Spiral Knights - New stuff on the test server!

New stuff on the test server!

23 replies [Last post]

Thu, 11/03/2011 - 15:14

Rangerwillx

Posted by Nick on the test server forums, I believe this is for P2P players only.

"The test server will be open tomorrow, Friday, November 4, from 10am to 10pm pst.

There are two new features we would appreciate you checking out:

Arsenal Stations
Arsenal Stations are now located near the start elevators of most levels in the Clockworks. Arsenal Stations allow you to change your gear or loadouts before facing the challenges of a level. To use an Arsenal Station, simply stand on the mat in front of one and open your Arsenal.

Energy Rezzing Effects
Energy rezzing now comes with an explosive energy blast that pushes monsters away from you, damages them and even stuns them! There are four levels of blasts that are automatically performed as the cost of rezzing rises. The Ui will eventually tell you which level of rezzing you are about to perform. Currently it does not.

How to Test
Simply head toward the Arcade and pick any gate to explore. Most levels will have Arsenal Stations (boss stratums will only have one Arsenal Station on the first floor) and all levels will allow you to experiment with the new energy rezzing.

So swap your gear a bunch and uh... die a lot.

Thanks for testing!"

Thu, 11/03/2011 - 15:55

Algol-Sixty

i have mixed feelings bout

i have mixed feelings bout the arsenal stations, a lot will depend on details that I will not be able to see until they hit production.

I would love to be able to able to change my loadout when jumping into the clockworks via either an invitation or joining a party. I'm not so sure I want to see people running back to the starting elevator to change their loadout when they see that there are fire greavers in this room, and back again when they find wolvers in the next room.

I guess I'll just keep my eye out for details about how exactly these works and hope.

Thu, 11/03/2011 - 16:05

Crazyoddbaa

Developer

"I'm not so sure I want to

"I'm not so sure I want to see people running back to the starting elevator to change their loadout when they see that there are fire greavers in this room, and back again when they find wolvers in the next room."

Never fear, Arsenal Stations have party pads that will prevent backtracking!

Thu, 11/03/2011 - 17:16

Nicoya-Kitty

Arsenal stations will

Arsenal stations will certainly make it easier to gear up for status-theme stratums. I wonder if it'll cut into the sales of weapon slots though.

The res-splosion should be nice for when trojans decide to camp out on top of you, or when you get swarmed by a pile of mechaknights or retrodes in the last arena.

Thu, 11/03/2011 - 17:21

Myllakka

I'm actually very excited

I'm actually very excited about the arsenal station. There's been so many times when I wished I could swap out gears and such--especially when going into/out of an arena. The dying a lot thing doesn't appeal, but it's more of the principal of the thing. :P

Thu, 11/03/2011 - 17:37

Algol-Sixty

Never fear, Arsenal Stations

Never fear, Arsenal Stations have party pads that will prevent backtracking!

Ah, then that doesn't completely solve the problems I most want solved: when I join a party on a gate/tier that has a shock stratum and a fiend stratum, and I don't know where i'll land, I can't fix my loadout.

But, the perfect is the enemy of the good. I guess I only have to struggle through one floor rather than the rest of the stratum, and it is good that i won't have to deal with people constantly running back, so it is a clear improvement over the status quo.

The res-splosion should be nice for when trojans decide to camp out on top of you, or when you get swarmed by a pile of mechaknights or retrodes in the last arena.

That was rarely a real problem, almost always you could just wait a minute or two for the monsters to wander off.

What I fear about these bonus revives is that OOO may accidentally end up designing levels that are unwinnable without using the 160CE level revive and such.

Thu, 11/03/2011 - 17:53

Nick

Developer

"What I fear about these

"What I fear about these bonus revives is that OOO may accidentally end up designing levels that are unwinnable without using the 160CE level revive and such."

I wouldn't worry about that.

Thu, 11/03/2011 - 17:59

Kingrt

Nuclear missiles ready

At 10240 CE (dying continuously for 14 times in Tier 3) rev cost, IF you (are able to) click the revive button, Cradle probably gonna explode.
@ Nicoya-Kitty Yea, I know it's bad for those who make a living that way... (not me, I don't merch those ^^)
I wonder, if 4 who died at the same spot revive AT the same time together, would Vanaduke survive the explosion :S?

Overall I do believe that this update gonna permanently change the way people plan to go into the Clockworks.
For example, I can probably heat my divine set (and other useless gears) in Charred Court without worrying about getting crushed by 3 karma Trolljans later on in Smoldering Steps.
True pros can handle anything with any armor. (but not weapons, bringing ONLY a final flourish to a slime themed stratum is a failure, not an achievement)
For better or worse, I test those boxes out.
I yonder, when would the shadow keys have a fixed price?

Fri, 11/04/2011 - 00:54

Pawn

I don't like

I think i like the idea of arsenal stations. It seems a little unbalanced. We can already change gear once per 4 floors which seems plenty. It may be elitist, but also i feel it kinda marginalizes UV's--at east defensively.

It would feel balanced to me if the arsenal station allowed you to change ONE weapon or armor.

Also, i am extremely concerned about getting in parties that end up wasting 1-3 minutes every floor at the arsenal station. I am a bit impatient at times, and waiting for 3 other people to change equipment on a floor we can just rofl stomp anyway will get very very annoying. I know it sounds like nothing, someone wasting 90 seconds every floor to change equipment, but if you add this to the time some parties waste just standing around at the end of floors for no good reason anyway, and you can be looking at 20-25 minutes of dead time easily in a single run :(

I 100 % agree with Kitty that this takes away from the importance of weapon slots. IMO weapon slots are a better game dynamic than being able to switch weapons every floor.

Fri, 11/04/2011 - 00:56

Pawn

Love the rez explosion

As long as everything else stays the same, i love the idea of the rez explosion. I.e. as long as they don't increase difficulty to offset this.

Furthermore, i'd like to suggest rezzing to disable turrets in the room for like 2-3 seconds. This feels to me like an extension of the same issue that rez explosions are fixing. BTW, huge applauds to OOO for considering adding in the REZ explosion. It will fix a HUGE problem that hasn't gotten a lot of attention by the playerbase. I really appreciate this forward thinking.

Fri, 11/04/2011 - 01:55

#10

Niichi

I guess I'll have to check

I guess I'll have to check out whatever feedback happens and all, but I'm not sure about the arsenal stations. I mean, I always figured part of the challenge was entering a stratum prepared to deal with whatever it would throw at you. But whatever, I'll probably personally end up using my usual Skolver/Divine set for most generic stratums anyway. I only have a couple of sets that have specific uses and I'm not going to spend so much energy building entirely new theme specific sets on the offchance of being able to switch to them mid-run.

Thinking about it - that's probably the point of this. Encourage people to spend more energy on specific equipment sets. Oh well, as long as it doesn't delay my runs too much.

Energy revive explosions though - that sounds neat when players are getting swarmed.

@ Kingrt

For example, I can probably heat my divine set (and other useless gears) in Charred Court without worrying about getting crushed by 3 karma Trolljans later on in Smoldering Steps.

According to what was posted, boss floors only have the one arsenal station. I don't know if this applies purely to testing or if it's intended for the proper release, but it would seem to screw over the idea of going into FSC to heat a divine set.

Fri, 11/04/2011 - 05:19

#11

Shidara

Mmm.. 'Splosions.

Lots of (intentional) death will be had on the test servers. I wonder how the power of the explosion scales; if it's based on energy spent or per death, and how the animation is done as well as impact damage. I'll have lots of fun with this.

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 08:33

#12

Bradleyjl

...

wow.

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 08:53

#13

Broxaim

i remember someone saying

i remember someone saying before that ce revives were capped at 1k ce

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 09:19

#14

Watermelon-Soda

@ Broxaim

Res costs are indeed capped at 1k ce. I've seen it with my own eyes. e..e /unknownpassagehater

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 10:19

#15

Dirt

@Kingrt

At 10240 CE (dying continuously for 14 times in Tier 3) rev cost, IF you (are able to) click the revive button, Cradle probably gonna explode.

As stated, energy revives cap at 1000CE.

getting crushed by 3 karma Trolljans

So much internet stupid, I can hardly take it!

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 10:47

#16

Themoonbear

What i'd like to see instead

Both are great improvements imo. As far as the importance of weapon slots go...yea it's best to still have your primary gear being the most important one and allowing a single change or two every X depths.

But what I'd like to see is what stuff is going to come next in a depth. Do you mean I have to memorize the depth's monster thingy before I go in? I'd like to be able to see on the Gate Map that this depths has that and that depths has this so I know if I should wait for the cogs to turn on the elevator. I have multiple weapons but after doing depths 1-13 I won't remember what monsters i'll fight next.

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 11:51

#17

Uruku

Algol-Sixty: ..when I join a

Algol-Sixty: ..when I join a party on a gate/tier that has a shock stratum and a fiend stratum, and I don't know where i'll land, I can't fix my loadout.

The "join party" option from the arcade only sends you to odd stratums I think.

Edit: or Basil.

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 11:55

#18

Myllakka

Themoonbear: You can, in

Themoonbear: You can, in fact, view the gate map when you're in the Clockworks. Click on 'Main Menu' (the gear looking button on the top left), and you can see 'Gate Map' as an option.

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 17:27

#19

Themoonbear

@Myllakka

No, what I mean sure it shows me which paths I could take but not depth x-y is jelly, depth z-a is poison, etc etc etc. If there was that I'd a) have no need to remember/write down what came when and b) could fix my loadout on the safe depths where there's an arsenal thing.

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 17:38

#20

Wingedflamed

Generic Loadout

my gear set of

Divine Avenger
Barbarous Thorn Blade
Polaris

can pretty much handle anything i come across.... so arsenal pads are uneccisary for me. =/

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 17:49

#21

Retequizzle

@ Themoonbear: The level

@ Themoonbear: The level names are pretty indicative to what you'll face. If you get a Slimeway? CHANCES ARE, you'll be facing slimes with perhaps some wolvers thrown in. Deconstruction Zone? Say hello to gremlins, and maybe a few constructs. Wolver Den? You're walking into a room of puppies. So on and so forth. To be fair, the fact that the levels are done like this as it is kind of negates the purpose of giving Knights so many opportunities to switch to begin with. So in reality, there's no NEED to memorize anything about the depths themselves as far as monsters are concerned.

@ Wingedflame: You should replace the Polaris with a Voltaic Tempest. <3 SO MUCH FUN.

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 18:00

#22

Selenashine

Um... you can view what's in

Um... you can view what's in a room by hovering over its square in the gate map.
Wild/Hunting=Beasts
Decon/random Emerald Valley levels= Gremlin
Demonic/Infernal=Demons
Cadaverous/?=Undead

I can't remember them all off the top of the head but they're pretty easy to figure out...

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 18:25

#23

Themoonbear

comments above

I've never made that connection wild/hunting = beasts etc XD
My brain is just not dedicated enough when it comes to memorizing/remembering or figuring it out. Though that could possibly be because I watch a movie/serie while I play SK lol

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New stuff on the test server!