March is going to be a big month for us and we are starting things off with a guaranteed new favourite hero Mech, the Cicada X-5. No, those aren't head headlights. They are in fact missile tubes, you know for shooting missiles and stuff. With superb piloting skills this thing is going to pwn. Just check out those hardpoints and start your scheming. A Hero Mech so good I didn't feel the need to mention the 30% C-bill boost? WOW

Speaking of hardpoints, the MechLab continues to up its game by providing location based graphics for Mech hardpoints, engine, heatsinks, equipment and available slots. Now if you could just remember where you put that XL 320 engine you bought.

Since you just spent 20 minutes tweaking your build, why not take it for a spin in testing grounds? Testing grounds is a new mode that allows new and old players the chance to practice your pilot skills and test your loadout on each map populated with static targets that won't shoot back.

Hey you!... Yeah you! You don't have enough stuff in your cockpit! But you are in luck because we have NEW hanging cockpit items using the "Real Hula Girl PhysicsTM" engine. Repeatedly alpha striking and shutting down is sweaty work but my cockpits smells 75% better now that I bought and equipped an "Air freshener" in all my Mechs. You should too!

Read on for the rest of the tuning and fixes included in the latest patch.

See you on the battlefield

Matt Newman.


Content:

New Hero Mech

“The X-5” CDA-X5

- Base Mech: Cicada
- Tonnage: 40
- Engine: 330 XL
- Max Engine Rating: 340
- Top Speed: 133.7 kph
- Torso Twist: 125 degrees to each side
- Armor: 268 points Ferro-Fibrous
- Weapons & Equipment:
- Left Arm: Medium Laser
- Left Torso: Medium Laser, SRM 2
- Right Torso: Medium Laser, SRM 2
- Right Arm: Medium Laser
- Hardpoints:
- Left Arm: 1 Energy
- Left Torso: 1 Energy, 1 Missile
- Right Torso: 1 Energy, 1 Missile
- Right Arm: 1 Energy
- Internal Structure: Endo-Steel
- Heat Sinks: 13 Double
- Jump Jets: n/a
- ECM Capable?: No
- Module Slots: 2
- 30% C-Bill Bonus

New Hanging Cockpit Items

- 50 cal. bullet necklace
- Peace sign necklace
- Dog tag necklace
- Air freshener
- Fuzzy dice

Savior Kills: Upon killing an enemy Mech. If that enemy had been attacking a teammate who has a critical component that is 50% health or lower within the last 10 seconds you will be awarded 7500CBills, and 150XP.

Defensive Kills: Upon killing an enemy Mech. If that enemy was currently capping a base, anyone who had attacked the capturing Mech within the last 10 seconds will be awarded 7500CBills, and 150XP.

The game will now track Mech Stats, Weapon Stats, Map Stats, Game Mode Stats and Pilot Module Stats.

Mech Stats being tracked:

- Matches Played.
- Number of Wins.
- Number of Losses.
- Number of Kills.
- Number of Deaths.
- Total amount of Damage Done.
- Total amount of XP earned.
- Total time in seconds this Mech has been played.

Weapon Stats Being tracked:

- Matches Played.
- Number of times the weapon has been fired.
- Number of times the weapon has hit and enemy.
- The amount of time in seconds this weapon has been equipped.
- The total amount of damage this weapon has dealt to the enemy.

Map Stats being tracked (per map basis):

- Matches Played.
- Number of Wins.
- Number of Losses.
- The amount of time in seconds this map has been played.

Game Mode Stats:

- Matches Played.
- Number of Wins.
- Number of Losses.
- Total amount of XP earned in this game mode.
- Total amount of CB earned in this game mode.

Pilot Module Stats:

- Matches Played.
- Number of wins with this equipment.
- Number of losses with this equipment.

Testing Grounds

- Choosing "Testing Grounds" from the game modes selection (the button next to the Launch button) will take you to the Testing Grounds.
- In the Testing Grounds, you'll be loaded into a random map with the Mech that you had readied in the MechLab.
- You can explore the map and test your weapons against 8 "dummy" Mechs.
- Exit back to the MechLab by pressing Esc and selecting Quit Match.
- Playing in the Testing Grounds has no effect on your stats.
- NOTE Battle Mech Efficiencies and Pilot Efficiencies do not work in Testing Grounds. This will be fixed in a later patch.

Gameplay

Cicada Variant Quirks

- CDA-2A: Received an additional module slot (this gives it 2 now, like the other variants). Torso twist angle increased by 5 degrees to each side. Torso movement speed increased by 10%. Turning rate increased by 5%.
- CDA-2B: Torso twist angle increased by 5 degrees to each side. Arm movement speed increased by 22%. Turning rate increased by 5%.
- CDA-3C: Torso twist angle increased by 5 degrees to each side. Turning rate increased by 10%.
- CDA-3M: Turning rate decreased by 5%. Acceleration decreased by 10%.
- CDA-X5: Torso twist angle increased by 5 degrees to each side. Turning rate increased by 10%.

Trial Battle Mech's

- COM-3A
- TBT-7M
- DRG-1C
- STK-4N

Artemis Tuning

- When you fire a volley of Artemis guided missiles (from an Artemis equipped missile launcher, with line of sight to the target), they travel through the air in a distinct formation.

Dynamic Capture Points

- Assault : When a mech from the opposing team is in the capture area the beams turn red. When mechs from both teams are in the capture area the beams will flash yellow. When the capture area is idle the beams are green.
- Conquest : When a mech is in a capture area the beams will turn red. When a mech from both teams is in the capture area the beams flash yellow. When no one is in the capture area the beams are green.

Front End

MechLab Improvements:

- Added Roll-overs for all relevant items in the New Mech Details panel and Current Mech Details panel.
- When rolled-over, icons show up over the Mech image showing distribution of the item.
- Added Free Slots entry (when dynamic slots are present, info on the number of dynamic slots is shown in addition to empty slots).
- Moved the Sell Mech, Select Mech (for ready list) and Buy New Mech buttons into the bay icons.

Performance

- Host state rewinding is now implemented for instant fire weapons (i.e. lasers, machine guns, flamers); meaning you should now be able to hit moving targets with these weapons even when experiencing latency up to ~450 ms.
- Lowered drawcall cost of many buildings in industrial section of Caustic Valley.
- Tweak to Forest Colony lighting - Less but brighter more natural fog, further Depth of Field, brighter ambient.

Bug Fixes

Gameplay

- Fixed an issue where sometimes user will sees an opponent Target Indicator even though this opponent is not in sight.
- BAP now deactivates it's bonuses when module is disabled.
- LRM paths now look more realistic without predictable 'pinching' or certain weird looking formations.

Stats

- Fixed empty kill message.
- Fixed awarding component destruction on disconnected allies.
- Fixed user name not appearing on disconnected player.

Networking

- Fixed some issues with CryEngine networking that would adversely affect connections with loss or variable latency.

Maps

- Increased depth of some barrier walls in River City to resolve missile collision issues.

Known Issues

- Sometimes the Battlegrid or other HUD elements will be corrupted/missing in-game.

Ernstaft?

Das fasst sich etwa so zusammen
- Hero Mech
- Stats
- Fixes
- Training Grounds

Davon find ich die Fixes selbstverständlich und die Training Grounds extrem verspätet, also angemessen. Der Rest ist ziemlich uninteressant.

So langsam müssen die n bisschen Gas geben, wenn die bis Ende des Jahres irgendwas vom Community Warfare präsentieren wollen...

Der Patch ist ja wohl super. Sie haben einen ersten Versuch, den Lagshield zu bekämpfen online gebracht:

Zitat

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- Host state rewinding is now implemented for instant fire weapons (i.e. lasers, machine guns, flamers); meaning you should now be able to hit moving targets with these weapons even when experiencing latency up to ~450 ms.

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Bleibt zu hoffen, dass das auch funktioniert. ^^

Ist der zweite Patch für die Lagshield Reduktion -.-

Es ist der zweite Patch mit und so? Der erste ist irgendwie an mir vorbei gegangen. ^^

War das nicht der letzte Woche? Bin mir nicht sicher, aber meine schon da was davon gelesen zu haben.

Generell find ich gut, dass sie sich des Themas annehmen, aber auch nichts bombastisches... die Lags sind erst dann wirklich behoben, wenn wir europäische Server haben. Was sie machen könnten (was das Spiel ziemlich versauen würde) einfach jedem einen Ping von 200 geben. So hat mans z.B. bei Starcraft 2 gemacht, um Leitungsbedingtes ruckeln und warten auf andere Mitspieler zu kompensieren.

Hilft natürlich nicht den Spielern mit nem Ping von >400ms, aber wer diese Werte erreicht, sollte ich überlegen, ob er nicht entweder etwas mehr Geld in sein Hobby investiert oder einfach mal in ne Großstadt zieht... xD Alternativ auch mal seinem Kabel/Telefonvertreter in den Arsch tritt.

Tja, wenn man von den Bugfixes absieht......
Trainingsground braucht man als Neueinsteiger vielleicht noch....aber lohnt sich das für Leute die schon beta mitgemacht haben und jede Änderung die es bisher gab?
Der Rest?.....Seufz....wer braucht noch nen Hero-Mech? Himmel, man kann ohnehin immer nur einen ins Gefecht führen......

Trainingground für Pr0s : Um eine neue Konfig mal auszuprobieren ohne andauernd durch den Feind beschossen zu werden ....

Viel wichtiger als das ist ja wohl die Möglichkeit, die Karten genau erkunden zu können. ;)