Topic: New assignment system testing - October 2013
The public test server for the new assignment system is open!
Relevant blog post:
http://blog.perpetuum-online.com/posts/ … m-stage-1/
Summary of important stuff about the PTS and how to access it:
Installer for the test client: http://content.perpetuum-online.com/fil … p_test.exe (If you have an old installation that's fine too, it will update itself.)
Don't install into the same folder as your live client.
After it’s installed, copy over your Local.gbf file from your normal installation so you don’t have to configure your settings and arrange your windows again.
Log in with your live account.
All alpha and beta islands are active for this test, but everyone has been moved to TMA just to be safe.
Everyone got a lot of NIC and EP for testing.
Everything is available on the market for 1 NIC.
Database is mirrored from the live server (from yesterday).
Your relation towards NPC corporations has been averaged to have only relation towards the 3 NPC megacorporations. (This will happen when the patch goes live too.)
What needs to be tested
Assignment system related
The assignment system itself of course: requesting, completing, aborting, etc.
Relation limits for available assignments are now more straightforward: level1s are available with 1.00 relation, level2s with 2.00 and so on. Training and level0s are available regardless of relation.
Awarding relation rewards is now very strict: you'll only get relation rewards for a level0 mission up until you reach 1.00 relation, for a level1 mission up until you reach 2.00 and so on.
Training assignments now also provide relation rewards.
The mission information window now shows the final rewards (ie. with bonuses) for both NIC and relation as well as the % value of the bonus. Corporation tax and squad share are NOT calculated in here.
The bonus system: assignment bonus levels are displayed in the bottom right of the category boxes, they can be positive (green) or negative (red). Bonus will increase if you successfully complete assignments from the same box and decrease if you abort them or they expire. When the box has a positive bonus level and you fail a mission from it, the bonus level will immediatelly disappear. Likewise, if the box has a negative bonus level and you complete a mission from it, the negative bonus will immediatelly disappear. Bonus levels add a multiplier to the rewards of the next requested mission which ranges from 0-100-200% (level -5, 0, +5). The multiplier affects NIC and relation rewards only.
We have 2 new extensions in the relations category: Contract negotiation and Reputation management. They are both tied to the above bonus system and (more or less) replace the old Diplomacy and Headhunter bonus extensions.
The Parallel assignments extension has been removed. The only limit to do more assignments at once is basically the limit of how many boxes you can activate around Nia. Together with the above two extensions these will be reimbursed when the patch goes live.
No 6/10 rule anymore either, but it would be a bit hard to reach this limit in the new system anyway.
No "All assignments" tab anymore, you can remotely check the availability of assignments on the map by right-click infoing the terminals.
NPC relations panel has been removed from the Agent profile, megacorporation relation values are now available on the top of the assignments window.
All mission objectives are now always visible from the start so you can prepare better. The exceptions are hidden objectives that are specially marked as such.
We have implemented optional objectives which are marked with a blue icon. You don't have to complete these in order to finish the mission. An example for this is the first two scanning objectives in the General training III missions.
Deliver button is now only shown for missions which require something to deliver.
Sparks that can be unlocked via relation now require relation towards the 3 megacorporations. Sparks that have been unlocked will stay unlocked even if you don't have the required relation after the averaging.
There are a few transport missions scattered in industrial boxes. They got there due to some merging we had to do, so this is intended.
Non-assignment related
We have done some optimizations/refactoring to a few other systems so things could be broken. The list includes but is not limited to: storage mechanics, repackaging, volume calculation, module usage/reloading, spark teleports, arkhe requesting.
The server will now attempt to activate an available robot after spark teleporting.
Appearance of objects on the terrain should be processed much faster now, this should solve the detector module freeze issues (and also undocking to a dense gamma zone, but you can't test that here).
Anything that works on the live server but is broken here should be reported.
Known issues
Some mission objectives could be in the wrong order. If you find one of these, please post the mission name here.
This post will be constantly updated as we progress with the testing.
Feedback and any issues you find should be posted in this topic.