2.42 Balance Scripts - Coming soon to a server near you!

So, I got around to doing the scripts. They're totally untested at the moment but I don't think that's a huge issue at our current player counts. I've committed these to the SVN build, they'll probably hit the main version when Candles gets chance to shove them over. I won't be doing any PR for this stuff, and when we do eventually release the 2013 port version, I'll be reporting all these changes again as this isn't really an official release, it's just an RC test patch that you guys can test while we work on the port.

If you have any questions about the changes, feel free to ask. I'll post up here when the changes hit the main version, but I would assume it'll be in the next day or 2.

 

shouldn't this be in the scripts area?

 

Is this an update to the game or some serverside script magic?

 

It'll be an update to the game once we get it pushed out. Servers will need to update just like clients.

 

Wow. I don't think I actually have an issue with any of these changes except maybe the decrease in speed for meds/heavies/arty for 3phase. Agree with the passive heat output increase, but I personally think 3phase should remain as fast as it was.

The base cost reductions should be extremely helpful considering how big of an issue that had been (2 hour rounds of canyon prior to the 'big break' just because nobody had any resources - not even enough for a weaponless apc half the time unless you used wages)

Obviously needs testing, but it has most of the changes people have been wanting plus some bonus changes that should affect gameplay enough to make a difference.

 

Kewl. That means no issues if someone starts up a vanilla server for a future pug, no?

I think the Turbine weight & cost thing is interesting. That makes it feel like a legitimate upgrade to standard now.

The 3phase tank nerf is promising. Combine that with reactive & Electrical feels like a tree for LTs & APCs. [sub]And I get to tell "vets" to go fuck themselves when they demand 3phase for heavies...[/sub]

I don't mean to grill you, but what was the reason for reintroducing cannon clips? I wasn't expecting that.

Yeah, I think the building explosive resistance buff means UGL's building damage got chopped by a third, so the clip size change feels superfluous.

 

Cannon clips never existed. I've added them now as a temporary fix for the rate at which cannons top up ammo. I should probably go and check what the reload times are actually, it's something that never got used before with cannons.

And as for UGL, it didn't get chopped in half, it got dropped by about 33%. That's not really that much, and the reload time on UGL isn't really that high so it shouldn't make a great deal of difference. UGL isn't meant to be primarily an anti-building weapon, so I don't really want to shoehorn it into that. Keep in mind that it'll still rape turrets and cameras because they have different resists and stuff.

EDIT: I'm going to change the clip reload times for cannons to be the same as the cycle time, so there shouldn't really be any difference to having clips. I also need to do it to Plasma CN even though I don't care about it, so I'll update that in a bit.

 

I see. That's a good fix. It's a band-aid, but it's almost perfectly transparent to the user.

You're right. I was thinking it went from 80% to 90% resistance, not 85% to 90%.

What do you think UGL is meant to do?

 

Didn';t notice you had a thread here, but what I said in the other thread, I think UGL needs more weight, but with the explosion resistance change maybe not so much, but depends we'd have to see.

I like that UML buff, rocket sniping is back in fellas.

 

Actually, this was a change I was wondering about as well but for a different reason. It also affects HE CN, which I always considered to be at least somewhat useful against buildings.

 

I see it as more of an area-denial weapon. To some extent anti-infantry, but pretty much anything in the way is going to have to move unless it wants to get fucked. The damage hasn't changed, nor has the explosion radius. It still hurts a lot. It's not so much that I don't see UGL as an anti-building weapon, it's that I don't see APCs as a whole taking that role, or I'd rather they didn't unless in really substantial mass. If you have a mass of APCs with UGL or DU though, they're going to lack anti-vehicle or anti-infantry capability respectively, so that mass should get torn apart.

I am a little concerned that the nerf may be a bit too substantial, but I am considering in what way these weapons are used. Whereas UGL tends to be used a lot of the time with solo APCs nipping around refs and bases, HE is often used en-masse, meaning the buildings drop really quickly anyway. I increased the explosion radius so you can catch more buildings in one go.

I am open to the fact that I may have gone over the top though, but that's what this whole script patch is for - testing.

 

This I like. Giving the Barns a good advantage to go with that size is a great idea.

Did I read that Bio ML now does 150 damage by over 30 seconds instead of 15? Is that what that change meant? If so, I like.

 

It'd be cool to have a rail-gun-like ~100 weight 3 slot GL that rapes stuff, but that's obviously not the direction that the dev team is moving. You can't do everything.

I didn't notice that. Salvo got a 25% damage bump as well as much needed ammo.

We also got a token guided buff to make it as strong as UML. It's already the slowest missile (aside from nukes), but it needs to be slower and stronger to differentiate.

That's interesting. In my experience, UGL typically isn't effective at AOD against vehicles because all vehicles are very fast. They have plenty of time to simply move out of the way. ML turrets are effective at AOD against vehicles because they follow vehicles no matter irregardless of their speed.

Yeah, it's still a guaranteed death sentence, but you have more time to hit the suicide button.

 

I dont see much point in changing bio if you are going to still keep its "lol you ded m8" effect. Don't delude yourself into thinking that the extra seconds are going to change much. Unless you are fighting on a armory wall, you are still a dead man walking. There is no common and easy healing in empires, except for squad heals.

Ugl clip size matters jack. Wont change suicide apcs taking down whole bases in seconds, wont stop apcs from raping anything other than tanks. The last point is also moot on choke maps, where anything else thana compo heavy will never pass the quite literal wall of death.

 

I'd love more unique weapons, and I have tried to add 3 new ones, but code support is needed. I was getting code support but due to the port, we're currently feature locked, so I'm just going to hold off on it. I also found that it's not as easy as just adding a new weapon. You need particles (Empty obliged last time), but you also need sounds, which I was having a real problem sourcing.

Generally speaking, I don't like every weapon to be useful on every map. I see UGL as area denial on chokepoint maps, and an average everything else weapon in other circumstances. That is, on maps like slaughtered and crossroads, you can probably fuck the chokepoints pretty hard with UGL, but on an open map, that's not really going to play out. I mean, you can still use it to siege bases quite easily. It's just as effective against infantry as it was before so you can lock down a base pretty easily, but it isn't going to drop the buildings as fast as it did before.

The consensus from the last balance discussion was that BioML kills you pretty quickly, and giving you a bit of time to get yourself a heal in some way would make it less shitty. I'm inclined to agree, hence the change.

 

Drop the weight of CG down to 40/45 if you really want this weight drop to affect anything. You'd know why if you spent enough time on vehicles.

HEMG would be a great option after this buff.

UML is going to be slightly OP against buildings now.

About Bio ML, remove the stamina drain if you really want to extend the bio time to 30 secs.

Guided ML is not being buffed correctly, but if you think damage is the only option then you should buff it to 70.

I recommend :
NF Med Tank: Max armour plates per side: 4 -> 5, Base Weight 712 -> 662, Base Cost 300 -> 240
NF Heavy Tank: Max armour plates per side: 6 -> 7, Base Weight 926 -> 866, Base Cost 900 -> 840

Good script changes overall, 85/100.

 

I thought about lowering it further with Chain Gun, but I don't want to infringe on Std MG's territory. You should still need to make some level of sacrifice to take it over Std MG.

I don't get why people think UML got buffed so hard. The speed increase is just to improve the anti-vehicle capabilities, and the extra missile per clip isn't really a gamechanger, it reloaded that quickly before that it won't make a huge difference either way.

I'd remove the stamina drain from Bio entirely if I could. It's sadly not in the scripts. I seriously detest the stamina drain aspect of Bio.

I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure how to buff Guided any other way. It already tracks well enough, has enough ammo and moves quick enough to be usable. I'm all ears if you have any other ideas.

With regard to the tank weights, I've risked it with 80 to see how it plays out, but I did consider going 60. At the same time, I kind of wanted NF Heavies to have more weight to play with anyway, so they can pile some more weaponry on. So I've gone for the extra weight just to see how it plays out. I don't really want a change to make them more expensive though, hence I cut the cost by 100. I really don't want to make NF tanks average out being more expensive than BE tanks, so the 100 reduction is tied to 80. If I change it later down to 60 weight reduction, the cost will rise by 25 to compensate.

 

Make UGL explode on contact instead of timed and you have a great AOD that can catch tanks too.

Lets not forget that if it becomes contact detonation instead of timed... it can be shot farther depending on your elevation and angle.

edit:
actually I suppose if you did that you could call it a cannon instead of gl.

 

Not going detail but that very 10 weight drop would buff LT indirectly, keep it if you think it's okay. If you think it's bad then either keep it untouched at 60 or drop it further.

UML has always been useful against buildings, this buff makes it better.

Guided ML is still a bad option for players with 100 or higher ping, we have a lot of players with that ping. Guided ML is okay for stationary targets but then again, we have UML and it's getting buffed too.
"Currently", using Guided ML on enemy tanks would require you to keep your crosshair locked, it's bad if you are using cannons at the same time.