Build 58

[rob]

Hi folks! Welcome to build 58!

* Add Cutlass class
* Make Predator's two AoE attacks more pronounced in the enemies they affect (6:1 ratio)
* Simplify graphics for Hurricane, Silver, Phantom, Valkyrie, Mustang, Predator, Wildfire
* Replace many "overdrive" trigger icons with better ones
* Add new medium square fortress: Security Tower
* Improve rubberbanding on GCT/Zeta bombs
* Add random jitter to bomb cooldowns to reduce stacking
* Fix "player icon left behind" bug
* Draw tank menu in color again
* Sort buy offers by type and level
* Add graph of recent sale prices to buy offer menu
* Consolidate item delete and liquidate buttons

Cutlass is the new level 17 class. It's an anti-air tank, meant for dealing with clouds of flying minions. Let me know if it's OP vs convoys, as that is not its intended role.

The Security Tower is not meant to be super dangerous, but it is meant to take up a lot of space. This is to make it harder to chase convoys through the wilderness. It should also make scouting tougher, as it occupies half the locations formerly taken by scout-friendly watchtowers.

I am hoping that the changes to the buy offer menu will help foster an efficient economy. I'm also starting to lean toward an auto-melder, which you can turn on to auto meld eligible items in your short or long term inventories (or both).

Let me reiterate that in the closed alpha, no botting or hacking of any kind is allowed. Thanks for helping us by respecting this rule.

I am heading off for a vacation, so new builds may not happen as frequently. We'll try to let you know once we've decided the schedule.

As always, please report bugs and other issues in this thread. Thanks very much for your help in testing Grid12!

Rob & Tim
Jetbolt Games

[amitp]

Cutlass stats (security tower is also on that page but there's a duplicate which means I have a bug I need to fix)

[quicklite]

Alright, I bought the cutlass and have tested it pretty throughly. This is my review of it:

At doing it's (supposed) job: Great. The fast RoF of its gun, combined with the massive hit radius of its third trigger, does do wonders at keeping flying enemies at bay. The only problem? Well, what flying enemies are there to 'keep at bay'? The only ones that exist are from small fortresses, which are pretty easy and therefore the minions can be ignored, GCTs, whose flying enemies spawn too fast to be removed and can be avoided by fancy driving anyhow, super tanks, and deltas. Okay, they admittedly help for the last 2, but the tank does almost nothing against actual fortresses (tho this is a good thing imo), and those 2 fortresses are perfectly easy to take on with their minions still intact, anyhow.

As for the convoys, now this is where the tank really shines. You see, the cutlass excels at convoys. But is it OP? Not in the slightest. Okay, it has a lot of anti-air dps (especially covbined with its triggers, you can get all 3 AA guns to shoot if you sit on the convoy, and it does have 2 safety triggers (insta-shield and cloak), but the weapons and triggers are organized well enough, the shields are thin enough, and its health is small enough that the only way to really do crazy dps to a convoy is to basically sit on it, and trying to sit on it can get you ripped to shreds (with emphasis on the fact that I said can, not will).

So what does this make the cutlass stand in terms of convoys? Well, using my annoying repertoire of realm comparisons, the cutlass kinda is the EP of grid. Capable of tearing huge chunks in your enemies at the cost of seriously exposing yourself to large amounts of damage, and even death. And although grid, unlike realm, doesn't have permadeath, I think that risky, destructive playstyle is nonetheless one of the funnest things that could come out of this tank, and its concept. So congrats, rob!

NB: In retrospect, an insta-shield + a long cloaking trigger feels a little too survivable for a tank capable of such painfully good dps. Imo, the cloak time should be nerf, and the shield refill should be only partial, because if we're gonna have a risky glass cannon of this standard, there should be a buttload of risk.

Though as a side note, I think that dying should reset (or start, depending on the status of the trigger) all your trigger cooldowns. Just because there's a fun little abuse to (relatively) easily kill zetas which involves throwing corsair after corsair at your enemy, because the corsair will die, and you will get your shear back every time.

To anyone who enjoying doing this: sorry for ruining everything :/

[realmeye]

Hi Rob!
Would you tolerate a bot idling at the origin, announcing convoys on an irc channel?

[rob]

No bots please. Sorry.

[shatov]

Hi all,

I've posted some videos testing out the new tank a bit, also one video from testing the Predator tank at a Zeta.
First response is that I like the new tank. It has high anti-air dps, along with instant shield regen and cloaking, making it possible to go fairly deep at convoys / enemy zones.
The Predator didn't seem very effective at the Zeta complex, but the changes to its triggers are noticeable in normal enemy clearing environments (not included in video here).

Slow scouting attempts/ digging with the Cutlass tank
1 - Cutlass tank - Slow scouting (or "digging")
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZNIWZvxBII
3 - Cutlass tank - Slow scouting (or "digging")
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXKmJuVMKi8
6 - Cutlass tank - Slow scouting (or "digging")
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzNjGHeneb8
10 - Cutlass tank - Slow scouting (or "digging")
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_JRE1DjUl4

Group convoys with the Cutlass tank
2 - Cutlass tank - Group Antimatter Convoy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qyxPSAFHQE
4 - Cutlass tank - Group Flux Convoy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl-hMRJ57HQ
7 - Cutlass tank - Group Miner Convoy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfqzPuy94HU
8 - Cutlass tank - Group Baryon Convoy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoGKzwkLS6c
9 - Cutlass tank - Group Antimatter Convoy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T54S2P2IAu4

Zeta Complex with the Predator tank
5 - Predator tank - Zeta Complex
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSnE6aUdLEA

Note to my friends and fellow testers: I've checked through the videos and don't think I've left my email showing in any of them, but please let me know if you happen to see my email somehow through these videos.

[levesque]

Not sure if this is intentional but if u run in on the new fortress and sit right on the corner of the middle peice the outside guns cant hit you only the centre one

[trapped]

Oww, the "no bots please" thing is my fault, sorry guys. Seems like Rob actually reads the chat log from the server. Derp.

[Duco]

Jul 12, 2013 12:20:04 GMT -5 trapped said:

Oww, the "no bots please" thing is my fault, sorry guys. Seems like Rob actually reads the chat log from the server. Derp.

What
did
you
do
...?

[levesque]

grid down? or did it get an update or something? i died and now i cant get back on ive waited awhile. i jsut get the circle and preformance stats like when the game first wouldnt work

[gingerbear]

Rob, could you please, pretty please increase the loot range for the main tower of zeta? It is rather annoying when you see the tower die and still not get anything.

[Ood]

Jul 12, 2013 15:30:44 GMT -5 gingerbear said:

Rob, could you please, pretty please increase the loot range for the main tower of zeta? It is rather annoying when you see the tower die and still not get anything.

Seconded:
A hornet squad can kill the main zeta and be excluded from loot. Could the main zeta be given double drop distance, similar to final convoy kill?

[zub]

It's not just problem of the zeta. Generally the loot distribution favors overly careful player that doesn't risk and therefore help much in place of player that wants to be helpful under any circumstances.

[riyer]

Good build, nice job!

[Kelsoo]

Guess it's time to come back. Was waiting for a few builds to pass over.

I seem to not be able to connect at all anymore.