Star Conflict OBT v.0.9.16
Hull and shield balancing
According to statistics and pilot feedback, Empire ships have better kill/death ratios. This is due to the fact that when it comes to damage compensation, shields are inferior to hull (and Imperial ships have stronger hulls). Besides, all shields had different physical sizes depending on the ship’s size. This was even more obvious for Jericho ships that were easier targets dues to their large shield sizes and low hull strength. All this led to pilots getting irritated and game balance being skewed. To even things out, we have come to the following decision.
THe first stage of our solution is to standartise all shield sizes and make them independent from individual ship geometry. Shields now come in the following sizes
Interceptor: 21 meter
Fighter: 30 meters
Frigate: 60 meters
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
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
Modules
Spy Drones Container
Module effect removed, when ships crash into objects.
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)
General
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
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
Radar
The radar can now serve as mini-map
Mode switch is bound to [M] by default
‘Blackwood’ Shipyard
Thermal damage resistance in 3rd round disabled
Hangar
Purchasing ships
If you don’t have enough storage space to buy a new ship, you can now see the total cost of buying a new ship and a warehouse extension
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
You cannot read the message itself now - it is being collected automatically
If there’s no room in your warehouse, the message remains unread
Sound
Improved various sound effects
Improved voiceover
Bug fixes
Fixed an incorrect item place notification in Hangar
Improved implant logic
Improved combat tutorials
Improved corporation rankings
Improved notification system
Improved ‘Help’ section for MAC
Improved module upgrade window
Fixed Tackler role description
Tweaked lighting on some battlegrounds
Tweaked assignment display in Hangar
Tweaked trophy search spots position on several battlegrounds
Improved tactical map settings
Tweaked Sector Conquest settings
Tweaked Sector Conquest results notifications
Improved a number of graphical effects
Fixed a bug in voting window
Fixed a bug in another pilot’s profile display
Fixed a bug with using upgrade kits to improve a module
Fixed a bug with a wrong key combination for the ‘Suggest translation’ button
Fixed minor HUD bugs
Fixed minor bugs with a number of ships
Fixed bugs in several assignments
Fixed minor errors in various texts
Fixed a number of battleground bugs
The ‘Team coordination chat messages’ option has been moved to chat options section
[Update discussion](< base_url >/index.php?/topic/22380-star-conflict-obt-v0916-discussion/)