Battle Pirate Updates
Battle Pirates Update - March 7, 2012
Greetings Captains,
We’re getting ahead of the curve this week and posting this week’s update in advance so you can get properly prepared. This update is expected to go live on Thursday, but keep in mind that this is subject to change should a technical issue force a delay. Enjoy!
New Features
This week marks the introduction of another set of Defense Platform Special Equipment that you can research in the Advanced Lab. If you thought the ones you already have are cool, then feast your eyes on these bad boys…
• Screamjet Engine – Increases missile range
• Slide Loader – Increase mortar fire rate (but lowers damage)
This post will be updated with the specific numbers for these closer to release.
Mini-Event
Previously, there was an issue where certain Draconian Weapon Blueprints did not properly display the amount of damage the weapon would do to a building. That issue was corrected nearly a month ago, and now the blueprints do display the damage value.
We understand that some players spent to speed up the process of finding blueprint pieces and resources to refit ships during the time building damage value was not displayed on the blueprint.
To offer you a chance to earn some of that time and resources back, we will be having a bonus weekend where all ship repair times will be cut in half. With the blueprint streak-breaker in place, you should be able to attack more salvages to earn blueprint pieces and gain more resources. Salvage ships will also respawn faster. Of course, you may also choose to attack bases or mine to earn resources as well.
Bug Fixes
• Ships will no longer “disappear” upon completing a refit.
• A 6th ship will no longer appear in the middle of a battle screen.
All this should make for a great weekend of play. Happy hunting!
Battle Pirates Blueprint Update - The Streak-breaker
Welcome Captains! In this update I will be talking about the implementation of the new Blueprint Streak-breaker.
Background
Blueprints contain plans for Draconian technology. There is a small chance that after successful combat against a Drac fleet the player will find a piece of a Blueprint. Smaller Blueprints are made from four pieces while larger ones require up to nine pieces. Blueprints are grouped into three tiers. Each Drac fleet will drop Blueprints from only one tier depending on their level. Once a player has four active Blueprints (eg Blueprints for which the player has at least one piece but has not yet collected all pieces) they will need to complete one of the four active Blueprints before a brand new Blueprint will drop. This four Blueprint 'window' works per tier. So the most Blueprints a player can have active at one time is twelve. The reason for the four Blueprint 'window' is to help the player to complete Blueprints in a reasonable amount of time.
More information on the Blueprint system can be found here.
Blueprints drop completely randomly. This means that for most players they will get Blueprints regularly as they defeat Drac fleets. But it also means that for a small percentage of players they will essentially have 'bad' luck and receive few, if any, Blueprints. The Streak-Breaker has been added to remove 'bad' luck from the system.
The Streak-Breaker
We have modified the Blueprint drop system so that it records how many Blueprints and battles each player has accrued. This data is used to keep track of the 'luck' of the player. If a player experiences a period of 'bad' luck with no drops the Streak-Breaker will kick in and automatically award the player a drop at the end of their next successful battle. This ensures that players will gain Blueprints more evenly as they battle Drac fleets.
The Streak-Breaker is 'neutral' which means it also kicks in to stop periods of extreme 'good' luck and slows down Blueprint drops for players who have had many Blueprint pieces in quick succession. If the system were not neutral we would not be able to control the drop-rate.
Launch Date
The Blueprint Streak-Breaker is already live! We pushed it out over a week ago and have been monitoring it. We feel confident enough in it to now announce it to you, the players.
We are interested to receive your feedback on how well this system is working.
Paul.
