Capital Command News

[h3] Fixed prologue scripting bug. A few more small fixes and polish. [/h3]

Capital Command's prologue has been broken since last build. Sorry! I think it's fixed now, the mission should work fine.

Aside from that, just some small improvements, nothing really spectacular.

The prologue is now mostly in maintenance mode. Most of my time is spent working on the game's campaign, but I'm not planning to add that to the playable demo. Instead, I'll be running a closed beta when the campaign is nearing a decent state. Hopefully that won't be later than september 2021, but no promises.

That's all for now, fly safe
The dev

[h3] Sounds, primarily; also, fixes and polish. [/h3]

At long last, Capital Command has sound.

It turns out, my decision not to rush sounds in time for the summer Next Fest wasn't completely wrong. It took a lot of work to get sounds working even passably, and there's lots of room for further improvements and polish in this department. Still, I think this is good enough for now.

There's a twist you should be aware of.

Since I'm aiming for immersion and believability, you'll only be hearing sounds that the captain of your ship would be hearing on his command bridge.

So you'll hear your UI, as its various parts and systems provide aural warnings and feedback. You'll also hear your weapons fire, your thrusters and boosters as they burn, damaged subsystems, and of course enemy weapons as they strike your hull.

But you won't be hearing anything from other ships, because sound doesn't travel in vacuum! This might sound off-putting, but give it a try. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Other than that, minor fixes, tuning and polish, mostly (but not all) for the game's UI.

Now, the plan is to really start working on the campaign. Sounds and the prologue took way more time than I'd anticipated, so I've fallen way behind schedule.

So I'm pushing back the release date. If all goes well, Capital Command will release in november 2021.

Thanks for reading, and fly safe
The dev

[h3] Prologue info boxes; more fixes and polish. [/h3]

The major feature in this update is the info boxes that are now visible in the prologue. These are used to communicate information to the player, based on feedback from people who have played the demo. Hopefully, this will make it easier for players to figure out how the game works.

Other than that, more fixes and polish. No surprise there.

I think I'm done with the playable prologue for now, unless severe unforeseen bugs or problems come up. There's still no sound, but I'm considering putting it off until after the game's main campaign mechanics are implemented.

Anyway, that's it for now. Thanks for reading and fly safe!
The dev

[h3] Fixed UI in ultra-wide resolutions (I hope!). Also, combat balance tuning and some bug hunting. [/h3]

Well, I really screwed up this time. I added UI scaling to the game a few patches ago, so players with ultra-wide screens can actually see and read the information on their HUD. And, at the time, I did a quick check to see that it looks ok at higher resolution. But I failed to test that the UI actually still worked.

Of course it wasn't working, and the demo has been almost unplayable on most displays with more than FullHD (1920x1080). The HUD icons and markers were all over the place, text displayed anywhere except where it was supposed to be, etc. Worst of all - the tutorial was almost completely broken.

I think I've fixed it now. Everything on the HUD seems to be where it belongs.

Please let me know if it still seems off. Sorry, everyone.

In other news, Combat Tuning!

• Artillery spread rework: projectiles now tend to stay closer to the actual aim point; some still go astray, but not as many as previously. This is meant to make targeting commands feel more significant. I want you to think about what part of the enemy ship you want to target, and I want that decision to actually have a discernible effect. More tuning will probably follow.
  
• Increased secondary battery rate of fire, but projectiles have more spread and the battery can store fewer rounds. This should make player skill more important when managing point defense ammo consumption. Keep your secondaries topped off, and ensure those that are facing incoming ordnance can actually shoot it!
  
• Missiles have longer reload time, but do more damage, have longer range and are slightly harder to shoot down. The point of this change is to make missiles feel big and important. Launch commands should feel impactful, and being the target of big volleys should be scary.
  
• Nerfed ship structure health compared to section health. This makes section health more significant, because healthy sections soak up damage, but damaged ones leak it through into the vulnerable ship's structure. You'll want to keep damaged sections out of the line of fire, if possible.
  
• Healthy sections reduce the chance for damage effects to occur. The purpose of this change is to reduce the importance of getting the first hit in. Previously, in an equal fight, the ship that got hit first had a good chance to lose system functionality and would be in a much worse position. Now, getting a lucky first hit through point defense isn't that big a deal anymore. You need to be consistently lucky - which means you're probably doing something right.
  
• Added a HOLD FIRE setting for the main battery. This allows you to keep the guns pointed at a target without attacking it. Not useful very often, but I felt it should be there as an option.
  

And of course, some other minor fixes to the prologue and the UI. For the next patch, expect more tutorial improvements and fixes.

Thanks for reading and fly safe
The dev

[h3] Faster ships. A few fixes. Yet again, no sound. [/h3]

In direct response to player feedback, I've buffed propulsion on all ships in the prologue. They haven't suddenly become fighters, but they hold more delta V, and recharge it faster. Maneuvering thrusters have also been buffed, resulting in faster turning and linear thrust.

This should provide a decent boost to overall maneuverability, hopefully without breaking anything. Let me know how it goes.

Other than that, a few more fixes, nothing very spectacular.

Hope you like it
The dev