A Mid-Week Mini-Release?!!?

As I hinted on the forums, all did go well, and Vivi coded up more specials for the Non-Star-Captain Dropship weapons!  He's putting together a note on what everything does so I'll add that in when he's done.  Oh he's done already!

NSC FA

• Salvaged Pulse Laser: Good chance at -25 bonus for 3 turns on hit
• Squire's Volt Sword: Good chance at +25 boost for 3 turns on hit
• Double Autogun: Very Good chance at -30 defense for 3 turns on hit

NSC BA

• Used Gatling Gun: Good chance for EP DoT for 3 turns on hit
• Mecha Boomstick: 140% damage
• Bargain Bin Laser: Good chance for -25 boost for 3 turns on hit
• Refurbished Machine Gun: Very good chance on each hit to raise bonus by 10 for 3 turns 

NSC BS

• Freshman Laser Pointer: Good chance for an extra shot that does 50% damage 

Thanks, Vivi!  We'll have a part three with some Heads - ideally next week but we're not promising an exact timeframe on those yet.

Update to Dropship Interface:

In response to some feedback (thanks for passing this along, neodiabolus) Korin has given SysZero a button to Tek's Dropship Shop, with a bit of extra dialogue.  

Yokai Mantis Quest Bugfix:

A couple of Gremlins reports came in with people being unable to unlock the Mantis Master.  I found where the problem was hiding, and Korin helped me with updating the code!  I'm starting to understand those kinds of bugs a little better, so this was a really exciting fix.  

Exciting Week: Monday Bugfixes, Friday is Almost Here, Azami is Back from Hiatus, and Other Notes!

This has been an exciting week already!  On Monday, we got a few bugs fixed with the new minigame 

• Invincible enemy on stage six is no longer invincible 
• The triple shots now work on a timer, so you don't have to wait until all the bullets fly off the screen, but only on the triple shots 
• Level skipping bug is gone 

Also I am going to be insufferably proud of myself and make a big deal out of this: I found and fixed the Hoverscythe A infamous "damage oover time" bug!  It was the weirdest thing ever - "oover" just didn't exist - everything looked A-Ok - and then he would attack with that arm and it would pop up again... "damage oover time."  Well, I tried something new and different, and Vivi & I tested it, and it worked!

Speaking of testing - Azami's schedule has freed up enough now so that he is back with us on the pre-testing and planning and bug-squashing again!  I'm so excited I'm dancing...

...Speaking of dancing... the forum member caneyempor was inspired to post a thread about having a Mechquest dance!  Circe, who is very excited about this, showed me the thread - and I got very excited about it as well.  I was hesitant at first, because these kinds of decisions are made by Korin, whether we are even considering an idea - so when I saw Korin online this morning I pounced him  and gave him the link.  He said he is game for a "prom" - some kind of Spring Dance!  When he said that, I danced, and then I messaged Circe (because  we're both so excited) and emailed Lyris (because her pre-staff suggestions post had something related to this) and put something up to alert the whole MQ team. So please use this link http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=18243761 to discuss your ideas - the MechQuest team is listening and starting to put together plans for the future. In fact, as I'm writing this, I'm IM-ing with Lyris!

...Speaking of plans for the future... Korin has given his blessing to me and Vivi to work on the parts of the S.O.O.N. list that we can tackle without needing the entire team!  As in, stuff that doesn't require completely new art, or complex coding, and so on.  So we are going through the list making an assessment - we'll have news and results for you... er... soon (haha! get it? soon!)

Dropship Weapons With Updated Specials:

Vivi, who did the coding for these, says, "For dropship weapons here's what they do for the ones we took care of. The rest of the NSC weapons will get fixed up sometime next week. A lot of the heads don't have attack animations so I'm not sure if anything will happen with them but we'll see."

NSC BS 

• N-00B Missile (2x): 40% crit chance on each hit 
• Miscalibrated Sniper Rifle: 90% chance at +50 bonus for this shot 
• N-00B Missile (4x): 40% crit chance on each hit, extra damage for additional EP cost 
• Retractable Rifle: 80% chance at 50% extra damage 

SC FS 

• Sapphire Mana Photon: EP DoT for 3 turns on hit 

SC BS 

• Star Sapphire Blaster: EP DoT for 3 turns on hit 

SC HD 

• SC Staredown: 80% chance to deal 160% damage 

NG BA 

• Inker: -40 bonus for 3 turns on hit 

NG BS 

• Robotic Rifle: 50% chance for 50% extra damage, heals HP equal to the damage done 

NG HD 

• Rock N Roll Skull Mask: -25 boost and bonus for 3 turns on hit, +3 crit passive 

Verified FA 

• Cavalier Blue Photon: 150% damage 
• Crusader's Shining Repeater: 168% damage, higher EP cost than normal 
• Experimental Stun Gun: Stuns for 1 round 
• Verified BA 
• Dragontooth Chaingun: 120% damage, each successful hit lowers enemy defense by 10 for 3 turns 
• Verified BS 
• Large Blue Laser: -30 Bonus for 3 rounds on hit 
• Sniper Rifle: +60 bonus for this attack only 
• Large Military Repeater: HP DoT on hit  

Thanks, Vivi!! And of course, if you discover that something isn't working as intended, please report it in the Gremlins forum.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and thanks for playing!  And now I'm going to go outside to enjoy the beautiful, sunny day!  

Shiny Dropship! The Dropship just got a lot more fun!  Remember when you made a new character and it seemed like it took forever to get to Level 3 so that you could finally land on Soluna?  You should totally think about starting a new new character - so much is changing that you will want to see it all!  Talk to SysZero on the Dropship to see the new Missions Roster, where you may choose to complete a series of missions or even skip over everything and go straight to Land the Ship now! There is a lot more to do on the Dropship now though - you should walk around, click around, and see what's new.  You can always go back to the Dropship by visiting Admina in Soluna City, too.

Tell your friends while the Birthday Celebration is still going on this week, so that they can pick up the Newbatron AnniV 3010 or one of the earlier anniversary models.  Remember, if you give them your referral link (look on the News Screen in Soluna City for the Recruit button for your personalized link) then you will get in-game rewards for your character!  And if your friend upgrades to Star Captain, you even get bonus Nova Gems! 

New Minigame - Planetary Defender! The not-to-be-missed new minigame that Korin has made, Planetary Defender, is ready to play - just keep walking left, (or, West) on the Dropship! Talk with Alex to learn how to play.  Can you get through all 30 levels to win the prize?

Dropship Weapons Update: You should also see what Tek has to offer in her shops - Vivi and I updated a whole long list of Dropship weapons.  If you already own these, there is no need to re-buy them - you will already have the updated specials!  New characters will get a better taste of some of the less-complicated specials earlier in the game now.  Plus, battles will be more interesting!

Vivi prepared a quick list of the specials and updated weapons that he posted on the forums already - he did the coding for this project! (I'll get that list of specials into a proper Design Note later this weekend.)

We'll be updating more of the NSC Dropship weapons over the next week as well.  I'm working on an update to Tek's Mechs shop interface in Soluna that I hope to have ready by next week - there's just one little important thing that doesn't want to work as intended.  Pesky Gremlins!

Typofixing: Hospital: Also I finished another zone for the Typofixing Project - the Hospital (ideally) is typo-free now!  Thanks for your reports in the Gremlins forum and thanks to neodiabolus and Terosin, the Gremlins ArchKnights who are helping organize the typofixing posts, behind the scenes!

Thanks for playing - have a great weekend and I'll see you on the forums - and probably on facebook as well.