



GoogleFrog 18 months ago

Most of the work for this release is in performance improvements related to saying up to date with the Spring engine. The more visible change is to Dominatrix, which escaped the previous big balance release.



Balance

Dominatrix:

Speed 2.2 -> 1.95 Dominatrix can come out very early in the Rover vs. Tank matchup. The speed nerf will make it slightly harder to deploy, and easier to out-maneuver.



Interface

The jumpjet UI now draws the jump arc to the sea floor (instead of the surface) and indicates when a jump command would be blocked by terrain.



Unit AI:

Scalpel, Mace, Dominatrix and Mistral now start skirmishing before they have fired their first shot if they are facing towards their target. This allows them to start turning earlier, but stops them from running away forever without firing.

Tweaked Dominatrix skirmish AI numbers to make it better at fighting units like Mace and Ogre.

Tweaked Knight tactical AI numbers to make it prioritise firing over turning.

Raven now dives based on the maximum of {target speed, target jump speed/2}. This primarily makes it dive against jumping Recon commanders more successfully.

Other changes:

Added a new disruptor bomb sound for Commanders and Disco Rave Party.

Added the ability to hotkey toggling the depth of field shader.

Fixes

Fixed a new graphical glitch that could occur when tilting the camera.

Fixed nano turret aiming.

Fixed overhead unit state icons not displaying.

Fixed a bug that momentarily interrupted weapon firing while using Attack-Move. The most affected units were Mace and Dominatrix.

Fixed nuke explosions not occuring on aircraft or tall Funnelweb shields.

Fixed Crab walking while under construction.

Possibly fixed other Crab bugs.

Fixed a carrier error. Most of the work for this release is in performance improvements related to saying up to date with the Spring engine. The more visible change is to Dominatrix, which escaped the previous big balance release.Dominatrix:Dominatrix can come out very early in the Rover vs. Tank matchup. The speed nerf will make it slightly harder to deploy, and easier to out-maneuver.The jumpjet UI now draws the jump arc to the sea floor (instead of the surface) and indicates when a jump command would be blocked by terrain.Unit AI:Other changes: +9 / -2

SmokeDragon 18 months ago

(edited 18 months ago) imho its a pity the community ideas to balance the dominatrix by allowing emp to release captured units was overlooked because the dominatrix better balanced with other facs units +4 / -0

Wesley 18 months ago



=D Fixed a new graphical glitch that could occur when tilting the camera.=D +0 / -0



DeinFreund 18 months ago Did 1v1 turn into Domi monospam or how come they deserve such a hard Nerf? No way they can kite heavies as the Cyclops like this. +0 / -0





Anarchid 18 months ago

(edited 18 months ago) quote:

Did 1v1 turn into Domi monospam or how come they deserve such a hard Nerf? No way they can kite heavies as the Cyclops like this.

Didnt see domi monospam. Sparkles got real good at rovers though, so maybe this is to give Sparkles a bigger challenge.



I don't think Domi could ever kite Cyclops, the real change here is it will suck vs the (now) much faster Minotaur, solidifying the "rovers have to facswitch into tanks" doctrine, which i find a bit too reminiscent of the "facswitch into Cyclops". Also Emissary will now hit it much more reliably.



There was also a lot of random baww from izirayd etc about how it is unfair that when domi captures a jack you get a 600m unit for free. Didnt see domi monospam. Sparkles got real good at rovers though, so maybe this is to give Sparkles a bigger challenge.I don't think Domi could ever kite Cyclops, the real change here is it will suck vs the (now) much faster Minotaur, solidifying the "rovers have to facswitch into tanks" doctrine, which i find a bit too reminiscent of the "facswitch into Cyclops". Also Emissary will now hit it much more reliably.There was also a lot of random baww from izirayd etc about how it is unfair that when domi captures a jack you get a 600m unit for free. +3 / -0



Dregs 18 months ago Domi nerf = stealth Jack buff +0 / -0



raaar 18 months ago



inb4 dominatrix usage actually increases as people figure out how broken its ability really is.

is a ~10% speed nerf really a "huge nerf"?inb4 dominatrix usage actually increases as people figure out how broken its ability really is. +0 / -0



DeinFreund 18 months ago

(edited 18 months ago)



I wasn't the most active player lately, but isn't the backbone of the rover factory consisting of Scorcher and Ravager? If anything one might want to increase the unit variety in the factory. That'd mean transferring powers to niche units like the Leveler, Dominatrix or Merl. It's up to discussion whether these units really need more power, but I certainly wouldn't go the other way unless there are matchups where the Dominatrix is used more than the two heavyweights first mentioned.



Regarding the axis of the nerf (speed) I also see a (possibly unintended) role-shift. For me Dominatrix was always more of an anti-heavy unit due to its long reload time and being too slow to kite raiders. A slower dominatrix will reduce its kiting ability, meaning the burst-fire (long reload) will come more into the foreground. This effectively means that the strength of the Dominatrix now lies in capturing enemies before they can damage it sufficiently. In small numbers this means it remains effective against expensive raiders like Kodachi, Blitz and Halberd. It loses effectiveness against fast, heavy units like the Reaper (Minotaur) and possibly Mace/Banisher(Ogre).



This happens because more units are able to catch up with it now, and especially in the tank factory the heavy units are those with the DPS to capitalize on closing the range. Wouldn't it be preferable to have a Rover unit that is effective against Reaper balls? Rovers already seem to lack in anti-heavy capability. I'm personally not somebody who ever used Dominatrix, because it was too slow and unreliable for my liking. It has a big turn radius and now it'll be even harder to keep out of enemy range. I'm astonished that a unit needs a substantial (10%) nerf if I don't even have a use for it, nor see it being used by other people as a generalist unit.I wasn't the most active player lately, but isn't the backbone of the rover factory consisting of Scorcher and Ravager? If anything one might want to increase the unit variety in the factory. That'd mean transferring powers to niche units like the Leveler, Dominatrix or Merl. It's up to discussion whether these units really need more power, but I certainly wouldn't go the other way unless there are matchups where the Dominatrix is used more than the two heavyweights first mentioned.Regarding the axis of the nerf (speed) I also see a (possibly unintended) role-shift. For me Dominatrix was always more of an anti-heavy unit due to its long reload time and being too slow to kite raiders. A slower dominatrix will reduce its kiting ability, meaning the burst-fire (long reload) will come more into the foreground. This effectively means that the strength of the Dominatrix now lies in capturing enemies before they can damage it sufficiently. In small numbers this means it remains effective against expensive raiders like Kodachi, Blitz and Halberd. It loses effectiveness against fast, heavy units like the Reaper (Minotaur) and possibly Mace/Banisher(Ogre).This happens because more units are able to catch up with it now, and especially in the tank factory the heavy units are those with the DPS to capitalize on closing the range. Wouldn't it be preferable to have a Rover unit that is effective against Reaper balls? Rovers already seem to lack in anti-heavy capability. +1 / -0

Jasper 18 months ago Small change but good change. +0 / -0





dyth68 18 months ago

(edited 18 months ago) : I just tried Minotaur vs Domi and Ogre vs Domi in sandbox. Their cleverer turning keeps them very cost effective and they absolutely slaughter Minotaurs and Ogres even at equal numbers.

I think they may be even more of a hard counter to tankfac than before while being worse against numerous fast units. :O



On the plus side, Ogres and Minotaurs now have a much higher chance of escaping... DeinFreund : I just tried Minotaur vs Domi and Ogre vs Domi in sandbox. Their cleverer turning keeps them very cost effective and they absolutely slaughter Minotaurs and Ogres even at equal numbers.I think they may be even more of a hard counter to tankfac than before while being worse against numerous fast units. :OOn the plus side, Ogres and Minotaurs now have a much higher chance of escaping... +3 / -0