Build 242 has been released. We are quite proud of this build. Brian, Steve, Dushan, Max and Andi have been hard at work making the game work better, faster, and with more carrot.

This post is rather late and scant on exciting videos and screenshots, because Hugh is lazy has been prepping for PAX tomorrow, and the big surprise for everyone that’s coming with it. Look out for a trailer tomorrow!

In lieu of a changelog video, please accept our offering of the changelog itself:

Changelog:

Optimization

Fixed issue where video cards with small amounts of off-board memory would unload textures unnecessarily.
Optimized lighting shaders.
Optimized occlusion culling rasterization using SIMD.
Infestation is no longer derived from …

Balance. If there is one topic that can fray tempers, depress developers, and cause forum mods to tear their hair out then balance is it. What is the state of Natural Selection 2 balance? Are the aliens over powered? Does Unknown Worlds have any idea what they are doing? Do they even read my balance posts!?

The answer is: It depends on how you define ‘balance’!

No, this is not a cop out. In this post, we will examine Natural Selection 2’s balance with two equally valid definitions, and see what conclusions we can draw. The first one is probability of victory.

Probability of Victory

This is the sledgehammer definition of ‘balance.’ In a game of football, tennis, rugby, or …

Gorgeous is out in the wild being Gorgeous. So now, we can sit back and do nothing! Kidding of course, there are two massive events coming up for the NS2 community.

PAX East 2013 (March 22)

We’re going back to PAX, and this time, we are throwing a massive party that anyone can participate in. We can’t tell you what it is yet, but it will be announced on Monday, 18 March.

The idea behind this super-secret party is to allow everyone in the NS2 community to enjoy what PAX represents: Coming together and meeting people through games. Can you guess what it is?

More details

NSL Invitational Grand Final (April 12)

It does not get bigger than this. …

If you don’t like spoilers, do not look at the image above! It contains the results of all the matches played today, from the official results page on ensl.org. The play today was incredible.

All the teams that participated deserve praise for their professional and punctual manner, sportmanlike behavior and astounding skill. Having first person spectator allowed viewers to take a close look at just how good these players are.

The official livestream lasted six hours, and was watched at its peak by 1,500 concurrent viewers. Twitch put us on the front page, viewer numbers consistent, and the chat friendly and positive. Community streams from GohanZeta, Reddog and others carried on with streams even after Hugh and …

After gruelling qualifying rounds, the 16 teams have earned their place in the NSL Invitational Cup. The teams to qualify for Round 1 are:

Team Cocorico
Godar
All-In
Archaea
Mercury
Nexzil
Breakfast Klub
Vetus
Damage Networks
coolclan
Saunamen
Be BAGUETTE myfriend
Duplex
HBZ
Inversion
Precaching

Head on over to ensl.org for more details on which teams are in which groups!

Round One begins live on twitch.tv/naturalselection2 this weekend. For the US and Europe, games begin on Saturday 02 March, and for East Asia/Oceania, Sunday 03 March. To see the start time in your local time zone, consult this map:

The twitch.tv/naturalselection2 stream will be covering matches in the following order, with ‘t’ being the start time on the map …

A piece of software as complex as the Gorgeous update is greater than the sum of its parts. But this changelog gives you an idea about what some of those parts are. Some of them have subtle but wide ranging effects: Fixes to the Skulk hitbox and changes to its movement code make them slightly easier targets in certain circumstances. Others are more immediately apparent: Insight has been massively improved (Go Huze!). Read about how to use three of the new additions here.

Added

• Railgun Exosuit now available at Prototype Lab. Explodes things.
• Gorges may now spawn Babbler eggs, which hatch into Babblers!
• Gorges may now create Gorge Tunnels
• Bait Balls – Direct babblers by flinging it at

There are some big new features in Gorgeous. How do they work? Let’s have a looksie at three of them..,

Gorge Tunnels

These pretty looking tubes may be researched by Alien Commanders for 30tres, with one Hive. Once researched, Gorges must build both an entrance and an exit to create a connection. Each tunnel entrance/exit costs 10pres.

To enter a tunnel, simply run up to one of the orifices… And go through it. (Be brave.) Inside, run to the other end and voila, you will pop out at the other end. If you happen to be human, you will take damage to your armour while inside the tunnel.

Babblers

Most of us fantasize about having an army of minions. Fantasize …

What a post title – And we’re not even lying. These are actually screenshots of Gorgeous, taken around the map Descent. Since launch, we have been relying on screenshots that don’t even include ambient occlusion and 3d infestation. Now, we have a new batch of official screenshots thanks to Cory’s magic hand. They feature the new content in Gorgeous, as well as Spark’s new graphics tricks: Reflections and decals.

The shot above shows those decals in action: The blood splatter, claw marks and bullet holes give new visual depth to combat.

This shot shows the interior of the Gorge tunnels. These tunnels can be used by alien and marine alike, but marines take armour damage while inside.

This Gorge …

Earlier tonight, Hugh finished uploading Cory’s magnificent Gorgeous trailer. Soon after, a group of rabid fans broke into the UWE office. Brandishing pointy sticks, they informed him that if he did not enter the password for the UWE YouTube channel, they would put his head through a Gorge Tunnel entrance.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB-gmyOvUig

Obviously, Hugh complied with the demand. And you can now watch the trailer for Gorgeous! The update is not yet live. It will go live, along with a 50% off Steam sale, at the times shown on the map below. Now, this is important: If you like Cory’s trailer, show him how much you like it. Retweet it, share it on the Facebooks, and even Google+ it. …