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Holiday Patch

Hi all. I decided to branch away from the chapter 3 content so I could post an update that includes a few things I think you might like for the holidays. First, this build does not include chapter 3. I am still working on that and it is moving along (finally) at a reasonable pace. Instead, I am releasing a smaller update with the following main features:
Updated icons The new icons are simplified and designed so you can easily visualize object types (weapons, armor etc.) and their quality levels at a glance. These icons are now the default icons for the game. You can revert to the original icons in the options menu in the video panel by selecting Vivid Icons. You can do this in-game and open the inventory and then exit to instantiate the changes. Im still looking into icons for the various perks.
New crew portraits - By default, updated portraits will be assigned to your crew. If you preferred the old portraits, they are still available by entering the inventory or character info screens, selecting the crew member you want to adjust and then clicking the portrait. The portrait/voice UI will be displayed. Scroll past the new portraits, and you will see that the old portraits are available for selection. Note that you can also open the crew manager, select a crew member, select REVIEW CREW MEMBER and adjust the portraits. When starting a new game, the old portraits are not available though they can be assigned once you are in the game. Custom portraits You can now add custom portraits to the game. Detailed instructions are provided in the new PLAYER_PORTRAITS folder in the install directory. Here are the basic steps.

  • Make sure you exit the game.
  • Navigate to the game install folder and open the PLAYER_PORTRAITS folder.
  • Open the instructions.txt file in notepad or other text editor.
  • You can have a total of 20 portraits for Human Male, Human Female, Fabricant (male/female) and Khor.
  • The portraits must be 512x512 Pixels and be perfectly square.
  • Portraits must be saved in JPG format with the *.jpg extension.
  • These portraits must use the naming convention called out in the instructions.txt file or they will not be displayed in the game.
  • The old portraits are stored in the "PLAYER_PORTRAITS" folder now and you can use them as a template/example.
Once you have added your portraits/illustrations, launch the game and load any save (or create a new game). Open the inventory, select the crew member you want to adjust and select the portrait in the upper left of the screen. The portrait/voice UI will be displayed. Scroll through the portraits and if everything was done according to the instructions, you should be able to select your custom portrait. Custom portraits must be assigned once you are in the game. Right now, they are not visible during character creation. Updated NPC portraits - I've updated all main story NPC portraits. If you discover any bugs, out of place icons or issues with the portraits, please post them in the bug forums at the link below: https://steamcommunity.com/app/465490/discussions/7/ I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday and best wishes to you and your families. Thank you for supporting Stellar Tactics!


[ 2024-12-19 15:44:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress update

Hi all! A quick update today. First, thank you all very much for the kind notes in my previous post. It means a lot to us. My wife is doing well. The first series of chemo is complete and surgery was successful. She will still be going through post operative radiation and chemotherapy over the coming months. She responded very well to the treatment up to this point. Work is getting done on chapter 3 and a number of other things that I need to do to get ready for a full BETA. Here is a quick summary: Chapter 3 of course. Crew missions These missions will let you send idle crew members on various tasks that reward general and skill experience for that crew member and rewards like credits, weapons, armor, ship equipment etc. The rewards depend on the type of mission the crew member is sent on. Ill explain how this works in detail once the system is finished. Updated crew portraits.
Player generated portraits Ive finished work on loading player generated portraits. That means, you will be able to add any images you want (512x512 JPGs) and they will load into the game for selection using the inventory or character information screen portrait/voice selection screen. New icons for general inventory items. The new icons are simplified and made so you can easily distinguish between various items like weapons, armor, mods and grenade types. Im also looking at ways to generate icons for the rest of the content like component parts, trade items, ore, refined ore etc. There are lot of icons in the game so I may not be able to create unique icons for everything though most icons in the game will get a treatment of some sort.
New enemies. New enemy ships. Updates to the economy. Assigned stats will affect space skills. New devices for your ship equipped to your hardware mount points. These will let you apply various de-buffs to enemy ships via the security bonuses and security perks in the electronics skill line. Various bug fixes as always. Patrolling enemies are out To be clear patrolling enemies are terrible. I wasted almost a month trying to get this to work and really, when it comes down to it, its just an annoyance. There is already a chance that wandering into the line of sight of another enemy group could trigger adds to the current combat session. Add to this with patrolling enemies and it's just not sustainable. So, this is scrapped. I wish I could get my time backbut thats the way game development works you try something and it just doesnt work. I dont have a release date for BETA at the moment as my schedule is still variable. However, I wanted to let you know that progress is being made. I hope you all have a great weekend, and thank you for supporting Stellar Tactics!


[ 2024-08-16 20:32:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress update

First the facts since Ive seen a few comments:

  • This game is not abandoned! It will never be abandoned.
  • Im running late with chapter 3 and all milestones Ive set following that.
  • The last patch was 2/9/24 a hotfix. I generally do not post minor patch updates on the main Steam page.
You can always find the latest patch notes here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/465490/discussions/0/343787283753661833/ Ive struggled a bit with whether I should share this as I generally do not talk about my family. I do think its important to be transparent, so here it is. My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in January. Im sure some of you know how this goes. Endless tests, MRI, PET scan, samples, and doctors office visits. She is half way through the first cycle of chemo and doing well. We were lucky that we found it early as the prognosis is excellent. My heart goes out to anyone who has or has had this disease and their loved ones or any form of cancer for that matter. Its terrifying! My time has been very limited since February, and I have not been making the progress I expected. I am working on the game. However, my wife takes priority, and its been a bit difficult staying focused. Around the middle of April, I started working at nearly my normal pace. All of the locations, enemies, enemy ships, modeling and other assets for chapter 3 are complete now. Ive finished about 1/3 of the dialog, and when thats done Ill start integrating everything. Right now Im considering just finishing everything on my list and releasing chapter 3 and all other planned content/features in one major patch as a full BETA, rather than mini-releases over the coming months. It will save time and I wont need to pause for bug fixes between updates. As I do this work, Ill try to post progress updates more often. I get it, if you dont hear from me on a regular basis some might assume Ive abandoned my game. Not going to happen I'm not posting this looking for well wishes or sympathy. Really, I'm convinced she will be fine. It's a difficult treatment though, and I need to be present and supportive. I am asking you to be patient with me as I work through the rest of this content. It will get done - I'm on it. Thanks as always for your support and have a great weekend!


[ 2024-05-03 20:48:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Faster load times, Dark Space, fixes and updates.

I'm posting a few fixes and updates in todays patch before I lock everything down and start integrating the chapter 3 content. I've completed all assets for the new content update and it's time to put everything together. This update adds pre-caching for all space content. You will notice that resources are being loaded when the game launches. This means a longer load to the main menu of the game, however, load times to space while in the game with be much faster. I also did a bit of work on load times for transitions between ground locations and will continue to work on this. You will also find a new "Dark Space" option on the video options screen. This will set a single high resolution sky throughout the game. I felt this was a good option for players who would prefer a more realistic experience when flying through space. If you enable this at the main menu, loading a save will apply the new setting. If already in the game and in space, you will need to save and reload to see the changes.
Join Bumpy McSquigums as he streams Stellar Tactics live on the store page over the holidays. Here is the full schedule: All streams will start at 1 PM EST and last 2 hours assuming no technical issues. December 21 December 22 December 23 December 27 December 28 As always, thank you for supporting Stellar Tactics. Notes for this patch: UPDATED: The game now pre-caches content when first loading the game. This results in transitions from ground to space loading much faster than before. Your mileage may vary. UPDATED: Improvements in loading speed between ground mission areas. UPDATED: Using the character info, inventory, log, and ship UI now pauses the game while in space. UPDATED: Asteroid fields indicated by [AF] in the star system object list on the star map and in space are now named "Asteroid Field [AF]". [AF] wasn't good enough. ADDED: The video options screen now has an option for "Dark Space". This will set a single space material taken from public domain imagery of the Milky Way galaxy. I'm adding this for those of you who would prefer a more realistic space background. When enabling this option, you will need to exit and launch the game again for the option to take effect. FIXED - Raider base story location - lighting and transition from last level to previous level location. FIXED - Crew members would occasionally spawn above floor level in some areas. FIXED - Map zoom in/out now matches the environment zoom mouse wheel settings. In - mouse wheel forward. Out - mouse wheel back. FIXED - Disabling autosaves from the options menu was not functioning as expected. FIXED - In a few instances, NPC's turned hostile could end up invisible. For example, Lazlo Eklund. FIXED - Crew members equipped with armor, weapons, devices, and shields cannot be dismissed. You must remove all gear from a crew member before dismissing them in the crew manager. This resolves a problem where the crew could be dismissed, destroying story-critical devices like the Aznari Scanner and Psionic Amplifier. FIXED - Missing planetary description info when targeting Coven base during story content mission. FIXED - Ship pitch control would invert when flying in certain directions while using the keyboard controls. Tuned keyboard controls so they are more responsive. FIXED - A bug that would fail to display planetary mining node scan data. Other recent patches: 11/14/23 - 0.722b Fixed: Cargo volume on the "Ship" screen was not displayed correctly when various sorting filters were applied. Fixed: Ship equipment on the "Ship" screen did not display the correct quality indicators in the cargo list. Fixed: If you had very high skill in mining, and perks selected (+Mining speed), it was possible that you could depleted an asteroid before fully heating the asteroid. I adjusted the minimum bracket scaling to compensate for this. 11/3/23 - 0.722 Fixed - Ship repair components should not be rewarded from asteroids - really - I really hope so this time :) Fixed - When mining, the asteroid "heat" bar would flash and disappear when mining. A bit of tuning on the new mining system: --The "Lower" indicator of the "sweet spot" when mining is decreased further with mining skill. At higher levels of mining skill, it was possible that an asteroid could be depleted before it even warmed enough to enter the "ideal heated" state. --Increased the amount of ore generated overall when mining. The new system feels a bit slower because asteroids are being depleted at a slower rate - however, the amount of ore mined is greater than before over the same amount of time. Increasing the amount of heat (changed above) and increasing the amount of ore generated should bring things back to where they were before - if not better. --Increased the amount of heat generated during a pulse. --I should mention, some asteroids are "clunkers". This is by design. You can usually tell when you crank the energy on a turret to max and after a few pulses, it has not heated significantly. It's best to stop mining that asteroid and move on... 11/1/23 - 0.721 Fixed - Cargo inventory was not being displayed correctly. This was a display only issue and did not affect the items in your cargo. Let me know if you see any further issues related to ship cargo not being displayed. Fixed - If an asteroid was clicked rather than actually targeted by first selecting a turret, the asteroid would incorrectly think it was already targeted and could not be mined. Fixed - In some cases, stopping mining could leave an asteroid in a state where it could not be targeted by other mining turrets. Fixed - Asteroids were rewarding ship repair components - ooops!


[ 2023-12-20 14:29:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Updated mining, FTL fast travel, advanced gameplay settings and more...

This update brings the updated mining system, fixes, advanced options and QOL changes. Updated mining system:
The old mining systems was pretty much click and forget. That's still the case with wrecks, however, asteroid mining has changed. The new system uses "heat". As the turret pulses, the asteroid is heated. You have control over how much power you allocate to your turrets, which in turn controls the ideal temperature of the asteroid.

  • You can only target asteroids with a single turret. Attempting to target an asteroid that is being mined will generate an error message in the log.
  • Increase power to your turret to quickly heat the asteroid.
  • As you approach the ideal temperature, back off a bit on the power until turret pulses remain between the "sweet spot" brackets. The bottom bracket will extend downward as you gain more mining experience making it easier to keep asteroid heat under control.
  • Some asteroids are bit more unstable than others and the amount of energy required to maintain ideal temperatures will vary.
  • Overheating asteroids will quickly deplete the asteroid and result in lower yields.
  • If the asteroid is too cool (temperature below the bottom bracket) less ore is produced.
  • You can see the remaining amount of ore left in the asteroid in the circular progress bar. The bar is also color coded - red=too hot, yellow=ideal, blue=temperature too low.
When mining wrecks, you can target all turrets, so, no major changes in salvaging these objects. There are a few changes:
  • Reduced the amount of ore produced by wreckage.
  • Increased the number of ship repair components harvested.
  • Changed the color of the mining turret beam when mining wreckage.
FLT fast travel
You can now choose to fast travel in FTL space. There are two limits: [olist]
  • You cannot fast travel to nearby star systems.
  • There is a maximum range for fast travel. [/olist] To fast travel, enter FTL space. Choose a target star system by either selecting the star system on the Universe Map, or if a story/mission location, select the mission in the objective tracker. The upper left panel will display the targeted star system. There will be a new icon that can be selected that will move your ship near the selected system. There is a short delay while universe data is generated when traveling between star systems using the fast travel icon. Advanced gameplay options
    I've added advanced gameplay options to the options menu. These options are only visible when in a loaded game - not at the main menu. These are not global settings and only apply to the save game they are set in. You can reset these advanced settings at any time. All gameplay options now have rollover help. Adjustments to the advanced options modify the currently selected difficulty. In some cases, you may need to save and reload and/or exit the current mission area and re-enter to see the changes take place. If any of these options are enabled, the game will stop tracking Achievement progress. Resetting the advanced options to default will re-enable achievement tracking Currently the game is tracking a number of things like enemy deaths, ships destroyed etc. Any progress in existing saves will reward achievements when achievements are enabled later in the roadmap. GROUND COMBAT:
    • Increase/Decrease enemy damage
    • Increase/Decrease enemy health
    • Enable/Disable enemy missile launchers
    • Enable/Disable enemy grenades
    SPACE COMBAT:
    • Increase/Decrease enemy ship damage
    • Increase/Decrease enemy ship shields
    • Increase/Decrease enemy ship armor
    • Increase/Decrease enemy ship systems (boarding systems)
    EXPERIENCE MODIFIERS:
    • Increase/Decrease general experience rewarded
    • Increase/Decrease space skill experience rewarded
    • Increase/Decrease support skill experience rewarded
    VENDOR PRICES- Note that any modifiers adjusted are applied after faction and charisma bonuses.
    • Increase/Decrease vendor prices for items sold by vendors
    • Increase/Decrease vendor purchase prices for loot and gear
    • Increase/Decrease ship prices at vendors
    QOL Items
    • You are now warned if you enter a star system or a ground combat location that is well above your crews average level.
    • Date and time have been added to save games. This is not retroactive and only new saves will register the date and time.
    • Sorting options have been added to the cargo hold column headers.
    • Repairing equipment only requires a single click now and will repair items as long as repair components are in your inventory.
    • Increased ship repair components rewarded when mining wreckage. The number of components harvested are not displayed in the log.
    Things that didn't make it Crew missions did not make it into this build. This system needs more time in the oven before I can release it. I'll get this done as soon as I can and release a patch when it's ready. Added: When on the FTL map, you can now fast travel to star systems within a certain range. If fast travel is available for the selected star system, a new icon is displayed to the right of the "APPROACH/ENTER SYSTEM" icon under the selected star system panel in the upper left of the screen. This allows players to move quickly through FTL space to story mission locations and other star systems. Whether or not you use it is up to you. Azimuth does not recharge in FTL space when fast traveling. Piloting experience is not granted when fast traveling. (See piloting EXP below) Added: Date and time added to load/save interface. This is not a retroactive fix. Saves that have no date/time data associated will display the date as "---". Added: You can now sort alphabetically, by value and quantity on the ship cargo screen [K] by selecting the column headings. Added: If you unintentionally stray into a star system that is above your average crew level, a message is displayed to the screen and your log letting you know you will be annihilated forthwith. Updated: Repairing equipment now requires a single click and will automatically complete the repair process for the selected item if enough materials are available for the repair. Updated: Jump point models. Updated: NPC ship navigation updated for better collision avoidance with planets and other objects. They will now prioritize avoidance with planets adjusting course as necessary. Updated: NPC ships are less likely to ram you in space combat. Updated: Piloting EXP is no longer earned by entering or leaving FTL space. Instead it is calculated by distance traveled over time both in star systems and on the FTL map. Piloting EXP rewarded from space combat has not changed. Updated: Increased overall ship repair components when mining ship wreckage. Updated: Asteroid mining now uses "heat" to determine yield of asteroids. Keeping the asteroids heat levels within acceptable tolerances increases the yield of asteroids. If the asteroid is cool (below the bottom bracket) less ore is generated. If the asteroid is too hot (above the upper bracket), the yield is lowered and the asteroid is destroyed faster. Updated: Only one turret can be targeted to an asteroid now with the changes to the heat system. You can mine multiple asteroids at the same type by selecting the turret and targeting asteroids. If an asteroid is already being mined by a turret, a message is displayed to the screen that the asteroid cannot be mined by more than one mining turret. --If you are too aggressive with heating, asteroids can get in a state where they are very hard to cool. You may need to stop mining the asteroid and let it cool down. Updated: Reduced overall ore yield when mining ship wreckage. Note that you can target all mining turrets to wreckage. Updated: Changed beam color to blue when mining ship wreckage. Updated: When awarded ship repair components, the number of components rewarded is now displayed in the log. Updated: If your ship is not moving, you will take additional damage in space combat. Some ships may be able to tank this additional damage if they have excellent shields and armor equipped. Updated: Reduced general EXP gain from space combat applied to crew in ship station slots. Fixed: The in-game guide is now accessible in the middle of space combat and will pause the game. This also applies if space combat is currently paused with the [P} key. Fixed: Collisions with objects in FTL space and in star systems now return control to player much faster. Fixed: When loading a save game in a star system, NPC ships could spawn in the center of the sun. Fixed: In some cases, mining beams were not displayed when mining ship wrecks. Fixed: In some rare cases, it was possible to spawn in the wrong universe position when first launching your ship from the planets surface. Fixed: If stun immunity through Azimuth was active, and NPC's used stun grenades, crew members were partially stunned leading to various UI elements not working as intended. Fixed: Initial ground exploration camera rotation values could be set to zero, locking the camera from rotating in new playthroughs. This required players manually set the camera rotation value in the gameplay options menu. Fixed: Incorrect display of pooled experience toggle in options menu selection box. Fixed: Crew member in ship repair slot was not receiving general experience from space combat. Fixed: Crew member combat state was not completely cleared after combat in rare cases resulting in various errors. Most visible was that crew member was stuck in combat idle stance with no weapon in hands. There will be bugs. Please, if you see anything - post a bug report here - > https://steamcommunity.com/app/465490/discussions/7/ Thats all I have for now. I'll keep an eye on the forums and address any issues that pop up. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2023-10-31 19:33:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

  • Roadmap to release

    Well, Fall is here in the Northern hemisphere and I'm excited to post the remaining development tasks for Stellar Tactics over the next few months. There has been an absolute flurry of activity here on my part preparing content for Chapter 3, delivering on promises I made for a crew mission system and a bunch of QOL adjustments based on player feedback. Stellar Tactics has been in EA for a long time. I realize for some, this has been annoying. People want to play a final game - right? Others don't mind contributing to the game with ideas, feedback and bug reports. I have a lot to be thankful for in that the community has been incredibly helpful in so many ways. However, I need to be realistic. By that I mean, development needs a clear and final end point. There are so many great ideas from players and of course I have ideas myself. Unfortunately, not all of these can be realized or I would spend the rest of my life in Early Access. Up to this point, I've been very clear about what I wanted to accomplish, I've had fixed goals, an end point in mind and we are closing in on that vision - finally. What does this mean? It means I'm going to be focused on the last chapter of the game, final features, a lot of cleanup, stability, tuning and various other bits that should polish the game up nicely in coming months. Here is the roadmap:
    As you can see, I have a patch coming in October with a few new features, quality of life improvements and a good number of bug fixes. The mining system update changes the mining system from a passive to an active process. A few notes and of course more details will come when the patch is released. --You manage the energy of each turret to keep the asteroids temperature in a "sweet spot" --This "sweet spot" is initially small and expands as you gain levels in the mining skill. --Below the ideal temperature, you mine less ore. --Above the ideal temperature, you mine less ore and the asteroid is depleted much faster. --Asteroids at an ideal mining temperature provide bonus ore. --Your perks will work as they always have. --Asteroids can only be targeted by a single turret. You can target multiple turrets to separate asteroids. --Salvaging derelict ships works as it always has - you can target all turrets at one time
    The crew mission system will allow players to assign inactive crew members (crew members not assigned to ground crew or ship stations) to various mission types. Crew members will always receive EXP even if they fail the mission, however, failed missions will reward fewer credits and less experience. An example would be to send a inactive crew member on a rescue mission where they have a chance to gain combat experience in the weapon types they currently have equipped. Over time, crew members rank up and harder missions become available that reward better rewards. I think the "Advanced settings" will be a welcome addition. Players will be able to tweak many things in their game, including the cost of ships, how much experience you gain for various activities, combat difficulty, and much more. In a sandbox, I believe there is no perfect default setting for everyone. More options are always better. You will be able to reset to defaults at any time. Fast travel - Really, for me, it cannot be space if there is no time spent...well...traveling. However, so many players have commented that it takes too long to travel in FTL space. So, I've added a way to target a star system, within a certain range of course, and immediately travel to that location. This can only be done in FTL space from point to point. Notice the new icon below the Star System info screen in the upper left. Whether or not you use it is up to you.
    That's all I have for now. I'll keep you posted as I get closer to releasing the October update.


    [ 2023-09-25 16:57:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Recent patch notes and latest - pooled EXP.

    6/15/23 - 0.715 UPDATED: Pooled experience. Pooled experience will even out general experience gain between dedicated ground crew members so they level at an equivalent pace. --General experience is now rewarded at the end of each combat session and the pooled total experience will be divided equally between each crew member regardless of KO. --Leveling will progress a bit faster with pooled experience. --Crew members who are behind will slowly catch up to the rest of the team. --Skill gain will remain as it is now. --Pooled experience is enabled by DEFAULT. --You can switch to the original method of gaining ground combat experience by turning of "POOL COMBAT EXP BETWEEN CREW" option in the options->gameplay menu if you prefer to micro-manage EXP. UPDATED: Crew members in ship station slots will now recieve a small amount of general level experience along with the usual skill experience when a ship is destroyed. UPDATED: Any mission that gives a reward (loot) will now also reward a small amount of general level experience when completed/turned in. UPDATED: A few changes to the option settings being saved and loaded. I've also added debug info to help track options not being saved correctly on some systems. If you do have any problems with settings, please send your log from that game session to support@stellartactics.com. You can find the log in the game install folder->"Log" folder. UPDATED: Enemies no long fade when they die, and remain until you leave the area. FIXED: A bug related to the combat queue when initializing the combat queue with an attack requiring more ammo than the weapon has loaded. FIXED: Crew member Azimuth AP bonuses were not being applied when reloading the area from a save where the Azimuth effect was triggered. FIXED: When ending a turn quickly, it was possible that the UI would end in a state where the end turn hotkeys would not respond and you had to manually click a end turn option. 6/2/23 - 0.714 UPDATED: Raised level cap from 60 to 80 UPDATED: Adjustments to initiative to level out how INT affects turn order. FIXED: Shields and mods once again display item quality borders in the shared inventory. FIXED: Various pressed key inputs will not activate ship functions while in inventory, log, ship and character info screens. FIXED: Azimuth screen can no longer be opened while hacking. FIXED: Ship component wear was not being copied from and to ship storage correctly. Note, in some cases the game may reset a ships equipment wear values when tranferred to/from storage if needed to 100% the first time this is done. FIXED: Possible fix for rare state where a player character could be unable to move after transitioning to a new ground location. FIXED: A bug related to universe data load on 32bit systems. FIXED: A fix for a case where speaking with Rhamus and then Rodger Crayson during the main campaign could block progression. FIXED: A few translation errors. 5/25/23 - 0.713 UPDATED - Increased the number of bonus equipment repair components received from salvaging. UPDATED - Some work done on shotgun AOE related to enemy position above or below player position. I'm still looking at this closely. FIXED - Grenades not damaging or applying effects to enemies. This bug applied to all grenade types - frag, stun, etc. FIXED - Missiles not damaging or applying effects to enemies. FIXED - Missiles could get caught on world geometry and explode prematurely when you had clear LOS to the enemy target. FIXED - Aznari shards had no rollover info and were not displayed in the stash. FIXED - Aznari shards are now visible in inventory after using the sort option and are sortable in stash. FIXED - Aznari shards that were sold to vendors did not show in vendor inventory immediately after selling the shard. 5/22/23 - 0.712 FIXED - The game would lock up when boarding incursion ships. FIXED - Phestus was not delivering boarding mission rewards when when you sold a ship to Arkus. FIXED - The game would lock up if you opened the crew manager [J] and then opened the inventory, log, character info or ship UI. HOTFIX 5/21/23 - 0.710 NPC's were issuing new procedural missions at the Achmedius Trade station. While that was not intended (and is now fixed) and generally would not break anything - a procedural mission from Forley Coresh would break the dialog needed to progress with the chapter 1 story. If you took a procedural mission from Forley Coresh and he now responds with a "." in the dialog window, just save your game next to him, reload that save and all should proceed as normal. If you have taken procedural missions from NPC's on Achmedius Trade Port, I recommend opening the log, selecting these missions (missions with a persons name followed by a x/x where x is a number, and then abandon the missions. Missions will not be issued by NPC's on that particular trade station any more.


    [ 2023-06-15 18:20:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Chapter 2 released!

    I'm pleased to release Chapter 2 today. It's been a long road and I do hope everyone enjoys the new content. As always, it is likely a few bugs will surface over the next few days so I will keep an eye on the forums for any issues. If you do find any issues, please post on the bug forums here. Any details and screenshots you can provide will help: https://steamcommunity.com/app/465490/discussions/7/ Localization - The English and German versions of the game are in good shape at this time. French, Spanish and Russian translations will be very rough. If you are interested in translating any of these three languages, send a note to support@stellartactics.com and I'll get back to you. CHAPTER 2 - Pick up where you left off after completing chapter 1 with a message when entering space. Note that there are some very tough battles in this chapter so, grenades, Azimuth (when you get it) and Psionics will really help. AZIMUTH - The final ground combat system to be implemented. Azimuth is a reward received during the chapter 2 story. It provides you with a variety of powerful effects that can be mixed and matched to both benefit your crew during combat and to debuff enemies. Effects last through an entire combat area so they are best used either at the start of an area or when you have tough enemies to defeat. Azimuth uses energy gathered over time through combat, space travel and by charging Azimuth with Aznari Shards. Chapter 3 (the final chapter) will introduce Azimuth which can be used in space combat. MISSION NPCs - Mission NPC's can now be found on stations. When pressing the highlight key (TAB by default), mission NPC's are highlighted in BLUE. These missions offer cash rewards, loot, faction tokens and general faction. All of these missions have several stages/locations that need to be visited with different objectives and pay out rewards based on the number of stages required to complete the mission for the NPC. This is the first pass at NPC missions. I expect that I will be expanding on and refining the NPC mission system over time. TRADE AND SMUGGLING MISSIONS - Trade and smuggling missions will be offered occasionally when entering a star system that has orbiting stations. These missions are only offered if a star system does not have an ACCEPTED buy or sell order registered in your Trade Net. Expand your trade network using beacons to take advantage of these missions.

    • These missions always pay out bonuses that are above market value so it is always worthwhile taking the missions when offered.
    • There is no timer so you can have as many as 20 of these missions available at any time. 20 is the maximum number of active trades allowed via the Trade-Net.
    • Note that you can fulfil ore and refined ore missions by mining and refining ore yourself. Or, you can just buy the goods on the Trade Net. Of course, mining and refining ore will offer the most profit from these contracts.
    • The volume required by these missions - that is the number of items needed to fulfil a contract, is based on your current cargo capacity. Ships with more cargo will be offered larger batches of commodities to trade.
    • Trade contracts scale based on the amount of credits you have available when the contract is offered.
    • There are special contracts that reward a very high return. These are offered by NPCs you have met through the games story content.
    • Trade contracts can be canceled in the Trade-Net with no penalty.
    BOARDING MISSIONS - Phestus will offer simple boarding missions - so he can retire, you know. He will start giving you missions once you have a FTL Drive after you complete his story mission in Achmedius.
    • Only one boarding mission is offered at a time.
    • To receive the reward, board any ship of the type that Phestus needs parts for. When selling the ship to Arkus, Arkus will route the parts to Phestus and Phestus will reward you.
    • These missions cannot be abandoned. To get another mission, you should complete the current mission provided by Phestus.
    • These missions are basically a bonus to the payout you receive and give players specific ships to target.
    • Pick your targets carefully. Boarding ships will reduce your standing with the owners main faction.
    A NEW MISSION TYPE related to the chapter 2 story line. This is a ongoing permanent mission in your log. You will know what it is when you you get it. ACCESS STATION CARGO FROM SPACE: You can now approach any non-hostile station and access the stations cargo terminal without boarding. This makes it a lot easier to store ore you are mining and deliver trade goods between stations. To display the cargo icon, click the station itself in space when you are close enough to board. A new icon will be displayed allowing you access to the cargo interface. ADDED NOTES ON THE STAR MAP: You can now add notes to star systems on the star map. Selecting any star system will display a notes area above the lower-center detail console. Star systems that have notes will display a green box around the star system. YOU CAN NOW VIEW SHIP REPAIR COMPONENTS: Harvested ship repair components used for boarding can now be viewed on the ship menu [K] by selecting the new button under the ore refinery. Note that ship repair components used to repair boarded ships can be harvested from other ships, or, ideally by salvaging wreckage in Star Systems. Salvaging wreckages is the best way to gather these materials. GENERAL PATCH NOTES: UPDATED - Additional checks are now in place to avoid bad enemy target clicks that lead to movement instead of attacks. In addition, when rolling over an enemy in combat, the enemy will pause animation so you can get a very "clean" target selection. Previously, some enemies animations could lead to bad information at the moment a player would click, leading to an unintended move. Hopefully this reduces or eliminates these annoyances. Let me know what you think on the forums. Is this better, worse? UPDATED - Fog of war data on the ground area map [M] now persists between areas and saves. UPDATED - Phestus will now give you a mission to meet with Forley Coresh in Achmedius after you purchase the FTL drive from him when exiting his station. This fixes the missing quest link that would lead players to the start of Chapter 1. Regardless of when you got your FTL drive, the next time you enter a star system, the new mission will be triggered if you have not already spoken with Forley Coresh. UPDATED - Added directional indicators to the mini-map/radar for N,S,E and W. The "camera" FOV indicator now has a arrow tick mark for identifying the direction your camera is facing. UPDATED - Reduced INT bonuses to initiative for player and NPC's. This still needs work as INT is generating too much initiative. UPDATED - When pressing the highlight key bind, NPC's that can be recruited are now highlighted in green. NPC's that have procedural missions are highlighted in blue. Faction agents are highlighted in blue. UPDATED - Ship loot containers now display distance to the players ship. UPDATED - Moved star system player spawn point and jump points away from planetary orbits to avoid possibly intersecting with a planets on spawn. UPDATED - No random attacks when entering Achmedius - this is to smooth out the starting experience in the game. This also applies to attacks related to carrying contraband. UPDATED - Added more responses when selecting NPCs. FIXED - Removed shields from creature type enemies. FIXED - A number of typos in the English language files. FIXED - Multiple clicks on exits and during loading could lead to a level lockup or misaligned camera. FIXED - Corrected feedback text to log when delivering trade contracts. FIXED - Several localization errors. FIXED - Various areas - map and mini-map did not correctly display the map background. FIXED - A non-critical bug related to experience when selling ships to Arkus. FIXED - Visual error with Psionic bleed projectiles. FIXED - Mission objectives UI under radar/map for boarded areas and new areas that use the UI is now correctly displayed when entering or re-entering these areas. AND FINALLY, A SUPPORTER DLC I am also releasing a supporter pack for Stellar Tactics today. I've been asked many times to add a way to help support the game. I finally decided to put together a few things that I think people would like. It contains a unique ship not found elsewhere in the universe, poster art, 3D printer models for those of you who have 3D printers and a few other things. For those of you who do decide to purchase the DLC, many thanks. And as always, regardless of whether you purchase the DLC, thank you for supporting the game. WHATS NEXT: Well, Chapter 3 of course! Here is a list of things I'll be looking at. Some of these may be released between now and the Chapter 3 content.
    • With Azimuth in the game, I'll be able to make final adjustments to the combat system.
    • Adjusting the initiative system and exposing more information when rolling initiative.
    • Better STAT descriptions that are in line with any changes I make above.
    • Mining system changes. The current mining system is fairly basic. I'd like to make this a bit more interesting.
    • Adjustments to various effects in the game.
    • Tweaks to space combat.
    • Knocking off rough edges everywhere. That includes final passes at the various game systems.
    • Expanded faction warfare system and FTL map events.
    • Advanced game settings.
    Two answer two common questions I see: [Q] When will achievements be added. [A] After chapter 3 is complete so I can tie achievements into all the game content. [Q] When will custom portrait support be added. [A] With chapter 3. Many will ask - when? When will chapter 3 be finished? December. Of course, I may need more time - we will see. I'll keep everyone posted as I make progress.


    [ 2023-05-19 18:00:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress Update - Chapter 2

    Chapter 2 is in the works and I'm putting the finishing touches on everything. A large part of this will be the new procedural mission system which is taking longer than expected. Here is a quick overview of current progress: 100% - Chapter 2 content (locations, characters, etc.) 100% - Chapter 2 story integrated - can play through Chapter 2 100% - Azimuth The last major ground combat system completed. 30% - Procedural mission system 0% - Testing, adjustments and cleanup Chapter 2 will focus on the Aznari, the Jhemm and fleshing out the story around your place in the Universe. Eventually, you will acquire Azimuth the very last combat system to go in the game. There will be a few surprises in this chapter and I really hope everyone enjoys the story as it sets the premise for the end game.
    What is Azimuth? Well, without spoiling the story, it is a form of Ultimate. You charge energy by traveling through FTL space, fighting enemies or using Aznari Shards. When the gauge is filled, you can build a series of effects including heals and immunities, AP bonuses for your crew, AP penalties for enemies or, just unleash all your power to annihilate an enemy squad. Some bonus effects persist through the entire area until you leave to a new section of the map.
    Chapter 3 will include Azimuth for space combat with a number of effects you can use against enemy ships. Once this is introduced, space combat will receive a major tuning pass. Chapter 2 also introduces several new characters, additional locations to explore, and various activities related to the core game story.

    A very large part of Chapter 2 will be introducing branching procedural missions. This has been very challenging and one of the main reasons for delaying Chapter 2. My goal is to provide a number of mission trigger types (looting, exploration etc. ) that will initiate missions with multiple objectives. Once these missions are completed, the payoff needs to be worthwhile as you will be traveling to a variety of locations to complete various tasks. For those of you with existing saves, you will be able to pick the game up where you left off and continue your journey. Thats all I have for now. Thank you for supporting Stellar Tactics! I'll keep everyone updated as I finalize Chapter 2.


    [ 2023-03-16 13:40:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Engine update, radar mini-map, career bonuses and starting ship selections

    Lots of changes today and a few bug fixes. Meanwhile, I am working on the Chapter 2 content which should be released late December or January. Notes below. GAME ENGINE UPDATED: Much smoother gameplay even with saves that have hundreds of hours played. In general, the updated core engine will provide better visual fidelity and smoother camera movement Camera smoothing updated. The game engine now requests the highest power GPU for laptops and systems that have both Intel and NVidia/ATI GPU's. In the past, this was a problem. In many cases the default settings on Laptops were trying to render the game on the Intel GPU which was much slower and in some cases did not fully support the shaders required to render game effects, causing crashes on these systems. The work around was to manually force high power rendering through the control panels. NOTE: The new engine only supports 64bit OS. For 32bit OS, the game will fall back to the older renderer/engine. RADAR MINI-MAP: The radar now includes a mini-map of the area.
    CHARACTER CREATION UPDATED:
    When starting a new game, you are now presented with three options that set both a starting ship and career bonuses. When exiting the Aznari ruins, your career choice will set the ship type you find waiting for you on the planets surface. Career bonuses can be found below: BOUNTY HUNTER - INTERCEPTOR: PHARRIS MACE AK-7 EXPLORER - Pharris Starhawk EXG-3 MERCHANT - Tarsus MRCH-2 NOTES: The Tarsus MRCH-2 has had it's turrets adjusted. When a Tarsus MRCH-2 is reviewed at a ship vendor, when purchased, or as the starter ship, the turret configuration will be 4 light turret and 2 light missile hard points. The missile turrets have been downgraded to light mount points from heavy hardpoints. If you have already purchased a Tarsus MRCH-2, the heavy mountpoints will remain as they were before the patch until you swap them for another turret. This was done to balance the starting ships and bring the ship in line with the cost/value. The Pharris Starhawk EXG-3 has had its default cargo increased from 850 to 1170 cargo so drone ore cargo can be retrieved. Though really, if you want to retrieve ore instead of auto-sell, you are better off with more cargo space. CAREER BONUSES: When loading an existing save, you will be given the option to select a CAREER BONUS. These are the same bonuses applied by selecting your starting career in character creation - less the choice of your starting ship. These bonuses are permanent: BOUNTY HUNTER GUNNERY: +5% DAMAGE BONUS SPACE COMBAT (ACTIVE SHIP) MORALE: +5% DAMAGE BONUS GROUND COMBAT (ALL CREW MEMBERS) EXPLORER SCAN MASTERY: FACTION AGENTS PAY DOUBLE FOR YOUR SCAN DATA. KEEN EYE: YOU TEND TO FIND BETTER EQUIPMENT WHEN LOOTING CHESTS AND LOCKERS MERCHANT NEGOTIATOR: +10% PROFIT WHEN DELIVERING TRADE ORDERS FOUND ON THE TRADE-NET. CHARISMATIC: VENDORS CHARGE 10% LESS FOR EVERYTHING EVEN SHIPS SHIP CLASS BONUSES: All ships now have ship class bonuses: INTERCEPTOR, LIGHT FIGHTER, MEDIUM FIGHTER, HEAVY FIGHTER: AFTERBURNERS DO NOT DEPLETE CAPACITOR (This was always the case with Interceptors and Light Fighters). +10% BONUS TO SPEED IN STAR SYSTEMS. EXPLORER +10% SPEED BONUS IN FTL SPACE +50% SCAN RANGE LIGHT MERCHANT, MEDIUM, HEAVY MERCHANT AND CARGO CARRIER: +10% MINING TURRET SPEED. +10% DRONE MINING SPEED. QUICK TUTORIALS: New mini tutorials that quickly walk players through basic systems. - extended information is still available in the in-game guide and on the Wiki https://stellartactics.fandom.com/wiki/Stellar_Tactics_Wiki. You can disable tutorials in the options menu.

    • When first entering space. Basic ship systems and navigation.
    • First entering space combat. Basic ship combat and combat systems.
    • When entering a star system once your FTL drive is equipped. How to enter FTL space and basic information about travel, faction agents and Star System recommended levels.
    • A tutorial when first entering FTL space. Basic FTL navigation.
    • A tutorial for beacons. Information related to placing and using beacons for fast travel and initializing the Trade-Net.
    • Additional tutorials will be available in future patches for ground exploration, ground combat, hacking, salvaging, crew management, crafting, Trade-Net, boarding, mining and drones.
    WANDERING NPC'S: Mercs for hire now wander around stations. Mercs have a YELLOW dot on radar - other NPC's that are not merchants or faction agents have a BLUE dot. These NPC's will issue random missions in a future update. UPDATED - Improved load times. UPDATED - NPC ships regardless of faction are no longer hostile to the player until Dr. Rhamus and Dr. Jensen leave your crew. Note that incursions will also not be generated until the Dr's leave your crew. You can still attack ships at which point ships will become hostile. UPDATED - The game radar was overhauled. It now includes a map of the area in the background. UPDATED - Cursor lock for multiple monitors is enabled again. UPDATED - Excess weapon ammo will not be generated as loot. FIXED - After collecting the scanner from Dr. Rhamus, you could return to Crayson's Depot and Dr. Rhamus would still be at this location. FIXED - Rolling over the Aznari scanner would not display the mission percent complete. FIXED - An exploit when buying faction equipment and selling to merchants. LOCALIZATION NOTE: New strings in languages other than English and German will be rough until a new round of localization is completed.


    [ 2022-10-28 15:11:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

    First Chapter, Psionics and more!

    The first major story update since the game released is now available. Over the last few years I have been primarily focused on all the core game systems - ground and space combat, salvaging, crafting, trade, special attacks, perks, progression, the ship boarding system and more. It's been great to spend the last few months actually working on the story...finally. This is the first of three major story content updates what will bring the game closer to final release. I hope you all enjoy the new content! KEY FEATURES Chapter 1 of the Stellar Tactics story. New missions, new encounters. To trigger the story content you must: 1) Unlock the FTL drive 2) Unlock smuggling. Speak with Forley Coresh on Achmedius trade station standing near the bar area of the station by the stairs and complete his mission. Everyone should be able to smuggle contraband...right? Doesn't mean you need to do it. There are several places in the narrative where you will need to wait for a NPC to contact you. Just go about your business for a 1/2 hour or so, and eventually, when entering FTL space, you will receive a communication that moves the story forward. This includes the start of the new content where you will be contacted after a period of time. You will be heading into deep space and there will be higher level ships in various areas you will travel through. Remember, you can always micro-warp to escape ship combat. So, not a big deal...really. I highly recommend getting the best FTL drive you can afford. Slogging through FTL space with a low tier FTL drive is - well...slow. The piloting perk tree has ship speed perks and tiers that increase your speed. Just my 2 credits - don't rush the content. Take time to place beacons, take missions if you can and build your crew. Make sure to place beacons in the systems you will visit. You may need to return and translocating is the fastest way to get back when you need to. PSIONICS --Psionics are powered by a special device - the Psionic Amplifier - a reward granted when playing through the story. This device is equipped in the sidearm slot on any one crew member. --There is only one Psionic Amplifier. There are no upgrades and they do not drop as loot. --Instead of improved variants dropping, the player is given a lot of control over how the device works. --The device cannot be sold or destroyed. --The Psionic Amplifier requires at least 20 BASE INT to equip. That is a PURE 20 INT not modified by equipment bonuses. It does not have a skill type that levels like other weapons. It does not have perks or mod slots. Instead, the device has a rudimentary interface that lets you create and edit psionic amplifications - the Psionic Editor. The higher your INT/PER, the more power you have to overload and to add a secondary effect to amplifications. --The power of psionic amplifications is governed by INT and partially by PER. Bonus INT and PER above your BASE INT does affect your amplifications. --INT and PER are the key STATS for psionics. INT has the greatest effect and PER provides a lower bonus. So, respec to INT/PER and loot that +INT/+PER gear. --The power of your amplifications related to INT/PER is expressed as available MIND. As your stats increase, the amount of available MIND increases. Through the use of the Psionic Editor, you will notice that INT/PER increase the power of amplifications and reduce the possibility of damaging your crew member. --There is no limiting resource to Psionic amplifications. That is, you can use psionics indefinitely unless you are overloading and then Medkits are a resource you want available. --Psionics cannot sprint. Instead, their specials for the sidearm slot are locked and used as reference and to access the Psionic Editor. --For psionics, it's important to understand "Initiative" which is used to calculate turn order. Initiative is calculated primarily from DEX and AGI with a bonus from INT. So, you will likely want to pump some stat points into DEX or AGI depending on whether or not your primary weapon is ranged or melee. PSIONIC EDITOR: The editor can be accessed after equipping the amplifier in your sidearm slot. The amplifier needs to be selected as your active weapon. You will find an icon on the toolbar where special attacks are usually located. Your currently equipped amplification is displayed in the first of the two special attack slots. The editor icon is the second icon in the special attack area. To edit an amplification: --Open the editor by selecting the "cog" icon on the toolbar. --Select the amplification you want to edit in the list and select "EDIT AMPLIFICATION". --You can now select the attack type, effect type and a secondary effect from the lists on the left. --You can edit the name of the amplification. --You can edit the description of the amplification. --You can overload the amplification by sliding the bar to the right. Note that you can actually harm your crew member if the mind cost enters the "HEALTH COST PER CAST" area. --You can select a icon for the amplification by clicking the icon. When you are done, select "SAVE AMPLIFICATION" To create a amplification: Same process as above. The only difference is that you will select "CREATE AMPLIFICATION" and save a new amplification by clicking "SAVE". Ordering the amplification bar: The amplification bar is displayed in and out of combat when the amplifier is equipped and your sidearm is selected. Damage amplifications cannot be used when out of combat. You can change the order of amplifications in the bar by opening the Psionic Editor and dragging the icons from the list at the top of the editor to the bar at the bottom of the UI. Amplifications toolbar: Damage amplifications - Select a amplification from the bar (or use the hotkeys 1 - 8). Note that amplification is loaded into the toolbar below. Like any ranged weapon, just target the enemy and fire. You can queue multiple amplifications and targets using the combat queue (Shift-Click and then space bar to unleash). Heals and cleanses. Select a heal or cleanse from the hot bar. Note the icon is flashing. Like medkits, these amplifications require you to click a target or portrait. If you want to disable the amplification, you must select another amplification. Subsequent uses of the amplification can be triggered by clicking or using the hotkey for that amplification. Note that while a heal or cleanse amplification is selected and active, weapon swap, medkits and grenades cannot be used. Psionic GROUP amplifications can target a single enemy and damage all enemies in that group, even if they are not visible. Heals, buffs and cleanses target your entire crew regardless of visibility. Psionic PBAoE amplifications deal damage in a area around the targeted enemy. Heals, buffs and cleanses target crew in the area of the targeted crew member. Overloading a psionic amplification can damage a crew member. In certain circumstances, this may be useful for additional negative or positive effects. I'm leaving it to you to decide. Psionics can heal, remove status effects and buff stats. Buffs last through the entire area. When you transition between areas, the buff is lost. For now, there is no indication that a buff is active. I'll be adding this in a future update. You can reference your base stats to see if a bonus is active. An important note: This is the first pass of Psionics. I'll be making adjustments over time to the system. I will be looking at expanding on the system to add other effects and upgrades through Chapter 2 of the story. FACTION AGENTS Faction agents for Houses Conrair, Aralion and Cilivon are now active. You can spend your tokens on legendary ship equipment. Epic ship ship equipment must be crafted. Each faction specializes in various equipment types. Faction agent vendors for Houses Halamis, Shikaru and Varadyne now also trade high tier weapons, shields and mods for faction tokens. They can occasionally carry high quality level 1 weapons if you are considering swapping your weapon spec. You can always find level 1 weapons on a vendor at Achmedius Trade Station. RESPEC You can now reset crew stats. For now, this is free and you can reset your STATS at any time for all crew members. You will find a new button on the character information panel [C] in the upper left corner above the stat allocation area of the UI. Some Phage and all Coven enemies use psionic attacks. The Coven are now included in the main game story. They can also be found in various random mission locations and as targets for random missions assigned by faction agents. SALVAGING WRECKS Wrecks can now be found in star systems. These can be mined and offer higher quality ore and random ship repair components used to repair equipment on boarded ships. These are discovery locations. Scanning a planet or ship may show a green highlight briefly indicating the location of a wreck. Salvaging wrecks completely will generate a loot crate. AZNARI RUINS Aznari ruins can be found after triggering a certain mission in the main story. These areas have new enemy types. NEW LOOT In ground combat, skull enemies may occasionally drop loot chests with high quality gear. QOL CHANGES SALVAGE UI QoL

    • Schematics that are being learned through salvaging are now displayed on the salvaging UI with percent complete in the Schematics view on the right of the screen. Completed schematics show no % complete.
    • Selecting an item to salvage now displays items that can be salvaged in the disassembly pane of the salvage UI.
    • When selecting an item to salvage, pressing ESC will cancel that item rather than exiting the salvage UI allowing you to select another item to disassemble.
    Right clicking an equip-able item other than mods in your inventory will equip it. Double click still works to equip items. The stat allocation widget now allocates stats quickly when you click and hold the mouse over the allocation arrows. Your ships now accelerate immediately when micro-warping. When looting, if you do not have the room in inventory for all ammo, the loot container will close and a message will be sent to display that you do not have enough room in inventory for the ammo. Just a note that there is a ammo converter in the game that you can purchase from one of the faction vendors. I leave ammo in the containers in case you have an ammo converter and want to convert ammo in inventory to another ammo type to make room. Sorting:
    • Added sorting for the stash. You can now sort by quality, name, value, type and quantity.
    • Added sorting to vendors. You can sort by quality, type, value and quantity.
    • Added a compact inventory icon to the upper right of the shared inventory area. This organizes in the following order - med kits, grenades, devices, armor, melee weapons, ranged weapons and finally - vendor trash.
    • I will be adding improved sorting to the cargo, cargo storage and other areas in the next update.
    Removed the annoying vendor dialog. When you click a vendor, the vendor UI is displayed immediately. When out of combat, pressing the reload hotkey [R] will reload all weapons for all crew members. Right click to reload all still works. GENERAL NOTES Translations for the new content will be rough for a while. I'll post updates over the next month as translations to German, Spanish, Russian and French languages progress. Updated - When boarding a ship, space combat experience is rewarded when selling the ship to Arkus. You can still get experience by exiting the ship and not selling to Arkus, then blowing up the ship. Or, as usual, by destroying ships in space combat without boarding. Updated - Difficulty setting modifications to NPC's now kick in at level 1. Previously, difficulty settings for hard and extreme had no effect on NPC's until your crews average level was level 5 or greater. Updated - Ramped up Extreme difficulty mode. Updated - Various enemy types have Psionic skills - especially Coven and Phage. Updated - Dauntless - Removed grenades from "Captain". Updated - Added cave areas to random missions at the Facility in Achmedius. Updated - Devices can not be destroyed or sold. They are considered key items. Updated - Replaced some of the Arach sound effects. Updated - Grenade damage adjusted -> down. Updated - Increased 2 hand melee CTH and damage. Updated - You can now rollover status effects for descriptions (bleeding, defend, poisoned etc.) in the extended targeting UI. Updated - Increased LOS visual angle for NPC's and PC's so they do not have tunnel vision. Updated - Performance improvements in space. - LOD, distance clipping, UI performance related to NPC ship labels etc. Updated - In space, when a target is selected and obstructed by a planet, the target reticle is faded to let you know the target is on the other side of the planet. Updated - In space, if a ship is obstructed by a planetary object, the label is faded. Updated - When rolling over repair material icons in the equipment repair UI, the name of the repair material is displayed. Updated - Reduced chance of a random attack taking place when entering a star system from a station, ground location and FTL space. Fixed - When a grenade is active, occasionally you would move instead of throw the grenade when you clicked. Fixed - When gaining piloting skill in space combat, the log was displaying the incorrect string - WEAPONRY. Piloting skill gains were not affected - just the display string in the log. Fixed - If armor was unequipped in combat, the player was invulnerable to damage. This was related to an error in the equipment wear system. Fixed - Universe search now responds correctly to enter key - searching the existing list of systems with beacons first and if no result, entire universe database. Fixed - Arach parts are now considered vendor trash and are sold when selling all junk. Fixed - After clearing the slice mines for Scarby, the return location is selected when choosing the mission in the objectives tracker in space. Fixed - The approach button is now displayed after scanning a planet. Previously a scan would hide the approach button until you selected the planet again. Fixed - Cleaned up various sub faction agents that should not be giving missions at this time. They will return eventually and provide alternate mission types (The Syndicate, The Church etc...). Fixed - When boarding the Frontier CG-1 several doors on this ship could not be hacked/opened. Fixed - In some cases, when looting a ship equipment crate on boarded ships - not all equipment was being moved to the cargo hold.


    [ 2022-07-22 16:25:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress update

    Chapter 1 has been a long time coming. A lot of work went into this and I'm finally at a point where everything is in the game and I'm testing and cleaning things up. The video below is work in progress so expect a few typos and issues. I'm still cleaning up some of the Psionic UI, dialogue and various text used. [previewyoutube=Y3pp-70DgC4;full][/previewyoutube] Lets talk about what you can expect. First, new story content. The game story previously ended in Achmedius. The story now continues as things start to ramp up in the Universe. Old acquaintances, new friends and a continuation of the Phage and Jhemm story lines - among other things. Psionics can be unlocked through the main story of The Coven. The Psionic Amplifier is a weapon of sorts that gets equipped in your sidearm slot. Holding the device allows a crew member with appropriate stats (minimum 20 INT) cast amplifications. Beyond that, you can edit and create your own amplifications in the Psionic Editor. The device has several already loaded. Intelligence and Perception are the primary stats for the amplifier and as you apply points to these stats, you are able to overload the amplifier without damaging yourself. This gives you access to secondary effects like status effects and buffs that can be applied to crew members. Buffs remain on crew members until you transition to a new area. The editor also lets you arrange your effects on the toolbar. Psionics include: Single Target, Point Blank Area, Group - Note that the Group type effect will target all enemies, even enemies that are not in line of sight. Effect: Heal - Heals damage and can buff all stats (STR, AGI etc.) Cleanse - Chance to remove negative status effects. Buffs various resistances. Damage - Kinetic, electro, bleed, explosive, thermal and toxic. Applies various status effects. You can overload any amplification, just be aware that doing this could harm your crewmember and even knock them out. That said, it may be useful to set up a few "Hail Mary" amplifications for those critical moments. A few other things you can expect: Aznari Ruins have been added to the Universe. These locations can be found as part of the main story where you receive a device that lets you pinpoint these ruins on planet surfaces. Eventually these will lead you to Aznari Hubs where the Jhemm are located. One thing that will not make it into this build is Azimuth system. That will come in the Chapter 2 update. A simple re-spec has been added to the character information screen. I'll eventually add a side mission and a cost to re-specs. For now, I thought it was appropriate to add this so you can tinker with various builds. Salvaging wrecks has been added. These are somewhat hard to find as you cannot scan for them, so look for them as you travel through Star Systems. If you do find one, you can mine the wreckage for high quality ore, rare earth minerals and bonus ship repair materials (used to repair boarded ships). Most systems will have wreckage floating around. Many new enemies - specifically in the Aznari Ruins and caves. The Coven have arrived and will show up in mission areas where Scavvers are found. Some Phage are Psionic now. Beware... Of course, there will be a myriad of fixes and updates to various systems in the game including the highly requested Arach screech fix, immediate movement on Micro-Warp and a few other things people have requested. That's all I have for now. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2022-06-07 19:11:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch notes - 0.599g

    A good number of fixes posted today while I continue working on the Chapter 1 content patch. Here are the notes: Updated - Reduced the value of crafted ship equipment when selling to vendors. Crafted ship equipment has a lower value than looted space equipment. Overall, selling crafted ship equipment was OP and still is. This will all be adjusted with a major pass at the overall economy. The value of these items is still high and a very good way to earn a lot of money in the game if you want to skill up crafting/salvaging and gather the resources. It's important to note that there are salvage perks you can enable that increase the chance to loot schematics by as much as 10% when you have a high level of salvage skill. Updated - Increased reward values for boarded ships salvaged/repaired and sold to Arkus. I will be expanding your interactions with Arkus through the game story to allow players to earn a ship rather than paying for one. Updated - Depleted planetary nodes now have an icon - drone with red "X". Fixed - A rare case where incursions would stop spawning. Fixed - Salvaging Helmets in languages other than English would not generate "strap" resources. Fixed - Switching languages from the main menu in the same session would not correctly populate foreign language strings for crafting and salvaging. Fixed - The ammo converter device was not working in languages other than English. Thanks for reporting this! Fixed - When activating the taunt weapon skill and switching weapons, the range circle effect was not disappearing. Localization: Updated - Translations for French, Russian, Spanish and German. Fixed - The stats of crafted items were extending over the numbers numbers in some cases. Fixed - Adjusted fonts for lists in scanned data UI's (planets and ships) Fixed - Adjusted font size of "Click to re-roll item's attributes[...]". Fixed - The names of crafted items were partial untranslated. Fixed - When crafting mods, e.g. trigger groups, "WEAPON TYPE" was not translated. and "PISTOL/SMG" was untranslated Fixed - When crafting beam weapons, "BEAM TYPE" and "ELECTRON" was untranslated when first displayed. Fixed - When crafting turrets, "TURRET MOUNT" and "TURRET TYPE" were not translated. When changing from "LIGHT" to "HEAVY" labels were untranslated. Fixed - Log when mining was not translated Fixed - When editing the portrait of a crew member, several UI elements were untranslated. Fixed - "Objectives" in the objective tracker from the trade net were not translated ("pick up" and "deliver"). Fixed - When a beacon is placed in a boarded ship the button "Initialize beacon" was not translated. Fixed - "Repairing Shields" was not translated. Fixed - In the boarding objectives panel, the headline was not translated. Fixed - "Repair Progress", "Repair", "Salvage" and "Exit Repairs" are now translated. Fixed - Headline for "item name" in storage on bases was cut off. Fixed - In the transfer screen for storage on stations/bases, "Quantity" and "Cancel" are now translated. Fixed - Mouse overs of vendors were not translated. Fixed - Vendor name label expanded for cases where text exceeds label limit. Fixed - The right button when dismissing a crew member was not displaying the correct translated text. Fixed - The cancel button when trading was displaying the incorrect translation string. Fixed - Perk award popups were not displaying correct translated text. Fixed - Reduced size of status effects below the portrait so foreign language strings are not cut off. Fixed - On the salvage screen, "schematic" was not translated. Fixed - When deleting items from the inventory, the "cancel" button was not translated. Fixed - Mouse over of data cards was not translated. Going forward - data cards that swap will be correctly translated. Fixed - "You find a basic XXX schematic" was not translated in the log and splash screen. Fixed - Flash screen for "objectives completed" was only partly translated. Fixed - Quality level of equipment in the description popups was not translated.


    [ 2022-03-04 19:49:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.599

    12/20/21 - 0.599 Updated: Localization updated for French, Russian, German and Spanish. A HUGE thank you to everyone working on the translation! This is an ongoing project. Updated: Mining drones will launch with the most recent drone launch state set using a new button on the drone manager window. Fixed: Drone retrieve button is now hidden if a drone is not in a state where it can be retrieved. Fixed: A fix for dedicated hacking, craft, salvage and repair crew members that are removed from the party and/or no longer have active hacking devices equipped. The dedicated crew flag gets reset and the currently selected crew member initiates the hack (if they have a hacking device), repair, crafting etc. Thanks for reporting the issue. Fixed: Humanoid NPC's were rarely if ever throwing grenades. Skull NPC's have a higher chance of having grenade inventory. The chance of a NPC throwing a grenade is based on the games difficulty level set in the options menu. Fixed: A rare lockup related to attacks of opportunity. FIXED: A lockup when selecting a friendly planetary starbase on a planet that is out of range - approaching and selecting the landing icon. Previously, a second selection was required when in range. FIXED: Ship icons on screen are now cleared when loading a quicksave or autosave to a ground location from space. Consolidated patch notes/hotfixes: 12/11/21 - 0.596b HOTFIX - If a dedicated crew member has been removed from the party or no longer has a hacking tool, the dedicated hacker is reset. The first time you hack, the flag is cleared so you will see a blank hacking UI. The second time you hack you can set a new dedicated crew member - someone who has a hacking tool equipped. I'll look for a better solution for this. 12/10/21 - 0.596 Fixed - An issue with character creation when assigning skill points. Fixed - A number of localization fixes. 12/9/21 - 0.595 Updated - Darkened background of weapon UI in ground exploration. Updated fonts so ammo count, AP Requirement and fire mode stand out better on the background. Updated - Moved health kit and grenade count from over selected icons to field above grenades and health kits. Added AP cost to rollover info. Updated - Text in hacking window over progress bar moved where it can be seen. Updated - A few updates to new icons on main UI so icons stand out better. Fixed - If you have a dedicated hacker and remove the hacking tool, a message is sent to your log letting you know who your dedicated hacker is and that the hacker does not have a hacking tool equipped. If you are in a situation where you cannot hack, you need to equip the dedicated hacker with a hacking tool Fixed - Loot UI - 4th loot slot in upper row fixed when clicking to loot. Fixed - Loot UI now only responds to "SPACE" when looting all instead of any key. Fixed - Grenade blast radius is displayed correctly when using the keyboard shortcut [O] Fixed - When out of combat and moving, weapons now swap correctly with the hotkey or weapon swap icon. You cannot swap weapons while moving in combat. You must be stationary. Fixed - A large number of edits to UI elements that had issues with translated text. 12/4/21 - 0.593b Fixed - Ship beam weapons now function as intended Fixed - Russian translation progression when first arriving in Ruins


    [ 2021-12-22 00:37:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Updated UI, translations and bug fixes

    Hello all! Im posting a patch today that fixes a number of issues. This is primarily a stability and bug fix patch with a few other bells and whistles. Its important to note that this is not the Chapter 1 patch. I am busy working on that and will post progress updates as things move along. Note that a lot of data was touched for this patch so the download will be fairly large. Here is what you will find in the patch: 1)A major stability fix related to level load lockups 2)A number of other fixes listed below 3)The updated game UI. 4)A first pass at localization to Spanish, French, German and Russian languages. 5)A warning screen if compatibility issues related to drivers and 3D rendering support are discovered when the game loads. LOCALIZATION -French, German, Spanish and Russian Localization is VERY ROUGH right now. I'm sure there will be a number of embarrassing language issues and typos. If you want to join the localization process to clean up the rough edges, check the link below for more info and the pinned topic at the top of that forum. I'll post translation edits and fixes with future patches as they become available. Join the community translation. I'm looking for a few people who are interested in editing and updating the Spanish, French and Russian translations. The German translation is in good shape. Join the translation

    • You can change the language in the "Gameplay" tab of the options screen.
    • In some cases text in various languages may be too large for the UI and scroll past the boundaries of the UI area. If you notice these, please report them on the translation sub-forum here. A screenshot would really help. Report translation issues here!
    • Old mission data is not localized. That data is saved in your current save and will continue to be displayed in English. New missions that you take will be localized.
    • Some items in your inventory in existing saves may have descriptions and other information that are part of the save and will not be translated. New items of the same type found or purchased from vendors - like health packs - will be translated.
    • Almost everything should be translated, however, I am still looking for places where English text is displayed in a field so expect that there will still be a small number of places where a fix is needed.
    • Things that need to be translated or won't be translated for technical reasons: Crafting component suffixes, mod names, system names, character names, names of minerals, commodity names, and weapons names. There may also be a few other areas that are not translated that will get fixed over time.
    Removed the HELP screen. Pressing "H" now opens the guide directly. The help screen is obsolete as all keys can be viewed and edited in the options menu and most of the information on that screen is available in the guide. A warning interface is displayed at the main menu if your PC is not compatible with Stellar Tactics. This covers failed shader compilation and a review of all the core graphics requirements to run the game. If your system fails the check, an interface is displayed that provides a few suggestions like updating your drivers and making sure your system is utilizing your dedicated graphics GPU instead of the on-board low-power Intel GPU. Optimizations in may areas UPDATED: Load times improved. UPDATED: After completing the Phestus mission, FTL drives are now available in Achmedius at ship equipment vendors. UPDATED: Universe ship manager performance updates - especially for games that have hundreds of hours of stored ship, system and station data. UPDATED: Reduced the size of the selected ship reticle. Added transparency to selection options. UPDATED: New portraits for main story characters (Rhamus, Jensen etc.) to match future story content portraits. UPDATED: Precaching of dynamically loaded assets in space to avoid hitches. UPDATED: You can now loot all by pressing the space bar. UPDATED: NPC ships attack each other once again. I'll keep an eye on the forums in case there are any issues. Keep an eye out for free loot chests from these battles. UPDATED: The game UI has been revised with a new custom UI. FIXED: A random lockup when transitioning between areas during the loading screen. FIXED: A random lockup in space combat. FIXED: A random crash when displaying the line of sight indicators in ground combat. FIXED: A potential lock up in the early game when opening the ship screen before launching to space. FIXED: The left arrow when selecting crew voices on the portrait/name/voice editing UI was not working. FIXED: In some cases, incursions were not being triggered. If you are in a state where incursions will not trigger, travel to another star system and the issue should be resolved. FIXED: When crafting, a message is displayed on the screen if your inventory is full. You can no longer start crafting a schematic if your inventory or cargo are full. FIXED: The ship storage display is now closed when pressing ESC if in the ship UI. FIXED: A bug related to initializing incursions after Rhamus/Jensen leave crew on trade station. FIXED: Infinite experience when crafting (processing items by pressing the enter key). FIXED: KO crew members could block movement in narrow passageways.


    [ 2021-12-03 19:45:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress update

    Its been a very busy summer with me and my family moving across the country and a lot of time has been dedicated to preparing our old home, selling it, packing, and moving in to our new home. None the less, progress has been made. Now that I am settled in, I am working on Stellar Tactics at my usual pace. The next update will be a big one and Ill cover some of the details below. The biggest addition will be the introduction of Chapter 1 of the story. With Chapter 1, new characters will be introduced, primarily the introduction of the Coven and the Sovereignty. The story will continue with a communication from Dr. Jensen who needs your assistance as the doctors continue to look into ways to eliminate the Phage and further their knowledge related to the Jhemm. The Coven is a specific mutation that presented itself on one of the four ships that made the transit with the remnants of the human race. The mutation applied itself to females while in cryonic suspension and resulted in uncontrolled Psionic powers. The Coven were immediately isolated and studied by scientists on arrival and eventually released to colonize, provided certain rules were followed. Specifically, anyone with the Coven mutation was subjected to surgical implants that subdued their powers. Psionic powers were outlawed and have been since the Arrival. This did not go over well with The Coven and eventually they went into hiding and removed their implants, refining their powers. For hundreds of years, The Coven have not been seen and are nearly forgotten, though some still do business with them smuggling goods for trade with the elusive and secretive faction.
    In Chapter 1, you will be introduced to the Sovereignty the ruling power. Taxes are paid, and for that, security and law are enforced by the Sovereignty . The six main Houses (Halamis, Aralion, Cilivon, Conrair, Shikaru and Varadyne) have control over their holdings and pay tribute to the Sovereignty who in turn provides special dispensation to the Houses. The Houses exert their power on the various sub-factions in the Stellar Tactics Universe. Ayela will be your primary contact with the Sovereignty and will have missions that involve investigating the Phage, The Coven, Raiders, Scavvers as these are all ongoing threats to peace under the rule of the Sovereignty. Ayela has been looking for a crack squad of mercenaries for a few critical missions.
    Chapter 1 will also introduce more of the story related to the Jhemm and the menace they warn about in the Prologue. With this, Rhamus is still obsessed with the Jhemm and you will explore several of these locations in Chapter 1 which will introduce the Azimuth system. In addition to specific locations related to the story where you acquire Azimuth, a new random mission set has been developed for the Aznari ruins and you will find these occasionally when you scan planet surfaces. 18 new "creature" enemy types have been added for cave and ruins locations to increase the variety of enemy types you will encounter in the universe. All of the original characters have had a facelift so they will match the new content in Chapter 1.
    Speaking of mission sets, 3 new random sets will be added to the game in addition to static locations for Chapter 1 of the story.


    The first pass of localization is complete for French, Spanish, Russian and German. Note that as a first pass at localization, the French, Spanish, and Russian localizations are likely very rough. The German translation is in very good shape thanks to community members who joined the translation effort. The localizations will be included in the upcoming content patch. When the content patch launches, I will open up localization again for these languages for anyone who is interested in joining. Oh, and did I mention that Stellar Tactics is getting it's final UI? Daniel did an amazing job with the UI and the implementation work is almost complete. There are still some rough edges here and there - overall, it's coming along nicely.
    Thats it for now. No ETA on the release of this content patch. I do hope to get everything finished before the end of this year and I will keep you updated as I make progress.


    [ 2021-10-22 18:46:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Universe visual overhaul

    Today's patch updates space backgrounds and effects throughout the Universe. I have also removed the 5 point weapon skill cap. I'd like to gather feedback from players on the removal of the cap. In my opinion, the skill cap has caused a lot of confusion and some just don't like it at all. For now, the cap is removed. It will come back as a hardcore option at some point for those who enjoy micro-managing progression. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWDjGWSW6e8 Meanwhile, a lot of work is being done for chapter one of the main story. There are also a number of other assets being developed that will provide points of interest in the universe. I'll explain more as I make progress on this work.
    ADDED: The universal facelift. All new backgrounds and various other improvements for space. Make sure to enable the high-resolution skyboxes in the options menu if you have 2gb VRAM or higher. Enjoy! UPDATED: The 5 point skill cap for weapon skills has been removed. Removing the skill cap will likely require some tuning over time so expect the amount of experience gain to go up/down as required as I gather more feedback. --The skill cap will come back as an advanced gameplay feature for those of us who like it. By that I mean, it will be an option - off by default. --The level cap remains at level 60 until the story content is ready. --Skill gain remains unchanged. Even at the level cap, you can continue to gain skills for any weapon, support, or space skill to level 100. UPDATED: Replaced a number of planet materials. UPDATED: Improved performance. UPDATED: On completion of an incursion, completion notification and reward delay are much shorter. UPDATED: Reduced base resists for various enemies. UPDATED: Reduced FTL FX timings for faster jumps to FTL space and between star systems. UPDATED: Stability updates. FIXED: Rollover compare info for pugilist weapons is now displayed if a single pugilist weapon is equipped in the primary or secondary slot. If you are dual-wielding pugilist weapons, you will need to compare manually. FIXED: A number of typos. FIXED: Duplicate sector data in systems 0,0 - 99,0. I doubt anyone is flying around taking missions in these sectors, however - if you are I recommend that you cancel and then re-take missions if they are active. FIXED: A bug related to the display of active drone icons on the star map. FIXED: A bug related to walking to and interacting with objects/NPCs.


    [ 2021-03-12 18:38:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Updated notes for 0.572

    UPDATED: If you have no weapons or a pugilist weapon in your sidearm slot, the secondary support skill has been changed to sprint. If the primary weapon slot is empty (fists) or a pugilist weapon is equipped, the support skill is taunt. UPDATED: Updated the combat movement path marker to use a much faster system. UPDATED: LOS lines are now displayed almost immediately when the combat movement cursor is moved to a position. UPDATED: I did a lot of work on movement and pathing. Overhead objects, walls, and other objects no longer obstructed floor clicks. If you click the floor, your crew member should move to the location unless blocked. This includes how raycasts for movement interact with PC's, NPC's and the environment. UPDATED: If a health kit is enabled, you can now click through overhead objects, etc to target crew members. UPDATED: A few changes to the world map:

    • You can now scroll the area map using the left mouse button and zoom in-out using the mouse wheel.
    • World map uses a higher resolution map.
    • You can now zoom in much further on the world map.
    • World map now remembers your current zoom level and last position during the current game session. You can reset the map using the blue "+" icon on the map.
    UPDATED: The star-map search feature loads much faster now. A few other new features:
    • The star map now lets you search star systems where you have placed a beacon by entering only a few characters. So, for example, you can search for "Achmedius" by entering "a" and pressing enter in the search field and Achmedius will be displayed along with any other systems that start with an "A". For systems where you have not placed a beacon, you need to enter the entire system name and press search to center the map on that system.
    • Entering "cargo" or "ship" in the search field and pressing enter will now display systems where you have cargo or ships.
    • The search feature now includes the sector coordinates and sector level for systems where you have placed beacons.
    UPDATED: The VSYNC option now enables VSYNC and the frame limiter for the 60FPS and 30FPS options. I'm still doing work on how various high refresh monitors interact with game events and area loading. ADDED: Added new icons to the star map that show you if you have a drone, ship, or cargo storage in a system. If you have placed a beacon in a system, the system has a new icon overlay that shows you at a glance if a beacon is already deployed in the system. ADDED: If a crew member is at the 5 point skill cap, a warning is displayed when entering the inventory or character info screens noting that the crew member will not receive weapon skill experience until they reach the next level. FIXED: When clicking at a specific position in the game world, the navigation marker in combat was not being correctly set to the exact movement position. FIXED: When first entering an area and engaging in combat, the LOS markers and cover icon was not being displayed until an enemy took a single turn. FIXED: A bug in the display of various perk bonuses in the ship skill bonus area. FIXED: Enemy AI equipped with grenades would occasionally throw two grenades during their combat round. FIXED: A number of UI inconsistencies related to closing various menus with the ESC key (LOG - Search, Trade-Net, Faction window). FIXED: A few perk tooltip errors. FIXED: The game would lock up if a crew member dies at the same time as the last enemy in an encounter with a missile launcher, DOT, or grenade. Could also happen if you were in combat mode with no enemies around and you threw a grenade and killed yourself - oops. FIXED: When selecting crew portraits, special attacks for that crew member are now updated correctly in the toolbar. FIXED: A bug with melee movement introduced with the special attacks system that could cause melee crew members to stop before reaching their target causing a loss of AP.


    [ 2021-01-30 23:35:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

    New Horizons

    With the addition of the combat special attacks and support skills, the majority of all the core game systems are now in the game. While 2020 was difficult for everyone with the pandemic, I was still able to get a large amount of work done on the game with 19 total updates to the game and several sizeable additions including the boarding system. Id like to thank all of you for your continued support. Stellar Tactics would not be possible without your generosity and feedback. So, what can you expect going forward? Well, Im very excited about the next steps so I thought I would give everyone a glance into the future of the game. Until now Ive been mostly focused on developing the core structure of the game. Things like combat, space exploration, the universe, inventory, crafting, salvaging, loot and all of the systems that make up the foundation of what Stellar Tactics will be. That is, the container the universe. Now its time to start filling the universe with meaningful content. Characters you will engage with in various ways. Id like to expand on the lore of the universe, give you ways to define your place, build relationships with various factions, and expand on the core systems Ive worked hard to implement. What does that mean? First, Ill be working on the story. With that, more of what is happening in the universe will become apparent. Who are the key players? Who were the Aznari? What are the Jhemm? What is this threat that is coming? Should you trust Jensen and Rhamus? And of course, what is your part in all of this? There are likely many questions after playing the Prologue and my goal going forward is to give the player places to go, things to see and do, and to expand on the core of the game with meaningful content and encounters. Ill be expanding on the mission system with branching missions that have multiple objectives. Missions may lead to new missions and I'll be looking into new and better completion rewards. Ill be expanding the storylines of characters you have already met like Arkus, Rhamus, Phestus, Scarby, Rodger Crayson, and more. Some of these characters will introduce new mission types for mining, smuggling, salvaging, and ways to earn ships from Arkus through the boarding system. I'll be adding new enemy types and epic bosses. I'll be adding new armor sets and clothing for characters. Ill be adding Psionics. Psionics will use a new weapon type the Psi Amp which is rewarded from a series of side encounters related to the Coven. I wont spoil anything here, though I will say that Psi will be a very useful skill to have with the ability to buff, debuff, heal, and generate various other effects that enhance your team. I'll be adding faction warfare and unique encounters in FTL space. These will be random locations with exploration, salvaging, and special faction warfare opportunities. Ive made an investment in new tools that will help me create unique and diverse characters for the story, new portraits, and in-game models. A few examples below. Some of these characters you will love to hate.
    Others you will learn to rely on.
    And special crew members who have their own stories and backgrounds.

    Ill be revising and adding more variety to the universe with new high-resolution custom skyboxes made just for Stellar Tactics by Tim Barton an amazing artist who specializes in space environments. You can check out Tim Bartons work at this link: Tim Barton on Artstation
    Ill also be knocking off some of the rough edges, improving the game visuals, and addressing QoL issues many of you have been asking for. I will be working on tuning, looking at all of the systems as a whole and how they work with each other, and making changes where they make sense. I'm going to be patching out a number of small bugs and addressing a few other issues at the end of next week. From that point, Ill be focusing exclusively on the content mentioned above. It will likely be the longest period of time you have had to wait for a content update and Ill keep you all posted as I make progress.


    [ 2021-01-16 19:06:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Weapon special attacks, support skills and more

    Hi all - I am happy to release the latest content patch for Stellar Tactics today. There are a lot of changes in this build so please read the patch notes below. I'll be monitoring the bug forums closely over the next few days and patching out any issues you might find. While I've done a lot of testing on this build, as you know, things happen. I hope you enjoy the changes. I expect I'll be spending a week or two tweaking a few things with the special attacks, addressing issues (if any), and clearing a backlog of small issues that need to be looked into. What's next? Sometime in the next week, I'll post an update covering what you can expect going forward. There are a lot of changes coming to Stellar Tactics and I'm really excited to be at a point where I'll be implementing new story content, expanding the mission system, polishing various rough edges, adding psionics, and more. ADDED SPECIAL WEAPON ATTACKS AND SUPPORT SKILLS: Weapon special attacks and support skills are now in the game. Note that enemies start using special attacks at around level 5. Players get all weapon skills at the start of the game and they improve over time with five total tiers increasing at skill levels 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100. Weapon skills are specific to each weapon type and several are shared (1hand slash and 1hand blunt). Initially these attacks are fairly weak, however, over time they scale nicely and you will be using them regularly in combat.

    • Special attacks and support skills use zero AP and can be triggered at any time if they are available as long as it is your turn in combat.
    • Special attacks are guaranteed to hit, however, DEFEND can mitigate damage.
    • Enemies start using special weapon attacks at level 5
    • Weapon special attacks are on global cooldown timers.
    • Support skills are reset at the beginning of combat. You can use sprint, taunt, and barrier at the start of each combat session.
    • You can use special attacks and support skills from both equipped weapons ( primary and secondary ) in the same round if global timers are reset by swapping weapons.
    • Special attacks, taunt, and barrier increase in power as you gain skill in that weapon class at levels 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100.
    • Game difficulty affects how NPC's use special attacks by changing how often they are used. The frequency and power of these effects from NPC's vary by enemy difficulty. A regular NPC will use them less often, a single skull enemy more often and bosses will use them most of the time when their cooldowns expire. On easy mode, these attacks are less likely to trigger - on extreme difficulty the attacks will be triggered more often.
    • Some enemies have special abilities. For example Phage vomit. Rather than triggering a special attack, they will use their special twice in one attack if they trigger a special. New enemies in future updates may have similar attacks that they use more than once in a combat round.
    UPDATED - BOARDING:
    • When boarding a ship, there will always be a loot container that contains ship equipment loot similar to what would have been dropped if you had destroyed the ship. NOTE: Ore and ship ammo is not included in the loot table.
    • Enemy subsystem regeneration time increased by 30 seconds. It should now be easier to board ships with lower-tier ship equipment. Note that it has always been intended that boarding a ship with starter turrets would be difficult. Upgrading your turrets and systems will make boarding enemy ships much easier. While boarding, a ship may regenerate its shields, however, they go down faster after repaired by the enemy crew.
    • General reward for selling ships to Arkus increased by 30%. Selling a ship with multiple decks increased by 70%. Note that repairing ships to full always rewards more and yes, it does take some time to gather the components - though, with higher salvage skill, more components are rewarded. I will be adding side missions for Arkus and he/she/it will have missions that will let you earn better rewards as you develop your relationship.
    ADDED - REVIEW AND UPDATE CREW PERKS/STATS FROM THE CREW MANAGER: You can now edit crew member perks, stats, portrait, voice, and name in the CREW MANAGER for any crew member by selecting the crew member you want to edit from the list on the left and then clicking the "EDIT CREW MEMBER" button. This is very useful when adjusting space crew perks for mining, space combat etc. Previously, you needed to add the crew member to your active crew to make adjustments. ADDED - DEDICATED CREW MEMBERS FOR HACKING, SALVAGING, CRAFTING, AND REPAIR When activating any of these skills, you can now select the active crew member as dedicated. This means that no matter which crew member activates the skill, the dedicated crew member will be the crew member who's skills and perks are used. This crew member also receives all experience from actively using these skills. If you would prefer to not use a dedicated crew member anymore, just select the portrait to remove the "check mark" and the crew member that initiates the skill will be used. The first time any of these skills is used a popup is displayed explaining how to select this crew member as the dedicated crew. SELECT DEDICATED CREW MEMBER: When any of the skill UI's are displayed, click the portrait and a checkmark will be displayed indicating this crew member is not the dedicated crew member for that skill. REMOVE DEDICATED CREW MEMBER: When any of the skill UI's are displayed, click the portrait and the checkmark will be removed indicated a dedicated crew member is not selected for that skill. --NOTE: Removing or replacing a crew member from your ground team in the crew manager will reset your currently active dedicated crew. You will need to re-assign a new crew member to the various tasks. UPDATED - VSYNC AND FRAMERATE CAP OPTIONS: Uncapping the framerate in the video options has been changed to give players more options. You can find a new slider in the video options menu. Default is VSYNC ON. The slider lets you cap your framerate to 30 FPS, 60 FPS, VSYNC ON, VSYNC 1/2, VSYNC 1/4, and NO LIMIT (no cap at all!). VSYNC is highly dependant on your system, monitor, and video card settings. This should give players more options and hopefully address issues of animation slowdown. If you have any issues, you can always either uncap the framerate completely by dragging the slider to the far right or set the framerate cap to 60FPS or even 30FPS. I'll keep an eye on the bug forums to see if any of the VSYNC and framerate adjustments mentioned above cause any issues. VSYNC ON should always provide the best performance. GENERAL PATCH NOTES: UPDATED: Increased base Micro-Warp speed of ships. UPDATED: Reduced spam-click timer so there is less delay when interacting with objects and NPC's. UPDATED: Skyboxes for the main menu and FTL space. UPDATED: Doubled faction token and faction standing rewards for agent missions. UPDATED: Doubled positive/negative faction reward values for clearing explore locations. UPDATED: Increase the number of credits rewarded when completing a faction agent mission UPDATED: Faction display in the log map area now displays your current faction values as positive/negative values ranging from -50,000 (worst) to +50,000 (best). Neutral ranges from -10,000 - +10,000. UPDATED: Hacking and auto-hacking are now faster. When entering the correct key code, the next combination digit begins immediately instead of waiting for the cooldown timer to expire. UPDATED: Repair and Salvage experience bars when repairing/salvaging ship components on boarded ships now show experience toward the next level instead of total skill experience. UPDATED: Adjusted bleed damage down a little. UPDATED: The FTL guide entry is displayed the first time you enter FTL space. A reminder to accelerate is displayed on the screen when entering FTL space. Additional information added to the FTL guide entry noting that piloting skill and FTL drive quality affect SHIP speed in FTL space. Guide entries/tutorials will eventually get an overhaul. UPDATED: Added new key binds. Your current key binds have been reset. Keybind for toggling grenades on/off [O] Keybind for toggling med-kits on/off

    Keybind for scanning the selected target in space [DELETE] Keybind for attacking the selected ship. When in space combat you can tab-target ships in combat with you, and press the attack key to switch all turrets to the new target. [RETURN] FIXED: Neutral system stations would occasionally spawn faction agents that would give missions that could never be completed. FIXED: It was possible to mount heavy turrets on light turret mount slots. I recommend replacing any heavy turrets mounted on light turret mount locations to avoid issues with space combat. FIXED: Corrected ship info list below turrets on ship screen [K} so it correctly displays the mount point info for heavy/light turrets. FIXED: If entering the Abandoned Facility and taking missions before completing the Slice Mines mission, it was possible you could not turn the Slice Mine mission in to Scarby Hurzog. FIXED: Rollover highlights for a number of objects. FIXED: When removing status effects using first-aid perkS, the status effect displayed under the crew portrait is updated immediately. FIXED: A few minor visual glitches with projectiles. FIXED: A few material errors with Kchor NPC's FIXED: A skill rounding error when recruiting mercs that would round skills down one level occasionally.


    [ 2021-01-08 18:33:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress Update - Weapon special attacks and support skills

    I'm posting a short WIP video today showing some of the new weapon special attacks and support skills. I'm also showing a few QoL changes that are coming in the next content patch. I expect the next content patch to be ready on January 8th. https://youtu.be/mA-WNiN7raU For those of you who have been playing Stellar Tactics, I'm sure you have noticed the two empty slots on the combat tool-bar. Those have always been reserved for weapon special attacks and support skills. These will be available from level 1 and increase in power as you gain skill in the weapon class they are associated with. Special attacks are zero-AP cost attacks on a global cooldown timer. They provide a number of effects like PBAoE, target-based AE, and burst single target damage. The goal of the attacks is to give you additional options. Save them for a tough fight, or use them any time. The attacks make a big difference to the pace of the game. Also, because NPC's can use these attacks, you will need to be on your toes making sure your crew's HP is topped off. The new support skills give you additional mobility, the ability to charge your shields, reflect damage, and the possibility to taunt enemies off of crew members who need a round to regroup. In addition to the new support and combat skills, a few QoL updates are coming: Dedicated crew members - You can now assign dedicated crew members to hacking, salvage, crafting, and repair. That means regardless of who engages these skills, the dedicated crew member will always perform the action and gain the EXP. For repair, it means you no longer need to drag weapons and armor off crew members into general inventory. Crew member review - You can now review any crew member from the crew manager. This makes it easy to assign perks to any crew member without needing to move them into your ground crew. Hacking update - You can now enter combination keys when hacking before the cooldown expires. This makes hacking a lot faster. Boarding ships - There will now always be a container with the loot that would have dropped from the ship if you had destroyed it. This should make boarding a bit more profitable. In addition, larger ships will pay out more than smaller ships. Overall, I'll be adjusting the amount you get from ships marginally. Of course, repairing ships completely before selling them always pays the most. Happy Holidays to all of you! Stay safe and thank you for supporting Stellar Tactics.


    [ 2020-12-21 23:45:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Revised perk progression, equipment wear, repair system, and more

    It's patch time again. Here are the details for the patch released today. ADDED: REPAIR SYSTEM AND REPAIR PERKS Rollover info now displays the current condition of items. As they degrade, they become less useful (less mitigation, weapon jams, lower damage, etc.). Maintaining your weapons is easy. Just roll over the item you want to repair and press the [SPACE] key. Item repairs require finishing items that can be obtained by salvaging junk and gear that you find in your travels. Perks allow you to repair items above 100% to a maximum of +25 (125). Crafted items can gain up to +30 (130). Overall, any crafted item with the appropriate perks can have a maximum of 155 condition from crafting and repair bonuses. In addition - repair tier bonuses apply reduced item degradation as you progress to maximum skill level.

    • Repair perks have been added
    • I've provided 20 finishing items of every type as a one time grant for repair. These items will be added to your existing finishing items - or, when starting a new game, you will start with 20 finishing items of each type. This should cover repairs needed in the early game until players can salvage enough items for future repairs.
    ADDED: EQUIPMENT WEAR Equipment wear can be disabled in the options->gameplay menu. Looted equipment will always be in some state of wear and will never be below 50%. This applies even if equipment wear is disabled.
    • Equipment wear penalties apply when equipment degrades below 50%
    • Below 25% - Additional penalties are applied.
    • Below 5% - Items will barely function.
    • At 0% Items are non-functional and must be repaired.
    • Vendors always sell items that are at 100% condition.
    • Electro damage does more wear to shields.
    • Thermal and explosive damage do more damage to armor.
    • Mods, devices, cargo expansions, and items equipped to a ship hardware mount point do not wear over time.
    • Wear to ship equipment is minimal when shields are up. Once a shield is down and you start taking damage to your hull, damage is increased.
    ADDED: NEW SHIP REPAIR STATION You can now assign a crew member to the ship repair station. This crew member will prioritize repairs to your ship over time, prioritizing the hull, then shields, engines, systems, and weapons. This crew member can repair onboard equipment to the current maximum condition and will receive repair experience over time as they repair your ship. I recommend a dedicated repair crew member for the job. Manually repairing ship systems can apply bonuses based on your current repair skill and perk selections.
    • Ship repairs take place over time. Repair skill TIER bonuses improve the speed at which ship hull plating and components are repaired.
    • When paying for ship repairs on stations, only the hull armor of the ship is repaired. Other components need to be repaired manually or over time when a crew member is assigned to the crew repair station. Hull plating is repaired over time by crew members in the crew repair station.
    • If the crewmember assigned to the ship repair station is also in your ground crew, repairs will not take place while on stations or ground locations.
    • Repairs by a crew member in the repair station slot do not consume resources.
    ADDED: SALVAGING PERK LINE
    • Additional components can be salvaged as you unlock skill TIER bonuses.
    • Perks added that provide bonuses to base salvaging failure, learning, and schematic experience.
    • Perk selections that allow for increased schematic discovery for weapons, mods, armor, shields, and ship schematics.
    • SCHEMATIC DISCOVERY PERKS - BONUSES FOR SELECTED SCHEMATIC DISCOVERY PERKS STACK FROM MULTIPLE CREW MEMBERS. Each crew member can provide a +10% schematic discovery bonus for a total of a +40% bonus if all ACTIVE GROUND crew members have a skill level of 80 in salvaging and the correct discovery perks are selected.
    ADDED: CRAFTING PERK LINE Skill tier bonuses reward reduced chance of negative conditions, bonus finishing points at the start of crafting. Perk selections apply bonus action points, item durability, reduced negative condition duration, and positive condition bonuses for weapons, mods, armor, shields, and ship equipment. ADDED: SCHEMATIC REVIEW IN SALVAGING DISPLAY You can now view your unlocked schematics in the salvage display without needing to travel to a crafting table. ADDED: NEW DEVICE - THE AMMO CONVERTER A new device is available from Varadyn faction vendors that will allow you to convert any type of ammo into other types of ammo. The UI is simple to use and you will can convert standard and heavy weapon ammo at the following ratios:
    • Pistol, SMG, rifle, shotgun, and E-Cell to any other ammo type in this category = 1:1 ratio (1 for 1)
    • Pistol, SMG, rifle, shotgun, and E-Cell to missile, fusion cell, flamer fuel, minigun = 4:1 ratio (4 for 1)
    • Missile, fusion cell, flamer fuel, minigun to any other ammo type in this category = 1:1 ratio (1 for 1)
    • Missile, fusion cell, flamer fuel, minigun to pistol, SMG, rifle, shotgun, and E-Cell = 1:4 ratio (1 for 4)
    • The device can be used in any ground location including missions.
    • This device is fairly expensive and requires that you complete a number of missions to earn the needed tokens from a Varadyn faction agent.
    UPDATED: Perks or skill tier bonuses will be rewarded every 5 levels. Perk selection and preview has been completely overhauled so you can preview all skill perk and tier bonuses through skill level 100 at any time. Perks are still situational and you can switch between selections in each group as you have in the past. IMPORTANT: You may need to assign perks in your current save now that these changes are posted. In many cases you may have a few perks available that you did not have before. UPDATED: First aid perks overhauled - Reduced perk bonuses to healing, they were OP. Max skill tier bonuses grant a +75% bonus to healing in addition to the base medkit healing values (small, medium, and large). Perks now focus on removing status effects. UPDATED: Explosives perk line revised with a focus on improved damage and inflicting status effects. Tier bonuses focus on CRIT and accuracy. Perk bonuses can apply addition damage and status effects:
    • Stun grenades can apply bleeding
    • Frag grenades can apply hobble
    • EMP grenades can apply cripple
    UPDATED: Weapons, armor, shields, and ship equipment all degrade over time with use and damage. You can repair these items by hovering over equipped items, inventory, stash, cargo, and ship equipment in the various menu's and pressing [SPACE] on your keyboard. UPDATED: Maximum weapon skill level when crafting weapons is now uncapped - max skill level is now 100. UPDATED: The currently selected crew member is not reset when transitioning between ground locations. UPDATED: Removed perception requirement in extended rollover UI for displaying target resist values. I'll likely tie the display of additional resist information to another system. UPDATED: On the character information screen, when selecting a new crew member, the selected skill is not reset to rifles making it easier to compare perks and skill info between crew members. UPDATED: New SFX for most ranged weapons. UPDATED: FTL sound effect volume reduced. UPDATED: Reduced amount of ammo dropped now that ammo converter is available. I'll likely adjust this over time with more playtesting. UPDATED: In HARD and EXTREME ground difficulty modes, auto regeneration of HP after combat is disabled. You will need to heal crew members with medkits.
    • Shield and energy points will regen as usual.
    • Transitioning between areas will heal crew members to full health.
    • I'll gather feedback on this change and make adjustments as needed.
    UPDATED: Increased melee proc damage from frequency modulator mods. FIXED: PC's now display the correct amount healed in-game log if healing exceeds maximum health. FIXED: When gaining a skill level in crafting, salvaging, and repair, a notification is sent to the screen. FIXED: When various menus are open, key input for ship control is blocked (E.G. afterburners, thrusters, etc). FIXED: When crafting ship equipment, some of the items were displaying an incorrect finishing item in the last stages of crafting. FIXED: A few calculation errors in the progress toward the next skill level display on the character information screen. FIXED: A rare case where beacons and ship ammo could be moved into the player backpack and stash inventories. FIXED: A rare case where a crew member could die from a DOT (bleed or poison) at the end of combat leaving the game in a state where combat does not end. FIXED: If a crew member is not assigned to the ship electronics station, you cannot scan ships or planets. A message is displayed on the screen in cases where a crew member is not assigned. FIXED: Ship vendors now display whether a turret is a general turret mount or a missile mount in the ship information display. FIXED: Ship hull damage cannot be repaired using the repair button in the ship info UI [K] when boarding an enemy ship. FIXED: Crafting and salvaging menus now ignore background click events while displayed. FIXED: Numerous small UI fixes/updates. There are a lot of changes in this patch. I'll keep an eye on the forums over the next few days and patch any issues that pop up. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics and have a great weekend!


    [ 2020-10-02 20:18:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress update

    Here is a summary of the things you can expect for the next content patch. I hope to have this update ready for everyone by the end of next week. Perks The next patch will introduce the perks and skill tier bonuses for salvaging, crafting, and repair. All perks will be in the game. Some perks and tier bonuses have been revised to be more useful. Perk and tier bonus progression adjustments
    Perks or skill tier bonuses will be rewarded every 5 levels with the next patch. Perk selection and preview has been completely overhauled so you can preview all skill perk and tier bonuses through skill level 100 at any time. Perks are still situational and you can switch between selections in each group as you have in the past. The repair system and equipment wear
    Weapons, armor, and ship equipment will all degrade over time. The repair skill will allow you to repair gear through your inventory by pressing the spacebar when hovering over an item. Perk bonuses will allow you to apply additional durability bonuses to repaired items (max 125% condition) and repair tier bonuses will apply reduced item degradation to items, slowing the wear of items based on your current repair skill level. Wear progresses at a relatively slow pace so, you won't need to worry about repairing items every few missions. The crafting perk line will allow you to apply permanent base durability bonuses to crafted equipment, assuming those perks are selected when crafting. The base durability for weapons, armor, shields, and ship equipment can be increased to 130% at the maximum crafting skill level. Items that do degrade below 50% will have reduced functionality. Ranged weapons will misfire and jam, melee weapons will do less damage, armor will mitigate less damage, turrets will misfire, ship systems will have additional negative penalties.

    • Below 25% - Additional penalties are applied.
    • Below 5% - Items will barely function.
    • At 0% Items are non-functional and must be repaired.
    A new slot in the crew manager will let you assign a crew member to a repair station. Repair experience is granted to the crew member in the ship repair slot. Ship damage and ship equipment will be repaired over time as you travel the universe, reducing the need to dock and repair. This will be automated as long as a crew member is assigned to maintenance. Of course, there are some situations where if you do take heavy damage, you may want to manually repair your ship equipment. Ammo converter
    A new device will be available from Varadyn faction vendors that will allow you to convert any type of ammo into other types of ammo. The UI will be simple to use and you will be able to directly convert standard and heavy weapon ammo at the following ratios:
    • Pistol, SMG, rifle, shotgun, and E-Cell to any other ammo type in this category = 1:1 ratio (1 for 1)
    • Pistol, SMG, rifle, shotgun, and E-Cell to missile, fusion cell, flamer fuel, minigun = 3:1 ratio (3 for 1)
    • Missile, fusion cell, flamer fuel, minigun to any other ammo type in this category = 1:1 ratio (1 for 1)
    • Missile, fusion cell, flamer fuel, minigun to pistol, SMG, rifle, shotgun and E-Cell = 1:3 ratio (1 for 3)
    The device can be used in any ground location including missions. New ranged weapon sound effects - Most of the ranged weapons in the game have new sound effects. I think they sound much better overall and they pack a lot of punch. Schematics can be reviewed in the salvage UI so you can see what you have unlocked at any time.
    And of course, a number of bug fixes and issues that were on my list. As with all patches, there will be no save game reset you can just pick up the game and move forward from where you left off. Once this patch is released, Ill be finalizing the new weapon special attacks. I had hoped they would be finished at this time, but they need a lot more work. I expect these to be done in December along with a number of other smaller enhancements and QoL adjustments. It will be great to finally be in a place where I will be working on the expanded mission system, more story content/locations, lore, new enemies, more armor sets, faction agents/merchants for the rest of the main factions, and of course - polish. It's been a long road getting to this point. I'm sure a lot of you are looking forward to the continuation of the game story and some of the features that will be unlocked through the story and side missions. As always, thanks for supporting Stellar Tactics! I hope you all have a great weekend.


    [ 2020-09-25 22:09:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Disable, board, capture and sell enemy ships

    I'm releasing the boarding content patch today. Every ship in the game can be boarded and I'd like to hear your feedback on the new system. This is one of the last core systems that needed to be implemented. It will be important as I expand the current mission system adding more variety, branching missions, and of course for the game story where there will be a number of ships that need to be boarded for various reasons. If you find any issues, please post in the bug forums and I'll take a look. As with all updates, there are likely edge cases and bugs that will only show up when people start playing the new content. I'll keep an eye on the forums and patch out any issues. As it is, boarding is a nice add-on for the game. Short scenarios that net good returns. You can choose the repair/salvage mechanic for better sale value when contacting Arkus, though it is entirely up to you if you want to take the extra time to do this. No matter what, you will at least need to identify all the broken systems on the ship. Repairing them will develop your repair skill which will be used in future content updates when I expand the mission system. Scrapping components will improve your salvaging skill. More on this below. With the addition of boarding, sub-system targeting is now in the game. This adds a new tactical layer to space combat allowing you to disable enemy engines, weapons, and systems - giving you time to deal with other ships in multi-ship combat scenarios. Some of you have expressed an interest in walking around on your own ships. I want to say that this is not off the table. I'll be looking into it and I have some ideas I think you will like. Others have mentioned that they want to keep the ships. Again, not off the table. I'll be looking into ways to expand the boarding system so you can earn ships through Arkus over time. So whats next?

    • I'll be wrapping up the new perk system, rewarding perks earlier and more often. The next patch will complete all perks for the game including crafting, salvaging, and repair.
    • I'll be adding the new special weapon attacks. These will be rewarded at various skill levels and include active skills that can be placed in the two empty combat bar slots. This will round out the ground combat system nicely.
    • The weapon and armor repair system.
    • Expanding the mission system. Now that all core requirements are in the game - I can start working on making missions more varied, adding missions with multiple objects, and more.
    Here are the patch notes: Boarding enemy ships: To board an enemy ship, you need to first disable the target ship's shields. Once this happens a new icon (subsystem targeting icon) is displayed to the right of the ships targeting menu on the left side of the screen. Selecting this icon will bring up the subsystem targeting menu. At this point, you can choose to target subsystems (weapons, engines, systems). Once a subsystem is selected, your weapons will start targeting that subsystem until you click the subsystem targeting icon a second time to disable targeting for all turrets. Disabling all three subsystems will disable the ship completely and a new button will be displayed. Approach within range of the ship and you can then board. [olist]
  • Disable a ship's shields.
  • Select the subsystem targeting icon and disable all three main ship systems. NOTE: To turn off subsystem targeting, select the subsystem targeting icon a second time. This will turn off all turrets.
  • Approach the ship and select the "BOARD SHIP" button. [/olist] You have a limited amount of time to disable a ship's systems before the crew will repair the ship's shields and subsystems. A yellow bar above the subsystem targeting buttons will fill over time displaying that crews progress toward repairing the ship's shields. Once their shields go back up they will start repairing subsystems and you must bring their shields back down before you can board the ship.
    • Ion weapons are ideal for disabling shields and subsystems - however, other weapons will work. You do need to be careful of strike through damage to the hull as damage to the ship's hull is calculated into the value of the ship when selling it to Arkus. The best weapon for boarding would be ION weapons as they no do little to no damage against ship armor. Beam weapons are preferable and more cost-effective, though they do require a better warp drive.
    • Explosive turrets should be toggled off when targeting ships you want to board to avoid excess damage (missiles and plasma turrets).
    • Strikethrough perks should not be selected if you choose to board ships.
    • When targeting subsystems, missiles, and plasma turrets will be turned off automatically.
    • You can only board a disabled ship when other ships are not in combat with you. In the case of incursions, all other enemy incursion ships must be destroyed before boarding.
    • When boarding an incursion ship, incursion rewards will be granted just before you board the targeted ship.
    • You can only board one ship at a time. If you have active boarding objectives and exit the ship, then board another ship - the previously boarded ship will fly away.
    • If you fly away from a disabled ship - then return, and the left targeting menu is hidden, fire a few shots at the ship, and the subsystem targeting button will appear again. In some cases, the crew may be so busy that they don't notice you.
    • Ships have a chance to spawn a unique loot chest/crate that stores ship equipment of varying quality. When you do find one of these chests, the loot will be placed directly in your cargo hold if you have room.
    Captured ship repair, salvage, and sale: To sell a boarded ship, the following objectives must be completed: [olist]
  • Eliminate the entire crew
  • Repair/scrap all damaged ship systems or at least examine the damaged systems.
  • Place a beacon at the helm of the ship. YOU MUST HAVE BEACONS in your ship's inventory or you will not be able to complete this objective. [/olist] Repairing ship systems above their default state before selling to Arkus will net you a bonus on his final price for the ship. As an example, scrapping all items could net you around 50,000 credits when selling the ship. Repairing all systems to full (requiring a good number of parts) could net you as much as 200,000 credits. Leaving a ship un-repaired and not scrapping any components will leave the ship in a state with a wide variance of value depending on the state of the systems onboard. You must eliminate all enemies on the ship and review all damaged systems before you can activate the beacon at the ship's helm. You can continue to repair and salvage components on the ship at any time, in case you decide to repair or salvage components. Once you place a beacon and notify Arkus, you will no longer be able to activate any ship systems for salvage or repair. In general, you can completely ignore the repair system other than reviewing all systems if you want to. However, as mentioned above, repairing a ship always has a net positive effect on the number of credits you earn over time. The best strategy is to salvage and repair components. Over time, as your salvaging skill improves, you will salvage more parts. As you gain repair experience, repairing ship components becomes easier. SALVAGING BONUSES - These will get rolled into the perks for Salvaging when I release them. All perks will be released in the next content patch - including - Salvaging, Crafting, and Repair. LVL 20 +20% CHANCE FOR EXTRA COMPONENTS LVL 40 +30% CHANCE FOR EXTRA COMPONENTS LVL 60 +40% CHANCE FOR EXTRA COMPONENTS LVL 80 +50% CHANCE FOR EXTRA COMPONENTS You do not need to sell the boarded ship to Arkus. You can always exit the ship and go on about your business. If you dock, land, board another ship or enter FTL space, the ship will be gone when you return. You can exit the ship and reboard as long as you do not dock, land, or FTL from the system. If a ship is in a state where it can be boarded. Over time, a ship will repair it's shields first, then engines, weapons, and systems if there are still crew remaining on the ship and eventually fly away. ADDED EXTREME DIFFICULTY MODE for ground combat. In this mode, the difficulty of enemies of all types is increased (DAMAGE, CTH, CRITS, STATS, ARMOR, etc,) and enemies are raised by one tier of difficulty. In this mode, there is more risk and more reward as enemies, in general, will drop better loot. Crew members will be K.O. on a regular basis. I would not recommend extreme mode until you have decent armor and a good arsenal of weapons that deliver various damage types. --Basic enemies have a chance of being raised a single tier to single skull Elites. --Elites will always be a tier higher. That is a single skull Lieutenant will always be a tier higher etc. --I would not even attempt this mode until you have some experience with the game and decent equipment. --Bring a ton of medkits! --A reasonable level of skill in first-aid is recommended! --You are going to need an arsenal of weapons that do a variety of damage types to switch between. Pay very close attention to enemy resistances and use weapons of the appropriate type. --Switching to or from Elite requires a save and reload to re-initialize all enemies in the area. Any transition between areas will scale the encounters to extreme mode. FIXED - A bug with the area map that could leave characters immobile. FIXED Micro-warp hull visual effect being left on after exiting warp. FIXED - A rounding error when NPC's heal themselves displayed in the floating text. FIXED - A bug that displayed incorrect info for HP and Shields when rolling over KO crew members FIXED - Stability fixes including a few rare lockups on enemy end turns. FIXED - In some cases, combat UI elements could be left on the screen until next turn. FIXED - Crew members are less likely to be left behind when navigating. FIXED - Eliminated character rotation when running upstairs and ramps. ADDED - Occasionally, when looting, an NPC or chest/locker will reward a large sum of credits. ADDED - Progress indicator toward next skill level up is now displayed at bottom of character screen (right panel - bottom) when selecting individual skills as a thin red bar over the progress bar. ADDED - Added a bit of center axis tilt to ships when turning. UPDATED: ION turrets now do minimal damage to ship armor. They may do some minor strike-through damage and strike through perks still apply to ION turrets. UPDATED: Some work done on gravity and physics so characters stay pegged to the ground when running up and down stairs. UPDATED: Enemy ragdoll is more "definitive" with the changes to gravity. UPDATED: Disabled NPC ship conflict in star systems temporarily until I can work out better LOD for this system. It was causing frame rate drops and other issues. UPDATED: All stations in the universe now have recruitable crew members and more of them. This will greatly increase the chance of finding the recruit you are looking for whether that be a male, female, Kchor, or Fabricant. It also increases the odds of finding a crew member with the starting skills you are looking for. NOTE: This only applies to stations you have not yet visited - the change is not retroactive. I hope you all enjoy the patch. As always, thanks for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2020-06-19 20:05:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

  • Boarding - First Look

    Well, Im code complete on the boarding system as of today. Ill be fixing a number of bugs, play testing, balancing, and finalizing everything over the next few weeks. Here is a short video that highlights some of the features: https://youtu.be/1tuFrImTx-Y Boarding is accomplished by: 1)Disabling a ship's shields. At this point, a new icon appears next to the ship's target menu. 2)Selecting the subsystem targeting icon lets you target various ship subsystems (engines, turrets, and ship systems). 3)Once those are destroyed, you can board the ship. You are competing against the enemy crew who is trying to repair their shields. In most cases, with decent turrets, this should never be a problem. Every ship in the game (40) has had its interior modeled, enemies placed and objectives scripted. When you board a ship, you will need to eliminate the crew, repair or salvage various systems for components and place a beacon on the ship's helm. Once a beacon is placed, you can then contact Arkus, a salvager who will give you a fixed price based on the current state of the ship. Repairing a ship before selling it will get you the best possible price, however, Arkus pays well below the market average for ships for his services. The prices are fair for the effort and he handles translocation, dismantling, and distribution. So, boarding is relatively balanced with most other activities in the game. Scrapping components is critical as these components can only be obtained by scrapping boarded ships. As you gain skill in repair, and with a decent salvaging skill (and upcoming perks), repairing ships to full capacity for full bonus sale prices to Arkus becomes easier. I had hoped to get the updated skill and perk system in for this next patch but will need to work on this more after the release of the boarding patch. This patch has had a massive amount of work put into it and its taken a bit more time than I anticipated. I hope you are all well and safe. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2020-05-29 22:27:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Combat update patch released

    Lots of changes below. I'll keep an eye on the bug forums over the next few days for any problems and patch out any blockers or major bugs. I'll be moving on to updates to the pace and timing of skill and perk rewards (more frequent rewards and useful skills) and the boarding system. This update will be quite a bit of work and will include some changes to the visuals in Star Systems, adjustments to space combat, and more. It will take a while and I'll keep you all posted as I make progress. A few highlights in case you dont want to read through all the notes:

    • Cargo volume increased across most ships in the game.
    • You no longer block your own crew members in combat. NPCs can still block you and you can block NPCs.
    • EXP increases for salvaging, crafting, first aid, hacking and space skills.
    • Kchor and Fabricants now have innate bonuses (crafting, CRIT, scanning).
    • New rollover info and right-click extended hud for combat.
    • A pass at resists in the game.
    • Personal shields re-balanced.
    • Adjustments to rifles and heavy weapons with near range penalties (unwieldy).
    • Shotguns, SMGs and flame throwers now do spread damage in a cone that affects multiple enemies.
    • Melee weapons now do more damage overall, additional damage to enemy shields and allow mods to be equipped that change the base damage of these weapons.
    • Pugilist weapons added mods can be equipped. The only weapon type that can be equipped in the primary and secondary weapon slots.
    • Adjustments to crafting conditions they occur less often.
    • Lots of small tuning adjustments to make the pace of combat faster more work to do including new skills active and passive, special attacks, perk adjustments, pace etc.
    INCREASED CARGO VOLUME: All smaller ships, including the starter ship, have higher base cargo volumes. Cargo expansions for these ships will also be larger (scaled from the base cargo volume of the ship). Adjustments to cargo expansions are not retroactive so you will need to buy new cargo expansions if you want the extra volume. KCHOR + CRIT innate bonus with all melee weapons. + CRIT innate bonus with all heavy weapons. FABRICANTS --Fabricants are less likely to generate negative conditions when crafting regardless of skill level. --Fabricants get a bonus to scanning ships and planets. NEW: ROLLOVER INFO AND RIGHT CLICK EXTENDED INFO HUD A new rollover info display. This display shows additional information at a glance - enemy difficulty, CTH, Remaining AP/Total AP, HP, shield points, and active debuffs. Right-clicking an enemy will display the extended info and targeting UI. I've had several comments that "hunting the pixel" is not fun - so, this revised hud lets you select individual body targets with the extended UI. When this UI is active, the targeted enemy is locked until you right-click again, press escape or the space bar. The extended information displays: --Buttons that can be clicked to attack head, torso, legs, and arms --You can reload your ranged weapon --You can change ranged weapon fire modes --Extended targeting information including min/max damage, range penalties if any and status effects that can be inflicted including the percent chance of inflicting the effects. --Enemy resistance information (innate and shield totals) based on the active crew members' perception STAT. The currently selected weapon damage type highlights that particular resist icon. Note that you can still attack without opening the extended info HUD, add attacks to the combat queue and even fine aim if you want to. None of that has changed. RESISTS: Resists are now more important and can be reviewed by right-clicking enemies with the new popup extended info UI. Higher perception will display more resist information in the extended info popup when right-clicking enemies. Some second and third-tier enemies are immune to certain types of damage. Having an array of weapons that deal various types of damage can help you take your enemies down much faster. You now have options to change the base damage type of melee weapons (see below) to adjust your damage type strategy. Resists have always been in the game, however, without a way to see them, it could seem at times that it took a long time to defeat a specific enemy. With the new display, you can now adjust your weapons to an enemy's weakness. An enemy that might take 10 attacks using kinetic weapons may only take 3-5 attacks using a weapon that does toxic damage. This is more important as your crew progresses. Mitigation is now displayed in the combat log showing damage reduction from shields, armor/perks and defend. PERSONAL SHIELDS REBALANCED Personal shields were OP - they have been adjusted. Several things were done without modifying the loot tables so current shields are still viable without a reset. --"The slow blade" - Melee weapons deplete shields faster than ranged weapons. --The cost of recharging shields is now increased. The result is energy reserves for shields are depleted faster. RIFLES AND HEAVY WEAPONS --These weapon types now incur a ranged CTH penalty (unwieldy) when fired at close range. This promotes the use of sidearms and shotguns in close combat situations. You either need to move to range, or use your sidearms if you do not want to incur the penalty. There may be skill tree selections that adjust this penalty down when the skill tree's go in the game. A red rifle icon will display on the rollover info UI if the penalty is being applied at your current range to target. SHOTGUNS --Range slightly reduced for any newly purchased, dropped or crafted shotguns going forward. SHOTGUNS, SMG'S, AND FLAMETHROWERS These weapons now have a chance to inflict spread damage in a cone in front of the firing combatant. This effect only applies to enemies within a certain range directly in front of the firing character and applies up to 20% of the initial base damage to enemies in the weapons field of view before mitigation. This value will be increased with future changes to weapon skill tree selections. Status effects have a chance of being applied to secondary targets. --SMG'S MUST BE IN BURST OR FULL AUTO MODES MELEE WEAPONS Frequency Modulators now allow you to add specific damage types to melee weapons ( thermal, electric, toxic and bleed). In addition to changing the base damage type of melee weapons from kinetic, these mods also have a chance to trigger an additional damage burst that bypasses all defenses, including Defend. The new secondary effect on this mod type replaces the critical modifier which was redundant and applied by other mods. Bleed and toxic augments also apply the bleed and poisoned status effects. Crafting adjusted for the changes above. When a Frequency Modulator is equipped, melee weapons now display a unique particle effect associated with the various damage types. The above changes also apply to NPCs in the universe. Changes to Frequency Modulators are not retroactive, so older modulators will have the +CRIT secondary modifier. Attacks of opportunity always inflict kinetic damage regardless of the modded damage type - at least for now. PUGILIST WEAPONS Pugilist weapons are in the game now. They are a way to augment to your melee skill with mods and damage bonuses, no special visual weapons are equipped at this time. --While pugilist weapons to apply a small amount of base damage that scales by level and quality, primary damage derived from the characters skill level and stats. --Mods - Melee mods and nano's can be applied to pugilist weapons bringing them in line with other melee weapons. Overall, pugilism is very effective. --Crafting - You can craft pugilist weapons by deconstructing weapons you find. Schematics can be found by salvaging pugilist weapons or as rare random drops. --You do not need to equip pugilist weapons to fight hand 2 hand, just unequip your current weapon as it has always been. --Starting a new game and placing weapon points in the pugilism weapon skill will equip a starting pugilist weapon. --Pugilist weapons can be equipped in primary and/or secondary slots. UPDATED COMBAT BLOCKING/NAVIGATION You can now move through your crew if they are blocking corridors or doorways. NPCs can still block you and you can block NPCs. IMO, this change is a huge improvement and I think a lot of new players were put off by being blocked by their own crew members. Being able to block an enemy is a tactic. Crew members and NPCs now have discreet areas around them where movement is blocked. That is, you cannot click in a character's immediate area. This helps with pile-up and should help with missed combat clicks that move your crew when you intended to attack. Crafting --Reduced the chance of positive and negative crafting conditions --Increased EXP gain for salvaging and crafting FIXES AND UPDATES FIXED: A bug related to key binds for the Q and E keys between space and ground key configurations. FIXED: Double-clicking area exits could lock the game up in some cases - especially on the Dauntless when leaving. FIXED: If a PC is in defend mode and hit during a round of combat, the display of the defend icon is correctly removed from the display. FIXED: Status effects (toxic, bleed) that were mitigated completely by "Defend" are no longer applied to display 0 damage per tick. FIXED: A number of fixes for occasionally missed clicks in the environment. FIXED: Help hud not displaying in some cases. FIXED: Intelligent Phage now have shields. FIXED: The stash list no longer resets to the top on various actions. FIXED: It was possible to add more than 10 crew members to your crew roster. FIXED: Stairs in a specific mission location where you could get stuck. FIXED: Broken dynamic lighting in one of the stations. FIXED: If KO with status effects - status effects are now removed when you stand back up after combat. FIXED: A bug that was deriving scanning bonuses from the incorrect crew member. FIXED: In combat, if crew members are blocked by enemies and have a very long alternate navigation route to the target, they will no longer take the long route and a message is displayed to the screen. FIXED: At level 80+ of melee skill, it is no longer possible to move small distances in combat (one node) for free. UPDATED: Enemies in combat with the player no longer highlight when pressing the highlight key and cannot be targeted. Use the facing button while in combat - there is no AP cost to use this option. UPDATED: If a NPCs target is blocked, they now make a second check for a new target nearby. If not, they handle various "blocked" tasks, like healing, looking for cover, etc. UPDATED: Global tuning of enemy mitigation and shields. UPDATED: Increased EXP gain for hacking and first aid UPDATED: CTH values for burst and full-auto modes reduced globally based on range simulating less control when using these fire-modes. UPDATED: CTH Values reduction values for various body parts are now fixed regardless of skill level, with the torso always receiving full CTH at any range. Head, arms, and legs receive a CTH penalty and bonuses to various status effects and damage. UPDATED: Increased damage from "Bleed" and "Poison" status effects UPDATED: Increased base damage from frag grenades UPDATED: Numerous changes to resistances across all enemy types UPDATED: Modulators and barrel mods now drop as loot more often and are the primary +DMG mod type for ranged and melee weapons. I'm looking forward to your feedback on this patch. As always, thank you for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2020-03-13 20:22:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress Update - Combat tuning and more

    I've been working hard on this next patch. My goal with this is to address a number of weapon class balance issues, weapon differentiation, navigation, blocking and more. Check out the video for a preview. https://youtu.be/LCGxJ_Duc8M I'm hoping to get this patch out in the coming week for everyone. This will be part one of a major update to the combat system. The second part will include adjustments to the current perks and the addition of skill trees for the various combat skills including special attacks, passives and other ways to enhance combat performance and pace. Here are a few notes for the upcoming patch. The overall goal of these changes is to: 1) Balance combat 2) Provide more weapon differentiation 3) Give the player more choices, more often to develop their crew 4) Improve the pace of the game and reward the player frequently Once this work is done, I'll be moving on to the boarding system, a second pass at space combat, filling out the universe with more diversion missions, events, and long term goals and adding interesting and unique content to flesh out the overall experience. At that point, the game will finally be at full Alpha and I'll concentrate on adding the rest of the story to the game, which includes Psionics and a few other things that are part of the main storyline. INCREASED CARGO VOLUME: All smaller ships, including the starter ship, have higher base cargo volumes. Cargo expansions for these ships will also be larger (scaled from the base cargo volume of the ship). Adjustments to cargo expansions are not retroactive so you will need to buy new cargo expansions if you want the extra volume. NEW: ROLLOVER INFO AND RIGHT CLICK EXTENDED INFO HUD A new rollover info display. This display shows additional information at a glance - enemy difficulty, CTH, Remaining AP/Total AP, HP, shield points, and active debuffs. Right-clicking an enemy will display the extended info and targeting UI. I've had a number of comments that "hunting the pixel" is not fun - so, this revised hud lets you select individual body targets with the extended UI. When this UI is active, the targeted enemy is locked until you right-click again, press escape or the space bar. The extended information displays: --Buttons that can be clicked to attack head, torso, legs, and arms --You can reload your ranged weapon --You can change ranged weapon fire modes --Extended targeting information including min/max damage, range penalties if any and status effects that can be inflicted including the percent chance of inflicting the effects. --Enemy resistance information (innate and shield totals) based on the active crew members' perception STAT. The currently selected weapon damage type highlights that particular resist icon. Note that you can still attack without opening the extended info HUD, add attacks to the combat queue and even fine aim if you want to. None of that has changed. RESISTS: Resists are now more important and can be reviewed by right-clicking enemies with the new popup extended info UI. Higher perception will display more resist information in the extended info popup when right-clicking enemies. Some second and third-tier enemies are immune to certain types of damage. Having an array of weapons that deal various types of damage can help you take your enemies down much faster. You now have options to change the base damage type of melee weapons (see below) to adjust your damage type strategy. Resists have always been in the game, however, without a way to see them, it could seem at times that it took a long time to defeat a specific enemy. With the new display, you can now adjust your weapons to a enemy's weakness. An enemy that might take 10 attacks using kinetic weapons may only take 3-5 attacks using a weapon that does toxic damage. This is more important as your crew progresses. Mitigation is now displayed in the combat log showing damage reduction from shields, armor/perks and defend. PERSONAL SHIELDS REBALANCED Personal shields were OP - they have been adjusted. Several things were done without modifying the loot tables so current shields are still viable without a reset. --"The slow blade" - Melee weapons deplete shields faster than ranged weapons. --The cost of recharging shields is now increased. The result is energy reserves for shields are depleted faster. RIFLES AND HEAVY WEAPONS --These weapon types now incur a ranged CTH penalty (unwieldy) when fired at close range. This promotes the use of sidearms and shotguns in close combat situations. You either need to move to range, or use your sidearms if you do not want to incur the penalty. There may be skill tree selections that adjust this penalty down when the skill tree's go in the game. A red rifle icon will display on the rollover info UI if you are incurring a penalty at your current range. SHOTGUNS --Range slightly reduced for any newly purchased, dropped or crafted shotguns going forward. SHOTGUNS, SMG'S, AND FLAMETHROWERS These weapons now have a chance to inflict spread damage in a cone in front of the firing combatant. This effect only applies to enemies within a certain range directly in front of the firing character and applies 5-10% of the initial base damage to enemies in the weapons field of view before mitigation. This value will be increased with future changes to weapon skill tree selections. --SMG'S MUST BE IN BURST OR FULL AUTO MODES MELEE WEAPONS Frequency Modulators now allow you to add specific damage types to melee weapons ( thermal, electric, toxic and bleed). In addition to changing the base damage type of melee weapons from kinetic, these mods also have a chance to trigger an additional damage burst that bypasses all defenses, including Defend. The new secondary effect on this mod type replaces the critical modifier which was redundant and applied by other mods. Bleed and toxic augments also apply the bleed and poisoned status effects. Crafting adjusted for the changes above. When a Frequency Modulator is equipped, melee weapons now display a unique particle effect associated with the various damage types. The above changes also apply to NPC's in the universe. Changes to Frequency Modulators are not retroactive, so older modulators will have the +CRIT secondary modifier. PUGILIST WEAPONS Pugilist weapons are in the game now. They are a way to augment to your melee skill with mods and damage bonuses, no special visual weapons are equipped at this time. --While pugilist weapons to apply a small amount of base damage that scales by level and quality, primary damage derived from the characters skill level and stats. --Mods - Melee mods and nano's can be applied to pugilist weapons bringing them in line with other melee weapons. Overall, pugilism is very effective. --Crafting - You can craft pugilist weapons by deconstructing weapons you find. Schematics can be found by salvaging pugilist weapons or as rare random drops. --You do not need to equip pugilist weapons to fight hand 2 hand, just unequip your current weapon as it has always been. --Starting a new game and placing weapon points in the pugilism weapon skill will equip a starting pugilist weapon. --Pugilist weapons can be equipped in primary and/or secondary slots. UPDATED COMBAT BLOCKING/NAVIGATION You can now move through your crew if they are blocking corridors or doorways. NPC's can still block you and you can block NPC's. IMO, this change is a huge improvement and I think a lot of new players were put off by being blocked by their own crew members. Being able to block an enemy is a tactic ("Paladins! To the doors!") Crew members and NPC's now have discreet areas around them where movement is blocked. That is, you cannot click in a character's immediate area. This helps with pile-up and should help with missed combat clicks that move your crew when you intended to attack. Missed clicks and crew members being left behind is now much less likely. At level 80+ of melee skill, it is no longer possible to move small distances in combat (one node) for free. Thats all I have for now. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2020-03-06 20:39:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Performance, shaders and QoL

    Today's patch includes a number of performance enhancements, a pre-compiled shader system, and a few QoL updates. Shaders are now pre-compiled when you launch the game. --The majority of all shaders are now generated via a database at game launch. I would say 80% of all shaders are in the d-base now and more will be added over time. --As you play the game, if a shader is not pre-compiled it is added to the database and saved so the shader does not need to be compiled on the fly ever again. --Certain video drivers could crash - though this was very rare - when compiling complex shaders on the fly. This patch should address that. --In some cases, when entering an area the first time after this patch, there may be a short period of stuttering as shaders are initially linked to materials. You can now adjust mission length when speaking with a faction agent - Short - AVG 40 Min, Medium - AVG 1-2 Hrs, Long - AVG 2-4 Hrs. You can now browse available missions while the mission window is open by selecting the "Next" button. A new mission will be offered. You can now double click crew equipment (shields, armor, weapons) to equip them from inventory. Mods and devices need to be placed manually. Active status effects are now displayed below each crew member's portrait along with their active duration. Various code optimizations for performance. A few changes to the way the physics engine handles movement. A few changes to the animation system. A few animation fixes/updates. A few changes to idle and facing blend animations so they can be interrupted when moving characters. This makes movement more responsive. The game now generates a backup "sav_dat.xml" file that is not stored on the Steam Cloud when saving the game - just in case there is a disk write error of some kind. A possible fix for a rare lockup when healing. FIXED: A bug that was causing random animation and physics slowdown. FIXED: A bug that would leave idle states running at 1.5x normal speed in certain cases. FIXED: Autosave when leaving the Dauntless. FIXED: A bug that would leave equipment quality color border visible when unequipping an item. UPDATED: When grenades and medkits are enabled, a reminder message is displayed when ending your turn to deselect these items from the toolbar. I think in some cases, this was causing confusion. I'll be looking into an automated solution for this. UPDATED: Ship collision damage reduced. Collision damage now affects shields and armor. I'm continuing to work on a few things: --Weapon special attacks. --Combat pace. --Streamlining of perks so they are available earlier in the game with more frequent updates. --Better inventory sorting. And more... I'll keep everyone posted as I make progress.


    [ 2020-01-17 18:36:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

    The Kchor, Fabricants and updated animations

    It's been an amazing year for Stellar Tactics. I'd like to thank all of you for your support and patience. It's not often that you see such a positive and supportive community. I owe you all a huge "Thank you!" for all you have done for the game, your feedback, and for making this game what it is and will be. This year, we've seen the addition of updated ships, the ability to sell scan data, the drone mining system, Trade-Net, smuggling, faction warfare (first pass), the area map, crafting and salvaging. A large number of bugs have been fixed and many suggested QoL features have been implemented. This patch introduces two "mutations" to the universe - The Kchor ( pronounced "Core" ) and the Fabricants. You can find them all over the universe on stations, in missions and they are recruitable as Mercs to join your crew on your journey.
    I'm also releasing a large number of updated animations that improve combat pacing and provide a second pass of polish to the overall look and feel of the game. I'm still doing a good bit of work on combat pace for the next content patch which will introduce new special attacks and a few other features. Following that, the boarding system. THIS PATCH IS ONLY AVAILABLE ON THE PUBLIC TEST BRANCH. For information on how to get public test builds, please see this link. It is very important to backup your saves and review at least the first few paragraphs at the following link if you decide to join this branch. https://steamcommunity.com/app/465490/discussions/12/2653115517067165548/ Please post any feedback/issues/bugs in this forum: https://steamcommunity.com/app/465490/discussions/12/ I'll move this build to the public branch once I'm sure everything is stable and working as intended. A bit of back story about the Kchor and Fabricants. More information will come when I expand the game story.

    The Kchor Class A Mutation (Rational : Humanoid : Sanctioned)


    On Arrival, a large number of the pods on the HSS Pharris contained the Kchor mutation. Overall, the new species was considered robust other than several anomalies parthenogenesis, extreme musculature, and a blue/green skin tone. The medical engineers released them with no special conditions and The Kchor have flourished. The Kchor can be found in most star systems and are generally peaceful. The Kchor have a special relationship with the Sovereignty, having saved their fleet in the notorious Blockade of Karsus 7. Were it not for their arrival, Maezus Karsari would have destroyed or captured the entire fleet and undoubtedly overthrown the Sovereignty. Instead, The Kchor delivered Maezus to the Council earning their autonomy as a reward for their actions. The Kchor interdiction is one of many turning points in recent history that mold the current political environment of the inner systems. The Kchor are known for their great strength and intelligence. However, rather than using their influence and innate talents, The Kchor cherish their privacy and prefer to trade and explore peacefully. They are famous for their Kchor Brandy, a favorite indulgence across the known Universe.

    Fabricants Class B Mutation (Rational : Cybernetic : Sanctioned)


    A number of mutations were discovered on the HSS Outland when the ships arrived. These Sleepers had a rare condition and were in a late state of mutagenic drift, having crossed genetic material with a parasitic species that flourished in their Vats. In their current stage of drift, they could not be exposed to the oxygen-rich atmosphere that Humans breath. It was hypothesized that their skin was transitioning toward a hardened exoskeleton. Considered unrecoverable, Fabricants were initially scheduled for termination. A young scientist, Garrius Brons, fabricated a prototype Exo-Suit and AI module that sealed the Fabricants in a permanent outer skin. After a few trials, the suit was adapted and a modification of this suit is in use to this day. Fabricants are incredibly talented engineers and were instrumental in FTL travel, having worked closely with Garrius Brons. Over time, they have adapted their suits and AI becoming more machine than human. They prefer to name themselves alphanumerically, and their ability to assimilate traits from common items is a closely held secret. Little is known about their culture and habits. When it comes to engineering, mathematics, and science, no other species in the known universe come close to the Fabricant. A few things left to do - I'm working on these for the next content patch: Fabricants
    • +Bonus to crafting/learning
    • +Bonus to scanning
    • Unique voice audio
    Kchor
    • +CRIT bonus with melee weapons
    • +CRIT bonus with heavy weapons
    • A few animation transitions that need tuning

    Here is a list of fixes/updates/additions in this patch.


    ADDED: The Kchor and Fabricants. You will find these two mutations on stations throughout the universe. Fabricants and Kchor can now be recruited as Mercs and added to your party when exploring. UPDATED: Several Shikaru armor materials updated UPDATED: A number of weapon SFX for timing UPDATED: Ranged weapon muzzle flash lighting UPDATED: Weapon, armor, shields, and mods now display a colored border based on quality in the equipped slots for each crew member. The quality level of these items now has a dedicated display field in rollover info. UPDATED: Hundreds of animations updated - including increasing overall speed of animations in combat. --Animation timings on end walk in and out of combat for less delay when navigating. --All human animations adjusted for less foot sliding, better hit animations and overall speed --Fixed a large number of wonky animations that have been plaguing the game for a long time. --A number of enemy animations updated --Unique animations added for 2Hand Pierce weapons --Mapped all animations to the KCHOR --Mapped all animations to the Fabricants --I have a number of animations that I am still working on and there are a few transitions that need to be fixed. FIXED: A bug that would cause music to stop playing in some cases. FIXED: A bug related to sound volume settings not being correctly saved and loaded. FIXED: In some cases, it was difficult to enter your first starship after exiting the Aznari Ruins. FIXED: A number of broken weapons SFX. FIXED: When loading to space, rarely the ship camera would rotate uncontrollably. FIXED: A number of stability fixes. FIXED: A bug with crafted epic tier "laser beam" turrets. FIXED: A few typos. Note that as with all new patches, shaders will need to compile causing a short period of "hitching" for each area with new materials that need to be processed. This goes away in a short time once the shaders are compiled. Thank you as always for supporting Stellar Tactics, and happy holidays!


    [ 2019-12-24 15:46:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Stellar Tactics community wiki

    I've had a bunch of requests to start a wiki for Stellar Tactics and I'm happy to say that the wiki is live now! https://stellartactics.gamepedia.com/Stellar_Tactics_Wiki This is your wiki, so feel free to add content, edit, upload and otherwise make this a great resource for other players. I've seeded the site with a good amount of information. However, there is so much more that could be added and I would prefer to spend my time developing the game. I'll continue to add pages and information as I add the remaining features, content, and polish. I'm excited to see where you all take this if you decide to get involved. Stellar Tactics has a great community of positive supporters and I'd like to thank you all for your contributions and support. I've been very busy with the next content update that includes revised character animations, updated ground combat pacing, a number of new combat features and the weapon class special attacks system. But that's not all. I also have a few surprises that I think you are going to like. More on that in a few weeks when I'll be ready to show you some of the new things that are coming to the game. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2019-11-29 17:47:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Crafting and Salvaging patch

    Todays patch adds the first pass at the crafting and salvaging system. The crafting system lets you craft almost every item that can be equipped in the game other than faction armor, ammo, grenades, and devices. Crafting requires the disassembly of items you find in your travels. When salvaging, you learn about the items you are disassembling and eventually, you earn a schematic so you can craft that item. Salvaging process items found in your travels into component parts for crafting.

    • You must mark items in your inventories (CTRL-Click - General/Stash/Cargo Hold).
    • Once items are marked, you can access the salvage toolbox from the inventory menu via a new icon above the general inventory.
    • Junk items generate finishing materials used in the crafting finish process.
    • Weapons, armor and other items that can be equipped generate primary crafting components.
    • Salvaged items are placed in a separate infinite inventory. This inventory feeds the crafting bench and parts are automatically placed on the crafting table.
    • As you salvage items, you will earn experience towards unlocking a schematic for that item. At times you may even gain experience towards the next tier schematic.
    Crafting - Once you unlock a schematic, you can craft the item. All schematics come in various quality tiers that need to be unlocked. Schematics are also a very rare drop from loot crates, cargo containers, enemy packs, and lockers. Crafting requires a number of items:
    • (Required) Base item components of the same quality tier salvaged from a similar item
    • (Required In cargo hold or station storage) Refined ore. You can mine ore and refine the ore, or purchase from the Trade-Net
    • (Optional In cargo hold or station storage) Rare earth minerals to clear conditions. You can mine ore or purchase from the Trade-Net
    • (Optional In cargo hold or station storage) Finishing items salvaged from junk and rewarded during salvaging of equipment
    Rare earth minerals and finishing items are optional, however, they are very important and you could end up with a sub-par item if you do not have any on hand when crafting. To craft an item: [olist]
  • Travel to any trade station and look for a crafting station. Crafting stations have a unique icon on the radar and map.
  • Select the crew member you want to craft and select the crafting station. The crafting table will be shown.
  • On the top left is a list of unlocked schematics (if any are unlocked). Choose one.
  • You may need to adjust a few initial values before you start crafting. For example, when crafting a weapon, make sure to set the correct weapon skill level before selecting the begin crafting button. When crafting an item for your ship, make sure the correct ship is selected.
  • All items except for weapons can be re-rolled That is, you can re-roll a number of base equipment stats.
  • When you are ready, select the processing button and start crafting. [/olist] Processing: [olist]
  • Each process step will expend AP
  • If successful, the quality of the item will improve.
  • At various stages, negative and positive conditions may arise. You can select a condition to expend a single unit of rare earth for that step to clear negative conditions and activate positive conditions. [/olist] Finishing: [olist]
  • Once all AP is expended, the item is ready for finishing.
  • Select your finishing options if any. The higher the quality, the more options.
  • Select the Finish Crafting button and the item will be placed in your inventory or cargo hold. [/olist] About progression:
    • Primary crafting components cannot be purchased. They can only be gained by salvaging equipment.
    • Occasionally you are rewarded crafting components for next tier items when salvaging as a bonus
    • The higher your skill in salvaging, the more components you get when salvaging an item. In some cases, you may be able to salvage enough components to build several items of a similar type.
    • The value of crafted items of high quality exceeds the value of any similar items you might loot.
    • Occasionally you are rewarded experience towards the next tier schematic when salvaging a lower tier item
    • Higher tier schematics require more disassembly than lower-tier schematics. Bonus experience offsets the number of items you need to disassemble to unlock that next tier.
    • You can find schematics when looting ship containers and gear in ground missions. These are extremely rare.
    • You are rewarded experience regardless of failures when salvaging.
    • Schematic experience is rewarded for every component that is disassembled. It is best to use the third salvaging option initially that rewards additional schematic unlock EXP.
    Grenades and ammo will have a separate utility device that will let you break down these objects and craft other ammo types. That will come in a future patch. The patch includes entries in the in-game guide for salvaging and crafting for reference. Armor visual types are random for now until I can get more sets in the game. Ill also likely add an appearance slot in the future that lets you equip a visual appearance of your choice. The faction armor set appearances are reserved for faction armor. Perks are not available for Salvaging and Crafting at this time. As usual, Ill add those after I gather more feedback on the system. Note: Salvaging has been moved to the general skill area. It is no longer a space specific skill. There are a few other things Id like to do with salvaging salvaging enemy ship wreckage and various items found in ground exploration locations. I hope you enjoy the crafting system. Ill be reading feedback on the forums and will make adjustments over time. So, whats next? Ill be updating the ground combat animations and adding weapon-specific special attacks. Ive gathered a lot of feedback from the community and there will be a few new options for targeting enemies and displaying target information. In general, Ill be taking a deep dive into the combat system and adding a new pass at polishing the ground combat system. After that, boarding. I have everything I need for this now including all the ship interiors. I know many of you have been waiting for this and Im eager to get started. General patch notes and fixes: FIXED: A rare case where ship cargo could not be looted FIXED: A rare case where incursions would not trigger FIXED: Duplicate stats on high-quality armor FIXED: Map, load/save and cargo storage screens close with the ESC key FIXED: A few UI font scale issues FIXED: A few typos FIXED: A bug related to the correct rollover info displayed for equipped devices UPDATED: FTL Drives and refineries are now dropped as loot in ship containers UPDATED: Stun grenade effect reduced from three to two combat rounds UPDATED: Frag grenade damage increased UPDATED: Gas grenade damage increased per round of damage As always, thanks for supporting Stellar Tactics.


    [ 2019-10-25 20:38:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

  • Crafting preview


    Im posting a video first look at the crafting system today. There is still a good bit of cleanup, bugs to fix and balancing work to do. Im hoping to have this patched into the game in a week or so. https://youtu.be/f7ZLqCSHYLM Crafting requires various components:

    • Crafting components are broken down from items you find in the world using the salvaging skill
    • Refined ore and rare earth minerals from mining or purchased from the Trade-Net
    • Finishing items salvaged from junk you find in your travels
    Crafting requires schematics that are unlocked as you salvage items and learn more about them. Schematics can also be very rare drops from various enemies and in ship crates. Over time you will gather a large number of schematics that can be used to craft gear for your crew and parts for your ships. Assuming you have a schematic and the required resources (components and refined ore) you can begin crafting by selecting a crafting station found on trade stations across the universe. Ill also be adding crafting stations to ship interiors when I patch the boarding system into the game at a later time. Once you find a crafting station, you can select a schematic and the table is automatically filled with the resources you need to craft the item. Refined ore and rare earth minerals are pulled from your cargo hold and from the station's storage when crafting, so, you can stockpile these items on stations if you want to. Components and refined ore are required. However, it is very important to also have a good stock of rare earth minerals and finishing items. Some crafted items have additional options you can select. For example, beam pistols and rifles have options to select various damage types. Ship equipment requires you to select a ship type. Your current ship is always selected by default. You can re-roll the base stats for most items. Ground weapons are the exception as they scale on the weapon skill of the crew member. When crafting a weapon, you can select crew portraits to preview the weapons stats on that particular character. Rare earth minerals At various stages in crafting negative and positive conditions may develop. If you do not have the appropriate rare earth mineral, it could cost you finishing points, increase your chance for a crafting process failure and decrease the number of actions you have resulting in a lower quality item. Having the correct rare earth minerals will also let you trigger bonus effects for additional finishing points and extra action points. Finishing items The last stage of crafting is finishing. At that point, you should have the correct finishing items from salvaging to take advantage of allocating finishing touches to the item. These additional points increase the effectiveness of the item you are crafting. In general, high quality crafted items will always be better than item drops or equipment found on vendors. The exception to this will be some of the new bosses that will be coming to the game and perhaps faction gear which will see a re-balance in the near future. When crafting weapons, especially higher quality weapons with mod slots, those slots are unlocked based on the quality of the crafted item. In addition, higher quality items unlock more finishing options so you will need to keep an eye on conditions when they pop up. Thats all I have to show for now. I hope you enjoy the first look at the crafting system!


    [ 2019-10-11 20:31:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress update - Crafting and ship interiors


    Im posting a work in progress video today that shows the salvaging portion of the crafting system which is nearly complete. I still have a bit of work to do on the UI and balancing. The video also shows the first completed ship interior for the boarding system. More details below. https://youtu.be/Dy3GbDkl2Vg Crafting requires components and the salvaging system lets you mark items in your inventory, stash and cargo hold for disassembly. As you disassemble items, you will gather crafting components and the finishing items you will need to craft equipment for your ships and crew. You can salvage items anywhere. That is, you do not need to travel to a salvaging station to break items into component parts. Initially, I was going to tie salvaging to a static salvaging station that would be on your ship and space stations. I felt it would be a lot more useful if you could do this at any time, clearing inventory of excess equipment and vendor junk items. Crafting material storage is infinite so you wont need to worry about max inventory for these items. Equipment When disassembling equipment, you will gain salvaging experience, component parts, finishing items and progress towards learning a locked crafting schematic for that item type (based on the quality of the item). Junk items Junk items generate finishing materials. These will be used in the finishing stage of crafting to assign stats, weapon min/max damage values, and other bonuses to equipment. In general, crafting an item can result in a finished item with bonuses and stats that are better than any item you can buy or find in the game. Ill be starting on the crafting portion of the system next now that I can generate crafting components. This will take a while and I hope you all enjoy the system when its finished. Ship interiors are being worked on. These interiors will be used for a number of purposes:

    • Boarding: Disable a ship and enter through the airlock. Various doors to be hacked, hostile enemies defending their ships and objects that need to be repaired not to mention loot and the ability to sell these ships for profit.
    • Missions: There will be a number of missions that may pop up as a communication from a disabled ship, rescues and a few other scenarios that will require entering other ships.
    • Your home: Ships will serve as a place to store goods, interact with the crew and craft items.
    Thats all I have for now. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2019-08-16 20:29:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress update and Patch


    A few fixes and QoL requests addressed today. The patch should be posted shortly. As always, if you find any bugs/issues, please post on the bug forums. I'll address any critical issues promptly. https://steamcommunity.com/app/465490/discussions/7/ Just a note about the crafting and salvaging system. The paper design is nearly complete. I should start implementing these systems next week starting with the base salvaging system related to inventory items (junk, weapons, armor, turrets, etc.). From there I'll start implementing the crafting system using those salvaged items. I'll provide more details in a post at some point as I get closer to finalizing the system. I don't want to make any promises until I have it fully working and have time to test and tweak things. Crafting will not be just a matter of adding x + y + z to create a new finished item. There will be multiple stages of crafting similar to:

    • Setup - Setup the crafting table with salvaged components, and resources of varying qualities
    • Process - Process the components using various resources
    • Finish - Finish the crafting session enhancing the item and adding stats, bonuses, slots etc with remaining CP (crafting points)
    I'll keep everyone posted as I make progress. FIXED: Completed eliminate missions now display the green "cleared" state on the mission objective map if an area is cleared after the primary "eliminate" mission objective is completed. FIXED: Hacking tool no longer displays stats. All hacking bonuses were moved to perks a while ago. FIXED: If you were queuing up attacks and ran out of ammo when using the combat queue - the game would lock up and you would need to reload a save to continue. Bad bug - thanks for reporting it! FIXED: A very rare case where some system configurations could not load required DLL's at the start of the game causing a forced exit when clicking past the EA display screen. FIXED: A bug that would display "NONE" in the dialog field instead of Dr. Emily Jensen while in the Ruins. FIXED: A number of typos. UPDATED: Key binds would not allow binding of the up and down arrow keys. All key binds have been reset and you will need to re-map your keys. I am looking into key binds for grenades and med-kits for a future patch. UPDATED: When a weapon is equipped, mod slots are now clearly labeled in the weapon mod slots menu as "Mod slot not available". This should make it less confusing when players try to identify equipped weapons that actually have mod slots. UPDATED: Added arrows to the portraits on the character information and inventory screens so you can scroll through active crew members with the mouse rather than using the F1-F4 keys. The F1-F4 keys still work if you prefer to use them. UPDATED: Adjusted ship materials so they load faster resulting in less hitching when NPC ships are loaded in star systems and the FTL map. ADDED: "Steering" mode for ships. Holding the left and right mouse buttons will now place the camera behind and slighting above the ship. You can move your mouse in any direction to steer the ship in this mode. Additionally, the left and right turn keys used while in steering mode will accelerate turns. Releasing the mouse buttons will return control to the normal state. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!


    [ 2019-07-12 17:27:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

    The map, experience adjustments and bug fixes


    I'm adding the ground exploration map today. This is likely the most requested feature from players since I first started gathering feedback. It includes fog of war, zoom, and scrolling. I hope you all enjoy the update. I'm also including increased experience for space combat, first-aid and hacking skills. If you do find any issues with this patch, please post in the bug forums. Here are the patch notes: ADDED: Added the map. --The map includes fog of war so you can view where you have been. --Zoom, scroll, center. --You can see various icons like mission markers, vendors, faction agents, exits, mercenaries, etc. A "legend" for the various icons which match the radar is available on the map. --Persistent data. Wherever you go in the universe, your tracked progress is saved. --Your saved key binds have been replaced so I could remap "M" as the default key for the map. The crew manager has been moved to "J". --The in-game help screen and guide have been updated to match the new default keys. FIXED: When exploring ground locations with a single crew member, the game will no longer crash when manually entering or leaving combat. FIXED: A bug that could generate ship equipment when turning in agent missions. This would place ship equipment in general inventory instead of the cargo bay - breaking rollover info and a few other things. NPC's now have a brief cooldown period before you can interact with them when an area loads. IMPORTANT - If you do find any ship equipment in your general inventory (not in your cargo bay), you should drag that item to the trash and delete it. These items cannot be sold or used. FIXED: "Gadolinium" added to the commodities market. Trade contracts for this item will start to appear over time. UPDATED: Reduced space skill experience requirements per level. UPDATED: Mercenaries now display a bright yellow dot on the radar and map so they can be distinguished from other regular NPC's on stations around the universe. UPDATED: Hacking and First aid skill progression will now continue even if you are at the level cap. UPDATED: Reduced hacking and first-aid experience requirements per level. UPDATED: Improved dynamic shadow resolution.

    Other notes - 6/6/19


    FIXED: The objective tracker now correctly targets the mission return location if an agent mission is completed. FIXED: Agent mission return destinations in the objective tracker now correctly targets a planets surface or station depending on where the mission was originally accepted. This is not retroactive, so previous missions, if taken on a planet surface, will target stations. FIXED: A error with default FTL drives that was calculating base FTL speed incorrectly. This fix is not retroactive so if you do have a "Stock" FTL drive that seems faster than other quality level FTL drives available for sale, you get to keep it. You will likely want to swap out that FTL drive eventually when sub-system damage goes in the game for a FTL drive with higher HP. FIXED - Old autosaves are no longer displayed in the save game menu. FIXED - When swapping crew members in and out of your active crew, it was possible that perks from the previous crew member would be assigned/enabled on a crew member that had not selected those perks. FIXED - A bug that was not correctly displaying shield bonuses from the electronics station (perks etc.) unless the crew member was in the active ground crew. FIXED - A bug related to recruiting NPC crew members gaining incorrect Hand2Hand skill for secondary weapon if that was their specialty. FIXED - Closed out a number of bugs related to the Trade-Net displaying incorrect contract target system information. This rarely resulted in arriving in a system that was not the correct destination target. ADDED - Added the old music into the music track list for space and ground exploration. ADDED - you can now preview mercs before recruiting them. Mercs now cost an initial fee based on their level. High-level mercs can be very expensive, so fill out your crew early in the game. UPDATED - An increase in the base number of trade goods vendors buy/sell. UPDATED - The last audio track played in an area is saved and loaded the next time you load an area. UPDATED - You can now place beacons on the FTL map. When you get close enough to a star system, the beacon icon will be displayed in the lower left of the screen. Target the system, open the beacon menu and you can place a beacon in the targeted system. You cannot destroy beacons or translocate using the beacon menu on the FTL map. This should help players quickly build a larger Trade-Net. UPDATED - When in FTL space, star system labels now display a "*" next to their name if a beacon has already been placed in this system. It should make it easy to identify systems where you could place a beacon to expand your Trade-Net.


    [ 2019-06-14 22:10:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch day - Smuggling, objective tracker and faction warfare


    Patch day - a few updates and fixes this week.
    You can now unlock Smuggling. Speak with Forley Coresh on the Achmedius Trade Station to start your career. Smuggling is a fairly dangerous career and you will be harassed by Raiders and Scavvers if you have active contraband contracts. I recommend a starship with decent weapons, shields and balanced power systems. This is a great career for those of you who want to make money from trading smuggled goods and of course from all that loot you are going to find by eliminating the enemy ships that attack you. For now, you do not need to worry about The Authority (not in the game yet). I have a few interesting plans for the smuggling system including a few ship enhancements, timed smuggling missions and extended story content related to The Syndicate. If you read the dialog carefully, you might notice an intro to future story content and a long-standing mystery surrounding the loss of your crew, depending on the options you choose. Smuggling requires a large Trade-Net to be effective - so place beacons in every system you find with orbiting stations. Contraband goods are traded all over the universe, but not as often as normal commodities. Ships may attack each other now. You can join in and help or ignore these skirmishes. In some cases, if you do decide to help, you have a good chance of finding loot from dropped cargo containers. Rarely, regardless of whether you engage or not, cargo containers are dropped from these ships and you may find them floating in space. This is the start of the faction warfare system (just the start) and these engagements are generally between the various factions and Scavvers and Raiders entering and leaving systems. I've added a mission and contract tracker to the HUD when traveling in space. You can now see active missions or trade contracts on this list. While in FTL space, you can select any destination and the Star System the mission or contract is located in will automatically be selected in the info panel so you can click the approach icon and fly to that system. If you are in Star System that has a mission or contract, selecting an item in the tracker will select the planet or station where the mission or contract is located so you can easily approach that location without needing to open the log to reference mission information. The tracker is also useful for translocating as it displays contract destinations and commodities in the list. And one last thing - a surprise for those of you playing the game...no spoilers. I'm sure you will notice immediately. If you find any problems with this build, please post on the bug forums and I'll address the issues promptly. Patch notes: ADDED: A short mission that unlocks Smuggling. Speak with Forley Coresh on the Achmedius Trade Station. He will help you start your new career. ADDED: The Objective Tracker. All missions and Trade-Net contracts (buy/sell) are now displayed in the objective tracker while in space. The tracker can be opened/closed using an icon on the right center of the space exploration UI. Selecting a tracker mission or contract entry will display the targeted star system, planet or station in the info panels so you can easily navigate to the destination. Selecting an item in the tracker will: 1) Target the destination planet or station if you are in the same Star System where the mission/contract is located 2) Target the destination Star System if you are in FTL space UPDATED: Increased the min/max base margin values for the Trade-Net across the board. This means there will be lower sale prices and higher buy prices available depending on the size of your network. These adjustments will become available over time as trade contracts are refreshed. UPDATED: When translocating using Jump Points, ship fusion cells are now used instead of ground weapon fusion cells. The cost is still the same - 5 fusion cells per jump. UPDATED: Incursions now only provide a positive faction bonus for the faction that initiated the incursion. UPDATED: Faction rewards in space combat adjusted: --Incursions generate higher individual faction bonuses for the faction that assigned the incursion. Additional factions (factions other than the assigning faction ) no longer generate faction bonuses. It was too easy to gain alignment with other main powers in the Universe while doing work for a specific faction. --Destroyed ships from non-incursion attacks in hostile systems will only generate negative faction based on that system. --Destroying ships that are not part of an incursion and not direct attacks in hostile systems will generate single digit faction bonuses for all non-aligned factions and normal negative faction based on the ship destroyed UPDATED: Trade in values when buying a new ship increased. Note that CHA applies to all ship purchases decreasing the price of buying a ship and increasing the value of your trade-in. This has always been the case. UPDATED: You now have a much lower chance of being attacked when you have an active delivery contract if that contract is not contraband. A higher chance of being attacked by Raiders and Scavvers if you have an active contraband delivery contract. FIXED: A lockup when docking at stations, planets and translocating if under enemy ship fire. FIXED: A rare crash related to enemy ship beam weapons. FIXED: Incursions will now reward faction for the system where the incursion is taking place, regardless of whether the system is a main or sub-faction. FIXED: A very rare persistent yellow particle effect left in the scene after space combat. FIXED: Old auto-saves - that is auto-saves created before the new auto-save system (rotating between 4 dedicated save files) are no longer displayed in the load/save menu. This will clean up save lists for players with games that were created all the way back to the start of Early Access. Thank you all for supporting the development of Stellar Tactics. Have a great weekend!


    [ 2019-06-01 13:21:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress update 5/24/19


    Hi all - lots of work being done. Some of my time has been spent adding a new mission that unlocks Smuggling. This mission gives you an option to unlock buying and selling contraband on the Trade-Net. Once you unlock contraband, these items will appear for trade as buy and sell contracts. Smuggling is a bit more dangerous than hauling trade goods between star systems and pays better overall in smaller ships as low volume high-value transactions. I'll be expanding on this system quite a bit during Alpha with timed trade missions, branching delivery missions that include ground and space combat and special equipment for your ships. Initially, when this patch is released, you will be attacked more often if you have contraband items in your cargo hold, so make sure you are well equipped for space combat if you take these contracts. Ive also been doing a bit of work on the faction system and when this next patch goes live, you should start to see small skirmishes in space between various factions. You can choose to join these skirmishes or fly in to pick up the loot when the shooting is over. The next patch will also see an increase in the trade-in value of your current ship. CHA has always reduced the purchase price of ships and increased the trade in value of your ship. The next patch will boost this a bit more. Ill also be including a number of bug fixes and stability improvements. Once the next patch is live, I'll start working on the crafting system, implementing the updated animations, adding the ground combat special attacks and moving on to some other work as I quickly approach full Alpha. As I start implementing these new features I'll begin posting builds to the public test branch for a week or two before setting them live for everyone. Some of the changes that are coming are fairly complex so I think it will be a good idea to start separating the stable builds from some of these more experimental updates. I'll post on the forums when I start publishing test builds with instructions on how you can access these updates. Thats it for now. I hope to have this patch live in a week or so. Meanwhile, here are all the latest patch notes. Have a great weekend and thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!

    5/20/19


    FIXED: Another edge case with older saves that could display trade contracts from stations that are no longer in certain systems. FIXED: Cargo volume displayed incorrectly when using sorting options. Could allow you to add more cargo than your cargo hold could carry. FIXED: Cargo volume was displayed incorrectly in the vendor UI when sorting cargo. UPDATED: You can now sell refined ore to vendors at or below average market value. This should help starting players who want to mine and sell refined ore. UPDATED: Adjustments to vendor ore sale values - ore values are always below the market average and best market purchase price. Mostly applies to low-value ore.

    5/17/19


    FIXED: Planets were displaying completed mission landing locations after completing a mission. You could land at these sites but no enemies were present and the location was bugged. These locations are no longer shown on planet surfaces. If you are in one of these locations, just exit to space. The landing location should disappear. FIXED: Panning and rotation using the keyboard no longer cancel each other out. FIXED: When overriding a key bind, the override pop up now correctly displays the key you are overriding in the text field. UPDATED: A few adjustments to enemy movement related to the physics engine. Will see if that fixes a rare bug with enemies losing their way when traversing the navigation mesh.

    5/15/19


    FIXED: A bug that was transferring cargo expansions between ships. If you have this bug, you can either keep the current cargo expansion or buy new cargo expansion and drag that to the cargo expansion slot in your ship. FIXED: An error that was not properly applying drone perk bonuses. Perk bonuses for speed now correctly apply to mining and travel speed. FIXED: If self stunned in combat (stun grenade etc.), you can now use the end turn hotkeys. Previously required that you manually click end turn options. FIXED: Cargo values displayed below the center ship UI. Let me know if you see numbers that do not match your current cargo hold. This display updates every few seconds. UPDATED: You can now cancel trade contracts from the Trade-Net menu. Select the contract you want to cancel in the list and then select the "CANCEL CONTRACT" button. UPDATED: Refinery button moved to the bottom of the refinery menu. UPDATED: The storage transfer menu now allows you to specify the number of items to be transferred with an updated VALUE entry field (bottom center of the transfer popup). UPDATED: The drone manager now displays the quality level of the node being mined for each drone in the list as QL-1 through QL-10.

    5/10/19


    FIXED: Over time, Trade-Net contracts were being removed and not regenerating. FIXED: In some cases, the color coding and arrow display in the contracts area of the trade net was being displayed incorrectly. FIXED: The stacked item slider is now fixed in cargo storage. FIXED: Phosphate can no longer be purchased for zero credits. FIXED: Skills that are capped at 100 skill level now correctly display a full bar of skill experience in the character info hud. FIXED: If you had a max skill of 100 in mining, you can now select mining perks FIXED: If you have the current maximum friendly status with a faction, the faction bars in the upper left character hud and the log->map now correctly display as full. I expect that I will be adding additional tiers of faction in the future. Faction continues to be accrued even when at maximum with any faction and that is intended.


    [ 2019-05-24 22:56:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Trade-Net, refining and mining perks


    Here are the notes for the latest content patch. This patch introduces the Trade-Net, refining and mining perks. Hope you enjoy the changes. If you do find any bugs or issues, please post on the bug sub-forum and Ill look into it. https://youtu.be/NBTXbRg3iu8

    Added the Trade Net:


    The Trade-Net is a marketplace where goods are sold by various orbiting stations across the universe. Trade Stations issue buy and sell contracts for goods required by the population of that system. These goods are transferred between orbiting stations and planetary colonies. The Trade-Net is not available until you leave Achmedius and place at least one beacon near a Jump Point in another system. Once you place a beacon in another star system, Achmedius will be added along with any other star systems where beacons are placed. If you have already placed beacons in an existing save, the entire available Trade-Net will be visible when you load that save. Trade contracts are delivered through the cargo storage terminal on stations. Cargo storage has been revised so it opens immediately without the need to purchase storage. If you want to buy cargo storage at a station, just open the cargo storage terminal and select the option to purchase storage. Delivering or retrieving purchased Trade-Net items is as simple as traveling to the station where the trade contract was placed and retrieving or placing the cargo in storage. The contract(s) are completed when closing the cargo storage menu. Cargo storage has a new area at the bottom of the UI that displays delivery contract information. A few notes related to the addition of the trade-net.
    • Over time, the number of trade goods in any available contract on the trade-net are reduced as AI merchants accept orders.
    • Trade goods and refined ore cannot be bought from or sold to vendors, only traded via the trade net. These items will not be displayed in the vendor interface.
    • Mining and mining drones now have a slightly lower chance of collecting rare earth minerals and rare ore to offset market pricing.
    • The amount of ore retrieved while mining, especially at higher levels has been adjusted.
    • Mining drones sell ore at a reduced price now that the Trade-Net is in the game to balance the economy. Retrieving ore, refining it and then selling it is the most profitable path - however, automated drones still generate significant income.
    • Commodity merchants and ore vendors have been removed from trade stations now that the Trade-Net is implemented. They may come back as something new when crafting goes in the game. Ore can still be sold to vendors, though using the trade net to find the best price is likely more profitable.
    • The ore vendor on Hurzog Mining is now a general merchant. Scarby's dialog has been revised to reflect that.
    • If a beacon is placed in a hostile system, trade data is not streamed to the Trade-Net for that system. You cannot trade with hostile factions.
    • You gain a small amount of mining experience for refining.
    • Gas nodes on planets have been removed and replaced with mineral nodes. I may look at gas mining again at some point in the future.

    Added Refining:


    You can purchase and equip a refinery on your ship. Refineries let you convert raw ore to refined ore a more valuable commodity. Refined ore is used for crafting items and across the universe for building stations, colonies, and goods. You can purchase and equip a refinery at any ship equipment vendor. Like all ship equipment, refineries are ship specific so you cannot swap them between ships. Refineries equip to your ships hardware mount point. You can refine anywhere - in mission areas, in space, it doesn't matter - as long as you have ore in your cargo hold. So, you could have a ship with a large cargo hold full of ore and go complete a ground mission while all that ore is being refined.

    Mining perks:


    Mining perks have been added to the game. There are three lines - Drones, Refining and Mining. Each gives you bonuses to various functions of each of these utilities. For example, selecting drone perks will give you bonuses to drone mining speed and the quality of ore mined by drones. If you already have high enough skill levels in mining, you can assign perks to the skill line as usual in the character information screen. Just select mining from the list on the right and the perk choices will be available. An important note, mining queues off the crew member assigned to the weaponry station. So, bonuses are derived from this crew member and the perks assigned to them. Also, bonuses to the speed of your mining turrets are derived from both the level of mining skill and the perks assigned to the crew member in the weaponry station. Those bonuses are applied to your turrets reload speed. A high mining skill and selections from the mining perk line will produce ore at very high rates at high skill levels. Smuggling deserves more than just a simple on/off switch. I'll be adding a bit of storyline very soon that will allow you to unlock smuggling. Contraband items are in the game now for the trade-net, however, they are hidden until I do a bit more work on this system. There is now a very small chance that you will be attacked by hostile ships when entering a star system. You will be warned if this is the case and have a few seconds to put your shields up or micro-warp away from that area. The chance of this happening is slightly higher if you have active delivery contracts. Guide entries have been added to the in-game guide for the Trade-Net and Refining. You can find the guide by pressing H and selecting the Guide button at the top of that screen. General fixes: FIXED: In large open areas, a very long path was generated in some cases for the selected PC that would cause the framerate to drop. FIXED: In some cases, loot dropped by enemies could not be selected if the loot dropped on a stairway near a door. FIXED: A dupe exploit related to cargo storage. FIXED: Incorrect info displayed in a few rollover labels. FIXED: A bug related to recruiting a heavy weapons NPC that would overwrite the primary PC's ranged weapon ammo type. This fix is not retroactive. FIXED: You can now eject cargo while in FTL space. FIXED: The cargo volume label at the bottom of the center ship panel now updates correctly as ore/cargo are added. FIXED: The beacon icon in the lower left of the screen while in space now disappears correctly when moving away from a jump point. FIXED: Drone menu in space and in the log->map window now responds to the ESC key to close the menu. FIXED: Opening and then closing the Steam overlay would break movement at ground locations until ESC or a menu was opened or closed. UPDATED: The cargo list on the ship info screen now updates every second. The number of cargo items is also updated. UPDATED: When rolling over systems on the star map, system names in the info popup with a "*" next to their name have a beacon placed. UPDATED: Cargo storage terminals now have a unique icon on the radar. UPDATED: Adjusted rollover info for ship equipment so it's clear that the equipment fits ship type, not ship class.


    [ 2019-05-08 22:43:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress update - The Trade-Net


    A progress update on the Trade-Net today. Things are moving along nicely and the universe-side code is completed. I'm wrapping up the UI and will start working on handling accepted contracts and deliver/retrieving contract trade goods this week. Here is a short video showing some of the work that has been done: https://youtu.be/H3nHqWRliVc The trade net uses a network of placed beacons. Beacons have been in the game for a while now and many of you may have fairly large networks of these devices. The larger the network, the more options you have to find the best deals. Initially, these could only be used for fast travel between systems. You likely use them to travel back and forth between mission locations or to your favorite home system where you store goods and ships. With the trade-net update, these beacons will start sending data to the trade-net so you find the best places to buy and sell trade goods, ore, and refined ore. A ship with a good-sized cargo hold can make excellent money traveling between systems trading all kinds of goods. For those of you interested in smuggling, there will be an option to have your Trade-Net "hacked" so it will show contraband items (like the Kchor Brandy shown above). Traveling with these items in your cargo hold is risky. Raiders may spawn and scan your cargo, trade stations may force you to pay a fine if you have these goods in your cargo hold and will seize the items. A high electronics skill can help avoid detection. There may also be a few ship upgrades just for smugglers. I'll keep you posted as I make progress. I'm hoping to get this out for everyone sometime in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, here is a list of the latest patch notes since the last announcement. Thank you for supporting Stellar Tactics!

    4/5/19


    Stability fixes: --Capped framerate at 60fps - I'll look into uncapping FPS during late alpha. In general, capping the framerate at 60 keeps the physics engine (and overall framerate) stable on higher-end systems with fast CPU's/GPU's and high refresh monitors. The game actually plays much smoother for me running at a 144hz. --Clearing some dynamic data before level loads. --Integrated the latest Steam API for stability, upcoming achievements and other plans I have for the game. --Removed a few files that that game does not need (may have been causing conflicts on some systems). FIXED: A bug related to autosaves on the Dauntless. FIXED: A bug related to volumetric effect coloration in certain star systems. FIXED: Rollover info labels are now displayed correctly when hovering over docking and landing icons. UPDATED: Added additional info to the star system object list in the upper left HUD that displays the [NEAREST] jump point.

    3/25/19


    FIXED: When exiting Dauntless the game was generating two autosaves. FIXED: When leaving the Dauntless, [spoiler]items equipped on characters other than the main character are correctly moved to the stash.[/spoiler] FIXED: The number of items in ship cargo holds could be displayed incorrectly in rare cases. Cargo volume is now correctly displayed in the vendor UI, when viewed in the ship cargo UI and in purchased cargo storage. If you have a current save that displays incorrect cargo volume, this patch should resolve the problem.

    3/24/19


    FIXED: A display error for perk bonuses to the weaponry skill. Specifically bonuses applied to reload speed and efficiency displayed on the ship screen under "Skill Bonus" FIXED: Targeting a planet and traveling to FTL space then clicking the upper right info panel even if it displayed "No Target" would display the info panel with bad info. FIXED: Placing a beacon and then deleting another beacon would cause the beacons list to not display the most recently placed beacon. FIXED: Display of number of drones deployed and in inventory in the log->drone UI FIXED: The game would lock up while hacking if you had perks selected from the auto-hack line at higher levels (Mystic Keycard, Master Key etc.) when those perks were triggered.

    3/18/19


    FIXED: Rare random lockup when entering or leaving combat. FIXED: A bug related to populating the star map search data based on your location in the universe. This could have made it hard to find purchased ships located at remote stations. FIXED: A bug that would add an empty character between the save name and time played values in the save UI when overwriting an existing save. FIXED: Deleting saves while in the save game UI could cause a bad entry in the save list.

    3/13/19


    Resolved issues with several instances where opening a menu and not closing it would cause the game to lock up. Specifically: --Opening the Drone Manager from the log screen and then pressing the ESC key or any other key that would navigate you to inventory, character information etc. would lock up the game. Thanks again for the reports. --Opening the "Reputation" menu from the log screen and then pressing the ESC key or any other key that would navigate you to inventory, character information etc. would lock up the game. --A change to the core AI architecture


    [ 2019-04-13 20:19:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.180 - The new drone mining system and 10 more ships updated


    Ten more ships updated!


    Aries LATK-2 Vagabond EX-4 Wanderer EX-2 Arden LM-2 Revenant ATK-5 Corsair HATK-2 Ashaton MATK-3 Kraken HATK-7 Traveler EXP-2 Trident MATK-7 https://youtu.be/3cq99khcXo0

    The new drone mining system is in the game. Here is how it works.


    You can now purchase mining drones at any ship equipment vendor. The total maximum number of drones you can have active and on your ship is 20. Drones on your ship are transferred to any ship you are actively flying so, if you transfer to another ship, any drones aboard your current ship get transferred along with your cargo. Drones are fairly expensive, however, they pay for themselves in a few runs and are a great way to make money while exploring the universe. Drones have a maximum capacity of 1000 units. When they are deployed, the drones fly to the targeted planetary resource node and mine until full. You can use the drone manager to manage your drones, check their status and set their AI (more on the drone manager below). Drones have two AI states: Automatic Drones will mine a node until full and then fly to the nearest station and unload and sell their cargo. You will get a notification when cargo is sold and credits will be added to your account when the transaction is complete. Drones sell cargo at the base universal average for any resource type. This option is ideal for players who want to earn extra income in a semi-automated fashion to pay for ship and equipment upgrades. If a drone sells a full cargo hold of ore, you will receive mining experience on the crew member assigned to the weaponry station. Manual Drones will mine a node until full and then set their status to IDLE. The drone will wait on the planets surface until you enter the star system the drone is located at and retrieve the drone. The drone will fly to your ship (assuming you have enough cargo space) and unload the drone to your cargo hold and return itself to storage. This option is designed for players who want to engage in the future trading and crafting features. They can then refine the ore and/or trade crafted items, raw and refined ore. This option will require a ship with a fairly high cargo capacity. If the drone fills its cargo bay, you will receive mining experience on the crew member assigned to the weaponry station. Deploying a drone: To deploy a drone you will first need to scan a planet. If that planet has any resources they will be displayed on the planet map in the upper right corner of the screen. Higher skill in scanning will display more nodes if there are any and provide higher quality scan results. The higher the quality of the resource node, the more resources it has available to mine. Higher quality resource nodes also provide higher returns as they are usually rich in valuable resources. Select the node on the planets surface and the deploy drone icon will be displayed below the planet info panel along with the number of available drones you have to deploy. Select the icon and a drone will be launched. The drone will fly to the surface of the planet, the node icon on the planet map will change to let you know a drone is assigned and the drone will be added to the drone manager list. Retrieving a drone: Eventually, drones will deplete the resource. A drone with a depleted resource (or a drone that was set to manual that has a full cargo bay) will be displayed in the Drone Manager as IDLE. To retrieve the drone, fly your ship to the system where the drone was deployed, select the drone in the list and click the Retrieve button at the bottom of the drone manager. The drone will return to your ship, unload if it has any cargo and set itself to storage. The drone will be removed from the drone manager. Drone Manager The drone manager can be accessed while in space via a new icon in the lower left of the screen. You can see how many drones you have and how many are deployed. Every deployed drone is listed and selecting any drone will show you its current status ( mining, traveling, idle etc.). You can also access the drone manager from the Log->Map in space or when at stations or mission locations. Selecting a drone will center the map on the system where the drone is deployed. If you select a drone while in FTL space, the system the drone is located at will be selected in the upper left system panel making it easy for you to target and approach that system for drone retrieval. NOTE: Currently Gas nodes retrieve ore. Ill make the changes needed to harvest various gas nodes when I get the trading system in the game. There is a new in-game guide entry for the drone mining system. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics and have a great weekend!


    [ 2019-03-09 16:10:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.177 Stability and player suggested QoL updates

    Hi all! I decided to set this week aside for a major update to the loading code, QoL improvements suggested by the community and a number of urgent fixes. No screenshots this week, just a bunch of things you've asked for that I needed to "get done". Here are the updates and fixes. Hope you all have a great weekend and thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics! UPDATED: Improved loading speed when moving between areas. UPDATED: Autosaves now take place before transitioning between areas. UPDATED: Autosaves are now displayed at the top of the load/save menu under the quick-save slot. You can no longer overwrite or delete autosaves. UPDATED: When saving over an existing save game, that save games current name is displayed by default with a new time stamp in the save confirm dialog. UPDATED: Increased the animation speed when swapping weapons. UPDATED: Ship equipment merchants will always carry at least one mining laser. UPDATED: NPC ships can now be intercepted when micro-warping. UPDATED: Added new logic for approaching NPC ships so you follow at a distance once in range. This should make intercepting ships in star systems much easier. --Reduced the speed of NPC ships that are micro-warping to destinations so you can intercept. --When you are micro-warping and you target a ship and press the "Approach" icon, you will now approach that ship and match that ships speed once you are in attack range. --If you target another ship or stellar object, you will accelerate back to full micro-warp speed. --If the targeted ship arrives at it's destination while you are following the ship, you will drop out of micro-warp in range of that ship. UPDATED: Increased the frequence of drops for several rare mods (Frequency Modulators and Projectile Weapon Barrels). UPDATED: End turn options now have dedicated key binds: [1] - Delay Turn - If you have a full bar of AP, this option will let you delay your turn in the turn order. [2] - Defend - A chance to reduce or completely mitigate the next attack on this character. [3] - End combat turn UPDATED - When you are ready to end your turn, you can now press [SPACE] a second time to end your turn so you do not need to manually select a end turn option. This is the same as selecting the new keybind [3]. UPDATED: Another tweak to the number of ships traveling to/from systems. FIXED: Fixed a rare random lockup when transitioning between areas. This includes a major overhaul of the loading code when transitioning between areas. If you have any issues moving between areas, please post on the bug forums. I've tested this heavily and everything seems to be working as intended. I'll keep an eye on the bug forums over the next few days to make sure the new system is working as expected for everyone. FIXED: A rare bug related to high faction levels not populating the system object list (upper left menu when in space) correctly. FIXED: A rare bug related to high faction levels not displaying correct faction information in faction UI on the star map. FIXED: The names of equipped devices are now correctly displayed when rolling over the icons on the tool bar. FIXED: Particle systems were not triggered when launching to space when you first recieve your ship. FIXED: If a rollover tooltip is visible and you leave a menu using the ESC key, that tooltip is hidden correctly. FIXED: A visual glitch in the new game cinematic when exiting the crio-chambers. FIXED: When starting a new game, after the intial cinematic, you will not be able to edge scroll until your implants are activated. You can also recenter the camera on your crew with the "Q" key and access the help menu "H". FIXED: You can no longer select the end turn option "Delay Turn" if you do not have a full bar of AP.


    [ 2019-02-16 18:04:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.173 - 10 more ships updated and a few fixes


    Another patch today. I'm updating 10 more ships and posting a few updates and fixes. Patch notes are fairly short as I spent most of my time getting the updated ship models in the game this week. Sol EX-2 Starfox EX-4 Pike ATK-2 Mace AK-7 Starhawk EXG-3 Shrike ATK-2 Starnova EXG-2 Hammer ATKG-1 Crate MRCH-2 Crate MRCH-4 I have one more set of 10 ships ready to implement and will get those in for the next patch, likely a week or two before that's ready. The next patch will also include the new planetary resource mining system. Here are the notes for fixes and updates: UPDATED: Another 10 ships have had their models replaced with final ship models UPDATED: A higher chance for rare and legendary items from elite ships UPDATED: Drops from elite ships are more likely to be items you can use on your current ship UPDATED - Better handling of AI ship traffic between systems - still working on this FIXED - Turret mount points are now hidden correctly when a ship explodes FIXED - Ship engine lights now scale correctly with the power to engines FIXED - A bug related to ships spawning into star systems Hope you all have a great weekend and as always, thank you for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2019-02-09 17:23:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.172 - Improved combat pacing, sell your scan data and star map search

    Hi all - another patch is ready for release. Today I'm adding a few things - specifically a first pass at improving the pace of combat, new elite ship crews, the ability to sell all the scan data you've been accumulating and a new search feature for the star map. Here are the notes and I hope you enjoy the changes! ADDED: You will now find elite crews flying around the universe. They are marked with a skull icon. These ships are a bit more difficult than regular ships, however, they are not so overpowered as to be impossible. I recommend that your ship have balanced energy levels as displayed in the ship ship screen so your turrets and shields are charging at the highest possible levels. --These ships have a much higher chance of dropping legendary and rare gear - double the normal drop rate for these items. --They never drop basic gear - exceptional is the lowest quality tier. --Loot from these ships is usually usable on the ship you are flying. --Check the ships faction before attacking non-hostile elite ships. You will take a faction hit for destroying them. ADDED: The starmap search feature is in the game now. When you open the search menu in the log->starmap UI, you can enter the name of any system and press search to center the map on that star system and set it as your target in the upper left target HUD (if you are in FTL space). You will also get a list of any systems that have stored ships, cargo storage and beacons. Selecting a system from that list and pressing search will center the star map on that system. I'll be doing more work on the log->starmap and on the star map itself so you can better identify systems that have active missions, stored ships cargo, and active beacons. --IMPORTANT - The search database is populated once you leave Achmedius and start traveling across the map. Search data when first entering Achmedius at the start of the game is limited.

    ADDED: You can now sell all that scan data you have been collecting. All faction agents now have an additional option available when you speak with them - "Sell scan data". Faction agents are only interested in scan data in a 6x6 sector grid around them. If any scan data is available they will pay you a one time fee for that information. The price paid for scan data is based on the quality of the scan. When you scan planets, the quality of the scan is based on the level of your electronics skill. That quality value has been recorded since the launch of the game in Early Access, so, if you have scanned hundreds of planets you should see a nice reward. As your electronics skill improves, planetary scan quality is increased. You also gain a small faction bonus with the agents faction when you sell scan data based on the amount of data sold. SPACE: UPDATED: Balanced ship shield regeneration and charge levels so they are a bit more in line with what I would expect. Still working on this especially with some of the larger cargo ships. UPDATED: Increased afterburner speed while in combat. As always, this is a tradeoff. Capacitors are depleted at an accelerated rate if you are flying a ship that is not an interceptor or light fighter. UPDATED: When you loot cargo from destroyed enemy ships, you now get a small power boost to your shields in addition to any loot you tractor to your cargo hold. UPDATED: If you are mining, you have a decreased chance of being detected in all systems by scavvers and raiders. Eventually this will be moved to a device you can purchase and equip on your ship (Signature Suppressor). These devices will be of varying qualities and suppress your electronics signature. Your turrets must be actively mining for the effect to be active. For now, the effect is set at a moderate level. There is always some degree of risk when mining. I'm still working on this system and will make changes over time based on player feedback. --HOSTILE SYSTEM WITH STATION - Moderate chance of attack if turrets engaged. Ships mining in these systems will likely attack you after a period of time. --HOSTILE SYSTEM NO STATIONS - Low chance of attack if turrets engaged --WARY, NEUTRAL OR FRIENDLY SYSTEM WITH OR WITHOUT STATIONS - Low chance of attack if turrets engaged UPDATED: The universe should feel a bit more alive. Adjustments made to AI ship destination and task processing. Still more work to do on this and I'll be adding a few interesting things over time. GROUND: UPDATED: Movement and combat animation speed. These are not the new animations - just a quick first pass at improving the pace of combat before the new animations go in the game. --General movement speed increased while out of combat. --Movement speed significantly increased while in combat --Combat animation speed increased --Weapon reload speed increased --NOTE: A few attack types are still a bit slow - this is related to the SFX assigned to that weapon. I'll be cleaning this up with the new animations. There are also a few SFX like full auto and burst on some weapons that have a small sound bug that needs to be fixed FIXED: Changing weapon fire modes while using the combat queue works again. FIXED: Improved performance when scrolling star map FIXED: When the fine aiming key is pressed ( [E] by default ) you will no longer move when clicking an enemy. FIXED: Heavy weapon mercs will now be assigned the correct weapon type when spawning in the game environment and when initially assigned to your crew. FIXED: A rare combat lockup related to opening inventory at the exact moment a team members turn was being switched. FIXED: A combat lockup related to movement while items are in your combat queue. Movement is no longer allowed if you have queued combat attacks. You will need to clear your queue [BACKSPACE] before moving. A message is sent to the log if you are trying to move when a queue is active. I'll be adding a queue indicator to the screen in a future patch. FIXED: Display of navigation path information is now disabled if you have attacks in your combat queue. FIXED: Status effects in top rollover info bar while in ground combat are now updated immediately. Whats coming next? Passive ground based mining - You will be able to purchase and launch drones to resource nodes on planets where they will mine until full and then notify you so you can retrieve them and sell the ore.
    10 more of the ship replacement models will be going in the game: Pharris Sol EX-2 Pharris Starfox EX-4 Pharris Pike ATK-2 Pharris Mace AK-7 Pharris Starhawk EXG-3 Pharris Shrike ATK-2 Pharris Starnova EXG-2 Pharris Hammer ATKG-1 Pharris Crate MRCH-2 Pharris Crate MRCH-4 And one last screenshot of more ships being worked on.


    [ 2019-02-01 21:42:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.171 Updated ship models and cargo storage


    Hi all - hope you enjoy the patch. New ship models, cargo storage and a number of bug fixes. UPDATED SHIPS: 10 of the 40 ships have been updated with final ship models. I'll continue adding the final models as they are completed. If you have any of the following ships, the next time you enter space you will be flying the new-shiny-updated version of the ship. There have been no changes to your equipment - just load and go. Hope you like them... Victory FT-2 - Light Fighter Arrow FT-1 - Light Fighter Triumph ITC-4 - Interceptor Rovah MK-1 - Explorer Talon ATKR-2 - Medium Fighter Khaal ATKR-4 - Heavy Fighter Tarsus MRCH-2 - Light Merchant Severin MRCH-2 - Light Merchant Heron MRCH-3 - Light Merchant Exetor ATKR-7 - Heavy Fighter CARGO STORAGE: The cargo storage system is included in this patch. It is a pre-requisite for some of the work I need to do next and had to go in now. On most stations in the universe and at the Achmedius trade station, you can now purchase cargo storage space. Once you purchase storage space, it is yours forever - there are no upkeep costs and you will have 200 "slots" to store cargo items on that station. Cargo storage is accessed via a "terminal" near the entrance of any non-hostile station that offers trade services, merchants and faction agents. You can press "TAB" to highlight the new terminals. Selecting the terminal will give you an option to purchase storage on that station. Once purchased, you can move cargo from your cargo hold to storage and back.
    You can place ore, ship equipment (turrets, shields etc.) and in the future commodities and refined ore. You cannot store regular gear in cargo storage (ground weapons, armor etc.). You have a stash for all of that. Cargo storage differs from ship cargo space. That is, a "slot" can hold unlimited stacked items. For example, lets say you have 200,000 units of raw iron ore. Placing that ore in your cargo storage will only take one of the 200 slots - a slot is just that, an item of any single type takes up a single slot. Every ship component you place in storage takes a slot because each ship component is unique. On a ship, storage is calculated in cubic meters. So, if your ship has 1000 cargo, you will only be able to move 1000 units of iron ore from your stations cargo storage container to your ship assuming your cargo hold on your ship is empty. Cargo storage is only available on any station where you purchase it. I'll be adding a way for you to track where your storage (and ships) are located in the universe in a future patch. For now, just make a note of where you purchased storage or set it up in Achmedius. You can always jump there from other systems. So, why cargo storage? --You may want to store ore or commodities until you can find the best sell price in the Universe. --You may find a shiny Legendary warp drive for a ship you don't have yet and do not want to clutter up your cargo hold. --Refining storage (a future feature) - You will be able to refine raw ore and store it in station storage until you can bring your massive cargo ship and haul it to your favorite sell point. And a few bug fixes: FIXED: Tab targeting when in space combat would occasionally cause a crash to desktop. FIXED: A very rare bug that could leave characters in a state where they could not move. FIXED: Mercs with heavy weapons now apply the correct default heavy weapon settings when recruited so their default weapons function correctly. Any default merc heavy weapons can be removed and then equipped again to reset the weapon so it functions. FIXED: A bug that could occasionally initiate a combat attack when using the rotate key. FIXED: When in combat and moving, you can no longer select the rotate function which could have locked up the game in rare cases. FIXED: You can no longer switch fire modes on your weapon once a combat attack has been started. FIXED: It was possible after initially hacking a chest or locker to click that chest or locker after a successful hack, displaying the hacking interface. This is no longer possible. There is a now a small delay before you can attempt to hack a chest or locker gain (2 seconds). FIXED: After hacking a locker, there was a delay before loot was displayed. Loot is now displayed immediately. FIXED: When the entire stack of items was sold to a vendor (ore), a "phantom" cargo item could be left in the inventory. This could happen multiple times resulting in an incorrect display of the number of cargo items in your cargo hold. And a glimpse of several of the second set of ship model replacements that will come in a future patch. Next up, some enhancements to the star map in the log to allow for system searches, display of cargo storage locations and ships stored on stations. I'll also be working on the passive drone mining system, a pass at space combat balance and more. I'll keep you all posted as I make progress. Hope you all have a great weekend and thanks for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2019-01-18 21:08:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress Update 1/11/19

    Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday! I thought I would share a quick progress update. The last few weeks I've spent most of my time getting the first set of 10 new ship models in the game. I'll release these with the next patch. https://youtu.be/jyjRrjWqXuI Meanwhile, the second set of ships model replacements are in development and I'll get those in the game when they are ready. A few screenshots below - work in progress.
    And finally, I've been working on the cargo transfer feature. When this is finished, you will be able to purchase cargo storage space on trade stations. Once you own cargo storage, you will be able to move items from your ship cargo hold to storage, swap ships and move those items to your currently equipped starship from storage. I know a lot of you have wanted a way to store all that shiny legendary gear and move it to another ship. This is also a requirement for future work on trading and crafting so needs to be done now. As you can see, you will be able to sort both your current ships cargo and the contents of the station cargo storage. Cargo storage is only for ship equipment, ore and commodities. When buying new ships, the current cargo transfer feature will still work - so, you will need to make sure the contents of your current ship cargo bay will fit in the new ship you are purchasing.
    That's all I have for now. I'll keep you all posted as I make progress. I'm hoping to get the updated ships, cargo transfer and a number of bug fixes out in patch next Friday. As always, thank you for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2019-01-11 18:49:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.170 - Better mission rewards, new device, enhancements and fixes

    First, I'd like to wish all of you a very Happy Holiday Season and thank you for a great year! This is the second patch as promised that provides additional bonuses to end mission loot, a new device that lets you scan for lifeforms in mission areas, a cleanup pass on the movement/interaction system and more. This is the last patch this year, and it has been a very busy year indeed. I have big plans for 2019 and I hope you enjoy the content and updates to come. Here are the patch notes: UPDATED: At the end of missions and when you clear hostile facilities and explore locations, you are now awarded better bonus equipment. Originally this was going to be a crate. I'm going to reserve that for major bosses that will reward epic items, and now grant these reward items as described below. All granted items are now useful - no more health kits or junk items. All granted items are of exceptional quality or higher. You now get three guaranteed items at the end of missions. Other rewards remain the same - Faction, cash rewards, and ammo are still granted depending on whether the location is a faction mission or a explore location. --Short missions and explore locations - A chance for a legendary - a total of three granted equipment items (weapon, armor, shield or mod) --Medium missions and explore locations - A high chance for a legendary - a total of three granted equipment items (weapon, armor, shield or mod) --Long missions and explore locations - A guaranteed legendary - a total of three granted equipment items (weapon, armor, shield or mod) UPDATED: A cleanup pass to the movement and interaction system. Overall this brings a few things in line with where they should be as far as object interaction and movement is concerned. Still more work to do on this. --When moving to a location, if you click a chest, object or NPC, the closest team member will branch off and interact with that item instead of ignoring the object and continuing to move to the destination. --If a PC is moving towards an object to interact, other team members will stop and wait. --If a PC is moving towards an object to interact, another click to move will interrupt the interaction and clear the interaction queue. UPDATED: The help screen while in space has been updated. UPDATED: When rolling over grenades and health kits popups, descriptions are now displayed on the screen so you can see what kind of grenade or health kit you are selecting. UPDATED: The high-resolution space option now also displays higher resolution materials for planets. UPDATED: In higher level encounters, enemy groups are less likely to be generated with multiple missile launchers. Sure, that was fun, but it can also be overwhelming. UPDATED: New color coding icons for equipment tiers in all menus. UPDATED: You can now translocate directly to your ship from anywhere on a trade station if you have the Halamis Translocator equipped. ADDED: A new device exclusive to the Shikaru faction. Shikaru faction vendors now sell the Lifesign Tracker. This device exposes all lifeforms in the current mission area on the radar for 10 seconds. Enemies out of range of the scanner are displayed at the edge of the radar display. You can use this in any mission area to help you track down those elusive enemies hiding in small rooms or in the larger mission areas like caverns and stations. The device has a 2-minute cooldown. The device cannot be used to reveal ethereal creatures. The device uses a global cooldown so other team members that also have the device equipped will need to wait until the cooldown expires. The cooldown persists between saves. There will be many more useful devices coming to the game - cloaking devices, resource node scanners for salvaging, drones for scouting areas and destroying upcoming turret placements in missions etc. ADDED: Bloom filter setting in the video options screen. FIXED: A bug that would display the wrong number of available faction tokens when purchasing an item from a faction vendor. FIXED: When purchasing an item from a faction vendor, the text sent to the log now correctly indicates that you used tokens to purchase the item. FIXED: The beacon icon now disappears if active when you FTL out of a star system. FIXED: Blending issues with nebula effects. Overall, nebula effects now better match the star system sky and are more subtle. FIXED: Removed duplicate log entry when turning in faction missions. FIXED: A floating container in one of the mission areas and a number of other visual glitches in various mission areas. FIXED: A mission enemy that was linked to a group on the other side of the mission map in one of the mission areas. A little of what you can expect for the NEXT content patch:
    The first set of final models for some of the ships (10 total) Victory FT-2 - Light Fighter Arrow FT-1 - Light Fighter Triumph ITC-4 - Interceptor Rovah MK-1 - Explorer Talon ATKR-2 - Medium Fighter Khaal ATKR-4 - Heavy Fighter Tarsus MRCH-2 - Light Merchant Severin MRCH-2 - Light Merchant Heron MRCH-3 - Light Merchant Exetor ATKR-7 - Heavy Fighter Cargo transfer on stations Ground mining drone system Commodities and trading tied to the beacon system currently in the game Updated animations Improvements to the pace of combat (tied to the new animations) Faction Agents will buy scan data That's not all of course and I'll be working my way through the "What's Next" and "Roadmap" posts on the forums as I move towards Alpha.


    [ 2018-12-21 21:50:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.166 Community suggested QoL improvements and economy adjustments

    As promised, here are a few of the items I mentioned I would get in before X-Mas. This patch adds new options for sorting and marking inventory items. Stellar Tactics has tons of loot and inventory management was a hassle. You can now mark items for sale, sort items in the vendor UI's and bulk sell marked items and vendor trash. You should also see a large increase in the cash rewards from incursions and a large increase in the credits earned from selling loot to friendly factions. Hope you enjoy the update: UPDATED: You can now mark items for sale in your shared inventory, stash and cargo hold. Just Alt-Click items to mark them for sale. --A check mark will appear over the item in your shared inventory. --A check mark will appear next to the item in the cargo and stash lists. --Alt-Click again to remove the marked state. --You cannot mark stacked items for sale (health packs, grenades etc.) --You can also mark ore - however, see below - I've added a special "SELL ALL ORE" button to the vendor inventory.
    UPDATED: Vendors now have new options that let you sell all marked items from your inventories and all junk items in your inventories. Make sure you really want all of these items sold before you select these options. Of course, you can always buy them back if you made a mistake. --When selling to a vendor, you can sell all marked items from your shared inventory, stash and cargo bay with one click. Each item sold will be displayed in the game log and a total for the transaction will be displayed in your log. --When selling to a vendor, you can sell all junk items with one click. Each item sold will be displayed in the game log and a total for the transaction will be displayed in your log. Selling all junk sells all vendor trash items in both your shared inventory and stash. --If you have your cargo bay selected, a special option to sell all ore with one click replaces the "SELL ALL JUNK" option. Again, items sold and total credits earned will be displayed in the log. UPDATED: You can now easily see the quality of items in your shared inventory, stash and cargo hold: --In your shared inventory, items now have a color-coded border that displays if the items are exceptional, rare, legendary or epic. --In your stash and cargo hold, there are new icons in the lists that are displayed if the items are exceptional, rare, legendary or epic. UPDATED: The vendor UI now displays the quality of items with new color-coded icons in both the player's list area on the right of the screen and the vendor's area on the left. This should help you quickly identify items that are of value when trading. This also applies to ship equipment vendors. Marked items are also displayed when trading with vendors. You cannot mark items for sale in the vendor UI.
    UPDATED: You now have sorting options in the vendor menu for all item types on both the vendor and the player sides of the vendor UI. --Ground-based sorting options are white icons. --Ship equipment and ore sorting options are blue icons. --One icon is for consumables - the white health kit icon displays both health kits and ammo. This also applies to ammo and data beacons in the ship equipment vendor UI. UPDATED: Other than ore, all prices at vendors are now modified by your faction. Ore prices will be worked on when I get the trading system in the game. These bonuses and penalties also apply to the price of ships and ship equipment and the trade in value of your current ship. These bonuses and penalties are applied after your CHA bonus is applied to the cost of items. --FRIENDLY: +15% bonus to the value of all items sold/ -15% to the price of items purchased --NEUTRAL: Prices for items bought and sold are the same as they have always been --WARY: -15% applied to the value of all items sold / +15% to the price of items purchased --HOSTILE: You are KOS and cannot buy and sell to hostile merchants UPDATED - Mods equipped on weapons now display mod adjustment values instead of the mod name in the rollover info. UPDATED - The number of beacons you have in inventory is now displayed in the ammunition area of the ship UI. UPDATED - Cash rewards for space combat incursions increased significantly. FIXED: Ore is now listed in alphabetical order on ore traders FIXED: Removed duplicate ore vendor entry for "Silica"


    [ 2018-12-08 17:26:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.163 Perks and more perks


    Patch day! - All perks for combat skills are now in the game to level 100. FIRST AID and HACKING perks have also been added to level 100. Space-specific skill perk lines for PILOTING, WEAPONRY, ELECTRONICS and TARGETING perks are all in the game for an additional 60 perks. I'll be adjusting all perks over time as other game systems are implemented. The middle perk line in ELECTRONICS is related to security and will be used at a later time. For now, selecting perks in this line will have no effect. Mining perks can be selected, however, they are not fully implemented for now. I'll be adding these when I get the ground mining drone system in the game. You do get bonuses from the WEAPONRY skill perks from reload speed and energy efficiency when mining so you should see a boost from those perks. Perks are useful in a number of ways. For ground combat, they can give you bonuses towards applying various status effects and mitigating different damages types. They are most useful for customizing your team for offensive, balanced or defensive roles. They apply secondary bonuses for applying additional damage, bleeding, hobbled, stunned, crippled, poison and shield strike-through effects. The defensive line provides additional AC and bonus mitigation against status effects. Healing perks provide additional healing effects and the ability to remove status effects when applying med-kits. At higher levels they can remove stun, poison, bleeding, hobbled and crippled states. Hacking perks provide bonuses to the length of time you have to select a key when hacking a chest or locker, bonus loot quality, and even auto-completing hacking. Space perks affect all crew station bonuses displayed on the ship screen [K] - Ship speed, turn rate and evasion - Damage bonuses, reload speed and energy efficiency - scan range, security (not active yet) and shield bonuses - turret lock speed, chance to hit and shield bypass. Perks can be changed at any time - an unusual design decision. I did not want to lock players into any specific perk decisions. In Stellar Tactics perks are situational and as development continues that will be much more important at higher levels. As I roll out crafting, repair, salvaging and adjustments to mining, I'll also add perks for those skills. They are all interrelated and each of those skills will need to be worked on at the same time. The total number of perks currently in the game: Combat - 135 General - 30 Space - 60 Total - 225 perks A few additional fixes and updates for this patch: ADDED - Combat, first aid and hacking perks to level 100. ADDED - Space combat perks for all space skills to level 100. UPDATED - You can now rotate the camera with the mouse (right mouse button) while panning with the keyboard (WASD) during ground exploration. FIXED - If an incursion spawned at your exact location, some ships would enter combat but not fire at you. FIXED - If an incursion spawned at your exact location, tab targeting could crash the game in some cases. FIXED - A message - "Press

    to pause space combat at any time!" would continuously display even after docking or landing at a ground location. FIXED - Ship shield strike through bonuses are now working correctly. FIXED - A damage display error in the character info screen. FIXED - A rare lockup when accepting missions from faction agents. FIXED - Missile launchers now respect the friendly fire player settings. FIXED - A bug that caused the action bar background to disappear when characters died, were KO'd or when the last enemy died of bleeding or poison damage. FIXED: A bug that could place you at an incorrect initial entry point for missions.


    [ 2018-11-27 20:16:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.160


    Hi all - new patch today that fixes a number of issues. I'm nearly finished with the perks for ground combat, space and several of the general skills. There will be an additional 66 perks to complete the combat, first-aid and hacking perk lines. I'm also adding all the space combat perks for an additional 60. That's a total of 126 new perks added to the game and a grand total of 225 perks! I hope to have these tested and ready to release soon. I'll be adding the additional perks for salvaging, repair and crafting as those systems get released. Mining perks are dependent on the drone mining system, so those will go in when I release that feature. There is quite a bit of other work going on. This includes the drone mining system, updated animations including the new special weapon attacks, and more. Here are the notes: FIXED: Duplicate display of team position in some missions. There was a display error in the mission completion map next to the radar that would display your location in mission areas more than once in some cases. FIXED - Removed duplicate eliminate mission targets from mission areas. FIXED - A bug related to applying armor strike through at high levels of melee skill. This changes things for melee at higher levels both for enemies and team members. Overall higher damage output from melee. FIXED - Delayed damage and visual effects when using flamethrowers. FIXED - A display error related to mods applied to weapons with critical chance modifiers. FIXED - A game lockup when using the toggle combat toolbar icon or other toolbar icons while transitioning in and out of combat. FIXED - Enemies and the player no longer scan the environment for each other while transitioning in and out of combat. In some cases, this could result in a game lockup. FIXED - A number of data issues with some of the mission sets. FIXED - Line of sight lines now disappear immediately when an enemy dies. Previously, the could remain visible until the enemy disappeared. FIXED - When completing a mission, the entire message is now displayed on the screen. Previously, the text was being cut off. FIXED - A number of general stability fixes. UPDATED - If you have a healthkit enabled, you can now click character portraits to heal in and out of combat. UPDATED - All ships drop at least one loot crate, even in systems that are -10 levels of your average space combat skills. UPDATED - Your ship will tractor dropped enemy ship crates from a much larger distance now. Should help in cases where an enemy ship is too close to a planet when destroyed. UPDATED - Improved load speeds by a few seconds UPDATED - Reduced the amount of information sent to the log. In some cases, when playing very long sessions, this may lead to problems. UPDATED - Voice comments adjusted: --Team members now comment on critical hits less often. --Team members will only comment on loot if the item looted is armor or a weapon and of rare quality and above.


    [ 2018-11-17 19:46:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.151 cumulative and whats next!


    Hi everyone. First, I'd like to thank all of you who reported bugs big and small over the last few weeks. I'm posting a new build and cumulative patch notes since the release of the last major content update September 21st when I opened the universe. It's been a very busy time since the release of the patch and we've had a lot of new additions to the Stellar Tactics community providing a ship load of great feedback and suggestions. I read everything I can posted on the forums and many of you know that I'm actively engaged in the conversations there. Please do continue to post and comment. Your feedback is much appreciated! Here is what I'll be working on next, in no particular order. I'll start rolling out these features one at a time for the most part. In no particular order:

    • Perks to level 100
    • A few additional devices that can be used in combat.
    • Repair system for both space and ground. The space repair system will allow you to assign crew members to ship repairs. You will of course still be able to pay for repairs on stations.
    • Addition of weapons for pugilism along with some adjustments. Currently there are no weapon types for this combat skill. I've compensated by making this skill more powerful, however, it's time to get these weapons in with mod slots etc.
    • Implement new animations - these are done and have been waiting until I had time to get them in the game
    • Space trading and the Trade-Net
    • Cargo transfer on stations
    • Special weapon attacks
    • Ground mining drone system
    • Sneaking, traps and environment security systems (including turrets)
    • Sorting for vendors, inventory, stash and cargo
    • Space station turret defense systems
    • Crafting
    • Patrolling enemies and NPC's
    • Faction Agents will buy scan data
    • Implement the updated ship models you saw in the last announcement

    Notes for patch 0.151


    FIXED: Rollover compare info when using F1-F4 keys was not displaying the correct team member when reviewing inventory in space. FIXED: Mining skill was capped at level 60. You can now level this skill to level 100. FIXED: You can no longer move team members while translocating out of a mission area. FIXED: Stacked items like grenades and med-kits placed in your stash now stack. If you have unstacked items, drag them to your backpack and then back to the stash to free up slots. FIXED: Mining ships and other ships launched from hostile systems are now hostile. You will still see other factions that may be friendly, neutral or wary entering these systems. That is intended. FIXED: At times the docking icon was displayed and would not work until you were closer to the trade station. If docking icon is displayed, you will always dock. FIXED: A rare crash when tab-targeting in space combat when in combat. Please let me know if you see this by posting on the bug forums. I've added additional debug info to help me locate the issue if it turns up again. FIXED: Explore planetary locations now correctly display the "CLEARED" flag when selected if that location was actually completed. I'll be adding this to cleared hostile sector stations soon. FIXED: Fixed a bug that would leave sold item icons (healthkits etc.) in the inventory even though they were not valid. FIXED: A few typos UPDATED: You can now shift-click to move items from your stash to your inventory. UPDATED: Increased the amount of experience received at lower levels when mining. There is a leveling curve applied to EXP gain that more closely follows skill and equipment progression. UPDATED: Reduced EXP required to gain skill in hacking by 20%. This will change when more hacking devices of various quality go in the game. UPDATED: Increased the value of all dropped items found in ground combat including vendor junk items, armor, weapons and mods. Ground missions now generate more income overall from loot. UPDATED: Added debuff timers to the rollover status icons for bleeding, hobbled, crippled, poisoned, stunned and EMP status effects. These show the duration in turns of any active status effect that is on a timer. ADDED: In addition to the LOS line indicators, I've added a cover icon to the movement destination cursor. It should help you identify areas where cover is available. ADDED: Added a beacon guide entry to the in-game guide.

    Cumulative patch notes since the last announcement


    10/5/18 - 0.150


    FIXED: Station names in loading screen were incorrect. FIXED: An exploit related to equipped armor. Thanks for pointing this out. FIXED: Selecting a planet with a mission location and then selecting a planet with no data will clear the mission data information from the planet UI. UPDATED: Crouch/Stand animations are more responsive. UPDATED: Crouched swap weapon and leave combat animations more responsive. UPDATED: Help menu can only be opened if other UI's are closed like inventory, crew manager etc. The help menu cannot be opened over the main menu. UPDATED: Hacking success or failure is displayed on the screen when a hacking attempt is completed. UPDATED: Enemy loot packs now have a larger hit box. Should help on stairs and near doorways. UPDATED: Better handling of tooltip info so it doesn't refresh with minor mouse moves in stash, vendor lists and inventory. UPDATED: When in vendor UI, you can now press F1-F4 to compare the rolled over item to any active team member. UPDATED: When in your inventory and stash, pressing F1-F4 updates the compared item in the tool-tip to the active team member.

    10/2/18 - 0.149


    FIXED: When selecting stellar objects in the upper left space hud, you can no longer click though that UI and accidentally select planets and other objects. FIXED: When on surface after leaving ruins, clicking an enemy target could move the character instead of firing a weapon or walk-to and melee. FIXED: One of the cave systems had a number of linked enemies - added LOS blocking FIXED: A few floating enemies in one of the cave scenario sets. FIXED: Healthkit and grenade bars are hidden when transitioning between areas FIXED: When looting ammo the weapon display ammo count is updated immediately FIXED: A display error in the inventory ammo area that could concatenate the number of ammo you actually had in some cases. FIXED: Pharris Mace AK-7 number of turrets corrected in merchant and ship displays. FIXED: The approach button on the selected ship popup UI now works as intended. FIXED: A bug with the planet scanner that could add incorrect nodes to planets that were already scanned. FIXED: A bug with the planet scanner that was resetting the new "SCANNED: NO SURFACE LOCATIONS FOUND" message. FIXED: Lockup if you opened the crew manager during combat. Crew manager is now disabled when in combat. FIXED: A rare lockup when boarding stations. UPDATED: Adjusted the information displayed for the return location when a mission is completed. It now gives you the system name, the planet (e.g. Angos IV) and whether the return location is an orbiting station around that planet or a planet based station. You can always select a finished (not yet turned in) mission to center the star map on that system and select that star system in the upper left system UI panel. From there, you can approach that system while in FTL space. I'll be adding better information handling for missions in the future. UPDATED: Expanded the range for station docking. Some stations are large and in some cases you had to fly above or below the station to get the docking icon. UPDATED: Better targeting handling in combat. If your cursor is over an enemy, and the cursor is a targeting reticle and you click, you will not move. Should resolve unintended movement. You can also always use the combat queue or hold down the TAB key to avoid unwanted movement when targeting enemies. UPDATED: Increased the maximum number of loot drop crates from ships from two to three per ship. --Maximum drops from ships will only take place in systems that are 9 levels below your current average ship crew level. Fighting ships in lower level systems results in less loot dropped. NOTE: Rare and Legendary loot will only show up as loot from destroyed ships and on vendors if you are over a certain average level (average ship skills - piloting, weaponry, targeting and electronics) - likely the reason some of you aren't seeing these items drop from ships and on vendors. This is not a change, it's been this way for a long time. Legendary - average level 15+ Rare and exceptional - average level 5+ UPDATED: Updated the faction agent guide entry to add information about the Halamis Translocator (for teleporting out of mission locations) and a description of how to return to the mission faction agent when missions are completed.

    HOTFIX 9/30/18 - 0.148


    FIXED: In some cases when recruiting a mercenary, the game could lock up.

    9/28/18 - 0.148


    FIXED: A error where if you removed a crew member using the crew manager leaving an empty slot between other crew members, movement would break and a team member or team members would not move correctly. FIXED: Selecting an object in the system object list in the upper left of the screen, then selecting a ship and then again selecting the selected object in the list would not display the targeted list item. FIXED: If mining with a full cargo hold, mining ore containers will time out after 60 seconds and despawn. If you were mining for a long time and not scooping ore, you could end up with thousands of them which over time could crash the game. I've adjusted EXP a little for ground combat. Not really a tuning pass just a mild tweak. --Increased melee damage EXP a little. --Decreased ranged weapon EXP a little. Adjusted the drop rates for rare and exceptional items. Vendors are also affected. It's still way better than it was before, but that last patch was over the top. I'll be doing more work on this over time.

    9/27/18 - 0.147


    UPDATED: Updated messages for powering up turrets and a warning if you are trying to mine asteroids without a mining turret. UPDATED: When in Achmedius in your starter ship (only the starter ship), only one enemy ship will be launched during incursions. If you leave Achmedius, the incursion system works as it always has - launching a random number of enemy ships. The enemy ships spawned in this case are always weaker than the starter ship. This is to give new players a chance to learn space combat without getting fragged - that is as long as their ship shields are up. UPDATED: Wherever you are in the universe, if you do not have a beacon placed in the Achmedius system, I've placed one there for you automatcially. Should help those of you who may get lost in space. Just approach any FTL point (jump point in the upper left object list while in space) in any system and as long as you have 5 fusion cells in your inventory, you can translocate back to Achmedius instantly. UPDATED: Added additional information that tracks tasks during character creation and displays remaining tasks to complete before starting the game. UPDATED: Ship equipment vendors now have a better assortment of rare and exceptional equipment. Legendary equipment should be more common on vendors. UPDATED: If you select single movement mode (SPACE when not in combat), that team member will walk to and interact with objects and NPC's in the environment. In group movement mode, the closest teammember will interact with the object. UPDATED: Selected team member portrait is now highlighted in and out of combat. UPDATED: Camera FOV indicator on radar is brighter now. You can use this indicator to set a frame of reference in the location you are exploring. For example, rotating the camera FOV so it points north will help give you an idea of where you are and where you have been. UPDATED: When scanning a planet, the NO DATA message has been replaced with a new message letting you know that you scanned the planet. The NO DATA message appears if you have never scanned a planet. There are a few remaining bugs with scanning that I'm looking into - nothing game breaking. FIXED: Ship warp engines on merchants now provide correct power values for various quality tiers. Ship engines for some ships, especially some of the trading vessels like the Talon, were being generated with very low power output. Warp drives for fighters and interceptors were generating too much power. FIXED: An edge case with key input for camera panning that could cause camera movement to stick when edge scrolling. FIXED: When exiting the Abandoned Research Facility via the exit door, you will transition to the staging area of the facility instead of space. FIXED: You can no longer quicksave the game before speaking with Dr. Rhamus on the Dauntless the first time. FIXED: You can no longer quicksave the second you enter combat. FIXED: Visible line of sight indicators are now hidden when selecting end turn options. FIXED: An edge case that reset the currently selected team members voice when editing team members by clicking their portraits in the character information and equipment screens. FIXED: Rolling over portrait icons in the left combat order queue UI now displays the correct rollover information at the top center of the screen. When rolling over the icons, enemies are highlighted so you can distinguish their position against the order in the queue.

    9/23/18 - 0.146


    FIXED - An edge case where when taking missions from Zabin Morbain, garbage text was displayed in the mission window. FIXED: An edge case that was keeping ore from spawning when mining asteroids. IMPORTANT: Left click on enemies can occasionally be finicky. I'm working on a right click menu popup that lets you select the body part you want to target. It will display CTH values for each of the attack positions and you can just select your choice. I'm hoping to get this in and tested by the end of next week. High perception stats will also display additional information like enemy resists. I'll need to test the resists display a good bit so, this may not make it in when I patch the new targeting UI. Meanwhile, holding down the highlight key (TAB by default) while aiming/attacking will block movement of any kind so you can avoid unwanted movement. If you use the combat queue, when holding the SHIFT key while attacking, movement is now blocked. Shift is the default key for the combat queue. You can read more about the combat queue by pressing the "H" key while exploring ground locations. It is important to know that when holding the shift key, you can click multiple times to queue up attacks. When ready, press the space bar and all attacks will be made at once. When queuing combat attacks, you can press the "BACKSPACE" key to clear the attacks in the queue. The combat queue can speed up combat when making multiple attacks.

    9/22/18 - 0.145


    FIXED: When trying to shoot Full Auto, the game required 12 ammo to be loaded - this was recently reduced to 8 shots from full auto weapons and the game now only requires 8 ammo loaded into the weapon. FIXED: When mining asteroids that are not in the asteroid field, no loot cans were being generated. Asteroid fields were working as intended. FIXED: Dismissing a crew member causes the remaining crew members you may select in the list to not be correctly selected, displaying incorrect stat data for that character. This did not affect the actual crew member selected and dragged and your saves and mercs are fine. It was just a display error. FIXED: Better handling for opening and closing the crew manager which could get stuck in a state where it would not close and accept unintended click and keyboard events when open.


    [ 2018-10-19 23:25:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.144 - The Universe


    The Universe IS Yours!


    I'm very happy to announce that the Stellar Tactics universe is now open - from one system to 160,000+ systems. I'm very happy with the progress and this is a major milestone for the game. I hope you enjoy it. Prepare for a wall of text... I want to set some expectations. This is the first pass of the universe sandbox. There are likely to be bugs, though we've done some heavy testing over the last three weeks and things seem stable. That doesn't mean there won't be edge cases that cause problems. If you do find any bugs, please post them on the bug forums and I'll address them as soon as I can. https://steamcommunity.com/app/465490/discussions/7/ So, what is this patch? --This is the first pass at the sandbox universe. Over time I'll be adding a lot of content including discovery missions from logs, distress transmissions and much, much more. Think of this as the beginning of something much larger. --There is no new story content, just missions everywhere, places to explore, mine, engage in exploration discovery encounters on planets and stations against various factions. Plenty to do and explore. --What will I be doing after the patch releases - a lot. The goal is to get to Alpha as soon as possible. to get there I need to finish a few more of the games core systems. I'll list all of that in the "What's next" and "Roadmap" posts on the forums. --Tuning - the game needs to be tuned, both for ground and space combat. First, perks need to be in place, special attacks need to be finished and itemization and the economy needs to be addressed. It's important that I point out that I do have plans to add (soon) a way for you to right click enemies and choose the target body part, review enemy information (resists and possibly more information) based on your perception stat. One thing I've never liked about the current system is that it does not give you an alternative method for targeting enemies - this will be addressed.

    And now for the patch notes:


    IMPORTANT: MOUSE INTERACTION HAS BEEN CHANGED. The mouse now uses left click to interact with objects, NPC's, combat attacks, movement and movement cursor rotation. Right click is reserved for camera rotation. I've adjusted this so it conforms with the standard. I find a lot of new players are confused by the old system which felt out of place. I think it works much better so thank you everyone who suggested this change. You can now travel through the entire Stellar Tactics Universe. Traveling between systems is done in FTL Space - a 3D representation of the entire Stellar Tactics universe. To travel to FTL space, you no longer need to approach a jump point. You can enter FTL space anywhere in a star system as long as you are not in combat. Jump points are now used for translocating between systems where you have placed a data beacons. More on that below. When you can FTL to the Star Map, an icon will be displayed in the upper left System Info UI if that UI is opened.
    Once in FTL Space, approach any system and a new icon will be displayed in the upper left of the screen under the System Information menu. Pressing that icon will drop you from FTL Space into the selected Star System. To enter FTL space, you need to have a FTL drive equipped on your ship. These are the requirements to enter FTL space: 1) If you are in your starter ship, you must have completed the "Speak with Scarby Hurzog" mission line through completion of the mission given to you by "Phestus". You can then buy a FTL drive from Phestus that you will need to equip on your ship. 2) You can purchase a new ship. All new ships are equipped with FTL drives. 3) You must return Dr. Rhamus and Dr. Jensen to the "Achmedius Trade Station" or you will not be able to enter FTL space I've blocked entry to some systems for story content that will come during ALPHA and BETA. When trying to enter these systems a message is displayed letting you know that you cannot enter. Considering the overall number of systems (between 160,000 - 200,000 + depending on your random seed) you won't come across these often. Level cap raised to level 60 - Skill cap raised to level 100 A new user interface for ground exploration and general information UI's. The space UI has not been changed other than some minor edits. I still have some cleanup to do on the UI and I'm looking through everything to make small adjustments. Line of sight indicators that are displayed when hovering over movement locations. They indicate visible enemies from that position and provide you with an idea of whether or not that location provides cover. More work to do on this including displaying the indicators when you press TAB. Closest team member interaction: When interacting with objects in the environment, the closest team member to that object, NPC, chest, loot object etc. will always interact. This resolves situations where you may be blocked getting to the object and need to move your team members around. There are a couple of important notes here: 1) When interacting with vendors, regardless of who selects the vendor, the team member in your active team with the highest CHA will be used in vendor price calculations. 3) When hacking you will need to select the team member with the hacking tool. The closest team member will interact, however, the selected team member with the tool will actually hack the item, provide skill bonuses and receive the experience. All ships are now available to purchase. Vendor inventory is random so check vendors for new ships. Your key-binds have been reset. The farther you travel out into the universe, the more difficult enemies become. Faction mission agents can be found on stations in primary faction systems - that is Halamis, Varadyn, Cilivon, Conrair, Shikaru and Aralion. You can see which faction is controlling a Star System on the Star Map in the log by rolling over or clicking on a system. You can gather missions from agents that will send you to nearby systems. Returning for your reward will net faction, tokens and rewards. If you enter a station with a faction agent and that system is way above your level/capability, the faction agent will not issue missions. There are also agents in sub-faction systems like The Kchor, The Coven etc. Neutral systems do not have faction agents, these systems are reserved for faction warfare. I'll be expanding on these missions, the mission descriptions and more over time. The difficulty of a particular Star System is indicated in the Log->Star Map area. When you roll over a system, information will be displayed in the lower right of the Star Map displaying: --The name of the system --Reputation (hostile, wary, neutral, etc.) --The primary Faction for that system --The sector X,Y coordinates --The difficulty of that system displayed my minimum level requirement --If the system has station services I'll be doing much more work on the map for an upcoming update. In FTL Space, combat is disabled. I'll be adding various discovery locations, skirmishes and faction warfare in the future. System labels in FTL Space are color coded as follows:
    • Green Border: System has leveled content if there are landing locations and faction mission agents.
    • Yellow Border: A challenge. The content in these systems is slightly above your level. With good gear and a skilled team you will survive. Faction agents are likely to have missions for you in these systems.
    • Red Border: Likely impossible - but who knows? Give it a try and see. Faction agents will not offer missions in these systems.
    • Purple borer with solid dark blue background: You have a agent mission to complete in this system.
    • Yellow border with solid green background: You completed a mission and an agent is waiting for you to return for your reward in this system.
    Star systems on the Star Map in your log are now colored by faction. Red systems are hostile, blue neutral, yellow wary and green are friendly. When entering hostile systems, ships will spawn and intercept you. They will continue to launch ships as long as you are in a system. You can stay and fight, scan planet surfaces for stations and event locations, board hostile stations or leave the system. They will continue to hunt you until you destroy them or leave the system. Landing on a station or ground station in a hostile system will set that location hostile and exploring those locations will result in combat. Clearing one of these locations will net you rewards and faction. No tokens are rewarded. Ships will occasionally spawn in all systems and harass you. Mining for ore now has an added degree of risk. You are less likely to be harassed in systems that are controlled by factions that are not hostile towards you. They will continue to hunt you until you destroy them or leave the system. Equipping your mining vessel with good shields and armor and making sure you have one or two dedicated weapon turrets is usually enough to fend off the enemies if you are in lower level systems. Destroying these ships will spawn loot so - bonus! If you see the message "Enemy ships inbound" and you are not yet ready for space combat, I'd head for the nearest station or FTL to FTL space. Scanning planets in systems may reveal exploration opportunities. If you clear an exploration location you will get a reward and faction. No tokens are rewarded.
    Two new faction armor sets, one for Varadyn and one for Shikaru. Doing agent missions for these factions will net you tokens that you can use to buy this armor. I'll be adding faction weapons in a future patch. A new keybind that takes you directly to the ship UI, "K" by default. PageUP and PageDown now zoom the camera in and out incrementally when exploring ground locations.
    The crew manager has been added to the game. You can access the crew manager on the ground and in space using the "M" key. The crew manager is only available once you return Rhamus and Jensen to the Trade Port in Achmedius. You can find new crew members on the Achmedius trade station and stations across the universe. They are usually located in the sleeping quarters area of stations and ground facilities. Speak to NPC's you find and some may choose to join you. Accept their offers and review their skills in the crew manager. If you don't like their initial stats, you can dismiss them and find another.
    • The crew manager can be accessed when in space or on the ground.
    • The left side of the crew manager window displays all of your crew members. A total of 10 crew members can be in your crew at any time. Crew members can be recruited on friendly stations across the universe.
    • You cannot move crew in or out of your ground crew while on the ground. You can only assign new crew to your ground team in the crew manager while in space.
    • Selecting a crew member in the left list displays important stat and skill information for review in the center pane of the crew manager.
    • You can assign, replace and remove crew members by dragging them from the left crew list to the right team rosters.
    • You can remove crew members by dragging them from the active roster to the crew list on the left. This allows you to solo ground missions or limit the number of crew members you have in your active ground team.
    • Your ship and ground crew members can be separate. That is, you can have dedicated ground and space crew or you can mix and match team members from both rosters.
    • You cannot replace your main character. He/she is dedicated to the first slot in the ground team roster and will always be a member of your ground team.
    • You must have at least one crew member assigned to your space crew roster.
    • You can dismiss a crew member by selecting the crew member in the left crew list. Dismissing a crew member is permanent (at least for now). You will prompted when dismissing a crew member and notified that dismissal is permanent.
    • Setting station assignments in the ship UI [K] will re-arrange your ship crew. It does not affect your current ground team roster. Those changes will be reflected in the crew manager.

    Data Beacons: These can be purchased from ship equipment vendors. If you approach a FTL point you will notice a new icon in the lower left of the screen. If you have data beacons in your inventory, you can drop a beacon in a system. You can then teleport back to that system from any other system in the universe instantly by approaching a FTL point, selecting the beacons icon and then selecting your destination from the list. I recommend picking a home system and placing a beacon there. It can be a place where you store your ships.
    • To place beacons or translocate, you must be in the vicinity of a FTL point.
    • Once you place a beacon, the system the beacon is placed in will be listed in the beacons UI.
    • You must have at least 5 Fusion Cells (ground type ammo) to translocate
    • You can delete beacons using the beacons UI
    • Beacons will eventually also feed trading data into the Trade-Net
    CTH system revised. If you have over a 75% chance to hit, you will always connect. You will either get a "Grazing hit" (ranged) or "Glancing blow" (melee). Damage is scaled down based on the CTH value. Between 50% and 75% CTH you still get a second roll that has a low chance to connect with the enemy. Let's give that a try for a while. I'll make adjustments based on player feedback. Note that grazing hits and glancing blows can still be mitigated. At lower levels if the damage value is very low, enemy damage mitigation can reduce this damage to zero. Updated radar: The radar has updated icons and now displays the position of gather items and boss enemies. Vendors have unique icons and mission agents are clearly displayed when they enter the radar. Friendly fire is now off by default. You can turn it on/off in the Options->Gameplay menu at any time, even while in combat.
    Tutorials are now a Guide. The guide can be found by press "H" and selecting the "Guide" button at the top of the displayed screen. I've added new topics to the guide that cover space combat, mining and more. I'll be expanding the in-game guide over time. Video's have been removed and replaced with illustrations. Note that most of the guide topics have multiple pages as listed at the bottom center of the guide screen. IMPORTANT: Get yourself a "translocator". All Halamis faction merchants carry them including the faction merchant in the Abandoned Research Facility staging area. They are free and instantly teleport you out of any mission location back to space.

    General bug fixes:


    GENERAL BALANCE: --Weapon burst mode damage increased --Some balancing to ship combat. A major tuning pass will go in the game with ship perks soon. --Below level 10, ship combat is much easier. It should give you time to get used to the combat system and upgrade your ship. You should still consider upgrading your starter ship as soon as possible. The Dr's didn't really leave you with the best equipment. --Enemies drop better loot overall. More rare and legendary drops everywhere. --Weapons with mod slots are more common as loot drops and from vendors. FIXED: A bug that was preventing doors displayed on the outside edge of the radar from highlighting mission map locations. FIXED: A bug that could make door icons on the radar unresponsive. FIXED: The system info menu opens on the first click now ( instead of 2 clicks the first time) FIXED: The mysterious ghost hair bug is now resolved. Hair was being left in the scene occasionally when a merc joined your team. FIXED: You can cancel the end turn options screen using the ESC key once again. FIXED: A major repeatable crash bug related to opening and closing the load/save menu and then transitioning between areas. FIXED: Music volume settings persist between loading of areas. FIXED: You can no longer attach mods to weapons that do not have mod slots - thanks JODEGAFUN! FIXED: Damage mods can now be equipped correctly to heavy weapons and all damage bonus mod types have received a scaled boost to damage output. Adjusted damage bonus is not retroactive so you will need to find new mods if you want the new adjusted bonuses. FIXED: When adding a new crew member to your team, you will no longer get a default duplicate portrait for that new crew member. FIXED: A bug related to the display of power related to reload speed in the ship UI if no crew member assigned to the weaponry station. FIXED: If stash was full, and you dragged and dropped a item in your pack to the stash, the item disappeared. Thanks Captain Electric! FIXED: Enemy ships would occasionally get stuck circling and ignore the player ship if it was in range. FIXED: In some cases enemy ships could be destroyed, leaving their UI stuck on the left of the screen. FIXED: Some of the cave areas that had bad ground stone object placement. Some other fixes in cave areas. FIXED: DPS and other stats in turret rollover when rolling over turrets on main UI now match the displayed stats in the ship UI. FIXED: Enemy ship UI's on left of screen are reset after combat. FIXED: A bug that was causing enemy burst and full-auto shots to fail on occasion. FIXED: Mining turrets now apply the correct turret reload speeds modified by mining skill to mining beams. Mining turrets are now generated using the same power requirements as regular combat turrets. This change is not retroactive. UPDATED: Random missions (missions not related to the story) are no longer added to the completed missions list. If you had previously completed random missions, they will still be in the completed missions list. UPDATED: Weapon scaling adjusted. Weapons now have an obvious increase in base damage as you level. For example, a 1hand weapon (slash, pierce, blunt) has a base damage at level one of MIN 3, MAX 5. A similar weapon at level 10 has a based damage of MIN 6, MAX 8 depending on the quality of the weapon. Of course, your actual damage is modified by your stat assignments, current weapon skill in that weapon type, perk selections and a few other factors and then mitigated by the enemies shields, armor, stats etc. UPDATED: When exiting a station, you can micro-warp without needing to leave the gravity well. UPDATED: You can now travel to FTL space from anywhere in a star system as long as you are not in combat or a inside a planets gravity well. Jump points are now only required for transolocating between systems. Translocating requires that you place a data beacon in a system. Once a data beacon is placed, you can translocate to that system from any other system. Translocating requires 5 fusion cells. UPDATED: FTL points in systems can now be targeted and approached. UPDATED: Removed auto camera switching while in combat. The view now stays fixed where you placed it during combat. UPDATED: Doubled the number of fusion cells you can carry at one time. They are used for both ship and personal translocation so I wanted to make sure you could carry enough inventory. UPDATED: Increased the number of ground based rockets, flamer fuel ammo and mini-gun mags you can carry. UPDATED: Increased the number of shotgun shells you can carry from 200 to 500. UPDATED: Mission objectives for gather missions and eliminate missions are now displayed on the radar. UPDATED: When in a eliminate mission, as you clear the various locations, the mission status display shows the room as cleared by displaying a green overlay similar to other mission types. UPDATED: Key binds UI in options menu updated so I can expand key binds in the future. UPDATED: By popular request - autosaves now use only 4 save slots (and save files). Each autosave overwrites the oldest available autosave. All previous autosaves are still on your drive in case you need/want them. I'll work on sorting of load/save lists so autosaves are displayed at the top of the list in a future patch. I recommend always having it on. You can find the setting in the options->gameplay menu. UPDATED: You can access the inventory, character info, log and ship info UI's while in space if not in combat without pausing the game so mining and travel will continue while browsing those UI's. UPDATED: Heavy weapon ammo has higher chance to drop and be found in chests. UPDATED: Star Map system icons are now color coded by faction. I'll be adding a way to indicated other useful information in a future patch. UPDATED: The Star Map indicates the location of missions. Selecting a mission in the active mission list centers the map on the target location and sets that system as the target in the upper left info UI while in space. You can then click the approach button to fly to that Star System. UPDATED: Area transitions in the ruins are now automatic and do not require you to click the exit panels. UPDATED: Ion weapons do very little damage to ship hull armor. Other weapon types do less damage to ship shields. UPDATED: Recruited Mercs now have reduced secondary skills when you find them. Previously they were receiving a bonus to the allocated secondary skills for space and general skills. UPDATED: Vendor ore prices vary slightly from system to system. I'll be doing a lot more work on this for the commodities and trading patch. UPDATED: The challenge level increases in systems that have a minimum level requirement of 20. Additional 1, 2 and 3 dot enemies are added to enemy combat groups. More challenge = more reward - they drop better loot more often. UPDATED: Enemy ships are less likely to collide with your ship in space combat. UPDATED: Weapon mods need to be shift-clicked and removed before you can add a new mod. The UI currently displays incorrectly that you can drag and drop a new mod to replace an old mod. I'll get that fixed. UPDATED: A weapons damage type for each hit is displayed in the game log window. Helpful for those occasions when you are wondering why enemies are hitting you for so much damage. Shields mitigate damage types (thermal, kinetic, etc.). If you have low thermal mitigation at higher levels and an enemy is ripping you apart, you can now check against the damage type in the log. UPDATED: Skill experience from hacking increased. KNOWN BUG: Exiting from the Abandoned Research Facility via the entrance door inside the facility places you in space in orbit around the planet the facility is located at. Using the translocator teleports you to the correct location in the facility staging area. And something for those of you who braved the wall of text - for a future patch. Colin has done an amazing job and I'll be getting these in the game as soon as I can.


    [ 2018-09-21 20:11:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

    The Universe WILL be yours!


    The next major content update will be on September 21st. Enjoy the video. https://youtu.be/w2MK7hgOVb8


    [ 2018-09-08 18:40:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress Update 7/29/18


    Hi everyone. No video this time, but I wanted to post a quick update to let you know what I've been up to. Lots of work completed over the last month and a half since the last progress update. Star map performance is finished, the mission generator is placing explore missions on planets, faction agents are issuing faction missions to other systems in the area and rewarding tokens and rewards. I've also completed mission indicators so you know where to go when a mission is assigned and I've extended the system so I can add other mission types at a later time. I've spent a lot of time testing and making sure that when you arrive at mission destinations, the missions play through, complete and send you back to the originator for your reward. So, that was a big part of the work that needed to be done out of the way. Faction was another big task. I've added two more armor sets to the faction merchants. Shikaru and Varadyn. The sets can be purchased with mission tokens. They come in three color variants.
    There are many different types of locations you can discover in Stellar Tactics. Many different stations types, ground based facilities and cave systems. When exploring you may come across planets that have ground locations that need help. Some may be invaded by Phage, Scavvers, Raiders, hostile factions, mutants etc. By clearing one of these locations you end up with rewards from the dominant faction of that system. Regardless of the current faction in that system, you will get a generous faction reward. Landing at sites like this is a great way to adjust your standing with the various organizations in the universe. Normally when you enter a system, if your faction is "Wary" or better, you can dock and land at stations and ground based locations to buy supplies, trade and repair. However, if a faction is hostile and you enter the entire station becomes a combat zone. Right now in the development build you can dock at any station. That's going to change in the next few weeks when I add station turret buoys. If you approach within a certain range, hostile stations will start firing on your ship. You will need to destroy the turrets before you can dock at a hostile station. In the future I'll add ways to bypass security, override these turrets and dock. I'll also be setting stations up so they launch ships that will hunt you down unless you FTL out of the system. Speaking of the FTL system, after playing the current development build, I've set up the FTL drives so you can warp from anywhere. That means you can leave a station and immediately FTL. I've increased movement speed with the micro-warp drives and speed in FTL space. I spent a few days making sure travel times are significantly reduced. Jump points will still be used for translocating. To translocate you will need to place a data buoy in another system. Once that's done you end up with a translocation bookmark. As long as you are in a certain range of a jump point you can instantly teleport between systems, bypassing the FTL space completely. I've also added a few things for combat that I think you will appreciate. The first is line of sight indicators. When in combat, if you hover your cursor over a movement destination, line indicators will be displayed showing you if that position has direct line of sight to an enemy. Ideal for finding cover and deciding where to move your team member. They are also useful for letting you know when a team member is in the way so you don't shoot them in the back. Second, I want to talk about the random number generator. This seems to come up fairly often, not just in Stellar Tactics but in most any game that uses RNG in combat. Here is the deal, and I agree - it's just not fun to have a shot lined up with a 90% chance to hit and you "whiff" - nothing. So, I've changed the system so "YOU ALWAYS HIT" if above 75% chance to hit. Your damage will scale down if you're initial roll fails and you will only graze your enemies, but you will still hit. Below 50% CTH you will still get a second roll that may do limited damage. You will only apply status modifiers (poison, stun, bleed etc) if your initial roll succeeds. Let's give that a try for a while and see if everyone likes the new system in the next patch. Another thing that I've finished was adjusting the way looting works. You can now choose to auto-loot objects as a setting in options. The nearest team member now interacts with loot, characters and objects in the scene. These changes were much needed and I'm glad I was able to get them in. And finally, a few screenshots of the new UI (work in progress). These look a little empty until I get them finished and in the game. I thought I'd share them anyway.
    Lots of work to do yet, though I am well past the half way point for the next patch. Thanks again for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2018-07-29 21:21:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress Update 6/15/18


    Hi all - It's time for another progress update. I've included a video that shows some of the work I've been doing. Details below. https://youtu.be/_RI0zEmb9Y0 The last few months have been pretty crazy around here. Since the last major patch, I've been focused on opening the FTL gates and there is still a lot of work to do. Most of this time has been spent wrapping up all the procedural mission sets needed to make sure the universe is populated with locations to explore. This has been thousands of hours of work over the last year between me and a talented modeler/ level designer I work with. I'm happy to say that work is now done - I'm finished with the level sets for the next content patch. Another large block of work that is finished is generating the interiors for the various stations found in the universe. That means the interiors are in the game, loading based on where you are in the universe, vendors are placed and faction mission contacts are available. You can now dock at trade stations across the universe in the development build - if you have the proper level of faction needed. In a future patch you will be able to hack station security remotely and board the stations of hostile factions. Doing that will place a station on alert and you will need to fight your way through the station to disable various systems like external station turrets and interior defense systems. Should be interesting. All the space stations that were completed some time ago have been added to the universe. Later I'll be adding external turret systems to the stations for faction warfare. The incursion system is now working in all systems that have stations or a faction presence. I'll expand on this in the future with faction warfare and more. I've also added volumetric effects to all systems as well as LUT Color Grading. They add a lot to the visual appearance and diversity of star systems. For the last week I've been focused on performance on the Star Map. The game processes tens of thousands of independent AI vessels. The Star Map uses LOD algorithms to display ships and systems that are nearby and places them into a secondary processing queue when they are out of range. Every ship has a task or set of tasks and when they are out of visual range, they switch to a secondary process that uses universe time to determine arrival, task completion and assign new tasks. It's a fairly complex system and seems to be running well. I'm going to give myself another week with this to make sure everything is performing and running as expected. And finally, the revised animations are finished, including special attacks for all weapon types. You might notice that "stealth" will be going in the game. I'll add these animations into the game when I get through a longer list of tasks I'm working on right now. So, what's next? Performance on the Star Map, tying the mission generator into the rest of the universe, finishing the crew manager, adding commodities and refining the trade system and a good number of other things that need to be done like data buoy's, the mission tracker and more. These should move along pretty fast. It does take time though, so I hope you will all be patient. It's going to be a huge update when it's finished and I need to make sure everything is in and working well. I'd like to thank all of you for supporting the game and hope you all have a great weekend!


    [ 2018-06-15 20:32:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.129 - Radar, mod update and fixes


    Hi everyone - here is the latest patch with a number of improvements and fixes. Hope you all enjoy the update. Added a new top down radar system for ground exploration. The radar system is designed to be expanded on and tied to your electronics skill. As you gain more skill in electronics, perks will be available for exposing other object types on the map like loot, mission objects and at a very high skill, enemy positions (assuming they are not using stealth). I'll be adding perks for this skill soon. For now, the radar displays default information - vendors, NPC's and enemies if in line of site. --Exits are shown as door icons on the radar. You can click door icons to move the camera to that location. This is handy for moving your team to the exit. --In mission areas that display the progression map, rolling over exit icons on the radar will highlight the room the exit leads to on the mission map. --NPC's are displayed as orange dots --Vendors are displayed as green dots --Enemies are displayed as red dots - enemies are only displayed if they are in line of sight during combat. When perks for electronics go in the game, you will be able to select a perk that reveals all enemies in a certain radius regardless of LOS based on your skill in electronics. --Team members are displayed as white dots. --The radar is centered on the currently selected team member. --There are two FOV indicators on the radar. The large FOV indicator displays the direction your camera is facing. The smaller indicator displays the direction your selected team member is facing. --I'll be expanding on the system in the future. Weapon mods - You can swap/upgrade mods now anytime/anywhere. The currently equipped mod gets moved to your inventory. Mods are never destroyed even when overwriting an existing mod in a weapon slot. You can only have a single mod of any one type equipped in any weapon --Drag mods from your shared inventory to any mod slot. The dragged mod will be equipped in a free mod slot or replace any similar mod. If the mod is replaced, the old mod will be moved to your inventory. --Shift-click any equipped mod to un-equip the mod to your inventory, clearing the mod slot. IMPORTANT: If you have weapons that have more than one of any type of mod (e.g. Two scope mods) it will be important for you to un-equip the extra mod from your weapon. Mods were never meant to be stacked on any one weapon. ADDED - Added a target indicator for currently selected targets in space. ADDED - When you near planets, moons and stations, a new gravity well indicator is displayed that shows the general radius of the gravity well. This should make it easier to navigate around gravity wells when traveling in star systems. ADDED - A new set of tutorial videos are now displayed when you first enter space. If you have already recieved your starter ship, you can review the video tutorials from the help menu by selecting the tutorial button. UPDATED - Gravity wells no longer bring your ship to a full stop. UPDATED - Updated the character creation screen so the instruction text and steps needed to create your character are clear. UPDATED - When changing resolution a message is displayed confirming that the resolution change took place. UPDATED - You can now enter hacking codes with the numeric keypad. UPDATED: Ship capacitor recharge when out of combat is now faster. FIXED - Default heavy weapons merc's mini-gun now reloads correctly FIXED - A bug that allows players to equip more than one mod type per weapon FIXED - Unarmed team members could not throw grenades FIXED - Adjusted grenade damage for all grenade types FIXED - A bug where throwing a grenade could reset a SMG (and other weapon types) to single fire mode even if that weapon only had burst and full auto enabled. FIXED - Fine aiming was not working as intended. You now correctly receive up to a 7% bonus FIXED - A number of typo's in the log entries and tutorials and item descriptions FIXED - A bug that would require you to press the Enter key when generating your characters name during character creation FIXED - On certain systems with very fast CPU/GPU when launching to space you could rarely enter a state that would require you to restart the game FIXED - A bug that could break the ragdoll physics causing characters that were KO'd to stand up "broken" after the very first combat scenario on the bridge of the Dauntless FIXED - An area in the Vats that could not be clicked for movement FIXED - A few rollover objects that had incorrect border highlights FIXED - Cargo and stash now allow mouse wheel scrolling without clicking first FIXED - Fixed a few errors with the rollover info at the top of the screen when rolling over characters FIXED - Occasionally, it was possible to click at a location in combat and use more AP than the preview indicated Note that I've been working on a second pass on some of the minor UI's - they are not final and are work in progress. Whats next? I'll be finalizing the crew manager. I hope to have that patch out in a few weeks. As always, if you find any issues/bugs, please report them in the "Submit bugs" sub-forum. Hope you all have a great weekend!


    [ 2018-04-06 19:58:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress update 3/16/18


    https://youtu.be/Aq15t9IuH1g Hi everyone. I thought I would post an update that covers what I've been up to for the last month since the ground combat patch. Check out the video above for details. -New top down radar system for ground exploration. The radar system is designed to be expanded on and tied to your electronics skill. As you gain more skill in electronics, perks will be available for exposing other object types on the map like loot, mission objects and at a very high skill, enemy positions (assuming they are not using stealth). -Completed modeling and lighting for all procedural ground based locations for the universe -Work in progress for object placement in the procedural mission locations -Crushed a number of bugs -All character animations are now being adjusted and polished I'll be working my way through the items on the "What's next" list posted on the forums. Next up, is the crew management system. http://steamcommunity.com/app/465490/discussions/0/1318836262672874191/ Have a great weekend and thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2018-03-16 17:31:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.126 - Combat Update #1


    Hi all - Lots of changes in this patch - see the video for highlights and details below: https://youtu.be/cmxnT7162K4

    COMBAT CHANGES:


    ADDED: End turn options. When ending your turn you will have several new options to choose from. This options menu is only displayed if you have 2 or more AP left over when ending your turn. If queuing attacks, your turn will end as usual if no AP is left over. You can cancel out of the end turn menu by pressing the escape key.
    • WAIT - Wait requires a full bar of AP and allows you to skip your turn, adjusting your position in the turn order. This is handy for cases where your team member may be blocked. When selecting this option, your position in the turn order is adjusted after the last team member in the turn order.
    • DEFEND - Defend requires 2 AP and has a small chance of avoiding a single attack while waiting for your next turn or mitigating a portion of the next attacks damage. The cost of 2AP is a choice balanced against reloading your weapon or setting your team members in a defensive posture while in combat. Defend is applied after armor, shields and any other damage mitigation. You can see which team members and enemy combatants are defending by rolling over them with your mouse. The status bar at the top of the screen will show a defend icon in cases where combatants are in defend mode.
    • END TURN - Ends your turn with no AP cost or further action. Any remaining AP up to 2 points will be rolled over into your next turn as it has been in the past.
    ADDED: Attacks of opportunity:
    • Only combatants with a melee weapon equipped and selected can execute an attack of opportunity.
    • If a combatant is in range of a melee opponent and they move, the enemy will get a free attack.
    • Combatants get a single chance during any round of having an attack of opportunity applied.
    • Combatants get a single attack of opportunity per round of combat.
    • If the enemy misses you, you will continue to your selected destination.
    • If the enemy does damage, your move will be interrupted. You can choose to heal, attack or move as usual after the attack.
    • Combatants can only be attacked once in any round. That includes instances where the closest enemy combatant has already dealt an attack of opportunity.
    • Status effects have a chance to apply any status effects as normal.
    • Stunned combatants cannot make attacks of opportunity. However, they do remove the moving combatants chance to receive an attack of opportunity for that round.
    Combat navigation and blocking has been overhauled. The goal was to improve the way blocking works so it is fair for both the player and the AI. Characters now have descreet blocking areas that work much better than they did previously. You should notice that AI can no longer move through characters when retreating or if blocked in areas by your team members. Enemies also do a much better job of keeping their distance from other characters with this update. You also now have the option to "Wait" in cases where your team members are blocked so you can make adjustments to positioning. I'll be continuing to improve on this system over time. GENERAL FIXES IN THIS PATCH: FIXED: Adding and removing armor with stats (+STR - +END) now correctly update the display of HP in the character info and inventory screens. FIXED: Bleed resist display in character info screen FIXED: A number of rounding errors for weapon damage in rollover info, character information and inventory areas. FIXED: Projectile impacts and damage display are now timed based on range to target FIXED: Grenade throw animations from crouched position. FIXED: When swapping weapons, border highlights now updated correctly. FIXED: When mercs were recruited, they were given 4 less intial stat points than they were supposed to recieve. You are now credited 4 stat points the next time you attack in combat. FIXED: An error in the trade in value for ships based on charisma. FIXED: An error in the display of values displayed in trade menus when items had a value of 100,000 credits or more. UPDATED: You can no longer select team members other than the selected active combatant with the F1-F4 keys and by clicking them while in combat. This was confusing players because they were unable to end their turns if they inadvertantly selected another team member. UPDATED: Missile launcher damage toned down a bit. UPDATED: Adjusted mini-gun damage up a bit. UPDATED: Damage modifiers to burst and full auto - you should see a significant damage boost to both of these fire modes bringing them somewhat in line with the use of ammo and AP expenditure. Burst and full-auto do have a damage penalty to reflect accuracy when firing with these modes. You will deal and receive more peak damage now and will need to mitigate this with healing, especially at higher levels. Time to start using those med-kits. This will be balanced a bit more with the introduction of First-Aid related powers/devices. "Medic!" UPDATED: Heavy weapon damage increased - should give you a reason to use heavy weapons a little more often now. You are going to want to focus fire on heavy weapon enemies and get them out of the way as a priority. A critical with a heavy weapon is devastating! UPDATED: Reduced the amount of ammo used for full-auto attacks for rifles, smg's and pistols from 12 to 8. Damage for this fire mode was just too high with the changes above and ammo use was excessive. UPDATED: Removed level based attack bonuses which were skewing damage. Note that rollover info for weapons is just an estimate based on your currently equipped base weapon damage, equipped mods and a bunch of other factors. Breaking out a calculator is not likely to result in exact damage values. There is a lot of voodoo going on in the background of damage calculations including ranged falloff calculations, stat modifiers and more. UPDATED: Floating fonts for combat and comments. UPDATED: Melee received a boost in damage. With the addition of attacks of opportunity, melee team members also gain an additional boost to damage in cases where combatants try to leave the area of influence (see above).

    PATCHES SINCE THE LAST ANNOUNCEMENT:


    HOTFIX - 2/2/18 - 0.122


    FIXED: 1 hand blunt weapons will apply Venom and other perk effects FIXED: Nano's now equip to melee weapons FIXED: Haft mods now equip to melee weapons

    1/28/18 - 0.122


    UPDATED: Load times for all ground based area transitions are now greatly reduced. UPDATED: Exiting the game and transitioning to the main menu are now much faster. UPDATED: Minor stability fix.

    1/27/18 - 0.121


    FIXED: Ammo looted from space loot crates is now correctly displayed in cases where multiple crates are looted. FIXED: Ammo looted from ship cargo crates now adds to your total inventory correctly FIXED: A bug with skill gain from incursions FIXED: Experience from space combat no longer increments the secondary skill counter FIXED: Rounding errors in weapon rollover UI related to weapon damage FIXED: Rounding errors in information UI's related to weapon damage FIXED: Frequency modulator mods for melee weapons can only be equipped to melee weapons FIXED: Stuns once again work as intended both for ranged and melee weapons FIXED: A material blending error with overhead grids in the facility UPDATED: Bonus damage from damage mods is now applied to all attack types - single, burst and full-auto and applied after damage calculations UPDATED: Increased the cash rewards for facility missions to bring earnings in line with space combat

    1/20/18 - 0.119


    FIXED: When queuing attacks, the attack cursor stays visible FIXED: In some rare cases, a quicksave could be requested at the exact moment combat was being started. Loading that quicksave could lock the game up the next time you entered combat. FIXED: Melee weapons no longer incorrectly display ammo info and fire-modes on rollover. FIXED: Scavver enemy types occasionally disappeared in combat when they should be in LOS. I'm hoping this patch fixes the problem. FIXED: Display of correct damage values related to damage scaling adjustments in the character info screen. There are still a few rounding errors that I'll correct soon. UPDATED: Shotgun range for newly looted or purchased weapons increased. This change is not retroactive and only affects new items that you loot. REMOVED: Removed verbose debug log data.


    [ 2018-02-16 19:41:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.118 and what's next!


    Hi everyone! You can find the latest patch notes since the last patch announcement below. I'd also like to give you a little preview of some of the work I'll be doing. This will be the last patch for a while unless there is a blocker or some other major problem that comes up so I can branch off and focus exclusively on the ground combat system for a while. Here are the things I'm hoping to get into the combat update Movement and blocking system overhaul - I'll be refining this system so blocking mechanics and movement in combat are much improved. The goal is to provide consistent blocking mechanics for both the enemies and the player characters going forward and to remove various annoyances with the current system. Attacks of opportunity - (PC's and NPC's) If characters are adjacent to an enemies position and move out of range, the closest combatant will get a free single attack. That is a single melee attack or a single shot from ranged weapons. Defend - (selected when ending your turn - PC's and NPC's) - Can be selected if you have 2 AP left over - gain immunity to one attack in the next round of combat. Guard - (selected when ending your turn - PC's and NPC's) - I'll be looking into the ability to guard areas of visibility, gaining an opportunity to fire on enemies coming into the characters line of sight. This selection when ending your turn will likely take all your AP, can only be used once in any combat scenario. I find this mechanic overpowering so I want to make sure it is used sparingly. I'll scrap it if it's abusive. Better display of LOS visibility when targeting enemies. I'll be removing the cursor based targeting functionality. The current active cursor will be removed completely. Instead you will have a improved information and targeting UI for rollover info and selected targets that includes dedicated targeting for head, torso, arms and legs. I'll also be tightening up delays in all combat animations, ranged weapon delays and generally polishing a number of areas related to the ground combat system. I'll be adding combat specific powers that allow you to perform a variety weapon attacks and effects. These have always been a part of the plan and it's time to implement them. Examples are sniping, backstabs, teleportation, PBAoE attacks, weapon overloads, spread damage for shotguns and smg's as well as shared melee and ranged effects. First-aid will get AE heals, HoT, buffs and debuffs.

    • These will all come as Neural Devices that interface with your team members neural implants. Powers are knowledge gained through the use of these devices greatly enhancing your performance and skill.
    • Each team can have 3 active devices equipped at any time that must be equipped before the start of combat.
    • These devices will have level requirements and you will find upgrades that can be equipped at various skill levels.
    • They will drop off enemies and can be found as loot.
    • All powers will have an AP cost
    • All powers have cool downs.
    • These neural powers will also gain bonuses from your perks where it makes sense.
    The above is not related to "Azimuth" which is something that will go in the game at a later time. I'll make sure to post regular updates and share videos when it makes sense. Thanks again for your support!

    Recent patch notes


    0.118


    FIXED: Trigger group mods for pistols that have burst and full auto modifications now work as intended. FIXED: Merc stat assignments now display correct HP when assigning STR/END in character information UI. FIXED: Assigning points to stats no longer adjust your HP to max while in combat. FIXED: Alpha blending errors in some areas corrected. FIXED: Alpha blending errors when using multiple gas grenades corrected. FIXED: Bright green weapon on or near ground when swapping weapons removed. FIXED: Door to Phestus now works as intended. I had disabled it a while ago so it was always open. FIXED: A bug that could cause the enemy to stop responding if healing inside a gas cloud. FIXED: A bug that would cause toxic gas clouds to continously stack dot damage on combatants. FIXED: When attacking with melee weapons from a crouched position and using the combat queue, it was possible to get an additional attack. FIXED: The crouch/stand icon on the toolbar is now correctly updated when attacking from a crouched position. UPDATED: The 1AP cost to turn your team members while in combat via the tool bar has been removed. You now have unlimited visibility from your position at no AP cost. UPDATED: Double clicking inventory items no longer moves them to your stash. You must shift click or drag and drop items from you inventory to the stash icon. UPDATED: While in combat you can no longer select other team members by left clicking with the mouse. This was confusing because you could have unintentionally selected another team member who's turn was not active and tried to end your turn. If you have another team member selected when it is your turn, you cannot end your turn. You can still select other team members using the F1-F4 keys while in combat or by clicking on their portraits. UPDATED: After rotating the camera using the left mouse button, the cursor is restored without needing to move your mouse. ADDED: If you have the mission "Speak with Scarby" in your active log after you have already finished the mission, you can now return to Hurzog Mining, walk towards the vendor and the mission will auto-complete.

    0.117


    UPDATED: Labels in space for incursion ships are now orange instead of red so they can easily be recognized and separated from other hostile ships (red labels). UPDATED: Space incursions can be canceled when not in combat while in space. No need to dock anymore. Just click the small cancel icon on the incursion label at the top of the screen. UPDATED: Armor, weapon, mod and shield vendors now offer more items when they generate their inventory. This leads to more options available on the vendors. ADDED: Border highlights for all enemies and player characters in combat - this work is part of the combat revamp - many more changes to come to the core systems. FIXED: One of the mutant types was always hidden when not in direct view, even when using the [TAB] key (default for highlight objects). Could make it difficult to identify the enemy during combat. FIXED: You can once again micro-warp from incursions (assuming your turrets are off) at full speed. FIXED: Ship loot crate labels no longer disappear if you travel far away from the crate. FIXED: Ship loot crate labels no longer appear on screen when the crate is behind you or not visible in the camera view. FIXED: A bug that would allow ship vendors to occasionally sell turrets that would not fit on ships. FIXED: Assigned merc weapons when recruiting them now generate with the correct range and max ammo values. FIXED: Starting ranged weapons for your generated character and team members are now corretly assigned with default range, ammo and damage values based on the adjustments I made a while ago (increased base range for rifles and side-arms, increased base ammo capacity for weapons). FIXED: Mining skill level cap adjusted to level 60 like other skills. FIXED: A bug with stun grenades permanently stunning enemies. FIXED: It was possible for enemies to heal themselves beyond their maximum HP FIXED: Turrets now fire even if you don't have a team member in the weaponry station slot.

    0.115


    FIXED: A few starter weapons needed ammo and range updates. FIXED: A navigation error in the Vats. FIXED: Another possible fix for the keyboard not responding when micro-warping to a station. UPDATED: UI information lists in space can now be scrolled when dragged and with the mouse wheel.

    0.114


    FIXED: A crash when launching from the surface near the Aznari Ruins the first time you enter space. Thanks for reporting this! UPDATED: Loading a save game while already in the game world is now much faster UPDATED: Returning to the main menu while in the game world is now much faster - that includes Game Over... UPDATED: Loading screen display updated so it functions like it did before displaying tips, progress etc. UPDATED: When customizing character portraits/names/voices in the popup window after clicking character portraits in the character info window, the arrows to the left and right of the portraits can now be clearly seen. Before they could have been overlooked.


    [ 2018-01-19 23:13:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.113 - Load time improvements and bug fixes


    Well, I'm back at it after the holidays. Hope you have all had a great start to your New Year. First - load times between levels have improved in all areas - about double what they were before on average. Areas like the trade station have improved but need more work. Load times are of course dependent on your system specs. I still have work to do in this area including loading from saves and a few other optimizations. I've added new border highlights throughout the game for objects in the world environment. I've consolidated a lot of the game data so patch sizes can be much smaller going forward. Here are the notes: FIXED - You can no longer equip a heavy turret to a light turret slot. If you currently have a heavy turret equipped to a light turret slot, you will only be able to equip a light turret to that slot going forward. FIXED: Typo on new game creation screen. FIXED: A crash when creating a new game - caused when clicking or dragging the mouse while the starting in-game cinematic was loading. FIXED: Universe generation random seed can no longer exceed 8 digits in the entry field. FIXED: When exiting video tutorials from the help menu, the game is no longer left in a paused state. FIXED: Heavy turrets and missiles can no longer be placed in light turret slots. If you have a ship where you have equipped a heavy turret in a light turret mount point, it will still be there, however, you will only be able to equip a light turret there going forward. FIXED: Hacking exploit fixed. FIXED: Speak to Scarby mission now completes and is removed when speaking with Scarby. FIXED: Travel to Achmedius Trade Port mission now completes. Just head towards the Cantina area on the trade port to auto-complete the mission. FIXED: Capped afterburner speed while in combat so ships equipped with high quality warp drives cannot exceed the speed of combat projectiles. FIXED: If a team member is blocked when walking towards or trying to use a object, they will no longer stop and then perform the action on next move or action. FIXED: When entering a gravity well from micro-warp, occasionally you would lose keyboard control for thrust and rotatation - you would need to click in space to restore keyboard control of your ship. UPDATED: The Pharris Mace AK-7 is now available on the ship merchant. UPDATED: Updated the way characters interact with objects in the environment so animations do not delay interaction and block clicks. UPDATED: Ship missile speed increased UPDATED: The game now uses border highlights for interactive objects in world exploration mode. Old highlighting methods have been removed. UPDATED: Ranged weapons (Pistols, SMG's and Rifles) that drop from enemies or purchased from vendors have had their maximum ammo capacity increased. This change is not retroactive and does not affect equipment you currently have in your inventory. UPDATED: Nano's can now be equipped to all weapon types. There are a total of three ranged and three melee specific mods. Nano's are now global. UPDATED: Tutorial videos are now higher resolution - some will be revised in future updates. A note about sidearm range. The average range of sidarms was doubled in the last patch (Space Combat Patch). This bonus is applied when starting a new game to all starter weapons and to any new weapons you find. The change is not retroactive - so sidearms looted before the space combat patch still have the lower range - I won't be modifying them. Any loot drops or weapons found on merchants going forward will have the new range adjustments applied to them. This patch adjusts maximum ammo up for rifles and sidearms. This can of course be adjusted by applying mods to higher quality items. In Stellar Tactics, your ranged weapons have a falloff factor to chance to hit (accuracy) and bonuses applied based on your skill, stats and other factors with that weapon class. Here is how CTH and range penalties are calculated: 1) Your base CTH is calculated based on the weapons maximum range and the range to your target - a range penalty 2) A crouch bonus is calculated if you are crouched 3) A weapon skill bonus is calculated and applied. The higher your skill the more accuracy bonus is applied to the weapon. When you start the game, you have only a few points of skill in whatever your weapon choice was when you created your character. As you increase in skill, you will noticed that your CTH goes up - at higher levels you will rarely miss. 4) A STAT bonus is calculated (PER, DEX etc) 5) A weapon tier bonus is calculated ( Basic, Exceptional, Rare etc) 6) A weapon wear panalty is calculated (this is disabled for now until crafting and repair go in the game) 7) Your adjusted BASE CTH is calculated based on the information above. 8) A penalty for Burst and Full-Auto fire modes are applied if applicable (these will be adjusted when I work on the ground combat system) 9) A body target penalty is applied to the CTH calculation - smaller body parts are harder to hit - like a head shots. 10) And finally an equipped mod bonus is applied to the calculation if applicable 11) Some weapons recieve a CTH bonus factored by range applied to the final calculation. As I mentioned, sidearms have seen a bit of attention doubling their range. I am listening to the feedback your are posting and I'll start working on a good number of changes and additions to the combat system starting next week. These include the addition of a few new options in combat, adjustments to the movement and blocking system, burst and full-auto damage and effects and the removal of a number of general gameplay annoyances that are on my list to fix. I'll keep you all posted as I make progress on this. Thank you all for the feedback.


    [ 2018-01-07 23:22:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Space Combat Patch Released!


    I'm happy to announce the release of the Space Combat patch. First, I just want to say - "I'm not finished with space combat!" That's right. The goal here was to get all the base systems in. The turrets, effects, ships, ship and equipment vendors, stats and skills, loot and all the rest of the core systems that make up space combat in Stellar Tactics. What do I have planned for the future?

  • Point defense systems
  • Equipment that will give you a quick shield or capacitor charge when you need it.
  • Warp Drive inhibitors
  • Sub-system targeting
  • Branching missions that take you to other systems, then take you to planetary locations, stations, anomalies and space wreckage.
  • Missions for miners so they can gather rewards for surviving in dangerous systems or for finding rare minerals
  • Escort missions
  • More AI ships on various tasks in the systems of the universe.
  • Perks for space combat. I'm holding off on these until I have more feedback on the core systems from the community And more... Before you get started, please review the Space Combat Guide. At least the first section as it gives you a few very important survival tips. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1239665795 With the release of space combat, the game should hold over 200 hours of content to max your crew in the best equipment and to acquire the best ships and gear available. I hope you all enjoy the update and I'm looking forward to all of your feedback on the forums. I'd like to thank rebelwolf75, nottrusted, nobrien, Roberto and others for testing Stellar Tactics over the last few weeks. They spent a lot of time in the game and made a lot of helpful suggestions and found a good number of bugs that are now fixed. I've also crushed a good number of bugs unrelated to space combat and made a few enhancements to the game. See the patch notes below. What's next? I'll be taking another pass at ground combat to remove a few annoyances, perfect the blocking system and tighten things up. I'll likely take a few passes at ground combat before the game is finished. Following that I have a bunch of content that's been developed in parallel with the space combat patch that I need to get in the game - content that needs to go in so I can open up the FTL gates. Here are the patch notes: ADDED - You can now eject stacks of items from your cargo hold while in space. Anything you eject is automatically destroyed and cannot be retrieved. Should make mining runs a bit more profitable. ADDED - a reminder message will be displayed that micro-warp is disabled in gravity wells and enabled when leaving gravity wells. UPDATED - If inside the gravity well of any sun, you will start taking damage. First to your shields and when those are depleted, you will take damage to your hull armor. If you stay in the vicinity of the sun your ship will eventually be destroyed. UPDATED: Weapon impacts, explosions and projectile effects updated for all ranged weapons in ground combat. UPDATED: On skill-up, messages are now queued and displayed both on the screen and in the log. UPDATED: Collisions with asteroids are now active. UPDATED: Cargo can now be sorted by all items, ore/gas, commodities and equipment. Commodities are not in the game yet. UPDATED: Afterburner speed greatly increased. Capacitor cost decreased. UPDATED: Ship speed is now based on piloting skill and the equipped warp drive. UPDATED: Micro-Warp speed increased and is now based on piloting skill and equipped warp drive. UPDATED: Interactions with chests, objects and npc's are much faster now. UPDATED: Area exits are now much more obvious. Small panels for area transitions have been removed and replaced with panels that cover doors on rollover and when holding down the highlight key = TAB by default. UPDATED: Base weapon damage now scales per the level requirement of the weapon every few levels. So, you get bonus base damage depending on the level requirement of the weapon and of course bonus damage based on your skills/perks. Enemies get the same base damage scaling. This change is not retroactive so weapons in your inventory use the old range modifiers. UPDATED: Pistols, rifles and heavy weapons have had their range increased. This change is not retroactive so weapons in your inventory use the old range stats UPDATED: You can now mine any asteroid, not just asteroids in asteroid fields. UPDATED: When purchasing ammo (ship and ground combat), the HUD now displays the maximum amount of ammo you can purchase in the pop-up window and the slider is set to only allow you to buy the maximum purchasable amount for that ammo type. UPDATED: Second round of visual polish for the Dauntless - Added addition effects, lighting and grime. UPDATED: Removed the siren effect on all decks except for the VATs - it was annoying while engaging the last part of the Dauntless experience. UPDATED: All areas of random mission maps are now displayed on the mini-map. As you explore, areas that have been explored turn grey. Areas that have had mission objectives cleared turn green. the area you are currently exploring is black with a small compass indicator. Should help better undestand the scale of the area to be explored for missions. UPDATED: Removed the option to generated a full party of team members. When you leave the Dauntless, you can choose only one team member and this was confusing and some felt that it was a waste of their time if they did not read the universe creation screen carefully. The loss of crew members after the Dauntless is a key story element for future story content. UPDATED: Dialog with Dr. Rhamus in ruins revised to add additional dialog options. UPDATED: Addition of a new mission when receiving your starter ship. You are now sent to the Trade Station to gather your team of mercenaries. UPDATED: Loot rewards for the Halamis Facility are now more consistent. Reward tokens and faction are less random so you can better gauge the level of reward for a mission type. Fixed - Can now use F1-F4 in inventory and character info screens to switch team member info when in space. Fixed - System messages are now queued so all messages are displayed to the screen in order. Fixed - When approaching the sun, you will now make an emergency stop. Fixed - A major physics error that could send your ship careening into the sun or elsewhere when you collide with stations and other space objects. Fixed - A display bugs when dragging team members between ship station slots. Fixed - A bug in space when selecting objects that could cause objects in the foreground or another object from being selected. Fixed - You can now re-scan object like planets and ships Fixed - When leaving the Dauntless, in some cases, the selected final team member's equipment was unequipped and placed in the stash leaving them standing there in their underwear once they arrived in the ruins. Fixed - Material error on the trade station - too shiny! FIXED: Ambient audio slider renamed to Music Volume - main menu music volume is not set to your current settings. FIXED: Combat movement when healing will no longer result in negative AP FIXED: Movement cursors will no longer be left on the ground in some rare cases FIXED: When moving, you can no longer loot items. Previously it would appear as if you could loot items from long distances. FIXED: A bug where landing on a planet could take you to another planet landing location FIXED: A long standing bug that could cause extra AP to be used in combat when healing targets that you walk to. FIXED: A long standing bug that could cause your entire AP bar to drain while walking towards an enemy target for attack when wielding a melee weapon or fists. FIXED: A bug introduced by the new navigation icons could cause the player to arrive at target and then rotate in an arbitrary direction when attacking with melee weapons by clicking on an enemy from a distance. REMOVED - Motion blur micro-warp effect - replaced with a new effect. PERFORMANCE: General optimizations for AI in all locations.


    [ 2017-12-23 00:16:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

  • Progress Update 12/15/17


    The video says it all. Thanks for being patient everyone! https://youtu.be/rK08QMs7iWE


    [ 2017-12-15 23:22:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress Update 12/8/17


    Need to rotate my ship so the other shields are facing fire. A hole in your shields is not good! Not much progress to report this week, and no fancy videos because...well...space combat is feature complete. That doesn't mean it's bug free and balanced right now. Nope, not yet. Play testing has shown that space combat may be really difficult - really. So, I need to get that fixed. That and a list of bugs. Meanwhile, I thought I would share my TL~DR Space Combat Survival Guide. Here you go:

    TL~DR Space Combat Survival Guide


    In the immortal words of Admiral Harnsteaad - "Dammit man! Their shields, destroy their shields or we all die!" Power is everything. If you find that your capacitor is getting below 1/3 in combat, then you likely have a power problem. If this is the case, you will never break through enemy shields because your turrets will misfire reducing your DPS to the point where enemy shields are recharging at a higher rate than you can tear them down. What can you do? 1) Try adjusting your speed down first and see if that brings your capacitor back up. 2) If you shields are doing well, try lowering the power to your shields 3) If neither of these work, you likely have a bad power ratio meaning your power plant cannot keep up with your weapons. 4) If #3 - run! What can you do about your power? 1) Find a better warp drive 2) Buy turrets that draw less power or, use light turrets and projectile weapons instead of beam weapons. A heavy beam turret is worthless if you don't have enough power to keep it firing. 3) Find more efficient shields Ok - let's assume you have enough power to power your turrets now. This is a survival checklist for entering combat: 1) Turn your combat shields on and power them up 2) Set your directional shields forward 3) Approach the enemy with micro-warp (you will be kicked out of micro-warp when close enough for combat) 4) Once engaged - hit the pause key

    5) Scan your enemies and find the most powerful - usually the one with the most missiles - and target them. 6) Un-pause and keep an eye on your capacitor - it should never get far below 1/3 - if it does adjust your power to speed and shields so your capacitor recharges at a higher rate. 7) Never-ever-ever-ever let a depleted shield face the majority of fire. Keep rotating your ship to bring charged shields in line with the majority of the fire. 8) If you have a burnt shield, rotate another shield in the direction of fire and set your directional shields to the depleted shield to quickly recharge it - once it's far enough along, rotate that shield in the direction of fire. 9) Never use afterburners unless you are above 3/4 capacitor Cargo carriers, Merchant ships and some Explorers are not really combat fighters. They need to "turtle" - that means speed is not important - reduce power to thrust to almost zero, center power to your shields and make sure you have enough power to your capacitor to maintain it. If your capacitor is maintaining, raise power to your shields a bit until you are balanced. Never use afterburners unless you have enough power. One last word of advice - if your capacitor is guttering out, you will not win a fight, ever. You could sit there in a shield standoff forever!


    [ 2017-12-08 23:18:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

    You asked for it!


    Well, some of you did. Many of you have asked that I remove the constraint of flying only on a 2D plane in space. For a long time I didn't want commit to this until I had combat in and started play testing the system. I'm happy to say I woke up this morning at 5 AM with an idea that fixed a few problems I had with vector math related to space combat and decided to implement it. The combat patch will include full 3D flight for space exploration and combat. https://youtu.be/lsVGo2-QXO4 Thank you all for your feedback. As always, I'm listening!


    [ 2017-12-03 18:26:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress Update 12/1/17


    This week I am finally feature, code and content complete for the Space Combat update. Now it's just play testing, bug fixing and once everything is stable and bug free, I'll get the update posted for everyone. https://youtu.be/dY1fwJGRbrM This week I worked on the Incursion mission system. Incursion missions take place randomly when you are exploring in space. Stations and AI ships in the system will offer you a reward if you can defeat hostile ships in a specific area. You get a cash reward, faction and of course loot when you defeat the incursion. These missions are temporary and if you dock or land on a planet, the incursion will not be there the next time you enter space. They do persist between save games - so if you have an active incursion and save your game while in space, they will be active the next time you load your save. Of course, there will be more mission types for Alpha. Once Alpha is released the plan is to add more detailed mission types - an example would be: You receive a distress signal from a ship orbiting a planet in the current system. You accept the mission and travel to the ship and defeat a group of ships attacking the AI that contacted you. You could then be given another mission to rescue the remaining crew on a nearby planet. Once that mission is resolved, the AI may send you to another sector to take another task. The mission system is quite powerful and procedural missions like this will keep the game alive long after the main story is completed. In sandbox mode, these missions will be the backbone of exploration. The other big task this week was Station AI. Stations now launch local ships that mine local asteroid fields. It's just the first of several AI tasks local systems will be performing that will make systems feel alive and populated. That's all I have for this week. Now it's just a matter of crushing a list of bugs, play testing and making sure everything is stable for the update. Thanks for being patient everyone!


    [ 2017-12-01 22:18:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress Update 11/24/17


    Hi everyone. Another weekly progress update. This week I spent a lot of time on Ship AI including enemy AI collisions, faction through the universe and cleaning up a few long standing bugs in space. Asteroids now have collision and enemy ships avoid stars, planets, space stations and asteroids. See the video below for a few highlights. https://youtu.be/0atTvLZTUf8 A big chunk of code that had to be written was the faction system. While the basics were already in, they weren't exposed to the enemy ship AI. Here is how faction works in Stellar Tactics: --When you start a new game, the universe is generated. Every system gets a certain main faction with Achmedius, the starting system, being a Halamis system. --The AI starts to launch ships with various jobs based on that faction - patrol, anarchy, trade, explore, faction warfare and a few other tasks. --Ships are launched from stations and begin their various roles, traveling between systems or staying within systems depending on their role. --You can engage any ship in combat, hostile or friendly. The act of initiating combat causes a minor faction hit with that faction. Destroying the ship generates a higher faction hit to that particular faction. Destroying a ship aligned with a faction generates negative faction with all aligned factions and generates positive faction with factions that are not aligned. So, there are consequences. This lets you explore the universe and shift your alignment by targeting enemy ships and taking ground based missions that target a specific faction so you can begin to move your faction in a direction where a certain faction you are interested in will do business with you. You could conceivably become aligned with Phage, Scavvers and Raiders if you wanted to. Just know that eventually (not in the space combat build) some stations will not allow you to dock to do business with them if you end up an enemy of that faction. Hostile factions, Raiders, Scavvers, Phage start out as hostile. All other factions, including the various Houses (Halamis, Aralion, Conrair, Cilivon, Shikaru and Varadyn) start out neutral or wary. If you have been gaining faction in the Abandoned Research Facility, you should have a slightly higher faction with Halamis depending on how many missions you've taken. There are other factions that are tied closely to the story: --The Syndicate - Outlaws tolerated by the powers that be. Need something? No problem. Want someone eliminated? Of course! Smuggling? Oh yeah! Masters of stealth, on the ground and in Space. --Kchor - Blue skinned mutants, wise and secretive. The Kchor are one of several mutations that arrived after the long trip through space. No much is known about the Kchor though they have been called on by The Sovereignty to keep the peace in the various wars that have taken place since the Arrival. Their reward? Autonomy. --The Fabricants - Purveyors of the finest augmentations and equipment upgrades, the Fabricants also dabble in the darker arts of melding machine with flesh. Some call them Necromancers, others shun them outright. --The Coven - Outcasts from the time of the Arrival, not much is known about The Coven. It is said that when they arrived, they woke from sleep with incredible Psionic powers. With no understanding of their immediate powers, they nearly destroyed themselves and anyone who contacted them. They were given an ultimatum - leave or be incinerated. They left to the far ends of known space and only have dealings with the Syndicate who smuggle supplies to them on a regular basis. --The Traders Guild - One of the most powerful guilds, the Traders Guild controls commerce between systems. They will need your help and your alignment with them could make you a smuggler or a wealthy merchant. Your choice of course. --The Order - A radical religious order that believe in the Old Gods. They are tolerated by The Church and the Sovereignty and actually align on the side of good throughout the Universe. They are the Paladins of Stellar Tactics and merge powerful ancient rituals with melee and ranged combat. They are fierce opponents. --The Church - The primary religious order of Stellar Tactics Universe. They are primarily political as church and state are one. They are also aligned closely with the Sovereignty and have vast holdings across the known universe - however, something is amiss and you will need to make difficult decisions as the story progresses. --The Jhemm - You encountered them in the Ruins in Achmedius - You are the only known contact and the Jhemm chose you for reasons you do not yet fully understand. --The Sovereignty - The Sovereignty are the reigning power in the Universe. One of the first Houses to arrive, they quickly gathered power and subjugated the rest of the Houses as they arrived. Several wars have been fought, however, The Sovereignty has maintained power. A Republic, The Sovereignty imposes limited laws and an iron fist when needed. They are aligned with The Church and share power with them. The Church is the law and The Sovereignty enforces the law. I'm now down to one major feature that needs to be finished for the space combat update. That is, random missions. It wouldn't be much fun to hope an enemy ship wandered into Achmedius so, this next week I'll be focusing on adding missions that can be taken to defend certain points in space like asteroid fields, stations and planets. Some of these will be random events and others missions that you pick up on the trade station. Once that's in I'll be testing and cleaning up any bugs and then I think I'll be ready to release the space combat update. I don't have an exact date, but soon. Have a great weekend!


    [ 2017-11-24 23:01:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Progress Update 11/17/17


    Lots of progress this week, primarily on the chaff system, directional shields and planetary effects. https://youtu.be/qHi5nfcJuBg Chaff system - The chaff system is complete. You can purchase chaff from any ship equipment vendor. Your ship holds a total of 50 chaff modules which can be deployed in combat to confuse enemy missiles. Directional shields - This system is complete now and includes some changes to the way shields work. Your combat shields take damage until a directional shield is depleted of energy. At that point, you start taking damage to your secondary shields. If your secondary shields are depleted, any combat hits making it through depleted directional shield apply damage to your hull armor. You can select a facing shield to receive extra recharge energy. See the video for details. Target micro menu - The target micro-menu is finished for now. You can select any ship and a popup menu will allow you to scan or approach that target. I'll likely be adding other features to this menu in the future. Planet visual update - I've been wanting to do this for a while so I took a break from AI and other coding to update all the procedural planet atmospheres - I think they look a lot better (larger image below). It's hard to tell in the screenshot though in the game it makes a big difference. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1203708864 That's it for this week. Thanks everyone!


    [ 2017-11-17 22:28:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Space Combat Progress Update


    Hi all! I've been posting regular updates to the forums over the last few weeks. I thought I would post a consolidated progress update to the news area. This week was primarily focused on finalizing the ship storage management code, ship repair systems on stations and the space combat loot system. That wraps up most of the work. Here's where I am right now: Done: --Turret systems for missiles, projectiles and mining, --Space combat fully functional - turret based combat as shown below in a previous update. --All 40 ships playable - Light, medium and heavy variants of fighters, merchant ships, explorers, interceptors and massive cargo vessels. --Skills are all tied into the ship combat system in the game. Team members at stations gain skill and apply bonuses from their skills to your ships systems. --Ship equipment system and all loot tables tied into the combat system. --Ship merchants - trade in or purchase a new ship. --Ship equipment merchants offer millions (really!) of ship specific variants for components like warp drives, turrets, missile launchers, ship armor, electronics systems, ammunition, targeting computers and shields. --Cargo management. --Simple ship repair. When I add the final skill based repair system, you will be able to repair ships in space. For now you can simply purchase repairs on the station. --Ship storage so you can have multiple ships stored around the universe. --First pass enemy ship AI system. --Space exploration HUD update. --Ship scanning. --Combat loot system - destroyed ships drop ammunition, ship equipment and ore. To do: --Chaff and missile avoidance system. --An update to the mission system to allow for space combat specific mission types. --Some additional AI work. --A few quality of life features. --A few testing, bug fixing and tuning passes. --Additional polish. Things are coming along nicely and I should have everything wrapped up soon. I'll continue to post weekly updates and give you a release date for the space combat patch when I get a bit closer to completion. I should mention that this is not all the work being done, another mission set is nearly completed and be implemented along with two other new mission sets after the space combat patch is released. Thanks for your patience everyone! I'm going to post all previous weekly updates below.

    Progress update - 11/3/17


    This week was all about ship vendors. Still have a little work to do on swapping ships and a bit of cleanup work on the UI. See the video below for details. Please excuse my monotone - I need to catch up on some sleep - coffee and Red Bull's aren't doing it anymore... https://youtu.be/MkPl3R9sZg0 Ship vendors can be found throughout the universe and they all carry fixed sets of ships that they sell. Purchasing a new ship requires that you either store your current ship or trade in your current ship for a cash credit towards the price of your new ship. One issue is that your equipment, because it is ship specific, cannot be swapped between different ships. To make things easier, the merchant gives you credit for each item currently equipped on your ship during the trade in. The value generated is the current market value of your equipment + the current trade in value of your ship which is credited towards your purchase. Your charisma affects the trade in value of all items. If you choose to store your current ship, it will remain on the station until with all of it's current equipment until you come back for it. I'll make sure there is an easy way to see where all your current ships are stored. The ship storage menu in the video is still a work in progress. There will be more information available that is visible anywhere, anytime. For example, the ship list will provide two lists - the first is a list of all ships and their locations in the universe and a second list displaying the ships currently on the station you are visiting. Regarding cargo - if you have more cargo in your cargo hold than the new ship will fit, you will need to sell your cargo before purchasing the new ship. The hamsters in the cargo bays will go on strike and the ship vendor will reject the purchase. The rule is that the cargo in the cargo bay of your current ship needs to be less than or equal to the maximum available cargo on your new ship. As you explore, you will loot ship specific equipment. If you plan in advance, you can horde items for that future ship upgrade and after purchasing your new ship, slot those items into your ship. One last note: On the ship info screen you can see an area for "MISSILE MANAGEMENT". This will eventually bring up a menu that lets you fit various payloads on your missiles and tweak their subsystems for range, avoidance and a few other things. Missiles come in one main variant and you can adjust them for various purposes and damage types. That's it for this week. Thanks everyone!

    Progress update - 10/27/17


    Hi everyone - nothing terribly exciting to report this week though lots of progress was made. The focus was primarily on ship equipment vendors, equipping ship equipment, the ship information UI and tying all equipment stats into the combat and ship systems. This was a ton of work and I'm glad it's behind me. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1182538737 What I have now is a fully functional ship equipment system that allows for the purchase and sale of all ship equipment types. This includes changes to the NPC AI systems, the ship vendor UI, managing the moving data around between the vendors, cargo and the ship itself and displaying that information in the UI. When ship equipment is looted or purchased, it's placed in your cargo hold. From there you can drag and drop the equipment to the equipment slots on the right or the ship UI assuming you are docked at a station. One item of interest is what I'm calling the "Power Bias". This is rainbow colored bar in the ship UI that displays the combat power state based on your currently equipped engines, shields and turrets. The display calculates the amount of power required to sustain all firing turrets in combat assuming default power settings. A reading to the left of center means that your power balance based on equipped hardware will be effective. Anything to the right of center means that the power draw from your equipment will lead to mis-fires and you will not be able to maintain your maximum fire-power. I'm still doing a bit of work in the screenshot below, tying the correct numbers into several of the fields and moving things around. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1182540036 I mentioned this before - shields and turrets have a base power cost which reduces your capacitor charge rate. Turrets draw from your capacitor. Your warp engines provide your overall power rating. All equipment displays this information, however, I needed a way to display this so you won't need to break out a calculator every time you are equipping items. The power bias gauge will help by displaying the current power sustain based on the equipment currently slotted to your ship. I may actually add this to equipment rollover info so you can easily see the effect a shield, turret or engine might have on your power bias. There will be lot's of equipment variants to choose from and you will always be looking for the best performance at the lowest power cost. I can say that I am now weeks away from the space combat update, so that should be good news to everyone. No specific date yet as I have quite a bit of coding and testing to do yet. Have a great weekend and thanks for supporting Stellar Tactics!

    Progress update 10/20/17


    The ship loot system is nearly finished - just need a few days to clean things up and get the rest of the rollover information data coded and this task will be finished. There is a lot of code tied to the system including vendors, rollover information, ship attributes and more. I won't go into all the details and will just say this was a productive week with lots of coding, spreadsheet work and many cups of coffee... A few things about ship equipment and loot. Let's take a look at a ship shield and turret. This is the same equipment at level 10 and again at level 40. Your skills in weaponry and electronics modify the effectiveness of these components as you gain skill. You can see in the screenshots below how bonuses from your skills scale the attributes of the equipment. Green attributes are modified by your skill while yellow attributes are unaffected. Turrets display minimum and maximum DPS scaled to your skill level and the adjustments to their base damage values. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1175021819 Turrets gain additional damage, reload speed and more efficiency in their use of the capacitors as the team member at the weaponry station becomes more skilled in combat. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1175020521 Shields gain additional HP from your skill level - this is based on the premise that someone assigned to the Electronics station gains bonuses to shield efficiency from their skill level. Shield resistances are static and scale with the quality of your equipment. Resistances directly remove a fixed percentage of damage from incoming weapon damage before that damage is applied to your shields. Ship equipment comes in various tiers of quality from Basic to Epic. Legendary equipment can only be looted from vessels/enemies that are high risk or rewarded from missions - it cannot be purchased. Epic ship equipment can only be purchased using faction tokens or looted from bosses. All equipment is generated by ship type. So, turrets, shields etc are clearly called out for fitting and will only work on that specific ship type. This is because equipment is scaled based on ship attributes like mass, number of hard points and available energy. All equipment has a minimum skill requirement which is also called out in the equipment information UI. As always your charisma stat will adjust the value of equipment when buying or selling. The available equipment for ships include turrets, shields, electronics systems, targeting computers, hull armor plating, cargo expansions, warp and FTL drives. In other news a fourth procedural mission set has been started, the third is being lit as I write this. That's all I have for this week. I'll be focusing on ship merchants and the ship merchant UI next week. Thanks again for supporting Stellar Tactics!

    Progress update 10/13/17


    Hi everyone - another progress update this Friday. First, a video that covers ship skills and how they change the space exploration portion of the game. https://youtu.be/yZJidlU29C4 Please excuse the bands at the top and bottom of the screen. This video was captured in the debugger and is running at 1/2 FPS and a non standard resolution. Stellar Tactics takes a bit of a different approach from most other games. Your crew contributes to the performance of the ship over time based on their experience in four key skill categories - Piloting, Weaponry, Electronics and Targeting. Each of these categories is represented by a dedicated station on your ship. Piloting affects: --Ship speed - your base ship speed is calculated based on the mass of your ship. Piloting increases your base speed, afterburner speed and micro-warp speed. --Ship turn rate - massive ships turn slower than small interceptors. Piloting skill adjusts this. --Evasion - the ability to evade incoming fire as a bonus Weaponry affects: --Weapon damage bonuses - as you gain experience, your skill with weapons increases the weapons base damage --Turret reload speed - How fast your turrets recharge and reload --Weaponry capacitor drain (Efficiency) - the amount of charge taken from the capacitor each time the turret fires Electronics affects: --Scanning range and the quality of scanning data. Higher quality scanning data will sell for more credits to various factions --Security - the stability of your ships systems against hacking - this is for the boarding module - you may be boarded if the enemy ship is trying to capture your cargo/ship or if they have a mission to capture you. --Shield bonuses to your shields maximum durability and recharge rate Targeting affects: --Sub-system targeting (The UI in the video needs to be updated) - for the boarding module --Overall chance to hit scaled by range for turret projectiles --Shield bypass - your ability to bypass shields by attuning your weapons - this bonus applies damage directly to the enemy ships hull armor. As you gain skill your bonuses are applied to each of the above. At various tiers you will also get perk selections similar to ground combat that allow you to fine tune your ships systems to adjust for different scenarios - Larger or smaller ships, the number of ships you are attacking/being attacked by and their weapon types based on scans. You can pause combat and scan ships and make perk adjustments at any time in addition to adjusting your power, turrets and targeting. So, space combat, experience and skill bonuses are code complete - that's the majority of the work. I'll be moving on to the loot system next. Following that ship and ship equipment merchants, some faction work, simple space combat mission systems and testing. I'll be sure to post another update for you next Friday. Have a great weekend and thanks for supporting Stellar Tactics!

    Progress update - 10/6/17


    Hi everyone. Here is the update for this week. Hope you all have a great weekend. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1159889900 Added experience system for piloting, weaponry, electronics and targeting skills. You gain experience at the end of combat for each skill assuming you have a team member assigned to the appropriate station on your ship. Completed key bindings for turrets - Keys 1-6 - press for individual targeting - hold and release to toggle turrets on/off. Mining lasers moved to turret system. Can individually target each mining laser to multiple asteroids. --Combat while mining possible. Mining is a bit less peaceful now as it is possible to be attacked by hostile ships while mining. --Mining turrets come in light and heavy variants. --Mining turrets will come in various quality tiers similar to combat turrets and can be purchased or found as loot drops. Higher quality mining lasers will generate bonuses to the yield of rare minerals. --Mining lasers draw energy from your capacitor and have no ammunition requirements --Mining turrets use the same energy management system as combat turrets. You can balance energy to engines and shields against your capacitor charge. You need to power up your turrets to mine asteroids. --You can mine while in combat with enemy ships. Larger ships have more turret mount points and you can balance mining with defensive turrets --Heavy mining turrets generate twice the yield and consume twice the capacitor charge of light turrets. Yield is modified by your skill in mining. When perks for mining go in you will be able to fine tune mining in a number of ways based on your selections. --Mining turrets can be brought on and offline for energy management as needed --Mining can be quite profitable and you're going to need the money to purchase new ships and equipment - ships are expensive. As an example the Pharris Crate MRCH-4 has six turrets total, 3 laser turrets and 3 missile turrets for defense. Filling the cargo bay (1700 cubic meters without a cargo expansion ) and not being picky about the mineral yield can net you around 34,000 Credits per trip. Imagine what you could do with a Behemoth CRG-2 which has 4 heavy turrets that will fit heavy mining lasers and 180,000 cubic meters of cargo space! --I'll be adding asteroid and asteroid field scanning during alpha so you can evaluate the quality of the mineral yields for various asteroid fields. Rich asteroid fields will be guarded and you may need to purchase mining rights from the local faction authority or face resistance. --I'll be adding the ability to eject cargo for the space combat update. Moved all new effects (impacts, beams and explosions) to ground combat. That's it for this week - back to work...

    Progress update - 9/29/17


    Hi everyone - hope you had a great week. I'm going to post these every Friday so you know how things are coming along with space combat and other content. This week: --All 40 ships are now combat ready and playable by both the AI and the player. --The combat pause system is in. When you pause combat the entire universe stops allowing you to pan your camera to get a better sense of the environment around you, turn turrets on and off, target enemies and turrets individually, review scanning data and manage your energy. While combat is paused you can also review inventory, character info, log data, the universe map and all ship data including swapping team members to various ship stations in the ship UI. --Combat damage tables are complete and balanced as far as I'm going to take them for now - I'll tweak things once you get a chance to play with space combat and I gather feedback. --Shield damage mitigation is in and working. Shields mitigate different types of damage based on the quality of the shield you have equipped. You can buy and loot varying quality tiers of ship equipment so as you explore, your ship's equipment will improve (and so will the AI). --I'm working on the ship scanning system today which is nearly finished. The team member assigned to the electronics station of the ship UI gains experience from scanning and as they improve in skill will gain perks that you can customize. Scan data will provide you with more/better information. Some of the info you won't get at lower levels of scanning skill are enemy turret damage ratings and shield mitigation bonuses. A few things about space combat and shields:
    • Ion weapons can turn the tide of battle and are very important. This weapon type is a shield killer and comes in three varieties - projectile, beam and missile. You can of course choose to equip any type of weapon you like, however, if you scan a ship and it has multiple Ion weapons and you do not, you should run or make sure your ship can handle the damage.
    • Ion weapons do increased damage against shields which is then mitigated by the shields ion resistance ratings.
    • Ion weapons do very little damage against ship armor.
    • Non Ion "beam" weapons do 1/2 damage against combat shields and are then mitigated by the shield resistance rating for that damage type.
    So, beam weapons are not very useful against shields unless they are Ion based. Depending on the number of mounts you have on your ship, you may want to balance your weapons accordingly. I was trying out a matched enemy ship that had two ion weapons, a missile turret, and two Gauss cannons. I had 2 missile launchers and a few Gauss cannons and the other ship tore me up. I think the key here is picking your fights. I would have been fine against another ship with matching equipment. If I had quality shields that were attuned to Ion damage, I would have likely survived. And now for something different! Missiles come in three base types - explosive, thermal and ion. I'll be adding a warhead settings menu for each missile type that lets you customize their payload for specific purposes like disabling turrets/engines, evading ECM and chaff, range/damage, splash damage and a few other settings. Settings for missiles are a trade-off - each of the below can increase/decrease damage based on how you set up the missile. Missiles are configured once and all missiles of that type use those settings until you change them. This may not be in for the initial release of space combat.
    • Setting the missile for longer range adjusts damage values down and conversely shorter range increases missile damage
    • Setting missiles to evade ECM and chaff will reduce damage output, however, they are more likely to evade active countermeasures.
    • Splash damage reduces damage and affects more sub-systems (Shields/Turrets/Engines etc)
    • Targeting specific systems increases damage to that system and reduces damage the hull of the enemy ship once the shields are down.
    At least that's the plan. Once I get the warhead settings menu in place I'll play test it to see if the system is practical. In other news a third mission set is being worked on now that the caves are done. It's shaping up nicely and will go in the game after space combat is finished. I'll share a screenshot once the lighting is finished. Until next week...


    [ 2017-11-10 21:31:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

    One year anniversary!

    It's been one year today since Stellar Tactics first released on Steam Early Access and it's been a great year for the game. With the help of the community I've crushed hundreds of bugs, implemented community suggested feedback and the game is very stable with over 100 hours of content with the addition of the Abandoned Research Facility. Looking back I'm really proud of the progress I've been able to make and I hope you can all see the passion and dedication I have for the game. I couldn't have done it without your feedback and support. Stellar Tactics has always been intended to be a Sci-Fi sandbox that I could fill with content and story for years to come. I expect the game to expand quite a bit over the next year and I hope you all will join me as I work towards releasing space combat and add the other systems that need to go into the game before the FTL gates open at Alpha. Speaking of which, a little progress update here in areas other than space combat. Since my last update all of the space stations for the game have been completed and are now ready to populate out into the void:



    Procedural cave systems have all been modeled and laid out and are currently being lit and populated. When they are done they will be ready to be added to the random mission generator and distributed out into the universe. https://youtu.be/4LOr15gHcns And finally, a new procedural set for station mission interiors is being worked on as I type this. So, there is a lot of progress being made and I'm working to get everything in the game so even more content is ready for all of you. I'd like to thank you all for your support and patience as I continue to expand the Stellar Tactics universe. As always I'll keep you updated, answer any questions you have and work hard to make sure the game is fun and stable. -Don Wilkins


    [ 2017-09-22 17:05:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Combat system progress update


    Space combat is moving along at a good pace. I thought I would share a quick video to show how the basic systems work. https://youtu.be/boRWbkSvQ2o The combat system is turret based. All ships have a limited number of turret mount points and beam, projectile or missile turrets can be looted or purchased. Turrets come in light and heavy variants and each of the 40 ships have specific mount specifications. Heavy weapon mount points can take light turrets if you choose to equip them. In combat you will be managing range, power, shields and your current ship speed as well as turret targeting. Power is critical in combat. Your turrets, shields and systems take a base amount of power to spool up and maintain. Available power feeds your ship capacitor and weapons draw from the capacitor so if your capacitor is depleted your turrets will fail to charge and fire and will wait for an available charge. Each turret draws a certain amount of power from the capacitor every time it fires with beam weapons depleting the capacitor at the highest rate. If your energy balance is off, your capacitor will not maintain its charge. Energy balance is maintained by the number of active turrets, power to your shields, number of activated devices and power to your engines. You can balance the power to these systems by deactivating turrets and devices during combat and setting the active power charge to your engines and shields. Reducing power used by your shields, systems, turrets and engines diverts that power to your capacitor. Each turret has a range meter - keeping your active turrets range meter green is important because turrets have range accuracy falloffs. If you're outside a turrets optimal range, your weapons may not connect. The same goes for enemy ships. Smaller faster vessels with missiles and beam weapons can go up against much larger ships that have weapons with shorter range and less maneuverability by staying outside the range of the larger ship. You will want to optimize your equipment for maximum charge rate, range, strategy and damage. Turrets target independently so you can have a unique target for each turret. This allows strategies like utilizing certain turret types that do more damage to shields, then switching those turrets to the next ship once the current targets shields are down. An example would be using your ion turrets on enemy shields to deplete them and then kinetic, plasma or explosive weapons once that targets shields are down. Ship loot drops will be similar to the ground based loot drops with various quality tiers and different stats to choose from. Ships also drop cargo so if you want to be a pirate, or are not aligned with a certain faction, you can harass them as much as you want. There will be missions like the mission system in KZ-MR7 with various objectives that can be taken on stations, from other ships in space or from faction agents. Space combat can be profitable and dangerous. Scanning targets will be important because it may not be immediately obvious just how dangerous a ship or group of ships are. I'm still working on things - elements of the UI may change and I'm balancing systems so what you see here is work in progress. If you have any questions about combat or what you see in the video, please do post here or on the forums. I'll be happy to answer them. No ETA on the release of space combat at this time though you can see it's fairly far along. I'll be working on loot, vendors and ship merchants next week which need to be in place before the space combat release. I'm also considering adding a first pass mission system for the release of space combat so you have tasks to complete in Achmedius.


    [ 2017-09-22 16:30:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Updated movement system - Patch 0.094


    Another update - this time the game movement system has been completely revised. The old system was written a long time ago and I've never been happy with it. I've been tinkering with this new system for a while now and decided to release it. https://youtu.be/alpPmdKMa_g The old system had quite a few problems: --The team did not move as a squad and this caused problems when entering combat. Specifically you had to burn a lot of AP to get into position --Squad facing was not available. You had to use additional AP to rotate them into position after arriving at your destination. --In single movement mode you could not select another team member and move them while the last character was moving to a position. --Single movement did not allow you to set a destination facing. The new system: --You can now move as a squad and arrive at your destination in formation. --Team members no longer lag behind --You can set the direction your squad will face when they reach their destination by dragging the mouse while the right mouse button is held down. --In combat you can now set a facing when moving team members. When they arrive at their destination, they will rotate to face the selected direction set by the movement cursor. --Team members can move independently when out of combat in single movement mode. You can select a destination for a team member and then select another team member and move them simultaneously. --Single/Group mode can be toggled using the [SPACE BAR] when out of combat. In combat, the [SPACE BAR] ends the selected team members turn as it always has. --Movement speed has been improved --You can zoom out a bit further now I think overall, this is a much better system and gives you flexibility, alleviating wasted AP when entering combat. I have future plans for additional quality of life improvements like box selection and formations. A few additional bug fixes: FIXED: A long standing bug where some armor would not display on your team members. Remove the armor and re-equip it to display the correct armor graphic. FIXED: Phestus could end up in a state where he would not load his inventory when trading with him. FIXED: Animation transitions into combat and from idle to attack. I hope you will give the new system a try and post feedback on the forums. Thanks as always for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2017-07-28 17:34:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

    First Aid and Hacking skills to level 60 - 0.091


    A new content patch today with skill perks for First Aid and Hacking to level 60. Included are a few fixes for the game, updates to damage mitigation closely tied to the perk lines and proofread text for the logs. Hope you enjoy the patch. As always, if you find any issues, please post them on the bug forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/465490/discussions/7/ ADDED - Perks to level 60 for the First Aid skill line. You can select various perks at any time that give you bonuses to heal. All perks provide a chance to remove effects from yourself and team members. You have a chance to remove bleeding, poison, hobbled, crippled and stun. ADDED - Perks to level 60 for the Hacking skill line. You can select various perks at any time that give bonuses to the amount of time you get to decode digits, bonuses to the number of looted items and loot quality of the hacked chest or locker, and bonuses for critical bypass of hacking. ADDED - Added a new ship reset feature in space. If your ship is stuck for some reason, you can now press and hold the F1 key for six seconds to reset your ship to the nearest FTL point. I'll remove this when the FTL points open up in the future. This is a fairly rare occurrence, however, I thought I should add a way to recover if it happens. UPDATED - Mitigation for status effects for all weapon perk lines adjusted to resist based on cumulative perk selections. In general: --First, damage is mitigated by your shields for specific damage types as long as your shields are charged and the attack type does not bypass shields. Damage is reduced. --Second, armor mitigates the remaining damage including additional AC from perks as long as the attack type does not bypass your armor. Damage is reduced. --Finally weapon perks that provide effect resists stack and provide a chance to bypass secondary effects like stun, hobble, cripple, toxins and bleeding. These resists do not modify damage, so the damage after shields and armor are calculated and still applied. Grenade damage cannot be resisted at this time. The newly added First Aid skill perks allow you to remove secondary effects. UPDATED: Shaved a few seconds off loading times. UPDATED: When rolling over portraits in the turn-order bar during combat, the info bar is now displayed at the top center of the screen. This will give you access to combatant status and detrimental effects without needing to rollover combatants. UPDATED: All log entries proofread. FIXED - Fixed a typo in tips related to single/crouched which should have been single/grouped. FIXED - Fixed signs on crew deck which should have been "Cryo" not "Crio" FIXED - Gas grenades now reset the DOT timer if combatants are in the area of effect. If you have been cured of toxins, or the DOT effect timer runs out and a combatant is still in the area of effect, your timer will be reset and you will continue to take damage. FIXED - Grenade explosion material blending. FIXED - Duplicate combatant selection cursors. FIXED - Saved shadow settings are now set correctly when loading a game. REMOVED - Removed screen lock for dual monitors. It was causing problems in cases where multiple monitors were running different resolutions. I'll look into a permanent solution in the future. For now, there are third party applications (some free) that you can download that solve the problem.


    [ 2017-07-14 17:26:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Dauntless Remastered update - 0.090


    I'm happy to release the Dauntless Remastered update. The Dauntless has been revised significantly. The story remains the same.

    • The entire start of the game uses new level art.
    • The Captains Quarters has been merged into the Crew Deck.
    • The distance you need to travel for various missions has been reduced.
    • The last boss fight is a bit easier.
    • Mission objects in the game environment have been scaled up in size so they are easily seen and interacted with.
    • The Dauntless is brighter overall. If it's still too dark for you, however, there is a new Gamma slider in the options menu that will allow you set the games brightness to your liking.
    • All dialog, mission text and log's have been professionally proofread for errors.
    • Several of the longer conversations now have shorter dialog options available.
    • Better direction has been provided in the log for several of the missions.
    • Many screens have been increased in size so their font's are more visible making reading easier on the eyes. I'll be addressing the space UI's when I work on space combat.
    Overall the Dauntless is now in line with the rest of the game. These changes were all inspired by feedback from the community. I felt it was important to make the experience of the first hour or so as fun, intuitive and trouble free as possible. IMPORTANT: If you have a save on the old Dauntless, that save game is no longer valid. If you are currently playing on the Dauntless, you must start a new game. Game's saved on the old Dauntless will now appear on the load screen as "SAVE INVALID - OLD DAUNTLESS!" and you will not be able to load the save game. You can delete these saves. Saves after the Dauntless are unaffected. I'm hoping you will all give the new Dauntless a try and post feedback on the forums. I'm eager to hear what you think. Lots of content, bug fixes and community suggested enhancements have been added since the game released on Early Access. Here are the notes: When starting a new game you now have three options to choose from.
    Tutorials have all been re-written and proofread. There is now a separate tutorial window with text and video that can be accessed from the help screen [H]. The tutorial window will pop up at various locations as you progress through the Dauntless. Tutorial pop-ups can be disabled in the Options->General menu.
    General updates and bug fixes: ADDED - Added a gamma slider to the video options menu. You can now set the level of brightness to your personal preference ADDED - Added a movement icon to the team portraits on the explore UI UPDATED - Dialog, mission text, perks, tutorial text and hints-tips have all been professionally proofread UPDATED - You can now start the game with SMG's if you apply points in SMG as the starting skill for any team member UPDATED - Increased the amount of default ammo that you start with on the Dauntless UPDATED - Final battle on Dauntless made a little less difficult UPDATED - Increased size of dialog UI so text is easier to read UPDATED - Rollover info moved to a fixed position in the upper right corner so it does not obscure icons. UPDATED - Rollover info scaled up so text is easier to read UPDATED - Character info UI scaled up so text is easier to read. This includes all tabs for Inventory, Character Info, Log and Ship UPDATED - Combat cursor body-part and chance to hit indicators have been made larger/more visible UPDATED - All character materials adjusted to be brighter UPDATED - Small objects like door locks and mission items have been made larger. They can be made brighter when you hold the CTRL key and by turning off subtle object highlights in the video options menu. FIXED - Grenade projector issues resolved on several of the facility locations FIXED - Rare lockup during fight with Dr. Rhamus on bridge FIXED - Missile launcher explosion light fade FIXED - Enemies with rocket launchers now correctly swap weapons if at close range FIXED - Enemies with rocket launchers no longer try to fire a missile after swapping weapons to their sidearm FIXED - Lockup related to enemies with rocket launchers swapping to SMG side-arms FIXED - Major re-write of the combat initialization code FIXED - Green keycard bug - should be gone - let me know if you see it again As always, if bugs are found I'll address them quickly. A huge thanks to all of you for your feedback and support!!


    [ 2017-06-30 20:19:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Updated Dauntless - work in progress


    Hi all! I thought I would post an update to show some of the progress I'm making on the updated Dauntless experience. Lot's of community feedback is being implemented and things are moving along quickly. https://youtu.be/U7xTn1td_Gg That's all I have for now.


    [ 2017-06-17 16:35:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.079


    This patch focuses on adding a grenade AOE indicator, updated line of sight visibility and a number of important fixes. Here are the notes: FIXED: Credit values of 1,000,000 and above did not display correctly in the vendor and inventory UI. FIXED: Inventory paper-dolls display the correct gender in the inventory UI. FIXED: When gaining a level in healing or hacking, the correct team members name is added to the skill-up message FIXED: Mission log data is displayed correctly in the completed mission list when items are selected. FIXED: An error that was not correctly calculating critical chance bonuses from mods was fixed. ADDED: Added a grenade AOE indicator. Originally this was going to be granted as either a device or a perk. I felt it should just be a default behavior since using grenades can be confusing. To do this, I removed grenade physics since there was no predictable way to provide an AOE indicator if the grenade bounced. UPDATED: Updated the way NPC's check line of sight for attacks. They should be less likely to fire from the very edge of doorways. UPDATED: A few updates and changes to the LOS visibility system:

    • Line of sight now includes an auditory radius where enemies near team members (within 10 units) will be visible.
    • Enemies now enter combat regardless of whether it was an enemy or a team member who initiated combat on first sight. This places enemies in the combat turn-order list immediately and starts processing their visibility at the start of combat instead of after the first shot is fired.
    • Enemy visibility is updated more often.
    • Enemies not in line of sight of any team members that attack from range no longer become visible for the duration of the round. You can of course use the CTRL key to see them and you will be able to tell what direction they are firing from by the angle of the projectile.


    [ 2017-06-02 20:15:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.077

    0.077 This week was all about tuning combat, stability and general fixes. Combat scales nicely now and is a challenge at the default difficulty. Scaling kicks in when your team is on average level 5 and continues to ramp up in difficulty. I'll be adjusting this more as time goes by. Here are the notes: FIXED: Resolved a rare team member movement lockup. FIXED: Movement breadcrumb was disappearing while in combat - specifically when attacking occasionally with melee weapons. FIXED: When loading a save game while not at the main menu, load times are faster. FIXED: Enemies with rocket launchers now correctly switch to secondary weapons in all cases FIXED: In some cases enemies could not be attacked if in close proximity to walls and other objects with melee and ranged weapons. FIXED: Left clicking the reload icon when out of combat now reloads the selected team members active weapon, not the entire team. Right clicking the icon reloads all weapons for your entire team. FIXED: When an enemy or team member dies of poison or bleeding and ends their turn, the next combatant no longer skips their turn. ADDED: Added ambient audio to all facility mission locations. ADJUSTED: Micro-Warp space travel is now faster. ADJUSTED: Adjust damage scaling up a bit more at higher levels. ADJUSTED: Enemy melee damage scaled up. ADJUSTED: Shield mitigation scaled down. ADJUSTED: Phage vomit attack is a bit more dangerous. ADJUSTED: Several combat animations adjusted to improve the pace of combat. OPTIMIZED: Optimized the movement breadcrumb path display. OPTIMIZED: Enemy AI target scanning is now staggered across frames. OPTIMIZED: AI Ship processing queue optimized. KNOWN ISSUE: In some cases when scrolling around in the scene, the camera is a little jerky. I'm looking into this problem. IMPORTANT: The next time you load a saved game and change areas, the game will clear unused save data. Depending on how long you have been playing the game, it could take from less than 1 second up to a minute or two before the data cleanup is completed. This takes place right after the loading bar fills and before the area you are transitioning to is displayed. A message will be displayed on the screen while this is taking place. This is a one-time cleanup for each save game. After the same game is cleaned, you should create a new save game and go from there. 1) Loot packs will no longer persist after you change areas - if you are in a mission area, and you leave, loot will be removed. 2) Loot packs in any areas you have previously visited will be removed. 3) If packs are on the ground and you save a game, when you reload, those loot packs will still be there, until you leave the area. 4) Chests and lockers, if not looted, can be looted by returning to the area. If you leave items in a looted locker, they won't be there when you come back. As always, if you find any bugs or issues, please post then in the bug forums. Thanks again for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2017-05-27 21:06:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.074 - Team reload, tuning and loot compare UI


    A few important fixes and adjustments in this patch. Thanks again everyone for your feedback. The main features are combat tuning, an team weapon reload feature while out of combat and the addition of equipment rollover info that compares currently equipped items to the items in your backpack, stash or items int he loot UI. ADDED: Team weapon reload - When out of combat, you can reload your entire teams currently equipped primary and secondary weapons by right-clicking the reload button on the UI. ADDED: Rollover info will now compare your equipped item to the item you are examining. The highlighted inventory or vendor item will be at the top of the rollover pane and your currently equipped item will be displayed at the bottom. I may revise this when I next work on the UI during Alpha so the comparison is side by side. FIXED: Asteroids should re-spawn correctly now, really - no more one-shot asteroids. FIXED: Double clicking an enemy no longer results in a single attack with double AP expenditure. FIXED: Fixed a problem with the movement breadcrumbs not displaying after melee movement when out of range. FIXED: A number of navigation errors. FIXED: Hobbled effect now correctly affects team members reducing movement range. FIXED: Fixed a number of perk related status effect bugs. Status effects based on perks should now be applied correctly at all levels and from all weapons within that skill class. FIXED: Pugilism perk not adding bonus damage in some instances. FIXED: Charisma bonuses from equipment now affect vendor pricing FIXED: Fixed an error with vendor trash items. If you have an old item in your inventory that includes the word "wiring", just sell it. The icons and text are mismatched. FIXED: A random game lockup that would occur during movement or when initiating combat. ADJUSTED: Adjusted the amount of time it takes to display rollover info in the stash. ADJUSTED: Adjusted damage and CTH up for 2-hand weapons- not a tuning pass, just a tweak to bring things more in line with where they should be. 2 hand melee weapons receive a new bonus from STR to both damage and CTH. ADJUSTED: Cumulative stun effects for Pugilism perks reduced - the bonus stun effects at higher levels were OP. Pugilism has the highest stacked stun perk bonus in the game. ADJUSTED: Adjusted the effect that the intelligence stat has on initiative. ADJUSTED: Adjusted initiative overall so enemies compete for initiative on a more even playfield. Initiative events that re-order initiative are less common at lower levels and increase as your team progresses at higher levels. ADJUSTED: Small arms (Pistols, SMG's and 1hand melee) drop in equal proportions to Heavy arms (Rifles, Heavy weapons and 2hand melee) - Note that SMG's other than Rhamus' sub-machine gun should by default only have burst and full-auto modes though they can be modified to have all three fire modes. ADJUSTED: Applied a damage scalar for enemies across all difficulty levels. I still think enemy damage is not high enough at higher levels, though this is a good first step. Enemy damage now slowly ramps up based on the average level of your team. This is to compensate for the quality of gear you find as you progress through the game. Some shields can absorb as much as 30-50% of the damage type being inflicted by your enemies. The damage scalar also compensates for perk bonuses that include added damage bonuses and DOT's that can be applied to enemies. These perk based bonuses for DOT's, poison and bleeding, now apply correctly as per the patch notes above. Before this patch, if you were approaching level 20 with average gear, you could end combat with hardly any damage on normal difficulty settings, even against higher tiered enemies. Stellar Tactics has many strategies for compensating for enemy damage: --Perks allow you to choose bonuses to AC, Balanced bonuses or Damage bonuses on the fly. If you are facing a tough enemy at higher levels, try changing your perks to compensate. If you are only applying damage bonuses through perks, you may be challenged at higher levels. --Shields - Shields provide amazing benefits. Check your current shield against the damage type the enemy is inflicting. Carry around several shields that allow you to mitigate different types of damage. Apply shields that mitigate the damage type of enemies carrying heavy weapons. --Choose gear with Endurance for your tanks, equip them with the best possible shields and use them to keep the enemies away from you. Send them in first. --Look for the most dangerous enemies and use stunning attacks and grenades (stun and smoke) to keep them either under control or using their AP to move. --Use med kits --And of course, use tactics to your advantage I'll be gathering feedback over the coming weeks to see how everyone feels the new damage modifiers are working. You may need to adjust the difficulty settings up or down depending on your play style after this patch.


    [ 2017-05-19 22:37:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch 0.072 - Faction Vendors


    I'd like to thank everyone who reported bugs and made suggestions since the last content update. Your feedback is making a real difference. Many fixes and adjustments have been made to Stellar Tactics in the past month since the release of the last major content patch. A cumulative list can be found below and pinned to the general forums Patch Notes

    Halamis Faction Merchant


    This update adds the Halamis faction merchant and the underlying code and systems for faction merchants in general. You can find the merchant near Zabin Morbain in the Halamis Facility Staging area. Faction merchants offer faction equipment and unique armor sets for tokens earned by completing missions throughout the universe. Faction armor is high quality armor and as such requires a good deal of effort to generate enough tokens to outfit your entire team. The Abandoned Research Facility is a great place to run missions and gain faction and tokens to outfit your crew. I'll be adding more equipment and faction armor to the faction merchants across the universe during Alpha. As the story evolves, you may or may not want to be seen wearing the armor of certain factions around the known universe.
    • Items are expensive and quite powerful. The merchant evaluates your current team makeup and presents you with armor tailored for your current level. Check in regularly as your team progresses for better armor with higher AC and stat modifiers.
    • Stat bonuses on the armor are set to your team's current level at the time of purchase. I'll eventually add armor set bonuses that provide special effects if you are wearing an entire matching set of the current armor type. Every few levels you should go back and see if you can improve your equipment.
    • Even when you outgrow your faction armor set, it has high value at regular merchants and can be sold for a nice profit. You may choose to purchase faction items to use your tokens and convert faction items to credits. When crafting goes in, faction armor can also be disassembled for high quality components.
    The merchant sells:
    • Halamis Quantum Trans-locator - Tired of trudging back through the facility or just weighed down by loot? Buy a Quantum Trans-locator from your friendly Halamis merchant! The Halamis Quantum Trans-locator is attuned to the staging area of the abandoned Halamis Research Facility and will relocate your entire team in the blink of an eye! You only need one...
    • Halamis Faction Armor - Buy the entire set and get a shiny new look! The merchant knows what you need and the armor offered scales to your level, offering the finest protection available - at least from Halamis!
    A note from Zabin Morbain regarding "quantum trans-locators" - "While the Halamis trans-locator is a prototype version and the first trans-locator ever developed in the known universe, future versions are likely to allow you trans-locate yourself back to your ship. I know for a fact that the Scientists at Halamis Lab's are already hard at work developing a two-way trans-locator. This amazing device will let you return to the original location where the trans-locator was last initialized. Certainly early adopters will pay an exorbitant price for this new device, so save up your faction tokens. Your exploration of the Halamis Research Facility is facilitating incredible discoveries in the areas of energy harmonics, quantum field theory and of course helping to keep the universe a safer place."

    Fixes in 0.072


    ADDED: Halamis faction merchant. You can find the merchant near Zabin Morbain in the Halamis Facility Staging area. FIXED: A rare bug that was causing one enemy type to spawn incorrectly in the facility. FIXED: Duplicate enemy groups in one of the facility locations FIXED: Ammo is once again spawning as loot on the Dauntless. ADDED: Add a ui component that displays your current faction token totals. Open any of the information UI's and rollover the available credits area of the screen. Halamis is the only faction with missions that reward faction tokens at this time. UPDATED: Enemies with rocket launchers will now swap weapons if a combatant is too close instead of blowing themselves and their target up. FIXED: Enemies with missile launchers that swap weapons will now correctly calculate damage from their newly equipped weapon.

    Cumulative Bug fixes and adjustments in 0.072: Again, a huge thanks to everyone who reported bugs and provided feedback. Here is a list of fixes, adjustments and additions since the last major content update:


    ADJUSTED: Increased the value of equipment, both on vendors and as loot. Items that have already been looted have a lower value than items you will loot going forward. The cost of buying equipment from vendors is slightly higher than it was before. ADJUSTED: The cost of standard ammo has been reduced. ADJUSTED: The cost of heavy weapon ammo has been reduced significantly ADDED: 3 new locations for the mission generator. If you find a place where you get stuck, or an enemy gets stuck, please do post a bug report. I'll also need your log file as described in the pinned topic in the bug forums to get it fixed. ADDED: Added a label to indicate that team members can be selected by pressing F1-F4 UPDATED: A number of adjustments to enemy AI that make them more intelligent.
    • Ranged enemies will attempt to keep their distance, backing away from melee attackers in most cases
    • Blocking adjusted - enemies now have a number of activities including communicating with team members, healing, reloading and running for cover when they are blocked.
    • AI are less likely to waste AP during movement and combat
    • AI are less likely to bunch up leaving them open to AE grenade attacks
    • AI environment evaluation algorithms optimized. The time it takes for an AI to act once it is their turn is significantly reduced.
    UPDATED: Cleanup of enemy healing code UPDATED: Various tweaks to animations and combat animation speed UPDATED: If a grenade or medkit are activated, ending a team members turn automatically disables the active state. UPDATED: Updated default space art for planetary bodies, suns and nebulae. This improves the default space visuals for the game. If you have a GPU with 2GB V-Ram you can, as always, check the HiRes Space option in the video options panel for ultra high resolution skyboxes and object materials. UPDATED: Smoke and gas grenades clouds are much more visible in the environment. UPDATED: A few small adjustments that may resolve ranged enemies occasionally firing through walls/corners. UPDATED: Turn order indicator now removes enemies and KO'd team members immediately UPDATED: When in single movement mode, you can now move multiple team members simultaneously while out of combat. Grouped movement functions the same as it always has. UPDATED: When in single movement mode, the camera no longer centers on team members when you click them. While in combat and grouped movement, the camera functions as it always has. UPDATED: When receiving faction tokens, a message is now displayed that tells you "You gain "faction name" Faction Tokens: +XX for a total of XX tokens. Will help keep track of how many tokens you have until the UI for this has been added. UPDATE: Updated combat pain animations for smoother animation blending UPDATED: Shield and armor wear disabled until crafting and repair go in UPDATED: Vendors carry more ammo. UPDATED: Balanced ammo drops between various ammo types - Dauntless ammo drops still restricted. UPDATED: Increased loot drops in general. UPDATED: Increased grenade drop rate. UPDATED: Forcing the door to Phestus open for now until I can resolve a mission error where the open state is not being saved. UPDATED: Rollover info delay removed in vendor ui UPDATED: Med-Kits are no longer a persistent toggle. You will need to click the icon every time you want to use a med kit. If you click the icon and do not use the med-kit, you will need to click it again to disable the med-kit. Using a med kit automatically resets the state. UPDATED: Combat movement path breadcrumb is now updated every frame, no delay. UPDATED: Further adjustments to first aid and hacking experience gain. UPDATED: The ABANDON mission button will now completely clear missions. If you ever find more than one mission from Zabin in the active mission list, just abandon all missions and speak with Zabin again. This will clear any progression issues. It's unlikely with the fix above that you will be able to get more than one mission in the future. UPDATED: Removed auto-recovery for team members that have fallen through the world. Recovery can be accomplished manually by holding the F1-F4 key (depending on the team member you want to recover) for six seconds and releasing it UPDATED: Spawn points have all been checked and adjusted as needed in the "Facility" map set. FIXED: If auto-save was enabled and you immediately went into combat when transitioning between locations, save games were no longer possible after combat ended. The only solution was to end the game task. Thanks for reporting this chookahead! FIXED: The camera is now correctly reset when loading games that were saved while in single movement mode. FIXED: In the Aznari Ruins, Dr. Rhamus will no longer speak with you until Dr. Jensen gives you a mission. FIXED: Fixed a few problems on the bridge when fighting Dr. Rhamus. The Dr. is less likely to gain first attack and do nothing when a specific set of circumstances takes place. FIXED: Fixed a long standing bug that was setting non-hostile NPC's weapons invisible. FIXED: If the last enemy combatant dies of a DOT (Bleeding or Poisoned), the default tool bars are restored correctly when combat ends FIXED: A possible fix for phage pyros - reduced particles in fireball effect FIXED: More adjustments to movement and enemy distance - melee are less likely to get right up in your face FIXED: Camera once again centers on the currently selected team member in combat and out FIXED: Blocked movement in one of the facility locations FIXED: When entering combat, enemies no longer fade out and then fade back in. LOS for enemy visibility remains the same. FIXED: Fixed a number of areas where it was possible to get stuck in the newly added facility locations. FIXED: A possible fix to prevent rare lockups on some AMD CPU's FIXED: CTH cursor was incorrectly displaying bonuses to hit on various body parts - including the head. FIXED: HP when creating team members and when in game are exactly the same now. FIXED: HP should no longer vary when equipping/un-equipping armor and weapons unless those items have stat modifiers FIXED: Energy weapon projectiles are less likely to stay visible after impact FIXED: Scaver Carnor now correctly named FIXED: When looting grenades and med-kits that are currently selected, the number of items is updated in the UI FIXED: Depleted asteroids now re-spawn correctly after 1 hour of game time and no longer take only one mining beam pulse to be destroyed. FIXED: Enemies can only have a maximum of 1 stun grenade each FIXED: Fixed an error with ammo mods that was keeping some modded weapons from gaining addition ammo FIXED: Phage psionics no longer do double damage and/or damage and crit with fireballs. FIXED: Ranged enemies no longer inflict double damage FIXED: A very rare edge case where landing could generate incorrect landing location data FIXED: Zabin no longer appears on the trade station after he gives you a mission to meet him on Achmedius VIII - unless he has a twin brother, which he doesn't - so I don't know how he could be at two places at once. Unless he has advanced teleportation technology - which he doesn't...yet... FIXED: A very rare edge case that was causing the exits to the procedural mission areas to disapear. If you are in a mission that is bugged, you can now exit. FIXED: An error in an updated beam rifle model that was causing enemies to mis-fire. FIXED: More navigation mesh fixes. FIXED: Ammo is once again rewarded for mission completions FIXED: Enemies will no longer fire multiple rockets in one attack (annoying!) FIXED: A rare edge case where when walking to an enemy with a melee weapon from distance for an attack, could cause attacking character to lock up the game. If blocked, the team member will stop out of range as close as possible to the enemy and return control to the player. FIXED: If you are self stunned, your turn will be ended automatically now FIXED: You can now scroll the stash list with the mouse wheel FIXED: Fixed enemy miss message to use the enemies name correctly FIXED: Mission completion when turning in missions to Zabin should now function without error. For now you will get no ammo when turning in missions until I have more time to look into this. FIXED: Shots should register as either a hit or a miss now 100% of the time. No more phantom shots. FIXED: Grenade targeting was not functioning correctly - now fixed FIXED: The AP movement indicators is now working again. FIXED: Random crash related to mission rewards and ammo. FIXED: A few more navigation mesh errors fixed FIXED: Fixed a problem with Zabin where you could take a mission, click again and then click a third time and the mission would reset, granting rewards. FIXED: If you have your cargo bay selected, you can now get rollover info on the vendor side of the UI. FIXED: A couple of navigation mesh errors in the facility level set. FIXED: You can no longer waste AP reloading a weapon that is already at max ammo capacity. FIXED: Icons for perks above tier 1 were not being displayed FIXED: Double clicking a med-kit in your inventory to add it to your stash no longer destroys the med-kit FIXED: Broken combat queue. FIXED: Clear enemy missions now correctly update the map to indicate that the final area is cleared. FIXED: A message is no longer sent to the screen every time a clear enemy mission npc is defeated. FIXED: Rifle pain animation FIXED: Requirements for first aid progression relaxed FIXED: Requirements for hacking progression relaxed FIXED: It was possible to have more than one mission from Zabin if your inventory was full and mission rewards were rejected. Zabin will no longer allow you to speak with him if your inventory is full and cannot accept rewards. FIXED: If no missions were present in the active mission display, junk data would be displayed. FIXED: While you were away, your Mercs came back to get their missing hair on the Achmedius Trade Station. FIXED: Combat skills for some weapons were not contributing to the total number of skill points required to level up. FIXED: Non combat skills (FirstAid and Hacking) when leveled up were not contributing to the total number of skills required for global leveling. A team member needs to have a full orange experience bar and a total of 5 skills leveled (displayed by the small purple bar at the bottom of the orange "Next level" bar) up before they have enough points to level up. FIXED: Skipping the Dauntless then exiting to the main menu and starting a new game that does not skip the Dauntless no longer results in starting in the Ruins. FIXED: All areas of the trade station are now exposed by default. Hidden areas were creating confusion when trying to find the mercs. FIXED: An edge case where team member portraits were not be displayed correctly in the ship stations UI. FIXED: If stash was open when closing the inventory window, the next time a vendor was acctivated, rollover info was incorrect. FIXED: Fixed an issue where doors in Halamis Ore could be locked even if you have completed missions and opened the doors. FIXED: Heavy weapons now gain experience FIXED: In some instances, specifically when in hand 2 hand combat mode, that characters idle animation was not being restored. This also caused a problem where the combat cursor would no longer be displayed when you roll over an enemy target. FIXED: Lots of navigation mesh fixes in numerous areas for the "Facility" map set. FIXED: When Steam overlay was active, input was being registered. The game should no longer register input when the Steam overlay is activated FIXED: Activating the Steam overlay while loading a game should no longer crash the game. This was only happening on some systems. FIXED: Rollover info in vendor inventory was showing incorrect information. FIXED: "V" key was not toggling crouch/stand in combat. FIXED: When mining in space a large halo is no longer displayed over the ship FIXED: Mining now works even if a team member is not positioned in the weapons ship station. Mining only gains bonuses and grants experience from/to the team member in the weapons slot. FIXED: A trade exploit was fixed on the Trade Station. For anyone who has not been to the trade station a vendor has been reset. FIXED: If initially in space, the new portraits were bugged if you entered the character info or inventory screens. New portraits are now initialized regardless of where you are when you start the game with the new patch. FIXED: Weapon wear is once again disabled - at least until crafting and repair are in the game. FIXED: The endurance description was incorrectly noting that Endurance contributes to AC. I moved AC bonuses to the perk lines some time ago. The description is corrected. FIXED: Displayed number skill values in character information gui were being obscured by the progress bars. FIXED: The mini-gun carried by one of the merc's you can recruit was bugged. You may need to discard it. On the trade station, in the merchant area, there is a vendor standing in the corner. He sells level 1 weapons. You can usually get a new mini-gun if you load and save a few times checking his inventory. Anyone who recruits this merc in the future should no longer have this problem. Let me know if there are still problems after replacing the minigun.


    [ 2017-05-12 22:08:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Content Patch - 0.051 - Abandoned Facility (KZ-MR7)


    Unlimited procedural missions, equipment stash, streamlined game start, mercenaries, new enemies, tons of gear to loot, updated space stations, new character portraits, turn order bar, grenades and med-kits moved out of the secondary weapon slot and much more...this is a big patch! I'd like to thank everyone one of you for supporting the development of Stellar Tactics and for your patience. There has been an enormous amount of work put into the game over the last few months. I don't want to overhype this build, though I do think you are going to like what you find (I hope). The game just took a very big leap forward towards Alpha. There will be bugs - no way around it. I've done everything I can to test this build, however, with many new people playing it, there are bound to be some issues I've missed. With that in mind I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU ENABLE AUTOSAVES for now. Open the options menu and highlight the "Auto Save on level transition” menu item. It is well worth it and save times are fairly fast. If you do find a bug - please post in the bug forums. I would also like to ask that you send me the game log: [olist]

  • In steam, go to your library
  • Right click the game and select properties
  • in the properties window go to the "Local files" tab
  • Select "Browse local files"
  • Open the "Log" folder and send the "S3DClient.log" file to support@stellartactics.com [/olist] With that, here is what you will find in 0.051! Procedural missions have been added to the game. The abandoned Halamis Research Station has re-appeared on the surface of Achmedius VIII. You will find a new NPC near the entrance of the Trade Station in Achmedius who will recruit you. A few things about the procedural mission system.
    • The level cap is set to 60 - this applies to global team member levels and skills
    • There are three mission categories right now; eliminate boss, clear facility and gather. More are coming (destroy, activate and rescue).
    • Missions are offered in short, medium and long variants - long missions take quite a while. The longer the mission, the better the rewards and tokens. You can reject a mission and another will be generated.
    • You can abandon a procedural mission. Story missions cannot be abandoned. You must leave the facility to abandon missions. A button is displayed in the mission log area with red text that says "ABANDON" and is only displayed if you are not located in the mission area. Clicking the button will remove the mission from your active missions list. No rewards will be granted for the abandoned mission. You can only take one mission at a time from the Halamis agent, so, this frees you up to take further missions if you are having difficulty completing your currently assigned task.
    • Tokens are granted for missions - more tokens for longer missions. Faction tokens can be spent at faction merchants for unique armor, devices and other goods. Faction merchants are not in the game yet. They will be going in very soon, so save those tokens! Besides a new armor set, there is at least one device that will be going on this vendor that every one of you is going to want - believe me!
    • Every time you enter the facility the layout is randomly generated. That is, locations are assembled to create a unique facility layout. Enemy placement, enemy types, loot and the placement of objectives changes every time a mission is generated.
    • Other than the basic background story of the facility, there is no story content in this update. This is the first pass at procedural mission content that will be persisted throughout the universe. Other "mission sets" and enemies will be developed in the future for variants on the system. Story content is different and non-procedural. I do plan to add flavor logs and other interesting mission variants in the future.
    • The slice mines have been moved to another planet.
    New portraits replaced the old portrait system. There are a total of 20 to choose from. If you load an existing game, I assign a portrait to your team members automatically (other than Rhamus and Jensen - NPC portraits are not changed).
    • Auto-assignment of portraits may display duplicates.
    • To change portraits, enter the character information screen ("C"), select the portrait from the portrait GUI in the upper left of the screen. Once the character you want to change is selected, left click the larger single portrait on the character information screen. A new window will pop up that lets you assign a new portrait, voice and name.
    • You can change any team members portrait, name and voice at any time.
    When starting a new game, you can now choose to skip the Dauntless. After the universe data is generated, you will create a single character, starting the game without a full team. You will be able to add new team members on the Trade station, where you will find several mercenaries willing to join you in your travels. The mission information UI on the log screen now allows sorting by active and completed missions. Active missions are displayed by default. NPC's can now join your team. There are several on the Achmedius Trade Station.
    • The doctors will leave your team the next time you enter the trade station. If you are already on the trade station, walk near the entry and they will leave your team. This leaves you room to add three new and permanent team members by recruiting them on the station.
    • Save before your recruit your merc's in case you want to make changes. The Mercenary manger is not yet in the game. It will go in at a later time allow you to add and remove merc's from your active party.
    • Mercenaries have assigned combat skills. They will tell you which skills they are proficient with.
    • Mercenaries set their level to your existing team’s average level.
    • Even though the mercenaries skills may not exactly match what you are looking for, you can still progress that team member and customize them by equipping the appropriate weapon types of your choosing.
    • Once a new NPC joins your team, you will be able to change their appearance, voice and name.
    • The NPC's physical model appearance will change to match the selected portrait the next time you change locations or save and reload the game. I'll be doing some work in the future so the models match the portraits better!
    • The new team member will have a number of stat points to assign depending on what level you are when you ask the mercenary to join your team.
    The rollover info GUI now displays enemy difficult with a total of three icons next to the enemy name. If no icons are displayed the enemy is of normal difficulty. Enemy groups may have leaders, captains and in some cases bosses commanding them. A stash has been added to the game. The stash is available anywhere while out of combat (for now). You can sort the stash by any inventory item type. Double clicking items in your inventory automatically moves them to the stash. You can also drag any inventory item to the stash graphic if it is open or to the stash crate. Grenades have been moved to their own hot-bar slot.
    • Right click the icon to select the current grenade
    • Left click to activate/deactivate the grenade
    • Activation is required in order to throw a grenade
    • You must de-activate (click the icon again) or throw the grenade before continuing with combat actions.
    • AP is displayed on the icon and is dependent on whether or not you are crippled
    • Grenades are pulled from your shared inventory (backpack), not from your stash
    Med-Kits have been moved to their own hot-bar slot.
    • Right click the icon to select the current med-kit
    • Left click to activate/deactivate the med-kit
    • Activation is required in order to use the med-kit
    • You must de-activate (click the icon again) or use the med-kit before continuing with other combat actions
    • AP is displayed on the icon and is dependent on whether or not you are crippled
    • -Med-kits are pulled from your shared inventory (backpack), not from your stash
    While in a procedural mission area, a dynamic map is displayed. It gives "GENERAL" cues as to where you will find exits leading to other areas and where the main exit from mission location is located. As you explore the environment, the map fills in and eventually will indicate when the entire area is explored. I'll be implementing scanning devices in the future that provide additional information on the map depending on the quality of the device and your skill in electronics, intelligence and perception. The map also notifies you when areas of the mission are cleared by setting that room's background color to green. There are two cases where an area is considered clear:
    • If you are in a kill mission where the entire base needs to be cleared, the map background for each area will be marked green if that area is cleared of enemies.
    • If you are gathering data, samples and otherwise, an area is considered clear when all items for that area have been gathered.
    The game now has a turn order indicator on the left side of the screen. Turn order is displayed with a series of portraits running from the bottom to top, where the top in the list is the currently active combatant. Combatants higher in the turn order indicator are likely to gain their turn sooner, though in some circumstances a re-roll of initiative can move combatants up or down in priority. Enemies are highlighted in red and team members in green. Rolling over any of the portraits displays the combatants name. The turn order shows a maximum of 8 combatants, thought there may be more in an encounter. When working for a faction, mission rewards will include tokens. Tokens can be used to buy faction equipment. This includes faction armor and devices. For now, the tokens you are rewarded will accumulate until the faction equipment vendor is added. In the future, these faction merchants will be located in trade stations across the universe. A global tuning pass that increases the pace of combat by adjusting a number of factors including enemy and player character hit points. Combat encounters in general take less time to resolve. This should increase the overall pace of game play. I see it as in improvement and I'm looking forward to everyone's feedback. Obviously more work to do on this as well as tuning skills and progression. Things that did not make it in that will soon: --Objective arrows --Halamis faction vendor GENERAL BUG FIXES FIXED: Planets labels staying visible when loading to an exploration location from space. FIXED: Personal Shield effects are less likely to occlude character model geometry FIXED: Text entry fields work as intended now FIXED: In rare cases, team member turns were skipped at the end of an enemies turn, if a team member was the next combatant in queue FIXED: %hit chance displayed on cursor will never be above 100% FIXED: A rare crash when fighting phage that would lock the game FIXED: Mod's were not displaying correct icons when equipped. In some cases this may cause equipped mods in save games to not work correctly. The only solution is to discard the weapon. Not to worry, the Halamis Research labs have countless new (and better) weapons to loot. FIXED: Further fixes for enemies healing from long distances FIXED: Looting objects through walls FIXED: If self stunned during a round by grenades, can no longer use remaining AP to move FIXED: A rare killing blow combat lockup bug. ADDED: "G" key toggles group/single movement while out of combat ADDED: "V" key toggles crouching/standing for the currently selected team member ADDED: Two bonus AP are granted to players and enemies at levels 40 and 80 (the level cap at this time is level 60) ADDED: Bosses and enemies may be completely resistant to certain types of damage. If they resist damage, a message is displayed UPDATED: Updated the help menu to reflect the new keys UPDATED: Combat responsiveness improved. UPDATED: All general vendors now carry a basic hacking tool. UPDATED: Sound-FX updates for various menus UPDATED: Added additional team member voice comments UPDATED: When leaving the Dauntless, you retain your party members equipped items which are moved to your stash. UPDATED: Vendor trash items re-worked to be a bit more Sci-Fi - these items will be useful once crafting goes live, though can be sold to vendors for cash. KNOWN ISSUES: --A possible very rare crash with Phage - I believe this is fixed, however, it may rear it's ugly head again! --When looting or purchasing grenades and med-kits, the icons on the hud do not update quantity. --Some nav-mesh errors - this are almost impossible to find by myself and they will likely show up with heavy gameplay. If you do get stuck, please send me the S3DClient.log file - it's the only way I can debug the issue. --Heavy debug data is being pushed to the client log. I'll reduce debug data in a few weeks. COMING SOON: A few things that you can buy from the Halamis faction vendor with those tokens you are earning. --Halamis Quantum Translocator - Tired of trudging back through the facility? Buy a Quantum Translocator from your friendly Halamis merchant! The Halamis Quantum Translocator is attuned to the staging area of the abandoned Halamis Research Facility. --Halamis Faction Armor - Buy the entire set and get a shiny new look! The merchant knows what you need and the armor offered scales to your level, offering the finest protection available - at least from Halamis! Another pass at the combat AI to make enemy's more efficient. Perks to level 60 for hacking and first aid. More variants of the facility map set. Bug fixes - of course. THE NEXT MAJOR CONTENT UPDATE: The next major update will be a first pass at space combat. This will include the ability to purchase ships and equip them with various weapons and equipment items.


    [ 2017-04-14 22:10:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

  • Updated character portraits


    I thought I would share these with you since there has been quite a bit of progress. The new portraits will replace the existing portraits when the next content update goes live. When creating a new game, you will be able to select from any of these portraits during character creation. If you have an existing game, your current portraits will be replaced automatically. I will be adding a way for you to go into the character screen and select from any of the available portraits and replace them with your own choices. The old portraits will go away completely and will no longer be available in the game. In the future I'll also add a way for you to replace any portrait in the game with your own - likely during beta. The next content addition is coming along nicely. I am actually playing through the random mission scenarios now. There is still quite a bit of work with the mission generator and random enemy spawner which is working nicely now but needs work on placement and mission variety. I need to be happy with everything before I release the update. So, no ETA, but every day I get closer. That's all I have for now. Back to work...


    [ 2017-02-25 16:16:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

    February Update!


    Welcome to the February Update! A lot of progress has been made over the last few months. You may have seen the core engine upgrade and a lot of recent patches for stability based on that upgrade, enhancements and quality of life improvements. All of that is documented in the other update I just posted. I really haven't talked about other things that have been going on in the background while all of the coding work has been going on. While I've been working on game systems, I've also been working on KZ-MR7. This includes collaborating with artists who have been developing armor sets and other content. I would not have been able to do this without those of you willing to take a chance on me as a developer and Stellar Tactics as a game. My most sincere thanks to every one of you who has taken a leap of faith to support me and the game. Your game dollars are going towards the development of the game. Stellar Tactics is getting better with almost every patch! A huge thank you to everyone providing feedback on the game. As always, I'm reading your comments and responding when I can.

    Enemies and Armor sets:


    Enemies for KZ-MR7 have been in development now for several months. I'm showing a few below. There are a number of material variants that are not shown. The armor these enemies are wearing can be looted and worn by your team members. When fighting bosses in KZ-MR7 (and throughout the universe), occasional rare armor set pieces will drop. Combining all pieces of an armor set will unlock special bonuses. These sets come in both melee and ranged variants and, some augmented for skill based specialization. You will see at least one of these sets in KZ-MR7. Major factions in the game have their own armor types and specialize in different forms of combat. There is more, but I need to leave something for a surprise. House Halamis - Know for ore production, refineries and the manufacture of mining equipment and automated surface mining drones, House Halamis holds a monopoly on mining production across the known universe. Halamis enforces it's hold with a military presence wherever it feels the need. Primarily focused on ranged tactical combat, Halamis Defenders are known for their exceptional training and discipline. House Shikaru - An ancient society steeped in tradition and secrecy, House Shikaru Initiates are conscripted into service at a young age. Mercenaries for hire, House Shikaru is known for its martial prowess and is widely regarded as deadly and reliable. Throughout history The Shikaru have rarely inserted themselves in politics and wars, preferring to stay neutral, and available for hire. Adults are rarely ever admitted into their service and must prove themselves through a martial gauntlet.

    Space Stations:


    The new space stations are ready to be put in the game. These were quite a bit of work and I'd like to thank Colin, an amazing 3D modeler, for putting these together for me. The stations are built from modular components and can be assembled in countless variations. I have future plans for these besides just populating the universe with diverse locations to explore, but I won't get into that now. Every single one of the stations in the Stellar Tactics universe can be landed on and explored. Some of these locations are mission/combat locations, others are trade stations. Eventually all of them will be driven economically and by faction. I'll populate Achmedius with these stations in the near future, likely with the KZ-MR7 update.

    An update on KZ-MR7:


    The locations are moving along quickly. All locations have been modeled and I'm now working through each of them adding navigation mesh, doors, props and lighting. There is quite a bit of work left to do, and things are moving along quickly. I expect I'll be populating these locations with enemies in the next few weeks and then writing supporting code. KZ-MR7 will be a endless dungeon that allows players to progress to level 60 and the tier 3 perk lines. Every time you enter KZ-MR7 the layout is randomly generated from a set of scenes. A rough calculation tells me that there are 144,000 variants of this level set alone, taking into account current enemy variants and positioning, level permutations and other random factors. This procedural "set" will be populated across the universe during Alpha. And this is just the first procedural level set! And the loot...oh the loot! Every scene requires quite a bit of work - lighting, navigation mesh, doors, interactive objects, enemy placement, loot locations, entry and exit points...
    There is more posted about KZ-MR7 on steam here: http://steamcommunity.com/games/465490/announcements/detail/566719912011654863

    And one last thing:


    These are very early rough portraits from a very talented illustrator I'm working with. There is quite a bit of detail work left to do on the color illustrations but I thought I would share them with you. This is just the beginning...
    That's all I have for now. Thank you all for supporting Stellar Tactics! Like me on Facebook and Follow me on Twitter !


    [ 2017-02-03 20:38:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch Notes - 0.045

    Hi all. This is a consolidated update of all bugs fixed since the engine upgrade patch. Lots of fixes, additions and tweaks. Thanks for supporting Stellar Tactics! If you find any issues while playing the game, please post them in the Bug forums. I check them daily. ADDED: Loading progress bar added. ADDED: Menu's are now accessible via a micro-menu in the lower left of the game screen. A help icon has been added. I wanted to get this done for reasons of accessibility for players that may have disabilities. You should now be able to play the entire ground game with only mouse clicks. Please let me know if I missed anything. NOTE: I'll be working on space keys and menu items soon. For now, the Micro-Warp ( R ) and Afterburner ( Spacebar ) are not mapped to the in-game UI. ADDED: VSync is now on by default - this may help with some rare physics issues. ADDED: When exiting the game, the screen fades to black and a message that the game is exiting is displayed. You can run other applications/games while Stellar Tactics in this state. ADDED: Per player requests in the forums - mouse edge panning has been added. REMOVED: When starting a new game, the help screen is no longer immediately displayed. The help "reminder" message is still displayed at the start of each new play session. A new icon is available on the micro-menu in the lower left corner (question mark) for key reference and general game-play information. CHANGED: 64Bit and 32Bit version of the game are installed based on the users system. It is no longer necessary to select the 64Bit version of the game by launching the game from inside Steam. CHANGED: Combatants within a certain range of team members (any team member) are now visible. The rationale is that you would hear them if they were that close. This does not work if in a smoke grenade field. CHANGED: On the ship UI, "Energy" has been changed to "Capacitor" in preparation for work on space combat. Note: I'll be adding a ship micro-menu icon to the UI in the future. I'll also be adding the CTRL key during space travel which will display gravity wells and other useful info. CHANGED: Space "Initiate combat", "Raise shields" and "Mining laser" have been combined into a single bar that includes ship hard points in preparation for work on space combat. FIXED: If your lead team member initiated combat and rolled initiative to become the first combatant, that team member could be left in a state where they could not attack. FIXED: If a med-pack was equipped and selected as the active weapon, selecting team members using the character portrait UI in the main combat UI and inside the Inventory and Character Info screens would not work. FIXED: Screen edge scrolling requires mouse at very edge of screen now. FIXED: Incorrect level scaling in the case of Dr. Jensen and Dr. Rhamus in the Aznari Ruins. FIXED: Further fixes to blocked enemies and rare cases where they could be blocked and not pass their turn to the next combatant. Additional debug data added. FIXED: New game universe generation/save is fast once again. FIXED: Micro-menu is no longer visible during the initial cinematic. FIXED: Auto-save when exiting dauntless now functions correctly, letting you load the game state prior to entering the escape pod - just in case you want to change something... FIXED: Options settings persist between play sessions and are now separated from save games. FIXED: Ambient sound volume now functions as expected. FIXED: When leaving The Dauntless, the escape pod mission is now marked as complete. FIXED: A bug that would display inventory objects occasionally when rolling over ship components and the mining laser. FIXED - When exiting the crio-pods, the console was not highlighting on rollover or when holding CTRL - could be confusing new players. FIXED: Hit percentages stay fixed when hovering over body parts and returning. Switching enemies will reset the CTH values on the cursor, calculating new values the next time you hover over an enemy. Holding the ALT key while hovering allows fine aiming as always. FIXED: When selling items from the backpack to a vendor, inventory space field is now updated. FIXED: Missing engineering skill description is now visible. Most of these are going to go through a tuning pass in the future. FIXED - Characters will engage in combat correctly the next time if KO'd in previous combat engagement FIXED - Team members who are not KO'd will not be able to move until their KO'd team members stand up again. FIXED - Dead enemies in pit on Halamis Ore will now stay dead. They will no longer die every time you load a save game in this area after they've been defeated. FIXED - Combat on stairs adjusted to fix a rare lockup FIXED - Characters are much less likely to get stuck in a walking animation loop when stopping them on stairs FIXED - A few typos in dialog with Rhamus. FIXED - Cannot get stuck in hand rail in trade station. FIXED - A fix that should address the issue of being soft locked when combat ends occasionally. This should also resolve the issue of having characters immobilized until selecting another team member. FIXED: Fix so input is not registered when leaving combat. May fix rare lockup. FIXED: Additional support for a small number of systems that are having problems launching the game. FIXED: Fix for broken armor durability display FIXED: Major fix for initiative and turn order. Enemies and player team members will no longer receive consecutive turns FIXED: Fixed a bug that was occasionally locking up team members at the end of their turn, not allowing them to pass turn order. This was a blocker in cases where it showed up requiring a save game reload! ( Thanks rebelwolf75! ) UPDATED: Mouse edge panning and keyboard camera scrolling speeds adjusted UPDATED: More stability fixes related to new engine update. UPDATED: Looting crates, packs etc is now much faster.


    [ 2017-02-03 20:27:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Engine Upgrade Live!


    The engine upgrade is now posted to to all depots! I'll be keeping an eye on the forums over the course of the next few days to patch any major issues that come up. A huge thank you to everyone who helped test over the last week! Please report any issues you find with the update in this forum post. http://steamcommunity.com/app/465490/discussions/7/142261352650917432/ Note: This update will wipe your save games! See the section below to recover your saves if you must have them. If you have been testing on the "Publictest" depot, your saves should be fine assuming you've been playing over the last few days. If you have any problems running the game after patching, try the following: 1) In steam, go to your library 2) Right click the game and select properties 3) in the properties window go to the "Local files" tab 4) Select "Browse local files" In the "_CommonRedist" folder run the following: -DXSETUP.EXE in the DirectX folder -Run the OpenAL installer -Run either the x86 or x64 installers in the vcredist folder depending on your OS

    General fixes


    • UPDATED: Option to raise FPS cap from 30fps to 60fps
    • FIXED: Major fix for enemies skipping their turns
    • FIXED: Fix for missed movement clicks. Much more responsive overall.
    • FIXED: Healing icon no longer appears when rolling over KO'd team members when a med kit is equipped.
    • FIXED: Ghost projectiles - bullets always provide feedback now.
    • FIXED: Fixed long standing bug that allowed team members wielding ranged weapons to use the melee movement bonus.
    • FIXED: Equipment display bug that would show wear as a negative value
    • ADJUSTED: Enemies that do not have weapons equipped no longer gain a large H2H melee bonus.
    • ADJUSTED: Spiders are a little less likely to poison
    • ADJUSTED: Weapon and armor wear is now 1/2 of what it was before until crafting and repair go in.
    • ADJUSTED: Better loot from bosses on Dauntless.
    • ADJUSTED: The game now auto-saves when leaving the Dauntless.

    Core engine update features


    • Reworked Load/Save folders for accessibility and future Steam Cloud Saves
    • 64 Bit support - steam will automatically choose between 32bit and 64bit depending on your systems capabilities
    • Better support for Windows screen resolutions and tabbing
    • 4k support (Experimental)
    • Better performance overall
    • Stability fixes
    • Better support for zoomed state in Windows 10
    • Faster execution of scripts
    • Lower memory overhead
    • Better support for lower end video cards (Yeah Intel - that's you, though I still cannot officially support you!)
    • Updated Steam Libraries
    • Load/Save games are now much faster
    • By default, space graphics are set to low resolution (for those with limited VRAM]. For those of you with 2GB or more VRAM, just open the options menu and under video select "HiRes Space" and apply settings. The next time you enter space, you will be using the high resolution graphics

    MANUALLY RECOVERING YOUR OLD SAVE GAMES


    NOTE: Do not attempt this if you do not feel technically competent with the Windows file system! This update will NOT delete your old save games. If you must have them, you can manually move them to the new save folder. I recommend starting again from scratch, but if you absolutely must have your old saves, then you will need to take these steps. [olist]
  • First, backup your savdat.xml - In Steam, under Library, right click Stellar tactics and select "Properties" -> Select the "Local files" tab - > Click "Browse local files". Now, copy the "savdat.xml" file somewhere safe.
  • Now, open "savdat.xml" file in "Notepad" and then "File->Save As" and overwrite "sav_dat.xml" file in the Steam installation folder (note that this file is named slightly different with a "_" between "sav" and "dat"). Leave the "savdat.xml" file in the folder in case you want to go back to the public build. - Ok that's the first part, now to get your save files.
  • Access "Users"YourUserName"AppDataLocalAbyss" - in this folder search for "Saves" (hint: it should be in one of the subfolders. (see below if you are having problems seeing the AppData folder).
  • Copy everything in the saves folder - all the ".sts" files. Make sure to leave the "Saves" folder and its contents in case you want to go back to the public build.
  • Go back to your Steam install folder (instructions above) and paste all of your save games (".sts" files) into the "Save" folder
  • That's it, you should now be able to access your old saves in the new engine. [/olist] Missing your AppData folder? It may be hidden - Here is an article if you need more info: How to access your AppData folder


    [ 2017-01-13 23:18:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

  • Survey Results!

    The survey results are in. I'm going to post them here and let you know what I plan to do about each of these. Many of you provided a lot of commentary and suggestions which I am still reading through. Thank you all for participating. There will be more survey's in the future.

    First, Blocking:


    The majority of all players felt they would enjoy blocking as a game mechanic more if there were more visual indicators in the game environment. This will be a good sized block of work for me to do, so it won't go in soon. Likely during Alpha or even Beta - by it will go in!

    Second was character movement:


    As you can see, a majority of people felt that movement could be increased slightly. I'll make sure to increase movement speed a bit - perhaps 10-15% so the animations do not look comical and the feet don't appear to be sliding. This will go in during Alpha.

    And finally, the pace of combat:


    As you can see, the majority felt the pace of combat was fine as it is. I have already promised to do some work to optimize enemy combat animations and merge attacks so enemies do not return to idle before making their next attack if multiple attacks are made. That should increase the pace of combat a bit. The results were really close so I think upping the pace a little won't hurt.


    [ 2017-01-13 20:41:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Engine Upgrade!


    This build is only available on the "Publictest" depot for now - see instructions below to opt in. I have good news and bad news!

    The bad news first!


    There is no good way to say this, so I'm just going to say it. Better now than later. THE ENGINE UPGRADE WILL WIPE YOUR SAVE GAMES (sort of) In order to prepare the game for Steam Cloud Saves, I had to move the save game folders and data. I don't expect that I'll need to do this again, however, I cannot guarantee that there won't be save game wipes in the future while in EA. I'll always provide a way for you to recover you're old saves if possible (see below). NOTE: Cloud saves will go live when this build is ready to be released. There will be no cloud saves while testing on the "Public test branch". This engine upgrade was crucial for KZ-MR7 and moving forward towards alpha. I am providing a way for you to manually recover your save's if you must. See the section below.

    The good news!


    I am posting a major engine upgrade to the "Publictest" depot! Instructions for accessing the updated version are noted below for anyone willing to test the new build. Please read below, opt-in and give me feedback on the new engine. I'll be providing a pinned thread in the general forums for feedback. Post feedback here!

    Features


    There are too many fixes/changes to list here. I'm just going to list the major updates for you.
    • Reworked Load/Save folders for accessibility and future Steam Cloud Saves
    • 64 Bit support - steam will automatically choose between 32bit and 64bit depending on your systems capabilities
    • Better support for Windows screen resolutions and tabbing
    • 4k support (Experimental)
    • Better performance overall
    • Stability fixes
    • Better support for zoomed state in Windows 10
    • Faster execution of scripts
    • Lower memory overhead
    • Better support for lower end video cards (Yeah Intel - that's you, though I still cannot officially support you!)
    • Updated Steam Libraries
    • Load/Save games are now much faster
    • By default, space graphics are set to low resolution (for those with limited VRAM]. For those of you with 2GB or more VRAM, just open the options menu and under video select "HiRes Space" and apply settings. The next time you enter space, you will be using the high resolution graphics

    Opting into Public Test


    To access the public test build: [olist]
  • In steam navigate to your Library
  • Right click Stellar Tactics
  • Select properties
  • Select the "Betas" tab
  • From the drop down list, select "publictest - Public Testing Branch"
  • No code is required. Click the "Check code" button
  • Close the properties window, exit Steam and log back in. The updated build should start downloading. [/olist] For now, when you launch the public test build, you must launch the game from within Steam - do not use your desktop icon. A popup window will appear - select either the default or 64bit versions. When this build goes to the default depot, Steam will choose the appropriate version for you. If for any reason you have a problem with the 64bit version, please report a bug in the forums and then choose the default version (32bit version) of the game.

    Fixes etc. released with this build


    • UPDATED: FPS cap raised from 30fps to 60fps - nice and smooth on fast systems.
    • UPDATED: Physics now automatically scales to your systems performance.
    • FIXED: Major fix for enemies skipping their turns
    • FIXED: Fix for missed movement clicks. Much more responsive overall.
    • FIXED: Healing icon no longer appears when rolling over KO'd team members when a med kit is equipped.
    • ADJUSTED: Enemies that do not have weapons equipped no longer gain a large H2H melee bonus.
    • ADJUSTED: Spiders are a little less likely to poison
    • ADJUSTED: Better loot from bosses on Dauntless.
    • ADJUSTED: Weapon and armor wear is now 1/2 of what it was before until crafting and repair go in.

    MANUALLY RECOVERING YOUR OLD SAVE GAMES


    NOTE: Do not attempt this if you do not feel technically competent with the Windows file system! This update will NOT delete your old save games. If you must have them, you can manually move them to the new save folder. I recommend starting again from scratch, but if you absolutely must have your old saves, then you will need to take these steps. [olist]
  • First, backup your savdat.xml - In Steam, under Library, right click Stellar tactics and select "Properties" -> Select the "Local files" tab - > Click "Browse local files". Now, copy the "savdat.xml" file somewhere safe.
  • Now, open "savdat.xml" file in "Notepad" and then "File->Save As" and overwrite "sav_dat.xml" file in the Steam installation folder (note that this file is named slightly different with a "_" between "sav" and "dat"). Leave the "savdat.xml" file in the folder in case you want to go back to the public build. - Ok that's the first part, now to get your save files.
  • Access "Users"YourUserName"AppDataLocalAbyss" - in this folder search for "Saves" (hint: it should be in one of the subfolders. (see below if you are having problems seeing the AppData folder).
  • Copy everything in the saves folder - all the ".sts" files. Make sure to leave the "Saves" folder and its contents in case you want to go back to the public build.
  • Go back to your Steam install folder (instructions above) and paste all of your save games (".sts" files) into the "Save" folder
  • That's it, you should now be able to access your old saves in the new engine. [/olist] Missing your AppData folder? It may be hidden - Here is an article if you need more info: How to access your AppData folder


    [ 2017-01-06 17:05:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

  • Beyond Achmedius


    https://youtu.be/BpzydEPHmhM I thought I would record a video that demonstrated how FTL travel works. I didn't take time to edit out loading screens or anything else. Kind of just a straight run through travel, docking, combat etc. Hope you like it. *********************************************************************************************************************** IMPORTANT - EXPLORING BEYOND THE FTL GATES IS NOT YET UNLOCKED IN THE GAME! Note: This functionality is locked right now. Check the forums for the game development roadmap. ********************************************************************************************************************* I should say there is still no ETA on alpha. KZ-MR7 will come first and we are making good progress. A few things I didn't mention in the video.

    • The entire ST universe is available in FTL space - you can fly from one side to the other and star systems, ships, events and objects stream into view dynamically. Loading is only when transitioning from FTL space to systems and from systems to ground exploration areas (stations, bases, ruins, cave systems etc).
    • Different areas of space look different. Visual differences are based on the area of space, the type of star, nebula's and a few other factors. I just happened to choose a system with a similar sun in the same area of space.
    • New space stations are being build. The stations are modular and should be much better than the stations currently in the game.
    • While exploring you will encounter events. They may be distress signals from aligned factions, stations and ground locations.
    • You will be able to mark trade routes on your map for future reference. Systems are classified by Industrial, Agricultural, Mining and Consumer goods. Pricing and commodity values will be based on availability and demand.
    • Disabling and boarding is a long term goal. It will go in, but not initially. There are over 40 ship types that need interiors modeled.
    • Missions can be granted while in space via communication from other ships, remotely as mentioned above via Distress Signals and when on stations - usually in Cantina's and Bars. Most stations also have faction contacts that can send you on missions that award faction rewards and experience.
    • Most locations can be explored. However, some stations and locations may be locked. If you are denied docking you will know that a location is reserved for missions or other story content.
    • Scanning data can be sold. It has a value. So, while exploring, scan every planetary body in the systems. You get a bonus for complete system scans. You can turn in you scanned data to an agent on most stations.
    • Enemy ships that have targeted you will generate a warning. You can choose to outrun your enemies or confront them. If you are flying a slower ship (a trade vessel), it's likely you will be intercepted. Make sure you are armed. The same goes for enemies. If you scan and then target them, they will take that as a hostile action and act accordingly.


    [ 2016-12-11 19:23:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

    What's next? - KZ-MR7


    Long though lost, KZ-MR7, a Halamis research facility, was re-discovered several hundred years ago when Martin Varis crash landed on Achmedius VIII. Rumors and reports describe the facility as an advanced energy research station built on planetary ley-lines. The facility, run by Professor Garrius Brons, developer of the FTL Drive, was funded through Halamis Corporation by House Shikaru shortly after the "Arrival". Years of secretive research ended when rumors that a powerful energy rift was generated, destroying the facility and everyone in it. Subsequently, the planet was flagged as "Off-Limits", however, illegal mining on the planet continues to this day. Martin Varis explored the facility for years with a small team of mercenaries, scrapping parts and gathering information. He swore that every time he entered KZ-MR7, the very structure of the facility changed, as though he was stepping into a parallel universe. He told stories of horrible mutations, hellish creatures and squads of elite military personnel infesting the facilities permutations. Several years later, Martin and his team re-entered KZ-MR7 one last time. They were never heard from again. A rescue party was assembled, however, the mysterious facility could not be found. It was as if KZ-MR7 disappeared off the face of the planet, leaving nothing behind...

    Details


    First, I'd like to once again thank every one of you for buying Stellar Tactics and supporting the development of the game with feedback and commentary. KZ-MR7 is the next major feature addition to Stellar Tactics. It is the next step towards the Alpha build and will give everyone a chance to progress further in the game and test the random mission and location generator. When I release KZ-MR7, you will be able to accept missions from NPC's on the Achmedius Trade Station. These NPCs will send you to the surface of Achmedius VIII to explore the facility. Missions will be randomly generated and the facility will change when a mission is provided. This includes enemy placement, loot, objectives and the global layout of the facility. A few details related to KZ-MR7 when it's released:
    • I'll be fixing any bugs that are found and making sure the system is 100% stable before moving on when the build is released.
    • I will be tuning objectives and loot over time.
    • I will be adding Perk tiers over time.
    • Progression will be limited to a maximum level of 60.
    • I'll be performing a combat tuning pass.
    • I'll be gathering community feedback.
    After that, I'll be adding a few other systems as noted in the road-map posted in the forums. Once the random mission/location generator is complete and stable, I'll move on to finish space combat and trading. Once those are done, the FTL gates will open...more on that later. I'm not making any promises for dates at this time, but I will be working on finalizing KZ-MR7 and its supporting game systems exclusively going forward along with a few annoying non-critical bugs. When I'm happy with what I have, I'll release it to the community, first on Public Test and then to everyone. Thanks again for supporting Stellar Tactics!


    [ 2016-11-10 01:11:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Matt Chat - last of three interview videos

    Thanks again Matt - it was a pleasure speaking with you! https://youtu.be/YXYL6jH-3hk


    [ 2016-11-10 01:04:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch Notes 11/4

    I'm posting the latest patch. I'll monitor this closely over the next few days while I move forward with NEW CONTENT! (Finally!) I'll be posting an update in the near future that covers just what that is.

    GRAPHICS OPTIONS RESET


    - Your graphics options will be reset on launching the game. Current options remain the same as they were before. I'm doing this to provide a better initial user experience. --Your video resolution will be set to your current screen resolution as long as that resolution is not higher than 1920x1080. If your resolution is higher than 1920x1080 - it will be set to Full-Screen 1920x1080 when you enter the game. You can adjust your resolution in the optios menu. --Resolutions above 1920x1080 are no longer available in the options menu. I'll change this later - perhaps during BETA. --SSAO is set to off by default --Shadows are set to medium resolution by default instead of high. Shadows are the number one reason for poor performance on older hardware. --Anisotropic filtering is set medium resolution by default instead of high --The game will default to full screen instead of windowed mode

    And now for something completely different...


    If you enable the FPS meter, you will get a message if your system is not performing at minimum game requirements. This happens if your frame-rate dips below 25 FPS for 60 seconds. The message will make suggestions for optimizing settings in the options menu. These are usually related to shadows and SSAO.

    GENERAL PATCH NOTES


    FIXED - If a pilot was not in the pilot slot when launching from a station or other location, the game would stop responding. FIXED - An NPC in the vats would occasionally cause a combat lockup. FIXED - Female PC's firing beam or some heavy weapons while crouched could lock up the game FIXED - Using a healing kit during combat when crippled now takes the appropriate AP penalty FIXED - If a grenade is primed and you switch to your primary weapon, grenades are now de-activated FIXED - Weapons with equipped mods would lose their mod info in the rollover info hud if moved to inventory and then back to the equipment slot FIXED - If mining asteroids and you micro-warp, mining laser is not left in mining state FIXED - Perk critical chance bonus now applied to Critical Chance values displayed in GUI. FIXED - Perk bonus damage now applied to AC values displayed in GUI FIXED - AC values were not correctly displayed when changing armor in GUI. FIXED - Mods to endurance were not correctly displayed in the GUI. FIXED - Planets name labels would disappear after docking and then launching. FIXED - When micro-warping to an asteroid field, your ship will now stop when you arrive. ADDED - A FPS meter. The Meter is color coded. Anything below 30FPS will cause issues with the physics system and performance issues overall. Green = Good! - Yellow = Borderline! - Red = You need to reduce your graphic settings (Most likely shadows) ADJUSTED - Click response in the environment is faster now. ADJUSTED - Looting and using objects in the environment is now 100% faster. Looting objects with many items may take up to 1 second to generate loot. ADJUSTED: Adjusted PUGILISM damage - down slightly from before REVIEWED: Shotgun damage - Shotguns receive a range bonus of up to +25% based on distance to target - perhaps OP - no adjustments made. They have a chance to STUN and a chance to BLEED. Certainly shotguns are OP if you find a shotgun full-auto trigger modification. Get-em now before they are gone!


    [ 2016-11-05 01:20:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Patch Notes 10/26

    I'll be monitoring this patch closely over the next few days for any data related issues. Though thoroughly tested, there may be a few lingering edge cases. Thanks to everyone who downloaded the Public Test Branch to test this.

    Completed a major re-write of the resource object code


    - this should reduce patch sizes significantly going forward. There is still some work to do to reduce patch size, but that will come later.

    Removed AI debug data from the log


    - this should speed up the game on lower end systems a bit. I left this in initially to help with any blockers or issues.

    New highlight system.


    By default, objects that can be interacted with now use a much brighter glow so it is very obvious which items can be interacted with. The glow is color coded (green for loot, yellow for mission/log objects and purple for non-lootable inter-actives). This should also fix invisible highlights for systems that are using Intel chipsets without the latest drivers. Many issues with glow, screen resolution issues, crashes and other problems have been related to on-board Intel GPU chip sets using default manufacturer drivers that have never been updated. The original, more subtle highlight shader system is still available. Now the glow is static so it does not pulse and is set to maximum highlight until you release the CTRL key or move your mouse cursor off the object. If you want the alternate (original) shader highlight, you can open the video options screen and select "Subtle object highlight".

    Other fixes


    ---Fixed a major error in the right-click movement system - missed clicks when moving should be way less frequent now. Thank you "axed1nce", You're comment led to a fix that may help everyone! ---When leaving an area and returning to that area, you are no longer able to hack and loot chests that were previously hacked and/or looted ---If you left an area that had a chest and did not loot it, you may have lost that loot. This is fixed now. ---Pressing escape during cinematics works as expected now. ---Fixed a problem with NPC team members that was causing them to not load using the new data system, locking up the game. ---Fixed a problem with keypads and equipped hacking tools ---Fixed a problem that may have caused down-scaling of rendering resulting in low resolution graphics at high resolution screen settings on some systems. ---Reversed Q/E rotation - eventually this will be user configurable when key-mapping goes in. ---Reversed mouse wheel zoom to better match the default behavior in other games. Again, this will eventually be user configurable.


    [ 2016-10-27 01:23:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

    Stellar Tactics
    Maverick Games Developer
    Maverick Games Publisher
    2016-09-22 Release
    Game News Posts: 89
    🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
    Very Positive (1290 reviews)
    The Game includes VR Support
    Public Linux Depots:
    • LINUX DEPOT [5.77 G]
    Available DLCs:
    • Stellar Tactics - Supporter Pack
    Game is not tagged as available on Linux on Steam.
    Linux is not in the OS list.

    Build your team, equip your ship and explore the universe!


    Bringing back the nostalgia, excitement and wonder of classic RPG's, Stellar Tactics will thrill you with a compelling narrative, deep strategic squad-based ground combat and rewarding open world space exploration. To survive, you will need to build your team's skills and equip your party and ships with the best weapons, armor and equipment you can find. With 10,000 sectors, tens of thousands of solar systems and millions of planets to discover, you can spend countless hours exploring, fighting, trading and building a party of seasoned veterans that can dominate the challenges of deep space.

    NOTE: This game is in Early Access - there may be bugs and the game does not yet contain all features planned for release.

    Main features:

    • Build a team of space mercenaries and explore a vast open-world universe
    • Classless character progression system with hundreds of perks
    • Engaging narrative based on thousands of years of lore, intrigue and faction warfare
    • Accept dynamically generated missions, follow the main story or explore - the choice is yours
    • Discover ancient civilizations, abandoned stations, cave systems, anomalies and the ruins of hundreds of years of unrelenting warfare
    • Tactical, turn based team combat - take advantage of cover and use your action points wisely to ensure victory
    • "Azimuth", a synergistic combat system, presents new challenges for strategic players
    • Action based space combat utilizes energy management and unique skills and perks
    • 40 ships to choose from. Each can be customized and specialized as cargo, mining, exploration or combat vessels
    • Devices allow the player to fit a total of 12 unique effects both beneficial and combat specific across their team members
    • Tons of gear, most of which can be upgraded with Nano-Tech and component parts to customize your team and ship further
    • Trade commodities across the universe, discovering the best trade routes in a dynamic economy
    • Mine for minerals in space and on planets and sell them to the highest bidder
    • Scan systems to reveal new exploration opportunities or sell the data for profit

    GAMEBILLET

    [ 6086 ]

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    GAMERSGATE

    [ 3241 ]

    14.99$ (50%)
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    13.04$ (48%)
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    0.88$ (91%)
    13.39$ (33%)
    3.19$ (79%)
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    5.4$ (73%)
    3.17$ (89%)
    8.0$ (60%)
    1.5$ (70%)
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    18.0$ (55%)
    3.9$ (70%)
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