and have them be able to complete some of their goals, before you find and kill them all.

I plan on releasing this update in the coming days (but I'm still testing it, for now. It touches a lot of game systems).

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on May 02, 2022, 01:30:49 PM
Fog of war added to the test branches of the game
Mon, 2 May 2022

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/d21372fb69f77c7576f68faf4d151b5ba91c6991.png)

Testing a new feature - the fog of war

The test branches of the game now feature the fog of war system. From now on, you'll only be able to see the enemy and civilian units on the map if you have your own men positioned near them.

How the system works:
If the camera is moved too far away from your nearest unit, the neutral and enemy units will disappear from the map. I've also added a slight visual effect to make this more obvious when it happens.
Any enemies that have already been confirmed (those with the red enemy icon active) will clear the fow the same way your units do (because otherwise it would be hard to target them).

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/7cdad8bbb44eea53523c34cfd8a14f909e2dd6b7.jpg)

Why:
I don't want the players to be able to find and destroy every single enemy unit on the map, as soon as it appears. The AI is always trying to issue some missions to it's units (like finding out where your units are, working on their relations with the locals in villages, and so on), and if you destroy every enemy on sight - none of their missions will ever affect the game.

For now I'm only keeping this update in the test branch. So far I've only seen it working exactly as expected, but I'd rather test it more before it goes fully public.

How to switch to a test branch:
In your Steam application, you can right-click on the game title to reveal the Preferences panel. Inside it, it's possible to switch the current game branch that you use. The public-testing branch of the game will always include the newest (but sometimes still incomplete) features, first.

In other news:
There's still some (sligher?) issues with the pathfinding, so I'll be hunting the issues related to it. The one issue I know is that some units tend to run in circles in more "complicated" parts of the map. This happens when they're unable to path to the exact point they were trying to reach, and will require some more patching.

In terms of new content, here's my nearest plans:
1. Mortars for the enemy, to again make them a little more dangerous
2. More buildable civilian structures, like wells (promised earlier, and I will finally add them)
3. Communications (cellphones for the civilians and enemies)
4. Making the traffic stops system less annoying.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on August 29, 2022, 12:12:11 AM
Update in the test branch: resources management for the civilians, other news
Sun, 28 August 2022

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/481ec7b960344a6a3aea7eb25197665f695de4ed.png)

I'm reworking the way villages work in the game. Also, plans for the rest of the year. New update in the public test branch

I will be focusing more on making the villages (and the villagers) more important in the game. Their simulation is still very basic, and in the future having control over them should be the main focus of the game. Your goal should be to control the villages, build support in them, and to try and make the life better for the locals. So far it's not really working.

I've released the first update trying to address this in the test branch. The villages now have proper resources management, with the civilians buying food (and consuming it, which wasn't the case before), going to work more regularly (if they have work), and in general - being much more active.

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//33863263/b3ea1c46213ac2d72ce4dfa52387f2aa7d3b1071.jpg)

In the future updates, I will also add basic utilities - water, electricity and telecommunications. The player will be responsible for reconnecting and maintaining them.

The update will go public in the main Steam branch after this week. I would just like to test it a bit more, first.

The logic that manages how households and civilians living in the AO behave has been rebuilt, and I again used a decision tree-like system for it. It will let me modify the AI reactions very easily in the future, and make the interactions more nuanced.

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//33863263/924d0309cef549a37ae35d2e659b03e94884ae35.png)

The villages now have a basic economy system, with the locals more actively looking for jobs. For now, they can only work in the stores (there's at least one new store in each village, now) or in drug farming, but this will be extended in the future updates of the game.

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//33863263/c2cd9bd6c539e2a5c8cb6ba250880b278e5ae340.png)

Because so many people asked for this feature, you can now order your units to automatically load all available killed/wounded units into a car, without having to issue the order manually, over and over. You just need to order the unit to carry all other wounded to the highlighted car
. Note: only the units from the same faction will be picked up, so you can easily focus on helping your own men, first.

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//33863263/ccb83463a200d5432aebe52dcc72b133c41f96a3.jpg)


Changelog:

version 0.8.3:
* NEW: rebuilt the civilian life simulation. The villages will be becoming much more important in the future versions of the game, with the locals doing many more activities, and their attitudes to you affecting the game more.
* step one of this rebuild is making the locals care about their food and money levels, and allowing them to work in the stores in villages.
* Civilians will now buy food in the markets located in their villages
* Civilians might now start working in the markets located in their village
* There's a new map area, called the food market, confisting of many small food stalls. In the future, this will become a very active spot where new interactions will happen (gunrunners, trafficking, criminals meeting, etc.)
* fixed the bug where civilians would never be able to finish their AI assignment of going to work
* fixed the way village stats are calculated
* fixed multiple issues with loading the game
* started to rethink the cost of units in the game, would over time like to make it very cheap to acquire the basic transports and riflemen, but much harder to get any greater numbers of specialists on the map
* NEW: added an option for the medics to carry all available wounded to a single vehicle, without having the player issue the order more than once. Just use the "put this any any other wounded in this car" order for this.


General Plans for the rest of this year

1. A complete overhaul of the unit dispatch window
- nothing about the current one works as it should. The window is way too large, selecting the vehicles too slow and there's no templates (like - letting you dispatch a transporter with a simple rifle squad quickly)
2. Extending the Squads
- each squad should have a team leader with special actions available. This is also related to the overhaul of the unit dispatch, because currently it's impossible to send a certain squad to the map in any easy way
3. Adding the buildable civilian structures
, like wells and power generators
4. Adding telecommunications and I-Com
- the civilians and your enemy should be using some sort of communication devices. This would let them organize attacks over the map, call for reinforcements, and in case of the civilians - telling the enemy about locations of your units. The player would get a special I-Com vehicle for listening in on these communications (with the help of a translator).
5. Adding a proper main game menu
, and letting the player select options for the new game (Fow/ No Fow, enemy weapons, amount of enemies, etc.). This one is kind of obvious, but always took a back seat to more pressing developments.
6. "Building the case"
- slowly gathering intel against more prominent criminal leaders living in your AO, as well as small-time guerrillas becoming more notorious over time, until you manage to stop them. I'd like to introduce some sort of a "kingpin" system, where a guerrilla would hide on your map, keep organizing ever-greater attacks against you, as long as you're not able to uncover him.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on September 26, 2022, 01:17:20 AM
Update in the public branch - the changes to civilian simulation are now live
Sun, 25 September 2022

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//33863263/e02a2447bd9f781f84c9c8a354b7672133d6decf.jpg)

I've released all the changes mentioned in the previous update to the public branch. The simulation of the towns is now rebuilt, and supports much more extensive changes for the features I have planned for the future.


I have also added the water wells, as promised before. Each house on the map will now expect to have access to water from a well. You can select to build the wells from the "Build Structures" menu.

Full changelog:

* NEW: rebuilt the civilian life simulation. The villages will be becoming much more important in the future versions of the game, with the locals doing many more activities, and their attitudes to you affecting the game more.
* step one of this rebuild is making the locals care about their food and money levels, and allowing them to work in the stores in villages.
* Civilians will now buy food in the markets located in their villages
* Civilians might now start working in the markets located in their village
* There's a new map area, called the food market, confisting of many small food stalls. In the future, this will become a very active spot where new interactions will happen (gunrunners, trafficking, criminals meeting, etc.)
* fixed the bug where civilians would never be able to finish their AI assignment of going to work
* fixed the way village stats are calculated
* NEW: each house on the map now expects to have access to fresh water from a well. If you don't build the wells, the locals will complain about no access to water. Each well can supply the buildings in it's nearest vicinity (the affected houses will be marked with icons while the structure build menu is active).
* added more information to the house details UI (the menu showing up when you hover over a building)
* fixed multiple issues with loading the game
* started to rethink the cost of units in the game, would over time like to make it very cheap to acquire the basic transports and riflemen, but much harder to get any greater numbers of specialists on the map
* NEW: added an option for the medics to carry all available wounded to a single vehicle, without having the player issue the order more than once. Just use the "put this any any other wounded in this car" order for this.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on October 17, 2022, 12:08:45 AM
Update in the public branch - the changes to civilian simulation are now live
Sun, 25 September 2022

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//33863263/e02a2447bd9f781f84c9c8a354b7672133d6decf.jpg)

I've released all the changes mentioned in the previous update to the public branch. The simulation of the towns is now rebuilt, and supports much more extensive changes for the features I have planned for the future.


I have also added the water wells, as promised before. Each house on the map will now expect to have access to water from a well. You can select to build the wells from the "Build Structures" menu.

Full changelog:

* NEW: rebuilt the civilian life simulation. The villages will be becoming much more important in the future versions of the game, with the locals doing many more activities, and their attitudes to you affecting the game more.
* step one of this rebuild is making the locals care about their food and money levels, and allowing them to work in the stores in villages.
* Civilians will now buy food in the markets located in their villages
* Civilians might now start working in the markets located in their village
* There's a new map area, called the food market, confisting of many small food stalls. In the future, this will become a very active spot where new interactions will happen (gunrunners, trafficking, criminals meeting, etc.)
* fixed the bug where civilians would never be able to finish their AI assignment of going to work
* fixed the way village stats are calculated
* NEW: each house on the map now expects to have access to fresh water from a well. If you don't build the wells, the locals will complain about no access to water. Each well can supply the buildings in it's nearest vicinity (the affected houses will be marked with icons while the structure build menu is active).
* added more information to the house details UI (the menu showing up when you hover over a building)
* fixed multiple issues with loading the game
* started to rethink the cost of units in the game, would over time like to make it very cheap to acquire the basic transports and riflemen, but much harder to get any greater numbers of specialists on the map
* NEW: added an option for the medics to carry all available wounded to a single vehicle, without having the player issue the order more than once. Just use the "put this any any other wounded in this car" order for this.
Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on October 23, 2022, 05:18:56 PM
Update 0.8.4 - enemy radio communications, I-Com, AI changes
Sun, 23 October 2022

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33863263/5bcbace3c34e1cff822e546b2b48b20e23fb0010.png)

All the latest changes are now in the main branch of the game


Version 0.8.4 is now live
The new patch adds a few new features, as well as a lot of very important fixes to the game.
The thing you might notice right away is that the enemies will now call for reinforcements, and in many cases - coordinate their attacks better. This is because the game now simulates radio communications for them.
Enemy radio calls can be intercepted with the new I-Com vehicle (as long as you have an interpreter to pair it with). It should help a lot with locating the mortar teams, and in general tell you a little more about what the AI is planning.
The other thing I focused on was the balancing. All the basic units now cost less CP, the menu for buying new units will now actually show up even if you have less than 50 points.
The enemy mortars have been nerfed - they will no longer respond to calls from the opposite side of the map, and their accuracy will be much, much worse than before.

Full changelog
* NEW: radio communications - the AI will now send radio messages between it's units. This allows them to coordinate their attacks, request reinforcements from other squads, inform the AI commander about the locations of your troops, etc.
* NEW: a new vehicle - transmissions interceptor (I-Com) - allows you to see where and when an enemy radio transmission happens. For this unit to be doing anything useful, it has to be coupled with a translator (it's enough if one is standing near it). Without one, you won't be able to see the contents of any of the messages it intercepts.
* all the radio messages your translators are able to intercept will be displayed on the left side of the screen.
* NEW: the patrol, ambush and mortar missions have been changed to be able to respond to radio calls, especially the requests for reinforcements.
* FIX: completely rebuilt the enemy mounted patrols script, allowing them to respond to many more things on the map
* NEW: the enemy recon missions (enemy spotter with a radio, hidden on the map) will also generate these radio messages whenever your units are uncovered.
* FIX: changed most of those anemic gun sounds in the game. This is still an ongoing process, but already a big improvement over the old, mushy sfx.
* rebalanced the cost of units (again), to make it easier to buy larger amounts of basic troops and transports
* nerfed the mortar teams, because it was pretty much impossible to find them once they started firing at you from the other side of the map
* the mortar teams will now be much less accurate, and will only respond to firefights close to their location. The longer range engagements can only start if a radio-equipped unit requests their support
* the mortar teams will now be sending a lot of radio messages when firing, so the transmissions interceptor can help a lot with locating them
* enemy spotters on the map now have radios, and will direct patrols to any of your units they're able to spot
* FIX: the units' loadouts sometimes got mixed up, leading to a few random issues
* new unit - MRAP with no turret
* FIX: in some cases the game started lagging when civilians in villages tried farming drugs - the scripts were unable to find the correct origin object for them, causing a very slow bug report to get created over and over...
* the unit buying menu will now show up even if you have less than 50 command points available (because most units now cost much less than that)

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//33863263/fea0e2c5c33676cb7d63d1a9da4743243320fe52.jpg)

Sidenote - the preview branch contained a serious issue affecting the game's performance
If you played the experimental branch recently, you surely noticed a huge FPS degradation after the first half an hour of gameplay. This was caused by the simulation of civilians farming opium (one of the scripts was failing to find an object it was looking for).
The issue is now fixed and will no longer happen in any build of the game.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on November 20, 2022, 04:33:42 PM
The changes related to a new game menu are now in the public branch.
Sun, 20 November

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/964650/ss_d639f800c39785ed232d431a3f2e552c78149e6d.jpg)

The 0.9 update is now live in the main branch. This patch introduces a slightly improved main menu, various small bug fixes and the basic configuration for keyboard bindings.

Some of the fixes are related to optimization of the pathfinding system, and the game should now run noticeably smoother.

Full change log:
* NEW: a different main menu, along with an initial version of the "new game" screen, allowing you to customize some basic settings for new campaigns.
* the "new game" window will be extended in the future, the idea is to let the player tailor the style of the game to his needs
* NEW: you can now customize the key bindings (or reset them back to the default settings)
* optimizations - removed the traces of the old navigation system (which was still slowing the game down slightly, even though it was no longer used by the AI), updated the new navigation system for some performance improvement

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on January 15, 2023, 07:26:48 PM
A small hotifx and update on the stalled development, recently
Sun, January 15, 2023

In the previous post, I've promised to focus on a couple of game issues and start working on the next content updates for the game. The updates were supposed to start coming out before the end of (last) year, and clearly - that didn't happen.

I'm sorry about this delay. Because of a bunch of health issues, I've been unable to work on the game at all for the past couple of weeks, so no real progress has really been made recently.

The good news is, it seems that I'm now back to normal and was able to resume the development. I know this shouldn't be an excuse, but this game is a solo development project - when I'm down, the development plans always suffer.

For now, I've made two fixes that a lot of players complained about, and made them public in the default branch:

0.9 HOTFIX 2:
* FIX: it was previously no longer possible to manually control any cars (the input was being registered wrong)
* FIX: previously it _seemed_ like the process of building of the water wells could never finish - this was actually just an issue of a misleading icon, but it's now fixed either way

The more substantial updates should start becoming public again in the coming week, starting with another hotfix addressing issues some of you had with garrisonning the buildings.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on March 27, 2023, 01:20:13 AM
Version 0.10 is now live
Sun, 26 March 2023

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The 0.10 update is now live
In this build, I've focused on fixing many of the small annoyances and long-standing bugs (engagements abruptly ending for no reason, units getting stuck in traffic, units being unable to leave the map), as well as merging the changes from the last two hotfixes (related mostly to the broken logic of arrests).


New features
I'm in the process of reworking the Command Missions - this part of the game consists mostly of the oldest code in the entire project, and has been written in a way that didn't allow me much flexibility. Some of you may remember that at some point I've decided to completely disable the allied patrols, because their units were constantly getting lost on the map. In the future builds, I will gradually re-create the code needed for making these missions work more reliably, and will soon be able to add these patrol missions back in.

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//33863263/f4a2f17593e0e9aa1b55b5b3c5d025531f56d927.png)


"Black Bird Down"
This game has largely been inspired by the movie "Black Hawn Down" and I'm always looking to add more helicopter-based events into it. Using the new Command AI, I've now been able to add friendly helicopters onto the map. As they spawn, their only goal is to travel through the map, carrying a bunch of allies, and (of course) get shot down by the enemy, occasionally. If a helicopter is downed, the Command will ask you to scramble the usual casevac mission, most likely in areas where you didn't plan on going.

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//33863263/c9a08714a8286a57eea4235e2f598da0e9795161.png)

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//33863263/dc966bed62f589dca7376e563d8788068210a2ee.png)


The future upcoming changes
* I am now working on the previously mentioned "building the case" update. The idea is to create a new type of enemy in the game - insurgents who permanently reside on the map, live in the houses alongside the civilians, and plan and execute increasingly more complex attacks against you, becoming high value targets for your Command, in the process. Your goal will of course be to find them and destroy them.


Full changelog: version 0.10:

* NEW: the friendly AI will now spawn it's own helicopters into your airspace. For now, their only goal is to pass through the map, transporting it's own units. My idea is that it will create some "black hawk down" scenarios, any time the enemy AI manages to shoot one down. A downed helicopter will spawn the usual critical mission from your Command, demanding help and evacuation of all the wounded. Any survivors of these crashes will leave the map on their own.
* NEW: continued the re-work of the remaining AI missions from the old, rigid system into the new tree-based logic. This will fix a lot of the weird AI behaviors (like getting stuck on the map, ignoring everything around them), because it's now much easier for me to re-trigger the mission logic when something unexpected happens on the map. The old system would only wait for specific events once, and in just one scenario (like: a car reached it's destination, so it better be around the house I was trying to send it to, or else it's gonna get lost). This is the reason why for now all ground-based allied patrols are still disabled in the game - their missions are not yet completely rewritten to the new system, and they were getting stuck on the map all the time, because of this.
* (again) fixed the issue with insurgent units only getting a single type of weapon
* NEW: you can now ignore _some_ of the missions issued to you by the Command, if you want to do something else, instead. Any mission that isn't critical and doesn't have any of it's own actors assigned, can now be ignored (just click on the button in the mission details window) at a tiny cost to your relations with the Command.
* disabled the small extra window (the mission helper assistant) that used to pop up alongside the main command mission window (every single time you clicked it). You can still open it with the dedicated button, if you want to
* FIX: fixed the logic used to unspawn units that left the map. Now any unit that wanders too far from the bounds of the game map will reliably get unspawned.
* FIX: found and fixed another scenario where cars would be permanently waiting in traffic, for no good reason (getting stuck on the map)
* FIX: fixed the automatic camera movement (the script that's supposed to show you points of interest on the map, but instead was yanking your camera away from you violently)
* FIX: sometimes actors would prematurely get removed from their engagements, causing others to constantly enter and leave their "combat mode"
* added some FX for showing hits on vehicles (if a bullet damages a vehicle, some sparks will show up), cause it was never clear if the enemy was actually doing any damage. Will probably add something even more visible in the future.

Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on April 03, 2023, 12:01:22 AM
New test build: fixes for the casevac system
Sun, 2 April 2023

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/964650/ss_d639f800c39785ed232d431a3f2e552c78149e6d.jpg)

There's a new build available in the test branches of the game Casevac - Bugs in the older versions It turns out the older builds of the game have a bug that prevents you from successfully evacuating your wounded. In almost all cases the game will just declare them DOA as your vehicle leaves the map.

In other cases, it will not register the wounded enemies or civilians evacuated from the map, and therefore will not reward you with Command Points, for your troubles.

Fix #1 - a new "bleed out" logic for the wounded
The game will now tell you exactly how much time you have left for the evacuation of your wounded, before they perish. This should let you do proper triage, if you want to (leave those who'll never make it in time, and focus on those who still have a chance).
In previous builds the "bleeding out" mechanic was hidden from the player, and rather unpredictable (the wounded could just randomly die at any point in time), making the whole medic/evacuation process a little too obscure.
In most cases, your wounded have between 1 and 15 minutes before they bleed out.
Units stabilized by a medic can wait for their evacuation as long as you need them to.

Fix #2 - you get rewarded for your efforts at all times
Even if the patients you ordered treatment for die in the process, you still get some Command Points for the effort. After all, it's not your fault they died.
You should always try to help all your wounded, and get them off the map while still alive (as in this scenario the game will reward you with the most points), but you will not be punished for the failures, as long as your try to do _something_ for the wounded.
As a bonus reward, any time you manage to evacuate a unit in time, the stress level of all your remaining units will get reduced by 5%.

Fix #3 - differences between "buddy aid" and medics
You can use any of your units to render help in desperate situations, but it will never be as effective as assigning a medic to help your wounded.

Buddy aid - will spend one medikit (starting with the medikit of the fallen unit, if it has one in inventory). The unit performing the buddy aid has a chance of hurting the patient, especially if it has the "inexperienced medic" perk. The process takes a lot of time, and in the end has only a moderate chance of stabilizing the patient.
In most cases, performing buddy aid on your wounded will simply buy them more time for a successful evacuation.

Medic - will work faster, on any number of patients and with a much greater chance of fully stabilizing the patient.

Fix #4 - some patient just cannot be stabilized
Not all wounds are treatable in the field, and a certain percentage of your wounded will require swift evacuation, even after a medic tries to stabilize their condition. The game will tell you when it's the case.

Fix #5 - most vehicles are not suitable for transporting the wounded
If you decide to put your wounded in a regular vehicle, they will immediately become unstable again. At this point, not even your medic will be able to help stabilize them, and you need to evacuate them as soon as possible. This mechanic is meant to force you to use proper medical vehicles, whenever possible.

Fix #6 - you can casevac enemies and civilians
You can "farm" extra Command Points by evacuating wounded and dead enemies, as well as civilians. This will also improve your relations with the locals (because you're being respectful to their fallen).

tl;dr;
The older versions of the game had many issues related to how it treated the wounded units. All of these issues are now fixed in the newest build available on the test branches of the game.
The fixes will be made public in the main branch next week.


Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on December 04, 2023, 12:03:03 AM
The long overdue update 0.12 is out
Sun, 3 December 2023


Foreword
The project hasn't had any updates for a long time, last year, so it's high time to explain what's going on. The delays were due to my health problems - I had been seriously ill in recent months, and it has completely halted any serious progress on the project for a while. Now, however, as my health is slowly returning to normal, I can start working again. The project's status has not changed - it is not canceled and new content will be introduced again, in the future.


Current update
I released a new build of the game to all branches (since the main one was already rather outdated) - the new version 0.12 includes the first version of the "case building" game loop - from now on, villages on the map will sometimes house high-value targets - special enemy units that can directly trigger and spawn AI missions against your forces.

Your goal will be to identify and arrest these HVTs before the have a chance to gain more notoriety.
For now, the HVTs focus solely on planting IEDs, but in the future I plan to add many more missions for them (and more ways to identify and unmask them).


Annoying problems
Some players reported that the game used to pause all AI actions after loading the savegames (which caused the player to get no more missions, no more traffic on the map), and I was able to identify a case of this happening and correct it - in the new version of the game this issue has been fixed.


What's next
I need to finish a round of more bug fixing and then update the game logic and optimization.
Afterwards, I will finish working on the HVTs (make them more universal) and make some changes to the villages and the bazaar (which was supposed to be the center of legal and less than legal interactions in the province, but for now proves to be rather dead, most of the time).


Full changelog - version 0.12 (experimental):
* NEW: High Value Targets - from time to time, enemies of special importance - leaders - will appear in local villages. Hidden among civilians, they will work to organize attacks on your forces, gaining experience and higher positions in the organization with each successful operation.
- your goal will of course be to find them and arrest them. An HVT poses as a civilian, and cannot be killed or arrested without first gathering evidence against him
- you can gather clues and evidence in various ways - sometimes people will gossip in the town meetings, sometimes the locals will get fed up with the guerrillas and give and HVT up. You can also send your EOD/investigators to former IED blast sites and check them for evidence.
- over time, you'll be able to locate the hideout of an HVT and raid the place.
- most of the IEDs appearing on the map are now ordered by and planted by people working directly for specific HVTs. If you want the IEDs to stop, you have to find the person ordering their construction.
- the HVTs gain notoriety for as long as they can keep eluding you - each one of them starts as an "ambitious amateur", and will keep gaining more experience with each successful op.
- this build of the game is EXPERIMENTAL - meaning the HVT functionality isn't yet finished - in the next builds, the more experienced HVTs will start spawning more types of missions. For now, all HVTs focus on planting the IEDs.
* FIX: for some of the players, the game would stop spawning traffic and new AI missions after the game loads. This is now corrected.
* FIX: the AI would previously not be aggressive enough when fighting your troops - too many of them would waste time trying to find non-existent cover, instead of shooting at you.
* FIX: mission spawning logic, where the game would try to send orders to units that have not appeared on the map, yet.
* FIX: cars stopping in traffic for no good reasons (getting stuck)
* FIX: multiple fixes for engagements logic (targetting something that is no longer there, running for cover and never stopping to shoot back, etc.)
* FIX: multiple fixes for the IED system - spawning, triggering. Also, IEDs would sometimes explode twice in the past
* FIX: units involved in IED facilitation are now marked by the game, and can later be arrested for it


Title: Re: Invasion Machine : Counter-insurgency RTS game
Post by: Asid on December 18, 2023, 12:24:46 AM
A minor update - rebalancing of the player units, more aggressive AI
Sun, 17 December 2023

Minor update
Before I continue working on the next updates to the high value targets system, I wanted to make some small fixes and very needed fixes to two areas of the game - the player vehicles and the AI responses in combat.

Player Vehicles will now be driving noticeably faster - I've tuned their engines to increase the acceleration and responsiveness, cause I always was finding myself sending the helicopter everywhere instead of the ground vehicles in playtests, since I didn't want to wait for the sluggish cars to arrive where I sent them. Every player car will now be (a little) snappier,

The enemy AI in combat was getting too confused in the latest builds, causing many of the enemy units not to shoot back at you at all, when engaged. This was caused by them trying to do multiple reactions too often, or eveb at once - trying to flank you, run away, shoot back, but find a better place for it, change their target (way too often), etc. This has now been reorganized a little, and should make the enemies much more reactive.

Also, in the previous build way too many enemies were showing up with RPGs to battle - this is now curbed a little.


Full changelog:version 0.13 (minor update):

* BALANCING of the player vehicles - all player-controlled cars will now be driving faster, and have better acceleration.
* BALANCING - reduced the number of RPGs that the enemy units deploy to the map. In the previous versions of the game, the enemy squads sometimes spawned on the map with nothing but the RPGs in hands, this will now be more balanced.
* BALANCING - the enemy AI will now be more active - spawning more kinetic missions (patrols and foot patrols) and being more aggressive on the battlefield. In the previous versions of the game, the enemy units were trying to do too many things at once - flanking, looking for better positions, shifting their targets, and in the end - it caused them not to fire back at all, at times. In this build, more focus is placed on just shooting back at you, when engaged.