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[Alexander Garden]

Greetings MechWarriors!

The Day of the UrbanMech is finally upon us! After one year, countless pictures, videos, messages, tweets, and well over 3000 forum posts, “the little ‘Mech that could” will be 360-spinning onto the battlefield in today’s patch. It isn’t the strongest ‘Mech on the field, and it certainly isn’t the fastest, but it just might be the most downright fun ‘Mech we’ve released yet.

Along with the arrival of the Urbie, this patch also introduces some feature improvements, a new Community Warfare map, a new round of ‘Mech Quirks, and an array of bug fixes!

Read on for more details, and we'll see you on the battlefield!

- The MechWarrior Team

Change Log

New Community Warfare Map

Emerald Taiga

A misleading serenity exists in this region during the summer, as renewed vegetation buds vibrantly against the perpetually snow-capped cordillera. The sky warms and turns amber during these months, calming the biting mountain winds and suggesting the ice-carved moissanite terrain might be hospitable at times. The myriad of poisonous flora, steep cliffs, and insurmountable topography still remain to affirm the opposite.

The planet is home to several valuable research facilities and is covetously protected by an advanced Space Defense System. The only suitable drop location near this particular SDS gauss cannon lies much further south where the mountains open up and the terrain slopes toward the sea. Incoming forces will find their freedom to maneuver quickly restricted by the tall cliff faces that serve to funnel invaders into the base’s two narrow entrances.
The rolling hills stretching out from the base are spacious and provide ample high ground, contrasting the tight spires and structures within.

The steel husks of defeated warriors will take their rest alongside the timeless conifers of this world, awaiting the icy return of winter.

Looking For Group

The new Looking for Group feature (LFG) allows players to easily create groups and find people to help fill out a 12-player strike team for Public Matches and Community Warfare alike.

Essentially, the LFG system is comprised of players and groups who are actively looking for potential members and fellow players to drop with.

The LFG feature can be accessed via two methods:

Method 1 - As a solo player:

• Solo players can enter the LFG menu by clicking the Social menu, found at the bottom of the screen, and selecting the LFG tab.
  
• The player then clicks the "Add me to the looking for group queue" button.
  
• A new dialog will appear asking the player if they want to enter the Public LFG queue or the Community Warfare LFG queue. Note: Players can only be in one queue, not both.
  
• Once players enter a queue, they will see a list of all players/groups who are looking for more players to join them.
  
• To join a group, simply select the player or group with the left mouse button and a small menu will appear that will allow players to join the selected group.

Method 2 - As a group:

• When creating a group, the group creator is prompted to create either a Public Group or a Community Warfare Group.
  
• Once the appropriate group has been created, the group leader can click the LFG tab in the Social menu.
  
• The group leader then clicks the "Add me to the looking for group queue" button.
  
• The group leader now has the choice to enter the LFG listings by one of two sub-options:
  
• The group leader can make their group "Open", which means anyone who sees their group can freely join it without being invited.
  
• The group leader can make their group "Invite Only", which means only players who are manually invited from the LFG listing can join the group.

New 'Mechs

A new engine has been added to the game to go in the UrbanMech's default loadout. Due to the manner in which we've reconfigured the weight of engines and other items in the 'Mechs, this engine has negative tonnage.
This engine can only be equipped on the UrbanMech.

• Name: Standard Fusion 60
  
• Mass: -2.5 tons

UrbanMech UM-R63 and UM-R63(S)
Tonnage: 30
Engine: 60 Standard

• Top Speed: 32.4 kph
  
• Max Engine Rating: 180 (cannot equip an engine with a 65 - 95 rating)

Torso Movement:

• 360 degrees to each side.
  
• 25 degrees up and down.

Arm Movement:

• 0 degrees to each side.
  
• 30 degrees up and down.

Armor: 192 (Standard)
Internal Structure: Standard
Weapons & Equipment:

• Head: Heat Sink
  
• Left Arm: Small Laser
  
• Left Torso: Small Pulse Laser, Heat Sink x2
  
• Center Torso: Jump Jet x2, Engine
  
• Right Torso: Heat Sink x2, LB 10-X Ammo
  
• Right Arm: LB 10-X AC
  
• Left Leg: Heat Sink x2
  
• Right Leg: Heat Sink x2

Hardpoints:

• Left Arm: 1 Energy
  
• Left Torso: 2 Energy
  
• Right Torso: 1 AMS
  
• Right Arm: 3 Ballistic

Heat Sinks: 11 Single
Jump Jets: 2 (4 Max)
ECM Capable?: No
Module Slots:

• Mech: 1
  
• Consumable: 2
  
• Weapon: 2

Movement Archetype: Tiny
Quirks:

• Reverse Speed +10%
  
• Additional Structure (LA) +10
  
• Additional Structure (RA) +10
  
• Additional Structure (LL) +7
  
• Additional Structure (RL) +7
  
• Torso Turn Rate (Pitch) +15%
  
• Torso Turn Rate (Yaw) +15%
  
• Ballistic Velocity +15%
  
• Ballistic Cooldown +15%
  
• Ballistic Heat Generation -15%
  
• Energy Cooldown +15%

30% C-Bill bonus on the UM-R63(S)

UrbanMech UM-R60
Tonnage: 30
Engine: 60 Standard

• Top Speed: 32.4 kph
  
• Max Engine Rating: 180 (cannot equip an engine with a 65 - 95 rating)

Torso Movement:

• 360 degrees to each side.
  
• 25 degrees up and down.

Arm Movement:

• 0 degrees to each side.
  
• 30 degrees up and down.

Armor: 192 (Standard)
Internal Structure: Standard
Weapons & Equipment:

• Head: Heat Sink
  
• Left Arm: Small Laser
  
• Left Torso: Heat Sink x2
  
• Center Torso: Jump Jet x2, Engine
  
• Right Torso: Heat Sink x2, AC/10 Ammo
  
• Right Arm: AC/10
  
• Left Leg: Heat Sink x2
  
• Right Leg: Heat Sink x2

Hardpoints:

• Left Arm: 2 Energy
  
• Right Torso: 1 AMS
  
• Right Arm: 4 Ballistic

Heat Sinks: 11 Single
Jump Jets: 2 (4 Max)
ECM Capable?: No
Module Slots:

• Mech: 1
  
• Consumable: 2
  
• Weapon: 2

Movement Archetype: Tiny
Quirks:

• Reverse Speed +10%
  
• Additional Structure (LA) +10
  
• Additional Structure (RA) +10
  
• Additional Structure (LL) +7
  
• Additional Structure (RL) +7
  
• Torso Turn Rate (Pitch) +15%
  
• Torso Turn Rate (Yaw) +15%
  
• Ballistic Range +15%
  
• Ballistic Velocity +15%
  
• Energy Cooldown +15%
  
• Machine Gun ROF +7.5%

UrbanMech UM-R60L
Tonnage: 30
Engine: 60 Standard

• Top Speed: 32.4 kph
  
• Max Engine Rating: 180 (cannot equip an engine with a 65 - 95 rating)

Torso Movement:

• 360 degrees to each side.
  
• 25 degrees up and down.

Arm Movement:

• 0 degrees to each side.
  
• 30 degrees up and down.

Armor: 128 (Standard)
Internal Structure: Standard
Weapons & Equipment:

• Head: Heat Sink
  
• Left Arm: Small Laser
  
• Left Torso: Heat Sink x2
  
• Center Torso: Jump Jet x2, Engine
  
• Right Torso: Heat Sink x2, AC/20 Ammo
  
• Right Arm: AC/20
  
• Left Leg: Heat Sink x2
  
• Right Leg: Heat Sink x2

Hardpoints:

• Left Arm: 4 Energy
  
• Right Torso: 1 AMS
  
• Right Arm: 2 Ballistic

Heat Sinks: 11 Single
Jump Jets: 2 (4 Max)
ECM Capable?: No
Module Slots:

• Mech: 1
  
• Consumable: 2
  
• Weapon: 2

Movement Archetype: Tiny
Quirks:

• Reverse Speed +10%
  
• Additional Structure (LA) +10
  
• Additional Structure (RA) +10
  
• Additional Structure (LL) +7
  
• Additional Structure (RL) +7
  
• Torso Turn Rate (Pitch) +15%
  
• Torso Turn Rate (Yaw) +15%
  
• Ballistic Range +10%
  
• Ballistic Velocity +10%
  
• Energy Range +15%
  
• Energy Heat Generation -15%
  
• AC/20 Range +10%
  
• AC/20 Velocity +10%
  
• Small Laser/Small Pulse Laser Range +15%

Gameplay

• A "Looking For Group" feature has been added.
  
• A new Community Warfare map has been added: "Emerald Taiga"
  
• Community Warfare Maps are now available in Testing Grounds.
  
• In Community Warfare, players can now see what map they are dropping into once the 1-minute countdown begins.
  
• In Community Warfare, the save loadout button will be greyed out during the last 10 seconds of the countdown.
  
• In Community Warfare, in IS vs IS or IS vs CLAN matches, IS dropdecks will always have tonnage limits of 160-250.
  
• In Community Warfare, in CLAN vs CLAN or CLAN vs IS matches, CLAN dropdecks will always have tonnage limits of 160-240.
  
• FXAA has been added to the anti-aliasing options.

Quirks

Today's patch continues the new iterative Quirk process. A couple of Quirk systems were targeted for this pass as follows.

Inner Sphere 'Mechs that equip NARC in their stock loadouts have had these NARC Quirks applied:

• RVN-3L/3L(C): NARC Beacon Range +50m, NARC Beacon Effect +10s
  
• TBT-7M/7M(C): NARC Beacon Range +50m, NARC Beacon Effect +10s
  
• KTO-19: NARC Beacon Range +50m, NARC Beacon Effect +10s
  
• ON1-M: NARC Beacon Range +50m, NARC Beacon Effect +10s
  
• STK-5M: NARC Beacon Range +50m, NARC Beacon Effect +10s

The UAC Jam Chance Quirk was miscalculated in the previous patch. These Quirks have been adjusted so that they have the intended result:

• CDA-3M: UAC Jam Chance -30%
  
• DRG-5N/5N(C): UAC Jam Chance -30%
  
• JM6-DD: UAC Jam Chance -30%
  
• CTF-3D/3D(C): UAC Jam Chance -20%
  
• ENF-5P: UAC Jam Chance -30%

The following Quirk was missed in the last patch and has been added:

• ENF-5D/5D®: LBX Spread -10%

Clan OmniPod Quirks continue to be added and evolve. The following OmniPods have had a full pass of new Quirks applied:

• Mist Lynx
  
• Kit Fox
  
• Nova
  
• Warhawk

The following Clan OmniPod Quirks have been revised:

• Adder
  
• Ice Ferret
  
• Summoner
  
• Gargoyle

A full list of the Clan OmniPod changes can be found in the following forum post: http://mwomercs.com/...-for-april-7th/

Bug Fixes

• Jump Jet animations have been tuned for the Firestarter, Victor, Enforcer, and Timber Wolf.
  
• Cataphract hit-boxes have been tuned.
  
• Gauss explosions are protected by CASE again.
  
• Reduced the amount of blur that would occur when being hit by missiles, strikes, and weapon/ammo explosions.
  
• Fixed an issue where destroyed components could remain floating on the battlefield.
  
• Fixed an issue where players who were chatting while dead were not showing up as dead.
  
• Several collision ("invisible wall") improvements in multiple maps.
  
• Fixed a crash that was occurring in the CryEngine Occlusion code.
  
• Fixed a crash that was occurring in the CryEngine render mesh garbage collection code.
  
• The steam particle effect will now only spawn from the center torso, and only when heat levels reach or exceed 65%.
  
• Fixed an issue where occlusion culling would cause geometry to disappear in tunnels, depending on the player position.
  
• Fixed situations where the Community Warfare planet selection algorithm would sometimes not select valid attack lanes for every border.
  
• Disconnecting audio devices will no longer trigger a saving error in the Settings screen.

All 'Mechs now cast correct shadows in first person view. To this end, the following 'Mechs have been fixed:

• Adder
  
• Dragon
  
• Highlander
  
• Ice Ferret
  
• JagerMech
  
• Locust
  
• Mist Lynx
  
• Panther
  
• Raven
  
• Stalker
  
• Vindicator

See you on the battlefield!

- The MechWarrior® Online™ Team

[Alexander Garden]

Please direct all general discussion of this patch to the dedicated Announcement thread.