Test Server Feedback

Singularity was now updated to a version, which should be very close to the final version. The number of NPCs was slightly increased and the AoE damage is now different between sites. The layout of the sites was also tweaked to land in the center of the 4 sites. Loot was changed quite a bit and nearly all structures should have at least some loot.

The test system EZA-FM will continue working for today, but it will probably shut down with the next patch (probably tomorrow).

The ascendancy implants also received some minor balance tweaks (but unfortunately I don't have the numbers at hand).

I edited my previous post to include a bunch of numbers and in particular a suggestion for how to balance the multipliers on the Ascendancy implants that makes sense with the existing WS-6xx values and gives the LG Omega a reason to exist. Just adding this reply to bump thread for visibility since all that cool info went into a quiet, unassuming edit :)

Checked ghost sites in test system. Experience is strange so far: detonation is happening almost immediately after single opened (or exploded) can. Plus there are 5-6 warp scrambling NPCs. Tanked SOE cruiser (40k ehp, 71-80 armor resists) goes into half armor in seconds, frig just explodes. What is this I don't even...

What you experienced is exactly what was stated on the tin.

It's our definite intention to have the rats warp out after a short amount of time after the containers have been nuked.
However, the exact amount of time they hang about is still being tweaked.

While balancing the implants we wanted to keep consistent patterns between the implant sets we have already. This however posed the problem that the existing hardwire made the Omega Ascendancy implants rather undesireable. We tried increasing the power but the overall power-curve was just too much.

We are discussing options right now and we will be including a balance pass on them very very soon after Rubicon hits TQ. But unfortunately we are only a few days away from release and can't include it in the release proper.

Stay tuned for more info.

I went and played around with these last night to get an idea of what to expect and see how well (or not) it would work. For my testing I started with this character and brought a Stratios with T1 hacking module. My skills for combat are very well trained. Hacking/exploration skills are slightly above average.

My Stratios was shield tanked with a single hacking module, 10MN MWD, and damage mods for both drones and lasers. First run on an easy site I completed all 4 cans and thought "Well, that was easy." How wrong I was!

After a couple more easy runs I found that the timers on all sites were often ridiculously short. It seemed that first run was simply luck. RNG is random, amirite? So I went back and refit to an armor tank with cargo scanners. This allowed me to scan the cans for the good stuff (implant/depot BPCs) and go directly for those first.

I found my tank was sufficient to survive a failed hacking attempt and escape from the rats with a comfortable margin. But looking at my oft shredded armor, I thought that having an armor repper or depot of my own in the cargo so I could refit to an armor repper would be very nice.

After several successful attempts on the low level sites I went for the higher ones. But my hacking skills were not sufficient to complete the grids. At this point I swapped over to my exploration alt.

My alt is not a real combat pilot. She can fly nothing bigger than dictor, bomber, haulers, or covops frigates. But she has max hacking/archaeology skills. So I dropped her into a Helios and went to work.

15 seconds after decloaking the rats show up. Seriously? 15 seconds? Try to run and the can explodes. Pop. -1 Helios.

Maybe just bad luck on the timer. I reship and try again. First can completed. Beta implant BPC. Start on the second can because of meta depot BPCs. Rats show up. Result is the same. Down another Helios.

Ok. Let's try the SoE frigate.

30 seconds this time. Still not enough time to finish the first can. I try to run and pop. Killed by 1 can again.

Once more. This time with full-on exp tank.

I get the first can done. Rats show up during the second can. Try to run and... Not dead yet! 10% structure. Oh, wait. Still rats. Pop.

Well. This is pointless. Because the timers on the sites are so short, if you bring a frigate of any kind you will lose it if you try more than one can. Half the time, you will lose it on the first can. They simply cannot handle the aoe damage. I know this is a very small sample size. But I don't need to run 1000 sites to know that the results should come out the same on a regular basis.

Here is what is going to happen in hisec: the hordes of newbs to whom these sites are the intended audience will flock in and get blapped over and over again. The forums will fill with hisec pubbie tears about how broken these sites are.

Meanwhile, those of us that can fly the Stratios or other suitable exploration fit cruiser will flood hisec for the easy content and make bank. The harder sites will almost never get finished because the combination of ridiculously short timer and hacking game difficulty pretty much guarantees the rats will appear before the first can is ever finished.

No one of these attributes (short timer, aoe damage, and hacking game difficulty) is OP by itself. But the combination of them is going to make these implant sets very difficult to complete. It will however, make the Stratios highly desirable for nulsec/w-space ghost sites due to it's place as the only cruiser-sized hull with hacking bonuses. It can at least escape a failed attempt without dying.

Timers need to be longer on average, and have slightly less variation in total time before rats show up. Let me put it this way: instead of throwing 1d12, throw 2d6. This will change the timer from a totally random number to something a little more predictable. (Table-top reference ftw)

I posted this in the thread for the Rubicon trailer, and then the Ghost Site Devblog thread, but now I found this thread which also seems suitable.

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So the CONCORD guy is like 'Stay the f* out, there will be consequences.' But the only consequences are the pirates' response, there are no consequences from the empires.

If you really are aiming to sow dissension between capsuleers and the empires, you should grant a suspect flag to all capsuleers on grid when a ghost site explodes in empire space. CONCORD's sensor arrays (presumably the same ones that keep Local running) would notice the energy anomaly and punish the capsuleer for disobeying the mandate.

Er... good? People don't adapt without a reason to adapt.



Good. Tears are always good.




The only time I've encountered a timer as short as you're describing is when there was already another player in the site when I warped in.

With my small sample size I suppose its possible I was just extremely unlucky. But every site I went into I was the first one there. I was able to blitz through them because of max virus strength. But getting all 4 cans in a small site was almost impossible.