They were also planning an incendiary alteration for Magnum? Great thing they cancelled it. :D Don't worry Diesel, it may seem like devs couldn't care less about the game's balance anymore, but I distinctly remember them saying how difficult it was to please everyone, and I don't blame them for that, since there's so many factors they have to take into account before releasing something, and the number of in-game features is constantly increasing.

I really like your idea Maf, about nerfing the minimum damage, because it does ensure Sledgehammer can only top normal Thunder in close ranges, and after around 45 meters (assuming 5% weak damage) it starts losing effectiveness compared to the stock version. Considering the planned update for Thunder, did Hazel say it will also affect the SCCM alteration? Because based on some figures I obtained for that alteration, it turns out SCCM does not change Thunder's damage per second in any way, while SR directly buffs it.

Btw I'm certain that devs wouldn't go that far in making an incendiary Thunder alteration burn all targets within the splash radius, but if that was to happen somehow, then it cannot be 300dmg/sec, it should be more like 100 or 50. The duration could be for 3 seconds, like dragons breath. Then they must choose a disadvantage so it won't be considered an upgrade.

It mainly depends on the turret itself. Vulcan for example, had no other parameters that could be altered in compensation for the significant burning damage it dealt, so reducing the base damage seemed like the wisest choice. Smoky had its critical shots, and Hammer had its pellet spreading mechanism, both of which can be changed quite easily, so no damage reduction was necessary for them. I do agree that the most sensible way to balance those alterations is to reduce the damage, so as to prevent the buildup of DPS that can arise from a turret having more than one ability.

I'd personally choose this alteration if the battle was characterized by groups of tanks in close proximity to each other, like in CP and assault, or in maps with many walls that can be utilized for splash damage. If you believe the reload time setback should be slightly reduced, or the damage radius increased further to be comparable to that of Gauss, please let me know.

Highlights from all my container openings in the past 2-3 weeks: Ripple paint Portugal paint 5 gold boxes (50 batteries) x2

Since I also figured it wouldn't be right for SCCM to have an ability which larger-shelled alterations do not, I had to come up with a different alteration for Thunder, and that's actually what I did in the Ideas for Alterations! category. You could check it out if you want, just to give your opinion, and whether some aspects of it may need to be changed or not. I hadn't thoroughly considered the details of that igniting alteration, although I'm certain that I'd restrict the effect only to the tank being directly hit by the projectile, all the others around it would receive normal splash damage. There also would be a downside, but I haven't considered it.

I have an idea for a new Thunder alteration, it still needs to be reviewed though. Name: Explosive rounds Description: Shells are equipped with highly explosive material that significantly increases their blast radius. The rate of fire for such rounds was found to be unsustainable. Advantage: Average splash damage radius is increased by 80% Disadvantage: Reload time is increased by 35% Rank unlock: Major Price: 90k crystals My personal reason for this alteration? Thunder only has 3 alts, two of which directly influence the rate of fire, basically doing the same thing, and a third which simply disables self-damage in compensation for no splash damage. There isn't any alteration that affects its damage radius, which I believe is a defining feature of Thunder, since its main selling point is the ability to damage several enemies at once and take down targets behind cover. How will this alteration work? It will increase Thunder's average splash damage radius from the current 5 meters to exactly 9 meters, which means (based on my understanding of the mechanism) that it will retain 90% of its damage until 9 meters, after that mark the damage will linearly decrease until it reaches 25% weak damage at 12 meters, beyond 12 meters no damage will be dealt. If you need more information about how damage ranges work, then I suggest you view the wiki for Thunder. The downside here is the noticeable reduction in reload rate, giving an M4 Thunder a reload time of 3.1 seconds, and a DPS approximately 26% lower than a stock Thunder. What will it look like? The animation would be that of a large explosion, with the same magnitude as Magnum's blast, but looking more similar to that of Thunder, just to distinguish it from Magnum's shots. The explosion will be an indication of the presence of ER Thunders in the battle. What will this alteration accomplish? Thunder's damage radius will exceed that of Magnum's, but will not reach the level of Gauss, thus placing Thunder in the middle of the spectrum. Players will now be able to damage more tanks with Thunder's splash damage, and hitting tanks behind cover will be more convenient. Thunder players could be assigned to take down the snipers of an enemy team, potentially helping teammates during crucial moments of the match. However, Thunder players would need to take caution in avoiding direct confrontation with other enemies, since their DPS is now lower than that of Smoky. Did you consider non-Thunder users? Yes, the slower reload rate will give unsuspecting enemies more time to change their locations, it all depends on how they react. Will Thunder still be a practical weapon? I hope so, the reload nerf isn't that harsh, so players shouldn't feel too discouraged. The damage is unchanged, only the DPS, to prevent the possible exploit of such an alteration while also giving Thunder users the thrill of dealing their usual high damage per shot. If there's anything you feel must be changed in this alteration to make it more balanced, please point it out to help me enhance this idea.

That was just an option. I know there's more original ideas which could work better as alterations for Thunder.

That could genuinely work, at least to balance them out, but preferably I'd like to see Sledgehammer and SCCM each alter different parameters for Thunder. Small caliber charging machine could increase the splash damage radius, ignite a target, or just improve Thunder's vertical auto-aim system in compensation for that -20% min. and max. damage it has. Any of those could potentially be more appealing than a 20% decrease in reload time.

Several alterations are unbalanced, I don't disagree with that, even though in theory they're all supposed to be equal in effectiveness, with each specializing in its own thing. The problem I wanted to shed some light on, from my previous post, was that SCCM is pretty much obsolete compared to Sledgehammer rounds, it needs a change in parameters, to make it serve a different purpose than Sledgehammer and become a more interesting option for players. Hyperspace rounds is a good example, it costs 180,000 crystals, the most expensive Railgun alteration, but its unique ability does not overshadow what the other alterations are capable of. Many players feel comfortable playing with alterations that cost a fraction of what HR does.

Aha, thanks for making it clearer to me, so you choose one combo and stick with it for (x) battles or have to earn experience using it. One potential problem would be the unpredictability of the maps you're put in, so you'll need a versatile combo if you're gonna have to earn 1000 experience or finish 10 battles with it. But overall I don't think that's much of a setback, and I'd really like to see missions of this type implemented.

Devs have stated before that all alterations are equal in power, the more expensive ones are probably meant for more interesting scenarios, they aren't priced high because of their power. Duplet and autocannon can easily be swapped for cheaper alterations like dragon breath and supercumulative rounds that still giving a satisfying gameplay experience. This alteration is blatantly inferior to Sledgehammer, it also doesn't have much of an effect on Thunder in that you're still dealing the same DPS. I didn't even know it had an advantage, which is to kill unprotected light hulls slightly faster, as mentioned by Striker above. But that's not enough for something that's supposed to change the mechanics of a turret.

Cool idea, I'll definitely take this over the capture (x) flags and score (x) goals missions. But I have one question, this would take into account the fact that not everyone has all the turrets and hulls in the game right? It should randomly select combos from the equipment you have at the moment. There also seems to be another issue, which is the presence of m0/m1 turrets and hulls in your garage if you're a higher ranked player. You can't be assigned to do a mission using a much weaker tank than your peers, otherwise you'd be helping the enemy team. I think it should randomly select the best of what you've got based on your rank.

Something is wrong with Thunder's SCCM alteration, I just found out that it does not affect its performance in any way, while Sledgehammer significantly boosts DPS in most ranged encounters, based on our conclusions. You can see there's no difference between using a stock Thunder and a SCCM Thunder, both have an identical damage output. I'm not saying this should be "better" than a stock Thunder, since that's not what alterations are for, but I can't find a reason for using it. Sledgehammer clearly outclasses SCCM, and both alts are supposedly meant for the same thing, reduced reload time in compensation for less damage per shot. Perhaps it could have a higher splash damage radius with a slightly lowered DPS, I don't know, any change is adequate as long as it gives some purpose to this alteration.

The EA"S" alteration gives Railgun a higher DPS than LCR and RD. It doesn't do any one-shotting, but it surely stands a better chance at winning 1vs1 scenarios. So far I don't regret buying it from yesterday's sales. I went against a team with 7 out of 8 members carrying +35% modules and still got a K/D above 1, and while I do know that K/D doesn't mean much, it still brought me some nice scores in the battles I've used it in.

I find it difficult to get emotional for such a time, even though I did enjoy it a lot, because I recognize there where also several bad memories associated with it. For some reason we tend to overlook those setbacks and focus only on the pleasant memories, which isn't a problem in itself but could lead to a deceiving view about the past.

"Congratulations plasma torch, you've finally graduated from parkour battles and can be used effectively in matchmaking battles." I used it in several battles and it no longer feels as if it doesn't belong there, it seems quite balanced at the moment.

Sadly I've seen worse overdrive fails than that. Like this Magnum/Viking player who activated his overdrive only to drive backwards and fall into a hole literally a second later, I felt bad for the guy.

That buff in Shaft's minimum arcade damage would make it more comparable to Smoky and Thunder. Players may start relying more on arcade shots than sniper shots, which could make Shaft turn into more of a medium range turret than the long range turret it's supposed to be. Not to mention that's just extra DPS for the dreaded RFM alteration. Impact doesn't mean much for Shaft, but I know for sure a 910 impact force at M4 is way too high. This may bring us back to the old days when Railgun used to easily flip light and medium hulls, and players really didn't enjoy that. I know this is just a hypothetical case, but I believe Shaft is the last turret to deserve a buff. In my opinion, some candidates for a buff would be Vulcan, and Twins. Maybe reduce Vulcan's barrel startup time by 30%, and increase Twin's projectile speed by 25%. Several other turrets may need a nerf, like Hammer, Ricochet, Gauss, Magnum, and Freeze. I can't think of proper nerfs for them.

Hunter's overdrive doesn't disable Titan's dome if you're not close enough to the dome generator, it'll just stun the Titan but leave its dome intact.

No, we wouldn't. The Red Junglefowl is what gave us the first chicken egg, which hatched into the first chicken, and then the cycle went on. This should solve this dilemma in its literal interpretation, whether you'd call that first egg a chicken egg or a Red Junglefowl egg is a different topic, but it doesn't change the fact that without those birds, you'd have no modern chickens, who ultimately emerged from that one egg. About when man started breeding modern chickens, the article mentions chickens first appearing around eight thousand years ago, so I am inclined to believe people started breeding them slightly before that time. Modern lizards are not descendants of dinosaurs, birds are thought to be the only living descendant of dinosaurs. Anyway, the answer to whether the lizard or the egg came first requires you to go back to the time the first lizard egg was laid, so here's some more information from a different article: "Amniotes are descendants of the first reptiles that moved onto land. The first amniotes, which resembled small lizards, evolved 340 million years ago, during the Carboniferous Period. Amniote eggs can survive out of the water. This development allowed reptiles to move further inland and away from the bodies of water where amphibians have to lay their eggs." During that period (Carboniferous Period), there was the Hylonomus lyelli, the earliest known reptile and the first animal to have fully adapted to life on land. How this creature came into being and started the whole process of evolution for land animals is beyond the scope of my knowledge and my patience for further research, so I admit I don't know the answer to that.

Use google, it's that simple. There's scientific evidence that the egg came first. The first amniote egg—that is, a hard-shelled egg that could be laid on land, rather than remaining in water like the eggs of fish or amphibians—appeared around 312 million years ago. In contrast, chickens are domesticated descendants of red junglefowl and probably arose little more than eight thousand years ago, at most. If the question refers to chicken eggs specifically, the answer is still the egg, but the explanation is more complicated. The process by which the chicken arose through the interbreeding and domestication of multiple species of wild jungle fowl is poorly understood, and the point at which this evolving organism became a chicken is a somewhat arbitrary distinction. Whatever criteria one chooses, an animal nearly identical to the modern chicken (i.e., a proto-chicken) laid a fertilized egg that had DNA identical to the modern chicken (due to mutations in the mother's ovum, the father's sperm, or the fertilised zygote). Put more simply by Neil deGrasse Tyson: "Which came first: the chicken or the egg? The egg—laid by a bird that was not a chicken." This is all quoted from wikipedia.

Thank you for explaining what I meant, but just one little correction, the point I made about the trouble of earning enough crystals back then was chiefly due to the absence of missions, weekly missions, containers, challenges, premium accounts, and other sources of income we now take for granted. The percentage of a gold's fund out of a typical battle fund may not have changed much throughout the years. They also had a lower chance of appearing, a longer time between the siren noise and the box dropping, and the marks showing the location where they would drop didn't exist. Players would often be nervous and on high alert, the thought of randomly attacking other tanks nearby wasn't a common one.

Call me crazy, but I kinda miss those times when a gold dropping wasn't a sign to start killing players around you just to ensure a slightly better chance of getting it, the thrill of catching a gold box was much greater than it is nowadays. Unfortunately, back then it was really tedious trying to get yourself to save up enough crystals, so GBs were actually considered to be a significant source of income for most tankers, and failing to catch one was a terrible feeling, especially during events.