This week's update focuses on leveling the playing field between factions with different numbers of players at their disposal. Having a ship count advantage massively tilts the balance of a fight towards the faction with more ships. Without a matchmaking service meticulously crafting every expedition lobby, factions of 1 or 6 need to be able to engage each other in competitive battles.

The faction damage multiplier is a new faction-only mechanic that reduces the damage dealt by factions with many ships to factions with few ships. The multiplier reduces damage less than the increase in damage from an additional ship in the fight and is only applied to reduce damage. An additional ship still adds fully to the durability of their fleet as there is no increase applied by the multiplier. The multiplier applies server-wide so large factions should operate together to avoid splitting damage between ships not participating in a combat. You can preview your faction's damage multiplier versus another faction's by mousing over their territory on the map or inspecting that faction's dossier from a member on the scoreboard.

The faction damage multiplier scales off of a number of factors beyond ship count to calculate a total "team power" for each participating party. Total team power is the sum off...

• 15k per player ship controlled by the faction.
  
• Half the firepower of player ships controlled by the faction.
  
• 3k per member of the faction beyond the third.

Once the total team power of each party is calculated, damage is reduced according to the ratio between the two. This modifier is then applied at 75% strength and only begins scaling at a 10k difference in team power. A faction with 3 ships of 60k total firepower and 3 members would deal 60% damage to a faction with 1 ship of 20k firepower and 1 member for example.

If you'd like to explore the effects of the faction damage multiplier, make a copy of this spreadsheet.



Join us on Discord for public playtests Friday at 12pm ET, Saturday at 3pm ET, and Monday at 7pm ET.

1.20.5

Major Features

• Added faction damage multiplier. Faction damage multiplier reduces the damage factions with many ships deal to factions with few ships. The faction damage multiplier is proportional to the ratio of "team power" between either faction. Team power of a faction is a sum of 15k per player ship controlled, half of total controlled firepower, and 3k per faction member beyond 3. Scaling begins at a 10k team power difference, caps at a 3:1 ratio, and is applied at 75% strength.
  

Minor Features

• It will now snow during sieges if the normal weather is snowy.
  
• Added faction dossiers visible by mousing over a faction's territory or clicking on a faction player in the scoreboard.
  
• Faction damage multiplier applied to projectiles is based on the ship it was fired from instead of the player that fired it.
  
• Non-faction and rival faction players repair faction ships at a greatly reduced rate.
  
• Removed 20-30k firepower damage multiplier scaling.
  
• If a player losses control or allyship of a non-original homeship they will immediately have their homeship set to their original homeship.
  
• Faction ships will not gain bounty for attacking rival faction ships in their territory.
  
• Increased pigeon missiles damage by 100%.
  
• Increased magnetic mine damage by 300%.
  
• Increased flak cannon damage by 33%.
  
• Increased bunker I damage by 10%.
  
• Increased bunker III damage by 33%.
  

Bug Fixes

• Lobby crew displays will update with faction data when a captain changes faction.