I know it is unlikely anything can be done about it, and my next battle accomplished the mission, but I was playing in a Future DM with low-mid ranks, up to 3-Wrnt. I finished with my vulcan-viking at least 20 in the lead and when the battle reset, it did not award me my mission award for winning 1st place. The battle reset without me noticing, so I seem to have died at the last second. Still, I've never seen it not award the first before.

The system does not work. I participated in a 30 minute battle that went the full time and ended 14 flags to none. The timer went off once or twice, but always reset quickly. One other on my team and I had decent scores but very few crystals. It would have been nice for that battle to have ended early. The early-end system is not worth having at all if it works like this. People are still leaving the battle as soon as it starts to appear hopeless. No one believes the battle will end early even if the warning sounds. (Still annoying, just not so often.) Three minutes is too long.

The early-end system is still broke. Yes, the sensitivity is down, and it is not so annoying, but I was in a battle that ran to 20+ flags to 1. Come on. What is the early-end for if not a battle like that? The original system worked. It had annoying quirks, but it ended battles early, properly, most of the time. The current system doesn't. When it signals, it resets when the opponents score some points. It needs to look more at the sum of player's points and the battle totals. If flags are different by a large margin, especially if there is too little time for catching up unopposed, the the battle should give a short warning. A little time, just in case, but the early end should be hard to reverse. With the original system I remember a battle we got behind in, but then started gaining, dominating even. (I assume the key players on the other team left for some reason.) We were too far behind to catch up if the timer went early, but we were gaining points so fast, it ended the battle because we were winning, but when it ended early, we were still behind. That should not be possible. I doubt anything like that could happen with this system. I doubt it can even actually end a battle early. I've not seen one, even when badly lopsided. The timer needs to take into account the number of opponents. When a smaller team gets behind the timer should start and be irrevocable unless the teams even out. If there is a five tanks to ten tanks disparity, the five tanks cannot win. A timer should start, and it should not stop until the players are even. That way, even if the small team is doing quite well, the battle will still end early, since there is no way for the smaller team to win. (Well, at least not in CTF.) Three minutes is too long, especially given that it usually reverses within 30 seconds.

I was wondering if my experience was due to being a low rank. From the looks of some of the comments, nope. Simply, this early time function is broke. It just doesn't work. The first update that implemented it worked. It had its problems, but it worked. Each update has made it less annoying, until this one, but each update has made it work less well. This update seems to holler about the battle ending, then it hollers and says things are back to normal, then it repeats, over and over for lopsided battles. And, it didn't on another lopsided battle that kept going uninterrupted. Something is wrong with the calculation. The timer-check shouldn't be checking for the first couple minutes. Then it should be checking the score balance, and it should be checking ratios. I'm not sure exactly, but the first one worked medium well. This round doesn't work. It is calculating something wrong. It says it will stop, and it doesn't, and it does it often, too often.

I like the update. The hull change is quite minor, subtle, even, but it makes a difference. Perhaps enough, maybe need a little more. Maybe.

I decided to set up a new account just to get the vulcan. So far, so good. It has its drawbacks. Not going to be for everyone, but it is good and effective. Nice change. Makes me think and fight differently than the other turrets I fight with. I'm running on hunter so far. I will probably switch to viking, but I'm not convinced I want bigger. It needs to be able to move, despite the fact that one needs to try to sit still while firing. (Otherwise you fight yourself trying to turn the turret.) It should prove to be a good team addition as well. Overall, I give it high ratings. It is a good addition to the game. \\// Live long and prosper.