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DEVBLOG: PVP COMMUNIQUÉ


NQ-Deckard

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Okay, PvPers, this one’s for you! 

 

As foretold in The Future of Dual Universe Part 3: Finding the Fun and the recently-published 2021 roadmap, we’re adding some new toys to your arsenal and making some of the existing toys even better. 

 

These changes will come over time and in waves. Here’s what you can expect in the first pass as part of the Apollo (0.26) update, now available on our public test server


New PvP element: Shield generators
Shield generators serve as the first layer of protection for dynamic constructs during combat. Shields will absorb damage until depleted, at which point they will stay depleted until the end of combat as defined by the combat timer. Future plans will bring shields into play for space core units, but for now, they will only be available on dynamic constructs. 

 

These elements come in sizes XS through L with different shield strengths respective to their size and are not restricted to core sizes.

 

This is the V1 technical phase of introducing shields, making sure that the foundation is solid before more bells and whistles are added.


Honeycomb Health Points
Adjustments to honeycomb HP--rebalanced and significantly reduced--have been done in the context of the implementation of shields and the weapons rebalance. With these changes, we should see a general reduction in fight duration with a faster time to construct destruction (TTCD).

 

Specifically, gold has been brought back in line. While still technically the highest HP honeycomb, it will now come at a serious mass cost compared to other options. This should open new options in honeycomb selection when building ships and reduce the feeling of “gold or nothing” players may currently sometimes feel.


Weapons adjustments

We found that the disparity between the smallest and largest weapons DPS was too great. This made it difficult to justify using anything other than L weapons. While L weapons previously did roughly eight times more damage than XS weapons, they will now only do just under three times more damage than their smallest cousins. 

 

Revised damage per second:

  • XS weapons: On average, extra small weaponry will do 2.5 to 3 times more DPS.
  • S weapons: On average, small weaponry will do 1.75 to 2 times more DPS.
  • M weapons: On average, medium weaponry will do 1.5 times more DPS.
  • L weapons: On average, large weaponry will do about the same DPS.

 

In regards to DPS, larger weapons of the same type will take more time to cycle, allowing larger weapons to keep hitting hard per round, at the cost of rate of fire.

 

Lastly, adjustments have been made on various other parameters, such as reload times and weapon capacity, to help balance overall damage output, and how it feels to use.

 

We hope this brings more diversity to the offensive options you have when building ships and allowing more space for smaller ships and weapons.

 

Cones

Weapon cones’ optimal and falloff values have been augmented by about three times (with the exception of missiles). This change was based on feedback from the community who said that weapon cones felt too limiting and restricted flexibility when designing ships. 

 

We hope this allows more options when placing different weapon types, having more weapons that approach similar levels of flexibility to missiles with weapons like lasers and cannons having a much wider range of operation. Railguns will remain relatively limited as a heavy sniping platform but will still enjoy more cone than before.

 

Tracking

Tracking on weapons is the ability to reliably track and hit targets. Weapons with improved tracking will generally have better chances of hitting targets, especially smaller and faster ones.

 

There was always an intention that smaller ships should be able to evade damage from larger guns. In practice, this was not the case as L-based ships easily dispatched smaller constructs at various ranges. 

 

To help correct this, tracking has been significantly decreased across the board by about half on every weapon. These initial adjustments will help, but likely not suffice in helping smaller ships survive combat engagements. We will continue to look at other options for further iteration in future updates and already have plans on the subject.

 

As a parting comment on weapon balance, please note that this is more of a global rebalance to address macro issues we had across the board to set a healthier base. Expect more specific adjustments to come later for specific weapon changing and balancing as more PVP-focused releases are done in the future. 

 

Opinions Wanted

As noted above, and in nearly all of our communications, player feedback is always welcomed and encouraged. Particularly as these changes are on PTS where you can experience them first-hand, your opinions go a long way in helping us make needed adjustments before Apollo (0.26) debuts on the live server. Please take a moment to share your thoughts in this thread.
 

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