List of changes currently being tested in Maps 200, and 300-301:

  • Battalion movement speed is now 50% faster.
  • The “Regrouping” cooldown is now 6 seconds, down from 8 seconds previously.
  • Players can now create and deploy up to four battalions at once, up from three previously.
  • Gold-based battalion speedups have been transformed into a Battalion Jump consumable item that performs the same function.
    • Battalion Jumps are available from various sources including trainee recruitment, daily login rewards, daily trainee gifts, and the in-game Store.
  • More buildings now give some Fuel, Supply, and Hardware loot when destroyed. In total, about 35% of loot has moved out of Yards/Storages and into various other buildings around the base.
  • Several of the AI enemies that were previously on the Single Player menu have been moved to the Regional Map.
  • Time and resource requirements have been increased for the intermediate level range between TOC Levels 8 and 15.
  • Unlocking new units now requires a higher level of the previous unit of that type.
    • In a future update, existing players will be granted any missing prerequisite levels for units they have already unlocked.

Overview

Many thanks for all the hard work players have put in building up their Clans and sending us feedback in our first months of Firestrike!

We are looking forward to ramping up marketing and widening the game to more players soon. As part of this process, we are looking back on how the game design played out over its first few months, to make sure the foundation is as healthy as possible before we start adding significant new content on top.

We are planning a set of updates, which we’re calling “Season 2,” to improve on several Firestrike game systems. These updates are mainly designed to maximize combat action and Clan cooperation for players at all current TOC levels. As with all balance changes, we’ll monitor the results and feedback closely, and make adjustments as they are called for.

Battalion Movement

We’d like to see much more action take place on the map, so we’re increasing base movement speed, adding more battalions, and adding an important new battalion movement boost to the Clan Logistics Quarry.

We’re also shifting instant battalion “teleports” to an item-based system that draws from a variety of sources, including trainee recruitment and daily login rewards, in addition to a limited-use Gold-based option. This opens up instant battalion movement to more players, while adding some scarcity so that teleports will not be the only viable strategy for getting around.

AI Opponents

In line with the just-mentioned battalion movement updates, we are starting to shift the focus of resource-gathering from Single Player onto the map. We’d like to see more cooperation among Clanmates to acquire resources by dominating map regions, rather than solitary single-player activity.

Over the coming weeks, several AI enemies will migrate from the Single Player list into bases you can attack on the Multiplayer Map.

Loot Distribution

During Season 1, the dominant defensive strategy in Firestrike was to group the few resource-giving buildings tightly under the protection of several overlapping Turret Emplacements. We’d like to open up base design a bit more, so in Season 2 we are spreading loot more evenly around various buildings. This change is intended to add more strategy to defensive base layouts by forcing defenders to protect more than just Yards and Depots.

Upgrade Progression

The design team feels that more gameplay should take place at intermediate TOC levels, especially in the range from about TOC Level 8 to 15. Therefore, we are increasing the time new players will spend at these levels by raising the upgrade time and resource requirements. (content for TOC level 16 and beyond are planned for a future update).

One other issue we want to address is that relatively little use was made of higher unit upgrade levels, because more advanced units could be unlocked without taking earlier units beyond Level 6. This was actually an unintentional carry-over from an earlier balance design for Firestrike where units had many fewer upgrade levels. Starting early in Season 2, we will be raising the minimum requirements to unlock advanced units. There will be a built-in grace period and grandfathering for existing unlocks included with this update; stay tuned for details.

Feedback Thread

The official channel for feedback on Season 2 updates is this forum thread. See you there, Commanders!