[2019] Hotfix 7 Balance Update

Attention Miners!
While you impatiently wait for Update 25 to bring the Endgame to Hoxxes IV, we have decided to give you a little bonus hotfix. We’ve been doing more hotfixes than usual to keep you sated, and this one has a little extra something to keep you busy.

First of all, we have given the gunner a little love in regards to balance, as per request from the community.

The Minigun has gotten some much-needed punch, including both base damage and adjustment of mods. The Autocannon also got an overhaul, although not as significant as the Minigun.

Other weapon tweaks are counting the Boomstick, the Auto 210b, and the Voltaic SMG.

For those of you who like to work the long nightshifts with Bosco as a helping hand, we’ve upgraded the drone algorithm, allowing him to retrieve gems and other objects from afar. However charming that is, please do not spend too much time playing fetch with company property. You’re on the clock.



Q'ronar Shellbacks have had their diet modified and their armor should now be less durable. Their Younglings should also appear less frequent. Hopefully, this will reduce the amount of deadly pinballing in the narrow caverns. The bug causing muffled sound for the entire game has also been squashed.

FULL HOTFIX 7 NOTES -----------------------------------

• Bosco can now dig out and carry objects!
  
• Q'ronar Youngling encounters should be a bit more rare.
  
• Q’ronar Shellback’s armor is significantly weaker. Most weapons will be able to break it in a few shots. Weapons with armor breaking capabilities will still excel at it.
  
• Tweaked the rolling animation of the Qronar enemies to resolve unintended jerkiness
  
• Changed material on the weakpoint of the Glyphid Menace, when it dies so it does not light up dead
  
• Fixed a bug with sounds becoming muffled for the remainder of a mission after getting hit by a rolling Q’ronar enemy
  
• Glyphid Praetorian backside is again considered a weakpoint but does not give any damage bonus on its own
  
• Fixed a bug with the Mission Assignment icon not showing in the Mission Terminal
  
• Fixed a bug with clients being required to open the map in order for the host to be able to see their Mission Assignment
  
• Increased attenuation distance for sound and camshake when digging out eggs
  
• Fixed a bug with the Terrain Scanner getting stuck
  
• Fixed cases where you would switch weapons after mining and using the Terrain Scanner

Weapon Balance Tweaks We are constantly tweaking and balancing the weapons based on player feedback and our own testing, and quite a few tweaks are coming in this hotfix. Since the weapons are currently a living system that is still growing and evolving, there will certainly be more tweaks in the future, especially with the upcoming addition of the overclocks in the next update. Your feedback has been invaluable in this process so please, keep it coming.

Minigun
The minigun has been suffering, especially in high hazard missions, so we’ve made a few changes to address this.

• Increased base damage
  
• Increased value of the Lighter Barrel Assembly mod to allow for more a more responsive gun build
  
• Increased value of Magnetic Bearings mod to better balance against the rest
  
• Increased slightly how long you can shoot before overheating to help against larger swarms
  
• Increased value of Magnetic Refrigeration mod to better balance it against competing options
  
• To better balance it against the other choices the Aggressive Venting mod will now also cause enemies to flee
  
• Stun is now a default function of the Minigun to help gunners stand their ground, we are also working on improving the stun system in general for the next update.
  
• Changed the Stun mod to a Stun Duration mod since stun is now built-in

Auto 210
Some of the mods for this gun have not been able to hold their own so we’ve done some changes to better balance the whole weapon and prepare it for the upcoming overclocks.

• Tweaked the crosshair to look a bit more balanced and moved hit confirmation to the inner markers
  
• Shortened base stun duration
  
• Increased base stun chance
  
• Stunning a creature now requires a weakpoint hit
  
• Replaced the Stun mod with a Stun Duration mod
  
• Decreased the bonus of the Overstuffed Magazine mod
  
• Increased power of Choke mod
  
• Swapped places of the Choke and High Capacity Magazine mods
  
• Increased base pellet count to compensate for the mod rearrangement

Boomstick
This has been another weapon that needed an overall balance shift to make the mod choices more relevant and interesting.

• Increased the rate of fire bonus from Double Trigger Mod so it feels smoother, also rephrased the description a bit
  
• Decreased effect of the Bigger Pellets mod to better balance against the Expanded Ammo Bags mod
  
• Increased base damage to compensate for the Bigger Pellets mod tweak
  
• The Boomstick now has a base chance to stun targets
  
• Increased the power of the Stun mod to better balance it against the competition
  
• Increased effect of 3rd row Expanded Ammo Bags Mod to better balance against the High Capacity Shells mod

Autocannon
The Gunner’s Autocannon also needed a little love, though not nearly as much as the minigun.

• Increased value of Damage Reduction Mod so that just like with the minigun, players can better stand their ground against a swarm.
  
• Increased base splash damage range to help the gun deal with large swarms
  
• Removed friendly-fire from splash damage so you can safely fire into the fray and not hurt yourself when shooting enemies at point blank range.

Voltaic SMG
This little powerhouse had a crazy build hiding in it, those mods responsible have been reigned-in to better compare to the Auto 210 while others got a needed boost.

• Fixed the Electrocution Bonus mod (it used to give a 120% damage bonus which was crazy) now it does 30% just like the NUK17s.
  
• Renamed the Electrocution Bonus mod to Conductive Bullets since the two mods were identical in function.
  
• Adjusted the values of Increased Caliber and High Velocity Rounds to better balance against the other mods and other weapons.
  
• Increased the value of the Improved Gas System mod to make it more relevant
  
• Swapped places of the second Expanded Ammo Bags mod and the Improved Gas System mod
  
• Increased the range of the Electric Arc mod as it was too short

Other Weapon Tweaks

• Increased damage done by the Gunner’s Sticky Grenade to the creature it is stuck on as it felt a bit meh before.
  
• Decreased the damage bonus of the Defender mod for the LMG Gun Platform as it has turned out to be too powerful.

If you missed the previous hotfixes, here’s a highlight of the dents we’ve hammered out since the update was released.

PREVIOUS HOTFIX HIGHLIGHTS -----------------------------------

• Hole plugged in upper launch bay.
  
• Throwing axe can now hit all killable things & Fixed various Impact Axe shenanigans
  
• Certain vanity items no longer show up red when Frozen
  
• Players who just joined the game can no longer be grabbed just as they spawn
  
• Fixed the barrel hoop game combo display
  
• Disabled saluting while having a grenade equipped.
  
• Improve spawning of enemies
  
• Improved carriable gems logic in an effort to fix bad cases with throwing and dropping when dying
  
• Space Rig exterior GFX improved
  
• Removed confusing requirement for the "Total Makeover" achievement that required players to change to a non-default owned skin color
  
• Naedocyte Breeder has been nerfed. It now spawns more rarely and the spawn amount of
• Naedocyte Hatchlings from the Roe has been decreased.
  
• Weapon reloads now better-synced with audio-visual cues
  
• Mine head sentry gun now dismantles, rather than disappear, when ammo is spent
  
• Mule, Drop Pod, etc. now have floating icons again when holding the laser pointer

And much, much more below.

HOTFIX 8 -----------------------------------

• Changed Q'ronar Shellback’s unintended 100% Explosion Resistance to 80%
  
• Woodlouse Younglings are no longer completely immune to explosions and electrical damage when rolling
  
• Fix for Bosco making gems unreachable after someone Latejoined

HOTFIX 6 -----------------------------------

• Players should no longer get stuck in an invulnerable downed state
  
• Fixed a bug with BET-C’s pulsating sound
  
• Fix for ambient occlusion only working for dynamic objects
  
• Mule, Drop Pod, etc. now have floating icons again when holding the laser pointer
  
• Fixed Mine Head Launch icon not properly disappearing for clients

HOTFIX 5 -----------------------------------

• Sound added to pickup of throwing axes
  
• Tweaked colors of power attack cooldown display
  
• Fixed a bug with pickaxing frozen teammates not breaking them free
  
• Fixed the extraordinary laziness of Molly which made her refuse to follow players

HOTFIX 4 -----------------------------------

• Added Steam Rich Presence, since Pedro was bored. You may need to restart Steam before it works
  
• Naedocyte Breeder has been nerfed. It now spawns more rarely and the spawn amount of
• Naedocyte Hatchlings from the Roe has been decreased.
  
• Enabled Hoarder's physical animations
  
• Fixed more cases where enemies would not spawn
  
• Fixed pathfinder issues around special objects
  
• Fixed emission on a plant that was wrong in Lush
  
• NUK17 - The NUKs now have static bullet spread that is not affected by either shooting or moving. Run & gun or spray & pray to your heart's content.
  
• Weapon reloads now better-synced with audio-visual cues
  
• Mine head sentry gun now dismantles, rather than disappear, when ammo is spent
  
• Pathfinder fixes for issues seen around mine head
  
• Resource bag now only spawns if the player that left had any resources
  
• Fixed late-join drop pod choppiness
  
• Fixed a bug where beards get stuck floating in the air when a player gets downed
  
• Shortened the Sticky Grenade fuse time
  
• Cryo grenade now affects Naedocyte Shockers / Hatchlings

HOTFIX 3 -----------------------------------

• Removed confusing requirement for the "Total Makeover" achievement that required players to change to a non-default owned skin color
  
• Fixed a bug that enabled the mission time achievement to trigger after waiting in the space rig for an hour and dropping into a mission
  
• Fixed various Impact Axe shenanigans
  
• Fixed an animation problem in third person for the M1000 Classic causing it to be misplaced when reloading
  
• Improved spawn location logic for enemies in an effort to fix missing enemies
  
• Fixed issues with saluting during auto-reload causing magazine spam and broken animations
  
• Shadows disabled on point lights on Load Screen
  
• Fixed white light flashes in space rig terminals

HOTFIX 2 -----------------------------------

• Typo fixed on Impact Axe description
  
• Disabled saluting while having a grenade equipped.
  
• When dropping a gem / carried the item, you no longer switch weapons twice. If you press 1-4 on client you also now get the correct weapon/tool for that item slot.
  
• Improve spawning of enemies
  
• Fixed cases of enemies not being allowed to spawn
  
• Fix choppy motion when late-joining and dropping down.
  
• Remove Disable Optimizations Pragma
  
• Grenade count will now be correctly counted when rejoining a game after disconnecting
  
• Updated Grenade UI after late-joining
  
• Players rejoining a game after disconnecting will now spawn back directly instead of going down with a drop pod
  
• Improved carriable gems logic in an effort to fix bad cases with throwing and dropping when dying
  
• Fixed Shield Regenerator deploying twice
  
• Fixed weapon mastery skin not being available for Bulldog, Autocannon, and NUK17
  
• Scaled the Q'ronar Younglings smaller
  
• Localization update
  
• Rotating movement removed from planetary ring outside space rig until we find a better solution
  
• Fix space rig hologram performance (collision related)
  
• Procedural Smoke and Fire progress
  
• Space Rig exterior GFX improved
  
• All the Loading Tips have gotten a grammar- and typo-fixing pass
  
• Enor Pearl material set to Local Space
  
• Fixed material issue on Tentacles around Dreadnought Egg
  
• Fix pickaxe and Gems could become invisible on client if he got downed
  
• Fix throwing a gem/item on clients would not always select the last weapon.
  
• Fixed Retroactive milestone progress for achievements "Performance matters" and "Management Approves"
  
• Added text explaining that Hazard 4 is demanded to play on to unlock Haz 5 in the
• assignment
  
• The Achievements requiring you to not call in a supply pod or die, now only triggers if you haven't called a supply pod

HOTFIX 1 -----------------------------------

• Glacial Strata - Decreased the cooling rate for Frost Praetorian breath attack and death cloud.
  
• Glacial Strata - Cooling effect from blasts of freezing air now stop as soon as you leave the area of effect
  
• [COMMUNITY REQUEST] Typo fixed in Plasma Burster grenade description
  
• [COMMUNITY REQUEST] Hole plugged in upper launch bay. Well spotted, miner.
  
• [COMMUNITY REQUEST] Elevator shafts on Space Rig cleaned up a little because there's nothing we won't do for our players.
  
• Minor hole plugged in monitor mesh
  
• Fixed XP bar showing for players on the loading screen
  
• Fixed poodle related overlay issues
  
• Fixed bomber puddles creating permanent overlays
  
• Fix for terrain related crashes
  
• Hoarder's electrical resistance increased
  
• Cryo Grenade area of effect increased
  
• Fixed the retroactive functionality for promotion achievements
  
• Throwing axe can now hit all killable things
  
• Fixed player able to throw grenades after death
  
• Certain vanity items no longer show up red when Frozen
  
• Grenade loadout UI: Extra Detail button hidden for grenades
  
• Players who just joined the game can no longer be grabbed just as they spawn
  
• Fixed the barrel hoop game combo display
  
• Bugfix - Fixed Impact Axe sometimes getting stuck to the player throwing it
  
• Tweaked stationary enemy encounters in caves