Greetings Commanders! We've received some exciting news from R&D. Our next patch "Game Update 1.9: Hero Armory" is due to release the week beginning Monday the 29th of January.
When it hits you will be able to construct a Hero Armory in your Facility! As the name suggests, it is a building for outfitting your hero with additional armor and weapons to make them more effective in the field! We would like to take a moment to brief you on the coming features.
Hero Armory
In order to build your Hero Armory, you will need to level your Command Post to level 8 in order to ensure your hero is experienced enough to make good use of their new equipment. You will also need to have collected sufficient amounts of Armory Blueprints, which are available from Covert Testing Stations on the World Map during events called Station Strikes. If you raid enough of them it will allow you to upgrade your Hero Armory which unlocks a new schematic at every level.
Gear
Your hero will have 4 gear slots, allowing you to equip one of each type of gear at any time. The types are Head, Legs, Chest, and Weapon.
Gear (and the components used to craft it) have rarities. These are Core, Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Augmented. The higher rarity a piece of gear the better stats and buffs it is likely to have. Stats are bonuses to your hero's main values, such as Attack, Defense, and Health. Buffs improve something a hero can do. For example "+10% Unit Production Speed" is a buff that (as the name implies) improves the speed at which you can train units.
Gear is also upgradable. If you collect more crafting components they can be upgraded twice to have stronger buffs and stats in much the same way as they are originally crafted. This will allow you to continue building on gear you already own or craft new pieces with different buffs on them. Make sure you check out the stats on gear before you craft it though - it's possible that upgrading your current gear might give more favorable stats than crafting a whole new item with higher rarity!
Crafting
When you have constructed your Hero Armory you will gain access to Gear Schematics. These are combinations of items that will allow you to craft powerful armor and weapons for your hero. Every time you upgrade your Hero Armory you will unlock another Gear Schematic to craft.
Every craft or upgrade has a cost in crafting components. These are items obtained from defeating Invaders and Armory Crates that have rarities and are specifically used for crafting.
The process is simple; once you have all the components required just hit the craft button and you will trade your components for a gear item. The process is instant and so there is no time cost. Once you decide you want a piece of gear, as long as you have the components you can craft it immediately! There are no level restrictions for any gear, so it will be able to be equipped to your hero right away!
Disassembly
However, what happens if you DO craft a new piece of gear? Does that mean your old piece is destined to forever be gathering dust in your inventory? Not a chance! You can choose to Disassemble your gear and reuse the components to make new gear. When you Disassemble any piece of gear you will reclaim 25% of the total components used on it which includes the original crafting cost and any upgrades.
Invader Hunting
Now that heroes have new gear to strengthen them they are also equipped for new tasks. If you check out the World Map you will see some sectors have been occupied by unfamiliar enemies called Invaders. These enemies can only be faced by your hero - they won't be able to bring any backup with them. Your hero will battle these enemies with precision and skill, and although they may not be able to defeat them in a single attack they will not take any damage in the encounter. If you have the Energy for it, you will be able to string attacks together. This makes it quicker to hit the Invader (your hero won't have to travel back and forth to the base) and your hero will gain a damage bonus by making a chain of attacks. This means that your first attack doesn't get a bonus, but your second one will do 5% more damage, your third 10% more, and so on.
In fact, everytime you hit an Invader you will earn some loot and killing them will provide you with an Armory Crate - which contains components to craft new and better gear. Every attack you make against an Invader also grants your hero experience points.
TARGET ACQUIRED!
We've got visuals on the first Invader Commanders! It seems to be a large Armored Alien Bug. In order to secure the safety of our Facilities it cannot be allowed to roam free. It also seems logical to assume this will not be the only Invader in the aliens' arsenal. We can expect different Invaders to arrive in the future and we need to ensure we're ready to take them down.
Changes to Heroes
Given your hero's new task to hunt down Invaders, it stands to reason that they will also need some updating. Your hero will gain a stat called 'Invader Attack'. This value works a lot like your hero's current Attack stat except it is used when your hero is attacking an Invader. After all, attacking Invaders solo and commanding troops in combat are very different talents!
We're also introducing the Invader Skill Tree in this patch to make your hero even more versatile than before. Your hero will have a new type of skill point, specifically for this tree. So don't worry about having to split your current points over two trees! Level 70 heroes will get 191 skill points to play with. The Invader tree features 17 skills relating specifically to Invader Hunting. There will also be a new skill reset item, allowing you to reset each tree independently if you get a new idea for a hero build. Here are some of the skills you can expect to use to bolster your hero's capabilities:
- Energy Usage - Reduces the Energy needed to attack an Invader.
- Energy Restoration - Increase the regeneration rate of your Energy.
- Energy Total - Increases the maximum Energy your hero can have.
- Sustained Attack - Allows you to make multiple attacks on an Invader without having to return to your Facility.
- Speed - Increases your hero's movement speed on the map when engaging an Invader.
- Attack - Increases your hero's attack against Invaders.
- Spoils of War - Increases the chance of extra loot after combat.
- Effortless Victory - Gives a chance to reclaim Energy when striking a killing blow against an Invader.
Hero Energy
Along with skills, gear, and hunts; heroes will now have a resource called Energy. Tougher enemies will require more Energy to attack, so in order to maximize your loot, you need to maximise your hero's Energy regeneration. Energy regenerates gradually over time, but there are skills that can help out! If you want to speed up this process even more we will also have Stim-Packs available to quickly fill your Energy bar. Energy you restore in this way will overflow, allowing you to use every drop to hunt down those Invaders!
This classified briefing is now over Commanders. Please be sure to post any questions you may have for review! Remember, all this will be available in our next patch "Game Update 1.9: Hero Armory" which will be hitting the servers in early 2018.