The fifth playable demo of ZEPHON will be available from February 12th (@ 12 pm CEST) to February 19th (@ 12 pm CEST) on Steam. The biggest changes in this demo are the additions of the multiplayer mode, Furtive Tribunal leader, Anchorite NPC faction and tier 4 technologies. See the full changes below. Come join us in celebration and let us know what you think of ZEPHON. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1481170/ZEPHON/ [i]This is an early look at an in-development alpha version of the game. As such, there will be bugs, imbalances and missing assets. The demo includes single player and multiplayer, but is limited to up to four player on a medium-sized map. 4 different leaders are available for selection and 3 NPC factions are present. Research progress is limited to the first 4 tech tiers. The full version will contain larger maps, advanced game setup options, 8 leaders, over 50 units spread across 10 tiers of research, more terrain features and quests, an end-game grand finale, unlockable game modifiers, achievements, multiple languages as well as full workshop support.[/i] [h3]Changes in Demo 5[/h3] ## New * Leaders now have a path affinity which determines their starting units and research tree. * Added Furtive Tribunal leader: *“Bright stars shine so sweet—but bright stars die first. In the long tomb, blinded, we felt the aria of the dark stars, who live forever. Now our only taste is for their harmonies.”* * Added Anchorite NPC: *“To travel three millennia. To see Kin as horrors. To drink poison from your hands. Yet cannot but love you.”* * Added tier 4 technologies. * Added new technologies to tiers 1 through 3. * Added multiplayer mode. * Added The Dream and The Sky, Fallen quests. * Added new unbranched research complete illustration. * Vegetation shadows now move with the wind. * Overhauled save and load game screens to be easier to use and show more information. * Added Mute In Background audio setting. * Added network stats to the performance display. ## General * Medium map size can now be selected in the demo. * Up to 3 AI leaders can now be added in the demo. * Teams and colors can now be selected in the demo. * Expedition Outfitter effect now shows on tiles where it would trigger. * Buying and selling resources is now done in stacks of 5 instead of 10. * Unit overlay health bars are now fully transparent again below maximum. * Rewritten many diplomacy dialogue lines. * AI now buys and sells resources. * Improved AI item usage. * Improved random number generation. * Improved performance. ## Balance * Flying units now affect and are affected only by other flying units' zone of control. * Non-flying units can now pass through enemy flying units. * Increased starting algae and chips from 10 to 20. * Reduced Speciment Containment research per kill from experience from 4 to 2. * Increased Abkhan respawn from 10 to 20 turns. * Increased Survival Training experience from 6 to 9. * Removed hero production level scaling. ## Bug Fixes * Fixed being able to communicate with defeated players. * Fixed not getting rewards from killing Abkhan when using Erelim Assassin's Assassinate ability. * Fixed Expedition Outfitter not working. * Fixed being able to use Data Hack on non-enemies.