[Finished] Public Test of the Sirius Adjustments Part 1 Update, June 23 4PM CEST

[Narokath]

On Friday, June 23, 4PM / 16:00 CEST, the Public PTR server will open and run for about a week. Update 2: The public PTR test has concluded.

Hello Space Pirates!

The next Pirate Galaxy update "Sirius Adjustments Part 1" is currently in the testing phase with our awesome Tester team. We nailed a lot of bugs with their detailed reports and managed to get to a point where we need a public test. This public test will help us to find remaining issues and monitor server performance. If everything runs smoothly the live release will follow shortly after the test.

In case you have not seen yet the details of the update, you can read about them here.

Detailed Changelog for the Sirius Adjustments Part 1 Update

NEW FEATURES

• Using items on both enemies and allies during a fight now adds to an internal personalized "effort" value which is used in determining a pilot's drop chance for any kind of loot (blueprints, cryonite, log files, gravitons etc).
  • "Who does most gets most"—the more effort a pilot is able to generate in a fight, the greater his/her drop chance.
  • The more pilots engage in a fight, the more overall effort is generated. This means the more pilots are involved in a kill, the more items are dropped overall.
  • High-level pilots generate less effort against low-level pilots/enemy units the greater the level difference.
  • When flying in a squad, loot can be shared between squadmates. Any squad member can see and pick up the loot drops of their squadmates as long as he/she also generated some effort in the fight that led to the drop.
  • When flying in a squad, picked up cryonite is shared between all squadmates as long as they had generated some effort.
  • Effort is tracked until the attacked unit leaves combat or is destroyed. Logging out or changing zones with your pilot will not “clear” the effort you have done.
• The scanner box now displays an icon for when the selected NPC/pilot is part of/has an active mission. This has been added as a way to clarify that the player cannot interact with the selected unit/pilot.

IMPROVEMENTS

• "Active time" of items is now independent from their cooldown time. This means that regardless of actual use, activated items will always be ready again after waiting a set amount of time ("item cooldown").
  • In cases where an item’s active time exceeds its cooldown time, the item can only be activated again after its current active time has finished.
  • Cooldown times are of course still affected by Speed Actuators.
    • Using a Speed Actuator on itself will not affect its cooldown time in order to prevent “Speedception”.
• Item changes:
  • Speed actuator active time decreased in order to better match its cooldown time.
  • Orbital strike activation time (the delay after it is activated) is now fixed at 1 second.
  • Fixed cooldown times that were off by 1 second for some Ancient stun charges and stun domes.
  • Stun domes had their effect and active time increased, cooldown was increased as well to make up for the improved strength.
• Cryonite which is dropped after a defeat will now stay on the planet surface for the pilot to pick it up again for 60 minutes.
• Energy consumption per second of Ancient items has been adjusted so there are no more differences between item variants.
• All items stay active and/or deployed even when the player was killed. Resurrecting in place results in the item continuing to work if there was active time left.
• All items that a player has deployed on the planet (Mines, Turrets, Aggrobeacons, Droids) will now be removed when the player is not on the planet anymore.
• Removed old cryonite reduction system, since its now redundant with the introduction of the new drop system mechanic.
• Adjusted loot drop reduction icon (formerly cryonite reduction icon) to show min & max reduction in that zone, since it depends on the level of the unit destroyed by the player.
• Adjusted the levels of Sirius & Tau Ceti units in order to avoid unwanted loot drop reduction scenarios.
• Items that do not have a proper detail text associated with them now sport a generic info message instead.
• Ship speed and hit points are now determined by the item types installed in each ship. This leads to the following changes:
  • Ancient Raven: Speed -1%, HP +1%
  • Ancient Ghost: Speed +4%, HP -12%
  • Ancient Raider: Speed -2%, HP +4%
  • Ancient Legionary: Speed -1%, HP +3%
  • Ancient Myst: Speed -6%, HP +20%
  • Ancient Punisher: Speed -1%, HP +1%
  • Scorpion Hybrid: Speed -10%, HP +30%
  • Emperor: Speed -1%, HP +2%
  • Hunter: Speed +4%, HP -11%
  • RDX-01 Obsidian: Speed -2%, HP +1%
  • RDX-02 Poenari: Speed -4%, HP +5%
  • RDX-03 Black Granite: Speed +5%, HP -19%
  • RDX-04 Onyx Marble: Speed -2%, HP -1%
  • RDX-05 Marlstone: Speed +1%, HP -6%
  • RDX-06 Veiled Quartz: Speed -1%, HP -4%
  • Locust: Speed -7%, HP +19%

BUG FIXES

• Fixed two exploit issues that enabled pilots to circumvent the Colossus battle planet tech and level limits.
• Fixed an issue that would only allow pilots to rescue pilots in pirate mode when they switched to pirate mode themselves.
• Fixed an issue that could cause pods to sometimes not appear properly visually.
• Fixed an issue that caused sticky bombs to improperly trigger the detonation sound.
• Fixed Ifrit Cortex not working properly after the ship it is installed in just materialized.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the engine thrust color to stay yellow after leaving a squad.
• Fixed a number of issues with different story missions (thanks, lsurvivor!).
  • Rebels Under Attack: Methanoid repair units were too weak.
  • Give Chase: Mutilator could be killed, causing the mission to fail.
  • Project Detonation: Bombs would sometimes not attach; also, bombs could be triggered from safe remote location.
  • Mutilator On Lustra: Mutilator could be killed.
  • Mantis And Cryonite: Scanning the Vendetta in order to make it stay in place failed after reaching a certain mission progress.
  • Sol Reprisal: Mine layer could be destroyed from far range without triggering it.
  • Touching The Void: Admiral Hornblower sometimes went through walls.
  • Behemoth Battle: Avengers will now spawn once pilots enter Behemoth range.
  • Lies Revealed: Kraki raider had an insufficient aggro range.
  • The Cure: Mission did not provide proper feedback in certain failure cases.
  • Juggernaut Attack: Juggernaut sometimes stopped moving.

Here is some info that should be read before joining the test:

• The PTR ("Public Test Realm") is exclusively used for testing. It has a separate copy of the live data of the Askone server
• NOTHING you do on the PTR will carry over to your live character/gamestate on Askone (selling items, spending Gold Coins, etc).
• Once the PTR is running, NOTHING you do on Askone will automatically carry over to the PTR.
• Even after the PTR closes, nothing of the progress you made there will carry over to Askone.
• The PTR test server only works with Splitscreen Games accounts created before September the 1.
  Due to technical reasons, Accounts created through other login partners (e.g. Facebook) cannot be used.
• Set your game to English language on the PTR. While other language files are present, they do not contain the latest changes.

 

[Highway]

If you are wondering how to best test the new update, you can always stick to the plan our testers have been using as well. See below!
--------------------------------------------------

We put up a testplan where certain things should be tested and questions answered for them to know if everything is working as planned.

Effort & Aggro:
The effort system is the foundation of the enemy Aggro and the new drop system. The effort system counts offensive effort (damage inflicted, Taunt, Aggro Beacon, Stun...) towards a target (unit that is attacked) and defensive effort( healed HP, Shield/Protector HP, Speedactuator...) when given to players that have previously made effort to the target.

Questions:

• How is the aggro controllable when playing with mixed ship classes against the same target?

New Drop System:
The new Drop System now drops items and cryonite based on the effort done in the combat for each player that has participated in the combat with that unit (offensive and supportive actions). The loot is personal and only visible to the player for whom it was dropped. When playing in a squad all personal drops are visible to all team members that did some effort. To encourage and to compensate the effort sharing when more players are involved we added a mechanic that increases the players effort the more players are participating resulting in more than double drop chance increased when maxed out. We also add in a mechanic that looks at the highest level equipment of the player and the level of the attacked unit to reduce effort based on the level difference to reduce that high level players can steal to much effort when participating on low level combats.


Questions:

• How does the new drop mechanic feel when playing solo? (It should feel very similar as on the live servers)
• How does the new drop mechanic feel when playing in groups of 5, 10 and above?
• Can you easily steal a harvester drop from a low level player that is currently farming them?
• How does it feel when you try to farm loot on lower level areas with high level ships and on your known effective farm spots?

Hybrid/Parsec Ship Rebalance:
The ships get their HP based on the items they can use instead of something a designer chooses by hand. This shall ensure that no ship gets favored or left behind.
We keep it the way that heavier ships with more HP will be slower than agile ships with lower HP, so this will stay the way you know it.

Google sheet for pvp tests: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UrqOa4V2sCU5epky75vEwABdq75jjvdBHkglArU5ZxU/edit#gid=0

Questions:

• Is there the one and only overkilling ship?
• Are there item/ship combos that are like godmode? (unbeatable with any other ship of same level)

[color=#408040][size=4]Questions about "Effort & Aggro":[/size][/color]
How is the aggro controllable when playing with mixed ship classes against the same target?
[color=#4080FF]My answer/feedback:[/color]

[color=#408040][size=4]Questions about "New Drop System":[/size][/color]
How does the new drop mechanic feel when playing solo? (It should feel very similar as on the live servers)
[color=#4080FF]My answer/feedback:[/color]

How does the new drop mechanic feel when playing in groups of 5, 10  and above?
[color=#4080FF]My answer/feedback:[/color]

Can you easily steal a harvester drop from a low level player that is currently farming them?
[color=#4080FF]My answer/feedback:[/color]

How does it feel when you try to farm loot on lower level areas with high level ships and on your known effective farm spots? 
[color=#4080FF]My answer/feedback:[/color]

[color=#408040][size=4]Questions about "Hybrid/Parsec Ship Rebalance":[/size][/color]
Is there the one and only overkilling ship?
[color=#4080FF]My answer/feedback:[/color]

Are there item/ship combos that are like godmode? (unbeatable with any other ship of same level)
[color=#4080FF]My answer/feedback:[/color]

 

[Highway]

The PTR is up and running, so this topic is now open for feedback!

Please take the time to read the above changelog and testing notes before you post a reply. Thanks!

You can access the PTR here: http://ptr.pirategalaxy.com

 

[-BoH-]

I was in orbit and in my screen i saw another player in orbit get stun domed and blow up.

 

[Narokath]

I was in orbit and in my screen i saw another player in orbit get stun domed and blow up.

The PTR server is under heavy load right now. You will likely keep seeing "strange things" for some more time.

 

[-BoH-]

Is the new benefit for cryo affected by being on your own and being in a squad or just squad? I tested in sirius killing the strong units and i'm still getting the same as I do in the real game.

 

[DaKuaz]

when you play solo, the new drop system feels like on current live versions - you will notice the changes when you play with a squad or more pilots without squad.

 

[Killer18000]

This update is trash. Do not do this. You're gonna lose a lot of your players.

 

[Faye]

This update is trash. Do not do this. You're gonna lose a lot of your players.

Please explain us your feedback in more details. Please, use the form. Your statement isn't really helpful.

 

[jlinares]

Hello,
I don't like this update :
- granit armor is bad -19% WHAT ?
- gravitons and log files are visible for all players that shoot the ennemy !!
- bad cryonite drop (the same that before) "More Cryonite and Blueprint" hahaha lol
- players pod when there are not destroyed ^^ ^^
- the ennemy name doesn't diseapear when the ennemy is destroyed

 

[-BoH-]

Have you developers changed the appearance of the pirate berserkers?

 

[jlinares]

The personal "effort" for destroy a target must affect the personal amount of the cryonite, not the drop chance.
It will be better like this.

 

[gilles.daman]

Nice MAJ
I like the re-equilibration for the ship. It's more correct

Spirit, the Granit it's not a tank but it's tank/engineer/shock. It's just logic ^^

On the other hand, What is the purpose of the google sheet?

 

[Cute Fuzzy Bunny]

Would like more explanation of hit points being determined by tech. Very disappointing to see Black Granite lose 19 percent armor. Not really fair to players who spent millions of cryo for a ship that is now being made only marginally useful. If you are going to nerf this ship in this manner, players should receive a full refund of the cryo spent on this ship. Would never buy this ship now.

 

[Killer18000]

You're breaking the balance of the game. Difficulty over entertainment. This would be a good update if you restored some of the tech abilities of other systems, for example, the aim scramblers. This update alters the way players get blueprints from high level players from six hours to 16 hours. If you want to slow players down through the systems then there are better ways to do it.

 

[gonzaabel]

At the moment, the thing I can say I don't like is:
The drop penalty! I suggest remove it and with this update it is worst!!!

remove it! please...

 

[jlinares]

- The pvp is sometimes unbalanced : the powerfull aim scrambler of the mizar granite ship destroy the obsidian sirius easily ! Lol. No blaster firing with the sirius powerfull aim computer the powerful mizar aim scrambler, lol !
- Dps vs tank : the tank wins
- i don't have tested something : before this update, tank Easter antares vs tank Easter antares. The duel is infinite !

 

[Termi]

The HyAn Multilator Parsec's Sirius Ancient Strong Repair Field Turret, keeps repairing the pilot even thou it has been destroyed. The same happens with the Sirius Ancient Strong Attack Field Turret. Further testings are being made with the Gaia Pilot "Raincry"...

 

[C_D]

Long Speed Acts, Attack chharges, repair turrets are now perma...You might need to fix that.

Also Tank vs. Tank literally takes forever now.

 

[The_Ghost]

I do not like the BG change. Its main point (for me anyway) was that it had the most armor. now it has less armor than a domi? I want my cryo back :frown: :frown:
Also is it just me or do aim scrams seem weaker on r5? Perhaps from the enemy level increase
Other than that I do approve the new drop system ^^