Archive:Early Access

## Early Access

**Released** - August 19th, 2019

**Update Size** - N/A

Dear Prospectors, we have amazing news for you: We are now officially in Early Access! The “Longest Playtest Ever” is over, but that does not mean that you have to stop playing. On the contrary, we are now live 24/7 for you to enjoy the splendor of Fortuna III solo or with your friends. If you have not done so yet, please read our “Change is in the air” Blog Post before you continue with the Release Notes, as it contains a lot of useful information.

So, what does this update hold for you in terms of concrete changes?

## BRAND NEW ARCHETYPES & CUSTOMIZATION MIX AND MATCH

We have 2 new Archetypes for you! The scientifically inclined Exobiologist and the charming Gambler. They are classified as default Archetypes, so you will be able to use them FOR FREE!

Furthermore, we are starting to introduce a new system to mix and match outfit items that fit into the Chest, Boots, and Gloves slot, and ALSO lets you choose a female or male version of each item. This is currently already available for the “Prospector” Archetype and will be introduced for EVERY Archetype in the future!

## PROGRESS WIPE & CUSTOMIZATION RESTRUCTURING

Like many wonderful things in life, progress and development do not come without a price. In order to ensure the technical stability of the game for the future, especially for all the content updates that we have planned for you, we will need to wipe the account progress for all players with the next update. We expect this to be the very last wipe, so we want to get it over with as soon as we can. This is why we decided that the time is right.

Furthermore, we will need to restructure the customization options into their final form. We always intended to give you a broad selection of default Archetypes with a few customization options to mix and match for free. Other fancy cosmetics on top of that will be our lifeline for monetizing the game to continue development and to ensure that we can keep pay-to-win elements out of our game. This is very important to us, and we fully intend to make good on that promise. But this also means that the Enforcer Archetype, as well as some currently available customization options, will be removed from testing and added to the list of available purchases.

We hope that you enjoyed testing them because we surely enjoyed getting your feedback on them as well! We also hope that you will find joy in all the new customization options that will come in the future because we intend to introduce a system that will let you unlock new vanity items by playing the game. For the future, this means free unlockable customization options besides the purchasable ones!

Details:

* All character customization options have been reset to default.
	+ All archetypes will appear reset to wear their default customization items, but you can mix and match between them, equipping some customization options from the other archetypes (*Work In Progress, see previous topic above*).
	+ All items purchased through Founders Packs and redeemed through Promo Codes will still be available, they just need to be re-equipped.
* Faction progress has been reset to 0.
	+ All blueprints / abilities / weapons / mods / materials have been reset.

## BRAND NEW ENEMY TYPE

These are the Droids that you are looking for! We have introduced a new type of enemy into the game, with new attack patterns, new spawn conditions, new behavior, etc. You can find those Droids mostly in old Human installations. Mostly…

## DANGER ZONES

One of the points that we want to address on route to perfecting our PvEvP formula was a better map and combat awareness. We wanted a feature that allows PvE-oriented players to have a general idea of which areas can be potentially dangerous for them, but on the other hand, it should allow PvP-interested players to deliberately seek out points of potential combat.

Enter the Danger Zone. This new map overlay will allow you to see areas of the main map that have a high player count/combat activity at any given time. Whether you then choose to run away from it or towards it is your personal player choice!

* The map now highlights areas with high player activity (players engaging in combat + number of players).
* The more players are in the area, the brighter the color becomes.
* The color will become more and more intense according to the threat level.
* The Danger Zone is grid-based.

## PvEvP: BOUNTY CONTRACTS

This is a feature that we were working on for quite some time now and which we have already showcased on our live streams when we were testing it. Well, now you can test it, too! We are very excited to receive your feedback.

We effectively added a new ongoing contract into each match, which reads “Eliminate Ruthless Players”.  If someone engages in PVP, they will become “Ruthless” after a certain amount of kills/DBNO forced teleports that they are responsible for. They will then be shown to everyone on the mini-map. In this state, they will add to the VP of a player who kills/force-teleports them in return to facilitate the concept of “crime & punishment”.

* You start without the “Ruthless” state.
* You become “Ruthless” by killing other players or forcing them to teleport from the downed/DBNO state.
* You automatically lose the “Ruthless” state if you refrain from doing ruthless activities for 5 minutes.
* Ruthless players are a walking contract and worth VP based on their kill-count.
* Ruthless players will be highlighted and visible on the map to warn or encourage other players to engage them.
* If a player is marked, they will be worth at least 1VP.

## KIT LEVELS

Kit levels are now finally back! This means that you can now level up your suit during the match!

* Killing monsters and completing contracts gives XP towards the Kit Level progress.
* Each Kit has 7 levels of its own upgrades, making players more powerful as the match goes on.
	+ Quicksuit – goes from single to triple jump, slide gets faster and jumps get higher.
	+ Dragonfly – all parts of the Jetpack get better, from speed to energy to angle and damage of the dive attack.
	+ Warsuit – increases the charge punch damage, the height of the jump and grants more protection from enemies.
	+ Basic Suit- better health regeneration, shorter ability cooldowns, more damage to creatures… all kinds of perks you might need to stay alive.
* Each level gives a small increase to health and shields.
* Pressing [L] brings up a list for more information.

## VEHICLES

Our vehicles have been further improved and polished. Not only will you have new effects, sounds and collision damage, they can now also make small jumpsand boost their speed!

* Boost enabled when pressing [Shift] or [Right Mouse Button].
* A small jump can be performed by pressing [Space Bar].
* The vehicle now damages enemies and other players when colliding with them.
* A new hit collision should make vehicles easier to hit.
* Vehicles now have a weak spot in the engine.
* Players riding the vehicle can now be damaged.
* Your owned vehicle now has better cloaking to prevent potential theft.
* Brand new VFX and SFX (explosions, hard landings, collisions).
* Pressing [F] now mounts and dismounts the vehicle.
* Improved camera controls and FOV.
* Various Bug fixes.

## PROGRESSION

Some changes were made to progression to make it easier to understand and to navigate.

* Level confusion is no longer present, all items now unlock only at their “indicated” level.
* A lot of items were distributed to new levels to create better choices in the early game for all weapon tiers and abilities.
* Crafting prices of items were changed accordingly so that items that unlock earlier are easier to craft.

## GAMEPLAY TUNING

Here you will find some general tweaks made to the overall match experience.

* Red Zeal shards now give you exactly as many points for carrying them as orange Zeal shards, plus of course the previous bonus for getting VP for having them during EVAC. Red Zeal is now objectively more lucrative. Go get it!
* The Main Facility now gives 2x as many VP as before!
* No more rare (500 credit) random weapons in crates
* Increased mid-match credit income from random monster spawns on the map.
* Reduced ticks that are spawned when a player holding Brightcaps. It should be less annoying for players encountering them.
* Mineral slots on the map were tuned in order to reduce randomness.
* Increased relocation speed of the Uplink activity and delayed activation of the first Uplink activity.
* The damage from the storm at the end of a match will ramp up over time.

## TUTORIAL MISSION

One of the biggest “Works In Progress” based on your feedback from the last months is a clearer and more in-depth tutorial mission. Well, we are happy to present you with the current iteration, which should give new players a much better first experience on Fortuna III. And the best part is: we will continue working on it!

* The Tutorial mission will now include the Hunt contract instead of Letium Gas.
* New players will now get crafting materials after completing the tutorial for the first time, which will allow them to craft their first movement kit immediately.
* New and more deadly weapons are now available to use in the tutorial.
* The shuttle evacuation is now clearer for new players and faster to finish – the shuttle landing is now sped-up.
* Voice-overs in the tutorials were re-ordered to make them more consistent and easier to understand for players.
* Paths were added in the tutorial to make finding objectives easier.

## HUD IMPROVEMENTS

* Reduced clutter in the UI by removing extra elements.
* Re-aligned some elements for increased readability.
* Contract markers on the mini-map and the HUD tracker will now appear based on your proximity to them.

## WEAPON RECOIL IMPROVEMENTS

* Single fire weapons now use pre-defined recoil curves.
* Less extreme and more predictable recoil overall.
* Snappier and improved recoil compensation.
* Fixed issues with recoil compensation negating recoil completely on several guns.

## MISCELLANEOUS

* Ability Mods have been removed – every single one of them is now a separate ability!
* Social links were added to the launch screen.
* Updated logos for Korolev and Osiris factions.
* A player survey will appear in your inbox when you reach level 2 on any Faction. We appreciate your feedback and look forward to getting to know our players better!
* Fire animations for various weapons were polished.
* Fixed issue with the sight for the ICA Lacerator being offset and moving too much when firing in ADS.
* FOV updates:
	+ Standard FOV is set to 100.
	+ Changed FOV when sprinting to have a better feel.
* Mouse Sensitivity has been lowered by default.
* Gun muzzle particle effects are improved and render at the proper FOV.
* We now fade to black when recalling back to the drop pod.

## BUGFIXES

* *Sandbox Mode*: the minimap and expanded map views should not be missing or empty anymore.
* *Solo Mode:* Instances when your pact mate died and you couldn’t break the pact or create a new pact should not occur anymore.
* Added ‘upgrade for: $\_\_’ text to the Gear Store so players can see which gear is ready to upgrade without hovering the mouse over it.
* Changed ‘Costume’ to ‘Appearance’ and ‘Launch’ to ‘Launch Bay’ in the top bar navigation panel of Prospect Station.
* Minimum font size increased for readability.
* Launching The Cycle executable without the Epic Games Launcher no longer gives you a blank screen, but you must still launch the game through the Epic Games Launcher if you want to actually play the game.
* Various performance improvements and reduction of “hitches”.

## IMPORTANT FACTS FOR EARLY ACCESS

1. The text and voice chat will be disabled. You can still use the comm wheel *(press [V] by default)* and ping system *(press [Middle Mouse Button] by default)*to communicate in-game, and we also recommend that you join the official Discord, in case you want to ask for advice, give feedback or simply join the community.
2. We have introduced Spanish and French localization into the game. If you are a native speaker of those languages, we would really appreciate your help to improve the quality by reporting wrong or missing translations via the “Report Bug -> Localization Bug” tab in the game menu.
3. We integrated the new Unreal Engine 4 version 4.22, so some instability and crashes may occur.

## KNOWN ISSUES

* DUO MODE: The revenue share between pact mates is shown as 50%, but it is still 100%.
* In rare instances, players could be unable to move at the beginning of the match.
* In rare cases, the health bar might be stuck upon entering a match.

Thank you for all your feedback!

Please remember: even though we are now in Early Access, the game is still very much in development and not fully released. 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.

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