Questions to antibus

Game Discussion Miscellaneous
1

Since you asked for them…

I’d like some answers on whether or not these things will be changed in the (near) future or not.

I’d like a definite answer on them and not a *It might be changed* since that says nothing, I want a *No* *Not in the planning* or a *Yes* since those evasive answers don’t help.

If you don’t know the answers but will ask the devs, say so and I’ll be patient.

 

These are just off the top of my head so I will be missing a lot of them probaly

 

Important things:

-Will the Ship tree be made better so that all roles got the high-rank spots instead of only premiums getting that?(For example no F2P R9 tackler & gunship in the current ship tree)

 

-Will ships in the ship tree lose their mk1 modules? Or an option to buy ships with and without them?

#Right now ship prices are very high(Especially T4/T5) and the mk1 fits on those ships are usually very bad. Not to mention we often got mk3 stuff ready for those ships so it is costing us a lot for no reason.

 

-Will ships get proper boosts? Some boosts are very useless(For example: Garm 100% HP increase for warpgate) and some ships got no boosts at all.

 

-Will weapons become more balanced? Some weapons are half useless right now and some are too powerful(For example the singularity generator being too good against inties and fighters and in some cases not good enough against frigs while that is its role)

 

 

 

Things that are now possibly irrelevant(Due to next patch):

Will progression go faster? Sometimes it feels very slow…

2

Ohjeez… the list of questions is just so huge, it’s not even funny…

3

Will the ship modules layout be redesigned so that ships in a single tree line have similar layout?

eg. Garm have one less hull module than Styx, resulting it actually having less survivability

 

 

Will the amount of synergy to level up be lowered, especially tier 4 and 5?

 

 

Is any new weapons & modules going to be introduced in the future?

 

 

 

 

4

Right, so, there is a questions to devs section which we try to update every once in a while. And I am quite sure that those questions were answered already ) 

-Will the Ship tree be made better so that all roles got the high-rank spots instead of only premiums getting that?(For example no F2P R9 tackler & gunship in the current ship tree)

Can’t tell.

 

-Will ships in the ship tree lose their mk1 modules? Or an option to buy ships with and without them?

#Right now ship prices are very high(Especially T4/T5) and the mk1 fits on those ships are usually very bad. Not to mention we often got mk3 stuff ready for those ships so it is costing us a lot for no reason.

Not clear, do you want presets ot not? At the moment there are no plans on removing Mk. 1 from presets. 

 

-Will ships get proper boosts? Some boosts are very useless(For example: Garm 100% HP increase for warpgate) and some ships got no boosts at all.

Almost all ships have boosts, not all of them are shown in the interface though. You can send me a list of ships which you think are bad regarding boosts, I’ll try to find out more about them. 

 

-Will weapons become more balanced? Some weapons are half useless right now and some are too powerful(For example the singularity generator being too good against inties and fighters and in some cases not good enough against frigs while that is its role)

We are constantly working on weapons. But statistically all the weapons are balanced now. I cannot disclose what parameters we are looking at, but we have quite a lot of info, which gives us nice view on what is really going on.

 

Will progression go faster? Sometimes it feels very slow…

Matter of progression is a really hard thing, especially due to economic model of our game. 

 

Will the ship modules layout be redesigned so that ships in a single tree line have similar layout?

eg. Garm have one less hull module than Styx, resulting it actually having less survivability

Main reason for different layouts is to give players a different ship, that will fit their gameplay style - to introduce more variety into the game, if every ship will have one and the same layot this will be dumbing down the game. We do know that some slots may be out of place and are looking into the matter though. 

 

Will the amount of synergy to level up be lowered, especially tier 4 and 5?

Don’t have info on that. 

 

Is any new weapons & modules going to be introduced in the future?

Cannot tell, NDA. But we are, of course, looking into possibility of expanding the game. 

5

 

-Will ships get proper boosts? Some boosts are very useless(For example: Garm 100% HP increase for warpgate) and some ships got no boosts at all.

 

Thanks dude for that question, I also want an answer, I sometimes think they made the boosts completely random… Like an engineer getting 10% critical chance (i think it was a t4/5 fed one) or ships without anyone.

 

I would like things like: Emp Engineers heal 20% better, but Fed Engineers use 20% less energy in their modules. Or viceversa, I don’t mind… 

things like: Fed Gunships have more critical damage (for example, I didn’t think about it at all) and Empire Gunships have something extra like… critical chance Idk, you know what I mean.

Empire Recons with extra range of their spells while Fed Recons have reduced energy consume (for example)

Same with ecms, a faction with more range and a faction with increased time of effect…

Commands with more range in one faction, and the other faction with less energy use.

 

That would make roles of different factions… different, if you chose empire, appart from the diff stats, you will have different buffs than the same role in other faction :slight_smile:

 

Anyone thinks this would be good bad? Let me know I’m curious.

6

Right, so, there is a questions to devs section which we try to update every once in a while. And I am quite sure that those questions were answered already ) 

-Will the Ship tree be made better so that all roles got the high-rank spots instead of only premiums getting that?(For example no F2P R9 tackler & gunship in the current ship tree)

Can’t tell.

 

Damn :frowning:

 

-Will ships in the ship tree lose their mk1 modules? Or an option to buy ships with and without them?

#Right now ship prices are very high(Especially T4/T5) and the mk1 fits on those ships are usually very bad. Not to mention we often got mk3 stuff ready for those ships so it is costing us a lot for no reason.

Not clear, do you want presets ot not? At the moment there are no plans on removing Mk. 1 from presets. 

 

I want the presets gone, because they are unnecessary and are making ships VERY expansive in T4/T5

 

-Will ships get proper boosts? Some boosts are very useless(For example: Garm 100% HP increase for warpgate) and some ships got no boosts at all.

Almost all ships have boosts, not all of them are shown in the interface though. You can send me a list of ships which you think are bad regarding boosts, I’ll try to find out more about them. 

 

The hidden boosts are not really useful. A 7% engine increase is not as good as a 20% energy reduction or a 50% range increase for example.

 

Will progression go faster? Sometimes it feels very slow…

Matter of progression is a really hard thing, especially due to economic model of our game. 

 

Fair enough. But with the next patch this problem might be partly reduced(Or increased…)

 

Main reason for different layouts is to give players a different ship, that will fit their gameplay style - to introduce more variety into the game, if every ship will have one and the same layot this will be dumbing down the game. We do know that some slots may be out of place and are looking into the matter though. 

 

Wouldn’t a better way to provide such a system be if all ships in a tier had the same amount of slots? Then you could truly play with the slot layouts since ships with fewer slots(silent fox vs bear) is a major deciding point.

7

-Will ships in the ship tree lose their mk1 modules? Or an option to buy ships with and without them?

#Right now ship prices are very high(Especially T4/T5) and the mk1 fits on those ships are usually very bad. Not to mention we often got mk3 stuff ready for those ships so it is costing us a lot for no reason.

Not clear, do you want presets ot not? At the moment there are no plans on removing Mk. 1 from presets. 

 

At present, presets are garbage. If you wanted to keep presets for Tiers 1 and 2 so the new players could figure things out, I could understand that. Presets at Tiers 3,4, and 5 are just wasted credits, because most pilots already know their playstyle and have modules saved up for their next ship. All it is doing is increasing ship prices by several million. So, yes. We do not want presets.

 

-Will ships get proper boosts? Some boosts are very useless(For example: Garm 100% HP increase for warpgate) and some ships got no boosts at all.

Almost all ships have boosts, not all of them are shown in the interface though. You can send me a list of ships which you think are bad regarding boosts, I’ll try to find out more about them. 

 

Pressing Ctrl to view expanded stats should automatically include ALL of a ship’s boosts. There is absolutely no point to having hidden boosts as players cannot take them into account while planning how to equip said ship. Please put ALL the boosts under the Ctrl display.

 

-Will weapons become more balanced? Some weapons are half useless right now and some are too powerful(For example the singularity generator being too good against inties and fighters and in some cases not good enough against frigs while that is its role)

We are constantly working on weapons. But statistically all the weapons are balanced now. I cannot disclose what parameters we are looking at, but we have quite a lot of info, which gives us nice view on what is really going on.

 

There is a huge difference between how something looks on paper, and how it actually works. Your “statistically balanced weapons” are still in need of minor tweaks because the community finds ways to exploit specific attributes of certain weapons that you didn’t expect or intend. The best way to figure this out is to actually play the game, not just pouring over graphs of weapons statistics in games.

 

Will progression go faster? Sometimes it feels very slow…

Matter of progression is a really hard thing, especially due to economic model of our game. 

 

That is a very evasive and political answer. Sure it is complex. That wasn’t the question. The question is, are you going to continue increasing the grind to get from ship to ship, or are you going to decrease it? Because ever since the synergy update the game has became extremely tedious and grind-ridden to the point of near boredom. So are you going to continue increasing the grind with every patch or aren’t you?

 

8

^^ Pretty much all that.

 

  1. T4 and T5 ship prices are too high.  Players dont like presets.  The solution seems simple.  T4/T5 ships should lose their preset gear, arrive empty and CHEAPER.

 

2.  Ship boosts are funny.  There are ships with no boosts.  There are ships that you facepalm when “upgrading” to.  The Styx (T3 Emp Engi) is better than the Garm (T4 Emp Engi).  The Apollo (R13 Emp Gunship) is better than the Lightbringer (R15 Emp Gunship).  I think there were a couple fed ships (Guard maybe) with no boosts at all.

 

3.  I’m pretty happy with weapons TBH.  I wish lasers were made better since they are the hardest to use properly (unless your an AI)

 

4.  Progression.  Ya.  Okay.  Seriously.  I’ve lost several friends from this game because progression is so utterly hopeless.  Loyalty has been broken since April.  I predict that tomorrow (0.9.8) it will be MORE broken.  I predict this based on your track record of always making grinds *worse*.  But I know 3 people right off the top of my head that stopped playing because they arent willing to grind 100s (maybe 1000s?) of hours to get Rank 15 ships with Mk3 gear.  Progression is unreasonable, and you can only *pay* your way out of some of it.  A premium account will net you enough credits to progress, but loyalty is utterly hopeless.  Synergy is pretty ugly too, unless your willing to pay for battle firmware (etc.)  Seriously guys, make it reasonable for paying customers at least, or you wont attract customers.

9

-Will the Ship tree be made better so that all roles got the high-rank spots instead of only premiums getting that?(For example no F2P R9 tackler & gunship in the current ship tree)

Can’t tell.

 

It’s a shame really.  Those premiums are viewed somewhat as pay to win since there is no free to play ship comparable.

 

-Will ships in the ship tree lose their mk1 modules? Or an option to buy ships with and without them?

#Right now ship prices are very high(Especially T4/T5) and the mk1 fits on those ships are usually very bad. Not to mention we often got mk3 stuff ready for those ships so it  costing us a lot for no reason.

Not clear, do you want presets ot not? At the moment there are no plans on removing Mk. 1 from presets. 

 

When I first got a T4 ship, I had it almost all green.  The grind gave me a lot of T4 military modules even when only playing T3.  It means I’m buying Mk.I when I have the new Mk.II in warehouse.

 

-Will ships get proper boosts? Some boosts are very useless(For example: Garm 100% HP increase for warpgate) and some ships got no boosts at all.

Almost all ships have boosts, not all of them are shown in the interface though. You can send me a list of ships which you think are bad regarding boosts, I’ll try to find out more about them. 

 

The 10% speed boost for Katana S really isn’t that great, seriously.  Just 14m/s more for top speed compared to Prometheus X which has Empire’s 7% damage boost?  The Katana’s energy use is far better with the energy changes.  Acid Hydra having a larger capacitor means little for a ship that’s frequently sitting idle and sniping.

 

-Will weapons become more balanced? Some weapons are half useless right now and some are too powerful(For example the singularity generator being too good against inties and fighters and in some cases not good enough against frigs while that is its role)

We are constantly working on weapons. But statistically all the weapons are balanced now. I cannot disclose what parameters we are looking at, but we have quite a lot of info, which gives us nice view on what is really going on.

 

So how often is Shrapnel Cannon supposed to be fitted on ships?  Even Kris AE with Jericho’s R2 implant for a 20% reduction in spread gives it a bad amount of spread.  It drops it’s effective range to almost point blank only.

 

Will progression go faster? Sometimes it feels very slow…

Matter of progression is a really hard thing, especially due to economic model of our game. 

 

I’m personally not too concerned with the Tier based progression.  It probably is helping matchmaker!  I’m understanding, but the loyalty sucks.  I could try to baby sit it more to get it faster, but sometimes I don’t bother looking at contracts.   In 1600 games, I have R9 in three subfactions, partly because the grind’s bad enough to want to ignore it.

 

Will the ship modules layout be redesigned so that ships in a single tree line have similar layout?

eg. Garm have one less hull module than Styx, resulting it actually having less survivability

Main reason for different layouts is to give players a different ship, that will fit their gameplay style - to introduce more variety into the game, if every ship will have one and the same layot this will be dumbing down the game. We do know that some slots may be out of place and are looking into the matter though. 

 

Will the amount of synergy to level up be lowered, especially tier 4 and 5?

Don’t have info on that. 

 

Is any new weapons & modules going to be introduced in the future?

Cannot tell, NDA. But we are, of course, looking into possibility of expanding the game. 

10

Pressing Ctrl to view expanded stats should automatically include ALL of a ship’s boosts. There is absolutely no point to having hidden boosts as players cannot take them into account while planning how to equip said ship. Please put ALL the boosts under the Ctrl display.

 

 

There is a huge difference between how something looks on paper, and how it actually works. Your “statistically balanced weapons” are still in need of minor tweaks because the community finds ways to exploit specific attributes of certain weapons that you didn’t expect or intend. The best way to figure this out is to actually play the game, not just pouring over graphs of weapons statistics in games.

 

That is a very evasive and political answer.

  1. They are all there, it is just that some boosts are getting into the stats of the ship itself, and others are in the lower part of the stats screen. 

  2. We do play our game. And in many ways what we see on the paper is in correspondence with what we see in our game.

  3. We do not comment economy questions. Still, you should remember that the game is Free to Play - you can always join in the fun, but your progression speed can vary.

11

It’s a shame really.  Those premiums are viewed somewhat as pay to win since there is no free to play ship comparable.

 

So how often is Shrapnel Cannon supposed to be fitted on ships?  Even Kris AE with Jericho’s R2 implant for a 20% reduction in spread gives it a bad amount of spread.  It drops it’s effective range to almost point blank only.

 

There is no pay to win our game and we do not pursue such model.

 

Shrapnel cannon perfoms well, the spread was increased due to OP of the weapon. 

12

There is a certain point of pay to win in this game.

No F2P R9 empire gunship, only DLC/premium, and no R9 tackler beyond DLC/premium.

13

No F2P R9 empire gunship, only DLC/premium, and no R9 tackler beyond DLC/premium.

 

Having something that non-paying member cant have does not mean it is pay to win.

It depends on the stats of those ships and those DLC/premium ships are certainly not OP

14

There is no pay to win our game and we do not pursue such model.

 

Shrapnel cannon perfoms well, the spread was increased due to OP of the weapon. 

Again, no R9 Gunship & Tackler…

15

Having something that non-paying member cant have does not mean it is pay to win.

It depends on the stats of those ships and those DLC/premium ships are certainly not OP

I don’t want to act as devil’s advocate, but gimme a Deagle, Nukem and/or Parallax and i’ll show you just how OP they can be in the right hands compared to the free counterparts in the same tier. Maybe they aren’t seen OP in the hands of the average (and below) player compared to the rest since you can kill them just like any other ship, but some with more experience will be able to tell the difference in an instant. Sometimes even some average players.

16

I have one, too.

Might be a bit cynical tho… 

 

Assuming Im in a 3v3 with bots:

Can you tell me which ship and weapon (exclusive a Guard) I can use to kill a 100k EHP Behemoth of Inquisitor S?