REFACTOR IS COMING!

PvP Refactor is HERE!

This Tuesday the PvP Refactor that players have been looking forward to/dreading is finally being released.

NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!! 

The change to PvP is broad and all-encompassing. If you start with the premise of 'everything is changing' you won't be far wrong. This is going to be overwhelming for most players. Keep calm and take it in small chunks, otherwise, you will end up very frustrated. Everything is changing, not just some blueprints.

First Things First :

NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!! These are observations from the last test server and my own interpretation of things I've seen. Did I say NOTHING IS FINALIZED yet? Guess what? NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!!!!!

Random Observations :

First things first - Don't start a shipyard upgrade and don't tie up your shipyard. The PvP Refactor comes with a compensation package including a 70% reduction in associated build time and costs that is only active for the 1st 48 hours.

NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!! 

Aura stacking is also changing fundamentally. We repeatedly saw that Fire Support was going to 1 stack with a much larger coverage area. The Overlays looked to have gone to a single stack as well.

Pass-through and Over-damage are now a thing of the past. Death by a thousand cuts is now a thing of the past... I hope.

NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!! 

Slow down effects have been adjusted as well to reflect the intended increase in damage from turrets and defender hulls.

It looks like defender ranges have been reinstated with a few tweaks to bring final ranges in line.

What Won't Work :

• Base crawl designs that relied on slowing the fleet down to kill it with the death by a thousand cuts theory.
• Death by a thousand cuts.

NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!! 

• Multiple Fire Supports.
• Group bonus stacking beyond 4 turrets within the group.
• For the most part, any reliance on Tier content lower than 7 to outright damage T7 hulls.

Changes To Note :

• Group bonus stacking goes to 25% total with 4 turrets within the group.
• 1 Fire Support seems to cover all of your island and only stacks once so no need for massive use of island space for buildings.

NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!! 

• Splash damage reduction aura stacking seems to have stayed at 3.
• Overlays seem to have been adjusted to 1 stack.
• Walls seem to be important again. Don't overlook these. (Changes to how we upgrade them may be coming out as well this week.)

What Do I Do? :

Don't Panic!

It looks like you'll want to diversify your defense. You'll likely want to plan out a few base redesigns as well.

Likely remove any lower tier weaponry if you relied on that for base defense. With the removal of pass-through and over-damage, any damage dealt must come from overcoming deflections.

NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!! 

Diversify your base defense. You will want to have a good mix of damage types in your base in order to be able to damage the various options base hitters will have with regard to building a baser fleet.

Don't spam out T7 hulls, Chris has hinted that the tokens will not be based on hulls, but rather, T7 content built. Also don't strip down your hulls of T7 content... yet.

I will try and get some preview videos from the last day out on my channel later tonight, but for now, here are a couple hits by Egowok... er... I mean Ewok during the first and second day of the test server. Things changed significantly from day to day so DO NOT base anything on these.

Hey, did I mention that NOTHING IS FINALIZED YET?!?!?!?! Just Checkin'...

NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!!

Additional hits:

NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!!

Ok, due to some seriously vehement messaging and requests, I will add pics from the blueprints from the test server. THE STATS ARE NOT GOING TO ALL BE THE SAME. THESE WILL LIKELY CHANGE. Thanks go out to that Egohacksellingwok guy for the pics!! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!!

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OK, ENOUGH OF THIS COLOR SHIT!!

 NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!!

NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!! 

NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!! 

NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!! 

WATCH OUT FOR THIS DUDE!!!

I WOULDN'T TRUST HIM NEAR A BASE!!! 

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NOTHING IS FINALIZED!!! 

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UPDATE INFO HAS DROPPED.

Greetings, Captains. The 8.47 update is deploying Tuesday, November 20th at ~4:00 PM PDT. This update contains The PvP Refactor, Tier 7 Refit Discounts, Outpost 11 PvP Defense Upgrades, and a new fleet hitting restriction to prevent PvE fleet sniping. Read the full details below!

OUTPOST 11 DEFENSE ROLLOUT

Alongside the PvP Refactor release, new Outpost 11 upgrades are becoming available to fully complete the Tier 7 picture. These upgrades include new levels for Walls, Defense Platforms, and Portals. It also includes one new Portal! Stat blocks will be posted in a separate briefing, but all new levels include increased power capacity, health, and defense stats (where applicable).

In addition to these new levels, power generation on the Outpost has been increased, along with the power maximum of Warehouses.

WALL UPGRADES

You can now upgrade Walls by row, using resources. Hallelujah!

PVP FLEET HITTING RESTRICTION

We have put restrictions in place to prevent PvE fleet sniping. Fleets containing purely Garrison, Skirmish, Siege, Assault, or Generalist hulls cannot be attacked on the world map.

If a fleet contains even a single Conqueror or Defender class hull, it can be attacked.

CM Notes:

• Guard fleets are always attackable
• Base hitting rules are unchanged
• An attackable PvP fleet will display a Conqueror Crown icon over the top of it.

PVP REFACTOR

Following a final player preview, the PvP Refactor is ready for its initial launch! As GoldenDoodle announced, we will be continuing to take feedback on board regarding this change, and have done whatever we can to make this transition as smooth as possible for everyone.

The complete itemized list of stat changes will be posted as a separate briefing. One item outside of ship stats that is worthy of note is that damage in the shipyard has changed from displaying as additive to multiplicative. There is no functional change, as battles have always used the multiplicative damage calculation, but this will result in a notably visual difference.

PVP REFIT DISCOUNT

To smooth the transition of the PvP Refactor and allow everyone some level of experimentation for their builds, the following items are going into effect with the update:

• A 70% refit discount will be active for 48 hours following this update, and applies to Tier 7 Conqueror/Defender hulls, Tier 7 PvP Ship Weapons, and Tier 7 PvP Base Turrets. This reduces time and resources, not just gold cost.
• Refit tokens that apply to Tier 7 PvP content will be credited to users across separate segments, which vary based on the amount of Tier 7 PvP content a user group has already built.

BRINGING HOME THE BACON

Begins: Wednesday, November 21st @ 9:00AM PST

Ends: Monday, November 26th @ 9:00AM PST

A bacon-themed special activity, filled with bacon skin prizes, a special chest for our hull collectors, and the first official Tier 8 PvP hull, the Breacher Dreadnaught! Full briefing and prize list will be posted separately.

A reminder that alliance rosters and relocation will be locked for the duration of this activity and the duration of the prize redemption period!

• [UI] Certain player levels were visually locked at 129, despite players being a higher level. This has been fixed, so players stuck in this state may notice their player level jump a few levels very suddenly.
• [Buildings] Some players were experiencing duplication of buildings in their base.
• [R&D] Locator wasn’t showing R&D bases
• [Other] General bug fixes and performance improvements

Want to discuss this release with other players? CLICK HERE.

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WC:RA/BP Community Manager

Community Rules: CLICK HERE

Submit a Support Ticket: CLICK HERE

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• 

  CM Chris
  

  KIXEYE Community Manager

  Joined Mar 2014Posts: 3,029

  Today, 12:43AM

  Regarding details of changes - the volume of changes has proved difficult to transcribe. We are continuing to work through the night to get you what you need and will post as soon as we are able

Draconian Mega Convoy Breakdown

The 2018 Assault Class raid cycle map targets are upon us!

By: The_Vengeful_One

These are Assault targets, so, you will want to use Assault class ships to tackle them. The Manticore is currently the top hull in the Assault class and is what these targets were designed for. The Caedes was a strong contender in the 80 level targets, but was locked out of the 100 level targets. This has changed with the map targets. The Caedes can engage all of the map targets Charged armor is not very helpful this go round as there are some ships that will drain your charge pool instantly. As Assault targets go, they are mostly comprised of ships. There are turret based weapons found on individual ships though, so Turret Resistance is still a good idea.

SHIPS :

Interceptor

• Can be out ranged using missiles.
• Has a speed up mechanic similar to the Apollo, so much easier to kill when they first start moving.
• Weapons
• Missiles with about 96 or 97 range. Can be countered with Phalanx or Switchblades.
• A short range scattergun, somewhere around 85, so easy to out range, but hurt when they hit.

Prototype Interceptor

• Same as regular Interceptor, except that it has a prototype missile that cannot be countered, but can be out ranged by missiles.
• Prototype weapons are more damaging then the regular missiles, so try to avoid them.
• Prototype weapons are limited in supply, but can be refilled by the ammo carrier.
• The yellowish bar on the bottom is the prototype ammo supply the ship has remaining.

Kodiak

• Can be out ranged using missiles.
• They have more missiles than the Interceptors, so I tend to prioritize them over the Interceptors.
• Has a speed up mechanic similar to the Apollo, so much easier to kill when they first start moving.
• Weapons are the same as the Interceptor. Only difference is the Kodiak seems to have more missiles.

Prototype Kodiak

• Same as regular Kodiak in regards to weapons, except that it has a prototype missile that cannot be countered that out ranges your fleet.
• Its Prototype weapons deal splash damage, but are not as damaging as its regular missiles. I would guess its range is about 110-115.
• Prototype weapons are limited in supply, but can be refilled by the ammo carrier.
• The blue bar on the bottom is the prototype ammo supply the ship has remaining.
• They use a couple different tactics. 
• In some targets they try to circle you and keep you at their max range, which is helpful for Missile Manticore drivers as that is near your max range. Every now and then they will reverse direction and try to circle the other way. Fairly easy to tackle one of them, but as with most things, more than one can cause problems as they will try and surround you with one circling clockwise while the other goes counter-clockwise.
• In other targets they have a set path that they follow and will charge straight at you after the complete that path.
• This is the first ship I would recommend taking out as it is capable of damaging your entire fleet while out ranging you. 

Draconian Turret Carrier

• The missile turrets out range both fleets. I would put them around 150 range. Sprints seem to be best at shooting these down (pre-CM changes)
• Both scattergun and missiles fleets can out range the scattergun turrets.
• The ship itself has the same short range scattergun found on every other ship in the target and can be out ranged by both fleets.
• The ship itself cannot be targeted until all of the turrets on it .
• Turret defense specials, such as Siege Battery or preferably Assault Battery MK-COM, are recommended to combat these turrets.

Draconian Ammo Carrier

• Has a low range scattergun that can be out ranged by both fleets. No other weapons.
• Refills the prototype weapons on the prototype hulls.
• There are two versions of this ship, one with a ring and one without. The version without the ring can refill any proto ship on the map, while the one with the ring is limited to ships in the ring.
• Has a speed up mechanic similar to the Apollo, so much easier to kill when they first start moving.

MISC :

Bad Clouds

• These are the same thing we saw during the last few previous cycles.
• The clouds do not move and are visible the entire fight. There are some targets that have pop up clouds.
• They are an area of effect damage. STAY OUT OF THEM!!! Or do your best to stay out of them
• The clouds do not trigger charged armor flashes this time around. It does not appear that you can mitigate the field damage.
• And if it was not clear enough by the last point.... STAY OUT OF THEM IF AT ALL POSSIBLE!!!

Personally, it looks like it is mostly hazardous to the Caedes. They are spaced far enough apart that Manticores and other normal fleets can move about unhindered and stay out of range just fine. The lack of control of the Caedes drones means they wander into it on occasion and evaporate pretty quickly when they do. Thus far, in the 95's it looks like you can auto most (but NOT all) of the time without running into the clouds with the Caedes, but just like the 85's you can run into damage, so watch the battles.

What the $#&% is Splash Falloff?!?

And why is it important?!?

Is that Wrongthinker? I was looking for a good pic for falloff or a funny cliff pic and came across this and I did a triple take. I wonder...

Anyway... With the introduction of the new Needler Rocket and the close proximity to the Twinfire, performance wise, this particular attribute, splash falloff, is an important one that had to be addressed, particularly in deciding between the two for the continuing skirmish cycle.

What is it?

Splash falloff. Almost every splash based weapon in the game has a minimum splash damage number, at least that is what it used to be called. In the last few years it has moved to a new name: Splash Falloff, which is a little odd, because the falloff % really is a flip of the minimum % damage number. Maybe I geek out on this crap too much... anyway...

To understand the falloff mechanic, we first have to understand how the splash mechanic works. The weapon has a damage number and this is the damage at the point of impact. Unlike direct damage weapons, once the weapon impacts, the damage is calculated through the splash mechanic, which is inclusive of splash falloff. This means that from the point of impact to the edge of the splash, the damage will, typically, decrease. Think of it as damage radiating outward from the impact point. It looks something like this:

Why is it important?

In the article Spread and Splash - A Story of Co-Dependence we covered how splash and spread interact, how this affects damage and, lightly, skirted around why we take falloff into consideration. With this in mind delving a bit further into this we can see why this number is vitally important in making decisions for equipping our hulls.

As we can see in the above picture, Splash Falloff is a linear declination. In some old mortars the splash falloff was 50%, so at the edge of the splash radius, the damage was half of the listed damage amount on the blueprint (technically 1/4, but that's for another article). This is why we have generally paid very close attention to the interaction between splash and spread. It also is why it is vitally important to get that stat into the weapon's stat block!!

With the Needler and Nailhead we have a rocket with 0% falloff. That means that at the edge of the splash radius you will do the same amount of damage as the point of impact! That is huge. YUGE! And changes a lot of strategy. Where you may have used explosive system 4 in the past, you probably want to use combustion system 2. While ES4 will reduce the spread, it's use generally was two fold - reduce the spread and increase damage density. With zero falloff, you don't have to worry about the latter. Add in fast moving targets and you generally want to increase your spread and/or projectile speed so that your damage isn't falling behind your target. Since the edge of the splash radius is the same damage as the impact point, you want more of your projectiles to 'interact' with your intended target. This allows for a lot of fine tuning toward a target if you were so inclined.

Of other note - the GSU-7 and the Gathering Storm concussive gatling guns have a falloff of 25%. This should help as we gather more intel.

Hopefully this helps clarify this mechanic. I have asked Kixeye to look at putting this stat in the stat block. It is on their list, but no timeline as yet.

Master Craft Builders!!

OUTPOST 11 NEW FEATURE:
EXPERT BUILDS

We had a few things get messaged by Kixeye today. Lots of mail, but the one that is new and has people scratching their heads is... Expert Builds. Probably need to change that to Expert Builders. That alone should clarify it, but let's review it real quick to get it clear for everyone.


WHAT ARE EXPERT BUILDS?

Well, as I mentioned, it really should be thought of as 'Expert Builders'.

This is an option that you will have, that becomes available in Shipyard 6 and Conquest Yard 3, when building a NEW ship. That's right, this only applies to a new ship build, NOT refits. This is important.

The idea is that when you elicit the Expert Builders, there will be an increase in construction costs (resources, advanced resources etc.) for a reduction in build time AND with the hull completing with VXP already on the hull (likely 4-5 ranks).



Selecting the Expert Build option on a fresh build results in shorter build times for the entire hull, plus its components, as well as the hull being built with several VXP ranks already in place.

In exchange, an Expert Build costs more resources to construct than a standard build, and can include Advanced Resources for higher tier constructions. The choice is yours on how you spend your time or resources.

HOW MUCH AM i GONNA SAVE?

Well... I'm not entirely sure. I think that is going to be a moving target as each hull gets older. New hulls can not have an Expert Builder, because... well, it's a new hull, there can't be an expert for it yet. The reductions are scaled by the hulls, and likely by the tiers from what we see in the examples.

The Zelos, a T5 hull has a reduction of or about 50% in this example...

 ...whereas the Dragon, a T7 hull, has a reduction of or about 10%.

So as we can see, the number will fluctuate based on, I'm guessing, tier level. Remember when I said that being applicable to a new hull only is important? Here's why:

The time reduction, while based on the hull alone, is applicable to the entire build!! So that % reduction that you get on the hull, if you equip it at the same time, will be applicable to everything on that hull too!

You will need to pay attention to build time and how long you want to occupy your yards. Long build times are a risk since you can't react immediately with a week long build in the yard, so plan ahead if using this option to its full potential.


OF NOTE:

Expert Builds will not be available for brand new hulls right away.  This will keep the gap a bit closer between the have/have nots / coiners/non-coiners when it comes to new content so the playing field stays only slanted rather than tipped over. When the Expert Build option for a hull becomes available, it will be announced in Release Notes.


Hope that helps. Have fun pirates!

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.

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!

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!