First let’s take a look at the changes of missiles. One of the most important innovations at all technical levels is that from now on the missile speeds scale according to the level of the ship just like projectile speeds.
Missiles
Tactical warhead
This type of missiles belongs to a very fast and manoeuvrable ship - interceptor: covert ops. It wasn’t convenient in attacking small and fast aims and the cassette volume of it was too small. In order to eliminate the drawbacks it was decided to reduce the active time, increase the damage, extend the explosion radius and to protect the warheads from the anti-missile system of frigates:covert ops. The frigate changes are presented below.
Energy-neutralizing missile
The long staying visual effect of this missile in the battle field was disturbing the allies. The missile itself is used extremely seldom because of its ineffectiveness. That is why we decided to increase its one time damage and the impact of interaction, but to decrease the radius.
Slowing field missiles
The missile appeared not as efficient as expected due to its long action time and low damage. After the tests it was decided to increase the damage make the slowing effect more powerful. To keep the balance some of the characteristics were changed, so the radius and the duration of the slowing effect will be reduced.
Firestorm
The cassette of these missiles didn’t allow fighters to use it properly. To increase the efficiency and give the fighters more effective options it was decided to enhance almost all the characteristics of the storm: range, rate of fire in a volley,damage and travelling speed.
Cruise missile
After numerous tests it was decided that the general damage was not sufficient so an extra missile was added to the cassette.
EM torpedo
Quite frequently the situation arose when the frigate launched a torpedo and it exploded immediately when the enemy was near the frigate.From now on the torpedo will not explode immediately as there will be a small explosion delay. Nevertheless the torpedo can be exploded when it meets an obstacle. To balance that the torpedo’s damage will be increased. The minefield is now available to all frigates and should be used to fight interception.
Minefield and the mine
In the current version all the minefields are painted red, regardless of who set them - an ally of an enemy frigate. After the update the enemy mines will be painted red and ally mines - green. As it will change the efficiency of mines in battles it is decided to slightly increase the number in one cassette and to leave the recharging time as it is.We tried to add the mine field effect in such a way that the mines around the enemy explode more often and less powerfully. As the minefield is absolutely necessary for fighting interceptors it is now available to all the frigates.
Anomaly generator
Previously its damage didn’t match the visual effect, that’s why the generator was transferred from thermal to EM damage. Besides this weakens the high concentration of thermal damages in the game universe.
Attack drone and the dooms missile
This weapon was previously available at all technological levels. This enabled more experienced gamers to have a technical advantage in the game at lower ranks. Now these modules are available only at the higher ranks. The attack drones still exceed the frigate fight drones and will not be changed while the one time damage of the dooms missiles will be increased.
Plasma small missile
These missiles demonstrated their ineffectiveness because of the EM shield popularity. To begin with we increased the damage and the speed.
Weapons
The changes here were based on the feedback from the players.
Destructor
Many people complained to us about the full control of the beacons with help of this weapon. However this control is a feature of the weapon but there is a safe radius. This is why it was decided to decrease the cloud radius and slightly enhance the damage.
Mortar
There are plenty of mortars used in the fights.We’ve got the impression that the frigates don’t an alternative weapon. As it is quite simple to master a gun and is not difficult to hit the target, it is decided to do the fix that will not effect the damage — to decrease the explosion radius.
Scatter gun
On the contrary the gun is seldom used in the fights. Still we would like to keep the weapons simple for usage, but to provide alternatives.
The kinetic supercharger, the beam cannon and the RF blaster
These weapons showed low effectiveness in the fights of lower ranks. It was decided to increase the damage of the supercharger and the cannon, but to decrease the overheating and scattering of the blaster.
Modules
The players’ and testers’ opinions revealed the necessity to adjust the modules.
Spy drones
In the current game reality it is very easy to get rid of them, the recharging time is very long, so their ineffectiveness is clear, that is the reason to decrease the recharging time and the energy consumption.
Self-destruct
The low popularity of this module was explained by the inevitable death of the ship after the usage. We decided that that scenario doesn’t fit our game universe. That is why a new MECHANIC was created: after the activation all the ships in the area will be damaged but the bearing ship will have a chance to survive.
System hack
A new visual effect is added to give a perception of who and when activates the module, so that the enemy understands if the modules should be used or not. Previously it was impossible.
Guard drone
This module is simple in use and quite effective. After multiple tests it is decided to reduce the projectile speed and the maximum and optimal distance of shooting for keeping the balance.
Warp gate
They are rarely used because of the long recharging time. It is decided to make it usable avoid turning it into the module of survival for the engineering frigate just like a jump of long-range frigate. Also this gate appears a bit further from the ship.
Static barrier
Low durability and long recharging time made this module inconvenient for use. Therefore it is decided to decrease the recharging and add durability.
Spectre field
The module was too complicated for players and was used in well built teams only.That is why it was decided to replace the possibility to pass the shield with usual regeneration. The players still can make their allies invisible.
IR pulsar
The long active time didn’t allow to the enemy to capture the target. The player was vulnerable too long. The time was decreased.
A1MA
The module showed low effectiveness and wasn’t used as expected, i.e. defense of big ships for casual players. Now the module can be used for frigates and fighters due to the energy reserve. In the same time the decrease of the action radius will enable the enemies the leave shooting area more quickly.
Engineer’s drones
The tests showed that the durability was low so it was increased.
Multiphase shield adapter
The change in the module mechanic is caused by a lot of energy not used by the ship.Поэтому решено было дать возможность танковать щитами при помощи емкости энергоблока - now the extra energy gives more resistance.
Mass shield generator
It is decided to simplify the use of the module and make it active by default to avoid the unpleasant situations when the frigate pilot to switch them off. Besides the module still has a possibility to instantly restore the hull or shield durability for the pilot or the allies. The regeneration will depend on the remained energy of the engineering frigate.
Garm
The changes of the technical characteristics will only be made to one ship — the engineering frigate of Empire Garm.
This ship only has got a bonus to increase the durability of the engineering modules by 100%. It is decided that this bonus is not effective and it is available to only one engineer, it is worth changing it for another one. More information will be available in the patchnote.
This is a full list of balance adjustments of the upcoming update and soon you will be able to try them in our game universe.
Looking forward to your comments!
Sincerely,
Star Conflict Team