Early Access Review

Damage and Balance

Originally posted by /u/RichterRicochet: "...Those were the days, when you could fly and not get shot down by Flak and LOML* walker bots with ease... ...because the Flak system has not been properly crafted to focus on AIR targets."

Originally posted by /u/RichterRicochet: "Those were the days, when plasma damage was actually reasonable, and Plasma weapons were affordable... ...I've taken several low tier plasma weapons and placed them up against walker bots with seemingly little armor... ...even after a full hail of plasma shots... ...only a few blocks are destroyed... The damage is absolutely abysmal."

Engines, and how useless they can be.

Originally posted by /u/RichterRicochet: "Those were the days, when engines actually had the power to push something, instead of just gently dragging it off the ground to simply float in the air. I have [a ship] which has over eight separate engines pushing it forward... The ship isn't maneuverable in any way, and it's not meant to be... ...I expect it to be able to fly, on even maybe four engines. But, if I lose my main rear engines... ...my altitude drops steadily, and immediately, with no way to get back in the air until a heal; by which time, my enemy has already caught me..."

Community Backlash, pricing and other various points.

Originally posted by /u/RichterRicochet: "Those were the days, when Megabots ruled, prices were moderately fair, and recycling really meant recycling and not shredding... ...[Players had] bought all the parts that they needed to sustain themselves for a while, and now [after] the Epic Loot update, those prices were cut from 50% return, which is moderately reasonable to in some cases less than 33%... ...to top that, the prices of some items went up, further blocking progression, and yet again causing more community outrage..."

I've written a formal letter to FreeJam in the Robocraft Sub-Reddit, which I will link to, however, I'd like to outline some feelings I've had toward this game. I understand it's in Early Access, and I understand this is only one 'phase' of many. Who knows? Maybe in the future, I'll end up wiping this review and posting another one, but here are some finer key points of my letter, and the reasoning behind those points.TL;DR Game used to be good, now the balance sucks, and the economy is worse. Wrote a letter, here's some points and clarification.*Lock On Missile LauncherThis point was my first. In real life, Flak shells are used as Anti-Aircraft weaponry, because the shells can be fired high into the air and explode, leaving shrapnel to tear planes apart.However, in Robocraft, the 'AeroFlak Cannon' (aptly named so as to make you believe that it should be used against airborne targets) instead causes significant damage with those same shrapnel explosions to anything not connecting with the ground, whether they're meters in the air, or a few centimeters off the ground. These explosions hit all blocks within the explosion radius and can potentially destroy a bot in as little as three well placed shots.Not only that, but if the shells don't explode and connect with a player directly, they do their standard explosion damage, though given in a smaller radius. Mind you, the AeroFlak Cannon is a high-powered weapon. The damage is does is very significant, and you're likely to take massive damage, even if you're hit directly. With this in mind, you'd think that the trade-off would be either a very low rate of fire, or a higher power consumption (more on that in a moment). Surpisingly, no. The Flak fires at a steady pace of roughly once a second, however, add more guns, and you're firing more often. Roughly twice a second.Now, regards towards power. Each robot has a power meter that goes from 100% to 0% and recharges over the course of ten seconds (or eight, if you have the optional Power Booster attached to your robot). Here's the problem that we face with the Flak cannon. It has only a power consumption rate of 10.8% per shot, allowing you to fire off at least 10 before needed to recharge (however, the power is recharging constantly, meaning you may face upwards of 11-13 shots before the enemy needs to recharge completely). Worse still, it does over 30,000 damage a shot, and your average armor cube has 2100 health, meaning at least 13 or 14 armor cubes are getting toasted. (The damage does fall off in the blast radius, thankfully, but not by much.)But that's not all folks! These cannons are damn near indestructible, with over 130,000 points of health themselves. And, if you do not directly hit the weapon block, it doesn't take damage. The only exception to this is Plasma weaponry, which has a small explosion radius (roughly the size of a grenade), which leads into my next point, surprisingly.And by golly, is that true! In a recent update Plasma weapons (or grenade launchers, as they could be considered) were actually REDUCED in damage, compared to their high powered counterparts. As a trade, they instead were given a higher blast radius and lower power consumption. But, there in lies a problem. If a player cannot do enough damage to destroy a high-powered weapon at short-to-medium distance (as is Plasma's intended purpose), then what use do they have on a player's robot? Now, understandably, higher tiered weaponry does do considerably more damage, but at that power consumption and fire rate trade off, the Plasmas were more balanced than the AeroFlak Cannon. Need proof? The second highest tiered Plasma, an Epic Quality item (just like the Flak, an Epic quality), has 40,000 health (roughly), does 38,000 points of damage (roughly) with a slower fire rate than the flak cannon, and a lower blast radius. So, while they do roughly the same amount of harm, the Plasma was balanced in such a way that it could be combated and successfully defended against, unlike the Flak cannon.This was one of my biggest issues. The game expects players to have an understanding of physics when it comes to building flying robots, as in where to put wings and how much force required to get a vehicle off the ground. Yet, I don't believe even the developers do. The engines in this game are vastly underpowered, requiring usually no less than five to get someone off the ground. The smaller engine tiers hardly provide any lift at all and I wonder why they're still relevant. Now, I'm going to point out, the robot in reference here has 6 of the highest tier and two of the next tier down pushing it forward, and the acceleration and lift are absolutely meager. I'm surprised the damn robot flies at all.God, bored of this review yet? Oh wait, points... So! The economy in the game drastically shifted with the introduction of Epic Loot, because gone were the days of battling for currency, instead now you battled for parts that dropped in a random crate after each battle. The better you did, the better the crate (from Rusted to Protonium). However, you'd be led to believe that Protonium crates would offer higher tiered items, the Epic and Legendary ones. Yet after testing players have shown a very low drop rate for these items. Players would often hope for Movement or Weapon parts, but would frequently receive cosmetics instead, these cosmetics "recycling" for a very low currency count. (I.E. a 10,000 robit flag resold at 750 robits.)"At this point, this is not a game I wish to see to completion, it's really not. Because if the current 'meta' is to stand in a similar fashion... ...then there will never be any balance... New players will come in, get rekt, pack up and leave... I've never been one to complain... ...I now understand why people are so upset." As an avid supporter of the game, I've not only poured time into it, but money as well. Originally, I thought my funds were well placed, but I suppose I was wrong.