Some changes in how we use PTE

Hey all,

I wanted to mention some changes we are planning on doing for PTE. In the past, we used PTE to test a new build before it went live. This meant we did all the work to get it shippable, then finally released it up for community testing. Often time leaving us very little time to be able to make changes. The new thought is, we will be getting up more frequent builds. These will include small changes, such as balance, or a new map, so that we can get feedback on these individual items instead of waiting on a whole build.

First step on this will be something we have been working toward for a while now. The idea that planets play a huge role in balance is something we have been pushing toward. With the changes to the system editor allowing us to make symmetrical maps, with custom placed/sized CSGs and metal spots, we finally have the ability to make the maps more like what we’ve been wanting. I’ve attached some pics of a map we’ve been playing on with hand placed chokepoints and plateaus which we are excited to see feedback on. Once we see how gameplay changes with these style of maps, we will be making adjustments to overall unit balance to fine tune them.

This build also has some changes to Jigs we wanted to try out. A Jig now goes off in a nuke sized explosion when destroyed. When you drag build them, they will be placed a safe distance apart, but if you want to try to be greedy, you can build them closer to make more use of the Gas Giant’s surface.. that being said, they go off like dominos if they are too close together. Curious to see how this plays out with more people on it, but has been a lot of fun internally.

I’ll post on the forum to let you all know when new builds are up (probably tomorrow), but excited to get things in your hands so that we can get more feedback. Looking forward to seeing what you guys think

Great! This seems like a better use of the PTE.

I'm pretty concerned by the potential pathing issues on that planet, but let's give it a test, eh?

Mostly I think it is totally awesome you have custom made features and mex working on your end, can't wait to get my hands on it!

This is great, thanks.

Can you please make the hills on these planets more visibly discernable. Add some sort of texture that makes them pop out a little more.

oh look ... more information and communication for the lovely community we have ...

Jables for president

Great!

Ohhhhh yesssss!

That is one of the thing I've been missing from TA / Spring in particular... it was always a special moment when your smug opponent with vast swathes of heavy fusion reactors accidentally let a few t2 bomber sneak in, only to witness his *entire base* chain react and get levelled cause he'd built all his volatile reactors next to each other

@nanolathe

I almost made a mod that did this, until I realized that the explosion would take out the units attacking it as well, which in a way would make attacking them harder. Curious to your take on it.

So is all this stuff in the PTE now?

If I'm understanding correctly; will there be a constant PTE type build where new features are added continuously? No more "pte before stable" just constant?

Will be doing more PTE builds instead of just the one. We are hoping to get this stuff up for tomorrow. We are having to redo a bit of how we do builds to make it happen, but the extra feedback from you all makes it a good trade

You could have just made the "build space" of them to be 150, 150. But this is good too. Actually, this does force them to be way spread out, and you have to have an acceptable gap in them to also have an orbital factory with a force rally.

I like the change overall.

Honestly, there was 2 things Uber needed 1 of. Either a Vanguard group that was even more involved than it was, like the Mod Team from Jagex's Runescape, or an insider with really good feedback transfer through both parties. Jables is definitely the second one, the best one could hope for, and as far as that goes I wish we would have just gotten him instead of the Vanguard program in the first place

And so, basically he is saying we will be having the "symmetrical map pte" to test those, the "unit balance pte" to test that, possibly seperate "unit balance ptes"... Basically, seperate PTEs for each individual feature candidate that is considered for the next update.

Does this mean we will see features come and go on the PTE?
For example this week will be with chain reaction jigs, but the next week the jigs will be back to "normal" and another feature is pulled in instead?
Or is this more of a cumulative build, where features will only be pushed in, and once they are in the PTE, the won't get pulled anymore?

criz.

If the Jig stuff is cool, we'll leave it. We are basically using it as it should be used now. Public Test Environment. Get more stuff in there for testing, and if it tests bad, iterate or delete it.

I don't think so at all. Just more updates on the one pte stream?

I approve of this.

What are the pictures supposed to show?