Volcanic Fun!

It’s always hot when you’re dropping in a ‘Mech… but it’s going to get even hotter after today.  Today’s MWO patch brings us a new map!  It’s full of nice cool, even terrain… oh who am I kidding, it’s a volcanic map.. lava flowing everywhere (and yes, standing in lava pools is bad for you).. seems a tad dark as well.

The initial injection of Sarah’s Jenner was done last Friday, so I’d imagine today’s maintenance will hit some of the folks who didn’t get their Jenner yet.

We also get some bug fixes, performance improvements, and a small nerf to the Seismic Sensor module.  Since there is another patch coming next week (madness!) it’s not a bad little patch of tweaks.

With launch coming in a little over a month, PGI does need to step it up, and nail down what exactly will be included in the game for ‘launch’.

Full patch notes here, and after the jump.

PATCH NOTES JULY 30TH, 2013
Open Beta Update #22

Upcoming Patch – Tuesday July 30th @ 10AM – 1PM PDT

Patch Number: 1.2.233

Change Log

UPDATE

Greetings, MechWarriors.

What is this? A third patch in July? Madness!

First off, we want to acknowledge the amazing work the community is doing with the Sarah Jenner! We knew you were a caring community but these results are exceeding our expectations and for that we truly thank you.

It’s summer and things are heating up around here with the release of our latest map Terra Therma. Lava is hot! So read the Patch notes for a full description. Remember to use Testing grounds with map select to learn your way around Terra Therma and test out your ‘Mech under these extreme heat conditions.

We also have a host of gameplay tweaks. Heat scaling is expanding its reach, linking weapons of similar types while seismic sensors get a range reduction. Air and Artillery strike get a bit of a buff.

Some programmer found us some frames and some other programmers fixed some bugs! Programmers are great!

One week today we will be patching again and I can’t wait!

So patch up your game and get ready to drop. I’ll see you on the battlefield!

Matt Newman

Content

New Map – Terra Therma

Terra Therma is a planet-sized moon in a large, synchronous orbit around an epistellar Jovian planet.

It is constantly exposed to tidal forces from its parent planet and therefore is prone to frequent volcanic eruptions and persistent tectonic activity; but, because of its large orbit, the gravitational influence on Terra Therma is not strong enough to expedite the natural degassing of primordial reservoirs of Helium-3 and Tritium.

These subterranean reservoirs (of T and H-3) are what bring the fight to Terra Therma. Their value, compounded by the ease of extraction are worth the installment and regular replacement of expendable, automated infrastructure; the same has been remarked about the ‘Mechs and their pilots.

“The only evidence of the constant battling over this hell-hole’s resources is in the paper work” one commander said, “as every fallen ‘Mech and the sorry sob who piloted it, aka collateral loss, is quickly swallowed up by this fiery beast.”

Gameplay

Weapon System Heat Penalty Linking

– ERPPCs and PPCs will now share their max alpha limit.
– LRM20, LRM15 and LRM10s now share their max alpha limit.
– LL, ERLL, LPL will now share their max alpha limit.
– SRM6 and SRM4 will now share their max alpha limit.

Linked weapons will always use the highest base heat value and highest multiplier of the weapons fired. e.g. if you launch LRM15s with LRM10s, it will use LRM15 numbers. If you fire Large Lasers with ER Large Lasers, it will use ER Large Laser numbers.

For detailed explanations to our current heat scale, please refer to our forum post here: http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/127904-heat-scale-the-maths/page__pid__2575376

Seismic Sensor Ranges

– Seismic Sensor – Range reduced to 180m from 200m.
– Advanced Seismic Sensor – Range reduced to 250m from 400m.

Air/Artillery Strike

– Radius of Artillery strike increased from 50m to 60m.
– Radius of explosive shell increased from 25m to 30m.
– Radius of Air Strike explosive shell increased from 25 to 30m.

Performance

– Optimization to the client code.
– Math functions.
– Gameplay code.
– Rendering code.
– HUD draw calls.

Bug Fixes

– Missiles were sometimes doing more damage than their listed amount. This has been fixed.
– SRM max range had an issue of being innacurate in the simulation. This is now significantly improved and any variation should be negligible.
– Heat penalties now properly reflected on the HUD when spectating other players.
– Heat Containment Pilot Talent is now affecting the start-up sequence. Players will return from overheat status faster if they have this upgrade.
– Fixed many collision issues in River City (stuck against structures, walk-through buildings, etc…).
– Fixed many “stuck on small rocks” bugs in Canyon Network.

General

– Spread out spawn point locations on Forest Colony.
– Light ‘Mechs will now use smaller death smoke columns.

We thank you for your patience and we look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!

The MechWarrior® Online™ Team