The Chaser's Voyage

Patch Notes for Update 0.5.0.03:

• Battleship Pursuit:

• Updated the Battleship Distance UI to include wire frames of the Battleship and the player's ship.
  

• Cutscenes:

• Changed the text for the second half of the Into Cutscene.
  

• Ship UI:

• Added arrows that appear in the Remaining Power UI to indicate when the Increase Power and Decrease Power inputs are active while using a gamepad.
  

• Tutorial

• The Tutorial has been revamped and now has new encounters, new prompts, and new voice lines.
  
• The Tutorial Pirate's Engine Systems are no longer breakable.
  
• PS4 and PS5 gamepads will now properly show a purple light during the tutorial when no character is talking.
  
• Updated the Tutorial Death Notice to match the new prompt designs.
  
• The Tutorial Death Notice now informs the player of the 3 Game Over conditions.
  

• Bug Fixes

• Lighter, bigger Capital Ships will no longer spawn in the background during Hostile Fleet encounters.
  
• The large Capital Ship that appears after docking with a Fleet will no longer appear multiple times after the player passes it by.
  
• Capital Ships will no longer be too grouped up together for a short while after docking with a Fleet.
  
• The Restart Jump options in the Death Notice in Voyager Mode now work correctly.
  
• The Tutorial Ship's engines will now correctly be off when the Player has 0 power in Engines at the start of an encounter.
  
• System Buttons will no longer stay highlighted or pressed when docking with a Fleet if they were highlighted/pressed before docking.
  
• Bounty Hunters and Pirates will no longer stop dodging the player's shots after a while.
  
• Fixed a Null Reference error that would occur when in an Encounter with a Space Port and an Allied Fleet.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused the player to sometimes be hit by a Pursuing Battleship's Particle Disruptor Cannon after they had successfully dodged it.
  

•Typos:

• Capitalized all instances of "imperial" in client stories.
  
• Replaced ' with ’ in the Tutorial Death Notice.
  
• Removed unnecessary capitalizations of "Vyxidril" in client stories.
  

• Battleship shots now do less damage on Ace Mode.
  
• Non-hostile battleship fleets will now have more ships, increasing the chance for the player to see them space jump.
  

• Ace mode will now be unlocked once the player pays back their debt to Lady Styx on time in Captain mode.
  
• If a player had unlocked Ace mode before, but hasn't yet payed back their debt to Lady Styx on time in Captain mode, then Ace mode will now be locked for them.
  
• Added a new feature for Voyager & Captain Modes: Voyage +
  
  
  
  • "Voyage +" is unlocked for a mode by surviving a Voyage in that mode.
    
  • Playing "Voyage +" will unlock all possible encounter combinations from the very beginning of the Voyage.
    
  
  

• Updated the visuals for Ion Missiles.
  

• Merchant fleets will now have more ships, increasing the chance for the player to see them space jump.
  

• Adjusted the Difficulty Selection screen elements to add in the "Start Voyage +" button and the Voyage + unlock conditions and effects.
  

• If Money is at 0, the Main Console will no longer say the player has 1,000 units at the start of a jump.
  
• Adjusted the font size of the "Info" section of the Main Console so that "Imperial Supply Officer" fits while color coding is on.
  
• Communications will now be stopped if they are happening when the Chaser is destroyed.
  
• Fixed a Missing Reference error that occasionally occurred when merchant ships jumped away after a long time.
  
• Merchant Ship #4 will now correctly play it's space jump animation when jumping.
  

• Removed the Extra ":" and spaces from the "Info" section of the Main Console when the next territory is Neutral or Pirate.
  

• Changed some Client Type names:
  
  
  
  • Changed "Evil Scientist" to "Outlaw Scientist".
    
  • Changed "Fleeing Criminal" to "Fugitive".
    
  • Changed "Imperial Traitor" to "Defector to the UGS".
    
  • Changed "UGS Traitor" to "Defector to the Empire".
    
  
  

• Added color coding to certain text within the game:
  
  
  
  • Color coded all instances of Empire/Imperial to be purple.
    
  • Color coded all instances of UGS to be orange.
    
  • Color coded the Territory Lists in client info. Imperial is purple, Neutral is green, Pirate is red, and UGS is orange.
    
  • Color coded the Imperial & UGS Client Types and Next Territory within the "Info" section of the Main Console.
    
  • All color coded text is also bold.
    
  
  
• We reduced the resolution of the client faces.
  

• Added an option to toggle color coding of the UGS, Empire, and territory texts.
  

• Added another digit to the Version Number for internal team builds.
  

• All the text in the "Info" section of the Main Console will now correctly update when the player selects a client.
  
• The Next Territory and Client Name text in the "Info" section of the Main Console will now correctly be "Unknown" and "No Client" after restarting a Voyage.
  
• The Scroll Bar Speed setting will now work as intended.
  
• The Insignia Selection Menu will now properly center scroll-wise on the latest insignia viewed when backing out from viewing that insignia while using the mouse.
  

• Removed unnecessary capitalizations of "Imperial" in client stories.
  

• The Intro Cutscene will now always play after the end of the Tutorial, even if the Auto Skip option is on.
  

• Fixed the sprites for the Landing Pads.
  
• The Fighters and Pirates in the Tutorial can now correctly fire their guns.
  
• Communications with the Pirates in the Tutorial will no longer still be available after the Player's ship starts exploding.
  
• Fighters will now always explode when colliding with the Player's Ship.
  
• Fixed the Hit Box for the Battleships' Particle Disruptor Cannon Shot.
  

• Corrected the spelling of "travelers" in the description of the 1019 Insignia.
  

• The Insignia on the left side of the screen will now cycle through all the different insignias instead of just the three Chaser Insignias.
  

• Increased the brightness of all fake background obstacles.
  

• Subtitles are now on by default.
  
• Added a slider that controls the rate that fake background objects spawn.
  
• Added a slider that controls the brightness of fake background objects.
  

• Improved game performance when spawning or despawing many objects.
  
• Improved game performance when objects interact.
  

• Sentries will now target their non-Player enemies from the start of the encounter.
  

• Exploding battleships will no longer move slower.
  

• Added subtle shadows behind Battleships, Bounty Hunters, Buildings, Fighters, Merchant Ships, Obstacles, and Pirates.
  

• Nila's subtitle color is now slightly darker.
  

• The spawn rate of the fake background obstacles now correctly changes to match the Player's speed.
  
• Obstacles should no longer trigger the sensors on the left side of the screen.
  
• The Space Jump Drive Button will no longer stay highlighted when the Chaser is docked if it was highlighted before docking.
  
• The Day Clock will now properly move forward when in Mid-Jump during the Tutorial.
  
• Bounty Hunter Guns and Pirate Guns are now lit correctly.
  
• Sentries will now correctly target their non-Player enemies before getting hit when they are already hostile to the Player.
  
• Sentries will no longer turn hostile against Fighters that are from the same army.
  
• Fixed the spacing of the text in the Death Notice for when all of the Chaser's Systems get disabled.
  
• The Beetle Pirate Ship's guns should no longer shrink once the ship starts to explode.
  

• Changed "further" to "farther" in the subtitles of Argi's Tutorial Line: "Not like those battleships you saw. They have bigger jump drives that let them go farther and faster."
  
• Removed the unneeded apostrophe in "sees" for Kharon's Line: "But luckily for you, where some see disaster, the Lady sees... opportunity."
  

• Day 100 Cutscene:
  
  
  
  • Changed Lady Styx's sprites so that she is hidden in shadow.
    
  
  

• Ship System UI:
  
  
  
  • While using a Gamepad, the System Buttons now animate being pressed when the Player changes the Chaser's corresponding system power.
    
  • While using a Gamepad, the Space Jump Drive button will now highlight and animate being pressed when the Player activates the Space Jump Drive.
    
  
  

• The foreground layer of the Dessert Background in the Intro cutscene will no longer disappear after the first time the cutscene is viewed in a session.
  
• Rezised the Cutscene Dialogue Box very slightly to remove some empty space at the side of the screen.
  
• Fixed some transparency issues with Lady Styx's sprites.
  
• The crashing ship in the New Voyage Cutscene now properly pauses when the cutscene is paused.
  

• New Voyage Cutscene:
  
  
  
  • Added a new animation of the ship crashing (before showing the crashed ship in the dunes).
    
  
  

• Added Hit Stops for when the Player defeats a Bounty Hunter or a Pirate.
  
• Added Hit Stops for when the Player's ship's hull is reduced to 0%.
  

• Changed the Loading Screen tips for the following species: Chlik, Faeians, Mayvians, and Sin-Eaters.
  

• The Temporary Tutorial Video is now gone.
  
• Added a new Playable Tutorial.
  
  
  
  • The tutorial is the prologue to the game's story.
    
  • The tutorial will automatically start when the game is booted up, unless the player has already completed the tutorial.
    
  • Completing the tutorial is required to access the game. It is not skippable, unless the player has already completed it. (Voyager Mode options are enabled for the tutorial though.)
    
  • The tutorial automatically goes directly into a new Voyage, unless the player has Bookmarked Voyage Save Data, in which case they can choose to have the tutorial go to the main menu instead.
    
  • The tutorial is replayable via the Main Menu.
    
  
  

• Ship System UI:
  
• Added a glow to each of the 4 System Power bars when they are highlighted with the mouse or pressed on a Gamepad.
  
• Made the Jump Button's highlight effect stronger.
  

• The mouse area in which repairs can be started for the Space Jump Drive has been increased to better match the size of the button.
  
• The Chaser's guns should no longer disappear when the player loses the game via 0% Oxygen or Total System Damage.
  
• The metal on the Battleship Distance drop down notice is now properly textured.
  

• Removed the unneeded "a" from "...and have a orders to..." in Imperial Smuggler Client's story #7.
  
• Corrected the spelling of "Nygothan" on the Nygothan Loading Screen Tip.
  

• Increased the cost of all repairs by 125%.
  

• Added a slider to adjust the rate at which the Space Jump Drive charges. (1% - 100%)
  
• Added a slider to adjust the damage the player deals to Enemies. (0% - 100%)
  
• Added a slider to adjust the damage the player deals to Obstacles. (0% - 100%)
  
• Added a toggle to prevent respawning.
  

• Autopilot will now properly be turned off when Oxygen levels get too low after respawning.
  
• The Failure to Pay Off Your Debt Cutscene will no longer be able to trigger while the player is in a Radiation Storm.
  
• Asteroids should no longer infinitely explode when colliding with the player after certain instances of an enemy being defeated.
  
• The space background during the Failure to Pay Off Your Debt Cutscene will no longer be zoomed in.
  

• Auto Advance is now toggled by Left Shift when using Keyboard Controls. (Was previously Space Bar.)
  
• Space Bar now advances the dialogue when using Keyboard Controls, alongside Enter and Left Click.
  

• Added options to toggle the following Graphical Effects:
  
  
  
  • UI Screen Shake
    
  • Speed Lines
    
  • Mid-Jump Lines
    
  
  

• Space Jump Drive will now charge at 50% speed at Level 2 Engines, and 75% speed at Level 3 Engines. (Was previously 25% at Level 2 and 50% at Level 3.)
  

• Ship Health UI:
  
  
  
  • Shield Level Text will now be displayed as "Level" instead of "Lvl".
    
  
  
• Ship System UI:
  
  
  
  • The System Buttons on the Ship UI will now light up when the corresponding System input on a gamepad is pressed.
    
  
  

• Adjusted the UI of the Voyager Mode Options.
  
• Added a slider to adjust the rate at which Systems break when the player takes damage. (x0 - x3)
  
• Added a slider to adjust the rate at which Systems get Depleted by Ion Weapons. (x0 - x3)
  

• The Shield Level Text will no Longer say it's at Level 2 if a new jump is started with 0 power in Shields.
  
• The "Level" part of the Shield Level Text will no longer shift when changing Shield levels.
  
• The Cutscene that plays when the player fails to pay back their debt on time will no longer get stuck on the first line.
  
• Releasing the Left Mouse Button after clicking with it during a Cutscene will no longer advance the dialogue.
  

• Added Gamepad support. (Not currently compatible with Steam's Input Controller)
  
• Added notifications that pause the game when gamepads become connected or disconnected.
  
• Added an option to view the gamepad's control mapping when starting a new Voyage. (This can be turned off.)
  
• Added Menu navigation via Gamepad and Keyboard. (The Options Menu is still temporary and thus requires a Mouse.)
  
• Added Gamepad Control Rebinding.
  
• Added Rumble for Gamepad.
  
• Lights for PS4 and PS5 Gamepads will change to match the Chaser's Cockpit color, or the current talking character.
  

• The Phantom Nebula Insignia's free repairs now can be used when docking with a Neutral UGS or Neutral Imperial Fleet.
  

• Added mines that move vertically as well as moving horizontally.
  
• These mine have a slow yellow pulsing light instead of the solid green light of normal mines.
  

• Changed the default system power allocation to be 0 power in Weapons, 3 in Shields, 3 in Engines, and 2 in Auxiliary.
  
• The Neo-Chaser Insignia's default system power allocation is now 1 in Weapons, 4 in Shields, 3 in Engines, and 2 in Auxiliary.
  

• Customize Ship UI:
  
  
  
  • Moved the Exit Customization Button to the Bottom Screen.
    
  • Added a Randomize All Button.
    
  • Added more obvious markers to show when a Color Slider was highlighted or selected.
    
  
  
• Insignia Selection UI:
  
  
  
  • The scrolling section for the Insignias will now automatically go to the currently equipped insignia when switching difficulties or opening the menu.
    
  
  
• System Info Screen:
  
  
  
  • Updated the Pause Screen's System Info Screen to now have more animations.
    
  
  

• Insignias are now correctly oriented on the Chaser when it is reversed while docking with Fleets.
  
• Added missing button sounds to the Customize Ship UI.
  
• Hopefully fixed a bug causing a NullReferenceException when Jumping out of a Bounty Hunter Encounter.
  
• Client 2's Icon Background will no longer incorrectly be red after loading a Client Planet Save when the client was an enemy to only Pirates.
  
• The player can no longer retry a Client Planet Encounter in the Flight Simulator if they died above a Client Planet after restarting a Voyage.
  
• Fixed a sizing issue with the Dimming Effect of the Quit and Restart Confirmation Notices on the Game Over and Victory screens.
  
• Princess Merrywhethers will no longer appear when loading a Client Planet that had less than 3 clients.
  
• The player will no longer be unable to dock if they have no money, but repairs would be free.
  
• A small amount of the player's money will no longer be stolen when they pause while docking with a Space Port or a Fleet above a planet.
  
• The pop up that asks the player whether they want to dock with the Fleet or Planet will no longer appear when the player has no money, but is carrying a Fleet's ally while above a Space Port.
  
• Repairs will no longer start immediately if the player docks with a Fleet or Space Port after dedocking with a Space Port or Fleet (respectively) in the same encounter without stopping the repairs first.
  
• The crew's subtitles will no longer appear in the wrong spot when leaving a client planet after staying for extra repairs.
  
• Scrollbars will no longer rapidly move back and forth when the player clicks and holds too far to the left or right of them.
  
• The Restore Default Values notifications in the options menu will no longer still be open after exiting the menu by unpausing the game.
  
• The player can now properly pause the game in the Flight Simulator after they respawn in Voyager Mode.
  
• The crew's death lines will now play even after the player respawns in Voyager Mode.
  
• Hull and Oxygen Percentages will no longer say 0% if they are not completely empty.
  
• Mines that are triggered right before leaving the screen will no longer sometimes not explode.
  
• Edwin is no longer flipped in the credits.
  
• Large Asteroids and Debris will no longer stick to the player and not collide correctly after a Fighter runs into them.
  
• The Chaser's lights will now properly turn off when the player runs out of Oxygen.
  

• Fixed the subtitle's spelling for Wolfe's Non-Event Voice Line #50: "You really want them messing with the ship systems while traveling through a sub-space wormhole?".
  
• Fixed the incorrect spelling of Paju on one of the Loading Screen Infos.
  
• Fixed the typo in the client name: Merryweather.