Developer Blog entry from October, 30th. Fleet Strenght, Selling ships and Balance (0.9.9. Update)

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Pilots!

Today’s entry begins with the information about a new system called “Fleet strength”. Now, every ship at its maximum development level adds one point to “Fleet strength”. The total strength increases synergy gain for the all the pilot’s ships, so the more elite ships you have in your fleet - the faster your development goes!

So, what are you getting if you decide to increase your fleet strength? It’s simple: each point of fleet strength increases all synergy gains by 1 %. All fleet strength points stack so the pilots with a lot of elite ships should notice their synergy gains rising!

In addition, to make it easier for to the pilots to increase their “Fleet strength”, we have lowered the amount of synergy required to reach the maximum ship level by 50%. It is possible that after the update, many pilots who already have the required amount of synergy will be able to improve upgrade their ships to elite status and increase their fleet strength!

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The next innovation is the long-awaited opportunity to… sell ships! You can finally sell your ships for 25% of the purchase price. This feature should also help the pilots accelerate their development. When you reach the level of synergy giving access to a new ship, you can always sell the old one and use what’s left from the sale to buy a new vessel!

With the introduction of this option, we would like to inform our pilots of a few important points:

  • Selling an elite ship that provides the “Fleet strength” bonus removes this bonus.
  • All modules installed on your ship will be removed and placed into storage.
  • If you sell a ship that unlocks access to the purchase of the next one (required level of synergy), you will retain the ability to purchase it.
  • If you need to re-purchase a sold ship, you will keep all the accumulated synergy levels!
  • You can re-purchase a previously sold ship by paying only 80 % of its original value, as the ship is bought without the modules that are installed on your first purchase.

Thus, all of our players will have more opportunities to choose their preferred path of development: those who are interested in rapid advancement to the highest tech levels will be able to recover some of the money spent on new ships. At the same time, those players who are interested in development in all directions will also receive an additional bonus for each of their elite ships.
 

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In addition to these features, we have carried out work on balancing the two frigate roles. The"Guard frigate " role is currently slightly unbalanced and in order to resolve the situation, we have introduced a number of changes: shield resistances to all types of damage will be reduced by 30 pts., but to compensate for this and introduce a greater element of “skill” in piloting the ships of this role, we have increased the special “Phase shield” module’s effectiveness by 50 pts. In addition, the “Mass Propulsion Inhibitor” module has also been tweaked - it now works for certain amount of time after activation (12 seconds active time, 30 seconds cooldown), not indefinitely as it used to - this change should have a positive impact on the general the balance.

We have also improved the mechanics of “Attack Drones” - missile equipment for “Engineering” frigates. Now this drone will be much more interesting to use with its improved behaviour and movement physics. In addition, its model is also slightly changed, now it looks like this:
 

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Along with the work on game balance, we have added new colors for the main sights and lead markers:

  • purple
  • blue
  • yellow
  • green

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Beacon display on the map has also been improved.

And in conclusion we would like to tell you about the changes in the game’s tutorial: the final part of the tutorial now asks you to destroy guard drones and capture a beacon instead of destroying enemy ships - it helps newcomers understand combat objectives more clearly.

Sincerely,
Star Conflict team.

How about selling all ships naked for 80% of their market cost? Most of us do not want or need every ship to come pre-equipped.

My main cocern is that selling ships doesn’t do anything positive to the game. Experienced players know the importance of a well-rounded roster. Only rushers will want this, and nobody wants rushers.

Overall, most of this sounds positive. But we also know that tomorrow we’ll see a buttload of stealth nerfs to increase grind and reduce fun.

A nice feature to improve the synergy grind.

 

The guard fix seems ok. Now it would be easier to get them with coordinated fire, but harder to get them 1v1.

 

Any news on the MM tweaks?

 

So far, I like the changes, another step in the right direction.

 

 

 

Overall, most of this sounds positive. But we also know that tomorrow we’ll see a buttload of stealth nerfs to increase grind and reduce fun. 

Don’t be so pessimistic, The game is quite fun as it is now, and in the 3 weeks I have been playing I haven’t seen any fun decrease with the recent patchs.

This patch sounds great on paper, can’t wait to test it in game.

 

+1 to the devs

 

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Is the lead indicator still a small circle that is very often very hard to spot behind the big targetting circles of some of the weapons? Can’t you just bring the old one back ? :frowning:

 

Other that that those changes sound pretty good overall.

that sounds wonderfull and finally gives you bonuses if you play many different ship roles! i love it :wink:

guard change with the inhibitor sounds good, lowered resistances… we will see but it looks like a step in the right direction.

 

do these changes make it in the next patch allready?

nerfing guards again? :frowning:

nerfing guards again? :frowning:

in t3 and above nerfs are needed… the game in t4 and t5 is basically frigate conflict with many guards. boring frigballs are back :confused:

do these changes make it in the next patch allready?

 

Yes, this changes will be implemented tomorrow.

Theory crafting time! ~Puts minecraft on hold~

 

Fleet strength sounds interesting, I wonder what the effect of it will be on the MM.

New drone model looks awesome, and can’t wait to see it ingame!

Looking forward to testing the new markers.

Tutorial update sounds good. Will test it out.

Guard changes sound fair and I can agree with them.

Synergy changes sound awesome, and will help a lot with progression(If only I had credits to actually buy ships… *hint*)

 

The sell ships option…I disagree with it, but whatever. I’ll still be hoarding all the ships. getting <2.5m out of a 9m ship is not worth it. EVER. I’d rather waste 30 minutes doing PVE then lose a R15 ship for that amount of credits.

The buy unfitted ships should still be possible, even at first purchase. 

Re-buying old ships should be at 50%, not 80% costs in my opinion.

Good thing with the synergy though.

 

 

 

nerfing guards again? :frowning:

This was needed.

 

 

A nice feature to improve the synergy grind.

 

The guard fix seems ok. Now it would be easier to get them with coordinated fire, but harder to get them 1v1.

 

Any news on the MM tweaks?

 

So far, I like the changes, another step in the right direction.

 

Don’t be so pessimistic, The game is quite fun as it is now, and in the 3 weeks I have been playing I haven’t seen any fun decrease with the recent patchs.

3 weeks…I have been here for 5-7 months. I have seen major nerf to fun time after time.

+1 to selling ships 

+1 to fleet strength

+1 for the devs efforts to push us all into the higher teirs

-1 for the change of the Mass Propulsion Inhibitor as it will now change the way everyone plays a guard. (this will have an unknown impact to the game, prepare for the Hate, Love and yelling.

 

nerfing guards again? :frowning:

 

yes, its an effort to decrease Frigate balling. Lets see how this plays out. 

 

Antibus, can we get the stats on the module for the guards? What is MK3 and Experimental look like? 

-1 for the change of the Mass Propulsion Inhibitor as it will now change the way everyone plays a guard. (this will have an unknown impact to the game, prepare for the Hate, Love and yelling.

As in EVE online, sometimes they have to make changes that may receive hate if it is for the better of the game.

Though the contract system brought 0 gain and a lot of loss…TIME AFTER TIME and they just keep nerfing it as well…

Let me lick some bittersweet tears of Guard-pilots.  :lol:

 

In fact Im not sure if this is a nerf at all: Since with a little situational awareness Guards will be even more OP than before. 

It surely doesnt solve the 1v1 situation… especially not with 98k+ EHP Monsters. 

 

The rest looks interesting, im looking forward to it, but im not sure if this is incentive enough for the tier-rushers… Im not even sure if they read the dev-blog. 

Maybe make a screen to explain the new functions ingame?

Antibus, can we get the stats on the module for the guards? What is MK3 and Experimental look like?

 

Probably I can do it :slight_smile:

 

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so hull based guard ships stay about the same (jericho right?), and shield based guards go down (federation)

so hull based guard ships get buffed (jericho right?), and shield based guards go down (federation)

 

shield tank (jericho) is now better at 1v1 situation but worse when getting ganked

 

hull is not affected

 

shield resistances to all types of damage will be reduced by 30%, but to compensate for this and introduce a greater element of “skill” in piloting the ships of this role, we have increased the special “Phase shield” module’s effectiveness by 50 %

I’m a little concerned Guards will remain the only class that doesn’t have a 1 vs 1 counter, and so will remain deadly when spammed.

Also, kind of symnpathising with Fed Guards. I love my Reaper (or whatver the Pirate Guard is called) but it does feel like it’s made of tissue paper sometimes.

so hull based guard ships stay about the same (jericho right?), and shield based guards go down (federation)

other way around on the factions, but correct on the hull/shield thing.

 

 

It surely doesnt solve the 1v1 situation… especially not with 98k+ EHP Monsters. 

 

Unable to read are you?

shield  resistances to all types of damage will be reduced by 30%

They will drop quite hard in tank.

Today’s entry begins with the information about a new system called “Fleet strength”. Now, every ship at its maximum development level adds one point to “Fleet strength”. The total strength increases synergy gain for the all the pilot’s ships, so the more elite ships you have in your fleet - the faster your development goes!

So, what are you getting if you decide to increase your fleet strength? It’s simple: each point of fleet strength increases all synergy gains by 1 %. All fleet strength points stack so the pilots with a lot of elite ships should notice their synergy gains rising!

In addition, to make it easier for to the pilots to increase their “Fleet strength”, we have lowered the amount of synergy required to reach the maximum ship level by 50%. It is possible that after the update, many pilots who already have the required amount of synergy will be able to improve upgrade their ships to elite status and increase their fleet strength!

f0eb41a5937cbdb19fbd6481f8cd.jpg

So… this is… what, precisely? Bonus to squad Synergy gain? Or is it Corp-wide?

 

 

The next innovation is the long-awaited opportunity to… sell ships! You can finally sell your ships for 25% of the purchase price. This feature should also help the pilots accelerate their development. When you reach the level of synergy giving access to a new ship, you can always sell the old one and use what’s left from the sale to buy a new vessel!

With the introduction of this option, we would like to inform our pilots of a few important points:

  • Selling an elite ship that provides the “Fleet strength” bonus removes this bonus.
  • All modules installed on your ship will be removed and placed into storage.
  • If you sell a ship that unlocks access to the purchase of the next one (required level of synergy), you will retain the ability to purchase it.
  • If you need to re-purchase a sold ship, you will keep all the accumulated synergy levels!
  • You can re-purchase a previously sold ship by paying only 80 % of its original value, as the ship is bought without the modules that are installed on your first purchase.
    Thus, all of our players will have more opportunities to choose their preferred path of development: those who are interested in rapid advancement to the highest tech levels will be able to recover some of the money spent on new ships. At the same time, those players who are interested in development in all directions will also receive an additional bonus for each of their elite ships.

Urgh, FINALLY, no more “How do I sell my ships” crap on the chat… Finally, those questions will have an actual answer, other than just being used by useless twats and rookies actually wanting some help.

 

Also, I see nothing wrong with this system other than having to pay 80% of the ship price whilst we can only sell it for 25%… I’m not entirely sure that it’s worthwhile in lower Tiers… But it’ll generate a lot of income for people that were forced to grind every ship up until now.

 

However… This only enhances our previous worries about T5 rushers… In which they just focus on ONE ship and rush it to T5, not giving a single damn about anyone else in the game. And that is beyond frustrating, to see pilots in T4 with a SINGLE T4 ship and the rest of their active hangar crammed with T1/2 ships.

 

 

In addition to these features, we have carried out work on balancing the two frigate roles. The"Guard frigate " role is currently slightly unbalanced and in order to resolve the situation, we have introduced a number of changes: shield resistances to all types of damage will be reduced by 30%, but to compensate for this and introduce a greater element of “skill” in piloting the ships of this role, we have increased the special “Phase shield” module’s effectiveness by 50 %. In addition, the “Mass Propulsion Inhibitor” module has also been tweaked - it now works for certain amount of time after activation (12 seconds active time, 30 seconds cooldown), not indefinitely as it used to - this change should have a positive impact on the general the balance.

So those modules are still going to have their ridiculously high ranges, yes? Good to know nothing of use has been done to counter the Guards. I’m still curious as to those Resist & Phase Shield changes, I don’t think they’ll suffice to counter the epic Guards currently in play but I’m hoping it won’t turn into another Frigate-fest. I also hope the _ FEDERATION GUARDS _ won’t be too affected by the shield bonus losses to be completely useless.

 

We have also improved the mechanics of “Attack Drones” - missile equipment for “Engineering” frigates. Now this drone will be much more interesting to use with its improved behaviour and movement physics. In addition, its model is also slightly changed, now it looks like this:

 

45efb9e3ccad91d37aa69a90c164.jpg

 

xxxx. Awesome.

 

Any chance on spoilers as to how they’ll work? Do they still jitter around like mad so no one can kill them? More importantly… Can you still have swarms of these things flying around, nuking Ceptors?

 

Along with the work on game balance, we have added new colors for the main sights and lead markers:

  • purple
  • blue
  • yellow
  • green

b33ee7d8d27b8ba9ee89a129ee19.jpg

Beacon display on the map has also been improved.

Yes. Green. Finally.

 

Wait. Why does this take 1 week to increase, but ship customization still hasn’t seen any increase in colour amount?

 

 

 

As usual, the DevBlog sugar-coats everything with sprinkles and powdered sugar. Until the patch notes come and we find out it’s not actually powdered sugar on there… I’m really hoping it’s not. Come on. Give me a reason to spend some cash on a game that deserves it… Instead of ruining it all the time… Please?

 

Unable to read are you?

shield  resistances to all types of damage will be reduced by 30%

They will drop quite hard in tank.

 

unable to read are you: Phase shield will become more powerful! And I cant swap my DMG-Type in a 1v1 derpderp!