BETA 12.1 Hotfix

June 27, 2023

Fixes

FIX: Fixed a problem with the ability to hand in distressed ships via tractoring
FIX: Fixed a specific distress call involving a station, crew, and handing the crew back into the origin station.

BETA 12 Released

June 21, 2023

Space Impossible BETA 12 has landed. It now has Solar System Problems, a sort of grouped shared missions, that players can engage in.

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You can discuss BETA 12 and let us know your thoughts on Discord or as usual on the Steam Discussion Topic

Patch Notes

Star System Problems

Star systems can now be found with problems to solve, typically these consist of multiple steps, and work just as well in single player as they do in multiplayer. Rewards are given at the completion of each step. The steps can require any number of different activities and interactions, ranging from tracking and hailing, towing, crew pick up and delivery and plain old blowing things up. Some problems are faction specific, while others are available to most/all factions, but may be more difficult depending on the player's faction standing. Completion of the Problem often brings a period of peace, with better pricing and the possibility of unique traders.

With the addition of Problems, the old Missions are going away. We felt they shared too similar a space, and Missions were just overall more boring.

Thousands More Colors

Additionally, we have overhauled tile colors. You can now pick from approximately 65,000 colors. Very dark, near black, colors are excluded because we think it's kind of lame to make an all black spaceship in a very black game. Blinking or light emitting choices still exist, and now can be placed with a specific tile.

Improvements a Plenty

AI got some significant work done. Better behavior depending on their role, better movement handling and more.

Finally there is a whole bunch of new optimizations. We are always striving for good or great performance in the game and have taken a look at a number of optimizations ranging from object creation to additional networking. We have reduced or totally removed garbage creation in some key areas.

Details

NOTE: Changes marked with 📡 were inspired by feedback or bugs found by the community!

Additions

Added System Problems
Added temporary enhancements. These are enhancements that have a duration and when the duration expires, the effect will be lost. These are tied to the specific vessel, not a player or component.
Added a number of new components and tile types to support the new System Problems, many of these can be captured by a careful player should they choose
Added outdated tractor as the most baseline "free" tractor component for some problems
Added new technical feature, "glob on" that allows the merging of two distinct objects into one, like a pile of space puke tiles attached to a starship's hull
Added item spawn effect for items spawning in space, passenger spawning will have a distinct effect
Added the ability for the game to alter regions on the fly (instead of replacing them). This technical capability opens up a large number of gameplay possibilities and is heavily utilized in System Problems
Added new fleet ai type that will prioritize flying towards the regions edge before warping
Added ability for specific tile types to have physics properties. For example the icy tiles being more slippery and will behave differently when colliding with other objects.
Added custom druminence trader text
Added a background to some UI elements to improve readability
📡Added click to move while at warp in star system
Added new system information display, this includes System Problem information
Added faction standing color to many places where faction is displayed, like tooltips and star system name labels
Added AI targeting score to differentiate whether the AI is trader or not. Traders will only attack those who have attacked them directly as opposed to attacking anyone based on faction standing.
Added warp spoolup and spooldown parameters to engines and their tooltips. A vessel's spoolup and spooldown times are an average of all engines instead of a fixed time.
Added tile loot multiplier as an enhancement property
Added price modifier as an enhancement property
Added hangar mass modifier as an enhancement property. This alters the mass of an object in any hangar
Added component recovery chance as an enhancement property.
Scrappers can now give some benefits when salvaging. Talk to them and find out more.
Added ability for components to have ambient sounds. Reactors and select bridges have them so far.
Added camera zoom audio fading. Some sounds will fade out (or in) depending on how zoomed your camera is.
Added more randomization for sounds that have variance
Added vectoring thrust information to engine tooltips. Vectoring thrust is all the thrust the engine can do beyond the normal orientation thrust. This includes engine's ability to strafe and rotate.
Added detailed mass breakdown to mass tooltip in inventory and construction screens
Added several new sorting options during construction
Added "/addenhancement" and "/removeenhancement" commands
Added the /addtag and /removetag commands for object tags
Added ability for command selectors to have a count limitor (e.g. /remove @a[ai] would always remove first two oldest objects vs /remove @r[ai] two random objects)
Added "visited" selector for region commands (e.g. /removeregion @a[visited])
Added "tilecount" selector for commands (e.g. /remove @a[tilecount], includes =>, =< =, =min:max)
Added "componentcount" (enginecount, bridgecount etc) selector for commands

Changes

CHANGE: Changed the tile color system to allow far more color choices and remove the hardcoded tile color data types
CHANGE: Glow is no longer a tile color choice, but is now a tile type. Upside is you can paint that tile any of the available tile colors for thousands of glowy choices. This also improves performance with the internal workings of how tile colors were working and shifts full responsibility to the shaders and graphics cards.
CHANGE: Separated system price mod between buying and selling
CHANGE: Modified star system map so child clustering is less likely to happen
CHANGE: Star system map is now approximately 5% more zoomed in
CHANGE: AI can now "give up" with several outcomes including surrender, fleeing and suicidal ramming
CHANGE: Turret AI has been improved to better select targets for maximum impact and surprise elements
CHANGE: Cache optimizations to utilize built in Unity processes for better performance
CHANGE: Scrapper Stations should have more scrapping related items for trade and less potatoes.
CHANGE: Damage mask improvement to reduce drawcalls and increase performance
CHANGE: Vessels spawning crew members for pickup are more likely to spawn them toward the player instead of randomly in a radius
CHANGE: Tractors are now attached to vessel center of mass instead of weapon mount center to more stable towing as it proved to be more frustrating than fun
CHANGE: Hails that don't come from objects now use the faction portrait instead of the question mark
CHANGE: When saving distressed ships via tractor and entering a new region, the AI in the region should be less inclined to attack the distress ship
📡CHANGE: Proximity mine launchers now only shoot 1 mine instead of a salvo as it was causing mines not to act correctly
CHANGE: Proximity projectiles spawned by the player should now correctly include all appropriate targets as viable targets instead of ignoring them
CHANGE: Dialogues now respect priorities. Highest priority messages will always display, including up to forcing the current message back into the hailing queue. Dialogues with high priority can now open automatically instead of requiring player input (e.g. the System Problem completion text).
CHANGE: Items given to the player while at warp, if it doesn't fit in inventory will be correctly dumped into a flotsam region.
CHANGE: Clarified networking pings to be more accurate for their connections. The server should now able to see things like per player stats and region connection stats.
CHANGE: Updated Steam SDK version and improved Steam networking performance and reliability
📡CHANGE: Improved performance anywhere the universe image is displayed. This affects both universe creation display and ingame universe map. This will significant reduce GPU useage during those displays.
📡CHANGE: Dragging the wrong object into a handin area will longer despawn the area, and instead it will flash red
CHANGE: AI will now automatically create weapon groups if the template is lacking weapon group data
CHANGE: Improved UI performance when several mounts are simultaneously destroyed
📡CHANGE: Projectiles should no longer have a mass unless explicitly set. This should improve interactions when being hit (no more being flung just from the collision)
CHANGE: Changed several name patterns for region names. This should produce more unique names.
CHANGE: Fleeing ships will attempt to still fire weapons even when fleeing from their target
CHANGE: Improved performance with some UI sounds
CHANGE: Icesteroid template 3 is not correctly capitalized
CHANGE: Improved AI ship handling to better follow pathing, come to a stop at their desire location and prevent unnecessary spinning
CHANGE: Changed it so tiles dissolve from center instead of from a corner
CHANGE: Changed region backgrounds to point at the nearest point of interest (like the closest planet) instead of always the star
CHANGE: Improved vessel tooltips to make it more obvious who is in control and how they feel about you
CHANGE: Adjusted universe generation to decrease the likeliness of repeated same factions across different star clusters
CHANGE: Changed "Create" to "Create Game" for Multiplayer and "Create Universe" for Singleplayer to be more explicit about what is about to happen
CHANGE: Adjusted star system rendering to improve sort ordering and decrease chance of things incorrectly rendering behind each other
📡CHANGE: Corrected several codex entries to reflect recent changes
CHANGE: Implemented a better version of smooth point text filtering. Text should look better at all levels of zoom now.
CHANGE: Changed how sound distance is calculated, which should improve how sounds drop in and out of audio range.
CHANGE: Elements displaying time will better display significant digits (13.00 minutes just becomes 13 minutes)
CHANGE: Changed weapon charge time enhancement property from a fixed time to a percentage modifier
CHANGE: Improved control group icon rendering
CHANGE: Replaced and improved a number of runtime processes to reduce memory allocation and increase performance
CHANGE: Analyzed and re-distributed a number of memory pool allocations to better match game requirements and useage
CHANGE: Optimized a number of processes that were working with low level Unity engine calls
CHANGE: Improved logging performance to reduce performance impact
CHANGE: Streamlined build process to minimize game installation size
CHANGE: Optimized a few network calls to reduce redundancy, especially concerning new object spawning
CHANGE: Console variable commands like sv_cheats can now autocomplete. "/sv_cheats t" will complete to "/sv_cheats true"
CHANGE: Split sv_gamemode up into several new commands (/sv_gamemode 1 will still set all of these according to previous rules). All commands can also be set per player:
- '/sv_assembly_creativeinventory': When set to true, enables access to the creative inventory in building.
- '/sv_assembly_tilerestrictionmod': Modifies building tile restriction limits. Value of -1 removes all restrictions.
- '/sv_assembly_weaponrestrictionmod': Modifies building weapon restriction limits. Value of -1 removes all restrictions.
- '/sv_assembly_otherrestritionmod': Modifies building other component restriction limits. Value of -1 removes all restrictions.
- '/sv_assembly_disabledrones': When set to true, disables building drones from being sent and instead construction is immediate.
- '/sv_assembly_requiresassembler': Whether or not you must use an assembler for construction.
- '/sv_warpanywhere': When set to true, allows warping to any system without validation.
CHANGE: Modified /removeregion command to no longer explicitly require the star system x,y coordinates. Instead they are now optional
CHANGE: Command text files now must be in the "commands" folder inside Appdata

Fixes

FIX: Fixed an issue with regions moving between star systems that could have been causing phantom regions or fleet regions to incorrectly stop moving
📡FIX: Fixed issue with small objects incorrectly flinging all around when hit with a collision
FIX: Fixed potentially wrong region IDs when mutating systems for problem and system generations
FIX: Fixed an issue where traders were incorrectly ignoring faction id when selecting trade goods for sale
FIX: Fixed an issue with AI ownership change
FIX: Fixed a few technical issues with mounts and their relationship with their parent object
FIX: Fixed a number of memory allocation issues with networking and game logging for increased performance
FIX: Fixed debug performance graphs incorrectly missing "kb" range
FIX: Fixed region discovery sound effect not playing
📡FIX: Fixed an issue where templates for conflict regions were being selected for non conflict regions
📡FIX: Fixed a number of issues that were throwing runtime exceptions
FIX: Fixed an issue with foreign tile removement if foreign tiles were split off via chunking
FIX: Fixed issue with loading templates during building not fully removing the previous object's mounts before placing the new mounts
FIX: Fixed several stations and large ships incorrectly missing hangar components
FIX: Fixed some issues with dialogue when not originating from a region or object
📡FIX: Fixed a number of grammar and typo issues in text
FIX: Fixed an issue with target selection on the region server after an AI vessel no longer needed a vessel
FIX: Fixed an issue wtih AI incorrectly rapidly switching between patrol and idle states
FIX: Fixed an issue with AI fleeing if they had magically spawned right at the coords of 0,0
FIX: Fixed a potential out of bounds exception when Building
FIX: Fixed action bar icons not updating when mounts were destroyed
FIX: Fixed wilderness systems so they spawn stations now at any level
FIX: Fixed tooltip when hovering over items during trade if the item has a faction restriction
FIX: Fixed an issue with projectiles incorrectly being removed or replaced
FIX: Fixed an issue with changing components during active mount destruction
FIX: Fixed an issue with pathfinding for AI when the navgraph hadn't fully been created
📡FIX: Fixed an issue where fleet regions were attempting to follow/engage a recently disconnected player
FIX: Fixed an issue with UI sounds pitch affecting other UI sounds. They should now always play (and pitch) independently
FIX: Fixed an issue with navgrid generation accuracy and speed
FIX: Fixed issue where the level 1 lawless system wasn't always being set to wilderness
FIX: Fixed UI to correctly show weapon cooldown on current vessel when quickly switching vessels
FIX: Fixed small pixel issue when zoomed waaaaaay in on vessel paper doll
FIX: Fixed issue with "Advanced Options" display depth in Create Game menu
FIX: Fixed "no power" and "broken mount" icons incorrectly displaying behind the component when looking at an object
FIX: Fixed slide bar on the manufacturing panel not correctly updating its number
FIX: Fixed split off fleets from becoming hostile fleets when the fleet has no ability to attack
FIX: Fixed not being able to place a component in a mount when the mount was swapped while the drone was in flight

Removals

REMOVAL: Removed missions from star systems

COMING BETA 12

In BETA 13 we will be tackling a few things. Player made factions is finally on the table. We will be taking a good hard look at post-death playing experience and how good or terrible ship destruction is. We will also be looking at ways to incorporate buying and selling of vessels.

BETA 12 Pre-Release 1 Now Available

June 7, 2023

Space Impossible BETA 12 Pre-Release has arrived. System Problems are in. Missions are out. A bunch of game improvements are in.

Following in a similar path to System Conflicts, System Problems are a shared, star system wide objective for any captain to participate in. Some are multi-stepped, narrative objectives, while others are broader, simpler objectives for captains to pursue. They reward faction, cash and random components upon completion, and put the star system into a post-problem state. The post-problem state lasts for a while, give captains certain system wide benefits (like improved pricing) as well as the ability to gain temporary bonuses tied to their ship. These bonuses include ship characteristics like increased warp speed, weapon handling, increased component recovery rates and more.

BETA 12 also adds in some game enhancements like click-to-move while at warp, a whole new array of tile colors, some tweaks to universe generation, and a bunch of hard-to-isolate-but-long-time-around bug fixes.

As usual with a Pre-Release, the final BETA 12 build will be released once we're happy the state of the game is bug free, sometime probably next week.

If you would like to check out this pre-release build all the usual things apply, it will have problems (some of which we know about) and universes created may not be compatible with the final release. Let us know your thoughts via the forums or on our discord.

If you still wish to give it a try check out all the changes and details here : https://steamcommunity.com/app/416240/discussions/30/3809529155518757912/
and how to access it here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/416240/discussions/30/3809529155518756526/

Dev Update: BETA 12 almost here

May 18, 2023

Hello everyone!

It has been a while since the last news post, so we thought it would be a good time for one.

BETA 12 update is nearing completion, we have added five more multi step problems and several generalized one step problems, more than doubling the count. This should be a nice chunk of gameplay for players to sink their teeth into.

Two examples of these newer Problems include the Extrasolar Ribbon, in which an stellar energy phenomenon from deep space threatens the star system. You must help deal with the aftermath and devise a way to repel it back into deep space. Another example brings about the introduction of Space Wasps. These vacuum born creatures are a constant pest to those who come into contact with them, and they are known to set up nests where civilization doesn't always want them to be.

Additionally we have been going through some older feedback and added in some new features.

Click to move while at warp is now a thing. Click somewhere and your ship will travel there. No more click to hold (though still possible) or having to fly with WASD.

We also identified and have fixed two very significant bugs, one with networking, where some objects weren't always being received by players in very packed regions. Another one to do with AI controlled fleets freezing in place and no longer giving chase. Two significant, annoyingly-happened-enough-but-not-all-the-time bugs we were happy to identify, isolate, and fix due in part to players feedback and help.

We are now in the final stretch to get the Pre-Release for BETA 12 completed and out the door. From there, the full BETA 12 release will be just around the corner. Keep your eyes peeled for this in next 2-3 weeks.

BETA 12 Dev Update - Experimental Build 1 Is Ready

February 23, 2023

It's been a few weeks, and BETA 12 is coming along pretty well. We have had some life issues pop up in January that slowed things down a bit, but we're back on track. Today we are releasing an experimental build for BETA 12 that includes the new "Star System Problems" feature, removes the old missions, and also includes a new very flexible, much asked for, long awaited, tile paint system.

The reason this is an experimental build is It's a bit less baked and we are still doing some work, and we still have some more content to add before the Pre-Release.

PROBLEMS

There are five Problems in this experimental build, including one faction specific for the Ticeroy. Problems can happen in any star system level two or above. Not all star systems will have a problem at any specific time. Star Systems that have an active Problem will have a orange "!" on the universe map.

We recommend you allow the game to backup your current universe before you play. Universes once upgraded to BETA 12 Exp 1 will not be able to be played in normal BETA 11 until the release of BETA 12 is complete.

NEW TILE PAINTING

Tile painting is now very flexible, there is about 65,000 colors to pick from. This replaces the old tile color choices, and is accessed the same way during Construction. Blinking or lit tiles now require a special tile which is available, made in a General Fabricator, and can be colored any tile color.

NOTE: Each color has a unique color code displayed at the bottom of the color picker for easier color matching. This is not the same as the well known RGB hex format.

We will probably do at least one more experimental build before the Pre-Release. If we do, the update notes will be posted over in the Experimental forums or on Discord.

HOW TO LOAD AN EXPERIMENTAL BUILD

Dev Update: BETA 12 and System Problems

December 23, 2022

Hello everyone!

The holidays are fast approaching and the end of 2022 is not far beyond. Stuffie and I are hard at work on BETA 12, and we wanted to share a bit about what that will include.

For a long while now we have been talking about updating missions in Space Impossible as we go through our iterative passes on developing the game. One of the issues with missions was they were pretty generic and not always obvious what was going on. We wanted them to be more important when in a star system, and equally valuable whether playing alone or with others, all the while having maintaining the influence from scifi tv shows and movies we've been inspired by. There were also some technical costs which made things tedious and bloated when creating factioned versions of a mission.

That desire lead to the creation of "Star System Problems". These problems will affect the whole star system, and will be multi stepped issues that can be addressed by one or more players and it will be quite apparent what the current issue is. Each step's issue will have a clearly define goal, ranging from simple "blow up targets" to "disabling ships" to "deploy object to a location". Each step will have a reward upon completion, and when the entire problem is resolved, the system will receive some boons similar to the end of a conflict.

Speaking of goals, we have added more capabilities for the AI and game to recognize. Things like "disable a ships engines (blow them up) and the ship will surrender" is now possible. Or the "deploy object" capability, where, for example, a station will be able to spawn a specific platform, where the player then has to maneuver, to a specific location out in space.

Not all systems will have a problem all the time. It will be influenced by a variety of factors, some of which we're still working on. There will be faction specific ones, so they only appear when a system has a specific owner.

We'll probably be releasing a limited set of problems to test from start to finish as an experimental build in the first or second week of January. A full release sometime after that as we add the rest of the initial problems.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

BETA 11 Released

October 18, 2022

Space Impossible BETA 11 has landed. Conflicts are back!

You can discuss BETA 11 and let us know your thoughts on Discord or as usual on the Steam Discussion Topic

Patch Notes

Star System Conflicts Return

Star systems can now be in conflict between two factions and are a great way to gain standing with those factions. When a conflict is finished, the system experiences a period of regeneration, with better prices and rare traders becoming available.

Conflicts can occur between the current system owner, and the faction of a neighboring system (neighbors via jumpgates count too). Once the conflict begins, battle fleets will spawn, and battles will erupt throughout the system.

As the distress calls, battles and just general mayhem happen, a faction will gain conflict points. Whichever faction reaches the goal first, wins the system.

A battle will finish once all the ships of a faction are destroyed (all bridges) and if the player captain participates, they can earn extra faction and special faction reinforcement beacons. Or just sit there out of range and let them fight, and steal their wreckage, that's boring, but your call.

There are unique distress calls, either asking for parts or for a ride related to the conflict that will spawn too.

Systems must be level 3 (bonivium) or above to be eligible for conflicts.

Transponders

As a reward for helping with Battles Factions may reward you Transponder items. Transponders can be used like Beacons and will call in reinforcements of that faction into your current region

Projectile Weapon & Ammo Changes

Projectile weapons have been changed. A long time in discussion, we felt it was just not fun to use projectiles the way they were they currently were. They no longer require ammo, and instead are a specific weapon component that can be found, purchased or manufactured and be used accordingly. This also allowed us to update AI ships to better use projectile weapons without having to load them with ammo, or have them cheat and have infinite ammo.

Improving AI & Dynamic Regions

Other changes include some significant dynamic region re-working, where regions (fleets, stations, asteroid fields) can now merge and separate depending on the actions within the regions. Some other changes include even better AI handling of weapons, navigation and some AI can even use tractor beams now.