Sunday testing release notes.

[Ayetach]

Hi guys,

Sorry for the delay here's the release notes for our non-blind testing tomorrow at 12pm EST (5pm UTC).



Balance Changes:
-Mobula side guns fanned outwards 5 additional degrees—to increase the difficulty of full weapon’s platform functionality without disallowing common builds

-Spire reduced turn acceleration to 10d/s2 (from 15)—to make it easier for other ships to flank the Spire

-Squid side gun turned forward to 70 degrees (from 90)—to make it easier for less experienced players to use the Squid in normal play

-Squid increased forward/backward acceleration to 8m/s2 (from 6.66)—to make it easier for the Squid to change position and react effectively in close range combat

-Heavy Flak has more damage moved to direct hit for a 70/30% split between direct and AoE (from 45/55%). Higher clip capacity to 4 (from 2) means damage per shot is reduced (115/50 explosive, from 150/180 explosive), BUT damage per second is the SAME due to increased RoF of 2 shots/s (from 0., and reduced reload time of 4.5s (from 5)—to increase ease of use in both range (more damage in direct for within arming distance shots) and aiming (more shots to judge arc before reload)

-Harpoon has right click to reel in with increased harpoon force to 1500000 (from 230000)—major feature request

-Hwacha now fires its entire clip with one click—to increase risk reward of the weapon and to reduce its overall reliance in matches

-Pyramidon hull health increased to 700 (from 550)

-Falling airships now respect each airship’s unique vertical drag profiles.  Previously, ships all had a ‘controlled’ fall rather than accelerating due to gravity.  The result is realistic falling acceleration that takes into airship vertical drag.  In other words, you were closer to playing Guns of Icarus in Space than you realized.—fixed glitch that possibly introduces more interesting ways to play and shift meta




Be sure to let us know what you think after tomorrow's testing at feedback@musegames.com

Thanks again for your help and support!

[DrTentacles]

I look forward to the new, mono-squid meta.

(This is going to be brutal, though. Nerfing every Squid Counter, and giving the Squid a double buff is going to end up with the comp meta being pretty much entirely Squid+Something else pairings.)

[ZnC]

It's here... what we've all been waiting for...

The GRAVITY PATCH!

[Dementio]

I already disagree with the Squid's side gun turning and the Hwacha. Squid will only become a better Pyramidion this way and the Hwacha will still easily disable every ship in one clip from 400m, only long range was nerfed after it was already nerfed when heavy clip was nerfed.

Oh yeah, and the Harpoon needing a person to actively reel in is a waste of a crewmember. Although I do like where it is, that is my only worry.

[Byron Cavendish]

to make it easier for less experienced players to use the Squid in normal play

to make it easier for the Squid to change position and react effectively in close range combat

Hwacha now fires its entire clip with one click—to increase risk reward of the weapon and to reduce its overall reliance in matches

[DrTentacles]

It'll make it harder to chain disable in close-range. Sometimes you keep half a clip to work on engines after guns, or disable after the rebuild.

[Byron Cavendish]

Yay! Why bother with tactical shooting when we can arcade this game into oblivion?

[DrTentacles]

I was actually the one who suggested it. The thread-and reactions-are in the Feedback and Suggestions forums. I'm interested to hear your opposition. I thought it increases gunner skill-cap, while still keeping it useful for noobs, because you have to aim better to avoid wasted shots. It gives the gun an actual skill-cap.

[Byron Cavendish]

So you guys have decided to turn the squid into a faster pyra (but buff the pyra because you kinda realize how silly this is). You have decided to nerf the weapons platform ship, because it's a... weapons... platform...ship (you know, rather than leave it as a weapons platform, and nerf it's turning, armor, health, speed and/or acceleration). And you have decided to nerf the spire's best defensive weapon (the only thing that was making it competitive in the hwacha), and buff a different heavy weapon (which I actually love), except for the fact that both have terribly limited horizontal arcs, and you just nerfed its turning speed, so none of it matters because good luck getting that heavy flak on a squid before it's behind you.

[BlackenedPies]

Squid doesn't need more speed. I'd much rather give it higher turning speed which would give a bigger incentive to drop phoenix claw for tar or chute vent. Faster turning makes it easier to circle a ship (more than speed) and would mean you don't have to slow yourself down by using claw or spending precious stamina

The mobula nerf is depressing. I'm sad because it'll hurt some of my builds which rely on tight arcs with non 60 degree guns. It'll encourage the artemis meta and make it much harder for new players. Please just nerf the acceleration or hull/armor or something besides relegating it to a ranged only ship

[GurasOguras]

Am I weird or hwacha actually doesn't work as described for me? I still can shoot only few bullets in dev app sandbox practice.

[Byron Cavendish]

I was actually the one who suggested it. The thread-and reactions-are in the Feedback and Suggestions forums. I'm interested to hear your opposition. I thought it increases gunner skill-cap, while still keeping it useful for noobs, because you have to aim better to avoid wasted shots. It gives the gun an actual skill-cap.

Sure, you do need to aim pretty good to hit with the hwacha. That's why good gunners use a few missiles to get a trajectory feel and then semi-automatic fire it for full effect. That is using the patience, knowledge and skill needed to operate the gun. What new players (your angryjoes) like to do, is hop on, look at the enemy for two seconds and then fire an entire clip without thinking. So instead of pushing them to the "best you can be" standard, we've nerfed it so that you have to fire like you are brand new to the hwacha. This doesn't promote better aiming, or how to get better. It nerfs vets to an even playing field with new players. There is some skill involved in anticipating your shots (if you are really, really good) sure, but this isn't a huge skill thing that's gonna result.

[DrTentacles]

A newbie will empty a clip, and miss, unless they're very, very close. Someone who has practiced will empty a clip, and hit.

Currently, the ability to use shots as tracers means that it requires very little actual skill to use at a high level. The only skill required is simple knowledge of "how to use a gun." It isn't hard to fire. There's very little difference between someone who's spent 20 hours on a hwatcha, and someone's who spent 50.

The Guns community as a whole needs to stop comparing themselves to raw newbies when trying to assess the skill cap of a gun or ship, and compare themselves to other vets. There should always be a difference between an experienced player and a newbie, but for a game to be competitive, there needs to be a difference between a proficient/competent player, and a great one. 

The mobula nerf is depressing. I'm sad because it'll hurt some of my builds which rely on tight arcs with non 60 degree guns. It'll encourage the artemis meta and make it much harder for new players. Please just nerf the speed or acceleration or something besides relegating it to a ranged only ship

You can still do close-range mobulas. You just have to rely on the inner guns. A nerf to speed or acceleration would relegate it to a simple weapons platform. Currently, it's a better junker. Good at everything, with many more potential gun combinations. If there's a problem with the Artemis meta, it's because the Artemis is the best long-range gun.

[Byron Cavendish]

The only time when this will come into play is at 600-700m+, when you need to switch to heavy to be at your most effective.

I just don't understand that logic behind this. Artillery experts have been firing gauging shots since the catapult to dial in accuracy. There is skill, and then patience, planning and strategy have to take over.

When I first started playing naval action, I was full volley firing my cannons everytime, and I did terrible. Then I learned that the space bar shoots a single cannonball. Suddenly I was firing a few cannonballs to dial in my shots, and then ripping into my opponent with a full volley of cannon-y goodness. I was rewarded for my patience and tactical use with more accuracy. I was punished when I just opened up (even when aiming carefully).

This isn't a matter of skill, it's a matter of using a gun intelligently. That's what this has taken away. By this logic, every gun should fully automatically empty its clip. Every gun takes skill after all. If we're no longer using numbers to balance guns, might as well make em all work the same.

[DrTentacles]

Hwatchas, however, traditionally use burst fire. They do not use marking shots. They are the ultimate in spray-and-pray. If there's any weapon that lore-wise, it makes sense to burst fire, it would be the hwatcha.


Also, the Spire can't use a single OP heavy weapon as a crutch. It needs buffs vastly beyond any problems with guns to be viable. Massive exposed hull, exposed componants, and meaningless vertical acceleration keep it from being viable at long range. At close, it's obvious that muse doesn't really know how to handle Heavy Weapons from a design POV, as they can't balance them so they work on every ships that mounts them. What's good for a Goldfish makes a Spire broken, and so forth. Massive re-designs are needed.