SYNTHETIK - News - UpdateMonitor

Update 24 - High Technology

Hey everyone!
Although we planned doing one super large update for the console release, we did not want to keep new things away for so long. This update has a focus on balancing and health of the gameplay systems, many things have been buffed or changed! Here we go:

TLDR:

Overhauled Damage Types Ruleset (Check Weapon menus)
Tons of Weapon Balance changes (Clear your preconceptions!)
Enemy, Item, Class Balance (Demo rework, Raider Core)
Random Module (Press RMB on a module)
Improved Controller Support & Performance
Improved 'Loop' with more Floors
Many General and UI improvements
New Plasma Shotgun, Tec9 Pistol & New Legendary Item
Extra Mouse button support

The Synthetik Ruleset V2:
NEW - Weapon technologies are now shown and explained with icon and tooltip
in your weapon inspect menu (Press X ingame)

Originally posted by Shrike
Shrike: TLDR: We are updating damage types to fit our new technology ruleset.
This means some damage types change, most a little, some more.

After years of development, post-launch updates and thinking about the future of the underlying designs and ideas, an ever more optimal ruleset is crystalizing. What once started with “A plasma weapon would be nice” now turns into more and more strongly defined technologies, and will be kept and updated like a Pen&Paper rulebook for the Synthetik Universe.

After reflecting on the future of the Universe, it is now becoming very clear what Laser, Fusion, Plasma, Ballistic, Psyonic, Curse and the other types will become. Like a deep Spider web of connections, tons of factors (which Factions use which Tech, to Class associations, Logical behaviour, Player expectations, Physics, even down to colors and faction color schemes, planning for two games in advance) influence and dictate what which tech should and shouldn’t do. Over time the “Puzzle” becomes more and more complete, revealing the most optimal design, and also show how some current designs clash with new revelations.

You will see much more complex interactions and synergies / counters in the future of the Universe, which will also keep things logical and consistent visually, design and in the world, but today we try to update the content of Synthetik to be close to these ideas.

FUSION TECHNOLOGY / SHIELDS

All Classes: Base Shield increased by 200
All Classes: Base Shield Delay from 2.25 to 2.6-3.0 based on difficulty
All Classes: Base Shield Regen from 120 to 200

Originally posted by Shrike
This is intended to give a bigger window to react to your shield health and make it a bit more tactical, with also greater down time and window of vulnerability. All in all, balance should be very similar but you will need to watch out for your shields more or it will be more punishing! Previously keeping up shields were often an after-thought and regenerated quickly without paying real attention, this will make things a bit more deliberate
As Shields logically absorb shots mid-air, headshots and critical area hits are illogical
Shields now prevent critical strikes and headshots, which makes sense given their new strength against ranged weapons and weakness against close ranged burst
The criticals and headshots still count for statistics and perks etc.
Fusion Tech powers shields and chrono tech, as such
All fusion weapons will now provide some shield related benefits
Fusion ammo will react strongly upon fusion shields, now dealing 200% shield damage
Chrono trooper enemies will also get fusion weapons as conclusion

LASER TECHNOLOGY

Lasers now take away one extra plating
Laser weapons now only deal 50% damage on shields
Laser weapons will no longer provide shield bonuses
Laser weapons now will all increase firerate based on heat (P9000 inversed)
All laser weapons firerate reduced by 30% and gain 80% heat based firerate +-
Laser weapons now have accuracy based entirely on heat
finalaccuracy = totalspreadminimum + (((heat - heatminimum) / 100)
totalspreadmaximum)
Laser weapons now don’t have the slower cooling when below 30 heat all weapons have
Laser weapons now often have Hi-Powered first / last shot perks

BALLISTIC TECHNOLOGY

>Ballistic Scatter (Shotgun 12g, Split shot, Nails, Coils)
>Ballistic (9mm, 5.57mm, 7.62mm)
>Ballistic AP Armor Piercing (4.75mm, 8.8mm, Sawblades, Arrows)
>Ballistic AM Anti Material (12.7mm, 14.4mm)
Ballistic Shrapnel types will now be a counter to shields with high shield bonus damage
Ballistic ammo armor pen set to 25 (minimal change)
Ballistic AP / AM ammo now consistently deals 25% less shield damage and more HS dmg

FIRE

Fire no longer is applied when shields are up (enemies and player) still ignores plating
Headshots with fire weapons apply 50% stronger burning
Fire weapon damage increased
Base Damage cap from 350 to 400 per second (Same for Acid)

EXPLOSIVES

New Explosive critical strikes!
Missiles can now critically strike, showing a black trail and having a critical sound when fired
Impact and Bouncing Launcher grenade Explosions now also can critically strike
Annihilator and Particle cannon Explosions now also critically strike
Heavy Flak Cannon and Seismic Resonator Explosions can now critically strike
Explosion Criticals gain 50% of critical strike damage (250% crit damage = 175% Damage)
Explosion Criticals increase range very slightly

ION TECHNOLOGY

Ion projectiles now gain more power upon absorbing target mass:
Ion deals bonus damage for every armor the target has
Ion now has 125% exponential penetration (previously 100%)

PLASMA TECHNOLOGY

Plasma now melts together all plating for significant bonus damage per plating
Plasma is now always green plasma, no longer blue
Plasma weapons now have high minimum heat and deal more damage

Bleeding

Bleeding is no longer applied when shields are up for enemies and player
Headshots with bleeding ammunitions apply 50% stronger bleeding
Base Damage cap from 250 to 300 per second

Acid

Headshots with bleeding ammunitions apply 50% stronger Acid
Base Damage cap from 350 to 400 per second

Damagetext:

Damage on shield now shows proper shield damage not base damage
Critical strikes no longer show through shields

Sniper / Marksman Rifles:

Ballistic Crossbow - Stacking Damage Perk fixed and works now - Happy hunting!
Ballistic Crossbow - Headshot damage increased by 25%
Yoko Lagann - Headshot damage increased by 25%, no longer counts as special weapon
Lynx Evo - Headshot damage increased by 25%, base damage reduced by 5%
AN-94 Deathstalker - Gains accuracy 20% faster, ammo from 24 > 22
Sour DMR headshot damage increased by 10% and firerate increased
Intervention / Sniperdragon 360 noscope bonus from 2.2x to 2.75x damage
Intervention / Sniperdragon now has a headshot bonus of 25%, critchance from 5 > 8%
Intervention / Sniperdragon now uses heat based recoil and accuracy as all laser weapons

Twin Mill MK2

Twin Mill damage 1.4x > 1.45x, headshot damage from 10% bonus to 25% bonus
Twin Mill accuracy reset slightly improved
Serious bug fixed: No longer gain the boss accuracy upgrade every room,
no longer loses firerate per upgrade
Twin Mill now gains 15% bonus damage per boss room in addition to -3 recoil and max recoil

Eraser Laser DMR

Now Epic rarity - Headshot damage increased by 30%
Now uses heat based firerate and accuracy as all laser weapons
Now has an Hi-Powered first shot

Nemesis Prototype:

Now has 0.5% lifesteal + 2% after a headshot for 0.25s (so for the rest of the travel time)
Nemesis 14.4 ammo in general damage baseline 950>1150
N. Steel Core - ammo headshot damage increased by 25%
N. Sabot ammo - gains 2x > 3x boss damage, now 50% more turret damage
N. Kraken ammo - poison damage increased to poison damage cap, now only 25% Friendly fire

Human Model 9800K

9800K headshot damage increased by 15%, new blue anoxided ‘fusion’ skin
9800K now also gains 2 ammo from triple hits
9800K now grants passive shield regeneration when in inventory

M75 Heavy Support (Supporter Pack)

M75 Heavy Support now has a 3 shot burst and 3 magsize, damage from 2.5x to 2x
M75 Heavy Support Boss damage 1.25x > 2x (same as all other Heavy Sniper rifles)
M75 Standing perk now also grants shield regen to make it more viable in the small niche

Liandri Railgun

Railgun ammo / Power Array from 800 to 850 and now deals 50% more headshot damage
Railgun ammo gain reduced from 25 to 15
Railgun now counts as heavy sniper and will get double damage upgrades from Kits as such
Railgun has a new preview model

ION Cannon

Ion ammo now deals 750 > 800 base damage
Ion ammo now melt all target plating to plasma, dealing 400 bonus damage per plating
Ion ammo now deals 25% increased headshot damage
The weapon now has a very slight chargeup delay
Ammo gain and max ammo reduced

Ripjack

Sawblade & Ultra Sawblade bleeding duration from 2s to 3s (still deals 150/350 per tick)
This will improve bleeding uptime and increase damage output

Assault Rifles / SMGs

Burst plus variants for SMGs now give +3 burst similar to LMGs
AKSU critical strike buff now requires 6>5 kills, now grants 20>10% critical strike chance
for 5s > 12s (stacking, so try to get those killstreaks running!) (requires 7 kills in coop)
AKSU recoil now ramps up slowly but also decreases slowly
Sturmgewehr 44 ammo gained 64 > 50 due being a bit too good all round
M16 A3 grenade launcher internal cooldown from 1.5 to 1s (for hyperfeed / ammo procs etc)
Apollon MG5 damage 1x > 1.05x
Tactical observer fires slightly faster by default, gains slightly less firerate over time
Object 29 firerate increased
Chaos Launcher heat from 0.8x to 0.7x, movement spread from 1x to 0.5x (as other smgs)
AMD 65 recoil and recoil reset slowed down for better control
Vector damage from 0.8x to 0.85x
Enforcer Carbine movement accuracy improved from 0.8 to 0.65
Enforcer Carbine now grants 100 Max Shield when held
Damnation recoil reduced and slowed down, fixed projectiles not spawning
Auto Boltcaster now has 10% double shot chance, heat from 0.9x to 0.85x
Medic ACR-X no longer reduces healing in loop when dropped
Medic ACR-X no longer grants 6 hp regen, now grants stimpack on healing, 6s / 20s cd
Scar Laser Socom now uses heat based accuracy, also gains heat firerate as all lasers
Scar Laser Socom now uses automatic burst, has a Hi-Powered last shot
LS Laser Sub now uses heat based accuracy, also gains heat firerate as all lasers
LS Laser Sub now has a Hi-Powered last shot
P9000 inverse heat firerate increased, heat increased, now uses heat based accuracy
Nail gun now also profits from the increased shield damage of scatter types

Shotguns:

NEW Epic Plasma Shotgun - PSG 'Emerald Sword'

AA12 Battle Hymn

Damage Increased from 1.2x to 1.4x of shotgun ammo
Now uses laser ammo (Heat unchanged)
Now also grants 25% increased critical damage
Ammo gain 20 > 30, Max ammo 40 > 48
Unyielding Burst perk now enabled again for testing, makes the weapon fire a salvo to shred large groups instead of full-auto, but if people don’t like the changes, we maybe revert it, but it does feel brutal.. Its intended more as a power weapon with more situational group clearing use, not intended to be the best shotgun per se in any situation

Raptor Laser Shotgun:

Damage and Heat strongly increased, base firerate and ammo gain reduced
Fully charged ‘Slow Start’ perk now grants much more firerate, also more heat and damage
New - Now also has access to burning laser ammo
(Now has a stronger niche as a very high powered weapon but very limited by heat and ammo)
Now also uses heat based accuracy as all lasers
Viciator Ultra - Firerate slightly increased
KSG 2000 - Accuracy, damage and firerate all very slightly increased
Other shotguns deemed working very well

Explosive Weapons:

Heavy Flak Cannon - Criticals now also create a demo resonator target, Recoil increased
M79 Terminator - Damage increased from 2 to 2.2 explosion damage, max ammo 9 > 7
Ares Grenade Launcher - Damage from 1.3x to 1.4x
Ares Grenade Launcher - Upgrade perk now grants +0.4x damage, 4 max, 4 ammo gain
Particle cannon damage increased by 35%, ammo gain decreased from 18 > 10
ANH Annihilator damage increased by 50%, ammo gain from 20 > 10
RPG Heat from 1.5x to 1.4x, ammo gain 5 > 4
RPG now also reloads 4 ammo on room change
M32 Heat from 1.2 to 1.1x

Flame Weapons:

Fireball Cannon initial damage from 200 > 250, Now also grants 40 Armor
Flamethrower initial damage from 150 > 200, Maximum health bonus 200 > 250
Flamethrower renamed to Flametongue given the implementation of the flame effect

Mjolnir Chain Lightning:

Damage increased from 1400-1600 to 1800-2200
Added 5% chance for a powershot, dealing double damage
No ammo cost chance form 10% to 5%
Magsize 5 > 4, Max ammo 15 > 10, Ammo pickup 5 > 4 (Engineer still gets his bonus)
Now consumes entire shield instead of half when shot, and 0 > 0.3s delay of shield regen
Lights now flicker when firing and improved shake effect

Light Machine Guns:

Armageddon MG42, hp loss now reduced with healing debuffs, max recoil 40>38
RPK deviation from 6 to 15, maximum recoil from 45 to 25, movement accuracy increased a lot
Mag47 HMG heat firerate bonus from 0.5 > 0.6, overheat bonus from 1.5 to 1.6
Apollon LMG now grants 25% faster shield regen delay

Gladiator Gatling

Now also has the same perk as AKSU at longer duration
Ammo regen from 1.35 to 1.5
Damage from 1.05x to 1.25x
Recoil reworked to be much slower up and down
Firerate slightly increased
Chargeup time from 1 to 1.3s

X512 Experimental

X512 Experimental needles damage range from 250-500 to 350-750
Now has a chance to crit, although stays as white numbers
(due to technically being missiles not bullets which can not crit)
Now has significantly less ammo
Now has a chance for a double tap (instantly refreshing firerate of the next shot on shots)
Given this weapon has a low skill cap and can feel monotonous, it is now more of a power weapon, than something you just use all the time

SS58 Plasma charger

Plasma projectiles changed to green to fit the technology
Accuracy and damage increased
Now melts together all target plating for 300 bonus damage per plating
Now has 50 minimum heat and produces less heat

Pistols / Handguns

NEW Starter Weapon - Tec 9 You can get the Tec9 for free by entering our newsletter! (Don't worry no spam!)
Mails may be sent out a bit later than the update

Laser Pistol and Heavy laser pistol now use heat firerate and heat accuracy
Heavy Laser Pisol now has a Hi-Power first shot, slower reload
Infinite repeater reworked to 5-7 Fusion Classic
Varied Handguns first/last shot perk changed to critical shot
Last Breath Revolver heat from 0.85 > 0.75 of default
Laser Cannon max ammo from 50 to 45, firerate reduced by 10%
Titanium Deagle now also unlocks with the arena supper pack

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Weapon Mechanics

NEW Mechanic - Status Effect Headshots
For Acid / Stun / Slow / Fire / Bleeding / Radiation Ammunitions
Headshots with such ammunitions apply for 50% longer!

NEW Mechanic: First shot recoil
All weapons now have 10% reduced deviation & recoil upon the first shot (resets after not firing for a time, about equivalent to another potential shot would take), rewarding tap firing more

Mechanics: Headshots
Each Floor completed increases global headshot damage by 10% to make headshots more viable late game

Boss changes

X57 now spawns a missile drone in addition on higher difficulties (above 150%)
Raptor Jet now continually spawns in workerbots from the hangar to help the jet (above 140%)
Disco Room spawn rate slowed down (12 > 14s)
Dual Tanks in Last Defender room now spawn in higher rank on higher difficulty (150/200%)
Special vehicle spawns also spawn on higher ranks on higher difficulty (150/200%)
APC room polished up a bit, now only gains 5 plating in single player on loot drops

Enemy changes

Enemies now disengage after 4 seconds of lacking LOS instead of 15 seconds
All enemies now have 1 less plating in the very first room
Rank 1 and Rank 2 enemies now get their hp and shield scaling after the rank scaling
(this previously was a mistake and made rank 1 shields not scale - Rank 2 enemies will also have more health which was a planned change either way)
Ballbot speed scales less with difficulty (0.5x > 0.25x)
Hovertank 808 deals far more damage and has a large shield (didn’t do much before)
Saturn 5 Heavy Tank & Madness Accelerator Flak Tank now deals 20% more damage
AlarmBots now spawn higher ranked Chrono troopers based on difficulty
Railgun Glider now does the same 5 burst as the Railgun - monkaS
Minitank in Elite now fires Annihilator ammo
Arena masters now give more experience and have minimally more health
Headhunter hp now scales with difficulty as they were a bit weak
Turrets now have 150 + 25
floor - Armor as they are usually destroyed way too quickly,
and to better balance hard hitting weapons vs fast firing weapons

Originally posted by Shrike
Overall these changes aim to counteract power creep and the new technology upgrades a bit making ranks and turrets harder, making some enemies less useless and ballbots less harsh
And giving better scaling challenge for higher difficulties without affecting the lower ones
(Keep in mind that the Shield change might make the game more difficult if you play the exact same as before, it takes a bit more attention to the shield as before)

The Loop:

NEW - The loop no longer skips to the end boss after the first floor, the next floors should now follow! Let us know what you think!

UI:

Added ammo and health icons when outfight (mostly for new players)
Stat selection popup now shows golden for stats with 150% power
Daily exp buff now shows the duration in the tooltip
Shield removal debuff now stacks instead of adding new entities of the buff
Weapon perk text now uses a smaller font on non-english/korean/chinese localization, as all other languages often are too long and go outside the screen
Grenades now show a key prompt when the marker is active
Elite enemies now have larger health bars
Damage number size now scales a bit down with progress in the run
New - Stat screen: Added tooltips over the stat images showing more stats
New - Stat screen: Added alternative background on “wins”
New - Stat screen: Difficulty % is now shown
Stat screen: Score is now experience
rating instead of experience
accuracy

Upgradekits & Perk Kit changes

NEW - Random Module
The default module (right click to remove your current module) is no longer “empty slot” but
Random Module. With it selected, you will find random modules in the game instead, and all module drops have higher power.

Originally posted by Shrike

This is a new alternative way to play with modules as we think It's a bit overwhelming with 2 modules at the start and feel that players (as ourselves) often don’t pay attention to them when starting. It feels more natural to select them mid-game.
> RIGHT CLICK TO RESET A MODULE TO THE RANDOM MODULE!

Perk kits now drop less from bosses but always have 150% power to reduce buff bloat
Perk kits still have a chance of higher power, and a new super rare chance to be super strong
Perk kits now give all class perks from chest and perk cores for the class (makes more sense)
(Weapon Stat Upgrades no longer show as rank icons, as these are used for the rarity levels to reduce confusion and learning curve, but still show in Deathstatistics)

Originally posted by Shrike

TLDR: More upgradekits, less but more powerful perk kits, small chance for super perk power
Upgradekit random bonus chance from 0.5% to 1% (means higher chance to get a bonus kit)
Upgradekits now always drop from bosses if no perk kit has dropped

Class Changes

Riotguard Viking Shield firerate and damage increased slightly
Defense of Shield changed:
From 30 armor when carried / 100 armor & 15% damage resistance when wielded
To 30 armor + 10% dmg resi when carried / 60 armor & 20% dmg resi when wielded
(Makes it a little less strong vs low damage and better versus high damage, and better when in backpack + easier to understand; simply double effect when wielded)
Riotshield speed loss from 125 to 100, Riotguard core speed loss from 40 to 65
Breacher level 5 hp regen benefit reduced, critchance increased
Assassin Insanity challenge bonus now grants a small speed bonus so you do not get hit from people shooting the bonus thing
Evasive maneuvers can no longer give ammo to empty weapons, making the reload bug
Sniper Targetlaser is more powerful on controller
Sniper doesn't gain lower shields in coop to offset the reduced headshots in coop
Shadow Dance new icon and should no longer remove dodge?
Heavy Gunner now has less weapon heat and takes 30% less overheat damage
but also 10% less accuracy to make him more heavy gunner-y
Charge perk changed to a defensive perk due to giving too much DPS for a non core perk
Pack A Punch no longer affects LG-2
Raider core reworked and level 0 swapped around
Raider lvl 5 now also improves burstfire delay by 15% (time between bursts)
Raider lvl 10 chest buff reduced effect in boss rooms
Raider lvl 20 credits gain from 60 dogtags nerfed (pretty op given you also get 2 kits)
Raider Dogtags now vanish over time (around the same time as powerups) to reward infight pickup more
The old core was pretty awkward and the theme was a bit all over the place, now raider is a bit more focussed on the looting
Plasma Grenade now increases in damage with upgrades
Injection now deals 15>5% max hp damage but takes down shields for longer
Demolisher core perk reworked, old perk is semi-moved to level 5
Demolisher explosive ammo (new core) now has a explosive sound on bullet destruction
Demolisher now has 25% less headshot damage over default (in line with Engineer)
Demolisher level 0 now regens 50 more shield per second on launchers
(Demolisher weapons overall deal noticeably more damage - See weapon notes)
Refresher removed from starting selection due to it being more of a mid-run synergy item that is rarely used at the start and is now in the alchemy shop
Fixed Engineer auto overclocker visuals not showing on coop partner in coop

Class Item changes

Raider Knife minimum stacks buffed from fixed 200 to 100 + (50
Rooms cleared)
(Means 200 bonus per floor)
Raider Knife now grants a dogtag on critical hit kill (didn’t work before)
Hard Light cover shield refresh range from 100 > 125, shield per second 150>175
Plasma Grenade now increases in damage with upgrades
Injection now deals 15>5% max hp damage but takes down shields for longer
Special ammo supply now also reduces weapon heat by 25%
Road flare now states that it deals burning damage to enemies walking over
Road flare fire damage now scales with item power
Helsing power bolt now deals 75% bonus damage to bosses and 25% to elites
Flash grenade damage cap raised 1000 > 2000 (remember it has a giant range)
Smoke grenade reworked - no longer reduces recoil and cooldowns, now grants 50% longer invincible frames after getting hit, and now refreshes dash cooldown on activation
Demolisher Resonator explosions now gain 10% more intensity per boss kill
Fixed Acid grenade reducing to 100 range after the first tick
Missile drone health increased,
Missile drone now gains 10% damage per recycled item

NEW - Legendary Item - High Command
Can summon a Redguard Striker Glider or something even Better!

Reality ripper damage from 200 + 200
power to 250 + 250
power
Airhorn now has a single buff containing both stats, now properly affected by luck
Healing crystal upgrade scaling nerfed as hp regen is very valuable and it was overtuned
Metal Detector now works on ground laser spikes, spike, chainmine and electro traps
Metal Detector tooltip and active effect improved and added scaling
Magnum base shots from 6 > 5
Living bomb cooldown 15 > 30s, max health damage scaling doubled
Heatsink now autofires when heat is over 80, making overheating impossible when ready
Mind control controlled unit health and hp reg now scales with the item power
Sniper sentry turret damage increased by 100%, firerate lowered, cooldown increased by 50%
Sniper sentry turret bug fixed, now properly lasts 25 seconds instead of 10 (given no dmg taken)

Performance

The game should no longer have occasional hard lags at the start of the mission
All textures are now loaded at the start
Fixed ugly lines in the ground
Improved overall performance (now it's nearly as good as it possibly can get)

Controller Improvements

Improved aim assist
Weapon switching is now at Y/Triangle instead of A like for most games
Character and Weapon menu now open at the same time and don’t glitch
Added button icons for PS4 (Xbox and Switch)
Added function to instantly start the game in main menu
Added bumper control to navigate the menus
Added quitting menus with B/O etc and select
Pause/Settings now quit and open as expected
Selecting attachments or stat upgrades no longer triggers the item at A/X
Weapon and Item database now can be controlled properly
Volume slider now works properly and does not glitch out
Items now show a tooltip when dropped and updated tooltip for controls
Many other small changes

Extra Mouse Button Support

SYNTHETIK News

Update 24.4

Winter Update

Update 24.2 - High Technology

Update 24 - High Technology

Chinese & Korean added