Raiding & Cydroid Update + Green Light on Stage2

Raiding just went live on the stage-2 server. Read the press release from Earth2 here:-

Earth 2 is pleased to announce an official “Green Light” for raiding on our pre-production server, Stage 2 ( https://stage2-app.earth2.io/ ). Players who have test accounts on Stage 2 are invited to use the newly developed Raiding feature and report any issues in the #raiding-stage2-bug-reports channel on our official Discord server https://discord.gg/earth2 .

A few guidelines for testing are listed at the end of this article so for those helpful volunteers who wish to test, please read those guidelines carefully.

Raiding is the First Step

Though the Raiding concept may look simple at first glance, it spans the entire globe and there are a surprising number of potential strategies waiting to be discovered in order for Players to experience the most success.

The Raid Cydroid’s base specs for the Raiding in Version 1 may seem quite limited to Players, but our internal calculations reveal that even at base specs they can be highly effective and achieve nice returns on E-ther gains. It is also important to note that these base specs are far from the true potential and capacities of the Raid Cydroid, especially once Jewel Slotting buffs become available.

We consider the Raiding game mechanics as a first step leading into the many anticipated moving parts of our EcoSim. Therefore, this release is not only to introduce something for Players to do, but also to test and improve the core engine that will be responsible for much of the game mechanic processing of the Earth 2 EcoSim.

It is worth noting that the raiding feature itself may seem like a quite ordinary feature to some. However, under the hood we have developed a lot of new core mechanics that are worth taking into consideration that have been built to permeate through many future feature releases going forward. A few things to consider are:

• Raiding is in fact a multinational logistics software solution that can track millions of objects / vehicles all over the world including their exact locations, amount of fuel / energy they have, how they interact with each other, competition between one another, numerous different statuses and more.
  

• Setting the 3D modeling of all Cydroids (As seen on the recently released E2V1 Tech Demo video https://youtu.be/5oo1SSZKjrI ) along with many other 3D assets being worked on behind the curtains.
  

• A set of complex energy models that most objects, ranging from Buildings, Vehicles, Cydroids to Equipment, will be subject to. This mechanic alone could see Players specializing in and supplying on a much deeper level later on. This entire system starts with the small and humble Micro Power cell for Cydroids.
  

• The RBAs (Rewards, Badges & Achievements Tech tree) are set to be released shortly after Raiding Version 1 is live. An RBA can come in many shapes and differ in: availability, type of reward and requirements. For Raiding we will both pilot a Reward, in near time, and later also Badges & Achievements. Some RBAs will be rare and can only be unlocked by a few while others will be possible to unlock for all. Some will be passive and others active, some permanent, some temporary. The RBA for Raiding will mark the beginning of the RBA tech tree which will become vast over time and encompass various secrets. We have a very interesting reward set aside for the Raiding RBA.
  

• Raiding and the upcoming EcoSim will start out in a Web2 based UX fashion but is simultaneously being prepared and tested for the next transition steps E2V1.
  

• In parallel to the Jewel Buffs Cydroids will soon receive as part of the Raiding feature, the Jewel system has been undergoing a further design rework where all current 41 colors will have their own unique characteristics, lore and utility. To say which one is better than the other will depend on the Player’s area of specializations, strategies and goals. This starts with Raiding but will expand with a much bigger scope over time. Gradually we will introduce new unique ways of the effects Jewels will offer.
  

• The introduction of Raid Cydroids as the first type of Cydroid was also considered to be one of the best options for kicking off logistics and conflict. Each subsequent type of Cydroid will come with its own very unique set of capabilities and specs. Players can also look forward to the next set of Cydroids being introduced with the upcoming Ecosim but should expect that it will become more difficult to obtain Cydroids in the future.

All of these core mechanics create a strong and expansive foundation for the EcoSim which, in itself, is only a single component of the broader Earth 2 experience. Raiding is not only an excellent feature to pilot new foundational mechanics, but it is another example of a feature which offers potential reward to our early and faithful Players, something that we feel very strongly about.

Deployment to Live Production Servers

This release of Raiding will be considered as Raiding Version 1 and our primary focus will be to identify and fix reported bugs on Stage 2 before deploying to our live production environment.

We will not release any public announcement when Raiding Version 1 is deployed and live on our production website but rather deploy, monitor for a number of days. Only after our developers confirm they are happy with the deployment will we publicly release an announcement confirming Raiding Version 1 is live on production. This may take days, or weeks, we cannot commit to a time frame but please rest assured we are pushing to get this live.

As with any new feature software release, there are numerous unforeseen issues that may arise. Our team does their best to mitigate these issues, but edge cases are sometimes unavoidable, especially with a larger release like Raiding. As with other releases where issues were identified and ultimately fixed, our team will be on standby to actively resolve any issues that may arise.

We ask for your patience and understanding during this period as negative and abusive comments do not help to fix or resolve anything.

Testing Guidelines for Community Volunteers

We are grateful for the community’s willingness to help in the testing of raiding. While all suggestions are welcome, our key focus is to get raiding live in a timely and stable manner.

Therefore, to help us focus on the more critical issues, please ensure you identify whether your listing is a #bug or #suggestion in the Discord channel. Internally, there are already improvements on our radar which will be rolled out over time, and while we always welcome community feedback, we will be predominantly focusing on fixing bugs blocking a production release.

Before reporting a bug or suggestion please scroll through the channel to see if your issue has already been reported. Be aware that Cydroids created on the previous version from December might display unexpected behavior. To avoid any doubt, build new Cydroids.

It is very important to mention that Stage 2 is configured to build Cydroids in 2 minutes to help volunteers test faster. When Raiding Version 1 is live on production, build time for Cydroids will be set at a 24 hour base build time.

We should also note that as a reward to early Raiding participants, we are going to allow concurrent building of Cydroids on properties. This means if you build 4 Cydroids, for example, all 4 will build concurrently as opposed to the Mentar only being able to build one at a time. We have not decided when this promotion will end.

Please use the following format when reporting to ensure efficient communication with our development team:

<Bug/Suggestion>: <Descriptive title>

<Description>

<Steps to reproduce>

<Actual outcome>

<Expected/desired outcome>

<Attached Screenshots/Screen recordings>

Example report:

Bug: Relocating a Cydroid to a property in Gibraltar is impossible

Description:

When trying to relocate a Cydroid to a property in Gibraltar an error is thrown. The target property is within range and has a Mentar.

Steps to reproduce:

–Select a property near the border in the Raid menu

–Go to the Raiding tab

–Select a charged Cydroid

–Select a target property in Gibraltar

–Click [Raid]

Actual Outcome:

An error is thrown

Expected outcome:

The Cydroid starts traveling to the target property in Gibraltar

Attachment:

[Error_message.jpeg]

To refresh your memory on Cydroids and Raiding or to remind yourself of other important points to consider when testing on Stage 2, please check out our previous article https://earth2.io/news/raiding-details