Idealab celebrates Three Years! Thanks to all our members and visitors. May we celebrate another year of community brainstorming. Be sure to check out some of the new and updated items on the Special Features page.
Playtest -- Monday August 20th, 2007 Build 3.12.31 -- 3:00p Los Angeles / 6:00p New York / 11:00p UK
Battle Island: Desolation!
Objectives:
Overall Objective: Check the Engineering and vehicle updates to provide feedback on them!
VS Objective: Take and hold the center tower of Desolation! VS will start with Dahaka
NC Objective: Take and hold the center tower of Desolation! NC will start with Jamshid
TR Objective: Take and hold the center tower of Desolation! TR will start with Izha
This will be a limited engagement scenario and the following rules apply: Stay on Desolation and provide feedback!
Added fun stuff:
All 3 Empires will have Pain and Healing module benefits!
Each Empire will have access to all enemy vehicles!
Heavy Assault will be enabled on Desolation for the play test!
Advanced vehicles (Reavers, MBTs, etc.) will be enabled for the play test!
If an empire gets too many players they will face targeted Meteor Showers and my Magic CUD of Unlimited Orbital Strikes!
Since there is no dropship facility, Phantasms and Gunships will be spawned near the bases every few minutes. Please be patient.
For those of you planning to fly them, be sure to get the Galaxy Gunship and Phantasm certs!
Changes in 3.12.31
Phantasm
Removed the gun (all instances of the Phantasm having a gun in text should have changed as well)
Decreased explosion damage
Galaxy Gunship
Health increased
All damage taken should be reduced
Increased the velocity of the 35mm bullets
Increased 35mm bullet and GroundPounder mortar damage towards vehicles
Decreased 35mm bullet damage degradation.
Increased the angle of fire on wing and front guns
Decreased experience multiplier for killing the gunship
Increased purchase timer from 5 minutes to 10 minutes
Increased trunk size from 16x12 to 18x15
Modified Engineering repair abilities.
Amount of damage repaired for vehicles and max's will increase from Engineering to Combat Engineering to Fortification / Assault / Advanced Engineering certifications.
Amount of damage repaired for infantry remains unchanged.
Repair speed increase is due to the amount of armor repaired per canister; the actual refire rate is the same.
Miscellaneous
Fixed a bug having to do with the ACE that would cause server crashes
Fixed a bug with the ACE that was introduced in the last build where after deploying a Shadow Turret, Cerberus Turret, or Disruptor Mine the next ACE would be reset, forcing you to change from Spitfire Turret to Shadow Turret for example. It has been fixed so you can deploy several Cerberus Turrets in a row without needed to switch.
News update and banner have been updated to reflect the changes in this build.
Phantasm and Galaxy Gunship Update! - Aug 10, 2007
All empires have finished production of the Phantasm and Galaxy Gunship, and are now available to anyone with the corresponding certifications. Here's a few details about each.
Phantasm
The Phantasm is a flying transport vehicle that can carry a pilot and up to four passengers.
The pilot controls a small 12mm chaingun.
The pilot has access to a cloaking mechanism that will make the Phantasm virtually invisible.
While cloaked, the Phantasm will be undetectable by all radar systems. However, firing its weapon or moving at high speeds may compromise its stealth.
The Phantasm is only available at bases with a link to a Tech Plant (or at your sanctuary).
Galaxy Gunship
The Galaxy Gunship is a large craft similar to the Galaxy.
It carries a pilot and 5 gunners.
The wing guns and tail gun are rotary 35mm chainguns, and the two front GroundPounders fire explosive mortar cartridges (similar to the Marauder).
The gunship is only available at Dropship Centers (or at your sanctuary).
There have also been some sightings of soldiers clad in green armor, but they seem to be in hiding as there have been no recent reports of any activity. The objectives of these men are unclear, but they appear to be hostile towards all empires and should be considered extremely dangerous. If you see one, shoot to kill.
Bug Fixes
Blackouts and flickering lights in the bases should no longer occur!
An exploit/bug has been fixed where a door would stay open if a player stood directly above or beneath it, even if they were several floors down.
A bug that would occur in laggy situations where the first person arms would detach from the camera has been fixed (this was especially true with the Spiker and grenades)
A bug that would occur while hotswapping and equipping weapons quickly in third person where the first person arms would not show and the first bullet fired would miss has been fixed.
Spawn tube doors, AMP Station CC doors, and big Dropship Center door at the ramp that leads to the Dropship terminal should all open and close more reliably
The bug with the equipment terminal should occur much less often, if at all!
The first time event text for the CUD has been updated to reflect when you actually receive the “Reveal Enemies” ability
Now when a TR MAX locks down in front of a friendly spawn tube, its physics are disabled for friendly players. If the avatar or spawn tube is an enemy, the MAX will still block them. (prevents TR Max from griefing near tubes)
First time event notifications can now be closed while viewing the overhead map
A bug with the ACE that would allow normal Combet Engineers to deploy Advanced CE if they got the ACE from an Advanced Engineer has been fixed (this also occasionally caused server crashes).
They are coming - July 30, 2007
An excerpt from a New Conglomerate intelligence report:
"...our infiltrators have returned from Forseral. They managed to steal blueprints from the Terran Republic. We don't know how the TR were able to design it, but it looks as if they are developing a method to cloak a flying transport vehicle. With the amount of energy required to keep a craft airborne, we thought it physically impossible to bend light enough to cloak it as well, but with these designs...it might work. The TR are calling it the "Phantasm".
Also among these blueprints is another design...it looks similar to the Galaxy, and yet somehow different. It's more like a giant battleship than a transport craft. In the hands of the TR, this kind of firepower could be devastating. I do not doubt that the VS spies have also taken advantage of the recent leak in TR security; they probably have the designs as well. We must begin training our soldiers to use this equipment as soon as possible. Our engineers have already started production...we must finish before the opposing factions are able to use them against us.
The strangest thing about all of this is the fact that these blueprints were in TR possession. I would expect something like this from the Vanu Sovereignty, but the Terran Republic are narrow-minded fools that only think of suppression using our current technology. Also strange are these symbols found all over the blueprints; they are like nothing I've ever seen before. Shaped like 3 curved blades around a central hub with cyan coloring...what could it mean..."
Taken from a Vanu Sovereignty science report, only one day later:
"...don't understand. The entire lattice has shifted. Our home worlds, Esamir and Amerish, are gone, lost to the heathens that call themselves the New Conglomerate. And we find our own sanctuary linked to the homelands of our Terran repressors, Forseral and Ceryshen. We can only logically assume they have taken control of the former NC territories Solsar and Hossin.
This change in the lattice can sometimes be observed as a natural phenomenon of Auraxis. The Auraxian system clearly has a mind of its own and has been known to shift before, but somehow...it is different this time. The readings are not the same. Information from our stellar cartography department shows that this time there has been some form of external tampering with the lattice!
We believed ourselves to be the most technologically advanced of the three factions, but after we were given the documents for these new flying aircraft...we must concede that there may be a faction with an even greater understanding than ours...but the Terran Republic? It is hard to believe. We have ruled out that they are capable of such a change, so it must be something else. Could this be related to the symbols on the blueprints? More research needs to be done.
Regardless, the fact remains that we now stand on unfamiliar ground. We can be reasonably sure that this is not the end of these strange occurrences. Something is coming. I can feel it..."
The Terran Republic technical reports are stating that the Phantasm and Gunship certifications can be purchased at local certification terminals however both vehicles are currently being manufactured and there it’s been found that some of the supply has gone unaccounted for. As of this report the supply will not meet demands but we have word that the vehicles will available for acquisition within the next week.
Planetside celebrates its Four Year Anniversary this weekend.
Five new weapons have been introduced to the game: three empire-specific pistols and two special weapons.
Raijinn has posted the Release Notes for this update:
Happy Four Year Anniversary, PlanetSide!
For PlanetSide's Four Year Anniversary, we designed three New Pistols (one for each empire), a Missile Launcher with Propelled Explosives, and an experimental Flamethrower weapon. Each weapon can be obtained by every player with the exception of the Flamethrower.
As you read the details below, you'll notice that there are a few limiting factors on the Missile Launcher and the Flamethrower. However, take note that we have enabled all weapons to be available to all players from 5/18/07 to 5/25/07 regardless of the limitations. We wanted everyone to have the chance to try out the new weapons and participate in the mayhem of the Four Year Anniversary! Enjoy!
VoidrageQA announces another playtest today to try out the latest build of the weapons before they are added for the Anniversary.
Changes in 3.12.15
Scorpion:
- Damage increased per bomblet
- Number of bomblets has been reduced
- Bomblet pattern changed from an X to a downward V pattern
- HUD firing mode indication added (Rangefinder Mode and Firing Mode)
- Issue with the projectile firing from the wrong position has been resolved
Dragon:
- Increased flame projectile speed for primary firing mode
- Range increased for primary firing mode
Pistols:
- secondary firing mode no longer restricted to 2 year veterans only
- Pistols moved to the medium assault certification
- Damage degradation added
- Secondary firing mode initialization time increased (delay from trigger pull to weapon discharge)
- Pistols should now mount correctly when held or holstered after using a knife
- Bullets can now be seen in the clip when in first person view
- Pistol parts have been repositioned to that they don't appear to move independently
Plasma:
- Damage for hand grenades reverted back to original plasma damage
- Damage from Thumper or Punisher launched grenades remains at the reduced level
Misc Resolved Issues:
- Typo in Basilisk description
- Typo in Raider description
- Typo in Lightning description
- New pistol and Rocklet Rifle no longer count 1 ammo as being expended until the weapon actually fires
- Stinger (TR pistol) now has 1st time usage exp
- TRAPS and Field Turrets now have 1st time usage pop up descrriptions
- German, French, and Italian translations have been added to the new content
New Weapons Coming to Planetside - May 10, 2007
VoidrageQA announces a playtest today to try out the new weapons being introduced for Planetside's Fourth Anniversary.
3 new empire specific pistols with a secondary "empty the whole clip" firing mode
The Scorpion - brand new range controlled detonation weapon - set your range and let um have it
The Dragon - flamethrower!
Plasma damage balance pass
Range Magnifier implant issue fix
Everyone will be given a free full certification wipe (optional at the certification terminal
Striker idle beep tone volume toned way down
New certifications and new merits for the new weapons!
Also, today's Development Uplink showcases the Scorpion.
This rocket launcher has 'smart' missiles that explode at a pre-determined range, raining exploding bomblets on the targets below.
New Deployable now on Test Server! - March 2, 2007
The long-awaited Combat Engineering Deployables are now on Test. Below are some in-game images and descriptions.
A Field Deployable Unit (FDU) - Creates Tank Traps, One-Man Turrets, and Aegis Shield Generators
Deploying an FDU
A Tactical Resonance Area Protection (TRAP)
How the TRAPs appear on the map
An cloaked Aegis Sield Genertaror
Fortification Engineers can use a Nano Dispenser to upgrade an Aegis Generator with a Defense Shield
Assault Engineers can upgrade the same Generator with an Ammo Terminal
Double-click the icon on the map to view Aegis health status and upgrades
FDU's also deploy a One-Man Field Turret (OMFT)
A deployed Shadow Turret
Shadow Turret revealed under Dark Light
A Disruptor Mine
New Images of Sunderer Mk II! - March 2, 2007
Raijinn and Crew promised us Sunderer images today and they came through. Check out the new beast of Planetside.
New Deployables Details - February 23, 2007
Enrico-Pallazzo has posted an update on the new deployables detailing the cert tree and descriptions for each device.
Hello All!
We have some good stuff for you this update!!! We're looking to have this publish on the test server starting on Monday or Tuesday after our Testing/QA team gives us the green light that we didn't break anything major and then have this update going live on 3/6/07. Here are notes on what we are adding and we will be following up with a producer's letter on what is to come soon after.
Best regards!
- Enrico_Pallazzo
Increased Deployable Units - 5 extra to each catagory
Fortification Engineering Cert
(3 Points - requires CE cert)
Shadow Turret Deployable Deployed by Fortification Engineer
Tank TRAP (Player is holding a Field Deployable Unit, a large ACE) Deployed by Fortification Engineer
Development Activites - February 23, 2007
From Raijinn
Another week has come and gone! It's been a fairly quick week, probably because we had a 3 day weekend however there's no rest for the weary!
Let's get to the meat of the update, we're planning on having the update ready to hit test sometime early next week barring no major issues! The PlanetSide team is collectively excited to get this to test to see how it all plays out, this is a major addition to the game and it promises to add additional layers of strategy to PlanetSide.
We've nailed down the cost of the 2 Combat Engineering trees at 3 certification points a piece. Oh yeah, the names of the 2 new Combat Engineering trees. We've decided to go with the name "Assault" for the offensively based Combat Engineering tree. For the defensive styled Combat Engineering tree we've decided that "Fortification" would be the most appropriate. Now you know what to look for when it hits the test server!
As for when the update will be on test, this is subject to passing internal tests so that we don't provide problematic code to a public server, that's never a good thing. After our QA department gives us the go-ahead we'll be updating the test server with the highly anticipated deployables! V-V-E (If you don't know what I'm talking about try it in game).
So we're looking forward to an exciting week coming up, lots of play testing, and a ton of fun!
Planetside-Idealab Turns Three! - February 18, 2007
PSIL celebrates its Three Year Anniversary this week!
As such there will be a few extra features added. First is the Idealab Timeline, first shown on the PSIL boards. Years 2005-2006 are currently
being added in.
Next is an expansion of the Concept Division Gallery, which will have concept illustrations catagorized by type. In addition an index of CD members and Forumside contributors is being compiled to showcase the concept artists.
The venerable Planetside Request Tracker page has been updated. Take a look at many of the items implimented that were requested by the community. The Planetside Future page has been updated as well. Both of these can be found in the Special Features section.
And finally, I will be posting about my trip last November to SOE Headquarters in San Diego, California, to meet the developers of Planetside.
Name the new Combat Engineering Branches - February 18, 2007
From Raijinn
The PlanetSide team thought that having the names "Offensive" and "Defensive" were just a little bit tame so we thought we'd ask you fine folks in the community what names you could come up with instead of "Offensive" and "Defensive".
You all did such a fine job naming the other CE items we thought this would be another great opportunity to get you all involved.
Development Activities - New Deployables Names - February 15, 2007
Raijinn brings us another update.
Greetings Auraxians!
This week was all about fleshing out the details. Yeah, I know details are kind of bore to some extent but it actually was a productive meeting and the topic was once again Combat Engineering.
Currently the team is flipping through the lists and checking them twice for the Offensive Combat Engineering (Offensive? Shouldn't we come up with something better?...more on that later) and it's getting close to being complete. The art models are complete for the most part but we're hashing out the functionality a bit more.
Deployable Names
Jammer Mine
Disrupter Mine
Cloak Spitfire
Shadow Turret
Flak Spitfire
Cerberus Turret
Tank Trap
Tactical Resonance Area Protection (TRAP)
Upgrade Canister
Upgrade Canister
Shield Generator
Aegis Shield Generator
Field Turret
Minotaur
NC = Osprey
TR = Avenger
VS = Orion Large ACE
Field Deployable Unit (FDU)
It's that time again, no, not quite what you think but close. It's Development Update time! There were tons of things to discuss about everything going on in PlanetSide, some things that we can discuss right now and some ideas that were tossed around for future plans.
Combat Engineering Names
Testing Combat Engineering
2007 and Beyond!
Raijinn becomes new Community Rep Manager - February 8, 2007
Raijinn, formerly known as JoelS, succeeds Zatozia as Community Rep Manager. We wish Zatozia well in her new roll as part of the Everquest team.
Greetings Everyone,
I have the pleasure of bringing you all of the development activities that have been going on this week. Typically we'll try to update you on what's going on, on Thursday since that's when the team holds the development meetings.
Development Activities - Deployables Preview! - January 20, 2007
Zatozia gives us a sneak peak at the new Combat Engineering Deployables!
Greetings Everyone,
Here's a brief update for you!
Combat Engineering We're currently working on the Combat Engineering profession. We're on target for the end of January / first week of February time frame for a release on to the Test Server.
As mentioned before, there will be two branches of the Combat Engineering profession - Offensive and Defensive. We've already mentioned the specifics of what each role would be getting but we'll be working on the balance where needed.
Here's a sneak peek at what some of the new deployables look like:
Vehicles After the Combat Engineering project is completed, we'll be working on the vehicles we mentioned in the past - the buffed up Sunderer, the Galaxy Gunship, and the new and elusive Phantasm. More details about these will be given as we get closer to working on them again.
Other Development Projects After the vehicle project is completed, we'll be working on the Advance Hacking profession, next the Sniping profession, and then the Advanced Medical profession.
Events We'll be starting the event calendar back up again in February for the Tuesday and Thursday event days. We'll also be working on some holiday events for the future.
We're working on the Outfit Wars schedule for the remaining battles and playoffs. The battles should start back up in February.
Chats
The dev chat will be making a return. We're trying to schedule one in for February.
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