Cosmonarchy mod for StarCraft

This week's developments have been legion, with movement on the vaunted iscript extender (a required step for adding the fourth race), the near-completion of the Zerg tutorial, the continuation of Acropolis #1's playoffs, myriad new audiovisual improvements (including a color preference system!), and a host of balance adjustments.

We could talk all day about any of those points individually, but let's try to sum things up in a nice and readable format! And remember to join us on Discord and pledge support on ko-fi if you're so inclined.

Saturday has come and gone, and with it, another round of Acropolis #1's playoffs! The penultimate phase of the Throneroom stage saw some blazingly-fast series, and despite the one-sided nature of them, some very interesting strategies were put to the test!

From the aggressive display of 🇺🇸The Shambler (Protoss) to the Lattice-fueled rampage of 🇺🇸Hupsaiya (Protoss), the matches were memorable, and have fueled much speculation as to who will make it to the Grand Final.

You can watch round 3's VOD here!

As we narrow our player count down to the final four, we say goodbye to those eliminated in the lower bracaket: 🇺🇸Art_Of_Turtle (Zerg) and 🇺🇸Newt (Terran). We'll be seeing them in Acropolis #2's Battlements stage, should they choose to accept their invitations!

The final round of the Throneroom stage is:

• Lower Final: Winner of previous vs 🇺🇸The Shambler (Protoss)
• Elimination 3: 🇺🇸Hupsaiya (Protoss) vs 🇷🇺Hamster (Protoss)
• Grand Final: Winner of previous vs 🇦🇺Neblime (Zerg)

Who will secure the lion's share of our meaty prize pool? You'll have to find out soon on Pr0nogo's youtube channel!

Autophagy, the Zerg tutorial is... still not available. But it's so close! Updates and improvements to the AI's layout system, coded by project co-author Veeq7, are required for the Withered Organ's build order to be considered functional.

This work is continuing and will conclude in just a few days, so keep your eyes peeled for when the tutorial does drop! We think players will enjoy the novel take on everyone's favorite hivemind race. Spoilers: they don't collect essence.

The content must flow, and with the third tutorial nearing completion, work has already begun to shift towards singleplayer campaigns. The first one or two releases will be on the shorter side - six or seven missions on average, where each mission is expected to average out at 40 minutes for first completion. This means something like a 4.5-hour running time to complete one such campaign, and the quality of that time should be astronomical compared to the competition.

As a general note regarding singleplayer affairs, we reject the notion of static enemies that begin scenarios with total map control, yet fail to use any of their tools to compete with players. Our tutorials have initialized both players on an even playing field using melee starting conditions, but even though some units and structures will be preplaced at map start during campaigns, the bulk of the enemy assets you are to encounter will be created and trained in real time, costing real resources. That alone will make Cosmonarchy's scenarios far more memorable than what has come before it.

We'll provide minor teasers for the singleplayer content that's in the pipeline, but if you want to see what's cooking in more depth, you can donate monthly via our ko-fi page to watch live developments!

As mentioned in the primer, this week's installment chronicles the deployment of many audiovisual updates - not the least of which is the massive size increase of the Optecton. This change brings with it many balance implications, like its ability to ignore the collision of small units -- but it's also epic despite its placeholder texture work.

The Hierophant is also pictured above, having received updates since its previous showcase - and it will eventually be joined by the revised Atreus, once project contributor Baelethal has enough time to work through the shape language updates it requires. Several Protoss structures also received visual updates to better fit their intended build space requirements, but you'll read about those in the balancing section!

A lot of attention was spent on updating the Protoss arsenal with a host of overlay effects to indicate buffs and debuffs that were not previously communicated. Vengeful Ascension, a two-part effect and cornerstone of the Protoss techtree, now has unique overlays for Avenged and Ascended units. The Herald and Patriarch now visibly debuff their targets, indicating which units to focus down in order to regain shields. The Magister weapon impact now uses a unique effect, which will improve at-a-glance readability of fights that involve them.

This pass at improving gameplay communication also extends to the Olympian and Magnetar, with their passive effects having a noticeable "proc" overlay for when the behaviors are having an impact on the battlefield. More audiovisuals are soon to come, so expect even better readability as May marches on!

At long last, the Monument of Sin has been enlarged! It's now at a size appropriate to its cost and significance - 6x5, from 2x3. Combined with the Lattice becoming 3x3, from 3x2, and last week's changes to the Grand Library and Ancestral Archives, and we are very close to the Protoss having size-appropriate structures at all locations. Thanks again to the developers of Five Nations for their blessing in using their assets as placeholders in our work!

This past week has also seen a number of small balance tweaks to early-game units and structures, including:

• Legionnaire: Time cost now 17, from 16
• Izirokor: Time cost now 20, from 25
• Vornath Pond: Mineral and gas costs now 75/75, from 50/100

The goal of these changes is to nudge racial balances towards less unilateral choices, and mostly by improving existing options. The Legionnaire receives a minor time cost nerf, but it should still reign supreme as the speedy option due to its innate characteristics. The Izirokor will come out notably faster now, making them a better choice than the Zoryusthaleth for emergency hive defense. The Vornath Pond is less prohibitive on early gas, making it a tool that Zerg players can explore in the early-game.

As always, we will monitor the impact of these changes, and play towards the long arc of history rather than reacting sharply and without sufficient data. These changes shouldn't shake up the early-game too significantly, and instead look to help diversify compositions in certain matchups, including Protoss mirror.

There are some considerations to cover: namely, the Hydralisk. This all-rounder has been terrorizing most matchups, especially Protoss that open Gateway. A few potential changes are being considered (please note that only one of these would be executed upon initially):

• Reduce HP by 5, or armor by 1, making them more reliant on a frontline
• Reduce damage or attack speed by a slight amount, making them take longer to dish out their trademark DPS
• Remove their armor penetration, making them less efficient vs enemy frontline

Of the listed options, #1 and #3 seem the most alluring, because they impact the unit's role contextually rather than totally. If your enemy never reaches the backline, it doesn't matter that the unit is squishier -- and if you have armor rend or good focus fire, it doesn't matter that the unit struggles with armor. #2 seems worse by this metric, as it makes the Hydralisk worse in all contexts, rather than allowing Zerg players to earn its current strength back with good positioning, targeting, or compositions.

There are always more things to consider, and always more data to mull over, so expect more exciting changes with even more exciting implications in next week's installment!

It goes without saying that Autophagy, the long-awaited Zerg tutorial and final educational mission for a good while, is slated for release this week. Join us for that -- it'll be great!

We will continue developments on more straight-laced singleplayer content, with some exciting developments already underway. As mentioned before, reading ahead of the class requires a subscription to our ko-fi page, but you can also head on over to our Discord server to talk about what's publicly announced!

More audiovisuals are also incoming, such as the continued usage of our nascent banter system that plays unit responses for all to hear when certain conditions are met. The Hierophant already benefits from this system when a unit is slain after suffering max stacks of its passive, but more will be implemented soon enough!

The iscript extender is up next, with technical efforts focused on incorporating project contributor X405's reverse-engineering efforts into Cosmonarchy's codebase. This will be a momentous occasion and monumental achievement, upon which the fourth race shall be built. Stay tuned!

And as always, join us on Pr0nogo's youtube channel for daily Cosmonarchy matches! Here are some of this week's highlights:

• ECalipso vs Krankendau - PvZ on Fata Morgana and Axiom!
• Eud64 vs TopRamen - TvT on Impetus!
• The Shambler vs Hupsaiya - PvP on Sideshow!