BETA 9.1 is here. As a .1 release, it is a bit smaller than the usual full version release, but the changes are still significant enough we felt that they couldn't wait for BETA 10.
There are an assortment of improvements and bug fixes, ranging from UI elements to jumpgate travel.
You can now jump across multiple systems when using a jumpgate. Tedious system by system backtracking is no longer required.
Other Improvements
Cut to the chase with traders. The Inspection panel now has a button that will appear which can let you get right to trading.
We've also heard your feedback about the general levels of repetitive chatter, and AI has been told to shut up, and as a result, we have reduced the amount of redundant messages.
There are a few general fixes and changes based on initial BETA 8 feedback as well.
Details
NOTE: Changes marked with 📡 were inspired by feedback or bugs found by the community!
Additions
Added the ability to transit to any unlocked and visited jumpgate when entering a jumpgate. This will allow you to travel much faster to previous destinations which we feel is fair.
Added some map improvements including better zooming and panning
Jumpgate and transit lines on the universe map now show "locked" status
Added button to inspection panel for quicker trade initiation
AI now keeps track of how many times it and its faction has talked to the player. This should result in less redundant hails
Boss icon will now show in systems even if not previously visited
#load-template-exceedslimits-title and #load-template-exceedslimits-msg have been added to the language file
Added /sv_itempickcoeff for item pick up multiplier. Note: Previous was 1.2, and it is 2.0
Added a "Edit Weapon Group" button that now toggles Weapon Group editing. You can use the mouse or the button numbers to switch groups, and mouse click the weapon component to add/remove it from that group.
Changes
CHANGE: Warp spooling no longer affects jumpgate entry and vice versa
CHANGE: Significantly lowered Independent Trader station's price mods and trade item availability. This should make it less profitable to just flip items from one station to another within a Trader's Drift.
CHANGE: Jumpgate spoolup time is now 3 seconds (from 9) to match warp spoolup
CHANGE: System discovery info is now sent to the player when necessary, this should result in correctly labelled systems in the universe map
CHANGE: Increased default item pickup radius multiplier, also changed Enhanced Magnetic bridges to be multiplier based instead of flat value. This means all vessels have a larger pickup radius, some slightly changed, others significantly changed.
Fixes
FIX: Player tractoring/attacking/taking inventory on their own vessels should no longer cause AI to become hostile
FIX: Issue with "de-icing" distress calls that allow for some accidental damage on hull tiles before the vessel becomes hostile
FIX: Incorrect coloring of map elements after first use has been corrected
FIX: "M" keypress was not closing map correctly in certain situations has been identified and fixed
FIX: Tractoring distress-call vessels should no longer attack the player when entering a new region
FIX: Several issues with "ai hostile weapon avoidance" should produce more desirable and understandable behavior from the AI
FIX: Item icon for Proximity Mine Mk 4 has been corrected
FIX: The action bar may not have been behaving correctly (unable to switch weapon groups, not appearing/updating) has been identified and fixed
FIX: A possible issue with AI pathfinding in region has been identified and fixed
FIX: Turns out AI was using an incorrect shield thrust modifier, making them move slower than they should have
COMING IN BETA 10
We will continue to process BETA 8 (and BETA 9) feedback. Will also continue to improve universe generation.
BETA 9.1 Pre-Release 1 Now Available
BETA 9.1 unveils some improvements based on recent feedback from BETA 8 and BETA 9 as well as a few bug and balance fixes.
With the way the universe now works, sometimes getting somewhere took too long. So we are changing that to allow you to travel to any previously unlocked and visited jumpgate when entering a jumpgate. That means if you travel from System 1 via Gate A to System 2 via Gate B, all the way to System 26, you could now travel all the way back to System 1 in one transversal.
Additionally, we have made a few map improvements for panning and zooming to make the things a bit easier to control.
We have also heard your thoughts on hailing, and we have done a bit of pruning. General messages will usually appear once per region, but repeat visits will usually not produce hails. Vessels and stations of the same faction will better coordinate now, and not bombard you with hails either. Exceptions include doing things that anger them, or hails considered critical like distress calls.
Trading also gets a bit streamlined with a new, optional "Open Trade" button available on the Inspection screen, same area as the Manufacturing or Construction buttons.
There are a few AI improvements, with them better understanding relationship between the a player and the player's vessel, and some other player actions that were previously misunderstood.
Finally, a few changes to the Independent Trader trade tables have been made, making it far less lucrative to trade from a Trader's Drift station to another. Independent Trader trade ships and other faction's trade tables are unaffected.
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/27/3270186971441446774/ and how to access it here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/416240/discussions/27/3274688023485017382/
BETA 9 Released
BETA 9 is now ready to go. This is a smaller, more technically focused update, with the main improvements being centered around ease of multiplayer sessions.
We have added in support for Steam Networking, a great feature Steam offers, that allows players to now host game sessions and it "just works" mentality. Port forwarding is no longer necessary when playing outside a LAN environment, so you can just fire up the game, start a multiplayer session, and have your friends join from the Steam friends list. There is also a "Join via Steam" button built directly into the game as well.
The previous networking still exists and continues to work, so joining via IP is still an option for those who choose to do so (it is still required for dedicated servers). Singleplayer sessions are entirely unaffected by these changes and will continue to work as before.
Background Improvements
Along with the addition of Steam Networking we have also added in some background visual changes that were in the works since before BETA 8, that we have finally had time to polish up. These changes affect how the background objects are calculated and displayed on screen, shifting from an "always star" focused approach to "local object" approach. It also shifts objects out of the very center of the screen, significantly improving visibility in certain situations. Finally it casts background objects in different phases of lighting, making things far more interesting than before. Also in general some tweaks to asteroid ring rendering.
There are a few general changes based on initial BETA 8 feedback as well.
Details
NOTE: Changes marked with 📡 were inspired by feedback or bugs found by the community!
Additions
Added Steam networking. This allows players to host games and invite friends without having to deal with things like port forwarding on the router.
Added "Join via Steam" button to menu
Added the background improvements Background improvements
Changes
📡Proximity mines and missiles will now check for faction standing before triggering. Neutral and above standing will not trigger. However, once triggered, they can damage whoever they may hit.
📡AI less likely now to attempt to fly through an active beam weapon or tractor beam.
📡Moved the mine field from Trader's Drift outposts to be further away than player warp in radius
Reduced chance of AI ships spawning in asteroid fields (from 80% to 50%)
Trader's Drift regions now start as "known", providing the orbit ring for easier finding.
Fixes
Fixed components not being loaded correctly from template if previous vessel had a mount in same location
Fixed an issue with disconnection messages not always being received
Improved handling of errant unrelated game network data being accidentally processed by the game
COMING IN BETA 10
We will be processing most of BETA 8's feedback. Questions like weapon balance, method and ease of "traveling home", and universe generation options and tweaks are some of the topics we will be addressing.
BETA 9 Pre-Release 1 Now Available
Hello everybody!
We are still gathering and listening and processing feedback from BETA 8's huge release. Overall, people seem to like the changes and improvements. That's good and makes us happy.
Well, we have another improvement almost ready to go in the form of BETA 9. For a long time, in order to play Space Impossible with your friends, you needed to do some port forwarding and/or worry about your firewall. It worked, but for some it was too much. The game's underlying networking related systems are now stable and tested long enough that we are adding Steam Networking as an option.
What this means is: when starting and playing a multiplayer game, your friends can now connect to you via Steam, and using Steam's networking backbone. No extra configuration needed. To use, all you have to do is be online on Steam, and start a multiplayer game. Your friend can now either join directly from Steam's Friends list, or in-game choose "Join via Steam" from the Multiplayer menu. This should make it possible for the many players who have said in the past "I just want to play with my one friend, but we can't get connected."
Singleplayer and player run Dedicated servers will still use the existing networking, and function as before.
Additionally, something for everyone, we are adjusting background object placement (moon, planets, stars, etc) and rendering. It is something Stuffie has been messing around with since late BETA 7, but just did not fit in time-wise, and now is a good time. In addition to minor tweaking of the lighting these objects receive, this change should improve background object placement to still be visually interesting and distinct, while less likely to hog the center of your screen and interfere with gameplay.
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/27/3274688023485025509/ and how to access it here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/416240/discussions/27/3274688023485017382/
BETA 8.1 Released
Patch Notes
Changes
CHANGE: Region decay time for temporary regions will now be reset to 5 minutes every time a player leaves as long as the region still contains previous player vessels including chopped off peices.
Fixes
FIX: Trader Drift Fabrication section at level 5 now should have the Component Fabricator Mk. 5 instead of two general fabricators.
FIX: Fixed debris field regions resetting their decay time to 30 seconds when re-entered regardless of if the region contained player vessels or items.
FIX: Fleet regions should no longer engage the player as they are warping out of a region.
FIX: Compacted Cargo Bays should now correctly show up for purchase with Independant Trader.
BETA 8 Has Landed!
[previewyoutube="75k0PmVeWAM;full"] BETA 8 has finally arrived! A long update in the making, this is one of Space Impossible's biggest updates yet. We have taken all that we have learned over the last few updates and applied it across the board to make it the best it has yet been. This ranges from universe generation and layout, combat balance, content balancing and embellishment, AI interaction and awareness, making faction matter more, manufacturing streamlining, construction improvements out the wazoo, performance improvements, rare bug fixing and more.
It has been through a number of Experimental builds, which were a new thing for the game, but proved to be exceptionally useful, both to gather player feedback as well as try out things without the need to fully commit to them, and give them more time to get the bugs rattled out.
For those who don't want to read the whole changelog, here's the TL;DR;
Universe is now organized into clusters of star systems, ranging from 1 to 10 in number. Each cluster can then have one to several links to nearby clusters, accessed via jumpgates.
Jumpgates must be unlocked. Gates only need to be activated once.
New "boss battle" events will occur at the jumpgates when triggered.
These bosses provide the items required to activate the jumpgates. They will drop several items, allowing multiple gates to be activated. Bosses have some unique and brand new weapons and capabilities.
Cost of materials to build vessels and manufacture recipes have been overall reduced.
Manufacturing has been streamlined, shifting to a focus on mobility and cost and less on logistics and base building.
No more building integrity, instead Assemblers break down tile count, weapon mount and other mount count.
Most stations now offer some kind of trade options.
Trade items added, certain factions and traders will buy/sell at lower/higher prices.
Most stations will allow you to use their Assemblers or Fabricators (Labs are now called Fabricators) for a price, or free with good enough faction.
The following changelog is huge, and may be missing something. We reached Steam's new post character limit and have had to leave the Fixes section to the forums that's how large it is. To aid in readability, the changes have been further broken into sub categories.
NOTE: Changes marked with 📡 were inspired by feedback or bugs found by the community!
Additions
UI & Graphics
Added Navigation scanner to system view that shows enterable regions
Added custom icons for Crystal and Begillium asteroid regions.
Added floating tile damage text. Can be disabled in options
Added floating faction reaction emojis. Can be disabled in options
Key-binds can now be displayed within dialogue text
Clicking transit lines on the Universe Map will now move your view to the other side of the link depending on where you click
Added more descriptive tooltips to both warp and enter transit buttons
Added a size badge to all component and mount item art so you can now see at a glance what slot it can fit into
Added custom item art for all components that previous were re-using other art
Added custom visual for corroded tiles
Added improved particle FX capabilities and customization
Added a server history drop down menu to the JOIN GAME screen
📡Added ability to tab between JOIN GAME input fields
Gameplay
📡Added a Warp Cooldown when exiting warp. Your vessel now needs 30 seconds before it is able to warp again. Settable using /sv_spooldowntime.
Added sub-standings for Factions. Sub-standings are smaller steps between the more significant Faction standings that give incremental boosts. Currently they alter prices paid at Traders/Assemblers/Manufacturing
Added a more accurate display of current faction standing to Faction panel (K)
Added a banner to notify player when their faction standing changes.
📡Added quick zoom out when holding down SHIFT and pressing the Quick Zoom key (Z)
Player actions will now have a more dramatic but temporary effect on your faction standing within the region they take place. AI relations in a region will return to your main faction standing after 2 minutes as long as you leave that region.
Added completely new Universe Generation. The 'Universe' is no longer a continuous field of star systems and instead now has shape and is formed from clusters of star systems connected by jump gates. When creating game you can select from several options to generate the universe.
Added completely new star system generation. Systems on average are more condensed. Systems are generated from a purpose and mutated with templates rather than completely random giving better control and making different purposed systems unique. Regions are now better placed and can share orbits
Added Component Recovery. Unslotting components from a ship you do not own or have full access to now requires "Recovery". Recovering a component no longer guarantees it will drop but will give you a chance to get it otherwise it will drop parts.
Added capability to trigger and spawn region events (not yet used)
Added new look and several variants for jump gates
Added a tile replacement system that is used for more "procedural/random" object tiles - not all ore asteroids will look the same anymore
Added improved dialogue and event triggering system
Added Disorder and Ruin level to systems. These levels determine which regions spawn
Added improved dynamic region spawning that gives much more fine grained control of what spawns, how much etc. Dynamic region spawns are now also different depending on the type of system you are in
Updated universe unique spawn backend (Madd's stuff) for more flexible usage in the future
Added ability to L-Click items in space to pick them up to the mouse cursor. This should help players who accidentally drop all their cargo bays. Items on the mouse will be dropped when entering warp.
Ships, Station, Component Content
Added a significant amount of new stations. There should now be a custom station for all purposes, levels and factions. Most stations are now significantly larger than previous and much harder to destroy
Added Independent Trader Drift Stations - These will spawn in almost every system and include many of the facilities you need and will likely be your main refuge point within a system
Added some recon/listening outpost satellites for the main factions. These are meant to be smaller stations that are easier to destroy and can show up in systems other than owned by that faction
Added new Scrapper faction and Scrapyard regions
Added iced up wrecks in some icesteroid regions
Added 20 new mining ships. 5 for each of the main factions
Added 26 new trade goods items used only for trading
Added Gate nexus objects with a special Mysterious fabricator that will appear next to Jump Gates.
Added Neutronium tile which is an indestructible immovable tile type
Added "Dimensional Invader" bosses
Added "Spacebuck Chit" items that can be consumed to be given money (Not currently available in game)
Added "Station Hulls" - High health but high mass tiles used for stations
Added custom "Madd's Railgun" for Madd
Added Ore for each metal. Ore asteroids now spawn with one or more of these ore tiles.
Added new Begillium asteroid fields which are the only place Begillium can be found. These have a higher chance to spawn around gas giants and are in general much rarer than the other types
Added several new variations of crystals asteroids
Added Capital ships to some fleet regions
Construction
Added ability to switch and choose inventory source when in construction. The Inventory source determines where both items come from (and appear to select) as well as where items go when they need to be returned. Inventory source can be selected using the buttons in the upper right of the construction UI, these options currently include (in order left to right): -Creative (if creative mode is enabled) -Your Vessel. -Assembler(If different than controlled). -Target Vessel(If different than controlled). -Items floating nearby in the world. This includes items within a 300 radius area from the grid center as well as the current assemblers assembly range.
Added "All Components" list filter option to PLACE COMPONENTS mode in Construction.
Added Quick Repair option when picking Assemblers this will repair all damaged tiles without having to fully enter Construction. Quick Repair from an AI Assembler may sometimes require you to pay a fee.
Holding F in construction enables a "fill bucket" mode. The fill bucket works similar to that found in paint applications. Example usages include filling a hole with tiles when in PLACE TILE mode, replacing a large patch of coloring when in PAINT TILE mode, or replacing one tile type for another when in PLACE TILE mode.
Added a multi-tile brush capability to construction. Using [ and ] will now allow you to increase/decrease the size of a square "brush" allowing you to place or paint many tiles at once.
Added a new "CLEAR UNCONNECTED" button to the construction UI. Pressing this will remove any tiles/components not connected to the main piece, these are highlighted in red and are usually removed once leaving construction.
Added some warning info in construction when some components are un-powered or mounts do not have enough tiles under them
Added box selection capability to construction. An area can be selected using the middle mouse button. Clicking any other mouse button will clear the selection. Pressing the following key shortcuts you can perform certain actions: -Delete - Performs a remove action based on current selected mode (ie clears tile in tile mode, paints only in paint mode) -Shift+Del - Deletes everything in the area regardless of mode -Ctrl+C - Copies everything in the selected area and converts it into a hologram that can be placed elsewhere on the grid (can be rotated with R or mirrored with X). -Ctrl+X - as above but delete the original area
Added more detailed vessel stats in construction including max speeds in all directions, turn rates and more.
Added ability to mirror cut/copied pieces in construction using X.
Added Patch up Tiles. Patch up tiles are a really low health tile that are in infinite supply from an assembler. There should be no way to get patch-up hull as an item instead it is in the game for when loading templates with tiles you don't have or if you are in need of a quick fix when you don't have any means to get other hull tiles.
Manufacturing
Added several new sorting options for recipes.
Added tooltips for recipes.
Added ability to pay to use an AIs manufacturing fabricators when faction standing is between Neutral and Friendly. At Friendly standing and above manufacturing is free.
Added item icons to recipe tooltips.
📡Inventory source for Manufacturing can now be chosen between the player controlled vessel and whichever vessel is currently being inspected. Right-clicking a fabricator icon in the Manufacturing window will switch inspection to that fabricator.
Added special fabricators for each of the main factions
Added several new specialized fabricators
AI
Added new and improved Nav-mesh generation for AI pathing with less errors and better fitting around static objects
Added improved weapon selection to AI. They now take into account all of the following: -If they can move/turn and how fast when selecting weapons -If a weapon is on cooldown -How long a weapon takes to charge -If the precise tile target is actually within the weapons arc
Added new AI for scavengers that will seek out and mine wrecks near them
Added new AI for miners that will mine asteroids within a region
Commands/Dedicated Server Stuff
Added /sv_damagemult variable which allow servers adjust damage done globally. This can also be tweaked per player using player settings (/setplayeroverride) Added /sv_thrustmult which can be used to global modify thrust amounts for engines
Added /sv_thrustcomadjust which can be used to adjust how much engine positioning related to center of mass affects vessel maneuvering
Added /spawnsystem command
When creative mode (sv_gamemode 1) is enabled leaving system allows warp to any discovered systems
Added /regenerateregion command to regenerate all objects within a region
Added /spawnprojectile command
Added /removeprojectile command
Added /setregiontag & /removeregiontag commands
Added /setregionoredensity
/spawn can now except an entrytype argument
Added /sv_recoverchancemult - multiplier for component recovery chance
Added /sv_damagemult - multiplier for damage done
Added auto complete to /help
Added /saveuniverse command to let admins force save universes.
Added /sv_disabletileloot used to prevent items (including components) dropping from tile destruction.
Other
📡Added lots of extra logging and error handling behind the scenes to try and track down the causes of some of the rarer bugs found by the community
Improved localization to detect missing entries and added almost all text to localization files
Added a meta data system to objects that allows us to attach more information without worrying about affecting all current and future objects
📡Added additional logging and error handling for missions
Added more detailed network info to F2 screen (Windows only).
Changes
UI & Graphics
CHANGE: Overhauled look of tooltips with the addition of item icon as well as making the main body of the tooltip a fixed color to improve readability.
CHANGE: Increased visibility of your own ship while cloaked. Note that how you see your own ship while cloaked is not how other players will see it.
CHANGE: Space stations and other enterable regions now re-scale with zoom similar to how fleet regions always have
CHANGE: Region coloring now matches faction standing when faction is known.
CHANGE: Tooltips will no longer type out. This was a nice effect at first but with ever growing tooltips we have changed them to a fast fade-in/out to make it easier and faster to compare multiple items
CHANGE: Tooltip is less likely to fade out when hovering between items resulting in a much better experiences when looking through inventories or trying to compare items in construction
CHANGE: Changed all UI button hover and press sounds
CHANGE: Changed color of reactor energy overlay hi-light so its more obvious what tiles the hovered reactor is affecting
CHANGE: Energy overlay is now slightly transparent so you can get a better sense of the tiles underneath
CHANGE: Orbit rings in system view no longer show when objects parent is not a moon, planet or star
CHANGE: Tweaked graphics of asteroid rings in system view + map so they have a less hard more realistic edge
CHANGE: Improved multiplayer disconnection message popup to be less general.
📡CHANGE: When the map is open WASD etc will no longer move player ship / suit / region in the background.
📡CHANGE: Pressing return/enter on JOIN GAME screen input will now auto join game
📡CHANGE: Main game camera no longer renders when viewing fullscreen universe map to help with performance
CHANGE: Altered the Warp screen loop gfx to avoid some issues that were happening in specific scenarios
Gameplay
CHANGE: Faction standings have been reduced to 5, Hated, Disliked, Neutral, Friendly and Ally
CHANGE: Faction standing effects and thresholds have been temporarily unified across all factions, note that this is likely to change in the future.
CHANGE: Initial player faction standings have been changed
CHANGE: Faction standing now effects the price of items when selling to or buying from traders, the price of assembler passes and the prices to craft using AI labs.
CHANGE: Faction information is now almost entirely sent from the server which will allow more custom faction balance per server or even entirely server driven factions in the future.
CHANGE: Taking inventory items from factioned inventories will now count as an aggressive action.
📡CHANGE: Selling to a trader now has a base universe wide price modifier of -50%.
📡CHANGE: Altered faction price modifiers which in combination with the above means you should no longer profit from simply buying and selling back to a trader over and over again.
CHANGE: Condensed levels from 1-100 to 1-5
CHANGE: Changed how you transit between systems. A "Leave System" button will now show and can be pressed when outside of the stars gravity well. Leaving a system will now bring up the universe map allowing you to pick one of the (up to 8) neighboring systems to travel to. Exit position no longer matters as you can transition to any neighbor
CHANGE: Improved region template selection
CHANGE: Stars, Planets and Moons are no longer enterable regions
CHANGE: All enterable regions now have to be entered via RMB / engage mechanics. You can no longer collide with or fly into regions
CHANGE: Streamlined variety of region types. Removed ones than didn't have a good visual difference as well as adding some new ones
CHANGE: Updated many region icons
CHANGE: Factions at disliked standing will no longer attack on sight and will be willing to trade but at significant cost penalties
CHANGE: Split off pieces from vessels will now retain their faction knowledge - be careful recovering components while other faction members are around
CHANGE: Fleeing ships that warp out will now spawn a short duration fleet region rather than simply vanishing
CHANGE: Paying a pirate bribe will now give you as temporary faction boost allowing you to trade with the pirates in that region (albeit at disliked standing)
CHANGE: Weapons will now fire through/ignore projectiles that have the same faction as the weapon owner
CHANGE: Patrolling fleets will no longer engage with a player region that has just left/is leaving a region to give the player time to react
CHANGE: Adjusted Independent Trader relations with other factions. There are now more factions neutral to them
CHANGE: Leaving or dying in a fleet region will split the fleet off leaving a debris field with any items or ships that were unable to warp away. This is still a temporary region but will make it easier to retrieve your stuff
CHANGE: Players now start in Herman's region. Herman has been given an assembler and fabricator you can use
CHANGE: Starting ship re-balanced to have weaker components to give a first upgrade path
CHANGE: Player starting money is now 1000 instead of 100
CHANGE: Herman starts with 5000 instead of 500 space bucks
CHANGE: Complete re-balanced of Traders, from pricing to what they sell. Traders will now also buy and sell specific trade goods
CHANGE: Complete re-balance of loot. There is now custom loot per faction as well as a general reduction in item counts found
CHANGE: Weapons can now have custom splash damage falloff. This means for instance the Mining Particle cannon damages tiles much deeper into asteroids
CHANGE: Ship wreck regions now spawn a greater variety of ships
CHANGE: Abandoned station regions now have more variation depending on station type
CHANGE: Trade ships will generally have less money and items available than they used to
CHANGE: Fleet regions now reveal faction once they enter scan range
CHANGE: By default engine position relative to the center of mass should have less (but still some) effect of maneuverability. This can be tweaked with /sv_thrustcomadjust
CHANGE: Missiles now get launched in the direction of the mount and steer towards target rather than heading straight towards it
CHANGE: Regions can now spawn objects of factions other than the regions faction based on their relationship to that faction. Say hello to Ticeroy traders in EU regions.
CHANGE: Missions will no longer override regions - This was creating many problems and bugs. Missions will now either spawn objects in existing regions or create new regions.
CHANGE: Missions now use all the new BETA 8 generation systems to better place regions. No more random floating asteroid fields.
CHANGE: Vessels that are part of missions are now tracked between regions. This means a fleeing target will no longer immediately fail the mission, instead you must track them down in warp
CHANGE: "Destroy X of Y" type missions will now more precisely break down what objects need to be destroyed and how many are left once the region has been entered for the first time
CHANGE: Star System is now named after its star rather than coordinates
CHANGE: Control groups are now saved and loaded from construction templates
CHANGE: Players will be placed next to their home station when spawning rather than at the warp in radius
CHANGE: Dynamic regions are now forced to spawn if none have spawned for a player in at least 2 minutes and they are not at capacity
CHANGE: Distress call that used to require robo-servants now requires reactor parts to match dialogue
CHANGE: Increased faction reward per crew hand-in to unify the reward closer to that of other distress calls
CHANGE: Madd / Boss icon is now always shown above Madd's region in system view
CHANGE: Disabled most key presses when either the "E" or respawn menu is up similar to when maps are up.
📡CHANGE: Reduced the amount of Ore asteroids found in non-asteroid regions
CHANGE: Sixiser pirates can now sell narcotics but only to those with friendly standing.
CHANGE: Reduced length of engine trails for engine thrusting in the opposite direction to which they face
📡CHANGE: Re-balanced cooldowns of Missile Shields.
📡CHANGE: Madd will no longer have traders in Pirate systems.
CHANGE: Updated many of the codex topics. Removed some outdated topics.
CHANGE: Changed faction icon for Lawless faction.
CHANGE: Dialogue portraits should be more consistent when hailing and trading with the same vessel.
CHANGE: Certain factions will now react much less or even not at all to friendly fire.
CHANGE: Deuterium should no longer show up as a required mission item or in loot.
CHANGE: Improved highlight outline on objects that have transparency.
CHANGE: Reduced mass of Kelbium and Virmatite Hulls to improve maneuvering with larger vessels.
CHANGE: Reduced cooldown for Gig. and Large Particle Cannons.
CHANGE: Increased duration of Lasers.
CHANGE: Reduced shields' negative effect on engines from 50% less thrust to only 10% less.
Ships, Station, Component Content
CHANGE: Component slotting/unslotting outside of building now requires a press-and-hold to prevent accidental loss of components
CHANGE: Increased starting cargo from 8 to 16. All other small cargo bays have also seen an increase
CHANGE: Complete re-balance of all ships - older higher tier ships have now been re-balanced to be lower tier "Capital" ships
CHANGE: Updated and re-balanced all turret objects
CHANGE: Updated and re-balanced many misc object such as crates
CHANGE: Complete re-balance of all components. Many components have been added some removed the changes here are too numerous to include in patch notes
CHANGE: Altered several reactor patterns to make them more useful
CHANGE: Delta singularity reactor pattern is no longer a dumbbell but instead it is a new Druminence specific reactor with higher power for a short distance surrounded by a negative power ring
CHANGE: Shield extension enhancements no longer increase energy cost
CHANGE: Shallow reactors now have the same reach as mediums but provide a lot less energy
CHANGE: Graviton beams duration reduced so they no longer grip onto smaller ships as much as previous as this was quite annoying to play against.
CHANGE: Lower level ships and objects may now appear in higher level regions.
CHANGE: Ore from previous level will now appear on some ore asteroids
CHANGE: Almost all stations are now traders
CHANGE: Planetoid resources (Ferinium and Maridid) will no longer show up in level 1 asteroids and will be available in lower quantities increasing with level.
CHANGE: Changes to station impacted by meteor distress call. Station no longer relinquishes control as this was too OP/exploitable. No longer has tractoring option due to stations being much harder to tractor now due to 10x mass change.
Construction
CHANGE: Construction drones will no longer need to return to the Assembler between edits unless required to pickup items.
CHANGE: Limited maximum number of Construction Drones allowed to be flying at once. This should improve performance spikes when loading large vessels.
CHANGE: PLACE COMPONENTS list filter selection is now remembered when switching to and from another mode (such as Place Mounts).
CHANGE: Removed the restriction that tiles must be placed next to other tiles in construction. This will still be enforced when leaving building but is no longer a restriction while building.
CHANGE: Access to Construction of an AI station may sometimes now require an "Assembler Pass" this will grant you access to all the Assemblers in a region until you warp out.
CHANGE: Currently selected item is now highlighted in the Construction inventory.
CHANGE: Removed construction integrity system. Replaced with Tile / Weapon / Other Component Limitations
CHANGE: Missing items warning when loading a template in construction can now be ignored, allowing construction to continue as best it can with what is available.
CHANGE: Construction Template Autosaves are now saved in the client universe directory
CHANGE: All build actions are now blocked while a template (inc copy/paste) is being constructed to prevent some annoying issues.
Manufacturing
CHANGE: Renamed "Labs" to "Fabricators" to be more in-line with their actual usage
CHANGE: Fabricator "Lab" Changes: -Removed Refinement "labs" and moved all relevant recipes into the new "General Fabricators" -General Fabricators will now always have at least some of the basic components. -Consolidated component fabricators into a single "Component Fabricator" for each tier
CHANGE: Manufacturing a recipe now takes a short amount of fixed time. This is mainly to add "feel" and the recipe will be cancelled if the UI is closed. This is not the same as previous manufacturing time.
CHANGE: When Manufacturing, Recipe Inputs are now taken from and outputs go to the current Player vessel instead of the vessel which has the fabricator.
CHANGE: Manufacturing is now accessed from a vessels inspection panel rather than showing nearby. This is similar to BETA 7
CHANGE: Opening Manufacturing in now done by pressing C on either the player vessel, or if moused over, the target vessel. This will show all fabricators associated with that vessel.
CHANGE: Complete re-balance of all recipes - removed some, added others
CHANGE: Input/output sources for manufacturing can now be different
CHANGE: Recipes list order reversed so newer recipes show first
CHANGE: Fabricators in manufacturing window are now also sorted by Mk.
AI
CHANGE: Aggressive actions to an AI vessel will now anger not only that vessel but any of its nearby allies no matter your current faction standing.
CHANGE: AI will now factor in nearby allies targets rather than just relying on faction standing. This means even if you are on a friendly standing with an AIs faction if any of that factions vessels are targeting you any other vessels will now consider you for targeting.
CHANGE: AI Stations and Traders will now call for reinforcements based on how many nearby allies they have rather than the damage they have taken.
CHANGE: Tractoring an AI entity that isn't in distress will now count as an aggressive action.
CHANGE: Improved AI pathing and collision avoidance and upgraded to the latest libraries
CHANGE: AI will now commit to a weapon it is firing. This is to prevent them cancelling long charge up weapons without doing damage
CHANGE: Tweaked AI aggression values and added a modifier for same faction aggression to try and lower friendly firefights (as amusing as they can be)
CHANGE: Friendly factions will now come to each other aid if they are in the same region. This also includes the player if they have high enough standing with that faction
CHANGE: Traders will no longer target other ships or try and aid their escort ships unless they are directly attacked
CHANGE: Trader ships now prefer to flee rather than request reinforcements if they are under attack and there are no friendly ships nearby
CHANGE: Tweaked AI patrol paths so they have a higher chance of encountering the player rather than circling far out around the regions edges
CHANGE: Reduced AI detection range. AI can no longer see you from across the region by default.
CHANGE: AI that cannot rotate such as stations will be more likely to switch targets if they cannot hit their current one
CHANGE: Fleeing AI will now be guaranteed to warp away (if they have engines) after 2 minutes. Previously they could take more than 5 minutes or as little as a few seconds.
CHANGE: Enabled multi-threading for AI Pathing. Should improve performance when there are a lot of AI on systems with multiple processors/cores.
Commands/Dedicated Server Stuff
CHANGE: /forcetraderrefresh will now refresh all Traders in the universe instead of just the current Star System.
Other
CHANGE: Updated how time is handled internally so its more consistent with the universe. This should mean better ability to resume time checks (such as trader refresh) across savings/loading.
CHANGE: In save file data, split out universe defaults from universe settings so balance changes in future patches can be applied instead of certain universe properties being locked in at universe creation.
CHANGE: Improved performance as well as JSON readability on how things (loot, spawned objects etc) are chosen based on level
CHANGE: Improved load times especially on CPUs with many cores. (I personally saw an ~70% reduction -Stuffie)
CHANGE: Improved load smoothness
CHANGE: Improved how things are randomly seeded across the board
CHANGE: Reduced creation of unnecessary files
CHANGE: Improved universe loading by loading less unnecessary data for systems
📡CHANGE: Added some extra logging to catch the causes to some of the rarer problems players have reported.
📡CHANGE: Altered some netcode to be more robust when connections are less than perfect.
CHANGE: Split-off pieces are now optimized to smaller sizes to improve performance and memory usage.
CHANGE: Split universe data saving, improving affecting performance.
We have just pushed a Pre-Release for BETA 8 to the test branch.
Some big changes have finally arrived for Space Impossible. It has been a long time in the making and alters Space Impossible in a number of key ways. We have improved nearly every system in game, from universe generation, to core gameplay progress, to component access, to adding trade items and supply and demand, to component balancing, to AI weapon handling and pathing improvements, to fabrication of items and components, to adding component salvaging, to moving around the universe and much more. These changes have all been done in order to make the game more focused while still retaining the key Space Impossible spirit. It is the biggest update yet.
You should recognize and feel familiar with all the controls, but what will be noticeably different is how advancement is made, especially if you are use to low-effort/low-risking it. You will have to leave the first star system much sooner than you could previously linger. Money is more integrated into activities now. You will find more places to spend it, as well as more ways to make it. Money will be more difficult to earn just via piracy--though it can be still lucrative. Factions and standing matter more now than ever before. There is far too much to go into detail here, but it's out there, and it's all a better play.
Here is a brief summary of some of the changes:
New universe generation, pick size and shape in more realistic inspired galaxy structures
Improvements to game progression, making it clearer when you're improving while also eliminating some traps and other unintentional too powerful shortcuts
Materials have been streamlined to reduce unnecessary overcomplication while still retaining variety and choice
New ways to make money with trade items, new ways to spend money
Fabrication overhaul, elimination of time element with addition of source and destination options
A number of new vessel building improvements including UI overhaul
New "boss" enemies to deal with
No longer have to build/maintain a space station--though still an option if you want--as you move about the universe
A huge number of AI improvements, from navmesh generation and pathfinding to weapon selection and battle tactics
A slew of of new weapons
Faction system overhaul, faction matters more than ever before and is more rewarding than ever too
With all these changes, old universes will not be compatible, but many/most saved vessel designs should be.
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
Hope December and the end of 2021 is finding everyone well. Space Impossible is making progress at our typical "never quite fast enough" rate. BETA 8 has been in the works for a long time, and incase you aren't on the Discord or keeping an otherwise close eye, nearing completion.
We are being a bit more cautious with BETA 8 release, since it is the biggest change to the game since probably ALPHA 4->5. The universe is changing, how you move around the universe is changing, the pacing and progress for how you advance through the universe is changing, nearly every region and object templates have been updated/changed, weapons and other components all rebalanced, trade items introduced and emphasis added (for those so inclined). It is huge. And with huge comes bugs. As usual, we try not to release until we are confident in little-to-none significant bugs.
To meet that standard, we have been releasing Experimental builds. You won't see news posts about these, but they are there (can find more info on Discord or the Steam Forums). We had a few at the start of BETA 8 development as we tested out specific system changes, but now we are also using them as we find and fix bugs found by us and some devoted players. We expect one Experimental build a week, give or take, through January, with the Pre-Release and full Release around the end of January or start of February.
Once BETA 8 is finally done and released, we will talk in 2022 about what's coming for BETA 9 and BETA 10. We do not expect these to take as long as BETA 8.
That's it for now, feast your eyes on some screenshots from BETA 8 if you haven't seen them yet. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and see you (and BETA 8) in 2022.
FIX: Fixed dialogue options not showing when completing a chaos mission preventing you from ever being able to start a system conflict.
FIX: Fixed END DIALOGUE option not showing in certain dialogues.
Dev Update: BETA 8 Progress
BETA 8 Update!
The last few weeks has been a bit on the quiet side. Summer stuff going on and just the usual challenges.
Here is what we've done since the last news post.
AI fixes
AI now properly weighs control groups and attempts to pick the best weapon for the current task (which is blowing stuff up). AI should make better choices about when to turn and when not to turn in order to bring weapons to bear. It now factors in weapon cooldown as well. It does mean some vessels with obvious weak/open spots will still be a bit of an issue--as in too easy--and we'll be updating those vessels.
Level and Content Changes
Going over the recent changes and we have decided to consolidate things down to five levels. This is to give a better "wide" experience, with more ships and stations per level as opposed to a "once you've seen it" type of experience seen before. This also means there should be better challenges per area, and no more easily acquired "biggest ship on the block" issues. Ores are also changing. It will now be the previously seen "one ore = one metal" connection, and no more ore->different metals refinement. Additionally we are making some reduction on the amount of crystal types that will be needed for manufacturing.
Even broader, we've been looking at every recipe, every assembler, every fabricator (formerly lab) as well as the rest in an effort to make things better. It's a surprising amount of work, and it's just something that needs to be done. As always, we are working towards a soon(tm) goal for Pre-Release.
Power Level
We have also come up with some basic means of calculating relative player power. The game will now inform you if it thinks you're too low/weak for an area when you enter. This is loosely tuned at this time and is mostly meant to help newer/less experienced players who sometimes need an extra reminder about what they are doing.
On a final note here is a gif of a small tweak to how missiles are launched inspired directly by feedback from the community:
