Greetings, commanders!
Over the past few weeks, we have been testing the 1.7.0 patch on the test server. Since the number of BUGs found during the test is more than we expected, we have decided to reschedule the release date of Update 1.7.0 from the originally planned August 21st to August 28th, so that we have enough time to ensure a stable launch of 1.7.0.
Players on the test server have also raised many questions regarding the building layout. So I would like to take today's preview post as an opportunity to answer these questions. Today's preview is like a short essay explaining our design goals, and you can be the professor if you want.^_^
What is the building layout?
The building layout consists of a series of buildings on the map. In version 1.7.0, there are 8 different building layouts, and currently, all building layouts are composed of the following 3 types of buildings:
Defense Wall: Defensive walls that block enemy fire. They retract into the ground when friendly units approach, allowing them to pass through.
Anti-Armor Cannon: A slow-firing cannon that's effective against heavy units. It takes 10 seconds to reload after every 6 shots.
Rapid-Fire Cannon: A fast-firing cannon that's effective against light units. It takes 2.5 seconds to reload after every 6 shots.
What is unique about buildings compared to units and devices?
Currently, the building layout only appears in 1v1 and 2v2 battles.
At the start of each game, the system selects 1 from 8 building layouts.
Buildings appear on the battlefield in round 1.
The building layouts of the two opponents are always mirroring or flipping each other.
All destroyed buildings will be rebuilt at the start of a new round.
Buildings cannot be upgraded or moved.
Why is the building layout designed this way, and what are the design goals of the building layout?
At the design phase of the building layouts, we had three different levels of goals:
Main Goal
Add more information to the round 1 board, reduce the randomness of round 1, and make round 1 gameplay more strategic.
(Note: In the past, the positions of all units of a player were completely hidden from the opponent in round 1, which led to insufficient information available for strategic decisions to be made. As a result, the deployment phase of round 1 is more or less like a game of rock-paper-scissors, with too much randomness and too little strategy. The main objective of introducing building layouts is to add more information to the battlefield in the first round, enabling players to determine their unit selection and position based on the building layout, thereby reducing the rock-paper-scissors nature of the first round.)
Secondary Goal
Encourage less formulaic and more emergent strategies by having a different building layout for every game.
Optional Goals
Reduce the snowball effect in the early rounds of a game.
After adding more info to the round 1 board, we may now take the opportunity to remove some special rules introduced to counter the random nature of round 1.
(Note: In the past, to battle the random nature of round 1, we reduced the deployable area of round 1 by 20m. After introducing the building layout, we can now remove this special rule.)
Utilize the building layout as a new balance tool for starting units.
Reduce the impact of buildings on later rounds to ensure that the final outcome of a match is still determined by units.
As you can see, the building layouts are mainly designed to address issues from earlier rounds, and we try not to change the game too much while doing so.
Why not design more powerful buildings, and why can't buildings be upgraded?
Mechabellum's battle is automated, where powerful defensive structures will encourage both players to build a large number of static defenses in their own half of the battlefield, thus easily leading to the awkward situation where both players wait for the other to attack.
Will there be more building types in the future?
In the future, we will gradually add more building types through updates. These future new buildings will not be overly powerful, but each will have its own unique and interesting aspect.
How does the addition of building layouts affect the balance of offensive and defensive strategies?
With the introduction of building layouts, some of the more formulaic strategies will be forced to adapt. According to the test server matches, if properly utilized, these buildings can provide some interesting new opportunities for both offensive and defensive tactics. Both offensive and defensive strategies are pretty viable on the test server.
What will be continuously tested and adjusted in the next 7 days?
We have been making experimental changes on the test server over the past few weeks. The following are things that we are still experimenting with:
We are currently testing different selling prices for buildings. The goal is to ensure that players can sell buildings they don't like while not significantly accelerating the game's economic pace. We will decide on this within the next few days.
We are currently testing the impact of removing Sticky Oil Bombs from the Research Center. And we will make a decision on whether to remove it within the next few days.
We are testing the impact of the building layouts on units such as Fang, Crawler, Steel Ball, Stormcaller, Mustang, Sledgehammer, Fortress, and Sandworm, and we will finish adjustments to these units within the next few days.
The above is all the information I can share about the Building Layout System for now. The actual 1.7.0 patch includes content beyond the building layouts, which we will share in detail in the patch notes to be released next week.
See you on the battlefield, commenders!