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Update 1.4.7 Game Balance

Balance! Tweaks! Fixes!

This was meant to be a small update, adressing some minor balance issues. The more I worked on it, and the more I talked to the player base, the more inspired I got to keep polishing things. In the end the change list got pretty big. Thanks a lot for all the great and constructive feedback. I hope you enjoy the changes!

Shorter respawn times

The increasing respawn times are necessary to make the match end at some point. Sky Knights matches should generally take 10-25 minutes, not longer. However, many player felt that towards the end of the match, it's just too much waiting around. We'll try reducing the respawn time cap by 10 seconds, and the intial respawn time by 5 seconds.

Most importantly, I have now put all these number on the server so it's now very easy to change them again, if it needs some fine tuning (does no longer require patching the game).

Viggen balancing

The Viggen is supposed to be a fast and sturdy ground attacker. Get in, unleash the rockets and get out. It turned out though, that with the Viggen's high hull and large fuel tank, it was just too hard to intercept. The fuel has been decreased (which also makes a lot of sense, as the real life Viggen emptied its tanks pretty fast) and the hull has been slightly weakened (it's still sturdy!).

Furthermore, the Viggen has gotten a little more dependent on the afterburner. The normal (non-afterburning) top speed has been slightly reduced, while the afterburner power has been increased. This will hopefully require players to be careful in their fuel management.

Hotjoiner respawn times

Previously, when you hotjoined a game, you started with the initial 15 seconds (now 10 seconds) respawn timer. This usually worked okay, since you'd be behind on upgrades and credits anyway. However, it turned out that this sometimes didn't play well with the reinforcement mechanic. It was just too easy for a late hotjoiner to take full advantage of the reinforcement and easily turn the whole match around, which didn't feel fair.

Hotjoiners now start with a respawn time equal to the current average of the other players.

New season! Free Wings!

To be fair, it was almost two weeks ago the season ended. Anyway, ALCaPWNy (for the second time) and CLALACLAN achieved ACE rank this season! And it's time to celebrate!

For these these achievement, we're giving out two vouchers, worth 50 wings each (open up Options/Redeem Code and enter the codes in there). Yes, that's right, everyone can use these! (For a limited time though, so jump in right away!)

These are the codes:
* DOUBLE_ACE_ALCAPWNY
* ACE_CLALACLAN

Jump on Discord and discuss this update!

Best regards
//Bankler

Patch notes

1.4.7

  • Minimum respawn time has been decreased from 15 to 10 seconds.
  • Max respawn time has been decreased by 10 seconds. It's now 35 seconds in 4v4 games, 30 in 3v3 and 25 in 2v2.
  • Added option to enable or disable the chromatic aberration camera effect.
  • When a team gets reinforcements, the morale no longer resets. This will make reinforcements less powerful.
  • Removed the middle MBT spawn for reinforcements in the Desert Trap map.
  • Added hint about destroying/defending MBTs to the reinforcements text.
  • Now triggering PiP camera on the MBTs when they spawn during a reinforcement.
  • Unguided rockets damage range reduced from 100-120 to 80-100.
  • Viggen max speed and ideal turn speed reduced from 325 to 320.
  • Viggen hull reduced from 120 to 110.
  • Viggen fuel reduced from 16 to 13.
  • Viggen afterburner power increased from 250 to 255.
  • Gun fire when there are no targets will now default to firing in a straight line aligned with the aircraft instead of being horizontally aligned.
  • A/A Gun sight now aims appropriately up and down when the aircraft is ascending or descending.
  • Fixed bug where a reconnecting player sometimes didn't get the full amount of credits they had before a connection loss.
  • A hotjoining player will now start with the current average respawn time of the other players.
  • Match progress is now based on remaining FOB health instead of remaining FOB count. Matches will now close for hotjoining when remaining FOB health reaches 30%.