Star Date: 9 May, 3014

Hi! I'm going on vacation tomorrow for a week! I'll be checking my email and the forums and twitter when I have internet access. MQ is in good hands with Vivi and Ash doing next week's update, and Korin is going to help post Design Notes for you, so you probably won't even notice I"m away.

bzzt <Incoming Transmission: Ash>

Greetings! This week I worked on getting a bunch of the bugs that were around, and that you all reported recently, fixed.
There were a bunch, and I can't mention all of them, but to sum up everything.
- A bunch of typos.
- Item bugs.
- Mech bugs
- Travel Map bug
- Romero quest bug

I also have a hunt tonight for you all for a new type of mod. These still boost stats but they boost a different set then you all usually see. I'm working on seeing about putting extra effects on new mods for some true passive effects but for now I wanted to put these out.
What better way to do that then a hunt through the game! I'm hiding the mods in a shop and the following is your clue.

"Struggled to be free, fled from destruction, leaving pieces behind with a kind of kin."

Good luck and feel free to work together on the forums! Have fun!

bip bip pongggggg

Thanks, Ash!

I wanted to mention that you might want to build up your stash of credits because there's an o.Ops weapon planned for later this month. Good chance to run into Richy the Rich Guy in the Soluna East mission this weekend. Also, we've got a little something for you on Mother's Day so definitely log in again on Sunday!

Good luck with the hunt, everyone!

L8r m8s!

=Mae 

Avenger-Themed Weapons! These are available until June 1st. Find them in the Event panel of the Shop interface.

Extra-Special Limited-Time Rare o.Ops versions! Available only until Sunday at 10AM Server Time (Eastern US time) - L45 head (Non-Star Captain - so, available for all players) and L45 Front Arm (Star Captain ONLY) - their price is set EXTREMELY high, and they have a boosted Damage Per Turn (DPT). This version will become FOREVER RARE after Sunday.

Specials - HI VIVI!

Head: 
First hit: Chance to heal the damage done by this hit 
Second hit: Chance to increase defense and bonus by 7 per turn for 5 turns 

Shield: 
First hit: Chance for an HP DOT for 3 turns 
Second hit: Reduces enemy boost by 30 for 3 turns. If the first hit connected, boost is lowered by 30 for 4 turns instead, and you get +80 defense for the enemy's next attack. 

Hammer: 
Damages enemy EP at the beginning of the attack. Tries 12 times total, each time there's a chance to do 2% of their max EP in EP damage 
On hit: Inflicts an EP Heal Block (enemy cannot regen EP or heal it in any way) and has a chance to attempt to stun for 1 round (enemy takes -50 immobility resistance for this attempt) 

If all three are equipped, all three of them gain this special: 
Last hit: If not already affected by this, the enemy gets -40 bonus for 3 rounds 

If you use an arm and the head on the geekatrons, they'll combo like other zargon weapons (they also fit with the existing combos as well). 
Lightning Mallet -> Iron Head -> Geekatron Body = Damage Boost 
Captain Soluna Shield -> Iron Head -> Geekatron Body = Defense Boost

THANKS VIVI! (Vivi came up with these specials - with a couple of suggestions from Korin - & coded them. Plasma Charge suggested the Geekatron combo surprise bonuses. And zccheng97 of the forums suggested the o.Ops super-rare high credits versions. HUGE thanks to all of you!)

Planet Romero Challenge Mode: When you go to the Comm Building and use the Missions button, you will now see an option labeled "Challenge Mode." Available to ALL - NSCs can get a taste of what the Star Captain Exclusive challenge modes hold in store (though keep in mind that all are different in some way).

Also fixes an issue with the original timed quest where the perimeter health dropped to 0, and a blackscreen upon exiting an area with Helia.

Have a wonderful weekend - thanks for playing MQ! See you on the forums!

It's no yolk that we've got some eggcziting new Spring Holiday weapons - you'll have to crack the egg to reach the shops inside. You can replay the past years' quests and pick up Holiday Rares, too.

Here is Vivi with the Design-Notes-Friendly specials - thanks to blues for coming up with them and to Vivi for coding them onto the weapons that Minar designed, drew, and animated!

Head (CD = 3): 
Good chance for a crit 
Each turn, randomly applies one of these effects (good effects go to you, bad effects go to the enemy). The first effect lasts for 3 turns, the second effect lasts for 2 turns and the third effect lasts for 1 turn. Specials listed are NSC (SC,NG) 
- general damage boost of 30% (35,40) 
- defense boost of 30 (40,50) 
- damage reduction of 30% (35,40) 
- general BtH boost of 30 (40,50) 
- normal (1.5, double) HP DoT 
- normal (1.5, double) EP DoT 
- blinding effect, -30 (35,40) enemy BtH 
- -60 (-70,-80) immo res and stun try 

Back Arm (CD = 3): 
- Good chance for a crit 
- First hit: chance for a double HP DoT 
- Second hit: chance to heal Level*1.5 HP 
- Third hit: chance to heal Level*1.5 EP

We pushed out a fix to the 0-Damage issue that cropped up on the Egg mechas (and monster) - it was the result of an earlier fix, actually. Similar to those NaN issues Vivi has been fixing. 

While I've been writing we've also been fixing little issues that slipped through the initial roll, so BA now really does 3 hits, Egg enemy doesn't NaN its Bonus... 

I had hoped also to bring you a new installment of the Romero storyline this week - a few technical difficulties delayed the storyline and quest (which are coming together nicely but not 100% ready) - but we DO have an update!

When you visit Vend-O-Tron, his (its?) shop interface has been streamlined so you don't have to wade through a bazillion weapons to get to the one you want.  Many thanks to the ArchKnights of the forums for pointing out this issue!

Have a happy Spring Holiday if you are celebrating in "real life" and enjoy the MechQuest spring holidays in-game! 

First of all let's all wish Vivi a very happy birthday!  And many, many more!

He animated today's Scalpel Front Arm weapon for us, besides his normal coding in of the specials blues designed! The specials all fit into the description so you should go to Romero and check the Vend-o-Tron for that info.  These are Nova Gem exclusive weapons. My original plan was to bring you also Star Captain and NSC (non-Star Captain) weapons, which Minar drew for us but we just honestly didn't have time to get them animated for this week. (Minar had final exams and Korin had a ton of other things in the works.) You will get them most likely next week. 

So many mecha models "lost weight" this week - TONS - so they could "fit" in the walkaround quests! I had to shrink their shadows, actually. Some have only one shadow, and some have two. And of course each mecha model has many levels - so to roll this release I had to open 8 separate windows with many, many tabs in each one to change nearly 100 filenames! So if you were not able to complete the walkaround quests in any of the models on the following list, try again!

• Wolfblade (lower-level, not the Advanced)
• ShS Trog SC
• ShS Trog NSC
• Dragon Spirit Form NG
• Dragon Spirit Form SC
• Dragon Spirit Form NSC
• Chronomecha
• Derpmachine
• Guardian
• Mechatron
• Vanguard

If you get stuck in a different model, or are still getting stuck in any of the above, please report it in the Gremlins forum as a reply here

I fixed a few database typos:

• Sparkler Rocket Std 3010 description is now correct
• Dimitri's Gaze series got a typofix and a grammar fix
• The Flamorah series also got a correction in its description 

I didn't get into quest files this week for any dialogue or mouseover typos. I'm still on the PC which can't handle having MQ open and running while Flash is open and running, so my multitasking is suffering horribly. I actually did some questwriting on actual paper with an actual pen with actual ink over the past couple of weeks! My hard drive on the laptop turned up blank - all my precious text files gone... and the first estimate from a file recovery place was over $1,000 USD. Getting one more estimate before I just get a new HD & send this one to Korin to give it a last-ditch effort for file recovery - so let's all hope for the best. Back up your files NOW!

Anyway...

Also in this bugfixing frenzy, Vivi got rid of NaN bugs in:

• Cosmic Talon (head)
• Steve Skysplitter (head)
• Yeti Boss (arm)

Vivi also fixed something with the Giant Gorilla on Liath - I don't know offhand what it was ... because a Gremlin sneaked into one of our testing mechanisms somehow - so that fix actually rolled un-tested! (Normally every potential fix gets tested before it rolls Live.) (The Gremlins ArchKnight Plasma Charge is checking it now - he just told me that what was wrong is that it was buffing the player instead of its own attacks.)

Speaking of Gremlins AKs - Ello is back with us! 'Ello, Ello!

Coming up: Charfade plans to guest-art us a St. Patrick's Day weapon! Jemini did backgrounds for St. Pat's Day! Traditional-styled original Irish music! More about that new music later, though - because I have to run out the door! Have a great weekend - thanks so much for your support! Please tell your friends about MechQuest!

We are still preparing Planet Romero for you - and so for this week we have continued our Buffs and Bugfixes while we're still getting things in shape on the new planet.

Buffs!

1) In the Dropship, the "Fly This Ship" minigame that you can play (go right till you find Worsh flying the ship) got a buff. I set it up so that it now gives much better credit rewards - for example, a score of 20 used to give you 20 credits but now gives you 200!

2) Tyranno Mecha - I made NEW level 14 and level 19 versions as well as the buffed-up level 10 originals - find them in the Repli-Mecha shops after completing the Museum Jobs for Val. blues designed the buffs, and Vivi coded them and has the following info on the new specials.

Specials are NSC (SC,NG) 
Head: ---> CD=5 

- starts with 1.1 (1.3,1.5) times damage 
- general damage boost BoT of +5(8,10) per turn for 5 turns 
- frightening attack, enemy BtH reduction of -20 (30,40) for 5 turns 
- SC/NG only: Disables an equippable enemy's head 

Body: ---> CD=5 

- starts with 1.1 (1.3,1.5) times damage 
- combined HP/EP DoT (normal, 1.5 times, double) 
- Chance for double (triple,triple) EP regeneration. 
- SC/NG only: damages EP with half damage done 

Arms: ---> CD=1 

- rage attack: Damage increases by 10% (20,25) per use. Increases stack between the FA and BA. 

Shoulders: ---> CD=2 

- starts with 1.1 (1.3,1.5) times damage 
- Chance for an extra Hit with 50% damage 
- Chance for a HP Dot for 3 turns, stacking 
- SC/NG only: Chance for enemy EP regen stop for 2 turns 

3) Soluna Battle Button!!??!!

Vivi updated the encounter list:

• fewer Ghost types, so more chance of variety
• At Level 25 and up, Advanced House Mecha opponents can show up
• buffed 3 monster specials

Goliath A (flamethrower, bombs) 
Flamethrower: 120% damage with improved accuracy, inflicts a 1.5x HP DOT 
Bombs: Rolls between 10% and 50% extra damage, reduces enemy boost by between 8 and 15 per hit 

Goliath B (machine gun, ground pound) 
Machine Gun: Damage and crit chance increased, Inflicts a DOT with strength based on number of hits 
Ground Pound: Damage increase between 20 and 40%, reduces enemy bonus by between 8 and 15 per hit 

Turret (small attack, big attack) 
Small attack: Less damage than usual, first hit deals EP damage equal to half damage done, second through fourth hits each lower defense by between 8 and 10 
Big attack: Increased damage, if all 5 hits connect it attempts to stun you

Thanks, Vivi!

Bugfixes:

1) Korin fixed an issue with the menu bar disappearing from the interface and messages of "undefined" (required another engine change, so please clear your cache and reload).

2) I fixed (with Vivi's assistance) the Hazuko series weapons that were causing NaN values

• Hazuko Machete
• Hazuko Katana
• Hazuko Staff
• Hazuko Sai
• (Note: I am still working on a head fix - the Tremendous Lightning still gives NaN for now, but I'll get that fix rolled out soon too)

3) Vivi fixed a NaN issue with the Morehawk (which was actually for last week but got included with this week instead)

...and last week some fixes for which I didn't get you Design Notes written:

• NaN issues with Korin Bag head series, Subzero Gaze heads, and the AC-490 mechas
• SC Xtreme Challenges Necryptos X-A and X-B (rolled Saturday) - losing no longer takes you back to the intro & kicks you out of the quest 

I *think* that covers everything we've fixed & buffed so far!  More fixes are on my list, and we have other improvements in store - we're eager to bring you new content and it's on its way!  It's been an insane few weeks with the pre-production of the new planet getting a couple of delays, but this is actually turning out to make it better that it would have been.  Ok - I think that's all from me for now. Have a great weekend - have fun - and of course, thanks for playing MechQuest! 

This has been an insane couple of weeks! Sorry I haven't had much time to write you notes.  Here are some quick ones for now! The 3011 Mogloween event with Trick or Treating is still happening - if you are having a hard time with the clues, just keep going straight for that candy by the Bay Doors in Trick or Treating quests - if you fight the same person a couple of times in a row it is most likely an NPC with a clue and you should go explore his or her starship. There is an image of what the clue looks like by Jack in town on Mortis (orange fingerprint).

The old Hospital mechas have gotten some nice buffs to make them more useful and powerful. 

Last weekend I worked on a whole bunch of Gremlins - got some fixed - and was completely mystified by the Mecha Fryer crashing the game. Korin took it apart layer by layer this week to find the issue - and he has fixed it! Huzzah!

Salvage Quest: Joey has Heads - four models that are all completely new to the game, plus I selected a variety of heads that were either rare, seasonal-rare, or available somewhere in-game for each tier.

Special thanks to Gibby for compiling the list of Starship IDs for me last week, and to Kamui for helping us with pre-testing this week! And a huge thank you to all of you for playing MechQuest! Have a great weekend!

War on Bugs! Really the credit goes to Vivi for fixing the bugs in the Data Cell Head and the Mechatron!  I played a role in the process but his role involved cogitation and coding, while mine involved things like downsaving and uploading and rolling and databasing.  If that made sense to you, hooray! Anyway, my point is that I did the easy part.  And the Mechatron and Data Cell Head bugs should now be fixed.  There are some other bugs involving the Yokai planet rewards that are high on the list - but their fixes will come along in the next week or so, as I got distracted by... a Bug War??!!???

Yes, I was doing some real-life Bug Warring here in the Undisclosed Location. I've temporarily dubbed it "MidWestion!"  The ants came marching two by two - kerrick, kerrack, hurrah (if you get that reference in its entirety including the bits beginning with k, you win ... an acorn, man!)  Yeah, I am perhaps not the best housekeeper ever, but I do keep things pretty clean (if not tidy) - and with the wet weather and a missed sticky spill plus a stray raisin, the tiny ants thought they found a prime picnic spot here.  Thanks to real-life friends and facebook friends for the arsenal - I got ideas for ant deterrents and communications from diverse places including Sweden, Singapore, France, the US Midwest, and New York City.  I have only seen a couple of stragglers late to the picnic now that I've cleaned all three food/spice cabinets and counters with an ammonia-based cleaning product, and used other solutions such as crushed red pepper and cinnamon and sugarwater with soap and a chemical-free bug spray... if I combine all this with Cola perhaps we'll have a real-life Maegwyn's Bug Spray!  (Just don't mix chlorine and ammonia - Very Bad Things Happen!)  (I did not do that.  I'm just sayin' ...)

We have some cool stuff happening in the upcoming weeks - thanks for playing MechQuest, and stay tuned for the news here, on the forums, on twitter, and on our official facebook page  which we plan to start updating again on a regular basis!

Rescue Quest: Though this was put through the wringer of extensive testing, even still when you reached the 75% mark and unlocked it, it became clear that I should have made the timer longer to accommodate some of the lengthier animations of various mecha models and equipment setups.  I've made the timer longer now, but hopefully still enough of a challenge to be fun.  

Imbiber Bugfix and Buff: Part of the issues with the underwhelming performance of the Imbiber was the result of a bug.  Korin made an engine change and Vivi made the code play nice.  Also, blues and Vivi and I discussed the buff and looked over your notes in the Game Balance Discussion section of the forums, and here is Vivi with a run-down of the buff details:

Buffed Stats for the Imbiber: 
DOT Shield is the same as before 

Body: 

• 125% damage 
• If you have enough EP to not go below 0 with this effect, 50% crit chance. If the attack is a critical hit, takes additional EP from you equal to WeaponCost at your level 
• 50% of damage is also inflicted to EP 

Head: 

• Each hit rolls between 0 and 50% bonus damage 
• First hit heals HP equal to the damage done 
• Second hit heals EP equal to the damage done 

Front Arm: 
Inflicts a 2x EP DoT, lasts three turns 

Back Arm: 
Inflicts a 2x HP DoT, lasts three turns 

Front Shoulder: 
Inflicts a 1.5x EP DoT and heals your EP each turn by some amount based on your mecha level (this amount has increased from before) 

Back Shoulder: 
Inflicts a 1.5x HP DoT and heals your HP each turn by some amount based on your mecha level (this amount has increased from before) 

The fix and buffs should bring the Imbiber up to expectations.  Thanks for your feedback on the forums!

I also put the Ice Harvester and Shadowed Arthurian Lion mecha models on a diet so that they can now be used for the timed quest and other walkaround maps.  Thanks to everyone for your reports in the Gremlins forum!  Now that I've got the hang of fixing that Gremlin I'll be a lot faster at that (and ideally we will catch those now before they roll Live...)

You haven't heard from me on the Design Notes much lately - I'm happy to say that I'm working from home now instead of on the coffee shop circuit!  I'm about five times as busy as normal at this stage - working with Vivi and Lyris on an upcoming release, which I can't remember whether Korin has mentioned so I won't say too much for now - along with working ahead on putting together another quest - and then more current things like the usual testing, fixing your House Affiliation Gremlins, doing all the database entries for the upcoming rewards to give you some examples of what I might be up to on a given day.  I'll try to be more talkative!

See you on the forums!

Green, Clover, Luck Day!  The Holiday Shops are in Soluna City, with the Luck mods of years past, and also Cloverblades, including higher-level versions of the Cloverblades.  (Luck mods do NOT have higher-level versions - this is intentional for this year.)

GEARS Games Fix:  The Mystraven GEARS edition mechas were claiming to be incompatible with MR members, and also crippling in battle incorrectly - this should now be fixed!  There are still some other Gremlins on a List, all of which we aim to fix before the Games are over.  Cross fingers!!

Are you wearing green?  I'm actually wearing my Chickencow shirt today.  It's a green shirt, with a Chickencow on it.  I am the only customer wearing green in this cafe.  One of the baristas has a green shirt on, though.  I'm also drinking green tea... Working from cafes really makes me appreciate my home - it's great to have a laptop and wonderful that I can work from anywhere in the world with an internet connection, but the downside is that some of these cafe connections are s-l-o-w ... 

And I'm due for dinner in 40 minutes so I had better pack up and get a move on!  Don't forget to check out the homepage for some great art by Charfade and a few words from Korin!  I hope to write you some chatty DNs sometime again soonish, too.  

Gremlins Squashed: Korin seems to have the Graupel (snowmecha series) finally playing nice with levels-with-you weapons, so ideally that will be the last of the Gremlins in these.  While he was fixing that, Vivi took care of a bug with the Chronomech, and the Lectrocast series (SC Front Arm reward from last Friday).  Also Vivi had me make a slight change to the Chronomech's Chrono Cannon description in the database.  It fires globs of oil now, not globs of "goo."  I got a couple of reports via PM about issues with what happens after you beat the boss in the Crystal Asteroid - coincidentally I had just learned about this issue while building the walkaround section of the Traveler quest part two.  So I got that tweaked so I think people will stop getting stuck.  Vivi was also working on a color-customizing bug in the Bladestorm arms, but something has gone a little wonky so we're holding off on that one for now so I could go ahead & roll the other stuff.

Ice Storm: Here at my Undisclosed Location we are having a wild ice storm that is forecast to be followed by deep snow and high winds.  So we're hoping I don't lose power - it's cutting a wide swath across the American Midwest.  We might even get thundersnow - exciting in a way.  It's already very glittery which is beautiful but not at all good. 

I want to hurry up & get back to putting something together for Friday, to get as much done as possible in case I do lose power. I was going to answer some questions in my next DNs but I guess I'll put that off again (sorry).  Hasta lluego!

Buggy Monday on Tuesday: Vivi fixed the weapons & mecha model, and I was able to fix the starship item. Vivi & I are a great team but of course it's thanks to all of you for reporting the issues, and thanks to the Gremlins Archknights neodiabolus and Terosin for confirming/replicating them, along with their work on the forum.  

• Harvester Arms now have a Back Arm Graphic
• Ice Harvester Mecha series now recognizes the caps to the defense and accuracy buffs
• The Evil Jim Poster Portal now only works for the Starship Captain (same as the Mortis Map)

Korin tells me that he has questions on his Formspring about whether the heads on the Graupel and Droxal mechas have been fixed.  I haven't been able to find reports on the Gremlins forum and I suspect this bug may have been hanging around since last year with the original models.  So if you are trying to stun your opponent and you find that your mecha's head is attempting to stun you, please let us know the details at the above link, and meanwhile we'll be looking into what's going on with that.

Mecha and Weapons Specials:  Blues designed some nice specials for the new Star Captain and Nova Gem Ice Harvester mecha and the "broken-off" weapons for the non-Star Captains.  Vivi describes them:

Ice Harvester Mecha 
The non-default pieces of it are identical to the weapons on the SC mecha 
Specials are listed as SC (NG) 

Front Arm: 2 hits 
Hit 1: Chance for a crit, chance for +10 (+15) defense for three turns 
Hit 2: Chance for +10 (+15) bonus, doesn't wear off and stacks with itself/other weapons from the mecha 
Chance for a third shot that stuns the enemy if it hits 

Back Arm: 2 hits 
Hit 1: Chance for a crit, -15 (-20) bonus to the enemy for three turns 
Hit 2: -50 (-70) defense to the enemy for three turns 

Front Shoulder: 3 hits 
All hits have a high crit chance 
Each hit gives +5 (+8) Bonus, doesn't wear off and stacks with itself/other weapons from the mecha 

Back Shoulder: 3 hits 
All hits have a high crit chance 
Each hit gives +5 (+8) Defense, doesn't wear off and stacks with itself/other weapons from the mecha 

Head: 1 hit 
Chance to deal 135% (150%) damage 
Buff Over Time to Boost of +8 (+10) per turn for 5 turns 
NG only: chance for +10 Bonus, doesn't wear off and stacks with itself/other weapons from the mecha 

Body: 2 hits 
Hit 1: Chance for a crit, chance to give +10 (+15) defense for 5 turns 
Hit 2: Chance to give +10 (+15) defense for 5 turns (stacks with the first hit), chance for +10 (+15) Bonus, doesn't wear off and stacks with itself/other weapons from the mecha 

New Year!  As 3010 draws to a close, on behalf of the entire MechQuest team I'd like to thank all of you for your loyal and continued support of the game!  Whether you started playing years ago or just discovered MQ today, we never forget that it is you who keeps us going!  Thank you so much for playing MechQuest!  

Maybe you've already supported us by upgrading - Star Captains get exclusive giftbox weapons that will open on New Year's Day - there is still time to upgrade and get your own free giftbox weapons! Also as a way of thanking you for your support, this year we designed the Frostval Mecha "Ice Harvester" model for Star Captains and Nova Gems.  If you are non-Star Captain and/or don't have the Nova Gems for this, we did "break off" the head and arms so that you can get a 'taste' of what this Holiday mecha model has to offer.  

AExtras and SuperRewards: You probably know about using AExtras to earn Nova Gems, but did you know that you can get BattleOn Game Points and use them toward Nova Gems or even to upgrade to Star Captain?  (Along with opportunities for all of our games, of course.)  Log in to the Portal Site to check out ways to earn BattleOn Game Points!  Click on the "Get Points" tab after you log in - SuperRewards is a fabulous opportunity with a selection of completely FREE offers.  It has its own tab on the Get Points page, so definitely give it a click!

Happy Holidays and stay tuned - we have more happening for the New Year!

Bugfix Monday: Yesterday (Monday) Korin was able to fix a blackscreen issue that had been hanging around for a while on exiting the Inn at Khaeldron.  If you try to walk out the way you walked in, the big "Leave?" button will now take you outside the door of the Inn.

Frostval News: 

• On Wednesday, the Star Captain Gift Boxes will arrive in the Holiday Shop in Soluna City with the snowfall.  
• Then on Friday, when we bring back last year's Frostval on Planet Thoh, we will NOT be re-releasing last year's Zorbos (the Shoulder Weapon and the Starship Item).  Instead, we will be releasing a 3010 version of each, with a new look and a less-strong version of the weapon specials, for Nova Gems. 
  • If you still have last year's version of the Ticklish Zorbo shoulder, you should NOT sell it - it will scale to L45 beginning on Friday.
• We will be releasing a higher-level version of the "Frozen" series mecha models from 2009
• We are looking at selecting other weapons and possibly mecha models from past years to include at higher levels also.

In Other News:  

• I keep forgetting to post on the Design Notes the Official Answer to a rumor that needs to be laid to rest. The Luck stat does NOT increase the rate of weapon specials.
• We accidentally skipped a thread of Museum Artwork submissions, so we've got some chosen for the next new exhibit already - and please visit the Art Museum Submissions Forum  to post your new artwork! 

Turkageddon Updates - New Weapons & a couple of fixes!

The Turkageddon '09 shops have new higher-level versions of stuff:

NSC:

• Lethal Fried Turkey Launcher L45 fs & bs 
• Reaper Wing XL38 and XL44, fa & ba
• Pilgrim heads 32 38 44

SC:

• Baster series (FA & BA) XL 32 & XL 45
• L44 Turkey Cleaver OVER 9000 (FA)

NG:

• Pop-Missiles series (fs & bs) L43 
• Turkey Cannon series (fs & bs) L38 & L44
• Mecha Fryer series (fs & bs) L45

Vivi fixed the issue where the Perfect Ghost Trap was imperfect - the problem was actually in the ghost monster Tech Phantom 1 - now your Perfect Ghost Traps should never fail to capture all Ghosts!

Vivi showed me how to fix the problem with the persistent battle menu that was happening if you missed the '09 Mega Turk // house item Attack Turkey - so those should now be working well.  

I have made progress on the male "Punky" costume with the neck coloring issues, but I haven't been able to make it exactly right yet.  It's probably one little simple thing and if I can't figure that out over the weekend I'll probably send it to Korin.

Speaking of Korin - he'll be along shortly to add some things to the Design Notes!

Buggy Monday on Tuesday! We worked yesterday and this morning on fixing some of the Gremlins that crept in to things - here's the list

• Removed an incorrect description from mod SC dB5

Skelapunk:

• Fixed missing color on Skelapunk FA hand & finger   
• Korin added color to missile popups
• Corrected the HP values on the chassis to display correctly for NSC  
• New Feature: Korin added Color-Customization feature for SC players and on the NG models

AC-490:

• <s>Back Arm</s> HEAD no longer causes NaN bug when battled in PvP 
• Body of AC-490 can trigger damage-increasing effect now - and Back Arm

er, ooops - durrrrr - (via IRC: 

• <&Vivi> oh Mae, it was the head causing the NaN bug in PvP XD
• <~Mae|Highlight> oh ha 
• <&Vivi> BA and Body are for triggering damage boost
• <~Mae|Highlight> I'll just quote that shall I?

This was a fun set of fixes - Vivi showed me how to fix the missing color stuff and he fixed AC-490 - Korin added the extras on Skelapunk and we decided to wait until today to roll everything ... which was great because he got a letter in the mail from a player who reported that his HP value on the Skelator model wasn't displaying correctly.  I was able to fix that so it is live in this set of fixes as well.  As always, thanks for reporting your bugs in the Gremlins forum and even by mail!   

Calendar Pre-Orders!

Great news - we are doing a second print run on the calendars!  You still have time to get a Chronomech in MQ and the other games' promo items as well!  Go to HeroMart  now to pre-order your 2011 "Year of the Moglin" AE Calendar!  Hurry before these all sell out... 

Star Captain Monthly: Cosmic Talon!  The NEW SCMM is now released - wouldn't it just figure it would give us technical difficulties when we were SO CLOSE to releasing it right on schedule... Well it's in Tek's special monthly shops NOW - and we're hoping that it is now Gremlin-free (as in, no bugs) and that you all enjoy it.  I or blues will write up its specials later, but for now you should have fun playing with it and putting it through its paces.

What's Next?  Well we had a few things planned in a certain order - and then Korin reassessed "popular demand" as we were all reading the forums, and so the playable "Bruce" and "Chuck" mechas are now next up in line.  You really really really want those.  So the Star-Captain-Only quest on Yokai will be delayed, and the Soluna Art Museum's next exhibit may also have to wait a bit longer. Those things are still coming though as well.

No Buggy Monday News This Week?!??  Well I have some typos fixed in various areas but I didn't want to put those up for testing until after we had the SCMM ready.  Because I probably didn't break anything while fixing typos in a zone, but imagine if we didn't have time to test it & it rolled Live by accident when the SCMM rolled and what if I somehow broke an entire planet... I have nightmares about this... so yeah, holding off another week on those typos. 

Thanks for playing MechQuest & enjoy your week - be talking with you again soon!