The final 4 robots of the new Syndicate line make their debut in patch 3.8.3, alongside of numerous balancing changes. In this blog we'll take an in-depth look at all these updates - spreadsheets warning ahead!

Helix

Class: Light robot specialized in electronic warfare

"The Helix is a good all-rounder when it comes to electronic warfare. While it may not be the toughest bot around, combining a light chassis with an assault-class undercarriage makes it probably the fastest."

Slots

• Head slots: 3
• Leg slots: 2
• Chassis slots: 3 (2x light turret/misc, 1x light/medium misc)

Bonuses (per extension level)

• 3% increase to EW strength
• 3% reduction to EW modules accumulator usage
• -0.10 to surface hit size
• 1% reduction to firearms cycle time
• +2 to signal masking

Notable stats

• Accumulator: 350 AP @ 120sec recharge
• CPU: 220 TF
• Reactor: 170 RP
• Armor: 725 HP
• Passive resistances: 45 points universally (31%)
• Surface hit size: 3 m
• Locking range: 350 m
• Sensor strength: 110 Hw³
• Signal detection: 75 rF
• Signal masking: 120 rF
• Cargo capacity: 3.75 U
• Slope capability: 56°
• Mass: 6000 kg
• Base speed: 129.6 kph

Syndicate Supplies cost

• 80 TM tokens
• 80 ICS tokens
• 80 ASI tokens
• 800,000 NIC

Callisto

Class: Mech specialized in electronic warfare

"Employing our own technologies and incorporating all the knowledge that we have gained from the Nian factions, the Callisto is an elusive and flexible mech for tackling and shutting down enemy units."

Slots

• Head slots: 4
• Leg slots: 4
• Chassis slots: 3 (3x light/medium turret/misc)

Bonuses (per extension level)

• 3% increase to EW strength
• 3% reduction to EW modules accumulator usage
• -0.10 to surface hit size
• 1% reduction to firearms cycle time
• +2 to signal masking

Notable stats

• Accumulator: 2600 AP @ 360sec recharge
• CPU: 450 TF
• Reactor: 700 RP
• Armor: 1350 HP
• Passive resistances: 45 points universally (31%)
• Surface hit size: 6 m
• Locking range: 400 m
• Sensor strength: 120 Hw³
• Signal detection: 110 rF
• Signal masking: 110 rF
• Cargo capacity: 7.5 U
• Slope capability: 45°
• Mass: 16500 kg
• Base speed: 95.4 kph

Syndicate Supplies cost

• 700 TM tokens
• 700 ICS tokens
• 700 ASI tokens
• 8,000,000 NIC

Legatus

Class: Heavy mech specialized in firearms

"Alluding on its appearance our engineers have nicknamed it "Doc". Aptly so, as the Legatus can administer a swarm of good old glowing hot bullets at a relatively long range for those in need. And that without writing out a prescription."

Slots

• Head slots: 4
• Leg slots: 6
• Chassis slots: 6 (2x light/medium turret, 2x light/medium turret/misc, 2x light/medium turret/misc/industrial)

Bonuses (per extension level)

• 3% increase to firearms optimal range
• 3% increase to firearms damage
• -0.20 to surface hit size
• 1% reduction to firearms cycle time
• +3 to passive resistances
• 9% reduction to NEXUS modules accumulator usage

Notable stats

• Accumulator: 3850 AP @ 720sec recharge
• CPU: 370 TF
• Reactor: 1200 RP
• Armor: 3750 HP
• Passive resistances: 45 points universally (31%)
• Surface hit size: 9 m
• Locking range: 350 m
• Sensor strength: 90 Hw³
• Signal detection: 90 rF
• Signal masking: 90 rF
• Cargo capacity: 12 U
• Slope capability: 45°
• Mass: 34000 kg
• Base speed: 72 kph

Syndicate Supplies cost

• 2,000 TM tokens
• 2,000 ICS tokens
• 2,000 ASI tokens
• 20,000,000 NIC

Metis

Class: Heavy mech specialized in combat support

"Exceptional energy output and defense capabilities - two traits that turn this heavy mech into an indispensable powerhouse on the battlefield. The Metis is the holy grail of remote support, which usually makes it a primary target in the eyes of enemy commanders."

Slots

• Head slots: 6
• Leg slots: 6
• Chassis slots: 6 (2x light/medium industrial, 3x light/medium misc/industrial, 1x light/medium turret/missile/misc)

Bonuses (per extension level)

• 3% reduction to engineering modules cycle time
• 3% increase to armor repair amount
• 3% reduction to accumulator recharge time
• 1% increase to armor hit points
• -0.30 to surface hit size
• 9% reduction to NEXUS modules accumulator usage

Notable stats

• Accumulator: 3800 AP @ 360sec recharge
• CPU: 600 TF
• Reactor: 1200 RP
• Armor: 5500 HP
• Passive resistances: 45 points universally (31%)
• Surface hit size: 13 m
• Locking range: 230 m
• Sensor strength: 100 Hw³
• Signal detection: 70 rF
• Signal masking: 70 rF
• Cargo capacity: 21 U
• Slope capability: 45°
• Mass: 60000 kg
• Base speed: 66.6 kph

Syndicate Supplies cost

• 4,000 TM tokens
• 4,000 ICS tokens
• 4,000 ASI tokens
• 40,000,000 NIC

Balancing changes

Tuning module rebalancing

The last patch introduced diminishing returns when using tuning modules in the form of exponentially increasing accumulator usage. The changes were a bit on the brute force side, so in 3.8.3 we are refining this concept further and create some diversity between tuning module tiers.

There is now an efficiency difference between tiers (efficiency meaning what you get from the module for the accumulator used). T1 and T3/T3- have balanced efficiency, T2/T2+ have higher efficiency (meaning the energy usage penalty is less than the provided bonus), and T4/T4+ have low efficiency (energy penalty is higher than the bonus).

In practice this means that if you want to go for maximum bonuses using multiple high tier tunings, you'll experience exponentially higher accumulator usage with every additional tuning. However, if you are concerned about accumulator stability, you can choose lower tier tunings, which provide lower bonuses, but at much better efficiency, with lower accumulator usage penalties.

ARMOR REPAIR TUNINGS

• The additional remote repair accumulator penalty has been removed, as the armor repair penalty also affects remote repair modules.
• To make things more simple, cycle time modification has been removed (hence all the 1s in the "After" table here) so the new balance is done using only accumulator modification and repair amount modification.

BEFORE

AFTER

INDUSTRIAL TUNINGS

BEFORE

AFTER

EnWAR TUNINGS

• EnWar tunings did not have a diminishing returns factor so far, quite the contrary actually. The more tunings you used, the better your drainers/neutralizers became. This is turned around with the new values, so efficiency is either balanced (T1/T2), or reduced (T3/T4) the more tunings you equip.
• This is more interesting for neutralizers since the used and neutralized energy amounts are more closer; for T4 medium tunings the turning point in efficiency (when you need to sacrifice more energy than the amount you neutralize) arrives at using 3x tunings. (For those curious, in the case of T4 medium drainers this theoretically happens at 17x tunings.)
• The difference between drained and neutralized energy modification has been removed.

BEFORE

AFTER

WEAPON TUNINGS

• Creating a difference in accumulator usage modifiers between the weapon types was a bad idea, now all types of weapon tunings use the same values. This retains the specific accumulator usage traits of each weapon and creates the same efficiency reduction curve when using multiple tunings.
• The same tier efficiency ratio differences are used here as for repair and industrial tunings.
• Cycle time modification has been removed here as well, efficiency is controlled by only accumulator usage versus damage modification.

BEFORE (magnetic weapon tunings taken as the example)

AFTER (for all wapon types)

Medium firearm balancing

Long range firearms (autocannons) were using disproportionally less energy than their short range brothers, so their accumulator usage has been brought in line.

BEFORE (Machine gun vs Autocannon)

AFTER (Machine gun vs Autocannon - accumulator usage brought in line, tier cycle times equalized)

* DPS and Accumulator ratio is MG/AC
** DPS is calculated with using 1 damage ammos for simplicity's sake and doesn't consider ciritical hits

Weapon hit dispersion balancing

In order to widen the gap between light and medium weapons, the hit dispersion of guns and the explosion size of missiles got increased. This increases survivability of light robots against larger robots (if the latter use medium weapons, which they mostly do).

NEXUS module specialization

NEXUS modules are being rebalanced to become a specialty for heavy-class robots. This is achieved by drastically increasing the accumulator usage of the modules, and adding a strong accumulator usage reduction bonus to the robots themselves. In practice this means that the following robots will be able to use NEXUS modules efficiently:

• Gropho
• Seth
• Mesmer
• Lithus
• Legatus
• Metis
• Riveler
• Symbiont
• Scarab

NEXUS-related extensions will be reimbursed during the patch in order to let players reconsider their usage.

Other changes

• Increased the missile cycle time bonus of Troiar, Ictus, and Gropho from 1% to 3% per extension level.
• Doubled the mass of light armor plates and tripled the mass of medium armor plates.

Deployment

Patch 3.8.3 including the final wave of Syndicate robots and all the above changes will be deployed next week - the exact day and time will be announced soon.