Hey folks,

Letting you know that we started rolling out Gauntlet to some players today! We’re starting with around 5% of players today, and we’re already seeing players competing in their Gauntlets. Assuming performance remains good, we’ll be rolling out Gauntlet to more players in the next days.

What do you need to do to qualify for Gauntlet?

Just update your client to the latest version (1.7.1 on Android, 1.7.0 on iOS). Without the latest build you won’t be able to access Gauntlet even if you’re in the first 5%. After that, completely close and re-open your game client - this will refresh your data. If you’re eligible, you’ll see the Gauntlet icon next to the Time Portal. If not, there will be a hole there.

Why are you rolling out Gauntlet to only a small number of players?

This is done as a sanity check to make certain no game-breaking bugs or performance issues crop up. Despite our best efforts, sometimes an issue pops up. This may be a performance problem that only occurs under load; sometimes it’s a server error that’s not caught in testing. Rolling out features slowly lets us make certain that everything performs well under load. If things go well, we accelerate the rollout so it goes to more players faster.

We revisit the performance and size of the test group each morning. If all goes well with Gauntlet, we expect Gauntlet to be rolled out to all players by the start of next week.

Anything else about Gauntlet?

Remember that Gauntlets have a minimum size of 50 players, and a maximum size of 200 players. If you get a message saying you’re waiting for opponents, that means your specific Gauntlet hasn’t hit the minimum yet. Come back periodically to see if you’ve met the minimum.

Also remember that the rewards you get from win streaks may be as good or better than your ranking rewards, especially if you are in a very competitive Gauntlet. Sandbagging it may be a better choice than competing for the top ranks!

And lastly, remember that your crew’s skill proficiency matters, but so do their traits! I’ve been beaten by numerically inferior foes who had a 65% crit chance; it was pretty impressive.

Lastly, you need to be level 10 to use the Gauntlet.

Thanks for understanding, and good luck!

UPDATE: As of Feb 2 at 11:15am ET, Gauntlet is now rolled out to 20% of players.

UPDATE: As of Feb 3 at 12:00pm ET, Gauntlet is now rolled out to 50% of players.