Link Hi, friends. The time has come for the next Feedback diary. The one who reads could know some about settings, balance, AI, interfaces and matchmaking. There will be a regular rubric about funny bugs too. And we'll show the technology tree of the USSR, because you asked, and we dont mind. In the previous diary we already wrote that now there is the possibility of reconnection to the session, but this is only one of the obvious advantages of the infrastructure changes that Soldiers: Arena has undergone in the past six months. The opportunity to enter the game as a spectator, player rating, matchmaking and optimization are also included. These are those works for which we had to delay the Early Access release. Obviously, nowadays, no one will be surprised by matchmaking systems or reconnect to the games, but in order to implement them on GEM2, we had to work hard. And the time for the execution of these works was very difficult to calculate. Therefore, we had to keep this information secret and hide it behind the words optimization and network code, although we incredibly wanted to share it.
Link Such large-scale changes always bring new bugs and a lot of work on reconfiguring the game, but it was definitely worth it. Time is relative, and the fact that you had to wait for Early access a little longer paid off when creating the session. In 2019 it would be strange if one couldnt plunge himself into battle with the infrastructure not working. Soldiers: Arena should be not just a good game, but also the most responsive and convenient game on the GEM and some of these changes are ready. Now we are already using the matchmaker, but the number of players in the test is not enough for it to work at full strength, so it will definitely be refined after the release. At least now we can answer your questions about how the commanders will be balanced and the opponents can be chosen. Three basic parameters are taken into account:

• The maximum level of units in players army. It is bad to play with 53-K against Tigers!
• Battalion specialization. It is bad to play with other four tankmen against five infantrymen! By the way, it is hard to say bad for who.
• Personal player ratings. It is bad to play bad! The magic of numbers and raw statistics. The better you play, the stronger the opponents.

Need to talk more about the ratings. Everything is quite logical about it. Player keeps climbing progressively until a certain point, and the higher he rises along the food chain, the stronger the opposition and the more he loses for poor performance in a game. But it will be possible to rise in the rating even when losing the game. You know, no balancer will save you from playing with people who do not care what happens in this very game and there are situations when it is almost impossible to win. And those who contribute the most should be rewarded. Since the battles in Soldiers: Arena are not just down to the destruction of enemy units, the statistics will take into account other useful actions: hijacking enemy vehicles, fights for the territory, building capturing, and so on. Obviously, it is easier for some units to destroy the enemy ones, but this does not mean that their contribution to the victory is proportionally the greatest.
Link Work in other areas also did not halt in these months.

• Interface. Did you notice the new icons and the technology tree? Also we added a second row of hotbar for those who need more than one.
• Responsiveness of the game. Added in-game hints not only on the gameplay, but also on the interface elements. Making the rules of the game more understandable. Now, if, for example, you shoot with 88-mm at a light tank engine, it will be broken in 100% cases. Breaking the gun barrel is no longer a random event upon hit. You shoot into the barrel - you break the barrel.
• AI. Units become smarter and annoying moments appears less often. For example, before there were unpleasant interruptions, when units began to run into each other because of the intersection of paths, even when they were far away from each other. Now the traffic rules has been mastered. At your requests (numerous, it is worth saying) tankmen stopped taking their place on the machine gun even before the previous gunner let out his last breath. Now they wait a few seconds, before leaning out of the hatch. This is in addition to being able to order them not to lean out at all.
• Rules of the game. Significantly accelerated the set of points in the case of capture of 75% of the map. Now, if you have been forced to stay near the respawn, you will not endure shame for too long. The coefficients of the influence of players on the size of the map were changed so that the battle would become a bit more spacious. We configured the storming of buildings. Skill and weapons of a fighter have even more weight. One stormtrooper, for example, may win in a confrontation against an entire detachment of riflemen recruits.
• Playtests. We tested the game at low levels, since it is from them that new players will start, and it is their balance that must now be given special attention During the last few months the most powerful tanks were Pz.Kpfw.III and T-28. We are glad that at low levels the game does not lose intensity and does not seem boring, but on the contrary has its own charm. Cheaper units make it possible to think less about saving and play more carelessly. On the screenshots of the USSR technology tree, all units of levels 1-3 are open, so that you can understand what we are talking about.

Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 As always, we fought against bugs. More changes - more bugs, you know. There were damn a lot of changes in the last six months, which meant there were quite a lot of bugs ... At first, it was easier to say what works, than what does not work. Now the situation has stabilized, but memories of ringing silence, which fell on select players during the games causing utterly terrible experiences, are still alive in the memory of many. Or for example the smoke screens, because of which the game began to eat twice the resources as usual. Or how about the barrels of guns which broke down even with the slightest contact with the allied vehicles, which gave you the feeling that you were watching a professional football match. And certainly one can never forget if they were unfortunate enough to see at least once how fighters shot in the direction opposite to which they were staring at ... and turned their weapons accordingly. Creepy stuff to see and it feels good knowing that you will never see it. In the next diary we will write in detail about the process of recruiting an army and forming your battalion. We will try to remove all the misunderstandings and clear our understatements so that we have to explain less when showing the gameplay video. We really dont want to do it with an unfinished interface, but it may be necessary. Not to show the gameplay before the start of sales is not an option. In the meantime, wish you all the best, guys!

[ 2018-12-08 18:47:35 CET ] [ Original post ]