Is there anything in the patch that address the issue of reduced synergy and getting less eff with assist than buff?
Not this week, but we are aware of this issue and working on it.
I’m not convinced this shield change will help.
Empire ships are stronger because they can squad up with a hull-tanked engi who focuses purely on hull restore. Shields will repair automatically anyway.
But you can’t shield tank. There are no shield-tanked engineers and hull does not self heal. You can’t focus on shield the way you can on hull. That’s why Empire are more survivable.
As to Empire ships getting more kills, just look at the classes. Empire Gunships are a must in any killsquad, Empire LRF is best for raw kills, Empire Engineers live longer in the brawl so have more chance of landing a killshot.
Fed ships can’t stand up and fight like Empire, and while Jericho could if shields and hull were equally viable, they still lack the dps classes overall.
Why have I the strange feeling that this change Impact more the spread than the shield tanking?
Hull and shield balancing
According to statistics and pilot feedback, Empire ships have better kill/death ratios. We came to a conclusion that in practice shields are inferior to hull when it comes to defence.
To solve this problem, we made shields on all ships of the same class have the same relative size:
Interceptor: 0,5
Fighter: 1
Frigate: 4
*slow clap*
You just made Empire ships STRONGER. It’s good to see you admit hull tanking is better, but let’s be realistic here…
Shield tanking is PATHETIC compared to Hull. This has been going on since the Passive Change. That was a lot more than 10 patches ago. You need more feedback than the 50 or so threads made on this subject? More “logs” to give you information on how 90% of all flown ships are Empire? FIX IT. PERMANENTLY.
We already gave you a LOT of ideas on how to fix it, because modules giving equal stats (say resist armour/shield) have ridiculous setbacks? I mean, really? A loss in a little Rotation compared to being forced to staying at top speed + 50% afterburners? Are you serious? Pa-the-tic. Shameful and terrible thought-out planning, that’s what it is. And refusing to see the problem staring you right in the face is, quite possibly, the worst thing ever.
Weapons
Added new weapons
‘Eclipse’ Launcher
Deals EM damage. Projectile impact releases nanodrones that attack enemies. Drones restore hull to all allies in a certain radius
Installed on Engineering Frigates
Available from rank 7
Kinetic Supercharger
A projectile is formed with instantly pressurized gas. Upon collision with the target it explodes creating a shrapnel cloud that deals kinetic damage for a short time
Installed on ECM Interceptors
Available from rank 7
Gravi-Beamer
Deals thermal damage. Gradually slows the enemy down.
Installed on Tackler Fighters
Available from rank 7
If they have the same stats as the winter weapons, I swear to god I’m just going to abuse the xxxx out of these. Because that’s what you deserve to get when you implement broken things into the game without any previous thought. People abusing it all.
Gauss Cannon
Many players were discontent with the way this weapon could destroy some ships with a single shot. We’ve decided to lower this weapon’s burst damage without changing its characteristics. The player attacked with this weapon now has a chance to evade the projectile.
Charge accumulation reduced from 3 to 2
Less charge accumulation = more crit damage, according to that shiny graph you folks kindly gave us here on the forum. It’s their own fault for getting 1-shot in the first place for flying in a straight line. You just enjoy promoting bad gameplay, don’t you…
Sector Conquest
When we introduced Sector Conquest, it was assumed that transition of locations to new owners would occur every 12 hours. But, at the moment, the transition takes place every 4 hours. We believe that this is too often. When the pilots return to the game the next day they see that the situation in the sector has changed radically: what they captured in tight battles is lost to pilots from other, not so successful corporations. Therefore, we tweaked phase rotation in Sector Conquest:
Main cycle consists of 3 minor cycles and lasts for 12 hours
Flag placement, location ownership transfer and reward distribution are all processed at the end of the cycle (once every 12 hours)
Minor cycles last for 4 hours and consist of:
Active fighting stage: 1 hour
Preparation stage: 3 hours
Changes in fighting timetable led to tweaks in game economics.
To preserve income from locations at the same level, we increased rewards for controlling locations
Since location choice now happens less often, we have raised the minimum location stake
Since location control time was increased, we’ve reduced the number of cycles of location ownership
Maximum possible location control time now stands at 20 cycles (i.e. 10 days)
Soo… Nothing changes? õ_Ô
Trophy search
You can now put trophies into storage both for GS and for credits
If you don’t have enough GS or credits, the button becomes inactive
The heck is a trophy? Wait, we’re not gonna start paying for random worthless loot, are we!?
Radar
The radar can now serve as mini-map
Mode switch is bound to [M] by default
So what was the point of removing it in the first place? Are we 5 year old kids that you need to wave a piece of candy in front of our face to tease us? I find this change offensive, tbh…
‘Blackwood’ Shipyard
Thermal damage resistance in 3rd round disabled
Gotta make those Maulers more OP, heh?
Combat slot operations
When you move a ship to a different combat slot, the ships exchange places
Finally. Was getting a bit tired having to misplace a ship, then dragging it over, then opening the Ship window to search for the other ship, then putting it in the new place.
Mail
Mail attachments are now automatically collected when you receive a message
You can read the message itself
If there’s no room in your warehouse, attachments stay in the message
Can we just… Remove the Mail system altogether?.. I mean, it’s nice for PMs and all that, but it’s annoying as all hell having to click every single Mail just to get rewards… It’s not “nice”. It’s annoying… I’ve often left mails drag on to 20-30 just so I don’t have to click on them. I ultimately HAVE to to get Credits/Loyalty (urgh…)/whatever, but it’s tiresome… bothersome… BORING…
Yes, I’m grumpy because I fell off my bed this morning and have a headache. Deal with it.
You just made Empire ships STRONGER. It’s good to see you admit hull tanking is better, but let’s be realistic here…
If they have the same stats as the winter weapons.
Less charge accumulation = more crit damage
The heck is a trophy? Wait, we’re not gonna start paying for random worthless loot, are we!?
So what was the point of removing it in the first place? Are we 5 year old kids that you need to wave a piece of candy in front of our face to tease us? I find this change offensive, tbh…
Gotta make those Maulers more OP, heh?
Statistics will show. But this system should be ‘fairer’ to all races now.
No, stats are different.
More crit damage, but lesser crit chance, don’t forget.
No, you are not. This is just more options in the end, for looting.
The change is for players, not NPCs
I just played the game. Now, when you get a kill or assist, it appears at the place the enemy died instead of the normal bottom right. This is extremely distracting in the middle of combat and need to be either removed or have a option for it in the settings.
Funny, but I can’t think of any examples of the shield bubble size being the reason Jericho sucked. The fact shield modules nerf your ship to hell, certainly, but never the shield bubble…
More I think on it, the more it looks like a placebo.
Weapons
Added new weapons
‘Eclipse’ Launcher
Deals EM damage. Projectile impact releases nanodrones that attack enemies. Drones restore hull to all allies in a certain radius
Installed on Engineering Frigates
Available from rank 7
Kinetic Supercharger
A projectile is formed with instantly pressurized gas. Upon collision with the target it explodes creating a shrapnel cloud that deals kinetic damage for a short time
Installed on ECM Interceptors
Available from rank 7
Gravi-Beamer
Deals thermal damage. Gradually slows the enemy down.
Installed on Tackler Fighters
Available from rank 7
And I fly these three roles almost exclusively now. Will have to try them out later.
More I think on it, the more it looks like a placebo.
It is a Placebo.
Technically, it change nothing on shield tanking. The True change is about the Spread value !
Combat slot operations
When you move a ship to a different combat slot, the ships exchange places
Mail attachments are now automatically collected when you receive a message
OMG finally. Keep going, piece by piece we’ll yet get a usable UI. 
and what about t4?
still no change?
tiers 1-3 seem to be working fine then you get to t4 and realize t5 ships w t5 implants are kicking your xxxx
or
you finally get some t5 ships then you get t4 rewards cos you are in the wrong bloody match!
Hey,
I was hoping that the corp logos would be added in this patch, but i haven’t found any…
I guess it will come with the next update? Or later?
I just played the game. Now, when you get a kill or assist, it appears at the place the enemy died instead of the normal bottom right. This is extremely distracting in the middle of combat and need to be either removed or have a option for it in the settings.
Can this please have an option to turn off?
It is annoying
It is a Placebo.
Technically, it change nothing on shield tanking. The True change is about the Spread value !
I’m a bit lost, can you kindly define what you mean by that term “spread value”?
I do see how big Jerry ships now survive theoretically longer from long range damage, as the hit box (area where enemy shot is counted as a hit to your shield) is smaller, that is common math that it will result enemies to hit a bit less to your shields. But indeed it does nothing for the concept of “shield tanking”, meaning taking damage to your shields and surviving some time under that fire.
Taking this change out of this context [of shield tanking] I do think the change is fair , as it does even out Jericho against others as Jericho ships are bigger than others, but it is just badly described if it is claimed to help “shield tanking”. Kind of a start to even the differences, but by using totally different kind of solution.
In close range, the shield tanking still sucks. In long range also sucks but less, while then again I don’t see the point of “long range shield/hull tanking” anyways =D
That change is good, but it doesn’t have any thing to do with term “shield tanking”, so all should just forget that term (as Rakza says, but with a bit different wording and perspective).
Statistics will show. But this system should be ‘fairer’ to all races now.
No, stats are different.
More crit damage, but lesser crit chance, don’t forget.
No, you are not. This is just more options in the end, for looting.
The change is for players, not NPCs
It really isn’t. You just upgraded Empire shields CONSIDERABLY and, likely, nerfed Jericho shields in the process. If Empire shields haven’t been affected, that just means all Jericho ships are now useless. Well done, once more, in your continuous process of killing off an entire faction in favour of the pets.
How different? Less? More? If you say 2-3% change, we know it’s double the effect, lol. Doesn’t matter, really, the weapons’ mechanics were always broken to begin with. No amount of tweaking is gonna save those guns.
It’s still more damage, overall. Gauss Gunships with 2 CPU slots will just pulverize anything in their wake, regardless of charge amount. You know this as well as I do.
Then what are trophies? What do they do? What is their purpose? See, these are things we LIKE to know on the patch notes/wherever, so we know what to do with them, instead of going “WHAT IS THIS!!” and chucking them to the side.
oic. So that means the other random stats will appear more frequently, then.
I just played the game. Now, when you get a kill or assist, it appears at the place the enemy died instead of the normal bottom right. This is extremely distracting in the middle of combat and need to be either removed or have a option for it in the settings.
I figured it was something silly like that, so I abstained from comment on that. It was just too ridiculous. The screen is already too filed with EVERYTHING and now it’s just one more thing to add to the clusterf*** that is the UI.
Does shield change fix situation when if you where 20-50 metres from target shots went directly to hull ignoring shields at all?
Improved effectiveness visualization
Notification on effectiveness gain appears in the spot where the event happened
If the spot is out of sight, the notification appears on the edge of the screen
The notification moves to the usual place after a short time
Please make this optional ASAP. It’s just a gimmick that’s covering up your view port for no good reason. I want this gone yesterday!
With the shield changes, now 90% of the ships in battle will be Jericho. Because shield tanking is now obviously better with this super-buff about some size thing that nobody cares about. So you are telling me modules and implants are perfectly balanced, and you only need to change the damn size thing. Empire pilots must be so sad about this change because now hull tanking is useless.
Wtf.
It’s a normalization of the Shield’s hitbox.
Adding a normalized hitbox open the door to calculate Spread “Soft/Hard cap” for weapons (Including Projectile Speed / RoF / Optimal Range).
If as they said, most of the ships now have a Smaller hitbox than before,
It’s mean that it’s a nerf for all weapons with Medium/high spread : Shrapnel/Heavy Blaster/Assault Railgun/Singularity/Pulse laser / RF Blaster AGAINST SMALL TARGETS !
They are not balancing Shield and Hull tanking ! They are buffing Interceptors and Fighters !
But it’s not finish ! They are also buffing EMPIRE SHIPS with this patch when a Nerf is needed !
@Antibus : Devs just made the StyxBall / PhoenixBall more powerful than before ! How will you stop all Group of Styx/Phoenix that repair each other with the Eclipse?
With the shield changes, now 90% of the ships in battle will be Jericho. Because shield tanking is now obviously better with this super-buff about some size thing that nobody cares about. So you are telling me modules and implants are perfectly balanced, and you only need to change the damn size thing. Empire pilots must be so sad about this change because now hull tanking is useless.
Wtf.
Sarcams level : 100000000000000
The icebolt is back? Well I know what im going to put on t4 ecms when i get them.