Helicopter Shared Equipment Migration & Balance Tuning

Jun.11.2018 BY KIXEYE_Chris

On the Wednesday following the monthly feature event (6/18), Helicopter units are migrating to a shared equipment system similar to the migration that Heavy Vehicles underwent several months ago. Under this system, most equipment items can be used across multiple units with similar functionality or unit class.

Existing equipment items for Helicopter units are being replaced with new shared equipment items. You will end up with equipment power levels equal to – or higher – than what you had prior to this change. While certain individual equipment items may appear to have been lowered in level, new equipment items have been added and upgraded to the appropriate advancement level, meaning that everything balances out (example: if you were 50% through your progress of maxing out equipment on a unit before this change, you will be 50% through your progress of maxing out the total amount of equipment on a unit after this change).
Remaining unit types will be migrated to their shared equipment system in the coming months and targets will continue to be balanced to accommodate this new type of unit play.

Example: The KA-50 and T-129 share a Crew equipment item. This means that obtaining this Crew and leveling it up for one unit can, in turn, increase the power of all units that use this piece of equipment.

Note: Not all units will move to a shared equipment system. Some units are unique in their power model and therefore may not fit into the shared equipment system.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR GAMEPLAY?

Helicopter units will have the now-standard 5 equipment slots moving forward.
Helicopter unit power will be determined more by equipment level than by unit level. Cost of equipment upgrades vs unit upgrades will reflect this.
Equipment can now provide greater customization. You can choose to be especially resistant to specific damage types or units, or particularly proficient at different types of combat.
Once an Equipment item is upgraded, it’s upgraded for every unit that uses it. This makes it much easier to start using a new unit, as you’ll likely already have upgraded equipment that makes that unit more powerful in combat.
This migration is an ongoing process! As more units are migrated to their shared equipment system, more targets will need to be re-balanced and playing styles will need to adjust to accommodate new styles of play.

We believe this system overhaul means greater opportunities for equipment creation by our design team, unit customization by our players, and a smoother transition between units that will create more varied types of gameplay for everyone.

ECONOMY

Design is currently working on a major economy overhaul, which should normalize and decrease the cost curve of Tier 4 and Tier 5 units. More details will be released in a separate post, closer to the date of the migration.

BALANCE CHANGES

In addition to the Helicopter migration, the following balance changes are being made today (6/11):

UNITS

Sniper does less damage against Helicopters
Zeus does less damage against Helicopters
Reaper and Avenger Drones can now target and damage Helicopters and Fixed-Wing Air.
M270, GMLRS, and HIMARS are more susceptible to having their projectiles blocked by countermeasures

TURRETS

Peacemaker Turrets at lower levels are no longer able to miss a stationary target
SAM Turret in PvE no longer attacks Helicopters (implementation of a previously announced change)
Heavy Cannon Turrets will not attack Fixed Wing aircraft in PvE or PvP (implementation of a previously announced change)

CM NOTE

The Helicopter Shared Migration is the only item from the 2.30 notes that has been delayed an additional week, to allow for additional stability testing before it is enabled. All other changes from the 2.30 patch notes are being enabled today.