4.95.0 Patch 5 - Printable Version

Discovery 4.95.0 Patch 5

FARM REWORK

LWB is a key part of vanilla Freelancer. When they were removed, many people were upset, and a large part of Rheinland lore was removed with no real benefit. Furthermore, Farmers Alliance, a faction similar to LWB in mission and lore, is not unique in gameplay opportunities, and is often lumped together with Hogosha/Corsairs/Gaians as the "opposition" to Outcasts, when the faction is more nuanced than this.

Story has thus taken the decision to both revive the LWB and create a very unique faction in the Farmers Alliance, with the faction gaining an entire new house as ZOI and LWB ships in the Sense and Sichel, in addition to Cruisers through the Rheinland Pirate Cruiser. It is often a challenge to provide factions with logical progression and a number of opportunities in RP and gameplay by expanding their sphere of influence (the Gaians were the only attempt), but the Farmers Alliance were provided with a solid RP opportunity, and we have decided to take it.

But what are Farmers without their opposition, the hated Synth Foods? In order to provide incentives for the Synth Foods faction, we have created a unique commodity, Biodome Materials, produced on a more suitable Riverside (see screenshot above), now located in LA orbit, leaving Mojave to be empty as in vanilla.

Many more balance, systems and economy changes were made for this patch, which was released relatively soon after our last patch. Hope you all enjoy the new content.

OMEGA REWORK

This change is perhaps a contentious one. Omega-49 and Omega-47 both have histories as systems, however in recent history both systems have fallen terribly out of vogue as the story related to these systems have been plagued with issues.

There is also the problem of player density, and having way too many systems to operate over. Omega-48 is intended to be where East meets West, where the in-lore touted super riches of Omega are to be found, in a resource rich oasis nestled between the Barrier Nebula and the Walker Nebula. All bases found within both systems, with one exception, remain intact and untouched. With a 47 side and a 49 side.

Connection changes to these systems also are quite impactful. Previously Bretonia had ZOI over Omega-49 courtesy of Dublin and Poole. This remains, but due to congestion and other concerns, this was rounded down to just Poole. However, two concerns remain with this as is;

1. Developmental leanings being unfairly focused on one area (re; Devtonia)

In order to make this system a true Tau-23 of Omega, where houses compete for resources, Omega-48 now connects to Stuttgart, granting Rheinlanders ZOI in this system to compete with Bretonia. While there are no plans for Tau style conflict lines, if there is sufficient interest this can be explored. Currently even with such lines, fighting in Omega-3 and Omega-7 just would not make much sense, but in the deep space of Omega-48, nobody can hear you scream (or run to momma Gov to ask to declare war). But rest assured, there will be no Stirling style invasions of Omega-48 to mess with the systems backwater nature, and Turtles and Shrimps will remain where they belong.

2. Think of the economy! (re; mining infrastructure)

Removing mining from Omega-3 and Omega-7, two fairly safe systems is going to ruffle some feathers, but to "compesate" to an extent, Omega-48 be accessible by both these systems, allowing mining factions that stationed themselves in Omega-3 and Omega-7 to hop over to the next system and do some mining. Some may argue it is fine as is, but as with system count being hard to work with due to low player density, having too many mining fields spreads players thinly too.

As for the aforementioned "base that did not make it", this base is Rippon Tor Blacksite. The reasons why it was left out are complicated, the biggest of which is that the Story around the base is no longer active in the mod, and is not going to be.

EQUIPMENT
- Changed: Coalition Engine Effects: Gunboat, Cruiser and Transport updated.
- Changed: Auxo Engine Effects: Gunboat and Transport updated.
- Changed: Gaian Engine Effects: Fighter, Gunboat, Cruiser and Transport updated.
- Changed: Crayter Dreadnought engine effects updated.
- Changed: Light Fighter Graviton shield given proper shield effects.
- Changed: Removed cargo requirements for gunboat weapons and shields.
- Changed: Crayter Dreadnought effects updated.
- Fixed: Corsair "Correo" Freighter no longer has CAU6 included in its package.
- Fixed: Nomad Razor projectile sound.

INFOCARDS
- Changed: Kagoshima Depot position slightly adjusted.
- Changed: Sichel Infocard.
- Changed: Sense Infocard.
- Changed: Eliminator/Destroyer Infocards.
- Changed: Riverside Station and former LWB bases now Alliance bases given new infocards, faction allies updated.
- Changed: Aland Shipyard Debris field given an infocard.
- Changed: Rheinländische Großspedition renamed RGS Shipping.
- Fixed: Former Imperial Shipping IFF to RGS.
- Fixed: South Dallas Debris field no longer mentions PR hole.

SHIPS
- Changed: Updated model for "Moray" Bounty Hunter Bomber.
- Changed: Multiplied Cruiser steering stats by 10 to increase their 'resistance' to bumping.
- Changed: Kusari Imperial ship sellpoints replaced with regular Kusari ships.
- Changed: Rheinland unlawful ship sell points adjusted.
- Changed: NPC Transports use NPC shields but regular heavy transport shields, making them slightly stronger.
- Fixed: Gallic "Kouprey" Battletransport cockpit.
- Fixed: Insurgency Battlecruiser animation.
- Fixed: Maquis Destroyer impulse/thrust speed.
- Fixed: Non-Cruisers being able to mount Cruiser Shield Upgrades.
- Fixed: Zoner "Persephone" Battleship docking point and missing secondary turret.
- Fixed: Nomad "Ish'tar" docking point.
- Fixed: Outcast "Sarissa" Battleship's third view camera.
- Fixed: AI Cruiser asymmetric heavy turrets.

SYSTEMS
- Changed: Omega-49 and Omega-47 have been merged into Omega-48, with easy access to several systems. System is intended to focus Omega ore mining (except Uncuts) into a single system & provide multiple factions with access to a system to conflict over.
- Changed: Silver Ore and Cobalt Ore has been moved from Omega-7 and Omega-3 to Omega-48.
- Changed: Cruiser Greifswald returns to LWB (Alliance) ownership and is moved to Omega-7.
- Changed: Omega-11 effect added to the Star.
- Changed: Special Leeds npc piracy encounter at Stokes junction.
- Changed: Ambient npc zones (system spanning zones) removed, some systems given extra removals for testing.
- Changed: Provence from 13.3k/s to 12k/s
- Changed: Gas Miner Trischen (Sigma-13) to Madrid Base.
- Changed: Various NPC Cruiser loadout adjusted to make them more consistent across the board.
- Changed: Planet Erie, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Milford, Battleship Delaware and Battleship Kolleda ship sellpoints revamped.
- Changed: Removed Tottori Gate Consruction Site in Kyushu (gate is finished).
- Changed: Tottori Jump Hole in Kyushu moved for less travel.
- Changed: San Diego Border Station made Fighter only like other border stations.
- Changed: LWB ships added to Farmers Alliance roster.
- Changed: Farmers Alliance rep added to Stuttgart pirate base Darmstadt and associated npc paths.
- Changed: Cruiser Schwarzwald converted to Alliance, moved within Cologne.
- Changed: Riverside Station model changed and moved to Los Angeles orbit.
- Changed: Battleship Hamamatsu was moved within Honshu to provide an empty space for better piracy.
- Changed: Battleship Dax returned to IDF.
- Changed: Slight reposition of Cortez hole in Coronado so it is not so close to the sun.
- Changed: Hades Front/Rear has their own custom models.
- Changed: Kagoshima Depot position slightly adjusted
- Fixed: Poole hole in Omega 5 correctly rotated.
- Fixed: Corrected lane interruption settings for Gallic lanes in Cologne.
- Fixed: Edinburgh Jump Hole in Leeds CTD.
- Fixed: Cruiser Griefswald (Omega-3) spoke German.
- Fixed: Solarius Station (Omega-11) wrong ownership and NPCs.
- Fixed: Planet Sprague missing vendor inventory.
- Fixed: Reduced size of Edinburgh zone a little more so it avoids patrol paths.
- Fixed: Manchester Jump Gate in Newcastle distance to Scarborough Shipyard increased (Aprox 17k -> 26k)
- Fixed: Epsilon/Zeta hole in Mu visible on navmap (moved futher in-system).
- Fixed: Jeju now has IMG equipment.

BALANCE
- Changed: The "Phantom" Heavy Fighter has had its stats rebalanced.
- Changed: Starflier, Startracker and Starblazer cameras, strafe, mass and response stats adjusted.
- Changed: Various Battleship shield bubbles adjusted.
- Changed: Cruiser Tachyon range increased to 2100 and reduced energy cost of Tachyons/Blasters by 5%.
- Changed: Impact Cannon/Disintegrator/Mauler energy use reduced by 10%; Cruiser Storm Cannon energy use reduced by 5%.
- Changed: Nomad Cruiser Blaster energy usage reduced by 5%; Nomad Cruiser Heavy Turret energy usage reduced by 10% (matches human variants).
- Changed: Rebalanced Liberty Cruiser Forward Gun & Dragon Cruiser Forward Gun.
- Changed: Ripper mine explosion radius decreased from 64m to 54m.
- Changed: Screamer mine explosion radius decreased from 40m to 32m, detonation distance decreased from 6m to 3m, top speed increaesd from 80ms to 120ms, acceleration increased from 300 to 500, seek distance increased from 400m to 500m and the owner safe time increased from 4s to 5s. Also given a 2.5sec cooldown.

ECONOMY
- Added: All denominations of Credit Cards added to Interspace bases in house capitals, Freeport 9 and Malta.
- Added: Biodome materials added to Riverside Station (0.9 rep with Synth required to purchase)
- Changed: Ageira Data Packs reworked.
- Changed: Ageira White Boxes reworked (0.3 minimum rep with Ageira required to purchase).
- Changed: Balanced for system changes.
- Changed: Bio-Neural Arrays removed from Nimes and added to Issoudun Shipyard.
- Changed: Cardamine reduced on Buffalo Base to make Planet Manhattan the top sell point again.
- Changed: EFL Blue Packs reworked (0.3 minimum rep with EFL required to purchase).
- Changed: Gaian Wildlife able to be bought from Planet Curacao.
- Changed: Magnetic Superconductors removed from Nimes.
- Changed: Nanomembrane Filters removed from Nimes and added to Vierzon Mining Facility.
- Changed: Passengers that went to Monte Carlo Freeport re-routed to Freeport 11.
- Changed: Pilgrims moved to Freeport 11 (Can still purchase on Monte Carlo Freeport with for a higher price).
- Changed: Synth Gel removed from Planet Curacao.

CREDITS

Dev Leads: @Alex., @Backo, @Haste, @Markam, @Treewyrm, @Widow
Developers: @bakugone, @Groshyr, @pillow. @Skorak. @TheShooter36. @Val, @Kauket, @Reeves
Models: @aerelm