Hey everyone! Beta 17 is out now! Devlog #73 covers the new features and systems! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk3mq6AaoQM It features updates to ship sensor systems allowing for more options for the scientist inside and outside of combat. This update also introduces a new stealth system for Alliance of Gentlemen ships: cloaking. The sensor dish is a new system that’s part of every ship’s sensor screen. When near the sensor screen you can press R to use the sensor dish. It allows for the Scientist to focus the sensors in a direction, lock them onto a target for bonus signal strength and launch probes into space! Only one ship can be in a sensor lock at any time so choose carefully.
The Scientist can also use probes to scan interesting phenomena found in space (many can be identified via a faint sparkling visual). This can grant extra XP or research materials to a curious crew. The sensor dish has a capacitor that stores power to generate probes, start a sensor lock on a ship, and pick up scrap. It is charged using the ship’s reactor though the Science conduit. The sensor screen has been updated and now has multiple levels of detection. The stronger signal you have to another ship, the more options you’ll have to scan / weaken them. -The first level is simply noticing their existence and location (0.5+ signal) -The second level allows you to see their reactor power allocations (3.0+ signal) -The third level allows you to view their ship components (10.0+ signal) -The forth and strongest sensor level allows you to exploit the ship’s weaknesses via the sensors. (18.0+ signal) Sensor exploits are new offensive options that focus damage or reduce the enemy’s effectiveness. These new sensor exploits include Sensor Focus options for directing hull damage to a selected ship system, making enemies more susceptible to viruses, the ability to negate the shield frequency defenses and a way to cause extra heat generation in enemy reactors. To see if enemy ships and crews are using exploits on your ship, you can check your own ship on the sensor screen and some screens on your ship may hint at having an exploit.
A.O.G. ships are now equipped with cloaking systems (retrofitted Sylvassi technology). These can be activated using the two glowing switches on the cloaking system panel. The cloaking system has a priming sequence and it requires constant power to charge/cloak. If not enough power is supplied, the cloaking screen will flash and the cloaking system will disengage after a short while. If a probe, turret or nuke is fired the cloak will immediately disengage. The cloak will also shut down if the ship takes damage, or if another ship fires a probe close enough to the ship’s location.
When a ship is cloaked the interior lights will turn blue (overriding the current alert level effect) and all players will see a blue vignette on the edges of their screens (even when manning a turret or piloting the ship). This is to communicate that the ship is cloaking and to avoid actions that could break it. Ships are undetectable (EM signature 0) while cloaked but must avoid enemy probes. Probes can be launched by left-clicking while using the sensor dish. They will fly in a straight line for a short while, boosting sensor signals and decloaking any ships near them. When a player ship activates a cloak it’s not uncommon for other ships in the sector to fire probes towards your last known position, their search field will slowly widen and stop after a time. Autoturrets or unmanned turrets will never automatically fire while a cloak is active, even if there is a targeted ship and you are on red alert. Additions -Sensor Dish added as additional functionality for the sensor screens to all ships -New Ship component and ship component slot: Sensor Dish -New Ship Component and ship component slot: Cloaking System -Probes -Stargazer-class starships now come equipped with cloaking technology -Carrier-class starships now come equipped with cloaking technology -Caustic Corsair now comes equipped with cloaking technology -Last known position UI - Will display for ships in sector if you lose detection of them. -New Class specific AI priority (Scientist): Enable Cloaking System -New Talent: Sensor Disk Certification (Scientist and Captain start game with this already acquired) - Allows individual to operate the sensor dish -New Scientist Talent (Researched): Probe Specialty: XP Gain, Increased chance to gain extra XP when performing probe research (10% per rank - 5 ranks) -New Scientist Talent (Researched): Probe Specialty: Cooldown, Decreased cooldown and capacitor usage when firing probes (10% per rank - 5 ranks) -Several dozen researchable probe locations have been places in the galaxy, many have faint sparkling visuals that give XP or research materials when a probe is fired at them. (For example, firing a probe into a black hole is likely to yield something useful) -New Captain notification: Research material is gained through the firing of a probe -New Captain notification: XP is gained through the firing of a probe -Sensor Exploits: -Sensor Focus: Engineering -Sensor Focus: Science -Sensor Focus: Weapons - Negate shield frequency bonus - Cyberdefense flaw - Increase reactor heat Changes -Sensor Screen: signal strength mechanics, added sensor exploits, changed how component scans work -Overall sensor strengths have been reduced -Sensor dishes moderately increase sensor strength within their field of view -Nebula storms have had their sensor penalties reduced to reflect the other changes -Can now toggle whether captain notifications are visible in game settings menu -Fog effects tweaked -Updated AI priorities to work with cloaking (Engineer increases power to science and does not charge warp drive while ship is cloaked, Scientist will try to cloak when “Hide from sensors” command is on) -Tweaked shield visuals on the Caustic Corsair -Adjusted sensor screen position on the Fluffy Biscuit ship -When buying ship components the “Swap” option has now been changed to “Compare”. This should better communicate what that button does. -When confirming a trade through the compare menu, you’ll be properly notified if you don’t have enough credits to complete the transaction. -Special captain notifications will appear during the “Fluffy Biscuit Special Training” sequence for players playing on Fluffy Biscuit ships, these should help clarify what’s happening. -Toxic gas strength has been reduced during the “Fluffy Biscuit Special Training” sequence to give crews more time to react to what’s happening. -Distance from piloting screen needed to pilot the ship has been reduced -Stargazer-class starship has had it’s piloting activation point moved to the piloting console mesh instead of the piloting screen -New AI priority custom event: Current ship does have a cloaking system -New AI priority custom event: Current ship is priming the cloaking system -New AI priority custom event: Current ship is cloaked Fixes -Pressing “R” will now close dialogue windows again -Warp count-down until arrival should work better while playing the game offline -Fixed some issues related to despawning enemy crew members in some situations -Reactors now respect emergency cooldown time shown on stats -Fixed issue with Fluffy Biscuit ships being immediately destroyed when eliminated from contest in certain situations -Fixed a potential framerate issue some might have experienced Remember to reset your AI priorities if you play with bots! The game should prompt you to do so! Loading a pre-beta 17 save should properly install a sensor dish and a cloaking device (if appropriate). Thank you for your time! Best, The Leafy Games Team