This is a perfectly normal patch note, nothing to see here, read it if you like, we worked hard on it :)
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We always keep up with the times, which is why we’re introducing the “Spheres of steel” event.
Have you always dreamt of playing a game of pool inside your favourite game?
Are you drawn to colourful, spherical objects?
Or maybe you’re an avid bowling player?
Then “Spheres of steel” is exactly what you need! Grab your friends and let Frontier tremble at your ball-rolling skills.
Now, about the mode: you have to choose ONE(!) out of four colourful Apeirons (because if we gave players four spheres right away, it would be a whole different game), with only one goal in mind: to literally smash your opponents’ spheres to smithereens. The gameplay is based on utilising momentum, ramming, and chaotic physics, which we honestly promised the programmers we’d never touch again.
The core combat strategy revolves around the use of momentum and the physics of objects.
Special module: “Ramming dash”. The ship instantly accelerates to 800 m/s. A force field activates around the hull, dealing 5000 damage on contact.
Active time: 5 sec.
Special feature: upon collision, the “billiard balls” effect kicks in; the target flies off in an unknown direction, the attacker keeps moving, and the physics engine watches all of this happening in silence.
Active module 1: “Gravity missile”. Launches a missile that knocks the enemy back and makes a big boom on impact. Perfect for sending the enemy into space to reflect on their mistakes.
Active module 2: “Phantom maneuver”. The ship enters invisibility for 5 seconds, leaving a holographic copy in its place. If you were aiming at an enemy during the activation, you would instantly teleport behind them.
Active module 3: “Adaptive camo”. Long-duration camouflage (20 sec.). Your ship cannot be targeted and disappears from radars, allowing you to secretly set up the perfect ram.
Each sphere has its own style. Remember: the weapons are just a tool to finish off enemies; the main damage comes from ramming! If you‘re firing, it means something has gone wrong, and you should file a bug report.
Red sphere (Flamethrower)
“Flamethrower” weapon: sets the target on fire within a small radius. (The radius is roughly the distance at which you were already planning to crash into the enemy anyway.)
“Fire arrow” special module: 3 consecutive shots at a range of 20 km. Upon hitting a target, it creates a fire zone (500 m radius) that deals damage to everyone inside for 10 sec.
Blue sphere (Freezer)
“Ice cannon” weapon: slows the target by 67% on hit. As the testing team put it: “because spheres that roll away are unfair”.
“Ice arrow” special module: extreme-range projectiles (20 km). A direct hit reduces the enemy’s speed and manoeuvrability by 80%. A miss creates a zone of speed inhibition. (I’m pretty sure I’ve written something similar somewhere before…)
Green sphere (Nurse)
“Healing cannon” weapon: restores shields and hull to nearby allies. (Yes, now spheres can heal other spheres. We don’t know how it works either.)
“Healing needle” special module: upon hitting the environment, creates a regeneration field (750 pts./sec.) that heals you and your allies. A direct hit on an enemy severely slows them down.
Yellow sphere (Stone thrower)
“Stone thrower” weapon: a long-range weapon that fires asteroids. It deals low damage but pushes enemies back, creating additional physical obstacles on the battlefield. (And I’m pretty sure I’ve already written that too…)
“Petrification” special module: the ship transforms into a massive, stationary asteroid for 5 sec. You are officially a space boulder.
We checked our basement and the designer is still there. He asked us to let you know that he’s doing fine and his light bulb is still working. Also, he’s gathered a lot of data and prepared a whole series of great updates for you that will radically change the game… He’s doing such a great job!
We would like to remind you that according to his contract, he can’t leave the basement until the game shuts down or the dinosaurs show up.
We checked all the ships, studied probability theory, and came to the conclusion that everything is relative.
Based on feedback from the asteroids, adjusted the balance of power between pilots and asteroids; the asteroids still lead in the number of collisions.
We checked 347 asteroids: they’re all behaving suspiciously normally.
One tester got lost in open space. We consider this a feature. (If you find him, please return him; he is very dear to us.)
Pirates are complaining about pilots again.
Players continue to play Star Conflict; we are investigating this matter.
We carefully reviewed the statistics, telemetry data, tester reports, and one very long Excel spreadsheet.
Slightly adjusted the probability of random collisions: it’s now roughly the same as before.
Bashe: added a new passive ability “Cosmic appetite”.
When an enemy is destroyed, there’s a chance to absorb their ship.
For every ship absorbed, Bashe grows slightly larger.
No growth limit has been found yet.
All “aircraft” type ships now have a unique ability “Wind of change”.
The ship senses the wind of change.
Something important is happening.
The specific mechanics of the ability were lost during testing.
Ellydium ships
After lengthy discussions, a decision was made: change nothing.
Experience has shown that any changes can lead to consequences that we will then have to fix over several patches.
IFG-4622
Burn damage reduced from 750 to 450 pts./sec.
Now the fire looks 3% more fiery.
MIRV launcher
Fragment damage reduced by 50%.
Fragments still fly toward the enemy. Sometimes.
Swarm control
Regeneration time after destruction increased from 93 to 134 sec.
The swarm reported that it needs time to reflect on its behavior.
Destabilizing crystal
Cooldown time increased from 45 to 60 sec.
The crystal continues to: 1. destabilize; 2. exist; 3. slightly unnerve the testers.
Physics
Collision physics has been studied.
After extensive analysis, it was decided not to think about it anymore.