Balance changes planned for the next update

Hello!

The next update in November will have a number of balance changes, and we would like to present them in advance and to invite you to test them on a special server and share your opinion.

Changes to weapons with the “hitscan” mechanic (those that deal damage instantly, without launching a projectile)

Why?

We decided to remove instant damage dealing from weapons with this mechanic for the following reasons:

• Hitscan is not demanding on the player’s skills, as it does not force the player to lead the target even a little bit when firing, which is exacerbated by the high rate of fire of these weapons.
• Hitscan is not the most fair mechanic from the enemy’s point of view, as it does not leave even a minimal chance to dodge.
• Hitscan cannot work in conjunction with penetration ability mechanics.
• Machine guns with hitscan use an unnaturally large spread and a fairly tight range limitation only for balancing reasons.

Hitscan will remain only for laser weapons (for which it is quite reasonable) and drones (since adding “real” projectiles to them will not change the game experience in any way).

For all other weapons, except for shotguns (because they would be minimally affected by the change due to the low range, which we do not plan to increase), we have added compensating changes related to maximum range and accuracy, which should improve the game experience while increasing the requirements for the player’s skills.

Changes

A number of the guns below have been switched from hitscan mechanic (instant damage dealing) to firing fast projectiles, and have undergone additional changes:

SM Hornet, LM-54 Chord, Vector, Sinus-0, Spectre-2, Aspect, Punisher

• Maximum range increased from 300 to 500 m.
• Min. spread reduced by 42%.
• Max. spread reduced by 45%.
• Rate of spread increase reduced by 43%.
• Added 70% penetration ability.
• Range upgrade replaced by projectile speed upgrade.

M-37 Piercer, M-38 Fidget, M-39 Imp

• Maximum range increased from 200 to 350 m.
• Min. spread reduced by 28%.
• Max. spread reduced by 44%.
• Rate of spread increase reduced by 43%.
• Added 60% penetration ability.
• Range upgrade replaced by projectile speed upgrade.

MG13 Equalizer, MG14 Arbiter

• Maximum range increased from 400 to 450 m.
• Min. spread reduced by 40%.
• Max. spread reduced by 20%.
• Rate of spread increase reduced by 40%.
• Added 60% penetration ability.
• Range upgrade replaced by projectile speed upgrade.

Gungnir

• Maximum range increased from 350 to 550 m.
• Spread reduced by 40%.
• Added 80% penetration ability.
• Rotation speed upgrade replaced by projectile speed upgrade.

Nothung

• Maximum range increased from 350 to 550 m.
• Min. spread reduced by 42%.
• Max. spread reduced by 40%.
• Rate of spread increase reduced by 40%.
• Added 80% penetration ability.
• Rotation speed upgrade replaced by projectile speed upgrade.

ST-M23 Defender, M-25 Guardian, M-29 Protector, M-32 Vindicator, ST-M26 Tackler

• Maximum range increased from 300 to 500 m.
• Min. spread reduced by 28%.
• Max. spread reduced by 46%.
• Rate of spread increase reduced by 38%.
• Added 70% penetration ability.
• Range upgrade replaced by projectile speed upgrade.

Lupara, Sledgehammer, Mace, Thunderbolt, Hammerfall, Breaker

Added 60% penetration ability.

Goblin, Gremlin

Added 65% penetration ability.

Spitfire, Leech, Rupture

Added 60% penetration ability.

Junkbow, Fafnir, Nidhogg, Jormungandr

Added 80% penetration ability.

Parser

• Added 100% penetration ability.
• Rotation speed upgrade replaced by projectile speed upgrade.

Corvo

• Maximum range increased from 300 to 500 m.
• Added 65% penetration ability.
• Rotation speed upgrade replaced by projectile speed upgrade.

Caucasus

• Maximum range increased from 130 to 200 m.
• Min. spread reduced by 20%.
• Max. spread reduced by 20%.
• Rate of spread increase reduced by 43%.
• Added 60% penetration ability.
• Range upgrade replaced by projectile speed upgrade.

Limited ammo reserves

All weapons (except melee weapons and “Skinner”) now have limited ammo reserves.

Comment: currently some weapons have limited ammo reserves, and their owners have to control the consumption of projectiles and install additional modules to increase the reserve, while other players can shoot indefinitely without worrying about wasted damage. This difference is especially obvious in situations at the end of a battle, when two players are left one-on-one and one of them loses solely because they can’t shoot indefinitely, unlike the opponent. We think this is unfair and want to put all weapons on the same footing.

Cannons

Little Boy 6LB

• Reloading time increased from 4 to 6 sec.
• Damage increased by 45%.
• Spread increase while turning reduced by 2 times.

ZS-33 Hulk

• Reloading time increased from 4 to 6 sec.
• Damage increased by 50%.
• Spread increase while turning reduced by 2 times.

ZS-34 Fat Man

• Reloading time increased from 4.3 to 6 sec.
• Damage increased by 44%.
• Spread increase while turning reduced by 2 times.

ZS-46 Mammoth

Spread increase while turning reduced by 2 times.

ZS-52 Mastodon

Spread increase while turning reduced by 2 times.

Avenger 57mm

• Reloading time increased from 3.5 to 6 sec.
• Damage increased by 71%.

Judge 76mm

• Reloading time increased from 4 to 6 sec.
• Damage increased by 50%.

Prosecutor 76mm

• Reloading time increased from 5 to 6 sec.
• Damage increased by 12%.

Executioner 88mm

• Reloading time increased from 5.5 to 6 sec.
• Damage increased by 9%.

Comment: rebalancing the damage and reloading time parameters should change how it feels to play with cannons below epic rarity inclusive, shifting the focus to dealing high but rare spikes of damage. Reducing the spread increase while turning will make playing with turret cannons more comfortable.

Other balance changes

Tempest

• Damage reduced by 8%.
• Cooling rate reduced by 9%.

Comment: the last change was too extensive, making “Tempest” too effective at a wide range of PS (3500–10500). The change will reduce the weapon’s damage output per battle, while leaving it higher than it was before the last change.

Hot Rod

The perk will now additionally increase spread stability by 25%.

Comment: low efficiency of the perk in comparison to other cabins.

Raijin

• Energy consumption increased from 22 to 23 pts.
• PS increased from 2970 to 3105.
• Reloading time increased from 2 to 3.3 sec.
• Base bullet damage increased from 25.5 to 82.
• Base blast damage increased from 51 to 61.
• Maximum accuracy is now achieved when fully charged.

Comment: an extremely effective and comfortable weapon. The change in power consumption will prevent the “Raijin” from being mounted on a “rare” cabin without the use of a generator, which, combined with the change in PS, should take it out of low PS battles. The reloading time change will reduce the damage output per battle and make the weapon more dependent on reloading modules. The base damage change is related to the increase in reloading time, and should keep shooting with no charge to stay relevant.

Varun

• Energy consumption reduced from 14 to 13 pts.
• PS reduced from 1890 to 1755.

Comment: the reduction in energy consumption should increase the variety of builds that use this weapon, most of which are currently represented by the “2 Varuns + engine” formula.

Astraeus

• Damage increased by 11%.
• Penetration ability increased from 55 to 70%.

Comment: low efficiency of the weapon.

Phoenix

• Added bullet damage (50) and 100% penetration ability.
• Added a perk that increases crossbow stability by 15% for each hit. Stacks up to 3 times, but completely resets on a miss.

Comment: adding bullet damage would give the projectile the ability to destroy parts before attaching to an armoured car, and the perk would help improve the weapon’s low survivability.

Yongwang

Slightly increased the height of the collision model.

Comment: high efficiency when mounted under the cabin. The change will barely change the weapon’s hitbox, but will remove the ability to mount other parts close to it.

MG13 Equalizer

Enlarged collision model.

Comment: the current collision model allows you to armour the minigun so much that it becomes almost out of reach of enemy fire.

Torero

The perk now additionally increases spread stability by 50%.

Comment: similar to the “Hot Rod”, the cabin perk looks weaker in comparison with other available options in other cabins.

Steppe Spider

• The perk now affects all weapons from the “rocket launchers” category, except: RA-1 Heather, Clarinet TOW and ATGM Flute.
• Also, the perk now increases the maneuverability of homing rockets.

Comment: the perk was too narrowly focused. The changes are aimed at expanding the list of weapons for which “Steppe Spider” will be useful.

Dusk

• The perk now affects all weapons from the “rocket launchers” category, except: RA-1 Heather, Clarinet TOW and ATGM Flute.
• The perk now gives +25% to damage, but instead increases spread and reduces projectile speed. Homing rockets have reduced maneuverability.

Comment: the perk was also too narrowly focused. The new perk is designed to be the opposite of “Steppe Spider” for close range combat.

Buggy wheel

The perk now reduces speed requirements to 30% instead of 40%.

Comment: the perk has too much efficiency, as it not only makes speed-related perk parts easier (redundantly) to use, but also makes them much easier to use on slow armoured cars.

Oppressor

The perk now additionally increases the speed of projectiles. Max. bonus is 15% at the speed of 80 km/h and above.

Comment: after increasing the rotation speed of many weapons, the need for the engine has decreased. To keep it relevant, as promised, its perk has been improved.

Swarm

• Blast damage now does not decrease with the distance from the center of the explosion.
• The rocket launcher now increases the enemy detection radius up to 150 m.

Comment: low efficiency of the weapon due to the small explosion radius. When hitting an enemy, the full damage was only dealt on the part where the rocket hit, and nearby parts took very little damage. After changing this dependency, the damage output will be more stable and higher. The addition of the built-in radar will keep the gun operational after an external module is destroyed and make it more self-sufficient.

Slaughterer

• Explosive projectile damage increased by 10%.
• Piercing projectile damage increased by 20%.
• Perk now increases damage by 3% for every 2 parts hit instead of 4%. Maximum bonus reduced from 32% to 21%.
• Durability increased from 525 to 629 pts.

Comment: weapon efficiency was too unstable and depended heavily on its perk. The changes should fix the situation and make the weapon more stable in isolation from the perk. And the increase in durability should solve the problem of low survivability.

Lucifer

• Durability increased from 414 to 455 pts.
• Perk now gives 3 projectiles for every 4 destroyed parts (instead of 6 projectiles for 8 parts before).

Comment: insufficient efficiency of the weapon. More frequent activation of the perk will make it less dependent on the durability of enemy parts, and increasing its own durability will increase survivability.

Destructor

• Base damage increased by 20%.
• Perk damage bonus reduced from 800% to 400%.
• Heat bonus from perk reduced from 10% to 5%.

Comment: high weapon efficiency due to significant damage to a single part. The change reduces overall damage while reducing perk dependency.

BC-17 Tsunami

Durability increased from 821 to 903 pts.

Comment: compared with other weapons, the cannon’s survivability is noticeably lower.

Mars

• Mass limit reduced from 22000 to 21000 kg.
• Bonus to own damage reduced from 30 to 20%, to allied damage increased from 15 to 20%.
• Perk recharge time increased from 20 to 25 sec.

Comment: high efficiency of the cabin in many modes. The mass limit was a bit excessive, considering its speed and its own mass. Perk changes will make the cabin less effective when used on its own, but more useful for allies.

Griffon

Perk active radius increased from 25 to 40 m.

Comment: the perk’s range was too small when compared to the perks of other cabins with team bonus, which made its implementation quite problematic.

Co-driver Grizzly

• The talent is now activated after 3 hits on the armoured vehicle (instead of 2 on the cabin before).
• At least 3 seconds must now elapse between hits from one enemy (instead of 1 second previously).
• Talent charge starts to decrease 5 sec. after the last hit (instead of 10 sec. before).
• The passive skill that reduces the penalty to the power of movement parts has been replaced by a 5% increase in their durability.

Comment: we returned the co-driver’s talent to its old mechanics, but significantly slowed down its stacking from hits from one enemy and speeded up its reset. The change restores the talent’s versatility in terms of building an armoured vehicle to suit its use, but at the same time makes it less useful in one-on-one battles.

The co-driver greatly increases the overall durability of armoured vehicles while also giving a bonus to mobility, which is redundant. Replacing the passive skill should remedy the situation by focusing all skills on increasing survivability.

Co-driver Yuki

• The distance for talent activation has been increased from 35 to 50 m.
• The passive skill that increases the durability of movement parts has been replaced by a 15% reduction in the penalty to movement parts power.

Comment: lack of efficiency of the talent, increasing the activation distance should make it easier to use. Changing the passive skill will increase the mobility of armoured vehicles with Yuki.

Co-driver Billie

• The talent now additionally reduces spread by 20% and no longer increases the damage received by the weapon.
• The passive skill that increases self-destruct damage has been replaced by a 10% increase in time to overheat.
• The “Directional fury” passive skill now reduces the spread increase rate by 20% (instead of 10% previously).

Comment: unpopular co-driver. The changes should increase his relevance.

Co-driver Phobos

The passive skill that increases the speed of an armoured vehicle now also affects the maximum speed of movement parts.

Comment: the change will make the skill equally useful for all types of armoured vehicles.

Co-driver Atitlan

• Active skill now increases damage by 15% (instead of 10% previously).
• The passive skill that increases the radius of fire puddles has been replaced by a 25% increase in the speed of heating up parts with thermal damage.
• The “Compact mixtures” passive skill now works with all ammo types, and the bonus value has been increased from 15% to 25%.

Comment: the changes to parameters will increase the co-driver’s efficiency, and replacing the passive skill will make the co-driver more useful for all fire weapons.

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 test 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:
  • Friday, October 25, 2024: from 13:00 to 19:00 (GMT)
  • Saturday, October 26, 2024: from 13:00 to 19:00 (GMT)
  • Sunday, October 27, 2024: from 13:00 to 19:00 (GMT)
• After the first phase of testing is complete, additional changes may be made based on the results of the first phase of testing. Testing will then continue:
  • Friday, November 1, 2024: from 13:00 to 19:00 (GMT)
  • Saturday, November 2, 2024: from 13:00 to 19:00 (GMT)
  • Sunday, November 3, 2024: 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).