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PLANNED HONEYCOMB CHANGES


NQ-Nyota

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Hello, Noveans,

 

This is NQ-Entropy here to talk about our upcoming honeycomb HP and mass rebalance.

 

We know that our current system doesn’t serve the game well and we want to improve it. We are changing the way that honeycomb masses work, specifically, we are detaching them from their base material mass and unifying honeycomb masses into categories. We will also change how honeycomb HP is calculated and rebalance resistances across the board.

We also want to invite your thoughts on the proposed changes. The honeycomb mass and hp system impacts almost every area of Dual Universe, from shipbuilding to piloting and PvP. There’ll be an image at the end outlining the details of our proposed changes and a feedback thread where we want to hear your thoughts.

 

Now, let’s dive into the details.

 

SEPARATING HONEYCOMB MASS FROM ITS BASE MATERIAL 

 

In the past, our baseline for the weight of our honeycomb materials was directly based on their base pure and product materials. While a calculation was made to transform it into “honeycomb mass”, it was a straight transformation. 

 

For example: currently, the unit mass for a liter of Pure aluminum is 2.7kg, making its honeycomb mass 27kg for 1m3 (1000L). If a material weighs 2.2kg, its honeycomb mass would be 22kg/1m3.

 

This will no longer be the case, and we will take some liberties when transforming pure and product materials into honeycomb. This will allow us a wider range of weights, with a better distribution of weights at all tiers.

 

While we are taking precautions, this will have an effect on existing constructs. There are certain materials that will relatively drastically change in weight, and that could have an effect on existing constructs. We are actively trying to match the new and old masses as closely as possible, but there will be some outliers. It's worth noting that some materials will also benefit from weight reductions.

 

UNIFYING HONEYCOMB MASSES

 

To summarize, each pure honeycomb tier can access four mass classes: very light, light, heavy, and very heavy. Each existing pure material will take one of these 4 mass slots per tier.

 

Each product honeycomb will have 2 weight classes: light and heavy, with the addition of a special very light honeycomb at tier 1 for plastic. Similarly, each existing product honeycomb will take a light or heavy slot per tier.

 

Finally, we will have building materials such as Concrete, Brick, Wood, Carbon-Fiber, Marble, and Luminescent. These will have exceptionally light weights and are designed to be used explicitly for building with minimal mass.

 

Currently, our proposed values go as low as 2-3kg/m3 for the lightest building honeycomb and up to 100kg/m3 for Very Heavy Pures, which are now the heaviest honeycomb in the game.

 

HEALTHPOINT CALCULATIONS

 

Pre-combat core stress and pre-Shields, we had linear honeycomb HP based on mass. At that time, the meta was huge blocks of indestructible gold capable of absorbing massive amounts of punishment. This was possible in high part due to our poor initial voxel balancing, which specifically made gold a significant outlier. In an effort to curb that strategy, we made a number of changes to voxel health, firstly drastically reducing honeycomb HP and eventually introducing CCS. By the time that was done, Shields had taken over, and voxels were sparsely used on PvP constructs. Additionally, we now also have to consider the new speed limitations in the mass vs HP choice when it comes to honeycomb.

 

Now, with unified masses that we can better control and with CCS to control the extreme upper end, we are bringing back linear calculation of honeycomb HP based on mass. Simply put, a multiplier is applied to the voxel mass, which defines the HP of that material.

 

This will allow players to select light and heavy materials without feeling like there is a bad tradeoff in regards to their mass and their HP.

 

Currently, the mass to HP multiplier is set to 45. For the aforementioned very heavy materials of 100kg/L, that will give you 4500 raw HP.

 

REBALANCING RESISTANCE

 

We are not fundamentally changing how resistances work but are adjusting their values across the board. Resistances are generally increasing to provide better absorption and superior effective HP compared to previous iterations.

 

Resistances will still go up on a tier-by-tier basis, with building materials having the lowest resistances, then pures, and finally, high-tier products, which will have the best resistances.

 

We paid attention to two numbers in particular: Effective Healthpoints and Effective Healthpoints per unit of mass.

 

First, we wanted effective health points to make sense. We wanted honeycomb bulkheads to be capable of absorbing real firepower, and we wanted honeycomb to be good enough to protect elements inside a construct. While the final values and balancing may not be perfect, this is currently something that is starting to work. We’ve run tests with honeycomb bulkheads about a meter thick, roughly representing the armor on a medium-sized ship, and it was more than capable of absorbing multiple hits from max talented L weapons and protecting the elements we had placed behind them. Only after a good amount of shots did holes appear and elements behind start being vulnerable.

 

We ran multiple tests and generally found that they aligned with our expectations. Lower EHP materials were relevant vs xs and s weaponry but rapidly fell to larger weapons, medium EHP honeycomb was relevant versus medium-sized weapons, while high EHP honeycomb was capable of taking hits from large weapons.

 

Secondly, we wanted an EHP/mass curve that made sense as you progress up the material tiers. As of right now, going up a tier of a pure or a product guarantees a superior EHP/mass ratio with high-tier products having the best ratio on offer. This should ensure that going up a tier and upgrading your construct to a superior material is never a bad choice.

 

Finally, a small note on Core Combat Stress. It is currently unchanged as the tests we made noted the new honeycomb values lined up well with the old CCS settings. In view of that it is also a case of not wanting to change too many parameters at once so that in case of further iterations, it is easier to identify issues for tweaking.

 

FEEDBACK

 

It’s important to us that we get this rebalance right. Honeycomb’s role in PvP has impacted players significantly from the beta’s start. These changes will also impact many other areas of gameplay such as shipbuilding by altering honeycomb mass. Before implementing these changes, we want to invite your thoughts, especially on the numbers. If you have opinions on how we’re rebalancing honeycomb, please share them with us in this forum thread.

 

Here is the full breakdown of the proposed changes:

 

HC Changes.png

 

We look forward to hearing from you, Noveans.

 

Until next time, thank you for your attention.

 

- NQ Entropy

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