Build 62

[rob]

Hello all, and welcome to build 62! Changes include:

* Add Minotaur tank
* Add new icon for invincibility triggers
* Replace Trailblazer blink with gun activation trigger
* Change cross building and super tank in to the Nova fortress
* Increase triggering range (but not throw distance) for Zeta bombs; reduce bomb damage; increase bomb delay
* Show market plot even if you can't afford to buy an item
* Fix bug where automeld long-term wasn't melding with newly picked up items

The Minotaur is meant to be strong at clearing forts, but weak to flyers. Its effectiveness vs the Zeta is not really known. Please let us know if you think it's too strong or too weak.

The Trailblazer now has a gun! But it only affects minions, not buildings, and you can use it for 15 seconds with a one-minute cooldown. Best employed to keep pesky flyers away when trying to heal at a Watchtower. We'd appreciate feedback on this.

The old Super Tank and Cross Building were a mess of special case code. I cleaned all that out and reimplemented them using the fortress code we use for almost everything else (except Drill and GCT). It doesn't act completely the same, particularly the drones, but I hope it'll still be fun. The new "Nova Cannon Emplacements" are now buildings (not minions), so their numbers will not be reduced by facilities. The drones don't disappear when you take down the cannon. The Nova Power Unit now has 5x the hit points and a lot more healing power too.

I made some more Zeta changes. The idea is to reduce accusations of bomb-dragging by having the bombs tossed more frequently but with less accuracy and more delay. I also hope that these changes will also encourage tactics other than the "hornet's nest". Let me know if you think the encounter is improved or worsened.

As always, thank you so much for helping us with the game!

Rob & Tim
Jetbolt Games

[tarbomb]

The minotaur is a really sweet tank. Against forts it feels about right - somewhat of an all-rounder, with a great defensive ability and the ability to do some damage. Against zetas I think it will fall somewhere between the hornet and the hercules in style, although the hornet will probably be a bit more useful - this needs to be tested, though; the new triggering range might make things different.

The trailblazer gun is useless. It doesn't kill minions fast enough, doesn't last long enough, and is nowhere as useful as the blink ability, especially against large wall enemies (drill/sec-tower, and to a lesser extent delta/nova). I can't even clear all the minions around a standard building before the time runs out, and considering that 'blazer mostly operates in new regions without facility debuff effects, it's a pretty hard nerf.

I personally preferred the low-HP supertank core, since it gave shotgun tanks a niche. The new 2k hp core shifts the balance to standard DPS tanks again, which makes spectres and the like even more powerful. Wildfire, in particular, lost one of its core niches.

[hypevosa]

Agreed with tarbomb on all accounts, unless that trailblazer gun is going to insta-gib flying minions, it isn't worth its own slot.

[fsm]

agree on the center of the nova tank having that much hp really destroying a niche of shotgun tanks.

Not sure if this is just lag, but Ive had my hp decrease like a DOT attack with no enemy/shots in sight

[levesque]

New super tank is great cept that centre piece, havnt tried zeta or new tank yet but i cant wait to. dunno what i think bout the gun on blazer. good bug fix

hurruh

[Kelsoo]

New super tank is interesting to say the least. It basically stops solo (mainly region) clearing meaning you are now completely reliant on others being with you to attack the tank hoping you do enough damage other wise you will not be clearing most regions.

I mean clearing already hardly has any real incentives and no one really does it in the first place so I don't know how I feel completely about the matter. It turns them into what constructs are which plague those lands as well. I like the idea of making super tanks much more interesting but not making them literal super tanks that are relatively uninteresting. You can not reliably expect people to be on to help kill them nor can you rely that they will clear and not just convoy farm, much less clear with you.

I suggest making the area between the tanks spread further apart just enough to let a tank through to attack the cross and then add something else because quite frankly super tanks are a bore.

Trailblazer gun is more than useless.

New trigger looks great and I hope to test out the new Zeta's later. Though I still think the Hornet just in general needs re working anyways, being quite a boring tank indeed though others will disagree.

[Guest]

Trailblazer gun is extremely useful. It is only ''useless'' if you try to play the trailblazer as an offensive tank.

Not much to say about Zeta change. It was definitely needed.

Some visual changes to various guns. To be honest a step back in my eyes, but maybe I just have to get used to the changes. Or they are just ugly.

New super tanks are very nice. The core needed an hp boost, and the higher healing effect makes the fight more interesting. (Unless you were on your own, it didn't really matter if you killed the old cross before or after the super tanks, since the healing effect was minimal.) Shotguns still have a great use in clearing the minions, which we now get a ton of from the start, as well as the fact that they don't disappear.

[tarbomb]

Null, how are you using the trailblazer gun?

As I see it, there are two reasons to use a trailblazer gun:

1) to orbit minion-heavy structures (alpha/beta facilities, essentially) and regenerate shields.
2) To get flyers or other long-range minions off your tail when orbiting a watchtower or GCT.

(1) is severely restricted by the low DPS/RoF and duration of the gun - you won't be able to kill enough minions and keep them dead to regenerate shields effectively, especially in the un-nerfed regions where trailblazers typically roam.

(2) can already be done by alternating your direction so different parts of your shields face outwards at different times, exposing different parts of your shields to enemy fire so all of them can regen.

And for this gun, we give up an ability that allows us to not only leapfrog over adjacent drills and sectowers, but also increases the effectiveness of shield regen by giving a brief window of no-attack (when enemy turrets are still turning) to partially regenerate shields.

[Guest]

Aug 7, 2013 18:45:15 GMT -5 Kelsoo said:

It basically stops solo (mainly region) clearing

I just solod a few, sorry if I ruined your argument.

I will agree that it is now harder though. Which is fine.

[Kelsoo]

New super tanks will only prevent more and more people from killing them because they now take much more time that is spent doing what they already were doing to kill them. It turns into the same situation that drills had. It just makes clearing seem even that much more lugubrious.

I agree partially, aon I have tested it slightly more and feel alright with it. Still find no reason to scout though.

To the guy directly above me I did not mean they were not soloable I just mean they were even more boring to do so with. They are not more "difficult" adding HP and increasing minion count does not count as difficulty it just adds to the time that you already waste killing them.

[Detirce (Universe)]

Do you guys have a date when this is going to be public? Or could estimate when..

[Guest]

Aug 7, 2013 19:12:58 GMT -5 tarbomb said:

Null, how are you using the trailblazer gun?

-snip-

For the first use you mention, the gun makes it a bit easier. It was already possible with beta forts I found. By zooming in and paying attention to the minions, you could avoid getting hit quite easily.

As for the second, the tactic you mention relies on taking damage... Wouldn't you say that taking no damage is better when your goal is to regenerate shields? It especially helps at GCTs, where you can not circle very closely.

It's true that the trailblazer loses a useful ability. I'm glad to see it go, though. Scouting without blink is much more interesting, and wall-like forts such as security towers and drills actually matter now.

[quicklite]

Aight, since I'm one of the few people with a minatour right now, I'll give it a quick review. First things first: I love it. The triggers are badass, the weaponry is pretty unique, and it plays nothing like the predator, which clears all my worries about the tank being a 'copy'. Haven't tested it on a zeta yet, but due to its triggers (2 strong offensives plus an invincibility and insta front shield), I could see it being a real game changer.

I'll list the tank's pros and cons IMO:

Pros

Badass triggers: Trigger 2's triple bomb throw is massive fun to use, and doesn't feel that OP (though that could be because I do not know how to use it effectively yet >_>), and trigger 3 (DoT AoE) is a great way to leave a dent in everything, tho doesn't feel powerful enough to be able to really completely wipe out stuff. The insta frontal shield fits, and it is pretty nice to have a second invincible tank.

Clever guns: For those of you who don't know, the minatour comes with a bread and butter, medium damage and RoF mini turret, and a frontal facing ground only turret which is a bit like a shorter range spectre gun. This means that although the triggers are great for crowd control, the guns themselves are less so, which helps balance the tank a good deal.

Still gives the predator a use: Although both tanks in theory seem roughly the same, they play differently in a way which keeps the predator as a valid choice. This is simple: while the predator keeps a steady stream of damage and performance, the minotaur performs quite sporadically. This is because although this tank is a total beast with all its triggers blazing, without the triggers it is just a predator with weaker shields, almost no ability to damage air units, less RoF, and almost no way to keep the crowds at bay.

Cons

Main gun should be changed: note the word 'changed', not 'buffed'. I think that the gun's DPS should remain the same. However, I think that its damage should be increased, with its RoF decreased to compensate. Heck, maybe even give the gun a delta cannon's aesthetic as well. This would not only play to the whole 'crowd control' thing I mentioned earlier, but it would also differentiate the minatour's gun from that of the spectre in a more impressive fashion.


Shields are overused: There is nothing wrong with the minatour's shield config of 'strong at front, weak everywhere else.' It's just that that shield config has been done at least 4 times, and I think the same effect can be done in a slightly more original fashion. Here are 3 ideas of mine, going from least to most preferable (IMO)

1) Split the rear shield in half, giving the tank a sort of 'reverse cutlass' shield config.

2) Make the rear shield weaker, but covering the tank completely (like the herc's, but far weaker). Then add a 2 segment (like pred) frontal shield on top of that. Same effect, slightly different concept and playstyle.

3) Keep everything, but slightly widen the frontal shield, then split it into 3: One strong segment in the middle, two weaker ones to the side.

As for the new super tanks: I actually really like them, especially how minions attack now. But could you make the cross building's self-healing capabilities at least significantly weaker than its ability to heal the tanks around it? Having to shoot something that regenerates itself so fast is inanely tedious.

[kable]

Why do Zetas regenerate HP so quickly.

Why.

[quicklite]

Aug 8, 2013 1:37:25 GMT -5 kable said:

Why do Zetas regenerate HP so quickly.

Why.

You mean Novas, right? Or do zetas regen health as well now?