Hi! This time I've got lots of new things to explain, with a few more new modules than usual and a whole new progression system that alters the way the Campaign part of the game plays substantially. Yes, yes I know this update is a week late, but that just happens when university decides to hit you in the face with finals.

New Minigun

Replacing the old minigun, here comes one that is virtually identical but with one imporant distinction.
It can pivot with hydralics. Yep that's right, and you can set it to the secondary battery as well and have it autofire.

7.0 Caliber Buffers Gun

Replacing the old HS-KR12P Plasma Blaster, the new Buffers Gun is a small and fast piece of rapid firing artillery that is best used in large groups against close ships.
While it doesn't have much range it can certainly cause many problems to ships that come too close with its ridiculously high rate of fire and decent damage.

Spaceshipping Container Lite

Because of the new progression system you now become stuck without a cargo module early on in the game.
​But worry not, a smaller version of the standard spaceshipping container is here to cover the smallest of ships with at least some space to store ore and an occasional module.

Longer Slopes

The most requested modules (except more dakka of course) are slopes!
This time we have a 3 pack of new 2x1x1 slopes that can help you make even more interesting and streamlined ships than ever before. Or even something very closely resembling a circle:

Progression System

Instead of having everything unlocked at the start in Campaign, you now start out with a small selection of Junkyard parts in the outer rim. You can unlock (aka discover schematics of) new modules by finding them on derelicts or blasting them of enemy ships. Everything you attach to the ship or collect into cargo counts. Once you've unlocked a module schematic you can always tell the trading depot at stations to make more of it for a price. But there's another catch, here's where the new map comes into play...

Overhauled Map

The map has been fully overhauled and split into three sections: - Core Worlds (U.R.A.) - Industrial Sector (Industrial Conglomerate) - Outer Rim (Junkyard)
Each of these circular sections belong to one of the factions as specified - and will spawn ships of that faction only. That means that you'll have to venture further on into the galaxy to find more advanced modules.

Module Rebalance

Before we had all three factions at approximately the same strength of modules and damage output. ​Now Industrial modules have 2x as much health and their guns do 2x as much damage. Same for U.R.A but 3x-4x as much of a boost. Why? It makes sense when you think about it technologically and gameplay wise as well. As you proceed into the center you'll see more and more powerful ships - the spawn rate is adjusted to health however so you'll likely see ships a lot smaller than you and still about the same strength when entering a new sector.

Interstellar Nebulae

As you can see on the map above, this update brings nebulae spanning across more than one star system and they look sort of like this:
There's a custom skybox overlay for them, fuel is abundant everywhere and gas clouds are very common there as well.

New Tutorial

A lot of you were asking for a redo, and with progression breaking the old tutorial it was convenient to remodel it right now. Now it's not a complete redo, but a lot of the old one was thrown out and replaced with brand new sections. ​With the new progression system you always start with a small ship, which follows you into the tutorial as well:
With hud highlighting to boot!
And this time you don't even have to die :D
You do however, get to chat with a mysterious new friend that is just so nice. Too nice...

Gunfire Optimizations

Larger ships should now be able to fire their guns with 50%-100% less lag depending on the situation. This is one just many of the planned future optimizations, but I thought it was worth a mention.
P.S. Applies to all guns except lasers, naval guns and flak cannons at the moment.

Class Grouping in Ship Build Screen

Aside from the ship classes being renamed slightly, you can now also filter by a specified ship size now:
(It takes a second or two for the game to poll the ships folder and order everything, so please be patient lol) And as you can see, you won't be able to load ships with undiscovered modules in Campaign, another feature of the new progression system. Sorry, but it just doesn't work otherwise.

Official WIki

We now have an official wiki on Gamepedia! My thanks goes out to all the folks over at Curse that made it happen. While it's currently still low on content it's up and growing fast with us pouring developer data into it. But now we need YOU to help us make it even better!

Notes

The (like 3 in total xd) quests and ship interaction (except the tutorial one) have been temporarily disabled from appearing as they're not yet compatible with the new Campaign. The progression system is pretty new and largely untested so we're counting on getting some feedback from our Steam community on what still requires to be balanced and we'll make a short fix in a week's time. Just keep that in mind. Some things to note about the old saves: - you can still load and use them without any problems but I recommend just saving the ship schematics and starting a new game otherwise the progression system is kind of bypassed and you may end up in odd situations - interstellar nebulae won't spawn on old saves since they've already been generated by the old system

Changelog

Additions:

• replaced old plasma cannons with new 7.0 Caliber Buffers Gun turret
• smaller cargo module
• new 2x1x1 slopes
• new minigun model that supports pivoting
• a full progression system
• miniguns and flak cannons now support secondary group
• ship class (size) filters in the build screen
• large interstellar nebulas
• special star system in the galactic center (W.I.P.)
• fov slider
• new map
• module discovery system
• a bunch of new npc ships
• event that mostly comes out at night, mostly
• nebular star systems
• an official WIKI

Changes:

• an almost fully redone tutorial
• disabled old quests and messaging system as they're not compatible with the progresion system yet
• shields now 2x stronger
• agency modules are now 4x as durable/powerful
• industrial modules are now 2x as durable/powerful
• scanner range is now additive, with a square root curve
• scanners now affect the lockon speed of a ship, ranging from 1 to 10 seconds
• changed starter ships to 6 new small ones
• stock market will now process up to 500 stocks at once before switching to buy/sell all
• redone all spawning mechanics so the galactic sectors only spawn the ships from the controlling faction
• minor star visual changes
• electric nebula that looks less like absolute arse
• renamed some of the ship classes
• some icons are now thicker so you can see them better
• cargo collection distance increased
• projectile fps impact optimized by 50%-100%

Fixes:

• random event [?] should no longer crash in rare cases
• ship spawning problems for collosal ships
• modules are now correctly sold by their full price
• rare building crash fix
• continious building system will not put modules into cargo when aborting if you've disabled cargo pickup correctly now
• ships can now be repaired in creative
• module buying buttons and ship loading selection buttons should be easier to click now
• campaign now properly shows electricity use while blocking the negative effects of not having any
• collector descriptions fixed

NOTE: It is recommended to start a new game with this update, otherwise you won't get the new galaxy generation or the progression system. Thank you for reading and see ya later!

[ 2017-06-11 13:50:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

You've decided to leave everything behind and try your hand at captaining a ship on the fringes of the universe. Customize your ship piece by piece to tackle whatever adventures await you. Take on crime lords and space pirates in battle, undercut corporations that are monopolizing business, influence the galactic stock market, and become the most successful captain you can be.

In this sci-fi adventure sandbox game, you have the opportunity to explore and influence the universe around you and make your own path. Take on open ended missions that will have a lasting effect on your surroundings, and embark on an adventure to discover the mysteries of Lightspeed Frontier.


Faster than light travel has recently been made available for the common middle-class galaxy dweller, and you’ve just saved up enough money to purchase your first command pod. This command pod can have it’s functionality and size extended with additional modular building blocks, such as engines, cannons, lasers, scanners, software, and more.

As you acquire more modules for your ship, your ship class will also increment unlocking more missions and special actions. While you start out as just a tiny fighter-class ship with less than 20 modules, you can eventually reach the pinnacle of modular ship development by acquiring 400 or more individual components for your ship and be upgraded to the final Dreadnaught class! Each class has its own pros and cons, as far as firepower, speed, maneuverability, etc, but slowly acquiring more modules through whatever means necessary will open up more opportunities for you.


You can acquire upgrades for your ship in multiple ways: by completing various quests that you find around the frontier, by politely asking other ship owners if you can destroy them and salvage them for parts and resources or mine raw resources yourself and sell them at stations. Quests are one of the most unique features in Lightspeed Frontier, as they aren’t issued through your typical ubiquitous “mission posting”. Players will need to be aware of the various breaking headlines, advertisements, and direct messages from people you have encountered through your travels. This means that if you want to have work, you need to go out in find it! This makes exploration a key part of the game, since it also will result in more rewards and quests for you to pick up!


While exploring the universe, you may encounter memorable NPCs, corporations, scavengers, programmers, asteroid belts, space stations, and more. Every encounter with an NPC will either make you enemies or allies with them, depending on if you choose to help them or stab them in the back. This could result on a bounty being put on your head, or more challenging (but rewarding) work from them in the future. There are also many different ways for you to make your mark in the universe. You can invest in high-tech drilling modules for mining if you want to be a raw materials salesman, or BFGs if you’re more the bounty hunter type. There are even different levels of tractor beams for improved shipping capabilities.


Battling other ships is a key part of the game, and also one of the challenges of traversing the frontier. Players are safe when they are near space stations, but once you venture out into open space, your warp signature will draw in scavengers like sharks, so be prepared! You will need to utilize a multitude of different weapons, maneuvering techniques, and even physics to destroy your opponents (yes, ramming into other ships is actually a viable way of destroying them or knocking off their modules!). And it goes without saying, the brochure from the command pod salesman did not mention anything about the constant and ceaseless life-threatening encounters you would face in the outer reaches of the universe.


Most the parts you can come across are made according to faction orders and designs. The United Research Alliance always has the most high tech and light modules, but alas they aren't very durable. The Industrial Conglomerate has that covered with everything designed for sheer strength. And tensile strength too. Finally if you're low on cash you may find some old pre-warp modules in questionable conditions but the price is unparalleled. There are a few other factions planned to be added ranging from Twinblade Riders, the petrolheads of space, to unknown parts of alien origin.


Space is a massive opportunity for investment and profit which brings interstellar corporations to the frontier's outposts and space stations. These corporations can provide you with shipping contracts, protection work (or even more shady jobs once you earn their trust) or you can just simply invest into their stocks.



Note that the closed beta version of game is currently only for Windows and Linux, but we're working on getting a Mac version done as soon as possible.