Build 136

[rob]

Howdy everyone! Today we bring you build 136, which includes these changes:

* Add Gamma Processor
* Add Exploiter-class Doombase
* Add Intimidator-class Doombase
* Mostly standardize tossed-bomb graphics
* Add 1% chance of augment on small minion loot bags
* Add .1% chance of module on small fort loot bags

This week Tim was working on the Maker, our internal content-editing tool. I tested out his changes by building three new small forts. I also added a small chance of valuable loot to our wimpiest loot bags.

We won't have a build next week, as both Tim and I will be taking some time off. But the following week we are hoping to push region guardian armadas, which Tim is currently working on.

We are eternally grateful for your help testing Grid12. Please post comments, bug reports and gripes below. Thanks!

Rob & Tim
Jetbolt Games

[Zed]

Almost as anticipated, the SN01 Rifle stops working when the Thunderbolt is on lightning mode.
I can only assume this is true for the other extra weapons as well - looks like the Thunderbolt will always stay a problem child (tank) ;)

That small issue aside, I quite enjoy the 1% augment drop rate on minions. It actually got me to go back for minion loots bags because they might could contain something valuable.

Due to this, I'd like to suggest putting small chances for similar or even rarer (not talking modules, storage and the like) items on other "trivial" enemies:

• GCT and Drill minions seem to have been left out regarding the augment drops
• Convoy Minions could use some spiced up loot bags
• Level 3 fortress minions/redoubts pack quite the punch and might therefore need more of an incentive to kill

Which brings me to my last concern: Level 3 fortresses.
[rant]
These things just seem to have skipped one (or multiple!) tier(s). Due to the healers healing even their adjacent healer bretheren, you need ludicrous burst damage to even put a dent into the complex. In comparison, the matching red region subcommander (MX:10) pales against any of these three forts, which should really not be the case - this is due to the simple fact its healers don't heal to full every time you even try to damage them. Thanks to most of the damage being either AoE or just incredibly high and dealt by minions/projectiles, I reckon not even a group of 20 people would stand a chance without proper coordination, either. (Heh, co-mob)
Having to resort to invincibility and Wildfire cheesing is neither enjoyable nor particularly interesting, especially if a region sports not just a few, but an estimated 45-90 of these fortresses.

To summarize: These forts either need reduced/no healing at all(-> healing exception for other healing units?) or less laser damage to make for an engaging fight instead of an invicibiltyfest.
[/rant]


EDIT: Having the extra trigger hotkey default to '5' would be pretty neat as well.

[Crunch]

Mar 28, 2015 21:38:06 GMT -5 Zed said:

Due to the healers healing even their adjacent healer bretheren, you need ludicrous burst damage to even put a dent into the complex. 

Cripplers are manageable without resorting to cheese. It just requires a tank with a DoT trigger. The burning effect really confuses the healing towers, so you're free to dps whichever target you choose. It's fairly enjoyable to see it work, actually. And obviously, Fury is a great choice. 

Necros may be manageable too, but I really have no idea. I almost never see them. 


Pathogens, though... with their two-stage minions, lasers, healing, and murder bombs (which target multiple players, like drill annexes)... No thank you. 

[Will]

Mar 28, 2015 21:38:06 GMT -5 Zed said:

Which brings me to my last concern: Level 3 fortresses.
[rant]
These things just seem to have skipped one (or multiple!) tier(s). Due to the healers healing even their adjacent healer bretheren, you need ludicrous burst damage to even put a dent into the complex. In comparison, the matching red region subcommander (MX:10) pales against any of these three forts, which should really not be the case - this is due to the simple fact its healers don't heal to full every time you even try to damage them. Thanks to most of the damage being either AoE or just incredibly high and dealt by minions/projectiles, I reckon not even a group of 20 people would stand a chance without proper coordination, either. (Heh, co-mob)
Having to resort to invincibility and Wildfire cheesing is neither enjoyable nor particularly interesting, especially if a region sports not just a few, but an estimated 45-90 of these fortresses.

To summarize: These forts either need reduced/no healing at all(-> healing exception for other healing units?) or less laser damage to make for an engaging fight instead of an invicibiltyfest.
[/rant]


EDIT: Having the extra trigger hotkey default to '5' would be pretty neat as well.

Zed, I'll be honest with you, I was the last person to expect you to say those things were OP.

Honestly, there needs to be some balancing of the level of difficulty of a lot of things. Like Warp Gates. My god. There's quite literally no room at all to dodge the homing missles being fired at you because of all the fortresses in the room. Warp gates need to be revamped, and honestly the yellow cheerio shooter tile is ridiculous because they seemingly predict where the player is going and spawn IN FRONT of the player so the player runs into them. You should really ditch the cheerio shooter tiles in the Warp Gates and get rid of all the fortresses as well as make for more room to dodge homing missiles because some of the dungeons are literally impossible to complete.

Also, the level 3 fortresses are completely broken. The Crippler is manageable by itself, but not when you have adjunct drill stations throwing bombs all over the place. I feel like you should be able to complete any fortress without having to origin if you have enough skill, and these things are impossible to do without having to origin. It's ridiculous. And by impossible, I mean impossible. Cripplers are the EASIEST level 3 fortress, and yet they can basically slow you to the point where you can't move. Stacking slow is just insane in my opinion. You need to make it so that the slow doesn't stack at least. Nerf the gun on the main unit of the Crippler as well, wayyy too much DPS. The level 3 Circle fortress is just hell. Absolute hell. Like, calm down Rob. The minions are annoying enough, but the bombs too? My god. And then the Necro. Haven't even done one before because they are just that intimidating. The only reason people can actually kill these things is because they use the "/hq" trigger recharge thing with the Wildfire (I do it too) and just spam Wildfire until all the healers are gone. It's just ridiculous. Also, if I'm being honest, I think that there are a lot of things that are OP in this game, like Quantum convoys which are un-killable unless you surf them but if I was to have one thing changed it would be these level 3 fortresses. They are just impossible.

[Crunch]

Mar 30, 2015 9:21:57 GMT -5 Will said:

Honestly, there needs to be some balancing of the level of difficulty of a lot of things. Like Warp Gates. My god. There's quite literally no room at all to dodge the homing missles being fired at you because of all the fortresses in the room. Warp gates need to be revamped, and honestly the yellow cheerio shooter tile is ridiculous because they seemingly predict where the player is going and spawn IN FRONT of the player so the player runs into them. You should really ditch the cheerio shooter tiles in the Warp Gates and get rid of all the fortresses as well as make for more room to dodge homing missiles because some of the dungeons are literally impossible to complete.

Protips on warpgates:
• DPS the butcher ASAP. If you don't kill it before the second shooter spawns, you're going to have a bad time. It's actually very safe to enter a gate with a Wildfire and switch tanks after the butcher is dead.
• Don't stand still or double back. Contagion shooters seem to spawn near you, but never in front (unless you doubled back). They're not very dangerous once you get used to them. Just drive in a loop and enjoy the easy victory.
• Don't drive next to or follow an ally. If you're not directly on top of them, you're better off being a few tiles away. Shooters will shotgun you if you're not paying attention to your teammate's driving. It is somewhat irritating that having teammates actually makes the dungeon harder more dangerous, but being vigilant mitigates the risk.
• (Optional) Drive slower. Seriously, only drive full speed when escaping damage/projectiles or when approaching your target. While engaged, slow down, but don't stop. Shooters wont be able to hit you and you can more easily mislead their cheerios.
• (Optional) Drive one tile away from Contagion shooters, preferably on the outside of them. This leads their shots out of the middle and makes them harmless. They don't fire predictive shots, so this is a safe move and sets you up for your next dps strafe. Also, it protects teammates from cheerio flavored spam.

Hopefully that helps some. Gates are actually pretty easy once you figure them out, although they are not newb friendly at all. You will die a few times trying to figure it out, so don't drive something you can't afford. 

[Zed]

Mar 30, 2015 9:42:30 GMT -5 Will said:

Also, I feel as if the Trailblazer has lost its purpose... it just isn't as good as other tanks like the Cutlass or Vindicator in scouting. Just something to note I guess.

Trailblazer is still far superior to any other tank when it comes to scouting.

[aesc]

Strange bug, fortress(and region) is cleared but the icon remains. Wasn't online when it was cleared so don't know anything else.

I agree with Zed about level 3 forts. You can deal enough DPS with a tank like Mustang/Wildfire in a Dmg/Cd region, but it becomes alot harder in other regions, and even worse when you get 2 level 3s side by side. That said, missles on Crippler are fine. You can still twist around the missles after a few slows, so the main problem there is mostly just other forts. Necrosis isn't too hard though its bomb has a huge range. Pathogens are ridiculous, the minions mean you have to go pretty close to even deal damage, which leaves you no room to dodge the clusterbombs. It might be better if you debuff it, but I wouldn't know.

Wouldn't say that they're harder than the MX:10 subcom though. IMO, the majority of their difficulty is just from their surrounding forts.(except Pathogen)

[Crunch]

There seems to be an issue with wormholes, in that they have not been spawning. It's my understanding that there should be roughly one wormhole per region. However, I haven't seen a single one over the last two sectors. To put that in perspective, that makes dozens of regions which Zed and I have scouted, for the purpose of finding wormholes, which have yielded nothing... Sorry we have nothing more than a hunch to report.

[Will]

EDIT: I'm just going to edit this post so I don't have to make another.


I think that there should be ways to make tanks have bonus XP boosts for certain amounts of time (like XP implants that last for 1 hour, multipl). I'm just throwing this out there because it's a pretty simple concept that wouldn't really have that much of an effect on the game.

Also, perhaps there could be an item that allows tanks to share exp. So, let's say you're farming some walls with Tbolt but you want to get your Vindicator up to level but you want to clear walls and not regions. By applying a share exp item to the Vindicator, you can split the exp you earned on the Tbolt evenly with the Vindicator in order to level up the Vindicator whilst also doing what you want to do in the game. This "share exp" item could be a permanent item that can be equipped and un-equipped by the player. When un-equipped, the item will take up one slot in the player's permanent inventory.

There should be implementation of this item because

1. It allows the player to do what they want with the tank they want to play at the time WHILE allowing the player to level up other tanks at the cost of leveling the tank that they are using. In other words, it makes the game more rewarding and more fun

2. Please note that XP boosts, when in effect, WILL NOT be able to co-exist with another implants like Electrosims or Cortextrodes. This means that while using this XP boost players will not be as powerful as usual. This means that XP boosts will be balanced if implemented.

3. Players tend to use only one tank because all of their other tanks are so weak in comparison to that tank *coughs* *me* *cough* so implementing a share exp item would encourage people to utilize other tanks without being in fear of the daunting task of leveling a tank to level 60.