Posted 02 May 2016 - 01:41 PM

Greetings MechWarriors,





After evaluating the implementation of the Long Tom and your feedback since the April 19th patch and the April 21st hot-fix, we have completed a server-side change to scale back the power of the Long Tom Artillery, effective immediately. This change has already been completed, and does not require any downtime.

Today’s change is a straight reduction to the Long Tom damage value, from its previous 700 DMG down to 300 DMG.



While the hot-fix on April 21st simply listed a damage reduction for the Long Tom, that change specifically involved the removal of Critical Damage from Long Tom strikes.





This damage reduction for the Long Tom was rolled out today in advance of an upcoming re-write of the code which handles all ‘explosive’ weaponry; Artillery Strikes, Air Strikes, and now the Long Tom. As Russ touched on briefly in the Town Hall from April 29th the explosion code that the Long Tom inherited causes it to behave unpredictably in terms of where and how it deals damage. As an example, the current code gives these strikes a random chance of targeting and destroying a ‘Mechs head component.

It is this kind of behavior that we will be fixing in the May 17th patch, not just for the Long Tom but for all strikes.





While the sheer power of the Long Tom will be reduced with today’s damage reduction and the additional code changes on May 17th, the Long Tom will still be, and should be, a strong offensive weapon.



