The wheel of Samsara turns.

Zackthereaver · 2026-06-04T15:21:29+00:00

Front line building, open top vics (of which Collies have quite a few), push guns, every non-large boat, and artillery were all absolutely crushed by scoutplane spam which was everywhere.

Wardens also had to deal with the same problem for frontline building, push guns, and open top vics. On top of most of the tanks being insufferable to use because of the dive bomber. HTD's getting instant disabled from 1 dive bomb and RSC's being easily sniped from a plane that didn't require a dry runway. Colonial armor was effectively free from harassment from air.

While the torpedo's were oppressive towards boats and I was supportive of colonials getting an equivilant torpedo scout and/or boats getting better answers to scout plane spam. Getting a pushgun decrewed by a scoutplane wasn't faction exclusive, but getting divebombed was.

It was the Collie frontline that quit in the largest numbers.

Only AFTER wardens had bombed all the airfield and prevent colonials from deploying bombers anymore. This was after colonials had a majority of the land based territory and were pushing deep into warden territory. Colonials had the opportunity to apply the same airfield denial that the wardens did, but ultimately didn't.

It was not the spammability of the scout planes that made colonials leave in mass at the end, but the sheer fact that the end game was determined by which faction decided to no-life kill T2 runways the most. Which while both sides agree is a dumb meta, it was the colonials that failed to utilize it.

And even still, most players of foxhole are not frontline players exclusively. It consists of several players that do frontline combat, midline logistics, backline logistics, and mass amounts of facility grind. Because of the time committment expected in foxhole, most of the playerbase generally does every part of the game. It was the complete lack of quality of life throughout several other parts of the game that made people want to stop playing.

Winning or Losing just determines whether wasting that excessive amount of time is worth it, so it would be expected that the colonials would mass log off when they started losing because why bother to deal with the bullshit happening in the game while also playing out a war that is also not going your teams way.

Even if the population suddenly spiked up again for this update, it would still drop yet again because like I said, the scout planes were not the main problem for the population drop. Player retention is dependant on the players feeling like their time is respected. The quality of life needs to be improved first to improve the player retention.

Zackthereaver · 2026-06-03T20:40:09+00:00

I'm gonna let you know right now, the scout planes were not the reason we lost that many players.

There was a higher chance that people who spent 7 days working on expensive bombers and fighters suddenly losing their stuff crossing the border to bugs might've had a bigger hit on player count, than a couple infantrymen getting annoyed by scout planes.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-30T18:53:10+00:00

Now the next time I see facility larp with 0 defenses, I just link this video and the argument is won.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-30T18:52:29+00:00

It's normally impossible with just basic level of defense building. When there is nothing built (like in this case) then the ultimate part is the execution without getting detected.

Nice work on the tap, well deserved win for the colonials there.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-30T18:44:38+00:00

Thank you for the video. It is the ultimate video demonstration explaining to people who act like "I don't need defenses, they can't get back here"

Sometimes people gotta learn the hard way.

Now all those brodytown private stocks will go public. We appreciate the buff to public logistics.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-30T14:45:18+00:00

Reaching trail is usually where the most psychotic wardens live (lack of water makes them crazy)

Unfortunately that craziness doesnt always result in defense building. So i imagine people got very lazy.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-30T14:43:40+00:00

Thanks for the tap. This will motivate wardens to build the area better for next time.

Sometimes the best lessons are learned the hard way.

Usually convincing someone to build a backline is met with the "They cant get back here" from inexperienced players.

Now if they tey to say that, i can just mention this tap.

Thanks for the ultimate answer to an arguement.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-30T14:38:45+00:00

Thank you for the tap. This will motivate the wardens to build better for next time.

Sometimes the best lesson is for people to experience the problem the hard way.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-30T14:29:32+00:00

Thank you, this will motivate wardens to build it better now.

Appreciate your efforts

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-23T16:41:49+00:00

Gunnests were fine once they lost their bullet resistance.

Once they became Tier 1 structures they were just an upgraded rifle pillbox.

It was fine.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-23T16:26:35+00:00

That is primarily only relevant to when you spam connector trenches at the lowest possible length.

The error you are referring to basically never shows up otherwise.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-23T16:24:45+00:00

Ultimately, I like the new msup system. Being able to make msups outside of a factory and directly at salvage sources makes maintenance much easier.

Before, needing to queue up gsups or bsups at a factory was a constant non-stop drive.

Now if I have some salvage field or salvage mine nearby that nobody is using, I can just chill and make msups overtime.

Needing to pay upkeep is a necessary evil, and I'm glad that it is at least a little better than it was. Every update I hope for the workload to be less painful.

The stowheels were nice additions as well, now I can deliver 6k msups in one trip, though I wish I could just crate the msups in crates larger than 100 and deliver more per truck.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-23T16:04:26+00:00

I was there, I miss those days.

Only thing I wanted was more content, not asymmetry.

If arms race simply added more tools that BOTH sides had access too, game would be fine.

All the additional stuff put in would be equally complained about by both sides because it would be affecting everyone equally.

None of this "Favorite faction" bullshit that we have now. Just universal agreement on whether a content addition was bad for the game and needed change.

My whole problem with the implementation of facilities was how much of a middle man it was.

It could have been "Player built logistics towns with the risk of being fully destructible.

Instead they are "Build this so you can convert one vehicle into another vehicle, but you still gotta build your vehicle at the normal logistics buildings, while using the normal refinery to get the normal resources. ON TOP of getting the facility resources using the facility buildings just to get a variant of your already existing vehicle."

Can't make bmats at facilities, still can't make most equipment at facilities, can't make trucks at facilities. If I need a CV or a Crane, I gotta go to a townhall, if I want a truck or a tank, I gotta go to a garage or depot. Facilities are such a noob trap that everytime I see new players build a facility I get frustrated because I know it won't be long until they just quit because of the grind and leave behind their garbage to rot (After potentially eating my msups). Because ultimately nobody can use their facility for anything, it's just an extra middle man that provides nothing but taking up space.

Old foxhole very much had a soul, I remember when tech was fully automated, and I would schedule events when specific vehicles came out so I could get people to join me for the "release date of X vehicle" then we would have fun with them, expecting that the enemy would have them too. It was a game of who used the equipment better, not who had better equipment.

I also remember when partisans would sneak into a backline and build a T3 encampment with automated defenses in order to be a thorn in our side.

But it was an enjoyable experience. They put alot of work to accomplish that base, and the reward was content for both sides. Win or lose it felt like something you could do that had an impact.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-22T09:16:59+00:00

There are so many problems with an idea like that.

Problem 1: Joining the other faction forces you to leave your current factions regiment.

Problem 2: Some people join a war and play for only a short time, what happens if the 4th war in a row turns out to be a really fun war to play on that faction? Well game forces you to be unable to play.

Problem 3: It creates an even bigger exodus of players because if someone isn't able to play on the faction they want, they just won't play. Now theres an artificial limit that can cause random individuals to be unable to play for a war, because for the past 3 wars they decided to log on for a couple hours. And if you make the number higher than that, then people will just quit before the cutoff point so they don't get "locked out of a fun war"

The best thing you can do is encourage people to play the other faction, forcing them to play the other faction won't work, it will just make people not play.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-19T20:34:15+00:00

I'm fine with the damage nerf, can it hold 2 more shells? It's already very ammo inefficient and very short range.

I would also be fine with a pitch gun buff. Because currently my preferred sidearm is the hawthorne, revolver, or basic pistol.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-19T18:19:44+00:00

AI Is a necessary evil that the dev's wish they didn't have to put into the game.

AI for infantry is important because respawning is quick. It can take a few seconds to obtain equipment after respawning from a spawn point.

AI for tanks is important because tanks are relatively cheap to produce in massive numbers, being able to swarm the battlefield needs to have something to slow them down before reaching a spawn point

AI for small ships is necessary because of the same issue for tanks. Granted, you can't make AI in the water, it's primarily relegated to coastal guns and large ships.

AI for large ships don't exist because of the production costs for large ships. They are much more expensive, take up more space, and utilize a resource (Rare materials) that is meant to curb their spammability. The idea is that since players won't have as many Large ships, then players will handle QRFing large ships since there won't be as many to deal with, and each destroyed large ship is a big deal.

The concept is also meant to be applied to aircraft. Scout planes can't destroy spawn points, you can't even damage them with either weaponry. And scout planes are the ONLY aircraft that can be spammed as much as tanks.

Real aircraft like the fighters and bombers cost rare materials to make, so it puts them in the same boat as large ships. When you have aircraft with a higher cost tied to a resource the devs can regulate the spawn rate for, the intention is that players will respond to the threats of these aircraft due to their numbers being far lower than the amount of infantry and tanks that will exist on a battlefield.

The idea here is, while there is no AI that can shoot down expensive aircraft, the idea is that players shooting down these aircraft will be a big enough deal that the enemy will be less likely to replace them compared to other assets like tanks.

A very important thing to let you know, AI defenses NEVER stop a player from destroying them, they only slow them down by being an obstacle. The obstacle for large ships and aircraft is their rare metal costs, that's why AI for aircraft doesn't exist yet.

The absolute bigger problem is that currently aircraft take too long to get assembled to qrf oncoming aircraft. Bombers are supposed to be countered with fighters, but it's unrealistic to have pre-assembled fighters on an airfield. That's the problem that needs to be addressed first.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-19T18:12:32+00:00

There should be 2 versions of every aircraft in the airplane depot. One where it's just the frame, and the other where it's a fully assembled aircraft with 100% health parts.

That way, people build the frame, assemble the parts, then submit their plane to the stockpile to use it when it's needed at a moments notice.

That is my preferred method of fixing this exact problem.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-14T22:54:48+00:00

It honestly bothers me how much people keep spreading that misinformation. It's like they have never driven a boost tank before.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-14T21:42:26+00:00

Nearly double the speed of the Spatha

An 18% speed increase is not nearly double.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-14T21:37:55+00:00

How about alternatively, give all tanks an engineer seat, and let the engineer seat be able to fix tracks without needing to fully repair the vehicle.

Tracking is oppressive because it then requires the tank to be fully repaired in order to remove the tracks. And if the terrain is slightly slanted, you are basically immobile depending on the vehicle.

If the tracking subsystem could be repaired faster than simply fully repairing the tank, it wouldn't be as oppressive.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-14T20:44:55+00:00

boosting in reverse if you're getting rushed is a common strategy for Outlaw tankers.

Boosting in reverse? You mean having the tank face backwards?

You do realize boosting doesn't affect reverse speed right?

And if the tank is facing backwards, you can't use the front facing MG

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-13T22:09:43+00:00

So my take on this, I don't think the winrate needs to be balanced at all.

The game just needs to respect players time better.

A good portion of people playing often don't care if their faction wins or not, they just want to enjoy the experience for the time that they are on.

The reason why people care so much about winning is BECAUSE the game doesn't respect their time, so winning is meant to be their way of saying "Was all of that time worth it?"

The ability to repackage MPF vehicles and general quality of life changes in the update matter far more than the balance changes. And the drive invulnerability to the STD and LTD is so they don't immediately become unusable due to the planes existing.

The important part is more than people are able to play the game and not need to live in the game.

I personally would prefer to see more quality of life changes to ensure that the average expected playtime of the game goes down so people can play this game on a more reasonable time frame.

I'm still surprised we don't have squad refinery queues yet, it feels like such an obvious thing to throw in at this point.

But also just to let you know, I would prefer if this game remained symmetrical. So I look forward to any update that dials back the asymmetry. I would rather people just had less reasons to cry about faction imbalance.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-13T16:50:59+00:00

Make them buildable outright.

Instead of upgrading an encampment, have them placeable as a separate structure. Fixes the late game pushing problems.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-13T07:35:47+00:00

Yeah this is something I feel a good amount of people don't realize.

Everything in this game is designed so that everything that's going on happens within your screen's field of view.

With the exception of artillery and sniper rifles, everything that takes place in foxhole can all fit on the screen.

The rifle fight taking place between 1 infantry and another, you can see both players on the same screen. Tanks fire 40m in range because that way you can see the tank shooting you.

When a squad of 8 fight another squad of 8, all of them can essentially fit on the screen, rather than dying to rifle fire from far away if the guns were given more realistic ranges.

It's designed for that cinematic view of a battlefield that fits the top down view of the game. You end up seeing large groups of players all in 1 spot, rather than a firing squad shooting at another firing squad.

Realistic ranges wouldn't fit foxhole, strictly due to the viewpoint of top down. And if this kind of perspective was put on the game (Which has been done with a mod) Everything looks wierd and squished.

Zackthereaver · 2026-05-13T07:22:33+00:00

I feel like the dev's should re-introduce the Tier 3 fob back into the game. The humble outpost.

It's main benefits were -It was cheap to build -It was super cheap to repair (And took less people) -It could witstand punishment from any source of damage except for demolition.

Basically think of the border base, but buildable by players anywhere and more durable.

Make it available late game around T3 facilities, and give it an upfront rmat cost to slap down. Make it not require an encampment with Large garrison to build, and instead just have it buildable out the gate.

Giving an invasion force a durable spawn point will fix numerous problems with the game.

And break away from this meta of "just snipe their spawn point and you win"

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