Tonight's Patch PREVIEW! (Many changes, a couple major)

[phalanx]

http://boards.station.sony.com/ubb/b...ML/004325.html

1) VoiceIP is now available. The codec was provided by the TeamSound folks and is now fully integrated into the game. To use it, first form a squad. Then, someone in the squad should start a voice server (by going to the "P" menu on the "Squad" tab) and hitting the HOST button. Then everyone else in the Squad automatically gets a "do you want to join the voice server?" dialog. If you wish to participate, just click "Yes" (just like joining a squad).

NOTE: After release, we'll also make a "Dedicated Voice Server" function available.

ALSO NOTE: Be sure to test your microphones BEFORE you launch into PlanetSide. Test it in a program like SoundRecorder *before* you go into PS so you know for a fact that your microphone is functional. That way you can better determine if you're having a "bug" situation or not. If your microphone works in SoundRecorder, then you're good to go.

2) VS MAX jumpjets have anims and sounds now.

3) Increased projectile velocities to enhance accuracy for:
- 9mm Projectile
- Energy cell projectile
- 12mm projectile
- 20mm projectile
- Dual-cycler projectile
- Quasar projectile

4) New tracers are created to compensate for the velocity change. (Change in speed messed up the old tracers.) Additional changes were made to prevent the tracers from appearing to go through walls, or not draw at all when within a short range of an obstacle.

5) NC Scatterpistol has improved model and textures.

6) Magrider Heavy Rail Beam now does splash damage.

7) Sweeper and Jackhammer have tighter spreads and the individual pellets inflict slightly more damage now. (NOTE: We are looking into the NC MAX Scattercannon, but have made no changes yet.)

8) Reduced certification cost on Lightning from 4 to 3.

9) Global Hotspots are now reliable. You can see all major battles happening on all continents at all times now.

10) Galaxies are no longer made of brittle eggshells. Ramming them with other vehicles (or walking on them with a VS MAX) will no longer destroy them.

11) Vehicles no longer just pivot in place if you apply throttle and brakes at the same time.

12) Generator durability has been increased dramatically. It has double the health that it had previously, and the AP bullet reduction code now applies to generators also (so pistols won't do much to that big machine). NOTE: The Generator still has a 30-minute autorepair timer that *will* get it back on-line eventually...but an Engineer is MUCH faster.

13) Sanctuaries now have "first-time help" waypoints. The dialog that appears when you appear in a Sanctuary helps to point out what each building is by referring to the waypoint numbers. (For example: "Waypoint 1 is the Orbital Shuttle Building", etc.)

14) Tightened reticules for the following vehicular weapon systems: Basilisk, Deliverer, Enforcer, Galaxy, Harasser, Lightning, Magrider, Marauder, Mosquito, Prowler, Reaver, Sunderer, Thresher, Vanguard.

15) Adjusted rate of fire and damage for the following vehicles:
- Magrider, Prowler, Vanguard all do more damage per shot against other vehicles and hard targets (with their main cannons), but have a slightly reduced rate of fire.

16) 75mm projectiles do more damage now (Lightning and Sunderer).

17) Cycler, Gauss, Pulsar and Punisher got the following improvement: All have default reticule accuracies for crouching, standing and running. Walking has the same accuracy as standing still now. (Only running still incurs an accuracy penalty for these weapons.) NOTES: a) Crouching gives the best accuracy and recoil recovery. b) Standing/Walking gives reasonable accuracy, but suffer more in recoil recovery. c) Running is a bit more innaccurate, but still tighter than previous to this patch. These changes allow you to run and gun a bit better than before with these weapons.

18) Gauss can fire a bit more before recoil kicks in.

19) IMPORTANT NOTE TO TR MAX PLAYERS! The Dual-Cycler is now an anti-vehicular weapon. The Pounder is now an anti-infantry weapon. This was done primarily because bullets have a flat-line trajectory which makes them more useful against vehicles and grenades are more logical anti-infantry weapons.

20) Bolstered the NC MAX shield. Significantly less drain when active. Much faster recharge rate.

21) Lasher now has better projectile and "lash" sound effects.

22) Battleplans now have an improved interface. (Less clutter.) Also, the lines created when using the Draw tool are at a finer resolution for better results.

23) Command menu now shows up even if you aren't the squad commmander so that you can access certain command features. NOTE: Some command functions still won't WORK unless you're a squad leader, however. (Like Squad Waypoints and Directed Voice Macros.)

24) Improved accuracy for both the Decimator and Striker when crouching or standing.

25) Revised Base Capture Experience System ==============================================
Now the amount of experience points earned at the time of capture takes into account the number of enemies (from either of the opposing Empires) that were killed within the hacked facility's SOI.

A minimum of 5 **unique** enemies must be killed in order to quality to earn 25% of the total XP potential. This percentage increases in a linear fashion to 100% if 20 or more unique enemies are killed within the SOI.

So basically the higher the enemy death toll in capturing a facility, the more XP is awarded up to 100% of its potential. Squad Leaders still earn CEP, while squad members earn BEP, and it's equally shared within the squad (as always) across the entire continent (sharing across a continent is a new feature).

New Base Resecure Experience System ==============================================
Effectively this uses the same mechanics as the Revised Base Capture Experience System, except now the defenders get experience for resecuring a facility.

NOTE: The resecuring doesn't offer up to the same potential amount of XP as capturing, but it still provides a healthy incentive to resecure a hacked facility.

26) Boomers now disappear correctly after exploding.

27) Bolt Driver reticule now lines up properly when crouched.

28) Magrider and Thresher now properly have collision after autodriving out of a Tech Plant tunnel.

29) Sanctuaries have been revised! In order to alleviate the framerate issues that occur when 300 people with 300 vehicles all show up in the central courtyard of the Sanctuary, we've divided the Sanctuary up into "villas". Each warpgate bubble has a "villa" around it. There is a shuttle facility, two air vehicle pads, four ground vehicle pads, and a training/respawn facility at each villa. There are teleporter pads (just like the VR teleporter pavilions) in each complex that you can step onto and quickly transport to the next villa in sequence. Thus, it's VERY easy to get around the Sanctuary now...and you can form your battle squads right at the foot of the warpgate you intend to use to invade a continent. Enjoy!

30) MAX Autorun has changed. It has always been faster and easier to use than originally designed (due to incomplete implementation), thus making the MAX tougher than we wished it to be. Therefore, whenever the MAX's auto-run is engaged a HUD message appears stating "Initializing Auto-Run Mode". The MAX then comes to a complete stop (if already moving), before the MAX begins its auto-run acceleration cycle. Thus, the MAX does more starting and stopping now than it did previously and you can no longer tap-run with the MAX's autorun. This slows the MAX down and makes other armors comparatively faster. This may not be the last of the MAX autorun tweaks, but we want to try this one out a bit before progressing further so we can isolate this gameplay change.

31) Bailing has sounds now.

32) Continental Lattice is now in-place. (NOTE: This is only the first installment of changes designed to deal with "phantom hacker", geographic war issues, and incentives to defend. But it has high impact, so we are testing it alone initially.)

In a nutshell, the Lattice lets you determine where you can attack next.

a) You may only hack a facility that is connected, via the lattice, to a facility you already own. (“Hack” links are shown in gold if they are your Empire, grey if they pertain to other Empires. Links between same-Empire-owned facilities are the correct color for that Empire…red for TR, blue for NC, purple for VS.)

b) If, for some calamitous reason, you own NO facilities, anywhere in the world, you can always hack the facilities connected to your secure warpgates at your Sanctuary. (Example: If you are TR, you can always hack Orisha on Cyssor because it connects directly to the TR Sanctuary Warpgate.)

c) To hack into a locked continent, you must own the facilities connected to the warpgate on the OTHER continent first. (Example: If you want to hack Leza on Cyssor, and Cyssor is continent-locked, then you can capture Sina on Searhus first. That will give you a hack link to Leza and you can try to punch the continent thereafter. (NOTE: This makes the lattice truly global in nature so, Commanders…stay aware.)

d) You may hack ANY neutral building, regardless of its position in the lattice. Therefore, ANTs become even more crucial.

e) NTU consumption has been changed. Buildings no longer deplete NTUs while doing nothing at all. NTUs are now consumed ONLY through auto-repair of equipment within the building (terminals, wall turrets, generators, etc.) and respawns. Therefore, if nothing is going on at the facility, it will never go neutral. NOTE: Enterprising squads might try to destroy equipment in an enemy facility with low power, hoping to consume the last NTUs and get the ability to hack the facility “outside the matrix”. This is another way to "punch" a continent lock.)

and a few more...

[phalanx]

Patch is not yet up. :|

[Ghryphen]

Problem with integrated voice is that it is only for your squad. It is nice to get cross squad communication. I don't see it replacing TeamSpeak. I don't know why games try and integrate voice, it can never compare to the flexibility of a dedicated application and it just a waste of resources.

[phalanx]

lol, ya i dont remember it working out too well in t2 personally

[Ghryphen]

Continental Lattice looks like crap. You will be able to anticipate attacks now

[phalanx]

here are the rest of the changes:

33) In preparation for some sweeping facility link abilities (in an upcoming patch) some of the existing link abilities have been removed.
- The Amp Station no longer reduces consumption of NTUs by 50%. (This will be replaced soon with the ability to power up vehicle shields.)
- Amp Station no longer increases the size of the SOI when owned. This was as much hindrance to friendlies as it was detriment to drop-podding enemies.
- The Bio Lab no longer causes Medical Terminals to act as Advanced Medical Terminals. (This will be replaced by a more noticeable reduction in respawn timers to all linked facilities.)
- Tech plant still allows advanced vehicles to be purchased at other owned facilities (no change).
- Interlink still adds radar capabilities, but these will be simplified soon to be more understandable.
- Dropship Center will eventually activate all repair/rearm pads at various facilities so vehicles can repair and access inventory at those pads. That feature may be post-release.
- All link abilities (when we're done with the changes, not currently) will show up as icons near the SOI of the building on the overhead map, thus making it easy to, at-a-glance, see what special abilities each facility has due to links.

34) All waypoint functionality for the overhead map (Personal and Squad Waypoints) have been moved to the main toolbar instead of one being on the main bar and one on the command bar.

35) See all FRIENDLIES and See all ENEMIES have a visual upgrade to make it easier to see the information provided.

36) There is a 30-second timer on Instant Action now, just like with Recall to Sanctuary and Quit. This prevents the feature from being used as an "escape hatch" when about to die.

37) You can no longer mount a vehicle that is in the process of being Jacked. You must kill the person jacking the vehicle to prevent its theft.

38) You can no longer deconstruct your vehicle if you are still in the vehicle.

39) You can no longer kick yourself out of a vehicle that you own.

40) Hover vehicles no longer take damage when autodriving out of the tech plant tunnel.

41) New Outfit decals are now available for your Outfits.

42) Voice macro menus are now fixed. (Text should match voice in all cases.) (NOTE: Some "Very Quick" phrases are only generally the same between text and voice.)

43) Color codes are now prevented in chat.

44) Looking for Squad now resets if the user zones, allowing players to stay "LFS" when they warpgate or drop to another continent.

45) "LFS" defaults to "ON" when you enter the game. Turn it off by clicking the button on your chat pane.

46) If a missile lock is achieved on YOU, there is now a warning on your reticule saying "Warning: Missile Lock!" along with a tone.

47) Fixed a Darklight exploit where removing the implant at an implant terminal allowed you to stay in Darklight mode forever.

48) You can now text edit when using Battleplans.

49) The cargo hold on the Galaxy can now be locked.

50) WARNING! WARNING! If you stand on a vehicle pad when someone purchases a vehicle, you will be INSTANTLY KILLED. You have been warned.

51) You can now zoom while in Vehicle Gunner and Driver positions. You can also zoom while in a MAX.

52) You now (properly) recover stamina while in vehicles.

[DaRB]

KICKASS!

[Spinning Hat]

Mmmm Patch GOODNESS!

[phalanx]

As of 9 oclock, there is a patch to download

it's about 30 minutes to d/l (let's all hope its the real thing!)

[AvengerX]

Negative, its the re-patch for the false patch they put out tonight......

[Malthus]

Is it me or does it sound to anyone else like this lattice thing is gonna make getting CEP even harder then it was....now your gonna have squad leaders competing for even scarcer assets (bases to hack) then you did before.

I hope I'm wrong and it's implemented differently then I am reading, or we are going to see a huge number of TK's over who hacks the console.

[phalanx]

As a notice, servers are
DOWN!

Beta has been borked by bad reverse patch (for a patch that was released previously tonight which was not correct), DEV team on the case, no eta = time to get some ZZz's !!!

http://boards.station.sony.com/ubb/b...ML/004553.html

[TimberWolf]

That lattice could also be used to our advantage. The enemy will protect facilities next in line to be hacked, not whats behind them. If I read it correctly, we can capture a neutral base, or a powered down base, anywhere on the map. So all we have to do is lay siege on a base keeping all the ANTs away or capturing them then going in when they have no more power.

[Lynxbat]

good point!

[Sidewinder]

Exactly TW, and towers still take as usual dont they?