Greetings Commanders!
So it has been a month since our last patch. Part of this was because we wanted to let the numbers settle and see how some of our changes impacted the numbers. Part of that is because we were working behind the scenes on the future of the game, starting with our first DLC, The Crew. This patch brings some changes to resources along with several bug fixes. So, on to the details:
Resource Collection
We received a lot of feedback that the Harvesters were providing too large of a bonus that slowed down the game for many players as the Harvesters plodded around the map. Worse (in our view) players were taking missions with NPC Harvesters at a significantly higher rate than all the other bounty missions. To address this we made several changes.
First off we increased the rewards for ALL bounty missions in the game. These resource rewards take no time to collect and are the fastest way for players to earn resources. Secondly, we reduced the multiplier on all Harvesters from x4 down to x2. On average this change leads to slightly more resources over a campaign than the old system, although it was possible to get more resources under the old system than the new one if you played slowly. Finally we increased the movement speed of both the Queen's Bounty and the Rhondo, so that they can traverse the map more quickly.
Combined with some of the balance tweaks (below) to lower difficulty, this should speed up the pace of the game from the middle through to the end game. Let us know what you think.
Quality of Life Enhancements
- We think we have added a cursor lock that will work on most dual monitor setups.
- Changed enemy ship death drop chance so that enemy ships that pick up resources should now always drop resources. Now you can recoup some losses to those space thieves.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug where the game could crash during combat that involved carriers and their fighters.
- Fixed a bug where fighters could deploy on top of each other leading to strange interactions when skills were used.
Balance Tweaks
- Increased the move range on the Queen's Bounty and the Rhondo.
- Increased the resource rewards on all bounty missions.
- Decreased the difficulty of all later bounty missions.
- Decreased the difficulty of Beginner and Veteran difficulties slightly.
- Locked all ammo items to Slot 3.
- Decreased the multiplier for all Harvesters from x4 to x2.
That's all for now. We are going to keep reading all of your feedback while we work on the upcoming DLC.
Thank you to everyone for playing our game!