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So the initial question wanted us to clarify comments from our recently released patch notes in regard to Artemis' behavior. As this conflicted with how Artemis was described to players at an earlier point in the development history of MWO. Particularly when it came to the following pre-conceptions:
- Artemis should only provide it's benefits against targets in direct line of sight
- Artemis will always replace any bonuses from Narc, even if Artemis does not have line of sight
Balance Process
Before I get into the specifics, I want to touch on what happens internally when these kinds of mechanics changes are considered for tuning.
Prior to considering any baseline changes, we conduct under the hood investigations as to how the code base interacts with the things we wish to target in order to find the best way forward. These investigations often involve bringing myself up to speed on the intricacies of the mechanic behavior in the code base so that I can conduct my work. Since I was not around with the team at the time of the initial implementation. So these investigations tend to focus on the factual implementation of all of the factors in the engine as they exist in the game at the moment and not so much on older dev posts. Mostly because as with any 6 year old production, a lot can change between the times these posts initially where released to what the current state of the game is now. And while I would not be able to tell you if or how certain things changed between then and now (I simply haven't been here that long,) I can speak to how things where operating when we opened the investigation, and how that influenced our internal decisions to make the changes that we pushed.
So with this in mind, here is what we found when we initially investigated Artemis.
Previous Implamentation
The previous Artemis tuning saw a number of preconceptions to its functionality based on an older dev post from early in MWO's production. While some of the broad points listed where consistent with the behavior in the game at the time, not everything in the post was accurate to how Artemis was working at the time we opened our investigation into the equipment.
Regarding Tracking Bonuses what was said previously was:
- Tracking helps missiles retain lock on a target. It helps a little with stationary targets but it is mainly used to control the hit % on moving targets.
- Its bonus' would stack dependent on certain interactions with various equipment:
- TAG and NARC benefits would stack
- TAG and Artemis would stack
- Artemis bonuses trumps NARC bonuses
- TAG and NARC benefits would stack
Regarding everything else, what was said previously was:
- Artemis needs line of sight with the target in order to grant any bonuses
- TAG, NARC, Artemis individually reduced lock-on times by 50%
- TAG + Artemis work together to decrease weapon lock time by 75%
- TAG + NARC work together to decrease weapon lock time by 75%
- Artemis will always replace any bonuses from NARC. Even if Artemis does not have line of sight.
First off, the indication that Artemis needed Line of Sight with the target in order to grant any bonuses. The tracking strength and spread bonuses where only applied when a missile volley was target locked onto an opponent within LOS at the time missile volley was fired. But the target lock boosting attributes did not factor in LOS at any point. So in-game it acted as a global boost.
Much like the tracking strength, Artemis was also providing lock on boosts based on simply equipping the upgrade and not equipping Artemis specific launchers. This is because of the way the missile lock on weapons all share the same lock-on mechanic. Which meant that while LRMs where gaining a lock on boost by investing extra tonnage into the launcher, ATM and SRM's where gaining the bonus as well for zero additional investment in the launchers.
Next up, when it came to specifically lock-on boosts, Artemis and NARC where stacking with each other, contrary to what was previously communicated. In this case, the total benefits of the tracking bonus was capped at 75%, but the source (Artemis + TAG or NARC,) nor the LOS, of the attacker was factored. As a result, a NARCed target and a 'Mech equipped with the Artemis upgrade was able to get a flat 75% lock-on time reduction, regardless of LOS or if the weapon had to invest further tonnage in Artemis launchers. (Such as Streaks.) Although it should be noted that the Missile Tracking, and Spread Bonus incompatibility with NARC still remained in effect. In this case, it was only the lock on times that where unintentionally stacking.
How Did ATMs Factor Into This?
The lore behind ATMs state that the launchers all come with integrated Artemis systems. While this is never specified within our game, we do try to honor that particular bit of lore, and have rolled the functionality of the Spread boosts provided by Artemis into the core attributes of the launcher, since this was something that we could directly control outside of the Artemis upgrade equipment. The spread functionality of ATMs are tuned to replicate the Artemis based launchers regardless of if the Artemis upgrade was equipped or not.
What wasn't included into the baseline stats was the boosts to lock on time and tracking. This was to prevent stacking issues with the known behavior of Artemis providing boosts based on the Artemis assignment. As providing these boosts to the baseline weapon would have meant equipping Artemis would provide further augmentations to the lock on time, even for non ATM weapons that where equipped. In this case, the ATM's previously where only working with full Artemis bonuses when they had both the launcher + the Artemis upgrade selected. With ATM launchers using Standard Guidance selections not benefiting from the Lock on time and tracking strength boosting bonuses, but still benefiting from it's own spread bonus which where rolled into the core attributes of the launcher itself.
When it comes to the recent changes, this has not changed the ingrained Artemis spread behavior worked into the core ATM stats. The only thing it has done is unified the behavior between standard guidance selection and Artemis selections (since the launchers in both cases are identical.) There is now zero difference between an ATM launcher with standard guidance compared to an ATM launcher with Artemis guidance. With the spread boosts associated with ATMs worked into the core attributes of the launcher in order to replicate the integrated Artemis effect the system is known for in the fiction, without the need to add the supplemental Artemis upgrade.
Why This Was Changed
With the recent buffs to baseline LRM's there had been some concerns about its buffed performance that we wanted to directly address with the August patch without going back on values we where not internally satisfied with in it's previous state. While addressing these concerns formed the catalyst for pushing the change itself, these changes have been under consideration for quite a bit. In addition to the provided rational within the patch notes, the hidden benefits provided by Artemis to other systems played a big role in us deciding to finally close the loopholes. While the hidden benefits of Artemis boosting weapons it was not designed to has been a fairly open secret in the game for years, this does not make this particular interactions a desired effect on the design side. This is because it throws an instantaneous performance wall between those that know about the hidden, undocumented boosts to certain weapons, and those that do not.
The changes made with the August patch directly closes the loophole and has Artemis function the way it is meant to function, only providing boosts explicitly to the weapon systems that must assign additional tonnage and crit slots to benefit from the Artemis system, and not providing any knock-on effects that carry over into unintended weapon systems. This will allow us to further tune the baseline launchers and not have to balance the baseline to account for unintended hidden mechanics altering it's performance. Naturally, the changes to Artemis have instantly put baseline LRM, ATM, and Streak performance back into our watch list. Should we feel that any of these weapons need further boosts due to the loss of some of the Artemis benefits, we will consider them in future passes. But balancing these weapons in a way that is consistent whether you take Artemis or not is crucial to get consistent performance that all players can enjoy. Not just the ones that take advantage of a hidden mechanic. Which we strongly believe is a better way forward for all players.
Moving Forward
As many have pointed out, although these changes do close the various loopholes that Artemis provide, the current implementation of the system can appear fairly lackluster in its current form. This is something that after observing the recent release we can get behind and consider further changes to enhance Artemis, but there is an important note that I wish to put out there: Artemis has often been a system whose use is treated as a raw upgrade. Either the effects granted are good enough to use, there for, you put it on nearly everything to the detriment of builds that don't utilize it, or it simply isn't worth the tonnage, and there for not taken at all. Ultimately we need to balance the game around the viability of both the baseline missile launchers, plus the various interactions with other enhancement equipment including Artemis. So while Artemis is being investigated for further improvements, I do wish to put out there that these improvements will be geared towards more situational buffs to the equipment so its inclusion is not as much of a binary upgrade over standard launchers, as it would be about rewarding skilled use of Artemis based systems.
While that is all I will say on this matter for now, I have also been cleared to throw out a tease that we are also looking into further changes to certain mechanics to push for more of a divide between direct fire lock-ons, and indirect fire lock-on missiles. Of which may or may not be related to our investigation into Artemis improvements.
As brought up in the opening section, these are currently "under investigation" and so there for have no exact ETA. But stay tuned as we will be looking in that general direction in the future.I hope this clears up much of the confusion around the patch notes and points the discussion towards a better way forward for Artemis accounting for the various things we have brought up here.
