Hello folks!

It has been a short while since the last post, but during this time PVP arena has been created and quite an amount of balancing has been done on character perks & traits, and weapons. Most crucial balancing is somewhat done and base mechanics were tested. We’ve established an initial balance point but a lot more testing will certainly be needed. Open PVP arena will provide us with data to make adjustments along the way. Now is up to players to invent all kinds of crazy builds and combinations and see how they play out in arena PVP matches.

Open Test Session Date

The tests will happen on the 22nd and 23rd of December, this year. The client link will be released on discord and patreon before the test phase.

Players that join test sessions will find themselves at level 30 with all increased skills.

Upon Registering you will find yourself in a starting location with the rest of the players, here you can set up your perk and traits and grab gear from replenishable containers nearby. There are NPC targets around the place for you to test out your builds. The graveyard might be locked, depending on player flow.

After the set-up phase, the arena will be unlocked, and entering it will assign you to the first available unfilled Arena. You can readjust your builds during a match and will find more loot in containers on spawn if you need to swap.

Perks & Traits

Perks values were changed in a way that some of the first levels give more benefits than the following levels, which aims to increase the build diversity.

Below you will find a list of perks with stats.

PVP Arena

Ready players are able to join the arena with their own gear and be placed in 10vs10 matches.

The matches by default are Team Deathmatch with the first team to score 50 becoming a winner.

Over the span of matches, different game modes can launch.

Game modes:

• Team DeathMatch - Team vs Team, respawn enabled, the first team to get 50 kills wins
• Team Elimination - Team vs Team, no respawns, and the last team, standing wins.
• FFA - Free for all, the first person to score 10 kills wins.
• FFA elimination - Last man standing wins.

You will be able to change your build anytime during combat by either typing commands or accessing characters by pressing C.

You will see your team members all the time.

With each death your gear will repair itself and ammo will replenish for equipped weapons, drugs will also spawn. Depending on the game mode, you will respawn during or after the match.

Smart Cursor

We’ve decided to stray from the classic mouse controls, The control scheme is:

Right Click to move

Left click to interact/shoot

Pressing A on the keyboard toggles between attack and default cursor

Alt + right click resets the cursor back to default.

Right-clicking closed doors in attack mouse mode will open the door.

Cooldown Visuals

All cooldowns are displayed as circles above the combat ui, cooldowns on the mouse over display time remaining for drugs. Cooldowns also display debuffs caused on you like bleeding and poison and show the level of the debuff.

Hotkey System

The hotkey system is a flexible tool to customize the client to your liking, you can slot drugs, ammo, weapons, armor, and skills in there to use it with keyboard hotkey or left click, By default consumables and skills are used on self but holding ALT enables USE ON mode, letting you pick the person you want to, for example, heal.  The hotkeys are also expandable so you can customize the amount you need.

AP Costs

Weapon attack costs are balanced depending on weapon type. Most weapons follow the universal rules listed below, but there are always a few exceptions.

Attack Cost:

• Big Guns - 60 AP
• Small Guns Burst - 50 AP
• Small Gun Rifles Single Shot - 45 AP
• Small Gun Pistols Single Shot - 35 AP
• Melee Weapon - 25 AP
• Throwing Melee Weapon - 35 AP
• Grenades - 50 AP

Reload Cost:

• Miniguns and Rocket Launcher - 50 AP
• Other Big Guns - 30 AP
• Shotguns - 40 AP
• Other Small Guns - 20 AP

Aiming

Aiming for eyes adds 10 AP extra cost, and 5 AP for the groin, legs, arms, and head.

There are a few ways to reduce the AP cost of shooting:

Fast Shoot trait 10% reduction

Gunslinger perk up to 20% reduction

With a total of 30% AP reduction to shoot excluding weapon modding. This means that by default you can burst once with BG weapon and have 40AP remaining, but with enough AP reduction, a double burst becomes possible. This also means that a small gun can burst 3 times in total.

Max AP reduction unaimed attacks mean you can shoot 4 times on pistols. This trait and perks do also work on melee and throwing weapons, so it means you can get low as 18AP which means 5 unaimed attacks.

Weapon redesigns

The weapons were designed in a way to provide certain weapon type benefits and be different in more ways than just damage stats. Below you will find an in-depth description of what was changed about your wasteland weaponry.

Shotguns

Shotguns are designed to be effective short-range weapons, shooting cones of 5 hexes wide shots. It has the option to burst and single shots.

Shotguns can be used for point-blank 1hex to cause massive dmg to single targets nearly, almost reaching the damage output of minigun weapons.  All shotguns have a chance to knock back targets, so shotguns can be used to knock back multiple targets at close range. Shotguns cannot use aim shots, but unaimed single shots are a viable option for close encounters. Shotgun shots also pierce targets up to a certain amount. To sum up shotguns have a 5 hex wide line of fire, pierce targets, cause a knockback effect, and have a high dmg hex but limited range, which makes it one of the best short-range weapon types in the game.

Miniguns

Another 5 hex wide burst weapon type. Weapon range middle range makes it an ideal crowd control tool and flanking weapon against multiple enemies. It has the highest 1hex dmg of all weapons and decent range dmg. It is costly to reload.

Big Gun Burst Rifles

LSW and M60 weapons have better range compared to sg rifles of the same tier. They deal a bit more dmg than sg rifles but at a higher AP cost to shoot and reload.

Big Gun Aimed Shot Rifle

Only Bozar is currently in this category. It is the highest-range weapon in the game and also deals very high damage. The shots cause a knockback effect on targets and the shot can pierce through multiple targets.

Small Gun Rifles

These rifles are the most versatile weapons and can vary between burst and single shots depending on need. Burst is 3 hex wide, it can deal pretty good concentrated burst fire on few enemies in distance, and burst dmg on the range is higher than miniguns. On 1hex dmg is quite far behind compared to miniguns, but still quite effective. Rifles can do a variety of things but do not excel over others in any of those.

SMGs

Similar to small gun rifles but offer a much shorter range. Instead, they deal more damage. SMG weapons have a really good damage/AP cost ratio, which makes them a preferred close-quarters weapon. With just a few AP reduction perks it can do 3 bursts, It is a much more agile weapon on close-range fights than big guns, which shoot fewer times and require much more to reload.

Small Gun Sniper Rifles and Pistols

Pistols and Snipers are good for middle and long-range correspondingly. Players could focus on the number of shots or set up for the critical build. Those weapons have lower AP costs than big guns, which makes these much more effective in terms of damage per used AP. Although damage-heavy, those weapons lack a burst option, so they become disadvantaged at close range. Sniper rifles have a higher range than pistols and a bit more dmg, but higher AP cost.

Laser Rifles and Pistols

The laser damage type performs best on low armor targets. Well-armored targets or enemies wearing tesla armor reduce the effectiveness drastically. One characteristic of laser weapons is that laser pierces targets in line and is able to hit multiple targets with the same shot. Lining up multiple targets perfectly might be hard to pull off but every hit target receives the same amount of damage. The downside of this feature is that friendly fire is harder to avoid and positioning becomes a key. Laser rifles have a higher range, AP cost, and dmg than laser pistols. Aim shots with lasers are also possible but the effect is applied only on the main target, the rest of the hits are counted as unaimed shots. Laser Rifles deal more dmg than a sniper rifle, but have a little bit less range.

Plasma Rifles and Pistols

Plasma weapon shots cause a small Area of Effect (plasma blobs) when the projectile hits the target hex. Since the projectile has speed, it means it also is dodgeable by movement. The Aim shot is possible on the main target and the rest of the hits are unaimed. Just like with other weapon types, Rifles have a higher range, ap cost, and damage than pistols. Plasma weapons are middle and short-range weapons. With plasma, one possible use is that you can anticipate spamming corners and chokepoints.

Pulse Rifles and Pistols

Weapons with electric Damage type cause a stun effect on the target. The stun effect disables running for a few seconds. This type of weapon can be aimed and is not using a line of fire, so it will only hit its main target. Metal armors provide no protection against pulse weapons, so if you see metal on the enemy, switch to pulse type if you have one.

Laser Bursting Weapons

Gatling laser, Phazer, and Solar Scorcher are Laser bursting weapons. 5 Hex wide burst and laser type damage provide that it pierces targets and is good vs low resistance players. Phazer and Solar Scorcher are lightweight 1 handed laser weapons with a smaller range and decent dmg. The Gatling Laser causes total destruction unless the target has enough resistance.

Flamers

Flamer deals initial fire-type damage to targets and causes burning debuff. Each fire-type attack stacks more burning debuff. Higher fire resistance helps against flamer damage and reduces burning debuff damage. A Flamer attack affects all targets in the line of fire. Flamers are ideal as close-range mass AoE weapons but are easy to deal with friendly fire.

Rocket Launcher

Rocket Launcher has a high range, high dmg shots. Rockets now have projectile flight time, allowing targets to run off the rocket course before it hits. Rocket Launchers reload cost of  50 means that these are more like shock weapons on the very first moments of clash. They aren't so good at dealing with constant dmg in a longer fight because need to reload after each shot. It is thought the best weapon for pulling targets or pushing targets away. There are also some new traits related to rocketeer gameplay that makes explosions more deadly and bigger AoE. Few ammo options AP rockets and Explosion rockets, for dealing more dmg or dealing bigger AoE.

Grenades

Grenades are more of a secondary weapon than the main one. Grenades now have projectile speed and delay on the ground before they explode. This makes them easily dodgeable. There is a Trait Demoman to remove the delay on the ground, but still, with this trait, projectile speed still gives some time to dodge the grenade. Frag grenade now has a chance to cause a knockback effect from the explosion. Plasma Grenades got a chance to cause a knockdown. Molotovs have no delay on the ground because they break right away when hit. Molotovs cause small initial fire dmg and burning debuff on targets.

Melee weapons overall

Melee weapon's effectiveness based on damage/Action Point cost is the highest of all weapon types and has various different effects (knockdown, knockback, bleeding, poison) based on weapons and attack types. Also, perk bonuses for melee weapons give more value in percentage than similar perks for ranged weapons. There are also critical effects as in aimed shot-range weapons.

Subtypes of melee weapons bring different results:

• Knives: Swing attack causes bleeding on targets, Thrust attack pierces 35% of target DR.
• Fists, Gloves: Knockdown targets.
• Hammer & Club weapons: swing attacks cause knockdown, and Thrust attacks cause knockback.
• Spear weapons: Trust and Throw attacks pierce 35% of target DR.

Criticals

Critical and Critical effects are now calculated based on just critical chance stat.

The higher this stat, the higher Chance and Roll.

There is no separate critical roll stat anymore.

Default Critical Chance is 10%

If the Player aims there is a critical chance bonus added depending on a body part:

• Eyes +30%
• Head&Groin +20%
• Legs&Arms +10%

There are perks, traits, and a drug that increases this value further.

Bonus Damage and Critical Bonus Damage are separate values and one excludes another, so if your goal is to deal with crits, you should invest in the latter.

Default Critical Damage Multiplier is dependable on what body part was hit:

• Eyes +100% Damage
• Head&Groin +75% Damage
• Legs&Arms +50% Damage
• None +25% Damage

Critical Effects

Critical Effects are calculated once per attack and they are dependable on your critical chance, the higher critical chance the higher possible crit roll.

Possible effects depending on the aim target:

• Eyes: Knock out, Blinding
• Head & Groin: Knock out, knockdown
• Arms: Arm cripple, weapon drop.
• Leg: Knockdown, leg crippled.
• Unaimed/Torso effects: Random body part cripple

Non-critical aimed shots still grant some damage bonus:

• Eyes +30% Damage
• Head&Groin +20% Damage
• Legs&Arms +10% Damage

Critical Resistance can be increased to avoid criticals being dealt to you and reduce the chance of crit roll effects happening.

Drugs & Consumables

Drugs are divided into 3 types: Soft, Hard Drugs, and Instant Drugs

Soft Drugs work for 30 minutes and Hard Drugs work for 3 minutes

Soft drugs give minor benefits and no negatives.

Hard drugs are more situational and build-specific drugs with maluses.

Using a soft&hard drug resets the drug timer instantly, There is no need to wait for the drug to stop working and no addiction drawbacks are implemented as of yet.

You can take 1 of each drug, so if you want you can take all in-game drugs at once.

Soft Drugs, which bring only positives for 30 minutes

• Any food item - Health regeneration time decreased by 10 seconds.
• Any Alcohol - 10 Carry weight + drunken master trait
• Cigarettes - Chance to hit increases by 20 points
• Cola - Ap regens slightly faster (5 points of AP regen)
• RadX - Rad resistance increases by 50% resistance

Hard Drugs come with negatives and work for 3 minutes

• Mentats - Increases Critical damage stat by +20 crit dmg modifier, but all damage done against you is stronger by 10%
• Buffout - Increases critical resistance by 10 but you run slower.
• Jet - Lowers your total ap by 20 but increases ap regen speed.
• Psycho - Adds flat 20 DT but decreases your sight significantly. DT is damage reduced at the final step of the calculation.
• Cookie - Flat max 50 ap increase, extremely rare item

There are various ways drugs can be used for your benefit. For example, mentats could be used for critical bursters and aim shooters. Buffout could be used by front-line tanks to soak critical hits. Jet can be used for everyone, which reduces initial impact by lowering AP, but in extended fights, AP gain overshadows the bigger ap pool. Psycho is for close-range melee/hexers/flamer/shotgun builds or when the place enforces purely close-quarters combat. A cookie is a very rare consumable that can be used by any build and comes with no other negative effects than its scarcity.

Healing Drugs:

Healing drugs trigger instantly and share a cooldown that is applied by some of the instant healing drugs.

• Healing Powder + 15HP
• Stimpack + 50hp and 3s cooldown
• Super Stimpack + 100 hp and 5s cooldown
• Hypo + 250 hp and 3s cooldown
• Antidote - 50 poison
• Rad-Away - 50 rad
• Antitoxin - Resets all drug timers, disables effects

There are also new healing mechanics for healing by shooting healing cartridges on targets (Needler pistol).

Healing bonus traits increase the effectiveness of all healing drugs, including Antidote and Rad-Away.

Skill books increase Skill Gain and Exp gain by 50% for 30 minutes.

Consumables cost 30 AP to be used.

Option Settings

The current option setting allows you to switch window resolution and Music&Sound volume. It is accessible by pressing ESC and choosing settings. It is still in development and ultimately it will allow you to configure the game, pick your preferred settings, and set up all keybinds.

Keybinds

Keybinds will be ultimately remappable through the settings menu that is currently in development. Currently though here are the keybinds

A - Toggle Attack mouse

H - Toggle Sneak

C - Open the Character screen

In character screen:

T - Traits Selection screen

P - Perk selection screen

I - Inventory screen

P - Crafting

M - Weapon Modding

U - Building

K - Friends

F5 Show Player Names

F6 Show overhead HP

F7 Overhead HP toggle between CURHP/MAXHP and CURHP

F8 Disable scrolling

R - Reload

Ctrl+G - Loot ground (Opens looting screen if there are more than 1 item)

Ctrl+D - Drop inventory to the ground

Alt+Q - Aim Eyes

Alt+W - Aim Head

Alt+E - Aim Reset

Alt+A - Aim Left Arm

Alt+S - Aim Groin

Alt+D - Aim Right Arm

Alt+Z - Aim Left Leg

Alt+C - Aim Right Leg

B- Swap weapon

N- Swap weapon mode (Single/Burst)

, and . - Rotate

Numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0 - Use the corresponding fast slot

ALT Numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0 - Alternative fast slot use e.g. alt+5 will let you use FA on someone.