Patch 3.1 (27 April 2016)

''This patch fulfills a bunch of promises from the Kickstarter Starstorm campaign: the Starstorm map, the accompanying song, the third batch of Custom Games options and the backer mentions in the droppod areas. The two patches after this one will bring the new matchmaking and the digital artbook. The other Kickstarter features are coming after that: level editor, spectator mode and Custom Games browser.''

NEW: Starstorm map
The massive Starstorm station is ready for battle! On this map there's two big new factors to keep in mind: warpholes and bottomless space! Leaping into one of these wormholes will conveniently teleport you to the top of the map. Bottomless space is less convenient however as it tends to kill all Awesomenauts who fall into it... This is a FREE expansion, playable for everyone who owns Awesomenauts!

NEW song: One Happy Galaxy
Together with the Starstorm map comes a new song in the regular gameplay soundtrack on all maps: One Happy Galaxy! Bounce along those awesome beats by Sonic Picnic!

NEW ultimate skin: 8-Bit Yoolip
Professor Yoolip’s most dangerous invention is probably the 8-Bit Game Cartridge-to-Reality generator, which is capable of reading any game cartridge from that ‘80s and turn the world contained within to reality. When he first tried this invention, it unleashed an 8-Bit version of himself… just sitting there, waiting for someone to take control of his destiny. Now he and his Robo Dinos are ready for some old school action! This is a paid DLC and comes with a fully customized voice set, a new jingle and killing spree, and fully customised sound effects and graphics!

NEW FREE skin: Augmented Ayla
There was a time when the Killer Koalas were as legendary as the Awesomenauts are today, and one of their members actually came from the future! Ayla used one of Yoolip's inventions to travel back in time, and she became the youngest member of the Killer Koalas. They gave her a pretty neat eye-patch to help her focus her psychic abilities. She became known as one of their most feared members and was nicknamed 'The Eraser'. Augmented Ayla is a FREE skin for members of the Awesomenauts Steam community. Click “Follow” on the Awesomenauts Steam store or community page to get it. So join up today and get Augmented!

NEW announcer: Skree
Lookit all deez puppets, man! Dey be fightin’ and scrapin’ over all deez here shrines Skree built. I is gonna spy on dem and see how dey be goin' after each other in da battle station. Dis gonna be fun, ja, ha, ha! Yes, yes, Skree's own wicked commentary gonna add to da fun, live from da control chamber! My people, dis gonna be a great day for da gods! This is a paid DLC

NEW: random announcer option
Use this option to make the game select a random announcer at the beginning of every match! This only uses the announcers you own.

NEW: Kickstarter backer names in droppod areas
Added the Awesomantium Tier (and higher) Starstorm-backer names to the droppod areas of all maps, as promised in the Starstorm Kickstarter campaign.

NEW Custom Games options

 * Limit maximum purchasable items in shop as a whole and per category
 * Automatically enter stealth when out of combat
 * Spawn a Solar Boss on death
 * Explode on death
 * Replace normal bots with super droids
 * Disable base
 * Forced respawn time
 * Start with skills unlocked
 * Show in HUD what upgrades have been bought automatically
 * Disallow walking back
 * Movement and slipperiness multipliers
 * Health modifiers
 * Disable shop healing
 * Healing and damage multipliers
 * Damage-to-knockback

Custom games

 * Added feature to save custom game presets.
 * Random Team Deathmatch game mode preset added.
 * Instagib game mode preset added.
 * Environmental deaths and suicides will now count toward the enemy team’s kill score in Team Deathmatch instead of reducing the score from your own team.

General

 * Fixed a rare crash on Mac and Linux when the player died. This would happen more frequently when playing randomnauts.
 * Fixed that overlapping healthbars sometimes had depth problems, especially on droids, causing the elements of several healthbars to be mixed.
 * When selecting to play the tutorial it will ask for a confirmation if the tutorial has been played before.
 * Overdrive Gear and Starstorm Statue are now unlocked through account progress like most other upgrades.
 * Improved the framerate in the main menu for older computers.
 * Added running lights to the droppod areas on all maps.

General gameplay and balance

 * Detonatable projectiles will no longer be removed immediately when their owner dies. Examples are Coco’s Ball Lightning, Skree’s Saw Blade and Sentry’s Black Hole Sun.
 * Fixed an issue where flying droids would sometimes drop out of the air without good reason, and made them better at flying up from the ground.
 * Fixed really loud sounds when a couple dozen Superdroids are alive at the same time.
 * Baby Kuri Mammoth, reduced to one stage
 * Baby Kuri Mammoth, now also affects gravity (Black Hole Sun), Cocoon and time distortion
 * Solar Krab Burgers, healing effect reduced from 80 to 70 health per solar

Bots

 * Droppod solar is now automatically awarded to bots after landing in the droppod. The varying ways in which different bot AIs added solar to compensate for the droppod have been removed.

Replays

 * Fixed that killcam didn’t reset zoom correctly when you had zoomed in or out before starting the killcam.

Chucho
''Chucho, being one of the new nauts, is still looking for his place in the metagame. However, players do seem to agree that he is too strong. One big reason is the One Armed Chameleon upgrade, which has a stun that makes Chucho a big threat at times. So first of all, we decided to make the stun only for the first shot of his pistols and remove the vertical knockback that cancelled enemy momentum. Some of his upgrades got buffs to test out if they will become more useful for players, as they are not picked often. The turret base health reduction has been requested multiple times and was implemented. We will see how it does before changing more about him (like turret base damage etc.).''
 * One Armed Chameleon, stun changed to only work on first shot and vertical knockback on the shot is removed.
 * One Armed Chameleon, price reduced from 210 to 200.
 * Neon Nitro Muffler, damage over time increased from 180 to 210 per stage.
 * Time Slipper, cooldown reduction increased from 0.2s to 0.3s per hit.
 * Bike Turret, base health reduced from 650 to 600.
 * Bike Turret, no longer falls through platforms when cocooned.
 * Bike Turret, fixed that it would still shoot while blinded.
 * Chucho now has a 25% chance to trigger voice lines towards Yoolip when encountering him.

Coco

 * Ball Lightning, no longer instantly disappear when Coco dies.

Derpl

 * Fat Cat, description now updates when CAT Package has been bought.

Jimmy and the LUX5000
''Jimmy and Amy got a decent amount of nerfs in the last hotfix. This made them significantly drop in win-rates and play rates. Like with the other Overdrive nauts, they are still finding his place in the metagame, however players do seem to agree that they were overnerfed slightly. Therefore we changed their health back to 1550 to make their sustain a bit better. We also removed the movement penalty from their main attack. This might sound significant, but due to the vertical knockback being removed from their Rattle Wave, players can easily get away from them. Keeping them at the same speed while smashing should improve this situation for Jimmy and Amy. Re-adding the vertical knockback on such a big area of effect can make them frustrating to play against, so we want to see if the removal of the movement penalty is a good alternative. Their attack speed upgrade got fixed (it turned out the second stage was not getting triggered) and was nerfed slightly to prevent it from turning out too strong. Other changes to their upgrades and skills are still being discussed and will be done in the future once we have found their fundamental problems.''
 * Base Health increased from 1500 to 1550
 * Movement penalty on base attack removed
 * Nano Repair Bots, fixed lifesteal not working when the third hit kills the target.
 * Skull Plate Trophy, fixed second stage not working.
 * Skull Plate Trophy, reduced attackspeed from 18% to 16% per stage.
 * Fresh Sandpit Sand, increased earthquake range by 10%.
 * Jimmy/Amy now has a 25% chance to trigger voice lines towards Yoolip or Chucho when encountering them.

Nibbs

 * Beryl Scale Cloak, suction effect reduced by 20% duration reduced from 0.3s to 0.15s

Penny Fox

 * Energy Pulse, fixed that two pulses with different charge values would cause the amplify damage to stack.
 * Energy Pulse, fixed that it would fire forward when aiming backwards while Death Lens or Spiderbird Collector Badge were activated.

Professor Yoolip
''Yoolip, being a new support naut, is having a hard time keeping up. Players do appear to enjoy playing him, but his reliance on good teammates makes his win chances in soloQ slimmer than in a premade. However, this is part of his design and we want to keep working with it and try to get him in a better spot before making drastic changes. In general a number of his upgrades were changed to make them either less mandatory or a more interesting choice early game. The Dino size was increased to make their hitbox a bit more of a threat in lanes. 3D Pancake printer was opted for a change into a shield. This received mixed opinions so we will keep it as the giant Dino for now. Because it stacks with the Dino base size increase, you get one big scary Dino out of it at the moment. It might still get replaced in the future (as well as Walking Rod). The fact that Baby Kuri Mammoth no longer affects Gripping Gaze is a game changer and it was requested numerous times ,so I hope you will like the change. Because Yoolip is classified as a pusher we wanted the Dinos to assist more in the pushing capabilities so his damage reduction against droids was lowered (might bring it back to 100% depending on player feedback, although he simply destroyed droid waves when this was the case in his first beta which players disliked at the time).''
 * Gripping Gaze, fixed that it would be cancelled by silence.
 * Gripping Gaze, no longer affected by Baby Kuri Mammoth
 * Sonic Wrench, price reduced from 145 to 125.
 * Walking Fridge, 15% of length increase moved to base.
 * Remote Controlled Whisk, damage over time reduced from 250 to 200.
 * Robo Dino, damage vs droid multiplier increased from 50% to 75%.
 * Syrup Pouring Robot, price reduced from 185 to 155 per stage.

Raelynn

 * Raelynn Snipe no longer interrupts when silenced (the Raelynn player still can’t activate the Snipe shot while silenced).

Rocco

 * Fixed Rocco not playing the proper jump animation while firing arrows or charging Precision Shot. This caused a slight delay before Rocco could auto attack after firing the Precision Shot while jumping.

Sentry

 * Black Hole Sun, no longer instantly disappears when Sentry dies.
 * Black Hole Sun, fixed that it would refresh the cooldown when the black hole spawned.

Skølldir

 * Axethrowing Trophy extra stun reduced from 05s to 0.3s

Skree
''The general consensus is that Skree is too strong currently. Players are frustrated by his main attack as it hardly requires aiming and (with Magic Sunballs) bounces all over the place. Due to the change that the same target can be hit multiple times by one lightning, Magic Sunballs increased in strength. So we decided to change Magic Sunballs to a state that falls in between what it was in 2.13.5 and what it is now. Three added max bounces, but fewer stages. As requested, we also reduced the aiming cone of Lightning Rod (which might still get a visual) to make it more skill based. His increased Sawblade cooldown is to try and tackle his stalling a bit. We might look further into the stalling potential in the future as we do see players discussing it.''
 * Saw Blade, cooldown increased from 9s to 10s.
 * Magic Sunballs, changed to one stage that adds 3 targets, costs 250 Solar
 * Ceremonial Mask effect adjusted to work 360 degrees around Skree
 * Lighting Rod, aiming cone for successful base attack hit reduced from 60 to 35 degrees
 * Ceremonial Mask, fixed that the special skill icon would not being triggered and made Skree’s staff glow more intensely when the effect is ready.
 * Totem of Power, now spawns as normal when Skree dies between throwing the totem and the moment it would spawn.
 * Totem of Power, now despawns after one second when Skree dies instead of lasting for the entire duration. This makes it more in line with similar spawns like Gnaw’s weedlings and Swiggins Anchor.
 * Saw Blade, no longer instantly disappear when Skree dies.
 * Skree now correctly triggers his special voice lines when killing a weedling (50% chance).

Swiggins
''Swiggins appears to be in a bad spot, although players are mixed about this. Metrics do show that he is not played often compared to other characters and his win chances appear low. After discussing it with players we found it might have multiple reasons. His stun on Anchor Hook, for example, was reduced and Kraken Statue was often chosen as compensation. However this does mean that early game Anchor Hook might not pin down an opponent and instead only cancel an enemy skill. So a bit was moved to base to counter that. Additionally, we worked on some upgrades that were hardly ever picked to make them a bit more useful hopefully. The main attack damage increase will help with his damage scaling for brawling late-game. The Ancient Octant being centered on Swiggins will make the effect more consistent and changes up his play in an interesting way. The Chain break damage on base Anchor Drop is a semi-buff because it does increase overall damage but delays some of it. If the future, we can also make the anchor visually show when it will explode, making it clearer to new players that there always is damage at the end.''
 * Kraken Statue, 0.15s of the stun increase moved to base.
 * Not Seaweed, blind duration increased from 0.4 to 1 second.
 * Anchor Swing, base damage increased from 110 to 120.
 * Ink Spray, base damage increased from 70 to 80.
 * Double Glazed Royal Porcelain, changed from length reduction to 25% slow for 2 seconds after Chain ends.
 * Double Glazed Royal Porcelain, price increased from 170 to 185 solar.
 * Drop Anchor, base damage reduced from 100 to 80.
 * Drop Anchor, 50 chain break damage added (damage applied when Homboldt breaks).
 * Ancient Octant, area of effect is now centered on Swiggins.
 * Magnetic Anchor, base damage increased from 35 to 40 per stage.
 * Alien Sweetener, reduced from 3 to 2 stages at 40% health per stage (from 37%).
 * Anchor Drop, Homboldt base health increased from 300 to 350
 * Fixed issue where Swiggins would not teleport to the correct position when anchor diving into a teleporter on starstorm.

Voltar

 * Improved the positioning of overlays on Voltar.
 * Fixed a small visual error in Voltar’s normal skin and his Necromancer skin when sliding.

Yuri
''Yuri is very strong in the higher leagues and needed some adjustments. Based on community feedback we’ve opted to nerf both the mine longevity upgrades and the healing time bubble upgrades. Yuri will now also be less of a pain for newcomers due to the shorter lifetime of the mines. In addition we’ve buffed some other underused upgrades. These adjustments are very mild and we’ll have to see if they bring Yuri back to being balanced.''
 * Toaster Timer, longevity reduced from 3s to 2s per stage.
 * Aerial Spring, now also increases mine weight/falling speed by 300%
 * Spacetime Continuity, price reduced from 200 to 180 solar
 * Regeneration Pod, healing reduced from 50 to 45 per second per stage
 * Fixed issue where jetpack would not activate when pressing and holding the up button while falling down through a platform.