Dawn of the Megabots news

Dawn of the Megabots

NEW – TX-1 MEGABOTS!!!

FPS/Performance/LAG

• We have massively improved the performance of the game in frame-rate and lag
• We have also improved spawn times significantly, allowing huge Megabots to spawn quickly

New TX-1 Tier

• TX-1 is the Tier of Megabots
• If you are in TX-1 you are defined as a Megabot
• You cannot get into TX-1 with 1,511 CPU, you need more to achieve a high enough Robot Ranking
• So, you need the Megaseat to get into TX-1

MEGASEAT

• Unlocked via the Tech Tree with T10 TP
• Costs 1,000,000 RP (i.e. approx 10x T10 SMG)
• You can NOT buy the Megaseat with Galaxy Cash, only RP
• The Megaseat multiplies your CPU by x5
• So, max CPU is 7,555 pFLOPS (i.e. 5 x 1,511)
• All TX-1 Cubes, Chassis Cubes and Cosmetic Cubes are compatible with the Megaseat, but normal Tier hardware and Movement cubes are not

NB: To prevent users lagging the servers with 500 T1 SMG’s on a single Robot

MEGABOT GAME MODES

• Megabots can enter Battle Mode and Megaboss Mode
• Megabots do not have their own Tier, but join T9 and T10 matches (depending on Robot Ranking)
• T9 and T10 matches are limited to 1 x Megabot per team (and always 1 on each team)
• Megabots are powerful, but not invincible, a group of T10’s can take down a Megabot
• But the Megabot can hold the balance of power in a battle
• Megaboss Mode is now the only mode where you can play 1 vs. many and be the boss (more on the changes to the current Boss Mode below)
• Megaboss Mode has a ‘cool down’ so you can only play once every now and again (we will reduce this time when we know how many Megabots we have in the queue so it’s fair)
• TX-1 Robots must be greater than 3000 pFLOPS CPU to enter Battle Mode or Megaboss Mode
• T9 and T10 Players fighting in a battle with Megabots will receive additional RP via the ‘Handicap Bonus’

MEGASHIP

• Unlocked via the Tech Tree with TX TP
• Upgrade your Mothership Garage Bay to the Megabay
• 49x49x49 units (as opposed to 31x31x31)
• Can hold greater than 117,000 cubes in volume
• Once unlocked, your Robot bay is permanently larger

TX-1 ARMOR

• This is not designed to force you to throw away your T10 Armor Cubes, T10 is really the tankiest armor in the game in Armor per CPU
• It’s designed to give you more interesting ways to engineer and more variety in T10
• 3 pFLOPS per Armor Cubes (as opposed to 1 at T10) but about 40% tougher
• Use to strengthen weak points, weapon mounts, etc. or for small, light and tough builds
• These are also the lightest cubes in the game

TX-1 MEGAPLATE + MEGASMG + MEGAWHEEL

• For those of you who have not been playing over the last few weeks, during the build up to Megabots we have release the Megawheel, MegaSMG and Megaplate
• These cubes are designed for Megabots, but can be used in interesting ways in T10 also
• YOu can place 8 Megawheels + 8 MegaSMG + 8 Megaplate on a Megabot and still have room for thousands of Armor cubes at full CPU

REWORKED MAPS

• All maps reworked to provide viable routes for the largest Megabots
• Quality of maps topography and texturing improved

NEW – ROTOR BLADES

• Available at Tiers 5-10
• New helicopter style Copter Class Robots
• Create Apache’s, Chinooks, and weird futuristic copters
• Hover at any height with stable flight
• Uber control in all directions for stealthy flight control
• Combine with Thrusters, Wings, Legs for awesome hybrids
• Use Copter Blades vertically (like propellers) for interesting builds
• Lower max ceiling than Aerofoils (90%)
• Greater carrying mass per CPU
• 5 connection points with unique base, so tougher to destroy
• Copters are surprisingly stable and are much tankier than Aerofoils
• Copters add drag though so slow you down
• Copters will allow huge flying tanky builds that remain stable when taking punishment
• Copters also have turbulence (like Helium) so using Rail with Copters is difficult to get full accuracy

ALIGNMENT RECTIFIER V2

• All Robots can now ‘flip’, push ‘F’ to flip
• The feature is built into the Pilot Seat, so no need for an Alignment Rectifier anymore
• Alignment Rectifier cubes are now obsolete and the cubes will be automatically removed from your Inventory and Robot with the full price RP and TP being added back to your accounts
• You can flip anytime, as long as you are near to the ground
• The flip always takes 10 seconds to raise you, rotate you, then lower you back to ground – this is intentional, so you are vulnerable when you flip, so building a good Robot and driving it well is always better than relying on the AR
• The flip progress is shown in the HUD
• The flip special effects are visible, so if you see an enemy flipping, take him out whilst he can’t shoot back

BUILD MIRROR TOOL

• Push ‘X’ to toggle on/off
• Cubes placed are mirrored across the middle of the arrow on the ground of the Mothership Garage Bay
• Build symmetrically very quickly
• Semi-intelligent, so places left EP when you place right version, and places non-symmetrical Tank Tracks correctly when mirrored
• It does not allow you to move the mirror line, and does not allow you to build mirror with craft that are an even number of cubes in width – we know these features are very important, we just haven’t had the time to put them in yet – we will ensure these features get in with an update fairly soon after this major launch

MANY OTHER CHANGES

BALANCE & GUN CHANGES

• Rail Cannon now has a 0.95 sec cool-down between shots when fired
• SMG damage increased by 15% at close range
• SMG damage falloff with distance increased (so less damage at long range) so it’s now 80% of close range damage as opposed to 95%
• The above change effectively keeps the damage the SMG does the same at mid-long range but increases the DPS at close range
• TX-1 SMG DMG increased
• Nano range reduced by 18%
• Descriptions update for the weapons, including more information on the SMG damage at close and long range

CHALLENGE MODE

• Challenge Mode is the new name for the old Boss Mode
• But the mode is now available to Tiers 6-10
• It’s the same as Boss Mode was but ensures that there are always 4 players on the boss team
• You can Platoon as 4, or if you have a smaller Platoon others will be added to make the team up to 4
• You can enter Challenge Mode on your own, but will be playing with others on your team (always 4)
• This mode still has a cool-down timer, but it is separate from the Megaboss cooldown timer

PLATOONS / FRIENDS

• New option to ‘Block Friend Invites’ if you just don’t want any friends, or if you are streaming and want to prevent spam
• New option to ‘Only accept Platoon Invites from Friends’ again if you want to limit Platoon spam when streaming
• ‘Decline All’ button added to Platoon Invite dialogue
• Platoon bugs fixed so more reliable now
• Reporting when Friends are online/offline made reliable
• All Platoon team members must now be in the same Tier, you will not be entered for battle until your Tiers match

NEW LOBBY SCREEN

• Much more information on this screen now
• You can see all players, challengers and megabots waiting for battle at all Tiers
• Challengers and Megabots will be shown in the Tier of Robots they will be fighting against
• You can also see a queue position so you can get a better idea of when your battle will start as a Challenger or Megaboss
• You can see all the servers at all the Tiers (each Tier actually has it’s own lobby and manages it’s own server allocation)
• There is also a beautiful advert for things you can buy in game so you can see all our amazing gadgets and hopefully you’ll love them so much you’ll buy some

NEW ENTER BATTLE SCREEN

• Revamped look of this screen
• Shows you cool-downs, min CPU requirements, ranked phase information

SOME LOWER TIER CUBES RE-INTRODUCED

• Electroplates re-introduced at T2
• Aerofoils and Rudders re-introduced at T4

NEW COBRA TIER 5 COPTER CLASS ROBOT in ROBOSHOP

• T7 and T5 Copter Blades
• 4 x Plasma Cannons (T5 and 6)
• Tier 4 and 5 Armor

NEW HOLOFLAG REPLACES OLD NATION BADGE

• We thought the old nation badges sucked and could hardly be noticed on the side of other peoples Robots
• So we changed it to a holographically projected flag call the ‘Holoflag’
• If you own a nation badge, your badge will be automatically updated
• You may need to shift its position on your Robot to get the best flag effect
• The Holoflag is like a short length vapour trail that shows the flag and it’s colors
• If you had the ‘Breached’ badge, it has been upgraded to a Holoflag with the Robocraft logo on it

OTHER CHANGES

• Force fields at the edges of maps improved visually, so you can see them before you smash into them and so they look nicer too
• New ‘spotting’ voice over added for Copter Class and Megabots
• New ‘star shaped’ icon added to Enemy HUD and Battle Countdown for Megabots
• Min CPU requirement of TX-1 Megabots shown on CPU bar as a red segment
• Incompatible Cubes (with TX-1 Megaseat) are highlighted in red
• If you remove Megaseat from Megabot, cubes not within CPU limit highlighted red
• Minimaps updated to show new routes and map topography
• The “Breached” easter egg has been removed and is no longer active
• Handling of Ski’s improved
• Handling of Megawheels improved, mass increased, more grip and torque
• Main Robot camera improved to help you see large Robots like Megabots
• Spawning times reduced and Battle Countdown increased to 30 seconds to ensure all Robots are ready at the beginning of battle so you can all roll-out together
• Mega-SMG kill-counter has been removed. We will total up the stats over the next week and award the cool custom cosmetic Mega-SMG to all user who achieved 100+ kills as soon as we’ve finished the graphics for that
• All Cosmetic cubes now have only 1 CPU and 88 Armor (same as a Tier 1 armor cube)

LATE ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE NOTES

• Users will always play 2 normal battles before facing either a Challenge or Megaboss battle (i.e. a ratio of 2:1 of normal to ‘special’ battles), which reduces the number of bb’s players are involved in
• Fixed some bugs preventing the Steam Wallet appearing for some users
• Some new updates in EAC to protect the client against the most recent new hacks
• Camera in the Garage can be zoomed out further so you can view more of your Megabot
• Some new practice Robots added to Practice Mode, Trax, Scorpion and Thunder Sled all now feature (but with T1 Armor)
• New ‘Dawn of the Megabots’ login screen