I was going to do a couple of different posts on this update, but with the holiday fast approaching, I do not want to take up any more of your time or mine. So I am going to cover the Forsaken Mission prizes. I will speak briefly on the changes to uranium, and then include the state of the game notes. We have a lot happening this weekend with the VXP and a TLC for the Mega hulls as well. I will try to keep it as brief as possible.
FM Prize first thoughts
Gargoyle 3 –
The gargoyle got an upgrade in a massive way. It had a bit more range and huge damage increase. The Gargoyle 3 is going to be something that will force many attackers to stop and range it with that concussive damage. Add in the concussive special (expanded concussive charge), and you are looking at 80K concussive damage for a turret.
Here is the breakdown (as my Good friend George pointed out I made an error, that error was not calculating the salvo so sorry about that, That is why you should not do math before you have sufficient coffee :D)
80,000/10 (number of salvo) = 8,000 per projectile.
Kixeye shows us double the damage so we can half this amount to make it 4K per projectile.
Malice has 6,000 Deflection, which we have to cut in half as well so it is 3,000.
Subtract the 4,000 from the 3000 and we get 1K per projectile at 10 projectiles is 10K damage for a frontline turret on a hull that is designed for tanking concussive targets.
If you add in Transformer and siege battery that will change the numbers again. Attack transformer will add more damage or more range (I would go with damage) and the Siege battery 3 can reduce the turret damage up to 50% at R15.
Very nice upgrade defenders front line turret. Or, you could go with placing one or two of these next to your thermal to combat Subs that might try to prep you.
Hammer Cannon
I was excited to learn we had a new cannon then I saw it. I wanted something for my Cannoneer, and this was not it. Now, I know what you are saying “But specs that damage!” Yes. It has nice stats it is a beautiful weapon that will do awesome on my malice and Valiants. In other words, I see this Cannon as more of a PvP cannon than a PvE cannon.
The reason for this is that it has no splash, it has no piercing. Both of those stats are something I love to have to take out the tightly clustered buildings in the mining bases. Without those stats, it will increase the time I have to spend at each group taking out turrets.
That does not say it will not do the job, and it will. But, I wanted something more to upgrade the Arbalest or the PAC. It is a nice upgrade though for our defense and base hitting fleets.
Drum Reloaders –
What is there not to like about this special? It will match up nice with all our Ballistic weapons. I love the 30% extra damage coupled with 75% reload. This special will make all our ballistic fleets shine. It is one special I cannot wait to win.
Velocity Regulator –
Talk about a tune up to our mortar fleets!, Extra splash and a decent weight percentage. The only problem I see personally is that I have my next raid fleet being built right now and no shipyard time. But, I do love this for the potential I see with my Citadels vendetta and any rocket fleet you might have on the water. Maybe we get away from the Scatterguns coming up, and we will get a new rocket. The radioactive damage boost will be nice with the Retribution basers or even your Valiant with Launchers.
Our Uranium is changing –
Say goodbye to the draw Armada and hello to the Reavers! You will need your Hellwraiths, Tigers, and even Tideseekers going forward for Uranium. This change is to help make those fleets we just spent four months building the last longer and not seem like such a waste of time or coin. I have been using my Tides and Hells for the last few months to gather Uranium. They did as well if not better than my other fleets.
The great thing here is that we will still have our old draw armadas for another month. Also bonus of getting small bits of Uranium even outside of Yellow sector threat. That should help alleviate the problems with getting uranium.
State of the Game –
First lots of information here. I am happy they outlined the changes to the Raid format. There was a problem of misinformation that players got through the rumor mill with the raids going to three weeks instead of four weeks. That was not true, the truth was we would have three months of the same raid type, and four hull stores a year. Also in the state of the game was the rotation (I think) and that we will see the following Skirmish, Assault, Siege, Garrison. We have just finished the assault style raid and before that was a Skirmish. Siege is coming in January, and that means a Garrison style should hit the scene around April.
What does that all mean? Well, we can see the Mining base change in March or April. The Forsaken mission targets should change June or July. Just so that you are prepared for this and that you begin work on those mortar fleets as soon as you finish your Siege fleets. We will need them for the Garrison raid format.
With the changes to the format comes changes with allowing Conquerer and Defender hulls in PvE targets. Starting February, we will no longer be able to use our PvP fleets (conqueror and defender class) in the raid targets and then when the targets change for our daily chores. That one change means that you will want to get a proper PvE garrison fleet built by June/July.
That change also leads us to the new Tier 6 Conquerer hulls. Yes. We got the OP 9 upgrade and with that came the massive power to base defense. This new class of Conquerer should have been on your radar. What we will get for the first one? Not sure, but they are coming as soon as the January raid format and with them is the reason why they are going to limit them in the PvE targets starting with the new raid format. That also brings us to the red-headed stepchild of the PVP world.
Megas are not going anywhere. Yes. You might be way behind because you just do not want to do it. The great news is that you do not have to do this part of the game. It does not look like they are going to put tech for other parts of the game into the TLC for the Mega Hulls. But, with that, they are not going away, and they will be getting more features as we move forward in the game. That means that you can please stop asking for a scrap button, the chance of that happening is on par with getting a dry dock.
Summary –
Lots of great changes, really excited about a couple of FM prizes and looking forward to the Tier 6 conquerer hulls and working with the four hull stores in 2017.
Hope everyone enjoys their family time and Merry Christmas!
