Starcom: Unknown Space News

The default branch of Starcom: Unknown Space has been updated to the Ganymede build, which incorporates the combined changes of several opt-in betas the players have been testing. This build is not save compatible with Draconis, but if you were in the middle of a playthrough, you can still finish it by switching back to the Draconis Rollback build:

Details on Beta updates and how to switch to them can be found here.

As outlined in a recent blog post, Ganymede has roughly 50% more content than Draconis, and twice as much content as Betelgeuse (the first Early Access release).

While most players are having a great time with the update, there are still some issues. The biggest being there are some points where some players find themselves "stuck" and unsure where to progress. Sometimes this is due to the mission log being unclear, the player doing things in an unexpected order, or an outright bug. If you find yourself at a point where you can't figure out what to do next for any significant amount of time, check in the discussion forums. If your issue isn't addressed there, let me know.

Summary of the major changes since Draconis (with minimal spoilers):

• Additional content, anomalies, missions, factions
  
• Several new technologies and modules
  
• Changes to skill checks, UI and numerous skill check anomalies
  
• Changes to crew skill progression
  
• Changes to various ship AIs
  
• "Smart" autopilot can plot trip using fast-travel nodes
  
• Player can allow autopilot to continue while ship menu is open (will pause if threats or unknown objects are detected)
  
• New music tracks, changes to music triggers
  
• New achievements (not fully tested)
  
• New planet types
  
• Void drag formula changes
  
• Explored system void drag reduction
  
• Changes to trade system, initialization, pricing
  
• Changes to NPC drone squadron AI
  
• Changes to sector/persistent coordinate normalization
  
• Changes to NPC encounter generation
  
• Changes to trade system
  
• Player can rename crew members
  
• Repair system now prioritizes surveyor module
  
• Increased max thermal penalty from 30% to 40% and updated thermal analysis (which incorrectly had a max of 20%)
  
• Procedural anomalies avoid choosing same anomaly in succession
  
• Fully explored planets dimmer on map
  
• Fixed duplicate log entries due to bug
  
• Additionally, now suppress log entries with identical text (e.g., exact same conversation repeated)
  
• Fix for music volume changes not persisting
  
• HUD notifies player of XP progression and new missions
  
• Fixed issue where survey lander path would go very wide after first launch
  
• Fixed guns should now favor locked target, if any
  
• Fix for null ref pooling exception in late game scenario
  
• Changes VFX for several particle systems to eliminate a potential performance bottleneck
  
• Adds experimental mouse steering option
  
• Cursor changes when hovering an external web link (e.g., to the discussion forum)
  
• Changes to content loading system
  
• F8 feedback now can include latest save
  
• Clarified several mission points
  
• Numerous minor bug fixes and typos
  

As always, you can give feedback in game at any time by pressing the F8 key, or in the Steam Discussion Forums.

Thanks for playing Starcom: Unknown Space in Early Access!

- Kevin

Ganymede is now available for opt-in playtesting (see here for instructions). If there are no serious issues discovered, I plan to make it the new default build in the next ten days. Update: There have been several recent patches to address issues uncovered by opt-in testers. To give a bit more time to ensure these patches didn't introduce new issues, I'm delaying the default switch until this coming Wednesday, the 7th (assuming no new serious issues).

If you are about to start a new game, you may want to switch to the beta now, so you can start on the latest version. As always, even if the default version changes, you will always be able to switch back to older versions to access previous saves.

Compared to the current default build, Draconis, it incorporates the changes from Europa and Fornax, along with a new batch of fixes and content. As mentioned in a recent blog post, Ganymede has roughly 50% more content than Draconis, as measured in unique anomalies and mission logic, and twice as much as Betelgeuse (the first Early Access version from December).

Last month, I posted a player survey to get an idea of what area or areas players most felt I should be focusing my attention during the next few dev cycles. Based on the responses and comments, most players want me to focus on creating content. In the free-form responses, a number of players talked about getting stuck and not knowing how to progress. This is an area I'd like to address: I want to strike the right balance between letting players discover/figure out stuff on their own, but also not feel frustrated if they missed something that's blocking the story progression. I've created a pinned thread in the discussion forums specifically for this topic and added an option to the in-game feedback system to include your latest save.

The compiled list of changes since Draconis:

• Additional content, anomalies, missions, factions
  
• Several new technologies and modules
  
• Changes to skill checks, UI and numerous skill check anomalies
  
• Changes to crew skill progression
  
• Changes to various ship AIs
  
• "Smart" autopilot can plot trip using fast-travel nodes
  
• Player can allow autopilot to continue while ship menu is open (will pause if threats or unknown objects are detected)
  
• New music tracks, changes to music triggers
  
• New achievements (not fully tested)
  
• New planet types
  
• Void drag formula changes
  
• Explored system void drag reduction
  
• Changes to trade system, initialization, pricing
  
• Changes to NPC drone squadron AI
  
• Changes to sector/persistent coordinate normalization
  
• Changes to NPC encounter generation
  
• Changes to trade system
  
• Player can rename crew members
  
• Repair system now prioritizes surveyor module
  
• Increased max thermal penalty from 30% to 40% and updated thermal analysis (which incorrectly had a max of 20%)
  
• Procedural anomalies avoid choosing same anomaly in succession
  
• Fully explored planets dimmer on map
  
• Fixed duplicate log entries due to bug
  
• Additionally, now suppress log entries with identical text (e.g., exact same conversation repeated)
  
• Fix for music volume changes not persisting
  
• HUD notifies player of XP progression and new missions
  
• Fixed issue where survey lander path would go very wide after first launch
  
• Fixed guns should now favor locked target, if any
  
• Fix for null ref pooling exception in late game scenario
  
• Changes VFX for several particle systems to eliminate a potential performance bottleneck
  
• Adds experimental mouse steering option
  
• Cursor changes when hovering an external web link (e.g., to the discussion forum)
  
• Changes to content loading system
  
• F8 feedback now can include latest save
  
• Numerous minor bug fixes and typos
  

Have you played Starcom: Unknown Space? I've created a quick survey to hear where you'd like me to prioritize my efforts for the next few updates:

Starcom: Unknown Space Player Survey

Also, there's a new opt-in beta available, Fornax. This is not compatible with Draconis saves (the current default build), but if you're about to start a new game, you might want to consider switching to this branch. From early tester reports it is at least as stable and offers a number of improvements over Draconis.

Instructions for switching betas are here:

http://wx3.com/early-access-updates-and-save-games/

Some of the combined changes from Europa and Fornax:

• New mid-game content, anomalies, factions and side-quests
  
• Changes to skill checks and skill system
  
• Several new technologies & modules
  
• Player can rename crew
  
• Factions now gradually recover or lose resources over time to return to baseline
  
• Misc. changes to trade system
  
• Changes to NPC AIs
  
• Changes to thermal efficiency
  
• Fix for music volume issue
  
• Includes "built-in" save that allows skipping of the opening prologue story line for players who have already played a previous build
  
• Numerous typo and bug fixes
  

Finally, I'd like to remind everyone that if you have questions or suggestions, a great place to post them is in the Steam discussion forum, which I read regularly. It's also where I post regular weekly progress updates:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1750770/discussions/0/

There's also an official Starcom Discord, which I pop into from time to time. I don't always participate, but I do often read discussions there:

Starcom Discord

Thanks for reading and thanks for playing Starcom: Unknown Space!

- Kevin

The default branch of Starcom: Unknown Space has been updated to the Draconis build, which fixes a number of bugs, adds some quality of life changes and introduces new content. This build is not save compatible with Betelgeuse, but if you were in the middle of a playthrough, you can still finish it by switching back to the Betelgeuse Rollback build:

Details on Beta updates and how to switch to them can be found here.

Summary of the major changes from Betelgeuse (with minimal spoilers):

• Several new story lines, regions, missions, mostly in the current mid-game
  
• Numerous new anomalies and discoveries
  
• Changes to region placements
  
• Buffs to several techs and level II modules
  
• Increase max thermal penalties, slow dissipation
  
• Thermal exhaust modules
  
• Tactical "slicing" to improve item drop probability
  
• Add mission coordinates to mission log entries
  
• General improvements to the tracking and completion of certain missions
  
• Smoothed item drop frequency
  
• Flinger speed increased, fling sound
  
• Change to skill check result display
  
• Menu option to adjust intensity of anomaly image distortion/noise effect
  
• Esc now closes Ship menu
  
• Change player name input to separate first / last name
  
• Fix for issue where NPCs would fail to respawn
  
• Fix for issue for random anomalies not being added
  
• Fix for Plasma/Flinger issue
  
• AI better at avoiding star damage radius (still not perfect)
  
• Edgedar Icons no longer block firing action (also fixes bug where sometimes there would be small a firing dead zone)
  
• Lots of minor bug fixes
  
• Numerous minor mission, balance adjustments
  
• Numerous typos fixed
  

As always, you can give feedback in game at any time by pressing the F8 key, or in the Steam Discussion Forums.

- Kevin

Since Starcom: Unknown Space entered Early Access in December, I've been hard at work on fixes, changes and new content. Due to the interconnected open-world nature of the game, major changes to the game's content are not save compatible. To minimize player confusion, not every content change is immediately posted to the default branch (which most players are on). Instead, these are posted as opt-in betas so that players can switch to them. Once the combined betas have enough new content and have been tested by several dozen players, they will be made the default.

Details on Beta updates and how to switch to them can be found here.

The latest beta, Draconis Unstable (combined with the changes and content from Cassiopeia) is on track to be made the default build in a little over a week, barring any major new bugs discovered between now and then. If you are about to start a new game, you may want to switch to the beta now, so you can start on the latest version. As always, even if the default version changes, you will always be able to switch back to older versions to access previous saves.

Summary of the major changes from Betelgeuse (with minimal spoilers):

• Several new story lines, regions, missions, mostly in the current mid-game
  
• Numerous new anomalies and discoveries
  
• Changes to region placements
  
• Buffs to several techs and level II modules
  
• Increase max thermal penalties, slow dissipation
  
• Thermal exhaust modules
  
• Tactical "slicing" to improve item drop probability
  
• Add mission coordinates to mission log entries
  
• General improvements to the tracking and completion of certain missions
  
• Smoothed item drop frequency
  
• Flinger speed increased, fling sound
  
• Change to skill check result display
  
• Menu option to adjust intensity of anomaly image distortion/noise effect
  
• Esc now closes Ship menu
  
• Change player name input to separate first / last name
  
• Fix for issue where NPCs would fail to respawn
  
• Fix for issue for random anomalies not being added
  
• Fix for Plasma/Flinger issue
  
• AI better at avoiding star damage radius (still not perfect)
  
• Edgedar Icons no longer block firing action (also fixes bug where sometimes there would be small a firing dead zone)
  
• Lots of minor bug fixes
  
• Numerous minor mission, balance adjustments
  
• Numerous typos fixed
  

Thanks for reading, until next update!

- Kevin