Stormgate News

Welcome to Patch 0.2.1!

While this is a relatively small patch, you will find changes to early economy, bug fixes, and balance changes. On top of this, we are rolling over our Season ladder rankings and win/loss stats for the first time, giving everyone a fresh start for the new year.

Plus - join us starting January 27 for a Lunar New Year celebration as we ring in the Year of the Snake with DOUBLE XP for your Co-op Heroes!

[h3]Support:[/h3]
How to Install a Patch on Steam:

• Open Steam
  
• Click on Library to see your games list
  
• Click Downloads at the bottom of the Library window
  
• If the new build does not download automatically, click the Download Now button to manually download the new update

Still having trouble? Visit our Stormgate Help Center.

[h2]Double XP for Lunar New Year[/h2]
Join us for a Lunar New Year’s celebration as we say goodbye to the Year of the Dragon and welcome the start of the Year of the Snake! From January 27 4pm PT to February 10 4pm PT, we’re offering DOUBLE XP for Hero progression. . Now is the perfect time to get those Heroes to level 20!


[h2]General:[/h2]

• Various tooltip fixes.
  
• The Vector’s Delta Jump ability will now appear at the player’s cursor location instead of blinking to the center of a targeted unit.
  
• Fixed an issue where casting Solar Charge while selecting multiple Solar Habitats did not work as expected.

[h2]Co-Op:[/h2]

• Kastiel’s Collection Array now issues a move-command when using right mouse click.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Throat Rip ability was not tied to the volume mixer.

[h2]Versus:[/h2]

• Changes to our MMR and Queue systems:
  
  • Rebalancing queue timers.
    
  • Rolling out Early Access Season 2! This includes a reset of all win/loss stats.
    
  • Division boundaries have been tweaked based on data from Early Access Season 1.
    
  • Updating parameters for 1v1 matchmaking to help tune match quality.

Hey hey, ‘Gaters,

Before diving into the specifics of this patch, we’d like to share the overarching goals of the 1v1 team in the coming months. We’re focusing on two core gameplay pillars:

1. Creating Exciting Moments: Making cool things happen more often
   
2. Clarity: Simplifying mechanics and making them easier to understand

Most of the large-scale changes we’ll make in 1v1 will be in service of these two goals, and our first major update focuses on revamping the economy, with adjustments designed to streamline gameplay, enhance pacing, and improve balance across factions.

[h2]Economy Changes:[/h2]
General:

• Maximum Luminite income per base across all three factions increased from 600 per minute to 750 per minute.

[h3]Vanguard:[/h3]

• Vanguard starting B.O.B. count increased from 8 to 10.
  
• B.O.B Luminite mined per trip increased from 4 to 5.
  
• B.O.B Therium mined per trip increased from 5 to 6.
  
• B.O.B Therium mining time increased from 6 seconds to 7.2 seconds.

[h3]Infernals:[/h3]

• Starting Imp count increased from 8 to 10.
  
• Imp Luminite mined per trip increased from 4 to 5.
  
• Imp Therium mined per trip increased from 5 to 6.
  
• Imp Therium mining time increased from 6 seconds to 7.2 seconds.

[h3]Celestials:[/h3]

• Starting Prism count increased from 1 to 2.
  
• Prisms can no longer directly mine from Luminite Mines but instead must enhance an already constructed Collection Array. Prisms enhance Mines for 50% additional income. Each Prism effectively adds 150 Luminite per minute. Previously, each Prism added 75 Luminite per minute.
  
• Max number of Prisms that can be attached to a Luminite mine decreased from 4 to 3.
  
• No changes to Collection Array gathering rate.
  
• Prisms now build from Deployed Collection Arrays rather than Arcships.
  
• Prism cost increased from 125/0 to 150/0.
  
• Prism supply cost increased from 2 to 3.
  
• Prism build time increased from 30 seconds to 40 seconds.
  
• Prisms can now return Therium to Deployed Collection Arrays in addition to Arcships and Therium Purifiers.
  
• Therium Purifier cost increased from 225/0 to 250/0.
  
• Morph Cores now obey combat unit rally points from the quick macro panel instead of worker rally points.

These changes are intended to achieve the following:

• Increase the pace of the early game.
  
• Accelerate the overall pace of the game and expand the scale of battles.
  
• Streamline and balance specific Celestial mechanics.

When we first explored quick economy adjustments, our primary objective was to address feedback that the early-game pacing felt too slow. Historically, we relied on Creep Camps to compensate for this, but they introduced several unintended side effects. While experimenting with various solutions, including a “Rich Luminite Mine” concept, we ultimately determined that increasing the mining rate and starting worker count was the most natural and effective approach.

This adjustment not only speeds up the early game but also addresses player requests for larger and more dynamic battles, making the game feel more engaging overall.

We’ve also received substantial feedback on the Celestial economy, particularly around the following issues:

1. Collection Array income is disproportionately high compared to Prism income.
   This imbalance caused Celestial economies to spike significantly in the early game. While we appreciated that a mass Collection Array strategy was viable due to the different expansion patterns among the factions, we found it to be slightly excessive. By increasing Prism efficiency and improving the performance of workers in other factions, building Prisms becomes more critical.
   
2. Prism Therium mining efficiency was too high compared to other factions.
   With these changes, Prisms are now more expensive, and other factions’ workers will mine Therium more efficiently. This ensures a more balanced and comparable Therium income rate across all factions

In addition to balance adjustments, we’ve worked to tackle some of the challenges players face in understanding Celestial mechanics. For example:

• Prisms could mine from both Luminite Mines and Deployed Collection Arrays, which often led to confusion.
  
• The Arcship was overloaded with responsibilities, creating a frustrating user experience.

While these economic changes address some of the complexity, we recognize there is still work to be done to make Celestials more approachable and intuitive.

[h2]Other Balance Changes[/h2]
Next, we’d like to take a regular look at balance. As it stands, win-rates look as follows:

• Vanguard vs Infernals: 50%
  
• Infernals vs Celestials: 52%
  
• Vanguard vs Celestials: 43%

Win-rates look pretty good overall with the exception of VvC, which we believe was affected by changes to Hedgehogs in the previous patch. Additionally, players have frequently highlighted two issues: the relative imbalance of the Celestial economy and Vanguard's difficulty in punishing more “greedy” strategies.

Below are the balance-related adjustments we’re including in this patch:

[h3]Vanguard[/h3]

• Hedgehog
  
  • Damage changed from 8 (+7 vs Heavy) to 10 (+5 vs Heavy).
    
  • Hedgehog armor decreased from 5 to 0.
• Exo
  
  • Health increased from 130 to 145.
    
  • Damage changed from 12 (+6 vs Heavy) to 14 (+3 vs Heavy).

In the last patch, we adjusted Hedgehogs to make them more specialized against Heavy units, enabling Exos to counter them more effectively in direct engagements. However, this change left Vanguard with limited options against early-game Kri openings. As a result, we’ll be reverting this specific Hedgehog adjustment and instead addressing the issue through more changes to the Exo.

Looking ahead, we plan to shift our unit design philosophy over the next few patches. Our goal is to reduce the specialization of Tier-1 units while focusing on making higher-tier units more specialized and impactful. Historically, we believe a large part of the V>I>C>V triangle we’ve had in the last few months is due to how hard the Tier-1 units counter each other, and the game can’t stabilize effectively. By delaying these harder counters to later tiers, we aim to make the early game more focused on unit quantity and strategic usage rather than unit types.

• Hornet
  
  • Release Skymine no longer requires an upgrade.
• Helicarrier
  
  • Cost increased from 300/250 to 375/325.
    
  • Now starts with 3 Bombers on creation.
    
  • Training time increased from 55 to 70 seconds.

Both of these unit changes aim to bring players to the fun more quickly.

[h3]Infernals:[/h3]

• Gaunt
  
  • Ground weapon acquisition range increased from 7 to 9.

Addresses a niche issue where Gaunts had difficulty engaging a ground army half a screen away if there was an Arcship directly on top of them.

• Hexen
  
  • Miasma energy cost decreased from 60 to 50.
    
  • Miasma cooldown decreased from 15 seconds to 2 seconds
    
  • Miasma no longer requires channeling. Miasma no longer drains energy during channeling.
    
  • Miasma now has a 5 second fixed duration, down from potentially infinite.
    
  • Miasma effect delay time decreased from 1.5 seconds to 1 seconds.

We received feedback that Miasma was overly nerfed, and players missed the positional play provided by Hexens. We’ve reworked Miasma to be more useful, more straight-forward, and more different from Dark Prophecy.

[h3]Celestials:[/h3]

• Arcfortress
  
  • Fate’s End damage reduced from 1800 to 1200.
    
  • Fate’s End energy cost reduced from 75 to 50.
    
  • Fate’s End cooldown increased from 10 seconds to 20 seconds.

This ability was solely being used to snipe enemy Command Structures such as Shrines. We’ve reworked the ability to be better against other structures but worse against Shrines.

• Morph Core
  
  • Health decreased from 230 to 180.

Reducing the effectiveness of Morph Cores as a combat unit in order to better mitigate the effectiveness of certain rush tactics, especially against Infernals.

• Argent
  
  • Damage changed from 8 (+4 vs Heavy) to 10 (+3 vs Heavy).
    
  • High Energy bonus damage decreased from 100% to 50%.
    
    • Charged damage changed from 16 (24 vs Heavy) to 15 (19.5 vs Heavy).
  • The Longshot Module upgrade now also increases the damage bonus from High Energy from 50% to 75%.
    
    • Fully upgraded damage changed from 16 (24 vs Heavy) to 17.5 (22.75 vs Heavy).

Following our goal to make Tier-1 units less pointed, we're adjusting Argents to be more “all-around,” both in the sense that they’ll be less specialized against Heavy targets but also reduce the differential between when they have Energy and when they do not.

• Scanner
  
  • No longer requires Arcstation.
    
  • Now requires Guardian Nexus.

We’d like to grant Celestials more easy scouting at Tier-1, especially in the mirror.

• Cabal
  
  • Gravity Flux duration decreased from 6 seconds to 4 seconds.

Gravity Flux was slightly more effective against Vulcans than we’d like, which we believe is one of the big culprits around VvC imbalance.

• Vector
  
  • Anti-air weapon range increased from 6 to 8.
• Scythe
  
  • Movement speed increased from 5.5 to 6.

The two changes above allow Celestials to more easily fight Infernal flyers. The change to Vectors further enhances them as an anti-Spriggan unit while the movement speed buff to Scythes allows them to stay on pace with Flayed Dragons.

• Seraphim
  
  • Condemnation creep damage increased from 200% to 300%.
    
  • Creepbane Guard creep damage reduction increased from 50% to 75%.

The Seraphim wasn’t impactful enough in its intended role to justify its usage. We believe it can be significantly strengthened without becoming overpowered, particularly given the reduced importance of Creeps in this patch compared to the standard mining economy.

While this is not a large patch, we believe the economic changes and adjustments on balance will have a significant impact on how the game feels. We’re resetting the ranked ladder and will be keeping a close eye on how the three factions perform. Be sure to leave feedback on Discord or Steam and let us know how the game feels after these changes go live!

Hello, everyone!

We’re about to cross an important milestone for Stormgate–our very first ladder reset! Ladder Season 0, which began before Early Access, will be ending sometime next week. We will then be resetting the leaderboards and kicking off Season 0.2.

To commemorate this special moment, we’re planning to capture a snapshot of the top players from each faction at the moment the season ends, to celebrate their achievement of being one of the top players in the world at the beginning of Stormgate’s Early Access journey. We are also planning to celebrate those of you who help usher in the season rollover by listing the players who secure the most wins (one player per faction) between now and the start of Season 0.2.

If you’re interested in earning some bragging rights and becoming a Season Zero hero, all you have to do is win the most games using your chosen faction between today (January 15) and Tuesday, January 21, at 10 a.m. PT.

From all of us on the team, thank you for supporting Frost Giant and being a part of the Stormgate community.

Happy hunting!

We are deploying a hotfix this morning in an attempt to fix some login issues users have been seeing. There will be no downtime for this, however, you will need to update the Stormgate client through Steam. You may see a failure to login or start matchmaking until you download the update.

Happy upcoming holidays, Stormgaters!

As we get ready to enter the new year, we’d like to give one final report on how balance is and one final game update to close out the year. In the last month, since the last big balance patch, all three factions have taken turns being both the leading race and the lagging race. Over the last month overall, Vanguard is at 48.6%, Infernals is at 51.31%, and Celestials is at 50.64%. Balance is better than it has ever been since EA launch, but we can certainly make some improvements. Before the holidays, we’d like to put out an update with the primary goals of shaking up the game, reducing player frustration in specific situations, and providing more rewarding interactions. With that, let’s talk about all the matchups.

[h2]Vanguard vs Infernals[/h2]

Since the last big patch, Infernals have been slightly favored with a 50.5% advantage, but the favored faction flip-flops weekly. This is a very even matchup overall, but we’d like to address some frustration points from both sides.

[h3]Brute[/h3]

• Weapon damage increased from 20 to 24.
  
• The Sundering Soul Craze upgrade now increases the attack speed of Fiends when they split from 50% to 100%.

Brutes were slightly over-nerfed in the previous patch, impacting their early-game presence, especially against Vanguard Lancers. These changes aim to enhance Brutes’ overall power and create more impactful gameplay moments with the Sundering Soul Craze upgrade.

[h3]Magmadon[/h3]

• Weapon damage increased from 30 to 30 (+20 vs Heavy).
  

The Magmadon is currently seen as underwhelming, largely due to Weavers being considered a more powerful option in a similar tanking role. By boosting its attack damage, particularly against Heavy units, we aim to make Magmadon a stronger option against units like Lancers.

[h3]Weaver[/h3]

• Cost increased from 100/150 to 125/200.
  
• Supply cost increased from 4 to 5.
  
• The Soul Ripper trait now increases the weapon damage of Weavers from 15% against units to 20%.
  
• The Soul Ripper trait now increases the weapon damage of Weavers from 7.5% against structures to 10%.
  
• Weapon damage is now clamped between 5 damage and 200 damage.
  

Despite previous nerfs, Weavers remain too cost-efficient and massable, leading to noninteractive gameplay due to overuse of the Lash ability. Increasing their cost and supply while boosting their weapon damage shifts their utility towards quality over quantity of Lashes. The new damage clamp also prevents extremes, such as dealing 0 damage to Healing Flowers or hundreds of damage against High Commands.

[h3]Graven[/h3]

• Graven weapon damage reduced from 10 (+15 to Light) to 10 (+8 to Light).
  
• No longer disables Top-bars when you Infiltrate a Command Structure.
  

Partly due to the dominance of Weavers, Gravens have been able to be massed in this matchup as they have a positive armor matchup against them. We’d like to push this unit to more of a specialist role, so we’ll be greatly reducing its damage. In addition, we feel the disabling of the Top-Bar when you Infiltrate a Command Structure was confusing as there’s not enough fanfare around what is happening, so we’ll be disabling this for now.

[h2]Vanguard vs Celestials[/h2]
Celestials currently hold a 55.29% win rate against Vanguard.

[h3]Vector[/h3]

• Recall no longer restores the health of the Vector to its previous health.

Vector rushes remain a frustration for Vanguard players because it’s possible to harass without taking damage due to the recall ability. Removing the free “heal” effect from Recall ensures more counterplay.

In addition, another common feedback about this matchup is that the irregular pace at which the Celestial economy scales due to a variety of factors lets Celestials get ahead very quickly. But since economy is such a tricky and fragile topic, this is something we’re looking to address more in the next big patch.

[h2]Infernals vs Celestials[/h2]
Infernals currently have a 54.8% win rate over Celestials. We’ll address some degenerate rush strategies first:

[h3]Meat Farm[/h3]

• Health decreased from 500 to 400.
  
• Armor decreased from 15 to 5.

Meat Farm-based rushes were a bit too strong against Celestials who struggle to cover a lot of area with either static defense or Argents in the early game. We’ll be bringing down the vitality of the Meat Farm to similar levels as the Habitat so that it’s more feasible for Celestials to cancel a Meat Farm before it completes.

[h3]Therium Purifier[/h3]

• The Celestial Hyperdrive upgrade now requires Arcstation.

Morph Core rushes can hit extremely quickly and instantly end games for unsuspecting players. Delaying the Celestial Hyperdrive upgrade prevents Morph Cores from being transformed into a deadly combat unit too quickly.

[h3]General[/h3]

• Fixed an issue where units were sometimes not correctly prioritizing their more powerful weapon. Units affected include Hornets, Flak Cannons, Gaunts, Vectors, and Scythes.

[h3]Vector[/h3]

• Anti-air damage increased from 6 (+6 vs Light) to 8 (+8 vs Light).
  

[h3]Scythe[/h3]

• Scythe air weapon damage increased from 12 (+12 Heavy) to 16 (+10 Heavy).

The primary macro feedback we get about this matchup is that Celestials lacks powerful enough tools to fight Infernals air units, specifically the Spriggan and Flayed Dragon. First, we’re going to fix an issue that caused Vectors and Scythes to more often use their weaker anti-ground weapon than intended. In addition, during unit testing, we felt Vectors and Scythe should be stronger anti-air counters in a straight-up fight.

[h2]Vanguard vs Vanguard[/h2]

[h3]Hedgehog[/h3]

• Weapon damage changed from 10 (+5 vs Heavy) to 8 (+7 vs Heavy).

Hedgehogs are intended to excel in hit-and-run scenarios but currently perform too well as all-around units. Specializing their damage profile allows for clearer counterplay, particularly in Vanguard mirrors where Exos should counter Hedgehogs more effectively.

[h2]Fun Stuff[/h2]
Perhaps because it’s the holidays, we’ve added a few fun updates to enhance the pace and feel of the game:
[h3]Solar Habitat[/h3]

• Cost decreased from 100/0 to 75/0.
  
• Solar Charge can now stack!

[h3]MedTech[/h3]

• Nanoswarm upgrade research cost decreased from 100/100 to 50/50.
  
• System Shock radius increased from 2 to 3.

[h3]Infernal Top-Bar[/h3]

• If you summon an Effigy on Shroud, the cooldown will now be decreased by 12 seconds, down to 8 seconds.

[h2]Looking Towards the Future[/h2]
Finally, a message to our 1v1 fans. So far in 2024, the competitive team has primarily been focused on addressing standout balance issues as we discover them. As we approach the new year, I’m very excited to announce that we’ll be adopting a more proactive strategy; in addition to incremental adjustments, we’ll be looking to deliver comprehensive overhauls of entire systems and mechanics.

In the meantime, we hope these changes keep the game fresh and exciting during the holiday season. Thanks for being part of this journey, and as always, we’ll see you on the battlefield!

Lead Competitive Designer,

Kevin Dong


[h2]General[/h2]

• Fixed an issue where units were sometimes not correctly prioritizing their more powerful weapon. Units affected include Hornets, Flak Cannons, Gaunts, Vectors, and Scythes.
  

[h2]Vanguard[/h2]
Solar Habitat

• Cost decreased from 100/0 to 75/0.
  
• Solar Charge can now be stacked multiple times on the same structure.
  
  • Note that Med Stations and Repair-o-Matics will currently still only benefit from 1 Solar Habitat and Ambush Posts currently do not benefit from Solar Charge.

[h3]MedTech[/h3]

• Nanoswarm upgrade research cost decreased from 100/100 to 50/50.
  
• System Shock radius increased from 2 to 3.
  

[h3]Hedgehog[/h3]

• Weapon damage changed from 10 (+5 vs Heavy) to 8 (+7 vs Heavy).
  

[h3]Graven[/h3]

• Graven weapon damage reduced from 10 (+15 to Light) to 10 (+8 to Light).
  
• No longer disables top-bar abilities when you Infiltrate a Command Structure.
  

[h2]Infernals[/h2]
[h3]Infernal Top-Bar[/h3]

• If you summon an Effigy on Shroud, the cooldown will now be decreased by 12 seconds, down to 8 seconds.
  

[h3]Meat Farm[/h3]

• Health decreased from 500 to 400.
  
• Armor decreased from 15 to 5.
  

[h3]Brute[/h3]

• Weapon damage increased from 20 to 24.
  
• The Sundering Soul Craze upgrade now increases the attack speed of Fiends when they split from 50% to 100%.
  
• Weapon damage increased from 30 to 30 (+20 vs Heavy).

[h3]Weaver[/h3]

• Cost increased from 100/150 to 125/200.
  
• Supply cost increased from 4 to 5.
  
• The Soul Ripper trait now increases the weapon damage of Weavers from 15% against units to 20%.
  
• The Soul Ripper trait now increases the weapon damage of Weavers from 7.5% against structures to 10%.
  
• Weapon damage is now clamped between 5 damage and 200 damage.
  

[h2]Celestials[/h2]
[h3]Therium Purifier[/h3]

• The Celestial Hyperdrive upgrade now requires Arcstation.
  

[h3]Vector[/h3]

• Recall no longer restores the health of the Vector to its previous health.
  
• Anti-air damage increased from 6 (+6 vs Light) to 8 (+8 vs Light).
  

[h3]Scythe[/h3]

• Scythe air weapon damage increased from 12 (+12 Heavy) to 16 (+10 Heavy).
  

As our last gift to you before the holidays, our team has put together a special Balance Patch just for you! In order to implement this, we need to go into maintenance mode.

Stormgate will be unavailable for up to 2 hours starting now, and you will see a “NoPermission” error if you attempt to log in.