2020/10/17 - Patch v7.4

v7.4 (aka the "wow a sane amount of stuff this time" release) has been released to the installer. There's plenty to see, so let's get to it.

NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Ammo Costs have been introduced. Every ammo and weapon with internal ammo now has a small cost associated with it for "refilling" the bin after missions. You see the cost in the mission's after-action report. These costs will not be crippling unless you're using extremely expensive ammo (such as the Davy Crockett or Long Tom Shaped Charge; oh, the Davy Crockett doesn't exhaust but costs 1 mil a shot now, have fun). They're there to add a little flavor to things, not to wreck your economy. We're still tuning ammo costs, so feedback is welcome.

NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Applying certain buffs provides XP for pilots now, a list will be provided in #frequently-asked-questions. This was done to make certain effects a little more potent (stuff like Narc and Haywire give a lot more XP than something like Tracer or Acid).

NEW FUNCTIONALITY: Improved MRM ammo has been replaced with MRM Apollo ammo. Apollo is similar to ArtemisIV but for MRMs and requires a new item, the FCS Apollo. Find it on various (mostly kuritan) tanks and mechs, as well in stores and the Kurita faction store. Because it requires the FCS, your existing mechs with Improved, now Apollo, ammo will be invalid. Sorry.

UPDATED FUNCTIONALITY: The mechanics behind head injuries have been changed. Essentially, if a weapon causes a pilot injury on a head hit is now a chance based on the pilot's Guts skill, the damage dealt by the weapon, and the remaining armor on the head. tl;dr: have high Guts to resist injuries better.

• Some weapons got a stability damage boost (SRM/SSRM both IS and Clan, IS AC2/5/10/20, IS UAC5/10/20).
• The LPPC got a buff, it now ignores 1 evasion. The HPPC does a little larger PPC penalty.
• FTL LRM ammo got a minor accuracy buff, Deadfire LRM ammo does slightly less bonus damage.
• Laser AMS has a direct-fire weapon mode that makes it a Small Pulse Laser.
• The Clan Plasma Cannon had heat (for shooting it) reduced to 20 from 30.
• The IS UACs had their recoil properly set, it was wrong.
• The Blazer has an accuracy bonus now.
• The ER PPC Shotgun actually does a PPC debuff now like it should.
• A lot of weapons got updated descriptions to reflect those descriptions.
• Melee ignores 4 evasion again, like it was supposed to. Support weapons should be ignoring some evasion as well again.
• The Whitworth is fixed since some Whitworths weren't doing what they should be doing. Whoops.
• There were some piercing weapons that got missed. They're corrected.
• The Heat Bug™️ has been fixed, properly this time, and a clarification for how heat works is now available in #frequently-asked-questions.
• Breaching Shot works again.
• IJJs got a nerf, now they make a little more heat and are less good at the jump-good. Still technically stronger than standard JJs though.
• A few cockpits have had descriptions updated for clarity.
• Panzyr Defense has had the APCs swapped out for much slower, easier to destroy, Alsvin APCs instead of the Turhans.
• There's a new Talos, with MMLs and a Mace! Go get it!

IMPORTANT: v7.4 is an "update" update. Run the installer again to let it just update your files and you're set to go. The installer auto-updates the CAB and injects Modtek for you.

Reminder: This update, and others like it, are made possible by my Patreon supporters. Without their support, updates would come slower and be less impactful. If you feel like being a part of the support for BTA, you can find me here: https://www.patreon.com/bloodydoves