As we said in previous posts, ship building is the most important aspect of the game and for the next update we are trying to add many new parts in order to make ship building more diverse and open now possibilities for creativity. Some time ago, when we already prepared large parts for capital ships and started to thing how to add even more freedom and creativity to the ship building, we thought it carefully and came out to the simple conclusion: 2D physics has more restrictions and disadvantages than advantages. Full 3D physics will add extreme amount of freedom and creativity for ship building process. People often asked us for a various 3D features such as: Possibility to place turrets on top of the ship like on real life battleships Hangar bays with drones Solar panels which placed horizontal and not blocked with the ship itself More "vertical" ship design instead of flat ships We even created items in the FAQ to explain why these features can't be implemented (due various restrictions related to 2D physics): https://trello.com/c/CUsCP7ut https://trello.com/c/WB6s9LZF But if we will make the game full 3D, these issues related to 2D physics will be no longer relevant and features listed above will be possible! So we decided to do that! Important to mention that the main advantage of 2D physics it is simplicity of control and navigation. You can fly your ship using only WASDQE buttons and no need to worry about 3-rd dimension. This is actually pretty important because navigation in 3D space could be complex and confusing. However there is a solution which allows to keep that advantage even in full 3D. Most objects still will be located on horizontal plane, such as asteroids, stations and other ships so you still will be able to control your ship using only WASDQE buttons. Even if the ship is drifted a bit on vertical axis - we added a new special stabilizer which will automatically keep ship in horizontal plane. But if you wish to leave horizontal plane, you no longer bound to it and you can do that. Here is some examples of new 3D ships with new modules and weapons Possibilities for ship building now is really amazing!




Indicators of altitude relative to standard zero plane
What about orbital mechanics, orbits now can be not only equatorial but inclined too
Customizable point light sources which also may act as flashing lights

Customizable spotlight sources
Changed the way how modules are placed, Now after placement it appears as transparent object which become active after engineering module will work on it for several seconds. It should make construction process much more convenient.
If you lose part of your ship, blueprint for reconstruction will be automatically created so you can repair your ship easily on shipyard. This feature is extremely helpful for repairing after combat.
Also we want to say special thanks for everyone who supports us on Patreon! Without your help we would not have enough funds to develop such a large and long update. Fortunately, with you help we can do it! When it will be released? We are not sure yet, but after this blog post we will try to post progress reports more often. Also, due large amount changes and possible bugs we will release it in experimental build first, but it will be available for everyone and no additional access will be required. We will publish a news when it will be done. Thanks!