Major update 0.1.24: abilities, bots and challenges

This update came out over five releases, from 0.1.20 on 29 September to 0.1.24 on 1 October, and it changes how Karoball plays. If you already have Karoball the launcher has installed it for you.

Every class has an ability

Press E or F, or the middle mouse button, to use yours. Everyone sees an ability coming: each one has its own warning (a shimmer, flames and an arrow, a filling ring, frost and so on), and the tube in your token's rim shows when yours is ready again. Abilities rest during the countdown and for 3 seconds after every kick-off.

• The Standard's Chip is a softer kick that flies over every player's head for half a second, then lands and rolls on. It can't score from the air. (9 s)
• The Dribbler's Hook Turn is one touch that sends the ball where you're steering, up to 120 degrees off, and with no direction held it traps the ball dead. (8 s)
• The Gorilla's Ground Pound roots you while a ring fills around you, then the ball inside it is blasted straight away from you. (12 s)
• The Meteor's Comet: you ignite, then make one blazing run at 2.5 times walking speed. (12 s)
• The Lakaka's Ice Trail leaves frost behind you. Opponents on it slow to a crawl and can barely start, stop or turn. (13 s)
• With the Disruptor's Juggernaut nobody can push you around for up to 2.5 seconds, so you keep walking and bulldoze whoever is in your way. Tap again to stop. (7.2 to 12 s, longer the longer it ran)
• The Phantom's Flash Step blinks you a short step in any direction, and it brakes before the ball or a player. (13 s)

Abilities work in every match, bot game and town pitch, and in the Bot Duel. The other five challenges are played without them, so their targets are fair for every class. There's more on each one in the guide.

The classes are rebalanced

The classes are now much closer to each other, and what used to make a class extreme is now its ability. The Meteor's huge sprint burst became the Comet, and the Phantom's dash became the Flash Step. The Disruptor is lighter and turns quickest of all, the Lakaka is lighter but still glides, and the Dribbler's power kick is harder than it was. Every class's stars and ability are on the classes page.

Challenges unlock the classes

New accounts start with the Standard. Each other class is unlocked for good by earning the first star of its challenge, from the Challenges card on the play menu.

Five levels each

Earn a star on a level to open the next one, and every level is a lot harder than the one before: quicker cannon shots aimed later and wider, more and narrower gates, a bigger and quicker keeper from further out, smaller and quicker rings, a bot a whole step stronger, a sharper defence and whipped crosses. The five drills are played on the roomier 2v2 pitch, while the Bot Duel is a real 1v1.

Stars pay gold, more on higher levels, and the third star of levels 3 and 5 adds a piece of kit. Challenge rewards can't be traded. All the details are in the guide.

Highscores

Every attempt scores points: your result times the level's multiplier, from x1 on level 1 up to x3 on level 5, so harder levels score more. Each challenge has its own board, with the top three on a podium and your place highlighted.

Already playing?

If you have 25 or more matches or any cup trophy, you keep all seven classes. Otherwise you keep the class you had picked, plus the Standard. The locker's Class tab shows what's locked, which challenge unlocks it, and every class's ability.

Bots: a game any time

• VS BOTS in the Quick Play popup starts a game against bots straight away, from 1v1 to 5v5. There's no Elo and no stats, but you earn a little gold if you took part.
• If nobody else is searching, a casual search fills the empty places with bots after 20 seconds. You can turn this off, and you can also jump into a bot game while you wait. Ranked is never filled with bots.
• Bots play at your level, a bit easier for new players, and they adjust a little as you win or lose against them. In a party they play at the party's average.
• Bots use their abilities too, and wear a silver BOT tag.

Football that feels better

• Players are a little slower and start more softly, so the game is more controlled.
• The kick off a dribble is softer and rolls further, so passes are easier to receive.
• No more "air kicks" at a bouncing ball: the kick reaches a little further off your foot.
• A defender who pushes back against a sprinting player now holds his ground.

Pushes and blocks show as they happen

Before, a player you pushed could look like a wall for up to half a second, and a player who pushed you seemed to do it late. Now the players right around you are simulated on your screen in your own time, using the same rule the server uses, so a push, a block or a shoulder charge shows the moment it happens, whatever your ping.

Matches also send 60 updates a second (it was 20), and your inputs go out every tick, so everything online is smoother.

Your token, the nets and the pitch

• A new token. Your player is a glossy token in your kit, with your stamina running as a liquid in a glass tube in its rim, and since 0.1.21 a second tube fills with your class's colour as your ability cools.
• The ball hits the net at full speed instead of slowing down at the goal line. Since 0.1.21 the nets are softer, so shots sink in and drop dead instead of bouncing out.
• Fixed nets flying across the pitch at high frame rates, and corner shots that could get stuck outside the goal.
• A freshly painted pitch in 0.1.21: mowing stripes, tufts of taller grass, and new turf, dirt and fence art. New slalom cones too.

Version by version

Changed since

• Hook Turn now sends the ball up to 120 degrees off (it was 100), and it rolls away quicker.
• On the Ice Trail an opponent now keeps a tenth of his speed and grip (it was half his speed and a quarter of his grip).
• After a Ground Pound the ball flies away up to twice as hard.
• Players have been slowed a touch more, and turn round quicker.
• Bot games pay 10, 5 and 2 gold for a win, draw or loss (it was 8, 4 and 2), since the economy changes of 3 October.
• Challenge stars pay 20 to 180 gold, and the third star of levels 3 and 5 adds a piece of kit. It was 50, 100 and 150 gold on level 1 and more higher up, with kit for three stars on levels 1, 3 and 5.
• This update stopped the goal blast throwing players into the fence, and since 0.1.26 a goal doesn't blast anyone at all unless the scorer wears the Explosion celebration.

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