Responses to alpha player questions.

[x4000]

Actually, looking at all the references in the code and text, I decided to go with shields.  There are too many things that would not make sense if it was hull all over the place.

Some enemies do reference hull strength, and the hull repair bays still say that, but I think that's acceptably clear still.  The main thing is with parts, and those say Shields universally now, and even the hull repair bay says it repairs shields.  Which are presumably part of the hull.

[Breach]

I don't think there's any chance of confusion over hull repair bays, especially once the effect has been seen the first time.

[x4000]

Awesome -- thanks.

[Aeson]

With regards to the hull repair bays - if we're renaming everything from hull somethings to shield somethings, we could just call it a shield recharge station. But I agree with Breach that there's little chance of confusion, at least after the first time you use it.


"Bear in mind that this is a literal system that you can visually look at."
In this case, then, is each system just whatever happens to be in the section labelled as such on the vehicle? In other words, if I have a 5% bonus to shield systems, does that bonus apply to the components in the section of the Exo labelled "Shields", or does it apply generally to all bonuses to shields/regeneration/regeneration window/etc?

[x4000]

With regards to the hull repair bays - if we're renaming everything from hull somethings to shield somethings, we could just call it a shield recharge station. But I agree with Breach that there's little chance of confusion, at least after the first time you use it.

Done.  Good point.

"Bear in mind that this is a literal system that you can visually look at."
In this case, then, is each system just whatever happens to be in the section labelled as such on the vehicle? In other words, if I have a 5% bonus to shield systems, does that bonus apply to the components in the section of the Exo labelled "Shields", or does it apply generally to all bonuses to shields/regeneration/regeneration window/etc?

All things in the shield slots.  There are other things that affect shielding (generally Auxiliary) stuff that go in other systems, but those would not get the bonus from things that are affecting the shield system specifically.  An auxiliary system is like putting a power cell in your gun in a place where you might have put ammo.  Actually we have that.

[Aeson]

"All things in the shield slots.  There are other things that affect shielding (generally Auxiliary) stuff that go in other systems, but those would not get the bonus from things that are affecting the shield system specifically.  An auxiliary system is like putting a power cell in your gun in a place where you might have put ammo.  Actually we have that."
Just to make certain I'm understanding this correctly - the bonus applies to anything at all which is located in the appropriate section? So if I put an Auxiliary Reactor with 100 power generation in the Shield section and had a total of +15% to shield systems, the Auxiliary Reactor would effectively output 115 power? Or would the bonus only apply to shield-specific statistics on components in the Shield section? Sorry that I'm kind of beating this into the ground, I just want to make certain I understand how it works properly.

[x4000]

It should be anything at all in that system, yes.

[orzelek]

Is there a point in attacking factory as first mission?

[Aeson]

Is it intended that Axis can run missions which are one mission further out than other commanders can, which essentially allows her to bypass certain missions by hopping over them?

[x4000]

Is there a point in attacking factory as first mission?

It's actually a super bad idea, yeah.

Is it intended that Axis can run missions which are one mission further out than other commanders can, which essentially allows her to bypass certain missions by hopping over them?

Yep!  Otherwise her bonus would be kind of stinky.  This is compared to having things like 50% better loot (Meg) or a weaker ending robot army (Tuck) or two epic exos from the start (Genji).  I think these are pretty fair equivalences.  Though some commanders are "better" than others potentially, which is okay; doing intentionally-hard builds is part of the fun of these games (like doing all Fighters in FF1, which I liked; or doing all White Mages in FF1, which I always thought was insane. ).

[orzelek]

From what I can see there is currently sensor range and sight range for each bot.
Sensor range is being talked much about... but I have problems finding the sight range.
Is it shown somewhere?

[x4000]

Sight range is the same for all exos except the sniper, which does indeed note its increased sight range as an inherent stat.  I think.

[Histidine]

Is it intended that Axis can run missions which are one mission further out than other commanders can, which essentially allows her to bypass certain missions by hopping over them?

Yep!  Otherwise her bonus would be kind of stinky.  This is compared to having things like 50% better loot (Meg) or a weaker ending robot army (Tuck) or two epic exos from the start (Genji).  I think these are pretty fair equivalences.  Though some commanders are "better" than others potentially, which is okay; doing intentionally-hard builds is part of the fun of these games (like doing all Fighters in FF1, which I liked; or doing all White Mages in FF1, which I always thought was insane. ).

Hmm, that should probably go in her tooltip.

On that note: I haven't played with him yet, but I don't really see the point in Tuck's bonus; it doesn't take effect until the end of the game, and it doesn't really do anything that you can't accomplish by taking a Siege Exo with a full rocket load into a Lion's Den mission.

[x4000]

All true.  I'd been on the fence about him for a while anyhow.  So just in for the next one:

* Completely redid Tuck's bonus, since he was kind of useless with his other bonus:
** Tough and resourceful, Tuck's skills at sleuthing lend him an enormous tactical advantage in missions: he can see both his objectives and the location of all terminals and loot without first exploring to them.

* The description of Axis has been rewritten to make it clear how powerful she is:
** A professional scout drone pilot before she became an Exo driver, Axis has the ability to see 4 missions out on the city map instead of the usual 3.  Even more importantly, she has the ability to undertake missions that are 2 away rather than the usual 1, thereby letting her skip missions at will.

[Aeson]

Tuck's new bonus sounds really good for the regular missions. I'm not sure that I'd say that his old bonus was bad, but I would agree that it wasn't quite up to par with the others when you could kill off roughly 30% of the non-boss robot army in a Lion's Den.

The new description for Axis is much better than the old one, in my opinion.


A question, though - if I have a Fuel Depot mission next to a Lion's Den, a Manufacturing Plant, a Command Center, or an Assassination mission, will completing the Fuel Depot mission count as a success or failure of those missions? I would expect that since those missions are essentially a 'destroy everything over here' you'd get the benefits, but since I've never seen a Fuel Depot next to any of those I've never been able to test it. In other words, will destroying a Lion's Den by completing a Fuel Depot reduce the Bot Army by a similar amount to actually completing the mission, will destroying a Manufacturing Plant via a Fuel Depot reduce Bot levels, will destroying a Command center via Fuel Depot cause the Bots to attack 5 days sooner, and will destroying an Assassination mission via Fuel Depot destroy the boss bots that were the targets of the Assassination mission? Or is the Fuel Depot more or less meant as a way to more rapidly advance through an area?

Edit: One more question - I currently have a 13-range Plasma Cannon with 9 AOE radius on an Epic Siege Exo. However, I'm not capable of safely using the Plasma Cannon because I can only target tiles up to 8 range away because that's where my sight range ends, and I can't blind-fire beyond that with the Plasma Cannon. Is this supposed to be possible, and are there components that can increase the sight range (not sensor range) of my Exos?