Pilots, come and try the 0.19.0 Release Candidate on the Beta Channel

"Why is making a video game so slow!?!" - Many anonymous (indie) game developers (and potential customers) in existence.

Hey Pilots!

I use the term Release Candidate to state a patch that has not quite got everything in that I want for that patch. Effectively, its not officially released as I feel its not fully ready for it.

The 0.19.0 Release Candidate has been added to Steam Beta channel. If you are wanting to experience the Chapter 4 Story Missions (they are considered majorly complete) and/or wanting to help with testing, and providing feedback, navigate to the game's properties, go to the "Betas" tab, and select the 'Developer' beta from the dropdown menu.

Be aware, if you do opt-in, a backup of your campaign will be made towards avoiding loss of data. Which may need to be restored if any unexpected issues happen when the public patch is released. Profile backups can be found in the windows 'LocalLow\Digitum Software\A-SPEC First Assault` folder. If you don't feel confident you can always make a copy of the A-SPEC First Assault` to keep a copy safe. I do my best to avoid any issues, but sometimes unexpected edge cases can occur.

You can see what's included in the patch notes below.

As for what is missing for the public release:
I'll be looking at expanding and reviewing the side missions for more variety
Improving Actor AI afterburner decision making
Increasing the difficulty of side missions at each Chapter start as they feel too easy

Of course I'd love your feedback on the RC, on the above, and anything else, allowing me to focus on ensuring any changes and additions will minimise frustrations while providing fun, variety and engaging situations in every play.

Patch Notes 0.19.0 Overview

• Chapter 4 added to the story campaign
  
• Increased Prestige rewards for completing main missions
  
• FPS performance improvements
  
• Various additions, gameplay improvements and bug fixes
  

Added

• Chapter 4
  
• Allowed Akkadian AI Actor Pilots to use afterburners (does not apply to other factions as adding this feature dramatically changed the difficulty and timings of a variety of missions)
  
• Collision Avoidance conditions to stop AI Actor Pilots of larger ships evading much smaller ships
  
• Targeted Substructures now have subsystem health and substructure health bars and values displayed in relevant flight HUD sections
  
• Radar detection range can be adjusted on a per structure type basis (used to reduce detection range for specific structures in a Chapter 4 mission)
  
• Improved FPS during explosions (Object Pooling relevant)
  
• A couple of Particle Explosions missing from Object Pooling have now been included
  

Changed

• Kherson secondary weapon slot has been re-positioned to a forward launcher towards making it more useful and in keeping with every other secondary weapon slot on other ships
  
• Adjusted Prestige rewards for completing main missions. Players will now have more Prestige to spend on ships and loadouts. This has been retroactively applied to existing campaigns
  
• Thruster Optimizer Module description has been improved for better clarity
  
• Thruster Tuning Modules description was using the original Thruster Optimizer Module description and has now been corrected to better summarise the modules' effect
  
• Collision Avoidance checks for AI Actors now exclude distinct debris in the world
  
• Improved FPS performance (linked to Radar system updates)
  
• Sumer Fighters and Gunships have reduced armour and hull points to make them feel much less spongy
  

Fixed

• Replaced ship loadout secondary weapon references to old MLRS Launcher to new MLMS Launcher(s).
  
• Skirmish Menu: Players will no longer be able to see or select factions not intended for use by the player
  
• Sumer Light Frigate was incorrectly used as friendly unit in Ambush mission, and has now been replaced with Donetsk Corvette
  
• Burst Autocannon/04 X1-X3 Turret Gun DPS has been increased to expected output values (due to wrong reload time being applied)
  
• Gunship now uses its own unique XS turret
  
• Corrected typos in various mission texts
  
• Explosive Armor Protection III (S) module had a vastly inflated price
  
• Null Reference Exception when a turrets target warps out
  
• Sumer Gunships' secondary launcher slot size was forgotten and has been restored back to Extra Small
  
• AI Actor will no longer use full throttle when in a sweet spot behind a target
  
• Disabling AI Actor causing Invalid Operation Exception error
  
• Resolved an issue with mission scripting logic for checks on subsystem health when the subsystem is attached to a damageable (and destructible) substructure which would return incorrect values when the substructure is destroyed
  
• Null reference exception when an engine substructures(s) health reaches 0 on the Sumer Cruiser
  
• A wingman with their own wing will not spawn their wing in formation when playing a Skirmish match