In Development: Eclipse Battle Path

[Haswell 295]

Will add more info in later posts, because this is already getting too long.

https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/development-eclipse-battle-path

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Today, we’d like to tell you more about the upcoming Eclipse Battle Path campaign as a whole along with the changes and improvements we’ve prepared for you.

Unlike the previous Battle Paths, the Eclipse is storytelling-based and represents more an evolution of the concept than a revolution. What that means is the mechanics will remain familiar to you but, at the same time, some things are different. Let’s start with the biggest addition, which is the Diary feature.

 

Diary and Contextual Storytelling

 

The core of the Eclipse Battle Path is its story. It starts like this:

The year is 2028 and the world order is slowly unraveling. The United States of America, once an undisputed leader of the free world, is wracked by internal strife after more than a century of prosperity. The Russian Federation, having fully recovered from the Soviet Union era that ended in 1997, is a rising power once again. Further to the east, the mysterious land of China is closed to all but selected few, its ambitions as strong as Russia’s. Europe’s fortune is closely tied to that of America with their issues similar – the influence of nation states clashing with that of power-hungry corporations.

 

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It is an age of upheaval and you are smack in the middle of it – a young mercenary down on his luck, presented with an offer he can’t possibly refuse, to train a security branch of a Chicago-based company by the name of Perihelion, its purpose as enigmatic as its founder, an investor by the name of David Murdoch. In June 2028, you have joined Perihelion’s forces in their Arizona camp.

Sounds familiar? Indeed, a fraction of Eclipse is a re-telling of the Perihelion story and, more importantly, its continuation. If you are familiar with the Perihelion event, you’ll feel right at home from the start. And if you are not, you’ll have the chance to experience this Armored Warfare story right from the beginning. But what does it all mean?

It’s rather simple.

As you progress through the Battle Path, you’ll be able to unlock new diary entries in the new Diary window, written in the form of a diary of the main protagonist, Samuel Thorpe.

 

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Unlocking each new level of the Battle Path unlocks new entry, which contains not only text but also related pieces of art. Likewise, prizes for each level are related to that respective entry.

Additionally the prizes you receive have their own descriptions that allow you to learn more about the world of Armored Warfare and the Eclipse Battle Path.

 

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There are secrets hidden in the entries – or perhaps some of the descriptions? Who knows? Up to you to find them and receive additional prizes. But beware – these are anything but easy to discover save for the most attentive of players.

And last but not least, for those of you living and breathing Armored Warfare, there will be additional contests, portal events, bonus missions and extra lore bits appearing on the game’s portal and social media. There will be a lot to digest over the next couple of months story-wise.

 

Main Requirements and Prizes

 

Stories are great for whenever you just feel like taking a rest from blasting tanks but let’s face it – you’re here for the prizes, right? Not to worry, there will be plenty of those.

Prize-wise, the concept of this Battle Path is a bit different. We’ve thrown out the most basic of prizes and have added multiple prizes to each level in the form of several assets related to each respective story entry. Unlocking each level should therefore feel like a celebration!

 

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As an example, the Diary entry for Level 2 contains the description of the main character’s trip to Dubai. Correspondingly, you’ll receive all the following items for reaching Level 2:

• UAE camouflage
• Decal: Dubai Coat of Arms
• Banner: Flag of Dubai
• Battle Coin boost token

The main prizes of the Battle Path will be, as usual, four vehicles, all of them highly requested:

• Flakpanzer Gepard Tier 8 Premium AFV for reaching Level 19
• Otomatic Tier 9 Premium TD for reaching Level 34
• TOS-1M Buratino Tier 10 Premium TD for reaching Level 50
• Object 787 Gadyuka Tier 6 Premium TD obtainable by collecting 100 parts (blueprints) either by completing missions or from the Battle Coin Shop
• Commander Samuel Thorpe for reaching Level 49

Yes, that’s right, an epic TOS as well as a new commander. The TOS-1M rocket launcher is the top prize of this Battle Path with its rather crazy firepower that includes 220mm rockets.

 

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A few words about the new commander.

The story’s protagonist, Samuel Thorpe, is an inexperienced commander and starts with a fairly bland set of skills similar to those of other commanders. However, as the story progresses, he’ll gain experience and his future skillset will reflect that.

 

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In practical terms, this means that at some point during or after the Battle Path, we’ll rebalance Samuel Thorpe. At this moment, his skill plans are related to his favorite vehicle, the BMPT, but you’ll have a chance to change that. Make sure you follow the portal to find out how!

And the requirements?

The main Battle Path progression will consists of 50 levels (down from 60) and the duration is extended to 6 months. The levels (ranks) will cost 6.000 Battle Coins each (to a total of 294.000 Battle Coins for reaching Level 50) but fear not, we’ll be compensating this increase as follows:

• More boosters as prizes with additional ones available in the Shop
• More income from chain missions
• Easier repeatable missions

As things are, if you are earning your Battle Coins by playing, you’ll be progressing faster than in the previous Battle Path.

 

Click the image to open a larger version

 

Additionally, those of you having participated in the Perihelion event will have a distinct advantage as some of the prizes of this Battle Path were used previously in that event. If you have such a prize already, you’ll be compensated in bonus Battle Coins (22.000 Battle Coins in total in case you have all the Perihelion prizes). All in all, given the extension and the changes to income and missions, you should have an easier time completing this Battle Path.

 

Overprogression

 

This is a returning concept that we had in the past Battle Paths, although this time it’s a bit different. The Eclipse Battle Path will feature 10 “overprogression” levels (51 to 60) that are a bonus for the most hardcore of players.

 

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The top prize of these levels is an additional Tier 10 Premium vehicle – EBRC Jaguar, but that’s just one aspect of it as the prizes get very valuable indeed, more so with each level obtained:

• Levels 51 to 58 will feature special Eclipse Loot Crates (one each)
• Level 59 will feature a Flag unlock (or 25.000 Battle Coins if you have it unlocked already)
• Level 60 will feature the coveted Jaguar

The Eclipse Loot Crates work as follows. Each of these Loot Crates will “scan” your vehicle pool and award you one vehicle that you don’t have already – with certain limitations. Each of these crates is marked with a Tier, starting with Tier 3 on Level 51 all the way up to Tier 10 on Level 58. Each crate awards vehicles of its Tier but may award you with a vehicle up to two Tiers higher. A few examples:

• Level 51: Tier 3 Loot Crate may award you with Tier 3, Tier 4 and Tier 5 vehicle that you don’t have
• Level 52: Tier 4 Loot Crate may award you with Tier 4, Tier 5 and Tier 6 vehicle that you don’t have

And so on. Level 57 crate only awards Tier 9 and Tier 10 vehicles, Level 58 crate awards Tier 10 vehicles. In other words, you may earn up to three Tier 10 vehicles from this system alone. However, please note that as we stated above, these Loot Crates will only award you vehicles you don’t have. In the unlikely case you have literally everything the crate can offer (some vehicles are excluded, much like in the BP shop), you will receive bonus Battle Coins.

Each of these overprogression levels will cost 18000 Battle Coins.

 

Shop Changes

 

We are overhauling the Battle Path shop to work a bit different. First things first – the bonus Battle Coins are staying and we aren’t nerfing them. Here’s how things will be set up:

• The first slot will offer the abovementioned Battle Coins with the same amounts and chances as at the end of the Rise of the Dragon Battle Path.
• The second slot previously offered a single type of blueprints (parts) depending on the Battle Path. In the Eclipse Battle Path, the slot will offer three types of blueprints – Object 787 Gadyuka, 2S38 Derivatsiya and CV90120T Ghost. That way, you’ll be able to assemble all three vehicles without having to wait for the right drop in the vehicle slot.
• The third slot will offer the same vehicles as before (minus the Ghost and Derivatsiya) but will feature nearly all vehicles there are in the game, including T-62M, T-15 Kinzhal, the Rise of the Dragon vehicles, Object 225 and Object 287.
• The fourth slot lost the “trash” drops (insignia, Credits) but will now offer most of the camouflages and base paints available in the game, including some really rare ones. We’ve prepared some real unicorns for you here and it’s up to you to find them!
• And finally, the fifth slot also lost its “trash” drops and will now offer skins. Just how many skins? Pretty much all of them. Yes, that’s hundreds of new items you can purchase for Battle Coins if vehicle visuals are something you get into. Some of our skins are famously epic and we want to offer you the chance to also get them for Battle Coins.

As usual, already owned skins, camouflages and paints will not be available for repeated purchase.

 

Conclusion

 

And that’s about it, commanders. We hope you’ll enjoy this Battle Path as much as we enjoyed designing and writing it for you. We hope you’ll allow yourselves to look beyond simple numbers and enjoy it as the epic adventure we’re planning it to be. For the future, we’ll give you more opportunities to influence the direction of the story as well as the vehicles you’ll be able to earn, the Eclipse is just the beginning.

 

[Zafir 14]

14 hours ago, Haswell said:

The levels (ranks) will cost 6.000 Battle Coins each (to a total of 294.000 Battle Coins for reaching Level 50) but fear not, we’ll be compensating this increase as follows:

• More boosters as prizes with additional ones available in the Shop
• More income from chain missions
• Easier repeatable missions

14 hours ago, Haswell said:

The Eclipse Battle Path will feature 10 “overprogression” levels (51 to 60) that are a bonus for the most hardcore of players.
[…]
Each of these overprogression levels will cost 18000 Battle Coins.

14 hours ago, Haswell said:

As things are, if you are earning your Battle Coins by playing, you’ll be progressing faster than in the previous Battle Path.

Right… I believe it, when I see it…

14 hours ago, Haswell said:

However, please note that as we stated above, these Loot Crates will only award you vehicles you don’t have. In the unlikely case you have literally everything the crate can offer (some vehicles are excluded, much like in the BP shop), you will receive bonus Battle Coins.

A list of the those vehicles would have been too much to ask?
 

All in all, a lot of hit-and-miss.

[HRDSTL 0]

The only vehicle from this campaign worth anything is the EBRC Jaguar, but I'm not sure I'm willing to spend that much time on it, ...

If there will be an entry fee like in past campaigns I will still consider it. 

Edited March 5, 2023 by HRDSTL (see edit history)

[Schlock 11]

"The Russian Federation, having fully recovered from the Soviet Union era that ended in 1997, is a rising power once again"

lmao this was written somewhere in 2020 and wasn't updated since.

But this seems like a step in a right direction, some fresh air because BPs were getting stale.

[ceejee007 9]

Got the same feeling as Zafir is mentioning: Right… I believe it, when I see it…

Really wouldlike to have the info on

On 3/5/2023 at 4:58 AM, Haswell said:

award you one vehicle that you don’t have already – with certain limitations

Are those limitation that premium tanks are excluded, or are it just premium tanks, and which tanks will be on the list? I really would like to know which tanks are gainable. 

Also, in our clan there is some doubt that the entry fee will be equal to last one.

Hope we get some info in a few days. And yes, seeing is believing. 

Godspeed.

[knutliott 41]

Summary of the mechanics so far (at least that I've seen):

 

Eclipse Battle Path

Needed Battle Coins:

• Ranks: 6,000 per rank through rank 50 (49 ranks) = 294,000
• Ranks: 18,000 per rank 51 through 60 (10 ranks) = 180,000
• 80 parts at 350 each (only buy Rare offers or better) = 28,000, but probably closer to 25,000
• Total to rank 50 including parts vehicle: around 319,000 - 322,000
• Grand total to rank 60: 499,000 - 502,000.  Call it an even 500k.

Available Battle Coins:

• Repeatables: 180 x 700 = 126,000
• Challenges: 10 x 8,000 = 80,000
• Mission chains: 3 x 4,500 + 1 x 17,500 = 31,000
• Store (reasonable daily average): 180 x ~135 = 24,300
  • This assumes no re-rolling, because re-rolling is almost always a net loss.  Don't be lured in by the few lucky people who score big - it's gambling, and it greatly favors the house.
• Total Available BC: 261,300

That means that to just get to rank 50 and the parts vehicle you’ll need about 58,000 coins from grinding.  A decent chunk of that will come from coins earned simply doing the repeatables unless you spend gold to bypass too many of them along the way, but you’ll likely still need to use boosters which average around 2,500 each in PvE.  (To avoid using boosters would require you to average a little over 16 missions per day for 180 days at 20 BC per mission.)

Getting the Jaguar will require an additional 180,000 BC for a total of about 238,000, which is a pretty crazy grind or an expensive amount of whaling.  To put it in perspective that’s an additional 9,000 missions at 20 BC per mission, which is 50 extra missions per day for a total of 66 missions per day.  Or it is ~9 x 25k BC purchases at 10k gold each which is 90,000 gold.  Even buying the largest gold pack repeatedly (24k gold for 100 EUR/$$) that’s 375 EUR/$$.  The Jaguar is not a free-to-play reward; you're going to have to pay for it one way or another.

Other notes:

• You can also earn 2 x 500 BC certificates each week by doing the weekend Spec Ops.  180 days = 25 weeks = 25,000 potential BC to help offset the massive grind to get the Jaguar.  Since it is reasonably easy to set up platoons to grind through these, it’s highly recommended to do so for this BP.
• If you participated in the original Perihelion event, you will already have several prizes that are being given out in this BP and will receive a total of 22,000 BC in compensation when you reach the appropriate ranks.
• Rank 59 in the overprogression ranks awards a US Marine Corps flag.  If you already have it somehow, you will instead receive 25,000 BC which is enough to instantly unlock rank 60 and get the Jaguar.

Edited April 13, 2023 by knutliott
multiple corrections from information that became available a launch (see edit history)

[Zafir 14]

Some corrections:

39 minutes ago, knutliott said:

Ranks: 18,000 per rank 51 through 60 (10 ranks) = 18,000

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— Each of these overprogression levels will cost 18000 Battle Coins.

(Levels 51 to 60) 10 × 18.000 BC = 180.000 BC

 

59 minutes ago, knutliott said:

Repeatables: 180 x 700 = 126,000

Those missions were on a 72h reset timer, so 3 every 3 Days, given the reset stays the same. In 180 Days = 42.000 BC, IF you get them all done and don't miss a single one before each reset.

 

41 minutes ago, knutliott said:

Rank 59 in the overprogression ranks awards the flags unlock, which normally costs 9999 Gold in-game.

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Level 59 will feature a Flag unlock (or 25.000 Battle Coins if you have it unlocked already)

It's a flag, not the slots.

[dfnce 28]

On 3/14/2023 at 6:14 PM, knutliott said:

• Rank 59 in the overprogression ranks awards the flags unlock, which normally costs 9999 Gold in-game.  If you already have flags unlocked, you will instead receive 25,000 BC which is enough to instantly unlock rank 60 and get the Jaguar.

I yet to see myself if these and some other reward coins (like from 51-58 chest) intended for same BP or they "next BP". 

 

[knutliott 41]

On 3/14/2023 at 11:22 AM, Zafir said:

(Levels 51 to 60) 10 × 18.000 BC = 180.000 BC

Weird, I thought I'd already caught and fixed that.  Fixed now, at least.

On 3/14/2023 at 11:22 AM, Zafir said:

Those missions were on a 72h reset timer, so 3 every 3 Days, given the reset stays the same. In 180 Days = 42.000 BC, IF you get them all done and don't miss a single one before each reset.

It's 3 missions every 3 days, which is 180 missions in 180 days.  Each of those 3 missions is worth 700 BC, ergo 180 * 700 = 126,000 BC.

You can also pay 200 gold each to skip them if you want, which is a BC:Gold rate of 3.5 and is one of the best ways to "buy" BC available.

On 3/14/2023 at 11:22 AM, Zafir said:

It's a flag, not the slots.

You think they'd actually award 25,000 BC in compensation for a single flag that normally costs 50 Gold?

Pretty sure this is an unlock for the ability to use flags which is normally 9999 Gold.  It may also include a flag, but the 25k BC part has got to be the flags unlock.

[Zafir 14]

11 hours ago, knutliott said:

It's 3 missions every 3 days, which is 180 missions in 180 days.  Each of those 3 missions is worth 700 BC, ergo 180 * 700 = 126,000 BC.

I stand corrected.

 

11 hours ago, knutliott said:

You think they'd actually award 25,000 BC in compensation for a single flag that normally costs 50 Gold?

In previous posts, they referred to the actual cosmetic unlock as “the flag slots”. Might be that it is poorly worded / translated and your point regarding 9999 Gold ~ 25000 BC holds some merit. However, there was also a flag reward in the Perihelion story event and getting 25000BC at rank 59 of 60 in the over progression part of the BP is fairly inconsequential in regard to the previous necessary grind. I guess we have to wait and see here.

[Qbicle 103]

Source:

https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/eclipse-skin-banger

 

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The Banger skin is one of the earlier Eclipse Battle Path prizes and today we’d like to tell you more about it.

 

Click the image to open a larger version

 

The name Banger might sound familiar to you as it is mentioned in the Wages of Sin PvE mission – if you discover a certain semi-secret dialogue, that is. A bit of lore first:

The Banger was an old M113 leased to Perihelion for its training duration by the U.S. Army. The official version is that it gained its nickname from a large recoilless rifle mounted on top. Several days before the arrival of Samuel Thorpe, the gun was accidentally discharged in the middle of the camp, resulting in severe hearing issues for several Perihelion mercenaries. There are some who claim the name came from the stretcher found in the troop compartment, which a number of Perihelion troops used as their private hideaway. The Banger was lost during the battle for the U.S. Army base, the fate of its crew unknown.

 

Some of the Banger References

 

As we promised before, pretty much every prize in the Eclipse Battle Path is tied to the Battle Path’s story and you can learn about every aspect from its description in the Customizations menu. Even vehicle descriptions change upon installing the skin.

 

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This skin is connected to the earlier part of the tale where the forces of Perihelion fight an unknown enemy in Arizona covered, as we mentioned before, by the Wages of Sin mission. That much you already know. But we’d like to give you an overview why the skin does look the way it look.

The overall look of the skin matches an M113 that was previously mothballed and only brought to working order so that it could be transferred to the Perihelion mercenaries as a training vehicle. It was placed in Arizona for a long time (since the 1970s in fact), that is why it is painted using the MERDC “red desert” camouflage pattern, a perfect fit for Arizona.

 

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Several signs indicate the history of the vehicle goes all the way back to the Vietnam War. The hull was modified by removing its side skirts. This was typically done to wartime M113s so that branches and mud wouldn’t stick behind them – those were a pain to clean up). Additionally, the vehicle carries spare parts on it which nobody really bothered to remove.

And last but not least, the rolled metal grid attached to the front turned out to be very useful when travelling across soft, wet or sandy surfaces.

 

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The vehicle’s tactical markings were painted over by the military so that it wouldn’t pass as regular U.S. Army vehicle.

And last but not least, the vehicle was personalized by the Perihelion mercenaries to an extent.

 

Click the image to open a larger version

 

[knutliott 41]

I love the MERDC camos, but I would have preferred for this to use something else as a base.  I could already use MERDC 2 (desert, red) on the M113 if I wanted to...

That said, it looks nice!

[Zafir 14]

Update 0.44.1 Now Available

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Apr 20th | 2023

Commanders!

We are happy to announce that the Update 0.44.1 is now available!

 

List of Update 0.44.1 Changes

 

Eclipse Battle Path

The Battle Path’s duration is now set to 120 days. Additional extensions are very possible when we begin to reach the end of this deadline. Additionally, the following changes are taking place in this update:

• Adjusted the entry price of the Battle Path to the intended value
• Fixed the animation and sound of Overprogression Loot Crates
• Added a new Eclipse garage to the game (takes place early in the story, in Arizona)
• Level 49 now costs the correct amount of Battle Coins
• Diary button no longer displays “404” error when inspecting it while not having access to the Battle Path
• Battle Path vehicles are now correctly assigned to their dealers (Otomatic – Francine De Laroche, TOS and Gadyuka – Marat Shishkin and Gepard – Sophie Wolfli)
• Fixed an issue where 3 Overprogression Loot Crates awarded a Progression vehicle (Sucuri II)
• Fixed an issue where the M551 Acid skin wasn’t being awarded correctly when bought in the Shop
• Fixed the price of Workshop modules in the Upgrade window (their requirements did not change but the modules now visually cost 10 XP)
• Gadyuka parts are no longer available for trading on Lootdog

General Changes

• Fixed an issue that caused the game to crash when trying to play videos and animations
• Fixed an issue where some vehicles (Stridsvagn 2000, Object 195, Armata, Armata 152) did not count as “heavy” for the purposes of Platoon creation
• Fixed an issue where the AI opponents in PvE were teleporting around, including into buildings, rocks and other obstacles
• Fixed an issue where two Loot Crates would open at once if you decided to skip the animation
• EBRC Jaguar: Fixed an issue where this vehicle had an invulnerable turret (parts of its hitbox were missing)
• EBRC Jaguar: Fixed an issue where the muzzle brake was not moving in sync with the barrel
• Gadyuka: Fixed this vehicle’s armor and modules (multiple issues)
• Gadyuka: Moved the ammo rack to its correct location under the turret
• Gadyuka: Removed the “Unmanned Turret” trait and made the turret manned (takes full damage)
• Gadyuka: Fixed an issue where this vehicle didn’t count as Special Vehicle in the Garage filter
• Gepard: Fixed the performance of HE shells (reduced their non-penetration damage)
• Gepard: Fixed the Radar ability name and description
• Gepard: Fixed the lower frontal plate that was incorrectly 7mm thick (now it corresponds to the upper frontal plate)
• Otomatic: Fixed an issue where this vehicle didn’t count as Special Vehicle in the Garage filter
• T-80B: Fixed an issue where upgrading to ERA actually created two weakspots (driver hatch, lower frontal plate)
• TOS-1M: Fixed an issue where the Armor Inspector showed the launcher and its elements flying in the air
• TOS-1M: 122mm rockets are now fired from the launcher in the correct order
• TOS-1M: Fixed this vehicle’s acceleration
• Fixed an issue that caused the acceleration statistics to appear incorrectly for a large number of vehicles (the actual values did not change, they just appear correctly now)
• Fixed several smaller visual issues
• Fixed several smaller localization issues

Please note that the update is incorrectly marked as Update 0.41.5 – this nomenclature issue will be fixed in the future.

Any statements on, if it was too expensive or too cheap? Are they planning on reimbursing people, if needed?