I really liked shield-piercing weapons as a concept, I'm sad to see it go. But it had the potential for instant death without warning, which is not fun. And "fun" is what you're here for.
The machine gun, hull raker, railgun, spinal driver, and neutron beam will no longer ignore shields. Their base damage has been increased, so your existing versions of those weapons may be under-powered.
Activated skills have shorter cool-downs.
Most space activated skills now have cool-down times of 25-50 turns, a few are 100-125, and the most potentially disruptive ones (including "false evidence", where you can pit 2 other ships against each other) are 250 turns.
This should make them much more useful. I've also increased their drop rate, so you'll get more of them earlier in the game.
Work has begun on the UI overhaul!
This game comes from a genre (traditional roguelikes) where graphics were of minor importance. I wanted to fit as much information on the screen as possible, and I didn't really care how big the play area was...
Times have changed, and so will Approaching Infinity.
My eyes were opened when I got this mockup from Polat Yarisci (who you may know from his work on the Caves of Qud UI). I encourage any indie developer who isn't a front-end genius to get in touch with him.
Here's how he saw my game: Amazing, right?!
I immediately set to work making lists and taking apart the existing UI and realizing that I wasn't really ready to work on this yet, it was just too big.
But my pixel artist friend David Gervais got involved and together we started moving things around and re-imagining them...
Here's an early iteration:
And here's one of the latest: Look at all that _S_P_A_C_E_!
Or Maybe you can move those info windows wherever you want?!
You can expect the evolution to continue until we get everything right. Then we'll take the revolution to the entire game, revising every screen for maximum style and user-friendliness.
None of this is in the game right now. I'd make an even bigger deal out of it if it were ;)
Some numbers
After 10 years in the making and 3 years on Steam Early Access, this is the 131st update (I went back and counted), and the end is in sight:
I hope to reach full release (version 2.0) in 2024.
Join me on my quest to savedestroy create the galaxy!
No Shield Pierce Beta (1.8F)
For about 10 days, we will be experimenting with removing the "skips shields" tag from all ship weapons. I really like the idea of weapons ignore that shields, but sometimes they can end your game as soon as you go around a corner (planet, nebula, etc.).
So in this beta, the machine gun, hull raker, railgun, spinal driver, and neutron beam no longer pierce shields. Their damage has been increased to offset this.
Anyone can join the beta branch, it won't break your saves (you can even start a new game if you want). Just go to Settings>Properties>Betas>betafromnowon
Balance Update
Thanks to player feedback, I've executed a major balance of the new ship combat systems.
One problem was that enemy difficulty was outpacing equipment available to the player. This has been fixed.
Is it too easy now? Still too hard? Let me know!
Other changes:
Away missions now employ a 4-frame animation for the landing party and monsters.
Space stations have new art!
Weapons can't force "crew crits" unless your shields are down.
Reduced the rarity and minimum sector of all new ship weapons, shields, and armor, making the more interesting ones more available.
Added explanation spiels about this and the shuttle's autopilot.
Increased the base hull points scaling of new ships from the shipyard, and those you repair yourself.
Some faction ships can have cloaking devices instead of shields!
Further reduced the cooldowns on most of the new space activated skills.
Changed the stealth runner's starting weapon to hull raker (thanks eharper256)
New device: Ballistic Accelerator : +1 range for all cannon weapons
New device: Cyclic Capacitor : +33% damage for all beam weapons
New device: Armored Missiles: +1 PD required to intercept your missiles, and they do more damage even through point defense.
New device: Missile Scrambler: Enemy missiles can't target your ship from a range greater than 5
New random quest: Gas giant survey: collect special data pickups near gas giants (fairly basic stuff).
New random quest: Embassy spying: intercept secret communications in space without being seen! (new and different!)
Skill change: Level 2 of Thermal Dissipators (Lava-walk) further reduces duration of burn status effect.
Skill change: Level 2 of Mountain Climbing skill reduces earthquake and cave-in damage.
Skill change: The new "scan every plant and tree for data" function is now tied to the "eco-examiner" skill of the explorer class.
Skill change: "Cartography" skill (explorer class) now helps you survey planets at less than 100%, at -5% per level.
Skill change: "scanning specialist" skill increases your de-cloak radius by 1 per level.
Skill change: "Mining Specialist": Level 1 automatically picks up whatever you get out of the asteroid. Level 2 automatically mines all adjacent asteroids. Level 3 increases this distance to 2 tiles!
I also updated the demo to include all changes here, and a fix for a rare bug that was plaguing some users.
Have fun out there, space captains!
Space Combat Balance
Greetings captains,
Recent casualty reports indicated some issues. These have been addressed:
The HP and damage of most space enemies has been adjusted ("reduced").
Scaling issues that start around sector 20 have been resolved.
Did I mention that I fixed the "upgrading from demo" issue?
1.8 Released
I've been working on version 1.8 for almost 3 months now, following the plans laid out in the Starmap, and I've really gotten a *lot* done:
Big Stuff:
✔ SPACE WEAPON / DEFENSE REWRITE The changes here are too many to list, but you can check out the steam guide for all the details. The most important points are as follows:
You can install any weapon in any weapon slot (no more small/medium/large)
Weapons are divided into cannons, beams, and missiles, and each has unique properties.
Shields are great protection against beam weapons, but many cannons pass right through them!
Missiles have long range and high damage, but are stopped by point defense.
Your installed weapons determine your "point defense" stat, which protects from missiles but gets depleted as it's used.
You (and your enemies) can now score
critical hits* which can knock out engines, weapons, sensors, or even kill crew!
There are lots of new kinds of armor and shields too, providing powers, bonuses, or protection against certain types of damage.
✔ SPACE ACTIVATED SKILLS 20 exciting new powers available to your officers, like "emergency warp", "false evidence", and the oft-requested "orbital bombardment".
Also done:
✔ SHIP STAT BALANCE ✔ ARMOR AND SHIELD BALANCE ✔ SUPPLY USAGE BALANCE ✔ NEW POWERS FOR SPACE ENEMIES ✔ OFFICER PAY BY TIME ✔ COMMODITY VALUE/SIZE REMODEL ✔ ACHIEVEMENT RENOVATION ✔ MANAGEABLE SIZE Judging by the speed I've accomplished things, I definitely got this one right.
Not planned but done anyway:
✔ New Spaceship Art! Some of the new ships are featured on the artwork for this update ;) Thanks David!
Not Done Yet:
NEW SPACE MISSION TYPES You don't always have to go down to planets to do cool stuff, and not all space missions need to be "kill that!" or "get that!". I'll expand on space mission types in the final leg of 1.8's development.
Might Do:
ASTEROID BASE PROGRESSION I'm really not sure about this, because it's more of an "away team" thing, and I'm *really* into space right now ;)
Probably Not:
ENHANCED CRAFTING This will happen, but again, it's not "spacey" enough for the current dev cycle. Imagine being able to make whatever kind of special weapon, suit, or shield you want, as long as you have the long list of ingredients, some scrap metal and gadgets, and a few thousand extra data... it's like that. Just not yet.
Definitely not yet, but will still happen:
NEW USER INTERFACE The UI is a big deal. It's how the user interfaces with ("PLAYS") the game (hence the name) (and the importance). I'd prefer to have all new systems in place before I tackle this one, so I know what I need.
Uh oh!
OLD SAVES ARE INCOMPATIBLE! With all these changes, your old saves won't work anymore! This is the first time in almost 3 years this has happened, and I think it will be the last time too, but I wanted to tell you.
I created a Steam branch called "Legacy17" if you can't stand to part with your current game just yet.
Have fun, space explorers!
Big Changes Are Coming!
1.8 is Coming Soon
I've been working on it for almost 3 months now, it's been in beta for weeks, and soon it will be available for everyone. If you look at Starmap 1.8 , you'll see that I've already hit most of the major points:
Space weapon and defense rewrite
Armor, shield, and ship stat balance
Supply overhaul
Commodity size / value remodel
Officer pay by time
Space activated skills!
I feel great about these! But there's a catch to all this innovation...
Your saves won't be compatible ːsteamfacepalmː There are just too many fundamental changes. That's why I created the...
New "Legacy17" Branch
If you can't bear to let go of your current game, you can switch to the Legacy17 branch *right now*. It is the exact same version you're already playing, and it won't change when I finally roll out the new features.
Go to Approaching Infinity on Steam > Manage > Properties > Betas > Legacy17
But seriously, finish up and then come back to main, because all the new space weapons and skills are pretty amazing ;)
Achievement Changes Pending
Approaching Infinity has 143 in-game achievements right now, and 70 official Steam Achievements. Most of these were created almost 10 years ago now, and include things like "kill 10,000 monsters", which is a grind and not a fun motivation to try something new.
So I'm going to scrap a lot of existing achievements, and put in new ones that are more interesting. This is discussed in the Starmap, with some hints about what's coming.
Steam users may see your achievement count go *down*, as I remove the overly grindy stuff. This will affect all players, and no version-switching can stop it.
See you space captain...
Demo Update
Play for free up to sector 7
Get all the latest story developments
Experiment with new weapons and skills
Meet 7 alien factions
Many quests available
Extra starting ships unlocked
Includes the new bestiary and installation screens
Carry over your run from the demo to the full game
Space Activated Skills
Your officers have some powerful abilities on away missions, but they've been slacking when it comes to the harsh realities of deadly space combat.
Well no more!
Now each division has 4 activated skills to use in space, whether for offense, defense, movement, diplomacy, or information. Even the often-suggested (and just as often denied) "Planetary Bombardment" is now an option. Check it out!
CURIOSITY DIVISION (Blue)
Shields Up! : Removes shield cooldown and instantly restores them to half strength (but not above).
Interference Burst : All adjacent ships lose 50% of their max shields. If they are already below 50%, this will drop their shields completely.
Firing Solution : Your shots this turn ignore the target's evasion and point defense.
Sensor Attunement : Your ship has +2 sensor range and +5 planet scanning for 20 turns.
COMBAT DIVISION (Red)
Another Volley : Clears cooldown timers on all weapons.
PD Reboot : Instantly restores your point defense to its maximum value and removes the PD recharge cooldown.
Ion Tracker : For 20 turns, all entities beyond visual range will be shown as red dots on the sector map.
Orbital Bombardment : Fire ship weapons at a planet, causing damage and weakening life forms on the surface.
SYSTEMS DIVISION (Yellow)
Emergency Repairs : Immediately removes cooldown from engines and sensors. Restores hull up to your ship's base hull (does not repair armor).
All She's Got : Doubles your effective speed for 10 turns. When this period expires, engines will be on cooldown for 3 turns, leaving you temporarily stranded.
Target Engines : Your next shot will knock out the target's engines for 5 turns.
Maximum Evasion : Your evasion becomes 75 for 3 turns, greatly reducing damage from enemy cannons and missiles.
SOCIAL DIVISION (Green)
Truce : All ships within visual range will stop attacking for 5 turns, unless fired upon. Does not work on Narcratu.
Distress Call : Calls allies. If you have friends in this sector (rep 60+), several may come. If not, it may take time for one to warp in.
Sensor Ghost : Creates a temporary copy of your ship. Anyone attacking you this turn will target the decoy instead.
False Evidence : You provide false information that pits 2 ships against each other. May not work against closely-aligned factions, or ships already hostile to you.
ENVIRONMENTAL DIVISION (Purple)
Deep Scanning : For 20 turns, you can see (but not shoot) beyond terrain that would normally block sensors, like nebula, stars, and planets.
Vapor Screen : Release large quanitites of gas and water vapor into space, creating temporary sight-blocking clouds around your ship.
Emergency Warp : An escape maneuver that uses your warp drive in an unintended way: to jump randomly within a sector. Adds your warp drive's normal cooldown time plus an additional 50.
Go Dark : Makes your ship invisible until you move, shoot, or are detected by an enemy that is actively looking for you. You must be in sight blocking terrain like nebula or over a planet.
I understand you might be concerned about becoming too powerful... fear not! These skills have cooldowns of 500 turns, so even if you're willing to exhaust large quantities of cyber-gel, you're not going to be spamming "another volley!". They're more like panic buttons.
These skills aren't set in stone. I'm testing them for the *fun* factor, and I want your feedback. So get into the beta branch right now and test them out!
New Weapon Beta Update
I'm already working on space activated skills, but I wanted to let you know about all the changes to space combat. I did a lot of playtesting this week, rebalanced weapons, and made the following changes:
Finally fixed the syndicate interdictor quest completing under all conditions.
Fixed a mouse targeting issue
Sword parry now allows a strikeback if you have that power.
Fixed a bug where the transcendent horror wasn't attacking you at long range. (sorry)
Fixed a bug where the Sil were not demanded artifacts. (sorry)
The last enemy you shot will automatically be targeted next turn!
I fixed "starfighters" asteroid base room to properly represent the new ship weapon model
I improved "heavy" weapons
Station equipment store restock cost no longer goes exponential.
A ship's weapons are now displayed directly in the "target info" window, no need to tooltip.
not released.
I further decreased the amount of damage you take from missiles when point defense shoots them down (now take 10%)
E-Warfare Pod now is guaranteed to crit some internal system on a hull hit.
I have reduced a global variable that controls HP & Damage. Enemies and equipment will be weaker. your current items will be overpowered.
I have reduced the damage of many missile weapons.
Decreased the price of many weapons.
I found and fixed the "shipwreck levels re-generating error"
You can now build exterior walls on top of floors in shipwrecks (like you would expect), as long as they're next to a wall and some space.
fixed quest completion screen hang
Changed "wanderer" starting ship weapons and supplies.
E-Warfare Pod and Nano-Cannon now do half damage vs. shields.
Fixed "both stations sold out" issue
Fixed a space AI bug
Updated boss spaceships and race showdowns to new models.
You only have to pay the Bankers docking fee once per sector.
Space Combat Update
Try out 29 new spaceship weapons!
Install any weapon in any slot!
Score critical hits!
Defend yourself against cannons, beams, and missiles!
I've compiled all this information into a new Steam Guide:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2971265991 But I think you should just play it for yourself ;)
you'll find that I've hit about half of it in the first month. AWESOME!
Sale!
In celebration of this release, for one week (starting 10am PST / 1pm EST) you can save 10% on Approaching Infinity and the Interface expansion. Stop waiting. Start exploring the infinite universe today!
Note:
for the first time in almost 3 years, your old saves will **not** be compatible. Sorry, there are just too many changes for them to work. They won't be deleted though, so you can switch to the main branch if you want.
!!!!!! SPECIAL WEAPON CODES !!!!!!
These daily codes (1 per day, entered from the options menu, can be copy/pasted) will give you one of the new weapons. Some of them are rare and powerful... enjoy!
Amazing, right?!
Look at all that _S_P_A_C_E_!
