Since the Rude Awakening was released last Thursday, we have been collecting all your reports and finally we have a full list of bugs and issues you might be experiencing.
Client-only issues
The game client can’t be closed properly
Quest tracker bugging after relog
Warp to Outpost marker set on the planet instead of the outpost
Auto-Stabilization option is sometimes applied to the ROLL axis (Q and E keys) even when the setting is disabled
Mouse sensitivity option not saved after game restart
Walking in her shoes quest resets after character dies and can’t be picked up again
The modules from Amnisos station can be undocked (and that should not be the case)
Connection breaks while the game is loading
Various quest markers not working showing up properly
Known client/server issues
Player stuck in cryopod
Fabricator Module issues: never ending animation + cargo terminal not accessible
Loot respawning in claimed modules
Relog teleport: players are placed to the last known location after relog
Junkyard modules are visible on the map after attaching them to players’ bases
Problems with loot spawn
Doing quests in the improper order might cause quest system to become locked
First, we’ll release the Client-only hotfix as soon as possible and after that we’ll do the server hotfix.
Thanks for your patience and understanding,
Zero gravity team
Rude Awakening is now live!
Rude Awakening is now live!
Credits to Devotion Studios for all things audio and special thanks to Ashley Gould for that charming voice of Theona Mayers!
Zero Gravity
Schedule for Rude Awakening Update
Hello colonists,
This is Theona Mayers speaking. I want to inform you all about today’s schedule regarding the Rude Awakening Update. According to our initial plans, takeoff is set at 5PM GMT/ 9AM PST. We also expect all stations will be coming online at 6PM GMT/10AM PST.
If you didn’t have a chance to join us last night at Baron Quertier’s stream, there will be another stream directly from Zero Gravity studio. At 8PM GMT be sure to jump on Xocliw’s channel on Twitch and join the discussion with devs about the new update.
One more thing, we are releasing the last version of the Rude Awakening trailer. It sounds even better than the previous one! Check it out now:
https://youtu.be/XJlnvPNHhu0
See you all later today in Hellion,
Zero Gravity
Patch 0.3 Notes - Rude Awakening Update
Ladies and gentlemen,
Here are the patch notes for the Rude Awakening Update!
Rude Awakening Update will be deployed on Thursday, November 29th. Servers will be down from 5PM UTC/9AM PST until 6PM UTC/10 AM PST. Servers will be wiped to ensure proper patch deployment.
For private servers:
Update your server and game client
Delete save files
Features
Story, missions & quests
We are introducing a deep and immersive Hellion story into the gameplay. Players will have the opportunity to enjoy the role-playing experience by doing quests while discovering the secrets of a distant solar system. For that purpose, we have implemented:
Tracking system for missions
Quest markers
Journal
Audio logs
Written logs
New inventory system
The main goal of this change is to make manipulating items faster and easier, for both character inventory (suit slots) and storage (nearby shelves and containers). Proximity loot system is also in place allowing players to access nearby shelves and containers from their inventory screen.
Dedicated slots on guns and mining drills for ammo, battery and canisters
Health bars added to all items in inventory
New locations and new modules for these locations
Added multiple new modules and custom locations as part of the main story arc. We won’t spoil them here, so look for them in game.
New sounds
There is no sound in vacuum but in pressurized rooms there is plenty of them. Added a multitude of new sound effects to the game and improved existing ones to improve the quality of gameplay experience.
Flight mode assistance
Added flight assistance for ships that automatically tries to compensate for ships lateral velocity, relative to your current target.
Auto-adjustment for lateral speed when a vessel is moving towards the target
Toggle on/off available
Steam achievements
Optimization
Lightbake for all modules
Texture density
Ship/module rotation limited for server processing optimization
GPU instancing enabled
Hide canvas UI on proximity range
Network improvements resulting in better ship and module movement
LZ4HC Unity file compression enabled
General improvements
Powered up modules have significantly higher degradation resistance
Planet textures improvements - new textures added to all planets and moons
Main menu redesigned
Match velocity to the target that is already matched to another target (previously not possible)
Pressurization/Depressurization speed properly set for all modules
Masses adjusted for all modules
Added decals to the docking panels
Changing video settings enabled while outside of main menu
Quick load available after death in single player mode
Rescue ship button added to Command Module
Doomed orbit warning visible on NavMap
In game latency warning will show up when latency is over 120ms
Added Ambience volume slider
Removed bloom and motion blur from NavMap
Pilot panel UI improvements
Mouse sensitivity range increased (it is possible now to set it under 1)
Hide in-game chat option added in menu
External warp start/end effects changed
Bug fixes
Male corpse appearing after a female character dies
A female character loses hair when the suite is equipped
Air Filter does not deplete carbon filter to 0%
Resource injector not affecting Air Generator
Helmet Visor state not saved; it was always down
Severe FPS Drop while inside CM
Players, ships, and modules do not render for other players
Rotating ship fast sideways results in objects jumping and blinking in front of the ship
RCS sound continues to play when module or ship is docked from a hard angle or fast speed
Hitting module at high speed register collision far from the actual collision point
Bullet holes decals stay on the player capsule and blend with objects
Can't attach canister and battery to drill by pressing "F"
Docking cam view does not show docked module
Cargo Panel: manipulation with resources doesn’t show correct numbers
Player character not loaded correctly
Jetpack and helmet invisible (for female char)
Premade stations not spawning on proper coordinates
CBM Cargobay and AM Airlock prep room sign can't be wiped
Pilot panel HUD: target marker uncontrollably jumping around
A station's name (Command Module name) will sometimes appear on the radar (ship's radar/player's radar) as the name/designation of the last module or ship docked to it
Sound effects audible for other players even if the source is far away
Airlock module PREP ROOM label will stay as a texture after renaming
Pistol 8.20 clip randomly appears after crafting in fabricator
Wrong NAV screen - NAV screen act like I'm in the old ship after using another ship
Crafting panel desync when the other player interacts with the panel
CQM has pressure on predefined stations
Issue with certain keybinding setup when naming ship/station
Ammo not being destroyed or moved to inventory when reloading directly (not from inventory)
Item slots missing after server restart
Small collision damage slowing creates server lag
Shooting after reload (direct magazine swap) generates server exceptions
Free-look in cryo-pod bugs character
Solar System Map issue - hovering mouse over a group of objects causes a visual bug
Derelict loot locker interaction bug - door can’t be opened
Loot spawn points in CTM-Modules makes it near impossible to pick up loot
Slot decal overlaps with item slotted into it
Steropes airlock interface not working properly when there is a pressure difference
Camera offset on sniper scope
Fly safe,
Zero Gravity team
Devblog #43 - Rude Awakening at Your Doorstep
Howdy space cowboys!
It’s only two days until the Rude Awakening release! For all of you out there feeling itchy under your skin, we hope you’ll like this huge Hellion lore scratch. So, what is Rude Awakening all about? We defined two important goals for this update. And today we’ll talk about them. Also, we are going to give you the schedule for the next two days and some important changes regarding our community.
First order of business is the story component of the new update. This is an important building block for the final image of Hellion and includes a rich lore we already had in a library of documentation. So why do we think this is so important in a multiplayer game, you might ask? Well, if you want an immersive experience, you have to dive into the setting in which suspension of disbelief is turned on. Rude Awakening provides the explanation for the events that transpired in Hellion and will allow you to understand your role in this massive expedition, as well as what exactly made you a survivalist on the ropes. This is important for achieving immersion and helps to create a powerful multiplayer role-playing experience in the future. Since the story is told through missions and quests, it also helps with getting new players on board, since in the past, many of them felt completely lost when trying out Hellion for the first time. Do you remember your first experience in Hellion?
Second, we made some important changes to the Hellion inventory. It has been tuned for easier manipulation of items and storage. This is an important change that had to be made at this very moment in time since it sets the cornerstone for all of the new content we are planning to introduce in the near future. Some of you had the chance of experiencing a rather unpleasant situation where all your hard scavenging, salvaging and pirate work went south by clipping through the floor of your beloved ship. Considering how rage inducing this is we had taken extra steps to severely reduce chances of this happening and eventually eliminate it completely.
Beside these two major goals, a ton of other changes are coming in this update. Let’s just mention some of them: 3D character preview, new textures for planets and moons, Steam achievements and many more that will improve the quality of life during your stay in the world of Hellion. In addition we have a new round of optimization and bug fixes, coming directly from all the reports you’ve been making. it should result in a more enjoyable overall gameplay experience. A full list of changes and improvements will be in the Patch 0.3 notes coming out tomorrow (Wednesday).
If you want to take a sneak peek at the new update, you can join us tomorrow on Twitch as we’ll be talking with Hellion’s community moderators about the state of the game and its future. The stream is planned for Wednesday 28th November no earlier than 8PM GMT. If you have any questions feel free to put them in the chat. We will announce the schedule for streams with devs tomorrow on our Twitter.
There is one more thing we want to share with you. We are reworking our website with the aim of making it more informative and transparent in terms of what Hellion is all about. As the new website goes live, it will mark the end of the Hellion forums. This should be perceived as a consequence of inability of Zero Gravity team to cover all channels of communication. Since Hellion is still in Early Access, communication with players is one of the main pillars of our development process and we want to focus all communication on Steam forums and Discord. These two channels are the ones we can cover at any time and are the places where your opinions and suggestions have the highest chance of being heard by us, developers. Before we shut down the playhellion.com forums we will pull out all the interesting suggestions and ideas and store them in our community backlog. Now, we want to say thanks to all forum members for helping us make Hellion a better game.
Until Thursday,
Zero Gravity team
Devblog #42 - Importance of Being Rude and Awakened
With Rude Awakening, our goal is to take you on a perilous journey through the Hellion system and immerse you into the events that caused the disaster of the Expedition project, leaving only death and destruction. The look and feel of the world provide an emotional background for everything players are about to experience and we want to evolve the gameplay around this setting. With this update we will set the stage and continue from there with mechanics, system functionality and the game economy. Hellion is growing according to plan...
Lone Survivors
You have dreamed of electric sheep for a long time. And now, you wake up. But what happens to a person when reality is so different from their expectations? How does one cope with the painful rift between the dreams of tomorrow and the reality of solitary survival? Will the mind triumph or will it break, once you find yourself in the vast darkness of space with nothing but the sound of silence surrounding you.
But what if you are not alone? What if someone is trying to help you, guide you… Who are they? Should you trust them? What if there are others out there, as lost and curious as you might be? And eager to solve the puzzle of Hellion. Having someone along for the ride is never a bad thing...
It’s all up to you to decide.
The game itself
No matter what you choose to do, Hellion remains a hard core game and we plan to keep it that way. While the tutorial will hold your hand for awhile until you’ve figured out the basics, it will not do so forever and the world will ruthlessly punish each and every wrong step. But every failure, every bout of anger and frustration is ultimately redeemed once the sense of pride and achievement take over once you succeed in doing something for the first time.
And if we’ve learned something over the past two years it’s that all of you out there who survive the pain of learning will become a part of an exceptional community that grows around this game. Development team can’t find enough words of praise for the importance of community feedback, their suggestions and ideas, constructive discussions we are having with them each day.
If you haven’t already, join the Hellion community on Discord: https://discord.gg/hellion
And don’t be afraid if your awakening was a bit rude… Being awake is to be alive,
Zero Gravity team
Devblog #41 - Planets and Moons
Planets, planets… they are great, right? Well, with the Rude Awakening update they will look even better! And before you ask… No, we are not introducing planetary landings in Hellion. Hellion is about space, that unique feeling that you get when you turn off the lights, take a deep breath and jump into the Black… And we want to keep it that way.
Now back to the planets... As you all know all planets in Hellion, excluding Bethyr and its moons, were simple placeholders. Now, with the new update, we have decided that it was about time to give all those celestial bodies a fresh new and somewhat exotic look. Whether you are an explorer or a scavenger, think about taking that vacuum proof camera with you making a few nice screenshots while visiting distant locations . Here’s a short overview covering some of the “other gas giants” and their moons.
In case you couldn’t tell from the image, this is Athnar, along with its two moons the dark one known as Ulgorath and bright red Tasciana. Athnar is what you would call a “scorched” giant, a planet that is now too close to the blazing inferno of its parent star. Long time ago Athnar lost much of its upper atmosphere during Hellion’s helium flash, a runaway fusion reaction that drastically increased Hellion’s temperature. This calamity lasted for only a few brief minutes but it was enough to completely destroy Nimath’s atmosphere all the way to its carbon core. So, in a way, you could say that Athnar and its moons got away easy.
Today this gas giant continues to bathe in the searing heat of Hellion and its ever burning atmosphere gives it a bright orange look.
But not all planets suffered as Nimath and Athnar. For some Hellion’s transition into a red giant proved to be quite beneficial. And that was the case of Hirath and its three moons, Iblith, Calipso and Enigma. The added heat and radiation coming from a once distant star melted this frozen giant’s cloud cover turning it into a hotbed of activity with powerful hurricanes and massive thunderstorms dancing in its night sky. But what of its moons?
Without any atmosphere to speak of, both Iblith and Calipso experienced little to no change and essentially remained just as they were in eons past.
But Enigma on the other hand, changed profoundly. Once frozen solid it began thawing during Hellion’s transformation. Nowdays it is located well inside Hellion’s “habitable zone” and shielded from excess radiation by its parent’s powerful magnetic field. With its vast oceans and moderate cloud coverage it remains the number one terraforming candidate in Hellion, with water covered Teiora coming in at close second and Eridil in the third spot with its toxic high pressure atmosphere.
That would be all for today. So long, and thanks for all the fis… erhm… planets.
Zero Gravity
Devblog #40 - The Expedition Project
As you all know by now, the upcoming Rude Awakening update will bring a ton of improvements and fixes but its main focus will be Hellion’s narrative. With that in mind we had decided to use this chance to refresh some of the lore and history behind Sol, Altcorp, SDS and of course, the Expedition Project. This will be a lengthy post intended for the more “lore hungry” audience. So... sit back, relax and read on.
Hellion
So lets start of with Hellion itself. This unusual red giant is located 1700 ly away from Sol and is in many ways an atypical red giant. Its radius is considerably smaller than what one would expect from a dying star with a mass comparable to our Sun. The second phenomena that makes Hellion interesting is the strength of its magnetic field which is several times more powerful than would be expected.
So by now some of you may be wondering why would mankind pick such a “problematic” star for a colony? Well, there are two reasons. The first is the abundance of raw resources necessary for setting up orbital infrastructure, most notably He-3 which is used in most Expedition fusion reactors. These resources would significantly cut down time necessary to establish basic orbital infrastructure in Hellion and reduce the overall mass of supplies that would need to be transported from Sol. The second reason are several promising terraforming candidates, Enigma, Eridil and Teiora. And as it turned out, many people prefer having a planet to live on or to visit occasionally, even in the age of orbital habitats.
History of Sol
Venturing into space had always been the dream of mankind, “the final frontier” that inspired countless generations. The space race of the 20th century turned that dream into a reality, but only briefly. For the next 50 years humanity remained grounded on Earth, until reusable launch systems, developed by private enterprises, shifted space exploration from large national agencies towards privately owned companies. This was the beginning of a “new space race”, a period of brutal competition for energy, resources and stock market shares between various rival companies.
Earth’s orbit became home to numerous businesses that dealt in large scale orbital construction, energy production, mining and transportation, as well as smaller enterprises that dealt in research, agriculture, consumer electronics and even entertainment and tourism. As more and more companies ventured into space in search of profit, conflict followed in their footsteps. Distance between celestial bodies became one of the largest obstacles and turned any potentially valuable near Earth object, whether it was a comet or an asteroid, into a priceless commodity that many were willing to fight over. Disputes over Lunar mining rights and safety regulations became common and many companies sought ways to circumvent the painstakingly slow courts of Earth and UN bureaucracy. Various private security companies seized the opportunity and began renting their services to space based businesses and started zero gravity training programs for their personnel. Private Military companies followed soon after and with them large international arms manufacturers and government weapon contractors. The number of incidents involving bribes, scandals, corporate espionage, sabotage and open conflict increased exponentially as more people migrated into orbit.
This situation was largely tolerated due to political instability on Earth. Breakthroughs in fusion technology during the late 21st century and the rapid transition from fossil fuels and nuclear power plants to clean, fusion based, energy sources nearly caused a complete collapse of the Earth’s economic system. Over time Earth’s leading nations became increasingly reliant on the extraterrestrial supply of He-3 for most of their energy needs. This had a severe impact on many of the world’s economies, especially in less developed countries, resulting in increased political instability. As the gap grew exponentially the world witnessed an unprecedented rise in poverty, terrorism and armed conflict. Furthermore these new crisis regions created ample opportunities for “less reputable” companies and PMCs, as well as weapons research.
For the most part, leading governments were content to let corporations have their way beyond Earth’s orbit as long as they provided vitally needed economic support and rare commodities for the elite. This situation changed drastically after the “May 23rd incident”.
May 23rd Incident
On May 23rd 2116 a prototype asteroid mining barge “Atlas” lost control while returning to Earth from its maiden voyage in the asteroid belt. The colossal vessel plummeted towards ground at 12.6km/s and exploded during re-entry. While many of its components burned away or crashed into the Pacific many large fragments had to be intercepted by ground to air batteries. Still, several found their way into populated areas and caused devastation, panic and massive loss of life. The incident prompted the UN Security Council to immediate action.
UN reform and rise to power
Within a year a new international space agency was created and placed under the command of the newly reformed UN Government. A special task-force was assembled and charged with restoring order and policing the orbit to prevent any future incidents. Backed by the collective economic power and resources of Earth’s leading nations the new Space Agency quickly established itself as the dominant political power in orbit and launched investigations into various illegal corporate activities and human rights violations. Multiple smear campaigns and lawsuits were directed at prominent corporate figures in an effort to discredit and reduce their influence. UNs bid for power and trials that followed quickly turned into a witch hunt that ultimately resulted in dissolution and confiscation of property for many space based enterprises, regardless of their actual involvement. In addition, the UN government imposed new restrictions on all companies operating at and beyond Earth’s orbit. These new regulations for space travel, resource shipping and construction operations, were especially hard on smaller companies and soon many smaller enterprises found themselves pushed out of business by companies with large government subventions.
Private military companies and UN takeover
One problem that plagued the new UN government during its takeover was the issue of numerous private military companies and large weapons manufacturers still operating in orbit. During lawsuits, confiscations and scandals that followed UN’s rapid rise to power, the legal system that allowed these companies to operate was completely shattered. The new government used this as leverage holding PMCs responsible for the events that led to the May 23rd disaster. Threats of legal prosecution and several military actions, backed by strong public opinion pushed PMCs into a corner. So when the new UN agency offered amnesty in exchange for information and military service, many companies jumped at the opportunity to legalize their operations and avoid prosecution.
Since the new Agency was assembled in haste and initially lacked training and capable personnel, experienced mercenaries filled the gaps perfectly. In addition UN made similar offers to several major arms manufacturers and government contractors, thus compensating for its lack of reliable space equipment. Most of these companies were simply contracted by the UN government. Only a handful were given permanent positions in the new military hierarchy.
Once the situation was under control the UN administration began dismantling private military providers as it no longer had need of their services. History was repeated when many PMCs once again found themselves facing prosecution for crimes, illegal missions and atrocities. This time, the ones committed during the UN’s lengthy takeover campaign. They still had their ships, weapons, training and manufacturing facilities, but without legal backing they would be little more than outlaws waiting on their sentence.
Several major players refused to take the UN takeover lying down and set in motion a series of events. Ultimately these events would lead to the creation of a force that could rival UN's supremacy. The first two factions to emerge from this turbulent time were: Altair Corporation and Skyline Defense Solutions.
Rise of Altair Corporation
Even during the massive reshuffling of the orbital infrastructure that followed the May 23rd incident, several large companies managed to retain their positions of power and influence by maintaining strong ties with prominent Earth governments and businesses. These companies began strengthening their position by buying out former competitors. Ultimately this ended in a series of corporate mergers that resulted in the birth of Altair Corporation, a massive corporate entity with vast holdings in orbit as well as on Luna and Mars.
Shortly after its founding the company started the first completely independent orbital colonization effort and began construction on a massive orbital habitat designed to house over 60.000 people. The project gradually gained popularity, as the new corporate entity encompassed experts from various fields of science, from agriculture to energy production. The initial station layout was finished in record time and “Hesperide Station” became home for 46.000 company employees and their families. Following the successful completion of their first major endeavor, Altair Corporation started a global recruiting campaign, offering new and exciting opportunities to people of various backgrounds, from scientists and engineers, to restaurant holders and artists.
By the time UN agency finally solidified its position as a political and military power in orbit, a large number of people already lived and worked in space. Altair Corporation was a massive entity that could no longer fit into any existing legal framework. The company owned several large orbital habitats, mining rights across the Solar system, long standing contracts with Earth’s governments and employed over 1.5 million people, of whom 600.000 lived on company stations along with their families. Additionally, AltCorp had contracts with numerous smaller enterprises that provided everything, from security to education and healthcare, to its employees. It had proved that the Earth’s laws and regulations were inadequate for handling an extraterrestrial civilization.
From the standpoint of the reformed UN government Altair Corporation was an anomaly, one that had to be brought into an existing legal frame by any means necessary, but the UN bureaucrats found themselves at a loss. Obvious solution was to give AltCorp special status, but doing so would create a precedent and create countless future problems. After many long debates Security Council finally opted to slowly erode AltCorp’s influence with new treaties that were aimed at gradually diminishing the giant’s power base. Altair Corporation found itself standing at a threshold.
Skyline Defense Solutions and Outer Orbit Treaty
In January 2136 AltCorp’s representatives began negotiations with various independent space companies that were still outside the UN’s sphere of influence. The negotiations were held in preparations for a summit that would discuss the current UN restrictions, legal implications and Earth’s impending monopoly over orbital energy reserves. These efforts did not remain unnoticed and UN began mobilizing its troops to intervene by force should their diplomatic initiative prove insufficient.
On April 14. 2136 remaining PMCs, security companies and arms manufacturers announced a merger and the founding of “Skyline Defense Solutions”. One day later the new security behemoth signed a long term defense contract with Altair Corporation. Birth of SDS was the final piece of a plan Altair Corporation’s founders set in motion eight years ago. According to the terms of its contract SDS was tasked with protecting AltCorp’s interests against any and all foreign threats. But its true purpose was to serve as an armed deterrent against further UN intrusions. The UN Security Council was caught off guard by the treaty and unwilling to act, as in doing so they would be risking an unprecedented war in Earth’s orbit.
The grand summit took place at “Hesperide Station” on May 24th 2136, exactly 20 years and a day after the fateful May 23rd incident. The UN government officially recognized Altair Corporation and Skyline Defense Solutions as sovereign and independent political entities within the Solar System. After several months of negotiations UN, AltCorp and SDS signed the Outer Orbit Treaty, a document detailing mutual responsibilities of all three sides within Sol.
As time went by both AltCorp and SDS changed and evolved into entities that resembled independent states far more than the mega-corporations started from.
First successful warp drive test and colonization of Sol
On September 14th 2148 a small test vessel “Boundless” makes its historical journey from Lunar orbit to Saturn in under an hour, using the newly developed Warp drive, an FTL propulsion technology based on theories from the early 21th century. This breakthrough enables rapid transit throughout the Solar System and the construction of smaller and far less fuel dependent spacecraft. During the following decades mankind spreads across the Solar System, with terraforming projects underway on Mars, Venus, Ganymede and Europa. As part of the Actaeon program multiple unmanned probes are sent to gather information beyond our Solar System.
On September 23rd 2226. deep space listening outposts finally received first survey information from the Actaeon 34, a probe sent to the distant Hellion system.
The Expedition Project
Following a lengthy analysis of survey data collected by more than 100 automated probes, Hellion was finally chosen as the site for colonization due to its abundance of natural resources and multiple terraforming candidates.
The Expedition project was a colossal undertaking that took 64 years to complete and consumed more resources and manpower than any other endeavor in human history. The center of the project was a massive flagship “Daedalus”, a giant vessel over 12 km in length, that used micro-singularity as its power core. Safely stored inside its vast hull was all the equipment the colonists would need to establish orbital infrastructure in an alien system. Everything from science, construction and terraforming gear to self-replicating machinery.
Due to its sheer magnitude the project required extensive collaboration from every part of the Solar System. As the pioneers of space exploration Altar Corporation and SDS contributed most towards the project and came up with a number of solutions and systems that were ultimately incorporated into the fleet’s design.
Colonization effort was broken down into four stages.
Stage 1 would start by waking up mission critical personnel, conducting on site survey to confirm probe data, Actaeon 34 probe retrieval and initial deployment of necessary orbital infrastructure. Towards the end, additional engineering personnel and basic security would be brought out of cryo to establish in system production and make Expedition independent of Daedalus’ supplies.
Stage 2 covers the construction of advanced orbital infrastructure comprised of large scale installations including shipyards, habitats and research facilities.
Stage 3 is the beginning of actual colonization including sequential waking of the colonists by priority, such as scientists, engineers and the remainder of military personnel. These people would be tasked with initiating and overseeing the terraforming of potentially habitable worlds, as well as expanding the orbital infrastructure in order to support additional colonists.
Stage 4 is the final phase and includes deployment of support infrastructure on now habitable worlds and the waking of remaining colonists from cryo-sleep.
On April 11th 2292 Earth standard time, the expedition fleet, carrying almost a million colonists, embarked on its 78 year long journey towards Hellion.
Well this indeed was a long read, but we hope you found it entertaining and informative, but there was also another reason for it. Up until this point we’ve read many user submitted stories on the forums. And one thing that we’ve found was that they always lacked an appropriate frame of reference, a “proper setting” if you would. This wasn’t for lack of imagination or creativity, but rather lack of information. After all, it’s kind of hard to role play a character without any context.
This post was in part aimed at correcting that little problem and now with the complete history of Sol, Expedition and Hellion out in the open, we are certainly looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the mater and of course, reading some new and exciting stories!
Until next time fly safe and watch out for those stray derelicts...
Testing Squad 2.0 - This Time It's Personnel
Hello Colonists,
We've got lots of changes coming in the new update, and as such, we thought we needed a change in the way that we go about testing the new builds. As such, we'll be cleaning out both the Steam and Discord groups and starting fresh. This comes with a huge thanks to the old testers in regards to their service to the community and the stability of Hellion.
Going forward, the Testing Squad will be split into two groups. The First Stage, and the Second Stage. These represent the core tasks of all testing, the First Stage testers are hand-picked community members, they've shown a dedication in the past, and continue to work with excellence. They will be undertaking the task of finding and reporting all game-breaking bugs, as well as giving input on the functionality of systems within the latest builds. The Second Stage, formed on previous merits and recommendations from members of the First Stage, will undertake the task of finalising the new changes, making sure they're user-friendly and streamlined. While they have vastly different tasks, that does not mean one is more valuable than the other, both Stages are vital to the development of Hellion.
The only true difference is that admittance to the Second Stage will not be permanent, with the personnel changing for each build. Regardless of their stage, each tester needs to be actively testing and contributing to the betterment of Hellion.
Now, this comes with the responsibility of being a representative of the community, upholding the rules, and behaving appropriately to the same degree as the Moderators, and helping as much as they can within the Steam and Discord discussions.
Fly Safe,
Hellion Moderation and Development Teams
Rude Awakening - Release Date
Hello everyone,
Do you still remember that counter ticking down until Hellion’s Early Access release back in February 2017? For us at Zero Gravity, it marked the beginning of an adventure in a solar system many light years from Earth. It combined the thrill of exploration, discovery with all the dangers of a space for us and thousands of colonists that woke up amidst the ruins of mankind’s first interstellar colony. Thank you our dear colonists for helping us stay on track through your feedback and for taking part in the creation of this truly unique gaming experience.
Today, we want to announce the next step in Hellion’s development: “Rude Awakening” update that is coming out on November 29!
Starting next week we’ll begin warming up for the upcoming update and revisit all the important, interesting and fun facts related to the Hellion star and the world revolving around it, unique game mechanics, extreme survival, and many more. Stay in the loop by following us on Twitter and join our community on the official Hellion Discord server.
