Fractured Space
Episode III: Catalyst Teaser Trailer
Greetings Captains,
We are very excited to bring to you today, this brand new teaser trailer for our next Episode, Catalyst.
But that's not all. Join us tomorrow on our official Twitch channel at 1730 UTC, where we will be revealing the full trailer.
Hope to see you there.
The Rift: Hotfix #2
The Rift
- Changed rate of capture rewards given. Reduced Capture rate and hold capacity. Fixed a typo in the loading screen.
- Resource collection now counts as a capture. Delivering a full tank of resources counts as one capture.
- Reduced tank capacity by about 20%
- Fixed a bug that was giving players a faceless unusable crew member instead of Newton Siddis in the Rift campaign.
- Added Hints to Loading screen pregame.
- Fixed the spin out death bug. Also added polish tweak for wreck meshes fading away.
- Resource Collector improvements: lowering delivery threshold down to 1%. Transfer rate is now partially dependant on capture rate. Increased radius for delivery (now matches upgrade radius).
General
- AI Captains. Reduced the rate at which AI captain groups rank up slightly in Co-op matches.
- Fixed FPS performance issues in drafting
- Launcher: -Added a fix for the bug that stops the videos from playing when the language is changed while a video is playing.
- Fixed an issue for broken armor flashing and broken armor particles not appearing correctly.
- Players delivering resources now counts as Captures and can be read on the scoreboard. Removed custom XP reward for match. Now uses same curve/amount for captures to award XP.
The Rift: Hotfix #1 - 17th July 2018
Today we are issuing a hotfix to rectify some gameplay issues which were introduced with the release of Episode II: The Rift. Please see the changes below:
- Added a fix for missiles sometimes not being taken down by point defense.
- Added a fix for Basilisk and Infiltrator AOE attacks that rely on target status effects not dealing damage properly under certain circumstances.
- Fixed the Furion's Ion Flamer not always dealing damage.
- Added a fix for homing projectiles of any variety not dealing damage to armor properly, these changes also fix the TDS weapons not breaking armor.
- Added a fix to hide the sector names when selecting a non-Conquest game mode in PvP Drafting.
Episode II: The Rift - 9th July 2018
Episode II: The Rift
Newton Siddis, a scientist specializing in Ark'ain technology has sent a distress signal from The Rift. A remote sector on the edge of charted space.
Mercenary Captains arrive, seeking to assist the scientist and learn more about the Ark'ain. Once they enter the sector a bargain is struck.
Siddis commands the repair of his vessel, along with the destruction of an opposing Destroyer within the sector.
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The Rift is a new tactical single sector 5v5 PvE/PvP game mode, where teams must focus on gathering resources to repair a distressed Flagship while attempting to destroy the enemies.
Players can repair their Flagship by salvaging wrecks and returning to their damaged Flagship to deliver the materials. Once repaired, your ally is the most powerful vessel in the sector by far and must be escorted to its enemy counterpart to kill it. Defending your Flagship is also vital since its destruction will result in your team losing the match.
Be careful! Materials you've collected out in The Rift can be taken from the husk of your own dead ship by the enemy team.
Voting in Drafting
Players will be able to vote for the game mode they want to play in the PvP queue. In the case of Conquest, for example, the possible selections are Action Conquest or Discovery.
Each player will vote for a game mode and the game mode with the most votes will be selected. If two game modes have the same number of votes, drafting will select one of the most voted randomly.
Queue Credits
- When a player begins searching for a game in a PvP or PvE lobby, they will start to earn Credits. Credits will be deposited into the players wallet once they have reached the Results Screen for the match they find during queuing.
- Players will receive 12 Credits a second whilst matchmaking up to 5 minutes
The Rift Episode Pack
- Available in the Bundles page of the in-game store for 2000 platinum
- Instantly Unlocks a set of exclusive rewards worth over 9000 platinum
- The Rift Hangar Environment
- Newton Siddis - Legendary Crew Member
- Call of the Rift Badge
- Rift’s End Nameplate
- Cobaltoan Permanent Energy Mod
- Rayleigh Permanent Energy Mod
- Paragon Synapse Skin
- Ranger Synapse Skin
- 3 x Crew Pod
- The Rift Episode Pack will only be available to purchase until 25th July 2018
The Rift Episode Rewards
- New to this update is Episode Rewards. Complete up to 60 matches of The Rift to earn up to three amazing rewards:
- 6 Rift matches completed - Stormer’s Sigil Badge
- 25 Rift matches completed - Void Keeper Nameplate
- 60 Rift matches completed - Newton Siddis Crew member
- Rewards are rewarded as soon as players pass the respective checkpoint
- The Rift Episode Rewards will only be available for participation until 25th July 2018
General Changes
- The font for the game has been updated from Aero Matics to Noto Sans. The reason for this was that Aero Matics doesn't support Cyrillic and Chinese characters. In a future release we will be implementing Russian and Chinese localization, so we've had to update our fonts. Any feedback is welcome for this change.
- We have removed the stats text from skills loadouts in drafting as we have realized that we're trying to squeeze too much text into the size of the boxes. A title has been added above the skills to let players know that they can still hover over the skills to get the information they need.
AI Balance
Adjusted the rate at which the difficulty of AI captains ramps up for new players; it now levels up in difficulty on average after every win rather than every two wins.
Bug Fixes
- Potentially fixed a timing issue in Drafting where images would not load before Drafting was ready.
- Fixed the Ghost being able to place its decoy inside terrain in the Discovery map.
- Fix for forward station capture getting stuck if Gamma 3 is taken while an enemy is re-capturing their forward station.
- Fixed the bug that was wrongly displaying Y and N as the keys to surrender when different keys are bound.
- Fix for the bug that was causing server crashes if the user in Last Stand selected the same ship.
- Fix for the bug that was causing new installs of the game to reprompt the drafting tutorial, even after the completion of a solo match.
Discovery Hotfix #4 - 29th June 2018
Matchmaking Changes
PvP Matchmaking Rules have been changed to allow a much wider range of matches. New players at Player Level 10 and below will be matched with other players below Player Rank 10 with a maximum of 4 AI Captains in the game when searching in the PvP queue.
Players above Player Rank 10 will be matched with a full roster of other players, though we have expanded the MMR ranges for the matchmaker and decreased the amount of time it takes to expand.
Discovery Changes
- Core health reduced from 100k to 60k
- Turret Projectile Damage reduced from 400 to 350
Ship Balance
Destroyer
- Corrected loadout descriptions for the Destroyers primary weapons.
Displacer
- Displace tooltip corrected, added max push range information.
- Corrected Displace Markers in-game name from Displace Harpoon to Displace Marker.
Endeavor
Sentry Turrets
- Cooldown increased from 55s to 60s
- Health decreased from 2400 to 2200.
- Corrected Endeavour turret deployment speed from 2s x 5,000 m/s to 2.5s x 5,000 m/s.
Equalizer
- Increased Mag Purge Torp cooldown to 65s.
- Mag Purge Torpedo made Simultaneous rather than Sequential. This fixes a bug where the cooldown wouldn't display and would reset when the second charge was used.
Furion
- Corrected Primary Cannon tooltips from 71ppd to 70 ppd.
- Corrected Corrode Drones tooltips - Hull damage now reads as 70, armor damage as 50.
- Corrected Plasma Thrower tooltips - interval rate now reads 0.4s
Raven
- Damage curve on the beam corrected to 50% falloff from 12,500m - 15,000m range.
- Added Falloff damage info to Overcharge Beam loadout tooltip.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue that caused the Enforcers and Sentinels Boost from stacking with the Equalizers Boost gate
An Introduction to Episode II - The Rift
Greetings Captains,
We teased the upcoming Episode II to you all last week, and this week we have even more to show! Check the trailer below for your introduction to The Rift!
https://youtu.be/-VXgi16mLbU
Earlier this week, I also got some time to sit down with the Design team, error1st and benni, who have been crafting this new experience which is becoming part of the over-arching Fractured Space story. Read on to find out more about Episode II.
First off, what is The Rift?
The Rift is a new tactical single sector game mode, where teams must focus on gathering resources to repair a distressed Flagship while attempting to destroy the enemies.
In the lore, The Rift is an area of space which most captains try to avoid. Ships have been known to disappear without explanation within the region with many Captains traveling to The Rift following a distress call.
In our trailers, we hear from Newton Siddis, our latest character joining Fractured Space, can you tell us more about him?
Siddis will evolve over the next few episodes into a bit of a pivotal character. We’re having a lot of fun banging our heads together and showing where this thing will go, which should hopefully come across in the voice over lines and overarching narrative.
All I can say about him, for now, is that he’s a very smart and focused scientist, but his emotional intelligence levels may not be quite up to scratch.
What is the objective of The Rift?
The Rift is a 5v5 PvE/PvP mode. Players aim to rescue a disabled friendly ship before the enemy team can destroy it. They do this by salvaging wrecks and returning to their damaged ally (Flagship) to deliver the materials. Once repaired, your ally is the most powerful vessel in the sector by far and must be escorted to its enemy counterpart to kill it. Defending your Flagship is also vital since it’s destruction will result in your team losing the match.
This new Episode moves away from Conquest, and feels more like an event with a unique twist on things; what was the reasoning behind this decision to flesh out these ideas more into its own bespoke game type for this Episode?
We’ve been keen to create new tactics for Fractured Space as it currently exists. The salvaging is a different way in which players can gain an advantage over their opponents, and the Flagship represents a different way of ending a match.
Experimenting with new game types and modes is a large part of what the episodic updates are about. We’ve long been discussing which sorts of game modes could work for Fractured Space, and have been experimenting internally for a while now. We’re not looking to replace Conquest by any means, but think some may have potential to be easier to get into for new players while mixing things up and offering a fresh way to play the game for existing players. The shorter rounds may also go some way to reducing matchmaking times.
Anyway, we’re having a lot of fun playtesting them in the studio already, so of course, we hope that they’ll resonate with the players too. Obviously, if any of the new game modes in the scenario get amazingly positive feedback, then we’ll look into fixing it up and bringing it back permanently -either as a standalone, in a shared queue with a vote or in a rotation.
In terms of how the Rift came about – that’s been predominantly down to Benni, our new designer. He started off with an idea revolving around collecting water and a playable flagship, and through feedback and iteration, it slowly evolved into what it is now.
What were the biggest challenges you faced while creating The Rift?
benni: Early versions required one player to be the Flagship. Whilst there was a novelty to this, it came with lots of downsides. The Flagship had to play incredibly cautious, or risk losing the game for their team. Not ideal in a solo queue environment, where communication may not be as accessible as it is in pre-made teams. One of the main difficulties was allowing players strategic freedom, whilst also trying to reduce the possibilities for exploits. The QA team provided lots of useful feedback in this area.
error1st: Having naturally been more focussed on gameplay and rules side of design rather than narrative, I’ve been enjoying figuring out ways of tying together the narrative arc, lore, and gameplay While ensuring that everyone’s feedback is constructive enough for Benni to actually do something with. I’ve also been running daily meetings with all our disciplines to make sure everyone is on track, so persuading everyone to get together at the same time can itself be a bit of a challenge.
The really hard decisions have been on Benni though – he’s had to make some tough calls on discarding some fun core mechanics and re-think what the mode was several times.
What has been your favorite aspect to work on while creating The Rift?
The Rift has changed dramatically from its early conception to the final version. It’s meant that up until a certain point, there were important direction pivots on what it should be. These were mainly decisions that were arrived at after lots of collaboration or discussion. It’s good to feel that something has been reasoned together.
Being part of evolving an abstract idea into tangible gameplay is always interesting and part of the fun, and I’d say that’s probably true for any dev for any project -it’s always very satisfying when everything starts coming together. For me, getting to the stage where even the saltiest of devs are starting to actually have fun in playtests is always a good feeling; things get competitive, and everyone’s keen to have another go straight after. We currently aren’t short of playtest volunteers, and that’s a good sign that we’ve created something the players want to keep playing.
Pictured: Newton Siddis in the flesh
Coming Soon...
https://youtu.be/J_X9K96PS7k
Addressing Matchmaking Times
Since the release of Episode 1: Discovery, we've been keeping an eye on your reactions and feedback over the course of the Episode. We are well aware of the long matchmaking times some players are experiencing and the desire some players have to play original Conquest, a choice we are not currently providing in the PvP queue at this moment in time.
With the release of our next Episode (more information to come soon, keep an eye on our social channels) we will be making various adjustments to how our current selection of Queues work. It was important to us to ensure every player was able to play every piece of content we provide, and quickly, while also providing a dedicated queue for the players who enjoy the intense PvP orientated battles that can occur in Fractured Space.
Quickplay Queues
In our next Episode Update, you can expect to find the Battle Mode selector to have some various functionality changes, while visually remaining quite similar. Quickplay will be returning to ensure players who wish to experience the new slice of Lore and episodic content we are providing can do so without waiting for an extended amount of time or allow any players who may be wishing to complete certain Campaigns or Missions the opportunity to do so in Co-op. Quickplay will not be a part of the PvP Queue
Quickplay means that when you are queuing for a match, you may have your team backfilled with AI Captains depending on the number of players searching for the same mode at that particular time with you. Please see the image below for an indication of how the queues will function.
To ensure the matches that are backfilled with AI Captains are still enjoyable matches, we have rehired our AI Specialist back onto the team to ruffle these AI back into shape. Expect to see them behaving differently as time goes on.
Notice as well that we have ensured the dedicated PvP is never part of the Quickplay queues. We understand that some players do not want to rely on AI Captains when playing Fractured Space and we respect that. The PvP Queue will include an additional Voting phase at the beginning where players will vote on which mode they wish to play. After this is selected, the typical drafting phase will occur. PvP will only be PvP.
Earn While You Queue
Also coming as part of the Episode Update is the addition of Queue Credits. While searching for a match, you will be earning Credits which will be awarded to you after completing the next match you find.
Here at Edge Case Games, we want you to feel like your time is being respected which is why we are introducing Queue Credits, these Credits will tick up as your queue time increases, but if you leave the queue you will lose the amount you have accrued so far.
Successfully completing a match will grant you these Credits, helping you with that next new shiny purchase for your Hangar.
You will earn Queue Credits in both Co-op and PvP queues and the amount of Credits is currently capped to 5 minutes of queue time.
Finally, from all of us here at Edge Case Games, we would like to thank the players who have been supporting the queues so far. We have seen your tales of crazy queue times which has led to us thinking of new strategies to combat this issue. It is through your passion that we know what we need to resolve.
We hope these steps will help all players of Fractured Space and invite you to let us know what you think once these changes have been made live to everybody.
GL HF
Discovery Hotfix #3 - Ship Balance
Greetings Captains,
In today's hotfix, we are addressing some Ship balance and making notable changes to certain ships, such as the Endeavor and Equalizer, to get them back into fighting shape.
In this hotfix, we have also made some adjustments to the Home Base Turrets in Conquest: Discovery and the damage dealt to them from the Gamma Blast. Our intention with this is to make the Turrets less of a distraction from completing the mission, and decrease the length of time it takes to complete a match of Conquest: Discovery.
We are aware of the length of time it is taking for some players to find matches, especially PvP queues. In an effort to remedy this, we will not be bringing original Conquest back as a separate queue in this Hotfix, as previously said. Adding another queue will only increase the issue at this current point in time. Instead, Conquest will return when we have consolidated our current queues down so any player of Fractured Space can get a game of the mode they enjoy playing, while also providing a PvP-only queue that will contain all variants of Conquest. Keep an eye out later this week for more information.
EDIT: Here is the information regarding our upcoming changes to queues and matchmaking times: https://steamcommunity.com/games/310380/announcements/detail/1689295380718331295
For a full list of the Balance changes, see below:
Conquest: Discovery Changes
- Base Turret: Hitpoints reduced 30,000 -> 20,000
- Gamma: Damage to Base Turrets reduced 10,000 -> 5,000
Ship Balance
Disruptor
Primary Weapons
- Projectile speed increased from 8000(m/s) x 1.5s to 9000(m/s) x 1.34s.
- Increased Turret Traversal from 40 to 47.
- Armor damage added to all variants.
- LMB1: 9 APPD (22.5 ADPS)
- LMB2: 8APPD (22.4 ADPS)
- LMB3: 8APPD (22.1 ADPS) - Weapon accuracy improved across all variants.
Base Stats
- Hull Strength increased from 5,000 to 6,000
Endeavor
Turrets
- Doubled Turret Projectile speed from 4s x 2,500(m/s) to 2s x 5,000(m/s).
- Turrets reduced from 3 to 2.
- Cooldown reduced from 80s to 55s
- Damage increased from 45ppd to 65ppd.
- Sentry Missile Damage increased from 130ppd to 190ppd.
- Base Health increased from 1,750 to 2,400.
Gravity Charge
- Increased Gravity Charge Projectile Speed .
LMB
- Reduced range from 16,250m to 13,650m.
- Optimum range increased from 10,000m to 12,000m.
- Damage falloff improved from 85% to 65%.
Concussion Mines
- Reduced refire rate from 0.8s to 0.6s.
Base Stats
- Increased Hull Strength from 6,000 to 7,500.
Displacer
Displace Torpedo
- Switched to an aimed projectile, Displace Harpoon.
- Added turret to allow coverage on the bottom half of the ship.
- “Displace” effect reduced to 10s.
Displace
- Reduced Max Push Range from 21000m to 16000m.
- Increased Push Force from 1,000 m/s to 1,350 m/s
Base Stats
- Armor Increased to 1,150 across all armor facings.
- Increased Acceleration
- Strafe increased by 15%
- Vertical increased by 5%
Equalizer
Purge Pulse
- Increased radius of Allied Purge Pulse from 5,000m to 6,500m.
- Reduced cooldown of Allied Purge Pulse from 95s to 75s
Magazine Purge Torp (New loadout)
- Range: 17,485m (2.69s x 6,500m/s)
- Base Damage: 300ppd
- Purge Duration: 5s
- Base Cooldown: 50s
- Magazine Charges: 2
Mag Purge Torpedo is a 2 charge utility system, target a ship and fire to home in on the target. On hit, negative status effects are purged from allies and buffs are removed from enemies.
Base Stats
- Increased Hull Strength from 5,000 to 6,000
Furion
Furion Cannon
- Damage reduced from 71 ppd to 70 ppd.
Ion Flamer
- Damage interval increase from 0.35s to 0.4s.
Corrode Drones
- Damage reduced from 100/3s to 70/3s
- Armor Damage reduced by 100/3s to 50/3s
Raven
- Fixed Overcharge Beam to have 50% falloff at 12,500m to 15,000m range.
Destroyer
Primary Weapons
- Primary weapon range reduced from 25,000m to 20,300m across all variants.
Two FREE Kraken Skins - The Artefact Event
Greetings Captains,
Do you want two FREE Kraken skins added to your Ship Skin Collection? If so, get into the thick of battle this weekend and work together as a community to gather Gamma Captures to secure the Centurion and Furion Kraken Skins.
If you can gather 20,000 Gamma Captures as a community by Monday, June 11th 18:00 UTC you will earn yourselves the Centurion Kraken Skin.
Go even further and gather 40,000 Gamma Captures in the same timeframe to earn yourselves the Furion Kraken.
Participate in any Gamma Capture this weekend and both these skins will be yours to keep at the end of the event.
Good luck Captains.