This update prepares the game for a full release. It's quite big, so let's jump right into the details.

3D Printer

A new station module has been added to the game. It's called the printer module and it basically puts a 3D printer like device in your space station which is able to craft some materials for you. Passively over time. You can choose from a small pallet of basic raw materials which the module should "print": Copper, Uranium, Water, Plutonium, Sulfur or Ruby.

Mission Tracker

When you click on a mission in the mission tracker, the mission log opens. It is an alternative to pressing the L key, but it takes you directly to the mission you clicked on.

Skip Everything

If you want to skip something, you can. This is true for cutscenes, combat speech (battlecry) and also for the Pottgames brand logo animation on startup.

Faster Loading

This is not really a new feature but we've seen a lot of people weren't using it. So this update turns the "reduce loading times" feature on by default. It greatly reduces loading times (initial first load takes longer, afterwards it's much faster) while using roughly twice the amount of video memory. If you're not on a low-spec GPU, it's worth it. Just in case: If you experience performance issues, go into the settings menu and turn this feature off again.

Final Cutscene

This was the major part missing for a full release of the game and it has been added in this update. For obvious reasons.... I can't give details on this one.

Hello Asteria

You'll be able to portal jump to Asteria.

Mission Log & New Mission Window

Both windows are now automatically closed when you accept/complete the last mission. There is no reason to leave them open. Sure, it only saves one click, but it's just smoother, makes more sense and feels better.

Tutorial Polish

Many of you have stated that the tutorial never explains how to fly the ship (W A D keys). For most of us gamers, it's totally intuitive but I agree that the game should explain it. Once tested out all of the ship controls, the hint vanishes.
Additionally some missions were removed from the tutorial, making it cleaner and more streamlined.

Combat Polish

A few attack animations play at a higher speed now. The same applies for the end animation + the AI.

Balance Adjustments

• Increased the power production of the stations reactor by +2 per second
• The reactor keeps producing energy even when you're not at home
• All characters start with 1000 credits more, this bonus is also granted to existing play states
• Shipyards build ships twice as fast
• Many blueprints require less material, power and time (you can craft twice as fast now)
• There will be more asteroids in the Dark Rift system

Technical Updates

The underlying Java runtime was updated to the newest Java 17 LTS (long term support) version.
All ships got buffed significantly.

SU Jellyfish

• base mining time: down from 4s to 2.5s
• travel speed: up from 30 to 40
• fuel capacity: down from 40k to 32k

SU Tadpole

• base mining time: down from 4s to 2.5s
• travel speed: up from 38 to 50
• fuel capacity: up from 60k to 72k

SU Dolphin

• base mining time: down from 4s to 2.5s
• travel speed: up from 50 to 70
• fuel capacity: up from 100k to 120k

SU Whale

• base mining time: down from 6s to 4s
• travel speed: up from 78 to 120
• fuel capacity: up from 240k to 480k

SU Shark

• base mining time: down from 8s to 5s
• travel speed: up from 100 to 150
• fuel capacity: up from 500k to 1M

Sirus X

• base mining time: down from 6s to 4s
• travel speed: up from 40 to 55
• fuel capacity: up from 70k to 78k

Dreadnought X

• base mining time: down from 6s to 4s
• travel speed: up from 75 to 100
• fuel capacity: up from 200k to 400k

Elusive Anger

• base mining time: down from 6s to 4s
• travel speed: up from 44 to 60
• fuel capacity: up from 68k to 81.6k

G-Nuria

• base mining time: down from 3s to 2s
• travel speed: up from 40 to 50
• fuel capacity: up from 60k to 72k

G-Harbringer

• base mining time: down from 3s to 2s
• travel speed: up from 50 to 70
• fuel capacity: up from 100k to 120k

C-8472

• base mining time: down from 6s to 4s
• travel speed: up from 54 to 75
• fuel capacity: up from 130k to 156k

C-20544

• base mining time: down from 4s to 3s
• travel speed: up from 77 to 110
• fuel capacity: up from 245k to 490k

Eldrin

• base mining time: down from 6s to 4s
• travel speed: up from 52 to 80
• fuel capacity: up from 140k to 168k

Tanelia

• base mining time: down from 6s to 4s
• travel speed: up from 80 to 110
• fuel capacity: up from 250k to 500k

• Hostile ships in any Eltaor Battle Simulator will now display a proper name instead of just "Enemy Ship"
• Fixed some texts that were exceeding the given space
• Lana Newhouse starts with a healthy ship hull now, 3 hull points were missing

Beta Branch Critical Bug

I've fixed a bug in the save file updater. Don't worry if you've purchased the game on the Steam store, you're not affected by the bug that existed before this update. Though if you're a Beta tester... your save file might be in a corrupted state. Nothing too dramatic, you can still play and might not notice anything. But it's still a bad condition for testing as "things" might not necessarily reflect the original gameplay.

More?

Yes, there is more in this update. I just don't want to bloat this update note any further. You may find some of the things not mentioned, but most of them are just tiny tweaks that improve things here and there without anyone even noticing that it was worse before.

[ 2022-07-31 04:43:12 CET ] [ Original post ]