APB Dev. Blog :: September 7th, 2008 Options

So today I was looking in the fridge for a snack and noticed we had strawberries, and I know we got vanilla icecream too. Something that's really delicious and simple is to chop up the berries rather finely, and then mix it in a plastic gallon-bag with a bunch of vanilla ice cream. I hate that strawberry icecream stuff you can buy, but something like vanilla ice cream or even coolwhip in a pinch, frozen and with actual strawberry pieces added, is amazing. Try it out. Knead the stuff up, and then toss it back in the freezer for a while to let it freeze up again. You're just trying to mix it mind you, not blend it together or squish the berry chunks.

Quick Server Notice

The server's sporting fixed up commands now, which means you can once again put up a !swap offer at the start of a match to change teams with another willing player. You can also !tdonate (team donate) right now, to offer up funds to be spread evenly across your team. Leaving, but want to spread your cash amongst your teammates before you go? Then !tdonate is the way to go. Also, there was an incident recently regarding non-moderators having access to certain commands when they shouldn't have; this has been addressed. Remember, if you ever have a question or concern about the forums (or are banned and want to dispute it), the place to go is the MP-Gaming forums.

That Nuke

Alright, a non-performance killer of a nuclear blast! It's really hard to show what this is going to look like without a video recording, and unfortunately I don't have one right now. It looks very good when it's in motion, all firey and smokey; I hope that next week we can show a video of it off. We're still working on the particles for this to get it right. Basically you'll have a flash, a whoosh outwards, then it'll suck back in and draw up into a mushroom cloud with a rising fireball. Just like it should be. This is Beerinator's pet project right now.

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The Thief

Alright, so Thieves are rather dangerous given that they can currently steal even while in a vehicle; and hopping out and back in doesn't really pose much challenge or risk. On maps where the silo is the only form of income, a Ranger-Thief driveby can cripple the Soviets and naturally give the Allies a huge boost. Thieves are already getting the benefit of evading radar, so something else should be done about this. One idea came up that simply had the Thief sabotage a Silo, turning it off for a short period of time. This power would be usable indefinitely, requiring the Thief to stay low and out of sight but remain in the Soviet base.

He'd still be able to steal once as normal from a Refinery, and he'd still be off-radar. Hopefully, this can give the Thief a reason to stay inside the enemy base and perform acts of espionage instead of just intentionally getting himself killed after sneaking through to the Refinery. You hide off-radar, perhaps performing a couple assassinations, and can help slow the Soviet economy down. Hopefully they don't even notice their credit trickle has been shut off.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this, or on any alternative abilities you'd like to suggest for the Thief. I'd really like to see him be less disposable.

RA_Pipeline

ChopBam's map is continuing to shape up, we've been working on the texturing and environmental feel of the place to get across just what kind of place it is. We spent probably too many hours picking and tweaking the colors for the sand and rock and what combinations to use, I hope you guys like how it turned out. These screenshots are NOT the final form of the map, which will have more cover/props/trees. This is mostly for getting the colors and setting right.

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New Logo

Sure the last time we adjusted our logo it was only what, a year and a half ago. But we've got a better one we're looking into now, which will of course appear as our staff "clan tag," in the set of topic icons, and also as the intro movie to APB. Speaking of that, it's possible we might update the EA logo we use to the RA3 style one. As much as the current one fits and is nice and fast, the new one is obviously Soviet/RA themed... Aces of Razgriz made this vector image. It features a "blue hell" setting, and a poor Harrier and Mammoth Tank that managed to get themselves lost there.

Bluehell Productions Group Bluehell Productions Introduction video - Mod DB
Click here if you want to download the movie
Click here to view a PNG version instead

RA_CamosCanyon

This is a surprise map r34ch is working on, set in a snowy canyon. It began as a test to work with some textures but will likely be completed as a map. If it plays well, it'll be included in with the rest of the ever-increasing map lineup for 2.0.0; if not, it might be adjusted until it does. We'll have to see.

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Surprise Balance Changes

• The Tesla Tank will be able to shoot slightly farther, and farther downwards. It also will have better traction and not get stuck as easily. The latter applies to the MRJ as well.
• Due to a favorable budget, many soldiers on each side will be re-issued a sidearm specific to their team, but with very limited ammunition. This includes snipers.
• Dragon's Breath shot will reach significantly farther, but will do slightly less damage to buildings from the exterior. Its actual spray pattern is the same however.

See you all next week, hopefully we'll have more to show then. By the way, Apocalypse Rising's new site is just about ready, so look for it soon. We're still working out the final details on that and adjusting some graphics, as well as working to make news posts look good on both sites. The borders for the thumbnails are the janitor's newest creation, the highest-tech thuumbnails drunkill's ever made. Reborn's also moved to a much better forum, so congrats to them. VenomPawz just finished work on a neato tiberium plant, hopefully it'll be on display there shortly.

Nice blog, the nuke looks "dirty" though, but I guess it's still WIP, right?

Woo blog, I love how much stuff is getting done. New nuke is awesome and so is new BHP logo.

I don't like the side arms for everything. The thief's silo shut down should be shortened on Silos only maps, to balance it out.

Yeah I agree the nuke's texture looks a bit low res atm, but I'm sure it'll look good as the actual animation.

Hooray for markovs and berettas.

[n00b]What is 'Dragon's Breath shot'?[/n00b]

the newer maps are looking awesome, was a nice surprise to see the new snow one =D

firearms...

...umm...heres a list of who i think would actually ever use them:

Rocket soldiers
grenadiers


...I tried to think of some more. Maybe volkov?

Joy, pistols. What's next, going to give them C4 too? What happened to the whole "if you bought a rocket soldier and had a mass of infantry coming at you that's your fault?"

This post has been edited by Allie29: Sep 8 2008, 06:32 AM

Yea, im really unsure of pistols. I 'could' justify them for sniper and RS's, but then they would need nerfed in other ways.

I don't get the pistols either. You've spent ages balancing infantry this way, why would you want to throw in such a random change? Giving the pistol "very limited ammo" is even worse, because it goes against the established idea of unlimited ammo for weapons, just to excuse pistols being there when they don't need to be. Sounds very Renegadey.

Also, why does the Tesla Tank need more range? I thought it was supposed to be perfectly balanced right now? You don't want to make it too powerful again. More ability to shoot downwards I can understand, but range, no.

This post has been edited by CaptainMagenta: Sep 8 2008, 09:19 AM

Nice blog new logo is sex, also new maps nice specially that CamosCanyon... but please can't you find a more original name for it?

TT faster shot and better traction was defiantly needed(specailly tracking)

And those changes to thief sounds interesting, that they only stop credit tickle (if it is get to seem too noticeable you could also just like half the credit tickle, would still do a lot and be harder to notice for soviets (maybe too hard whatever works best)

Yea, im really unsure of pistols. I 'could' justify them for sniper and RS's, but then they would need nerfed in other ways.

that is the last inf I would say should have them if you want to kill inf don't pick a RS, unless you are really god (no not good, but god) at getting the rockets to track, in which case I think 3 rockets down a volkov and 1-2 for any other inf (but that is only if you hit straight on so need a very very good aim for that. But really only support inf should get pistols as they have no way at all otherwise to defend themselves

The range bugs me too. As it is a medium tank slightly outranges a tesla tank, but since it is getting a range nerf to keep it from hititng the coil then the tesla tank will outrange it too. Heck, a stolen tesla tank could probably outrange the coil.

RA_Pipeline is a oil map. So can you add so you can capture some oil derricks for a greater cash flow

Nah, the pumps and wells are just map props. The pump jacks are actually animated (as seen in an older blog) which should liven up the map a little bit.

WAIT!!! Noones here!!! *hacks computer and changes it*. VICTORY IS MINE!!!!!