Balance Changes notes

[pillow]

Discovery Freelancer 4.94.01 Equipment Rework

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Hello.

The following equipment rework that you're about to look through was done first and foremost to add some much needed variety into that part of the sandbox, but also to fix some glaring issues such as the absurd 90 CD and 50/90 Mine ammunition counts. We had a lot of fun playing around with these, and we hope you will too.

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Mines



Images taken from 72 meters away, click to enlarge.

Screamer Mine

Hull Damage: 1000
Shield Damage: 29500
Top Speed: 80 m/s
Acceleration: 300 m/s
Seek distance: 400 meters
Lifetime: 10 seconds
Owner safe time: 4 seconds
Detonation Distance: 6 meters
Explosion Radius: 40 meters
Ammo: 50
CD-able: yes
Refire: 1

Statwise, the Screamer is what you already know. However, evidently, its effects were changed to better match it's EMP-ness.

Images taken from 72 meters away, click to enlarge.

Seeker Mine

Hull Damage: 6400
Shield Damage: 4450
Top Speed: 100 m/s
Acceleration: 400 m/s
Seek distance: 600 meters
Lifetime: 10 seconds
Owner safe time: 10 seconds
Detonation Distance: 4 meters
Explosion Radius: 51 meters
Ammo: 45
CD-able: Yes
Refire: 1

My personal favorite, the "Smart" Seeker Mine never runs after its owner. You might scoff at it's low amount of damage, just don't forget to keep moving if your enemy has these equipped. The Seeker will absolutely hunt you down and kill you with bug bites. A generous ammo pool and high hit rate make it a solid choice for any encounter.

Images taken from 72 meters away, click to enlarge.

Ripper Mine

Hull Damage: 9350
Shield Damage: 9350
Top Speed: 80 m/s
Acceleration: 300 m/s
Seek distance: 400 meters
Lifetime: 10 seconds
Owner safe time: 4 seconds
Detonation Distance: 5 meters
Explosion Radius: 64 meters
Ammo: 35
CD-able: Yes
Refire: 1

The Ripper got the attention it deserved with an effect switch and stat look-over. Now being the only mine that does the same amount of damage to shield as it does to hull- and not only this, but also the most potent shield buster (excluding the Screamer, of course), the Ripper is likely the "old reliable" mine you can always fall back on and never be disappointed. To prove that the shield damage actually matters, the Ripper does just enough damage to de-shield a Very Heavy Fighter from full shields in a single blast. Nothing bad to say about this bad boy. It'll never let you down.

Images taken from 144 meters away, click to enlarge. This one's pretty big.

Wardog Mine

Hull Damage: 13900
Shield Damage: 6950
Top Speed: 70 m/s
Acceleration: 250 m/s
Seek distance: 400 meters
Lifetime: 10 seconds
Owner safe time: 3 seconds
Detonation Distance: 10 meters
Explosion Radius: 72 meters
Ammo: 30
CD-able: No
Refire: 0.33

Now the Wardog is something I personally have always wanted but people have consistently told me that it's a stupid idea. Lo and behold, I was right all along.
The Wardog is a mine that doesn't detonate from Cruise Disruptor explosions. "Heresy" I hear you cry, but fear not. The Wardog is very versatile, giving you a lot more room to maneuver if you're the type that likes to plant obstacles in front of your enemy. Due to it being uncdable, the Wardog tends to stick around until it expires or crashes into something. This makes them something you always have to be aware of and keep on the move, otherwise they'll catch up to you. On the downside, they have a larger hitbox than most mines, making them much easier to hit with guns.
The rings near the explosion you can see in the screenshot are basically the mines' shell being catapulted away from the blast upon detonation. It does this because the Wardog is so potent that it effectively pushes things away from it, including ships.

Images taken from 144 meters away, click to enlarge. This one's pretty big.

Shredder Mine

Hull Damage: 17000
Shield Damage: 8500
Top Speed: 70 m/s
Acceleration: 200 m/s
Seek distance: 400 meters
Lifetime: 10 seconds
Owner safe time: 4 seconds
Detonation Distance: 6 meters
Explosion Radius: 64 meters
Ammo: 25
CD-able: Yes
Refire: 1

You'll recognize this one.
It may seem strange to some of you at first but in the end we've decided that "Nuclear Mine" was an absolutely stupid name that didn't fit in with the rest. "Shredder" fits in more as a big brother to the Ripper. Thanks to @Omicega for the new infocard and name.
Statwise, nothing has changed beyond its ammo capacity, but visually we have increased the size of both the explosion and pre-explosion effects, not only to reflect its high damage but also to make it more visible.
i know the explosion looks white but i promise you that's just how it starts, the effect is unchanged but the screenshot was too cool to not use

Images taken from 144 meters away, click to enlarge. This one's large, vast, and big.

Swatter Mine

Hull Damage: 18480
Shield Damage: 9240
Top Speed: 40 m/s
Acceleration: 150 m/s
Seek distance: 800 meters
Lifetime: 15 seconds
Owner safe time: 2 seconds
Detonation Distance: 2 meters
Explosion Radius: 192 meters
Ammo: 40
CD-able: No
Refire: 0.25

Last but not least, the Swatter. This one's particularly interesting seeing as it's about as slow and dumb as a bag of hammers but you better be sure that if this collides with you, it's going to hurt pretty bad. In duels it's relatively easy to avoid, seeing as it was designed as to not be rammable: it gets pushed out pretty far from your ship before slowing down. It can be used in duels if you manage to position yourself (and your enemy) accordingly, then shooting the mine (I recommend doing this with the new Helios Beam Cannon), catching your enemy in the explosion radius. Its abilities evidently shine in groupfights, which I doubt require much of an explanation as to why and how.

It's an experiment to be sure, but damn if it's not entertaining to see these things explode. They will menacingly slumber over to their target over a long 15 second lifespan, locking on from a whopping 800 meters.

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Cruise Disruptors

Mosquito Cruise Disruptor

Hull Damage: 78
Muzzle Velocity: 270 m/s
Maximum Velocity: 522 m/s
Detonation Distance: 15 meters
Turn rate: 9.71
Range: 1600 meters
Radius: 250 meters
Seeker Angle: 180
Ammo: 50

90 ammo limit was straight up ridiculous. The damage was also, simply put: silly. The Mosquito is the default cruise disruptor you use in combination with CDable mines. Pretty simple.

Train Cruise Disruptor

Hull Damage: 60
Muzzle Velocity: 270 m/s
Maximum Velocity: 803 m/s
Detonation Distance: 12 meters
Turn rate: 8.71
Range: 3000 meters
Radius: 400 meters
Seeker Angle: 120
Ammo: 60

The de facto bad-guy catcher CD, the Train, like the Mosquito, mostly got a damage reality check and an ammo reduction.

Hornet Cruise Disruptor

Hull Damage: 92
Muzzle Velocity: 350 m/s
Maximum Velocity: 800 m/s
Detonation Distance: 15 meters
Turn rate: 9.71
Range: 2400 meters
Radius: 400 meters
Seeker Angle: 270
Ammo: 30

The Hornet is the Train and Mosquito stuffed into one milkshake and infused with steroids. Turns fast, goes fast, skates fast, eats ass. It's too cool for a high ammo capacity, though. Use sparingly.