Upcoming: Balancing changes (oh my...)

[dcode]

Hello everyone,

the next update will not only include lots of cool new stuff but also a balancing adjustment that we should have done long before. I assume you've already noticed all the new features that are going to be released soon, so that I'll focus to explain the balancing changes and why these are neccessary in here.

First of all, some graphs:

oldbalancing.jpg (154.55 KiB) Viewed 21647 times

As you can see there are several towers that "outstand" on the DPS they do, especially the level 2 Cannon Tower. It is just too strong / too cheap currently. Another problem is that the level 4 Missile Silo is so strong that lots of maps might run endlessly in Survivor play. Ergo: We are going to fix this with the next update, making the level 2 Cannon Tower and the level 4 Missile Silo doing less damage while maintaining a reasonable balancing curve over all towers. Of course it will be neccessary to test the balancing changes in a live system, so that I am going to launch a beta server for that sole purpose.

I'll post here as soon as the beta server is up including what exact changes are currently live. You will be able to test the changes yourself and tell us your oppinion about how it should become finally

As a result of the changed balancing and the new Survivor game modes there will also be a reset of all Survivor highscores later on, when everything is finished. That's not ideal, but I think it's better than just playing with a broken balancing forever. Also it's a chance to take the first ranks on every map again

Cheers
dc

[dcode]

Hello everyone,

we have worked out a first draft for the upcoming balancing change:

balancingupdate.jpg (121.79 KiB) Viewed 21611 times

Buffs (enhanced efficiency) are marked in green
Nerfs (reduced efficiency) are marked in red
Reworks are marked in blue

Gun Turret (Basic)
No changes.

EMP Emitter (Slow)
No changes.

Cannon Tower (Splash)
As you can see we rebalanced the Cannon Tower (Splash) completely because it just wasn't different enough from Missile Silos (Rockets). Because of that, upgrade levels 3 and 4 seemed to be rather useless. After the changes its upgrade road will be somewhat similar to that of the Gun Turret (Basic) and we expect the early game to become more lively with the new upgrade options. For everyone who has become familiar with building level 2 / blue Cannon Towers for peace of mind, we also ensured that the new level 3 / red Cannon Tower will be very close to it in price and damage (so just building a red Cannon Tower will result in nearly the same damage like with a blue one before, to nearly the same price).

Missile Silo (Rocket)
The new balancing will not be too different from the one before because we solely focused on some fine tuning here. Nevertheless it's noteworthy that the level 4 / white Missile Silo was too strong in the end game, especially in Survivor-Coop, so that we nerfed it a bit in damage and another bit in splash range.

Tesla Tower (Speed)
We also didn't touch the Tesla Tower much and focused on some fine tuning only.

Ion Cannon (Ultimate)
Also the Ion Cannon did not change much. We just decided to buff the level 1 / green Ion Cannon a bit to make it more an option to kill a creep that unexpectedly managed to pass through your defense by building and selling near the end of the path.

Of course this is just a first draft so it might or might not change before becoming stable. We will launch a beta server to try it out, soon. Cheers!

[Darkblades]

Könntest du daneben auch noch die alten Werte hinmachen, dass man sehen kann wieviel Schwächer/Stärker nun ein Tower ist...vom Preis-Leistungsverhältnis.

[dcode]

We tweaked the balancing another bit. Changes are marked in yellow:

Ok here a complete list of all changes:

Basics (Gun Turrents): No changes at all.

Slows (EMP Emitter): No changes at all.

Splash tower (Cannon Tower): Complete Rework!

Green:
Price reduced to 150 (from 250)
Damage increased by 20% (60 instead 50)
33% longer reload time (1s instead 0,75s)
Range decreased by 5 (35 instead 40)
Splash radius decreased by 10 (25 instead 35)
Average splash damage decreased (60% instead 65%)*

Blue:
Price reduced to 450 (from 1000)
Damage decreased by 40% (120 instead 200)
33% longer reload time (0,8s instead 0,6s)
Range decreased by 5 (40 instead 45)
Splash radius decreased by 5 (30 instead 35)

Red:
Price reduces to 1050 (from 4000)
Damage decreased by 64% (180 instead 500)
17% longer reload time (0,6s instead 0,5s)
Range decreased by 5 (45 instead 50)

White:
Price reduced to 2250 (from 11500)
Damage decreased by 79% (240 instead 1150)
20 % shorter reload time (0,4s instead 0,5s)
Range decreased by 5 (50 instead 55)
Splash radius increased by 5 (40 instead 35)


In other words: The new red Splash is nearly the old blue splash, just a bit weaker.
A compare:
OLD Blue vs NEW Red Splash
1000 vs 1050 Credits
200 vs 180 DMG
the rest is similar

All splash towers have a better price performance then rockets if there are 5 or more Creeps.

Rockets (Missile Silo): some changes

Green:
7% faster reload (3,5 instead 3,75s)
Average splash damage decreased (60% instead 65%)*
a higher splash radius (30 instead 25)

Blue:
7% faster reload (3,5 instead 3,75s)
17% more damage (3500 instead 3000)
a higher splash radius (30 instead 25)

Red:
8% faster reload (3 instead 3,25s)

White:
9% less damage (15000 instead 16500)
a lower splash radius (30 instead 35)

Speeds (Tesla tower): some changes

Green: 11% more damage (250 instead 225)
Blue: 27% more damage (700 instead 550)
Red: 23% more damage (1350 instead 1100)

Ultimates (Ion cannon): one Changer

Green: 10% more damage (27500 instead of 25000)

Creeps were not changed!
*the damage at the half-way from center to the outer edge
e.g. @ "60% average" the creeps get 100% damage at the center
and 20% at the outer edge

... ok.

After the whole changes (new grafik, even if you go on classic, new sounds, new rules - why you got same income in coop? i dont understand the idea behind, and new feeling) i have to say: plz give me the old version back. maybe as stand alone version which work on my own network. Now its not playabel for me anymore.
My netbook is to slow for this and my brain to small to understand the whole changes. yes iam neophob in this point and i know that there are a lot of cool people who work hard for this projekt (thx a lot guys) ... but i play creepsmash for years. and i think this story is over because the fun is gone. damn!

sunny whishes

[Pezinator]

I don't know why all the people keep complaining about the balancing all the time. YES you have to rethink strategies and YES you have to built different then before (actually not really but nvm). It's like somebody new plays the game. He has to think about strategies and doesn't know everything imediately. If i may have a guess. I'd say it takes about a month and then everything is back to normal. New strategies are found and nobody cares about the old game.

Are the changes already included?

[krunx]

yes