MechDuels Blog

• Made some significant changes to the way gear and mech chassis interact. Gear can now exist in 1 of 3 states:

1. A piece of gear is in the unused state when you get it right from the crate. You may auction, recycle and equip unused pieces of gear.
2. A piece of gear is in the bound state when you attach it to a mech chassis. You may now remove items equipped to mech chassis if they have not been previously auctioned with that mech. Bound items can be removed and placed back into inventory, reequipped to another mech chassis in your collection, or recycled. You may not auction a bound piece of gear.
3. A piece of gear remains in the fused state when it is attached to a mech chassis and that mech chassis is then auctioned. If you win a mech chassis auction, all gear associated to it will be destroyed if you try to remove or add another item to an existing slot.

• Updated existing items to have either a unused, bound, or fused state.
• Enhanced the Fight Wall to be a listing of your 12 most recent battles.  Added what type of battle and who you fought.
• Modified the alert message that pops up when you receive a direct challenge from another player. What type of battle is now displayed.
• Added a much cleaner error message page when a player tries to access a page that does not exist on the site.
• Added Campaign Bundle 1: Prestigious Rescue. Featuring the Mammoth heavy mech chassis, 5 pieces of pre-selected gear, 8 challenge coins, a 5 mission package and core crate rewards for completing each mission.
• Added an externally viewable product catalog that can be accessed from the top bar of the supply depot.
• Updated layout of the missions page.
• Fixed a bug in the engine that sometimes caused a player to lose rating even though they won a battle.
• Fixed a bug where a mouse over tool tip occasionally stayed on the screen.

New Mech of the Week is the Hornet XL:

Hornet XL

This ultra light was built with one thing in mind — hit fast and get out of the way. Its legs use an adapted version of coil-flex technology which keeps the mech lightweight and quick. Get them while you can here.

• Beginning this week we will be moving to a bi-weekly content and feature update schedule (once every 2 weeks). We will still be fixing bugs and updating those changes as soon as they are ready.  Pushing out features every two weeks instead of occasionally every week, will allow us to create more focused and tested content.

New Mech of the Week is the Panther XL:

Panther XL

This medium mech is fitted with optical readjusting calibrators, which does a great job of putting enemies in your crosshairs. Eliminate even the most elusive targets with superior aim. Get them while you can here.

• Chrome 2.0 is now a fully supported browser.
• You may now send  messages to players by going to their avatar page and clicking send message.
• Added the Blast Zone map.
• Added “Charge Field” terrain tiles to the Blast Zone map.  A mech that begins a round on a Charge Field tile has 10  increased critical chance, but takes 10% of its health at the beginning of the round for as long as it remains in that tile.
• Missions 21 to 25 have been added.  Mission 21 is unlocked after completing Mission 20.  500 xp and a basic crate is awarded when each of these missions is successfully completed (one time award).  Click the map icon to access missions.
• Added a larger button to mission briefings that prompts a player to Continue.
• Removed the experience display from the Dog Tag on the game console.  Current XP progress can be seen by clicking the Dog Tag and viewing your Commander page.
• Fixed an issue were an error occurred when attempting to edit your Origin.
• New Mech of the Week is the Wolverine XL


Wolverine XL

This 60 ton light mech has built in weapon calibration systems, ideal for those looking for pinpoint accuracy. Hunt down even the most elusive of enemies with this sharpshooting combatant. Get them while you can here.

Introducing the Wasp XL:

Wasp XL

This 40 ton ultra light mech is built with a complex frame to hold heavy modifications.  Greater customization is available, from big targeting systems to reinforced armor plating.  Outsmart your enemies with greater flexibility and mobility.  Get them while you can here.

• Added new mech chassis to the Supply Depot.  Common versions of the Hornet, Wasp, Wolverine, Panther, and Cougar have been added. The Sparrow X, Hornet X, Wasp X, Wolverine X, Wolf X, Jaguar X, Panther X, and Cougar X Uncommon versions have also been added.  The Firefly XL, Fox XL, Cheetah XL, Rhino XL, and Kraken XL Rare mech chassis are no longer available.
• Modified the Supply Depot layout to accommodate the Mech of the Week.  The first MotW (Wasp XL) is now available.
• Updated the home page imaging.  The 3 image and text boxes a the bottom of the screen have all been updated.  The previous rating list will be moved to the Arena in an update later this week.
• Fixed a bug with direct challenges that sometimes caused a “success” message to display, but didn’t actually start a challenge.

• Enhanced non player character Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) to favor firing over moving. Mission difficulty should be slightly higher.
• Added cancel auction functionality. You may now cancel an auction that you have created that has no bids.
• Added a listing fee for mech and gear auctions. It now costs 10 Dalmarcs for mechs and 5 Dalmarcs for gear to place an auction up on the Black Market.
• Fixed an issue where the highest bidder bid value was not updating for an auction.

The following XL (Rare) mechs will be removed from purchase in the Supply Depot on Tuesday 7-21-2009:

Firefly XL (Ultra Light), Fox XL (Light), Cheetah XL (Medium), Rhino XL (Heavy), and Kraken XL (Ultra Heavy).

Purchase these mech chassis while you can, they may not show up again for quite some time!

• You now receive 50 reward points each time you complete a quick battle.
• Added the Fira Point map.
• Added “Ruins” terrain tiles to the Fira Point map.  A mech that begins a round on a Ruins tile has 50%  increased damage, but takes 50% of its health at the beginning of the round for as long as it remains in that tile.
• Missions 16 to 20 have been added.  Mission 16 is unlocked after completing Mission 15.  500 xp and a basic crate is awarded when each of these missions is successfully completed (one time award).  Click the map icon to access missions.
• Modified the new avatar game play flow.  The transition between the first 3 tutorial missions, the Mech Builder and the Open Crates screen is now a set path.  The Mech Builder now loads automatically after completing tutorial missions 1 and 2, and the briefing screens for tutorial missions 2 and 3 are called immediately after exiting the Mech Builder.
• A mission alert pop up now appears at the top right of the game console as long as you have uncompleted available missions.
• A brief help pop up window has been added to the Mech Builder.  You may access it by pressing the “Help” button on the top bar of the page.
• A link to the Open Crates page has been added to the top bar of the Combat Forces page.
• Completed challenges now take you to the Open Crates page if you received a crate as a reward and your Avatar page if you didn’t.
• A crate button and counter is now on the top bar of the Avatar page.
• A new crate icon has been added to the icons below your Dog Tag, located at the bottom left of the game console.
• Added weapon damage type icons to weapons viewed after opening a crate.
• Added an overall placement timer to the game engine.  This should alleviate issues where one player places, but their opponent never shows up.
• Increased the level range that is checked when a player attempts to quick battle.
• Non Facebook Connect users who have not verified their email address will now be prompted after 3 login attempts.
• Fixed a game scenario where a combination of destroying a mech and triggering an auto destruct system left no mechs on the battlefield.  The player who fires first and causes the initial destruction should get the final victory.
• Fixed a minor layout issue with the “Accept” button on the pop up after a direct challenge has been received.

• Added a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) link to the top of the game console. Check here first if you have any game play or interface questions. New information will be updated periodically.
• Move and Tonnage have been added to the Battle Viewer statistics bar. The statistics bar and player name area has been expanded for better visibility.
• Changed the new mech chassis title display to be “Double-Click to Build” in Combat Forces.
• Added a more defined currency display when creating a gear or mech auction. Dalmarcs are now spelled out instead of just a D, and the conversion rate of 1 Challenge Coin = 1000 Dalmarcs has been added.
• Tutorial missions 1, 2, and 3 are now 80 ton matches instead of 120 ton matches.
• Improved the way mech chassis inventory is called by the system.  This should lead to faster load times for the Battle Viewer and Mech Placement.
• Fixed an issue with the Recycling System where items sometimes displayed a 0 Dalmarc value.
• Fixed display issues when viewing another player’s Avatar Page. It no longer appears that you can edit another player’s Origin.

• Improved page view and loading times for Internet Explorer.
• Fixed an issue where Waterway Defense was not coming up as the default direct challenge map.
• Values for “Critical” bonuses are now displaying in gear auctions.
• Added logic to check that a player’s mechs have loaded in Mech Placement before starting the placement timer. This should help alleviate the issue where a player receives a Victory or Defeat before getting into the Battle Viewer.
• Fixed a display issue with extra mech chassis being shown in the Combat Forces screen.
• Added improved chat functionality. If you have pop out chat enabled by clicking the triangle next to USERS, you may now ignore a player by right clicking a name in the All Users list and clicking the ignore button.
• You can remove a player from your Ignored list by clicking Ignored, right clicking on a user on the list, and then click on unignore.
• A Market channel has been added to pop out chat. Click on Market and drag it to the main chat area to create a Market tab.

• Mech Chassis, fully built mechs, and gear auctions have been added to the Supply Depot.  Visit the Black Market to bid or buy out a player created mech or gear auction.
• The in game currency of Dalmarc Dollars have been added.  They may be purchased at the Supply Depot in 1,000 and 10,000 denominations.  Players can use Dalmarc Dollars to place bids on player auctions.
• Players can now recycle their unwanted unfused gear and convert those items into Dalmarc Dollars.  Visit your Combat Forces, click on “Recycle and Auction Gear”, and select an item from your available gear to recycle.  Gear can be auctioned off in the Black Market in the same manner by clicking the “Auction Item” button after selecting a piece of gear from the list.
• Disassembled mech chassis and fully built mechs can be auctioned in the black market by selecting a mech in Combat Forces and clicking on “Auction Mech”, located below a mech’s name.
• Added the Waterway Defense map.  Waterway Defense is now the default direct challenge map.
• Added Jump Pad terrain tiles to the Waterway Defense map.  A mech that begins its turn on a Jump Pad has increased movement until it moves.  Mouse over a square in Mech Placement or the Battle Viewer to examine that square’s terrain properties.
• Missions 11 to 15 have been added.  Mission 11 is unlocked after completing Mission 10.  500 xp and a basic crate is awarded when each of these missions is successfully completed (one time award).  Click the map icon to access missions.
• Fixed an evasion display discrepancy between the battle viewer and mech builder.
• Fixed an invisible mech bug, where one player saw all mechs and one player occasionally saw a missing mech.
• Fixed a firing issue where a mech that had taken lethal damage would continue to fire it’s remaining weapons.
• You are now prompted to log back in if your game session is disconnected from the Mech Builder.
• Log into MechDuels between Tuesday June 30, 2009 and Tuesday July 7, 2009 (this week only) and receive a daily 1,000 Reward Point award!