Patch: February 8th, balance, misc feature improvements, new maps

[lamster]

February 8th, 2012

New official map: ball_skylands (thanks Nikon)
New official map: ball_reef (thanks Nikon)

Rubberized Hull (and Bouncy Walls) - extra damage from explodet reduced from 10% to 7%
Miranda (All Forms) - teleport damage area of effect length decreased by about 5% (no longer extends significantly beyond tail and head of jump points), width decreased by 3%
Miranda (Laser) - increased duration by 10% (same total damage over longer time)
Miranda (Time Anchor) - (TBD mode only) - when carrying the big bomb the time anchor's maximum length decreases by 42% over 7 seconds
Bomber (Bombs) - increased splash radius by 2%, increased percentage of damage dealt as splash (direct reduced from 30 to 20, splash increased from 60 to 70), reduced self-damage from splash by 25%

Added "drop" console command -- just like 'kick' but does not add a 2 minute ban
Added "/captureMode 4" -- similar to captureMode 1 but also shows team changes (X joined the Red Team) and server event popups (Y Bombed Base! 31 damage)
Updated "testTargetFps" console command -- now saves changes to the config file and automatically disables vsync (e.g. to permanently switch to 250 fps: press F1 to open console, testTargetFps 250 -- to switch back to vsync + default refresh rate: testTargetFps -1)

"Free" bomb icons (indicating bombs that are falling freely after its carrier has died) now render with black borders
"Neutral" bombs now render with a neutral color instead of the active player's color (Yellow, Orange, or Pink -- depending on active team colors)
Experience gained this round (from kills and assists) is now used as the tiebreaker for all awards (e.g. if several players score exactly 50 kills, the "most deadly" award goes to the player who scored higher value kills and earned more assists)

Scoreboard: color blind mode [forces colors to Red vs Blue] now shows original team names on scoreboard instead of Left vs Right, e.g. *Green vs *Yellow
Scoreboard: muted players now show a red "m" next to their name (replacing the red *), friended players now show a green "+" next to their name (replacing the green *)

Editor screenshots (Export -> View Screenshot, Export -> Collapsed Screenshot) are now saved to the directory ~Altitude/editor_screenshots
Removed Facebook integration. All users now automatically receive the 100 community points previously associated with Facebook linking.

Fixed a rare bug that caused the Miranda's Time Anchor to warp outside the map bounds resulting in death

[ryebone]

Where's the "Reverse thrust has been removed from the game" update?

[blocknight]

In another castle.

Also yay skylands

[Jesus]

The improvements to colour blind mode is great appreciated.

[RedLight]

Thanks for the update. I hesitate to say that the laser is completely fixed, but it's much more balanced that it was before.

I know that I will, as an avid participator in coop, enjoy the update to the domber. Nothing quite like killing yourself with your own dombs, right?

[Nikon]

Yeah lamster, you rock!

[Hollywood]

Thanks for the laser buff. ^_^

[XX1]

Originally Posted by hollywood

thanks for the laser buff. ^_^

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^6666

[adderall]

there are so many good changes here i won't bother commenting on all of them.

just saying thanks for continuing to fix random stuff like the color blind team names. DICE and EA could learn something from you about how to handle their communities.

[malakas]

Originally Posted by ryebone

Where's the "Reverse thrust has been removed from the game" update?

Its at your moms house.

[MajorPayne257]

Originally Posted by adderall

there are so many good changes here i won't bother commenting on all of them.

just saying thanks for continuing to fix random stuff like the color blind team names. DICE and EA could learn something from you about how to handle their communities.

Hah...it's scary how true this is.

Thanks for the patch Karl and Lam!

[JimladSeraph]

What does "extra damage from explodet" mean exactly? Is this some sort of explo nerf?

[elxir]

Originally Posted by JimladSeraph

What does "extra damage from explodet" mean exactly? Is this some sort of explo nerf?

Explodet does bonus damage to Rubber Hull.

[JimladSeraph]

Originally Posted by elxir

Explodet does bonus damage to Rubber Hull.

So does this affect self-damage to rubber hulled wahels?

[wolf'j'max]

woohoow! all i can say for now.

[soccernamlak]

Thanks for the update!

Most of the updates I understand the need for....

The only question I have (being more of a Ball person than TBD) is the TA distance decrease in TBD mode while carrying the bomb.

I guess because a 42% decrease in warp distance seems excessive; was TA Randa in TBD that overpowered when carrying to necessitate that sort of action?

I mean no offense; I am genuinely curious as a non-TBD player.

[Lone Wolf]

Originally Posted by lamster

Fixed a rare bug that caused the Miranda's Time Anchor to warp outside the map bounds resulting in death

I love you. <3

[A Nipple]

its not a laser buff, its a nerf if anything. it last longer but spreads the same damage over a longer period. meaning if u want to come out of cover and kill an explod u cant do it as quickly.

[CmdrNoval]

Great patch! Nice Bomber mods and TBD Free & Neutral bomb rendering....

[Ribilla]

Originally Posted by A Nipple

its not a laser buff, its a nerf if anything. it last longer but spreads the same damage over a longer period. meaning if u want to come out of cover and kill an explod u cant do it as quickly.

^^^ You now deliver the damage over 0.9 seconds instead of over 0.8 seconds, so it's a nerf because the total damage remains constant. If it takes about a second to charge the laser I think it equates to about ~5% less damage over time and 10% less damage rate while you're actually firing your laser.

[Kennedy]

It also gives you more time to adjust your aim.

[Disilord]

Originally Posted by lamster

February 8th, 2012
Miranda (All Forms) - teleport damage area of effect length decreased by about 5% (no longer extends significantly beyond tail and head of jump points), width decreased by 3%I was like no thanks.
Miranda (Laser) - increased duration by 10% (same total damage over longer time)But then i was like, YES!
Miranda (Time Anchor) - (TBD mode only) - when carrying the big bomb the time anchor's maximum length decreases by 42% over 7 secondsAnd then I got even more happy!

See Italicized ^^^
Thanks lamster!

[rojo]

Originally Posted by Ribilla

^^^ You now deliver the damage over 0.9 seconds instead of over 0.8 seconds, so it's a nerf because the total damage remains constant. If it takes about a second to charge the laser I think it equates to about ~5% less damage over time and 10% less damage rate while you're actually firing your laser.

I think they're inferring that people who aren't able to immediately lock the laser on their target would benefit from the new damage distribution. Now if it takes you 0.1 seconds to lock on, you'll be doing more damage over the new time. I think this ends up being a roughly 10% increase, but I'm bad at math and did it in my head. Of course if you're perfect everytime then yea, its a nerf.

EDIT: There are probably a litany of other things I'm not including in this post and I recognize that.

[Hollywood]

Originally Posted by rojo

I think they're inferring that people who aren't able to immediately lock the laser on their target would benefit from the new damage distribution. Now if it takes you 0.1 seconds to lock on, you'll be doing more damage over the new time. I think this ends up being a roughly 10% increase, but I'm bad at math and did it in my head. Of course if you're perfect everytime then yea, its a nerf.

EDIT: There are probably a litany of other things I'm not including in this post and I recognize that.

The only idiot one to realize that it buffs your control. Thank god.

[Ribilla]

Originally Posted by Hollywood

The only idiot one to realize that it buffs your control. Thank god.

If a laser isn't hitting you when he starts firing, he's a crappy laser. It's a hitscan weapon.

[elxir]

If you use mouse control, it's a negligible nerf. Barely. Debatable. I think? If you don't, it's a buff.

[Ribilla]

Originally Posted by elxir

If you use mouse control, it's a negligible nerf. Barely. Debatable. I think? If you don't, it's a buff.

I think 10% makes the difference vs lights, (i.e. randa v randa/loopy) but not that much vs heavies. It's much easier to win as the trick in a trick v laser now.

[tyr]

Originally Posted by lamster

Added "/captureMode 4" -- similar to captureMode 1 but also shows team changes (X joined the Red Team) and server event popups (Y Bombed Base! 31 damage)

This should be nice. Thank you.

[sunshineduck]

Originally Posted by elxir

If you use mouse control, it's a negligible nerf. Barely. Debatable. I think? If you don't, it's a buff.

well no, because laser doesn't lock on to enemy planes once it makes contact. it's a nerf to when you only hit laser for a fraction of the time (i.e when an enemy light flies overhead and you only have 0.X seconds of damage you can do before he flies away). as far as how effective it is, that remains to be seen.

[shrode]

omg randas got nerfed. maybe i'll come play again.

[A Nipple]

Originally Posted by shrode

omg randas got nerfed. maybe i'll come play again.

please do. i noticed u were offline for like 60 days or something silly yesterday which made me sad.

Also, Just a suggestion. Is there possibility of having a search bar for friends? And be able to leave a message when they are offline so they get it when next online?

the biggest flaw is that people could spam. But maybe a limiter of like 2 messages whilst there offline. Then once they have received the message when they login it is reset to 2.

[TwistedDuck]

Mute icon doesn't look so great, should make it - (minus) imo

[TwistedDuck]

Originally Posted by A Nipple

please do. i noticed u were offline for like 60 days or something silly yesterday which made me sad.

Also, Just a suggestion. Is there possibility of having a search bar for friends? And be able to leave a message when they are offline so they get it when next online?

the biggest flaw is that people could spam. But maybe a limiter of like 2 messages whilst there offline. Then once they have received the message when they login it is reset to 2.

+1 to this! great idea

[CCN]

Feeling like a broken record now but can acid at least have the time refresh on planes that fly through it twice?

[Luigi]

What about a cool thumbnail for the bots? not always that ugly ace 0 lvl 1 logo!!

[Flexio]

Originally Posted by lamster

New official map: ball_skylands (thanks Nikon)
New official map: ball_reef (thanks Nikon)

I have already spoke to Karl about this: I feel tbd_leaf is ready to be an official map. I find it somewhat irksome that two ball maps with roughly 25 days of existence have become official so soon. :/ I'll keep making TBD maps, but especially with this update it really feels like you are giving a lot less thought to the TBD official maps.

[A Nipple]

Originally Posted by Luigi

What about a cool thumbnail for the bots? not always that ugly ace 0 lvl 1 logo!!

like a bot head logo!

[naethy]

Originally Posted by CCN

Feeling like a broken record now but can acid at least have the time refresh on planes that fly through it twice?

This.

Otherwise though, love the patch <3. The increased info for off-screen bombs is awesome. And the TA nerf in TBD is appreciated. For the record, I don't play tbd competitively, but the few times that I did I felt like TA was very op. Just my 2 cents, don't want to start a debate.

=slight=

[Tekn0]

I'm disappointed with the trickster reduced hitbox & damage nerf (for Ball), don't really mind Lazer being nerfed in TBD but why touch trickster too (and that too for ball)??

trickster is not as OP as lazer was in TBD, it's not like you see teams regularly with 3 or 4 randas and people complaining about randas ALL the time.

Princess Squirtle already posted in the other thread the reason, I also think it's bad, the forward/backward kills with warp with Turbo while moving with the ball held is not something most randas do, this is just punishing randas that do it. This won't be noticed by Ultracap randas, lazers or TAs because their playstyle is different.

Anyway I'm not complaining about the nerf just expressing my observation and thoughts on it. I guess I just have to find ways to adapt my playstyle, but it's definitely a noticeable nerf for me.

[wolf'j'max]

tekn0, i was killing a lot of people with my warps. i did it intentionally. there's nothing different in those playstyles, it's just a chance you take. And really, the nerf isn't really noticeable if you were warping right, like you should have been.