Read the Pins & New FM Prizes

There's a lot of changes going on in the game right now.

It's been confusing for a lot of players, and those that don't understand what's going on are getting frustrated.  Last night on comms a player said something like "oh great look what Kixeye did.  No more VXP weekend."

Now, those who are paying close attention know that the discounted buying of rank was this weekend, and VXP weekend would be next weekend.  But not everyone can do that.  Here's what I'm going to say about it, and unfortunately, the readers of this blog probably aren't the people who need to hear it.

Read the Kixeye pinned forum posts.

I get that a lot of the posts on the forums are complaining or noob questions.  But every Tuesday we see the weekly release notes (except when they aren't on Tuesday... see the pinned forum post about that).  You should read them, and look for any other info pinned there too.  Read the pinned raid briefings.  I know that Kixeye has neither been the most clear nor the most consistent communicators... I have spent a fair amount of time trying to pick up the pieces.  But they are trying, and if you can only read one thing, the official Kixeye communications are a good place to start.

If you want more in-depth opinion and analysis, there is this blog.  There are three weekly YouTube shows if you prefer the video format (BP Crib, Battle Vortex, and Forsaken Council).  There's a blog starting up that's targeted at newer players.  They all have their place.  But if you can only read one thing... read the pinned posts.

I'm not going to be able to touch the Foundry for a while (and the Crusader is the only relevant change for most players anyway), so go read the pinned post if you don't get it.

OK, on to the new Forsaken Mission Prizes.

Combusion System 2:


This is the new FM item that I was most anticipating, and I left empty spots on my Citadels & Revenge hulls I'm building (in prep for the upcoming VXP weekend) for this special.  Now that it's here, it seems to continue Kixeye's practice of making new items NOT the greatest, but competitive.  

The choice between Combustion System 2 and Explosive System 4 is not obvious, as you can see in this chart:

(If you saw this chart on the BP Crib show, the build times have been corrected)

My opinion on this is that the increased spread and extra splash will really help the new Gatling Gun.  I see a lot of players planning Revenge / Gatling builds with Strike Warheads... but with the high built-in concussive damage bonus on the Revenge, the marginal amount of extra damage might not be worth the weight/slot for that, and the Combustion System would be more helpful instead. For Citadels, where you are often firing at the longer remote targeting range, the higher speed of Explosive System 4 might be more beneficial.  I like having shells land sooner, so my enemies stop firing sooner.

Alloy Armor CL:


This alloy special protects against Ballistics and Radioactive damage at the expense of leaving off Penetrative & Explosive protection.

This one might be good in a few specialized situations:

• If you want to build a ship/fleet specifically for mines, those deal out exclusively Ballistic and Radioactive damage.  (try just a single ship in 60s & 70s by the way)
• The new Revenge hull is weak against Enforcers and Shockwaves - this high radioactive defense may help, but you will set yourself up to be weak against ship's missiles.
• The Citadel hull has high (70%) built-in Explosive & Penetrative Defense but 0% Ballistic and Radioactive.  This special balances out those weaknesses.

Zynthonite Armor D5-C:

This has the same general stats as the D5-M & D5-X we've seen, but with Ballistic protection.  

I was hoping this armor would have reduced build times compared to the other D5 deflection armors we have seen (because C armor got a build time reduction compared to M & X), but D5-C has the same build time as D5-M & D5-X (1d 17h 24m with officer).

Even so, this may be a tool for builds in some situations, just like the rest of the D5 armors.  One caution though - when deflection bypass becomes a thing in PvE targets, the only place we expect deflection to be useful is in player bases.  So the extra 20 deflection compared to the huge damage numbers going around there might just not matter at all.

Until next time... stay Frosty.  Or Revenge-y.  Or Punish-y.