Last updated on August 19th, 2020

RELEASE 17

Hey Prospectors!

Today is quite a big day as we’re bringing Release 17 right into the fray. It’s a pretty exciting one for us as we’re introducing some largely expected changes – including Prospector levels and Skill-Based Matchmaking – along with a huge array of balances and bug fixes.

So without further ado let us dive right into it!

SKILL-BASED MATCHMAKING

A lot of you have been awaiting this one for a while. If you’ve been following us lately you may have noticed that we’ve integrated a whole brand new Matchmaking system earlier this week with the help of Amazon GameLift. The system has been tracking all of your performances since then and we are now bringing the Skill-Based Matchmaking system live!

How does that change your experience when playing The Cycle though? Whenever you queue for a match, the system will try to make sure you are being matched with Prospectors of a similar skill level. No more facing high-ranked Prospectors when playing the game as a new player – and if you’re one of those masters, your daily The Cycle fill will be more balanced and challenging than ever!

PROSPECTOR LEVELS

So you’ve been playing The Cycle for a while and know every little secret the game has to offer. But one question still remains in your mind: how can you effectively brag about it? Well, worry no further, we’ve got you covered!

Our new Prospector leveling system will allow you to show your dedication to other players. Playing a match will allow to earn a certain amount of experience points based on your performance and increase your Prospector level. Climbing through those ranks will allow you to unlock cool, classy feature, such as new portrait backgrounds and fancy titles. Time to show the Station who’s the boss around here!

Please note that your Prospector level will increase independently to your Fortuna Pass level. We do not intend to reset these however and you can only ever go up!

CAREER STATS

Yeah okay, levels and play time are cool, sure. But how am I supposed to brag without proper stats to back my claims? Well, what a coincidence, aren’t we glad you asked!

You will notice there’s a new button visible at the top of the screen in Prospect Station. This button will lead you directly to the Career Stats screen, a brand new overview of everything you have achieved as a Prospector so far. Feel free to use these bits of info to set yourself individual goals, find new ways to improve or, more importantly, gloat very loudly over your high numbers!

Please note that some of the stats are still a work in progress and we may have to reset all player stats at some point in order to neatly restructure our system.

SUIT CHANGES

• Aani Quicksuit
  • Increased health from 300 to 400.
  • Increased shields from 300 to 400.
  • Level 2 & 5 bonuses reduced from health & shields +100 to health and shields +50 to compensate for the base increase.
• Dragonfly Suit
  • Increased health from 400 to 500.
  • Increased shields from 400 to 500.
  • Level 2 & 5 bonuses reduced from health & shields +100 to health and shields +50 to compensate for the base increase.
• Augment Suit
  • Increased health from 400 to 500.
  • Increased shields from 400 to 500.
• Less Interruptions (Mod)
  • Removed the ability cooldown penalty.

WEAPON BALANCE

• General
  • Stagger values for weapon on all AI opponents has been reduced. Yes, we’re looking at you Bulldog & Scarab users.
  • Fall off damage has been removed completely. You will now deal the same amount of damage at close range as at a long distance. Maximum range for weapons still apply.
    • As a consequence, all mods previously improving effective range will now increase projectile speed.
  • Removed the increased spread value when Aiming Down the Sights (ADS).
  • Added some spread increase on all weapons when airborne. It is after all rather hard to be accurate when falling from a 10m high cliff.
  • Following some player feedback, we’ve made some adjustments to the in-game code and fire rate won’t be affected by FPS anymore.
  • The bolts from the mod “Chain Reaction” mod will now be properly absorbed by Kinetic Shields.
  • The recoil improvements from the mod “Heavy Stock” have been reduced from 50% to 10%.
  • In-match weapon upgrades have been adjusted to the removal of effective range.
    • Level 1 upgrade: +5% damage.
    • Level 2 upgrade: +5% damage.
• Bulldog
  • Increased reloading time from 1.6s to 1.8s.
  • Increased delay between shots from 0.52s to 0.6s.
• KBR-Longshot
  • Decreased reloading time from 2.64s to 2.4s.
  • Decreased delay between shots from 0.45s to 0.4s.
• Karma-1
  • Reduced weak spot bonus damage from 100% to 75%.
  • Improved ADS speed from 0.65s to 0.45s.
  • Lowered spin-up time from 0.75s to 0.5s.
• Kinetic Arbiter
  • Reduced weak spot bonus damage from 100% to 75%.
  • Slowed down ADS speed from 0.35s to 0.45s.
  • Decreased direct damage from 345 to 300.
  • Reduced projectile speed from 43000 to 41500.
• C-32
  • Slowed down ADS speed from 0.35s to 0.45s.
  • The cross hair will not show anymore while hip-firing.
• Basilisk
  • Reduced weak spot bonus damage from 100% to 75%.
  • Improved ADS speed from 0.45s to 0.37s.
• Komrad
  • Increased delay between shots from 0.8s to 1.04s.
  • Reduced projectile speed from 5000 to 4000.
  • Removed projectile acceleration altogether (missiles won’t pick up speed over time).
  • Reduced radial fall off damage from 50% to 20% of the original value.
  • Big Bertha (Mod):
    • Reduced magazine side from 6 to 5.
    • Removed the 20% damage radius bonus.
• Karla
  • Reduced the reloading time when adding more ammo. This should prevent accidentally canceling a reload.
• Gorgon
  • Heavy Inductor (Mod): Changed to Light Alloy Body, which no longer increases damage but improves movement speed.

ABILITIES

• General
  • Removed the use of abilities when Down But Not Out (DBNO).
• Directional Warp
  • Reduced traveling distance from 35m to 30m.
  • Level 2 upgrade: decreased cooldown reduction from -10s to –5s.
• Warp Bomb
  • Improved traveling distance from 11m to 15m.
  • Level 1 upgrade: increased cooldown reduction from -2s to -5s.
  • Level 2 upgrade: increased cooldown reduction from -2s to -5s.
• Shock Grenade
  • Reduced cooldown from 25s to 20s.
  • Level 1 upgrade: increased cooldown reduction from -2s to -5s.
  • Level 2 upgrade: increased cooldown reduction from -2s to -5s.
• Heavy Turret
  • Reduced the maximum number of turrets deployed at once from 2 to 1.
  • Level 2 upgrade: reduced cooldown reduction from -10s to -5s.
• Energy Turret
  • Reduced the maximum number of turrets deployed at once from 3 to 1.
  • Level 1 upgrade: decreased cooldown reduction from -10s to -5s.
  • Level 2 upgrade: decreased cooldown reduction from -10s to -5s.
• Health Boost
  • Removed the health regeneration boost.
  • Level 1 upgrade:  changed from “+5s duration increase” to “-5 second cooldown reduction”.
  • Level 2 upgrade: decreased cooldown reduction from -7s to -5s.
• Orbital Bombardment
  • Increased cooldown from 25s to 30s.
  • Reduced activation time from 2.5s to 1.5s.
  • Level 1 upgrade:  changed from “+10% damage” to “-5 second cooldown reduction”.
• Precision Strike
  • Increased cooldown from 15s to 25s.
  • Increased damage from 400 to 500.
  • Decreased activation time from 2s to 1s.
  • Level 1 upgrade: increased cooldown reduction from -2s to -5s.
• Orbital Barrage
  • Increased damage from 400 to 500.
  • Reduced activation time from 1.75s to 0.75s.
  • Level 1 upgrade: increased cooldown reduction from -2s to -5s.
• Safeguard
  • Decreased cooldown from 50s to 30s.
  • Decrease duration from 30s to 10s.
• Protective Shell
  • Decreased cooldown from 40s to 35s.
  • Increase duration from 3s to 4s.
  • Level 1 upgrade: increased cooldown reduction from -2s to -5s.
• Triage Sphere
  • Reduced healing from 50 per second to 40 per second.
  • Decreased duration from 20s to 15s.
  • Increased radius from 10m to 20m.
  • Level 2 upgrade: changed from “+50% healing” to “+5s duration”.
• Skirmish Sphere
  • Removed the healing altogether.
  • Increased damage from 25 per second to 40 per second.
  • Reduced duration from 25s to 10s.
• Healing Aura
  • Increased healing from 15 per second to 25 per second.
  • Reduced duration from 15s to 10s.
  • Increased radius from 10m to 15m.
  • Level 1 upgrade: changed from “-5s cooldown reduction” to “+5s duration”.
  • Level 2 upgrade: changed from “+5s duration” to “-5s cooldown reduction”.
• Stand Your Ground
  • Removed the bonus to health regeneration delay.
  • Removed all bonuses related to recoil, reload, equip, unequip and ADS. Defense and movement are now the only values affected by the ability.
  • Level 1 upgrade:  changed from “+5s duration increase” to “-5 second cooldown reduction”.
  • Level 2 upgrade: increased cooldown reduction from -7s to -5s.
• Adrenaline Shot
  • Removed the reductions to health regeneration rate and health regeneration delay altogether.
  • Level 1 upgrade:  changed from “+5s duration increase” to “-5 second cooldown reduction”.
  • Level 2 upgrade: increased cooldown reduction from -7s to -5s.
• Cloaking Device
  • Reduced cooldown from 35s to 30s.
  • Decreased duration from 15s to 10s.
  • Level 1 upgrade:  changed from “+5s duration increase” to “-5 second cooldown reduction”.
  • Level 2 upgrade: increased cooldown reduction from -7s to -5s.
• Concealment Cloak
  • Removed the 20% increase to damage received.
  • Removed the 10% movement penalty after cloak deactivation.
  • Reduced cooldown from 40s to 35s.
  • Reduced duration from 20s to 15s.
• Evasion Cloak
  • Reduced cooldown from 40s to 35s.
  • Decreased duration from 25s to 15s.
  • Level 1 upgrade:  changed from “+5s duration increase” to “-5 second cooldown reduction”.
  • Level 2 upgrade: increased cooldown reduction from -7s to -5s.

CONTRACT ADJUSTMENTS

• Cycle Spike
  • Simplified the values of the contract. Every crystal will now be worth 1 point. Pick-up times are still different from crystal to crystal.
  • Scoring in solo has been increased by 20%.
  • Scoring in Duo has been decreased by 20%.
  • Cycle Spikes will now happen a bit later than before during a match.
• Minerals
  • Epic Mineral Clusters will now appear 2 minutes into a match. Use this time to gear up and gather some credits.
  • Values have been simplified to multiples of 100 for easier readability.
• Salvage Drone
  • Salvage Drones will now appear 2 minutes into a match.
• Zeal Shard
  • Zeal shards will now appear 2 minutes into a match.
• Mag-Train
  • Train console interaction time has been reduced from 4s to 2s. Now tailored for easier yoinking.
  • Time between scoring “ticks” has been increased from 8s to 9s. In other words, points will build up a bit more slowly.
• Brightcaps
  • The central Brightcap deposit is now the only deposit station available. This is an experiment to see if it creates more conflict around depositing and if it allows players to get back their stolen Brightcaps easier.
• Laser Drill
  • Values have been simplified for easier readability.
• Uplink
  • Values have been simplified for easier readability.

MISC

• Ranked mode is back and working as it should!
  • There will be no Recall Batteries in ranked modes now, if you get foamed, you’re foamed for good!
• The Loadout screen has been reworked to be more intuitive and easier to navigate.
  • Modding will now work as intended. Clicking on a mod slot will now take you directly to that mod slot for instance.
  • Actions in the Loadout menu are now clearly indicated. You can easily choose and differentiate between Modding and Swapping.
• Increased the safety time after breaking a pact from 5s to 10s. We hope this will help prevent pacting with another player just to remove their shields and shoot them dead.
• Nests will now only spawn monsters when interacting with them, no when getting close to them. We felt this was creating too many unfun and unfair situations for players. Now, nests can be actively triggered for a nice boos of credits and/or XP.
• The headquarters for Osiris and Korolev are now open for business! Go check out Emmanuel’s cool rig and finally meet Vadim in person.
• You can now put more sprays in Prospect Station. Unleash your inner street artist and go commit some beautiful vandalism!

 QUALITY OF LIFE

• Weapons will now be automatically reloaded when recalled to the drop pod.
• Shooting an enemy player will outline them for 2s. This is visible by you, your team and your pact mates.
• Removed question marks from activity map markers.
• Mineral map markers will now properly disappear from the map once the player moves somewhere else.
• Added new PvP sounds when hitting a shielded enemy, breaking an enemy shield and hitting an unshielded enemy.
• Integrated new reverb zones and low pass filters for inside & outside environments.

BUGFIXES

• Mods can now be equipped and unequipped without any issues.
• Owned items will not have a lock icon on them.
• You will not get stuck for a few seconds after loading into Prospect Station.
• The Scanner will now properly show the full list of Daily & Weekly challenges.
• The weapon customisation menu will now only show you the list of customisation options you own.
• The “Reset Prospector” button in the Appearance menu will now properly reset the appearance of your Prospector.
• Prices for mods will now be properly displayed at all times.
• Queuing into a game will not ’cause the rest of your squad members to be pulled out of their current game.
• Additionally, leaving your squad won’t pull out your squadmates from their current queue.
• Sending an in-game friend request through the EGS friend list will now require the recipient’s confirmation.

KNOWN ISSUES

• The leaderboard top ranks will only update after restarting the game.

Please remember:

We are still in Early Access even though Season Three has started. The game is still in development. This means that bugs and crashes are to be expected.

If you find any issues during your session, please don’t hesitate to report it using the bug reporter tool in-game.

Please also keep in mind that queue times, especially late in the night might be longer than expected due to lower player count around these times.

We hope you have fun during your time on Fortuna III and look forward to reading your feedback!