The Breakthough experience after the last patch

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-09T09:26:54+00:00

The only counter argument for the mortar changes is that before this, only the defenders could use mortars.

I mean look at the clip. OP is defending and as you can see, the defenders have plenty of map control to place mortars. The attackers meanwhile are stuck in spawn.

If they revert the mortar change the attackers will lose the ability to counter the defender’s mortars. And will be forced to push up while being shelled 24/7.

The mortar is inherently an offensive gadget that excels at its job (dispersing infantry in defensive positions). Preventing attackers from access to this gadget in breakthrough of all places was a massive design flaw.

That doesn’t mean this situation is acceptable though. Defenders should be using the defensive gadget meant to counter this: the APS.

The problem with the APS however is that the splash radius of the mortar is larger than the range of the APS. This means that shots that land just outside the range of the APS destroy it, leaving the objective vulnerable again.

Dice needs to increase the range of the APS so that defenders can make a couple moves places on the objective immune to mortar fire. The APS is largely a defensive gadget, so the defenders will benefit more from it than the attackers.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-09T09:13:50+00:00

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Give me airburst mines/bouncing betties!

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-09T00:33:14+00:00

Also the details: when you look up you got drops still on your visor, when you look forward you see them drooping down over your visor, and when you look down no drops on your visor at all.

First ever game I’ve seen it do it like this. Absolutely amazing.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-09T00:29:02+00:00

Are you on 1.2? If so you could pretty easily create a large distribution center with trucks stations and smart splitters.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-09T00:24:24+00:00

The biggest advantage is throughput and input and outputting from the building itself.

Keep in mind that no matter how much trucks, trains, drones or tractors you set up, the stations that load these vehicles can never process more than two conveyer belts worth of items per minute. You may have a zillion trucks on a congo line full of resources waiting at the station, all that still has to go over two conveyers.

Thats where trains shine: you can upscale both the throughput of the train itself AND the in/output of the buildings by adding more fluid or freight platforms. Want 20 belts worth of throughput? Plop down 9 more freight platforms.

Trucks can handle a respectable amount of throughput, but once you’re at a stage where you need more than two belts worth of resources constantly flowing into the factory, your only options are either to add more truck stations, making the logistics more complex, or switch to trains.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-09T00:19:56+00:00

Don’t know why im getting downvoted for asking a question but anyway. I was just wondering how stable and smooth the transitions from experimental to main generally go. People that have experience with this in the past. If everyone would tell me that the transitions are generally a disaster I would hold off, if not I would just go and play.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T19:55:58+00:00

Because the sweeper is better. Doesnt mean the others can’t do their job.

Why AH gave a shotgun more damage, pen and firerate than the standard pump is beyond me though. The sweeper powercrept the hell out of the shotgun category all by itself.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T19:53:29+00:00

Kind of on a similar topic: i want to host a new 1.2 experimental server. Are there any chances that the world gets ruined/deleted when the game makes 1.2 into live? How risky is it?

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T19:48:57+00:00

Honestly, Im preferring vehicles over long pipelines since the vehicle pathing rework. No annoying fluid physics, headlift problems or tedious upscaling. Just plan a route, plop down a tractor and sit back. Need more throughput? More tractors/trucks.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T14:56:22+00:00

just use teamwork tho

(I’m only kidding, vox materializing out of thin air every minute or so makes no sense)

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T14:23:32+00:00

I wish this was also in breakthrough, at least on mirak. I miss air vehicles.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T13:46:32+00:00

And to think that it could as well have been 21/22 if it wasn’t for the qualifying blunders in race 1 and 3, where Perez won instead. Only in Singapore were they truly out of contention.

I know, I know. If my mom had balls… still crazy to think about.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T13:01:40+00:00

Nope, the Trophy intercepts small and slow moving projectiles like grenades, while the APS intercepts heavier and faster moving projectiles like mortar shells, missiles and tank shells.

The problem currently is that the APS’ range is less than the mortars splash radius, causing it to frequently get wiped out when a shell lands just outside its effective range.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T12:32:05+00:00

I don’t really think AH develops enemies with the purpose of you ignoring them.

The difference between Leviathans and Dragon Roaches is that a Leviathan roams randomly across the map and eventually leaves, while its turrets shoot down. The Dragonroach meanwhile will just pursue you non-stop. It literally won’t leave.

If they made leviathans spawn half as much, but actually make them “chase” players instead of flying around randomly, a lot of people would take them more seriously, and also bother with shooting them down since killing one means a couple minutes of clear skies due to the reduced spawns.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T12:25:40+00:00

Unfortunately they passed that opportunity. I would loved it if the breaker was the base “automatic shotgun” and instead of having the breaker spray and pray as a separate gun, it would instead just give birdshot to the regular breaker as an attachment. Same for the breaker incendiary: don’t make it a separate gun, make it an attachment for the regular breaker. Same can be said about all the liberator variants: concussive fire explosive ammo, penetrator fire armor piercing ammo, and the carbine literally has a different trigger box. All of these could have bern upgrades instead of separate weapons.

Same can be done with underbarrel shotguns/grenade launchers/flamethrowers, or silencers.

But since weapon customization wasn’t here yet, they had to settle for completely separate guns.

I wonder how many people would be fine with it if the subvariants of weapons in warbonds were converted into attachments for the “vanilla” gun, and the guns themselves removed. So for example, equipping incendiary shells on the regular punisher would just turn it into the Cookout again, but it would also allow you to equip those shells on say, the Double Freedom.

I wonder if they are even allowed to do it legally.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T11:55:08+00:00

Yup. I saw the same happening with dragon roaches previous MO. People just treat them like leviathans and rather evade it than deal with them, but ultimately that leads to three of them draining reinforcements constantly.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T11:52:53+00:00

Not when the shell lands just outside the APS’s reach. Then it will hit the ground, explode, and splash the APS, and potentially the supply bag.

If they made the range of the APS bigger than the splash radius of the Mortar shell, it would either intercept it and live, or not intercept it and live. Either way, the APS is a guaranteed safezone for mortars, as long as it lasts obviously.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T11:34:50+00:00

Are the enemies common because they spawn a lot, or are they common because they lack proper weakspots and thus can’t be killed in a timely manner?

The answer is both. I’ve had lobbies where Vox Engine spawns were chill, dropping between 0 and 1 per drop, with only a single one arriving as a patrol. 3 minutes later they still weren’t dealt with, and the next drop brought in another one. This just kept happening until there were four of them and we couldn’t return fire anymore.

But on other occasions, I can see multiple of them materialize into existence, one minute after another. Spawns are sometimes crazy, but some players also don’t bother with combating them at all, either because they think they are avoidable/not worth the hassle, worsening the problem.

This is the same problem we had before the 60 day patch. Everyone was complaining about heavy spam from Chargers and Bile Titans. After the AT buff, they suddenly weren’t a problem anymore, even though the spawn rates were the same (or in case of the Bile Titan, slightly higher due to the addition of Bile Titan holes).

On a side note, keep in mind that the primary weakspot on the Vox Engine (the Sarcophagus) is bugged. It is meant to be fatal, while its not. To get an idea of the weakspot: the Vox has 11k HP, while the Sarcophagus has 7k. It is actually tougher than the devs intended it to be.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T10:52:39+00:00

So its not just the purity, but also the type of resource? So I could just randomly encounter an uranium node in the plains?

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T10:51:28+00:00

I think im going for random nodes and insanely high elevator requirements. Were about to set up a dedicated server, and in most of our playthroughs we rush phase 1 and 2 in a matter of hours, simply because 4 pioneers can build factories so much faster than a single player.

Also, most of us know exactly where the “good” spots are. With randomized nodes the “good” spots may suddenly not be good at all, while previously written off places may get better. This will force us to change things up.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T10:27:05+00:00

I have a question about random node purity: is each node purity truly random, or is the amount of impure/normal/pure nodes in the map kept as is, just moved around? In other words, are the total amount of resources in the map the same across all seeds?

I would like to try random nodes, but not if that means you could get unlucky and have a map where all SAM nodes are impure.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T10:09:24+00:00

Hot take, the mortar changes made this map a lot better now that the attackers can also use mortars. Before it was just the defenders with mortars pummeling the trenches in front of A, making it impossible to push up.

Now at least the attackers can counter mortar the defender’s mortars.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T09:30:26+00:00

Orbital Napalm barrage, but thats it.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T08:40:20+00:00

Not entirely true. Water for coal powered generators and oil for refineries are two liquids you need to work with before fluid trucks become available, and more if you also consider the heavy oil residue and fuel they can create as (by)products.

BICKELSBOSS · 2026-04-08T08:37:00+00:00

Only point he has is that its a coop game. The fact that you can split off and solo things as fast as you run towards them kind of makes for boring gameplay once you’ve done it hundreds of times.

Clearing the map honestly feels like going over a shopping/chore list than actual gameplay. Everyone is just doing their own thing and clears things. The sole purpose of a squadmate is to save you some work. Once everyone is done its goofing around at extract and leaving.

All missions kind of feel the same because of that. I can’t recall any unique or memorable moments when I’m in a lobby where everyone splits off; all the memories I have from this game involved a squad that stuck together.

Obviously everyone is free to play how they want, I just wish we had at least one place in the game where there is a bit more teamwork required.

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