June 12, 2018 Update

'''All PC servers will be taken offline for an update at 6 AM PT on Tuesday, June 12, 2018. Downtime is expected to last up to 2 hours.'''

''“Warp Gate power draws 30% higher than normal, stability compromised, early theories of power degradation proving relevant. Need to investigate power conversion requirements. Back up matrix in case of failure.” - Journal entry from unknown member of Terran Republic Science, Recovery, and Exploration division.''

Continent Events
Your faction needs you. New continent “events” have been added to diversify gameplay, reward your victories, and shape your future.

When Warpgates stabilize, they will now enter a charging phase for a few hours. While Warpgates are charging, special events will fire off periodically. Events are similar to alerts, but will not lock the continent upon completion. The rewards will vary, so will the gameplay.

Maybe your faction needs you to investigate anomalies appearing over the continent, or maybe your faction needs to ramp up power production by controlling more Amp Stations, or maybe your continent is receiving a special visit from a blackmarket trader.

For the launch of these continent events, we’ll be bringing back the old Facility control alerts and adding an all new event - the Aerial Anomaly. When a continent’s Warpgates are charging, facility events send you to control the most facilities of a certain type before the 30 minute timer runs out. During an Aerial Anomaly event, your faction asks that you gather readings while in proximity of the anomalies appearing high above the continent. During this event, all air vehicles are free!

Events are pulled randomly from a pool, and we’ll be adding even more event types in the next update.

Meltdown
HIVEs are gone, and are no longer needed to trigger a Meltdown alert. Once Warpgates are charged (and only when they are charged,) the first faction to reach 41% territory control will trigger a Meltdown alert. Unlike the previous version of Meltdown, the triggering faction no longer needs to win the alert in order to lock the continent. In this version, whichever faction has the most territory control at the end of the now 1 hour and 30 minute alert will claim victory over the continent, and rain fire from the sky.

KoltyrVR

 * ESF and Valkyrie have been re-enabled for use in Koltyr VR.
 * Koltyr will no longer inherit the skybox of the area the player zoned in from.

Amerish Lattice Changes

 * The Auger now has a lattice link connecting to Ikanam Garrison.
 * Ikanam Garrison and Ikanam Triage Station are no longer connected by a lattice link.
 * Ikanam Triage and Ikanam Motor Pool are no longer connected by a lattice link.
 * Ikanam Garrison and Ikanam Motor Pool are no longer connected by a lattice link.
 * Radar detection now works on all levels of Ikanam.
 * Dev Note: These changes ensure players go through Ikanam to progress any further down the lattice.

Construction
The construction system has received a major update which aims to create more interaction for builders and less frustration when attacking. We’ve moved away from bases that can be maintained by a singular player, and more toward a group building mentality, requiring maintenance and support.



Cortium Costs
Most construction objects have received large reductions in the cortium cost to place them, these reductions in the ballpark of 50% to 70% on all objects. Since our focus is more about maintaining bases, we wanted to reduce the initial barrier to getting one up and running, especially while playing with a group.

Cert pricing
We’ve reduced the unlock price on a few of the more crucial schematics:
 * Repair Module from 1000 certs to 500 certs.
 * Elysium Spawn Tube from 1500 certs to 500 certs.
 * Spear Tower from 1000 certs to 500 certs.

Exclusion Radius
We’ve streamlined the exclusion radius on construction objects so that modules now are only excluded by other modules of the same type, and the module radius has been reeled in to 25 meters for all modules. This way, there’s less confusion about which modules can go where, and players can now create “stashes” full of different module types at different areas of a base, instead of having to scatter them across the base.

Repair Module
No longer makes construction pieces invulnerable to damage, and now repairs structures at reasonably fast rate. The intent of the previous version of Repair Module was to prevent swarms of vehicles from taking down structures too quickly, the side effect of this was that a “well designed” base could take advantage of the invulnerability to create no way of sieging it at all, and it would simply exist until the Cortium ran dry. We’ve added new ways for bases to protect themselves from an incoming onslaught, and these methods all require players to take an active role in the base’s defense.

Building Decay
All structures now require a powered Cortium Silo nearby to ensure they do not decay, and structures themselves will decay much more quickly while unpowered. The new decay system ensures that rogue construction objects don’t last too long while unattended, and that careful planning and maintenance is needed to keep a base healthy.

Cortium Silo

 * Placing a Silo now costs 2000 Cortium, and this Cortium is transferred directly into the Silo.
 * Silos now slowly burn cortium over time.
 * The owner and squadmates now receive a warning when the silo’s cortium levels are below 1000.
 * You can no longer lock players from using your silo outright. Instead, a “cortium reserve” of 20000 has been added, which will prevent players from accessing your silo only when that threshold is reached and your ownership settings are enabled.
 * Silos no longer power enemy equipment.

Hardline Interference Volume Emitter

 * HIVEs have been removed from the game, as mentioned earlier.
 * HIVE efficiency map overlay has been removed.

Friendly Fire

 * “Soft” construction objects no longer receive damage from friendly fire.
 * “Hard” construction objects receive 30% damage from friendlies.

Siege Weapons
The Howler Mining Laser and the Yellowjacket Mining Laser now deal intense damage to enemy construction objects, in addition to their normal mining functionality. We hope this new feature gives player bases a risky and rewarding counter to heavily fortified construction bases.

Structure Shield Module

 * You can now interact with a powered module to now engage the Overcharge Shields functionality.
 * Overcharge Shields turns your large structures like walls, bunkers, and towers invulnerable to damage for a short time, giving you a chance to repair those structures while under fire.
 * Structure Shields now prevent splash damage from going through them.

Vehicle Gate Shield

 * The Structure Shield Module is no longer required to power the Vehicle Gate’s shield.
 * Vehicle Gate Shields now require Cortium to power them, similar to a module.
 * A single player may place up to two Vehicle Gate Shields, instead of only one.
 * Players can no longer fire small arms through vehicle gate shields.
 * Added more placement points to prevent abuse.

Skywall Shield Emitter
No longer lights infantry on fire. Infantry passing through the shield are now EMPed. Vehicles passing through the shield receive significantly more damage.

The Flail - Artillery Battery (New)
We’ve introduced a new support fire platform able to be constructed at player bases. The Flail fires a barrage of four anti-vehicle shells at a location designated by the player. A Flail requires an AI Module nearby, and for the owning player to pull the targeting device from object itself.

Spire structure types (New)
The Routing Spire and Pain Spire have been added to the construction system, and may be found under the Tactical category grouping. Spires are similar to modules, vulnerable to small arms fire, and share their exclusion radius with other spires.

Pain Spire
This Spire deals damage over time to nearby infantry and MAX units within 15 meters while powered. Try placing a pain spire near an object you want to keep infantry out of or away from, like an infantry tower or pillbox.

Routing Spire
When powered, the owner can access the spire to equip a Router deployable device. The Router acts as a deployable spawn point that can be placed indoors, within lattice bases, and allows public respawn access to players within 100 meters of it. If the Routing Spire loses power or is destroyed, the Router will be destroyed as well.

Orbital Strike

 * Can now be called down on lattice bases.
 * Players indoors may be knocked back (and potentially receive damage from the collision,) but receive no direct damage from the strike itself.
 * Orbital Strike now charges to maximum range in 15 minutes, down from an hour.
 * Orbital Strike can no longer be fired when the Silo is drained.
 * Orbital Strike now create a large explosion upon death.
 * Fixed an issue where the chassis could become practically indestructible.

Air Pads and Vehicle Pads

 * Air pads now provide ammunition for air vehicles.
 * Constructed air pads and vehicle pads can now be locked from use, and will adhere to the Silo’s cortium reserve rules.

Hoplon Anti-Air Turret

 * Turrets no longer attack or track or acquire targets past 500 meters when affected by AI Module.

Xiphos Anti-Infantry Turret

 * Cone of fire when affected by an AI Module has been increased.

Misc. Construction Changes

 * Nanite costs have been removed from vehicles spawned from Construction bases.
 * Construction objects have been reorganized in the ANT and Cortium Silo terminals.
 * Spitfire Auto-Turrets no longer target enemies through construction objects.
 * Vehicle Ramp’s prongs have been removed.
 * Rampart Wall’s staircase has been extended.
 * Fixed various construction related exploits.
 * Updated the message for binding to an Elysium Spawn Tube.

Squad Changes
These changes come as a part of a greater look at squads in the coming update.

Squad Creation

 * Single-player squads will no longer be disbanded when a second squad member joins and then leaves.
 * Squad Leaders now receive an error sound when doing an invalid squad action (like trying to invite players that are already squadded, or trying to create a platoon with too few squad members.)
 * Newly promote squad, platoon, and fireteam leaders now receive a message center screen notifying them.
 * Using the Squad Create button will immediately post your squad with enabled recruitment and a default recruitment message.

Squad Beacons

 * Will only appear in the squad leader’s loadout when there are at least two squad members.

/squad promoteme

 * The “/squad promoteme” command now has a hotkey option found in the Keybindings settings. This is not bound by default, but savvy squad leaders can rebind it at their leisure.
 * /squad promoteme should now work outside of alpha squad.

UI Improvements
Continued from the numerous squad UI improvements above, we’ve made more UI improvements touching other areas of the game.

Implant Screen
The Implant screen has received a new look, complete with upgrade and breakdown animations. Revisiting this screen not only let us improve the overall design, but was necessary to fix issues where the old implant screen would overwrite certain notifications (like those for receiving revives or continent queue pop-ups,) make the chat channel difficult to use, and sometimes stack multiple implants on top of one another. Additionally, we’ve made Implants able to be filtered by owned and unowned on the Loadout screen.



Motion Blur
A toggle for Motion Blur can once again be found on the Graphics settings page. This feature is performance intensive, and only works when the player’s graphical settings are High or Ultra. It may cause visual artifacts when interacting with different gameplay shaders. Use at your own risk.

Cooldown Timers for Vehicles
Vehicle abilities that require a cooldown will now display it both in first and third person. This replaces the flashing [WAITING] message that you would see while an ability was on cooldown.

Misc. UI Changes and Fixes

 * The forward slash key can now be rebound.
 * The character create screen's graphics and audio settings are now in parity with those in-game.
 * Comparing weapons in the loadout screen will no longer show the comparison prompt when selecting attachments.

New Weapons
A new set of Battle Rifles has arrived on Auraxis. These weapons focus on slow, paced shots with high accuracy at medium to long range. Battle Rifles are available to all non-Light Assault infantry classes, and each of these new weapons has a Fully Loaded Bundle in the Depot where you can unlock all of its attachments alongside the weapon itself.

MG-HBR1 Dragoon (Terran Republic Battle Rifle)
The first automatic battle rifle to enter the battlefield, the Dragoon combines stopping power with precision.

MGR-M1 Bishop (New Conglomerate Battle Rifle)
This finely tuned rifle uses special rounds which can pass through multiple infantry targets, dealing heavy damage along the way.

VE-LR Obelisk (Vanu Sovereignty Battle Rifle)
A heat based weapon, the Obelisk casts aside traditional ammunition requirements, while retaining versatility and damage.

Restoration Kit (Utility Item)

 * Healing no longer stacks with the Combat Medic’s Nano-Regen Device.
 * Description updated to reflect that the effect heals 70 health per second for 12 seconds.

C-4(Utility Item)

 * The C-4 detonator now has an updated model, and ARX C-4 uses an auraxium variant of this new model.
 * C-4 now uses a new icon.
 * C-4 now has a 0.5 second delay before the trigger press completes.

NS-44L Blackhand (Pistol)

 * Max damage range from 8m to 20m. Dev note: This change was proposed in an earlier update, but never made it Live.

Eidolon VE33, Warden, AMR-66 / Revenant, GD Guardian, DMR-99 (Battle Rifles)

 * Maximum ADS cone of fire while walking, crouching, standing, and crouchwalking from 3 to 0.3
 * Minimum ADS cone of fire while walking from 0.25 to 0.15
 * ADS CoF recovery rate from 20 to 100
 * Dev Note: These changes should make these battle rifles feel a bit more snappy and less punishing when maximizing their rate of fire.

99SV, Gauss SPR (Semi-Auto Sniper Rifles)

 * Maximum ADS cone of fire while standing or crouching from 2 to 0.15
 * ADS Cone of Fire recovery rate while standing or crouching from 20 to 100
 * ADS cone of fire bloom from 0.8 to 0.15
 * Maximum damage range from 10m to 50m
 * Minimum damage range from 80m to 150m

VA39 Spectre (Semi-Auto Sniper Rifle)

 * Maximum ADS cone of fire while standing or crouching from 2 to 0.15
 * ADS Cone of Fire recovery rate while standing or crouching from 20 to 100
 * Maximum damage range from 8m to 50m
 * ADS cone of fire bloom from 0.8 to 0.15

Misc. Infantry Changes and Fixes

 * Reserve Hardlight Barrier can now be repaired.
 * Reserve Hardlight Barrier can no longer be used without first unlocking the item.
 * NSX Tomoe now shows firing mode as "Auto" instead of "Semi-Auto".
 * TS2 Inquisitor now shows firing mode as "2x Burst/Semi-Auto" instead of "Semi-Auto"
 * Medical Kit's description now states that it restores 500 health.
 * Combat Medic's Nano-Regen Device description now states its heal rate and effective range.
 * MAX unit’s Ammo Storage Container ability now grants the correct amount of ammunition for all weapons.
 * Carapace implant now works with Regeneration Implant.

Anchored Mode (Prowler)

 * Anchored Mode is now integrated into the Prowler by default, and certs have been refunded.
 * Anchored Mode no longer increases reload speed.
 * Anchored Mode's velocity bonus has been increased from 30% to 50%.

Barrage (Prowler)

 * Prowler now has access to the "Barrage" utility slot ability.
 * While active, the Prowler’s main cannon reload speed is increased by 30% for a period of time.
 * This ability can be used while the vehicle is moving (or in conjunction with Anchored Mode.)
 * Dev Note: Integrating Anchored Mode lends some more faction flavor to the Prowler, while giving the Prowler a more versatile empire ability at the same time.

MR11 Gatekeeper (Prowler and TR Harasser top gun)

 * Minimum velocity from 225 to 300 (Projectiles immediately start at full velocity.)
 * Reload speed from 3000 to 3200
 * Damage from 85 to 100
 * Cone of Fire maximum from 0.4 to 0.35 (Harasser)
 * Dev Note: Bumping up the alpha damage and reload times quickens the weapon's time to kill against MBTs by about 2.5 seconds, while keeping Harasser time to kill the same (or better, if composite armor is equipped.) Removing the projectile acceleration should also make it easier to deliver a full payload over longer distances, and the cone of fire buff for the Harasser version should push its effective range a bit closer to the Prowler's. Overall the weapon will still have less effective range and reliability than a skillful Halberd user, but should have stronger hard benefits for its intended role now.

Aphelion VEX-4 (Magrider and VS Harasser top gun)

 * Max damage range from 20m to 40m (Magrider)
 * Min damage range from 50m to 80m (Magrider)
 * Max damage range from 10m to 25m (Harasser)
 * Min damage range from 50m to 75m (Harasser)
 * Min damage from 125 to 143 (Harasser)
 * Aphelion crescent beams now pierce through vehicles and infantry, passing through up to 2 targets total.
 * Crescent wave no longer has damage fall-off, and now deals 800 damage at all ranges. (The previous damage model was 800@20m to 680@50m.)
 * Crescent wave projectile lifespan from 7sec. to 1sec., this limits the crescent's range to 300m.
 * Dev Note: We've extended the damage ranges a bit to make the damage over time more consistently, and bump it out for ranges players typically tend to fall into when making use of these weapons. For the Aphelion, we also wanted to give the crescent wave some more niche usage with our new piercing tech, and give it a bit more umph beyond 20 meters while preventing abuse at long range.

G30 Vulcan (Prowler and TR Harasser top gun)

 * Max damage range from 10m to 25m (Harasser)
 * Min damage range from 25 to 100m (Harasser)
 * Max damage range from 10m to 40m (Prowler)
 * Min damage range from 25 to 100m (Prowler)
 * Maximum refire rate from 100ms to 80ms after 1sec.
 * Dev Note: Like the Aphelion, the Vulcan's range is extended to allow for more damage output at typical engagement ranges. In addition, we've increased the weapon's maximum rate of fire to give it a more competitive advantage when training fire on the target.

Enforcer ML85 (Vanguard and NC Harasser top gun)

 * Direct damage from 300 to 325 (Vanguard)
 * Direct damage from 250 to 325 (Harasser)
 * Projectile max velocity from 300 to 250 (Harasser)
 * Projectile gravity from 5 to 6 (Harasser)
 * Magazine size from 8 to 7 (Harasser)
 * Ammo capacity from 80 to 77 (Harasser)
 * Dev Note: Enforcer's damage on both Harasser and Vanguard have been equalized and improved, and Harasser's effective range has been reduced to compensate for the damage increase, similar to most other top-mounted Harasser weapons versus their MBT counterparts. We've also increased the overall damage to give the Enforcer harder hits and stronger synergy with directional damage bonuses. With these changes, 7 Enforcer rockets can destroy a Harasser without composite armor, and bring an MBT burning with the same number of shots to the rear.

M96 Mjolnir (Vanguard and NC Harasser top gun)

 * Projectile velocity from 250 to 200
 * Dev Note: Mjolnir retained its effectiveness beyond the intended range. A velocity adjustment helps reel in this range without having to debuff cone of fire attributes.

Misc. Vehicle Changes and Fixes

 * Pulling a vehicle now places it on a 30 second cooldown from being pulled again.
 * Removed VR training dummies from the Threat Detection Optics target list.
 * Galaxy's Nanite Proximity Repair System once again heals properly.
 * Reduced C75 Viper's splash damage visuals with ones that are more in line with its actual area of effect.

Player Studio
Steveo's VS Skyfall Light Assault armor can now be found in the Depot.

Fuzzbuket's Babylon Magrider plating can now be found in the Depot.

TheHumm's Arthurian infantry and MAX helmets can now be found in the Depot.

Misc. Fixes, Changes, and Additions

 * Berjess Overlook and Xenotech Labs now have connecting hexes on the map screen.
 * Changed ownership of a hex near The Auger spawn room to belong to the region.
 * The alert timer once again moves to the center of the screen when only 5 minutes remain.
 * Padlocks should no longer appear over bases on the map screen.
 * The total number of purchasable character slots has been increased from 4 to 6 (this change allows players to own up to 12 characters total on a single account.)
 * Fixed some font issues in the My Character screen.
 * Fixed various holes and terrain exploits on multiple continents.
 * Damage over time effects should now register kill credit properly.
 * Fixed an issue with the weapon filter panel not filtering owned weapons properly.
 * Fixed an issue where the shield shader would create a “hall of mirrors” under certain conditions. Other instances of this may still exist.
 * Fixed an issue that was causing z fighting with the shield shader.
 * Arbiter Armor’s jump jets no longer originate from the feet.
 * Players now remain invulnerable until their loading screen drops.
 * Updated various loading screen tips.
 * Fixed some bad rotations on TR and NS SMG animations.
 * Updated the Unstable Warpgates map icon.
 * Players at Battle Rank 15 and lower will no longer be subjected to continent or faction population queues.