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not_so_gladiator
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The whole team is back in the office after the holidays and are already hard at work! We’re excited to push our first patch of the year and introduce a few new things, plus some fixes and improvements.
CHANGELOG
STRUCTURES & BASES
-Added Giant Walls, as well as Giant Wall Gates. This additional type of base defense is geared towards clans protecting strategic locations in their claimed Oases.
This type of base defense is only available to the clan owning the Oasis.
-Added Giant Wall Packers: These structures are used to pack the new Giant Walls and Gates.
-Fixed being able to build Walls on Floors/Roofs by rotating them 180°.
-Updated Rupu Sling description.
-Fixed being able to build a Lumbermill while players are inside the placement hologram.
-Fixed Lumbermill not working with any tree except Redwood and Pine.
BALANCE
-Added Bent Wooden Planks: New resource which is utilized in the construction of Giant Walls. It can be crafted in the Lumbermill, using Wood Logs(resource acquired when dragging trees to the Lumbermill).
-Mollusk Raider Wings cost is now consistent with its tier.
WALKERS
-Fixed an issue that would cause favorite Walkers to unfavorite after being packed.
INTERFACE
-Added a new tab in Trading Stations, displaying Trade History.
-Removed the ability to create Buy orders for an item which does not yet exist in the game.
-When a Walker might be packed and is not going to be migrated, a warning should now display in the Favorite Walkers window.
-Improved warning messages regarding Walkers which are favorited, but in danger.
-It is no longer possible to unfavorite a Walker from the map lobby UI section. This change is done so that we avoid the possibility of players removing a Walker from favorite by missclicking.
-Fixed incorrect descriptions on Spider and Firefly Walkers.
-Updated Ammo Chest description to properly explain it’s usability on Walkers and Bases.
-Fixed Elemental and Celestial Tablets having the same description. Each should have it’s unique description now.
-Fixed inconsistent Water Bag naming across the game’s UIs.
FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS
-Fixed an issue regarding Flots disappearing.
-Fixed smaller typos in item descriptions.
-Cleaning up and improving Trade Station stuff.
-Fixed incorrect Killin respawn time.
-Fixed being able to build on Killin Nests.
QA UPDATE ABOUT SUICIDE DINGHIES
Throughout December of last year we've gotten a great deal of player feedback in regard to improvised Walker bombs. "Suicide Dinghies", "big bombas", or "Hydra bombs", as some players have nicknamed them - Truly a terrifying evolution of the Nomadness Bomb. During the holidays we didn't have much time to work on it, but we did collect as much feedback as possible. Many thanks to the players that shared clips of this being used in real combat scenarios.
So, in addition to this week's update, we'd like to also get a few words in about a subject for another update: As well as working on the new content, our game design and gameplay team have been busy at work on both balancing and improving this mechanic, so that its both visually and mechanically more interesting. Balancing it so that players can properly react to it is a key point we're working on, but we will also be improving visual and sound effects. It's important to remark this is not a bug, nor an exploit. It's an intended game mechanic, but right now it's not well balanced.
GIANT WALLS AND GIANT GATES
This week, we’re introducing some real big walls. The idea behind these was to help create a stationary base that provides ample protection. While the walls are designed to be used by larger clans, as they can only be placed by claim owners, their production is slow and tedious, which makes it a perfect opportunity for smaller clans or even solos to capitalize on producing and selling special planks for them.
The walls themselves are high enough to block the line of sight of even the largest Walkers, allowing them to protect whatever is inside until the walls come down. In addition to those, there is also a convenient sliding gate that fits any Walker and an ability to build on top of the giant walls for additional protection, weapons, or anything else you might need.
COMMUNITY QUESTIONS
Remember to join our Discord[discord.gg]! You’ll see a link to a form where you can submit questions to the devs in #announcements. Check out our {LINK REMOVED}Living FAQ first to see what we’ve already answered!
Q: What other optimizations are you adding now that ini is gone?
A: As we've mentioned before, we're continuously working on optimization and almost every update includes some improvements. We're planning on continuing doing that moving forward as well, and also looking into introducing more of the hidden ini settings to game options directly.
Q: Are you planning on adding more features to existing maps, like Ancient City?
A: We don't have any specific plans for expanding older maps, but if there's a feature coming out that makes sense to be put there, we'll update them. That can include new enemy types, new merchants, special events and weathers, and so on.
Q: What is your direction with ship weapons? It’s been a few patches now without any changes to them.
A: Generally, we'd like every weapon and ammo to have their own purpose on a walker. Some are good during boarding, some for area denial, some allow sniping people from a distance, and so on. We wouldn't want to jump between completely different balances every other update though, like we did a few times in the past. That just breaks the whole game and doesn't allow a meta to actually develop. We do have some ideas for changes and new weapon additions (for players, but not only...) and we'll be testing those out to come in later.
Q: Are wingsuits working as intended? Or do you plan to add something like durability loss during use? Currently they have no counterplay.
A: We wouldn't want to make Wingsuits worse or less fun to use. That would be silly. We will, however, be considering more ways to counter them with new ammo types or new tools altogether.
Q: How is development on the Xbox port going?
A: We're approaching finishing steps when it comes to the port itself and having it thoroughly tested, which will take a bit of time as well. Not looking at any delays and we'll share the exact date once we're 100% sure to avoid any. No one likes to take time off work and then release is moved last minute.
Q: Since you are doing seasonal wipes, will you turn off the map scorching mechanic since this was what made the game different but is now obsolete due to seasonal wipes now being a thing?
A: Like we said before, we're not set for the final game to have seasonal wipes and are doing them during Early Access when they're required for technical reasons rather than gameplay. If we end up sticking to them for good, we'll most likely adjust the mechanic, but it still significantly drives the gameplay by making claims and economy much more dynamic.
Q: Are you still doing ban waves?
A: Waves are more rare now, as the majority of bans happen as soon as a cheater is identified, so we're not waiting for a large number to get rid of them at the same time.
Q: We have Simple Sickle, Simple Pickaxe, and Simple Repair Hammer. Any plans for an Advanced Repair Hammer?
A: Probably not in the form of a hammer, but we definitely want to expand the repair system and provide more advanced options. Most likely outside of combat.
Q: Will we ever see better legs and wings for certain walkers?
A: At the moment, low tier walkers like Firefly and Dinghy are specifically designed to have set parameters and purpose for the beginning of the game. As you progress through the walker tech tree though, you're unlocking more and more customization options the higher the Walker tier. We'll definitely be adding more wings and legs types, and it's not impossible that even low tiers will get more options in the future.
Q: I really liked how you updated the bombs initially, but before being firm on the decision to nerf them again, would you consider introducing a counter to the cluster bomb mechanic?
A: The original idea was to use a Battle Fan as a counter to Cluster Bombs. You can either blow them back towards the enemy or explode them in the air with lava. We still have more ideas when it comes to Walker combat though, like special Walker shields or ways to capture flying projectiles, so we'll be considering those for future updates.
Here's a nice lil teaser for y'all:
CHANGELOG
STRUCTURES & BASES
-Added Giant Walls, as well as Giant Wall Gates. This additional type of base defense is geared towards clans protecting strategic locations in their claimed Oases.
This type of base defense is only available to the clan owning the Oasis.
-Added Giant Wall Packers: These structures are used to pack the new Giant Walls and Gates.
-Fixed being able to build Walls on Floors/Roofs by rotating them 180°.
-Updated Rupu Sling description.
-Fixed being able to build a Lumbermill while players are inside the placement hologram.
-Fixed Lumbermill not working with any tree except Redwood and Pine.
BALANCE
-Added Bent Wooden Planks: New resource which is utilized in the construction of Giant Walls. It can be crafted in the Lumbermill, using Wood Logs(resource acquired when dragging trees to the Lumbermill).
-Mollusk Raider Wings cost is now consistent with its tier.
WALKERS
-Fixed an issue that would cause favorite Walkers to unfavorite after being packed.
INTERFACE
-Added a new tab in Trading Stations, displaying Trade History.
-Removed the ability to create Buy orders for an item which does not yet exist in the game.
-When a Walker might be packed and is not going to be migrated, a warning should now display in the Favorite Walkers window.
-Improved warning messages regarding Walkers which are favorited, but in danger.
-It is no longer possible to unfavorite a Walker from the map lobby UI section. This change is done so that we avoid the possibility of players removing a Walker from favorite by missclicking.
-Fixed incorrect descriptions on Spider and Firefly Walkers.
-Updated Ammo Chest description to properly explain it’s usability on Walkers and Bases.
-Fixed Elemental and Celestial Tablets having the same description. Each should have it’s unique description now.
-Fixed inconsistent Water Bag naming across the game’s UIs.
FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS
-Fixed an issue regarding Flots disappearing.
-Fixed smaller typos in item descriptions.
-Cleaning up and improving Trade Station stuff.
-Fixed incorrect Killin respawn time.
-Fixed being able to build on Killin Nests.
QA UPDATE ABOUT SUICIDE DINGHIES
Throughout December of last year we've gotten a great deal of player feedback in regard to improvised Walker bombs. "Suicide Dinghies", "big bombas", or "Hydra bombs", as some players have nicknamed them - Truly a terrifying evolution of the Nomadness Bomb. During the holidays we didn't have much time to work on it, but we did collect as much feedback as possible. Many thanks to the players that shared clips of this being used in real combat scenarios.
So, in addition to this week's update, we'd like to also get a few words in about a subject for another update: As well as working on the new content, our game design and gameplay team have been busy at work on both balancing and improving this mechanic, so that its both visually and mechanically more interesting. Balancing it so that players can properly react to it is a key point we're working on, but we will also be improving visual and sound effects. It's important to remark this is not a bug, nor an exploit. It's an intended game mechanic, but right now it's not well balanced.
GIANT WALLS AND GIANT GATES
This week, we’re introducing some real big walls. The idea behind these was to help create a stationary base that provides ample protection. While the walls are designed to be used by larger clans, as they can only be placed by claim owners, their production is slow and tedious, which makes it a perfect opportunity for smaller clans or even solos to capitalize on producing and selling special planks for them.
The walls themselves are high enough to block the line of sight of even the largest Walkers, allowing them to protect whatever is inside until the walls come down. In addition to those, there is also a convenient sliding gate that fits any Walker and an ability to build on top of the giant walls for additional protection, weapons, or anything else you might need.
COMMUNITY QUESTIONS
Remember to join our Discord[discord.gg]! You’ll see a link to a form where you can submit questions to the devs in #announcements. Check out our {LINK REMOVED}Living FAQ first to see what we’ve already answered!
Q: What other optimizations are you adding now that ini is gone?
A: As we've mentioned before, we're continuously working on optimization and almost every update includes some improvements. We're planning on continuing doing that moving forward as well, and also looking into introducing more of the hidden ini settings to game options directly.
Q: Are you planning on adding more features to existing maps, like Ancient City?
A: We don't have any specific plans for expanding older maps, but if there's a feature coming out that makes sense to be put there, we'll update them. That can include new enemy types, new merchants, special events and weathers, and so on.
Q: What is your direction with ship weapons? It’s been a few patches now without any changes to them.
A: Generally, we'd like every weapon and ammo to have their own purpose on a walker. Some are good during boarding, some for area denial, some allow sniping people from a distance, and so on. We wouldn't want to jump between completely different balances every other update though, like we did a few times in the past. That just breaks the whole game and doesn't allow a meta to actually develop. We do have some ideas for changes and new weapon additions (for players, but not only...) and we'll be testing those out to come in later.
Q: Are wingsuits working as intended? Or do you plan to add something like durability loss during use? Currently they have no counterplay.
A: We wouldn't want to make Wingsuits worse or less fun to use. That would be silly. We will, however, be considering more ways to counter them with new ammo types or new tools altogether.
Q: How is development on the Xbox port going?
A: We're approaching finishing steps when it comes to the port itself and having it thoroughly tested, which will take a bit of time as well. Not looking at any delays and we'll share the exact date once we're 100% sure to avoid any. No one likes to take time off work and then release is moved last minute.
Q: Since you are doing seasonal wipes, will you turn off the map scorching mechanic since this was what made the game different but is now obsolete due to seasonal wipes now being a thing?
A: Like we said before, we're not set for the final game to have seasonal wipes and are doing them during Early Access when they're required for technical reasons rather than gameplay. If we end up sticking to them for good, we'll most likely adjust the mechanic, but it still significantly drives the gameplay by making claims and economy much more dynamic.
Q: Are you still doing ban waves?
A: Waves are more rare now, as the majority of bans happen as soon as a cheater is identified, so we're not waiting for a large number to get rid of them at the same time.
Q: We have Simple Sickle, Simple Pickaxe, and Simple Repair Hammer. Any plans for an Advanced Repair Hammer?
A: Probably not in the form of a hammer, but we definitely want to expand the repair system and provide more advanced options. Most likely outside of combat.
Q: Will we ever see better legs and wings for certain walkers?
A: At the moment, low tier walkers like Firefly and Dinghy are specifically designed to have set parameters and purpose for the beginning of the game. As you progress through the walker tech tree though, you're unlocking more and more customization options the higher the Walker tier. We'll definitely be adding more wings and legs types, and it's not impossible that even low tiers will get more options in the future.
Q: I really liked how you updated the bombs initially, but before being firm on the decision to nerf them again, would you consider introducing a counter to the cluster bomb mechanic?
A: The original idea was to use a Battle Fan as a counter to Cluster Bombs. You can either blow them back towards the enemy or explode them in the air with lava. We still have more ideas when it comes to Walker combat though, like special Walker shields or ways to capture flying projectiles, so we'll be considering those for future updates.
Here's a nice lil teaser for y'all: