Hello everyone,
First and foremost, thanks for the patience. It’s been a very long time since we’ve made any announcements and we’re sorry we've been so quiet. Many conversations, a lot of work and changes have been taking place. We’re finally ready to make some important announcements about the future direction of Maelstrom.
RELEASE WINDOW
The first thing is that we have a release window of Summer 2019. We don’t have a precise date but will update as we get closer.
Since we have a lot to talk about we will do it in different updates over the coming weeks. Each week, we will provide details on a particular feature or system.
We will also be providing an updated roadmap soon.
MATES
This week’s topic is MATES!
Mates are currently heavily RNG based, and while the system works quite well for the first couple weeks of play, there are a few problems with it:
- The RNG nature means that players do not feel a good sense of progression. After a player obtains a few good mates, it becomes much harder to make any real progress and interest can wane.
- Some players get 5 Star mates early, others play for a hundred hours and do not get any at all.
- Players are incentivized to use their best mates, rather than being able to experiment with different builds.
- Players end up with dozens of useless mates.
INTRODUCING MATE LEVELING
Upon release, the mates themselves will be functionally similar, however, how you earn them, and what you do after you have them will be different.
The earning rates for mates will be reduced. Players will no longer get mates constantly - instead, earning mates will be more rare. However, players will be able to level up mates by using GOLD. Leveling mates will increase their stats - similar to if you had obtained them at a higher level in the first place.
This will directly reduce the number of mates you get, but make the mates you own much more meaningful. When you find a mate with a combination of stats you want to try out, you can level them up to do so instead of hoping for a higher level version of them to drop.
OBTAINING MATES
You will still have the opportunity to find mates that are higher level right off the bat, though they will be rarer. Mates are still found in Chests which determine the level of the mate choices inside.
Chest will also have an automatic chance to upgrade to the next level.
For example, if you earn a Level 1 Mate Chest, all mates inside will be Level 1, but if you are lucky, it can get upgraded to a Level 2 Mate Chest, which means all the mates inside will be Level 2. Or you might get really lucky and it upgrades again to a Level 3 Mate Chest, and so on. The likelihood of it leveling up to Level 5 will be low, but it can technically happen.
TRAITS AND SET BONUSES
We are also expanding on Mates with some new features. We wanted to give mates more personality and interest beyond just providing static stats, and, so mates themselves are also getting an upgrade at Level 4 and 5.
When a mate reaches Level 4, they will unlock a new ability called a Trait.
Traits are situational abilities that apply or trigger only during certain situations.
When a mate reaches Level 5, they will unlock another new ability called a Set Bonus (we will probably give it a cooler name before launch).
Set Bonuses will be similar to existing passive and Tier X ship abilities, and are active if all 3 mates you have equipped have the same Set Bonus.
You will also be able to reroll these traits and set bonuses if you do not like the ones the Mate came with.
The combination of these two additional characteristics will both enhance the strategic and gameplay implications of mates as well as make earning mates interesting for a longer period of time.
We will launch with a good number of Traits and Set Bonuses to start, and we plan to add more in the future, opening up new possibilities and giving you new content to chase.
MERCENARIES
We are also introducing the concept of Mercenaries.
Mercenaries will level up the same way as regular mates, and have access to Traits and Set Bonuses, and they won’t be stronger than regular mates. So what makes them different then?
- Mercenaries will be usable for any race. They will still have a type such as Gunner, but you will be able to use them on a ship of any race.
- Mercenaries will have stat amounts and combinations not normally available to normal Mates - for example, you might see a Gunner that reduces Reload Time.
- Mercenaries will have access to stats currently not available to Mates.
- Mercenaries may also come with some negative stats in order to balance out their unique array of stats - for example, a Mercenary Shipwright that gives you more Hull than a Normal Shipwright may reduce your ship’s Top Speed as a result.
- Unlike regular mates, the Traits and Set Bonuses on Mercenaries are available right from the start.
Typically, Mercenaries will only be available to be earned in limited windows. We plan to have a few Mercenaries you can earn at any point in time, and while it’s possible for them to re-appear at a later date, if you really want one of them it’s best to earn it while it’s there.
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That’s it for this week’s update.
We’re very excited about these upcoming changes and we hope you are as well. We welcome any and all feedback and constructive criticism.
Next time, we’ll go in depth regarding Quests. Look forward to it!
Sincerely,
Your Maelstrom team