Aetas 0.3: talk to your team, and your friends can see what you're playing
This update started small, with two changes that came straight from players. Then quite a bit more joined in. Thanks for all the feedback!
Talk to your team#
Aetas now has voice chat, in the lobby and during the match. Hold ` (left of the 1) to talk to your team, and mouse button 4 to talk to everyone. Rather not hold a key all the time? Switch to open mic; it only sends when you speak louder than the threshold you set. It's all under Settings > Audio, including a button to test your microphone. Aetas uses the microphone you picked in Steam.
A small speaker shows up next to the name of whoever is talking, and while someone talks the music and sound ease down a little. The host decides in the lobby whether voice is for everyone, for teams only, or off. During a match, spectators only hear each other, so they can't give anything away.
Right-click a player#
Right-click a name or profile picture for a small menu: view their Steam profile, add them as a friend, send a message, or mute their chat or voice. You can also turn a voice down or up there, and the game remembers it. Anyone you have blocked on Steam stays silent in Aetas too.
An army that arrives together#
Send cavalry, infantry and a cannon off together, and the riders used to get there first and face the enemy alone. Now a mixed army marches at the pace of its slowest unit, so everyone arrives at the same time and the formation holds on the way. Once the fighting starts or the group gets there, everyone moves at their own speed again. Want your cavalry to ride ahead? Select only them.
Your queue follows you into the next age#
If you still had spearmen lined up when you advanced to the next age, you got spearmen, even though the barracks was already offering swordsmen. Now they come out as the newest version, for the same price as upgrading them later. Can't afford it, and you get what you ordered.
More Steam in the game#
Your Steam friends list now shows what you're up to in Aetas: in a lobby, against the computer, in a ranked match with your people and your age, in a campaign mission or a battle. Friends in the same match are grouped together, and you can join straight from the friends list. Names now show a Steam profile picture, the people you played with turn up under Recent players, and a screenshot from a match mentions the map, your people and your age. You also choose where Steam shows its notices.
Like the look of Aetas? Add it to your wishlist. It really helps.