October 11, 2018 Update

PC servers will be taken offline on Thursday, October 11, 2018 at 6 AM PT (1300 UTC) for maintenance. Downtime is expected to last up to 3 hours.



Nanite of the Living Dead
As the sun slips beyond the horizon, an ominous darkness falls upon the denizens of Auraxis. The ground mills and groans as a new threat prepares to burst onto the battlefield. The Space, sorry, Spaaaaaaace Pumpkins have returned.

For the month of October, the pumpkins are back and bringing with them a new Halloween directive and themed items to unlock.



Pumpkin Seeds can be used to purchase special cosmetics in the Depot.
 * Tier 1 Reward: 75 Pumpkin Seeds
 * Tier 2 Reward: 100 Pumpkin Seeds, Ectoblaster Event Sidearm
 * Tier 3 Reward: 200 Pumpkin Seeds, Halloween V Profile Banner
 * Tier 4 Reward: 400 Pumpkin Seeds, LB00 Python AP

Space Pumpkin Seeds are earned by killing Space Pumpkins that appear on any active continent (including the elusive Galact-O-Lantern,) or by participating in continent events and alerts, as well as through the new directive line.

Ectoblaster - This heat-based sidearm deals splash damage and has a large magazine with ghost busting bullets.



Halloween V Profile Banner - An artsy take on a spooky pumpkin.



LB00 Python AP - The first-ever Lightning variant weapon, the LB00 sports a Halloween color scheme.



Hallowed Hunter Ribbons - During the event, you'll be able to earn a special holiday ribbon when killing enemies with Halloween weaponry. More experience!



Green Wisp Tire Trails - Found in the Depot, these new tire trails harbor mischievous spirits that follow your vehicle around.



Pumpkin Pods - All Drop Pods have been converted into luxurious pumpkin pods.



Ichabod Crown - All players receive the ceremonious Ichabod Crown event mask by default (check your loadout screen!), providing 10% additional experience while worn, and allows participation in event directives requiring masks.



NEW SERVER ADDED - SolTech
We're proud to announce the addition of a new Tokyo-based server to our roster. Players will be able to create characters on SolTech beginning with this update. We will be adding the temporary ability to transfer characters from Connery to SolTech at a later date. We hope the inclusion of this new server will provide a more enjoyable gaming experience for our Asiatic players.

Performance and Networking
We have made some significant, but ultimately speculative changes to some of our internal processes in an effort to fix current issues related to network and overall performance.

Please bear with us as we continue to investigate and iterate on these issues.

Aerial Anomalies
''Dev Note: A second Anomaly will now spawn shortly before the oldest Anomaly despawns, creating a slight overlap. The intent is to move closer to the goal of dispersing large groups of air sitting on point, while allowing non-dominant factions the chance to start gathering points early. We'll be paying attention to how these changes impact player behavior on Live and will make more changes in the future.''
 * When an Anomaly appears, it now creates a Mission Objective for players to follow, and blocks out the auto-assignment of new mission objectives.
 * The mission objective will point the way to the most recent Anomaly.
 * Upon completion of the event, the winning faction overseers will notify players that a continent benefit has been secured.
 * Air vehicles should now be properly discounted during and after the event.
 * The aircraft 20% discount string should no longer appear on the tab screen during an alert.

Unstable Meltdown
We've added a new end-of-continent alert where, if a continent ever has less than 150 population when 41% territory control is reached, an "Unstable Meltdown" will occur. Unstable Meltdowns are 45 minute alerts, with reduced territory. This should help continents rotate a bit more quickly during off-peak hours. The alert pool is the same, regardless of participating in a full-length Meltdown alert, or the new Unstable version.

Reward Pool
Added a new rare weapon to the Meltdown alert reward pool. The NS-AM8 Shortbow is a close range variant of the NS-AM7 Archer with close range optics; faster handling, reload, and rechamber speeds; and a smaller magazine size. Players must own an Archer (or variant,) and win a Meltdown alert with at least 90% participation for a chance to unlock this weapon.



New Player Tutorial
We have temporarily disabled the tutorial zone for new players in order to fix some issues related to spawning into that zone.

UI

 * Engineer Ammunition packs no longer overlay terminal icons on the map and HUD.
 * Your currently selected respawn location will now show a more prominent indicator on the map screen.
 * Left-aligned weapon ribbons in the loadout screen to prevent clipping and look... better.
 * Updated the personal waypoint to match the new squad waypoint style indicators.
 * Added some additional messaging to energy-based vehicle abilities that are also on cooldown.
 * Bounty spotted indicators now show the player's facing direction.
 * Added an update banner we will be using to inform players of events and updates upon login, the first example of which is to inform players of this Halloween event!
 * Players can now leave or rejoin voice channels using  or   commands. A later client-only update add the ability to leave and rejoin chat channels, as well as house these options in your UserOptions.ini, so that they do not reset upon state change (like logging out, or getting swapped to another squad while squad chat is muted.)

Squads

 * Platoon leaders once again have access to Leaders chat.
 * Fixed an issue where using  swap could cause a crash.
 * now uses a more accurate message when defending a facility when you do not control the majority of capture points.
 * Fixed an issue where  would sometimes show negative capture time values.
 * Fireteam leaders show their suit icon next to their name in the squad pane.
 * Fireteam leaders can now be promoted and demoted similar to squad and platoon leaders.

Wraith Cloaking Device (Flash)
Dev Note: These changes increase the risk for toggling off stealth, forcing players to choose their ambush targets more carefully.
 * Now has a 5 second reuse delay after exiting cloak.
 * Total energy pool has been increased by 33% at all ranks.
 * Activating Wraith Cloak now consumes an equivalent of 25% of the maximum energy pool upon activation.

Valkyrie
''Dev Note: The last adjustment to the Valkyrie's small arms resistance reduced the effectiveness of the vehicle as a combat platform, but hit the Valkyrie harder than we'd have liked. We're going to more conservative numbers and can continue to tune as necessary.''
 * Small arms resistance (type 2) from 75 to 90.

LA7 Buzzard (NC Flash)

 * The LA7 Buzzard is now available in the Depot.
 * Now has a utility option for "Primed Shells" which remove the minimum arming distance of each projectile.

V30-F Starfall (VS Flash)
''Dev Note: The damage adjustment here increases the number of reloads needed to kill the Lightning from the rear by 1, as well as non-composite armor Harassers. The blast damage adjustment gives a bit more potency against infantry, and we've reduced the outer radius to emphasize direct hits.''
 * The V30-F Starfall is now available in the Depot.
 * Direct damage from 200 to 175
 * Blast inner damage from 50 to 100
 * Blast outer radius from 3m to 2m

M4-F Pillager (TR Flash)

 * The M4-F Pillager is now available in the Depot.
 * Projectiles now pass through infantry, but do not pass through vehicles.
 * Direct damage from 25 to 30.
 * Burning duration from 2sec. to 3.5sec.
 * Projectile lifespan from 0.75sec. to 1sec.
 * Projectile drag reduced.

Attachments

 * Comfort Grips now also increase unequip speeds by 30%.
 * Laser Sight and Advanced Laser Sights strings now use the correct numerics in their strings. Laser Sights actually reduce cone of fire by 33%, while Adv. Lasers reduce it by 40%. The effects of these attachments are unchanged, but their strings now reflect the reductions they give properly.

Implants

 * Critical Chain
 * Chamber speed no longer goes away upon the first shot.
 * Starting at rank 3, this implant also stores charge, allowing multiple headshots in succession to stack duration, up to 8 seconds at rank 4.
 * Used different visuals to signify when the buff is active.

Player Studio
Added VS and TR RITE outfit decals.

Fuzzbuket's Rift Knight VS armor set has been added.



Misc. Changes and Fixes

 * Players should once again be able to purchase memberships in-game.
 * Changed Meltdown end-reward notification. Still tracking an issue where certain rewards will show a blank notification.
 * A.S.P. vehicle discounts should no longer break.
 * Fixed an issue that was causing Electrotech and a few other implants to trigger on resource depletions that weren't shields.
 * Updated the Mine Carrier cert line's description.
 * Updated the ribbon visuals used by ANT top weapons.
 * Fixed various weapons using incorrect ribbon icons.
 * You can once again hear footsteps in first person while wielding a knife.