Planned balance changes of the next update and a new co-driver. Mass testing

Hello, survivors!

Today we’d like to share the information about the planned balance changes, as well as tell you about a new co-driver, who specializes in energy weapons. You will also be able to try out all the planned changes and the new co-driver on the test server.

Please note that all the balance changes specified in this news are relevant at the time of publication and may not be final or not get into the game at all. Certain additional changes, if necessary, can be made after the announcement.

New co-driver “Hertz”

Since the co-driver system update, w’eve received a lot of feedback and questions from you about a dedicated co-driver that specializes in energy weapons. Now it’s time to meet such a co-driver. Meet Hertz!

No one in the Valley accepted Hertz because of his excessive fondness for dangerous experiments, which made the young scientist very angry. After years of wandering around power stations and transformer booths, his talents were finally recognized by the mercenaries. For them, the most important quality in a person was the ability to destroy.

Talent

Activation: The talent charges when the armoured vehicle moves at a speed higher than 80% of its maximum speed. The next shot at the enemy made from an energy weapon after a full charge activates the talent.

Effect: increases the damage of energy weapons to the cabin, modules, weapons and movement parts by 30%, but reduces the damage to structural parts by the same percentage.

Passive skills:

• Protective field durability: +20%. Affects all parts that generate protective fields: “Nova”, “Aegis-Prime”, and “Barrier IX”.
• Heating rate from enemy weapons reduced by 40%.
• Speed and distance requirements to activate bonuses (perks) reduced by 20%.

Planned changes for co-drivers

Falcon

The talent now charges for 3 sec. (instead of 2 sec. before)

Comment: Falcon’s talent is being activated much more often than the talents of other co-drivers, which makes him almost the most effective choice for many players.

Yuki

Now, to activate the talent, you need to fill 2 charges (instead of 4 charges before).

Comment: the situation is opposite to the situation with Falcon. Yuki’s talent is very rarely activated due to the excessive requirements, which affects her effectiveness. This change will make it easier to use her talent.

Planned balance changes

Rare parts

Borer

Increased the length of the weapon’s physical model.

Comment: of all the melee weapons, “Borer” has the most effective area of damage in relation to its model and can quite effectively penetrate the internal parts of the vehicle. Now it will only deal damage to external parts.

Special parts

Prosecutor 76mm

Explosion radius increased by 50%.

Comment: the effectiveness of the cannon doesn’t match its rarity. By increasing the projectile explosion radius, we will fix this problem.

Pyralid

The rocket launcher now reloads faster by 0.5 sec.

Comment: in order to become a more attractive analogue of the “Wasp”, this rocket launcher lacks efficiency. A small reload boost should resolve this issue.

Epic parts

MG13 Equalizer

• Optimal range reduced by 30 m.
• Maximum range reduced by 100 m.

Comment: the minigun is now over effective at long-range battles when compared to other epic weapons that perform the same function.

Executioner 88 mm

• Explosion radius increased by 50%.
• Blast damage increased by 6%.
• The cannon now reloads faster by 0.5 sec.
• Durability increased from 495 to 545 pts.

Comment: after these changes, the “Executioner” should become a more powerful cannon, comparable in effectiveness to other epic weapons.

Deadman

The bonus to the reloading of weapons mounted in a single copy has been reduced from 25% to 20%.

Comment: the 25% bonus turned out to be excessive when compared to 15% and 10% bonuses for 2 or more weapons, which leads to an excessive increase in the effectiveness of weapons mounted in a single copy.

Yongwang

Perk damage bonus reduced from 15% to 12%.

Comment: extremely high weapon efficiency with almost any combination of modules. Vehicles with “Yongwang” provide both high damage and versatility in terms of modules — something that vehicles with other weapons cannot provide. The change is aimed to reduce the effectiveness while also preserving the weapon’s main purpose.

Barrier IX

• Energy drain reduced from 3 to 2 pts.
• PS reduced from 825 to 550.
• The shield now activates 50% faster.
• Shield durability reduced by 19%.
• Increased the amount of points received for blocking damage.

Comment: the turret is almost never seen in battles. The changes are similar to the recent changes to “Aegis-Prime”: the decrease in shield durability is compensated for by the reduced power consumption and increased convenience of using the turret.
Increasing the number of points should encourage the use of the “Barrier” in a more fair way. Point scoring has also been added to the shields of “Aegis-Prime” and “Nova”.

Tormentor

• Damage bonus increased from 50% to 80%.
• Active time increased from 5 to 6 sec.

Comment: the module shows rather low efficiency in relation to its energy drain. The assemblies with “Tormentor” may have been even less effective than those without it. By reducing the energy drain, we can make the module a necessary part for mounting on a vehicle, so we choose another option and increase the damage bonus.

Aggressor

• Tonnage increased from 3800 to 3900 kg.
• Mass limit increased from 7800 to 8000 kg.
• Time to reset the charge when driving in a non-straight line increased from 0.5 sec. up to 1 sec.

Comment: the changes are aimed at increasing the efficiency of “Aggressor” in comparison to similar and more attractive cabins.

Tank track

Turning radius reduced.

Reinforced track, Armored track and “Goliath”

• Turning radius reduced.
• Increased turning speed on the spot.

Comment: adjustments to the tracks will make them more responsive and maneuverable.

“Icarus IV” and “Icarus VII”

• Fixed a bug in calculating the acceleration of hovers: now the mass of the car and the number of hovers have a greater impact on acceleration.
• Reduced the effect of acceleration on the tilting of the “Icarus VII” hovers.
• Now the effects of hovers are visible in stealth mode. The detection distance is comparable to the visibility of traces from ground movement parts.

Comment: the change in acceleration will primarily affect the cars with high PS level with a large number of hovers. The invisibility fix will equalize hovers with ground movement parts in terms of detection when using invisibility modules.

Legendary parts

MG14 Arbiter

• Optimal range reduced by 30 m.
• Maximum range reduced by 100 m.

Comment: As with the “Equalizer”, this minigun is over effective at long-range battles when compared to other legendary weapons that perform the same function.

Reaper

• Improved physical model of the weapon.
• Accuracy increased by 11%.
• Optimal range increased by 50 m.

Comment: the physical model has become smaller and closer to the weapon’s visual model. The change should increase the survivability of weapons and make the process of building cars with this minigun more convenient. The remaining changes are aimed at improving the effectiveness of the weapon at long range.

Assembler

• Now the penalty to the weapon’s rotation speed is 33% (instead of 61% before).
• Now, when the weapon is charged for too long and then being reset, it heats up by 50% (instead of 100% before).
• Accuracy without charging increased by 11%.

Comment: using the “Assembler” will become more convenient, and the cost of a possible error will no longer be so high. The convenience of shooting without charging should also improve.

Kaiju

Now the weapon fires 2 more shots per burst.

Comment: Increasing the burst length should improve the overall efficiency of the weapon, but make the use of the perk more dependent on the player’s skills.

Kami

• Tonnage reduced from 4700 kg to 4600 kg.
• Mass limit reduced from 8850 kg to 8700 kg.
• Perk duration reduced from 5 to 4 sec.
• Perk cooldown increased from 15 sec. to 16 sec.

Comment: the cabin has high efficiency which, combined with the perk, makes certain types of weapons irrelevant. The cabin parameters are returning to their original (release) state, and the perk’s active time is reduced, which should slightly reduce the cabin’s efficiency and increase the relevance of other parts.

AM-5 Avalanche

Projectile explosion now deals 30% more damage to the player’s armoured car.

Comment: in its original form, the weapon could be used as a kind of “reusable spear”, by firing at the enemy at close range. We would like to slightly reduce the popularity of this type of gameplay by slightly increasing its risks.

Relic parts

Ripper

• Added 90% resistance to melee damage to the weapon’s disks.
• Disk durability reduced from 100 to 50 pts.
• The physical model of the disk is increased to match the size of the visual model.

Comment: the edit is aimed at improving the disk launcher’s perk. Now a disk stuck in the ground will not be destroyed by a collision and will have time to deal more damage. Changing the physical model of the disks should also increase the chance of dealing damage this way.

Other

Improved the handbrake mechanics:

• Now the braking distance when using the handbrake has become shorter.
• Now you cannot continue to move forward while the handbrake is used. Disabling the handbrake no longer results in an immediate acceleration.
• When cornering, the reduction in speed is not as severe as when driving in a straight line. This is done in order to preserve the ability to use the handbrake to start drifting.

Once again, we’d like to remind you that all of the above edits are not final and may still change before the update is released.

See you in the next announcements! Before the Hyperboreans arrive, we can expect one more part of the devblog, as well as a first look at a new map. Stay tuned!

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:
  • Tuesday, January 17, 2023 from 13:00 to 20:59 (GMT time)
  • Wednesday, January 18, 2023 from 13:00 to 20:59 (GMT time)
  • Friday, January 20, 2023 from 13:00 to 20:59 (GMT time)
• Any progress you make on the test server will not be transferred to the live game servers (INCLUDING ATTEMPTS TO BUY PACKS).

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.