Combat Loot Update

Combat Loot History
Combat was an early addition to Core-Exiles some 9+ Years ago. Since that time it’s had a few re-iterations and alterations but for the most part its been the same. During that time the looting side has not changed apart from the addition of a few mission additions. Although we have expanded the loot itself as the game has expanded.

We have had many ‘additions’ to loot quietly added as new items were added to the game or new Galaxies came on-line. The loot table up to this morning had grown to around 334 unique loot items across the Galaxies. These were bound to 7 different ship categories. Problem was there was a LOT of overlap. Making it almost impossible to know what ship types were likely to generate the type of loot you might want.

Rip Up the Book
So the first thing we did was to start from scratch, We analysed what should be in the loot table, removing a lot of unnecessary items. We then removed things like Factory end products and many of the Planet based Extractor items etc.

New Items Added
Then because I hate to miss an opportunity I added 109 NEW items. These are pretty much unique to combat, so giving combat for once its own loot base. Now I know I said we took a load out and added 109 in but the new number of Combat loot is 403. That’s 403 unique loots.

Loot Categories
The next challenge was to spread those loots between the many varied types of ships we have in CE. So I expanded our existing 7 categories to 19 categories. I should explain that these are not something you will SEE listed in CE but something you’ll need to figure out for yourself. Each of the 19 categories were given their own ‘Core’ loot. At the time loot is generated it will always pull from the core loot with a smattering of mixed loot. Plus we have a listing of loot that I call General loot, which all categories can pull from.

This means that you will always get randomized loot and yes you will still get general loot but each Category of ship has its own core loot. Enabling you over time to drill down and figure where best would I go hunt if I wanted lets say ‘Children’s Toys or Minerals and Rocks’.

So now we have a completely rewritten loot system from which the new Loot screen can draw.

The Loot Screen
First off I have added back in a header and footer. This enables you to keep an eye on your remaining space and fuel and various HP’s so to make a choice about which screen to opt for next. The footer also enables you to exit directly to a screen you may wish without going back to the navigation screen. For the VI I have ensured these are VI versions and also added an Exit ‘Button’ and repeated the AP available on the bottom bar. Saving you moving UP to exit.

Five Loot Windows
So the biggest change here which is immediately apparent is the amount of loot windows has grown to FIVE from three. So more opportunities right off the bat. You still stand a chance as always to roll a blank box but hey that’s life.  Each window is a unique roll from the aforementioned looting system above.

Loot Amount
Up till now loot ‘amounts’ IE how much loot you get in each box has been based on the Tonnage of the ship you just killed. Unfortunately this creates a sweet spot for those paying attention and looking at the data collected it indicates players tend to gravitate to the easiest kills with the largest tonnage. Which is fine but needed changing. So rather than re-jig the entire 8,000 ships tonnage, we changed the rules.

From now on Loot amounts has been simplified. Loot rolls with no ‘affecting modifiers’ (read on for details on that) will be from 0 to 10. That means the largest loot in any window will be 10 and of course a blank meant you rolled a Zero. But don’t Panic!

Combat Loot Maximisers
These take the form of Pods. Yeah a new range of pods for combat lol. There are Five player Engineered versions and Five Store Versions. (only difference being pod points for fairness). Each Combat Loot Maximiser increases the Maximum loot value possible. Note it does NOT affect the lower value. So if you add a pod that for arguments sake adds a +4 to max loot then your loot rolls are between 0 and 14. I’ll let you review the pods and what they can do from the C.E.D.R. (search for ‘combat’).

The blue prints for these are available from Howell Frontier Engineering. Bit pricey but seeing what they do well worth the credits.  As stated there are Store versions these will be added today.

Combat AP & Re-Scan
This is probably the biggest change to the actual loot system bar the actual loot itself.  As you will know as a combateer, you have THREE Action Points to spend in Combat. These enable you to do things like fire off drones or Matrix’s etc.

Well if you manage to SAVE any of those Action Points you can spend them on the Loot Screen. One of the staff said it reminded him of a one armed bandit. Or a fruit machine if that’s a better mental image. Simply put if you have AP you can use them to Re-Scan ANY loot box that has not been already looted.

This gives you the opportunity to discard a loot you have been offered for a ‘chance’ of a better one or one more to your liking. Of course if you’ve used the AP in combat this option won’t be available to you. Each rescan uses the same code that generates the initial loot. So using re-scan gives you the same chance as the original roll. That also means you can re-scan and roll a blank!

Item & Misc Loot
So, rather than take one of your nice Five loot boxes and use it for the ‘Misc loot’ we decided to automatically pic up any misc loot you find. For sake of extra screen imagery and bandwidth for you we minimised this to a single Extra line that will appear and tell you when an Item was found and WHERE it was stashed in your ship.

The same goes for ‘Items’ you may find. you know the Mining lasers and Shields and cargo expanders that you simply throw on your Emporium or recycle. Again this is displayed as a single line entry in the loot screen. The list of what you can find has also been re-jigged and now stands at 833 Misc items and 1,292 items.

Critical Loot Chance
As we are rolling towards December I though it might be a good time to add a new December Item to your shopping list. This takes the form of a ‘Critical Combat Loot Account Upgrade’. (what a mouthful). Simply put when added to your account this produces a 1:25 chance on EACH loot window to roll a critical loot roll. It does the same on the re-scan buttons as well. If you land a critical roll it adds 50% of your Maximum loot value on to the current loot. It then highlights that loot roll in Red.

This Account upgrade will be added Today to the store and then remain available through out December. Disappearing along side the other Christmas items like Rudolph and Donner & Blitzen.

Coops