Arkadia Studios wishes all Arkadians a very Merry Christmas, wherever you are in the universe!

While we are happy to have spent the last 12 months working to make Arkadia a better place, we are even happier that we have an incredibly supportive community of colonists!

We really appreciate your ongoing feedback and patience with everything we do, partly because it makes our job much more enjoyable and satisfying, and partly because it means the end result is a better Arkadia!

We hope to continue into the new year with more great content, and we look forward to sharing it with you, our friends, customers, colonists and supporters.

To the Planet Arkadia Forum moderation team, you guys have made a big difference to how our community operates. The notorious ban-hammer-wielding Snape and admin guru vantastic are well supported by stalwarts like Larkin and TimUnleashed. Lee DeLioncourt, thank you for your passion and commitment while you were a mod. A big welcome to Jenny Ferr, the newest member of the team. We know they’ll be making you feel right at home, and continuing to make Arkadia Forum a great place to hang out.

To the Arkadian Colonial Administration, it’s been a nice, solid year of administrating. You keep it up there. Good work, and Merry Christmas!

To Commodore Harvir and all those at the IFN, we salute you and thank you for making sure our planet is safe to live on!

To Eric the IFN Christmas Elf, thank you for making sure all the IFN soldiers at the Firebases are kept fed and happy while they’re away from their families this Christmas, and thank you for our Elf hats! Merry Christmas!

Christmas time is a good time to sit down and review the year, and to think about the next one.

Here is a list of the more important upgrades to life as an Arkadian, that have happened during calendar year 3009 (as the story goes!).

• Introduction of an extensive new player experience
• New creatures (apart from those discovered in the instances):
  • Gallard
  • Riptor
  • Nusul
  • Oratan Slasher
  • Oratan Lancer
  • Reconstruction of Kadra, Teladon and Kamaldon
• Chris | Arkadia!
• Introduction of Treasure Hunting
• Kai Tero’s uncovering of the instances that lay beyond the jaws of the Riptor near the ruins of the ancient city of Aakas
• Some important discoveries of ancient artefacts and clues to Arkadia’s history, as well as ancient weapons and armour
• Discovery of ancient energy signature technology that has allowed colonist production of instance keys
• Arkadia Gold Rush, and annual event like no other, with heaps of amazing prizes!
• Introduction of the Media Centre at the IFN Supply Depot
• Introduction of the Racetrack near Formidable Firebase Academy, complete with viewing gallery
• Release of a full range of clothing and furniture
• Oratan wave spawns at Oratan Camps around Sentosa
• Introduction of ACA Challenge missions
• Release of Herman Industries’ RAW and SIR rifle series
• Improvements to the terrain around Celeste Quarry
• Introduction of the Arkadian Adviser program by the Arkadian Colonial Administration (ACA)
• Discovery of the Eron Soul long range crossbow series

Speaking of the future, there’s not too much we can release just yet, but we do plan to keep our colonists as informed as we can about what’s happening.

Herman Industries plans to release some more weapons to fill in the “SIB gaps” that emerged recently when SIB changes were made to the existing range, but we can’t say more just at the moment. Watch this space though!

To all our loyal supporters everywhere in the world, Arkadia Studios wishes you a very merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and hopes you are enjoying Riptor Rampage! We plan for 2013 to be even better!

The Arkadian Colonial Administration (ACA) recently conducted a vehicle congestion review across Sentosa. As a result, vehicle use is no longer permitted in Celeste Quarry. These restrictions are currently in a testing phase, and are open to further tweaks as the ACA conducts further research and gauges colonist feedback.

When the ACA is satisfied that the boundary dimensions are adequate, they will be approved. Signs will then be installed at the edges of the boundary to remind drivers to exit their vehicle.

Fixes

• Carabok and Gallard spawns near Celeste Quarry have been adjusted in response to colonist feedback on new vegetation density. The ACA hopes there is now something for everyone to enjoy, and encourages further colonist discussion of the matter at Arkadia Forum.
• The collision box of the Gallard has been amended to allow colonists to get a little closer.
• Riptor collision box has been adjusted so that they don’t push colonists around as much.
• Shagadi Disintegration Sword has had the spelling of its name corrected.

Known Issues

• The Golden Door under Aakas is currently unstable, causing the server to crash. Crashing servers being a serious health hazard, the door remains non-interactive.
• Gangnam style appears to have lasted until the year 3009.

Further to Tuesday’s Planet Arkadia Update 2012.7 release notes, we thought it worthwhile confirming further details about our two major changes. The changes to creature statistics and our Herman Industries weapon range are as follows:

Creature Statistics

Oratan Lancer

• Hit probability slightly increased
• Hit points significantly decreased
• Damage slightly increased

Aakas Defender

• Hit points slightly decreased

Aakas Paladin, Aakas Sentinel

• Damage slightly increased

Dehera Attacker to Dehera Juggernaut (all ten maturities)

• Hit probability slightly increased
• Hit points significantly decreased on higher levels
• Hit points slightly decreased on lower levels
• Regeneration rate significantly increased
• Run speed slightly increased
• Damage significantly increased on higher levels

Magurg Female

• Hit probability slightly increased
• Hit points significantly decreased on higher maturities
• Hit points slightly decreased on lower maturities
• Regeneration rate significantly increased
• Damage slightly increased on Young and Stalker

Riptor

• Hit probability slightly decreased
• Regeneration rate significantly increased
• Damage slightly increased on Young to Provider
• Damage slightly decreased on Guardian to Dominant
• Damage significantly decreased on Alpha to Stalker

Nusul

• Hit points slightly decreased
• Damage slightly increased
• Regeneration rate slightly inreased

Scoria

• Attack rate slightly increased
• Hit points significantly decreased
• Damage significantly increased on Young to Provider
• Damage slightly increased on Provider to Stalker

Kadra

• Attack rate slightly decreased
• Regeneration rate slightly increased
• Damage significantly decreased

Weapon Statistics

As per Chris|Arkadia’s post here today, following are the new Start and End Skill Increase Bonus (SIB) levels for each of the weapons produced by Herman Industries. Those that have not changed are not included in the list:

Rebalancing

The team at Arkadia Studios has been working hard on major new content for next year’s first update. We can’t talk too much about it for now, but let’s just say we’re quietly excited!

Today’s update, however, is focused primarily on rebalancing and bugfixing. Changes are as follows:

Creature Stats

As mentioned in the Entropia Universe 12.10 Release Notes, universe-wide change to balancing requirements for creatures has resulted in the need for review of all creature statistics. In most cases, our creatures were already well-balanced, however the following creatures had changes made:

• Scoria
• Kadra
• Riptor
• Nusul
• Magurg Female
• Oratan Lancer
• Aakas Defender, Aakas Paladin, Aakas Sentinel, Aakas Warden
• Dehera Attacker, Dehera Brute, Dehera Charger, Dehera Destroyer, Dehera Exterminator, Dehera Furion, Dehera Giant, Dehera Hero, Dehera Infuriator, Dehera Juggernaut

Weapon Stats

A universe-wide change to balancing requirements for weapons has resulted in the need for review of the Herman Industries weapon range. In our cases, this includes the entire ASI, ARK, CAP and LAW pistol and rifle series.

The requirement was that the whole range of weapons needed to have Skill Increase Bonus (SIB) figures adjusted in order for the rest of the statistics to remain the same. As a result, in general the SIB levels have increased for these weapons.

We understand that for those colonists who own such weapons (and the relevant Blueprints), this means a higher skill requirement to continue to be able to use the weapon. We realise this is an inconvenience and we apologise.

On the other hand, we took the decision to make this change, because it now appears to mean the weapon availability will improve. We hope this will be particularly noticeable at the higher ends of the ASI, ARK, CAP and LAW weapon series.

We are aware also that these changes open up SIB level gaps between the various weapons. This of course is an unintended consequence, and we are already looking at the possibility of new ranges of weapons in future, in order to fill these gaps.

Please understand that we are doing our best to look after you, our colonists, and we believe this change to be in the best long term interest of your community.

Fixes and Improvements

• In the first of many future terrain updates, the area around Celeste Quarry has had some terrain changes. We encourage you to take your Hoverpod for a drive, so you can see what the future of Arkadian terraforming and landscaping holds.
• A new Gallard spawn has been added to the north-east of Celeste Quarry. This is easily reached by following the tunnel through the hill from the Quarry, the entrance for which is at 31254, 9598.
• Terrain and path updates have also been made around the Nusul Spawn area, primarily beginning from Celeste Outpost at 27267, 10933, and up through the hills to the north-west, all the way to a new entrance of Fearless Firebase Academy at 25047, 15354.
• The ACA Representative’s missions have been adjusted so that it should now be possible to complete all missions.
• All ten existing instances under the ancient city of Aakas should now be operating correctly. It should now be possible to exit the instance directly after looting the Treasure Chests.

Known Issues

• Gallard’s collision box is the wrong size, and has already been adjusted. This change will come through with the upcoming patch, expected next week.
• The instance behind the Arkadian Golden Door is still causing the server to crash. We are hopeful to have this rectified by the next update.
• Arkoin Brokers are still not operational. At this stage we are unsure of a time for the fix, however we are hopeful of having it for our first update of 2013.

Since last week’s discovery of Oratan Wave Spawns, the Oratan Lancer and a strange change to the Kadra, the following changes and fixes have now been implemented:

• A newly discovered creature, the Gallard, was incredibly well-camouflaged in the recent version update, but has now taken on a bright orange appearance. Colonists need not be alarmed, however, as it is quite harmless. The Gallard can be found to the east of the Celeste Outpost Teleporter.
• Some of the Oratan Wave Spawns are now spread over larger areas. This has mainly occurred in locations that aren’t boxed in by the surrounding terrain.
• The time limits on Aakas instance levels 9 and 10 have been increased.
• In all locations where previously there was an IFN Challenge Terminal, there are now three interaction points:
  1. IFN Challenge Terminal – this is a place for colonists to open and update their IFN Challenge missions, all of which are based on being rewarded for culling native populations of creatures above the ground.
  2. ACA Representative – this is a non-player character (NPC) who allows colonists to open and update missions for clearing out the instanced areas. Currently this applies to the instances under the ancient city of Aakas, with Dehera Clearance missions.
  3. Attribute Token Broker – this allows colonists to exchange 100 Attribute Tokens for an Attribute Point of their choice.
• Two new sets of the above three interaction points have been placed at Celeste Quarry.
• The Herman ASI-8 R, available from the Trade Terminal, is now tradeable.

Known Issues

• The Golden Door under Aakas is currently unstable, causing the server to crash. Since crashing servers are a serious health hazard, the door is under further investigation, and has for the time being been made non-interactive.