Star Nomad 2
Last call before transitioning to new engine & save-data format!
It's going to be live in a few days. I do not want anyone to lose their save-games, so please take a minute to do a pre-cautionary check.
Since the last 2 update, the new save-system is running in parallel with the current one, the new output is located here:
C:\Users\your-user\StarNomad2
Check that you have these following text files:
A_Savegame.txt (Data for all 3x Pilot slots)
A_Systems0.txt (Pilot #1)
A_Systems1.txt (Pilot #2)
A_Systems2.txt (Pilot #3)
If you do not have the A_Systems1.txt and A_Systems2.txt it means your Pilot #2 and #3 save-slot need to be transferred to the new save-format.
Just continue those Pilots, launch from port and re-dock to generate the new save files.
My apologies for the inconvenience, but the new engine data and save data allows me to modify the game and add new content much easier, as well as making it save-compatible (new features work without needing a new game), something that I think is better down the road. As well, users will be able to modify game data and their own saves (avoiding the need for trainers or editors).
In the next update, besides these and new ships (Free Union: Polaris Cruiser and Tannhauser Capital), I'm also adding a player requested feature, the Ship Storage Hangar (save-compatible with the new format!). Some more info on the Hangar can be found here:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/414950/discussions/0/458606877328477515/#c458607518206541619
Regards,
-Huy
Next Update (1.15): New save-format, mod-able data, new ships (Capital)!
In the next update, the game will migrate to a new save-format. Be sure to continue each of your Pilots, then launch & dock to transition the save-data to the new text-format. Do it a few times just to be safe!
These new saves are already generated, you can find them in the folder:
C:\Users\yourname\StarNomad2
You'll find the A_Savegame.txt along with various files (ie, A_Systems#.txt for each Pilot #). Very lightweight and editable.
Likewise, in your Star Nomad 2 installed folder (SteamApps etc), you should see the following text files: A_Modules.txt, A_Ships.txt & A_Tradegoods.txt, all editable in any text reader/notepad.
These will be read by the game engine in v1.15, so changes you make will be in-game, save compatible. I'll explain what the numbers correspond to once the update is live.
There's a few reasons why I'm doing this, the major ones are: ease of expand-ability for me for future content & player editing or tweaks are always nice.
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New ships (thanks to @Ameshin): prototype vessels developed in secret by the Free Union in collaboration with several Corporations.
Polaris [Cruiser] = Available in all modes. Unlocked via an event/NPC.
"The Polaris is a prototype Cruiser developed for the Free Union by an unknown Corporation in a move which voids the Large Vessel Treaty. Currently under trials for combat effectiveness, the Union will soon mass produce Polaris Cruisers to reinforce their defenses."
Primary: 3x M-Turrets
Secondary: 3x M-Launchers
Support: 3x M-Drone Bays
Excellent mobility, good all round characteristics.
In-flight appearance:
Tannhauser [Capital] = Roguelike only. Unlocked via an event/NPC.
"Strategists within the Union leadership saw the need for a Capital vessel as an insurance plan post-conflict, when the conquerors turn their eyes to the Free Union. Developed in secret, the Tannhauser was designed to be a force multiplier, a flexible vessel that can perform many roles, including Capital-killer."
Primary: 1x L-Turret & 3x M-Turrets
Secondary: 3x L-Launchers
Support: 3x L-Drone Bays
Good all round characteristics.
In-flight appearance:
Update #12: New Omni Collective Ships!
Update 23/01/2016 (v1.14):
* Added new Omni Collective ships, the Ghost Corvette, Specter Frigate and Apocalypse Cruiser. These ships will be available on Omni Prime & Meissa after the market cycles.
The Ghost is a Light Carrier.
The Specter & Apocalypse are Missile Ships, with a unique feature called the Nano-Fabricator. What is it? It re-supplies spent Launchers in real-time (~5s), in-flight!
But, there's a catch, it uses Isotopium ores in your cargo to replenish the Launchers. In effect, it prolongs your combat endurance, especially if you fire Torpedos. As a side-effect, it is also significantly cheaper to re-arm via Isotopium ores, so drop by those mining colonies to stock up and fill the enlarged cargo bay!
* Fixed the active ability "Safety Override".
* When Allies withdraw from a victorious Siege, they will jump out and ignore any friendly fire prior.
* During fleet withdraw from a victorious Siege, a small patrol force will immediately enter to provide protection for the system.
* Added experimental support for different full-screen modes for resolutions that are not 16:9 ratios. Toggle it on with the hotkey F7 & F8 during the game. Note that Ultra-wide (21:9) is not supported.
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I plan to enable the new save-system and text file modifiable game data in the next update. Don't forget to resume your Pilot to transfer the save data to the new format!
In the next update, players will be able to get these new ships (Cruiser & Capital):
https://twitter.com/Ameshin/status/690052720548425728
As always, if you wish to help me, please leave a nice review and tell your friends to play Star Nomad 2! :)
Thank you,
-Huy
Update #11: Important (Readme) & New Ships!
Firstly, I've modified the engine to be able to read data of ships, modules & tradegoods from simple text files. This means when its enabled, players will be able to tinker with these easily.
Secondly, I've created a new text-format save-data system that stores your progress in small (~10 Kilobytes), easy to read or edit format. This gives gamers more choices, they can edit mistakes if they wish or even cheat.
Importantly, it's much smaller than the current save-system which snapshots the memory and encrypts it (~5MB). The tiny save-file also should hopefully make Steam Cloud more reliable when it syncs.
These changes are in parallel to the current system. This update serves as a bridge to the next update when these changes will be LIVE and the old data will be obsolete.
To ensure your saves transfer over to the new format, please continue with your Pilots, launch into space and dock again to create the new text save-files which will be read & loaded when the next update comes.
When the modding changes will be live, I'll post more to explain what the data in the text-files mean to enable players to make changes as they see fit.
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Update 17/01/2016 (v1.13):
* Improved engine to be able to load game data as text files. Improved the save-system to generate save-data as text format.
* Added new ships (Templar Corvette, Devastator Frigate & Revelation Cruiser) for the Human Empire. Available in all modes.
These ships are inspired by the Beam Frigate from Homeworld & Space Battleship Yamato, whereby the entire hull is dedicated to an over-sized energy weapon.
Due to having an inbuilt weapon, they cost a lot more than other varieties. Neo Eden & Neo Kyoto shipyards will have them for sale (after a few minutes of flight to cycle the market). More info on the ships on the forum thread:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/414950/discussions/0/458606248621969169/
Thanks to some players for suggesting these, I had a lot of fun making them work & playing with them!
* Improved primary weapon energy calculations to take into account efficiency gains (skills/modules) when determining if there is enough energy to fire.
* Added Hunter Drones on sale more often in all Major Faction ports that are tech-focused.
* Added Stalker Drones to Ionus Black Market, increased chance of appearing in Eos Market.
* Fixed damage text popup for Particle Beam Cannon weapons vs. NPC Hunters.
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Update 18/01/2016 (v1.131):
* Set the random encounter that starts the Nadeshiko Carrier quest-line to be less random. When players have renown and if they have not met the NPC yet, the encounter will occur.
* Changed the layout of the Devastator Frigate to prevent a bug with the weapons firing animation.
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As always, if you wish to help me, please leave a nice review and tell your friends to play Star Nomad 2! :)
Thank you,
-Huy
Update #10: New Ships (incl Capital), Features & Bugfix
Update 08/01/2016 (v1.12):
Stats of the new ships are available here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/414950/discussions/0/458605613388500183/
- Added the first player Capital ship, the Dreadnought Carrier Nadeshiko. Obtained only in Roguelike Mode via an NPC that players help during a random encounter (will later be on a port for players to talk to), available once players have a very high Pilot Reputation/Renown.
- Added a new ship line for the Starborn Federation, including new Corvette, Frigate and Cruiser. The Corvette & Frigate will be available in all modes. Cruiser only in Hard or Roguelike (** Hotfix below adds Cruisers to all modes).
New Cruiser & Drones pic: http://i.imgur.com/f7zs6xx.jpg
- Added a Re-spec NPC available on port for Normal & Hard Modes, an option for players to reset their Skill Points.
- Added a new set of Combat Drones, the Stalker series. In collaboration with Omni R&D, ExoTech has come up with a new design of drones made specifically to fulfill anti-Cruiser or anti-Capital roles (slower, less agile "Bombers").
They are available for allies of the Omni Collective to acquire or on the Black Market.
- Local In-Sys (separate from Conquest Fleets) Military patrols will now factor in the economic conditions of the system.
A stable or prosperous economy will likely have more ships on patrol. A port with an economic crisis will devote less resources to patrols, thus, less ships will be in-sys.
- Changed the way Pirates behave. They will now much less likely to pick systems which have stable or prosperous economies (thus, stronger patrols) to raid and will shift their attention more towards systems which are considered weak targets to plunder.
The biggest change you will notice is much less frequent raids in Stable/Prosperous systems.
- Force Conquest AI to instantly withdraw victorious forces from system (returning to the main fleet for future deployments) that had a Siege resolved. This should prevent some rare occurrences of "too many defenders" from happening.
- Improved flight AI for several NPC Pilot types to make them evade fire better and avoid getting stuck in a circling loop maneuver.
- Fixed some bugs with the Conquest AI relating to the Star Map and fleet movements.
- Fixed drones & launcher tooltip for in-flight icons.
- Fixed some encounter bugs.
- Block opening Star Map until scene has finished loading everything to prevent a bug.
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Hotfix 09/01/2016 (v1.121):
Due to player feedback, the new Cruiser will also be available in Normal mode.
Future ships added as bonus content will also follow this principle, Cruisers & below will be available in all difficulty modes.
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As a thank you for all the support from players, I've commissioned some new ship sprites from my favourite artist @ ameshin.deviantart.com !
Some really cool ships are coming soon in the next updates!
As always, if you wish to help me, please leave a nice review and tell your friends to play Star Nomad 2! :)
-Huy
Updates #9: January 2016
Update 02/01/2016 (v1.11):
- Add Hard Mode difficulty option, for an in-between Normal & Roguelike experience. The campaign AI is harder like Roguelike and on death, players will lose the cargo contents and up to 10% of their Credits to pay for insurance excess. Players will keep their vessel, modules & weapons.
- Improved Auto Turret AI to target hostile Hunters, to effectively track and engage them and properly reset after the battle to ignore Neutral/Friendly Hunters.
- Added a
- very rare* chance of NPC Hunters accepting a contract to kill high ranked & renowned (Elite & Dangerous) player. Previously they would avoid the contract out of fear. They will
- not* ambush the player in systems under conquest siege.
- Players can now taunt/provoke NPC Hunters AWAY from their current hostile target. You can use this if you want less competition on bounties, as the Hunters will be busy trying to kill you instead. :)
- Buff Omni Collective Ships. NPCs, increased DMG slightly. Player variants, increased Hull Regen and Energy Regen. Dock & Launch to set the database with new stats.
- Increased info & tooltip font size to improve readability on smaller monitors.
- Improved visibility of the Yes/No dialogue icons.
- Changed the starting weapons for Hunter career into a more long-range type to improve newbie longevity!
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Happy New Years everyone, wish you all a great 2016!
Thank your for supporting me with Star Nomad 2!
-Huy
Updates #8: December 2015
Update 31/12/2015 (v1.10):
- Added Valiant Torpedo Mk.I - IV for player to buy & use (Starborn Federation technology, also available on the black market). They are the most damaging Launchers, but inaccurate against fast & agile targets.
- Added EMP effect to Wraith missiles when impacting ship hull, chance to disable target engines.
- Added option to leave a faction, canceling the Ally status, by talking to the recruiter NPC on their Homeworld.
- Fixed a rare bug when players faction flip a few times to unlock faction specific modules/ships.
- Fixed an XP bug/exploit.
- Changed drug smuggling XP/Pilot Rep bonus to scale based on the quantity that you smuggle above the threshold to cause mass addictions!
- Min number of drugs required.
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Happy New Years everybody! I hope you all have a great 2016 and your resolutions will be achieved!
Luckily (thanks to everyone who supported me by buying SN2), my personal goal is close to being met with this title. Hence, I can continue to add more content to it in the coming months.
Further down the road (2016+ resolution), my plans will be to attempt porting SN2 to iOS, then get started on the next big open world epic: Nuclear Nomad.
My vision for it: a very dynamic post apocalyptic & cyberpunk dystopian world. Inspired by Fallout 2 (my favourite cRPG) and Mount & Blade.
Features include: vehicular (multi-crew) & personnel squad combat, a more deeper & dynamic economy and faction simulation, player settlement construction, hiring NPCs to assist in farming, harvesting, crafting, defending territory. It's a survival, action adventure, RPG mix with large scale conquest. Basically a bigger & deeper Earth-bound SN2-like game!
When the time comes, I'd like to open up for community suggestions and feature ideas for Nuclear Nomad. :)
Thanks,
-Huy
ps. Thanks for leaving positive reviews, I appreciate the time you guys take to write it up.
Updates #7: December 2015
Update 27/12/2015 (v1.09):
- Separate conquest AI calculations for Normal vs Roguelike mode, it was previously operating under the same ruleset: Hard! This change should provide a more appropriate level of challenge for the difficulty modes selected.
- NPC Pilots for the Major Factions (Starborn, Human, Omni) will now Rank Up slower on Normal Mode (lower scaling).
- Added a mechanic for player missiles when impacting enemy shields that are very weak, it will now pierce the shields and hit hull for full damage.
This change is intended to improve missiles to get the killing blow by preventing scenarios where shields which were destroyed and then slightly regenerating, absorbing the missile's impact.
This applies to all factions except for the Starborn Federation, which have superior shielding tech.
- Re-design the Exit Icon to better indicate it Exits.
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Have a happy holiday seasons all!
-Huy
Updates: December 2015 #6
Update 27/12/2015 (v1.08):
* Re-coded the save-game system to be compatible with 3 save-slots. On starting a new game, players are given the option to select the save-slot. On continue, players will be given a prompt to select which Pilot Data to resume. Left-click on the Pilot portrait to continue.
I've tested this feature on multiple games and it is working well! However, because altering the save system is risky post-launch, there's a small risk of you losing some cargo, like that sentimental Plaything...
[B]Your current save is defaulted to Pilot 1! Note that the Pilot Data on display is only refreshed to be correct once you resume and re-dock to update the database.[/B]
* In the Equip & Ship menus, on mouse-over of the modules will now also display a info comparison to your equipped modules & ship. For turrets, it will only display the same size class if you have them equipped.
* On the Star Map, mouse-over info on trade crises and Pirate or Zerker bounties will also display their current duration. The duration indicates how long the crises have been on-going, the higher the value, the more likely NPCs will resolve it. Use it as an approximate guide to prioritize crises which you seek to resolve.
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Thank you for playing Star Nomad 2 and especially those who enjoy it enough to leave a nice review. I really appreciate it along with all the feedback and discussion on the forum.
Especially thanks for gamers who help their fellow players out with answering questions. :)
Have a great Xmas & New Years!
-Huy
Updates: December 2015 #5
Update 25/12/2015 (v1.07):
* During conquest fleet battles, the loss of all ships with Drone Bays will cause any remaining drones of that fleet to self-destruct. This is to eliminate the annoyance factor of chasing small, fast & agile drones around to "clean up".
* Re-balance Conquest AI to improve the following:
Player assisted victory over a hostile faction should damage their ability to re-launch an invasion fleet immediately. It'll take longer for the enemy faction to build their forces back that is capable of an invasion.
This is linked to their economic output, so if they have a lot of systems under their control and those system economies are doing well, they can still launch an invasion soon after an engagement. Vice versa, with few systems and low economic output, it takes them a long time to build enough ships for an attack fleet.
The other change is related to AI sieges. Without player intervention, they will take slightly longer to resolve, giving more time for players to react.
* Added feature, improving trade UI efficiency, Right-Click (RMB) on the goods sold to buy the entire stack up to the max cargo capacity of your ship. Added note to tooltip for tradegoods to reference RMB usage for faster buying & selling.
* Added a rare ores (Grav & Elyp) check on ESC trade menu close, for auto-depositing into the bank.
* Fixed a bug with Auto/Manual Turret Control switch ignoring the weapon cooldown.
* Double Corsair sometimes spawn
* Ambulance Drone will slow down on approaching a Lifepod to prevent over-shooting and being stuck in a loop.
* Fixed a rare bug which caused players to lose control of their ship after respawning on some ports.
* Disable ship smoke effect for player once repaired.
* Disabled NPC Hunter deliberate friendly fire in response to players defeating their colleagues or being too good at kill-stealing bounties. Added NPC Hunter taunt/provoke instead, to avoid player confusion.
* Taunting or provoking NPC Hunters with active coms (Target > TAB > #3) will not cause faction standing loss with the Guild. Also increased their rage chance.
* Fixed an NPC Hunter bug on some missions where they are sent to hunt you, but their "Hull Bar" is green & not red (to indicate hostile).
* On the Star Map, mouse-over on ports will also include Exports & Imports for most ports.
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As always, I welcome suggestions & feedback so that I can improve the game.
If you enjoy the game, please leave a positive review. Every bit helps for small time dev like me! :)
Regards,
-Huy