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  3. Dev Update 2022-01-29: Trade with Factions, upcoming NEXT FEST

Dev Update 2022-01-29: Trade with Factions, upcoming NEXT FEST

Greetings, Space Travelers!

It’s been over a month since the last update, and we’ve been busy! Let’s take a look at what has changed since the last development update.

[h2]Factions and Trade[/h2]



Some of the planets in the universe are now controlled by several different factions. You will be able to see what faction controls the planet, and also initiate a trade with that planet when your ship is nearby. Later there will be more ways to interact with factions, including some not so peaceful options.

[h2]More survivors in the shipwreck[/h2]



When starting a new game in the “Wrecked ship” scenario, there will be an area with a couple of survivors that have the necessary devices and resources to last a week or two. This makes the beginning of the game more exciting and gives you extra incentive to research human survival technology sooner.

[h2]Advanced space travel options: FTL Drive and Void Ripper[/h2]



To travel vast distances across galaxies, you will have to research and build advanced technology, like FTL Drive or Void Ripper. You are probably familiar with FTL (Faster Than Light) drives already, but Void Ripper needs a short introduction. When you are near a black hole (every galaxy has one in the middle), Void Ripper can charge up and let you warp through the black hole. The catch is that you don’t know where you will emerge, and you are not guaranteed to return to the same place when you try to go back.

[h2]Build fully functional ships that look good[/h2]



You can now put the engines wherever you want, they don’t have to face all directions anymore, and their facing is purely cosmetic. This was done to allow you to build beautiful ships that don’t look like a flying pizza. In addition, the mechanic required to have functional engines in all directions was often tedious and annoying, rather than fun, so it got removed.

[h2]Closable electric vents[/h2]



To have more control over the atmosphere, you can now plug all vents into your electricity grid, and open / close them at will. This makes it much easier in early game, when you have to restore hull integrity on the broken parts of the ship. You had to deconstruct or wall off all the vents before, now you don’t have to.

[h2]Emergency control for unplugged devices through robots[/h2]



As you are the Ship Computer, you cannot control anything that is not connected to your electricity / data grid. Until now. Your robots and drones will be able to reach any disconnected device and provide a temporary data link and a small amount of electricity so you can configure the device. This is extremely useful when your electricity grid gets split into multiple subgrids, and you cannot change some settings that require immediate attention.
It can also be used to force open an unpowered door or airlock, letting your workers access the unpowered areas of your ship without breaking down the structure.

[h2]Automatic electricity grid management[/h2]



Some players found the micro management of the electricity grid a little frustrating, especially in late game, when you have thousands of devices connected into a big network. To alleviate this menial work, you can now research Auto Connect Upgrade and install it on your Ship Computer. With this upgrade installed, newly built or repaired devices will get linked to the closest available connector automatically. This upgrade is optional, so it’s up to you if you want to micro manage the grid.

[h2]More detailed and fully moddable UI[/h2]



The tech behind Stardeus UI hasn't improved much since over a year ago, and it was lacking modding support. It was overhauled to add more details and consistency, and made moddable, so you can replace colors and images in the same way you tweak any other game content - through JSON files.

[h2]Hotbar[/h2]



Not everyone liked the new Radial Menu, so now there is also a Hotbar, where you will keep your most used tools and blueprints for quick access.

[h2]Damaged devices will still work[/h2]



Light damage will not disconnect or impede device operations. This was a pain point whenever there was a fire or some other disaster. Now the device has to take significant damage to lose function.

[h2]Steam Workshop support[/h2]



You can now upload and download mods from Steam Workshop directly in-game. It even works in the demo! Talking about the demo, it will become available very soon for the Steam NEXT festival!

[h2]Try Stardeus Demo in Steam NEXT FEST![/h2]



Don’t miss the Stardeus Demo in Steam NEXT FEST next month! The demo will be up a couple of weeks before the fest.

That’s all for now, see you in the next update! Full list of changes for the curious ones: https://stardeusgame.com/changelog/

[h2]Follow the Development[/h2]


[h2]Add Stardeus to Wishlist[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1380910/Stardeus/