It’s time for another update on the long-awaited Sector K72 patch.
Heathen Engineering’s development team has been focusing on ‘Asset’ management gameplay and has made some significant progress. The following is a sneak peek at where the team is headed with this feature. The current state is nearly there but still subject to change of course as it has not yet passed internal testing.
In Terran you can form or join organizations such as governments and corporations (more to come). As a government or corporation, you can claim ‘Assets’ such as planets, stations, asteroid fields and other stellar bodies as your own.
Many of these assets can and need to be developed in various ways to yield a benefit for your organization. Populations need to be managed for stability, optimal growth and to insure they are providing the benefits you want.
So, what kind of benefits do assets provide?
Assets usually increase your influence regardless of what organization type you are. As a government, the focus lies on size and prosperity of your population, access to resources and of course the strength of your fleet. As a corporation, the focus needs to be more on your research and industrial capability as well as the security provided by your fleet.
What can you do with an asset you ask?
Assets at their core provide a place for your population to live and work. You can implement various improvements to your asset to promote the growth of its population and the development of its various capabilities. The population its self is divided into 8 major demographics each sensitive to cultural factors in different ways. Your asset improvements, your actions as an organization and the galaxy at large all impact the local culture of your asset and thus impact your population and through it the benefit you realize from that asset.
Assets also offer an exploration opportunity. An asset may have various special traits including primitive species, exotic flora and fauna, unique environmental conditions and or historical artefacts. These traits can be researched and in some cases exploited for special benefits on the asset or across the organization. Follows are a few examples of how traits can impact your asset and organization.
Primitive Species
Not every race in the galaxy is space faring and occasionally you find a primitive home world. You can still claim and even colonize these worlds though this will have an impact politically, culturally and of course on the planets outputs its self.
When a primitive species exists on the planet you will have several special ‘improvements’ that can be applied and effect how your colony deals with the natives. The options available depend on the population type and population density of the primitive species which can range from Proto being a very early example of an intelligent species to Young being a race nearly ready to reach for the stars on their own. You can always ‘liquidate’ the natives e.g. convert them to material profit and of course you have the option to leave them in peace. Depending on the state of the species you may be able to integrate them with your colony boosting your population or exploit them for other gains.
Exotic flora and fauna
As it turns out life is not all that rare or unique or at least most life isn’t however you do occasionally discover a world with a unique native variety of plant or species of animal that can offer the people and industries of that asset some unique benefit. When you discover such species, special improvements will come available on that asset to exploit the opportunity.
Environmental conditions
Some planets have unique environmental conditions which will naturally impact its population. Planets with such traits don’t get any special improvement options but will experience the effects of the conditions as a base line.
Artefacts
In rare cases, you may discover an artefact of an ancient advanced race, researching these artefacts will often uncover advanced technologies in the form of ship parts and design, asset improvements, pilot enhancements and can lead to the discovery of new unexplored regions of space. Artefacts help you unlock the mysteries of the galaxy’s ancient past and can provide a special improvement opportunity on the planet it was discovered on.
More to come
As we continue to prepare the Sector K72 update we will release additional information on asset management, organization administration, leadership, fleet command, contacts and this list just keeps going. We are not yet establishing a firm launch date for the Sector K72 patch and are scrutinizing every little detail of the new systems before we release the build to the Beta opt-in but we will be making frequent announcements highlighting progress thus far and as always, our Terran Roadmap provides an up-to-date view from our dev team.
We still have a bit of testing and polishing before the patch is ready for release and really can’t wait to see what you make of it. Our team keeps a constant eye on the Steam Community forums and we would love to hear your comments.
Terran Galactic News
Heathen Engineering is hard at work and making good progress on the Phase 2 transition patch.
As we mentioned in our last announcement we hit a snag in patch testing on Sector K72 which untimely resulted in us taking on a heap of additional work. That work is progressing along nicely and we expect to have release dates for the patch in the coming weeks.
You can follow along with the progress of the patch via the Terran Roadmap on Trello, our lead developer updates Trello as he works e.g. it is a candid view from our developers. Heathen will continue to bring you updates and announcements as we progress and as always, we are available through the Steam Community Hub.
So, What’s Coming?
The Sector K72 patch includes a lot of ‘under the hood’ work. Technical changes include an engine update, revamped serialization and asset management systems and a lot of other nuts and bolts that will equate to a faster, more stable and easier to use experience for the gamer. The real stars of the patch though are in the gameplay and content.
Organizations
You can now form your own corporation or government and set about building an empire. Each type of organization has its own unique style of growth and development. Initially we are introducing the Corporation and Government type organization and we have plans to introduce 2 more types in later patches. A player doesn’t have to form an organization or even join one to play the game and experience the galaxy though organization gameplay will be a key area of focus for the Phase 2 iteration of Early Access.
Corporations and Governments can both ‘claim’ assets … that is they can own planets, stations and other populated elements in the galaxy e.g. empire building. Corporations and governments typically have a lot more resource than private individuals but they also have a lot more expense and draw a lot more attention. Additional organization types will offer players a path that differs from typical empire building.
To help test this system during Early Access, players will receive a special notification from Allfar Terraforming when they first register an organization. Allfar will grant new organizations everything they need to get started and will conveniently provide a selection of ideal terrestrial planets to choose from. This is a facility of Early Access meant to focus attention on a key area and will differ significantly in the full release.
Contacts
Simply put contacts are NPCs with something for the player to do. Each contact is unique and has its own affiliations and relationships with other elements in the galaxy. The contact system will play an important role for every pilot. In addition to private contacts each organization you meet will have 1 or more contacts and how you interact with them will impact your standing with their affiliated organizations.
Initially we will be introducing a set of private contacts, these are NPCs with no organization affiliation who can help you find your way. Contacts have tasks for you to take on and completing these tasks will improve your relationship with the contact and usually earn you cash and basic supplies in the process. Contacts you have developed a relationship with are more likely to offer you better tasks and possibly even introduce you to their own contacts helping you grow your network.
Character Development
Who you are didn’t really matter in Phase 1 which was focused heavily on ships and related systems. With Phase 2 who you are and what you can do is keenly important. Over the course of Phase 2 we will be introducing a number of facets to character development starting with the introduction of ‘Pilot Enhancements’.
Enhancements can be installed to you and your companions augmenting skills and granting additional abilities, parts, asset improvements and more. As you adventure through the galaxy you will discover, steal and otherwise acquire new enhancements. You have a limited capacity for enhancement but can uninstall and reinstall enhancements at will.
In future patches, we will be expanding upon the enhancement system and introducing companions and relationships, which we will talk more about later.
Exploration
The galaxy is a big place and with the Sector K72 patch we will be introducing you to a small slice of it. Sector K72 is a relatively typical sector of the Free Space region of the galaxy. A few systems are charted and there are a few minor populations on record. The new Map tools will allow you to browse the sector and probe for new systems, contacts and more.
Initially gameplay will be restricted to within the K72 sector of the Free Space region. This limitation is a function of this phase of Early Access, in later phases and of course in the full game the whole of the galaxy will be available to you.
Changes and Fixes
The official patch announcement will include a more complete list, below are a few notable areas of change coming with the Sector K72 patch. You can always track what we are currently doing via the Roadmap on Trello.
Engine Update
The underlying engine has been updated as well as the custom systems which drive the game itself. These changes are not compatible with previous save settings or ship templates. Additional changes to the underlying systems which would affect save data are not anticipated however as Terran is under development it is possible.
Main Menu
A main menu has been added to help ease players into Terran. This menu simply provides the typical save file management, settings and exit functionality common to most games. Terran previously supported this functionality through its main UI.
The Dashboard has been updated to support the new gameplay elements introduced with Phase 2. The ‘power button’ which previously closed the game now simply returns the player to the Main Menu, the Main Menu has an ‘Exit’ button which will close the game.
Dashboard Update
The Dashboard has been updated to support new functionality introduced by Phase 2 and further refined for ease of use. The main Dashboard focuses on notifications and character profile with additional functionality available from the menu in the upper left of the screen.
Ship Manager
The Ship Manager replaces the Ship Editor and provides all the same functionality. The UI layout of the manager has been simplified and streamlined from the prior Ship Editor layout. The Ship Manager has additional functionality regarding the management of the player’s fleet and manufacturing of new ships. These functions will be further expanded in future updates.
Season's Greetings from Sector K72!
It might be just the time of year, but there's a definite excitement in the air. We at Heathen Engineering like to think it's because of our upcoming Early Access Phase 2!
As in Phase 1, Heathen will be rolling out a series of updates and patches; however in Phase 2 these updates are heavy on the gameplay.
Sector K72, our first playable region, will be released with this update (which bears the same name); and we will be introducing companions, contacts, character development, basic economy, and empire building... And that's just the start of Phase 2!
Sector K72 started its testing cycle as planned, and was scheduled to hit the beta build this week. However, our testing process broke it real good!
Fear not though, the team has a solution and we're working hard to get an update our there. While there is a delay in getting Sector K72 to beta, the solution we're using will also bring a raft of improvements to the game. The update will introduce a ton of new gameplay features, along with the content to support them, and in addition to all this new content we are also taking the opportunity to do some early Spring (or Winter) cleaning, as well as doing an engine upgrade to boot!
The release date for all this isn’t locked in just yet, though we expect to push the Sector K72 patch into the beta branch later this month. The Phase 2 transition work continues in the background with all systems "go", and we really do mean all systems here. Phase 2 is looking bigger and better than ever, and even though the timelines have been adjusted this delay is only a short-term one; over the long term it's not expected to be a setback the project.
Want to know more about what we're up to?
While our lead techie James makes everything work again, our lead designer Olav has been checking all our content to make sure that Terran is on track to deliver the gaming experience we intend. It's not just the code-base which is getting some needed love and attention, Olav is working with the team to make sure we take full advantage of the opportunity this delay affords. Our writers and community team are working closely with the other Heathens to improve how we communicate with you, our gamers, and to make sure that the systems will make sense when you get them in hand. They'll also be busy giving the Contacts and other characters some interesting things to say, and bringing together some of the Terrans' history which we'll be making available within the game over time.
The good news is that this will bring even more content in the first patch of Phase 2. We had originally planned to introduce a few key gameplay systems in this month's patch around empire management and character development. Due to the delay, we'll be expanding the planned feature list to include Manufacturing and production systems with import and export capabilities enabling budding overlords and overladies to ship goods around their empires. We'll also be adding the Contact and Companion systems, so players will be able to build a network of contacts and recruit, manage and upgrade a band of followers to share their journey with.
Want to hear about what we broke?
Short answer: the game itself. More specifically, we hit a build error and, as our techy James dug into it, it became clear that we needed to update the base engine and re-organize some key elements in order to properly sort it. The engine update was planned to happen anyway, although we would have rather waited until after Sector K72 released to do that. Since we had a notable delay on our hands anyway, we decided to go for the full tune-up and so we've added quite a few of the ‘nice to have’ things we had been putting off.
We assure you that we're working hard to get the update ready. While we're aiming for a December release of Sector K72; we can't set a date until quality control says so. We will keep you up-to-date as the effort progresses, sharing more information on all the new features coming in Sector K72.
September Update
Build 1.0.20160901.52
General Updates
This build includes many low-level updates, including an update to the underlying game engine which has had a significant beneficial impact to many areas of the game. Visually the game is significantly different than the previous build; although previous version profiles, ship templates and global settings should be fully compatible.
The beta build will be receiving a number of smaller ‘partial’ updates from this build onward. Some additional, previously disabled ‘game rules’ will be activated in these updates, such as: energy requirements, complexity costs, and other ‘limiters’ with regard to ship design. These new rules may affect the stats and performance of existing ship templates, and we'd greatly appreciate feedback on how your designs are affected.
Key Updates this patch
The following are a few highlights from this build. For details on specific changes and updates please refer to the Heathen Engineering’s Terran road map.
Redefined UI
Terran’s UI has been redesigned based on feedback from the early access gamers. The new interface provides all the same functionality, but in a simpler cleaner presentation.
The new dashboard puts more focus on events, which have themselves been expanded to provide you with quick access to relevant information and features. Two pinned events have been added to help guide you through new features and known issues.
Introducing CAM
CAM is the improved version of the ‘Co-pilot’ module and drives the tooltips, tutorials, quick help and archives.
CAM itself is represented by a disk in the top centre of your screen and is always available. The CAM window can be opened anywhere in game by simply clicking CAM. From the CAM window you can search topics, access key web resources and configure the CAM system.
The new ‘Quick Help’ can be accessed at any time in game by simply pressing and holding F1. This will pause combat if needed.
The quick help display will change depending on where you are in game and what you are doing, attempting to show you the most relevant information for the conditions at hand.
CAM will also drive the archives feature of the game which will be introduced in upcoming builds.
New Training Area
The ‘Training Area’ editor simulation is being introduced in a preview state with this build. The Training Area replaces the build specific simulation missions and will mature into the final production form of the Ship Editor’s simulation mission.
Training Area is a Ship Editor simulation mission—that is, within the simulation certain normal game rules do not apply; for example, no loot received will persist and no consequences of your actions will persist. Changes made to the simulation space will also not persist across sessions, and missions can be repeated infinitely. Simulation missions are meant to provide a means to test yourself and your ship designs, so the objectives are generally exaggerated to focus on specific requirements.
The Training Area takes the form of a large city-sized space station and includes guided instruction and hands on activities for everything from basic flight control to advanced combat techniques. Later updates will also introduce an ‘arena’ function where various combat scenarios can be configured and played.
Currently available in the Training Area:
Blue Quadrant This area teaches of course the basics of flying your ship, but also more complex functions such as jump gates, hidden secrets and local quests. The movement and interaction portion of the Training Area takes place in the blue quadrant of the station, an open area roughly 25% of the 30Km diameter space station.
This area is still under construction in particular the local quests and salvaging portions are incomplete. Blue Quadrant will be the focus of the next patch with regards to the Training Area updates.
Coming in the next few updates:
Red Quadrant This area teaches the basics of combat such as target, control points and group movement and includes a simplified combat scenario requiring the organization of two combat wings. As with Blue Quadrant, information panels are scattered throughout along with a ‘hands on’ example of the topic.
Arena Coming soon the remaining half of the Training Area’s station will be a battle scared area divided into 2 quadrants representing allied and enemy territories. The core or centre area of the station will include a special 'control console' structure where various combat scenarios can be configured and started.
June Patch Update!
Build 1.0.20160612.3
As we enter our third month of early access, and look forward to Phase 2, there has been quite a bit happening behind the scenes in the Terran galaxy, both in and out of the game. We want to again thank all of you providing your feedback in phase 1 – this has lead to some great new game functionality and a better experience for all players. Keep your suggestions coming!
This is expected to be the last major patch of the Phase 1 cycle with the next patch; aside from general maintenance; introducing Phase 2 content and shifting the focus into new areas of the game. We will be continuing to add new ship parts and simulation missions as we lead into Phase 2 and well beyond and of course continuing to polish the Ship Editor and its related functions.
Engine Update We are in the process of updating the underlying engine and this patch includes a number of changes - in particular to rendering settings, which will ultimately improve performance and visual quality across the supported platforms.
Players with saved settings from previous builds may notice visual errors. These errors tend to occur where the anisotropic textures setting is ‘Forced Enabled’. This can be corrected in game by sliding the graphics quality slider to ‘Good’ and returning it to the desired setting after.
You may also notice the game is brighter and the bloom effects are stronger. You can adjust the strength of the bloom or ‘flare’ effect in the settings area of the game by turning up the ‘Glare Reduction’ setting.
Introducing Programmable Parts Ship hull components can now be programmed to execute configuration changes on triggered events. Configurations adjust the position and rotation of a component and all the child components that are attached to it. This may change the silhouette of your ship, and can change the line of the sight of its turrets.
Coupled with the new part parenting features you can trigger configuration changes to occur with the movement of your ship or on specific events such as stance change and locking or unlocking targets. You can also configure these changes to always loop for a simple bit of visual style.
New general use Hull parts A new line of general use hull parts has been introduced, including new ‘cores’ which help shift your ships ‘core’ statistic in the desired direction. They are available in Armour, Shield, Structure, Thrust and Torque augmenting cores.
‘Core’ hull components function as standard hulls with average contributions across all ship features and an additional bonus to the cores specific function such as Armour. These parts are generally small low profile elements making for useful pivot points with the new programmable part functions.
Hunter Missile Manufactory The Hunter missile weapon component has been added to the weapons parts list. This is a M mount seeking missile weapon turret with moderate complexity. Missile or ‘launched’ weapons have a substantially higher yield (damage per second) than cannon or beam weapons, however they are less effective against shields and have a notably slower fire rate and flight time. The "area of effect" nature of launched weapons coupled with target seeking functions means these weapons rarely miss, however they can be shot down in flight.
The History of Terran (Lore and Back story) Wondering how the Terran came to be? Heathen Course Technologies has begun to unveil the mystery of this formidable species and invites you to read up on its history to add to your gaming experience. Story parts will be added frequently and we encourage you to check back regularly for new updates to the story. YouAreTerran.com Story
Patch Notes
Part parenting, programmable parts and ship stances have all been added with this patch along with a long list of bug fixes and general improvements to gameplay, rendering, physics and UI. For a full list of changes, bug fixes and all of the new features added please see the Terran Roadmap On Going Development list.
Linux Platform The previous build presented several issues with the Linux 32 and Linux 64 builds which have since been corrected. Please note we are still working on performance issues and are aware of rendering errors on the Linux builds. These outstanding issues are an area of focus for the development team and will be addressed in future patches.
Changes and Additions
Notable engine update; this update is to a ‘beta’ build of the target engine in preparation for the target ‘live’ version of the engine reaching ‘stable’ build. Some stability issues are expected.
Changes to screen effects in this patch are the first of wave of ongoing improvements to rendering performance and quality changes. Completion of this process is dependent on the stable release of Unity 3D 5.4.x or later.
New feature: ‘Part Parenting’ or the ability to ‘link’ parts such that the movement of the parent translates to the movement of all children accordingly.
New Feature: ‘Programmable Parts’ or the ability to define behaviours and the steps of the behaviours for parts to execute on triggered events.
At current only ‘hull’ type parts can be ‘programmed’ to trigger a single behaviour ‘always’, on movement (speed, turn, etc.) or on a defined value for shield, armour or structure or with weapon groups or on ‘stance’ change (offensive, defensive, balanced).
New Feature: ‘Stances’ – three defined cases ‘Balanced’, ‘Offensive’ and ‘Defensive’ have been defined and can be switched by pressing the default keys of ‘Z’ = Defensive, ‘X’ = Balanced and ‘C’ = Offensive.
Defensive stance improves shield recharge rates and will augment defensive instrumentation once implemented at the cost of firepower.
Offensive stance improves firepower notably but suspends inherent shield recharge rates and degrades the performance of defensive instruments (once implemented)
Balanced stance is the default stance and offers no noted advantages or disadvantages.
Note that the transition of each stance is a ‘trigger able’ event e.g. programmable parts can respond to the change of each stance.
New Weapon: Hunter Missile Manufactory M mount class missile type weapon with moderate complexity requirements. Missiles are more effective against armour and structure than against shields.
New Components: 11 new hull components added
T frame type A, B and C general hull component added
Shield, Armour and Structure core hull component added
TC1 and TC2 thrust and torque core hull components added
Known Issues
With no parts in the ship editor you cannot save a template nor can you change the category of the template.
Copying a part that has child parts incorrectly copies the child parts such that they are visible in editor but not included in the resulting ship template.
Parenting parts does not update in the Undo/Redo history - subsequent ‘undo’ after a parenting operation can result in unexpected part placement.
Some transitions out of programming mode back to editing mode can cause program steps to become orphaned.
Latest engine update and shader updates have changed the lighting effect in some areas; more work is required to complete the transition to the new models.
Part parenting options for the "At Speed", "At Turn" and "With Weapon Group" value options have an known issue with saving the trigger value.
The pause menu ‘Return’ button does not return the player to menu.
New fields are missing tooltips and multi-language support; this will be updated in the patches to follow.
On player death the game may stutter as it returns to the previous menu.
Initial load sequence and mission load sequence can stutter on some machines.
Upcoming Changes In addition to general bug fixes and solutions for known issues:
Additional general use ship components are in design and testing now along with new Light, Mid and Heavy hull components. These will be released in smaller patches over the following weeks. These will be introduced to the ‘beta’ opt-in depot on Steam available to all players prior to release to the live game.
Additional ‘launched’ weapons similar to the new Hunter Missile Manufactory and new dual cannon turrets are in testing and will be released in smaller patches over the following weeks. These will be introduced to the ‘beta’ opt-in depot on Steam available to all players prior to release to the live game.
Ship Editor ‘Free Flight’ training mission simulation is being redesigned to help teach new pilots the basics of flight and combat. The new mission simulation will feature repeatable scored challenges focusing on manoeuvring, targeting and basic ship functions such as stance. The simulation will also include a central ‘gauntlet’ area offering a scored session of endless enemy waves to test yourself and your ship against. The initial changes to the ‘Free Flight’ simulation will be released to the beta branch with the next minor patch update and be further refined according to player feedback. Be sure to watch the announcements for all the latest information.
New Patch Update!
Build 1.0.20160330.23
Heathen’s Terran is 1 month old and player feedback has lead to some great improvements - a new ITS UI layout, new Ship Editor Tools and features and an improved combat HUD, not to mention the slew of bug fixes.
The patch also introduces a re-balance of the ship parts and category calculations and introduces a new weapon type; ‘beam’ weapons.
The MSB M1 is an entry level beam weapon with a fast tracking rate as well as a pulsing fire mode. This beam weapon brings instant damage to the set of Core components that will be available to new pilots in the final game.
Beam weapons project a beam of energy from the weapon to the target, applying damage for the duration of fire. Since there are no projectiles involved, there is no flight time. While the damage output is lower per pulse than the damage achieved by similar level cannon, the constant damage applied helps to ensure that shield recharge (as well as other healing functions your target may have) are ineffective.
This is the first of 3 new weapon types we intend to introduce during the Phase 1 Early Access cycle. Keep a close eye out for the upcoming Launched (missile, torpedo, etc.), Deployed (mines, bombs, etc.) and Drone base weapon systems coming in later patches this phase.
But wait - there’s more!
Heathen Engineering has been hard at work on the web and community pages as well - the all new www.YouAreTerran.com is Terran’s new dedicated home on the web. Read up on the Early Access Phase cycles, game features and the Heathens who are building it all!
You Are Terran will continue to grow with a dev blog and story section under construction now! We want you the gamers to let us know what you think, what you want to see more of and yes, even what you hate!
Patch Notes
V1.0.20160330.23
This build introduces a number of UI changes in particular with regards to the Ship Editor and its related functions.
Changes and Additions
Changes and Additions
A new transform tool has been introduced to simplify and speed up part positioning and rotation.
The ‘Components’ menu has been re-worked as a tab page more in-line with other UI elements.
The new Parts tab organizes your parts into Hull, Weapon and Misc categories and further groups each list by relevant factors such as Class.
The new Templates tab allows you to quickly view your saved design templates as well as standard templates. The Template tab group has also adopted the Save template button formerly located in the left hand panel.
Placeholders have been put in place for upcoming features - these should be clearly marked with ‘Coming Soon’ where applicable.
A new Beam type weapon has been added and can be found under the M Mount group in the Weapons tab of the Parts group.
Ship part attributes and category calculations have been adjusted and re-balanced to produce more predictable results as well as to resolve a number of bugs such as over powered torque, excessive mount point counts and over powered shield recharge rates.
More details will be revealed regarding the calculations as the system matures. You will find this detailed on the the Gameplay section of the You Are Terran web page along with other important aspects of Terran as they are finalized.
Known Issues
Linux 32-bit builds are presenting memory use issues - this build target is not an advertised feature of the game and may be postponed if there is insufficient game demand for the feature. This will not adversely impact the Linux 64-bit build target cycle.
Linux 64 bit builds are presenting a graphics device initialization issue as noted in the previous patch. Heathen has added additional Linux resources to the team’s available resource pool to speed resolution of this issue.
Loading hang occurs on some machines - some users will experience a temporary hang as the game loads, this is most common on the first run since reboot or after updating from a patch. The cause of the issue is the load sequence of the asset bundles and will be addressed in later patches.
Recent UI changes have affected the layout for VR presentation modes - some headsets may clip the combat HUD edges (horizontally). As UI changes are finalized the system responsible for UI adjustments for the VR presentation mode will also be updated to correct these issues.
Patch 20160330.X available on Beta now!
The Beta build for Heathen Engineering’s Terran can be accessed from your Steam library. To learn how, take a look at this entry on the Steam Community Product Betas.
This patch brings a load of fixes and changes around ship handling and mechanics (the stats, category mappings, etc.). In particular, the maths applied to ship stats have received a lot of attention with fixes for thrust and torque over-calculations (flies like a bathtub problem) and category balance issues.
Changes to the stat and category calculations will be most apparent with regards to thrust and torque as well as max weapon mounts. Ship stat ‘capacity’ values have been re-enabled for power, cargo, complexity and drone storage and bandwidth in preparation for additions due later in this build cycle.
Along with the patch the Terran web site is getting a major update. While the site is still under construction, there is a great deal of useful information for players and spectators alike.
Below you will find the current fixes, changes and additions available in the 20160330.X patch on Beta. Be sure to join the community on Steam and let your voice be heard!
Available as of build 20160330.6 You can see the current build in game on the Dashboard in the Notification tab!
Fixes:
Corrected S, M and L mount point counts that were resolving higher than they should be on ships with large numbers of parts. This change will likely lower the available mount points on your saved ship templates. Weapons above the available mount point count will simply be disabled when in space.
Corrected torque & throttle calculation on ships with large numbers of parts. This was causing ships to hit the maximum allowable throttle and torque values quite easily and is responsible for the ‘flies like a bathtub’ point noted by the community.
Corrected LH2 hull component default material; this was incorrectly using the LH3 material
Changes:
Part category bonus has been changed to a penalty. When applying parts to a ship in a category not supported by the part, the parts contribution will be reduced by 20%.
This is effectively the same result as the previous model however it allows parts to ‘support’ categories in a more flexible manner. Previously support was a category ‘range’ as in (from X to Y); now ship parts can ‘support’ any combination of categories.
All category values have been adjusted, the same distribution pattern is in effect, however the maths have changed resulting in new values. Ship ‘health’ should be generally lower for Tech level 1 and lower ships and the relative difference between the light, mid and heavy classes has been increased. More work is underway in this area along with additional details on the main site and updates to the Ship Editor to better express ship stats and the effect of category selection.
Several low level systems responsible for spawning, destroying and managing ships in space have been updated to improve performance and reduce processing. Changes should be transparent in game. These changes will be highlighted later in the Early Access as the game approaches a stage involving the TSDK (modding kit).
Patch 20160319.13 Update
Update v1.0.20160319.13
This is the first patch for Heathen Engineering’s Terran and is strongly driven by community feedback. The typical process would see this patch on the ‘Beta’ release for a longer period of time before being applied to main or default however we feel these changes are reasonably stable and yet substantial enough to warrant an accelerated push to main.
Among the major update we have also passed the initial tests of the Mac build however the Linux build is still being worked on by the development team.
In-game guidance, improved tooltips, tutorials and other usability concerns are an on-going area of attention for the development team. As always we encourage gamers and spectators alike to be as vocal as possible about what works and doesn’t work for you as a gamer.
Tips:
Most fields have tooltips, hover your mouse over a field 1.25 seconds.
Configurable values for tooltip delay are on the list ;)
You can scroll panels by clicking and dragging them e.g. similar to touch controls.
Your ship will face the direction of the camera by default … tap V or the middle mouse button to disable this.
You can also use WASD for turning and pitch as well as Q and E for left right and R and F for up and down.
The best pilots make use of all of the above.
Try counter turning (turn in the opposite direction) when making a hard turn for faster breaking as your ship lines up.
Full speed is not the only speed. Turrets must track their targets and at closer ranges high speed movement can make this difficult, slow down when attacking near targets for more accurate shots.
You can set your launch option to “-show-screen-selector” (without the quotes) to force the launcher to display.
The launcher lets you set the resolution and window mode and if applicable which monitor it will render to.
Fixes:
Mac build should be available and running now.
Testing is not quite complete however the initial tests (load and basic play) have passed.
Corrected an issue where in cannon shot sounds would not play
Corrected an issue where combat sounds would not respond to Combat SFX audio group e.g. turning down the SFX volume wasn’t correctly affecting all SFX sounds.
Corrected scroll window response. Multiple causes at play we believe we have them pinned down and corrected however will be monitoring.
Language select has been re-enabled.
NOTE: English functions as the fall back language for fields still pending translation.
Danish: Human completed, new fields pending
English: Base language
Japanese: Human completed, new fields pending
Portuguese: Human completed, new fields pending
Spanish: Human completed, new fields pending
Swedish: Mechanical, pending human translation
Pause during space flight will now correctly release the mouse, a new pause screen has also been added; see the changes section for more information.
Corrected an issue with UI colour updates causing excessive stress on the UI and thus much slower load most noticeable when loading a ship template with a large number of parts.
Handled several conditions that could cause UI behaviours to fail to initialize in the correct sequence yielding various odd results such as the ship in the Ship Editor moving with the camera, parts to appear to remain in the Ship Editor even after being removed, etc.
Corrected Item Detail Panels (right side list of items in Ship Editor) mouse over test which could cause the panels to respond as if moused over even when they were not in view.
Changes:
ITS UI layout such that the side panels are fixed to the edges of the screen allowing the removal of the Camera-Mouse tracking when in the ITS view.
Changes to available workspace area required additional changes to the side panel layouts and widget layouts … see below for more details.
Media player widget has now been completely merged with the Co-pilot as a result it is available in its full form in all programs.
Ship Widget has been merged with the detail panel (right side panel) and forced to its open state. As a result, the active ship is always visible (in ITS) and access to the ship management panel is always available.
Archives program has been merged with Dashboard as a Tab with workspace window. Access this under the Co-pilot when on the Dashboard.
Profiles and Settings has been merged with Dashboard as a Tab with workspace view. Profiles may only be accessed when not currently on mission (e.g. it won’t respond while paused)
Input mapping button has been changed to a normal button and renders on the Settings tab of the Dashboard under Profiles.
Ship Editor Control Group and Capacity glyphs have been moved to the side panel, functionality of these controls is available on the Templates Tab. Additional text has been placed above the control group controls to help with confusion.
Additional attention will be paid to this area over coming updates.
Materials section has been hidden as these are not fully implemented and were only adding to UI confusion for the gamer. These will be re-enabled in an upcoming build.
Saved templates have been moved to render below the Ship Widget when in the Ship Editor program.
‘Test Flight’ button has been moved to a dedicated panel labelled ‘Simulation Settings’ to help indicate its use.
This button starts a ‘simulated’ mission e.g. a place to test your design.
Update several controllers to better manage asynchronous tasks in particular regarding the initialization of ships and loading of ship templates.
Additions:
Pause now renders the ITS Dashboard which slightly adjusted behaviour.
Note the full array of settings are available in the pause view however some settings may not take effect until the start of the next mission.
The available programs will be replaced with pause specific functions such as ‘Return’ which forces a return to the ITS and exit from mission space.
Profiles will not respond when selected from the Settings Tab
New Archive entry for the ITS Dashboard and Pilot Settings
This is the first of many entries to come which provide details on the UI layout, specifics on individual fields and more.
Tutorials!
The tutorial button has been re-enabled with new tutorial steps for the UI changes. No audio is available for this build however the Dashboard and Ship Editor should have the high level tutorials complete for the English language with other languages forthcoming.
Additional Tutorials will be added for specific areas of the game and its UI over time.
New Ship Editor tools
The Symmetry and Centre buttons have been implemented!
Symmetry: Only applicable when adding new parts, you can now automatically apply parts symmetrically on X, Y and or Z … yes symmetry on all 3 axes is supported.
Centre: the parts … or the ship on any or all axes. Parts can be centred as a group or individually making it much easier to bring multiple parts in line with each other.
TIP: Tap the Centre tool button after opening its panel and the Ship will snap to the centre view area.
Key Known Issues:
Linux build is experiencing issues with initialization. The development team is working hard on these issues and will resolve ASAP.
Thrust and Torque values are calculating higher than expected resulting in ships with overpowered steering … e.g. handles like a bathtub. The calculations responsible for this are being looked into.
Rendering performance is unusually poor inside the mining complex of the Solo Combat simulation. The development team is aware and reviewing solutions.
Control Group settings are not being saved to the Ship Templates, this is a bug and the development team is looking into it.
Not all fields are translated & some translation values cause text to overlap.
Translations are an on-going work in progress and will be improved with each build.
Expect new or recently added or changed fields to have incorrect or missing translations.
Heathen Engineering's Terran is available now!
Heathen Engineering’s Terran is available now on Steam Early Access!
Today, March 21st, marks the start of early access Phase 1; and we at Heathen Engineering want to make certain you understand what this means. Early Access Phase 1 is not a complete Terran; the focus of this stage of early access is the ship editor, flight mechanics and other aspects dealing with the ships and related components. This is an opportunity for gamers to jump in early and help the development team build a better Terran.
Not sure if the game is ready for you?
No problem! Heathen Engineering has the Terran Roadmap posted publicly so you can see what the development team is doing and when. You can jump in on the discussion with the Steam Community Hub or join us on Twitter, Facebook and IndieDB or on Heathen’s main site. We want to encourage gamers to get involved with the community but to hold off on jumping into the game until you and Terran are ready for each other.
Terran’s Early Access is all about building a better Terran. Heathen Engineering will not be offering special Early Access pricing so there is nothing to lose by waiting till the game is at a state you are ready to get involved in. You can chat with the developers through the Steam Community Hub, check out all the latest news on the social sites and Terran will be here waiting for you when you’re ready.
Want to play now?
Head on over to the Store page members of the development team are watching the discussion threads. If you have any questions and should you run into any issues you can contact Heathen Support through Heathen’s Help Centre or by e-mail at Support@HeathenEngineering.com . We couldn’t be more excited to have you help us shape the galaxy and make Terran all it can be!
We strongly encourage everyone to head over to the Terran Roadmap and have a look at the current state, the past work and check out the latest release notes. We are always looking for ways to improve the transparency of the development efforts and your feedback is key to that effort.
Early Access Start Date Announced!
Early Access to start on March 21st 2016!
Heathen Engineering’s approach to Early Access is an iterative or phased approach with each phase building upon the last, and having its own distinct areas of focus. This approach is not uncommon in development but may be new for some Early Access gamers. The first phase of Terran’s Early Access is not played as a rough but full example of the game, instead it will present a modified rule set with attention to the current area of focus.
The initial phase of Heathen Engineering’s Terran is focused on the Ship Editor function of the game and its related elements such as ship components, category types and “ship mechanics” - the handling and utility of ships in different scenarios.
During Phase 1 most of the “ITS apps”; the in game equivalent to functions or modes, are disabled. This includes those within the ship editor application. All rules have been adjusted to account for the disabled parts. Initially, aspects such as energy use and even type restrictions will be ignored while the focus is solely on the ship building tools themselves.
According to Heathen’s Development team, the early access player will be able to build any kind of ship they desire, regardless of how expensive or how complex the ship is. Under normal game rules, a player’s skill concentration, resources, materials, or in game cash limit dictates just how complex and elaborate a ship they can build. Players in Phase 1 early access will also have all parts available at their disposal. During normal game play, advanced parts and exotics must be discovered, researched and built by the player or scavenged or purchased from the galactic market - all aspects of the game not in play for Phase 1.
So what does Phase 1 bring us? Phase 1 will provide the creative gamer a free ship building editor where they can design anything they dream of. The Ship Editor test mission function has also been adjusted to give the player a tailor made set of test missions based on the current phase objectives.
So when will the rest of the game be implemented? We will be implementing each piece of the game in phases, each with its own focus area. Phase 2 for example is listed as introducing population management, manufacturing and similar game features. The Roadmap is meant to give players a real time look at progress. The development team is working under a rapid deployment model with two updates or more per week at this time.
So how long is a ‘Phase’? Officially phases don’t have deadlines – therefore there is no published date for phase completion. However, the development team has stated that it does not expect phases to run for extended periods of time. Depending on the nature of the phase, some will run longer than others.
How many phases are there? At the moment 2 phases are shown on the roadmap along with the ‘Dev Work’ list. Phase 1 and 2 do not comprise the full game however and additional phases are expected. The Press Kit page for the game currently lists a purposed three-phase approach with Phase 1 (March 21st) focused on base game functionality, Phase 2 introducing the lion’s share of the game’s features and Phase 3 to round things out.
Per the development team, this is not to say there will not be additional phases if needed; this approach really looks to engage the player base not just as testers who paid for the pleasure but as contributors to the games implementation.
What is the cost of Heathen Engineering’s Terran Early Access Phase 1? Early Access Phase 1 is priced the same as the full release. The cost *will not* be increasing throughout each phase.
According to Heathen Engineering, the reasoning for this approach is that Early Access for their team is neither about marketing nor funding the game’s development; it’s all about building a better game by inviting those already excited about Terran to get involved and help finish the build out.
So when will the full release be? A full release date hasn’t been announced yet and would likely be moving based on the progress of the Early Access Phases. Heathen has stated that Early Access isn’t meant to run long; and they are expecting a rapid iteration up to full feature set. In short - we will have to wait and see how the Early Access progresses.
Be sure to check out the Roadmap and you can follow @HeathenEngineer on Twitter and Like the project over on Facebook and visit the main site for even more Terran information.
