Hello Spacers,

The Carriers Update has been out for about five weeks now and it's time to get back to minor updates. This first one has been on PTB (public test branch) for a few weeks now while I've been building it, so I hope you had a chance to check it out. This update focuses on more optimization, an overhaul of the fleet editor warning system and the addition of new player tips, and a set of balance changes which have been broadly discussed among the playerbase.

Major updates change a lot about the game and take time to get used to, but I've been reading discussions on balance across the playerbase and discussing it actively in our discord. Based on all the feedback we've received and the discussions I've had a few critical issues have been identified, which you can find more info about below.

Strike Warfare Balance

Strike warfare, referring to the use of spacecraft to strike warships, has been heavily adjusted on the OSP side with a few targeted nerfs to the most over-performing weapons. The R-3 Rocket has been slowed down and made more expensive, as well had its mass increased so it affects bomber maneuverability more when trying to get in close. The R-1 Rocket had it's damage-per-ray reduced to a value which prevents it from "drilling" through small areas on heavy warships and structure breaking them, as well as an increase to its hitbox size making it easier for kinetic PD to hit. It still does the same amount of total damage, but in smaller increments which don't break Damage Threshold. Additionally, the Sturgeon's 100m Gunpods had their accuracy reduced substantially.

Dogfighting Balance

The outcome of dogfights relies on many factors, but the bottom line is they can feel very frustrating when you're on the AN side due to numbers disadvantages. Without precise micro for standoff strikes and support from ship-launched SDMs, it's easy to get chewed up by OSP craft and have nothing to show for it. In order to alleviate this, I've upgraded the AI for the Tanto specifically, giving them the ability to work in wingman pairs and improve their effectiveness without any direct stat changes. Wingmen will now cover their partner from other craft that are attacking them, greatly improving their performance. I thought this would be a neat way to give the Tanto a unique advantage based on the years of training one would expect of military pilots.

I also noticed while testing the wingman behavior that the short minimum range of craft guns would result in craft flying to within a few dozen meters of their target. At that range no amount of evasive maneuver could save the defender, and this was partially responsible for how dogfights quickly snowballed in favor of the superior numbers. The minimum range of craft guns has been increased to keep gunfights more spaced out, giving more chances for the defender to counterattack.

These two changes combined should make dogfighting feel much better for both sides. Even when outnumbered you'll now be able to at least extract your pound of flesh.

Additonally, the "Guy35" build has been eliminated because it allowed Barracudas to perform all roles with a single loadout. The 35mm Underwing Gunpods now take up both slots, preventing them from being paired with jammers or additional missiles.

Fleet Editor Warnings

The warning system in the fleet editor has been overhauled to be more usable and less intrusive. Warnings have been collapsed into a pulldown menu where the wall of text used to be, and have been split into Critical, Warnings, and Advisories. A slew of new warnings and advisories have been added, including advisories for missile misconfigurations.

Building fleets is one of the most arcane arts in Nebulous, despite the fact that it's core to the game. To help pull back the veil of mystery I've added a New Player Tips section to the overhauled warnings list. They offer both general pieces of advice for specific hulls and contextual tips based on the ship's configuration. These can be disabled for experienced players.

Network Optimization

As I mentioned in the last patch, network optimization has been at the front of my mind lately. With all the dynamic objects running around now, network bandwidth consumption and processing time has taken a huge jump. With lots of players and spectators network processing time can be almost half of the frame time on a dedicated server. I have written a new network sync system for dynamic objects like missiles and craft which allows them to operate autonomously on clients and only receive updates from the server every few seconds.

This new system dramatically reduces bandwidth consumption and improves performance. It's not perfect yet and you may notice some odd movements especially with craft in cases where they decided to do something on the client that is different from the server (e.g. turning left instead of right). These are visual sync issues only, and rest assured that the server's picture is correct and authoritative and this won't affect how the game plays out.

See you in the battlespace,
- The NEBULOUS Team


Changes/Features:
- Reworked fleet editor warning system to have multiple tiers.
- Condensed fleet editor warnings into a pulldown list.
- Added new player fleet design tips to the editor warnings list.
- Fleet editor power display will now show components that draw power only when operating as yellow.
- Added new network free movement position sync system to all craft for increased bandwidth-efficiency.
- Converted lifeboats, unguided rockets, and glide bombs to free movement sync.
- Converted all modular missile bodies to free movement sync.
- Increased point cost of R-3 rocket to 4 (was 2).
- Decreased speed of R-3 rocket to 275m/s (was 350) and increased mass to 6 (was 0.3).
- Increased R-2 rocket mass to 3 (was 0.3).
- Increased motor power of R-2 and R-3 rockets to keep acceleration unchanged with new mass.
- Decreased damage per ray of R-1 rocket to 33.3 (was 50).
- Increased hitbox size of R-1 rocket.
- Increased shot spread of Sturgeon 100mm gun pods to 0.25 (was 0.05).
- Decreased damage radius of 100mm Flak burst to 50 meters (was 100) and decreased fuze time error margin to 0.11s (was 0.5).
- Decreased point cost of Claymore bomber to 12 points (was 15).
- Increased 15mm sandshot hit detection radius to 7.5m (was 5).
- Improved Tanto dogfighting AI with wingman logic.
- Increased Tanto 15mm Coilgun nose gun target in-range distance to 1,500m (was 1,200).
- Increased Tanto nose cone radar locking range to 1,750m (was 1,000).
- Decreased Tanto illuminator pod cone FOV to 5 degrees (was 10).
- Barracuda 35mm gun pods now take up all underwing slots instead of just inner ones.
- Decreased hit detection radius of 35mm Flechette to 1m (was 3.3).
- Changed ammo type tag for 100mm Grape to Ballistic/Cannister.
- Added Ballistic/Cannister compatible ammo tag to all existing 100mm weapons except Sturgeon gun pods.
- Decreased CBU-40 point cost to 5 (was 10).
- Improved error logging for AI captains which fail at instantiation due to an unexpected condition.
- Decreased 600mm Bomb Shell AoE damage chance against missiles and craft to 5% (was 50%).
- Craft will now properly engage threats to other craft they are guarding.
- Adjusted all craft gun range envelopes to keep gunfights more spaced out.
- Adjusted evasion behaviours in gunfights.
- Increased C65 Cannon point cost to 45 (was 30).
- Increased fragment cone angle of 120mm RPF to 10 degrees (was 7.5).
- Increased fragment cone angle of 250mm RPF to 13.25 degrees (was 10).
- Updated starter fleets for point changes.

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed Vauxhall mounts 7-10 not being able to turn inwards to fire over the center of the ship.
- Fixed blast frag warhead partial damage not being applied correctly against larger targets.
- Fixed skiff being able to lock targets at long range.
- Fixed craft retaining their lock target when their order changes.
- Fixed missile seeker cone renderer on sphere widget casting shadows.
- Fixed craft missile counts not being updated when fired following an earlier optimization.
- Fixed bomb shell fragments rolling damage against craft in addition to the AoE explosion.
- Fixed "no ammo" warning appearing for SALS/TALS launchers even when valid missiles were in a magazine.
- Fixed icons of eliminated friendly ships not updating to gray until hovered of selected.
- Fixed AI breaking when given a ship carrying craft which it can't launch.
- Fixed "Add Missile Type" button in craft loadout matrix not showing any templates in some cases.
- Fixed some filtered ammo selection lists having an initial selection even if it was filtered.
- Fixed exploit allowing deployed ships to be pushed into the map.