u/mrmivo

Proper Kunath Sigo Bass demonstration & comparison by Geri Bollinger

Proper Kunath Sigo Bass demonstration & comparison by Geri Bollinger

Finally there is an actual demonstration of the Sigo Bass! Geri Bollinger worked on the design of both the Sigo Bass and the Küng Superio, and he plays both of them in the video. He does speak in German, but there are time stamps to the demo portions. He points out that the recording is not processed or enhanced in any way, and it's the same microphone for both instruments at the same level.

They also released a new video where they show how the the Sigo Bass is made.

youtube.com
u/mrmivo — 16 hours ago

[Test Server] Update 1.11 / Season 8 preview

Greetings, Commanders!

Update 1.11 has been released on the Public Test Server. If testing goes smoothly, it will go Live on June 9th.

This update brings a brand new Season 8, a full remake of Typhoon. Also new Anomalies — Battlefield Power Research & Experimental Death Knell (currently only in Dimensional Rift), and many other contents.

Below are the contents of this update:

Unit Remake: Typhoon

Due to the severe snowballing tendency of original Typhoon, it became the only rare unit and the only unit without [Range Enhancement] Tech in 1v1 Mode, which also made Typhoon one of the least used units in the game. This remake will elevate Typhoon to the core unit tier, nerf its overpowered snowballing tendency, and make its role as a front-line chaff-clearing and anti-air unit more defined. To achieve this, we had to remove all of the Typhoon's old Techs and add the following new Techs:

  • [Range Enhancement] Increases range by 40
  • [Anti-Air Marker] Every 10 seconds, fires a marker missile with a range of 160 meters, marking enemy air units within a 100-meter radius of the target. Marked units have their range reduced by 20 and take 30% additional damage for 10 seconds.
  • [Reactive Armor] Reduces incoming damage by 80%, up to 5 times.
  • [Maintenance Array] Every 3 seconds, restores 600 HP to the Typhoon and friendly units within 100 meters. The healing amount increases by 600 per level.
  • [Field Reassembly] When destroyed, the Typhoon begins field reassembly and returns to combat in 5 seconds with 100% HP. Limited to 1 activation per round.
  • [Wreckage Detonation] Units destroyed by the Typhoon explode violently, dealing 75 damage to all units within a 15m radius.
  • [Field Entrenchment] Deploys a trench at the start of battle. While entrenched, Typhoon cannot move, HP increases by 70%, Range increases by 20. If no enemies are in range for 7 seconds, Typhoon will leave and destroy the trench.

Dimensional Rift: New Anomalies

  • [Typhoon Surge] Starts with 2 additional Typhoon

  • [Experimental Death Knell] Start with 1 extra Experimental Death Knell equipped with 20 unlockable Techs, which grows in size as your Rank increases.

  • [Battlefield Power Research] Players will be able to select different Battlefield Powers to research at the Research Center. Research requires a certain amount of time, and the research progress is visible to both players. Battlefield Powers moved into the Research Center cannot be obtained from Reinforcements again.

Season 8 Rewards

In Season 8, we have prepared many brand new Season Rewards for you, including many Avatar Frames, Emotes, and Unit Skins.

Please see the Steam announcements for many screenshots!

Balance Adjustments

Reinforcement Card

  • Battlefield Powers of rank 4 will not appear for two consecutive Rounds
  • Starting from Round 8, Unit Drop will include a pure Supply option
  • Vortex and Void Eye that appear in Unit Drop will not exceed level 3

Developer's Note: All adjustments related to Reinforcement Cards are currently in the early testing phase. We expect to make further adjustments within the next 1-2 weeks.

Vortex

  • Now in Starter Packs
  • [Accumulator Shield] Effect Adjustment: Energy is stored internally during attacks. Every 6 attacks, deploy an Energy Shield with a radius of 40m at the current location. Each shield generated increases the required number of attacks for the next shield by 5. The initial HP of the shield is 2000, and for every Vortex level increased, the shield's HP is additionally increased by 2000.
  • [Mobile Power Station] Range increased from 10 to 15
  • [Grid Integration] ATK modifier increases by +15% → +45% per linked unit, max +195% → +135%
  • ATK 1385 → 1246 (-10%)

Abyss

  • Each attack can deal up to 2 damages to Sledgehammer (originally only 1)
  • [Wreckage Recycling] Cost 300 → 200

Scorpion

  • New Tech [Convergent Fire] Increases Attack Range by 15 and reduces Attack Interval by 0.5s, but decreases Splash Range by 7

Stormcaller

  • Stormcaller missile HP increases with rank, adding 30% per rank

Rhino

  • Whirlwind ATK modifier x1.5 → x1.4, Splash Range 32 → 35, Cost 250 → 150.
  • [Mechanical Rage] Cost 150 → 100

Marksman

  • [Assault Mode] ATK modifier +50%→ +60%
  • [Quick Reload] Cost 250 → 150, Damage modifier -50% → -60%

Farseer

  • [Burst Mode] Cost 200 → 150

Tarantula

  • [Armor Enhancement] Cost 200 → 100

Fang

  • [Mechanical Rage] Cost 300 → 250

Crawler

  • [Mechanical Rage] Cost 150 → 100
  • [Acidic Explosion] Cost 150 → 100

Raiden

  • [Energy Shield] Cost 300 → 200

Feature Optimization

  • Added an option in Settings to toggle off Dimensional Rift changes notifications
  • Clicking on a player's name in the Room now expands the social dropdown menu

Bugfixes

  • Fixed the issue where Battlefield Powers did not distribute XP equally upon killing units
  • Fixed the issue where Hacker-controlled units would gain XP
  • Fixed the issue where Melting Point and Death Knell could not deal damage to the barrier of long-range Air units

How to access the Public Test Server

  1. Locate Mechabellum in your Steam library, right-click on it, and select Properties...

  2. In the pop-up Properties window, select the Betas tab, and then choose public_test from the drop-down menu of Beta Participation.

  3. Wait for the update to complete. Please note that the version should display as public_test. Now click Play, and you can get access to the Public Test Server.

  4. In order to switch back to the live server, please repeat these steps and select "none" from the drop-down menu.

Feedback & Bug Reports

Feel free to submit feedback, suggestions, or report bugs for this update via the following channels.

store.steampowered.com
u/mrmivo — 18 hours ago

First time Master Ball after getting stuck on Ultra 1 as a competitive newbie last season (Singles)

Champions is my first exposure to competitive Pokémon. I had never done any PvP in the games before, just played the mainline titles. I didn't really think I'd get into the whole competitive side, but after I dipped into Champions when it released, I got hooked!

In the last season I got stuck in Ultra Ball. I made to UB1, but would always lose the "rank up" matches and then topple down to UB2 or 3. It was sometimes a little frustrating, but I did learn a lot. This season I tried again, got stuck a little in UB3/4, but then went on a 9-win streak tonight and that carried me into Master Ball.

There is still so much to learn. I think I got lucky with my opponents today too. The heavy lifting was done by Samurott and the fish. I only added the fish recently after losing to it so many times, so I figured I'd use it myself and see how people deal with it. I think that's generally a good idea when something seems OP and I have no idea how to beat it. I actually still think it's very strong with the scarf. I added Heliolisk to my team in case an opponent brings the fish, but none of my opponents so far did.

Frostlass has been my default mega mon. I used it most of the time together with the fish and Samurott - I feel it works pretty well in the current meta. Earlier on, I played a lot with Mimikyu, though it kind of fell off a little for how I play (without much of a plan!). I used Garchomp a lot previously, but I felt it became too predictable, so I swapped in Samurott, which has been performing better for me.

I went with the top-choices for stats, moves and natures with all of these mons. Now that I slowly learn more about the game, I'll customize more, but as a raw beginner to this I found the battle data really helpful.

I doubt I'll be able to repeat this every season, but I'm happy I made it to Master Ball at least once! I'm a lot more relaxed now since for me there is really nothing else to achieve - I'm not Champion material!

Anyway, I just wanted to share - none of my fellow middle-aged friends play this! But oh well, I'm having fun with this game!

u/mrmivo — 3 days ago

Kunath Sigo Bass recorder - German intro video, without sound demonstration ...

Kunath released an introductory video for the Sigo Bass. Surprisingly, the whole 11-minute video does not demonstrate it being played. But I still thought it was interesting to see the real thing in comparison to a Küng bass and an alto. It's really wide. They mention it weighs 650g, the Küng bass about 1000g.

In the comments, they said it has its premiere today and tomorrow at a German concert event - so we should be able to hear it soon.

The video is in German.

youtube.com
u/mrmivo — 7 days ago

Bearlike, Mechabellum's creator and lead designer, did an impromptu, unscripted stream a few days ago where he talked about upcoming changes and the game's design, and answered questions from the viewers. The full VOD of the developer live stream is available here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2763279146

I've tried to summarize what was said very literally to avoid any ambiguity. If I misinterpreted or misrepresented something that was said or conveyed, please point it out in the comments and I’ll correct it here. No AI was used, so any mistakes are fully human!

New information:

  • The Typhoon rework is coming next season (S8).
  • The new Typhoon will have 6 brand-new techs.
  • Vortex will soon become a starter pack unit.
  • Starter Packs will be completely rebalanced and overhauled.
  • A Clan system (tags, chat, ladder) is in development.
  • Clan Wars are being considered, but nothing has been decided yet.
  • Hacker will receive a 1.5-2s delay before it starts hacking (every time).
  • The previously mentioned Fire Titan unit has been cancelled.
  • 1-2 or two more units are planned to complete the roster. They won’t be titans or have fire abilities.
  • One of the new units will be a melee unit.
  • Devs are experimenting with adding spell research options to the towers, which would replace spell card drops. This will be tested in Rift Mode first.
  • A new and super fun Rift mode is in development and will come later this year, unrelated to the spell research experiment.
  • The test server with the Typhoon rework and techs will be released toward the end of May.
  • Ground effects will be changed to last only 1 round, oil will be cheaper to compensate.
  • EMP spells and Chamber Compression are actively being looked into.

Summary and timestamps:

00:09:45 - Bearlike plays a game against Kepals while viewers submit questions and concerns.

00:28:15 - Start of the segment where concerns and questions are collected and added to a document. Bearlike responds to some chat messages and talks a little about playing the game and the negative reactions he sometimes receives. Although he doesn't believe that designers of competitive games must also be among the top players, and points out that this is almost never the case (he mentions the League of Legends designers and Richard Garfield as examples), he has a good track record of playing the game at higher levels.

00:53:00 - Discussion about the game needing too much chaff to function. Low MMR players tend to not like chaff, because big bad robots going boom-boom is more fun and chaff units die quickly. Chaff is essential, in part because it doesn’t care about enemy unit levels or how much damage an enemy unit does. Devs want to move in a direction where chaff is less required. Possible solutions may include techs that block high damage to lessen reliance on chaff. An example tech could look like this: “When receiving damage above 500, block 60% of the damage 2 times.” Bearlike stresses this is not a perfect solution, but an indication of the direction the devs are exploring.

01:08:24 - Question and discussion about board diversity and counter design. Bearlike explains why counter design is more complex than a strict Rock-Paper-Scissors approach and why techs can make a unit strong against its initial counter (example given: Melting Point is weak against Sledgehammer, but can become strong against it with Energy Diffraction). Bearlike says Rock-Paper-Scissors approaches are too rigid, boring, lacking nuance and people would follow strict counter flowcharts - “not enough blurriness to insert strategy”. If you have scissors and you see rock coming, the only choice being to get paper is not enough depth for a good strategy game. Good strategy games need more “maneuverability” for players to achieve enough complexity/depth.

If a solution (tech) however is too strong so that it removes other options, it is bad. If there are multiple different ways to counter something that works in different situations, it is good. It is deliberate that techs can compensate for weaknesses (e,g. Steelball’s inherent lack of range can be compensated for with techs, but at a cost - for the tech and for future techs, and players must choose between four techs). Bearlike disagrees that every tech must also have a downside and add a weakness, and feels that supply cost for current and future techs is the cost in some cases). Sometimes this is not avoidable for balancing reasons and adds complexity (but not depth), like reducing range. The possibility for units to change roles isn’t bad, but values can be off and improperly balanced.

01:24:00 - Scorpion discussion. Scorpion is not too strong in high MMR, but in low MMR it is very strong, because lower MMR players don’t use chaff as much. How to boost its performance in high MMR, and make it a more viable counter to titans, without making it even stronger in low MMR? One idea being considered is adding a tech that reduces Scorpion’s splash damage, but increases its firing rate and range.

01:29:15 - Discussions of Cast’s question about enabling the competitive scene to grow. Bearlike says Mechabellum is a competitive game and devs want to encourage competition, which is why there are in-game tournaments. Mechabellum is a result of the cooperation between developer and publisher. Both partners have different responsibilities. Developers didn’t manage the competitive scene directly in the past, but answered (some) feature requests and provided the development resources. Bearlike believes a viable competitive scene develops organically with a large enough playerbase and cannot be forced. Bearlike does not want to change the game in a way that would only appeal to the top players if it would shrink the playerbase as a whole. Focus is on expanding the player base, which will automatically increase and benefit the competitive player base.

His primary concern is to have many players playing the game, which will grow the competitive scene as well. If direct support for the competitive scene also grows the player base, then providing that support and “going harder” in this direction is desirable. The main concern is always: Will this make the player base as a whole happier? This is why there are things like betting, Insight leaderboard, etc - they add interest for the larger competitive player base.

Bearlike says later in the stream (at 02:06:00) that he will talk more about the competitive scene and adjacent topics at a later point as some changes would be announced soon.

01:39:30 - Discussion about support for player-run Clans. Also continuation of the competitive scene and custom tournaments discussion. Bearlike reiterates that development resources spent on supporting the competitive scene must also benefit (and grow) the player base as a whole. Bearlike wants to improve the in-game tournaments and make them better, including better rewards. Improving support for custom tournaments (for all players) is also being considered. But it cannot be at the expense of developing other things that historically draw more new and returning players into the game. 99% of the players do not participate in any tournaments. Devs still want to improve them and improved tournaments and easier custom tournament organization are in reach. Bearlike really likes the idea of Clans and Clan Wars and feels they would increase player engagement and foster a sense of community and belonging. Was previously on the radar, but due to recent community interest has now a higher priority.

01:48:00 - Question about a Discord poll on timer changes and whether the majority opinion of those who voted is important to Bearlike. Bearlike points out that “design by voting” (design by committee) doesn't work and no game developer does it. The opinion of the majority is important to him, but points out that votes on Discord may not be the majority’s opinion, especially if the sample size is small, and explains that while you do not need everyone to vote, you do need a statistically representative group of voters for reliable results. Polls on Discord don’t meet this requirement. On the subject of the round timer, Bearlike recognizes that many players are unhappy with the timer and said the developers are exploring different ways of changing how it currently works. Since he is getting very mixed feedback about the length of the timer, the solution will not be perfect for everyone. Says it’s the developers’ job to listen to what makes players unhappy and find ways to fix the cause.

02:00:25 - Discussion about upcoming Hacker changes. The main change is to add a short delay (either 1.5 or 2s) before the Hacker starts hacking, This applies to every hacking attempt. Small units will be harder to hack. If the target unit dies, there is another 1.5-2s delay. It is OK if the Hacker player gets frustrated as “everyone hates hackers”.

02:05:00 - Discussion about Battlefield Abilities (Spells) being too strong and frustrating. Bearlike points out several aspects why this is: spells are difficult to predict, there is not enough time to react, spells kill too many units in a game that is about units fighting each other, not always a viable counter available (e.g. Nuke/Lightning Storm vs. some air-heavy boards), certain unit compositions and playstyles being more severely punished.

The first solution the devs are working on is a reduction of ground effects like smoke, acid, and oil to 1 round.

The other solution currently in development is removing several strong spells from the pool of reinforcement cards and instead making them researchable in the tower. Research progress and cooldown will be visible to the opponent. Spells will no longer be random. Bearlike shows several cost/time examples in this segment: round 2: pay 100 supply to research Fire Bomb; round 4: get Fire Bomb; round 5: pay 250 supply, research Nuke; round 8: get the Nuke. Research order is up to the player, so a player could spend 250 supply in round 2 to research a Nuke and get it in round 5. Numbers are not final. Gives players more time to prepare. Downsides: makes the game more complicated, makes certain spells reliably obtainable in every match. This will be added to Rift Mode first for testing.

More changes to spells are coming (value changes). EMP spells are being looked into, either to make them more expensive or add a longer cooldown timer. EMP spells are not an issue in lower MMR ranges, but they are strong in high MMR. Size of the targeted area is also looked into. EMP spells are often used in combination with other spells, making it stronger further.

02:31:50 - Discussion about mixed topics: Bearlike says a Melee unit is still coming. Starting pack balance will receive major balancing changes (“will balance starter packs through and through”) including ensuring that packs have the same value. Vortex will become a starter pack unit, which is why starter pack rebalancing had been delayed. EMP Armor is being looked into. Arclight or Shockwave are very strong and will not be buffed currently by changing the Shockwave/EMP Armor interaction, but this will be looked into as part of a big balance patch. Points out that buffing one thing often has a cascading effect, so doesn’t want to change certain techs or units in isolation. Season 9 will introduce the (for now) final piece of the unit roster (but “never say never”). Fire Titan has been cancelled. The new unit will not be a titan and will not have fire.

02:43:00 - Bearlike answers a number of final questions from the viewers. He is aware of the QoL posts on the Discord server. Mentions that hotkeys are difficult to add and they need to do some other changes first (engine related?). He knows that not everyone likes new units being added and eventually they need to slow down (“can’t keep adding pieces to chess”). Quality of Life changes are a focus and they will be able to allocate more time to implementing them. Changes to Chamber Compression are looked into as well.

Bearlike talks about now having worked on the game for ten years and that it is like a child to him. He wants for it to live a long, happy life. He doesn’t do this to make a lot of money, but to make a game with a happy community that goes on for a long time. He doesn’t have a grand plan for the game, like it becoming as big as League of Legends. He wants the game “to be what it is” with a happy playerbase and earn a good reputation. Bearlike appreciates kind words from the community for the development team. Says if people want to help the game, they might want to recommend it to their friends - there are many people who haven’t played the game yet. He said being friendly and kind toward others in the community also helps the game. And don’t be harsh on new players who are learning. More streams are planned.

And now it was 3am in China and Bearlike went to bed!

u/mrmivo — 16 days ago

Bugfixes

  • Fixed several issues that caused data anomalies
  • Fixed the description error for the April Monthly Tournament medal
  • Fixed an issue where the Lv1 · Camouflage · Void Eye details icon in the Shop was incorrect
u/mrmivo — 25 days ago

Hi friends. Banjo and dulcimer player here. I decided to finally pick up a harmonica, just to have a super portable and resilient instrument that I can easily take along and that's fun to play. It would also go well with the banjo.

I spent the afternoon reading up on posts here and watching YouTube videos. I'm still largely clueless with information overload, but I think I want stainless reeds for longevity. Compared to other instruments, harmonicas are much more affordable, so I thought about going for the 1847 Silver or Lightning right away to avoid the "buying twice" thing, but on the flipside, I think it might be more fun to start with something cheaper, like the Seydel Session Steel, and wait with the higher end stuff until I can actually appreciate and better judge the difference in quality, design, etc.

Is this a sound plan? Session Steel now (52 euros), a 1847 (85 for the Silver and 125 for the Lightning) or something else later when I have an idea what I'm doing and what I might actually want? There's also the 1847 Noble for 105 euros. The price difference between the Session Steel and the Silver isn't all that huge, but I read the reeds are the same anyway?

Ideally, I'd want something that is decently set up right out of the box and easy to play, but I have seen videos and posts about that not always being the case with even the Lightning, so I guess it's always a bit of a gamble?

Thanks for any pointers!

reddit.com
u/mrmivo — 26 days ago

The bundle includes 4, 7 or 9 mech-themed games from different genres. Mechabellum is included in all three tiers.

It is available through May 14. Steam keys can be gifted to others and must be redeemed before May 2027.

u/mrmivo — 27 days ago