25Apr Pathc message from PSRealm

[MrVicchio]

1) VoiceIP is now available. The codec was provided by the TeamSound folks and is now fully integrated into the game. To use it, first form a squad. Then, someone in the squad should start a voice server (by going to the "P" menu on the "Squad" tab) and hitting the HOST button. Then everyone else in the Squad automatically gets a "do you want to join the voice server?" dialog. If you wish to participate, just click "Yes" (just like joining a squad).

NOTE: After release, we'll also make a "Dedicated Voice Server" function available.

ALSO NOTE: Be sure to test your microphones BEFORE you launch into PlanetSide. Test it in a program like SoundRecorder before you go into PS so you know for a fact that your microphone is functional. That way you can better determine if you're having a "bug" situation or not. If your microphone works in SoundRecorder, then you're good to go.

2) VS MAX jumpjets have anims and sounds now.

3) Increased projectile velocities to enhance accuracy for:

9mm Projectile
Energy cell projectile
12mm projectile
20mm projectile
Dual-cycler projectile
Quasar projectile
4) New tracers are created to compensate for the velocity change. (Change in speed messed up the old tracers.) Additional changes were made to prevent the tracers from appearing to go through walls, or not draw at all when within a short range of an obstacle.

5) NC Scatterpistol has improved model and textures.

6) Magrider Heavy Rail Beam now does splash damage.

7) Sweeper and Jackhammer have tighter spreads and the individual pellets inflict slightly more damage now. (NOTE: We are looking into the NC MAX Scattercannon, but have made no changes yet.)

8) Reduced certification cost on Lightning from 4 to 3.

9) Global Hotspots are now reliable. You can see all major battles happening on all continents at all times now.

10) Galaxies are no longer made of brittle eggshells. Ramming them with other vehicles (or walking on them with a VS MAX) will no longer destroy them.

11) Vehicles no longer just pivot in place if you apply throttle and brakes at the same time.

12) Generator durability has been increased dramatically. It has double the health that it had previously, and the AP bullet reduction code now applies to generators also (so pistols won't do much to that big machine). NOTE: The Generator still has a 30-minute autorepair timer that will get it back on-line eventually...but an Engineer is much faster.

13) Sanctuaries now have "first-time help" waypoints. The dialog that appears when you appear in a Sanctuary helps to point out what each building is by referring to the waypoint numbers. (For example: "Waypoint 1 is the Orbital Shuttle Building", etc.)

14) Tightened reticules for the following vehicular weapon systems: Basilisk, Deliverer, Enforcer, Galaxy, Harasser, Lightning, Magrider, Marauder, Mosquito, Prowler, Reaver, Sunderer, Thresher, Vanguard.

15) Adjusted rate of fire and damage for the following vehicles: Magrider, Prowler, Vanguard all do more damage per shot against other vehicles and hard targets (with their main cannons), but have a slightly reduced rate of fire.

16) 75mm projectiles do more damage now (Lightning and Sunderer).

17) Cycler, Gauss, Pulsar and Punisher got the following improvement: All have default reticule accuracies for crouching, standing and running. Walking has the same accuracy as standing still now. (Only running still incurs an accuracy penalty for these weapons.)

NOTES: a) Crouching gives the best accuracy and recoil recovery. b) Standing/Walking gives reasonable accuracy, but suffer more in recoil recovery. c) Running is a bit more innaccurate, but still tighter than previous to this patch. These changes allow you to run and gun a bit better than before with these weapons.

18) Gauss can fire a bit more before recoil kicks in.

19) TR MAX CHANGE! The Dual-Cycler is now an anti-vehicular weapon. The Pounder is now an anti-infantry weapon. This was done primarily because bullets have a flat-line trajectory which makes them more useful against vehicles and grenades are more logical anti-infantry weapons.

20) Bolstered the NC MAX shield. Significantly less drain when active. Much faster recharge rate.

21) Lasher now has better projectile and "lash" sound effects.

22) Battleplans now have an improved interface. (Less clutter.) Also, the lines created when using the Draw tool are at a finer resolution for better results.

23) Command menu now shows up even if you aren't the squad commmander so that you can access certain command features. NOTE: Some command functions still won't work unless you're a squad leader, however. (Like Squad Waypoints and Directed Voice Macros.)

24) Improved accuracy for both the Decimator and Striker when crouching or standing.

25) Revised Base Capture Experience System

Now the amount of experience points earned at the time of capture takes into account the number of enemies (from either of the opposing Empires) that were killed within the hacked facility's SOI.

A minimum of 5 unique enemies must be killed in order to quality to earn 25% of the total XP potential. This percentage increases in a linear fashion to 100% if 20 or more unique enemies are killed within the SOI.

So basically the higher the enemy death toll in capturing a facility, the more XP is awarded up to 100% of its potential. Squad Leaders still earn CEP, while squad members earn BEP, and it's equally shared within the squad (as always) across the entire continent (sharing across a continent is a new feature).

New Base Resecure Experience System

Effectively this uses the same mechanics as the Revised Base Capture Experience System, except now the defenders get experience for resecuring a facility.

NOTE: The resecuring doesn't offer up to the same potential amount of XP as capturing, but it still provides a healthy incentive to resecure a hacked facility.

26) Boomers now disappear correctly after exploding.

27) Bolt Driver reticule now lines up properly when crouched.

28) Magrider and Thresher now properly have collision after autodriving out of a Tech Plant tunnel.

29) Sanctuaries have been revised! In order to alleviate the framerate issues that occur when 300 people with 300 vehicles all show up in the central courtyard of the Sanctuary, we've divided the Sanctuary up into "villas". Each warpgate bubble has a "villa" around it. There is a shuttle facility, two air vehicle pads, four ground vehicle pads, and a training/respawn facility at each villa. There are teleporter pads (just like the VR teleporter pavilions) in each complex that you can step onto and quickly transport to the next villa in sequence. Thus, it's very easy to get around the Sanctuary now...and you can form your battle squads right at the foot of the warpgate you intend to use to invade a continent. Enjoy!

30) MAX Autorun has changed. It has always been faster and easier to use than originally designed (due to incomplete implementation), thus making the MAX tougher than we wished it to be. Therefore, whenever the MAX's auto-run is engaged a HUD message appears stating "Initializing Auto-Run Mode". The MAX then comes to a complete stop (if already moving), before the MAX begins its auto-run acceleration cycle. Thus, the MAX does more starting and stopping now than it did previously and you can no longer tap-run with the MAX's autorun. This slows the MAX down and makes other armors comparatively faster. This may not be the last of the MAX autorun tweaks, but we want to try this one out a bit before progressing further so we can isolate this gameplay change.

31) Bailing has sounds now.





http://ps.crgaming.com/viewarticle.asp?Article=55