Laser Penetration, Banners, CRF Color Palettes
Lasers have gotten an overhaul!
First, they have gone from being a Hitscan to a very fast Projectile weapon. This means that instead of instantly dealing damage to whatever surface they are pointing at, the packets of laser energy will take time to travel to your target. As you can see from the video below, we've updated the VFX to suit the projectile style. Combat is going to look a lot more exciting as a result too!
Second, we have changed their damage model.
Previously, damage would only be dealt to the structural integrity (i.e. connections) of the first block that was hit. Now, lasers can penetrate through thin layers of materials to hit blocks behind them. Here’s a look at how a single laser projectile behaved originally and the new penetration damage model:
Projectiles now have penetration energy. When the projectile passes through a block it loses energy. The thickness and density of the material will determine how much energy is lost when the projectile passes through. If the projectile still has energy remaining when it passes through then it will keep going, damaging more blocks until it runs out of energy.
NB: In the diagram above you can see that the angle your projectile hits the block affects how much energy is absorbed.
In the gif below you can see how different materials absorb more of the energy of the projectile:
Projectiles keep going through empty space if they pass through:
Projectiles deal damage to all connections of the block (simulating how a projectile shakes that block and weakens all its welds) proportional to how much energy is remaining when it hits the block.
The overall aim of this penetration system is to ensure that building is more intuitive and realistic, i.e. where you place thick tough material is where you will be most protected from projectiles. Placing layers will help a little also, but at a cost of increased CPU.
Plasma Cannon projectiles have been reworked to use the penetration energy system also. When a projectile lands many rays are fired out simulating small pieces of shrapnel flying out from the centre of the blast. Each piece of shrapnel does full penetration energy tests. This means explosions will seem more realistic and will allow you to protect weak interior components with tough outer shells more easily than before.
Palette Colours for CRF Robocraft
In the next update, players will be able to customise robocraft they have downloaded from the CRF!
Colour palettes have been shared quite a while ago but this will be the first time that they are active in the game. For the next update, there will be two colour palettes available
RC Flipped
RC Alt
More colour palettes will be available in the future. Here’s a quick video showing them in action:
Avatars, Banners and Frames
We want to provide players with an incredible number of ways to express themselves and one of those is to allow players to customise how they represent their username. We’ve spoken about this feature quite a long time ago but it will be released in the next update!
Everyone will start with the default avatar, banner and frame but we will be providing codes to unlock other variants.
Main Menu
The next update will have a redesigned main menu! Check it out below:
As part of this main menu redesign we also spent some time working on an in-game calendar that will allow you to check the times of the next online battle test and your current ping.
We’ll be releasing Founder codes for the following when the next update launches
Founders Avatar
Founders Avatar (Gold) - Limited use
Founders Frame
Founders Frame (Gold) -Limited use
Founders Banner
Founders Banner (Gold) - Limited use
We will also be releasing more Founder and Gold codes for both the Switchplate and Cray within the next week.
Stay tuned for the full patch notes to be released soon!