Time for another content update! We've been a bit quiet the last 2 months (there has been another big relocation within the team as well as the average health turmoil in 2022), but everything is back on track and most importantly, we have some new content that we finally want to share with you:
We're excited to introduce the promised deployable turrets feature, made all shields upgradable, took another deep look into cargo items (icons and sorting) and last but not least greatly expanded the German translation. During the constraints, we also took the time to revise general things like our website.
In addition, a lot of new content for the main story expansion has been created again in the background, which we are now focusing on completing – the wait will soon be over.
Safe travels, we look forward to your feedback!
Deployable Turrets
You can now place and upgrade turret platforms in space to protect your back. This is the basic version - functionality will be further refined and more types will be added in the future!
GET THEM – on CoC Greifswald, Thorn, Riga or Stargard
PLACE THEM – from your inventory
CALL DIALOG – for further options like equip, upgrade or undeploy
Upgrading mobile turrets is also possible directly from the inventory!
Upgradable Shields
You can now upgrade all regular shields for your ship! Also, more damage resistances have been added to shields (can be increased with upgrades) - for example, CoC shields now tend to get less damage when crashing into asteroids etc.
New Item Graphics
Cargo icons: In the process of refining the way inventory items are sorted, new subcategories and more unique icons were created.
Custom drop graphic for diamonds
Audio / VFX
New fail sound added to all mechanic skill checks
Turret placement sound effect
Crystal asteroids have a custom destruction sound
New upgrade sound effects
Turret upgrade VFX
Hokucho emitters (special engine, new front thrusters and signal lights)
Minor Story Improvement
It is now possible to decide against Kalypso when first crashing into her and join Caduceus at a later point in the story as well.
General
Reworked a lot of dialog text
Some location images polished up (Pluto Colony, Bars)
Elzo Fartrader now uses the "follower" system when his sidemission is accepted
Some camera movement added to various sequences
Some NPC reactions changed during conversations with the player
DE Localization
Over 4500 lines were added to the German translation - bringing the interface back to 100% and the dialogs a big step forward. It's far from finished, but we aim to reach the full DE translation this year.
Source translation from 50 to 100%
Json translation from 45 to 100%
Scripts and dialogs: +25%
Note for translators: All text color codes were replaced by variables to allow easier color handling.
World
Travel Group: Improved affinity checks
UI
Inventory item sorting was completely reworked – less alphabet, more intuition!
Character menu: Skill level is shown on the icon
Some person sorting in location lists was improved as well
Skill icons correctly y-centered
Mission item weight / price adaptions
Default weight and price for mission items is 0 (keycards, persons & bodies, instruments, readables)
Marcel Wallas mission item weights reduced to 1
Portraits
J-12 random male #3 polishing / style adaption (incl. its 12 variations)
The Tyrant - Proxy Vaudreuil will now follow the player again after defeating the rebels (if you have a savegame where this sidemission bugged, he will now continue to follow you as soon as you load your game - leading him back to his destination will finish the sidemission)
Travel Group: Use the destination for random NPC groups too
NPC ships do not follow through with docking on FTA garages
Weapon target offscreen arrow is always shown with repair laser normal selection
Turret auto-aim at next target stops working if the nearest enemy is the weapon target
Make the weapon target nearest enemy shortcut also target negative "affinity of us" ships
Map Marker name is shown in non-map mode
Off-screen weapon target arrow appears on-screen after respawn
Savegames: Weapon target settings are always reset
Use damage type colors in shield tooltips
Translation: Inspect window headline shows an untranslated name
Translation: Landable person list names are not translated
Translate the Map Marker accept button
Translated ship names are not displayed in "scanned:" noti
Analysis tooltip: Show pirate faction names without underscore
Skill "Assisted Aim" could be applied multiple times
Missing upgrade stats for Koumiyou weapon
Professor Zolo now uses correct weapon equipment
Death Battery illogical turn rate values removed (default used)
Some regular non-mission readables could not be dropped or sold
Vornoff's Soporiphic wrong icon
In case anyone noticed: The Bartholdy's logo had a spelling mistake ;) and is now redesigned and adapted into a wide version for the interior image of the bar.
welcome back to a small interim update – some fixes, minor additions and polishing here and there. Special thanks this time to pepps and especially mav from the community. Also: general revision of missile homing, all of them were checked through and significantly improved. Work on the next main update continues now! :D
Missions
"The Tyrant" side mission: Rebel spawn position optimized (avoids likelihood of missing them), better handling of the battle event so the player doesn't need to manually target the rebels, script and dialog polishing including alternative dialog, just in case you might still miss the rebels. Some portrait assignment updates
"No Funny Business" side mission: Added new jokes, improved dialog and script handling, some dialog polishing
"Sleeping Pods for Three, No Pets!" side mission: Removed the possibility to re-enter the mission after it failed due to old dialog at Prescott and/or Billie Jean and Rufus, some script and dialog polishing
Reworked missile homing
Finally – homing missiles getting tediously lost on their way to a target or simply shooting past it are a thing of the past. We have tried many different behaviors, resulting in a reliable new preset for acceleration and rotation speed, and tweaked some custom values as well.
This also improves the speed of some missiles you may already own. Unique adjustments that differ from the new standard:
Dogfight Missiles: 200/3/3 -> 200/30/30
Noob Missiles: 90/0.4/0.8 -> 90/5/10
Pharma Missiles: 80/0.4/0.8 -> 80/10/20
Pharma Sentry: 100/0.4/0.8 -> 100/10/20
Ahoi-Rockets: 90/0.4/0.8 -> 90/10/20
Jolly-Rockets: 90/0.4/0.8 -> 90/10/20
Mini Seekers: 200/120/120 -> 200/30/60
Hunter Seekers: 200/360/180 -> 200/30/60
Plasma Missile: 280/25/25 -> turn max raised to 40
Plasma Missile Turret: 280/25/25 -> turn max raised to 40
Raketa: 200/1.5/1.5 -> 200/5/10
Twin Missiles: 120/25/25 -> 120/30/60
Ships
Loot Beam improvements: Do not attract if a drop path is blocked
Entrega, Entrega Grande / Gaseoso: animated the engine linked graphics
UI
Show an arrow to the selected ship and weapon target if it's not visible
Map Marker: Add a hover highlight
Map Marker: Show the name on the right side of the icon when hovering
Draw the weapon/repair target line when hovering over the cooldown entry
Other
Improve the faction support AI
Some minor portrait polishing
"Profit Loses Seldom" side mission: Quest progress now needs to be exactly at 75 percent for the "distraction" answer to appear at Dr. Nadir, will not appear before.
"Genocide Consignment" main mission: Auxilium now still supports the player, but should not be able to attack Assistant Lucca. Lucca can not attack during the battle, to avoid confusion.
"Revealing Xentron" main mission: When denying cooperation with Mr. Shiro during a bonus scene at the end, the quest progress and target will now update, to avoid confusion.
Ship AI: Do not land anywhere if the mining command fails
Fight Behavior: Get a new approach pos if it's not reached in time
Pirates flee to the wrong faction fortress
Disabled turrets with pre-selected target can get confused when enabled again
Remove map marker: replace "cancel" button with "delete" if marker was already set
Loot can get destroyed with Salvor Attractor
Exploit: Freight Container spawners refresh missing ones on savegame load
Exploit: Gas clouds are recharged on savegame load when completely depleted
Count a ship death as player-caused if it was a one shot
Map Marker: When moving the map cam with Z, disable marker interactions
Credits menu back button is invisible
Mission icon on HQ after Shiro bonus dialog (landable overview icons are not updated)
Shield restore_big volume is too low
I18N: Set the thread language also for unknown language countries
I18N: Decimal separator missing for floating point
Landable HUD: Pressing the trade key with a still selected sprite exits the landable
Display the SOS signal distance in same units as in the analysis HUD
Siege convoy balancing
Siege convoy doesn't go straight to the Caduceus Station
Welcome to the first of the two announced major updates.
It's been a year since the community expressed the desire for an alternative route in the Caduceus arc, and after putting in some extra work, we're finally presenting our biggest story addition yet. New players and brave returners now have the chance for an even more personalized experience: Follow Noob Henderson at the beginning of the game, become a Caduceus member and experience their side of the story – filled with 9 new chapters!
We've done our best to convey a sense of individual complexity, with plenty of gray between good and evil. On the side, we've also added some general features and polished up a lot of the content you'll see along the way of the journey. Don't want to start a new game? Don't worry, as we've hinted several times, that's far from it: This update lays the groundwork for the incoming second story arc - and the wait will soon be over! So get ready for our journey through space to pick up speed big time this year.
Thanks to the whole community on Steam and Discord, who keep providing us with important feedback. You rock!
Caduceus Arc 2.0
Your decisions have more impact than ever before – there are more alternative routes to discover, even up to becoming one of Mr. Shiro's most trusted guards. Follow Henderson in the beginning of the game instead of persuading or killing him to ENTER the new route.
9 new missions, dozens of new decisions and consequences!
Save Lt. Devi before he gets airlocked by Heimwehr or arrest him yourself!
Will you rescue Patient Zero or deliver him to his execution?
Will Dr. Orish be able to survive the attempt on his life?
Will the Neutral Colonies be spared?
The paths you choose within the Caduceus arc will drastically affect the story progression of all future expansions – so decide wisely!
Custom Turret Platforms
The first one comes with a custom CoC design (applied to all CoC station turrets) – but we plan to:
individualize the platforms for each faction
make them placeable and upgradeable by the player!
New portraits
Many more to be introduced with the upcoming Sphere arc!
The Patient: Whether you get the homage or not, there's a new side mission around this guy!
Belana: Bobby's mum no longer has to share a pic with random NPCs.
Aureus Statue: This one has actually been around for a while (see polished portraits below), but was never actually implemented, which technically makes it a new portrait! ;)
New variations for random NPCs, e.g. Caduceus and FTA
Caduceus Nexus air duct: Why would you talk to an air duct? It might have fatal consequences if you don't, though!
🇷🇺 RU Interface Localization
Ok, first we'll have to cool down the expections a bit: This is only about the basic interface for now – and, as no one of the team speaks Russian, done with the help of automatized translation tools. But since we've kept the RU community waiting for a long time (and introduced the fan-made Chinese localization last time), we decided not to wait until after the Sphere update as originally planned.
✔ What's included:
100% of the basic menu navigation
Stats and tooltips
Skill trees
Planet names, moons
Raw materials and basic crafting item names and descriptions
❌ NOT included yet:
Majority of descriptions (of items, ships, landables, characters etc.)
Any kind of dialog / story content
Further plans: We will keep adding parts step by step with a priority on interface content – like names, descriptions and anything necessary for guidance apart from the story. As dialogs are still too big to handle for now, any help is highly appreciated here!
Many new achievements
"That Stung!"
"Patient Zero"
"Kill on First Sight"
"Shiro-Nortnex Test"
"Objection!"
"Contract Killer"
Audio
Many new sound effects added to new Caduceus arc special events, all for the drama!
Waiting line music – approach your treatment with a jazzy vibe...
Makeda Farm music – come dung fi badman sound!
Other
Syringe location image
Sphere loyalists custom faction logo
Ships
Mr. Shiro's ship graphic polished in double resolution
All FTA transporter graphics polished
FTA Escort: prerotated weapons for improved aiming
Also here: some in-progress stuff that you might already stumble across, but will be introduced with the Sphere arc update!
World
Zion Field polishing and some other location improvements
Many dialog corrections and improvements
Improved Caduceus readables:
Brochure content significantly pimped
"Wanted" Poster image and layout
Improved the autopilot evasion static repositioning
Auto unpause after an auto fight paused dialog
UI
Tooltips: Remove empty lines
Chinese localization:
Many new additions and updates – cheers to the GamerArk team!
Headline font swapped with default font (+ size increased)
German localization: Added some more interface translations
Separate the selection arrows on autopilot + selection
Upgrade window: Stats vertically centered, font size reduced
Scanning: Show possible asteroid drops in the tooltip
Support input shortcuts in loading hints
Show the player health bar when regen is active
Show the current values for controller threshold and sensitivity
Focusing on the main characters and really dated ones, for the first time over 40 portraits have been polished up in a single update! :D
Minor adjustments / anatomy corrections up to complete overpaintings
Merging of styles, compositions
Color balance, vibrancy
Backgrounds and vignettes for smoother embedding into the UI
Other
Appearance of some weapons updated (graphic & sound assignments)
Some SFX volume fine tuning
Increase the number of audio channels to 64
Credits screen: partial reformatting
Tutorial drone doesn't respawn if destroyed by non player damage
Disable the automatic savegame ("Autosave Land") when Start_Docking() is not cancelable
Passive devices don't apply the data modifications
Autopilot evasion: going top to bottom on a station shield can evade into the wrong direction (into the shield)
Autopilot evasion: check the direct front blocking sprites (instead of nearby asteroids)
Autopilot evasion: disable medium evasion if there is already enough blocking the direct front
Travel group: Guard ships go crazy during Kill Orish dialog
Docked ships in detail range do not correctly gain the detail mode state (to load the emitter)
Ship_Teleport_To_Current_Target() could undock if the ship is already docked on the target (Dr. Orish on Lashkar Gar is not moving from the spot next to it)
Is_Dialog_Present() returns false when dialog is transitioning to a new stage
When the player is locked on a landable the menu cannot be opened
Double-Airlock event: 'Continue' seems to load autosave leave (player can proceed after death)
No text displayed with translations if the locale is the system default
Chinese big font is smaller than medium
Selection noti: auto-size based on text width
Chinese language: "Level" text height in tooltips is not large enough
Translation: Support controller button names
Weapon qualities don't affect AoE damage
Trigger ship aggro earlier
If a weapon level is too high, reduce it instead of deleting the weapon
device_data: All passive devices producer are in lower case
"Waechter Wreck" burning emitters are not visible
Disable the mouse move camera mode when the player landed (Jhenox)
All projectiles can be shot down
Tutorial: wrong mission instruction for scan step
Mr. Shiro wrong ship graphic assignment
Vasquez' Drone Factory map icon missing
Inventory: Hovered weapon tooltip flipped to other side of screen with 5 tooltips
Wrong ship type could be scanned if the player selection changed
Player radar/detail mode update should happen instantly after loading a save
Ship radar update should happen instantly after spawning
ship_data hull_regen_cooldown broken if attacker hits is less than 5 (for Turrets)
Ship data values that get compared on passive devices are not newline synchronized
Landable person list is not refreshed for some persons
Disable News text on Wreck Stations and Vulcan
Autopilot can lead player back to a previous target pos
Kalypso person events are never removed (Player ship control_state locked after ramming Kalypso)
Beth triggers "Dr. Rick will get you for this" dialog while dying randomly
Station turrets should not have dialog handler
In-space popup window doesn't pause the game but locks controls
Map marker icon should be on top of the pos (not centered)
Dialog-triggered scan also happens when people aren't in space
Options Menu: Pressing controller dpad right should not enter the video tab
Right stick up/down axis does not work with some old controllers
Controller: Hacking input still based on button hold
Regeneration emitters are shown in ship trade HUD
Trade HUD: 5 decimal places shown for cargo
Shield_Modulator_Callback does not set the dialog handler correctly
Hacking is possible from the start (no skill required)
Missing respawn pos (a station had no respawn and ejected ships)
Here's even another spontaneous update before the two big ones. The reasons are: Another large amount of bug fixes, as well as incredible news: A group of awesome people have provided us with a fan-made localization – Gaia Beyond is now available in Chinese!
If there happen to be any other multilinguals out there (especially Russian) who are willing to do the same – or contribute some single parts of translation to start with, please don't hesitate to get in touch!
Chinese Localization
Huge thanks to the GamerArk team:
橘猫警长
太阳花BASARA
V-1导弹
阿昏
豆奶
Daniel
Cris
翻译菌
Please note that especially with the upcoming major patches, the texts will still be updated (which is why we haven't yet actively focused on translations in general). However, we have the commitment from the GamerArk team for ongoing support and will keep everything as up-to-date as possible.
New Shortcuts
Weapon target nearest enemy
Select nearest ship/planet
Fade the location image, not the whole landable window when the image changes
More strings can now be translated
Arakni Esphen now drops a reward
Due to build management, some assets might already have slipped through that won't be announced until the big update. Don't be confused if you stumble across them – it will all make sense :)
Special thanks to bunny de fluff and Jean for a lot of feedback and bug reports!
Pluto storage items aren't used when upgrading weapons, making for free upgrades
Unequipping thruster/passive device reverts the Long Range Scan effect twice
Loadout 2 erased (not loaded) on save if Loadout 1 is active
Loadout switch resets energy use -> infinite energy, faster firing
Trading: The average price is used instead of the actual value for weapons/shields/devices
Hacking all the Waechter's spawned NPCs crashes
Sound distance range is broken
A wrong follow-up dialog for chest on the Genesis wreck
Wrong scan counter amount of Jack-O-Noxious
J-12 shield notes are now getting removed from inventory after giving them to Ben
Kalypso XP exploit
Mr. Deadheads sometimes act like normal NPCs
After the "3 Defense Turrets" delivery: Ben person list color changes to blue if Blood Simple is also active
Lock the player ship in dialogs even if the target person has no parent (f.e. on death)
Inventory HUD: minor window focus problem
Ignore old style controller button events if the new style is supported when assigning buttons
Abyss Memorial spotlight turrets should not constantly rotate
Espheni: remove the respawn when attacked so the spawn_cargo is dropped
This was more of an interim update first, as we had so many fixes and optimizations between two updates that we didn't want to keep from you – but a significant change to the weapon system made us let it ripen a little more in the end: Area damage, coming with additions like physical impulses and timed damage functionalities. Along with an overall tooltip rework, these new features were applied to existing weapons and some new ones, but there is also room for many cool future things!
At the same time, the production of the story expansion is on fire. We decided to release the alternative routes for the Caduceus storyline separately, so be prepared for a big replayability update even before the actual expansion – can't wait to show you the new stuff!
Special thanks to: Jhenox for feedback and a lot of insight, BunnyDeFluff for feedback and bug reporting, GamerArk for organizing a fanmade chinese localization (including SunFlowerBASARA who also pointed out some mistakes in the english script :D) and of course, Ashkin for continuous support – you guys rock! 🤘
Area of Effect
Made to give explosions an impact radius that matches their visual appearance in the first place, this one escalated pretty quickly. There are now:
💥 Explosion
Everyone likes explosions. They now have individual ranges and physical impacts based on type and size.
☢️ Decaying
Some visual effects have already teased it: Heat or radiation weapons now leave a damage field behind on impact and do damage over a certain time.
🌀 In-Flight
It is now possible to apply a constant effect 'aura' to in-flight projectiles. Beside the damage, they can also have physical impulses – and practically even negative ones. ;)
New Zion weapons
Dutty Gun
Leaves small spots of radiated area behind – enjoy the extra DPS!
Dutty Boom
Ok, this one was already there (and still is – if you own it, you'll keep it), formerly known as the Nuke Torpedo. It was moved to the Zion arsenal and given some fancy aftermath radiation effects.
Dutty Nades
Radioactive grenades – sounds like fun, eh?
With the addition of Area Damage, we now have some sick special device weapons waiting to get launched. Unfortunately, getting active device slots to accept weapons might still take some time...
Dr. Vornoff portrait
Don't judge a book by its cover – but it's pretty obvious she's up to no good...
New achievement
The Krieger Letters now have readable content and you can now deliver them to their rightful recipients. Gain the achievement for this 'Late Delivery'!
Halloween Horrors
To pass the time before next BIG update, we have reactivated the Wicked Dimension – and the once-in-a-year opportunity to unlock rare spooky ships and weapons!
Ship polishing
Continuing the tradition, the Pathfinder – one of the oldest ships available – was brought back to speed and decorated with fancy light effects.
Hacking level and time balancing for all pirate ships
Tyrell Wharf collision / FX optimization
World
Fog of War is now black. Space changes to blue in map mode
Station regeneration – stations enter a self-repair mode when losing hull (after a 'come back later' type of cooldown), reducing the risk of finding a bunch of debris where a station should be.
Readable XP when it's opened for the first time
Loot Magnet: change the attraction model
Caduceus HQ bit of polishing
The King is back. You may not know him and maybe never will. Roll out and find him! ;)
Added a new stage to the tutorial, in which Auxilium introduces the scanning feature
A new item (Shuttle Keycard) is added to the player's inventory at the beginning of the game - needed for an incoming update ;)
Weapons
Mine shotguns were re-balanced (Caltrop is now better than Scattergun, some prices adjusted) and their projectiles can be shot down
Razor's Edge collision optimization
Solid explosive projectiles like the Shell Breaker now have reworked graphics with animated trails
Improved FX for radiation weapons and default mine explosions
UI
Loadout key shortcuts
Tooltips: Show the initial DPS if it differs from the average DPS
FX
Nanobot emitters on regenerating ships and stations
Other
Support overriding fonts for translations
Add a simplified chinese font
Embed the game version to the binary version header
Ship crafting consumes the full stack of the ship cargo items
Shield damage is not included for tracked damage stats (stations/ships retaliate way too late)
Loadout switch: Weapons/shields/devices should not deplete if it's the same
Wreck Xanadu turrets should be also gaia
Disable most player input actions if the menu is active
Xentron Revealed: Atlas stops fighting after respawn (when getting killed)
Menu: Fire animations after the GUI has been initialized so they don't stutter or finish instantly
Static Message: correctly update the game and handle controller button down events
Popup notifications don't restore the dialog input focus (E key)
Some minor errors with the Dr. Cram Bokaj questline, added a callback after the quest counter
Lost and found chest should be openable without hacking
D2-Launcher had upgrade level 3 twice instead of 4
Weapon fire rate ignores the energy constraints if min_fire_interval is also set (Mini Seekers fire rate is wrong)
Laser TTL should not be rounded
Tooltip DPS calculation should include p_hit_count_delay
Tooltip DPS for multi-missile (burst) turrets is lower than in game
Tooltips: Compare cargo weight and value
Tooltips: Don't change the highlighted item alpha
Tooltips: Laser "Fire Rate" is sometimes not shown
Savegames: ship stat kill counter is not loaded
ESC in ship trade cancels out of lower dialog first instead of ship trade HUD
Quickload crashes when a question box is open (disable it)
5 ships (Ameba, Cessy, Gylfa, Icarus, Stansa) didn't have damage or regeneration FX
Big Samson (Seraphim bodyguard) portrait had a CoC logo
Some grammar and spelling mistakes
Don't allow trading with stations in space
Drop click areas overlap each other
Shield collision/impact emitters are offset
Ship loadouts: Do a free cargo space check
Muzzle emitters are played in Inventory background
FTA trade missions: Delete enemies on mission success
Savegame Menu: Info messages are not shown as they are drawn behind the window (like "Can't save now. A dialog, event or fight is currently active")
Gilliam ship emitter particles have regular gaps
Engine-linked repeat emitters can still be duplicated once
Analysis: Show trash trade icon only for collectable trash pieces
"-1 item" message on player death
Options Menu: Add a "needs a game restart" info popup when the font will change from a language change
Infinite hit count to Flamethrower and Razor's Edge
It's 1.4 and here we are with new features – like the much sought-after loot magnet, ship loadouts, new ships and weapons, as well as a lot of improvements. Check it out and don't forget to let us know what you think. A lot of work is also going into the upcoming main story expansion right now, so be prepared for a huge update this year! We're already curious how you will like it.
[previewyoutube="P8TtWTfWd3s;full"]
Loot Magnet
...makes looting more attractive! Keep your eyes open for the Loot Recovery Field and Salvor Attractor devices! We decided to make them passive – so equip one of them, lean back and enjoy your delivery!
New Ships
Extraterrestrial sightings – crafted by human hands. The Companionship brings you even two versions of this gear-driven flying saucer: A devastating war machine and a hyperspeed shuttle. For the believers, the Seraphim have summoned holy spirits into a new Patrolship: The Saraph.
Tarelka / War Tarelka (CoC Shuttle / Light Cruiser)
Saraph (Seraphim Patrolship)
Ship Loadouts
Easily separate the fighting and mining equipment.
New Drone Weapons
Sinbuster (Seraphim weapon with heat damage)
Lightning Swarm (ISA weapon with shock damage)
After this GIF was created, the accuracy of both weapons was greatly optimized – you can be sure that these are the best drones in town!
Portraits
New Seraphim offshoot of Atlantic male 4
Audio
Outer space radiation loops (intensifying the further you move into the void)
FTA Trade Missions
New mission type for FTA Rookies to try out – beware of the pirates who have great interest in your cargo!
Ship polishing
Mostly graphic polishing and symmetry fixes, collision optimization, emitter improvements and slot updates
The Messiah also got upgraded with an additional turret slot!
Weapons / Turrets / Shields
Seraphim custom turret design
Scallywag Shield pricing reduced
World
More XP reward variation for ship scanning
More content variation on Xanadu crates
Made the dialog option to hand over the water to Jonas for the Viridi quest always visible but unselectable if you don't have enough water (instead of always hidden)
Some improvements to the Pluto Colony image
UI
Options relayouting / unified grid system for all sub pages
Buttons are height-independent now (9-sliced)
Many layout improvements and fixes
Portrait polishing
Atlantic male 4
Seraphim male 2
J-12 military male
Caduceus female
FX
Damage effects for regular heat projectiles
Seraphim ships should not buy random faction weapons
Abigail dialog update after Bobby has been rescued
Ships with a short distance weapon may not reach the approach pos for mining
Repeatedly opening the Ship Trade HUD can corrupt the ship data text
Critical chance is not displayed/compared in tooltips
Trade HUD: background overlap on center frame after the amount popup window was opened
Crash on resolution switch after the Ship Trade HUD was opened
Albion missing entry in Rajid's crafting options
"Guitar Pirate" pre-destroyed "Guitar" drop is still called when the item is already removed
"return water to cliff Station" quest marker looks off on landable screen
Missing ship classes & Seraphim ship descriptions
Cyar Monk now has items in his shop
Trade HUD: Only show the default prices for the player cargo container
Trading system money exploit
Ship scan XP balancing
Portrait frame overlaps
Don't crash but error log if a Radar HUD cargo item is null
Analysis HUD: Crash with a selected sprite that has no leading person (rare)
Some divisions by 0
Do not save if player hull is 0.0 or lower
Do not render weapons/shields/starfields with 0 alpha
This is our mini-patch, thanks to Floppa Priest, Klassy Kitten and Makonar for detailed bug reports and feedback! Luv to our space-traveling community :3 Cu soon for the next patch.
FTA missions: Show bonus separately at delivery
Radar Renderer Draw crash
Saving over another save in combat only deletes it
FTA payout differs from displayed one
Scan counter reset on save/load
When you buy a ship it always switches to the new ship
Only increase the "Playing Doctor" progress if the correct medicine was administered
No mission marker back to Leen Kova after destroying pirate drones
Level of Subsistence mission progress 100 reduced to 55
Romancing the Stone mission progress 100 reduced to 50
Script Remove_Target_Person() calls the Person_Target_Removed() callback twice
Black Jack wrong quest step description
Hacking wrecks is possible
Raft doesn't sell wares
Proxy Laser: all upgrade levels have the same stats
Preparations are being met... This time we introduce the scan feature, which allows you to scan almost everything in the solar system for information and also gives you the possibility to get blueprints through it. We've also put a focus on polishing, bugfixes and some additional pirate hunting.
In the next few months we will be busy working on the next main story chapter and some essentials before we push out more general content and sidequests, so stay tuned! Thanks again for all the great feedback and suggestions and safe travels out there in the void!
Scanning
A long-awaited feature that spices up the use of the analysis display and makes exploration in general even more interesting! Coming with new animations and custom sounds.
How it works Actually a breeze – anything you select will be scanned automatically once you're within scanning range. After a scan is complete, certain information is revealed in the HUD. More to come: Scanning will also become a tool of information gathering for the planned codex!
What can be scanned? Pretty much anything! Ships, stations, planets, asteroids, containers, gas clouds, ice cubes, ...
Blueprint collection Scanning allows you to expand your blueprint collection even faster. Complete a scanning loop by scanning the same ship type multiple times and pay attention to the counter above!
New female portraits
5x CoC, new FTA agent, Atlantic Alliance
Strictly speaking, not the first time we do this, but another step to try something new: Varying faces not only within one faction, but also between several – to increase the diversity of the population much more efficiently.
Audio
New SFX for the scanning feature
Added a default selection sound
FX
Plasma hit effects for torpedos and mines (e. g. Plaz Turret)
More pirate hunting
Added some missions on Uranus for pirate hunting
Ships & Stations
Symmetry corrections and overall polishing in up to double resolution, new light animations
Routine inspection
With these last remaining ships, the Sphere can now be considered a completely polished faction!
Zion Station polishing
Molotok polishing
World
Put a ring on it! As a small authenticity upgrade, we decided to give Uranus some fancy rings. Unless there is a big storm of vetoes coming up, we'll probably do the same with Neptune and Jupiter...
Improved drop balancing and optimized collisions for cargo containers
FTA affinity updates
Weapons
Weapons and shields have been divided into certain groups to ensure better item drops
All lasers have 100% accuracy in tooltips
Custom icon for dual missiles and sort keys updated
Portraits
Xander polishing and variations (each FTA Station now has its own unique Xander ;))
A lot has happened in the last month – new sidequests, a new ship and a lot of general improvements to the world and gameplay are here! Also, we got rid of some older tasks and did some cosmetics. Thanks to the great community feedback! Another update is already in the making and we won't stop - so stay tuned!
Anyway, have fun and let us hear your thoughts here or on Discord!
Fulfill the brutal quest for music
This new sidequest finishes the mini storyline we began last year about the band from the future - BG5000. Discover the location of all four band instruments and retrieve them. Rumors have it that a cult of Seraphim monks got their hands on RADIOAKTIV MNNN's bass!
All the instruments come with unique sounds – most of them played by the band itself, and if you become friends with the guys, they might even play a little (and very loud) concert for you! ;)
Any other space games that feature a Casio VL-1?
Hear the tale of the lost luggage
Help Kenak's Assistant to retrieve the lost luggage, meet an eccentric fashion designer and decide the fate of an obsessive luggage thief.
New ISA ship: Magellan
A heavy cruiser designed by the ISA for exploration and research purposes... but easily turned into a powerful battleship with the right weapon loadout – all for science!
Weapons
New weapons: Plasma Missile & Plasma Missile Turret (available at ISA traders)
They're extra BIG and extra GREEN to make it easier for your exhausted little explorer eyes! ;)
Images for readable items
The content of readable items (what is displayed via the 'Inspect' button) now allows the use of in-text images. There already are some first ones in use, but we don't want to spoil the graphics here. However, here are some hints where you can find them – look out for:
A "kid's" drawing ;)
Van Gaan's exclusive fashion collection
Harrison Cruise's movie covers
Portraits
Just in time: This new guy jumped on the update at the last minute and increases the Companionship of Commerce portrait count by 1.
Van Gaan This guy is not your average space citizen – he's a fashion pioneer, a true visionary who doesn't accept any kind of failure. Find out what he's so upset about, and maybe you can give him a helping hand!
FTA male head pants variation (too ridiculous to spoil here... :D)
Stats & balancing
Some ship and weapon balancing thanks to roogun!
Gylva view range increased to 1150
Jah-One view range decreased to 1200
Rook view range decreased to 800
Rook radar range increased to 1000
Kujirame engine acceleration decreased to 115
Potemkin engine acceleration increased to 60
Patriot engine eacceleration decreased to 45
Patriot max speed increased to 100
Albion engine acceleration decreased to 135
Prophet max speed increased to 138
Europa max speed decreased to 107,5
Genbu turn rate max decreased to 0,75
D-2 Launcher now has the correct amount of upgrade levels
Spray paint items reduced to container level 1
Quest items tradable settings reworked
Increase the Inner Aegis hull regeneration
First (small) FTA changes
New agents in preparation for FTA trade mission improvements
Every station now has its own and correct leading person (removed the old, faulty leading persons)
Some dialog improvements, especially the introduction @Agent Xander
Added O'Maley and the Lost and Found Chest to FTA Samson
World
Enable radiation damage to NPCs in outer space
More shields and devices for Marcel Wallas to sell in case you've chosen "shield shop" or "devices shop" as option
Added some dialog for Buren for his trade contract option
Added a cheap J-12 shield for Sub-Members
Added more Auxilium and Cameron dialog about pirates
Portrait polishing & quick fixes
Waechter hacking
To make the impact of your dialog decisions during the hacking event more obvious, we've added an indicator that highlights the hacking progress bonus gained from each answer.
Mission icon visibility
In order to avoid losing track of the mission targets, we have taken some measures:
Mission icons don't scale down while zooming out
Nearby target's mission icons are moved back to the screen if positioned off-screen
Main mission icons are highlighted to make them stand out more
Other UI improvements
Improve the inspect box auto layout
When a mission target is visible, limit the icon pos to the screen rect
Quick Travel mission icons added
Unique target icon for "destroy target" mission counter
Global draw buffer corruption after loading (rare)
Battleship and Capital ship classes should not AI trade
Quest item counter doesn't show the correct number when dropping/selling something
Removed the Raym's Runner drop from the BG5k group
Jurgen's mission has to be active for the game to try to add any progress to the quest at the Ganymede Log Node
Paranoid Pirate Hunting: misplaced pirate spawner
Weapons/Shields/Devices should not draw in map mode
Brutale Reunion: last stage is crossed out, and swapped with title, when mission is finished
Ship damage emitter continues when Inventory is opened (with autopause)
Ship selection is drawn behind asteroids
Weapon has different price in comparison tooltip
Rare level unload crash
Selection hints: Changing the font size refreshes the window with a wrong text
Dropped items disappear on second save
Weapon/Shield/Device tooltip should be without the price coloring
Only show the fire rate for laser tooltips if it is over 0
Show the full range for weapon accuracy
Death Seeker rockets are now labeled correctly as pirate weapon
Here we are reporting back from 2021. We hope you had a pleasant start into the new year so far and enjoyed the spectacular preview of our neighboring planet Mars.
In the past two months we had a little personal business to take care of, as two of our team members moved their homes (we remain international and keep covering a span of timezones ;)) but as you will see below, this hasn't harmed the production at all. This update is no smaller than any other and we've added a lot of new content and made some changes that will greatly improve your space experience!
As always, we're looking forward to your feedback!
Turret system rework
After some irritation, we have improved the way turrets fire at targets. The two most important changes are:
Free aiming
Turrets follow your mouse cursor when no weapon target is selected, so you can shoot enemies or asteroids manually.
Firing order
Turrets no longer automatically open fire on a focused target. They remain in 'wait' mode and display target lines until you press the fire button.
Further steps are planned to improve weapon handling even more. We want to add options to the cooldown HUD that allow customizing the behavior for each weapon on the fly.
Repair laser
The Sphere's 'Naoru Laser' fixes broken hulls of allied or neutral NPCs. Use the standard selector instead of the weapon target to focus on a ship and the repair progress will start automatically.
Drop variations
Battles can get messy – custom drop graphics for weapons, shields, blueprints and readable documents now highlight valuable items and help you distinguish between a boss fight reward and Cheezy Poofs – unless the reward is Cheezy Poofs.
New portraits
The character drawing frenzy hasn't ended yet and a lot of new faces have joined your solar neighborhood:
NPCs
To bring more variety into the crowd and to emphasize the factions' appearance step by step, we have focused on the creation of random NPCs this time – and as many variations as possible.
(Even more new heads are already lining up and waiting to get their bodies).
BG5000
The crew is complete! Theoretically. In fact they're spread all over the place and it's still up to you to reunite these rockstars from the future.
Chest image variations
Chest images now indicate their status – whether they are locked or broken – and make it easier to see which skill is needed.
New sidequests + achievement
New bounty hunter missions (more to come). Also, if you got Marcel Wallas to stay on Pluto, he's now eagerly waiting to start his business. Decide on a trade route (choose between weapons, shields and other equipment or resources) to boost Pluto's economy - and unlock the 'Home Economics' achievement!
World
Added some new NPCs
Update NPC sorting and descriptions
Stronger decel power for stations
Autopilot evasion: Prioritize high mass ships (stations, capitals)
Medium range evasion: do not evade anything inside or beyond the target pos
Do not avoid ships/stations on autopilot with a higher engine accel
Evasion: reduce speed if something is right in front
Show the turret weapon max range before the turret was fired
Added specific dialog reactions to some NPCs (looking at the player / moving towards the player / not reacting at all)
Minor improvements on Sphere solar station graphics
Do not allow saving while in a fight (because projectiles are not saved)
UI
Higher texture resolution for emitter when drawn in the GUI
Show the ship weapons in the Inventory
Controller: Sort the location icons index automatically
Ship Trade HUD: Add a text animation
Portraits
Rajid got a whole new head!
'If my head wasn't attached to my shoulders, I would forget it every morning.' – Well bro, actually it isn't.
Some more character portraits have been polished
Ship death drops can use a wrong lowered amount
Xentron Revealed: Caduceus shouldn't attack player before mission start
Changed the sidequest "Sleeping Pods for Three, No Pets!" so that a quest progress reduction shouldn't be possible anymore
The Isaac Family should now react accordingly after they decided to stay or leave Pluto
Genocide Arrest mission progress reduced
"Genocide Arrest": The transports should stop when the fight is active
Crash Course can get stuck at 56% or 57% if the mission dialog is still open
Spawner spawned sprites need to check for visible earlier (Newly spawned ships visible for 1 frame after tutorial dialog)
The person list quest target vanishes when multiple missions have the same target (If you promise Chondros his meds, but still haven't gotten his blood test)
Guard Moldau only switches to dialog block 3 once
Sun-Moon should switch to correct dialog block now after his brother is returned to the colony
Radioactive chest explosion on Essex wreck spawns 2 human bodies
Disable medium range evasion for stations
Pirate ships near pirate stations can become stuck
GUI Sprite Renderer: Do not draw the muzzle emitter
FTA Agent License: Require 20 instead of 21 completed missions
