Patch Live - EU and NA Online Test Soon
Hello Robocrafters!
Last weekend we ran an online server test (There’s another planned at the end of this week!) and took some feedback regarding the map into consideration to improve the design and feel of driving within this environment.
In the following images, any screenshots with Tianhe (The blue playable character) are old images. Anything with Cray (The white SCU) are new screenshots
Firstly, we had reports from players that felt like the fog density in game was a little too dense. Here’s how it looked
We’ve decreased the fog density so it now looks like this.
This will also address comments made by players that it was tougher to see through the fog while manning the base defence tower.
We noticed that a lot of players left the base and immediately went towards the right lane to attack the enemy's left fusion tower. This would result in a rush towards the easiest to travel to objective and would create a rush tactic. To counter this we moved the battle gate from being towards the right side of the base to the centre
We’ve also smoothed the slopes on many of the routes. Previously, when you wanted to travel down the main battle lanes, you would have to travel up and down harsh hillsides. That looked like this:
But we’ve turned this into a road and have reduced the harshness of the slope for a much smoother drive between the same team’s towers
The route towards an enemies tower has been improved upon by offering a straight road towards each enemy tower without harsh hills. Here’s a video of the route from the base to the enemy team's left tower.
Defense Tower improvements
One of the core discoveries we made was that some players were not aware that the defence towers were important and this would mean players would not use them. We’ve made some changes to help communicate that these towers are important as part of your last line of defence against an attacking team.
Firstly, we’ve made these towers display a 3D Hud icon that will let players know that these towers are accessible and active.
We’ve also added a new voice line that informs the players that these towers are now active.
One of the major changes to these towers is that we noticed some very smart players were rushing the towers before a team could begin using these defences. This rendered towers damaged before they could even be used. Now, towers will only spawn when a player has entered the Defence tower seat.
Hitmarker update
There were some comments that players were unsure if their shots hit their enemies. The hitmarker that we previously used was quite subtle so we’ve made it stand out a little more.
Full List of changes
New and improved slope tiles used to create a better driving experience.
New base layout for Hela’s Basin which discourages rushing a single lane.
Battle Gate moved to a central position.
Fog density decreased
Fusion towers 3d Hud icons will hide when the core is exposed.
3D hud icons for the tower defence towers.
New voiceovers that will let players know the defence towers can be used.
Defense turrets will only spawn whilst someone is seated in the tower.
Defense turrets now have stairs instead of slopes.
New Hit marker to help players determine when a shot has hit a target.
A couple of fixes for errors during multiplayer
Tweaks to the matchmaking flow aimed at ensuring matches start with 10 players
Maximum ping requirement increased from 100ms to 130ms for Online Battle Tests
Fog added to the test mode maps