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Troopers!
Welcome to our first developer diary for the upcoming Tropical Terror DLC!
In this series, we'll be sharing behind-the-scenes insights into our development process, revealing new units and features, and highlighting improvements coming to the base game.
Starship Troopers: Terran Command was initially developed over four and a half years by a core team of three - working remotely - and supported by various freelancers for additional coding, animation, and music.
Following a successful launch, we moved into a physical office, and The Artistocrats has grown steadily ever since. With our latest additions - a veteran concept artist and another programmer - our team now stands at eight key members.
As we continue passionate development on the game, this expansion allows us to elevate overall quality and polish, continually refining visuals, unit designs, and core performance code.
We are using the Urban Onslaught - our most popular DLC to date - as the benchmark for all current and future development. For the upcoming Tropical Terror DLC, this translates into an expansive story campaign featuring two new lead characters, a variety of action-packed missions, a compelling storyline, authentic FEDNET-style broadcasts, new playable units, and, of course, a whole lotta Bugs!
In today's dev diary, we take a closer look at two new mechanical units available during the later stages of the campaign. Note that the DLC is still in development, so all details remain subject to change.
This armored personnel carrier is accompanied by a small squad of Fortis suit-equipped troopers. Their E-Pulse 44 rifles are ideally suited to fight at close to medium combat ranges, while the vehicle's own machine gun provides additional firepower. Working in tandem, the vehicle and squad create a strong defensive shield against the Bug hordes. Against long range or heavily armored opponents, however, you’ll need to support the unit with heavier firepower.
Upon attaining elite veterancy, the quadruped’s weapon system can be customized: swap in a mortar for extended indirect fire support, or equip a short-range flamethrower to neutralize close-quarters hazards.
Besides these combat capabilities, the vehicle can convert into a static point for deploying and reinforcing other infantry unit types. Position it in this mode right behind the front lines to keep your squads at full combat efficiency.
Designed on the same chassis as the M9 Sledgehammer, this biped’s primary utility is to neutralize long-range threats like Plasma Grenadiers. Its twin-barrel configuration delivers relentless bombardment, pulverizing all but the most heavily armored targets.
Featuring an elevated, open-top fighting compartment, the vehicle offers excellent vision and a rapid rate of fire, though this comes at the cost of increased vulnerability to enemy attacks. Additionally, with its guns elevated for long-range bombardments, it cannot strike targets at close quarters. In emergency situations, the crew can lob a fused propellant charge over the top to act as an improvised grenade.
To optimize short-range combat performance, the biped can switch into "assault mode." In this state, the barrels are lowered for direct-fire, and a portion of the crew dismounts, equipped with the Morita Mk.II rifle and its underslug grenade launcher, to engage nearby enemies. While this configuration enhances performance at close to medium distances, it decreases the vehicle's overall range and firing speed.
Alongside the new content coming in the Tropical Terror DLC, our ongoing focus includes refining and polishing existing features.
With the release of the "Eradicators" DLC, players gained control of bio-chemically altered Bugs reprogrammed to fight for the good guys - that is, the Federation, of course! To make their arrival more visually impactful and clear, the next (free) update will have these Bugs arrive via dedicated drop pods rather than spawning directly onto the map (note that this is a purely aesthetic change, so no need to dodge the incoming pods).
Another small but impactful cosmetic improvement - which affects existing and future content - is that time-of-day lighting changes during missions now feature more blended transitions. As missions shift from dusk to night, for instance, the direction of the sunlight and atmospheric colors now adjust gradually and smoothly.
That’ll all for now. Stay tuned for more! And wishlist the DLC here:
Starship Troopes: Terran Command - Tropical Terror DLC - Steam
Starship Troopes: Terran Command - Tropical Terror DLC - Slitherine Website
