Build 93

[rob]

All hail the Brave Testers!

Tim and I just pushed build 93, which includes these changes:

* Add crafting ("synthesis")
* Add 12 raw material item types
* Add 18 component item types: 6 housings, 6 generators, 6 regulators
* Add 43 formulas for synthesizing components and modules
* Add star-shaped smoke bursts

The big deal this week is of course the new synthesis system, which makes it possible to construct modules for your favorite tank class.

There are 12 raw materials. 6 of them are the "common materials": protogen, antitron, hypermetal, transgas, photonite and nanocyte. These are guaranteed to drop from mineral deposits according to the pane shape of the region (there is also an approximately 50% chance of a second common drop). The other 6 materials are the "noncommon materials", and they are divided into 3 groups: uncommons (alphadyne, metacrux), rares (enertek, cosmolyte) and elites (polymatter, omnium). Each group is about half as common as the preceding group. These also drop from mineral deposits, but at a much lower rate (about a 25% chance or getting a noncommon). However, each of the noncommon materials has a pane shape associated with it, and drops at double the rate in those regions.

A module is synthesized from a housing, a generator and a regulator; there are 6 of each for a total of 18 components. Each component requires one noncommon material item plus several more common materials. We've set up the module formulas so that the housing, generator and regulator require a total of one elite, one rare and one uncommon material, so that the total work required to build each module should be about the same.

The synthesis UI is bare-bones for now. It doesn't show you the total requirements for a module by chasing down all the requirements for sub-components; you have to do that manually and I guess write it down and add it up yourself. The UI should also help you buy, meld and unmeld the stuff you need, automatically liquidating the leftover bits that won't fit in long-term storage.

We realize that set of formulas and materials and components are complex and that it might more efficient to just farm modules from region bosses. After we get experience with the system we'll adjust the formulas. Also, we plan to add whole new classes of stuff to synthesize (fuel, weapons, ammo ..) which might make protogen and enertek worth collecting even if not for modules.

We'd appreciate feedback on all of this. Thank you for helping us test out the new system!

Rob & Tim
Jetbolt Games

[Kelsoo]

May I suggest modifying crystal splinters to try and serve other purposes before completely removing them? They share characteristics with the new melding system with multiple types of them being available, and lord knows the game could use some diversity in the inventory. I wouldn't mind them being used for recipes involving building temporary power ups or being able to deposit them into regions to make mining more efficient (sort of gridshard esk) where if players started working towards building in the main "socket" they would have 30 minutes where maybe you can start different minigames or or otherwise.

Alternatively what if they where used to craft power ups or triggers that can be used x amount of times, or to build towards temporary mods that can make triggers regen 20% faster for x amount of time. I don't want to see the game become even more simplified.

As for the new crafting system I would strongly be in favor of a separate dedicated inventory for materials and otherwise, with 30 new items the current system for storing them seems rather irrational especially when you have to go hunting all over for materials and otherwise.

[israphial]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Kelsoo. I agree with every single point, especially the inventory one. People with low storage (not including me, I'm sitting happily at 18, and super close to 19) are going to be in trouble with this update. People are usually building both tanks and storage and let's face it, that takes up a lot of space.

I like your socket idea with crystal splinters and I agree with not wanting them to be removed.

[macchupicchu]

I agree with both Israphial and Kelsoo. The crafting system is great but all the necessary ingredients and having some of different levels really fills and clutters your inventory space. A separate storage would definitely help to fix this.

Also, as for aesthetics, maybe different coloured mineral deposits with different rarity levels depending on their colours might be interesting. Maybe making have different loot drop rates like some drop rarer, some drop more.

As well, since you get a certain material depending on the region type, maybe making regions of the same type not spawn next to each other. This would definitely help out with making it easier but I think that so far, the system is leveled out well.

Finally, if you made the modules range from less to more difficult to get depending on the tank level they are for. Although there are some good low level tanks like the Predator, some exceptions could be made. I don't know, just some suggestions to take into consideration.

P.S Sorry if this is very disorganized to you xP

[Jufda]

Separate storage for the new crafting ingrediments. They fill the LTS fast, and disappear from STS after two deaths or 24h. The new items also should be more informative about what they exactly are, and what they can be used for. Now they appear to be random items than can be used randomly to craft something. Common / uncommon / rare / elite -system is good, but needs to be displayed clearly, either by text or colour of the items. The recipes seem to be random too, maybe they should have some kind of logic.

[fire]

I can agree with a separate storage for the materials. 22 storage spaces and I've already filled 15 of them just by getting materials, and I don't even have any of the elites yet. combine that with having to hold onto the components you make and even with some of the best storages in the game you wont have room to work on making anything else.

Also formulas probably do need to be adjusted. I only did a few convoys today and got 3 modules, yet I have only managed to craft a single component and my inv is filled with 30+ minerals worth of materials (many lvl 2s/3s and some lvl 4s)

Other than that I really like the crafting system in general, it at least will give me something to do once the non module items are able to be crafted.

edit: i now have all 22 spaces filled with materials. don't know what to do now really

[zub]

As I understood it, you are not supposed to be self-sufficient, you need to use market to get anywhere. Sell items when you don't need them and buy them when you do.

[rob]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. It's clear that the crafting system isn't very fun or useful as it stands now. But thanks for bearing with us as we try to whip things into shape!

[Ood]

Fury suggestion:
Change trigger 2 to bomb that eliminates all missiles (perhaps thrown bombs too?) within a large area (~hercbomb radius). Adjust cooldown accordingly.

Rationale:
The only thing Fury is currently 'good' at is survivability, which many tanks in the same classification are better at, while also having more damage. Giving the Fury a situationally useful trigger to replace a situationally useful/catastrophic trigger seems like a win to me,

[Jason]

I'm pretty sure lots of people have said this but, I think a separate inventory will be greatly appreciated, because people who are trying to unlock tanks have their inventory cluttered with tanks, and people who have all the tanks will probably have their inventory filled with augments and modules.

P.S. Maybe group all materials together in the inventory? Like, anything that is a material be at the top or something?

[Ood]

Further sorting for the market would also be nice:
'Show only' tanks/augment x/storage/ craft material y/ module z, etc.

Right now navigation of market is... annoying at best.

[Jelly]

+1 to seperate invintory idea.
My idea for the crafting would be:

So you get like, the high level stuff unly, and you need a couple to craft whatever. Regular stuff also drops crap stuff, which you can trade in if you want for for something better. 10 crapadap = 1 comonent. The high level stuff would drop rarely, and you would never get what you needed. If you have my luck, that is.

[Crunch]

I think a compromise would be to have a separate storage for the 12 raw materials, but still use the standard storage for the 18 components. My reasoning revolves around the concept that you can't accidentally acquire components, but materials are picked up by drops. Meaning, you could save materials in mat storage until you actually wanted to craft something, without taking up space. And once you had the proper materials to create your housing > generator > regulator components, you'd simply synth them and craft your mod/fuel/weapon from there.

This system would prevent crafting from circumventing the entire storage and economy system we currently have, but also not intrude too heavily upon the space we typically use for augs/unlocks/etc.

Question for Rob: Do uncommons drop at higher rates in the same regions that their color-corresponding commons drop in? What I mean is, where blue commons drop, will blue uncommons drop at higher rates?

[rob]

In answer to the question for Rob: yes.

[zub]

Since the introduction of items, I was only able to save small fraction of what I really wanted to. Crafting materials just made us more dependent on trading, but isn't that intended? It's not like you could save everything until now.