Everyone hates being left in the dark, not knowing what's going on, if anything, behind the scenes can be kinda annoying. Therefore we've put together this list of work carried out on Absolute Terror in order to keep you all informed of developments: At long last Absolute Terror now has a new home on a brand new server! Gone are the days of Windows Server 2000 barely running on an Athlon XP 2200+ CPU rig, now we're kicking it in style on Windows Server 2008 R2 running on two Intel Atom D525 dual core CPUs for a total of 4 cores all fully tapped in a Web Garden!
The new server is also passively cooled so there will be no more summer meltdowns thank you very much. Hopefully Absolute Terror will now enjoy a new era of stability with some increased speed to boot. http://www.absoluteterror.net The 'Skills Tree' window is now live, however, thus far it will only display faction specific skills.
If you have ascended to the level requirement of a given skill then that skill will no longer be deactivated. That said none of the skills listed to date actually work yet so all your units can do is aspire to activate them at this stage - as such we will now be focused on developing the code for each skill. http://www.absoluteterror.net Thanks to 'TehNewbRobot' and 'Lilium' on the Absolute Terror Message Board, for both refining the new skill trees and providing decent imagery to accompany them, we are now forging ahead with the skill tree development. Today we mainly focused on image and database work thus laying the foundation for the code development to come. http://www.absoluteterror.net Due to popular demand, we are now embarking on a long 'development challenge' to bring skill trees to Absolute Terror! This is a long term game upgrade into which we have just taken our first few steps - watch this space, or rather more specifically the new 'Skills Tree' icon now available from the main in-game control panel toolbar. http://www.absoluteterror.net The continued spamming of 'Jet Alone' and its 'Nuclear Meltdown' have caused us to introduce a prerequisite for this units devastating blast attack. As a result, 'Jet Alone' units must have reached level 3 before they can commence a 'Nuclear Meltdown'. Whilst we do not wish to mute the fun aspect of this particular unit, we need to as an online community preserve the 'Spirit Of The Game' where possible in Absolute Terror. http://www.absoluteterror.net We have almost completed the 'Qliphoth' item set now what with the new release of both 'Samael' and 'Gamaliel' which can now be found in Tokyo-3. For the low down on these new 'Qliphoth' be sure to check out the main website - see the 'Items' section for more details. http://www.absoluteterror.net Due to changing circumstances we have had to migrate the Message Board from our previous host and bring it back into the fold. As such the Message Board is now hosted on the Absolute Terror server. In doing so we have noticed a performance increase in the Message Board - in particular the message tree now renders 30% faster! Every cloud has its silver lining 'n all that... http://www.absoluteterror.net We've been on another of our ritual bug hunts today. It should no longer be possible to enter a safe house whilst carrying the 'Qliphot' called 'Harab Serapel'. In addition we are hoping that it is no longer possible to be 'Conflagrated' whilst 'Immobilised'! :) Sorry about that feature folks - a tad early for April Fools sadly. http://www.absoluteterror.net Happy New Year to everyone currently battling it out on the Absolute Terror server. To kick off the New Year we have a stunning new 'Qliphot' called 'Harab Serapel' now doing the rounds. This little gem has a nasty sting to it as it will enhance all of the carrier's attacks with a 5% 'Stun' bonus - see the 'Items' section for more details. http://www.absoluteterror.net The 'Instant Curry Ramen' is now live. It now boasts the additional effect of an inferno holocaust! This stuff is absolutely lethal so use at your own peril - see the 'Items' section for more details. http://www.absoluteterror.net As a little Christmas treat, we have created a new item for Absolute Terror; the 'Instant Curry Ramen' straight from Misato's fridge. For the moment you can only buy these crazy food-stuffs on the black market from Kaji. Once ingested the potent effects of these instant ready meal shockers ranges from a rush of adrenaline to full blown thermonuclear mealtdown! As time goes on we'll introduce even more random effects...in the meantime, however, it's a case of do or die! http://www.absoluteterror.net Today was spent tracking down and eliminating a rather obscure, but very troublesome, bug sadly. The bug was causing locations around the 'Black Market' in 'Lake Ashi North' to crash the game hence it had to be dealt with. Hopefully all is well once more now. http://www.absoluteterror.net Determined as ever to finish the 'Qliphoth' item set, we have just unleashed the 'Qliphot' named 'Thagirion' on to Tokyo-3. This particular 'Qliphot' packs a real punch as it confers a 5 point damage bonus to its wielder's attacks - time to go mash up some fools! http://www.absoluteterror.net We are now ranked with renowned online gaming magazine Thirteen1's new MMO ranking site called T1 Topsite. If you like what we're doing here at Absolute Terror and want to lend your support to the community then please vote for us via our T1 Topsite affiliate link. http://www.absoluteterror.net The Absolute Terror Message Board was looking very tired visually. As such, we have revamped it to bring it more in line with the appearance of the game's current website design. Hopefully this will make the Message Board visually more exciting. http://www.absoluteterror.net At long last, Absolute Terror now has sticky game settings! Now when you toggle your in game HUD on/off or textures on/off etc... these settings will be stored in the game's database and retained for the next time you log in or swap between squad members. http://www.absoluteterror.net As well as finishing off the redesign of the 'Sniper Mode', today we also recoded the way in which the game renders both its unit and object listings plus accompanying pagination. We have already noticed a marked improvement in speed when moving units through heavily populated areas. Hopefully we will be able to identify some more chunks of code which could do with some optimisation. http://www.absoluteterror.net Following feedback for the 'Sniper Mode' window on the Absolute Terror Message Board, we have now decided to completely redesign it as opposed to moving it around. Although not entirely finished yet, the 'Sniper Mode' window now resides in the 'Location/Units Panel' area. Hopefully this redesign will make the game more playable. http://www.absoluteterror.net We're currently making some visual tweaks to the game's HUD and its various popup windows to make game play a little slicker. Thus far we have repositioned the 'Sniper Mode' window and are now monitoring your feedback to see if its new home is more user friendly. As always, please do let us know your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board. http://www.absoluteterror.net We have now upgraded the 'Black Market' so that you can now sell your illegal wares. That said, 'Kaji' drives a hard bargain and as such you'll be lucky to see half the sale value of your goods. http://www.absoluteterror.net Absolute Terror now has its very own 'Black Market'. If you fancy purchasing the game's more shadier items then 'Kaji' can now cut you a good deal in exchange for 'Iridium Shards' from anyone! http://www.absoluteterror.net Pressing on with the currency project for Absolute Terror, we have now made a start on 'Kaji's more shadier dealings. Yes you've guessed it, the 'Black Market' is finally being built and it is here that you will be able to trade 'Iridium' for quality goods. Thus far there's not much to see visually other than a 'Black Market' icon and an accompanying window, but give us another week or so and commerce will hopefully be flourishing. http://www.absoluteterror.net In an attempt to try and improve in game performance, we have now introduced GZIP compression. In addition, we have also minified the game's stylesheet. Hopefully both of these techniques will reduce data transfer and thus improve speed a tad. If you have any feedback on these upgrades then we would love to hear your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board. http://www.absoluteterror.net If we're to have currency in Absolute Terror then we'll be wanting lots of it! As such the old skool 'Inventory' needed a bit of attention as paging through pages of items is a real chore and puts unnecessary strain on our server's wee little Internet pipe. To try and make the 'Inventory' a little less clunky we have now grouped up stashed items and listed quotas next to each. We have also done this for the 'Storage Banks'. Hopefully this will make currency more viable and also help the game's speed a little. Be sure to let us know your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board. http://www.absoluteterror.net Dr 'Ritsuko Akagi' is now collecting specimens and rewarding those willing to aid her experiments with 'Iridium Shard's. Treasure huntin' time people! http://www.absoluteterror.net Today we have been further developing Dr 'Ritsuko Akagi'. Although not quite finished yet, she does now move between work and home depending on the time of day. In addition, her lab assistant 'Maya Ibuki' will also let slip weekly those specific alien specimens 'Ritsuko Akagi' is currently after - see the 'Non-Player Characters' section for more details. Hopefully we will finish this new NPC off during the week so that you can all start collecting your 'Iridium'! http://www.absoluteterror.net You voted for in game currency in Absolute Terror and so we have made a start on what will likely be a big game update! To kick things off we have introduced 'Iridium' as the form of currency and are currently developing a new NPC, Dr 'Ritsuko Akagi', who will ultimately be making this rarest of elements available. Going forwards you will be able to trade 'Iridium' for other, more deadlier, items and Angels will likely find it a useful biomorph of sorts. More on all this later, but for the time being at least be sure to check out both the 'Items' and 'Non-Player Characters' sections for more details. Also, remember to have your say on the Absolute Terror Message Board as to how 'Iridium' should be both acquired and, more importantly, used! http://www.absoluteterror.net We're back to the Absolute Terror grind stone having had a break for a couple of weeks. At present there is another vote taking place on the Absolute Terror Message Board to see if in game currency or game speed optimisations are next on the development cards. In the meantime we have already implemented one speed improvement in that the 'Mini Map' now runs entirely client side in javascript. What this means is that it should be really fast! Whilst we can't do this sort of thing everywhere in the game because of the limitations of javascript, it does mean that we can target certain elements of the game and thus speed it up a notch. http://www.absoluteterror.net Resident Absolute Terror artworker John Symonds has gifted us with some more desktop background images to drool over. In addition, we have also created a banner graphic as some of you have asked us to provide one for your forum posts etc... See the 'Community/Downloads' section for more details. http://www.absoluteterror.net The 'Qliphot' known as 'Golachab' is now live. This handy little bundle of flaming joy will imbue your ranged weapons with 10% 'Conflagration' damage! Very nice indeed. http://www.absoluteterror.net We made a start on the 'Qliphot' named 'Golachab' today. It's about 70% completed thus far, so hopefully we will introduce this new ranged weapon conflagration imbuing trinket over the next few days. http://www.absoluteterror.net Due to popular demand, we took a bit of time out from 'Absolute Terror' today to work on the 'Message Board' instead. It's been long overdue as we've not developed it in over 2 years! That said, we've just treated it to a nice new HTML editor courtesy of TinyMCE which means you can now post beautiful(ish) looking messages. So what are you waiting for - time to get posting your views. :) http://www.absoluteterror.net Continuing with the 'Qliphoth' development, 'Gamchicoth' is now lurking around in the Absolute Terror universe. This curious little 'Qliphot' reduces your ready defensive or ranged weapon action points requirement by 1. This may come in handy to the more slow and cumbersome combatants amongst you. http://www.absoluteterror.net We're back on track with the 'Qliphot' now and as such 'Chaigidel' is now present and accounted for in the Absolute Terror universe. This little baby reduces your movement action points requirement by 1! Very useful for all those fat 'Angels' out there. :) http://www.absoluteterror.net 'Blight Company', i.e. the 'JSSDF Defence Battalion' guarding the 'JSSDF Hakone Secure Compound', are now fully restored and ready on full 'Overwatch' - mess with these hardcore veterans at your own peril. We have also now marked the 'JSSDF Hakone Secure Compound' on the 'Mini Map'. http://www.absoluteterror.net The 'JSSDF Defence Battalion' guarding the 'JSSDF Hakone Secure Compound' is now on 'Overwatch'! :) At present they will only retaliate against melee attacks but very soon ranged attackers will suffer their wrath too. Take heed would be attackers as the 'JSSDF Defence Battalion' has strict orders to use its 'Incendiary Cannonade'. http://www.absoluteterror.net Both the 'JSSDF Hakone Secure Compound' and 'JSSDF Hakone Operations' command centre are now finished...'Launch Strips' 'n all. Sadly though 'SEELE's base has already been overrun with NERV infiltrators - so what yer gonna do 'SEELE'? http://www.absoluteterror.net Right, well to kick off the new year 'SEELE' now have a base of operations. Give a warm welcome to the 'JSSDF Hakone Secure Compound' along with its subterranean 'JSSDF Hakone Operations' command centre. :) It's not quite finished yet and we'll let you guess its location for the moment (it's not marked on the in game mini map yet). Once fully operational the 'Landing Strips' will provide one-way only drops to the vicinity of the other 'SEELE' safe houses around 'Tokyo-3'. They will only be one-way, as we like to keep the factions different, but they will also only be usable by 'SEELE' and will still provide rapid deployment in the field. Going forwards the 'Defence Battalions' may even fire back! Watch this space...and don't say we neglect you 'SEELE' guys 'n gals - save the best till last 'n all that. Thanks to all those on the Absolute Terror Message Board who help to conjure up these ideas - you're AT's true develpers! http://www.absoluteterror.net This is likely our last update of 2009! We've now amended Absolute Terror so that damage, healing and repair values are displayed graphically on the main HUD so that you don't have to read through the last event text to work out exact details - hopefully this will make the game flow a bit smoother. Values in green indicate target damage inflicted or repaired, where as values in red indicate your own unit's damage received or regenerated. Anyway, aside from all that - happy new year everyone! http://www.absoluteterror.net We've now amended the regeneration routine such that units holding one or more of the 'Sephiroth' AND 'Qliphoth' simultaneously no longer regenerate life points - this is because of the amount of focus a unit requires in order to tame these opposing forces. Discard one or the other of these polar opposites and you'll be able to regenerate life points once more. On another note, we would just like to take this moment to thank all the veterans who have stuck with us over the last year...you know who you are. Big pat on the back for helping Absolute Terror through its second year. We'll endeavor to keep going so long as you guys demand it so... Keep up the good fight and lets hope 2010 brings even more success. Cheers guys, and remember...at Absolute Terror we don't do recessions. ;) http://www.absoluteterror.net Given how your unit descriptions seem to get funnier and funnier by the day, we've decided to display 3 random unit profiles on the main site each time its individual pages are loaded. We thought this might provide a bit of light entertainment. http://www.absoluteterror.net Just a small visual update to the main site today. We've now implemented pretty-esque JQuery LightBox effects on the site's enlargeable images such as those found in the 'Screen Shots + Trailer' section. Next on the cards is a section which will feature a random unit profile which should be a giggle. This feature will allow us to shine a spot light on all your creative unit descriptions. http://www.absoluteterror.net Both of the 'Qliphoth' named 'Thamiel' and 'Sathariel' are now live. See the 'Objectives' and 'Items' sections for more details and please do keep your eyes peeled for any bugs since these two troublesome 'Qliphoth' required significant game code changes. http://www.absoluteterror.net The 'Qliphoth' named 'Thamiel' and 'Sathariel' are now both in development. These babies will enhance 'Evasion' and 'Infiltration' respectively. :) Unfortunately the 'Qliphoth' are a bugger to code and so the going's slow. That said, these two particular 'Qliphoth' are forcing us to implement the foundations for future unit stat upgrades for both 'Evasion' and 'Infiltration' which could be very interesting - watch this space. http://www.absoluteterror.net We've finally made a start on the new 'Tree Of Knowledge' objective - see the 'Objectives' and 'Items' sections for more details. Over the next few months we will start to drip feed the 'Qliphoth' into Absolute Terror so keep your eyes peeled cos they're gonna be nasty. Finders keepers. :) http://www.absoluteterror.net Bit of a dull update today I'm afraid. We had to spend some time getting Absolute Terror to automatically delete any 'Storage Banks' unaccessed for a year . Sadly we have to implement these tidying up processes to help stop the database from getting full of crap. Hopefully we'll have some more exciting updates in the near future. http://www.absoluteterror.net Awesome! Absolute Terror has just been added to the MMOLIFE network! Cheers to both Reinout and Simon for the link. We've also added some more weapons. :) Oh yeah, we all love new weapons. This time round 'EVA Unit 01' has gained a 'Progressive Spear' and 'EVA Unit 02' the famed 'Magoroku-E Sword' - love it. http://www.absoluteterror.net The Absolute Terror Message Board is now back in business - sorry for the loss of service this past week. http://www.absoluteterror.net Sadly the Message Board Server is kaboodled at the moment and probably won't be back in service until this Saturday. :( http://www.absoluteterror.net At last, 'Storage Banks' are now live! Go check out 'Kaji Ryoji' now for your own personal 'Storage Bank' and get hoarding. We do still have a bit of work left to do on these i.e. delete inactive 'Storage Banks', however, we can get to that another day. http://www.absoluteterror.net We did several more hours work on the 'Storage Banks' today and they're almost ready to go live now. Sadly this particular new functionality is very complicated and prone to bugs so we're having to tread carefully. Hopefully 'Storage Banks' will be live come the weekend. http://www.absoluteterror.net Gawd, we're really going for it now...Absolute Terror now has a NPC - see the new 'Non-Player Characters' section for more details. Anyway, say hello to 'Kaji Ryoji' - your local 'Black Market' Arms Dealer and Spy. Currently we're working on Kaji's ability to harbor weapons so hopefully in the near future you'll be able to make use of storage banks to store all your items in. The advantage here being that you can secure your own storage bank with an 'Access Code' which you can also give out to your allies. You will also be able to create multiple storage banks...for a price of course. Kaji doesn't do anything for free. ;) http://www.absoluteterror.net Et voilla...another weapon. This time it's an 'ATF Scythe' for 'EVA Unit 02'. Cheers once again to you know who for their input on this. We've also spent a bit of time trying to sort out some of the new website's layout issues under Internet Explorer 6. Whilst we don't really support ancient browsers, we do try our best where possible. http://www.absoluteterror.net As promised it's a weapons bonanza for Absolute Terror. EVA units 00, 01 and 02 now have upgraded 'Progressive Knives', 'EVA Unit 04' now has a 'Lance Of Longinus' (melee usage only) and 'EVA Unit 05' a pretty decent 'Leg Sweep'. The Angels' unit 'Bardiel' now has a new 'Reckless Assault' melee attack and SEELE's 'Tank Battalion' can rain down a 'Fire Storm'. We hope you enjoy all the new weapons, hopefully there will be more to come soon. Thanks to both 'Tehnewbrobot' (for developing the new weapons) and 'Lilium' (for providing the images) for their combined efforts on the Absolute Terror Message Board. Lastly, we've added a faction filter to the 'Know Your Enemy' section given the list of unit types was starting to get out of hand. ;) http://www.absoluteterror.net The 'Organised Weapon Window' functionality is now live meaning that the 'Weapons list' can now be filtered, thus we can now introduce more unit weapons into Absolute Terror! Over the next week or so you will see some old favorites, like the 'Progressive Knife' return to active service in addition to many new weapons. ;) http://www.absoluteterror.net We had to sideline (temporarily) the 'Organised Weapon Window' functionality today in favor of fixing some urgent bugs! :( We noticed that numerous game unit settings weren't being set correctly when units were being immobilised as a result of either 'Jet Alone' initiating its 'Nuclear Meltdown' and when falling victim to 'Conflagration' weapons. This would explain, we hope, the weird 'Conflagration' bug mentioned on the Absolute Terror Message Board. Oooops...least it's fixed now. http://www.absoluteterror.net Today we made a start on the 'Organised Weapon Window' idea which has been suggested on the Absolute Terror Message Board. In addition, we're trialing out Google's AdSense in an effort to cover the hosting costs needed to bring you Absolute Terror. Although we're not big on Ads, we've still gotta pay the bills. ;) http://www.absoluteterror.net At last it's here: Absolute Terror v1.4! Errr, so what exactly does the .4 get you then...well, a brand new web site basically. The old site was really showing its age so it really needed an overhaul to fall in line with XHTML standards etc... We hope you enjoy the changes. The new site has been in development on and off for a few weeks now and we felt it time to go live with it at last. http://www.absoluteterror.net Crikey, it's update heaven at the moment. Check out two new Absolute Terror desktop backgrounds courtesy of John Symonds - see the 'Downloads' section for more details. If that wasn't enough, 'EVA Unit 02' now has an evil 'W-PP (white phosphorus) Immolator' - see the 'Know Your Enemy' section for more details. Special thanks to both 'Tehnewbrobot' (his initial idea) and 'Lilium' (suggested tweak) for developping this idea on the Absolute Terror Message Board. Now Absolute Terror has even more nasty weaponry to char-grill the enemy with. ;) http://www.absoluteterror.net Today's update is the introduction of 'Napalm-B Drop's into Absolute Terror - see the 'Items' section for more details. The use of such liquid infernos my be banned across numerous countries but said rules of engagement haven't reached Absolute Terror yet. It's time to burn! http://www.absoluteterror.net Just a bit of marketing news today in that Absolute Terror is due to be added to the listings at FreeBrowserGamer.com come the 1st of September! Cheers for the link Paul. http://www.absoluteterror.net The new 'Conflagrate' weapon trait is now live - see the 'Art Of Fighting' section for more details. Thus far 'SEELE' are the only faction to be gifted with weapons able to cause 'Conflagration', however, as ever we're open to suggestions. Just let us know on the Absolute Terror Message Board if you feel that other units should be dishing out flammable pain. It's worth noting that the 'Conflagrate' upgrade was no easy thing so please keep your eyes peeled for those pesky bugs as there's bound to be one or two. http://www.absoluteterror.net Did some more work on the 'Conflagrate' weapon trait today, specifically creating all the various graphics required for burnt looking unit profiles etc... You will also get a lovely big 'Conflagrate!' warning on the HUD when on fire just so you know when to dash for the nearest swimming pool. ETA: possibly end of the week at our present rate of development. http://www.absoluteterror.net We've now commenced work on a new 'Conflagrate' weapon trait which will allow you to burn your opponents to a cinder - hopefully this new weapon trait will go live in a week or so...but that's not the end of it. 'Napalm' stylee air strikes here we come!! Welcome to the hell that is Absolute Terror...Maw ha ha ha ha haaarrrrr! http://www.absoluteterror.net Tiny update today in that 'Israfel' can now traverse water as requested via the Absolute Terror Message Board. Wanna see more go your way? Well then, you best get jibber jabbering on the Message Board. Later. http://www.absoluteterror.net Just thought we would mention that Absolute Terror has just been added to www.MMORPG.com! It's taken a while but it's been worth the wait. The www.OnRPG.com guys have done us proud over the years and now we can finally supplement their ranks with fresh meat for the grinder. ;) We've already noticed an increase in new gamers so if you're indeed new to Absolute Terror then 'Hi'. If you're new in town and want to get involved in Absolute Terror, its community and future development direction then the Absolute Terror Message Board is a good place to start...it is also home to some of Absolute Terror's long standing veterans who will no doubt be willing to share their battle wisdom if required. Now that pleasantries are out of the way it's time to grab your weapons and start owning the opposition! Just cos you're new don't mean we're gonna give you the day off! ;) Fall in marines. http://www.absoluteterror.net Hurrah! 'EVA Unit 05' is here at last! Whilst it will no doubt be tweaked over the next few weeks, 'EVA Unit 05' is ready to roll around the streets of Tokyo-3 causing mayhem. Thanks to both 'Lilium' and 'Tehnewbrobot' for all their 'EVA Unit 05' input on the Absolute Terror Message Board - this EVA would likely not have made it if it wasn't for their combined efforts. http://www.absoluteterror.net We've made a start on 'EVA Unit 05' today! Please don't expect this bizarre new EVA to grace the war just yet because images of the thing are scarce and hence require a lot of work. That said, hopefully we'll see this arachnid like monster rolling around the battle field in around a week's time. http://www.absoluteterror.net A major update today, so much so Absolute Terror has just hit version 1.3! Basically we spent the entire weekend over-hauling the game's presentation code so that it is now near as dam it perfectly optimised for visual display in Internet Explorer 7, 8, FireFox and Chrome. We've been putting this off for a while now but it needed to be done before we make a start on all the fantastic new ideas that are springing up on the Absolute Terror Message Board. Hopefully now the game will look almost identical in all the aforementioned browsers. Because of the massive code changes be sure to refresh your browsers so you're not running cashed stylesheets etc... http://www.absoluteterror.net There are some decent suggestions brewing on the Message Board now which we will get to shortly. However, before doing so there was one more little thing we wanted to do - unit descriptions now appear in a green speech bubble when hovering over their profile image in the location panel. :) http://www.absoluteterror.net Just a small bug fix today folks. Units that were 'Hitched' which were subsequently exiled by the towers were failing to become 'Unhitched'. This meant that the towers would still be towing their units that had been exiled half way across Tokyo-3! Not good...so we fixed it. A rather dull update I know, but these things have to be sorted out at some point. http://www.absoluteterror.net It's been rightly pointed out by 'Tehnewbrobot' that 'Leliel' should be reduced in size given that the black and white sphere in the sky is actually its shadow. As such 'Leliel' is now size 1 for the purposes of 'Shielding'. In addition, we thought we should make more of going berserk...so as of now, triggering 'Berserker Rage' will also display 'Rage!!' across the screen in big red bloody lettering - in much the same way as with 'Hunter' and 'Prey'. http://www.absoluteterror.net Sorted. The 'Ashigarashimo Springs' are now finished - go easy on the tourists! ;) http://www.absoluteterror.net The 'Ashigarashimo Springs' are now open to the public warmongerers. Whilst they're not finished yet, we thought it wouldn't do any harm to open them up ahead of schedule. Check out your in game 'Mini Map' for a fix on the location. http://www.absoluteterror.net Thanks to Tehnewbrobot for promoting Absolute Terror, see the 'Promotion' section for more details. Also, we've now started work on a new area: 'Ashigarashimo Springs'. Watch this space... http://www.absoluteterror.net The 'Squad Orders' are now completely finished. See the 'Art Of Fighting' section for more details. In addition, we have appointed one of Absolute Terror's more recent veteran players, 'Lilium', as a moderator for the Absolute Terror Message Board. Whilst the Absolute Terror Message Board will still be allowed to continue to runmble on much as it has done over the years, it means that we can spread out some of the game's admin functions as well as integrate with Absolute Terror's veteran community a little more. No doubt 'Lilium' will also be on hand ready to help with any 'Rookie' queries raised on the Absolute Terror Message Board. http://www.absoluteterror.net We're making up for lost time now...the 'Squad Orders' - 'Maintain Vigilance' functionality is now finished. This will allow you to order all your squad members to ready their best weapons and set them on 'Overwatch' with a single click - life is easy. :) http://www.absoluteterror.net Some more progress has been made on the 'Squad Orders' - 'Take Cover' functionality, however, it's quite complex and the going is slow. :( On a more positive note though it looks like Absolute Terror could well be making it into the ranks of MMORPG.com! It's taken several months of trying but we're almost there - fingers crossed...and toes. http://www.absoluteterror.net We've made some progress on the 'Squad Orders' - 'Take Cover' order. 'Take Cover' will now attempt to get all your units to 'Consolidate' their position if possible. In time, this order will also get them to ready any available defences e.g. 'AT field', 'Braced Hull' etc... This will be our next task. The 'Squad Orders' dropdown is available from the 'Squad List' - as ever, watch out for those pesky bugs. http://www.absoluteterror.net A suggestion by 'Paramine' has sparked our enthusiasm for some renewed Absolute Terror development. We're now working on a squad orders feature. At present we're working on the ability to command all units in a squad to 'Take Cover' or 'Maintain Vigilance'. 'Take Cover' will in theory get all your units to 'Consolidate', if possible, and ready any available defences e.g. 'AT field', 'Braced Hull' etc..., where as 'Maintain Vigilance' will get all your units to ready their best weapons and set them on 'Overwatch'. Still early days yet so watch this space. http://www.absoluteterror.net To try and make Absolute Terror a bit easier for new commers we've tagged certain units in the 'Know Your Enemy' section as 'Rookie Units'. Rookie units are ideal unit choices when playing Absolute Terror for the first time due to their mobility and average stat lines. As such, it is easier to gain experience, and thus build up your squad size, by starting out with a 'Rookie Unit'. Hopefully this will give Absolute Terror's fresh meat a better start in life. http://www.absoluteterror.net We've been bug hunting today. The mobile units break down in the 'Battle Report' section now excludes units in the 'Ethereal Plane' so that Angels do not benefit from immune units. In addition, we've now prevented the | character from being used in both squad and unit names since this was causing the game to crash. The | character is used by Absolute Terror for delimiting game data so it had to be locked down. http://www.absoluteterror.net Today the 'EVA Mass Production Model' just got a little nastier. It now sports a new melee attack called 'Cruel Harvest' - special thanks to 'Lilum' for both the graphic and concept. http://www.absoluteterror.net Just a little bug fix today. The 'Positron Cannon' was remaining set on 'Overwatch' long after units had abandoned their 'Positron Gun Turret'. Ooops! Well spotted 'Steel Guard'...indeed you weren't going mad after all. http://www.absoluteterror.net At last - the 'Shielding' functionality is done! See the 'Art Of Fighting' section for more details and be sure to post your views on the Absolute Terror Message Board. We're off to a well deserved kip now so enjoy sucking up the gun fire for yer buddies. Oh, and cheers to 'Ulfhedinn' - without his continued support for this feature it most likely would have never happened. http://www.absoluteterror.net Loads more work has been done on the 'Shielding' functionality today, in fact it's very nearly complete now. We're hoping to go live with this next Wednesday if all goes according to plan. We'd also like to apologise for breaking the game recently. Spelling errors in the code were to blame for this - we've since fixed this school boy error. http://www.absoluteterror.net We did a tad more work on the new 'Shielding' functionality today. You'll now spot a shield icon in game next to allied unit profiles at the same location. Whilst you can click on the icon, at present it does very little of practical value. We'll look to finish off this new functionality over the next week or so. http://www.absoluteterror.net At long last we're tackling the long overdue 'Shielding' feature which will allow units to literally shield other units thus drawing enemy fire. We've only just started this one so expect a few more updates soon on the matter. http://www.absoluteterror.net The 'Draggable' and 'Hauler' information has now been added to the 'Know Your Enemy' section so you all now know who can tow what. http://www.absoluteterror.net The 'Towing' feature is now finished and is live! - see previous posts for details. Over the next few days we'll look to add the 'Draggable' and 'Hauler' information to the 'Know Your Enemy' section so you all know who can tow what. Enjoy! http://www.absoluteterror.net More progress has been made today on the new 'Towing' feature. You can now 'Hitch' or 'Unhitch' immobilised units provided they themselves are 'Draggable' and your unit is a 'Hauler'. We'll add this info to the 'Know Your Enemy' section before long to save you all guessing. As it stands you can't yet tow units, however, for the moment you can have a giggle hitching and unhitching either friends or foes. http://www.absoluteterror.net We're now working on a new 'Towing' feature which will allow certain units to tow certain other immobilised units. By this we mean you'll be able to drag immobilised units along the battle field and dump them at alternative locations. Towing a unit will add 2 action points to a unit's standard movement requirement, however, this is a small price to pay to clear those barricades - obviously the clown being dragged around on the floor is moved for free. Watch this space. http://www.absoluteterror.net Right, the bug mentioned in our last post has now been fixed - time to get assaulting those base defences! http://www.absoluteterror.net We've just finished implementing a new 'Man The Guns!' objective - see 'Objectives - Man The Guns!' section for more details. Whilst everything seems fine so far with this new objective, we are yet to prevent units overwatching or overguarding with non-operational 'Positron Cannon's from firing. Whilst the 'Positron Cannon's can't be selected when non-operational, units overwatching or overguarding with them (before they became non-operational) will still fire using them when offline. We will look to finish this aspect off in the near future. http://www.absoluteterror.net Well the winter break's over, it's a new year and that can only mean one thing for Absolute Terror - more guns!! You'll now see 'Positron Gun Turret's located by the many entrances to 'The Cage' to help NERV defend their base. Angels I suggest you take 'em down quick whilst SEELE might want to hijack a few for a spot of duck hunting. These babies are fresh off the code so watch for those pesky bugs. Also be advised that the 'Positron Gun Turret's will likely be powered by a single reactor going forwards. Nuke that and they will go dead. Once we get the code in place they will also fail to work when ruined. There's also talk of a 'Displacement' ability - see the Absolute Terror Message Board for more details. All in good time... http://www.absoluteterror.net To increase the call to arms on 'Mount Hakone' we've now added an additional 'EVA Launch Ramp' to this area directly from 'The Cage'. We've not done the same treatment for SEELE given that the '59th Bunker' is only a stones throw away from the action. http://www.absoluteterror.net Just a quick bug fix today. Apparently it was possible to spawn a new land based unit in the 'Hakone Bowl' thus being trapped in the very centre of 'Mount Hakone' for ever (well spotted Lilum)! To get around this we've made a narrow pass that will allow any units access to the summit. As well as solving the landscape bug, we also thought this would make a fun area to try and defend - time to bring it on all you would be Kings Of The Mountain. http://www.absoluteterror.net Now this will be an interesting one, 'Mount Hakone' is now live, however, unless your units are capable of high altitudes you'll be struggling to reach its summit. http://www.absoluteterror.net We've finally got round to beefing up the NERV defences so expect to see more blast doors and wot not. We're also now working on 'Mount Hakone'. http://www.absoluteterror.net Tokyo-3's 'Inner Eastern Region' is now live and ready to be raised to the ground. Those keen of eye will quickly notice that we're looking to introduce some mountains into Absolute Terror. http://www.absoluteterror.net Yet another small update today, 'EVA Unit 06' now has a 'Silent Asphyxiation' melee attack. Looks like this unit could shape up to be 'NERV's little evil doer? Thanks once again to 'Lilium' for the base graphic. http://www.absoluteterror.net Another small update today, 'EVA Unit 04' now has an 'AT Field + Shield' which should make it more viable for scouting duties. More 'NERV' updates to come, however, progress is slow due to a lack of usable imagery for some of the rarer EVAs. http://www.absoluteterror.net Well here it is, Absolute Terror's own trailer - see the 'Screen Shots + Trailer' section for more details. Sadly buffering seems to be a bit hit and miss at the moment. We're trying to figure out if this is the trailer its self or YouTube streaming issues. http://www.absoluteterror.net Happy Halloween! As a bit of a break from the EVA series revamp we've decided to make a movie trailer for Absolute Terror as inspired by 'Lord Fire Bringer' who promoted the game with a YouTube video some months back. The trailer's currently 70% complete. http://www.absoluteterror.net As part of our 'NERV' revamp we've just tweaked 'EVA Unit 01's weapons. The 'Progressive Knife' has made way for the 'Vulcan Mk.5 Chaingun' - thanks to 'Lilium' for the graphic. We've also jazzed up the 'Handgun' which is no more...we'll be calling it the 'Ruger KP95D Pistol' from now on. We hope you enjoy these changes and those to come. http://www.absoluteterror.net Here it is...'EVA Unit 06'! This one's a bit of a wild card and will likely require future tweaks. This one's all about the stealthy take downs. It can also hover! Sadly its weapons are extremely limited at present, however, this will change in the future as we acquire more source imagery for the weapon graphics. http://www.absoluteterror.net Time is short today so just a wee update in the form of a revised 'Heavy Lance' graphic for the 'EVA Mass Production Model'. Thanks to 'Lilium' for the graphic's source image. http://www.absoluteterror.net In response to feedback on the Absolute Terror Message Board we've tweaked the 'EVA Mass Production Model's weapons a little to bring them up to speed. In addition, we're now looking to revisit the EVA series. In the pipeline are EVA Units 05 and 06 along with potential weapon tweaks and/or additions for the existing EVAs - watch this space. http://www.absoluteterror.net Just a bug fix and a game tweak today. We've now fixed a bug that prevented 'Infect' weapons set on 'Overwatch' from infecting their attackers. Thanks to 'Lilium', 'NEOS' and 'Tabris' for both spotting and figuring this bitch out on the Absolute Terror Message Board. We've also tweaked the game so that 'Infiltration' only works against units in different factions - seemed only fair that your comrades should know where you are. http://www.absoluteterror.net In response to feedback on the Absolute Terror Message Board we've tweaked 'Ramiel's weapons some more. Whilst 'Berserker Rage' was removed, since it never seemed entirely appropriate, new weapon 'Solar Particle Cannon' has been added and 'Quad Particle Cannon' modified to emulate that of a rapid fire weapon. Hopefully these amendments will mean that the Angels's long range flying fortress now has a death ray to suit all needs. Thanks to 'Lilium' and 'NEOS' for the suggestions. http://www.absoluteterror.net 'Evasion' is now live and available to certain units - see the 'Art Of Fighting' and 'Know Your Enemy' sections for more details. We've also blessed EVA Units 00, inc prototype version, 01 and 02 with limited 'Infiltration' abilities to represent them tactically laying low in cover waiting for the enemy to move into range. http://www.absoluteterror.net 'Infiltration' is now live and available to certain units - see the 'Art Of Fighting' and 'Know Your Enemy' sections for more details. This is a whole new concept for Absolute Terror so we'll be monitoring people's reactions to it very closely to see if we need to amend it. Please do keep your eyes peeled for potential bugs as we had to rewrite a ton of code (largely attack based code) to pull this one off. We're also now working on 'Evasion'...watch this space. http://www.absoluteterror.net Courtesy of 'Don't Panic', aka 'Lilium', on the Absolute Terror Message Board 'Ramiel' now has a 'Quad Particle Cannon'...it's time to get annihilating with the super-heavy Angels! We've also tweaked 'Ramiel's standard 'Particle Cannon' by increasing the accuracy very slightly. Next in the pipeline are potential 'Evade' and 'Infiltrate' abilities - see the Absolute Terror Message Board for more details. http://www.absoluteterror.net The 'Fallen Heroes' section is now up and running. It may look a tad bare at the moment, but rest assured...as soon as those veteran units start to enter retirement they will be eligible for a position in the 'Fallen Heroes' hall of fame - unless they're not actually worthy heroes of course. http://www.absoluteterror.net We're now working on a 'Fallen Heroes' section so that retired units can be honored for their time spent on the battle field. The 'Fallen Heroes' section will be a top 10 listing much like the other lists on the site - only those great heroes with a wealth of experience will be remembered...until an even greater hero bumps them off the list of course. We're certainly not compassionate here at Absolute Terror - even in death! http://www.absoluteterror.net New Angel unit 'Arael' is now live, see the 'Know Your Enemy' section for more details. This is one unit that will completely mess with your mind! Good thing it's weak... As always if you feel the balance for this latest unit isn't quite right then please do express your views on the Absolute Terror Message Board. http://www.absoluteterror.net We've been a little quiet on the development front as of late so we've decided to turn all that around and make a start on a new Angel unit; 'Arael'. Whilst we're not going to spoil the surprise, this Angel's going to be a weird one for sure. http://www.absoluteterror.net Big thanks to Lord Fire Bringer for promoting Absolute Terror, see the 'Promotion' section for more details. 160AP are headed your way Fire Bringer so watch out people cos the Lord's about to come knocking on your door! http://www.absoluteterror.net Once more we've been tinkering with the game's engine and as a result you can now see where your units, as well as those of your faction, are 'Overguarding' on the HUD. The number of allied units 'Overguarding' a given hexagon is represented by the value adjacent to the 'G:' for said hexagon. Hopefully this will aid those would be defenders in their defense strategy. http://www.absoluteterror.net We've upgraded the 'You have been immobilised by' text so that squad names are now mentioned. Now you can take the fight straight back to the squad that nailed you. ;) http://www.absoluteterror.net Looks like we're done now on the enhanced game communications. To finish things off we've now got the 'Remove Squad' functionality working for both the 'Comrades' and 'Hit' lists. We'll have to find something else to sink our teeth into now...next... http://www.absoluteterror.net We've tweaked both the 'Comrades' and 'Hit' lists some more to provide further squad information. In addition, squad based communications are now possible from the 'Hit' list too...so now there's no excuse for a few well placed taunts! - Peace?!?! What the fudge's that?! ;) http://www.absoluteterror.net Both the 'Comrades' and 'Hit' lists can now have their views toggled such that they can display either units or squads. In addition, squad based communications are now possible from the 'Comrades' list. Note that the 'Remove Contact' functionality is not yet live for squads. http://www.absoluteterror.net We're now getting stuck into some enhanced in game communications. As suggested by 'Superdaddy', on the Absolute Terror Message Board, we're working on allowing both the 'Comrades' and 'Hit' lists the ability to toggle their views such that they can display either units or squads. This will in turn lead to squad based communications. Currently this new functionality is in development. Watch this space... http://www.absoluteterror.net As requested by the AT community we have indeed pressed on with the development of a new unit for SEELE. Say hello to the 'Trident' unit, see the 'Know Your Enemy' section for more details. Stick these bad boys on guard duty with their 'Inferno Cannon' and you're laughing, provided you're flying the flag for SEELE of course. Special thanks to 'Rashnu' for supplying the source imagery for this one. http://www.absoluteterror.net Continuing on with the 'Bug Hunt', we've managed to nail a few more...including units not being deleted when 'Retired'!!?! Man, what's that all about...in any case, it's fixed now along with a few others. Hopefully the game is in a pretty solid state again so we're ready for something new - see the Absolute Terror Message Board for the various options on offer and have your say. Alex: I'm off on holiday too now for 2 weeks!! ;) http://www.absoluteterror.net Liam: I'm back from my holiday so I'm getting stuck into the fray once more. Just one bug fix today. Units 'Immobilised' by 'Overguard' attacks now drop their droppable items on the hexagon they were 'Immobilised' on. Originally this wasn't the case as items were being dropped on their previous hexagons which was very unfair for defenders. Attackers now need to pay more care to items, procured or stolen, taken into battle - if you go down then your items will be in the hands of the defenders! We're generally on a 'Bug Hunt' now and will be looking to resolve those issues identified on the Absolute Terror Message Board before pressing on with a new unit for SEELE! http://www.absoluteterror.net Just a couple of bug fixes today. 'Overguard' no longer causes multiple immobilisations on a single enemy unit. Whilst this bug didn't really cause any game damage, it did mean, however, that 'Overguarding' units were occasionally scoring kills when in fact they shouldn't have. On a more shocking note we found a criminal bug in the 'Overwatch' routine. This little bugger was preventing 'Overwatch' from firing off 40%!!! of the time. Needless to say...we delighted in smashing this bug into the void - apologies to all those 'EVA Mass Production Models' out there who have no doubt been feelin' the pain...until now! Liam: "I'm off on holiday (to Crete) for a week as off this Friday so game updates are going to go quiet for a bit. Once I'm back in the UK I'll resume action again. Apologies if the server goes offline during the week...I'm afraid arrangements to get it back online in my absence are limited as I'll be reliant on the cat nudging the power button with its nose." http://www.absoluteterror.net We tweaked the 'Overguard' attack sequence today such that attackes now go in the following order: Those units with long range artilery set to 'Overguard' will launch first, short ranged weapons will fire second before giving way to melee combat strikes. http://www.absoluteterror.net As of now 'Overguard' attacks are limited to a maximum of 8 separate attacks i.e. a maximum of 8 units can defend any one hexagon so best set your elite units on 'Overguard'. Excess units set on Overguard will simply not fire, however, they will be primed for action should their comrades fall in battle. We have done this to take the edge off of 'Overguard' so that the 'Third Impact' objective will be feasible when live. As ever, if you feel the balance is wrong then please do air your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board - we will do what we can, though obviously we can't please everyone sadly. Next, we've made a new 'Art Of Fighting' section which explains the game's advanced abilities and weapon attributes. Then we fixed a bug which prevented NERV units from targeting SEELE 'Blast Doors' when in 'Sniper Mode'. And lastly, Paramine cashed in his chips as reward for promoting Absolute Terror. If you want to check if you were a victim of his rampage then check out the 'Promotion' section for more details. http://www.absoluteterror.net Units are now automatically deleted if inactive for over a year. In addition, game accounts, i.e. squads, which no longer contain any units are automatically deleted. This should ensure that Absolute Terror doesn't become littered with ancient immobilised units which has been the case recently. Hopefully the corpses will now decompose after a years worth of immobilisation. On that note, it's now possible to out right die in Absolute Terror. ;) As ever please do keep an eye out for those bugs...we've taken a special backup of the database (in case anything goes wrong) this time round since the latest update deletes stuff 'n all. http://www.absoluteterror.net Apologies for the lack of updates this week people. The sale and purchase of a new Alienware laptop (which is also used for development of AT) has knocked any development work on the head this week sadly. Next week, however, we're looking to get some code in place to delete inactive units - say those not used for a year. Plus, we need to review 'Overguard' and see how that's going...no doubt this will be in the form of a new thread on the Absolute Terror Message Board. http://www.absoluteterror.net Woohoo! Thank you very much to Gabriel Matzner at OnRPG for not only adding Absolute Terror to its game listings, but also for rating it 7 out of 10. Cheers Gabriel. http://www.absoluteterror.net Just corrected some minor site inconsistencies today and tweaked the 'Promotion' section such that the 'Action Points' reward now comes in the form of 8 'Adrenaline Ampoules' due to the game's 60AP maximum threshold limit which we'd forgotten about - Ooops. http://www.absoluteterror.net It's been a while coming, but 'The Cage' has now finally graced the 'Mini Map'. http://www.absoluteterror.net To try and generate some more interest in the game, as well as more real-time battles, we've decided to have a go at a promotion. All the details on the promotion can be accessed by clicking on Asuka's ass, or there abouts, below. :) As ever please do let us know your thoughts, like whether the reward is adequate enough or not, on the Absolute Terror Message Board. http://www.absoluteterror.net We've got more than a 'pinch punch' for this first of the month...we've got 'Overguard'!!! It's now live! This was a real pig to code so watch out for any potential bugs please people and let us know how it goes. At present the proposed -10% chance to hit modifier is not in force for 'Overguard' - we'll see how it goes for the moment. Sorry if this new functionality messes with the game's chi...we'll probably have to monitor this one closely and tweak it as necessary. As ever please do let us know your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board. http://www.absoluteterror.net The new 'Overguard' functionality is almost complete now. We're just working out a single, but stubborn, last remaining bug before going live. Watch this space... http://www.absoluteterror.net Loads more behind the scenes work done on the new 'Overguard' functionality today. It's been a real hard slog so far but we think we've almost broken the camel's back so to speak. Give it another week and we should be there. You can now setup your 'Overguard' settings should you want to, however, at present they won't actually trigger any defensive firing. http://www.absoluteterror.net We did a little bit more work on the new 'Overguard' functionality today. If units are eligible then this is now shown within the respective unit's summary in the 'Know Your Enemy' section. In addition, eligible units will now have an 'Overwatch' / 'Overguard' toggle icon in the 'Weapons load-out and communications' section in game. http://www.absoluteterror.net Nothing new today I'm afraid, however, we have made a start on a new 'Overguard' function. The idea is that you'll be able to set a unit to guard a certain hexagon such that it will automatically fire upon any enemy units moving to the hexagon in question. This is going to be a complicated sucker to implement and so may take a few weeks, but once implemented it should introduce some interesting new tactics. We will probably impose a -10% weapon accuracy modifier when using 'Overguard' to simulate units falling asleep on the job and to prevent game abuse. In addition, 'Overguard' will probably only be available to certain units e.g. the EVA series, 'Ramiel', 'Tank Battalions' etc... http://www.absoluteterror.net The 'Sephirot' are now completely banned from entering all safe houses since enlightened units don't cower in safe houses, they flaunt their divine emanations on the open battle field instead. ;) We've also fixed, hopefully, the dodgy experience bars and now display squad levels adjacent. http://www.absoluteterror.net Just some minor updates today in light of suggestions posted on the Absolute Terror Message Board. The 'Jet Alone' 'Nuclear Meltdown' now causes 'Infect' damage. It was always meant to, however, we'd over looked this. Since the 'N2 Mine' is non-nuclear this will remain untouched. We've also removed 'Berserker Rage' from 'Leliel' since it doesn't really suit this particular Angel. We're now looking into how to prevent the 'Sephirot' from being hoarded in safe houses. http://www.absoluteterror.net Both the 'Comrades List' and the 'Hit List' are now split down into pages to make them more manageable. http://www.absoluteterror.net It's been a long time coming - we've now consolidated the 'Comrades List' and 'Hit List' so that both lists are now global to a squad. This means that if you add a contact with one unit in your squad, then switch to another unit in your squad, the contact you added will still be visible i.e. all of your squad members will be able to see the newly added contact. This has been quite a complex trick to pull off as we've had to merge all of your existing contacts accordingly with some migratory code, however, we believe it all turned out ok...at least the testing we did looked good. Fingers crossed. Since both the 'Comrades List' and Hit List' are now likely to become very long we will look to split these down into pages over the next few days. If it's possible we'll try and group contacts by squad as well. http://www.absoluteterror.net We're happy to announce affiliation with 'The Anime Crisis Center' aka 'TACC' - cheers Lynk. Both 'Guide To...' and 'TACC' affiliated some years back so it's nice to build another bridge with Absolute Terror. Hopefully we can all swap some visitors and mutually benefit. Because of all this we've now added an Absolute Terror button graphic to the 'Downloads' section. http://www.absoluteterror.net Continuing on with the 3D objects...'Affordable Apartments' now also display in 3D. We'll probably implement 'Luxury Apartments' next and then move onto other things e.g. some of the outstanding concepts on the Absolute Terror Message Board. http://www.absoluteterror.net It's taking a long time to implement, but 'Office Blocks' and 'Skyscrapers' now display in 3D which is a start at least. The fire damage just wasn't working out so instead we've made objects turn red when ruined. http://www.absoluteterror.net We're now working on displaying large 'Objects' in the 3D world...and because we're crazy enough to have a go, we're going to attempt to set fire to them when their life drops below 40%! Mad we know...but progress so far has been promising. Watch this space. http://www.absoluteterror.net It's now possible for us to designate game areas as being 'Undercover'...and indeed we have already done this - see 'Battle Report' section for more details. Areas which are 'Undercover' prevent the use of air support i.e. 'Mine Drops' and 'Air Strikes'. Unit levels are also now displayed in the 'Comrades', 'Hit' and 'Squad' lists. On a slight downer though, we had to remove all inner obstacles leading to non safe house areas since they weren't actually working and never will as it turns out for an abundance of boring code like reasons - sorry. :( http://www.absoluteterror.net We've now finished off the 'Acceptable Losses' aspect of the game as the 'Jet Alone' 'Nuclear Meltdown' is now also subject to these conditions. In addition we've had to run an emergency repair on Absolute Terror's database as it was well and truly corrupted today from a poorly timed power outage caused by a local storm. Fortunately the repair came good and only 2 events were lost from the event log! Amazing! Anyway, if you've not been able to log in today or were blessed with our "Bugger, an error occurred!" page then you can blame Mother Nature for this. ;) http://www.absoluteterror.net To avoid unnecessary friendly fire in faction safe houses 'Indiscriminate' items are now subject to 'Acceptable Losses' - see 'Items' section for more details. http://www.absoluteterror.net We've now uploaded a 'Code Of Honour' i.e. a policy, for the game. http://www.absoluteterror.net It gets worse. 'Jet Alone' now causes collateral damage as well. Blast weapons are now very haphazard indeed. They may well take out the enemy - but they also take out any surrounding defences! http://www.absoluteterror.net And now the 'Mine Drop' causes collateral damage too - run for cover!!! http://www.absoluteterror.net Bloody hell...the 'N2 Mine' now causes collateral damage - and it's real nasty!!! It's time to get repairing Superdaddy. More to come... http://www.absoluteterror.net We've been working on collateral damage for the game's blast weapons so that surrounding objects also get mashed by these deadly nukes. We've made a start on the 'N2 Mine' but the going's real slow as the process is very complex indeed. We're hoping to be able to release some updates for this over the next few days. http://www.absoluteterror.net Just a little update today. We've tweaked the 'New Message' button so that it now brings up the 'Event Log' pre filtered to show messages. http://www.absoluteterror.net Man bugs a plenty...but at least they're getting nailed. Cheers to Melikegames aka pilot4490, we think, for pointing out two bugs. The 'Hill' consolidate button was causing those on the 'Hill' to crash when closing their inventory. In addition, units with more than a certain number of items appeared to be immune to being 'Immobilised'...well we can't have that! Both issues are sorted now we hope. We've also made a 'New Message' icon and have even commenced work on collateral damage! More on this later. http://www.absoluteterror.net Fixed a bug which caused the game to crash when successfully scanning an 'Armament Building' with your last action point. Thanks to Superdaddy for isolating the cause of this long standing bug. Also, you can now filter the 'Event Log'. Please note, however, that only messages logged after this point onwards can be filtered since the event log now tags all game events with categories which are used behind the scenes for filtering purposes. If you can't see the filter dropdown then be sure to refresh your Internet browser so that it picks up the game's new stylesheet. Enjoy. http://www.absoluteterror.net 'Armisael' is now ready for a stunningly infectious rampage across Tokyo-3. Please do let us know your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board as this unit was quite tricky to put together and will no doubt require some fine tuning because of its unusual nature. http://www.absoluteterror.net In response to various comments on the Absolute Terror Message Board we've temporarily paused work on 'Armisael' to implement the following game fixes: 1) Enemy units can no longer be exiled to exiling unit's safe houses, 2) Obstacles now exist on the inside of substantial safe house area exits to prevent cheap raids, 3) 'Deep Water' removed from 'The Geo Front' since inaccessible by all NERV units. We've also tarted up the location descriptions for 'The Cage'. As ever, please let us know your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board. http://www.absoluteterror.net We've made a good start on a new unit for the Angels: 'Armisael'. This one's going to be incredibly fast, though very weak, with 'Infect' and 'Stun' weapons at its disposal and will also be able to fly. This will be a real hit 'n run Angel designed to be a constant irritant. Give us a few more days and it should be ready to go. http://www.absoluteterror.net Gawd...the Absolute Terror server, aka 'ELLA', has been up and down more than a yoyo this past week so we decided it was time to take a break from weekly updates and sort her out. We've stripped out some kit to increase the air flow inside 'ELLA' and have also vacuumed out all the cat fluff which seems to have been sucked into her over the last year. We're now cooking at 42 degrees which seems alright. Other than that we've made a start on the next sub-level of NERV's base of operations. There is also now an Absolute Terror Drifters Message Board for those people that want to chat about topics unrelated to the game. Sadly though you'll have to make another user account for this additional Message Board should you wish to use it. http://www.absoluteterror.net The ultimate flash bang is now here...'Pulse Grenades' are now available from your nearest 'Armament Building'. See 'Objectives - 'Eavy Weapons' and 'Items - Pulse Grenade' sections for more details. Also fixed a bug which under rare circumstances allowed units to be both 'Immobilised' and 'Infected' simultaneously - not good. :) http://www.absoluteterror.net Just a minor bug fix today as the 'Hill' from the 'Kings Of The Hill' objective had doubled up. Thanks to Ulfheoinn for pin pointing the offending doppelganger. We think this was fall out from a bug a few weeks back so hopefully this won't happen again now. Whilst we were poking around at this particular objective we decided to increase the 'Adrenaline Ampoule' acquisition rate to 15%. Next on the cards we have 'Stun Grenades' followed by two new Angels...watch this space. http://www.absoluteterror.net Absolute Terror has just been blessed with its first ever chemical weapon - the 'CN-20 Canister' available from your nearest 'Armament Building'. See 'Objectives - 'Eavy Weapons' and 'Items - CN-20 Canister' sections for more details. Enjoy. :) http://www.absoluteterror.net Just some minor tweaks today. We've amended the weapons for 'Bardiel' and 'Shamshel' to give them more unique styles of attack to set them apart from the other Angels. As usual, all feedback is welcomed on the Absolute Terror Message Board. http://www.absoluteterror.net In response to feedback on the Absolute Terror Message Board we've set the action point requirement to enter 'The Ethereal Plane' back to 20 action points + standard movement. It now, however, costs no action points to move around inside 'The Ethereal Plane'. We've also added 'The Ethereal Plane' to the 'Mini Map', to stop new Angels from loosing their way, and have made a custom sky for 'The Ethereal Plane' as well. http://www.absoluteterror.net Finally had to admit defeat today. Tried to devise a way of implementing 'EVA Unit 00 Prototype's shield block but failed miserably. From a game engine standpoint it's just looking too dam complicated, and potentially a drain on the game's performance, to implement. As such we've parked the idea temporarily so we can have a re-think. So...instead we upgraded the game's 'Mini Map' which now shows multiple game levels. We'll expand on this as time goes on but we're sure you'll all get the concept as soon as you see it. http://www.absoluteterror.net We've been tidying up 'The Geo Front' over the last few days sorting out all the location descriptions and have also made some amendments to 'The Ethereal Plane'. It now costs Angel units 15 (previously 20) action points + standard movement to enter into 'The Ethereal Plane'. In addition the 'Ethereal Portals' in 'The Ethereal Plane' have been moved and are now placed one per chamber room. Note, some of the chamber rooms are still empty - these will contain portals to new game areas once created. The portal to 'Tokyo-3 City Centre' has also been removed since the Angels never directly appeared in the centre of Tokyo-3 in the series. However, the central chamber has been renamed 'The Host' and is aimed at being a focal point for Angel discussions on battle plans, tactics etc... There is also a 'Shrine' in 'The Host' chamber. http://www.absoluteterror.net We tweaked the 'Battle Report' today to show which areas are faction safe houses. In addition we fixed a bug which meant you could accidentally consolidate a unit on the 'Hill' when already consolidated on the 'Hill'. Thanks to Rashnu for tipping us off regarding this one. http://www.absoluteterror.net The remainder of SEELE's safe houses are now live. A UN 'Research Station' can be found to the north of 'Tokyo-3 Inner Northern Region', and 2 UN bunkers, the '59th Bunker' to the east of 'Lake Ashi North' and the '23rd Bunker' to the south of 'Lake Ashi South', can also be found. All are secured with 'SEELE Blast Doors' and all have one or more 'Weapons Caches' inside. All SEELE have to do now is defend them. http://www.absoluteterror.net The first of SEELE's safe houses is now live. A UN 'Munitions Silo' can be found to the south-west of 'Tokyo-3 Inner Western Region'. More to come... http://www.absoluteterror.net Just a couple of bug fixes today. Units may no longer consolidate behind objects they're already consolidated behind. In addition, 'Air Strikes', 'Mine Drops' and 'N2 Mines' may not be used within the 'Ethereal Plane'. http://www.absoluteterror.net The game's 'Infectious' attacks are now live, as such we've revisited some of the units and have revised their weapons to include infect damage. 'Bardiel', 'EVA Unit 04' and 'Tank Battalion's now have 'Infectious' attacks at their disposal, see the 'Know Your Enemy' section for more details. We've also made a start on a series of safe houses for SEELE which will go live sometime next week. http://www.absoluteterror.net Happy New Year! Nothing visual today, however, we have written large amounts of code to cope with up coming 'Infectious' attacks. Basically if your unit is hit, and infected by, an 'Infectious' attack then it will fail to regenerate and continue to loose 1 life point every time it moves. Infected units will be cured once immobilised or by healing themselves, see the 'Objectives - Prolonged Life' section for more details. Although not quite finished yet, this feature shouldn't be too far off now. Aside from this, we're now commencing work on a new game area which will house a base of operations for SEELE. http://www.absoluteterror.net More feedback on the Absolute Terror Message Board means that we've tweaked repairs to objects such that they now range from 5 to 15 life points (originally 1 - 10). In addition 'EVA Unit 00 Prototype' has been improved when it comes to repairing objects given that it has more time to issue such commands on the battle field given its lack of weapons, hence its primary focus isn't combat. http://www.absoluteterror.net Firstly we hope everyone had a cracking Christmas...and secondly the 'Event Log' now shows you the last 48 hours worth of activity spread across multiple pages. This was implemented in response to feedback on the Absolute Terror Message Board where by commanders wanted to know who was responsible for immobilising their unit(s) even if it was a couple of days back. http://www.absoluteterror.net It's finally got there. Absolute Terror is now out of its Beta testing phase and has moved into Alpha territory. Whilst we will still be as committed to furthering the game's progression, we'll now be looking to open up the game to a wider audience. Oh, and we've tweaked the 'Jaw Breaker' in light of feedback on the Absolute Terror Message Board. It now has a 55% weapon accuracy. We've also added an Asuka Christmas Message to the main site. :) http://www.absoluteterror.net We've upgraded the 'Sniper Mode' so that you can now attack game objects with ranged weapons. Great news for all those 'Ramiel's out there. Plus 'EVA Unit 00 Prototype' now has a new melee weapon, called 'Jaw Breaker', which also has a reasonable chance to stun its opponent. http://www.absoluteterror.net The 'Exile Unit' feature is now available. Sorry for the delay in releasing it...turned out to be quite complicated to code. In addition we've done some more construction on 'The Ethereal Plane' so that it now resembles the tree of life. We're now also providing Absolute Terror's news via an RSS feed which you can subscribe to from the 'News' section. And lastly...it was about time we properly acknowledged the enormously valuable input from the game's beta-testers during the course of the last year - see the 'Credits' section for more details (please do let us know if we've missed anyone out). Oh, and we've also added a 'Downloads' section. :) http://www.absoluteterror.net There is now a single 'Monorail Platform' and several 'EVA Launch Ramps' scattered around the surface game areas in Absolute Terror which descend to, and ascend from, Tokyo-3's subterranean 'Geo Front'. Whilst NERV can freely utilise these routes as fast methods of transport, both SEELE and the Angels may only do so once they have battered down the various reinforced blast doors and security gates guarding their access. We've also started work on a new 'Exile Unit' feature which will allow units to exile immobilised enemy units from secure areas e.g. NERV will be able to kick both immobilised SEELE and Angel units out of 'The Geo Front' since this is their domain. Likewise, SEELE units will be able to kick immobilised NERV and Angel units out of their domain once we get around to making it - probably late January time next year. http://www.absoluteterror.net Fixed a couple of bugs which failed to prevent 'Man Hunt' prey from cowering in 'The Ethereal Plane'. This is now sorted so there's no hiding. We're also working on fleshing out 'The Ethereal Plane' and 'The Geo Front' in readiness for the Christmas launch. Next we'll be working on allowing units to launch ranged attacks against objects and to be able to kick immobilised enemy units out of areas dear to them e.g. NERV can kick immobilised Angel and SEELE units out of the Geo Front. http://www.absoluteterror.net Both 'The Geo Front' and 'The Ethereal Plane' are now live. Neither are finished yet but we thought we'd make them live anyway. NERV can now fight to defend their Third Branch (will SEELE aid them this time?) whilst the Angels can either take up the gauntlet or cower in their alternate dimension. Be sure to watch out for those new area exits which are starting to pop up around Tokyo-3. As ever, please do let us know your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board. Note: Area exits to 'The Ethereal Plane' require an additional 20 action points to use. This is to prevent Angels from striking from the ether then retreating back from the fight without incurring any real damage. As such 'The Ethereal Plane' is designed to be an alternative means of travel for the Angels. http://www.absoluteterror.net We're now working on an ambitious new objective called 'Third Impact'. There's already some explanation for the objective on the site, see the 'Objectives - Third Impact' section for more details, and to coincide we've just finished creating 'Gate', 'Blast Door' and 'Reinforced Blast Door' objects which you'll soon see protecting the entrances to several new game areas. We're also creating an 'Ethereal Plane' area, accessible only to the Angels, which will allow them to quickly move around Tokyo-3. The 'Ethereal Plane' area will contain area exits to every surface game area in Absolute Terror thus allowing them to appear out of no where! More on all this over the next few days. Watch this space... http://www.absoluteterror.net We managed to slip in a new weapon attribute today which is the ability to stun your opponent thus immobilising them instantly. Note, you still only inflict the physical damage specified by the weapon used. Stunned units are simply immobilised - they are not automatically reduced to zero life points! Stun attacks only apply to certain weapons, see the 'Know Your Enemy' section for more details, which invariably are blunt attack weapons such as charges, throws, smashes etc... We've focused primarily on blessing those more close combat orientated units with stun attacks to try and counter the dominance of the game's long range weaponry. Please do let us know your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board. http://www.absoluteterror.net