From Mazeworld

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Revision as of 14:04, 14 September 2015

Latest released Mazeworld update: MazeWorld v3/OP2 - June 5th 2015
Next planned update: MazeWorld v4, aka OP3 - Date unknown (Each of the OP3 components will be gradually implemented)

Upcoming

Opus Perfecta part 3

The third and final part of the Opus Perfecta updates will bring the biggest changes yet to come in MazeWorld!

Unknown date

The Reputation system

This feature will be better detailed in the future. The general idea is to introduce a sense of fame and reputation among the Mazes' inhabitants, and particularly their various factions.

The Mission Overhaul

Missions are intended to be overhauled to match the new roomgen system.
- Contract Missions will no longer exist as a separate mission set ; instead, they will become secondary missions in an upcoming Sidequests feature, where Contestants may now enter a hiring bureau and request jobs and contracts for cash, equipment, reputation and fame ; which in turn will serve to unlock further sidequests as well as main storyline mission arcs.
- Other existing mission sets will become Mission Arcs ; the Normal Missions will become the Maratuxa Campaign arc (a stand-alone, Neutral aligned arc), the Alternate Missions will become the Youkai Activism arc and the Proxy Missions will become the Mishap 4th arc ; both of which are in what is referred to as "opposed arcs" ; if one is started, the other may no longer be started.
- In the future, more mission arcs and sidequests may be written.

Latest

September 14th 2015

OP3 features part 3: The Big One ; New Roomgen update

The biggest part of the OP3 features is now ready for preliminary testing!

The new room generation system

After many months of work in the making, the new random room generation system is now ready for testing. There are two major components to this update, which relate to the way the Mazes now function: a new civilized area / town system, and a redesigned random room generation system for what is now known as the Uncivilized Area, also referred to as the UA or simply the Mazes.

Civilized areas

Civilized areas, or towns, are hubs with a fixed layout and a semi-random selection of features. They are protected settlements, usually either Neutral or under the influence of a faction. All towns possess an entrance point, a generator, a hospital, between 1 and 5 residential areas, a social square with many shops and facilities, and they may also have either extra shops or a mall, as well as a specific facility which defines the reason the town exists (a military base, a factory, a laboratory, an office facility, etc.)

Towns are an incomplete feature ; the relation between a town's faction and the Contestant is meant to be explored in a future update (the Reputation system).

Towns are meant to be randomly generated for the most part ; random name, faction, facilities and inhabitants may all be randomly generated. There are a few exceptions - certain towns are fixed in nature and are meant to have special, recurring facilities. For example, this is the case of the town in which the Startgame is now initiated; this town is called Arnett, and it is the home of a special facility: a biotech laboratory, where the Contestant now wakes up.

The Uncivilized Area (UA)

MazeWorld's bread and butter, procedurally generated environments and events, still exists in the form of the Uncivilized Area (UA, or just The Mazes).

The main activity of the game will be to go from town to town ; leaving the initial town of Arnett to search for other towns. Between each town is the Uncivilized Area ; the classic MazeWorld experience with its random rooms, events, and encounters.

As before, a system of roomstyles and random events still exists, but with major changes:

A random amount of events per room is generated, instead of just one in the old system.
Each door may lead to a different roomstyle or to special areas, which are announced in advance, in order to give the player the ability a more meaningful choice.
The next town is not the only destination ; independent shops that have settled in the UA to service travelers, and new, explorable areas, filled with dangers but also potentially valuable loot. There is also a small chance that the trip leads to a dead end ; an abandoned city, ruins, or an otherwise dead zone which will prompt the Contestant to keep traveling - meaning that no two trips in the UA are the same, and that there is always a sense of risk associated to long periods outside of a town.
The player may now indirectly choose a Traveling Style: Safe, Fast or Deep route, all of which affect their trip in the UA.
- Three major factors are at play when traveling in the UA: Speed (the distance remaining until the next destination), Danger (the chance to find encounters on the way), and Explorables (the chance to find explorable areas on the way).
  - Fast route increases Speed, at the cost of increased Danger and decreased Explorables. Recommended when the priority is reaching the next destination as fast as possible.
  - Safe route decreases Danger, but decreases Speed and sharply decreases Explorables. Recommended when trying to stay away from fights, as long as supplies allow a potentially longer trips.
  - Deep route sharply decreases Speed, and sharply increases Danger and Explorables. Recommended when looking for a fight and loot, as long as the equipment is suited for a danger-filled, lengthy trip.

The Cardinal Amulets are now only findable in the UA, with a very small chance to be randomly generated as an event each room.

Objectives of this testing period

Randomly generated towns and the UA are ready to be tested, but at the exception of Arnett, no special, fixed towns will be found while testing the various aspects of this feature. This is because fixed towns only have any real meaningful existence with the Reputation system (coming soon).
- The routine for this testing period will be Arnett -> UA -> Random town 1 -> UA -> Random town 2. Trips in the UA will include at least one explorable, one independent shop, and one dead end. All three traveling styles (Fast, Safe and Deep) are to be tried out as well.
As stated in the "Upcoming" section above, missions are now completely disabled, pending an overhaul.

Other changes

Changes in the structure of the Maze Military and Police.

Military

Three new RF Companies (from 9 to 12) and one new DF Company (from 5 to 6), for a total of 900 extra men.

Police

Introduction of a new character position, the Maze Sheriff. Equivalent in rank to the Colonel in the military, the Sheriff's role is to serve as the chief of all police in the entirety of the Mazes.
- The Sheriff, just like the Colonel, is an unique character ; Sheriff Len Hargrave. For now, he is only referenced, there are no planned ways to meet or find him yet.
New police role, the Call Operator. No different from standard Maze Guards regarding standard equipment and appearance, their role is to monitor and take emergency calls, directing patrol and SRT teams to the location as necessary. They are found in police stations.

Both

New Key Item, the Tactical Radio. It is an attachment for the mobile phone and allows squads and groups to communicate with each other (provided they all have a tactical radio as well). Communication with their superiors on base ensured by using the phone and tac-radio to call the radio operator, a new role within a Barracks. The radio operator's job is to allow communication between squads and their barracks.
- Both military and police receive a tactical radio as part of their default equipment.
- Tactical radios do not require separate power or batteries, running as an extension to the mobile phone. Multiple tac-radios can communicate with each other from a certain distance without drain on battery power ; phone battery is only drained when calling and communicating with a central.
- Tactical radios can be found for sale in a Workshop.
- While Contestants can purchase and equip a tactical radio, they currently serve no specific purpose ; in the future they will be an integral part of the equipment through the Mishap 4th missions, and may be used at will to call for reinforcements (provided the Contestant's rank allows it).

September 12th 2015

OP3 features part 2: The weapon rarity system

Weapon rarity

Weapons are now generated using a new rarity system, which regulates rarity according to shop value (which itself is a representation of how 'good' the weapon is).

Firearms and melee weapons are graded on two separate rarity scales:

Firearms:

Rarity 1: Common - Chance to generate: 59.5%
Rarity 2: Regular - Chance to generate: 22.45%
Rarity 3: Premium - Chance to generate: 9.5%
Rarity 4: Superior - Chance to generate: 5.65%
Rarity 5: Rare - Chance to generate: 2.45%
Rarity 6: Extraordinary - Chance to generate: 0.45%
Rarity 7: Unique - Never generated randomly, is applied to custom weapons, crafting-only weapons, and specs docs weapons.

Melee weapons:

Rarity 1: Common - Chance to generate: 55%
Rarity 2: Regular - Chance to generate: 26.5%
Rarity 3: Premium - Chance to generate: 12.5%
Rarity 4: Superior - Chance to generate: 6%
Rarity 7: Unique - Never generated randomly, is applied to custom weapons, crafting-only weapons, and specs docs weapons.

New MazeBot commands have been created (for GM use only):

@rarity-gun ; Generates a random combination of weapon Class (C1-C4) and Rarity (R1-R6).
@rarity-melee ; Generates a random combination of weapon Class (C5L, C5S, Handgear) and Rarity (R1-R4).

Related changes:

Black Markets now exist again, as weapon shops specialized in weapons of Rarity 4 and above only... with a caveat: they are overpriced. All ammunition and accessories are priced at 200% of their value. Rarity 4 weapons are sold at 200% value, Rarity 5 at 250%, and Rarity 6 at 300%. In a pinch and with a lot of disposable cash, these shops may come in useful...

The criteria given by the commands are entered in the GM's weapon database, and a random weapon, if any exists, is selected then specced among the possibilities. If the combination of weapon class and rarity returns no results, then a random weapon from that class (with no regard for rarity) is generated instead.

August 28th 2015

OP3 features part 1: The "Wildey's Here!" update: The OP3 weapons pack

It's almost a tradition by now: here's even more weapons for your ballistic pleasure. 23 new stock firearms, 2 new calibers, one new underbarrel shotgun, 2 new specs docs-only weapons, associated new accessories, and more.

New calibers:

.44 Special, the older and shorter variant of .44 Magnum. Compatible in all .44 Magnum revolvers + the Marlin Model 1894 lever-action rifle.
.475 Wildey Magnum, a high-powered, rimless magnum cartridge. Wildey's Here at last!

New stock firearms:

Beretta Stampede Marshal, Class 3 revolver, .45 Colt
CETME Ameli, Class 1 machine gun, 5.56x45mm NATO
Charter Arms Bulldog, Class 3 revolver, .44 Special
Colt Cobra, Class 3 revolver, .38 Special
DSA SA58 FAL SPR, Class 1 precision rifle, 7.62x51mm NATO
FN Herstal M240B, Class 1 machine gun, 7.62x51mm NATO
IZHMEKH MP-412 REX, Class 3 revolver, .357 Magnum
KAC Stoner 99 LMG, Class 1 machine gun, 5.56x45mm NATO
Kel-Tec RFB, Class 1 conventional rifle, 7.62x51mm NATO
MasterPiece Arms MPA57SST, Class 3 pistol, 5.7x28mm
Norinco QBZ-03, Class 1 combat rifle, 5.8x42mm
Rheinmetall MG3, Class 1 machine gun, 7.62x51mm NATO
Ruger LCR CT, Class 3 revolver, .357 Magnum with integrated laser sight
Smith & Wesson Model 24, Class 3 revolver, .44 Special
Smith & Wesson Model 296 Airlite, Class 3 revolver, .44 Special
Smith & Wesson Model 625-6, Class 3 revolver, .45 Colt
Steyr AUG HBAR, Class 1 machine gun, 5.56x45mm NATO
Taurus Model 431, Class 3 revolver, .44 Special
Taurus Model 444 Ultra-Lite, Class 3 revolver, .44 Magnum
Taurus Model 450T, Class 3 revolver, .45 Colt
Valmet KvKK 62, Class 1 machine gun, 7.62x39mm
Wildey Hunter, Class 3 pistol, .475 Wildey Magnum
ZiD PKM, Class 1 machine gun, 7.62x54mm R

New specs-docs only weapons + their associated documents:

DP-12 (affectionately called the Super Shotgun), Class 2 shotgun, 12 gauge
- Specs docs required: #DP008: Prototype hybrid double barrel/pump-action shotgun blueprints
- Has the particularity of being the first pump-action double barreled shotgun, and as such, will benefit from unique rules regarding shooting and reloading.
LMG11, Class 1 light machine gun, 4.73x33mm Caseless
- Specs docs required: #ON504: Prototype caseless light machine gun blueprints + #KM991: Technical guides for conversion of G11 action into other weapon systems
- The LMG11 has a 300-round capacity, fed from a special ammunition cassette which essentially acts as a very large capacity magazine.

New magazines and accessories:

C-More M26 MASS, magazine-fed underbarrel shotgun, 12 gauge. The M26 MASS comes standard with a 5-round magazine, and is capable of +1.
200-round PK belt, suitable for use in the PKM and PKP Pecheneg
FN FAL 10-round magazine, suitable for all firearms using FAL mags, and standard on the SA58 FAL SPR.
The M26 MASS's 5-round magazine and an extanded 10-round magazine.
New speedloader: .44 Magnum/Special 5-round.

New Customs services

.44 Special being naturally compatible with all .44 Magnum revolvers, it is now explicitly listed as compatible in all .44 Magnum cylinders of custom Blackhawk and L-Frame revolvers.
New minor services: H&K CAWS to CAWS Modernized, H&K G11K2 to G11K2 Modernized, LMG11 to LMG11 Modernized, and LWMMG to LWMMG Enhanced.
- The CAWS Modernized will add a NATO-S optic rail, 2 large Light mounts, a front mount compatible with bipod, foregrip and M203PI, and a threaded barrel.
- The G11K2 Modernized and LMG11 Modernized both add the same modifications: NATO-S optic rail, 2 large Light mounts, and a front mount compatible with bipod, foregrip and M203PI.
- The LWMMG Enhanced simply allows the weapon to fire .338 Lapua Magnum, for greater damage but increased recoil. Everything else about the weapon remains unchanged ; even the ammo belts required are the same!