Update 0.13.42 – Ready for crossplay with PS5

Coming soon: crossplay with PlayStation®5

Helion Conflict is coming to PlayStation®5 – and PC and PS5 play together. Lobbies, joining by code, voice chat and spectators all work across platforms. Many changes in this update were made for exactly that, and they make the PC version more stable too.

New

• Joining screen – while you join, the game shows every step (signing in, looking for the session, connecting) until you are in the lobby. You can cancel at any time, and it ends on its own with a message if the session is gone or does not answer.
• Destroyed and lost ships – every results screen shows how many ships you destroyed and how many you lost.
• Spectators in the standings – spectators are listed below the standings, with a microphone while they speak.
• Who is speaking – whoever speaks in voice chat is named at the top of every screen that hides the player list: results, settings, pause menu and friends.

Improved

• 1v1 against a person: if your opponent leaves the match you are hosting, you win at once – online it counts as a win against a human. A lost connection is not a surrender.
• Tournament maps play like any other map: speed, starting army, neutrals, teams and AI level are yours to set. They start balanced, side against side.
• Player names are never cut off any more – long names get a second line in the standings, the lobby, the voice list and the chat.
• Lobby: the voice list pages through everyone in the room instead of hiding players behind “+ N MORE”, and a player's info box shows the full name.
• Rejoining a match and joining by code now tell you why it did not work instead of doing nothing.
• Network messages speak of “the online service”, and the highest graphics level is now called ULTRA.

Playing with a controller

• In the settings, the buttons that switch the tabs (LB/RB or L1/R1) are now shown right next to the tab row.
• With a DualSense™ wireless controller, the controller tab shows its official drawing.
• Button and controller names follow the platform's wording in every language.
• The shoulder buttons no longer change the fleet share for the next match while you are in a menu.

Fixed

• A player who leaves a match keeps their name in the eliminations, the standings and the results (it used to say “SLOT 2”).
• Tournament maps: the AI level you pick for each seat now applies – it always played as medium before.
• Results: the opponent tile shows your actual opponents, not a team mate.
• Joining a running match as a spectator, or rejoining after a dropped connection, no longer sends you straight back to the browser. A running match with all seats taken can still be joined as a spectator.
• Spectators who join a running match are now listed by name on every participant's screen, not only on their own.
• When the host goes back to the lobby during a match, another player really takes over the match.
• Chat: a message keeps its sender's name even after they leave; leaving a session clears the chat; and the chat no longer shrinks to a single line when more players join voice chat.
• Blocked players: text chat is blocked in both directions, whoever hosts the lobby.
• Hosting online and going back no longer reports a timeout half a minute later, and hosting straight from the session list no longer shows a false “no answer” message.
• Session list: after a failed online sign-in it only looks for LAN games, without asking you to sign in again every ten seconds.
• Report dialog, lobby and server list: long player names are shown in full and exactly as written, instead of running over the buttons.

PlayStation®5

For your friends on console – and for crossplay rounds with them:

• Invitations: an invitation from the console's notifications starts the game if needed and takes you straight to the lobby. Until the lobby is open, the game says that the session is being joined. An invitation to a session that has ended shows a message.
• Signing out: whoever signs out of PlayStation in the middle of a game is taken to the main menu and told why. Old invitations never pull anyone into a session unasked after signing in again.
• Voice chat: open microphone – mute it with the controller's mute button. Microphone and playback device are chosen in the console's sound settings.
• Restricted communication settings: other players' Online IDs and profile pictures are shown correctly.
• Hints and texts speak the console's language – no more windows, mice or folders, but the touch pad button instead.
• PlayStation®Plus multiplayer is reported correctly while spectating, when the host changes and after a surrender; an online match alone against the AI does not count as multiplayer.