Friends! Robots! Spikey space socialists!
I have toiled, sweat, guessed, and variable-swapped my way through a variety of Blackops lua files, and am proud to present to you a LARGE number of bug fixes and balance changes for all three Blackops mods.
Our GRB playgroup plays BlackOps pretty much exclusively, and this started as a balance patch for us. But then it contained a fix, and then another fix. And now it's more bugfix than balance, but it's all one mod, so I offer it to you all so that you may benefit from my efforts, but no I don't code regularly and i don't have time to pull them apart. We know Blackops pretty well tho and trust me. The balance is good.
Version 3 adds:
- UEF Seawolf weapon fix, xolves lag and restores AoE concussion torpedos
- Nomads SMD now targets Satellites like the other factions.
- Nomads Deadline Satellites now susceptible to the BlackOps method of SMD defense.
- Nomads Bullfrog Experimental once again buildable.
- Thx Zopto for the idea of upgrading Nomads and handing his code over to be included in this patch so that all the satellite changes are in one place. Look for his "Nomads Commander BlackOps" mod if you want to also update the Nomads to BlackOps ACUs levels of upgrade power.
HERE IS WHAT I BRING YOU AS OF VERSION 2:
A) BUG FIXES
- AEON ACU HITBOX FIX -- Typo in Aeon ACU would make some weapons (esp beam weapons) sometimes pass through and not hit the ACU at some angles. Fixed.
- AEON CHRONODAMPENER PARTICLE FIX -- No change to weapon, but particle wave from the EMP was going map-wide. Fixed
- CYBRAN ACU with Mazer would bug out after riding in transport, and Mazer would not fire, or fire erratically. Fixed.
- SERA ACU TML FIX - Used to build one missile, then allow unlimited firing on cooldown. Now properly decrements missile on launch.
- SERA OVERCHARGE TREE FIX - Bonus overcharge damage never applied, OC always capped at 15k. Now adds appropriate bonus, maxing out at 15k + 18k for 32k total at max level. May nerf at some point, but those are BlackOps' numbers, they just didn't work. Now they do.
- AEON T4 TEMPEST - was bugging out when taking fatal damage, and freezing instead of wrecking.
- BLACKOPS DRONE FIXES -- Late 2025, the drone units of the Tempest, Goliath, and Yenzotha Hover Tank broke and would land immediately on spawn. I have managed to fix the Goliath and Yenzotha, though a bug eludes me with the Tempest and while they do dock, their anti air gun has broken somehow. Keeping it on a list to fix.
- CRASH DAMAGE for BlackOps version of Czar and Citadel set to 7000 since FAF crash damage patch changes didin't reach these units.
- UEF T4 Stellar Generator - Wasn't able to be built on wreckage, now it can. Thx Blackrobe for the heads up.
B) BALANCE
ACUS:
I have done a lot of sandbox testing to confirm what our group suspected about BlackOps ACUs. Please trust that these changes are rooted in a lot of testing specifically to test 1v1 scenarios, because they are.
- AEON ACU - Aeon was Best of the Best in BlackOps and in testing, won handily versus all other ACU in any situation we tried. First in raw damage, top tier range, on a beam weapon that never misses. Our change reduces damage, but actually buffs range at T3 to tie the UEF's gatling at max range, giving Aeon an identity where they can snipe and kite at max range, but other ACUS have a chance to out-DPS them if they can close into fire range now, which they never had before.
- CYBRAN ACU - Conversely, Cybran was bottom of our testing on 1v1, with the least range, and surprisingly poor damage. Considering Mazer was the original ACU death laz0r, we couldn't in good conscience let this stand. And so Cybran Mazer has been given a big damage upgrade but is still the shortest range. Cybran has stealth OR movespeed upgrades though, so Cybran is the stalker murder hobo, and if they catch you, that's their ticket to fry you. You will fear the Mazer once again.
- UEF ACU needed the least changes. They're already tanky, and they had a strong weapon in the chain gun. Being projectile based means the damage hits structures 100%, but it is super jukeable at long range by ACUs and units. That offsets a lot of potential damage in situations that matter though, so we gave them a small damage buff and they're now the strongest gun after Mazer. Long range, but as said, it's dodgeable at that range so Aeon should kite, and Cybran/Sera should choose their options carefully and take dance lessons.
- SERA ACU: We loved the BlackOps Cybran speed buff so much we've given a portion of it to the big Emu ACU. The (previously broken) Overcharge tree is not only fixed, but now adds 33% speed at T1 and 66% speed if you go up to T3. That's slower than the 100% max speed Cybran can take, but it gives them mobility to dodge ballistics better, and close on (or kite) Aeon and UEF. Arguably buys them more time vs Cybran before they die. Also enables faster hit and run TML strats!
T3 POINT DEFENSE
The other area the GRB crew felt needed balance was T3 PD. They were pretty wild across the table. Aeon was again gifted a PD bordering on OP, and Seraphim was given a total dud. While not as bad as the gap in ACUS, we made some tweaks.
- AEON Aria T3 PD - As stated, we felt it was too good. Second best range, best DPS, and it's a never-miss continuous un-jukeable beam. Same issues with the ACU. Since Aeon having range and beams is in flavor, the DPS needed a nerf to put it behind (shorter range, dodgeable) Ravagers and (shorter range, lower DPS) Manticores.
- UTTUATHUUM Sera T3 PD - Long underpowered, it's gotten a damage buff so that while it still last place on direct damage, the buff also effects the AoE, and it is now actually very competitive against swarms of units, which is what its design always implied it was supposed to excel at.
- CYBRAN MANTICORE AND UEF RAVAGERS: untouched. Ravagers are raw damage king but jukeable at range, and Manticore is decent, but has EMP to make up for it.
COMPLETELY NEW NOVAX COUNTERPLAY
Drunk with power, I have used my abilities to solve a conundrum introduced with BlackOps that will also appease Novax-haters alike:
- NOVAX can now be SHOT DOWN -- When BlackOps added its Artemis Nuke Satellite (Aeon) it also patched SMD buildings to not only shoot the projectile, but actually wreck the satellite with non-missile-consuming rockets, like some sort of orbital layer SAM.
Weird solution, but NEAT. It really bothered us though that mechanically, you could shoot the Artemis down but not the Novax. So we fixed it! Novax can be shot down with roughly 28 seconds of the same non-missile consuming SMD fire. To give an idea what that looks like; Novax can easily take down several unshielded SMD before it dies, but a shielded SMD is suddenly a real defense, and necessitates bringing multiple satellites, meaning Novax is now generally more about map control and less about cracking core bases. That said, even with two shielded SMD defending a location, 4 or 5 Novax can usually still last long enough to punch through shields and snipe a building (or ACU?), so they can still target high profile targets, they just won't level the whole base place uncontested if there's still an SMD standing.
TELEPORT BALANCE DEETS:
This is the balance fix that started it all for us.
Personally, I find the built-in BlackOps TP upgrade brutally OP, and our meta found that a rushed Teleport with a weapon upgrade could start crossing the map in 10 or 12 minutes in some team games, and if you were first to get there, within seconds of your TP going live, you could assassinate multiple ACUS. Seriously, if you haven't tried it, run a BlackOps game without this patch and rush Teleport and Chain gun with Seraphim ACU.
Our balance attempts to do the following;
- make first TP a little harder and slower to pull off
- makes the fact that a player is attempting that route easier to scout the infrastructure they need.
- Makes the time spend channeling tele that is slower than BlackOps but still faster than vanilla in order to give more counterplay and produce more risk of failed escapes.
- Still rewards fully upgraded BlackOps ACUS as a legitimate game end option (Which is still one of the hardest strats to counter).
What we changed:
- First, we increased TP time to just short of 15 seconds (math.) BlackOps on it's own lets you flash around with barely any limits. 15 seconds gives you lots of time to eat bombs or colossus fire if you made a mistake.
- Second, you need energy storage. 100,000 energy storage to be allowed to Teleport. This means you have to spam storage buildings somewhere, and that has two effects; The first is that someone can scout that you are building a lot of storage, and they can know you may be going TP route. The second is that sniping that storage stops teleporting until you can build more, because prior to this, once an ACU hit complete teleport, they could go anywhere in 3 seconds and then go again and you really couldn't stop them if they had some RAS.
- Lastly, we buffed the range covered by anti-Teleport towers. T2 were ridiculously small, T3 not as bad, but we increased both. The intent is to allow a handful of T2 to cover a moderate size base, or let one tower cover a mass expansion such that an assault has to come from outside a shield. T3 tower covers much more area, but offer a tradeoff -- more area, but a moderately increased death nuke makes it a juicy snipe target, much like nuke silos, T2/T3 power, or paragons. Also, very large power cost prevents simply spamming them everywhere. The choice should be multiple T2 towers, or one or two T3.
For the number crunchers:
Teleport ACU Upgrade costs: unchanged
Teleport Energy required to start teleport: 100k in storage
Teleport channel time: ~13 seconds
Teleport distance: remains unlimited*
(TP distance limit can be introduced with the addition of "MaxTeleRange = n" value under Defense in ACU blueprint)
T2 Anti-Teleport Towers (All factions)
Range increased from 20 to 30
Energy upkeep raised to 750
Volatile 'Deathnuke' damage unchanged
T3 Anti-Teleport Towers (All factions)
Range increased from 56 to 65
Energy upkeep raised to 5000 (damn right)
Volatile 'Deathnuke' damage increased significantly to 8000*
Deathnuke range increased significantly to 8*
DENOUEMENT
I'll end this by saying that I did this for us, but I hope others find that this patch helps them enjoy Blackops, and maybe you'll even come to like our balance changes.
A couple things i need to get out there:
- If you know of a bug, I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL CODER but please tell me what you find anyways. If there's a chance I can figure it out, I will give it a shot when I have time. Details or tips to reporduce are always good.
- If you have a tooltip that needs changing or a place where they mispelled something, tell me but please don't get upset if I give it a pass. I am more interested in gameplay and keeping this mod working for myself and our friends, but maybe i'll find the time.
- If you don't like my balance, or want the files split, or think the shields should have 3x the hitpoints: Good news. I figured out how to mod the changes I wanted to see, and you can too.
That said, if Uveso or anyone that gets rights to maintain BlackOps wants to steal what I've done, I'm game. It's probably very clunky, but all I'm here for is trying to make the BlackOps mod operable in the face of FAF patches that sometimes change things.
And as always, Giant Robot Battles on Friday is always looking for the right personable, non-asshole, beer-league-level BlackOps lover to join, so you can always DM me if you're free Friday nights and looking for a group.
