Oct. 05, 2022 - Nanite of the Living Dead '22: The Lost Fleet (PC Update)

All PC servers will come down for the following update on Wednesday, October 5, at 6:00am PT (3:00pm CEST). The downtime for this update is expected to last up to 3 hours.
--

Halloween Event (Oct. 05 - 31)

A bitter moon hangs high overhead, casting an ominous light over the battlefields of Auraxis. The bitter battle between soldier and SpacePumpkin has begun once again!
This year's Nanite of the Living Dead carries with it a new directive, a new mission, a new alert event, and striking new cosmetics.

Space Pumpkins Return!

Don't let their innocent orange guise fool you, these sinister pumpkins will descend upon you when you least expect it. Eradicate these gourds and earn bonus experience and directive progress!

Halloween Directive

Trick or treat! Get started with this special event directive by visiting your favorite vendors while on Sanctuary. Then head planetside to take on some haunting heroics as you work toward unlocking a "Wicked" new title and camo.

Halloween Sanctuary

Sanctuary has received some ghoulish garland this time of year, complete with festive vendors and citizens, decorations, and music to bewitch your spirit.

Haunted Bastion Event

An unaligned Bastion Fleet Carrier has been reported marauding the battlefields. Rumor has it that this Lost Fleet Carrier was a part of the original expedition through the wormhole to Auraxis. Unfortunately, it is either incapable or unwilling to respond to our hails. Despite multiple successes destroying this vessel, it seems to reappear again elsewhere in the world, continuing its wanton destruction.

What we do know is that the Fleet Carrier is capable of destabilizing the lattice hardlines while it is on the field, rendering regions of the map incapable of being contested or captured until it is destroyed. We have also discovered that the more SpacePumpkins we dispose of, the more likely this vessel is to appear and wreak havoc on the front lines.

New to the depot

In addition to returning Halloween tire trails, camos, profile banners, weapons, armor, and helmets, some new offerings are hitting the table!

Alchemist Bundle - 3999 DBC

Did someone call for the doctor? The Alchemist Bundle comes with a new title, banner frame, profile banner, cosmetic helmets for each faction, and the best Punisher SMG a plague doctor could ask for.

• Title: Doctor
• Midnight Banner Frame
• Alchemical Profile Banner
• Plague Doctor Cowl (NSO/VS/NC/TR)
• NS-66 "Alchemist" Punisher

Shown: VS Plague Doctor Cowl and NS-66 "Alchemist" Punisher.

Lightbringer Bundle - 3999 DBC

Stand against the darkness with the Lightbringer Bundle. A new title, banner frame, profile banner, NS-R3 Swarm rocket launcher variant, and a cosmetic variant of the default sniper rifle for each faction.

• Title: Guardian
• Knight Errant Banner Frame
• Majesty Banner
• NS-R3 "Dawnstinger" Swarm
• M77-B "Dawnbreaker" (TR Sniper Rifle)
• NC14 "Dawnbreaker" (NC Sniper Rifle)
• XM98 "Dawnbreaker" (VS Sniper Rifle)
• SR-100 "Dawnbreaker" (NSO Sniper Rifle)

Shown: M77-B "Dawnbreaker" sniper rifle.

PMC Armor and Helmets

The new PMC armor and helmets by player studio creator Doku are now available for all New Conglomerate characters.

Shown: PMC Heavy Assault Armor and PMC Visor Helmet.

New Tank Cannons

The arms race intensifies as factions deliver new Empire-specific Main Battle Tank (and for the first time ever,) Lightning main cannons.

New Conglomerate

• The JGX12 (Vanguard) and JGX11 (Lightning) turrets function similar to artillery, with better turret elevation, made for lobbing anti-armor explosives. With a heavy projectile arc, the high skill ceiling is repaid with the best single-shot anti-vehicle damage in the arsenal.

Vanu Sovereignty

• The Perihelion VXC (Magrider) and Perihelion L-VXC (Lightning), fires an anti-armor crescent wave with a flat trajectory. This anti-vehicle weapon can be charged up to fire up to three crescents in a single burst.

Terran Republic

• The P4-120 Kingsnake (Prowler) and L2-100 Kingsnake (Lightning) fire a 4-shell and 2-shell burst respectively, peppering an area with high-impact anti-vehicle shells. At close to mid-range, the Kingsnake rewards users with some of the highest damage output in the game.

Nanite Systems Operatives

• The Larion PPC (Chimera) and the Larion LPPC (Lightning) are particle projection cannons that fire a lance of light, piercing through infantry and vehicles alike. This weapon has no projectile drop, or area of effect damage, and travels quickly to snipe targets at a distance.

Infantry Updates

Tank Mine

• Minimum damage from 10 to 100.

Dev Note: Increases the damage consistency over the falloff range.

Anti-Vehicle Grenades

• Resistance type from 37 (Infantry Launcher) to 11 (Heavy Explosives)
• Nanite cost from 50 to 75.

Dev Note: This converts Anti-Vehicle Grenades into a competitive C4 alternative with more reach and less alpha damage.

SPRK-33's Stomper

• Direct damage from 200 to 225.
• Blast maximum damage from 350 to 375.
• Blast minimum damage from 1 to 50.

Dev Note: These changes make SPRK-33's Stomper a little more umph and usability for what is otherwise a fairly lackluster weapon.


UI and Accessibility

• You now have the ability to increase player/vehicle overhead indicator sizes, and is found in the HUD indicator settings.

Choose from small or large vehicle and player indicators in the HUD Indicators settings.

Containment Sites

• The energy room capture point has been moved upstairs, and turning the generator on will no longer capture the point for defenders.
• Removed the Sunderer no-deploys at these locations, allowing vehicles to deploy in the central hub.
• Fixed some errant, invisible collision at Containment Sites.

Dev Note: The intention here is to keep the fight (slightly) more centralized to the middle floor, and make these facilities more easily capturable without overwhelming force.

Oshur and Water-based Gameplay

• Oshur now uses an unstable lattice while continent population is low.
• Seaposts with underwater capture points have received new underwater spawn rooms to help prevent spawnroom camping from below the platform.
• Gate Shield Diffuser now allows wheeled vehicles to sink. This change impacts the Sunderer the most, allowing it to deploy on the ocean floor, and provide another spawnpoint for attackers.
• Corsair has received a new "Submerge" ability which momentarily allows it to sink beneath the water's surface. This is intended to give the Corsair more options to avoid damage when cover options are limited.
• Deployed vehicles are no longer affected by buoyancy.

The new underwater spawn room at Seapost G8 - Pipeline, on Oshur.

Construction Adjustments

• Elysium Spawn Tube is now immune to small arms damage.
• Cortium Bombs are no longer usable by Infiltrators.
• Pain Spire has new, more readily discernable visual FX.
• Pain Spire's damage resistance from 23 (Air to Ground Warhead) to 64 (Burning) to be in line with other burning effects.

New visual FX for Pain Spires.

Misc. Changes, Fixes, and Additions

• !! Fixed a long-standing issue where Cortium/NPC spawns (like Pumpkins!) could appear underground or inside objects.
• Made code efficiency improvements to how Zone Flags are handled.
• As an experiment: No-deploy zones at Tech Plants on Indar have been pushed toward the spawn rooms.
• Sticky Grenades and C4 no longer stick to spawn room shields.
• Outfits without a MOTD set no longer have a blank message appear upon login.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent you from accessing Outfit Chat while on Nexus.
• Ground vehicle ammunition dispensers now resupply ammunition to Corsair within range.
• Observer cameras no longer receive Out of Bounds messaging.
• Countershade implant has been added to implant packs and crafting.
• The following weapons no longer use the incorrect compensator model: NC1 Gauss Rifle, Gauss Rifle Burst, Gauss Rifle S
• Fixed a bug preventing the T1A Unity from hipfiring underwater.
• Adjusted Sunderer visuals so that the vehicle is now slightly less "dirty."
• Sanctuary gravity lifts now push you toward the elevator exit.
• Fixed a missing backface on an Oshur rock type.
• Added a missing aircraft ammo resupply point at Anlabban Trident on Oshur.

Looking Forward

Hey there. As we mentioned in the September article, we're currently focused on refining our releases and are slowing down the content cadence as a result. Over the past month, we've released iterative updates to the Public Test Server (a total of 4 throughout September) to ensure that everyone has had a chance to provide feedback on changes well before they make their way Live. Thank You to the folks who've helped temper those updates. So far as the Roadmap for the remainder of the year is concerned, we're definitely going to be setting aside a lot of what we've originally planned to accomplish. We simply don't want to jam large systems into the game without enough time to test them properly, and the value of those systems has certainly come into question the nearer we get to them as well. While the list of remaining items is still not 100% determined at this point, I'm sure we'll end up talking about it in an article later this month. Until then, enjoy the candy, and that wicked sick Fleet Carrier event.
-Wrel, Lead Designer