Omega Strikers - Ai.Mi Update Patch Notes (10/6)

What's up gang. Ody Aesop here, joined by my good friends and game designers Ody Wav3 and Ody Sotere. It's been about 2 weeks since we sent Omega Strikers into the world. It still feels surreal to see all of you playing and enjoying Omega Strikers - and we hope this update brings you even more enjoyment!

We've got some big things in here, like a new map and a new character, and some smaller things, like tiny balance tweaks and bugfixes. We've been keeping our eyes on gameplay, reading feedback, watching streams, and analyzing data - all to bring you the best Omega Strikers experience you could ask for.

We've noticed that, in particular, K.O. oriented compositions are a little too strong. We've made some tweaks in this patch to address them a bit, but we're wary to hit them too hard since we also found some pretty large bugs with how cooldowns were reducing between rounds. We'll be keeping an eye on that over the coming days.

System Changes

Game

For the most part, we’re happy with the overall performance of our game systems, but we found a particularly impactful bug. The bug was causing cooldowns to tick down as normal during the goal celebration phase (after a goal is scored). This wasn’t intended!! Fixing this bug should improve counterplay between rounds — skills used and cooldowns committed in the preceding round are more likely to carry implications to how the next round begins. Additionally, we've seen K.O. comps scale a little too well into overtime, to adjust that a touch we’re tuning down the respawn timer in overtime to move the needle on this meta a bit.

• [BUGFIX] :: Fixed a bug where ability cooldowns were reduced during the post-goal slow-mo and celebration.

• Respawn Timer in Overtime
  • 13s → 12s

Maps

We want to swap maps out as a common rotation occasionally to encourage some variety. For our first swap, we're taking out Side Streets and replacing it with Split. We've heard feedback about how Side Streets can sometimes lead to frustrating bounces, so we're giving it some time off while we spend some time tweaking it for its GLORIOUS return one day.

• New Map :: Split
• Split will replace Side Streets. Probability of playing on other maps is unchanged.

Power Orbs

Power Orbs are mostly performing as expected. For this patch, all were doing is fixing a (somewhat potent) bug on Purple Orb and some balancing for Green.

• Purple Orb
  • [BUGFIX] :: Fixed a bug where Purple Power Orb was fully resetting Special cooldowns if the round ended while its buff was active

• Green Orb
  • Burst Move Speed Duration :: 1.5s → 1s

UI

• Player Icon is no longer clickable and won't capture your clicks/inputs
• "Team Collab!" goal score event has been re-enabled
• Power Play goals now just show as "Goal" due to frequency
• UI Settings now have a resolution setting

New Striker - Ai.Mi

Ai.Mi - The Girl Who Glitched

"If everyone just listens to me, we'll win. So do that, all right?"

• Strike
  • Hit the Core in a direction.

• Secondary Ability: Cyber Swipe
  • BLINK to a location. On arrival, deal a HEAVY hit with your tail to enemies in an arc.

• Primary Ability: Glitch Pop
  • Launch an unstable glitch PROJECTILE that grows as it travels. The glitch bursts on recast or max range, dealing a MEDIUM hit away from its center point to nearby enemies.

• Special Ability: Firewall Sentry
  • CREATE a turret that launches a firewall of PROJECTILES in a fixed direction. Each one deals a MEDIUM hit to the first enemy struck.

Strikers

Asher

Going up against Asher as a goalie can be pretty frustrating, so she is actively on our radar for adjustments. For now, we're hitting the unbreakable wall with a nerf to get her Forward prowess in line while attempting to preserve as much of her defensive capabilities as a Goalie. If these changes don't hit our mark on improving her play against experience, we will be looking to follow up in near-future patches with a larger re-work.

• Base Stats
  • Move Speed Over Levels :: 75 → 50
    • Move Speed at max Level :: 525 → 500

• Strike Barrier (STRIKE)
  • Passive Barrier
    • Duration :: 1s → 0.5s
    • Knockback reduction from hits taken in the direction of her Passive Barrier when active :: 25% → 0%
      • Damage taken from hits in the direction of her Passive Barrier unchanged (still 25%)
    • [BUGFIX] :: Fixed a bug where passive barrier could deal a LIGHT hit each time Asher used Strike to rotate it. It should only deal a LIGHT hit every 0.4s to a unique target

Dubu

We want Dubu to be an easy goalie to pick up for new players, but the big hampter is a bit too consistent at all levels of play right now. We're taking a general pass at him to bring him more in line with other defensive goalies. There have also been a couple occurrences of pretty suspicious physics interactions with Tofu Fortress - we'll work to improve those with some small changes.

• Base Stats
  • Move Speed Over Levels :: 100 → 50
    • Move Speed at max Level :: 550 → 500

• Rollout [PRIMARY]
  • [Localization Fix] :: Renamed from Bamboozle → Rollout
  • Cooldown :: 7s → 8s

• Tofu Fortress [SPECIAL]
  • Detects if its projectiles will hit the Core slightly earlier in its travel and becomes terrain earlier
  • Terrain hitbox is slightly larger when detecting the Core, so if the Core were to pass between the wall pillars, it should be easier to see that it was a predictable outcome.

Era

Era had shown to be pretty strong overall in the last patch, but we also uncovered a handful of bugs and unintended interactions in her kit. We're fixing those and just giving her a light nerf before going further.

• Bewitching Beam [PRIMARY]
  • Cast duration :: 0.15s → 0.1s
  • [BUGFIX] :: Era is now rooted for the full cast of Bewitching Beam
  • [BUGFIX] :: Now properly buffs allies for the full duration when Era has Cast to Last.
  • [BUGFIX] :: Tooltip now properly notes that that Bewitching Beam slows enemies
  • Slow Amount :: 30% → 20%

• [BUGFIX] :: Flutter Fly is now correctly labeled as a SECONDARY ability in the UI
• [BUGFIX] :: Flutter Fly's AOE range no longer increases with Super Surge. HASTE amount unaffected.

Juno

Juno is a touch lackluster in higher tiers of play. We're giving her some adjustments that hopefully help her find more goals when the player piloting her is skilled. Pilot diff, if you will.

• Strike with Friends (STRIKE)
  • Player Knockback :: 140 (+70% Power) → 150 (+75% Power)
  • Player Damage :: 140 (+70% Power) → 150 (+75% Power)
  • Core Knockback :: 770 (+290% Power) → 860 (+325% Power)

• Blob Bounce [SECONDARY]
  • Maximum Jump Range :: 480 → 600

Kai

Kai's power as a Forward feels like it's lacking a little something, so we are buffing up his Barrage to make it more rewarding against the Core. While we're at it, we're hitting his Giga Blast with some quality of life adjustments to prevent weird bounces.

• Barrage [PRIMARY]
  • Core Knockback :: 320 (+120% Power) → 400 (+150% Power)

• Giga Blast [SPECIAL]
  • If Giga Blast hits something the instant it spawns, it no longer knocks it backwards.

X

X has, indeed, been giving it to us all. We're reducing his move speed so he needs to think more about his positioning before unga-bunga and whether he should take different trainings to help him get into range more often.

• Base Stats
  • Move Speed Over Levels :: 100 → 75
    • Move Speed at Max Level :: 550 → 525

• X Maximus! [SPECIAL]
  • Player Knockback per Strike :: 120 (+60% Power) → 100 (+50% Power)
  • Player Damage per Strike :: 120 (+60% Power) → 100 (+50% Power)
  • Core Knockback per Strike :: 880 (+330% Power) → 865 (+325% Power)

Trainings

Ok. We went a little overboard with some trainings last patch. Some of them will get toned back down. Tempo Swing, in particular, was too efficient in enabling K.O. compositions when it should be more focused on survival. We also stumbled on a bug in our tooltips for how most hit amplification trainings were working. Those tooltips now correctly state that their effectiveness is actually halved against the Core.

General Changes

• Updated some Trainings tooltips to better specify their behavior with the Core (reduced effectiveness of hit amplification)
• Updated Trainings: Ultrascope, Missile Propulsion, Super Surge, Built Different, Creator of Large Things, Heavy Handed, Prime Time, and Creator of Durable Things

Stinger

Stinger adjustments are in reaction to Tempo Swing changes, to keep the value of a LIGHT/MEDIUM/HEAVY hit equal within the Trainings system

• Damage over time effect :: 5/7.5/10% of target's maximum Stagger over 1/1.5/2s → 3.5/7.0/10.5% over 0.75/1.5/2.25s

Crossover

• HASTE effect :: 35% → 30%

Perfect Form

• Cooldown Reduction Effect :: 6/9/12% (max 0.6/0.9/1.2s) for LIGHT/MEDIUM/HEAVY hits → 5/10/15% (max 0.5/1.0/1.5s)

Stacks on Stacks

Stacks on Stacks adjustments are in reaction to Tempo Swing changes, to keep the value of a LIGHT/MEDIUM/HEAVY hit equal within the Trainings system. It may stack faster on paper but we think cooldowns not cooling down between rounds will balance it out.

• Stacks per hit :: 2/3/4 for LIGHT/MEDIUM/HEAVY hits → 2/4/6
• Speed converted to power at maximum stacks :: 6% → 5%

Built Different

• Size Increase :: 35% → 30%

Tempo Swing

• Damage based on user's maximum Stagger :: 2/3/4% → 1/2/3%
• Healing Modifier :: 150% → 200%

Cast to Last

• [REMOVED] :: No longer increases the duration of BUFFS or HASTES you receive from allies.

Eject Button

• [REMOVED] :: 5% increased cooldown for MOVEMENT abilities
• [NEW] :: Has new sound effects
• [BUGFIX] :: More fixes to prevent the return indicator from being invisible

Undocumented Change(s)

• Striker lore no longer locked behind levels.
• Ai.Mi's base stagger is 1000.

References

• https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1869590/view/3275829772739008580
• Build: v1.2.560 (19244)