Balance Revisions p.3

[Aen]

All Ground Vehicles

All ground vehicles had their handling characteristics changed. Almost all changes were improvements, such as added reverse speed, longer life underwater (allowing you to possibly undo the error of going underwater), greater speed underwater, increased armor (for better field survivability), etc.

The following list shows the relative "nimbleness" of the ground vehicles in order from most nimble to least nimble. "Nimbleness" is a factor relating max top speed with acceleration. If a vehicle is fast off the line, and has a high top speed, it's regarded as highly nimble.

In general, armor is exactly opposed to nimbleness. The more agile a craft is, the less armor it has.

The most significant upgrades in armor were given to the ANT and Lightning. Both of these vehicles nearly doubled their armor values. The Deliverer also got a significant armor boost. NOTE: No vehicles received decreased armor. All armor changes were positive.

The ANT has greatly improved speed and handling now, in addition to its extra armor.

"Nimbleness" Listing (most responsive to least responsive)

Wraith
Basilisk
Switchblade
Harasser
Skyguard
Thresher
Enforcer
Marauder
Lightning
Deliverer
ANT
Magrider
Sunderer
Vanguard
Prowler
Flail
AMS
Router

A quick note regarding the Reverse gear changes: Until now, most vehicles had very slow reverse speeds. NC vehicles still tend to have slow reverse gears, even after this change, as they rely on heavy punching damage and armor to protect them. The TR have faster reverse speeds so they can compensate for their lower armor by doing "hit-and-fades" if desired. The VS have the fastest reverse speeds (almost as fast as their forward speeds) so they have the most maneuverability options, as usual.

In addition, when driving underwater, take note that open-air cockpits have a much lower survival time than closed cockpits.

Non-AA MAX Units

In addition to making the Main Battle Tanks and the Armored Buggies more empire-specific in character, the same was desired for the MAX units. Additionally, some of the weaponry on MAX units was either overpowered (in certain instances) or even underpowered.

The following changes achieve the desired changes in these units. They generally result in the TR MAXs having the highest rate of fire, the NC MAXs being the toughest nut to crack, and the VS MAXs having the most maneuverability.

Anti-Vehicular MAXs

TR Dual-Cycler

Decreased damage degradation so its bullets do better damage over range. This makes it a better anti-vehicle weapon.
Decrease damage to soldiers (design reduction)
NC Falcon

Increase the force shield power significantly.
Increase damage to armored targets
Increase damage to air targets
Range of projectiles reduced slightly (330m)
VS Comet

Removed damage degradation from this weapon entirely.
Aggravated damage now stacks.
Remove constraint on jumping that requires 20% of jump capacitor to be filled before this MAX can jump again.
The turning speed has been increased slightly to accentuate the improved mobility of this Empire's MAX.
Increased range (330m) and speed of projectile.
Reduced individual aggravated damage per projectile (but the improvement to the aggravated damage system actually increases the power of this weapon when compared to prior to this patch).

Anti-Infantry MAXs
TR Pounder

Decreased damage against soldiers (but see ROF increase below)
Significantly decreased damage against armored targets
Increase refire rate (approximately doubled)
NOTE: This results in damage over time being approximately the same, but the individual shots should accrue much less grief if used in a crowded area. Pounder operators have more time to react to any "oops" that occurs before getting a lot of grief.
NC Scattercannon

Increase the force shield power significantly.
Increase damage against armored targets (so that Scattercannons can hurt other MAX units now...still not a great weapon against MAXs, but they can do something now, at least.)
Increase refire rate (approximately doubled)
VS Quasar

Reduce damage degradation so shots have more power over distance
Increase pivoting speed slightly (to enhance maneuverability)
Decrease recoil of shots (making shots more accurate)
Decrease maximum COF size
Increase clip size to 80 (from 60). (This has the byproduct of increasing the number of AP shots available to 40 (from 30) also.)
Remove constraint on jumping that requires 20% of jump capacitor to be filled before this MAX can jump again.
The turning speed has been increased slightly to accentuate the improved mobility of this Empire's MAX.
Miscellaneous Upgrades/Fixes
Reaver

Rocket clip reduced to 16 (from 24). (design reduction)
Increased initial velocity of rockets (to avoid situation where Reaver can fly faster, without afterburner, than its rockets can fly)
Decreased lifespan of rockets, reducing their range. New effective range is slightly lower than 300m.
Mini-Chaingun

Decreased default COF (standing) to match crouching COF
Increased ROF slightly (from 125ms to 115ms)
There is now a slightly longer time between recoil free bursts (meaning you have to wait a fraction of a second longer between times when the COF is at its smallest size).
Jackhammer

Decreased projectile damage (very) slightly
Decimator (NOTE: This change already in the game, but is listed here for completeness)

Increase refire time of secondary (camera mode) missiles. (bug fix)
Range was significantly decreased in a previous patch. It has now been reextended. The current range was 360m. It is now extended to 450m.
Beamer

COF has been reduced for standing and crouching (tightest COF of all pistols)
You now get a few shots in before shots begin to degrade in power over distance. So your first few shots will be at full damage even at range.
The Beamer is now the most effective pistol against armor. It won't be taking out tanks anytime soon, but it can nick them to death slowly over time. (You may find it more effective against more lightly armed opponents.
Scatterpistol

Increase damage to soldiers ever-so-slightly to bring it inline with other pistols.
VS Forceblade

The glow has been removed from this knife.
Jumping

For infiltrators, standard armor, agile and reinforced armors ONLY. The 3-second delay between jumps has been removed. This allows you to jump whenever you want, as often as you want.
Stamina drain for jumps increased to 10 (from 5). This prevents infinite jumping (you'll run out of stamina eventually), while still allowing more flexibility to the player.
Harasser/Deliverer

Increased turret tracking speed to match machinegun changes made on battle tanks and armored buggies.
Galaxy

COF for the Galaxy's guns is decreased
Increased the ROF for the Galaxy's guns also.

[Ghryphen]

Hehe the threads could have been combined

[Peacemaker]

Holy crap looks like SOE finally pulled it out.