ROBOCRAFT

This weeks update includes some cool new goodies and some significant changes to the game so we wanted to let you all know what’s coming.

[robocraftgame.com]

NEW MARS MAP #3 - THARSIS RIFT

- Tons of height play, high vantage points

- Tall mountain network providing cover and tactical gameplay for agile fliers

- Undercover rock formations, some cover from bombers

- Several ‘pinch points’ for tough fighting encounters

NO MORE ‘Early Access’

- We are dropping the concept of ‘Early Access’ for Premium users on new cube types

- Although it did raise extra revenue, we felt it reduced some of the excitement surrounding the release of cubes

ALIGNMENT RECTIFIER aka “The Flipper”

- New cube type

- Automatically activates when you are stuck, or upside down

- Hold ‘F’ to charge when ‘Active’ and release ‘F’ to fire

- ‘Firing’ releases an impulse force applied to your Robot with jumps you in the air, moves you backwards, and flips you back on your wheels

- Hold ‘F’ for longer to increase the force

NEW AEROFOIL CUBE aka “RUDDER”

- Steep swept back wings

- Smaller, for use as rudders

- Less ‘lift’ but more ‘flap’ force

- The look really cool too

NEW DAMAGE MODEL

- Previously damage was first destroyed the cube you hit and the remaining damage passed to that cubes neighbors

- But, if the damage went down a ‘dead end’ it would be lost

- This meant that Rails and Plasma cannons would provide inconsistent results, sometimes doing mega damage and on other occasions seeming to do very little damage

- We’ve changed the damage model so that the damage is no longer lost on dead ends and now continues until all damage is dissipated

- We have re-balanced the weapons to account for the extra damage the new model will cause

- This change should also bring ground based Plasma and Rail back into contention at high Tier

TIERS 1-5 ARE ‘TRAINING’, TIER 6 IS THE ‘REAL DEAL’

- We feel that Robocraft’s biggest assets are the different cubes types

- Until now all cube types have been available at Tier 1, Rail, Plasma, Aerofoils, everything

- This has led to users getting almost the entire experience of the game within the first few hours

- It has also led to some users being overwhelmed with the complexity of the cubes and the Tech Tree at the beginning

- So we’re going to stagger the introduction of new cubes to the game as follows:

T1 = SMG, Wheels, Armor, Radar, Alignment Rectifier

T2 = Hoverblades, Thrusters

T3 = Plasma, Electroplates, Jammers

T4 = Helium, Rails

T5 = Aerofoils, Rudders

- This is an experiment to see if new users play Robocraft for longer by unlocking new existing ‘toys’ to play with as they progress

- Lower levels of these cubes will be removed from the Tech Tree so inaccessible from this launch onwards

- Older users who already have these cubes in their inventory will be able to continue to use them

- We may discontinue them at some point in the future, depending on how the experiment goes

- We’re planning to start qualification for the Robo-leagues at T6 onwards, so all combat cube types will always be accessible at T6

- Consider T1-5 ‘training’ and T6+ the ‘Real Deal’

NEW LOBBY

- All users split into separate Lobby’s by Tier

- This will ensure that all Tiers close to each other are in the same lobby

- This should reduce queue times significantly, especially at high tier

- It should also ensure matches are always full and match-making is more fair

- All users online and waiting in the queue across all lobby’s will be amalgamated into a single Lobby UI screen

OTHER CHANGES COMING WITH THIS NEXT LAUNCH

- New ‘Maintenance Mode’ system, this will allow us to bring the game up from a new update more ‘carefully’, allowing us to ensure that all servers are connected and ready to launch battles as soon as you get in after the update

- TP awarded for Assists

- Cube TP costs re-balanced to compensate for all the recent changes and new TP rewards

- Pressing TAB is now the same as pressing ‘E’ so brings up the Battle Menu

- Mouse Wheel now zooms in the Tech Tree screen

- Switching between the Cube Inventory and Cube Depot screens retains the Category you had selected

- Removed a long delay when launching a battle from the mothership so you enter more quickly

- You can enter battle when a repair has started, no need to wait for the repair animation

- BUG FIX: Rail SFX fixed

- BUG FIX; Rail reload time hack prevention, authenticated server side, users hacking this will be auto-kicked

- BUG FIX: TP rewards bugged, so rewarding too many