Patch 4.4 Cirque du Brawlee (5 October 2017)

NEW: Brawls
Patch 4.4 introduces a brand new matchmaking game mode: Brawls!

Brawls will present limited time opportunities to play with and against other players in special matchmade bouts with unique rulesets. From regular Awesomenauts matches on weird new maps to triple damage team deathmatch with only Rocco’s, Brawl is set up to spice up and diversify your Awesomenauts experience.

We’ve seen a lot of players enjoying many wacky and weird game modes in custom games. There’s even been some very fun to watch tournaments (King of the Frogs comes to mind). Brawl will make that experience accessible by adding matchmaking, and rewards. Brawl will be a highly accessible purefun™ gamemode. Some characters might be grossly overpowered in some of these game modes, but in brawls that’s part of the fun!

Brawls will award Awesomepoints and experience, just like regular matches. The first 3 brawl matches, though, will award 4 times as much!

NEW: Daily Missions
4.4 also introduces Daily Missions. Daily missions are random objectives that will award you with Awesomepoints when you complete them. You can have up to 3 Daily Missions available to you and a brand new mission will appear each day.

Daily Missions will appear in the main menu and will have various different types of objectives and reward amounts. Some missions might require you to play a random character, while others will ask you to deal a specified amount of damage to enemy turrets. You will be able to complete these objectives in both the Co-op versus Bots and Online Match game modes.

To keep overall Awesomepoints gain the same now that Daily Missions are introduced, Awesomepoints gain for matches has been reduced.

NEW: Main Menu Tiles
Main Menu Tiles are banners in the main menu that point you to various aspects of the game. The game will try to figure out what kind of information is appropriate for you and will then show a tile for it. For example, tiles will alert you when a character is close to leveling up, or advise a certain game mode.

NEW: Skill aiming visuals
In order to help players see where their skills will end up, we’ve added aiming visuals for almost all of them. Some characters already had these visuals, like the Lunge for Deadlift or skills which require charging such as Lonestar’s Dynamite. Now when you hold down the action button to trigger a skill, you’ll see it’s effect visualized in the game. Letting go will then trigger the skill. Of course if you feel you don’t need it and want skills to trigger just that bit faster, you can turn it off in the settings.

Known issues:
 * Penny dash distance prediction not accurate
 * Clunk bite aim shown on wrong side of character when aiming backwards
 * Froggy dash icon is not shown as disabled while tornado is active

NEW premium skin: Soulhuntress Raelynn
''Whoever said 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend' sure never met Soulhuntress Raelynn. Though she spends her days hunting demons, cultists, and other evil scum (which lots of folk appreciate), she's not particularly nice company at parties and friendly get-togethers. One time she attended a feast some villagers organized in her honor and she used her laser rifle to 'cleanse' the demon-shaped chocolate cake the villagers had spent days to prepare for her in secret. In the end, she's just not a people person, and most people have learned to leave her alone and not invite her to their parties.''

''She is GREAT friends with Cuddles though. Together they've cleansed more demons and other evildoers from this world than you'd feel comfortable knowing. And a chocolate cake.''

This is a paid DLC and comes with a fully customized voice set and a portrait!

NEW announcer: Ringmaster Announcer
''Ladies and Gentlenauts, welcome to Cirque du Brawlee! It's a brand new show in the greatest big top of the galaxy. Step right up, step right up!''

''The Zork family is proud to present you tonight's entertainment: a feast of slaughter, daring adventures, and violence! We'll keep you on the edge of your seat as the intrepid heroes perform for you in our Circus. Witness the marvel of twenty Nauts plunging through the air - sans safety net! Gasp when you see our throng of clowns plummet to their seeming deaths, all to make you laugh, dear paying audience! But don't worry, all of it is completely safe... for you!''

NEW portraits
''Several new portraits have been added in this update. These can be unlocked with AwesomePoints:''
 * Borble Birk
 * Little Johny
 * Hawk bomb
 * Katy Kork
 * Rob Bourgogne
 * Don Steward

General

 * Reduced startup time in case of certain rather rare router settings
 * Fixed a rare crash in replays if the chatlog was corrupted.
 * Baby Kuri Mammoth, now also affects the duration of chains.

Aiguillon

 * Lowered the glass platform in front of the front bottom turrets to make sure all ‘Nauts can jump up into that hide area.

Ayla
Toning down some of the recent changes which turned Ayla players into Evil Eye + DoT cannons, and make Rage a bit more viable again.
 * Rage, base shielding values changed from 7%>14%>21%>28%>35% to 10%>16%>22%>28%>34%.
 * Jail Food, damage over time reduced from 120 to 105 per stage.

Commander Rocket

 * Base speed reduced by 7%.
 * Rocket launch, projectile collision vs. obstacles reduced by 25%.
 * Rocket Launch, no longer knocks back enemies.
 * Mad Bomb, now increases self-knockback by 30%.
 * Scorched cigar pouch, slow reduction from 12.5% to 10% per stage.
 * Nuke bug, now reduces the self-knockback as well as the damage of Rocket launch by 30%.
 * Liquid MRE, loading speed increase reduced from +50% to +30%, price reduced from 280 to 220.
 * Liquid MRE, no longer framerate dependent.
 * Box of Cirean Cigars, split into two stages, adding 20 damage each for 145 per stage.

Deadlift
''Triple Cowbells of Honor (-shield decay rate) stimulates trying to keep the Protective Pose shield active, while players are better off activating it when needed and starting the cooldown when it’s not needed. This replacement better fits this playstyle and adds to the skill ceiling by giving players further control over their shield.'' Cowboy Boogeyman Storybook is underwhelming compared to his other options
 * Triple Cowbells of Honor, now reduces the cooldown of Protective Pose by 30% if the shield is cancelled manually.
 * Cowboy Boogeyman Storybook, Movement speed increase buffed from 20% to 25%, duration increased from 2 to 3 seconds.

Dizzy
Slight reduction of Dizzy’s powerful clearing during midgame. ''Dizzy’s auto-attack base DPS is really weak. She’s supposed to be low-damage/low-risk, but it was a bit too much''
 * ”Dizzy’s greatest hits”, damage increase now only affects Awesomenauts.
 * Bubble Shot, damage increased from 65 to 70.
 * Blowfish Nozzle, static bubble duration increased from 1.5s to 2s, price increased to 175.
 * Slimy Markers, price reduced from 155 to 125 per stage.

Froggy G
''Since Twister Tweeters (explosion at end of Tornado) is very popular, the Tornado duration upgrade is considered very weak. This is because it postpones the Tweeters effect. If duration also allows for cancellation, it would allow players to trigger the Tweeters effect themselves. Additionally it would improve the ability against teams who have stuns to interrupt Tornado.''
 * Bio Fuel cells, now also allows for cancelling the tornado after 1.6 second into the ability.

Genji
''While The last Pieridae Transformae is reasonably popular, it is one of the weakest options in the row as it makes Genji waste his most powerful skill on droids. Since it is unique and thematic we would like to keep it in some form though.'' Attempt to rebalance the Blessing row. Popular but on the weak side, Storm Drum could use a buff.
 * The last Pieridae Transformae, now always produces a flying droid. Also makes Cocoon kill all types of droids.
 * Blessing, base duration reverted from 2.5s to 3s.
 * The Cat Pillar, healing reduced to 100 per stage, price reduced to 175 per stage.
 * Spiritual Cooking, now increases damage of affected allies by +8%.
 * Kremzon Calendar, cooldown reduction increased from 1.5 to 2 seconds per stage.
 * Gettin’ Out of Da Hood, speed-up reduced to 20%.
 * Hidden Leaves, price reduced to 175 solar per stage.
 * Storm Drum, price reduced from 160 to 130 per stage.

Gnaw
Reduce price of DPS weedling items significantly, as they are outclassed by more burst-oriented and more efficient items. Some tweaks to improve the item balance on his base attack row
 * Corrosive spores, price reduced from 180 to 150 per stage.
 * Flex neck, price reduced from 150 to 120 per stage.
 * Bite, damage duration reduced from 5s to 4s.
 * Rotten teeth, damage duration decrease removed, price reduced from 225 to 195 solar.

Ix
Adjustments to make bond a little less overbearing. A slight buff to an underwhelming upgrade
 * Psionic Bond, maximum enemy tether length reduced by 20%.
 * Displace, swap time reduced from 0.4 to 0.3 seconds.
 * Time Travelled diamond, damage increased from +12% to +15% per stage.
 * Root tea, effect duration increased to 3 seconds.
 * Overexposed nature photo, now also gives Ix 50% of the healing done to allies when bonded.

Jimmy and the LUX5000
This upgrade is a downgrade in many cases, because of how the damage is spread.
 * Micey and the Missile factory, base missile is no longer reduced in damage by this upgrade.

Leon
Surprise Party Mask (+damage out of stealth) is too expensive for what it does
 * Surprise Party Mask, merged to one stage of +110 damage for 200 solar

Lonestar

 * Dynamite throw, collision size vs. characters increased by 15%.
 * Missile, projectile collision vs. obstacles reduced by 15%.
 * Another missile, projectile collision vs. obstacles reduced by 15%.
 * Height per jump increased by 8%.

Rocco
''Drawing speed is hardly a problem for Rocco, so the Birdseed Donuts (reduced draw speed) upgrade is very unpopular. It also makes lob-shots harder to pull off, which are a popular way of making arrow shots harder to dodge.''
 * Birdseed Donuts, now reduces the cooldown of vengeance by 2s for hitting a precision shot, and extends vengeance by 1s if it is active.

Scoop
The Holy Cup has become the way to go in high level play as the benefits are huge for a close-knit team. This upgrade gives too little compared to other upgrades in the same row, also too expensive. A slight tweak to make this upgrade trigger a little less often
 * The Holy Cup, ally healing reduced from 75% to 65% of self healing.
 * Chain mail Tunic, attack speed increase increased from +8% to 10% per stage.
 * Titanium Coneshield, reduced health Scoop needs to be below from 80% to 75%.

Sentry
''This upgrade used to be useful for unintended extra burst damage for the Teleport Beacon ability, until it received a significant arming time in a recent update. This modification should make it more viable again''
 * Teleport Beacon, explosion radius increased by 25%.
 * Circuits of Time, decoy arming time reduced from 2 to 1 second, fixed collision detection.

Skølldir

 * Bash 3rd punch, replaced ceiling detection hack with actual smaller collision vs. obstacles.
 * Stolen couch, range reduced from +5 to +4, price reduced from 190 to 170 solar
 * Small Volcano, price reduced from 225 to 205 solar.
 * Electric hammer, snare duration reduced from 0.5s to 0.35s, price reduced from 220 to 200 solar.
 * Bash, base damage increased by 10%
 * Chunk of salted meat, damage reduced from +13% to +10% per stage, price reduced from 215 to 195 per stage.
 * Pale Mead, now increases damage of third punch, +70 damage for 280 solar.

Skree

 * Magic Sunballs, price reduced from 220 to 195 solar.
 * Sawblade, damage is now dealt through a fast 0.1 second DoT to prevent it from stacking with Spare Blade damage.
 * Fixed that on the minimap Totem showed a glass platform above it.

Smiles

 * Fixed Pyromancer Smiles’ splash art not being large enough in the end of game screen.
 * Fixed that flamethrower sound kept playing if Smiles started teleporting while shooting.
 * Pocket Dog, damage over time per stage reduced from 100 to 90.
 * Bush Fire, damage per flame reduced from 31 to 28.
 * Tail Whip, damage reduced from 300 to 280.
 * Tail Whip, stun duration reduced from 0.2 to 0.1 seconds.
 * Unicornian Butt, stun duration increase reduced from 0.3 to 0.2 seconds, price increased from 200 to 240.
 * Trapper's Hook, duration is now affected by Baby Kuri Mammoth.
 * Base health, reduced from 1650 to 1550.

Yuri

 * Titanium spikes damage increase increased from +10% to +12% per stage.
 * Chrono rift, cooldown reduction increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds, for 165 solar per stage.
 * Flash forward, no longer decreases bubble duration.
 * Giant Monocle, range increase decreased from 27% to 22%.
 * Instant charge battery, price reduced from 210 to 150 solar per stage.
 * Flyswatter, now adds a non-stacking DoT to laser which deals 80 damage over 4 seconds.
 * Base Health, increased from 1350 to 1400.
 * Wraith Stone, replaced by Barrier Magazine.

Modding new features

 * Particles can now be modded. You can edit them in the Particle Editor and include them in your mods. To access the Particle Editor you must be in a map editing session on a map that is part of a mod. Press F2 to open it. Press “New” to create a new particle template. Modded particles can be used in levels through the Particle object.
 * Can now override default turret health through the new setting healthOverride.
 * Can now override turret shoot cooldown through the new setting shootCooldownOverride. Note that turret shooting speed is limited to 10 bullets per second for stability reasons.
 * Can now add additional damage to turret bullets through the new setting additionalDamage. By setting negative numbers here you can even create healing turrets now.
 * Can now override what bullets a turret shoots through the new setting overrideBulletSettings. Note that not all bullet types actually work with turrets, but most do. (Holy cow, turrets shooting Derpl Nukes are scary!)
 * Can now override at what distance a turrets starts aiming and shooting at characters through the new setting targetingRangeOverride.
 * Can now swap the default orientation of turrets through the new setting swapDefaultOrientation.
 * Can now hide turrets from the minimap through the new setting showOnMiniMap.
 * Can now let Buttons turn Turrets on/off through the new setting activationInfluencedBy.
 * Buttons can now turn Particle objects on/off.
 * Tutorial textures and animations can now be used in modded maps.

Modding fixes

 * Fixed that the hideByButton option in Texture objects didn’t work if anything in the Texture was animated, and didn’t combine correctly with setting a colour on the Texture.
 * Fixed that if opacity and colour were both set on an Animation object, then particles inside the animation would not update their colour correctly anymore.
 * Fixed that automatically reloading textures while editing a modded map didn’t work. (Works both in DirectX and OpenGL, but not on Linux and Mac.)
 * Fixed that when browsing Animations or Particles they were positioned too high, half over the button above.
 * Fixed mod preset not being selected by default when editing a map.