Artificial Extinction 2

The Mech has officially been deployed. This may have been a mistake.Version 1.0.07 is now live, adding the new playable Mech to Artificial Extinction 2.Autonomous. Pilotable. Occasionally Sensible.The Mech can fight autonomously alongside you or be piloted directly from its cockpit.It may actually be most effective when placed into Attack Mode and allowed to make its own decisions. It is heavily armed, surprisingly powerful and—at least for now—probably too inexpensive to build.I may have to correct that in a future update. Enjoy this brief period of irresponsible military spending.The Mech is still not perfect. It can occasionally get stuck, requiring you to climb into the cockpit and rescue it. It is also prone to suicidal charges.But you’re not perfect either, and the Mech has never complained about you.This is only Version 1 of the Mech. I’ll continue improving its movement, behaviour, balance and abilities based on your feedback.Smoother FPS ControlsThis patch also includes changes intended to reduce the coarseness or jerkiness some players experienced while aiming in FPS mode.Mouse movement should now feel smoother and more precise, particularly when making small adjustments.

The Mech Update goes live September 13th.This is the first version of the Mech. It isn't finished evolving, it has a few bugs, and it can be unpredictably psychotic at times.But it's also a lot of fun.The Mech is essentially your new heavily armed wingman. It can fight autonomously alongside you, or you can send it off on its own to deal with problems while you concentrate on something else.You can order it to Follow, Attack, Guard, or Return to Base. At any time, you can also climb into the cockpit and take control yourself.Fair warning: piloting currently includes a rather enthusiastic amount of head bob. If you're prone to motion sickness, you may discover that the enemy isn't the greatest threat inside the cockpit. This will be improved in future patches.So why release it now?Tokyo Game Show is less than a week away, I'm leaving for Japan shortly, and I really wanted the Mech fighting in Artificial Extinction 2 before the show.Could I keep polishing it for another few weeks? Absolutely.Am I going to?No.I'm releasing the Mech on September 13th, and I'll continue improving it when I get back.For now, consider this Mech v1: heavily armed, useful,

A playable Mech has been one of the most popular player requests. It was also something I suspected might be slightly beyond my coding abilities.Apparently, I decided to find out.The video below shows the Mech materializing, opening its cockpit and being controlled by the player. My plan is for it to fight autonomously alongside you—or allow you to climb inside and pilot it yourself.This feature is still under development and has not yet been added to the live version of the game. It may take some time, and the first version may contain a few bugs. Possibly even some exciting new ones.But it’s working, and I now believe it will become part of the game.

The explosions weren't the problem. Finding what exploded was.Since launch, players have taught me two important lessons.First, large battles are exciting.Second, it's surprisingly difficult to remember where your generators used to be.Version 1.0.06 addresses both of those problems.Destroyed Equipment MarkersDestroyed turrets, miners, generators, fusion reactors, fission reactors, and quantum computers will now leave behind holographic markers for 60 seconds.During large battles, it can be easy to miss what has been destroyed while you're busy trying to survive. Instead of searching through smoke, explosions, and enemy fire, you'll now immediately know what needs to be rebuilt.This was one of the most common quality-of-life requests from players, and I hope it makes large battles much easier to manage.Reduced Generator Blast RadiiThe blast radius of generators, fusion reactors, and fission reactors has been reduced.Many players felt that upgrading their energy infrastructure carried too much risk. The goal of this change is to encourage players to make greater use of the more powerful energy systems without worrying that a single explosion will destroy half the