17

State of the Game #246: The September Update is Here!

Right in time, it’s the September update! This on is jam packed, so lets get right into it:
bojan1bojan2

+ New Cockpit line from Dynamic Systems Manufacturing

The Bojan line of cockpits represent a world leader in combat cockpits. Noted for their heavy armor, good offensive capabilities, and their ability to run as heat neutral, they have seen wide use in combat. There are 6 variants total, all building on the base Bojan image. These variants add everything from additional armor plating and heavier design, to a build in generator and active cooling functionality. Don’t let all that armor get you too cocky though, it comes at a price. The weight to durability ratio is not the best and while there is active cooling, the Bojan line can be very susceptible to being overheated when compared to other cockpits in its class. It’s nose forward design can also make it difficult to use on wider base chassis, like the hexapod legs.

* Net code has been updated to allow smoother movement on all clients.

This includes quite a few changes to help with any de-syncing issues as well and should expose a much better play experience for most players. In some high lag situations, players might experience ‘skipping’ as positions are corrected, but in most ping ranges (50ms-200ms) the experience will be very close to the single player expedience.

* Heat system has received a bit of a rework.

Heat baselines now tend to work more inline with how you would expect (80 heat generated + 8 cooling = 72 total heat). Heat diffusion has increased by 50%, allowing more heat to flow from part to part. Cooling diffusion has also increased, allowing radiators to more directly impact the parts they are attached to. Heat damage has also changed from 1 point per second  per heat over the parts heat threshold to a 1 point per 10 seconds per heat over the threshold. There is also a ‘buffer’ of 10 heat damage required before damage is started. This allows players to better react to incoming heat damage. To counter this, overall heat ‘bleed’ (the rate at which heat is dispersed from the MAV) has been reduced. Simple terms: Heat does less damage but heat will take longer to get rid of naturally. A great way to fight this is a fire suppression system.

* Green map Icons were changed to blue

To help alleviate several concerns over color blind friendliness the green team mate icons have been changed to blue.

Small Improvements

Center line added to player view cone map icon. This should allow you to locate your targets using the map easier.

Blast radius of splash damage weapons added to the part stats

 

Balance changes

These are the ones I know you are really looking for!

Howie 160 – Increased reload time. Decreased impact force. Increased recoil force

Howie HD – Reload time decreased. Recoil force increased. Damage reduced

Hades – Impact heat increased. Fire rate increased. Ammo decreased. Blast area increased

Centurion – Reload rate decreased. Damage increased. Ammo was decreased.

Ivans – Reload rate decreased. Ammo decreased.

Assault Rifles – Armor increased. Baseline ammo capacity increased. Base durability increased. Base weight increased.

Fire Mines – Impact heat increased. Damage reduced to zero.

Attacker cockpits – Energy use decreased. Weight decreased. Armor increased. Weapons per group increased by 1.

Reverse joint ‘Stomper’ variants – Armor increased. Aim speed increased. Acceleration slightly increased.

Bug Fixes

 

  • Player level is no longer shown in the lobby. Previously it showed as level 100 for all players
  • Turrets no longer auto die to heat damage in Siege games
  • Speed stat has been fixed to show as in-game KPH numbers
  • Siege matches are no longer forced to 10 mins
  • Bad textures in the garage on certain parts has been fixed
  • Duplicated fire rate / damage stat has been removed
  • Duplicated time entries have been removed from match time drop down

Comments 17

  1. You know, I think every single one of those balance changes is actually pretty good on first impression.

    I like how this update looks so far, it’s nice. 🙂

    1. Post
      Author

      Thank you! Your forums posts are actually incredibly helpful in digging out possible problem spots.

      1. That brought a smile to my face. I am glad I can help.

        I played around with the new Assault Rifles today, being that it was the only one of the suggestions of those that occurred this patch that I proposed.
        I like how similar the changes were to my idea (durability and weight being scaled up, ammo capacity and armour increases), yet I prefer the differences quite a lot (damage was kept the same instead of being scaled up like durability/weight, but gave them even more ammo and armour instead).

        I like what you did better.
        Since the scaling was small enough at an approx 1.11x increase, keeping the damage the same ended up being a good idea. They have less acute weaknesses and they’re still very strong, but not ‘disgusting’ as I had once put it. 🙂

        1. Post
          Author

          MAV has the best community, really. I think this is the first gaming project I have ever been on that a community member said ‘I like your balance changes more than what I suggested’.

          Today, you are awesome, and you made my life better with your awesomeness!

          1. Damn it Cyber, stop making me smile. XD

            You’re reminding me why I’ve been supporting this game all these years, you’re its dev and we love you (I hope I’m not speaking for myself).

            It’s kind of ironic that I actually had a really bad day today, like suffer enough failure to feel utterly defeated and out of place level of bad.
            Reading this state of the game brightened up the rest of my day for some reason, it feels nice to be appreciated, really.

    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author
  2. hades now my new favorite weapon in the game, i am just setting everyone on fire if i even glance at them. better than tracers because my allies can just look at the burning guy.

    new billiejean cockpits are also great, my hades build looks fantastic and tight with it, looking forward to testing everything else out these next few days.

    i was literally buying beer when i checked discord and saw the update drop and sped home to get that shit installed, this is what ive been waiting for.

    also YES 160 HOWITZERS ARE DEAD YES YESSSSSSSS

  3. oh yeah, thanks for added the little line in the middle of the viewcone, its gonna help alot when it comes to blindfiring when you can only see the enemy on radar.

    being able to see the blast radius stat now is also a big help

  4. Colour blind… I bet no one saw that… never mind.

    Update looks great, good job including balances, bugs and new cockpits in one. Just having a first try of them now. And oooh assault rifle buff, excellent 😁

    Grand work as usual

  5. Would love to see an in game weapon range circle appear on the mini map to accurately determine max range for howitzer and snipers.

Leave a Reply