Greetings all.
This week we have a whole slew of structural changes - most which don't have any impact on gameplay at all but are purely structural. We do, however, have a great slew of little fixes and edits that have been percolating for a few months now, including preparation to bring language localisations back, a very minor perk to T1 fighters, a revision to the collision shape of T1 aircraft (for targeting), and most interestingly, the application of a unified shield theorem which allows us to understand how and why the various shields do what they do - and what that costs.
For the largest part - you won't see many surface changes to most shields - some minor variations in the amount of mass required mostly. Otherwise, static shields are pretty much the same - but mobile shields - they take a decided penalty.
In a nutshell - the more mass you put into a shield, the more quickly it can get rid of any energy it absorbs. If you can couple the shield directly to another medium (like static shields or shield boats), you can greatly increase the amount you can dump in a given period of time. As a result - mobile shields are at a great disadvantage - and this shows up primarily in one important category - recharge time. You find that mobile shields, while still as strong as they were previously, will take quite a bit longer to come back online than previously. For now - that's pretty much the root of how it works - it'll get refined as we move along, but it's a good way to bring some order to what was really without any guidelines before.
The large square-shields are, in particular, rather sensitive to this - so it's our intention that, in the future, we will make those anti-artillery shields only. That is - they'll only intercept artillery projectiles - like an umbrella, but other projectiles will pass right thru without damage. So get thinking about building a proper traditional shield matrix for your base - and adding the square shields as your 'roof'. Not now - but soon.
Another notable change to look for is the once experimental Rapid Fire Artillery Defense weapons. Long story short, these units broke a lot of our internal rules for LOUD so they were long overdue for an overhaul. We always felt that while they were ridiculously overpowered - they were also so expensive that we rarely if ever saw them used. So we decided to reposition them in the LOUD world as something between the traditional T2 static artillery - and the much bigger T3 and Experimental artillery pieces. As a result, we now have a unit which can be reasonably built (at T3 we might add) and functions reasonably well in the form of a reach-out-and-touch-somebody role that you didn't have before. It's no wonder weapon anymore, and it's not costed like one - but we think you'll find it a useful addition to your defensive positions - and one you'll see in the game a lot more often.
Anyhow - in other news - our BrewLAN project is well underway, with my first internal build now in unit testing. More news on that at another time.
As for the AI - as always - we continue to tweak his responses to existing and new conditions. Primarily, of late, with regards to his amphibious and naval performance. We're still watching the recently released Bombardment Platoons, so if you have any observations on those - by all means, let us know. We still have a good number of water maps that need to be updated to include additional markers for bombardment, so that will be an ongoing effort.
As always,
Sprouto
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