Hey everyone,

As a continued effort to get more information to the community prior to major releases, we wanted to do a follow up to answer some questions regarding PvE vs. PvP, as well as discuss features and design changes that are coming soon.

Q: With PvE and PvP being separated, what is going to happen to Fleet vs. Fleet (FvF)?

As discussed in my previous post, PvE is traditionally known as Player vs. Environment, while PvP is known as Player vs. Player. In Battle Pirates, this can be represented as taking your fleet out into the world and fighting targets that are controlled by the AI (PvE), or opponents that are controlled by other players (PvP). You can think of Fleet vs. Fleet (FvF) as a subcategory of combat that can occur in certain circumstances, under each branch of PvE or PvP. Either you are in a fleet battle with the AI, or against another player, but both types of combats are considered FvF.
In order to better aid players with determining what type of hulls to bring to combat, we are beginning to launch a game-wide communication initiative to make it as clear as possible which hulls are useful for which targets and vice versa. To do this, we’ve started to incorporate new naming conventions in our planning and general development. We’re going to begin by clearly labeling and defining classes for both hulls and targets. These classes will be primarily defined by the kinds of enemies that target contains, the damage types, and the type of target the hull is meant to be most effective in. We plan on labeling targets as a type and classifying hulls as a type. Obviously, this means you’ll want to use the hull that is best suited for the congruent type of target in order to be most effective.

These are the class names and a brief description of each:

Skirmish - This is the classic PvE Fleet vs. Fleet class. A hull of this category will be best suited for PvE FvF combat. Targets of this category will strictly contain enemy ships only. Hulls labeled as a Skirmisher will have some Assault Deflection but not Siege Deflection. Resistances will be tailored for current damage types being dealt in PvE FvF targets, and will generally have fluid maneuverability. Weapon types that are highly specialized for exclusively fighting enemy fleets will be the most effective for these kinds of hulls. Armadas and Drac Convoys are a good examples of Skirmisher targets.

Assault - Assault targets are PvE targets that contain patrolling ships as enemies but will also have some turret or building units as well. Hulls categorized under this class will contain both Assault and Siege deflection, with Assault having a higher numerical value compared to Siege Deflection. Resistances will be tailored for current damage types being dealt in PvE Assault targets, with average maneuverability, and emphasizing weapon specialization that can handle combat vs both PvE fleets and PvE turrets.

Siege - This is the standard PvE turret-only class. Targets categorized as a Siege target contain turrets and structures only (no ships). Similarly, hulls that are classified as Siege hulls will be designed to perform best against these types of targets. Siege hulls will have only Siege Deflection stats but no Assault Deflection stats. Resistances will be tailored for current damage types being dealt in PvE Siege targets. Weapon types that are highly specialized for fighting enemy structures or turrets exclusively will be the most effective against these targets. The Draconian Mining Base is a good example of a Siege target.

Garrison - This PvE target will contain enemy structures or turrets but will also have a small amount of enemy ship units as well. Unlike Skirmisher and Assault, these enemy ships will most likely be stationary or slow moving, providing support fire or countermeasures for nearby turrets. Garrison hulls will typically have both Assault and Siege Deflection stats but the Siege Deflection stat will be higher. Resistances will be tailored for current damage types being dealt in PvE Garrison targets, with sub-par maneuverability, and emphasizing weapon usage that can deal a decent amount of building damage with some damage being dealt to enemy fleets. Targets such as the current Draconian Strongholds in the most recent event cycle are good examples of a Garrison target.

Conqueror - This is the Player vs. Player (PvP) class. There will be no PvE targets that are labeled as a Conqueror target. Player bases and fleets will be the best “targets” for Conqueror hulls. These hulls will typically have very high deflection stats (Assault Deflection, Siege Deflection, Ballistic Deflection, etc.) with little to no resistances. We plan for this category to grow, having a wide variety of unique and interesting options, that includes both base hitters and PvP FvF hulls.

Defender - A Defender hull is the typical base defense fleet hull for your base (PvP). There will be no PvE targets that are labeled as a Defender target. We wanted to separate this category out away from Conqueror since we feel that there is a clear distinction between attacking and defending in PvP, both in play style and statistical needs. In the future, these hulls will typically have very high deflection (Assault Deflection, Ballistic Deflection, etc.) with little to no resistances. In order to avoid weapon damage from creeping in power further, weapons that are specifically designed to destroy PvP fleets will have a new statistic called “Deflection Bypass”. This will be calculated in the same way that the Resistance Bypass is currently calculated, but applied to Deflection instead. There will be different forms of this, such as Ballistic Deflection Bypass or Assault Deflection Bypass, but will all calculate in the same way.

Q: Are there any plans for PvE targets to change now that PvE is separated?

Yes.

Currently, most of the PvE targets that players encounter (Draconian Mining Bases, Armadas, etc.) typically have a low damage per shot with a high salvo count. In my original post regarding turret rebalance, I discussed how we wanted to increase the damage per shot in NPC PvE targets to get around the Deflection provided to PvP hulls.
However, in light of the recent decision to add Deflection Bypass to the game (see “Defender” class, above), we have concluded that it would be best to balance these changes by adding this new statistic to weapons in the NPC targets. Instead of changing damage values across the board for NPC targets, the addition of this stat to NPC targets means we do not have to drastically increase the health of PvE hulls (which would mean increasing repair times, something no one likes). Changing how damage is dealt in NPC targets would also mean potentially decreasing the lifetime of a PvE hull, which we absolutely want to avoid. In short, instead of making repairs longer and hull shelf life potentially shorter, adding Deflection Bypass to NPC targets will balance the differentiation between the PvP and PvE branches and will allow us to better support these hull types.
This will also make PvP hulls (which rely on Deflection to survive) significantly less effective vs PvE targets as compared to a proper PvE-class hull, which specializes in resistances.
This addition of Deflection Bypass to the game is currently planned to roll out May 3rd.

Q: What does this mean for the Revenge, specifically?

Currently, this hull is extremely powerful out of the box. Many of you who earned the Revenge and used it in the event can attest to its power against these PvE targets. Its high deflection values allows for it to efficiently destroy targets since enemy projectiles are almost entirely mitigated. Obviously, adding Deflection Bypass is going to make PvE targets stronger against these kinds of defenses (deflection). In other words, hulls like the Revenge will not be viable options to use for PvE targets once this change is made. However, it will continue to be incredibly useful in PvP battles, which was the intention when the hull was originally designed. For now, feel free to take advantage of this hull’s ability against PvE targets while you can, and consider this a heads up!

Q: What does this mean for current World Map targets?

While I discussed this topic on a recent episode of The Forsaken Council show, we want to make sure that we are actively communicating with the community at large. We’re making some significant changes to how we handle PvE targets on the World Map to fit into these new target classifications. This includes not only event and standard World Map targets, but the Forsaken Mission as well.

We noticed that players will typically build or adjust hulls in order to perform optimally in events against the targets we’ve created over the span of an event cycle but, once that raid cycle has concluded, those hulls have a significantly reduced use on a day-to-day basis. Since there are no targets that are best suited for that particular build, many players have expressed that the event hull loses some of it’s punch after the event is over.

In order to improve the longevity of hulls that are built to perform well during the raid, we’re going to begin rotating event targets onto the World Map after the event cycle is over. This can manifest in multiple ways. If the event cycle featured Garrison targets (such as the recent Draconian Stronghold), then those targets will be re-tuned to the appropriate damage levels post-event and added to the World Map as Forsaken Mission targets. If the event target was a Skirmish target, then they may replace the current Armadas. These are just examples of how we’re planning to increase the longevity of your event-specific hulls for longer shelf-life and more utility beyond the event.

Ideally, we’d want to rotate event target types to match a more regular rotation of targets that get updated on the World Map. As another example, say a raid cycle of targets are Skirmish style targets. After that event cycle is over, we drop those targets onto the world map as Armadas. Then, in the next event cycle, we feature Assault targets. We wouldn’t replace the Armadas again.
Instead, we’d put them onto the map as some other target type for another activity.

Our current plan to rotate event targets into day-to-day World Map targets looks something like this:

Skirmish Raid Targets become new Draconian Armadas
Siege Raid Targets become new Draconian Mining Bases
Garrison Raid Targets become new Forsaken Mission Strongholds
Assault Raid Targets = [TBA]

Q. When are the targets moving?

The first instance of this plan is already scheduled to happen! On May 18, we will be replacing all current Forsaken Mission targets with the most recent event targets (ie, Draconian Strongholds).
These will be considered Garrison targets. This allows us to jump start this plan as cleanly as possible while also giving you as much heads up as we can before moving forward.
The hope is that players who have built fleets for this particular raid cycle will continue to see use for these hulls after the raid is over. If you have a fleet for hitting Draconian Strongholds, you should be able to engage the new Forsaken Mission targets. Period.

We will also be adjusting point payout and requirements for the FM to better align with these changes and features that are being added into the game. We have a very significant plan to provide more consistent prizes awarded from the FM, bolstering the prizes across various tiers. As mentioned in another briefing, with the advent of crafting in the Foundry, certain tiered components will be found in the FM tiers and more easily available for players wanting to take advantage of crafting.
We’ll be introducing a Garrison class to the Foundry after the May Event, which includes hulls such as the Strike Cruiser, Dreadnaught X, Novastorm, Berserker, and Citadel. We’re going to ensure that hulls provided in the Foundry are the best hulls for battling the defined class target at their appropriate level. This will allow for players to more easily catch up and take part in the Forsaken Missions, further enabling players to be more competitive in upcoming raids.

Additionally, every so often, we’ll do a “refresh” of each target type that has existed on the World Map based on when it first appeared. For example, if the new Armada targets are expected to last 10 months, then we would likely refresh them around month 5 or 6. While the details of this refresh are currently being considered, our current plan is to add new targets on top of the existing ones and not fully replace them.

Summary

Again, to reiterate, our goal is to holistically increase the longevity of the ships you build and decrease the risk of invalidation. Hull classes will be clearly useful for their target classes and have a longer lifespan altogether.
While we realize that these updates may cause some initial turbulence for some players, we strongly believe that this plan will ultimately improve the overall predictability, progression, hull value, and health of the game. We will continue to work to keep the lines of communication open regarding these changes and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Thanks for reading!

--GD Raikan