Hi all,

we are bringing another update, and this time, we have rewarded Nuclear general with a special structure "Nuclear Facility"

As you might guess, this structure is available at rank3.
It has several unique abilities, which makes it very important for this general.

The most obvious one is that it produces a great amount of power. This power will be required for Nuclear Storm, which now comes without GP and is unlocked with Nuclear Facility. This decision will make Nuclear Storm more accessible in the game, but since power consumption will depend on Nuclear Facility, it will be easier to sabotage Nuclear Storm. We believe that this will spice up the game.

Nuclear Facility will contain some important upgrades too. Testing will decide which upgrades will be better and more appropriate than in Propaganda.

Lastly, this structure grants the ability to give Nuclear Weapons to selected units on maps. It means that Battle Masters will have a nuclear shot (which we remember from previous Contra versions). Other units will benefit from nuclear shots as well. Time will tell how much damage and which units will be affected, but this ability will surely improve your units when needed.



Stay tuned for more updates as we are heading toward release, and thank you for supporting us. It means a lot!

0.95.31:

New Features

• Double MCV mode added. In this mode, players start with 2 MCVs instead of one. Combined with the Nukular mode, both MCVs are Nukular. The game is lost when both are gone.
  
• New random faction baskets added. This allows one to get a random pick from more specific groups than just any faction. Examples: TD faction, RA faction, Good faction, Evil faction, Air faction, Tank faction, etc.
  
• Allied Rifle Infantry is now Light Infantry with a new sprite.

Balancing

• Chinese Bulldozer build range increased

Bug Fixes

• Fix Hover Mammoth Palette

Hello Generals!
How has your week been?
We've had a productive one with many continued code optimizations and bug fixes coming to fruition. We also have these shiny new toys we'd like to present to you all, the new Mishka kits.

The humble Mishka has always been a player favorite since its original introduction and has gone through a plethora of changes and role adjustments over the years. Being a basic scout unit it has always been a consistent sight on the battlefield, providing reliable vision and information to players as well as assistance in clearing out pesky minefields and explosive ordinances. There have been many attempts to find an extra 'role' for the Mishka and help it find more prevalence in the mid-late game environment - usually with it gaining some level of fireport-based combat ability. In 1.87, this eventuated with a meta of Mishkas becoming the primary combat unit for Russia, filled with RPG conscripts, Shock Troopers, and Iglas drilling over the map and through opponents' bases before they had a chance to respond. Although we love to see people's enthusiasm for the Mishka in combat, one thing we never want is a single unit invalidating the remaining unit roster, such as in this instance. Although the community balance patches both made changes to this to mitigate the impact and refocus the Russian meta within their own gameplay environments, for 1.9, we decided that rather than directly nerf the Mishka, why not explore how its role could be expanded upon and refocus the unit so it would not invalidate the other units, but support them directly?

Coincidentally, at the same time we began redeveloping the Mishka, a gameplay decision was made to allow all factions to start the game with radar by default. However, seeing as Russia was the only faction that needed a separate building-based radar that was not attached to their Command Centre equivalent, the idea was floated to combine the issues into one streamlined, drill-equipped solution.

Thus, the new Mishka kits were created to fill in 3 main holes within the Russian arsenal.
Firstly, a radar unit for the start of the game to allow Russian players to use their radar minimap whilst they tech up to their Radar Tower. Secondly, a unit that can act as a reliable support unit that can assist in combat without invalidating the rest of the roster with its fireports. Finally, a unit that can act as a Tier-1 bridge to give healing to Russian infantry should the player avoid the Infirmary tech route and focus on a Weapons Bunker. With these roles in mind, we set to work, and the new Mishka kits were created.



The MT-LB is a lightweight armored utility vehicle first introduced to the Soviet Army in the early 1970s. It was produced at the Kharkiv Tractor Plant in the Ukrainian Soviet Republic and licensed for further production in Bulgaria and Poland for an estimated total of 55.000, making it one of the most mass-produced military vehicles in existence. Used throughout the Warsaw Pact and many Soviet allies from Angola to Vietnam, it spawned a dazzling variety of variants made for every conceivable role, many of which would see service in conflicts far into the 21st century. In the 2030s, Russia introduced a new production series of vehicles featuring modern components, improved ergonomics, and a unique screw-based propulsion system. Optimized for amphibious operations and rough terrain from Arctic to marshland environments, the new MT-LB became a reliable favourite among the troops much like its predecessor, earning it the affectionate nickname of "Mishka". Like its predecessor, the Mishka spawned numerous variants available to commanders who requisition the necessary Assault Armaments to modify their vehicles in the field.

Although not designed as a combat vehicle, the Mishka often serves as a light assault carrier for Russian infantry, particularly with forward reconnaissance, expeditionary, and rear echelon security forces. In this configuration, the passenger hatches on the top side of the vehicle are opened and fortified with sandbags, plank covers, and other improvised elements for a degree of additional protection, allowing the infantry to fire their weapons on the move.

Render Description: MARS2588



For lightweight forces that cannot operate heavy artillery systems like howitzers or multi rocket launchers, portable mortars provide essential indirect fire support. The Mishka can be converted into a light mortar carrier and stocked with enough high-explosive shells to provide quick and effective supporting fire for infantry elements in early engagements when the bigger, more terrifying weapons of the legendary "God of War" cannot be brought to bear yet.

Render Description: MARS2588



Faced with a highly aged population and years of neglect in medical services, one major aspect of Russia's military reform was the improvement of safety standards and military healthcare. This led to the creation of new medical facilities, first aid training for all personnel, and the implementation of a reliable casualty evacuation system. Mishkas modified into mobile infirmaries play a key part in this, providing medical assistance to infantry in the field.

Render Description: MARS2588



A fourth, rarer variant of the Mishka is a radar carrier, which, according to doctrine, is to be deployed immediately at the beginning of combat operations to provide commanders with radar coverage prior to the construction of a dedicated facility. In addition, this variant benefits from extended vision compared to the default. It should be noted that only one of these "Radar Mishkas" can be deployed at any time as it is only intended as a temporary or fall-back option.

Render Description: MARS2588

That's all for this week. We wish you well and that your drills may be the drills that pierce the heavens.
We will be back next week with more exciting units and content to show you. Don't forget. Believe in yourself. Not in the you who believes in me. Not the me who believes in you. Believe in the you who believes in yourself. (10 points to anyone who gets the reference and what it has to do with Mishkas.)

Till next time, Generals!

Krita 5.2.3 is released after several weeks of testing of the beta. This is a bugfix release that primarily brings a complete overhaul of our build system, making it so that our CI system can now build for all 4 platforms (a Continuous Integration system basically builds a program after every change, runs some tests, and based on that helps us track down mistakes we made when changing Krita's code).

Beyond the rework of the build system, this release also has numerous fixes, particularly with regard to animated transform masks, jpeg-xl support, shortcut handling on Windows, and painting assistants.

In addition to the core team, special thanks go out to Freya Lupen, Grum 999, Mathias Wein, Nabil Maghfur Usman, Alvin Wong, Deif Lou, Maciej Jesionowski, and Rasyuqa A. H. for various fixes, as well as the first time contributors in this release cycle (Each mentioned after their contribution).

Changes since 5.2.3 beta:

• Various fixes to tool canvas input shortcut behavior (Thanks, Aqaao)
  
• Improved icons for Android (Bug 463043, thanks Jesse 205!)
  
• Various fixes to how we use MLT for synchronizing audio to animation.
  
• Python SIP type stub generation: this will help autocompletion in external Python editors that support using these stubs (Thanks, Kate Corcoran)
  
• Crash fix with adding animation keyframe column on a locked layer (Bug 486893)
  
• Fix update of the "read-only" state of the document when loading and saving (Bug 487544)
  
• Ask to use PSD data in TIFF only if any was found (Bug 488024)
  
• Reworked default FFmpeg profiles (Bug 455006, 450790, 429326, 485515, 485514, thanks Ralek Kolemios!)
  
• Fix issue in KisMergeLabeledLayersCommand when masks where involved (Bug 486419)
  
• Update batch exporter Python plugin to fix trim option issue (Bug 488343, thanks Nathan Lovato!)
  
• Welcome Page: Fix "DEV BUILD" button going to a 404 (Thanks, Joshua Goins!)
  
• Tablet Tester: Fix extreme lag with S Pen on Android (Thanks, Joshua Goins!)
  
• Fix canvas fade-out when in 16-bit-uint mode on Angle (Bug 488126)
  
• WEBP & JPEG-XL: preemptive check for animation (Bug 476761)
  
• Fix copy-pasting selection of File Layer (Bug 459849)
  
• Fix color sampler in wrap around mode (Bug 478190)
  
• Replace old QML touch docker with QWidget-based touch docker to avoid problems on Android (Bug 476690)
  
• Add support for XSIMD13
  
• Redraw layers docker thumbnails if the canvas checkers color was changed
  
• Fix animation playback freezes when pausing past the end of audio (Bug 487371 and 478185)

There turned out to be a couple of bad bugs in the last release. This one fixes them.

• Fixed a crash when modifying terrain height near the map border
  
• Fixed a bug where cells in marble madness mode were affected by lighting on painting terrain
  
• Fixed a bug where light posts affected freshly painted cells in "No Lighting" mode

Good evening, everybody!
It's that time of the week again, so let's not dilly-dally and jump right on in.

A constant within all versions of ROTR has been GLA's inherent weakness in late-game environments. This is a natural inevitability for the faction and very much by design. After all, with the faction's themes being stealth, sneakiness, and hit-and-run gameplay, light-fast units can only scale so much before they get outclassed.

However, it has been noted many times that within late-game stalemates (especially on maps with narrow chokepoints or team games with lots of ECA players), GLA really has struggled to maintain momentum and react in a meaningful way when playing defensively without resorting to the sheer force of Rocket Buggies to overwhelm their opponents. Partly, this was due to a now fixed bug with the Grad's secondary damage not working as intended, but it is also linked to a lack of other reliable anti-tank options that GLA players can use in the game environment once so many crowd control options exist to counter close range AT infantry like Angry Mobs and Tunnel Defenders. Although we intend for GLA to be a more early-game-focused faction, the sheer lack of variety in GLA strategies and units we have seen because of these issues is something we do want to address with 1.9.

We decided to do a few things. Firstly, we fixed the Grads to have correct damage calculations. This was a great first step but still didn't really mix up the unit variety in the way we wanted. We decided two things were needed.

The first was some sort of super impactful late-game unit that had the power to break through enemy defenses or destroy enemy vehicle columns with high burst potential to act as an alternative to the existing artillery roster. With the inclusion of the Helix in previous builds, we thought, "why not bring back the Scud Launcher? It fits this role, and if China is getting a ZH favorite, why not give GLA the same?"

So, our beloved Scud Launcher has returned. You will note that this version of the Scud is extremely different from the ZH version, both in how it works and how it plays. It launches its missile much slower at a much higher range than before. The choice of choosing what type of warhead the Scud launches has also been removed, instead now firing the exact same Scud missile that the Scud Storm shoots - albeit a single missile instead of nine. Finally, the Scud Launcher is also limited to a maximum of four units. In practice, this makes Scud Launchers very prized and limited units that have the power to turn the game completely around, but only if players can keep them alive. This should make them the limited force multiplier they should be and not make them a must-pick Generals Power every single game.

We also wanted to add a lighter, more mid-game-focused anti-tank alternative to Rocket Buggies that could give GLA a more reliable counter to enemy armor without needing to rely on said buggies every single time.
Thus, the Spear Team was created.






From the late 1950s to the late 80s, Soviet engineers developed a series of ballistic missiles that were collectively designated as the Scud family by Western militaries. During the Cold War, these missiles were exported to all members of the Warsaw Pact as well as numerous Soviet-aligned states in Asia and Africa. Some of these states went on to develop their own derivatives of the Scud, such as the North Korean Hwasong, the Iranian Qiam, or the Yemeni Burkan series of missiles. With such an extensive proliferation, it came as no surprise that many Scud missiles wound up in the arsenal of the Global Liberation Army during the War on Terror. Operating from hidden bases in Iran and the Caucasus Mountains, the forces of Dr. Thrax, in particular, commanded a large number of these missiles and used them to devastating effect against coalition forces and population centers throughout the region. Even after the killing of Dr Thrax and the shattering of his organization, many of the missiles remained unaccounted for. A decade later, following the re-consolidation of the GLA under the leadership of Warlord Anwar Sulaymaan, intelligence agencies found new insights into their whereabouts. All three factions of the GLA possess several hundred Scud derivatives, typically arranged on stationary launch pads known as "Scud Storms". The anarchist faction of Tahar Ibrahiim also controls several wheeled launch vehicles that allow the use of Scuds, tipped with combined high-explosive/chemical warheads, as mobile battlefield artillery. Analysts have found out that this use of Scuds is not only rooted in tactical considerations but also in the peculiar politics of the anarchist faction, as operational command of these mobile missiles alternates between different elected and term-limited councils to prevent an excessive concentration of power. For this reason, only a limited number of Scud Launchers can be deployed at any given time.

Unit Description MARS2588



Despite being quite outdated in their role as anti-tank weapons in an age of guided missiles and smart munitions, recoilless rifles continue to see use in developing countries with limited military resources or absence of major armed conflicts, as well as by non-state organizations such as the Global Liberation Army. In this context, tripod-mounted rifles are frequently used by teams of more experienced fighters, whose long-honed skills in target identification and gunnery allow them to inflict serious damage to light vehicles and even tanks at long ranges by targeting their tracks, optics, and other weak points. Typically, these units are referred to as Spear Teams, a term whose specific origin is as enigmatic as anything else about the organization's army culture. Some analysts suggest that the operators liken themselves to "spearmen" in their historic role against cavalry and its modern "armored" descendants.

Unit Description MARS2588

We hope you have enjoyed this week's update, and we hope you're all ready to welcome back an old favorite as we have been. Till next time, Generals!

The new addition to the US Laser technology with the Glaz Cannon.

Minor update, mainly to fix bugs.

• Added an option to sort triggers by color followed by name (Credits: Shush)
  
• Improved top bar button textures (Credits: Crimsonum)
  
• Lighting calculations on adding, moving, or deleting light posts have been optimized to only re-calculate lighting for the affected area instead of the whole map (Credits: ZivDero)
  
• The "Raise Individual Cells" and "Lower Individual Cells" tools can now use the "Fill Terrain" hotkey (default: Ctrl) to affect an enclosed area (Credits: Starkku)
  
• View -> "Edit Drawn objects..." has been renamed to "Configure Rendered Objects..."
  
• Improved error message when a connected tile specifies a nonexistent TileSet
  
• Improved error message on script execution failure
  
• Script action options can now be parsed from another section (Credits: Starkku)
  
• Fixed several bugs where cell lighting values were not updated on cell height level change
  
• Fixed a bug where the megamap (F12) was displayed behind other UI elements
  
• Fixed a bug where the overlay land type was reset to "Clear" if it was not re-defined in all INI sections where information for the overlay type was parsed from
  
• Fixed a bug where the position of editor notifications (such as "Map auto-saved.") was not refreshed after the editor window had been resized
  
• Fixed a bug where the map path was not wrapped in quotation marks when it was opened in a text editor, potentially resulting in weird behavior from the text editor
  
• Fixed an edge case bug where a TaskForce or Script could sometimes appear to be selected when actually no TaskForce or Script was selected
  
• Fixed a bug where the editor ignored AllowToPlace=no when looking up connected tiles to place
  
• Fixed a bug where AITriggers were written incorrectly if a weight was 0
  
• Fixed a bug where you could not input decimal numbers in AITrigger weights
  
• (DTA) Fixed a bug where veins were rendered in the wrong palette
  
• (RA2/YR) Fixed newly-created standard houses having a null HouseType
  
• (RA2/YR) Fixed creating a new HouseType after the creation of standard houses, causing HouseTypes of the standard houses to show up as none
  
• (RA2/YR) Fixed indexing of newly-created HouseTypes to ignore Player@WPZZ houses
  
• (RA2/YR) Fixed "Parent Country" dropdown of "Edit Country" window repeatedly accumulating items when opened for non-standard HouseTypes