Apr 3, 2023

Going Medieval - SeWerin

Greetings medievalists!

Let’s talk about the thing many of you have wanted for a long time: ladders! Our long-time followers may remember the days when we used to have these things in the game. They were removed for a couple of reasons; they broke pathfinding logic, the difference between them and stairs were minimal, and they added little to the overall gameplay.

Well, we are bringing them back in a big way, with a new look and new functionality. Allow us to explain.

Ladders are voxel elements (like walls), that allow traversal between two layers. They can be built anywhere (in allowed space), can be stacked up one another and can be built adjacent to floors, walls, doors and windows.

They will be used by humans (both settlers and raiders) and certain animals, like cats, rats and polecats. The amount of sides from which they can be approached will vary, depending on their position. Settlers will only be able to perform certain goals when on ladders:

Deliver construction material
Construct
Pickup/equip resources/items
Combat
Locking unlocking doors
Refueling fuel buildings

All other actions are pretty self explanatory, but combat deserves a special mention. Settlers can pass through one another when on ladders, but they will not be able to pass through if a raider blocks their way. That is when the fight starts. Since this will be a battle focused on verticality, you’ll have to have a couple of things in mind. One handed weapons will have better strength of attack than two-handed. Settlers with shields will equip them on their backs during the ladder interaction, that way, they will block arrows. Some weapons will be more effective than others. For instance, billhooks will have a better critical capability when on ladders. Your settlers can, of course, fight unarmed when on ladders. This will also occur if those settlers are archers.

Ladders are not a go-to solution for everything, though. Walls, roofs and floors can’t be placed on top of them. You will not be able to place them under beams either.

Settlers will not be able to move sideways via ladders (they will not be able to go full spiderman on ladders). Settlers will be able to fight with raiders on ladders, if those ladders are positioned side by side. There is a front side of the ladder (depending on its position) that can be approached from 5 nearby voxel positions. Approaching the ladder from the back will not be possible. We’ll detail all the worthy notes once the official update is released, but for now, we hope that this gives you a better idea of what to expect in the upcoming update. We’re still working on it, so please have patience.

While you wait, we invite you to join our Discord server (if you haven’t done so already!), and share your settlements, game experiences, tips and tricks, partake photo challenges, show off your heraldry and give feedback on the existing feature, or even suggest a new one.

Foxy Voxel

Apr 3, 2023

[Mass testing] Changes in the mechanics of projectile damage.

Crossout - XO_Team

Hello, survivors! Like we promised earlier, it’s time for the next phase of testing the updated mechanics of projectile damage. Today we are ready to present to you a variant in which we have made the majority of the necessary changes in the parameters of parts.

We remind you that all the new features described in this news are not final and may be changed before they are introduced into the game or may not make it into the game at all.

Important information

Please note that the test server may contain various flaws, old or technical descriptions of parts and in-game bugs. This is due to the fact that work on the updated mechanics is not finished and will be continued later on. The changes are not planned to be added to the game servers in the next update, because all of the above will need to be corrected or finalized when the mechanics themselves will be final.

Contrary to popular belief, we’d like to specifically note that the purpose of the changes is not to get rid of the “screen armour”. Our main task is to ensure that this way of building the car is not an ultimate solution, caused by the technical features of the game.

The fact that the “screens” can move the point of explosion away or, thanks to the voids, let the projectile through is normal. Their effectiveness will depend on the weapon of the enemy, the assembled vehicle and the skills of the players. It won’t work the same way in different situations (as it’s happening now due to the strict 2-meter limitation).

Like last time, on the test server we ask you to participate in PvP battles (missions) more often so that we can gather the most detailed statistics.

What has changed since the previous testing?

Piercing coefficient

During the first testing, projectiles would disappear/explode after they had used up all firearm damage. The explosion of the projectile meant that it dealt 100% of its firearm damage to parts.

This time we have added new mechanics that allow you to adjust this value. Let’s call it the “piercing coefficient”. First, we will explain how the mechanics work, and then the reasons for its appearance in the game.

In the characteristics of the weapon (in the “features” section), a parameter has appeared that shows the value of the penetration coefficient. By the presence of this parameter you can understand if the global changes in projectile damage mechanics (removal of the 2-meter limitation) apply to your weapon as well. If you don’t see this parameter, then your weapon was not affected.

A parameter value of 80% means that the projectile will disappear/explode after it hits more than 80% of firearm damage. The checking of how much damage the projectile has dealt is done after the damage has been dealt.

For example: the projectile has 100 pts. of firearm damage and a piercing coefficient of 80%. Let’s consider 2 situations:

The projectile hits a part with 90 pts. of durability, the projectile will spend 90% of its damage, and then it will disappear or explode, because this value is greater than 80%.
The projectile hits a part that has 40 pts. of durability. It destroys it and goes further, because it inflicted only 40% of firearm damage. The next part on its way has 100 pts. of durability. The projectile will deal 60 damage to it and disappear or explode, because in total it dealt 100% of damage, which is more than 80%.

This way, before disappearing or exploding, the projectile will deal a total from 80% (piercing coefficient value) to 100% of its firearm damage.

Such mechanics are required for greater flexibility in weapon configuration. It allows you to further adjust the minimum amount of damage that a projectile can inflict on parts on its way, without affecting the maximum damage to one part.

Structural parts

The changes concern only structural parts that increase the durability of the vehicle.

The parts of each faction have their own durability to mass ratio. We have improved this ratio by increasing durability. The “lighter” the faction, the greater the bonus (in %) it has received.

Also, we have added resistance to different types of damage (firearm, explosive, thermal, energy) to the parts that increase the durability of the vehicle (if they do not have other features, such as “Lets damage through”). The set of resistances depends on the faction.

Resistances should be a bonus rather than a fundamental parameter for selecting a part, and should add some uniqueness to each faction and add variety to the process of assembling the vehicle.

Faction

Resistances according to Firearm damage

Resistances according to Explosive damage

Resistances according to Thermal damage

Resistances according to Energy damage

Lunatics

Firestarters

Engineers

Nomads

Syndicate

Dawn’s children

Hyperborea

Founders

Scavengers

Steppenwolfs

Frames

The durability of all frames has been increased by 2.5 times. On the contrary, the “lets damage through” and “resistance to melee damage” stats were reduced to 75% and 25%, respectively. The idea is that the frame will pass less damage to the parts behind it, but its survivability will remain the same.

Changes in weapon parameters

Durability of many weapons has been increased;
Cannons and turret cannons: blast damage reduced by 10%. This value has been transferred to projectile firearm damage to save the damage to a single part;
Firearm damage for all rocket launchers has been removed (including Yokai);
Median: damage reduced by 11%;
Kaiju: burst length reduced from 14 to 12 projectiles. With the new mechanics, the recently increased burst length proved to be redundant;
Astraeus: projectile speed reduced by 20%;
Prosecutor and Executioner: explosion radius reduced by 33%. With the new mechanics, the recently increased radius turned out to be redundant (perk description will not be updated during this testing);

The mechanics of the “Prosecutor” and “Executioner” perks work in such a way that the first 2 “pins” of the part are pierced by the projectile without taking into account the durability of the pierced parts (and therefore without loss of damage). Then the calculation of the durability of the destroyed parts begins (according to the general principle, like with all standard projectiles).

Scorpion: increased value by which damage multiplier drops after a part is pierced (perk description will not be updated during this testing);

Now after a part is pierced, the damage multiplier is not static as before, but constantly decreases with each pierced part. The size of the multiplier depends on how much damage the “Scorpion” projectile didn’t deal to the previous part. This way, “Scorpion” will be able to deal more consistent, but at the same time, limited damage.

The impulse of crossbows is applied at the first contact with the part, not with the last;
“Skinner”, as well as mines of “Kapkan” and “Jubokko”, no longer shoot through parts that pass damage and can cling to them.

Changes to weapons with “hitscan” mechanics (machine guns, shotguns, etc.)

As we noted earlier, we cannot remove the “2-meter limitation” from such weapons without significant performance losses. In order to reduce the effectiveness of parts that pass damage relative to such weapons, the limitation has been increased up to three meters. During mass testing, we will evaluate the changes in performance and load on the server. If the changes in performance turn out to be acceptable, the increased restriction will be added into the game along with the new mechanics.

Hovers

Now hovers don’t receive additional damage when a projectile hits their side projection;
Icarus VII:
- Tonnage increased to 900 kg;
- Speed reduced to 90 km/h;
- Reduced flight altitude.

Explosive modules

Damage from the explosion of such modules reduced by 20%;
Decreased explosion impulse.

Radars “RS-1 Ruby”, “RD-1 Listener”, “RD-2 Keen”, decor
- Radars and decor can now stop the blast wave (description hasn’t been updated yet);
- No more than one of the above radars can be mounted on the vehicle.
Cabins
- Reduced the influence of mass on the acceleration of light and medium cabins, starting with the “rare” ones.
Changes in scatter mechanics when moving
This change is not directly related to the updated projectile damage mechanics. But we plan to add it to the game before the release of the updated damage mechanics, and therefore we also give you the opportunity to test it on the test server. Based on the results of the testing, we will review your feedback and additionally adjust the accuracy parameters.

On the game server, the limits of the spread (minimum and maximum degrees) are determined only by two states of the vehicle: if it doesn’t move at all or if it is moving. Therefore, there may be a significant difference in accuracy between 0 and 1 km/h, but there will be no difference between 1 km/h and 120 km/h.

We don’t think that this is correct in a game where dynamics play an important role. It also doesn’t look good visually when the crosshairs suddenly change their size once you start moving.

On the test server, the scatter limitations no longer depend on the state, but constantly change depending on the current speed: the scatter increases as the speed increases and decreases along with the speed. Within these limitations, the spread changes as before: it increases after the shot and when the weapon rotates, and decreases in other cases.

With movement parts that can move in all directions, the spread limits also increase slightly while “strafing”. This is done to somewhat equalize accuracy with wheeled and tracked vehicles, which are forced to rotate their weapons more often and lose accuracy.

Based on the results of testing, we ask you to share your feedback regarding the updated scatter mechanics. Please share if any weapon has become (in your opinion) overly or insufficiently precise.

How to get to the test server?

If you have already participated in testing on a special server, then it will be enough to start the Launcher from the folder with the test client and wait for the update to complete.
- Create a new folder for the game on your hard drive.
- Download the Launcher from this link. The file name should not contain numbers indicating that the file is a duplicate. Please note that you should launch the file that does not contain any digits (1), (2), etc. in its name. If, when starting the installed launcher, you get to the live game servers, you need to delete all downloaded launchers from the download folder and try again.
- Start the Launcher and install the game to the folder you created (for example: D:\Public test\Crossout).
- After the installation is complete, start the Launcher and enter the game with your username and password.
- The whole progress of your main account will be transferred to the main server (including parts in storage and levels of reputation in factions).
- After logging into the server, to transfer progress from your account, press the “Esc” key and select “Copy account data”.
- Please note the schedule of the test server:
  - Monday, April 3, 2023 from 12:00 to 19:00 (GMT)
  - Tuesday, April 4, 2023 from 13:00 to 19:00 (GMT)
  - Wednesday, April 5, 2023 from 13:00 to 19:00 (GMT)
  - Thursday, April 6, 2023 from 13:00 to 19:00 (GMT)
  - Friday, April 7, 2023 from 13:00 to 19:00 (GMT)
  - Saturday, April 8, 2023 from 13:00 to 19:00 (GMT)
  - Sunday, April 9, 2023 from 13:00 to 19:00 (GMT)
- Any progress you make on the test server will not be transferred to the live game servers (INCLUDING ATTEMPTS TO BUY PACKS).
After testing the changes, we invite you to leave your constructive feedback on the planned rework in the comments to this news.

The public test server is intended only for testing of the upcoming update, and may not accommodate all players without exception. However, absolutely anyone can join the server, as long as there are free spots.

For more information on Crossout, follow these channels:

Apr 3, 2023

Report article: March 2023

Tenebrae - Margot

We have prepared a roadmap, planning our objectives for the rest of the year. We would like to share this list with you and discuss it a little.

Roadmap

While actively creating content for early access, which includes working on the script, text, visuals and soundtrack, we are busy rethinking the demo, thanks to the feedback we have received from the audience. In the first half of the year we plan to improve the controls, add controller support and key reassignment to make the gameplay more comfortable for you.

Many players had difficulties with button designation in the game's interface and it was hard for newcomers to the genre to understand what function the settings perform. Therefore, we will add hints so that any player will get comprehensive information about the buttons and settings.

In the early version of the game, which we plan to release at the end of the year, you'll be able to complete two full storylines with William and Silvan, unlocking all the endings of the orange branch, and then we'll continue working on the blue, red and purple branches, which will reveal six more love interests.

And we also want to implement all the screens we didn't have enough time to prepare for the demo: gallery, smartphone customization, route map, so you get visual information about the available game content. And we'll add an interface for the reputation system, so you can keep track of your relationship level with the characters. This feature can be disabled in the game settings if you so desire.

Content

In March we resumed work on the script, prepared some of the visuals and approved the plan for a range of content, access to which has been blocked for a number of reasons. Let's take a closer look at each area.

The script

Work on the Silvan's route is well underway. We have about 25 scenes planned in the script, and we are now on the eighteenth. The plan is to finish the text during April, after which the material will be handed over to the script doctor, editor, proofreader and translator. If everything goes according to plan, we will start voice acting for the game's early access in the summer.

The demo version as you know it now will not be included in the early access.
- Some scenes will be edited minimally, with just a couple of lines changed.
- Other scenes, including those with dialogues, we plan to carefully refine to improve the characters' portrayal.
- The description of some of the choices will be changed so as not to mislead the player.
- The branching between the red and purple route will be significantly changed. This applies to the scenes that followed after the interactions with the musician Ryu. Some of the scenes will be rewritten and new ones will appear, including some with illustrations.
- There are also plans to rework the "backstage" scenes on behalf of other characters. And a new one will be added to shed some light on the reason for Beatrice's arrest.

This was a hard decision for us to make, as it requires extra time, funding and rolls us back a bit. But we really want to better reveal characters like for example Morris, whose role in the club no one seems to have understood. We'll even get a little hint of his occupation when we start the illustrations in April.

The storybook

In March we managed to finish the stories of the real March cat, Morris. His series has turned out to be interesting and diverse: an indulgent lifestyle, fun, a meticulous revision of his father's club, an Oedipus complex, rivalry, betrayal in show business, a colourful past and a sudden weight of responsibility.

The next series is Charlie's story, which is no surprise. If you've played the demo, you've already noticed that these characters are close. They have a lot in common, but the details will only be revealed in their routes. And you will be able to experience their connection through a collection of stories.

Characters

We continue to work on Lucie's sprites. In the previous report we showed you this girl in full-face, and today we are already working on her 3/4 pose. In April we will finish working on her sprite from the side and then move on to the next character.

While we were reworking Silvan's route scenes, it was decided to remove one of the sprites from the plan. In the prototype, this character - we won't say which one yet - appeared in three scenes. We changed the script so that we could do with just one illustration. It took the load off the character designer, made the development a little cheaper, and the story only benefited from that.

Illustrations

There was a lot of wonderful romance between Silvan and Beatrice this month. Warm embraces, reverent kisses, tenderness and care in critical situations. We made an exact list of all the necessary art when we went back to the script. In April we will be compiling specifications for artists to bring this beauty to life.

See you next month!