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[Paul Inouye]

It’s been a while and I’d like to bring everyone up to speed as to what is being addressed at the moment.

Launch Module
First off, the Launch Module is getting close to full testing status… this means all key features that were discussed in the previous Launch Module update have been addressed. As an additional bonus, the stretch goal of having the Match Maker take into account exact tonnage requests as it builds teams, was met. (i.e. the stretch goal is IN the initial version of the Launch Module. Go engineers!)

Clan Mechs/Tech
That special build I’ve been playing with now has 4 Clan ‘Mechs available and you’ll be seeing in-game renders of them as we get more of the supporting features online like the new weapon effects that will come with Clan Technology.

Weapon Balance
I’ve taken a look at some smaller incremental changes to the AC/2 and (U)AC/5 (Note, I’m using the term (U)AC/5 to mean both the AC/5 and Ultra AC/5) and have worked with Russ on looking at bringing these two weapons into line with their roles on the battlefield. The first steps we’ll be taking is bringing the DPS of the two weapon systems back into line with the AC/20 and AC/10.

The (U)AC/5 was very slightly higher than normal. The AC/2 was much higher than normal.
To address this we have lengthened the cooldown for each weapon. The (U)AC/5 is now normalized with the AC/20 and AC/10 in that it will do 3 DPS compared to 5 for the AC/20 and 4 for the AC/10.

The AC/2 however will still have a slight DPS buff in that it will also be doing 3 DPS. The tonnage of the weapon is a major drawback if we drop the DPS too low. That being said, the longest distance at which the AC/2 projectile will do damage will be pulled in to the point that it will still out reach a LRM, but not as far as the (U)AC/5 projectile.

SRMs – Host State Rewind (HSR) still proves to be an issue with this weapon system. This really throws a monkey wrench into tuning this particular weapon group. If I up the damage per missile, we have a problem when HSR does work an all of a sudden a SRM volley is doing crazy amounts of damage. If I tighten the spread on them, we start running into the issue of the closer you are to your target, the higher the probability that all missiles are going to hit a single component (Hello Splat Cat!).

While HSR investigation is still on going, there have been a few breakthroughs in this area. Some people saw one of the fixes in the recent Public Test run and the engineers have told me they found and addressed another significant bug.

There HAS been some headway in the HSR department but it is still undergoing testing and I think I should leave that discussion up to Matt Craig the Technical Director to fill you in on their progress.

Saying that, we are going to decrease the cooldown times on the SRM/4 and SRM/2, meaning that they’ll fire volleys faster. The SRM/4 will fire every 3 seconds, the SRM/2 will fire every 2 seconds. Keep in mind, this is not meant to be a fix for the problem… it’s a slight increase to rounds downrange in hopes that the additional rounds will have a chance to hit making the weapon system slightly more viable.

Community Warfare
The final phases of Community Warfare are going through design review and high level scope assessment. The general idea has been generally accepted and a few holes need to be patched here and there. As a whole, the design has changed slightly to ensure that everyone playing the game will be able to influence the overall Inner Sphere conflict. While it is still much too soon to discuss details, I just wanted to let you know that the very large design for CW is fully underway and is being looked at by all members of the development team for maximum thoroughness and buy in for delivering the final feature.

Some New ‘Mechs
There’s a traffic jam on the old ‘Mech highway and the tow trucks have removed the blockage… prepare yourself for 6 more variants of the Phoenix ‘Mechs on April 15^th. Yes you read that right… 6! Keep checking backing to the website as there are more details on those ‘Mechs coming online soon.

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