Monday, August 20, 2018

Cryo Adder, Death Scythe, Drac Scatter II and Ancillaries

A Once Over of the New Turrets and Ancillary Info




Oh my... so there has been a slew of concern, misinformation and confusion about the new turrets. Corrosive items are a bit wonky because of their late introduction to the game. Let's see if we can clarify some of this.

First some of the oddities as this is what seems to throw people off. For the specials and interactions - they are based upon damage type unless otherwise specified. Usually this isn't an issue, however, with these turrets the exceptions are significant, thus, making it a tad more complicated. What does this mean? Examples!!!




  • Sulfide Deployer's reload only works for the Draconian Scatter Gun Turret II and Cryo Death Adder Turret, but NOT the Death Scythe Turret because that special is explicitly listed as scatter gun reload rather than corrosive reload. (There are only 2 turret specials that list interaction by weapon type if I remember correctly.)
  • Anti-Penetrating damage type countermeasures will NOT shoot down a Death Scythe projectile, however, Countermeasure damage type WILL shoot down the Death Scythe projectile. See where that damage type is matching?
  • SSKP will NOT work with the Death Scythe because, you guessed it, the damage types do not match.
  • Fire Support has no effect upon any of these turrets as Fire Support does not support Corrosive damage type for damage or reload buffs.
  • Damage specific deflection DOES mitigate DoT damage, generic deflection (assault/siege) do NOT.
  • Corrosive DoT stacks IGNORE the unreactive stat of a hull.
  • Turret Defense DOES mitigate DoT damage.



Another generic that we need to understand is what stats mean in the stat block of the turret:

DoT Damage : 540,000
DoT Max Damage : 60,000
DoT Duration : 45 seconds

Based on past prints, it may seem like those numbers at the top are wrong, right? Not really. I picked this one because it illustrates the mechanic a bit easier. This is how it works:

We have 540,000 damage and the stack is active for 45 seconds. That means we have a DoT DPS of only 12,000. That helps clarify that print a lot better now doesn't it?

Since the max damage is 60,000 DoT DPS, we divide the 60,000 by the individual DoT DPS amount of 12,000 and can now conclude that we only need 5 concurrently active stacks to get to max DoT damage. I'll list each turret weapon's DoT info below in the corresponding area.



Draconian Scatter Gun Turret II :

Not a bad short range pain in the ass turret. The damage output per projectile (DOPP) with the A-T Transformer, Faction bonus and full Group bonus using the Caustic Catalyst special is 2,645,862 (before turret defense or deflections are applied).

One drawback is that this corrosive turret does no DoT damage. Well placed, this could be a hazard forcing an attacker to stop or manipulate their movement. With a 105 base range, it can be out ranged, so placement is key to force a stoppage or other movement while allowing your defenses to damage your opponent or force your opponent to move to/into other areas you want them to be in.



Death Scythe Turret :

An interesting long range turret, the DOPP with the A-T Transformer, Faction bonus and full Group bonus using the Caustic Catalyst special is 382,987 (before turret defense or deflections are applied).

It's long outside range and large inner range make for an interesting turret for placement. Much like the Javelin II and Catastrophic Mortar, this could cause some consternation for Sloth fleets, particularly the 1-4 combos. With the increased minimum inner range this may be the first ring of the death knell of that fleet set-up. We shall see.

This one has the wonkies of the batch. I'll try and cover the oddities in here.

Penetrative range, damage and reload specials do NOT work on this turret weapon. No Thermobaric casing, no SSKP, no Scramjet. The damage type has to match here, not the weapon type. Likewise, because no generic accuracy based turret specials work currently and penetrative accuracy specials are inapplicable, the accuracy of the turret will be a determining factor in it's value in your base defense.

The only countermeasures capable of shooting down this projectile are countermeasures with the damage type listed as countermeasure NOT anti-penetrative.

While I had some little opportunity to do some testing for these turrets, Templar and Vengeful one had a much opportunity to so some heavy testing of the mechanics. I can not thank them enough for the work they do behind the scenes to check some of this stuff out!

What was found in the testing is that while the DoT DPS is accurate in terms of DPS calculations, the 'bump' of the damage is NOT per second. In other words, DoT damage is NOT applied every second, but rather every 5 seconds on this weapon. For both of these turrets it is a different number and this is a most significant stat that needs to be added into the prints ASAP. More testing needs to be done to verify the preliminary numbers we have found.

What this means is, for example, this turret has a DoT 'bump' of 5 seconds. This determines tha amount of damage per 'bump'. 5 * 60,000 = 300,000 damage, which is the damage dealt when DoT is applied at every 5 seconds.

DoT Damage : 540,000
DoT Max Damage : 60,000
DoT Duration : 45 seconds
Individual DoT DPS : 12,000
Max Stacks : 5
DoT DPS Bump : 5 sec



Cryo Adder Strike Turret :

This is the deadliest turret of the bunch and I saved it for last. Why? I'm going to let you work out why it is the deadliest using the info I provided above.

Another long range (191) turret, this one has no inner range so it will likely never be a threat to a sloth fleet on the outside, it is however a very formidable weapon. This thing has the potential to hurt... a LOT. The DOPP with the A-T Transformer, Faction bonus and full Group bonus using the Caustic Catalyst special is 1,152,170 (before turret defense or deflections are applied) and is a bit deceiving with regard to the weapon's capabilities. Here are the numbers:

DoT Damage : 400,000
DoT Max Damage : 800,000
DoT Duration : 10 seconds
Individual DoT DPS : 40,000
Max Stacks : 20
DoT DPS Bump : 2.5 sec

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Hope this cleared up some confusion about the turrets, the damage group and how everything interacts. As people ask questions, I'll edit the article to incorporate them.



Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Revisiting Damage Over Time

The Dreaded DoT



Coming soon to a base near you! DoT! Why is the 'O' always small when we write DoT? Are we prejudiced against the word 'over'? Curious minds want to know!

Ok, so let's cover DoT so everything makes some sense. I'll use the blueprint that is causing a lot of consternation currently. I'll admit this also- one of my favorite past-times is not reading the release notes through and winging it on the shows.  Gives me a good  'feel' for initial reactions and makes me think on the fly. I got caught out looking this one over myself and it didn't really coalesce until the after-show. Oops. :D



Some basics first. This is what you need from the blueprints when wanting to calculate DoT:

DoT Damage : This is the amount of damage a single 'stack' will do over the time listed under DoT Duration.

DoT Max Damage : This is the maximum amount of damage the weapon can reach doing DoT damage.

DoT Duration : This is the amount of time each 'stack' lasts.

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Now, let's get to what the hell it actually means using the print as the example.

DoT Damage : 540,000
DoT Max Damage : 60,000
DoT Duration : 45 seconds

Seems like those numbers at the top are flipped, yea? Not really. This is how it works:

We have 540,000 damage and the stack is active for 45 seconds. That means we have a DoT DPS of only 12,000. That helps clarify that print a lot better now doesn't it? Well, sort of - that's the DoT DPS average. For clarification, see: https://forsakencove.blogspot.com/2018/08/cryo-adder-death-scythe-drac-scatter-ii.html The DoT for the new turrets doesn't 'pay out' every second, so the max deflection you need has to be calculated out.

Since the max damage is 60,000, we can also conclude that we only need 5 concurrently active stacks to get to max DoT damage.



A few things to note:

DoT bypasses basic (building and ship) deflections BUT damage specific deflections DO mitigate the damage.

DoT works on 'stacks'. What that means is that when the weapon successfully hits the target a 'stack' is applied. Stacks can be 'supercharged'. Supercharge specials work, lancher supercharge specials do NOT.

Corrosive DoT stacks are supposed to ignore unreactive stats. There are conflicting reports on this. If anyone has some vid of testing for this, please send them on. :) They do ignore unreactive. Tested and verified.

Another aspect that is heavily debated is whether Siege Battery affects DoT (and shockwave as the two are always compared as they are both secondary damage). I am trying to get clarification on how they are behaving (I actually know how they were intended, but... better to get accuracy instead of should be on this one - the article on T7 turrets should clarify that one). If anyone has some vid of testing for this, please send them on.

Tested and verified by Templar and Vengeful One (the apparent QA team of Kixeye!) - Siege Battery DOES affect DoT.

DoT can not be increased in any way. Perhaps we'll see a special Coming Soon that does the same for DoT that some do for Shockwaves.

Much like other damage in the game, the display amount is double actual in-game damage. Sorry.

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There is the skinny on, and the short version of, Corrosive DoT. Hope it helps!

Saturday, August 11, 2018

Where Did That Chameleon Go?

If the Pretender were a hull.



Raised in a secret facility built for experimenting on children, Jarod is a genius who can master any profession and become anyone he has to be. When he realizes as an adult that he's actually a prisoner and his captors are not... no... no wait... that's the show, right?

Oh  yea- The Chameleon!



I'm seeing a lot of hate geared towards this hull, and some of the criticism is justified. It does not live up to the previous generation of Generalist hulls in ability to conform successfully to specific metas and it also does not have the same flexibility as, say, the Zelos, however... it does have some serious value, particularly in a specific niche context.

That context is everyone's favorite - Expeditions! Yea, ok, that was sarcasm, but it does bring a certain value in that arena.

The other part of the contextual picture is this - a co-op campaign where you can gain tokens, and through those tokens, you can get one of these fleets out for free. Why does this make the hull and TLCs valuable? I'm glad you asked!



First, the fleet can be perpetually running in Generalist Expeditions for free premium resources. This is helpful during raids- particularly the longer ones. We all know the premium resource prices in the raid are... less than value oriented.

Second, you don't ever have to worry about the damage it takes. You can either park in a corner and wait for the expedition to time out and come back to your base fully repaired OR you can complete the target and let it coast getting premium res and it will come back fully repaired. How can you lose in this?

The tokens are not limited to 10 or less as some have been lately so you can stock up and save them until you have time in your shipyard or you have all the tokens to crank out a fleet.



Is the fleet ideal in any way? No. Is it something neat to have in the toolbox? Yes. Are they a great stand alone value? Not really compared to other options in the game. Since the tokens are essentially free with the Co-Op option I'd highly recommend doing the campaign. If you have a build that isn't performing up to snuff in the targets, now is a great time to stock up the tokens so you can tweak that build. It's actually a really good thing to have TLCs like this offered- one they don't really stress players out because they are optional, two they offer variety in the targets (though they DO need to make target requirements CLEAR) and three the co-op aspect beings back in a measure of the social aspect of the game- made even better with the addition of the world chat.

So- TL;DR - cool optional TLC that you can stack up some tokens cheaply and decide later if you want to invest in a build. Have fun pirates!