A new smaller demo battle has been added. This also has a player owned static fighter base. In the campaign these can provide you with useful support and resupply of fighters and bombers, but they cannot move and so are more vulnerable to missiles.
New and improved pathfinding to improve AI calculation times. AI turns will now take less time.
New range indicator while moving has been added. This will allow you to judge the minimum / maximum distances of abilities better. The min range is no also available on the ability info pop-ups.
Firing arks are now also indicated. The concentric rings will display offensive and defensive fire arks for turrets, this will allow you to position for maximum effect more easily.
Carrier indicators will now display the carrier that small craft are launched from. This will tell you who's control links are used to control a group.
Improved visuals for missile line indicators, this will make it clearer where they will move each turn and declutter the scene.
Armour bars updated to Orange rather than grey for greater clarity.
A number of speed increases to movement and animations to speed up the battles.
Balance:
Point defence lasers and guns now have a more generous accuracy falloff making them more effective at longer ranges.
Weapon ranges have has their minimum ranges normalised into 10 – 50 – 200 – 500. This will make it simpler to use the range indicators to understand minimum ranges.
Bomber point defence no longer has any accuracy falloff to make up for its very low range.
Flack areas will now do more damage.
Bug Fixes:
Updated UI to indicate muzzles not battles, this will give you the correct number of shots a ship will fire.
Missiles correctly sorting in the turn order UI
Numerous minor bug fixes.
Demo Update
Demo Patch Notes:
General Notes:
We have pushed an update fixing small bugs and balance issues for the demo.
Tactical Battles:
IR Smoke UI stays turned on - This has be resolved by fixing an issue with scenes that contain natural dust clouds.
Being inside IR smoke will no longer allow missiles minimum range to be zero, and allow you to fire missile at yourself.
Tutorials:
Tutorial battles will now end if the player loses all their units.
Tutorial battles will now end properly when the enemy units are destroyed.
Small balance changes to all 3 tutorial battles.
The Darkest Star Combat Demo is now live
We have created some custom missions that outline the core combat of the game. There could be issues and small bugs. The combat is still being balanced, and we need your help with this so come give us some feedback and ideas for things you would like to see.
We have also added a survival mission, we don't know if its possible but there will be a prize if you have the highest number of rounds survived!
Darkest Star Development Update
We wanted to provide you with an important update regarding the progress our Darkest Star TBS. Firstly, we'd like to thank you for your patience and support while we develop this game. As a two-man team, we have limited resources and have been simultaneously navigating new day jobs, family commitments, and even a wedding. Balancing these responsibilities has meant development has taken longer than we initially expected.
We have also made some significant changes to our original designs. After careful consideration, we have modified our campaign. In a way which we think will improve the replay value and depth of the game as a whole, while giving better support for its narrative design. We are also planning to release a demo soon, showcasing the game's combat, which we consider to be the meat of the game.
Our primary goal is to ensure that we deliver a high-quality product, which is why we are taking the time to refine and perfect it. We are determined not to rush something out the door without giving it the attention it truly deserves. When the demo becomes available, we will seek feedback from players like yourself. Your insights and opinions are invaluable to us as we strive to create the best possible gaming experience.
We will continue to keep you updated on our progress and provide you with information on the demo release when we have it. If you have any questions or would like further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Once again, thanks for your patience, attention, support, and, in anticipation of the demo, your feedback. Kind regards, The Darkest Star guys.
Early Access
We have decided to go early access because we can get you involved as soon as possible. So far the feedback we have had from members of our community have been amazing and very helpful.
We want to get the game into your hands, so you can help us finalise the gameplay and help us to add the features that you feel will add the most value for you. We believe the core game is 95% complete.
We will be having a short early access period, only about 6 months so this way you can get in early and get a nice discount to boot.
