Patch Notes: Mars Frontier

Dear Martians:

We hope you all enjoyed the final end of season tournaments that took place in all Battlehouse games! As always, we’re blown away by the level of passion and excitement that you all continue to bring to our games, even now when the end looms closer.

With the end of April approaching, we want to provide you all with an important update regarding when specifically the games will be shutting down, and what we can all expect moving forward after the final season tournaments.

As things stand right now, the Battlehouse team will be closing up all games & support by September, 2023. Until then, we’ll do our best to offer support and keep the games running stable so that you can continue to finish up all those final events & achievements if you haven’t already.

That being said, it was recently brought to our attention that Facebook will be closing down access to Battlehouse games from the Facebook Games platform this Friday, April 21st. Rest assured, you will still be able to access your game account and base by downloading our desktop client, and migrating your account over! Be sure to migrate your Facebook account as soon as you can if you wish to continue playing through September! 

Migration Steps

You can now auto-migrate your Facebook account details over to the desktop client!

Please follow the steps below based on which scenario fits you.

Scenario 1: You have never tried our client before. Here are three easy steps to do it!

1. Install client and run it.
2. Select “Use Facebook” and log in with the account you use for the game
3. Click Play Now.

Scenario 2: You have tried the client, logged in with Facebook, but have not migrated yet and want to do so. Please follow these steps:

1. Install the client, and log in
2. Click Account Info
3. Scroll down and look for “Auto-Migrate Existing Account”. If it is Off, click on “Click to Enable”
4. Click Play Now.

Scenario 3: You have tried the client before, but didn’t use the “Login with Facebook” option AND have not yet migrated, please use these steps:

1. Check if you have a Facebook account associated with your login by going to https://www.battlehouse.com/bh_login/login/
2. Click the button for the login method you currently use in the desktop client.
3. Click on “Click here to manage your account.”
4. If “Linked Facebook Login: (none) appears, copy down the email address that appears further up
5. Go back to https://www.battlehouse.com/bh_login/login/
6. Click “Continue with Facebook” and log in with the account you use for the game
7. Click on “Click here to manage your account.”
8. If the email address is the same as the one you already had, you’re done. If not, click on “Change” next to your email and enter the one you copied in step 4.
9. Check your email and click the confirmation link.
10. Follow the steps in Scenario 2

Note: Please follow the appropriate steps for your situation. As it was before, migrating accounts will result in loss of access of one of the accounts. Due to the technical challenge of unmerging accounts, we will not be able to do this for anyone in the foreseeable future.

Important: If you have already migrated your account via support or the migration tool, do NOT enable “Auto-Migrate Existing Account” on your client.

Godspeed!

Season 30 Tournament Winners

• THE FIREBENDERS – 458 Points

1 – Edward L52 with 342 579 points WINS 2000 Alloy
2 – Wenky L52 with 250 points WINS 2000 Alloy
3 – JAKARTA L42 with 229 points WINS 2000 Alloy
4 – sarimkhan L54 with 96 points WINS 2000 Alloy

• loose cannons two – 321 Points

1 – CountryBoy L54 with 98 points WINS 666 Alloy
2 – GREENMONSTER L60 with 63 points WINS 666 Alloy
3 – Kyle L50 with 63 points WINS 666 Alloy
4 – Gambit59 L35 with 42 points WINS 666 Alloy
5 – ZUMBA L52 with 28 points WINS 666 Alloy
6 – MadaraUchiha L42 with 3 points WINS 666 Alloy

• they not nice lol – 156 Points

1 – citrun L50 with 274 points WINS 1750 Alloy

Looking to hang out with old friends? Head on over in the “mars-frontier” channel within the Discord Server.

Good hunting, Commanders!

New this week in Mars Frontier:

End of Season 30 Alliance Tournament

From April 6th – April 13th, 2023, rally your Alliance and head to the regional map for your chance to be the strongest Alliance of Season 28!

Be one of the Top Alliances with the most Clan PvP Points to win between 1,750-8,000 Alloy, divided evenly among the top 10 members of your Alliance.

Tournament ends on April 13th, 2022, at 1700 GMT at which point winners will be announced, prizes awarded.

The Final Tournament

We cannot state how much we appreciate all of you who have played through these several seasons with us. Now, for the final time, go raise some hell!

After the tournament ends, we will be posting the final tournament winners, as well as a couple of stats that you might be interested in. Stay tuned!

Discord Handover

We’re also pleased to announce that the Discord Server has been officially handed over to the players. Hang out with old friends, reminisce the good old days, or talk about other games to play as the sun sets in this chapter. Visit the Discord Server now!

Again, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you. And good hunting, Commanders!

New this week in Mars Frontier:

Greetings, Commanders!

We sincerely apologize for the delays, but here are the:

Season 29 Tournament Winners

• THE FIREBENDERS – 682 Points

1 – LETSPLAY L56 with 579 points WINS 2666 Alloy
2 – Edward L51 with 497 points WINS 2666 Alloy
3 – Conqueror L50 with 288 points WINS 2666 Alloy

• king of duty – 652 Points

1 – Wenky L51 with 463 points WINS 1000 Alloy
2 – fitri L45 with 460 points WINS 1000 Alloy
3 – KiLeR L39 with 214 points WINS 1000 Alloy
4 – JAKARTA L41 with 167 points WINS 1000 Alloy

• Mars Force United – 515 Points

1 – Tungsten L39 with 190 points WINS 218 Alloy
2 – Constantin L55 with 169 points WINS 218 Alloy
3 – swatqc2 L32 with 141 points WINS 218 Alloy
4 – Templar73 L50 with 132 points WINS 218 Alloy
5 – ReDWoLF L47 with 98 points WINS 218 Alloy
6 – WHITELION L47 with 80 points WINS 218 Alloy
7 – Javier L52 with 51 points WINS 218 Alloy
8 – Spaniolu L44 with 19 points WINS 218 Alloy

Have new feedback to share? Let us know over in the “mars-frontier” channel within our Official Discord Server.

Good hunting, Commanders!

New this week in Mars Frontier:

Voice of the Martian Updates

Heads up, Martians!

“It came in the dead of night. A patch of stars disappeared a few days ago. In its place, a strange spot of darkness, a black void where the stars should have been. It quickly grew larger, eventually encompassing the night sky. Then, it suddenly disappeared. The stars flickered again, as if nothing happened.“

These were the words of our night-duty guards, who swear that since that incident, our technological progress has been reversed. That we have been sent back a short period back in time.

This, of course, is hard to believe. We are leaning more towards the possibility that our guards were having a sneaky drink while on duty. They have been sent to our resident psychiatrists for further eval.

We still have our CC12. We still have our latest military technologies. Our units, turrets, and bases still behave as they used to two months ago.

Still, even though the guards have sent to our resident psychiatrists for further eval, some of us cannot shake the feeling that something has changed. If what they saw was real, perhaps it is a sign of things to come. We will report any updates, Commander! In the meantime, here are the…..

Tweaks of the Week

• Just in case it wasn’t clear above, all balance changes have been reversed.
• If you have seen any units being invulnerable when being targeted by base defenses, it was a bug, and it has been fixed.
• Due to the reversal of the balance changes, there will likely be little to no tweaks made further. Apocalypse event development is now in full-swing.

We appreciate all the feedback over the past few weeks on the new systems. We understand that some have gotten used to and have actually enjoyed the new systems. Unfortunately, further tweaking and balancing is taking up too much of our lead developer’s time – something we are running out of.

Have feedback to share about this week’s releases? Let us know over in the “mars-frontier” channel within our TR Discord Server.

Good hunting, Martians!

New this week in Mars Frontier:

Voice of the Martian Updates

Heads up, Martians!

Our team has continued, and will continue, making tweaks to the new systems so as to make it easier for everyone to participate in our “Grand Finale.”

We are again thankful for those who keep on providing feedback so we can continue to try and make these last few months as fun and memorable as we can for everyone. Here are some changes to address a few of the issues and suggestions that you’ve brought forth to us.

Tweaks of the Week

• Splash area was too small that units are often unable to hit moving targets. Splash area has been doubled.
• Reduced HP penalty for DPS units by 20%
• Nerfed AI unit damage and HP.
• Slight boost to unit damage and HP for all player units.
• All other maps have closed. There are now only two maps.
  • Tournament Map: Strongpoint Quarries now award combat bonuses in addition to quarry yield and text bonuses.
  • Non-Tournament Map: Free base damage protection is now awarded more frequently.
• When units are selected a group, their speed is modified so they will stay closer together. As soon as they are no longer in a group they regain their normal speed.
  • Group speed works this way: The difference between the speed of the slowest and largest is divided by the size of the group. The group then gets the minimum speed plus this, or +5%, whichever is smaller.
  • The reason for this is to make it always worthwhile to group units, but not allow really slow units to travel super-rapidly around the map by also selecting an ultra-fast unit.

Incoming

• Client: Will take another crack at improving targeting when a unit can do no damage.
• Combat Balance: Will be continuing evaluation of difficulty attacking and defending. Have made new script to instantly rework a base at a higher or lower CC tier in order to test different difficulties.
• Content:
  • The “Apocalypse” event is in the works.
  • Reducing XP requirements for player levels so everyone has a chance to get to max level before the end.
• De-Monetization: We will be further increasing speed bonuses given by gold/alloy. Pre-closure announcement, you got crafting, repairs, upgrades, etc sped up by 3 minutes per gold/alloy. Currently, these get sped up by 6 minutes per gold/alloy. This will increase to 9 minutes on 12/1. Resource harvest rates will be increased on 12/1. The maximum craft/research/upgrade/etc time will also be reduced by 24 hours on 12/1.

Have feedback to share about this week’s releases? Let us know over in the “mars-frontier” channel within our TR Discord Server.

Good hunting, Martians!

New this week in Mars Frontier:

Central Computer Level 12

Attention, Commanders!

Get ready to celebrate on Mars with this week’s update!Effective today:

The Central Computer level cap is raised to Level 12, paving the way for new maximum levels for your production, storage, and research buildings!

The Elephant in the Room

As you all have noticed, there has been a lot of changes happening since last week. We do apologize for the delay in our communications, but we’d now like to address and explain what, why, and how things have changed.

Hopefully, in addition to dispelling some weird rumors and theories, we can clear the air and give you a little more insight as to how to utilize the new systems put in place. For simplicity’s sake we will categorize the main changes into two: economy and buildings, and unit rebalance and strategy.

Economy and Buildings

• Previously, levels per tier are wildly inconsistent. They are now consistent
• Economy buildings now have two levels per tier.
• All unit research/production buildings have two levels per tier.
• Non-elite units and their associated research/production buildings also get two levels per tier.
• Turrets, mines, and missiles have three levels per tier.
• Time requirements dramatically reduced. It takes a maximum of 5 days (without leader bonuses) to build or research anything now. It’s a hard cap at 120 hours.

Frequently asked question: Why are our resource storage and production so low now?
Our old levels jumped all over the place in terms of advancement. Now they’re consistent. However, all research unlocks, build costs, repair costs, etc are now auto-scaled to the available harvest rate and storage caps, so you have lost absolutely nothing in terms of buying power. Think of it this way: your resource currency just underwent serious deflation. You can buy more with each unit of each resource than you could before.

Unit Rebalance and Strategy

• Unit HP, DPS, build time, and resource costs all balanced based on space requirements. The more expensive a unit, the more powerful it is, and at a predictable and consistent rate. That means that out the gate, a unit that takes 30 space is exactly twice as powerful as a unit of the same type that takes 15 space, but they receive modifications based on their roles.
• Unit speed and range balanced based on unit type and unit role: Infantry is the slowest with the longest range on average. Air units are the fastest with the shortest range on average. Artillery and Sniper units get range boosts and speed nerfs to compensate
• Close range units get a bonus to their speed and a proportionate nerf to their range.
• Long Range units get the same bonus to range and nerf to speed.
• High Speed gets a slightly higher boost to speed while paying the same range cost as close range.
• DPS units get a bonus to damage and a proportionate nerf to HP. Most of your artillery units are Long Range/DPS roles.
• Some units have the “Threat” stat, which makes the AI increase their priority in the targeting system by 50%.
• Threat gets a bonus to HP and a nerf to damage.
• The “Tank” role get a bonus to HP and get an even higher “Threat” stat, making the AI 100% more likely to pick them as a target. Note that the “Tank” role is not strictly limited to actual Tank units. Some aircrafts have the “Tank” role, too. You can find these in the Unlock/Upgrade windows of a specific unit.
• Turret HP is based on potential attacker DPS output, and is currently designed to withstand 20 seconds of fire from the average unit. There will be ongoing analysis and fine-tuning for this.
• Mine DPS is designed to insta-kill the strongest non-elite unit in its target category.
• Turret DPS is designed to focus on particular target types as well and to kill a target in 2 to 10 seconds of sustained fire.
• Missile DPS is designed to take a few hits to kill the toughest units, while able to insta-kill groups of weaker ones.

Frequently asked question: Why are units so weak now that we can’t do event bases anymore?
Units have been balanced to encourage trying different battalion compositions and being more strategic; possibly requiring a little more micro skills too. The older strategies of steam-rolling everything with Elite Paladins, for example, may no longer work, as they are now in an Artillery Role. It may be MORE effective to bring units with a Tank role and high Threat to draw aggro from turrets, then using Artillery like Mortarmen, due to their high anti-building DPS and very long range.

We know some players have taken up the new challenge of getting to know the new systems. Of course, we still welcome feedback. Please expect more monitoring and tweaking of the new systems, so if you have tried different strategies and still find it difficult, please let us know what you are having trouble with!

Miscellaneous improvements and fixes

• Central Computer resource cost cuts are in. L4 to L11 (and eventually 12 and 13) now costs 55% of your maximum possible resources to build.
• Major cuts to unit research costs and build costs are complete.
• More buildings have had their hit points adjusted to unit DPS, and more building costs have been made proportionate to storage available at their CC level.
• All upgrades, unit construction, missile, mine, and turret crafting should be appropriately scaled to resource storage.
• Building HP should all be scaled to unit DPS.
• AI units all given some unique aspects. Hunt them all!

More releases incoming, including a planned “grand finale” event. We here at Battlehouse are eternally grateful to all our players, and we plan to go out with a bang on April 2023; and we would love it if you join us there!

Have feedback to share about this week’s releases? Let us know over on our Thunder Run Discord Server.

Have feedback to share about this week’s releases? Let us know over in the “mars-frontier” channel within our TR Discord Server.

Good hunting, Commanders!

New this week in Mars Frontier:

Welcome to Season 29!

Welcome to Season 29! Going into the new season, all Leaderboards and PvP Points are reset, meaning that it’s a fresh start for YOUR Alliance to be the new the dominating Alliance of the Season, and win the Seasonal Clan Tournament Grand Prize of 8,000 Alloy for your Alliance at the end of the Season in 3 months from now. Does your Alliance have what it takes?

Looking for the Season 28 Tournament winners list? Don’t worry. It will be revealed soon. Stay tuned for another Patch Notes coming later!

Have new feedback to share? Let us know over in the “mars-frontier” channel within our Official Discord Server.

Good hunting, Commanders!

New this week in Mars Frontier:

End of Season 28 Alliance Tournament

From September 29th – October 6th, 2022, rally your Alliance and head to the regional map for your chance to be the strongest Alliance of Season 28!

Be one of the Top Alliances with the most Clan PvP Points to win between 1,750-8,000 Alloy, divided evenly among the top 10 members of your Alliance.

Tournament ends on October 6th, 2022, at 1700 GMT at which point winners will be announced, prizes awarded, and leaderboards will be reset for the new season.

Season 29 Opens: October 6th, 2022

• The new season will begin immediately after the end of the tournament.
• Please be reminded that PvP points can only be accumulated on “Lowlands” maps.

Have new feedback to share? Let us know over in the “mars-frontier” channel within our Official Discord Server.

Good hunting, Commanders!