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Today, additional AA changes will be made on the public test server. The functioning of the AA zones will be changed and the AA defense plus aircraft parameters will be balanced.
These complex changes are aimed at:
Improving the AA defense balance, considering the changes in previous versions;
Making the confrontation of ships with a gap of one and two tiers more convenient and make non-top players life easier (both when playing against aircraft carriers and for them).
In the version 0.8.0, the AA Defense was divided into three non-crossing zones (short-range, mid-range and long-range) to emphasize unique features of each ship's AA Defense. However, its side effects have sometimes led to irrational situations.
In Update 0.8.7 we have changed the AA zones in a way that they now overlap and supplement each other: short-range air defense zone now can't be less than 1,5 km, while a mid-range zone and long-range zone will start at a distance of 100m from the ship and end at the same distance from the ship as before, but can't be smaller than 2,5 rm and 4 km accordingly. This way we will eliminate the flaws of old mechanics. To compensate for the increased constant AA damage from the crossing of AA zones, the damage to each zone will be reduced.
Together with the AA zones, the spawning radius of explosions will be changed. Now they will begin to appear on the border of the long-range zone and end at 3.5 km from the ship. This will allow the aircraft carrier commander to focus on dogging explosions while approaching the enemy and after reaching 3,5 km mark - to aim correctly and choose correct lead for a successful attack.
Updated the progression of planes and AA characteristics as the tier of ships increases. Now the number of aircraft Hit Points and AA damage of ships tier IV-X will change more smoothly from tier to tier. Thus, playing for aviation and against it will not so much depend on the gap in the tier of ships. As well as this change will decrease the gap in effectiveness between ships with weak and powerful AA Defense.
Along with the change in the progression of air defense and overlapping zones, we have also changed the parameters of consumable "Defensive AA Fire" for all classes. From now on the continuous damage bonus is equal 50% instead of 100% and 200%, but the damage in explosions is now increased from 100% and 200% to 300%. For the cruiser Stalingrad, the bonus to continuous damage will be 25%, because the duration of the consumable is 60 seconds, instead of the standard 40 seconds. The continuous damage bonus is now decreased due to the new air defense mechanics and due to the summing of one ship's damage zones - considering old values this gain would be extremely effective and leave no chance for the squadron to break through to the target or escape from AA zones. The values of consumable for destroyers is now equated to other classes because after progression changing, the characteristics of AA in ships with a weak configuration was strengthened and the effectiveness of destroyers with good air defense under "Defensive AA Fire" exceeded the power of cruisers and battleships. For example, the AA effectiveness of Grozovoi with activated consumable exceeded the effectiveness of the air defense of the battleship Kremlin. Instead of a reduced bonus to continuous damage, the damage caused by explosions will be increased. Now when the aircraft enters explosions during the action of " Defensive AA Fire " it is almost guaranteed to be destroyed. Please recall, that explosions with activated consumable are highlighted in red.
To balance the overall damage obtained by aircraft considering all AA Defense buffs, we have decreased the return height of the planes after an attack, so planes that performed attack and return to carrier become immune to damage earlier. This way, more aircraft will be able to get back to the aircraft carrier, while this parameter will remain the same for "F" button to avoid spamming. In addition to that, Sight stabilization skill has been enhanced to achieve even faster aiming.
We will need additional time to proceed with more exact adjustments. Going further, a decision on whether or not any specific changes will be included in the release version will be taken based on the results of the Public test. We welcome your detailed feedback and appreciate your participation in testing.
Please note that the information in the Development Blog is preliminary.