We hope you all enjoyed the final end of season tournaments that took place in all Battlehouse games! As always, we’re blown away by the level of passion and excitement that you all continue to bring to our games, even now when the end looms closer.
With the end of April approaching, we want to provide you all with an important update regarding when specifically the games will be shutting down, and what we can all expect moving forward after the final season tournaments.
As things stand right now, the Battlehouse team will be closing up all games & support by September, 2023. Until then, we’ll do our best to offer support and keep the games running stable so that you can continue to finish up all those final events & achievements if you haven’t already.
That being said, it was recently brought to our attention that Facebook will be closing down access to Battlehouse games from the Facebook Games platform this Friday, April 21st. Rest assured, you will still be able to access your game account and base by downloading our desktop client, and migrating your account over! Be sure to migrate your Facebook account as soon as you can if you wish to continue playing through September!Â
Migration Steps
You can now auto-migrate your Facebook account details over to the desktop client!
Please follow the steps below based on which scenario fits you.
Scenario 1: You have never tried our client before. Here are three easy steps to do it!
Click “Continue with Facebook” and log in with the account you use for the game
Click on “Click here to manage your account.”
If the email address is the same as the one you already had, you’re done. If not, click on “Change” next to your email and enter the one you copied in step 4.
Check your email and click the confirmation link.
Follow the steps in Scenario 2
Note: Please follow the appropriate steps for your situation. As it was before, migrating accounts will result in loss of access of one of the accounts. Due to the technical challenge of unmerging accounts, we will not be able to do this for anyone in the foreseeable future.
Important: If you have already migrated your account via support or the migration tool, do NOT enable “Auto-Migrate Existing Account”on your client.
FromApril 6th – April 13th, 2023, rally your Clan and head to the regional map for your chance to be the strongest Clan of Season 23!
Be one of the Top Clans with the most Clan PvP Points to win between 1,750-8,000 Gold, divided evenly among the top 10 members of your clan.
Tournament ends onApril 13th, 2022 at 1700 GMT, at which point winners will be announced, prizes awarded. It’s important to note that you should stay in the same Clan through the end of the tournament and for at least one hour afterward, until at least 1800 GMT to ensure your Clan’s prizes are scored correctly.
The Final Tournament
We cannot state how much we appreciate all of you who have played through these several seasons with us. Now, for the final time, go raise some hell!
After the tournament ends, we will be posting the final tournament winners, as well as a couple of stats that you might be interested in. Stay tuned!
Discord Handover
We’re also pleased to announce that the Discord Server has been officially handed over to the players. Hang out with old friends, reminisce the good old days, or talk about other games to play as the sun sets in this chapter. Visit the Discord Server now!
Again, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you. And good hunting, Commanders!
This is it. The beginning of the end. Welcome… to the Apocalypse!
Apocalypse Event: Chapter One
The Apocalypse has begun! In this update, you will find…
A challenging volcanic environment.
New volcanic towers pulse with searing magma, scorching your troops. Destroy them quickly!
Indestructible volcanic caldera hazards appear on some of these maps. Just as deadly as the towers, but impossible to destroy. Avoid them!
24 levels of mayhem as you face The Red Menace, a new leader in the Martian wars
New achievements with lore! Read the history of Mars, and dossiers on your enemies.
Game improvements
Achievements with Lore: A new “Dossiers” section is in Achievements, and can be clicked on to get a story about classic villains in the game.
All single player maps will be available constantly so players can get achievements if they want them before they are retired. Note, that one event is retired to make way for the Apocalypse event, and this will continue as more Apocalypse chapters roll out.
Slashed research and build time reduction further to allow players to access all content before we close.
ONP Store will be permanently open.
We again thank everyone who has stood by with us for all this time, and those will stand with us until the end. We hope you like what we have in store for you in the next coming months.
Oh, and a belated Seasons Greetings to everyone! We also wish you a Happy New Year!
Have feedback to share about this week’s releases? Let us know over in the “battlefront-mars” channel within our TR Discord Server.
“It came in the dead of night. A patch of stars disappeared a few days ago. In its place, a strange spot of darkness, a black void where the stars should have been. It quickly grew larger, eventually encompassing the night sky. Then, it suddenly disappeared. The stars flickered again, as if nothing happened.“
These were the words of our night-duty guards, who swear that since that incident, our technological progress has been reversed. That we have been sent back a short period back in time.
This, of course, is hard to believe. We are leaning more towards the possibility that our guards were having a sneaky drink while on duty. They have been sent to our resident psychiatrists for further eval.
We still have our CC12. We still have our Doped Mines. We still have our latest military technologies. Our units, turrets, and bases still behave as they used to two months ago.
Still, even though the guards have sent to our resident psychiatrists for further eval, some of us cannot shake the feeling that something has changed. If what they saw was real, perhaps it is a sign of things to come. We will report any updates, Commander! In the meantime, here are the…..
Tweaks of the Week
Just in case it wasn’t clear above, all balance changes have been reversed.
If you have seen any units being invulnerable when being targeted by base defenses, it was a bug, and it has been fixed.
Due to the reversal of the balance changes, there will likely be little to no tweaks made further. Apocalypse event development is now in full-swing.
We appreciate all the feedback over the past few weeks on the new systems. We understand that some have gotten used to and have actually enjoyed the new systems. Unfortunately, further tweaking and balancing is taking up too much of our lead developer’s time – something we are running out of.
Have feedback to share about this week’s releases? Let us know over in the “battlefront-mars” channel within our TR Discord Server.
Our team has continued, and will continue, making tweaks to the new systems so as to make it easier for everyone to participate in our “Grand Finale.”
We are again thankful for those who keep on providing feedback so we can continue to try and make these last few months as fun and memorable as we can for everyone. Here are some changes to address a few of the issues and suggestions that you’ve brought forth to us.
Tweaks of the Week
Splash area was too small that units are often unable to hit moving targets. Splash area has been doubled.
Reduced HP penalty for DPS units by 20%
Nerfed AI unit damage and HP.
Slight boost to unit damage and HP for all player units.
All other maps have closed. There are now only two maps.
Tournament Map: Strongpoint Quarries now award combat bonuses in addition to quarry yield and text bonuses.
Non-Tournament Map: Free base damage protection is now awarded more frequently.
Due to PvP issues at higher levels, security teams from leader items have had their HP and DPS nerfed. Since single player AI attackers have reduced HP and DPS compared to players, this should have minimal effect on the difficulty of single-player and bring the defenses of bases in PvP closer in line with what people are used to.
When units are selected a group, their speed is modified so they will stay closer together. As soon as they are no longer in a group they regain their normal speed.
Group speed works this way: The difference between the speed of the slowest and largest is divided by the size of the group. The group then gets the minimum speed plus this, or +5%, whichever is smaller.
The reason for this is to make it always worthwhile to group units, but not allow really slow units to travel super-rapidly around the map by also selecting an ultra-fast unit.
Generators, harvesters, and storage buildings now have a level cap of 24.
Incoming
Client: Will take another crack at improving targeting when a unit can do no damage.
Combat Balance: Will be continuing evaluation of difficulty attacking and defending. Have made new script to instantly rework a base at a higher or lower CC tier in order to test different difficulties.
Content:
The “Apocalypse” event is in the works.
Reducing XP requirements for player levels so everyone has a chance to get to max level before the end.
De-Monetization: We will be further increasing speed bonuses given by gold/alloy. Pre-closure announcement, you got crafting, repairs, upgrades, etc sped up by 3 minutes per gold/alloy. Currently, these get sped up by 6 minutes per gold/alloy. This will increase to 9 minutes on 12/1. Resource harvest rates will be increased on 12/1. The maximum craft/research/upgrade/etc time will also be reduced by 24 hours on 12/1.
Have feedback to share about this week’s releases? Let us know over in the “battlefront-mars” channel within our TR Discord Server.
Get ready to celebrate on Mars with this week’s update! Effective today:
The Central Computer level cap is raised to Level 12, paving the way for new maximum levels for your production, storage, and research buildings!
You also get, two new mines!
New Cryogenic Mine added: freezes infantry and transports
New Electro-Pulse Mine added: knocks gunships out of the sky, stuns gunships and transports.
And that not all, Commander! You may have seen some Promethium Cores lying around event bases and may be wondering what they’re for. Well, they are a super important component for Doped Mines! These are stronger, deadlier, versions of mines you can build. They won’t show up on your research window, but as long as you have these cores, you may see new mine options!
The Elephant in the Room
As you all have noticed, there has been a lot of changes happening since last week. We do apologize for the delay in our communications, but we’d now like to address and explain what, why, and how things have changed.
Hopefully, in addition to dispelling some weird rumors and theories, we can clear the air and give you a little more insight as to how to utilize the new systems put in place. For simplicity’s sake we will categorize the main changes into two: economy and buildings, and unit rebalance and strategy.
Economy and Buildings
Previously, levels per tier are wildly inconsistent. They are now consistent
Economy buildings now have two levels per tier.
All unit research/production buildings have two levels per tier.
Non-elite units and their associated research/production buildings also get two levels per tier.
Turrets, mines, and missiles have three levels per tier.
Time requirements dramatically reduced. It takes a maximum of 5 days (without leader bonuses) to build or research anything now. It’s a hard cap at 120 hours.
Frequently asked question: Why are our resource storage and production so low now? Our old levels jumped all over the place in terms of advancement. Now they’re consistent. However, all research unlocks, build costs, repair costs, etc are now auto-scaled to the available harvest rate and storage caps, so you have lost absolutely nothing in terms of buying power. Think of it this way: your resource currency just underwent serious deflation. You can buy more with each unit of each resource than you could before.
Unit Rebalance and Strategy
Unit HP, DPS, build time, and resource costs all balanced based on space requirements. The more expensive a unit, the more powerful it is, and at a predictable and consistent rate. That means that out the gate, a unit that takes 30 space is exactly twice as powerful as a unit of the same type that takes 15 space, but they receive modifications based on their roles.
Unit speed and range balanced based on unit type and unit role: Infantry is the slowest with the longest range on average. Air units are the fastest with the shortest range on average. Artillery and Sniper units get range boosts and speed nerfs to compensate
Close range units get a bonus to their speed and a proportionate nerf to their range.
Long Range units get the same bonus to range and nerf to speed.
High Speed gets a slightly higher boost to speed while paying the same range cost as close range.
DPS units get a bonus to damage and a proportionate nerf to HP. Most of your artillery units are Long Range/DPS roles.
Some units have the “Threat” stat, which makes the AI increase their priority in the targeting system by 50%.
Threat gets a bonus to HP and a nerf to damage.
The “Tank” role get a bonus to HP and get an even higher “Threat” stat, making the AI 100% more likely to pick them as a target. Note that the “Tank” role is not strictly limited to actual Tank units. Some aircrafts have the “Tank” role, too. You can find these in the Unlock/Upgrade windows of a specific unit.
Turret HP is based on potential attacker DPS output, and is currently designed to withstand 20 seconds of fire from the average unit. There will be ongoing analysis and fine-tuning for this.
Mine DPS is designed to insta-kill the strongest non-elite unit in its target category.
Turret DPS is designed to focus on particular target types as well and to kill a target in 2 to 10 seconds of sustained fire.
Missile DPS is designed to take a few hits to kill the toughest units, while able to insta-kill groups of weaker ones.
Frequently asked question:Why are units so weak now that we can’t do event bases anymore? Units have been balanced to encourage trying different battalion compositions and being more strategic; possibly requiring a little more micro skills too. The older strategies of steam-rolling everything with Elite Paladins, for example, may no longer work, as they are now in an Artillery Role. It may be MORE effective to bring units with a Tank role and high Threat to draw aggro from turrets, then using Artillery like Mortarmen, due to their high anti-building DPS and very long range.
We know some players have taken up the new challenge of getting to know the new systems. Of course, we still welcome feedback. Please expect more monitoring and tweaking of the new systems, so if you have tried different strategies and still find it difficult, please let us know what you are having trouble with!
Miscellaneous improvements and fixes
Central Computer resource cost cuts are in. L4 to L11 (and eventually 12 and 13) now costs 65% of your maximum possible resources to build.
Major cuts to unit research costs and build costs are complete.
More buildings have had their hit points adjusted to unit DPS, and more building costs have been made proportionate to storage available at their CC level.
All upgrades, unit construction, missile, mine, and turret crafting should be appropriately scaled to resource storage.
Building HP should all be scaled to unit DPS. Turret, mine, and missile DPS should all be scaled to unit HP.
Special “items” added in the game that allows for insta-building missiles, or building “Doped” Mines that insta-kill any unit below its level. These items are obtainable from event bases, and sometimes, from the mail.
The update caused old missiles to unstack with no way to stack them. This has been fixed, but you may need to click the “Sort” button to restack your old missiles.
Issues with missile blueprints not unlocking the the research is being looked in to. Please do not repurchase the blueprints if you encounter this issue.
AI units all given some unique aspects. Hunt them all!
More releases incoming, including a planned “grand finale” event. We here at Battlehouse are eternally grateful to all our players, and we plan to go out with a bang on April 2023; and we would love it if you join us there!
It is with heavy hearts that after 10+ incredible years of producing Battlehouse games, we announce that Battlefront Mars will be taking its final ride off into the sunset in April 2023.
Effective now: We’re doubling the time speed-up for gold (halving the cost of all gold speed-ups), after which point we’ll be rolling out one final major content patch. While easing the grind on the next batch of content, we also plan to release a unique “End of The World” event that we think is going to be really fun for all of us. Battlefront Mars deserves to go out with a bang!
We can’t stress enough how appreciative we are of all of you, and everything you’ve all contributed to Battlehouse games over this time. The majority of free-to-play games don’t last nearly this long, and the fact that we thrived as long as we did is a direct credit to our passionate player base. We’re aware that many of you have been with us since the very beginning, helping to build and nurture this amazing global community that has enjoyed these games just as much as we have. For that, we say “Thank you!”
In advance of sun-setting the games, we want to be as transparent with everyone as we possibly can, give plenty of time to make sure our small team has a soft landing at their next adventures, and also so that we all properly celebrate the legacy of the games we all love.
It’s important to note that in-game purchases will be available up until March 31st, 2023, at which point the games’ payment systems will be completely turned off. Thereafter, the games will not be accepting any payments, but will remain open for one last hurrah until at least April 30th, 2023. Any remaining gold that you have during this period will need to be used before that date.
We hope that the experiences we’ve developed over the years have provided you with the highest level of entertainment that we’ve always strived to reach. This hasn’t been an easy decision for our team to make, but we remain hopeful that with every end, comes a new beginning. Godspeed, Martians!
Welcome to Season 24! Going into the new season, all Leaderboards and PvP Points are reset, meaning that it’s a fresh start for YOUR Clan to be the new the dominating Clan of the Season, and win the Seasonal Clan Tournament Grand Prize of 8,000 Gold for your Clan at the end of the Season in 3 months from now. Does your Clan have what it takes?
Looking for the Season 23 Tournament winners list? Don’t worry. It will be revealed soon. Stay tuned for another Patch Notes coming later!
And that’s not all, Commander! Our engineers have been hard at work in not only our offensive missile capabilities, but have beefed up our defenses as well! Below are our most recently-available upgrades.
Have new feedback to share? Let us know over in the “battlefront-mars” channel within our Official Discord Server.
