Hey everyone. Finally, after quite some time, Vanguard has been updated to a new version. This version, which will probably also be the final version, includes some big changes. These changes include bugfixes, re-balancing and new features. A few months ago there already was a quick Vanguard update that allowed you to build supply boxes and which made it possible for your soldiers to level up. In the latest version the supply boxes will still be there, but the soldier leveling system has changed drastically.

This is a quick summary of the changes made:

Most important bugfixes:
- Resolved the ever annoying crashing issues. In the previous version the game could crash when you let an engineer restock on ammunition from a supply box. Some other issues that could cause a game crash have also been resolved.(Thanks to Heady978 for supplying the information needed to locate this problem)

- Starting from an other level than lvl 1 on the Vanguard campaign left you with only basic ammunition and medkits. This bug has been fixed and your current stock on ammunition and medkits should now be loaded from your savegame.(Thanks to shaolinmnk for noticing this one)

- Restocking on the right type of ammunition sometimes lead to failed restock. The soldier either restocked on the wrong type of ammo or didn't restock at all. This issue has been resolved.(Thanks to Heady978 for noticing and supplying a great suggestion)

- The competition game mode no longer starts running slow after a few missions. After every mission data is reloaded and verified to make sure that the game won't start running slow.

Most important new features and game changes:
- A skill system has been added. When soldiers level up they receive skillpoints that can be used to learn skills. Every soldier class has its unique skill tree. Read more about this new feature in the help update.

- The game has been rebalanced. Both the campaign and the competition have been rebalanced. The skill system made it possible to increase both the strength of the enemy and the speed at which the enemy attacks you. The increase in speed will make sure that rounds don't take as long as they used to. This could be considered a serious improvement in the campaign, as it could take a long time to finish a mission in there.

- Soldiers can carry less ammunition and medkits per default. No longer can a soldier carry a truckload of ammunition and medkits. This has been limited to make it more realistic and to increase the usefulness of supply boxes.

- The "Balance on placed" function in the equipment inventory has been improved. When a player clicks on this button, the ammunition and medkits available will be distributed amongst the soldiers that are currently placed on the field. Soldiers that require more ammunition because of their class will receive priority treatment. E.g. A machinegunner will receive more ammunition than a rifleman and a rifleman will receive more ammunition than a bazooka trooper.

- Instead of being able to defend at an unlimited range, a soldier's defense area will now depend on the weapon he's carrying. This will increase the need for tactical placement of soldiers with specific weapons. See the help update thread for more information.

- A mouse over help text feature has been added to the HUD on the field. Now when you move your mouse over a button, the stock of your soldiers, your ammunition, your health, etc. in the HUD you will be told how much is left. This should improve the experience of new players as this also works for the command menu that appears when you click on a soldier on the field.

More small things have changed but I can't remember all of them. I hope you like the updates. As I mentioned earlier this will be the final update for a while (unless someone finds a bug that needs to be fixed). Now it's time to work on updating the site. This includes building the long awaited Clash! section and several other big changes.

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Great work Crisis

The gameplay is much better than before, sometimes a little bit to fast for me but i was able to play until all soldier were dead without any chrashes or lags.

But i also found 2 little new bugs, but nothing serious.

1. In bunker menu sometimes the "empty supply box button" had no function and no mouseover, but after doing other things like placing soldiers it works.

2. Engineers with healing skill also heals dead soldiers, so the dead soldiers won't be shown as dead in the menu after they got some hp back.

first of all, i say good update!

and ich found a little bug too:
when you are in the mission setup of the compete mode (on the initial soldier selection as well) and you hit the ctrl key then part of the screen becomes black

hitting the ctrl key more often changes how much of the screen is black but it will not switch to normal until you start the mission. the next setup is without the black parts again

if you know where things under the black area are, then you can even continue to play because every button under the black reacts normal when clicked

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the one and only vanguard competition finisher ;-)

Great guys, thanks! Good thing you noticed. I'll work on fixing those bugs a.s.a.p.

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another bug:
if you move your mouse over the level 1 impulse skill of a support soldier and then move the mouse to the level 0 endurance skill, you will notice that there will be a next level effect be displayed - saying "75% hp recovered". this is the next level effect of the impulse skill thought

and here is a weired thing:
medic skill of a engineer
4% health of nearby soldiers every 3 seconds = 1,33% / sec
5% health of nearby soldiers every 3 seconds = 1,66% / sec
6% health of nearby soldiers every 4 seconds = 1,50% / sec
level 3 is worse then level 2

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the one and only vanguard competition finisher ;-)

Ah ok, overlooked that one. Great, I'll try and fix it in a few hours. Considering the medic skill, I'll just swap the effects of level 3 and 2.

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Above mentioned bugs have been fixed in the version that has just been uploaded.

I couldn't track down the bug concerning not being able to press the "empty supply box" button. It worked normally when I tried. Strange, but luckily it didn't sound like it was a bug that really influenced the game. If it happens again send me a message with what you can tell me about it (including a screenshot perhaps). Maybe I'll be able to track it down then.

Thanks for your quick bug reports guys. I hope this update has solved them.

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doublejk and heady... you guys are awesome!

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