Hello Commanders, and welcome to the latest Dev Diary for Vega Conflict.
Much like Damus did in the last one, I’d like to start with an official introduction. I am Lore_Master, and I am the Lead Designer for Vega Conflict. That means that the direction of the game and the decisions being made are on my shoulders. It’s a double-edged sword, meaning that when things go right, I can feel good about what we’re doing, but when things go wrong, the blame lands squarely on me. I bear the honor with distinction though, I can assure you.
The last Dev Diary dove into the topic of base development and the current state of things like base content and interacting with it. Today though, we’re going to discuss the thing we’re all looking forward to: Tier 13. We’ll also be touching on what happened with T11/12 and where Tier 13 will take us in regards to that.
Now, I don’t want to reveal too much about the upcoming tier, as I want some things to remain a surprise for you as we venture forth. However, I will talk about what our design philosophy looks like for the tier and what we hope to see come of it, when it comes to your experience as players.
Tier 13 is, by and large, a return to the basics. Many players have mentioned their desire to see a return to the classic Vega Conflict combat, and many more players have questioned what happened to the “Vega” in Vega Conflict. Our goal with Tier 13 is to bring back what made battles fun in VC to begin with. As you have now seen with the first Tier 13 hull, the Veritable, we have revived one of the classic hull classes, the Cruiser. The Veritable is only the beginning, as the class system is coming back in full. Destroyers, Cutters, Frigates, oh my. The return to this system of classes will help us to better maintain balance within the tier, resulting in more variety when it comes to combat and a more cohesive set of releases as the tier moves forward. Tiers 11 and 12 saw that balance fall away, especially with the power that the Experimental Salvage components presented.
On that note, one of the key issues we identified, especially with T12, is that there were getting to be too many moving parts when it came to hull design, and we were having to push the envelope further with each successive release. This would lead to more issues within the game, as new hull abilities would interact with things we wouldn’t expect them to interact with in weird and often game breaking ways. Tier 13 hulls will be much simpler, with some standard abilities built in, but things like the Integrated Reflex System, Prime Shift, or Experimental Salvage will be left behind. In this tier, the actual hull itself is only the beginning of the journey.
Another issue that crept up on us was the ever increasing ship speed, and the negative effect it had on all combat. Battles were over way too fast, both PvE and PvP, and it resulted in a bad play experience. No longer did you have to worry about your piloting skill or tech loadout, as battle would be met and then end, just like that. A couple of things have been done to address this. First, as you’ve seen with the Veritable, hull speed is coming back down across the board. This will also help bring thruster specials back into relevance, as we didn’t actually make any in T12. Secondly, Armor and Shield health values have been increased to match the current power level of existing weapons. Of course, as the tier moves forward, more changes may be added.
Speaking of Shields, Armor, and Weapons, we’re excited about the new damage type being added to the game: Blood. More about this new damage type will be revealed as the tier progresses, but it will be integral to defeating the *REDACTED* in the upcoming events. It will also add a new depth to PvP combat as, without the proper defenses, your fleets may be exposed to your opponent’s builds. This leads us to the return of Mk.4 levels for the tech of this tier. The Mk.4 versions of weapons will utilize this new damage type, but will only be able to be equipped on the weapon slots designed for them. Don’t have Mk.4’s yet? Not to worry, because those weapon slots will also fit any standard weapon you have for the tier as well, so it won’t need to just sit empty until you have Blood weapons. The Mk.4 of the new Armor will feature some resistance to the new damage type, making it perfect for PvP combat. The new Shield also features the Mk.4 level, but instead of just the one version, it will feature 4. Each one is designed to give a big resistance to one of the meta damage types, while the new Blood version grants Blood resistance to the shield. In order to obtain these new levels for the shield, you will need to craft them using the new Blood Element resource, as well as the pre-existing meta elements. So, if you’ve been saving those up, here comes your chance to use them again!
How you equip your new hulls in Tier 13 will be important. The hull will only be the first step, as I mentioned earlier. Finding the right weapons, specials, armor, and shields that best fit your hull will be what determines if your fleets succeed or perish. The *REDACTED* have some tricks up their sleeves, and you will need to be prepared in order to face them. Tough decisions will need to be made when it comes to your loadout.
The biggest question on your mind is probably: how will Tier 13 fare against Tier 12, 11, etc.? This put us in a tough spot, as those tiers are incredibly powerful. So, after some trial and error, we came to the conclusion that the best way to make a fresh start is to… make a fresh start. Starting with the Veritable, these hulls will have 100% resistance to those factions. This means that no matter how you equip them, those hulls will deal no damage to Tier 13 hulls. This was the best way to effectively draw the line in the sand and start fresh. It ain’t pretty, but it works.
Now, I haven’t forgotten about base content, but I don’t want to share too much about that now. We do plan on bringing bases into line with this new tier, but that will happen over time. What I will reveal is that base content will find its way back into the regular cadence of releases.
This was a lot of info, and if I keep going, I’ll likely spoil all of the surprises. I’ve probably said more than I originally planned to as it is. So, this seems like a good spot to leave you. Make sure your modules are leveled up in time for the next event, so you can enjoy the ride that will be the new tier. You know, I feel like I’m forgetting something… Right! What about Vega? Well, you see…
*Transmission Terminated*