DISCOVERY FREELANCER 2017
Project Update - Q4 2017
With the arrival of autumn comes a time of renewed activity and motivation, now that the laziness of the summer drought has swept away. The Discovery Development Team has continued to implement new features to the ongoing version 4.89, to the point where 4.89 Final is right around the corner and the roadmap for 4.90 is already being discussed.
The Veteran Package Program mentioned in our previous newsletter is still running and has also yielded results that have exceeded expectations with 52 players having successfully obtained their requested booster in order to experience Discovery Freelancer again.
Some of the more immediate upcoming changes planned concern a more comprehensive rewrite of the server rules, the community feedback having been taken into account to ensure that the rules stay simple enough for new players to get their head around, while at the same time avoiding overly vague lines that are open to abuse or loopholes.
The Devteam has also seen some changes with new members for the FX and Ship Balance teams, along with the implementation of new unique content in the shape of custom engines. Discovery has embraced the wishes of our players to further customize their ingame ships and the first such implementation of the "PimpShip" plugin has now been complimented by a wider choice of unique engines as well as colored thrusters unique for every faction.
Furthermore, more attention has been given to Capital Ships with the implementation of much more types of missile-based ordinance, doing away with the old approach of tailoring missile strength and range to the type of capital ship, but rather giving a few options of different balance between missile agility and damage for each class, with overall power of the ordinance increased with every larger ship class.
There have been many more tweaks to the mod and a major to-do list for the near future as we prepare for the version's final release. Below you will find the full patch list in regards to the most recent changes.
BALANCE
- Arc changes to Legate, Arbiter, Nephilim and Tokugawa.
- Reduced Tokugawa armor from 2,550,000 to 2,450,000.
- Reworked Tokugawa primary slots.
- Reduce Cruise Disruptor ammo of all non-Reinforced CDs to 50.
- Changed reinforced Cruise Disruptor ammo to 65.
- Changed Nomad Paralyzer Missile to have identical handling to its human counterpart.
- Changed Event Armor 2 mulitplier from 5x to 10x.
- Increased NEMP ammo to 10.
- Changed NEMP refire time to 60 seconds.
- Rebalanced Spyglass, Spyglass Network and Battleship Scanners.
FEATURES
- Added basic capital weapons to Krefeld Base for Unioner caps.
- Added Nav Buoy path from Erie to the Hallam Cloud to direct new players to helium mining.
- Added "Mineable Zone" label to nearly all miningmod zones.
- Restored New Haven's model, now with collision disabled.
- Various event-related NPC changes.
- Added a custom transport for our returning vets using the Veteran Package.
- Added FX upgrade for jump holes.
- Added two new codenames.
- Added Lyre Heavy Transport Zapper.
- Added Jintsuriki Scanner.
- Added Coalition Engines and Thruster.
- Added Hellfire Legion Engines and Thruster.
- Added Order Engines and Thruster.
- Added Outcast Engines and Thruster.
- Added proper infocards for BD, Core and Hessian engines.
- Added Hoffnungsschimmer SRP ship.
- Added Anna Heinrich SRP engine.
- Added a replacement for the Universe Map intro.
- Removed reputation requirements from Basic Gunboat/Cruiser/Battleship turrets.
FIXES
- Fixed missing Ragnar engine.
- Fixed Anki, Garanchou Core.
- Fixed Tarvos turrets.
- Fixed OSC Ferry camera.
- Fixed Gallic equipment dealers; all Gallic bases should now sell standard equipment such as AU8, Enhanced Thrusters, etc.
- Fixed Gallic gates opening too slowly, now fully open at the same speed as Sirian gates.
- Fixed Base Construction Platform bumping too easily in collisions.
- Fixed NEMP Launcher CTD.
- Fixed Titan Missile ammo not appearing in the equipment dealers.
- Fixed ship stat infocards.
- Fixed OSC Ferry CD slot.
- Fixed NEMP launcher LOD.
- Fixed Corfu and Freeport 6 not selling Gunboat/Cruiser/Battleship turrets.
- Fixed Fort Carthage not selling Gunboat/Cruiser/Battleship turrets.
- Fixed Planet Stuttgart not selling Gunboat turrets.
- Fixed Petit Carbine not being sold anywhere.
